344 THE WEDGWOODS. 



depends upon the perfect equality of the bore of the tube from one 

 end to the other, so the accuracy of this gauge depends upon the 

 perfect straightness of its sides ; and the difficulty of obtaining this 

 essential condition necessarily occasions a considerable enhancement 

 of the price. I have now happily succeeded in making gauges of 

 the hard species of porcelain more perfect than those I can generally 

 procure in brass : the porcelain ones have the advantage of not 

 being susceptible of any bruise or derangement ; they may be 

 broken, but they cannot, in this respect, deceive." 



The account of this invention, which had been read before 

 the Koyal Society, was issued in pamphlet form, in different 

 languages ; a copy translated into the Dutch language* is in 

 my possession. 



Besides these twenty classes of goods manufactured by 

 Wedgwood, and which were, it will have been seen, principally 

 ornamented varieties, lie announced at the end of his cata- 

 logue that " the QUEEN'S WARE of Mr. Wedgwood's manu- 

 facture, with various improvements in the table and dessert 

 services, tea equipages, &c., continues to be sold as usual at 

 his warehouse in Greek Street, Soho, and at no other place 

 in London." This was in 1787, and the same ware has 

 continued to be regularly made down to our own day. 

 About this time (1785), along with others, Wedgwood's 

 name found its way into some of the political lampoons and 

 squibs which, the wits of the day threw off unmercifully at 

 the leading men of the government. One of these, alluding 

 to spittoons and other vessels bearing the head of William 

 Pitt, is to be found in the " Asylum for Fugitive Pieces " a 

 strange collection of these lampoons, which had been got 

 together by John Almon where it forms part of "an irre- 

 gular ode," said to be " by Edward Lord Thurlow, Lord 

 High Chancellor of Great Britain " 



* Beschreibung und Gebrauch ernes Thermometers die Hohern grade 

 der Hitz zu Messen, von der rothen Hitze an bis zu der allerstiircksten 

 welche irdene Gefasse ertragen konnen. Von Josias Wedgwood," &c. 

 &c. &c. "London: Bey J. Young, MDCCLXXXVI." 



