v Wedgwood begins Business for Himself 49 



Boulton as to the management of his own rapidly ex- 

 tending business, not only at Burslem, but afterwards 

 at Etruria ; and the two became, as will afterwards be 

 seen, exceedingly intimate friends and correspondents. 



With every day's reflection and experience, Wedg- 

 wood's industry, energy, and taste improved. His great 

 ambition was to rival the works of the Etruscans, and 

 to raise the Staffordshire potters' art far above the then 

 standard of excellence, and to rival not only the costly 

 earthenware of foreign countries, but that of long past 

 ages. Hence the extreme skill, intelligence, and taste 

 which he brought to bear upon every branch of his 

 native and favourite art. 



It was not merely in objects of taste that Wedg- 

 wood endeavoured to excel, but also in objects of com- 

 mon use. It was at the Bell Works that he turned his 

 attention more especially to the fine and delicate 

 descriptions of earthenware which shortly after earned 

 for him the proud distinction of " Queen's Potter." 

 The results of his close and incessant occupation, and of 

 his endless experiments as to the properties of clays, 

 kaolin, carbonate of barytes, and such like, led to the 

 production of many marvellous kinds of ware, and to 

 the beauty of finish which characterised them, such as 

 are to be rarely equalled at the present day. 



Mr. Gladstone truly said, in his doge of Wedgwood 

 at Burslem, that his specialty lay in the adaptation of 

 every object to its proper end. " His most signal and 

 characteristic merit lay in the firmness and fulness 



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