1 68 Josiah Wedgwood CHAP. 



knew many languages. None could, better than he, 

 set off Wedgwood's ornamental ware, tell anecdotes of 

 the vases, bas-reliefs, and cameos, with which the rooms 

 were stored ; and he thus delighted the ladies, who not 

 only admired the relater, but bought his ornamental 

 wares. 



"Mrs. Byerley," again wrote Wedgwood from 

 Etruria, " has just returned from London, and brings a 

 strange account of the goings on in Newport Street; 

 no getting to the door for coaches, nor getting into the 

 rooms for ladies and gentlemen; .and vases, she says, 

 are all the rage." The rage for vases as well as for 

 Queen's ware fell off; but Wedgwood endeavoured to 

 find markets for the new productions. He even 

 thought of employing a rider to go about the country 

 and tout for orders. One of the wares he thought of 

 producing was a new variety of basaltes. " I am well 

 assured," he wrote to Bentley, "that painted black 

 ware with encaustic colours will have a great run." 



The painted black ware, however, was not very 

 successful. Wedgwood continued his efforts to dis- 

 cover the clay most suitable for crucibles, retorts, 

 mortars and pestles. His experiments occupied a con- 

 siderable time, and it was not until he ascertained that 

 the clay from Cornwall was the most suitable, that his 

 mortars obtained the preference over all others. From 

 the tests which they withstood at the Apothecaries' 

 Hall they acquired a reputation which has lasted to 

 the present day. 



