188 THE WEDGWOODS. 



"4. Jasper; a white porcelain biscuit of exquisite beauty and 

 delicacy, possessing the general properties of the basaltes, together 

 with the singular one of receiving through its whole substance, 

 from the admixture of metallic calces with the other materials, the 

 same colours which those calces communicate to glass or enamels in 

 fusion ; a property which no other porcelain or earthenware body of 

 ancient or modern composition has been found to possess. This 

 renders it peculiarly fit for making cameos, portraits, and all 

 subjects in bas-relief, as the ground may be of any particular 

 colour, while the raised figures are of a pure white. 



"5. .Bamboo, or cane-coloured biscuit porcelain, of the same 

 nature as JS\>. 3. 



"6. A porcelain liscuit, remarkable for great hardness, little 

 inferior to that of agate This property, together with its resis- 

 tance to the strongest acids and corrosives, and its impenetrability 

 by every known liquid, adapts it for mortars and many different 

 kinds of chemical vessels. 



"These six distinct species, with the Queen's "Ware already 

 mentioned, expanded by the industry and ingenuity of the different 

 manufacturers into an infinity of forms for ornament and use, 

 variously painted and embellished, constitute nearly the whole of 

 the present fine English earthenwares and porcelain, which are now 

 become the source of a very extensive trade, and which, considered 

 as an object of national art, industry, and commerce, may be 

 ranked amongst the most important manufactures of the kingdom." 



In the first of these bodies "Wedgwood produced some 

 marvellously fine ornamental vases, in imitation of por- 

 phyry, granite, various marbles, agates, and other stones, 

 and decorated with medallions, festoons, &c., in white, or 

 gilt The material was so exceeding hard, that it would 

 bear grinding and working by the lapidary, and took as 

 good and fine a polish as the stone itself. I have in my own 

 possession some small pieces of Wedgwood's producing 

 which have been thus ground and polished, and present 

 as fine a surface as could well be got from the hardest 

 marble. 



Some examples of vases in this material are shown in the 

 accompanying woodcut. In this engraving the centre vase, 

 belonging to Mr. Oliver, is a fine example, twelve inches 



