xx The Barberini or Portland Vase 2 7 1 



hand is often mistaken for the left, and the male 

 figures for female. All of them, indeed, are merely 

 conjectural ; and it is not to be wondered at that the 

 warm imagination of Wedgwood, with the beautiful 

 original before his eyes, should have made mistakes ; 

 yet his Dissertation, we believe, will do no discredit 

 either to his genius or his taste. 



Wedgwood's enterprise, notwithstanding his increas- 

 ing years, was not upon the wane. In 1790, he went to 

 Meissen, near Dresden, to visit the Eoyal Factory, 

 maintained by the king of Saxony. It had become 

 unable to pay its expenses, and was a heavy drain upon 

 the Sovereign's privy purse. After visiting the factory, 

 Wedgwood was so convinced of its capabilities, if under 

 good management, that he offered a payment of 3000 

 a year to be allowed to take it entirely upon himself, 

 but his offer was refused. 1 



At length the king became tired of the annual ex- 

 pense, and ceded the porcelain factory to the Finance 

 Department, who continued it to their loss. The 

 kaolin at Aue had been nearly exhausted. The factory 

 is now reduced to a low ebb, and produces only inferior 

 articles. It was well for Wedgwood that his offer was 

 refused, and that he was under the necessity of return- 

 ing to England, and carrying on his still prosperous 

 business at Etruria. 



Long after the Portland vase had passed out 



1 History of Pottery and Porcelain. By Joseph Manyat. Murray, 

 1868. 



