182 THE WEDGWOODS. 



Ralph Wedgwood from Charing Cross removed succes- 

 sively to Piccadilly, and Southampton Street, Strand, 

 where he continued producing his " Pocket Secretary " 

 in large numbers. Lady Percwal had been instrumental in 

 introducing the invention to members of the government 

 and others, and the result was that a profitable business 'was 

 acquired. The advantages he had thus gained, were, how- 

 ever, lost by his researches concerning the electric telegraph, 

 and in the end his business gradually decayed. He was 

 a man of perhaps too visionary a nature for the ordinary 

 pursuits of life, and was thus led into the speculative ideas 

 rather than the substantialities of worldly existence. Among 

 his schemes was one for the founding of an universal 

 language, over which he held a lengthy and elaborate cor- 

 respondence with Percy Byshe Shelley and other men of 

 the day. Ralph Wedgwood died at Chelsea in 1837, and I 

 am glad to have been enabled thus briefly to allude to his 

 scientific labours, and to place on record some few particulars 

 of his life. 



John Taylor Wedgwood, the line engraver, who received 

 the appointment of "Engraver to H.R.H. the Princess 

 Charlotte, and to Prince Leopold of Saxe Coburg" (the 

 present King of the Belgians), was the youngest brother of 

 Ralph Wedgwood, of whom I have just spoken. He was born 

 in 1782, and spent the whole of his long life in the steady 

 practice of his art. For many years he resided in Paris, but 

 left it at the Revolution of 1830. He was an accurate and 

 most excellent draughtsman as well as engraver, and excelled 

 most in the human figure. In this his intimate knowledge 

 of anatomy, which he had made his constant study, was of 

 immense service. He received the appointment of engraver 

 to the Royal College of Surgeons and to the British Museum ; 

 and is said to have been so wrapped up in his art that when 

 not engraving at night he spent his time in making pen and 

 chalk drawings. It is related of him by many who knew 

 him well, that nothing would induce him to engrave any- 

 thing which he believed to be untruthful. On one occasion 



