Chap. III. from Muse 
The Body of Painters receive it next, and as flight 
“ as we make of them, for indeed they have no other 
“ Inftrudlor than Nature, yet it is very wonderful how 
“ much Care and Pains they take. One traces the 
Border, another gilds it, he who draws the Outlines 
“ of a Flower never colours it, one Hand paints Clouds, 
another Water, a third Animals, a fourth Infeds, a 
fifth human Figures, and fo on. Laft of all it ar- 
rives at the Furnace, and is committed to the Care 
of the Bakers *, neither are their Tafks lefs difficult 
than thofe of the other Workmen, for an exad 
‘‘ Knowledge of the Degrees of Fire, how to raife, how 
“ to diftinguiffi, how to heighten, how to reduce them, 
“ are requifite in thefe People, who poffefs wonderful 
“ Talents in their Way. 
“ Befides the five feparate Corps, which make up 
what may be Ailed, the regular Workmen in this 
“ Manufadure, there , are a Variety of Branches be- 
“ longing to it, that occupy as great a Number of Peo- 
“ pie, fuch as thofe who prepare the feveral Ingredi- 
“ ents, thofe that make the feveral InAruments and 
“ Tools that are required in the Progrefs of the Work ; 
“ thofe that diflil an Oil from traniparent Flints for 
“ the fuperfine China^ of which none comes to Europe 
‘‘ thofe that extrad and prepare the Colours, who are 
“ alfo exceeding skilful in their Way, are in- 
‘‘ comparable in their Preparations of Blues and Reds, 
“ and underAand perfediy the Art of compounding, 
“ fo as by a judicious Intermixture of the primary 
“ Colours, to produce all the reA with Truth and 
“ Beauty. After what has been faid, the Reader per- 
haps will not think it altogether incredible, when he 
‘‘ is told, that in Kim te tchim^ there are not fewCr than 
“ one thoufand Furnaces or Laboratories ; to each of 
“ which belong diAind Companies, of Workmen ; 
“ that the fettledTnhabitants amount to eighteen thou- 
“ fand Families •, and that the Number of Souls main- 
“ tained by, and depending upon this Manufadure in 
this Place, is computed to fall very little ffiorc of a 
Million. 
“ If this had been laid down Amply, and as a dired 
“ Matter of Fad, without premifing any CircumAan- 
“ ces, or bringing the Reader to refied on the Me- 
“ thod in which thefe kind of Works are carried on, 
it muA neceffarily appear a very improbable, if not 
“ a very incredible Affertion ; whereas now, when the 
Thing is better underAood, and we have fome kind 
“ of Grounds for our own Computations, it will wear 
“ quite another Appearance, and the clofer we look 
“ into it, the more we fliall incline to believe that thofe, 
“ who have affirmed this Fad, were neither impofed 
« upon themfelves, nor had any Inclination to impofe 
“ upon others. 
“Ht is allowed, that vaA Quantities of this Ware 
“ are exported annually to Europe^ which, like moA 
“ other Branches of their Commerce, muA be extreamly 
“ beneficial to the Chinefe^ who in Point of Oeconomy, 
“ muA be acknowledged the wifeA Nation upon the 
Face of the Globe : For though they love Magnifi- 
“ cence, are no Enemies to Plealure, and indulge Soft- 
“ nefs and Luxury to a very great Degree, yet what 
“ the French call their Police^ is fo extreamly well re- 
“ gulated, that thefe feldom or never create any Diffi- 
“ culties to the State, They encourage and work by 
“ European Patterns, from a very wife and judicious 
“ Notion of pleafing their CuAomers ; but befides the 
“ European Market they vend vaA Quantities of Por- 
“ celain elfewhere *, as for InAance, they fupply the 
“ whole Empire of Japan., they fend vaA Quantities by 
“ the Caravans info different Parts of Eartary^ they 
“ fupply all India and PerJI'a j and the Dutch and Por- 
tuguefe take off very large Afibrtments for the Eu- 
“ ropean Settlements in the Eafi-lndies, and for the other 
“ Countries Vv'ith which they trade. 
“ But notwithAanding this, the fineA, richeA and moA 
“ valuable China remains in that Empire, and is not 
“ exported at all, or at leaA very rarely •, there is par- 
“ ticularly a yellow China., which is deAined to the Im- 
“ perial Ufe, and is prohibited to all others, tho’ we 
are told, that the Grand Signior always eats out of 
VoL. II. N° 134. 
o V y to China. 943 
“ this kind of Porcelain ; but how he comes by it, is a 
Secret I have not been able fo penetrate. They 
“ have a kind of Crimfon China, which is very fine 
“ and very dear, becaufe great Qijantities of it are fpok 
“ Jed in the Baking. They have another Sort of a 
“ Alining White, purfled with red, which is done by a 
“ dextrous blowing the Colour through a Gawfe, fo 
“ that both the Infide and the Out is equally beautified 
“ with Crimfon Spots, no bigger than Pins Points, and 
“ this muA be exceffively dear, fince for one Piece that 
“ fucceeds, a hundred are fpoiled. They have China 
“ purfled in the fame .Manner with Gold, which is 
“ highly valuable for the fame Reafon. They have a 
“ kind of China, which by drawing Lines with a Hair 
“ Pencil, dipped in Oil of Flint, before it is varnifh- 
“ Cd, looks like Mofaic Work, or as if the China 
“ had been cracked thorough in a thoufand Places, and 
“ was fee together again without Cement. They have 
“ a kind of Violet colour’d China, with Figures com- 
“ pofed entirely of green Specks, which is done by 
“ blowing the Colour at once through a Figure pierced 
“ full of Holes, and this fucceeds fo rarely, that a very 
“ fmall Baffin is Vv'orth two or three hundred Pounds. 
“ They have a kind of white China, exceffively thin, 
“ with blue Fifhes painted on the Metal between the 
“ Varnifh, fo that they are invifible but when the Cup 
“ is full of Liquor. 
“ It is reported that the Secret of making this China 
“ is loA, and that vaA Sums have been fpent in endea- 
“ vouring to recover it. I muA confefs? I doubt much 
“ of this, as well as of another CircumAance univerfally 
“ believed, which is, that the old thick, and as the 
“ Chinefe very properly call it, filent China, becaufe 
“ though periedlly found it will never ring, is a Curio- 
“ fity not to be attained in our Days. Father Anthony 
“ Solis, a Portuguefe Miffionary, who refided forty 
“ Years in China, and died at Macao, wrote a Treatiffi 
“ which was never printed, though it very well deferved 
“ it of the Frauds of the Chinefe, and amongA thefe 
“ he reckons old China. He tells us, that no Country 
“ in the World abounds fo much with Virtuofi as this, 
“ and that thefe People, by giving high Prices for an- 
“ tique China, have brought it into great Credit, but 
“ that by the Help of a yellow Clay, Oils of feveral 
“ Kinds, fome of which are Metaliick, and laying the 
“ China for fome Months in Mud as foon as it comes 
“ from the Furnace, they produce the very fame Sort 
“ that is fo highly valued by the Vulgar, for being five 
“ or fix hundred Years old. But after all, it is a moA 
“ high Perfedion in this Ware, that it is capable of en~ 
“ during fo long, not only without Lofs, but with an 
“ Acceffion of Beauty •, for chough the LuAre of the Co- 
“ lours decay, yet this is more than compenfated by 
“ that Softnefs and Mellownefs, which refults from that 
“ kind of Fading •, and the Art of procuring this De- 
“ gree of Elegance in a ffiort Space, is a wonderful 
“ Proof of the Application, as well as Ingenuity of 
“ this Nation. 
“ There is but one Thing more that I lhall add to 
“ this Difeourfe, and that from the fame Author ; it is a 
“ Defeription of an ancient Painting making one Side 
“ of a Summer-Houfe, thirty three Foot in Length, and 
“ feventeen in Height, which feems to be a fingle and 
“ perfedl Plate of China, though it is certain, that they 
“ can bake nothing of any Thing like that Size in a 
“ Angle Piece. But upon a AricA Infpedlion, it appear’d 
“ to be a Wall made of China Bricks, the Face palnt- 
“ ed, varniflied, and thoroughly baked by a Fire 
“ raifed before it, and kept up a proper Time. It ap- 
“ peared by the HiAory of the Town, that the Alan- 
“ daryji, at whofe Expence it was done, failed twelve 
“ Times in the Attempt, and that this was the thirteenth 
“ Wall of this kind that had been erected. 
“ Every Trade in China has its peculiar Deity or ra- 
“ ther Idol, and therefore it cannot be fuppofed, tljat 
“ fo noble, fo gainful a Manufadlure fliould want one, 
“ and yet this was the Cafe for fome hundreds of 
“ Years ; at laA a bold Potter formed the glorious 
“ Defign of deifying himfeif, and giving his Profeffion 
a Protestor, as other Trades had. The FacA happen-' 
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