ii The Wedgwood Family 17 



The Elers were disgusted with the treatment which 

 they had received at Burslem. They eventually left 

 the place, and in 1710 removed to Chelsea, where 

 they connected themselves with a party of Venetian 

 glass -makers, who had established themselves under 

 the auspices of the Duke of Buckingham. The Elers 

 also started a manufactory of pottery. Their porcelain 

 achieved a very high reputation, and until the time of 

 Josiah Wedgwood their pottery ware was considered to 

 be the best in the country. 



By whatever means Astbury had mastered the secrets 

 of the Elers, he was a man of invention and originality, 

 and did much to accelerate the improvement of stone- 

 ware in Staffordshire. When he commenced business 

 at Shelton, he began to use pipeclay for coating over 

 and washing the insides of vessels. Tobacco-pipe clays 

 are found all over the country. In the reign of Eliza- 

 beth, the pipes were so small and of such a peculiar 

 shape that they were known as "fairy pipes" the 

 same sort of pipes that the late Charles Keene used to 

 smoke. In course of time they were made larger, but 

 always of white clay. Astbury, by constant improve- 

 ments, eventually produced his white-dipped ware, and 

 white stoneware, which became an important article of 

 commerce. 



Astbury was also the first to discover, though it was 

 by accident, the uses of burnt flint in the manufacture 

 of stoneware. While travelling on horseback the 

 usual method of travelling in those days he found, on 



c 



