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enamel. The use of copper for this purpose was known in Assyria 

 and Babylonia at a very early period ; so was the use of tin ; but 

 the art was kept a secret among the Eastern nations, and ulti- 

 mately became lost until rediscovered in Europe in the fifteenth 

 century. 



The use of the vitreous or glass glaze was well known to the 

 potters of the East, of Egypt, of Greece, of Etruria, and of Rome, 

 and was used by them on many of the noblest productions of the 

 potter's art. The Persian, Damascan, and'Rhodian wares are of 

 this class. 



The plumbeous or lead glaze is the characteristic of mediaeval 

 pottery ; it is made of silica with potash or soda, and oxide of 

 lead. It is generally green ; and green-glazed ware may generally 

 be set down as mediaeval, but not always, as has been pointed out 

 by both Mr. J. E. Price, F.S.A., in his tract on "London Wall," 

 and Mr. Wellbeloved in his "Eboracum." A remarkable instance 

 was found in building the gaol at Carlisle, fifteen feet below the 

 surface, and underneath Roman refuse. The process therefore 

 was known to and used by the Romans ; but for all that, this 

 lead glaze is the mediaeval characteristic. 



Now I propose to stop here. To bring my "Potsherds and 

 Pipkins" at all into an evening's compass, I have had to lop off 

 many interesting branches. I have confined myself to the practical 

 — very much to the culinary uses of pottery ; and for those uses, 

 and for funeral purposes, it was first employed. I have carefully 

 avoided the artistic and aesthetic aspects of my subject matter : I 

 don't quite know where they would have led me to. I have had 

 no time to go into the pottery of the East, of Greece, or of 

 Etruria ; and have refrained from mentioning Majolica ; and I 

 have not even alluded to the marks on modern China. I have 

 stuck to my Potsherds and Pipkins, such as you may find in or 

 about Carlisle. I claim for Potsherds and Pipkins a higher value 

 than you may be disposed to give them. Sir Samuel Baker says, 

 " Nearly all savages have some idea of earthenware ; but the scale 

 of advancement of a country between savagedom and civilisation 

 may generally be determined by the examples of its pottery." 



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