CROCKERY AND TABLE WARE 



147 



in colour, and the glaze, which comes down to the shoulder, 

 is of a yellowish tint. It has always struck me that the 

 name ' pill ' may have had some ancient connexion with the 

 pilgrim's bottle. These were generally flat : but a local anti- 

 quary tells me he believes it is only from the round shape. 



The pitcher or stout jug, glazed dark brown outside and 

 yellowish-white within, was from Sunderland or one of the 

 neighbouring northern potteries. 



At first sight it is a matter of wonder that so much 



Dorsetshire Pills 



earthenware from the north and middle of Eno-land should 

 have been in common use in early days in the southern 

 counties ; but it should be remembered that before the time 

 of railways, there was a cheap though slow means of com- 

 munication by canal barges. Another distant pottery, whose 

 ware was a favourite in the cottage and public-house till well 

 past the middle of the last century, was made at Bristol. This 

 capital ware, with its excellent ornament and pleasant colour- 

 ing of buff and yellowish brown, is now no longer made. The 



