xxi Wedgwood' s Personal History 283 



poor man, he had expended not less than 1500. If he 

 had to meet the numerous calls made upon him, he must 

 be " inevitably ruined." Upon this statement, Wedg- 

 wood helped Clarkson liberally, and the prime mover of 

 Slavery Abolition pursued his course with cheerfulness. 

 Had not Wedgwood produced the kneeling suppliant 

 with the appeal, " Am I not a Man and a Brother ? " 



Wedgwood did not confine his generosity to the 

 black slaves of the East Indies : he also subscribed (in 

 January 1792) 100 " towards the succour of the People 

 of Poland," and his three sons subscribed 50 each. 



At one time, Wedgwood spoke of spending the 

 summer in Germany, and after seeing Florence and 

 Venice, returning with his son directly to England ; 

 but, after making a journey to Meissen, with the 

 object of looking over the manufactory there, he 

 did not go on to Italy. In 1790, Wedgwood wrote 

 to his agent Deveare in Eome : " I am rejoiced, with 

 the rest of your friends here, in the hopes of seeing 

 you and Mr. Flaxman returning safe to your native 

 country. . . . You say I pointed out to you not to lose 

 time. If I did so, I had no other meaning in it, than 

 when I told Mr. Flaxman that you might send the 

 model without loss of time." Deveare afterwards went 

 to Etruria as a modeller for Wedgwood, where he was 

 known as John de Vere. 



Wedgwood was gradually withdrawing from the 

 active part of his business. Yet he could not entirely 

 withdraw. To Dr. Darwin he wrote in 1788 : " I sigh 



