12 Josiah Wedgwood CHAP. 



of " Merry England " ! In the centre of Burslem was a 

 high Maypole, at the place where the Town Hall now 

 stands, around which the jolly potters held their 

 festivals. They had many so-called amusements 

 cock -throwing, goose -riding, bull and bear baiting. 

 Bull-baiting was continued down to about sixty years 

 since, Each pottery had its special wake, which was 

 usually a saturnalia of drunkenness. 



The morals and manners of the people were of 

 course brutal and vicious. When John Wesley visited 

 the potteries about the middle of last century a crowd 

 of people assembled to laugh and jeer at him, and 

 proceeded to pelt him with mud. The following is 

 from his diary, on the 8th of March 1760 : 



" Went from Wolverhampton to Burslem, a scattered 

 town on the top of a hill, inhabited almost entirely by 

 potters, a multitude of whom assembled at five in the 

 evening. Deep attention sat on every face, though as 

 yet accompanied with deep ignorance ; but if the heart 

 be moved toward God, He will in due time enlighten 

 the understanding. 



"Sunday, 9th. I preached at night to near double 

 the number, some quite innocent of thought. Five or 

 six were laughing and talking till I had nearly done ; 

 and one of them threw a clod of earth, which struck me 

 on the side of the head, but it neither disturbed me 

 nor the congregation." 



A few years later John Wesley preached at the 

 same place, and entered in his journal these words : " I 



