78 1860-1865 : PERSONAL 



I do assure you that without joking, Wedgwoods are an 

 unspeakable relief to me. I look over them every Sunday 

 morning, and poke into all the little second-hand shops I 

 pass in London, seeking medallions. The prices of vases are 

 quite incredible : I saw a lovely butter-boat and was quite 

 determined to go up to 30s. for it, at the dirtiest little pigsty e 

 of a subterranean hole in the wall of a shop you ever were in, 

 the price was 25. All this amuses me vastly and is an 

 enjoyable contrast to grim science. No lady enjoys bonnets 

 more heartily. 



So he tells Hodgson : 



I have gone mad after Wedgwood ware, and especially 

 the medallions things of another world. If you come across 

 any good specimens of old Wedgwood, pray beg, buy, borrow 

 and steal for me. 



And to his uncle the Eev. J. Gunn, a sympathiser in such 

 things, he writes (January 29, 1863) : 



When are you coming up ? I have some absolutely stifling 

 Wedgwoods to shew you : a plaque 18 in. long, with 

 Achilles dragging Hector round the walls of Troy, of Flax- 

 man's grandest time and manner it will make your hair 

 curl to look at it ; an oval medallion of Goldsmith, 18 in. 

 diam. ; Mitten and Erasmus in white on pink clay, and the 

 Prince and Princess of Wales on pea-green clay ; besides 

 about forty other portraits of sorts. 



Darwin fed the hobby with mingled grain 'and chaff. 



I had a whole box full of small Wedgwood medallions 

 [he tells his friend in April] ;. but, drat the children, every- 

 thing in this house gets lost and wasted ; I can only find 

 about a dozen little things as big as shillings, and I presume 

 worth nothing ; but you shall look at them when here and 

 take them if worth pocketing. 



He got his sister to send Hooker one of her black and 

 brown vases, but 



You sent us a gratuitous insult about the ' chimney-pots ' 

 in dining-room, for you shan't have them ; nor are they 

 Wedgwood ware. 



