Origin of pottery manufacture

BEFORE commencing the Details of the Rise and Progress of the Art of manufacturing Porcelain and Earthenware in this district, now distinguished by the appellation of the STAFFORDSHIRE POTTERIES; we consider it proper, if not indispensible, to mention briefly such historical collateral facts, as tend to elucidate, in the absence of unquestioned data, the Origin of the Invention, its extensive spread among the most early families, and its preservation to the present day by some of those ancient nations, who are considered remaining branches of the earliest kingdoms.

Invention has always been regarded as the offspring of necessity. Its force and progress in manufactures, are in our days precisely the same as in the earliest times,— from Articles absolutely necessary, to those which are useful, convenient, elegant, and luxurious. And research has ascertained, that in its originating the most valuable and important Arts, the results have been either altogether unexpected, or the primary rude attempts to give palpability 'to the Model in the master's mind.'

The manners of mankind in the early ages, certainly were the most simple possible; their occupations were conducive to social comfortand convenience; and for the promoting of these, culinary utensils, alike requisite and suitable, would be objects of desire to the ingenious, long previous to the construction of the most simple Cottage. As the intellectual powers derive energy from exercise, we cannot help indulging the conjecture, that the Kindling of Fires, the Baking of Bread, the Formation of Butter and Cheese, the working of Metals, and the Burning of Clay into Bricks, were practices coeval with the want of these Articles by the human family. And, while, considered abstractedly, they illustrate the progress of Man in the developement of his faculties, mental and physical, to gratify his wishes, and to multiply and enhance his comforts, they also demonstrate that mankind never were in the imagined condition appropriately designated SAVAGISM.

Early Vessels 

There cannot be a doubt, that, in the earliest period of human society, Man would soon feel the necessity of possessing Vessels capable of receiving and containing any liquids he might desire to use for food, drink, or occasional refreshment; and also of preserving the superfluous quantity. Indeed, unless we admit that they possessed vessels of different kinds, by which they could convey the liquor to the mouth, we cannot readily account for the prevalent intemperance of the ancients.

Mention is very early made of employing the Skins of animals caught in the chase, for Bottles and Vessels; for which purposes, the important qualities of pliancy and infrangibility well capacitate them. Of their utility and convenience, the difference between our customs and those of the ancients prevents our being adequate judges; even allowing that they might at first appear unseemly to the eyes of Europeans.

The use of different utensils would be suggested by the wish to convey readily to the mouth the substance intended to be taken for refreshment. Hence the early employment of shells of tithes, and the stout rind, husk, or shell of certain vegetable productions; a practice continued to this day in some of the countries where historians regard man as having been at first created; and in the same manner as is the Calabash used now by the Negroes,of the West Indies. Conjecture is that Articles of this kind first suggested the excavation of pieces of wood, and even of stone, into requisite vessels.

The early use of Clay

In the infancy of Society, the pliancy and adhesive properties of Clay would be noticed, and suggest its application to various purposes. In Job, the most ancient author known, (B.C. 2247.) there is mention of the Impression of a Seal upon Clay, (xxxviii, 14.) At that period it was a custom, (preserved to the present time, in those countries,) for persons who deposited any substances in a store room, to place on the lock, or hinge, which kept close the cover or door, a lump of soft clay, on which there was impressed the owner's peculiar mark, as the moderns now use a Seal. See Nordern, part 1. p. 72; Pocock, vol. 1, 26. Matt, xxvii, 66.

After houses began to be erected, Bricks were very easily formed of Clay; and during a long series of ages, they were the chief materials used in the construction of Buildings. (Dr. Shaw's Travels, p. 172.) It was only about the time of David that marble was first introduced for the purpose ; and learned persons indulge the opinion, that the Ivory Palaces erected by Solomon and others, (B.C. 897,) were in fact structures of White Marble, (I Kings, xxii, 39, Amos, iii, 15.) History proves that the employment of this beautiful substance for the temples, in Greece, was about seven centuries prior to the Christian era, or cotemporary with the Babylonian Captivity.

Altho' there are very ancient records of the employment of vessels which we call Pottery and Porcelain, we are without any certain proofs by which to determine the era of the invention. Neither can we with propriety assert that the formation of these vessels from Clay was the invention of a moment; but the Art itself, however rude at its commencement, must have been well known at a period so extremely early that no traces could come directly down to us; and a long while previous to even the contemplation of a manufacture so elegant and complicated as our Porcelain.

We have somewhere met with a conjecture, and certainly not a very absurd one, that, from some Impression in Clay, originated the Art of Pottery. The first earthly receptacle for liquids may have been, the clay affixed to a lock, and dried by solar heat until it was sufficiently hard to retain the condensed dews of the night, or the drops from falling showers; or Bricks impressed while ductile with the footmark of some animal, which might be discovered tilled with water, from the causes just mentioned ; or that might remain after being burned, and be quickly found useful to contain whatever was put into the orifice. From hints more rude have equally important Arts originated and been perpetuated.

Utensils for domestic purposes

The facility with which ductile Clay can be formed into Bricks, and the hardness which it possesses after it has been burned, would soon suggest to those who used it, the application of it in forming various utensils for domestic purposes. The figure and size would accord with the purposes for which they were designed, and correspond to the maker's fancy; but the desire of ease would incite to the abstraction of all superabundant materials from the outside. The importance of the invention, and the simplicity of the principles, would excite in different persons the desire of understanding it; and cause them very speedily to attain some degree of excellence in the practice.— "I think (says Mr. Jacob Warburton,) vessels of Earthenware for the purpose of holding wine, oil, and other liquids, were more ancient than vessels of wood—they would be made with very great facility."

The early families were not the vulgar and ignorant Society — the mutum et turpe pecus, conjectured by some persons who aspire to the high and dignified appellation of Philosophers; but, were all certainly in the full use and possession of their intellectual faculties and physical powers; being only a few generations removed from the type of the family, that perfect man, first created and endowed as the Vicegerent of Deity.

The most ancient historians mention the Art as having existed from time immemorial; and some traces of it have been discovered in most of those nations which were early formed ; and remain with such of those now existing, as retain the civilization of the first ages. Hence we are warranted in concluding that it was practised among all the early families, and retained by them when they were dispersed 'abroad upon the face of all the earth.' (Gen. xi. 8.)

Egypt

The kingdom of EGYPT is believed to have been founded Two thousand two hundred years before the advent of the Messiah. This people, in their union of fable and fact, mention their knowledge and perfection in this Art, and also in the manufacture of glass, (LOYSEL, Art de la Veriere,  p.1.) at a very early period of their history. Their Instructor in these, and the various Mechanical Arts, for which they subsequently became famous, they state to have been Theuth or Thoth, (Phenician Taut, Greek Hermes, and Latin Mercury, See Philo-Byblius, Sanconiatho; Livy. lib. xxvi, Herod, lib. v. c 7. and Annius of Viterbrium.) most assuredly one of Noah's sons or grandsons; Goth thiot alt, signifying the lather of interpretation, and of his people;) Mercury being the scribe or amanuensis of Saturn or Noah, the father of all learning; the inventor of all arts, who gave them improved forms of speech, and introduced Letters for double communication.

It would be useless to enquire whether the Egyptians did or did not require considerable quantities of Pottery vessels; but Belzoni's researches indisputably prove that in very early times it was usual to manufacture them. The practice would be extended by the increasing demand for various domestic utensils; and in after ages, in the Upper Egypt, sufficient quantities were manufactured to supply all the Lower district with vessels for home consumption and exportation. (Dr. Clarke's Mariner's Observ. i. 90.) The vessels were so covered with a varnish, or size, as to be impervious to water; they were then connected similarly to a float; and afterwards passed down the Nile to Memphis, where the merchants received them. They were subsequently filled with water, and finally transported into the Deserts. (Beloc's Herodotus, lib. iii. §6.)

This people believed the doctrine of the transmigration of souls, and therefore Vessels containing spicery were used in their rites of sepulture, And it is very probable, that the vessels extracted from ancient barrows in our own country, had been deposited for purposes someway similar (Borlase's Cornish Antiquities, 236. Henry's History of Great Britian, ii 140) With the mummies have been often found figures, of one shape and size, covered with a blue glaze, much resembling the celebrated Blue Porcelain of the Chinese. If any authority may be attatched to the assertion of Praxiteles, figures of similar materials and formation, first suggested the execution of bronze and marble statues.

There is great probability that the practice of the Art had been extended to different portions of that people, prior to the regression of the Family of Jacob; (B.C. 1706, Gen. xlvii, 11.) for a many ages afterwards, when the Israelites quitted Egypt, Moses carried away with him correct knowledge of this Art, as well as of many other of the mechanical inventions. (Levit. vi, 28, Num. v, 17.) And there is no reason to suppose, that, among all that great multitude of industrious people, he alone understood and was able to direct their manipulations.

Chinese

The earliest Historical Records of the CHINESE, mention the existence of the Art, and its practice in both Pottery and Porcelain, in considerable perfection. In this Empire, and also that of Japan, during the five centuries immediately preceding the Christian era, were manufactured Earthenware of very superior qualily, and the elegant and delicate porcelain, (which Britons call China, from that nation.) tse-ki, formed from the argillaceous earth, by the Chinese called kaolin, in quality much like our China Clay, combined with the silecious stone called petuntse, same as our Cornish growan stone.

See Macquer's Dict. v. Porcelain, Bomare states that these eminently partake of the nature of our China Clay. 
Vauquelin's Analysis gives

Kaolin:        Silex 74, Alumina 16.5, Lime 2, Water 7.5.
Petuntse:    Silex 74, Alumina 14.5, Lime 5.5, Water 6.

This people are peculiarly remarkable for the care with which they have avoided all foreign intercourse; and thereby precluded every opportunity for strangers to make observations and collect information concerning their manufactures. Lather D'Entrecolles had to employ considerable cunning to obtain Specimens of the earths used. Some writers have asserted that the modern productions of this country are inferior to the ancient; but from inspection and comparison of the different very ancient and modern specimens, we are persuaded that little if any alteration whatever takes place in either the quality, materials, or process. The most accredited statements of recent Travellers, mention that at King-to-Ching, in the province of Kian-si, the various Articles for constantly employing five hundred furnaces, are prepared by eight hundred thousand workpeople.

The excellence and elegance with the perfection of the productions in Pottery by these nations, are calculated to induce the opinion, that in the practice of this Art, sooner than in any other, the early families of Mankind acquired great skill and dexterity.

Persian

During a long succession of ages, the PERSIANS have been well acquainted with and practised the various processes of manufacturing Earthenware and Porcelain of truly excellent quality. The Porcelain is formed of an argillaceous earth, which, by firing, becomes altogether like a pure enamel; this is combined with small pebbles, and Glass. The examination of fractured pieces gives a grain as fine in its particles, a transparency as clear, the enamel within and without as soft and pure, and the coating or varnish as exquisitely beautiful, as any of the productions of either China or Japan. Its tenacity is such that it will serve for pulverizing articles, and as it is not easily affected by alteration of temperature, it therefore is formed into utensils in which food can be boiled. There is mention of a vessel having been manufactured at Yezd, which weighed only the eighth part of an English Ounce, yet would contain six quarts of water. (Sir J. Chardin's Travels.) The victorious army of Pompey brought many porcelain vessels from Pontus to Rome. And Harmer, (vol. i. p. 75,) mentions that the King of Persia having been offered some Chinese Porcelain, by the Agent of the D.E. India Company, as a present, regarded it as so greatly inferior to the productions of his subjects, that he treated the offer with ridicule.

Origin of the name Porcelain

Some writers suppose the ware to be named Porcelain, from the Porteguese name of a Cup, porcellana; that people having first brought this production from China to Europe. Others regard it as a contraction of the French pour cent annees, from the supposition that their materials, were maturing 100 years prior to being used. But we prefer Whittaker's etymon, (vol. i. p. 55. 8vo. Account of Hannibal's Course over the Alps,) that the name Porcelain comes from the herb Purslain, which has a purple-coloured flower, like to the ancient china, which was always of that colour.— The English name, China, is evidently from the country whence it was brought.

With the Potters of Staffordshire there is a restricted employment of these words.—Pottery or Earthenware, and Porcelain or China. All are general terms lor a kind of manufacture consisting of certain mineral productions, on one and the same principle properly combined and amalmagated, and ultimately subjected to most intense firing, or baking

Porcelain, for its semi-vitrirication, requires the Silex and Alumina to be tolerably pure; and also for that glassy transparency and semipellucid lustre which constitute its chief characteristic. A large proportion of Silex is used; but the Alumina gives the consistence, which renders the mass ductile while soft; capable of being turned, on the lathe, to any shape, and of retaining its form when being fired or baked in the oven. The fusible materials require to be so adjusted, that only the most ardent heat can reduce them into the requisite state of vitrescence. Pottery seldom has the components in equal purity; they are also more fusible, and fewer in number; neither are they susceptible of the high polish and ornament which distinguishes Porcelain.

Phoenicians

The PHENICIANS (sic) doubtless were the most distinguished commercial people of antiquity. Near the centre of the south-east coast of the Mediterranean, were situated their most important marts, Tyre and and Sidon. The former is allowed to have been founded by Agenor, the grandson of Nimrod; and from Sidon being so constantly mentioned in connection with it, there is cause to believe that both ports were contemporaneous. From these were exported to the neighbouring states, considerable quantities of glass and earthenware

We must regard this people as really intelligent, when we reflect, that the computations requisite in their commercial transactions, rendered necessary an acquaintance with Mathematics; their attention to physical geography, and astronomy, caused them to be courageous mariners and enterprizing merchants, producing both wealth and information; and, their taste and genius in forming not only vessels, but figures of remarkable things and persons, while causing the study of sculpture, unhappily superinduced a fondness for Idolatry, that ultimately occasioned their total destruction. Wherever any of the tribes of this people made voyages or journeys for commercial purposes, they not only carried the manufactures themselves, but also information of the processes and manipulations employed. And, wherever they carried glass and earthenware, there will be found some remains of the subsequent practice of the Art.

Greeks

From this source we regard the GREEKS to have obtained their knowledge of this manufacture. And only on this supposition, can be accounted for, the ignorance of some of their writers concerning the nature of these productions; as Bellacensis and Fallopius; who called them Stones and Semi minerals.

Herodotus intimates the scarcity of vessels of Pottery among the Greeks, yet in his desire to augment the celebrity of his nation, he appears wishful to have it believed that his countrymen actually manufactured all the Earthenware demanded by the wants of the Egyptians and their neighbours. To those who reflect that Greece was of modern foundation, compared with Egypt and Phenicia, we need merely mention (to shew the error of the historian,) that to a native of Sidon, Cadmus, Greece owes Letters, and perhaps some of the Arts; and such was the general ignorance of that people, that only could their Philosophers obtain the required information in the proper kinds of Knowledge, by devoting a considerable portion of time to study in Egypt, Palestine, &c.

Etruscans

A colony of Phenicians settled at the foot of mount Vesuvius, in Italy, 1000 B.C. assuming the appellation of Etruscans; where they further improved their taste and workmanship under Demaratus, of Corinth, in 660. Here, in a large manufactory, and subsequently in smaller ones, in other parts of the country, they practised the Art with much successful assiduity, that the elegance and perfection of their productions, the taste displayed in the form and ornamental department, and the perfection acquired in the various processes, have scarcely yet been equalled; and obtained for the Potters every possible encouragement, at Rome, and the chief cities of that mighty empire.

Romans

W. A. Cadell, Esq. (Journey in Carniola, Italy, &c.) says among much useful and very interesting information on other of the Arts. — "Pliny observes that Etruria was the first country of Italy in which the art of pottery was practised, and that this art was afterwards carried to a state of the greatest perfection there; and particularly, that Arezzo was much celebrated for this kind of manufacture. 

The ancient Romans made much use of earthenware vessels, called Amphoræ, in which they kept their wine, although wooden casks were employed for the transportation of it from place to place, as appears by the representation of waggons loaded with wine on the column of Antoninus in Rome. 

In the city of Madrid, at present, wine is kept in earthen vessels, and not in casks. It is uncertain whether the antique earthenware vases, decorated with paintings on mythological subjects, were made in Etruria or not; but it is certain that most of them have been found in the kingdom of Naples, and in Sicily, After the revival of the arts in Europe, several ingenious artists in different countries improved the manufacture; Castel franco for instance at Faenza in Italy, in the beginning of the sixteenth century, manufactured the Majolica, ("the Italian word for earthenware,) decorated with designs after Raphael and Julio Romano, specimens of which are preserved in many collections. 

Other countries

In France, Bernard de Palissy, versed in the chemical knowledge of that age, made great improvements in the art of fabricating fayance. Bötscher an apothecary at Dresden, produced two or three different kinds of earthenware, one of which was of a brownish red colour, semivitrified, and so hard as to receive a polish on the lapidary's wheel, by means of which the pieces acquired a lustre equal to that of glazed pottery; cups and other vessels of this kind are to be seen in the Japan palace at Dresden. 

In the year 1709, the same Bötscher first, composed the white porcelain, in imitation of the Chinese, which is now manufactured at the King of Saxony's works at Meissen. 

Other manufactories of the same kind have since been established at Sevres, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Naples. Florence, Vicenza, in Staffordshire, and at Worcester, &c. The decomposed white granite of Limoges, an ingredient which forms the Basis of the French porcelain, as well as the decomposed white granite of Cornwall, are both found to be similar to the Kaolin of the Chinese; with this material, and a fusible stone found in Cornwall, and in other places in Europe, resembling the Chinese Petunse, a porcelain is formed, possessing exactly the same qualities as that fabricated in China. 

In Staffordshire the English stone ware is manufactured of white pipe clay, much lighter and better glazed than either the Italian majolica, or the French fayance; and in consequence of this superiority it has been introduced into most parts of Europe. Amongst those who have distinguished themselves in the manufactory of earthenware, is Luca della Robia, a Florentine Goldsmith and Statuary, born in 1388. He made heads and human figures in relief, and architectural ornaments of glazed earthenware, terra cotta invetriata. These figures were employed in the decoration of buildings, and many of them, the works of Luca della Robia, are seen in the Churches of Florence to this day. 

They are in a good style of sculpture, the colours of the glazing are white, blue, green, brown, and yellow. The art of making these figures of glazed earthenware, was taught by Luca to his brothers Attariano and Agostino, and was afterwards practised by Andrea his nephew; but the family became extinct in Florence about the year 1560, and the art was lost. 

Other artists in unglazed terracotta were, Andrea da Sansovino, master of the celebrated Sculptor and Architect Iacopo Sansovino, and Antonio Begarelli of Modena, whose works were highly praised by Buonaroti, as Vasari relates in his life. 

Stone ware, after the Staffordshire manner, and porcelain, of a pretty good quality, are made at Doccia near Florence, at the manufactory of the Marquis Ginori. The porcelain earth is not got in the country, but is imported from Vicenza. This establishment has now existed upwards of fifty years. Large vessels of red earthenware are made at Florence, and in other parts of Tuscany, for the purpose of holding oil and other things, some of which are four feet high. They are not made on the potter's wheel, but are formed of rolls of clay, built up one over the other, round a conical form of wood. The large oil jars are contracted at the mouth, and are made in two pieces which are joined whilst the clay is wet. Large earthen jars of this kind are also made in Spain as well as in Rome, and used instead of wooden casks.

The suggestion, that the Etruscans first acquired the Art from the Chinese we cannot favour, for that people took great care to prevent any foreigners benefiting; by their ingenuity; and, that there have not been offered any proofs of a communication existing between these distant people; which Sealiger is of opinion, never existed till after the fall of the Roman Empire.

Some writers have supposed the vessels brought to Rome at Pompey's triumph, and called vasa, murrhina, murrina, murrea, (Pliny's Natural History, lib. xxxvii. 2.) were species of precious stones, found in Parthia, of a whitish colour, and variously veined and variegated, so that in appearance they much resembled Porcelain. We are not informed how so many vessels of the same kind and material were found in one place. And both Scaliger and Cardan, who rarely are of the same opinion, agree that the Parthians early practised the manufacture of Pottery and Porcelain; and that these vessels are really of the latter description. There certainly is an error in supposing Porcelain to have been fabricated from pulverized sea shells mixed with eggs, and buried eighty or a hundred years. This may have been a size for the vessels; or the pulpy appearance of the clay may have been mistaken for beaten eggs; and the shells would improve the pottery by the small portion of lime added to the ingredients. The practice of long keeping it under ground to mellow, is occasionally adopted at the present time.

Sicily

Mr. Joseph Blackwell, of Cobridge, when recently at Caltagnone, found a person who manufactures toys of earthenware, made of brown clay, painted in oil colours, upon the bisquet which far surpass any thing of the kind he ever saw in this district; and he purchased two as specimens.— At Calazolo he saw Baron Judica's Museum, collected at an enormous expense of time and money, fifteen years, and great part of his fortune; having by excavations under much of the city of Acre, discovered a great variety of vessels of Pottery, in the highest state of preservation, which can be proved to have been fabricated from the 9th century B.C. to the 7th A.D. 

The early Sicilians were celebrated for skill in potting. The beauty of these vases are well known in Italy; and sometimes a very exorbitant price is obtained. For one the King of Naples lately gave 10,000 piastres, (£2200.) The Collection at Naples is superb, lor about, £50. J. B. could have picked up a collection, which would have been invaluable in the Potteries.

Americas

From modern researches on the Trans-Atlantic continent, there is sufficient information acquired to warrant the conclusion, that the Art has a long time been practised to considerable extent, by the natives of the countries up the Black River, and also up the Amazon, Ohio, and Mississippi; and from the remains of manufactories which have been discovered, there is reason to believe that great traffic in these productions must have been carried forward with the neighbouring countries. 

Two vases are extremely curious by well manifesting the first efforts of human ingenuity in practising a new invention. (Govenor Pownall's Narrative. Archæologia, vol. V. p. 318.) Some specimens very recently discovered in Ross county, are regarded as equal in quality and manufacture to any in Italy.

Merchants to Britain

The fact is indisputable, that the Phenician merchants traded to BRITAIN, for Tin. found only in the county of Cornwall, at a period at least two hundred and eighty-five years before the birth of Moses; and from this country were obtained all the supplies of tin for other nations. (Numb, xxxi, 22. B.C. 1456. 1 Kings, x, 22, B.C. 1000, Ezek. xvii, B.C. 600.) (Boye's Pantheon, p. 140. ref. 9. 6 edit.) 

In the way of Barter, did these merchants supply our ancestors with the various Articles in request, whether the productions of other nations with whom they had dealings, or the manufacture and produce of their own country. 

Among these, it appears proper to include Vessels of Pottery; because some yet remain, which are regarded as objects of peculiar interest, from their undisputed antiquity, tho' rude in construction, and irregular in ornament; and which are admitted to have been brought into England, many centuries prior to the Roman Invasion. 

Commercial interchanges render the nations of the earth reciprocally dependent on each other, in consequence of the transporting their produce and manufactures; — the sources of employment to millions of mankind, who thence are enabled to provide supplies for the temporal necessities and personal comforts of themselves and families.

Manufacture in Britian

The convenience of utensils of Pottery, and the ease and trifling expence with which they were fabricated, may be supposed to excite the Britons very early to attempt The manufacture of similar articles. When they first commenced the Art, cannot be accurately determined; but the remains of old potteries, which have been discovered in several of the counties of England, at different times, warrant the conjecture of the period being long anterior to any authentic historical records.

In taking down the (Nunnery Chapel) Church of Farewell, in this County, in 1747, to rebuild it, at an elevation of six feet, and several feet asunder in the south wall, were found three ranges of vessels of very coarse Pottery, covered with thin plaster; the mouths towards the inside of the edifice, and several feet distant; the size of the smaller was 6 in. high, 3 in. over the mouth, and 16½in. in circumference; the others were 11½in. high, 4½ at the mouth, and 24in. circumference. (Harmer's Erdeswick. p. 179.)

In the Philosophical Transactions, vol. xix. p. 319, is an interesting account of an Old Pottery, at Newton, very near Leeds, Yorkshire. Prior to the Christian era, vessels containing spices and other articles were deposited with the corpses of eminent persons; and urns, vases, and bowls have been extracted from barrows in different places in the kingdom.

An interesting Fact may here be mentioned.— At the mouth of the Thames behind Margate Sands, and in that part called the Queen's Channel, in consequence of fishermen's nets occasionally drawing up, off a shoal, coarse and rudely formed vessels of earthenware, on which was neatly impressd the name Attilianus; the public curiosity was awakened, and it was found, that about 200 years before Cesar invaded Britain, a small island was situated in that particular spot where now is the shoal, and on this was a small pottery, supposed to have been owned by the person whose name is so singularly preserved to posterity.

There is mention of Britain by Cellarius, Geography, p. 16; Julius Cesar. 186,204, Aristotle, De Mundo. cap. iii. p. 614.— Pliny mentions that Tin had been obtained from Britain, B.C. 1847; and if we may place any confidence in the opinion and research of Warburton, (Div. Leg. of Moses,) and the author of Egyptian Antiquities reviewed, our too-frequently disparaged nation was known among "the Isles of the Gentiles." (Gen. xi, 4.) B.C. 2200.

Altho Britain produces a great variety of clays, as well as all the other materials required in the fabrication of the best Porcelain and Pottery, yet as we do not possess any specimens of exquisite workmanship in these branches, there are no proofs that our ancestors were ever emulous to arrive at eminence in the manufacture. On this account, some persons have regarded the urns and vases as of Roman Origin; but we still incline to think, we may with equal propriety regard them as native productions. We cannot account for the prevalent desire to attribute all excellence to the information relating from intercourse with the Romans; and among the priesthood of the darker ages, this seems to have operated greatly, in disregard of the indisputable fact, that the Britons were a civilized people, before the Romans, or even their city had existence.

We cannot suppose that the early Britons had commercial connections similar to those of our day; nor equal fondness for manufacturing pursuits; nor that studied regard for convenience in domestic arrangements; nor that been perception of elegance connected with comfort, prevalent in the majority of families not of the lowest classes of society, for the last century so constantly progressive. We need not therefore wonder that they did not arrive at greater perfection in the art; for want of stimulus; for exquisite pieces of workmanship in sculpture were produced by the English Artists, proving the existence of adequate genius and skill; yet leaving the working in clay, probably as beneath their attention, or not any way in demand.