INTRODUCTION. IX 



for the purpose of their forming the groundwork of a different 

 publication on Wedgwood, have been a "sealed book" to 

 me. I have never sought to see them, or even inquired 

 of what they consist, but, on the contrary, have scrupulously 

 avoided any allusion or reference to them. It is my sincere 

 hope that they may be carefully and properly edited, and 

 may form a work which may worthily supplement my 

 own, which has been prepared independently of any such 

 aid. 



It is right to say that the groundwork of this my Life of 

 Wedgwood is to be found in the chapters on " Wedgwood 

 and Etruria," which form a part of the series of Histories 

 of the Porcelain and Earthenware Manufactories of this 

 Kingdom, which. I am regularly giving in the pages of that 

 admirably conducted and exquisitely beautiful publication, 

 the Art- Journal, to whose learned and able editor, my kind 

 friend, Mr. S. C. Hall, F.S.A., I have to express my deep 

 and lasting obligation for favours most kindly conferred 

 upon me. The chapters, however, which appeared in the 

 Art-Journal do but form the groundwork of the present 

 volume. The whole has been re-modelled and re-written, 

 and the additional matter has swelled it to more than 

 double its original size. It is hoped that the narrative I 

 now present to the public will be found to be a history of 

 the " great Josiah," his family, and his works, which shall 

 form as pleasing and lasting a "Wedgwood Memorial "as 

 any of the others that have been projected. 



DERBY, MARCH, 1805. 



