220 CEKAMIC WAKE. 



arrived at its zenith of perfection then, that period must be 

 passed by trippingly. Quite well I know that a lady would 

 no more continue to admire the lovely old Sevres bequeathed 

 to her mamma, if she knew how much Eose du Barry and 

 other hetairce had to do with encouraging the manufacture 

 and bringing the ware into vogue, than she would follow the 

 fashion of a riding-hat set by one of our pretty horse-breakers, 

 sit out La Traviata or La Grande Duchesse. 



And now very seriously to the point. 



Our thesis is Ceramic Ware clay ware, that is to say 

 in all or any of its varieties. Of course we shall need some 

 preliminary words about clay itself: clay in the abstract, so 

 to speak. To imagine in one's own mind a tithe of the 

 dignities, beauties, and utilities of clay is difficult enough : to 

 convey the notion to any other mind is, perhaps, impossible. 

 Clay ! it is such a vulgar, a common thing. We tread it 

 under foot, and call it dirt ! Contempt springs out of our 

 very familiarity with it. The contemplative mind cannot 

 attain to a knowledge of the poetry of clay, whilst lingering 

 here in the midst of it. Even the clear eye of Science her- 

 self fails to see the poetry of clay whilst gazing upon it 

 nearly. As mountains of grandest form and of fairest outline 

 are but as ranges of unhewn rock until we gaze upon them 

 from afar, so even the man of science only attains to a know- 

 ledge of the grandeur and beauty of clay when feigning for 

 himself some ideal position some second world whence, 

 looking down, he may gaze abstractedly upon this. Before 

 speeding to this second stand-point of observation, this other 

 world, it will be well to take passing cognisance of the ele- 

 ments which compose our own. 



Of course, human investigation cannot attain to the know- 

 ledge of the materials that lie hid towards the centre of the 

 earth. The limits of human observation called into play by 

 the sinking of mines and quarries are very soon reached. 

 After that comes speculation. Nevertheless, our globe has 



