JOSIAH WEDGWOOD. 



of Tuscany, he called to his aid the greatest living artists, procur- 

 ing designs from the celebrated Flaxman, according to which he 

 fabricated his improved wares. This system has been continued 

 by his son and successor. 



* Wedgwood was as remarkable for enlightened liberality in his 

 private character as for well-directed enterprise as a manufacturer. 

 ATI example of his munificence was lately mentioned in one of the 

 leading journals, which we cannot pass without mention here. 

 The family attracted around them men of genius in literature 

 and art, among whom were Sir James Mackintosh, his brother-in- 

 law, Mr. Stuart, then editor of the Morning Post, Coleridge, 

 Southey, and others. In the beginning of 1798, Coleridge 

 received an invitation to accept the functions of minister to the 

 Unitarian congregation at Shrewsbury. Thomas Wedgwood hearing 

 of this wrote to him to dissuade him from taking such a step, 

 considering it to be adverse to the prosecution of literary works, 

 in which he was likely to found a great reputation, and to confer 

 a great benefit on society ; and that no immediate pecuniary exi- 

 gency should force him to accept the proposition he enclosed a 

 cheque for an hundred pounds. Coleridge, however, considering 

 that the Shrewsbury appointment opened to him for the first time 

 in his life the prospect of a certain income and permanent esta- 

 blishment, decided to accept it, and returned the cheque. He 

 accordingly went to Shrewsbury, preached his probation sermon 

 with general satisfaction to his flock, the afterwards celebrated 

 William Hazlitt being one of his auditors. The Wedgwoods, 

 however, sensible that the poet was misplaced, and would be lost 

 to the world, again wrote to him, expressing that opinion, and 

 proposed that he should at once relinquish his clerical charge, to 

 which he was unsuited, and with princely munificence offered to 

 place him at ease for the future by settling on him a life annuity 

 of an hundred and fifty pounds. The offer was promptly and 

 gratefully accepted.* 



Before the commencement of Wedgwood's labours the English 

 potteries produced wares flimsy in their materials, grotesque in 

 their forms, and utterly destitute of all correct taste in their 

 ornamentation, being miserable copies of the Chinese procelain. 

 Owing to the influence of the enterprise and genius of this eminent 

 man, the style and character of the ceramic manufacture of the 

 country was thoroughly reformed, so that not only have the pro- 

 ductions of Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Worcestershire, London, 

 and other places where this industry has been established, super- 

 seded foreign goods in the home market, but they have spread over 



* Edinburgh Bedew, April 1848, p. 379. 



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