78 Josiah Wedgwood CHAP. 



were copied by the manufacturers in his neighbour- 

 hood, both by silversmiths, bronze-makers, and other 

 workers in metal. Boulton of Birmingham admired 

 Wedgwood's vases so much that he almost wished to 

 be a potter ; but, as we have said, he was satisfied 

 with mounting in metal the vases which Wedgwood 

 had made. "The mounting of vases," said Boulton, 

 " is a large field for fancy, in which I shall indulge, as 

 I perceive it possible to convert even a very ugly 

 vessel into a beautiful vase." 



The engine lathe, although no patent had been taken 

 out for its application to the manufacture of pottery, 

 became in the hands of Wedgwood an ever-increasing 

 power. It was soon applied to the decoration of vases 

 made in the green ware after the antique, and also to 

 carry out the designs of several ingenious ladies and 

 gentlemen who furnished him with proper models, both 

 original and Etruscan. 



But Wedgwood left every potter free to imitate his 

 designs. As he himself said, a patent would have 

 greatly limited its public utility. Instead of one 

 hundred manufacturers, there would only have been 

 one; and instead of exporting to all quarters of the 

 world, a few pretty things would have been made for 

 the amusement of the people of fashion in England. 



In the last century, Burslem and some other villages 

 in Staffordshire were famous for their milk-pans and 

 butter-pots. About a hundred people were then occu- 

 pied in their production ; while now there are about ten 



