86 Josiah Wedgwood CHAP. 



mined immediately to put himself into communication 

 with this gentleman, though entirely unknown to him. 

 He despatched a confidential professional friend to 

 Ireland, who found out the reversionary proprietor, 

 and satisfactorily completed the purchase. The rent 

 was changed into an annuity for the life of the tenant, 

 and thus immediate possession of the estate was 

 ohtained. 



The land had little to recommend it besides the 

 convenience of its situation. It was naturally an un- 

 productive clayey soil, and was thought to be of little 

 other value than furnishing clay for the use of the 

 potters. But the spirit and enterprise of Wedgwood 

 soon altered the appearance of the estate. He pro- 

 ceeded to build a large manufactory on the banks of 

 the proposed canal ; he laid out the grounds with great 

 taste, assisted by Capability Brown ; and contiguous to 

 the works, he raised a new village for the accommoda- 

 tion of the workmen and their families. 



What was the place to be called ? With the pro- 

 spects he entertained, his skill and taste in endeavouring 

 to infuse art into the manufactures of his country, and 

 his intense admiration of the vases of antiquity, he 

 determined to call the estate and its buildings Etruria, 

 after the beautiful works of the famous Etruscans. In 

 the course of a few years, this formerly barren estate 

 was converted into a garden of beauty, and the manu- 

 factories built thereon became the source of works 

 of art which did so much for the improvement of 



