Ill 



Learns his Trade 29 



from some of the oldest inhabitants of the place that 

 in their boyhood, at the end of last century, they were 

 continually admonished by their parents and grand- 

 parents to be good, as Wedgwood had been, and to lead 

 such a life as he, as a youth, had done before them. 

 It is pleasant to put this fact on record, and to hear this 

 kind of testimony given to the character of this great 

 man even when young that he was held up to the 

 youth of his native place as a pattern for emulation." 



There is no doubt that during his apprenticeship he 

 contracted a great fondness for his business, and that 

 he followed it through life with an alacrity which 

 rendered it more like an amusement than a matter of 

 labour. He made himself minutely acquainted with 

 all the branches of the then existing art, both of those 

 which had, as well as those which had not as yet been 

 introduced into his brother's manufactory. He not only 

 grounded himself in all the chemical and mechanical 

 parts of the potter's art then known, but he showed a 

 desire to extend and develop their application. Even 

 at this early period he made several curious improve- 

 ments, and produced the first pieces, though only small 

 ones by way of specimen, of the afterwards celebrated 

 cream-coloured or Queen's Ware. 



To us, who look back on Josiah Wedgwood's suc- 

 cessful career in early life, it is surprising that his own 

 family should have failed to recognise the value of his 

 energy and perseverance, and that he should have been 

 driven to seek encouragement for his talents at the 



