4 Josiah Wedgwood CHAP. 



indeed, the greater part of them had little else to look 

 forward to; together with those good rules of life 

 integrity, self-help, self-restraint, and perseverance. 



Little is known about the school education of her 

 youngest son. When able to toddle about, Josiah 

 was sent to a dame's school to learn his A.B.C. This 

 was at that time the only school in Burslem, and he 

 was sent there more to keep him out of the way of the 

 other children, or perhaps out of mischief, than for any 

 learning he received. 



The local historian, Simeon Shaw, says that scarcely 

 any person in Burslem learned more than reading and 

 writing until about 1750; when some individuals en- 

 dowed the free school for instructing young persons to 

 read the Bible, write a fair hand, and know the primary 

 rules of arithmetic. Josiah's early education was thus 

 limited to reading and writing. 



When seven years old he was sent across the moors 

 to a school at Newcastle-under-Lyme, kept by a Mr. 

 Blunt. The school was about three and a half miles from 

 Burslem, and in fine weather his walks across the fields 

 and commons were joyous and healthful. Among his 

 schoolfellows were several who afterwards achieved 

 considerable distinction ; though none proved so great 

 as Wedgwood himself. 



He remained, however, only a short time at that 

 school. He was taken away at his father's death, 

 which occurred in June 1739, when Josiah was only 

 nine years old. All that he had learned up to this time 



