2 go Josiah Wedgwood CHAP. 



down kiln after kiln to correct defects or to make the 

 necessary improvements. 



He was constantly inventing new tools and machines 

 to improve the manufacture. He instructed his work- 

 men individually, and himself made the first pattern of 

 any original piece made in his pottery. He spent his 

 evenings chiefly in contriving tools and instruments to 

 effect some novel process, or in making chemical experi- 

 ments. He never lay down to rest without thinking 

 and planning the new work of the morrow. 



All these efforts led him to the verge of poverty, 

 like his predecessor Palissy; but though his poverty 

 and struggle were great, his will and dignity proved 

 greater and stronger. He never ceased to have faith in 

 his future. Not a moment was given to doubt, hesita- 

 tion, or discouragement. He believed that his assiduity 

 and perseverance could triumph. 



Another characteristic of Wedgwood was his keen 

 insight into the characters of men and women. It is 

 not always by what a man does with his own head 

 and hands, but through the persons whom he selects to 

 carry out his instructions, that he achieves success. 

 Wedgwood's workmen began to love and respect their 

 master, because they knew that he had his special in- 

 sight into their characters. It was for this reason 

 that Wedgwood selected Bentley for his London part- 

 ner a gentleman of great intelligence, excellent business 

 habits, and unsullied integrity. 



Wedgwood was also helped by his wife. In one of 



