8o Josiak Wedgwood CHAP. 



ing; and when it will be otherwise with me, I really 

 cannot tell." 



It was one of Wedgwood's great objects to revive 

 the classical works of the Greeks. He imitated the fine 

 vases which he found in the Montfaucon and other 

 collections, and in the best works of his own time. 

 He was under the impression that the improvement of 

 pottery, while exciting the public attention to these 

 beautiful works, would contribute to lay the foundation 

 of a school of modelling and artistic manufacture. 

 At the same time, notwithstanding all that he had 

 done to improve this branch of industry, he used to 

 declare, even in his later days, that he considered 

 pottery as still but in its infancy. He was enabled to 

 carry his designs into effect, to a certain extent, by the 

 liberal and patriotic disposition of their Majesties ; by 

 the nobility, and others, who opened their cabinets, and 

 permitted him to take copies of the finest pieces they 

 had purchased in the course of their travels. 



About the year 1766, he first produced the unglazed 

 black porcelain, to which he gave the name of Basaltes 

 from its possessing the properties of that stone; a 

 variegated terra-cotta ; a white wax-like porcelain, and 

 other inventions, adapted to different purposes. In 

 ancient times the Etruscans painted their vases with 

 durable colours, which were burnt in by fire. Even in 

 the time of Pliny these vases, so prepared, were re- 

 garded as one of the lost arts of preceding ages. 

 Wedgwood, by his experimental skill and his extreme 



