HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE. 



" It is composed of the whitest clays from Devonshire, Dorset- 

 shire, and other places, mixed with a due proportion of ground 

 flint. The pieces are fired twice, and the glaze applied after the 

 first firing, in the same manner as porcelain. The glaze is a vi- 

 treous composition of flint and other white earthy bodies, with ad- 

 ditions of white lead for the flux, analogous to common flint glass ; 

 so that, when prepared in perfection, the ware may be considered 

 as coated over with real flint glass. This compound being mixed 

 with water to a proper consistence, the pieces, after the first firing, 

 are separately dipt in it; being somewhat bibulous, they drink in 

 a quantity of the mere water, and the glaze, which was united with 

 that portion of the water, remains adherent uniformly all over 

 their surface, so as to become, by the second firing, a coat of per- 

 fect glass. 



" To Mr. Wedgwood's continued experiments, we are indebted 

 for the invention of several other species of earthenware and porce- 

 lain, adapted to various purposes of ornament and use. The prin- 

 cipal are the following : 1. A TERRA COTTA; resembling porphyry, 

 granite, Egyptian pebble, and other beautiful stones of the sili- 

 ceous or crystalline order. 2. BASALTES, or Black Ware ; a black 

 porcelain buiscuit of nearly the same properties with the natural 

 stone ; striking fire with steel, receiving a high polish, serving as a 

 touchstone for metals; resisting all the acids, and bearing, without 

 injury, a strong fire, stronger indeed, than the basaltes itself. 

 3. WHITE PORCELAIN BISCUIT, of a smooth wax-like surface, of 

 the same properties with the preceding, except in what depends 

 upon colour. 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 earthen-ware body, of ancient or modern composition, has been 

 found to possess. This renders it peculiarly fit for making cameos, 

 portraits, and all subjects in basso relievo, as the ground may be of 

 any particular colour, while the raised figures are of pure white. 



5. BAMBOO, or cane-coloured biscuit porcelain. This possesses the 

 same properties as the White Porcelain Biscuit, mentioned above. 



6. A PORCELAIN BISCUIT, remarkable for great hardness, little in- 

 ferior to that of agate. This property, together with its resistance 

 to the strongest acids and corrosives, and its impenetrability by 



