122 Josiah Wedgwood CHAP. 



and cheerfulness, to keep his mind as free as possible 

 from the cares and troubles of ordinary life. When the 

 surgeons saw that the operation had been successful, 

 they left the case to the care of his wife. She dressed 

 the wound from day to day, until the patient was finally 

 cured. 



When Bentley found that Wedgwood was out of 

 danger, he returned to Liverpool to execute his friend's 

 orders. He and his partner Boardman were for some 

 time exceedingly busy with despatching crates of 

 earthenware to foreign ports. During Wedgwood's 

 illness, many inquiries were made by distinguished 

 persons after his welfare, by Lord Gower of Trentham, 

 by the Duke of Bridgewater of Worsley, and by the 

 Dukes of Bedford and Marlborough, Lords Cathcart and 

 Bessborough, Sir William Meredith, Sir George Saville, 

 and many others. Dr. Darwin was also a frequent 

 visitor while Wedgwood was confined to his room. If 

 good wishes could have cured him, he must soon have 

 been happy upon his solitary leg. 



While Wedgwood lay in bed, after the amputation, 

 Peter Swift, of the Burslem Works, wrote an invoice of 

 cream ware to Cox in London, dated 28th May 1768, 

 to which he appended this note : " Mr. Wedgwood has 

 this day had his leg taken of (sic\ and is as well as can 

 be expected after such an execution ! " 



Bentley's correspondence continued to be most loving 

 and affectionate. It was one of Wedgwood's greatest 

 pleasures to receive, read, and study his kind communica- 



