CHAPTEE YI 



IMPROVEMENT OF WARE FRIENDSHIP WITH BENTLEY 



WEDGWOOD continued to improve his useful ware 

 with his usual insight and perseverance. His most 

 important manufacture was his cream ware, which 

 was greatly in demand. He improved its body, its 

 glaze, and its form, and was indefatigable in his 

 efforts to obtain the best specimens of eastern and 

 continental ware, as models for imitation, as well as 

 to improve their form and ornamentation. 



It is hardly to be wondered at that he paid the 

 penalty of most original minds, and that his products 

 were imitated by Boulton of Soho and by other workers 

 in metal. They were sought for with eagerness by the 

 porcelain manufacturers on the continent, and were 

 even sent to China as patterns for the potters there. 

 Wedgwood did not approve of this exportation ; he 

 was of opinion that if the oriental porcelain was 

 made in forms better suited for European tables, it 

 would materially injure the sale of English earthen- 

 ware in home as well as foreign markets. 



