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GROUP OP ENGLISHMEN
(1795 to 1815)
BEI2STO- RBOOBDS OIF THIS
YOUNGER WEDGWOODS AND THEIR PRIENDS
EMBRACING THE HISTORY OE THB
DISCOVERY OF PHOTOGRAPHY
AND
A FACSIMILE OF THE FIRST PHOTOGRAPH

BY
ELIZA METEYAED
Author of
• The Life of Wedgwood ' ' The Hallowed Spots of Ancient London ' die.

LONDON
LONGMANS, GEEEN, AND GA0.
1871

TO

JOSEPH MAYEE, Esq. F.S.A.

OF LIVEHPOOL

THIS BOOK LS GRATEFULLY INSCRIBED.

PBEFACE.

In writing the ' Life of Wedgwood,' the great English
potter, I necessarily passed over many subjects of con
siderable interest. I indicated, rather than entered into,
those relating to its close and to the contingencies and
relations which stretched beyond. To have done
justice to this rich material I must have carried my
narrative beyond reasonable bounds ; it therefore
occurred to me to go steadily through the great mass
of Wedgwood documents and select all which was of
interest in relation to the period nearest to our own :
namely, the three decades — 1795 to 1825. Hence the
present volume. It concerns the sons of Wedgwood ;
but it concerns much more largely the eminent men
who were their friends and contemporaries, in whose
welfare they were interested and whose opinions they
shared. With the exception of the youngest, the'
sons of Wedgwood were but ordinary men*; the*;
belonged to that great majority who receive, but do
not give back, intellectual light ; and he whojpos-
sessed his father's highest characteristics of heartland
brain was for full twelve of his brief life of/thiriy-

viii PREFACE.
four years a confirmed invalid, incapable of much
mental or bodily exertion. Yet by his philosophical
speculations and scientific discoveries he clearly indi
cated what manner of man he was, and but for
physical inability he would undoubtedly have left his
mark upon his time. Even as it was his intellectual
and moral characteristics appear to have had an ex
traordinary attraction for others. He was venerated
and loved in an inconceivable degree, and in the
memoirs of many of his great contemporaries he is
frequently referred to, and yet so slightly that we
know that he lived, rather than realise an image of
the man. He is thus to our generation the shadow
of a shade ; and yet we owe' to him one of the greatest
discoveries of modern times — that of Photographic
Art. This fact I have now, I think, set beyond all
question. I have traced the link which connected the
Frenchman Dominique Daguerre with the elder
Wedgwood, and so onward as far as my materials per
mitted, till we end with the testimony of Sir Hum
phry Davy and James Watt, the great engineer. If
the letter descriptive of the processes of the ' silver
pictures' written in 1799 by Josiah Wedgwood the
second to Watt should yet be found, every doubt as to
the originator of this art must vanish ; but the family
of Thomas Wedgwood knew the discovery was his.
We ;,have the living testimony of their descendants to
that effect ; and the admirable fac-simile of the earliest
known heliotype or ' sun picture ' given in these pages
will add strength to that testimony. Mr. Mayer, whose

PREFACE. ix
property it is, derived it from an undoubted source ; and
many of these heliotypes were, it is said, scattered at
one time about the Potteries. Mr. H. Adlard, the
eminent steel engraver, has through the labour of
three distinct processes admirably rendered the original
heliotype; and Mr. Mayer — an authority in these matters
— thinks that it was the sun's copy of an etching by
Teniers, or one of his school. The cross hatching ofthe
original is visible, as also the spots or burr .peculiar
to these engravings. The Show-Eoom in York Street, St,
James's Square, tastefully dngraved by Mr. G. Pearson,
is taken from a coloured print published in the early part
of the present century. It was my hope to have added
the portraits of the two brothers — Josiah and Thomas
Wedgwood — of which exist a miniature of the one and
a chalk drawing of the other. But failing in my appli
cation to have them copied, I only hope that on some
future occasion, or from some other source, the portrait
of the latter may see the light. The world cannot be
indifferent to the features of a man who conferred on
it a new artistic power, and will like to see his ' fair
presentment,' even though indifferently worthy of him
whom it represents.
The history briefly stated of the remarkable mass of
documents and papers from which the largest part of
the material of the present volume, as also that of
the ' Life of Wedgwood ' is derived t will add a new
chapter to the Eomance of Literature. These papAs,
the property of Joseph Mayer, Esq., F.S.A., of Liver
pool, are, throughout both works distinguished as the
I

x PREFACE.
' Mayer MSS.' After the death of Josiah Wedgwood
the second, of Etruria in 1843, the vast mass of papers
which had been accumulating at the manufactory for
full seventy or seventy-five years were disposed of.
Enquiries were made, it is said, by more than one
admirer of Wedgwood's art, but nothing could be
heard as to whither they had been removed, or to
what use they had been turned. At length, in 1848,
accident, the Deus Machind, which often plays so
strange a part in the affairs of men, brought them, or
rather what was left of them, to hght in a manner most
unexpected. Mr. Mayer, a native of Newcastle-under-
Lyme, and already the earliest as the greatest collector
of Wedgwood's beautiful productions, on his way to the
Continent had occasion to be in Birmingham for a few
hours. As he was passing from one part of the town
to another, a heavy storm broke over ; and. looking
around for shelter, he saw he was on Snow-hill, the
scene of Matthew Boulton's early labours, but at that
date a neglected part of Birmingham. The nearest
place was a waste and scrap-shop, and through its
open door he entered. The outside was old, grimy,
and dilapidated enough ; the inside was worse. Piles
i^of scrap-iron, copper, and brass, and old waste of
every kind littered the floor ; and in the ancient
window coated with soot was a miscellaneous gathering
of ,waifs and strays. The battered oaken counter was
grimy too ; and as he passed up and down between it
and the door — for the sleet-rain descended in a heavy
shower — Mr. Mayer observed on one part of the

PREFACE. xi
counter a pile of ledger-like looking books, their backs
still thick as when filled with leaves, their outer edge
collapsed— because empty. Opening one of these, in
which a few leaves still remained, he saw to his great
surprise that the writing thereon related to the wages
of workmen at Etruria. Looking through other
volumes equally collapsed, he found they were all
business ledgers of this renowned manufactory.
'Why, my man,' he said to the grimy-looking
master of the shop, ' these old ledgers all concern
Wedgwood's business.'
"Ay, sir,' was the reply, ' they was thrown out of
'Trary a bit ago, after the death of the master — the
son of old Josiah — and I wish I'd more on 'em, for
the leaves be a useful size, and folks fancy their bits o'
butter and bacon all the better if wrapped in clean
writin'. The shops about here will take any amount
of this sort o' thing. They likes big sheets — it's more
convenient.' ' And have you more? ' asked Mr. Mayer with pro
found interest.
' More, sir ! ' replied the man in a tone of surprise ;
' more ! Why I may say, hundred-weights. But they
be small — letters, bills, and such like. The ledgers be
all done, and I fancy these small 'uns 11 never be
much use to me or any one.'
' Indeed ! Could I see them, my man — I am rather
curious as to old papers ? ' and, adds Mr. Mayer, ' thus
on the track of so much relating to th© great
Wedgwood, I could scarcely conceal my agitation.'

xii PREFACE
' See them, sir ! ay that you can. They're in the
loft above. For a gentleman it's a dirty place. ' Bill,'
— :and here the man called a lad from the rear of the
shop — ' show the gentleman up the ladder — and take
care, sir — the floor's uncommon rotten.'
' I followed the lad,' adds Mr. Mayer, ' up the ladder ;
and there, sure enough, piled up in mounds, filthy with
the accumulated dust of years, and with gaps in their
ranks as they stood, which only showed too well the
inroads which had been made upon them, even whilst
they stood here.'
The first paper which Mr. -Mayer drew from the
huge pile was the ' Inventory of the Goods ' taken in"
1787 by Flaxman to Eome, and of which a reduced
fac-simile is given in the ',Life of Wedgwood,' vol. ii.
p. 506. One or more papers which followed proved
equally interesting, though the light by which he
could examine them was so dim.
' Finding the richness of the prize,' continues Mr.
Mayej, 'on which I had thus unexpectedly laid my
hand, I determined, if possible, not to lose it. I quickly
descended the ricketty ladder, and under the before-
mentioned plea of my interest in old writings and
papers, I enquired of the owner if he would part with'
them.' ' Eight gladly, sir ; they're bits o' things, and not much
use to me, or to anybody I suspect.'
On this being said no further time was lost. The
great mass was weighed and sold at so much a
hundred- weight. A number of large second-hand deal

PREFACE. xiii
i
boxes were readily procured in the neighbourhood, and
when they were packed and their contents paid for,
they were carted to the Eailway-station, nor did Mr.
Mayer lose sight of them till they were safe on their
way to Liverpool.
Such is the history of these remarkable documents.
In their integrity, as they originally stood in the old
rooms of Etruria, they must have contained such
materials for the history of a great industry as were
perhaps never before collected together. As they now
are, it is very evident that great gaps have been made
in thfcir number by the destroyer's hand. Invariably
docketed, and made up sequently into bundles, the
great blanks here and there without purpose or order,
show that these lapses were the result of mere acci
dental position and not design. The earlier and some
of the later have suffered most. From what remains,
as in the case of a single modeller's bill for 1769, we
may judge that, had these papers been preserved to us
in their original integrity, we should undoubtedly
possess larger evidence of Bacon's, Flaxman's, and
others' early labours for the great potter. Still we
must be thankful for what are left. For many years
Mr. Mayer devoted all the leisure hours of his busy
life to the selection and arrangement of these papers.
The results of this labour are now cleaned and taste!
fully mounted; and of these, some thousands
number, I have made a general, as also a chrono
logical, index. The larger part, however, still retnain
in chaos, though I have gone through them fojlthe

xiv PREFACE.
purposes of this work ; and I am not without the hope,
should life be spared me, of ehminating a mass of
rubbish, and assorting and cataloguing what remains.
When this long task shall be accomplished, and
they are thus fitted for their final resting-place in
some Museum, I foresee that they will prove useful
in many directions of literary work. For instance,
in some future history of British Commerce, a history
not written after the old types, but on some such
plan and after such manner as Sir Erskine May's
powerful and lucid ' Constitutional History,' the
foreign letters will afford much general and useful
information in relation to tariffs, freights, duties, con
voys, and other analogous subjects.
Mr. Mayer concurs with me in all which appears in
this volume ; and in this respect it has likewise received
the sanction of an eminent critic. I have suppressed
everything which might be considered of a private
nature, though, at the same time I do not hold with
those who, to meet the purposes and feelings of the
narrowest conventionalism, would rob personal records
of every touch of nature and of truth. I could point
out collections of letters — letters of eminent men — which
have been utterly ruined by this expurgating process
carried to excess. And for what ? ' Truth,' says an
old law maxim, ' fears nothing so much as to be con
cealed ; ' and truth in all literary matters serves the
highest ends. We are all too prone to ignore the
things which lie around us, and the events and com
monplaces of daily life, whilst we busy ourselves with

PREFACE. ' xv
the past, or lose ourselves in the future. But the
generations who come after us will pry into that to which
we shut our eyes, and treasure that which we disregard.
Every word and trait which we can preserve of men
like Sydney Smith, S. T. Coleridge, Campbell, Sir James
Mackintosh, and other of their contemporaries, will be
as pleasant as precious to posterity ; and could our
forefathers have seen this preciousness of truth, this
realism of fact, as we occasionally see it, what might
not have been preserved of human histories dear to us ?
Could we recover some little fire-side conversations and
incidents of our Shakespeare and Milton, would they
not be worth all commentaries and criticisms ? More
over, the broadening out of human thought in all
directions should lead us to see the truth, that simplicity
of words and acts will be the result of a high civilisa
tion ; and that in a wider and wiser generalisation of
human life, its duties ahd effects, convention and its
littlenesses will no longer terrorize.
My little sketch of the old Shrewsbury doctors is
drawn from life. I recollect them as distinctly as
though they now stood before me, and their verbal
portraiture will, I hope, please some few of their many
admirers. One of my most vivid recollections of Dr.
E. W. Darwin is that when, on an autumn afternoon J
my father and I met him in his chaise in one of the'
valleys of the Longmynd or Stretton Hills. We were
staying at the house of my father's friend, John Mars|§n,
Esq., of Fellhampton, and had been led to this spotlby
one of my father's hobbies — that of tracing Watling

xvi PREFACE.
Street in these mountain districts, as he had done
elsewhere. The scene was one of those immortalised
by Sir Eoderick Murchison in his ' Siluria.' Vast rocks
in which were imbedded the organic remains of other
conditions of our globe ; wide slopes of turf dotted with.
ferns and bilberry bushes, a mountain brook foaming
and eddying over its rocky bed, and a true autumnal
sunset, made together a scene worthy of Claude or
J. M. W. Turner. The Doctor opened his chaise-door
and conversed for some minutes. This must have
been about the year 1827. Dr. E. W. Darwin was
an eminent provincial character, but he will be best
remembered by posterity for his felicity in having been
the son of a man of true genius — Erasmus Darwin, of
Lichfield, and the father of a son still more illustrious. —
Charles Darwin the naturalist.
I would make one self-correction. I have used the
name of Joseph Butler, Bishop of Durham, in connection
with Tar- water, and its fame as a universal panacea —
it should have been that of Bishop Berkeley. I must
also add, that I have been greatly indebted in this
volume, as also in the ' Life of Wedgwood,' to Joseph
Mayer, Esq., for the use of his collection of manu
scripts ; and to the Ven. Archdeacon Sandford, Miss
Finch, and — Edgeworth, Esq., Norwood, for the loan
of letters and papers.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
Manufacturino; Industry — Prospective Views of the chief Industrial
Leaders — The future of Soho and Etruria — The Heirs of eminent and
wealthy Men — Disadvantages of their Position — The Sons of Wedg
wood — Ability of the Youngest — Literary and Social Condition of the
Time. — Rise of young and eminent Men — Their Friendship with the
"Wedgwoods — Character of the three Brothers — Little known of their
Childhood — The Schools of Lancashire — the elder Wedgwood's Jour
neys to and fro— Intimacy of his Children with those of Dr. Darwin — •
Chemical Lectures— Journey to Bolton — Graphic Pictures of Machine-
breaking Mobs: — An Etruscan School — Debates as to Instruction in
Classics — Bentley a stout Classicist — Darwin and Wedgwood lose sight
of the Main Point — The French Tutor — School Programme — John
Wedgwood sent to Warrington Academy — The Collapse of that Insti
tution—Scholarship in Edinburgh — A Genevan Professor — Wedg
wood's Letter to M. Pictet — Proposes to send Thomas Wedgwood to
Rome — Webber's Arguments against it— John Leslie Tutor at Etruria
— The young Wedgwoods dislike Edinburgh — Lord Dundonald — Dr.
Black — Leslie's Memoir of Wedgwood — The Contest upon Leslie's
Election to the Chair of Mathematics vacated by Playfair . Page 1

CHAPTER II.
Importation of French Earthenware — Its Defects — Improved Skill of
English Potters reverses Balance of Trade — Rapid Increase of Exports —
Evasion of Restrictive Duties — Trade with France — Pitt's Treaty of
Commerce — Daguerre and Sykes — Daguerre's Incapacity as a Man of
Business — His Ruin of the splendid Consignments made to him — His
Contest with Wedgwood — Arbitration — Daguerre in London — Pro
bably at Etruria — Young Wedgwood i.,t this date employed in Exjj|ri-
ments on Light, Heat, and Colour — His Love of Philosophical Specula
tion — Corresponds with Priestley — Papers appear in the ' Philosophical
Transactions ' — Edgeworth and Thomas Wedgwood confer as to Im
provements in the Ventilation of Prisons — Staffordshire Bowmen— J

viii CONTENTS.
Marriage of Josiah Wedgwood the younger — Dr. Beddoes— Researches
in Pneumatic- Chemistry— Pneumatic Institution at Clifton — The
elder. Wedgwood's Contributions to its Establishment — Watt invents
an admirable Apparatus for the Administration of Medicated Air —
His Correspondence with Beddoes — Death of Josiah Wedgwood the
elder — Etruria becomes a Place of the Past . . . Page 39

CHAPTER ITI.
Removal of Wedgwood's Show-rooms from Greek Street, Soho, to
York Street, St. James's Square — Spaciousness of the Premises — Fine
Objects shown there — The Rendezvous of eminent Men — Progress
of the Pneumatic Institution — Thomas Wedgwood a Patient— His
Faith in the ultimate Value of Pneumatic Chemistry as a Branch of
Science — The Predilection of the Staffordshire Potters for the South
of England — The Cause of this — Bristol— Coleridge and Southey —
Coleridge's Introduction to Thomas Poole of Nether Stowey — Poole a
- Tanner, and a Man of extraordinary Parts — His Friend Mr. Purkis —
De Quincey's Opinion of Poole — The ' Watchman' — Coleridge's Journey
through the Midland Counties — His Settlement at Nether Stowey —
Wordsworth to his Sister — Description of Coleridge — The Words-
worths at Alfoxden — Its beautiful Neighbourhood — Suspicions of the
Tory Squires — Information sent to the Government — Cottle's Visit —
Thomas Wedgwood at Nether Stowey — Humphry Davy — Thomas
and Josiah Wedgwood pass a Winter at Penzance — They assist Davy
— Mr. Giddy, afterwards Gilbert — Davy introduced to Beddoes — His
Removal to Bristol — Mr. Wedgwood and Mr. Lambton generously
aid the Pneumatic Institution — The Fictitious Gases — Their Effects —
Character of Beddoes — Great Ability as a Physician — Frogs — Failure of
the Institution— Philosophic Toys— Coleridge's Necessities — Preaches
— Offers his Services to the Unitarians at Shrewsbury — Refusal of
100/. — Memorable Sermons — Hazlitt present at the first — Accepts an
Annuity of 1501. per annum for life, and Quits the Ministry — Thomas
Wedgwood in search of an Estate — His continuous Illness and Depression
— Both Coleridge and Wordsworth visit Germany at his Expense — In
Somersetshire— His Letters — Buys Castle Florey — His female Servant
—His Domestic Projects— Proposed Sale of Etruria Hall — A Step to
be regretted — The elder Mrs. Wedgwood in Somersetshire — Thomas
Wedgwood again a Wanderer  62

CHAPTER IV.
Thomas Wedgwood in London — A Benefactov to Godwin — Purchases
the Estate of Gunville, in Dorsetshire, but transfers it to his Brother
Josiah — Voyage to and return from the West Indies — -Still ill; yet
consulted occasionally on difficult matters connected with Manufac-

CONTENTS. xix
turing Processes at Etruria — The Scenery and Climate of Bermuda
referred to by Basil Montague — Invites Thomas Wedgwood to
Cambridge — A Letter from Poole — Sale of Castle Florey in Somer
setshire — Basil Montague in respect, to Lane, a Barrister — The
-Bounty and Good Nature of the Brothers Wedgwood encroached
upon — Montague's Literary Projects — Coleridge and Jeremy Taylor —
Letter from Poole — -Somersetshire Cyder — A noble Relic worthily
enshrined — Young Wedgwood's Hypochondriacism — Consults Drs.
Baillie and Cline — Plans a long Continental Tour — Seeks a Com
panion — Difficulties connected therewith — Poole's Letter — Refers to
Thomas Wedgwood's Metaphysical Work — Willmott as Steward —
An extremely worthy and able Man — Increase of Thomas Wedgwood's
Illness— Goes abroad — Calais and Bruges .... Page 112

CHAPTER V.
Mr. Thomas Wedgwood at Brussels — His foreign Servant — Cheapness
of living at Brussels — Want of a Companion — Desponding Travels on
Horseback — Longs to be again with his Family — Exceeding Love for
Children — Likes the Flemish — Probably meets Poole in Paris, and
accompanies him to Switzerland— Glimpse of Sir James Mackintosh
— On Circuit with Basil Montague— Poole's History of Willmott —
Originally a Silk Throwster— Receives" little Benefit by his Father's
Will, and turns Farmer after due Attention and Practice — Willmott's
Eligibility not to be questioned — Thinks he could not well divide his
Attention between Gunville and Etruria — Letter from Leslie — Pro
poses to visit Etruria — Thinks Thomas Wedgwood's Case a hopeless
one — The ' Silver Pictures ' — Watt proposes to make Experiments—
Not a Particle of Likeness between them and the ' Soho Pictures ' —
Related neither by Processes nor Time — Davy's Lectures on Chemistry,
illustrated by fine Specimens of Wedgwood Ware — Paper on the
Heliotype Processes in the Journals of the Royal Institution — Wedg
wood and Davy's Experiments not successful — Two original Helio-
types — -Daguerre Dead at this Date — His Son, without doubt, the
Daguerre of 1824-8— Mackintosh and his procrastinating Habits —
Long in writing the Epitaph for Flaxman's Monument of the elder
Wedgwood — Thomas Wedgwood again in England — Beddoes' Pre
scriptions not salutary — Goes into South Wales with Coleridge —
Shoots, and is delighted, but soon wearies— -Renewed Despondency —
Coleridge as a Companion— Renewed Mania for the Purchase of
Estates  137

CHAPTER VI.
Variety and Perfection of the elder Wedgwood's Works — The later
Modellers — Theed, Westmacott, and Wyatt — Porcelain maife at
Etruria — Beauty of its Painting — Difficulties and Hindrances of

x CONTENTS.
Foreign Commerce — Imports into Italy prohibited— French Pro
hibition—Frankfort Fair — The Barberini Vase again lent by the
Duke of Portland— A Copy sent to the Republic of France — Ac
knowledgment of its Receipt by the Minister of the Interior — Mr.
Byerley's two eldest Sons educated in Germany — Mr. Josiah Wedg
wood's Removal from Stoke House, Cobham, into Somersetshire and
Dorsetshire — Non-resident in Staffordshire twenty Years — Need ofthe
Master's Eye — Mr. Byerley not a trained Artist or Potter — Deficiency
in Taste of new Ornamental Goods — Mr. Wedgwood's Life at Gun-
ville — Field Sports, Planting, Farming — Turnip Husbandry and Im
provement in Breed of Sheep — Agricultural Associations — Sir Joseph
Banks — Cranbourn Chace — Its Disfranchisement proposed — Evils
generated by Waste and Forest Rights — Eastbury — Josiah Wedgwood
Sheriff of Dorsetshire — Prejudices of County Nabobs — Illustrious
Visitors to Gunville — Simplicity and Retiredness of Life — Letter to a
Governess — Difficulties with Workmen at Etruria — Contest about a
Book of Mixtures — The Greatbaches and Hackwoods — The young
Byerleys at Etruria — Wild proceeding of the second Son — A Cadet-
ship procured for him through the Interest of Lord Auckland — Mr.
Byerley's Honesty of Purpose — Afflicting Sentiments — The Hollands
— Childhood of Sir Henry Holland — Related to the Wedgwoods and
the Darwins — A few Facts worth preserving — Foreign Apprentices
and Commissions  Page 167

CHAPTER VII.
Coleridge — Opium taking— Receives large Sums from the Wedgwoods
— Professes a Desire, which has no Reality, to go abroad with Thomas
Wedgwood — His childish complaining — His Opinion on Life — A
Supply of Indian Hemp or Bang — Mr. Thomas Wedgwood goes
abroad — Soon returns — His great Liking for Thomas Campbell— De
spondency — His Letters mere Fragments — Hazlitt — Coleridge renews
his Offer of Companionship — Goes to Malta — Poole and Rickman —
Francis Horner — Volunteering — Chapel in York Street — Manufactur
ing Reforms needed at Etruria— Elegant Articles at this Period — A
curious Suggestion of Bramah, the Mechanist — Poole — Improvements
in the Breed of Sheep — Female Friendly Societies — Poole's Book-
room at Stowey — Thrashing Machines — Poole's Ideas on Education—
Willmott at Etruria — Chisholm still delights in Science — Improve
ments in the Pyrometer — Mackintosh's Letter from Bombay — Young
% Byerley— Law Reforms— Invites Thomas Wedgwood to India . 208

CHAPTER VIII.
The Grammar School at Ottery — George Coleridge— Poole's high
Opinion of him — Printed Ware first made at Etruria — Interesting
Particulars of William Wood the Modeller— Manufacturino- Reforms

CONTENTS. , xxi
— Robert Waring Darwin — Settles as a Physician at Shrewsbury —
An admirable Centre for Medical Practice — The mediaeval Aspect of
the Town — Dr. Withering — Dr. Darwin's House — Beauty of Situa
tion — He marries Miss Wedgwood — His Taste for Botany — Kindness
to Animals — The 'Mount' Pigeons — Dr. Darwin's medical Fame —
His great Practice — Always in his Chaise — His Appearance — His
Unostentation and Benevolence — His Love of Children — Dr. Dugard
of the Salop Infirmary visits Thomas Wedgwood in Dorsetshire —
Mrs. Darwin's Letters — Letter of James Watt, junior — Pressgangs
— A Steward's Letter — Mrs. Drewe — George Coleridge's Pedagogue-
ship — Thomas Campbell — His high Opinion of Thomas Wedgwood —
Seeks a Companion for him — Applies to Benjamin Thorpe, who
declines — A Mr. Standert selected — Preparations for a Voyage to
the West Indies closed by the sudden Death of Thomas Wedg
wood  Page 244

CHAPTER IX.
Campbell and Thorpe on Thomas Wedgwood's Death — Dr. R. W.
Darwin on the same Subject — Love of Children and Benevolence—
His Legacies — Peter Holland — Sydney Smith — Poole and a Mourning
Ring — Last Conversations — Metaphysical Essays — Farming and
Philosophy — Neglect of Sir James Mackintosh — Coleridge and Leslie
—Thomas Wedgwood's Essay on Our Notion of Distance — Josiah
Wedgwood to Mackintosh — Mackintosh to Wedgwood — Mrs. Cole
ridge's Letter— George Coleridge in relation to his Brother — Francis
Horner — Preparations for leaving Dorsetshire — Francis Wrangham —
Wardenship of Dulwich College — Henry Holland in Edinburgh —
His Agricultural Survey of the County of Chester — Sale of Gunville
— Willmott— His Valuable Services — Poole on Vaccination . 283

CHAPTER X.
Poole's Letters — His Dislike to Bonaparte — Regrets profoundly Coleridge's
neglect in writing Thomas Wedgwood's Life — Wool Trade — Cornish
Mines — Literary Materials sent to Sir J. Mackintosh — Poole's Work
on the Poor Laws — Bark and Leather — George Coleridge— Sickness
in his School — Mr. Wedgwood's Generosity — Poole's Description of
S. T. Coleridge and his Children — Whitbread's Educational Schemes.,,
— Coleridge's Letter fromBridgewater — His Trial ofthe Bath Waters— '¦'
The Portland Administration — The Life of Colonel Hutchinson —
Badness of Trade — Coleridge's Lectures — Davy's Analysis of Water
— Exports to America — Decorations on Table Ware — A Swindler —
Pastile Burners for the Bishop of Winchester — Interesting Notice of
Aaron Steel — His Vase Painting — Irish Trade — Warehouse^" in
Dublin— Mr. Byerley's Remarks on Bentley — These valuable, -to

xii CONTENTS.
Connoisseurs— Richard Lovell Edgeworth — Proposes to make his Son
a Potter— Mr. Wedgwood's Opinion— Orders in Council— Henry
Brougham— The Fate of Eastbury  Page 314

CHAPTER XI.
Godwin and his Necessities — Opens a shop for the sale of Children's
Books— A Subscription raised — Eailure of his Scheme — His work on
' Political Justice ' — Mrs. Darwin's Letters — Beautiful Pottery from
Etruria — Death of Mrs. Darwin — Dr. Darwin and his Daughters —
His Medical Contemporaries — Dr. Beddoes — His Merits as an Experi
mentalist — Peter Holland — His Son Henry — The Report on the
Agriculture of Cheshire— Highly commended— His Medical Studies —
Cobalt and its Mysteries — Poole's Letters— Spanish Sheep — Govern
ment Enquiry as to* Wool — Planting Apple Trees— The Malt Tax —
Poole's enlightened Views — His Admiration of the Scenery and Soil of
Cornwall — Events in Spain — His Labours in relation to a new Poor
Law — His Character and Scientific Tastes — Willmott's Return to
Etruria^ — Death of Chisholm — George Coleridge — His difference with
his Brother, S. T. Coleridge — Basil Montague — His Friendly Offers —
Mrs. Drewe — Death of Francis Horner— The Misses Allen of Cresselly
— Mr. Byerley — Proposed Removal of his Family to York Street —
Probably not carried out — His Anxieties and Death — Hospitality at
Maer — The Visits of Sydney Smith and others — The last of York
Street — Conclusion  352

LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS.
Facsimile of the earliest known Heliotype or ' Sun-picture,' taken by
the Inventor of Photography, Thomas Wedgwood, in 1791-1793 Frontispiece.
Show-room, York Street, St. James's Square, from 1796 to 1829
'i- to face page 63

A

GROUP OF ENGLISHMEN.

CHAPTEE I.
Manufacturing Industry — Prospective "Views of the chief industrial
Leaders — The Future of Soho and Etruria —The Heirs of eminent and
wealthy Men — Disadvantages of their Position — The Sons of Wedg
wood—Ability of the Youngest — Literary and social Condition of the
Time — Rise of young and eminent Men — Their Friendship with the
Wedgwoods — Character of the three Brothers— Little known of their
Childhood — The Schools of Lancashire — The elder Wedgwood's Jour
neys to and fro — Intimacy of his Children with those of Dr. Darwin—'
Chemical Lectures — Journey to Bolton — Graphic Pictures of Machine-
breaking Mobs — An Etruscan School — Debates as to Instruction in
Classics — Bentley a stout Classicist—Darwin and Wedgwood lose sight
of the Main Point — The French Tutor — School Programme — John
Wedgwood sent to Warrington Academy — The Collapse of that Insti
tution—Scholarship in Edinburgh — A Genevan Professor — Wedg
wood's Letter to M. Pictet — Proposes to send Thomas Wedgwood to
Rome — Webber's Arguments against it — John Leslie Tutor at Etruria
— The young Wedgwoods dislike Edinburgh — Lord Dundonald— Dr.
Black — Leslie's Memoir of Wedgwood — The Contest upon Leslie's
Election to the Chair of Mathematics vacated by Playfairt
The rapid and steady growth of English manufacturing
industry during the last half of the eighteenth century
produced many results of a character new and unfore
seen by its chief promoters. Apart from their varied
and high capacity in adapting means to ends, the result
of which was proved by the creation of many colossal;,
private fortunes, and a great increase of individual pros
perity and national wealth, the majority of these were
simple, homely men, whose chief ambition, without
B/

2 THE FUTURE OF GREAT MANUFACTORIES.
doubt, rested on the hope that the great industrial
centres they had created would be carried on, in
efficiency, after their decease, by their immediate de
scendants and heirs. In all probability there was a
period when Boulton and Watt contemplated as great,
if not a greater, future for Soho, under the guidance of
their respective sons, as that which they themselves had
created and witnessed. But death struck down young
Gregory Watt, the most hopeful of the great engineer's
children ; and thus the future of Soho was, so long as it
lasted, a sleepy decline ; being upheld rather by the
traditions of the past than by any genius or business
capacity of those who had succeeded. Arkwright left
inheritors of his name, but none of his ability ; and the
first Sir Eobert Peel hved to see his intellect reproduced
in the new and higher direction of politics and legisla
tion. Wedgwood, who was too prudent, too well ac
quainted with commercial risks, and who saw as clearly
as any man of his time that, till some measure of Parlia
mentary Eeform had secured a better representation of
the people, misgovernment and its effects must con
tinue and increase, seems never to have indulged in
any unwise and sanguine dreams of the future greatness
of Etruria. He took for granted that it would be
carried on by his sons, and he rather favoured than
not their initiation in the arts of the scientific and
artistic potter. And so long as he hved two at least
of them, guided by his influence and example, were in
every sense partners and able assistants. But when
the master-hand dropped, the bow, too long under
tension, rebounded. The one son, already stricken
with the hypochondriacism and restlessness of incurable
disease, sought relief in a constant change of scene and
varied companionship ; and the other, led in a degree

THE SONS OF REMARKABLE MEN. 3
by his example, purchased a great estate in Dorsetshire,
and for a few years appeared in the new character of
a landlord and country squire. As was natural, the
Staffordshire interests suffered from this absenteeism ;
and it was not till their head had returned to his native
soil that these interests revived. Nothing, perhaps,
short of national ruin could have irretrievably injured
the vast commercial business which Josiah Wedgwood
the elder had founded, or deprived the wares manu
factured at Etruria of their universal fame; but for
many years the prosperity of Etruria declined, and it
was left to another age and generation to revive and
give progress to the varied branches of that noble
handicraft which beauty and utility combined had
rendered famous.
Judged of from a philosophic point of view, there is
nothing surprising in the fact that the immediate heirs
of great men should possess less energy, or display far
less ability in the direction which led their fathers to
success. The latter were representative men, endowed
with the forces which are essentially creative. Ideas
stood foremost with them, and to realise these in effects
— for enthusiasm shuts out personality — was a passion
that overruled every difficulty. But the process is an
exhaustive one. Body and mind alike suffer. A man
cannot give that which he has bountifully spent.
Hence it is that genius so rarely reproduces itself ; or,
if it does, it is in a direction divergent and wholly new.
The process is analogous to that which we find in*the
culture of the -soil ; rest, change of products, and the
supply of those materials which productive energy has
exhausted, are necessary to renewed fertility. It is
also to be observed, that such ceaseless labours of body
and mind as representative leaders find it necessary to.
B 2

A RICHES RARELY AN ADVANTAGE TO THE YOUNG.
bestow, if conceptions, alike beneficial to the individual
and to communities, are to be effectively realised,
produce diseases, which, transmitted to their offspring,
counterbalance, and often far more, their inheritance of
honour and riches, Indeed, as thoughtful and culti
vated men begin to perceive,1 the possession of large
fortunes at that period of youth when energy, self-
denial, and industry should build up character, is, in
too many instances, an evil rather than a good.2
Deprived of those stimulative motives which led their
fathers to success, young men fritter away existence in
a manner purposeless, if not evil. There are necessarily
exceptions to this rule as to all others. Some men
stand better for a firm foundation, and make it the
vantage ground to still higher purposes and results.
Such was the use made of splendid opportunity by the
second Sir Eobert Peel. He became one of the most
illustrious statesmen of his time ; and his courage in
avowing more liberal opinions, and in aiding their
advance at a critical period of social change and
national, progress, was significant of the moral force
which had built up the physical and social inheritance
he used so well. In countless other directions wealth
and ability combined are great utilities. The pursuits
1 This opinion is admirably stated in an able little work, The Organi
sation of Charity, by W. Rathbone, Esq., M.P. for Liverpool.
2 Beutley seems to have entertained this opinion in relation to Wedg
wood's sons, and to have spoken frankly on the subject. In reply, the
latter wrote : ' You may be a true prophet with respect to my boys being
spoil'd for the exertion of their own facultys, if they are enabled to pur
chase the fruits of other men. But, if I continue long enough amongst
them, I will endeavour — and I am sure you will assist me — to give them
so much pride and unquietness of spirit that they shall not be content
with anything other people can do for them, if they have not a hand in it
themselves. They promise well in these respects at present, and I hope
the good dispositions will continue and increase.' — Wedgwood to Bentley,
December 29, 1777: •

THOMAS WEDGWOOD. 8
of science require, in many instances, wealth and patient
elaboration ; and a money-power may, without osten
tation, exert as much influence upon a given literary
period, by the indirect methods of advocacy, friend
ship and association, as patronage and unblushing
dedications in one age, or partial criticisms in another.
If the sons of Wedgwood, inheriting great wealth, and
with it the idiosyncrasies sprung from their father's life
Of incessant toil,- did not carry forward with the same
vitality the peculiar works which had given him fame,
they spent a large portion of their wealth nobly ; and
one of them at least possessed high ability and scientific
tastes, and proved his possession by his papers on Light
in the 'Philosophical Transactions,' and by practically
unfolding the first germs of photographic ark Had
health and longer life been his, there is reason to think
that his habits of profound thought arid patient investi
gation would have led to results anticipative of some of
the brilliant scientific discoveries of a later day. With
far less physical power than his father, the mental
power proved its originality and strength by its very
divergence into new tracks of analysis and experi
ment. In all else— in simplicity, truthfulness, breadth of
thought, and benevolence — Thomas Wedgwood was, as .
his brother wrote long after, 'a son worthy of his father.'
The period through which his -scientific and social
tastes ran — namely 1790-1 805-j- was one in which
change, long preparing, was visible in all directions.
Many of the old landmarks of thought, opinion, and.
fact were in process of removal, and the new were
little more than indicated. Prose literature, recently
escaped from its Johnsonian fetters of style, gave rather
the promise than the reality of its new strength and
influence. Poetry, which in the hands of Hayley and '.

6 LITERARY AND SOCIAL CHANGES.
the Delia Cruscans, had reached the last stage of im
becile inanity and commonplace, was indicating by the
poems of Cowper and Crabbe, and the earlier ones of
Bowles, Southey, Coleridge, Wordsworth, and Camp
bell, its innate wealth and force, when it seeks to
express in simple and natural language the emotions
of the heart and the variations of thought. German
literature was active in its influence through the trans
lations of William Taylor and others. The progress
and results of mechanical invention were producing
great social changes. The towns were beginning to
encroach upon the country, and everywhere the same
law prevailed, which associates activity and enterprise
with a spirit of political progress. The contest with
America had shown that colonists, if brave and in
dustrious, have nothing to fear from the aggressions of
the parent state ; and the overthrow of tyranny in
France, in that outburst of human indignation of which
the world had then known no parallel, had proved that
there is a limit to the infamy of rulers and to the suffer
ings of those they coerce. Both events gave an im
petus to freedom of thought and action. The old effete
Whiggism of the days of Walpole was dying out, and
younger men now rising into notice in literature and
at the Bar, and destined to exercise an important in
fluence upon the tone of public thought and action,
were quick to perceive that wide social and political
reforms were needed. They wrote and spoke fearlessly
to that effect ; and men of their own age, taste, and
cultivation, shared their opinions and sought their
friendship. The sons of Josiah Wedgwood were, like their
father, Unitarians in religious faith and Whigs in
political opinion. From their boyhood they had been

RISING MEN. 7
accustomed to the society of literary and scientific men ;
and, alike wealthy and influential, it was natural that
they should be drawn within this circle of new and
powerful thinkers. For after the death of their father,
their visits to and residence in the metropolis were far
more frequent ; and here it was they made the acquaint
ance of Sydney Smith, Mackintosh, Basil Montague,
Francis Horner, Henry Brougham, Francis Wrangham,
Thomas Campbell, John Stuart of the ' Courier,' and
others ; whilst with Coleridge, Wordsworth, Dr.
Beddoes, and Thomas Poole of Nether Stowey, their
friendship was still more intimate. The London ware
house had been removed, as we shall see hereafter,1
towards the close ofthe year 1796 from Greek Street,
Soho, to York Street, St. James's Square; and this
became the central spot where this group of able
Englishmen gyrated, as it were, round the lesser and
fading light of Thomas Wedgwood, and his brothers
Josiah and John.
The three sons of Josiah Wedgwood, the famous
English potter, were born respectively in 1766, 1769,
and 1771— Thomas, the youngest son, in May of
the latter year. Except for a few scattered notices
in their father's letters to Bentley, and a remark here
and there in those of Dr. Darwin, we know little or
nothing of their childhood. Each son inherited^ as it
were, a distinct phase of his father's character. John,
the eldest, the more utilitarian and prosaic; Josiah, /<
the resolute though courteous, as shown in his father's
contests with respect to the Trent and Mersey naviga
tion, the Irish Propositions, and the Commercial Treaty
with France ; and Thomas, that highest aspect Of his
1 Supra, p. 63.

8 BOYISH CHARACTERISTICS.
father's intellect, the love of experiment and abstract
thought. Yet so little in reality did ' childhood show
the man,' that Josiah was looked upon as the phi
losopher in embryo, and Thomas as the humourist
of the group. - Josiah is a boy of great abilities, and
httle Thomas has much humour,'1 wrote Dr. Darwin to
his friend on one occasion of the children's visit to Lich
field ; and Wedgwood's judgment was much the same.
Writing to Bentley in relation to the family picture to
be painted by Stubbs, he says : . . . ' The pendant
(picture) to be Jack standing at a table making fixable
air with the glass apparatus, &c, and his two brothers
accompanying him ; Tom jumping up and clapping
his hands in joy, and surprised at seeing the stream, of
bubbles rise up, just as Jack, has put in a little chalk to
the acid ; Jos, with the chemical dictionary before him,
in a thoughtful mood ; which actions will be exactly
descriptive of their respective characters.' 2
Mrs. Wedgwood's frequent illnesses during the child
hood of her eldest children seem to have necessitated
their being sent at an early age to boarding-school. It
was at that day also more a custom than it is at present ;
and the schools fixed upon lying away in the towns of
Lancashire, we find Wedgwood journeying to and fro
in charge of them. Whatever were his other engage
ments — Navigation Committees, or the labours connected
with vast orders for the Eussian, American, and Conti
nental markets — we find him, as the Christmas or
Midsummer holidays approached, on horseback or in
postchaise, on his way to Hindley or Bolton. At first
his two eldest boys were sent to the former place to
school, and on one of his excursions to fetch them for
1 Darwin to Wedgwood, December, 1779.
a Wedgwood to Bentley, May 30, 1779.

WEDGWOOD'S JOURNEYS WITH HIS BOYS. 9*
the Midsummer holidays, he thus officiated as guide to
the then newly-finished beauties of the Grand Trunk
Canal. ' I left home yesterday and got here (Worsley)
at night ; my brother Jack1 and nephew Tom accompany
me. Our errand is to fetch the children home, and
meet Mr. Brock at Manchester, and as I love to give all
possible variety to these jants,, for the entertainment
Of both myself and friends, I have sent for the boys
early this morning to meet us here, and have begged the
Use of his Grace's boat to Manchester, and the day being
fine we shall delight the young folks exceedingly with
the sail, and it will not displease the Older part of the
company.' 2
In the succeeding year (1774) young John Wedgwood
was removed to Bolton to the care of the Eev. Phillip
Holland, a Unitarian minister, and probably some
relation to Peter Holland, at a later day an eminent
surgeon of Knutsford, in Cheshire.3 The year following
young Josiah also became a pupil, and Wedgwood thus
sketches the interest he took, not only in his own
children's progress, but in that of their schoolfellows :
' I got safe to this place (Manchester) with my children
on Saturday, and leave it to go to Bolton in the morning,
where I have promised to spend a day or two with my
pupils. They have made me Professor of Metalurgy to
the college there, and cannot do less than stop a day
or two with them to examine what progress they have
made in the art.'4 At home Wedgwood was equally
the companion of his children. Oh one occasion he
says : ' I make a great point of spending the holidays
1 This was his brother-in-law, John Wedgwood, the cheese-factor, of
Smallwood, in Cheshire, who died in November, 1774
2 Wedgwood to Bentley, May 30, 1773.
3 Supra, p. 202.
4 Wedgwood to Bentley, January 30, 1775.

10 THE SCHOOLS OF THE LAST CENTURY.
with my boys at home ;n and on another : ' We have so
numerous a family, and they make me so principal a
playfellow amongst them, that it is with some difficulty
I can stipulate for half an hour to write a few lines to
my dear friend.'2
These holidays, whether of winter or summer, were
as much a period of enjoyment to the father as to the
children ; and we have this description in July 1778 :
' We sally forth, half-a-dozen of us, by six or seven
o'clock in the morning, and return to breakfast with
appetites scarcely to be satisfied. Then we are very
busy in our hay, and have just made a new garden.
Sometimes we try experiments, then read and draw a
little, that altogether we are very busy folks, and the
holidays will be over much sooner than we could wish
them to be.'3
In 1779 his third son, Thomas, was also placed under
Mr. Holland's care; but the schools of that period,
even when conducted by comparatively enlightened
men, were little calculated to produce the end in view —
well-stored minds and well-nourished bodies. In both
respects private schools fell short of even pubhc ones.
Boys were kept in strict confinement day after day.
They droned over — what was necessarily incompre
hensible to children — the grammatical figments of ill-
taught Latin and Greek ; the elements of arithmetic and
mathematics were offered in the same repulsive form.
Any knowledge of history was rarely given, and lessons
in geography were of the most elementary character.
No wonder, therefore, that the parrot-like knowledge
thus imparted did more to dull the intellect than to
brighten and fertilise it ; and when to this were added
1 Wedgwood to Bentley, November 19, 1778.
2 Ibid. January 4, 1776. s jj,yj, juiy 177&

BOYISH STUDIES. 11
physical coercion and restraint, and too often bad and
scanty food, we can judge how ill the schools of the
period effected their legitimate purpose of mental and
physical culture.
Wedgwood, whose robust intellect and strong com
mon sense made him readily aware of existing evils,
even if he occasionally failed to see their true remedies,
came, at no distant date, to the conclusion that his
eldest boy, at least, required some fresh intellectual
stimulus, and a change from the monotony of school
life. He therefore induced Mr. Warltire, an able
chemist residing in Birmingham, to come over to New
castle and give a short series of lectures on chemical
subjects, and combine, with these private lessons to
young John Wedgwood, as also to one of Dr. Darwin's
sons, who was specially invited to Etruria for the
occasion. At this period Dr. Erasmus Darwin resided at Lich
field, and Etruria being within easy reach, permitted a
ready exchange of visits to both families. The Christ
mas and Midsummer holidays rarely went by without
two at least of Dr. Darwin's three sons sharing in the
festive doings at Etruria. In January 1775, Wedgwood
tells Bentley : ' I have two of Dr. Darwin's sons come to
stay some days with me ;' and in the next letter he adds :
' I have a. score of young folks to make merry with.'
The following Midsummer the young Darwins were
again at Etruria to share in the great event of the
arrival of Bentley's present — a roomy playhouse, easily
put up or taken down on the lawn there.
But the time was now come when the boys were to
meet for graver purposes than mere childish pastimes.
Dr. Darwin had lost his son Charles, a most promising
youth, in May 1778, while pursuing his medical studies

12 WARLTIRE'S CHEMICAL LECTURES.
in Edinburgh ; and though in this, as in other instances,
he affected stoicism, it was with ill success. Whether
his plans in relation to the future profession of his
youngest son, Eobert Waring Darwin, were in any way
affected by this event is unknown, but a few months
later we find Eobert Darwin styled the ' young doctor,'
and as such invited over to Etruria to share with young
John Wedgwood Warltire's private lessons in chemistry.
' I have sent for Jack from Bolton,' wrote Wedgwood
February, 17, 1779 to Bentley, ' and Master Darwin
(Eobert) is to meet him here ;' and a few days later he
adds : ' Mr. Warltire opened his lecture on Tuesday with
a subscription of about thirty guineas, and I think he
will have more. Dr. Darwin has sent his son Eobert
to attend the course, and my Jack and this young Doctr,
is to be, have both taken the infection very kindly.
They both attend Mr. Warltire every morning for
private instruction, which is of much greater conse
quence to them than the public lectures. I, too, am a
lecturer in my turn, and have the place of secretary
to their private experiments.' 1 The lectures were in
progress through March, for on the 7th of the month
Wedgwood wrote : ' I want nothing, my dear friend,
just now, but a httle more time, and in that article we
find ourselves greatly hmited, though we husband what
little portion is allowed us with tolerable economy ;
rising before the sun, often before daylight, and pursue
our experiments till supper calls us away, and sometimes
after ; and yet all is too little, much too httle, for the
business before us. The boys drink in knowledge like
water, with great avidity, and quite to my satisfaction.
Jack is very deep in chemical affinities, and I have no
fear of his making a tolerable progress in the science,
1 Wedgwood to Bentley, February 25, 1779.

MACHINE-BREAKING MOBS, 13
for it is much pleasanter to him than grammar. I have
some fears of the latter being neglected for this new
study.' During the progress of these lectures Wedg
wood added lessons in geography, and, with due ex
planations, led the boys through the cabinet of fossils
he was then procuring and arranging.1
Later in the year we find Wedgwood's sons still at
Bolton. Early in October Josiah, the second boy, then
ten years old, was taken ill, and his parents were hastily
summoned into Lancashire. During their journey to
and fro they encountered mobs of machine-breakers,
and the descriptions given by Wedgwood form historical
pictures worth preserving : ' I wrote to my dear friend"^
last from Bishton, and being uncertain whether this
will be in time to find you at Turnham Green, I shall
make it a very short one, just acquainting you with
the occasion of my being here, and the disagreeable
situation of the manufacturers and other peaceable
inhabitants in this place (Bolton)  In
our way to this place, a little on this side Chow-
bent, we met several hundred people in the road. I
believe there might be about. five hundred ; and upon
enquiring of one of them the occasion of their being
together in so great a number, he told me they had
been destroying' some, engines, and meant to serve them
all so through the country. Accordingly they have
advice here to-day that they must expect a visit to
morrow; the workmen in the neighbourhood having
muster'd up a considerable number of arms, and are cast
ing bullets and providing ammunition to-day for the as
sault to-morrow morning. Sir Eichard Clayton brought
this account here to-day, and, I beheve, is in the town
1 Bills of a later date show that Wedgwood was regularly supplied!
with fossils by a firm in Derby,

14 FURY AND IGNORANCE OF THE PEOPLE.
now, advising with the inhabitants upon the best means
for their safety ; and I believe they have concluded to
send immediately to Liverpool for a part of the troops
quarter'd there. Many of the workmen having been
turn'd off lately, owing to a want of demand for their
goods at foreign markets, has furnish'd them with an
excuse for these violent measures. The manufacturers
say the measures which the Irish have adopted in their
non-importation agreements have affected their trade
very much. These are melancholy facts, upon which I
forbear to comment. They do not stand in need of
much illustration, but we must pray for better times.'1
The next day Wedgwood continues his account : ' I
^ wrote to my dear friend last from Bolton, and I
mention'd the mob which had assembled in that neigh
bourhood ; but they had not then done much mischief;
they only destroyed a small engine or two near Chow-
bent. We met them on Saturday morning, but I appre
hend what we saw were not the main body ; for on the
same day, in the afternoon, a capital engine or mill, in
the manner of Arcrites, and in which he is a partner,
near Chorley, was attacked ; but from its peculiar situa
tion they could approach to it by one passage only ;
and this circumstance enabled the owner, with the
assistance of a few neighbours, to repulse the enemy
and preserve the mill for that time. Two of the mob
were shot dead upon the spot, one drowned, and several
wounded. The mob had no fire-arms, and did not ex
pect so warm a reception. They were greatly exas
perated, and vowed revenge ; accordingly they spent
all Sunday and Monday morning in collecting fire-arms
and ammunition and melting their pewter dishes into
1 Wedgwood to Bentley, October 3, 1779.

ARKWRIGHT'S AND KAY'S MACHINES. 15
bullets. They were now join'd by the Duke of Bridge-
water's colliers and others, to the number, we are told,
of eight thousand, and march'd by beat of drum and
with colours flying to the mill, where they met with a
repulse on Saturday. They found Sir Eichard Clayton
guarding the place with fifty Invalids armed, but this
handful were by no means a match for enraged
thousands ; they (the Invalids) therefore contented
themselves with looking on, whilst the mob completely
destroyed a set of mills valued at 10,000/.
' This was Monday's employment. On Tuesday morn
ing we heard their drum at about two miles' distance
from Bolton, a little before we left the place, and their
professed design was to take Bolton, Manchester, and
Stockport in their way to Crumford, and to destroy all
the engines, not only in these places, but throughout all
England. How far they will be able to put their
threats into execution time alone can discover.1 . . .(By
a letter from Bolton I learnt that the mob enter'd that
place on Tuesday the 5th, when we had left it not more
than an hour. They contented themselves with break
ing the windows and destroying the machinery of the
first mill they attacked ; but the next, the machinery
being taken away, they pull'd down the building and
broke the mill-wheel to pieces. They next proceeded to
Mr. Keys of the Folds, and destroy'd his machine and
water-wheel, and then went to work with the lesser. ^
machines, all above so many spindles — I think twenty-
four. When they had completed their business at
Bolton, I apprehend they went to their homes. Jack
only says they are quiet now, and that 1 00 of the York
shire militia are come to defend them. I hope the
1 Wedgwood to Bentley, October 9, 1779.

16 , IMBECILITY OF THE GOVERNMENT.
delusion is ended, and that the country may be in peac$
again.' x He adds a few days later : ' I hear nothing
further of the Lancashire rioters, only that some
soldiers are sent to oppose them, with orders not to
fire over the poor fellows' heads, but right amongst
them, and to do all the execution they can the first
fire, by way of intimidating them at once. This may
be right for aught I know, and cause the least blood
shed in the end ; but it is dreadful, and I hope there
will be no occasion for the military proceeding to such
extremities. I do not like to have the soldiery famili
arised to spilling the blood of their countrymen and
fellow citizens.' 2 Wedgwood's desire to spare the
blood of those who sinned through ignorance proves
his generous nature, but the constant gathering of
lawless multitudes for every conceivable purpose of vio
lence, and the notorious backwardness and imbecility
of the .Government in both preventing and dispersing
such assemblies, were characteristic features of the last
century. Whilst the people were kept in such a state
of mental ignorance as to be unable to distinguish
between specific and national grievances, or to perceive
that their distresses arose from other causes than the
building of mills or the use of machinery, there were
but two courses left open to a governing power— either
to prevent such assemblies by peaceful means, or to
repress them quickly by the stringent arm of law.
Life and property were alike insecure ; and it was the
duty of the government to protect these, and punish
the wrong-doers.
Eighteen years previously WedgwOod had read a
translation of Eousseau's 'Exile,' and it is not improbable
1 Wedgwood to Bentley, October 13, 1779.
a Ibid. October 16, 1779.

HEALTH AND EDUCATION. 17
that the general impression that work left upon his
mind, led him to conclusions respecting the health
and education of children which were in advance of
those generally entertained. Upon his return from
Bolton with his sick child, he wrote thus to Bentley :
' We were three days on the road, as our poor fellow
could not bear travelling expeditiously. . . . We have
brought his brother Tom along with him, who is far
from being well. I believe the truth is, that they
have more business, confinement, and phlogisticated
air than their machinery can dispense with ; and how to
remedy this evil, and give them such an education as
the fashion of the times requires, I am utterly at a loss
to determine. I am convinc'd that if they are con-
fin'd again to school air, and rigid confinement with
school discipline, their health and bodily strength must
be diminish'd very considerably, if not totally lost.
What I now advance is upon some years' observation
of their constitutions, and not a hasty conclusion from
their present indisposition. I believe early confine
ment and severe application are .too unnatural not to
have bad consequences in a greater or less degree upon
most constitutions ; but my boys " I am very certain
cannot suffer it without great injury, and I am really
distress'd to find out a sort of compromise between
the body and the mind that shall do the least injury
to either in this business of education. You are an
adept in this science, and if you will have the gqod-
ness, some time at your leisure, to communicate a few
hints to me, I shall be very thankful for them.'*.
Whatever Bentley's advice was, some sort of plan for
home education had been sketched out before the.
month closed. After telling Bentley that the boy's
1 Wedgwood to Bentley, October 9, 1779. :
C

18 THE UTILITY OF LATIN AND GREEK.
health was mending, he adds, ' I have sent for his and his
brother Tom's cloathes and books from school, having
determin'd to keep them at home till Christmas, and
prevail upon Mr. Byerley to give them some lessons in
Latin ; and for English, French, writing, accounts; and
drawing, we must make the best shift we can amongst
ourselves. Eiding, running, and other bodily exercises
make a considerable part of our schooling and enter
tainment.' J
This plan of home education met with Dr. Darwin's
approval, and its arrangement led to the consideration
whether or not it was advisable to give classical
instruction to boys not intended for the learned pro
fessions. Dr. Darwin thought with Locke and
Eousseau, that all primary instruction should rest
upon a foundation of utility, instead of that which
merely serves the purpose of ornament. ' I had some
talk with Dr. Darwin,' wrote Wedgwood, ' upon my
plan of curtailing the education of my boys in order
to establish their health and give the more strength
to their constitutions. He approv'd of the idea, and
said he thought it a very idle waste of time for any
boys intended for trade to learn Latin, as they seldom
learnt it to any tolerable degree of perfection or
retain'd what they learnt. Besides, they did not want
it, and the time would be much better bestow'd in
making themselves perfect in French and accounts;
He advises me not to send them again to Bolton, but
to teach them what we can at home, and then send
them to some French academy, unless we can get- a
French prisoner, or some such opportunity of teaching
them the French language here.' 2
1 Wedgwood to Bentley, October 24, 1779,
2 Ibid., November 8, 1779.

AN ETRUSCAN SCHOOL. 19
Whilst yet in the bud, and his own multifarious
engagements, less pressing than customary, permitted
him to- give personal attention to it, the ' Etruscan
school,' as Wedgwood somewhat pedantically called it,
progressed admirably. Eegular exercise, short lessons,
and good food produced each their due effect ; and no
slurring over being permitted, his boys improved
rapidly, so far as their course of education went.
Their knowledge in Latin was kept up, and that was
all ; for the advisability of making them classical
scholars was yet the subject of a pretty wide dis
cussion between the three friends-. Darwin and
Wedgwood holding ground upon the negative^ Bentley
upon the affirmative; the latter even insisting that
Greek should be added to Latin.
Had Wedgwood remained in his original position,
a mere well-to-do potter, little known beyond the
small country towu in which he had been born and
reared, and had his sons been likely to occupy the
same position and no more, a practical and simple
education might have sufficed.. But by this time
genius and industry combined had raised him to a
position of wealth and social influence. He was in
correspondence with many of the eminent men of the
day; and the taste for scientific pursuits which he
studied so. earnestly to implant in his sons* not only
implied, but insured, that in some respects, if not in all,
they would be their coequalsand friends. Unless they
would be chiefs of a mere mechanical manufactory, it ,
would have been well to insure the wide range of
knowledge and thought education bestows, if even;':
there were lacking the love of art, the creative
touch of genius. Even the elder Wedgwood lost
ground, through the deficiencies of his education.
C 2

20 THE INFLUENCE OF EDUCATION UPON ART.
For this there was no compensation ; as in dealing with
classical art he fell often into errors which a more
special and higher order of training would have made
impossible. Had Bentley lived yet a few years, to
impress his educational views upon the mind of his
friend, and have thus insured not only a scientific but
a university education- to those of his sons who were
likely to be his successors at Etruria, there might have
been for many years, what there was not, a wider and
deeper knowledge of art, and more earnestness in its
behalf. There might have been absenteeism ; Josiah
Wedgwood the younger might reside in Dorsetshire,
might hunt over Cranbourn Chase, or assist Sir Joseph
Banks in improving the quality of wool for the
clothiers of Somersetshire and Wiltshire ; but he
would have seen that his substitute in Staffordshire
must be a man of taste and extensive cultivation. Mr.
Byerley was not this. He was painstaking and
laborious, really earnest in his desire that Etruria
should not lose her old fame for works of taste ; but
his natural place was the counting-house, not the
studio or the workshop. He had not the knowledge
and training to direct or criticise the work of modellers
or painters, or that range of acquired suggestiveness
necessary for the creation of novelties. Yet he
reigned almost supreme both in London and at Etruria
for fifteen years, namely from the death of the elder
Wedgwood till his own in 1810. It was a period of
; comparative mediocrity, which in part might have been
obviated by clearly understanding, that if production is
to be anything higher than a mere mechanical process
it must be directed by trained and highly educated
skill. - The arguments used by Wedgwood in support of his

GREEK AND LATIN, m
own and Dr, Darwin's opinions, anticipated riot a few
of those heard within the walls of Parliament at the
present day, ' I will now,' he writes to Bentley, ' mention
a few of the advantages and disadvantages of a Latin
and classical education as they occur to me, . for boys
intended for genteel business or manufacturers, but not
for what are called the liberal professions of law,
physic, divinity, or the army. They would know their
own language, as well as the Latin grammatically. May
not this be acquired in Enghsh ? The acquisition of
classical knowledge is another advantage which I ap
prehend may be obtained from our excellent transla
tions. The opportunity of reading all the untranslated
Latin authors would perhaps be no great object, and
the German would still be locked up to a mere Latin
scholar. The additional knowledge of the derivation of
words, and some assistance in spelling is acknowledged ;
but this is learning a thousand things to make up one.
That a knowledge of the classics is highly ornamental
in classical company and conversation, and that it may
be useful in the knowledge of inscriptions, mottos, and
Latin quotations, I grant in its fullest extent ; but
diamonds may be too dearly purchased, nay, may be
come ridiculous when ostentatiously displayed out of
place and character ; and even pernicious, when they
take up that time and attention which should be
bestow'd upon more substantial objects. I estimate
the learning of a language equal to an apprenticeship!
or learning a business at least ; and therefore a serfous|
matter when time is properly estimated. Seven years, ;
a lawyer will tell us, is a long portion of a life, and-!
should not be misapplied. The probable sacrifice of
health, in weak habits, in fourteen years' close study, is
no little, and what very frequently happens where the

22 THE TRUE OBJECT OF CLASSICAL LEARNING.
mind is benefited much by education. That time must
be employ'd in education which should be devoted to
learning a business. I mean from about fourteen to
twenty, and what is more unfavourable still to the
latter, the ideas a long school and classical education,
and the company kept, and the habits acquired there,
are almost incompatible with a life of drudgery, as it
might be deem'd by a fine classical gentleman, and
application to business afterwards.'1 There was much
truth in these opinions, and more particularly at that
date, when class books were far less perfect than they
are at present, the time wasted over non-essentials and
grammatical quibbles unreasonable, and the method of
teaching very little improved on that in vogue in the days
of Lilly and Colet. It is also likely that Wedgwood in
his time had heard something of the classical euphemism,
then happily dying out, but once so prevalent, of
every fop considering it to be a mark of breeding to
garnish his foolish speech with scraps of dog-Latin, or
sounding words in Greek. Yet Wedgwood and Darwin
both lost sight of what really constitutes the worth of
classical attainments ; this not consisting so much in
the power they confer of reading classical authors in
their original tongues, as in the culture implied and
the refinement begot ; in the humility which -naturally
results from knowledge, and in the ability to generalise
and to take enlarged and philosophical views of most
things.2 > Wedgwood to Bentley, November 28, 1779.
2 Lord Cockburn has expressed himself admirably upon this point:
-'-* My first class was for more of that weary Latin ; an excellent thing if it
had been got. For all I have seen since, and all I felt even then, have
satisfied me that there is no solid and graceful foundation for boys' minds
like classical learning, grammatically acquired ; and that all the modern
substitutes of what is called useful knowledge breed little beyond conceit
vulgarity, and general ignorance. It is not the mere acquaintance with

A FRENCH TUTOR. 23
Till the close of November, the Etruscan school went
on favourably. Wedgwood's sons were then invited to
Lichfield to give companionship to young Eobert
Darwin who had just recovered from a brief attack of
illness, and to join him in the lessons he was receiving
from M, Potet, a French prisoner, who had come
recently to Lichfield, and whose services Dr. Darwin
had thus secured. The boys were together three weeks,
and their progress in the French language was so satis
factory, that upon their return . Wedgwood thus wrote
of one of his sons : ' Joss has learnt so much French
chiefly under bim in three weeks at Lichfield, that he
construes the language and reads it in English to the
astonishment of his sister and us all.' J
It was now proposed that M. Potet should become a
resident at Etruria, and give daily lessons not only
to Wedgwood's children but to those of his partner
and cousin, Mr. Thomas Wedgwood, who resided near.
But there were difficulties as to terms, and Bentley had
his fears that M. Potet was a spy. To set this latter
point at rest, and some others which arose, Wedgwood
made more than one journey to Lichfield. ' I have
been to Lichfield again,' he wrote to Bentley at the
close of December, ' on purpose to see and hear more
of Mr. Potet (the French master), having had all the
doubts and apprehensions you mention upon the occa-|
sion. -Mr. P. is a young man, not twenty, of a gentle^
deportment, not fawning nor too bold. He is a mere
scholar, as -he left the . college only when he went on
shipboard, and had been but five days there when he
the two immortal languages that constitute the value, though the value
of this is incalculable, but the early discipline of the mind, by the neces
sary reception of precise rules, of which the use and reasonableness is in
due time disclosed.' — Memorials of his Time, p. 18.
1 Wedgwood to Bentley, December 27, 1779. %

24 MASTERS AND PUPILS.
was taken.1 He was going to America with others, I
believe to settle there. I should be as little afraid of
this young man as any I ever saw of a spy upon
a manufactory, because I do not think he has a single
manufacturing idea about him ; however, we had
determined that, he should not come into the works
on any account. His morals I cannot answer for, nor
is it likely that his countrymen would give him a bad
character. I do not mean to have him in the house,
and he is, from all I can learn, a very decent orderly
man, and the Doctor thinks him very well qualified to
teach his own language, Mr. P. says he has learnt
Latin twelve years, drawing two years, and dancing
and fencing,'
We have no further account of the matter, but it
seems probable that the young French prisoner came to
Etruria in the succeeding month, January 1780. The
school had been resumed, and was in good working
order. Peter Swift, the old clerk, gave lessons in
writing and arithmetic ; Mr. Byerley, and in his absence
Mr. Lomas, the Unitarian minister at Newcastle,
lessons in Latin; and Wedgwood himself not only
instructed the children in geography, but was the
moving spirit of the whole. He mapped out the day's
programme of study, and himself rang his scholars up
at seven in the morning, it being then winter time.
The little girls were brought under rule as well as the
rest. ' I would instil,' he wrote to Bentley, ' an early
habit of going to school at stated times in the youngest
of our scholars, as it will make it so much easier to
them, by as much as it seems a necessary and con
nected part of the routine or business of the day. My
1 As a prisoner of war by an English privateer then cruising in the
Channel.

SHALL GREEK BE TAUGHT? 25
young men are quite orderly in this respect, since I let
them know it was indispensable, and they are very
good in keeping my eleventh commandment: Thou
shalt not be idle'
'Still there were difficulties, the chief of which was
due to Bentley. 'I cannot omit thanking my dear
friend by this morning's post,' wrote Wedgwood, ' for
his very kind and valuable letter, which I have just
now received, and shall most attentively consider. every
part of it over and over, as the subject is of the first
consequence to my little folks, and occupies my mind
very fully. I had determin'd to send Jack to Bolton
for another half year at least, and in that time Mr.
Holland had told me he would be ready, if he was not
to be a grecian, to transplant to some academy for the
finishing of his education. So far I had finished my
plan for six months for Jack, and had determin'd to
try the home school experiment with Joss and Tom for
twelve- months first, and proceed in the same way or
otherwise, as time, observation, and the advice of my
friends should determine me. The six months from
midsummer to Christmas I intended Jack to spend at
home to complete himself in french, particularly in
the pronunciation, and to fill up his time in writing,
accounts, &c, but this greek will overturn my plan ; I
must consider of it. I have written to Mr. Potet, who .
has got his discharge, to come over, and am fitting up ,>,
a regular school. All this by the by at present, for I
must either write or converse more fully with yoffl on
these subjects.'1
Before, however, the year, then so near at hand, had
closed, Bentley was in his grave ; and whatever might
have been the result of the conferences here indicated,
1 Wedgwood to Bentley, December 29, 1779.

26 AT SCHOOL IN EDINBURGH.
the ' Etruscan school ' if even carried on so far, was
henceforth an impossibility ; Wedgwood had no further
time for a schoolmaster's duties even in an amateur
sense. The supervision of the ornamental works both
as to manufacture and sale was thrown upon his hands,
and various public questions were now arising to de
mand alike his attention and advocacy.
When, therefore, we bear next of his two eldest sons
they were both in Edinburgh, attending the University
there. We learn this from a letter addressed by Josiah
Wedgwood the younger to Thomas Byerley, in which
he styles the latter ' my cousin and good friend,' and
asks for two copies of 'Cours de Mathematiques a
l'usage des Ecoles Militaires, par M. l'Abbe1 de Bossut,
1782.' 'We are' studying mathematics now,' he adds,
' and are pretty much in want of them.' x At the close
of the same year John Wedgwood was removed to
Warrington Academy. For more than twenty years
this seat of learning had been the centre of liberal and
advanced opinion in science, religion, and politics.
Here the elder Aiken had taught, and here the illustrious
Priestley made some of his most memorable experiments.
But though Dr. Enfield was now ' rector,' and Gilbert
Wakefield one ofthe tutors, the fortunes ofthe Academy
were in a state of collapse. Many of the trustees had
^ceased to send their sons there, or to recommend it to
their friends and relations ; and thus the majority of
the pupils came from districts where the Academy was
little known, or from a class whose wealth was the sole
recommendation. At the session 1782-3, when John
Wedgwood entered, the difficulties arising from the
1 This letter bears the date February 2, 1782, and is addressed from
the house of Mrs. Millar, Buccleugh Place, Edinburgh. Mayer MSS.

WARRINGTON ACADEMY. 27
insubordination of the students, and the pressure of
debt incurred for building purposes, had become for
midable. To meet the latter evil the sum of 2,500£
was raised by subscription, and to this Wedgwood
contributed. But revival was impossible. Since the
period of Priestley's resignation in 1767, or shortly
after, tbe tutors had ceased to board the pupils in their
houses. Tbus thrown together in a large sequestered
house, and trusted as men rather than treated as boys,
the insubordination became extreme, especially amongst
those whose parents were wealthy West Indian planters.
Various plans of reform and amelioration were tried,
but all in vain. The more sedate class of pupils dropped
off, and this famous Academy was closed at mid
summer 1786. Though no affected purist, Wedgwood
was the last man to countenance laxity of morals ; more
particularly in a case where such were likely to influence
his children. John Wedgwood's stay at Warrington
was therefore apparently of but short duration, as he
was again a student in the University of Edinburgh in
1786, if not a session or two prior to that date. Amongst
his contemporaries at Warrington were Malthus, with
whom in later life he renewed his acquaintance ; Eichard
Enfield, afterwards town clerk of Nottingham ; Peter
Crompton, the father of Chief Justice Crompton, and
the friend and associate of Eoscoe, and Thomas Percival,;.j
son of the well known Manchester physician.1
In the autumn of 1787, Wedgwood sent his eldest
son to Eome. Travelling by way of Switzerland, he
made a brief stay at Geneva ; there renewing his
acquaintance with M. Pictet, Professor of Mathematics
in the University of that city. The Professor had been
recently in England, and the guest of the Wedgwoods
1 Monthly Repository, vol. ix. p. 598.

28 PROFESSOR PICTET OF GENEVA.
at Etruria.1 Two letters preserve these facts, and others
of an interesting character.
' The deep sense I entertain,' wrote the Professor to
Wedgwood on October 22, 1787, ' of the many civilities
I met with in my late journey through England makes
me very happy when any Enghsh gentleman, calling on
me at Geneva, gives an opportunity of acknowledging
my gratitude for the many obligations I am under ; and
my satisfaction is greatly increased when my good for
tune brings here persons to whom I am personally
obliged. You may then judge, sir, how agreeable your
son's kind visit has been to me. I am only lamenting
that the shortness of his stay, and my absence from
Geneva in the latter part of it, made it out of my power
to be as useful a friend of his as I am a real one. I
receive this moment, on his setting out from Turin, a
letter from him in which he tells me you are wishing
for some particulars concerning the Geneva education,
having a mind to send here, for a year or two, his
youngest brother. I heartily thank him for thus giving
me an occasion to correspond with you, and of being,
perhaps, of some service to a man for whom I profess a
true regard and a sincere admiration.
' The two capital objects on which I suppose you want
information, sir, are the possibility of acquiring scien-
tifical knowledge, and how far the moral and liberal
part of education can be carried on at Geneva. I know
1 M. Pictet appears to have visited England on several occasions. In
the summer of 1801 he was in Edinburgh, and is thus referred to by
Francis Horner : ' Professor Pictet of Geneva passed through EdinBuro-h
lately, and I passed two afternoons in his company. So far as his phy
siognomy and very general conversation would inform me, I ima<rine him
to have a very active and perhaps ingenious mind, rather than a genius
of a reflective turn.' — Life of Francis Horner, vol. i. p. 108. In 1791
M. Pictet had contributed a paper to the Royal Society on the Measure
ment of the Meridian..

A SYLLABUS OF STUDIES. 29
neither the particular bent of your son towards any
branch of sciences, nor his actual progress, but I can
assure you that he will find here sufficient help in any
branch whatever he chuses to follow and cultivate.
The Lectures of our Professors are either Publick or
Private, as in most Academies. The first are paid by
the Government and of no expense for the Students, the
others are paid by them. The Belles Letters, both
Greek and Latin, Ehetoric, &c, are taught by two
Professors, and the Philosophical Studies carried on by
three ; one for the Mathematics, a second for Moral
Philosophy, and a third (myself) for Natural Philosophy.
This study is again subdivided into Theoretical and Ex
perimental, and as there is no particular foundation in
our Academy for this last branch, and I happen to be
possessed of a pretty large collection of machines, I give
every year a private course of Experimental Lectures.
The Lectures on Natural and Moral Philosophy are
given in Latin, those on Mathematics and Experimental
Philosophy in French, and there is besides an annual
course of Chemistry founded by our Society for the
encouragement of Arts, and delivered by a very able
chemist. This same Gentleman understands Mineralogy
very well, and is possessed of one of the best Collections
of Minerals in Geneva. He gives once in two or three
years a course of Lectures On that Study. The public
lectures begin about the middle of November, and la&
till the beginning of May, and return again the first of
August to the last day of September. As to my own
private course of Experiments, I generally begin in the
middle of December. There are besides Masters of the
living languages, and any of the particular accomplish
ments as drawing, musick, dancing, fencing, &c, can b)e
acquired here at a moderate expense. As to moralsj

30 THE ELDER WEDGWOOD TO M. PICTET.
we are somewhat. backwards of the conception of the
present age, and perhaps even under the mean average
of other Cities of the same size. There are but few
young Englishmen now resident at Geneva, and the
least in a purpose like yours will always be the best.
The price of a genteel boarding house goes from five to
ten guineas a month, everything included.
' These are, sir, the general informations which I
thought acceptable to. you. I must add,, that you may
look upon your son sent to Geneva as intrusted to my
particular care and attention ; and that by being myself
a father, I am a better judge of a father's concerns.
These, sir, would be my dispositions were you a stranger
to me, and they will certainly not be altered for the
worst by my having enjoyed, the advantage of your
personal acquaintance, by the memory of your kind
reception at Etruria,, and the many civilities I have
lately received from your eldest son at Geneva. I wish
these considerations may be of some weight towards
bringing the youngest among us ; and if such be your
resolution, I beg the favour of your letting it be known
to me in time that everything might be ready for him
at his arrival, so as to save him any trouble.'
To this letter, which in spite of its foreign idioms did
honour to M. Pictet's lingual acquirements, Wedg
wood replied in the month succeeding, November 28,
1787. After thanking the Professor for his letter, and
repeating his assurances of friendship, he says : ' My
eldest son expresses his gratitude, in the liveliest
manner for the many good offices he has received
from you at Geneva. I beg to write my thanks, with
his, both for your goodness to him and the parental
care you express for the youngest, whom I had an
intention of sending thither this winter. To you, sfrj

THOMAS WEDGWOOD'S EARLY STUDIES. 31
it is unnecessary to say how much I feel obliged by a
friendly attention to an object that lies* so near my
heart, as the instruction and well being of my children.
I have sent my youngest boy for the present, at his own
request, to the University of Edinburgh, where he has
already been one winter with his brothers.. In the.
earlier part of his life he was troubled with a nervous
headache, which made it necessary for him to abate, of
his studies, and to be much out of doors, using some
moderate exercise, in the air.. This course (recom
mended by our physicians as the only thing likely to
be of service to him) has had the desired effect with
regard to his health, but has prevented his, making so
much progress in his Studies: as he otherwise would
have done. He is sensible of his deficiency, and is
applying himself in earnest to make up for his lost time.
It was with this view that he desired to spend another
winter at Edinburgh in order to have an opportunity
of improving himself in Latin and French, that he may
be able to understand a connected discourse and the
Lectures, given in those Languages, and thereby make a
quicker progress in the branches of knowledge taught
in your Academy than he would otherwise be able to
do. The pleasing prospect of his' being under the
friendly eye of Mr. Pictet confirms me in my intentions
of sending him to Geneva before the beginning of your $
Courses next Season ; and it will likewise remove a
principal objection that arose in his own mind of going
thitber, and which was natural enough to a boy ; the
idea of being a stranger in a strange land, I shall take
the liberty of writing to you, more particularly on the
subject upon his return from Edinburgh, which I
believe will be about the middle of next Summer. In
the meantime. I should be happy in any opportunity of

32 , WEBBER FROM ROME.
rendering service to you or your friends. ... I have
kept this letter by me for a Mail or two, in hopes of
adding to it an account of the strata of our Coal Mines,
which my son informed me would be agreeable to you,
but have found greater difficulties with the miners than
I expected. I hope, however, in the course of next
week to get this little business completed.' .:
It is probable this scheme of Genevan studentship
was never put in execution ; for as early as April of
the following year (1788) Wedgwood had struck out
the new idea of sending bis youngest son to Eome,
where Webber, the modeller from Etruria, and John
Wedgwood then were. But Webber, when consulted,
gave his judgment against it, and it was. abandoned.
Writing from Greek Street to his son Josiah at Etruria
the elder Wedgwood thus referred to the matter : ' I
told you a few days ago what your brother (John) has
said respecting the proposed scheme of Tom's going to
Eome. I have now received Mr. Webber's letter on
the same subject, in which he says, ' I mean to treat it
without reserve, and must beg your pardon if I am too
blunt. As I think myself pretty well acquainted both
with the degree of knowledge he has acquired of the
arts, and his power to improve it, I will briefly observe,
That with regard to the first he has not yet a sufficient
stock to be exported to Eome, and with regard to the
second, I own with sincerity that I have never seen any
young man possessed of more than he is. It is then
my opinion, which I draw from observations made here
on others, that the best method will be to study the
whole approaching summer in England, not merely
design, but every other branch of taste. This, which
was ever my opiaion, has been riveted in me by what I
have learnt in conversation from my young countrymen

ART IN ROME. 33
here, many of whom feel very much hurt at not being
able to taste those pleasures which they see enjoyed by
others on the contemplation of the works of art. But
after a preparation during the summer at home, I am
bold to say that four months' study in Eome will be
sufficient, and that without such previous preparation
it is little short of being useless. A very amiable
young man told me, with a great deal of sensibility,
that, if he could have had the most distant idea of
Eome, he would have given the most assiduous appli
cation to the improvement of his taste ; and so sensible
was he of the necessity of more real knowledge of the
works of art than those who make a trade of shewing
them, that he engaged a painter to go round Eome
with him, in preference to the best antiquary that could
be found, and is trying constantly to find some painter
to teach him design. With respect to the effects of
the seasons — in the months we have been here, we
have had almost constant shiroc winds, which alone are
sufficient to make life a burthen. The summer must
be insupportable indeed at Eome. Even at Naples,
where the climate is better, several young people were
at the point of death within the last six months ; Mr.
Flaxman was one of them, who is now pretty well
recovered. As Mr. John Wedgwood talks of spending
the summer in Germany, but first to see Florence and
Venice, I shall accompany him there, and then return
directly to England.' So far Webber ; and to this the
elder Wedgwood adds : ' My dear Joss, you will see,
by Mr. Webber's letter, as well as your brother's,!
what their united opinions now are with respect to-
Tom's going, or rather not going, to Eome. And as
they will themselves be with us in the course of
D

34 LESLIE AT ETRURIA.
this summer, that renders the plan altogether imprac
ticable.' The visit to Eome was therefore given up, although
preparations had been made, even so far as procuring.
letters of introduction from Sir John Dalrymple and
others. Throughout 1789, Thomas Wedgwood seems
to have carried on his studies at home, aided, so far as
his chemical experiments went, by the experience and
knowledge of his father and Mr. Chisholm. But even
thus early his general acquaintance with philosophic
subjects far transcended theirs, and, gathering strength,
branched out into many new and original tracks of
experiment and speculation. Led by this evident
tendency of his youngest son's ability, and for the
general culture of his other sons, Mr. Wedgwood,
sometime during 1790, invited John Leslie, sub
sequently Professor of Mathematics in the Univer
sity of Edinburgh, over to Etruria. Leslie remained
there some time, varying the duties of his easy and
pleasant tutorship by visits to Manchester, Birmingham,
and other places, whither he took letters of introduc
tion to Watt, Boulton, Percival, and others. 'Mr.
Watt,' wrote Wedgwood to his friend, ' will find Mr.
L  a real philosopher and a valuable acquaintance.
He has been for some months a part of Mr. Wedgwood's
; family, and is bringing his sons to a more intimate
acquaintance with some branches of philosophy than
the time they were at Edinburgh would allow them to
acquire.'1 Wedgwood had been probably led to send his sons
to Edinburgh as much by Dr. Darwin's recommenda
tion and example as by its fame as a school of high
1 Wedgwood to Watt, December 2,. 1790.

.EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY. 85
philosophic training. Darwin had himself been a
student in its University ; and his son Charles, who
died there in 1778, had given promise of the
highest talent. When Josiah Wedgwood the younger
first attended the High School in 1782, Dugald
Stewart occupied the chair of Mathematics in the
University, changing it for that of Moral Philosophy in
1785. The three latter years of the young man's
residence in Edinburgh thus embraced an early portion
of that brilliant period throughout which numberless
students flocked from various parts of Britain and
Ireland, and even foreign countries, to listen to the
great follower of Eeid, who, in a manner most attractive,
and with learning deep as it was comprehensive, sought
to repress the materialism, of the followers of Locke,
and to point out some ultimate principles or laws of
thought which exist in the mind altogether distinct
from its connexion with the material world. Never
theless, he rather made ready for a philosophy than
educed one ; and the reaction since his day, in favour
of a more sensational form of metaphysical philosophy,
points out still more forcibly the impossibility of separ
rating the intellectual from the organic.
Whilst in Edinburgh the young Wedgwoods lodged
in Buocleugh Place, and appear to have seen a good
deal of the society around them. But they do not
seem to have liked either the country or its people. J
' I do not know if you were ever in Scotland,' wrote.!
Josiah the younger to his cousin, Thomas Byerley, ' but
I think I know that you never would wish to come
.again ; for the people are most abominably dirty, and
the country is very near being one great moor, anf|l
very high, piercing winds almost continually blow,
which fill our house with smoke, and make us as dirty
D 2

86 LETTER FROM DR. BLACK.
as the inhabitants. We have plays, concerts, and
assemblies, but I am told that the last are disagreeable,
on account of the very great form and ceremony which
are kept.'1
Their father's fame led to their receiving consider
able attention from various men of note. Lord Dun-
donald presented them with specimens from a pot
tery he had established, and they visited Dr. Black,
Dugald Stewart, and other of the University professors.
The elder Wedgwood had probably consulted Black in
relation to minerals and fossils which might prove
useful in his experiments for new porcellaneous bodies ;
and the illustrious chemist seems to have been, like
Whitehurst, Keir, Darwin, and others, on the look-out
for substances of this nature. ' I send,' wrote Black to
the younger Josiah, on the eve of the youth's return to
Etruria, ' the small parcel, which I beg you to present
with my respectful compliments to your Father. It
contains a piece of petrified wood from the north of
Ireland, which is penetrated with siliceous matter, but
is still inflammable, and some specimens of a stone
from Bengal, remarkable for the following particulars:
It is not described in any system of mineralogy hitherto
published. I found it in the possession of a Seal Cutter
to whom it was sent by a friend in India, as a stone
much used there, for cutting and grinding the hard
-stones and gems. By examining his parcel of it I found
it had been taken out of a sort of granite, which is made
up much more of quartz than feltspar, and that it is
dispersed through the granite in small masses of very
different sizes, all of them having a sparry structure,
-. , . . I heartily wish you an agreeable journey and
happy meeting with your friends.'2
1 Mayer MSS. March 5, 1786. 2 Wedgwood MSS. April 10, 1786.

LESLIE'S LIFE OF WEDGWOOD. 37
John Leslie, whose acquaintance the young Wedg
woods probably made during their ' residence in Edin
burgh, and who, as we have just seen, became for a
period1 their tutor at Etruria, was an excellent chemist
and mathematician, a follower of Eeid in metaphysics,
and a Whig in politics. But if the memoir of their
fatber, which these young men, unfortunately, at a later
day, employed him to write, be taken as proof, he
possessed little intellectual ability. His faculty of
observation and expression was ineagre ; he had no
idea of arranging material. He probably wrote under
restraint, and the facts supplied may have been dry and
few ; but he had seen the man, lived for months under his
roof, and was contemporary with those who could have'
supplied him with vivid particulars of all the varied
phases of Wedgwood's career. The consequence was,
that the memoir was not even tolerable to his sons,
who, undoubtedly,, cared less than others for those
graphic details which constitute the chief merit of bio
graphical records.. It remains still in MS. ; and though
corrected by the pens of Josiah Wedgwood, Coleridge,
and even Carlyle, it is still what it originally was — a
biographical sketch, without the facts or interest which
constitute true biography.
With Leslie's philosophic tutorship the nonage of
Wedgwood's sons was brought to a close. He returned]
to Edinburgh, and, resuming his chemical and other
studies, produced a Treatise on Heat which placed him
high in science. When the promotion in 1805 ofi
Playfair to the chair of Natural Philosophy in thev
University of Edinburgh made a vacancy in that of
Mathematics, be was considered the only well-qualified
1 Cottle says three years; but this is doubtful.

88 LESLIE'S CELEBRATED CONTEST.
candidate. He was supported by Stewart, Playfair,
and many others who regarded only the superiority of
fitness ; but the moderate clergy, who had a candidate
of their own in view, failing on the question of the
College Test, which Leshe at once took, sought out a
passage in his ' Treatise on Heat' in which the name
of Hume was mentioned in relation to Philosophical
Causation. This supplied them with what they re
quired — a personal exception to the candidate whose
science was unassailable. But the Town Council, jealous
of this attempt to supersede their authority, and encou
raged by the support of many eminent and liberal men,
stood firm, and elected Leshe to the vacant chair.
After a long contest in both the civil and ecclesiastical
courts, their election was confirmed, and Leslie retained
his Professorship some years, and not without distinc
tion. His manner, however, was not attractive tO all
alike, and he seems to have indulged in one, at least,
of the coarse habits of bis time. 'Henry does not
seem to like Leslie,' wrote Peter Holland, the Knutsford
surgeon ; ' too much of a bon vivanf 2
1 P. Holland to Josiah Wedgwood, January 17, 1807. Mayer MSS.

IMPORTS. OF FRENCH EARTHENWARE. 39

CHAPTEE II.
Importation pf French -Earthenware— Its Defects — Improved Skill of
English Potters reverses Balance of Trade— Rapid Increase of Exports-
Evasion of Restrictive Duties— Trade with France — Pitt's Treaty of
Commerce — Daguerre and Sykes— Daguerre's Incapacity as a Man of
Business — His Ruin of the splendid Consignments made to him— His
Contest with Wedgwoods-Arbitration — Daguerre in London — Prob
ably at Etruria-r-Young Wedgwood at this date employed in Experi
ments on Light, Heat, and Colour — His Love of Philosophical Specu
lation — Corresponds with Priestley — Papers appear in the Philosophical
Transactions — Edgeworth and Thomas Wedgwood confer as to Im
provements in the Ventilation of Prisons-— Staffordshire Bowmen —
Marriage of Josiah Wedgwood the Younger— Dr. Beddoes — Researches
in Pneumatic Chemistry — Pneumatic Institution at Clifton — The
Elder Wedgwood's Contribution to its Establishment— Watt invents
an admirable Apparatus for the Administration of Medicated Air —
His Correspondence with Beddoes — Death of Josiah Wedgwood the
Elder— Etruria becomes a Place of the Past.
From the reign of Charles II. till nearly the close of the
firsthalf of the eighteenth century a considerable quantity
of earthenware was imported into England from the
French coast. It was less heavy and more porcellaneous
than Delft ware, its glaze was thin and white, and the|
result being a sort of China, brought it into favour fcuL
the breakfast and tea table, and for the dinner table so
far as sauce-boats and small dishes of various forms went,
the rest of the service being invariably of pewter. The
exceptions to this rule lay with those who, from wealth
or the incidents of trade and foreign intercourse,
possessed services of Oriental porcelain or costly Delft
earthenware. The white ware thus favoured was made
principally in and near Paris and Boulogne ; in fact, on

40 CHANGE IN THE BALANCE OF TRADE.
the old pottery-sites of the Celtic and Eoman eras,
and the more southern of the Flemish towns. But
much sand being used in its composition, thus forming
a paste easily vitrified and warped, the goods, as a
general rule, were misshapen and otherwise defective.
Yet, in spite of these drawbacks,- much of this ware
found its way into this country — by smuggbng when its
importation was prohibited, and partly in a more open
manner when prohibition was relaxed and a duty im
posed. For nothing could be more protean in that
day than the subject of commercial tariffs. No scien
tific or enlightened views guided their imposition. The
whims of kings and ministers, the greed and ignorance
of the commercial and industrial classes, or the bellige
rent spirit of an entire population, had often more to
do with prohibition or heavy taxes than necessity.
But from 1730 to 1752 the balance of trade in the
article of pottery began slowly to tell against France.
The wares of Staffordshire showed marked improvement
in form, colour, and durability ; the porcelain works
of Bow and Chelsea were established, and twenty-one
years later those of Worcester and Derby. The French
potters began to see that, if they would hold their own
in an import trade with this country, they must, like
the English, enter upon a career of improvement ; and,
¦as an easy way to this purpose, they sought by every
means, both nefarious and open, to allure masters
and workmen to France. In some few instances they
succeeded. Hatred of rivals made one or two
petty masters prefer retaliation to patriotism, and. a
larger number of workmen fallacious hopes to : the
comforts and stability of home ; but the process was
analogous to that of taking cupsful of water from a
river fed by increasing springs. The tide of improve?

INCREASE IN ENGLISH EXPORTS. 41
ment rolled on ; it was met by the growing wants of a
rapidly increasing civilization and wealth, and' the two
together soon revolutionized the whole balance of this
and many other handicrafts. We exported instead of
imported, and thus added to the national prosperity.
The first export trade of any value seems to have
been with North America and the ports of the Baltic ;
but it was carried on differently than a few decades
later, when the amount of productiveness had become
so vast. Instead of sending his wares directly to the
foreign agent whose business it was to supply the con
sumer, the potter or hardware manufacturer sold a
few pieces to merchants here and there, who risked
them in ventures made up of many sorts of goods. It
was in this way Wheildon and other masters of their
day disposed of their commodities ; sending a crate or
two to Liverpool, Bristol, Hull, or London, the merchant
unpacking the goods, and dividing and repacking them
as it best suited his trade or convenience. It was in
this way that Wedgwood opened an export trade prior
to 1765, by selling red. earth tea-pots, green pickle-
dishes, small dessert services, and vases, to various
English and foreign merchants residing in London.
By 1769 his trade with New York. was direct and con- ,
siderable.. The same year he opened his trade with|
Horahd by consigning goods to Du Burk of Amsterdam^
In 1772 he had supplied the Elector of Saxony with
goods so beautiful as to elicit the warmest praise. In
the year succeeding he manufactured the first Eussian
service, besides completing large orders for plainer.
goods. In 1774 his connection with Italian merchants
commenced, the ports of Italy varying in their scale
of import duty. .The trade with France began in a
gmall way through supplying a shopkeeper of Dunkirk

42 DIFFICULTIES OF A TRADE WITH PARIS.
named Du Eovery ; and in the year succeeding Boulton
and Fothergill sent hundreds of crates for Wedgwood
to the Baltic. The year 1776 saw a trade opened
with Spain, the duty on imported goods being sixteen
per. cent. The same date was that of an opening in
Eastern Europe ; for pattern boxes were despatched
into Bohemia. In the autumn of this year, 1776,
Bentley visited France apparently with a view to see
what could be done for the disposal of goods in that
direction ; as it must have been an anomaly to his
sagacious mind to find that whilst the export trade to
North America, even in spite of the war with South
America, the West Indies, Eussia, Germany, Italy,
Spain, and Portugal, was increasing every day, that
with our near neighbours the French was next to
nothing. True, the earthenware of England was
under the ban of prohibition in that country, but so it
was in Portugal and Sweden ; and yet, in spite of this,
the merchants took such measures as made the restric
tive policy of their respective governments a mere dead
letter. This state of things was in some measure to be
explained by the fact that, though near home, Paris, as
well as many of the French towns, was literally far
removed. Unless the port of Havre were chosen, it
was easier to despatch goods by way of Liverpool to
America or the West Indies than overland to Dover or
Southampton, and thence across the Channel.
et Bentley, who reached Paris by way of St. Omer
and French Flanders, and returned by Amiens and
Abbeville to Calais, appears to have opened up business
relations on various parts of his route ; as soon after we
find, .papers relative to a trade with St. Omer, Nancy,
Dunkirk, and Tournay ; and about the same period a
person named Perregaux was appointed Wedgwood

DOMINIQUE DAGUERRE. 43
and Bentley's Paris agent, Through his hands, as also
that of a merchant or dealer named Honore, a large
number of choice articles infiltrated, so to speak,
into the possession of the Princesses of France, the
Due d'Orleans, Count d'Artois, Cardinal de Eohan, the
Due de Bouillon, and other of the high nobility.
Yet till 1784, when Pitt's enlightened commercial
policy seemed likely to take effect, the more useful
class of Wedgwood's ware was comparatively unknown,
even amongst dealers. At that date Charles Chappuis,
a shopkeeper of Versailles, opened a correspondence
with Wedgwood, offering, if the proposed Commercial
Treaty between England and France were ratified, to
receive orders for his ware, either for the purpose of
exportation or to sell. upon commission. ' I have very
often had the pleasure to enjoy Mr. Wedgwood's
company,' he added, ' whilst I was a clerc at Mr. Ead-
cliffe,1 with whom I lived many years.'
In November 1786, Byerley, accompanied by young
John Wedgwood, visited Paris, on further business
relative to the proposed Treaty ; and amongst those
whom they seem to have addressed were M. Daguerre, a
merchant living in the Eue St. Honore, and MM. Sykes
and Compagnie, Place du Palais Eoyal. In the Febru-j
ary succeeding, Daguerre was in correspondence with
Wedgwood,2 with an ultimate settlement to the effec|,
1 The eminent Manchester merchant. Chappuis to Wedgwood, August,
1784. #
2 The first letter from Daguerre to Wedgwood is as follows. The
translation is Chisholm's, and poorly done. It is dated from Paris,
Feb. 26, 1787 : — ' The letter which you did me the honour to write to
me confirms to me the project you have of establishing with me an
entrepSt of your manufacture, which was agitated verbally between|.Mon-
sieur your son, Mr. Beierlee, and me, while they were in this city. I
believe for this effect I can assure you that in all Paris your Depdtx
could not be either in a house more known, or a quarter more advanta-

44 DAGUERRE'S FIRST LETTER.
that the latter should keep Daguerre supphed with a
choice assortment of goods, both plain and ornamental;
geous, than what I live in ; and that, besides being accustomed to keep
only what is fine and well finished, and the public to find it with me,
your articles will be the better distinguished from those which your
imitators may send hither. I observed to those gentlemen, and I still
think so, that, for the greater advantage of the project in question, it
would be infinitely better that there should be only one house that was
the depository thereof; I know generally the taste of the public, and I
am of opinion that we ought never to satiate it by a superabundance
pf objects, with which, being too much familiarized, it is not long in
receiving a disgust ; and this it is important to watch over. On another
side, this branch of commerce being divided among several houses, there
may happen what happens but too often among men — I mean jealousy ;
and from jealousy there arises pretty often diversity of prices, which I
believe to be injurious to a manufacturer, whose basis ought to be in
probity. Such is the light in which I see it. I am of your opinion, and
think that the commencement of this business ought to be presented to
the public with a complete assortment in every kind. Your manufacture
being little known here, it is experience that must teach us what are
the articles that will have the greatest vogue. I think that table services,
for example, will have success ; but I repeat it, that experience alone
can enable me to pursue a sure and certain correspondence with you on
the advantageous manner of making your manufacture and my commerce
to prosper. What you say, Sir, has full justice : that at the end of
twelve months I shall know sufficiently what part I ought to take of
the articles that shall not be sold, and which I shall be at liberty to
return to you. I agree to take on my own account the articles which
I shall demand of you particularly on the terms of making payment in six
months after their arrival with me. You will perceive that I shall be
obliged to augment the price of your goods, in proportion to the charges
of carriage and the duties which the two sovereigns have thought
proper to lay upon objects of industry and commerce. I understand,
also, that I am not to be accountable for anything relatively to break
ages that may happen during the passage of the envoy you are going to
jaffake me ; and, on unloading, I hope Mr. Perregaux will be so good as
to send a person on his part, for your interests, to ascertain breakages, if
there be any ; for me, I am to be accountable only for accidents that
may happen with myself.
"Tis to Rouen that the goods are to be addressed. That city, on account
of its communication by water with Paris, is the most convenient, both
for saving expenses and preventing breakages. I have the honour to be,
with perfect consideration, your most obedient, humble servant, ' Dagtjerke.'
There is extant one brief letter of somewhat the same date in Da-
guerre's handwriting. His Christian name was Dominique. Mayer MSS.

DAGUERRE AND WEDGWOOD'S AGREEMENTS 45
and that Daguerre, on his part, should establish proper
and convenient show-rooms for the reception and dis
play of the same, as also keep appropriate servants.
Wedgwood was to base his invoices on the prices
which he sold for to the London pubhc, adding thereto
all the expenses to shipboard; and Daguerre add those
which he should pay from London to Paris, including
the duty. This agreement was to continue a year
between the contracting parties ; and then for either,
as it might be agreed, to take the business solely on his
own account.1
The negotiations with Sykes and Compagnie were
carried on at the same time ; and thus on October 1,
1787, the day on which the celebrated Treaty of Com
merce between France and England came into force,
the Parisians were informed by public advertisement
that 'Mr. Wedgwood of London, manufacturer of
cameos of two colours and all sorts of sizes, had
established two depots for the sale of these goods — the
one at the house of M. Daguerre, merchant, Eue St.
Honore, near that of Orleans ; the other at the house of
Sykes and Compagnie, Place du Palais Eoyal.2 During
the progress of this arrangement, various merchants
seem to have competed for the privilege of selling these
famous wares. One, named Vevrier, of the Palais Eoyal, $
informed Wedgwood by letter that ' he had sold twelve;;
casks of his pottery within a twelvemonth, and thap
recently he had sent a new demand for flower-pots. '
His house was better situated for trade than that of
Daguerre ; he should be contented with small profits ;
but it would be necessary to receive the goods direct,
and not, as heretofore, through the agency of M. Honore.
1 Reciprocal propositions, Daguerre and Wedgwood. Mayer MSS.
9 Original advertisement in French. Mayer MSS.

46 DAGUERRE'S NEGLIGENCE AND INCAPACITY.
A contest with Daguerre,' he added, ' could be alone
sustained through receiving objects at the first hand ;
and, were his proposition agreed to, it would be best to
ship goods from the Thames to Eouen, and so by way
of the Seine to Paris.'
But, either from the respectability of his name and
position or some motive it would now be impossible to
ascertain, the preference was given to M. Daguerre.
Sykes's trade was divided between Bordeaux and Paris,
the former being most prominent, and therefore it is
likely he had less space for display, or less time to
bestow on his Parisian business. But the result sadly
belied every expectation. The splendid assortment of
goods shipped from Liverpool to Havre and thence to
Eouen in July 1787 was suffered to lie at the latter
place till the close of September, and this at a period
when so many competitors were in the field, and each
one running a race to have his goods in the market
first. When brought at length to Daguerre's shop or
warehouse, only the ornamental part of the goods
was exposed for sale in a proper manner. The
fayence part of the stock, amounting to nearly two-
thirds of Mr. Wedgwood's adventure, was crammed
into a dark and damp cellar without any order, and a
great part without being taken out of the straw ; in
this state Mr. Byerley found the goods after the lapse
of more than a twelvemonth. In fact, neither
Daguerre nor his assistants knew anything of business.
He allowed a dealer to go amongst the stock and take
what pieces he pleased — thus breaking up sets and ren
dering them unsaleable ; and at length, when he found
the confusion inextricable, Daguerre complained that
the invoices were confused. But the real fact was, that
the invoices from Etruria furnished sufficient light for

INATTENTION TO THE INVOICES. . 47
even a stranger to the business to verify them, provided
it had been done at the moment of opening the
goods, as is customary among all traders ; for every
article had a number in the invoice, and the same
number was put upon one of the pieces of that kind,
which was also put up into brown paper, so that upon
opening the goods it might not be overlooked. But no
books were kept ; the numbers, owing to the dampness
of the cellar, dropped off the goods, and amidst this
confusion neither Daguerre nor his, servants knew how
to find anything that might be asked for, even twelve
months after the goods had been received. If a
customer asked for any particular piece of fayence,
they had to go down into the cellar to see if they
could find it ; and, if they did, the customer had to
wait till they turned to the invoice to fix a price — for
no plan was formed relative thereto but the general
one of so much advance — and this price, in contraven
tion of the agreement between Daguerre and Wedg
wood, was fifty per cent., and often more, upon the
invoice.1 Considering that Wedgwood's views were not to
catch at a temporary speculation, but to establish a
lasting and mutually beneficial commerce, this failure,
from sheer carelessness and inattention on the part of
Daguerre, was most annoying. ' For while,' as the
former very justly said, ' his goods were thus neglected
and shut up in a cellar, he sacrificed all his other
connections to these exclusive agreements, and thereby
disobliged some very old friends, and absolutely
refused the sale of goods to a very considerable
amount.' At length, finding, perhaps, his utter incapacity to
1 Remarks on M. Daguerre's statements. Ma)rer MSS.

48 THE DISPUTE SETTLED BY ARBITRATION.
effect any good with the business he had undertaken^
Daguerre apphed to be reheved of the remaining stock,
at the same time demanding repayment of the carriage
of the goods from Eouen to Paris, and other expenses ;
forgetful, as it seems, that one of ;the clauses of the
agreement was to the effect that the charges from
Eouen were to be paid by himself, that he had a hand
some percentage on the whole speculation, and that,
in contravention of the agreement, he had taken for
himself fifty per cent, upon sales.1
These disputes were carried on to a wearisome extent
by Daguerre. At length the business was put to
arbitration, Mr. Sykes and an Italian named Casaurane
being the arbitrators. What was the ultimate settlement
is not very clear ; but restitution and rigid adherence
to the agreement seem evident. The goods were pro
bably absorbed into Sykes' Parisian stock,2 and the
1 Remarks on M. Daguerre's statements. Mayer MSS.
a On the other hand, Sykes succeeded in establishing a flourishing
business both in Paris and Bordeaux, though ultimately he suffered
from the financial difficulties which preceded and followed the French
Revolution. For Pitt's noble initiative scheme of commercial freedom
had but a short-lived existence, and yet one amply sufficient to prove
the immense preponderating value of unfettered over-restrictive com
merce. The Commercial Treaty between France and England only came
into force in October 1787. From June 1789 we may date the French
Revolution ; and from that period till the declaration of war between the
two countries, in 1793, when the Treaty became necessarily a dead letter,
trade fluctuated, and then rapidly declined. A letter from a person
named Maynard, who managed Sykes's Paris business, proves that the
French were fully sensible of the immense improvements introduced by
Wedgwood. Writing to Byerley in February 1788, Maynard states : 'I
have now passed the severest campaign I ever experienced in my life,
very much to my own satisfaction, as also to that of Mr. Sykes. Busi
ness now goes on smoothly and well, and I am happy to acquaint you
that your manufactory forms a brilliant and capital part of our variegated
commerce. The idea we adopted of the Etruscan colours succeeds
beyond what I had conceived, and 'tis with difficulty we sell any
ornamental Queen's ware but that. As for the flower-pots — those designs
executed in a large bold manner none -but your genius was capable of 

A QUESTION. 49
business terminated about the end of 1789, or early in
1790. The question at this point is : Was Daguerre a man
of scientific as also artistic tastes ? — did his utter inap
titude for commercial details arise in any degree from
his absorption in study and experiment ? It was then
common, in France and Germany, whilst science, except
in professorships, gave a man no adequate means for
daily bread, for the savant and experimentalist to be
one and the same with the shopkeeper or bourgeois.

they pleased beyond description. Unfortunately, they did not remain
with us an hour after they were unpacked. I have not less than 200
or 300 retained as soon as they arrive, from the bruit they have made.
The common blue basins and jugs, though not quite* so happy in their
execution, succeeded equally as well. There is not an hour in the day
passes without people sending to know if we have more arrived. If they
had been on the fine light quality of Mr. Wedgwood's Queen's ware,
they would have been the compleatest things in the world. 1 depend
on your good taste and judgment to render them perfect ; the blue was
rather too deep a couleur. I recollect, also, you promised to vary the
colours, such as Devonshire brown, rose, green, and straw colour, and
orange, with noble black Etruscan borders ; if you could contrive a sort
with a cover to them, they would also sell amazingly, and should be
particularly pleased to have some in plain Queen's ware,same form, with
bold Etruscan red and black borders inside and out of the basan, and some
with an Etruscan figure or two on the center of the ewer. They would be
enchanting, and sell themselves, without limit as to quantity. The same
idea of a figure or two in the middle of the flower-pots would have equal
effect .... I have now the satisfaction of acquainting you that I believe
your dep6t of cameos will become an object more considerable than I
imagined ; the merchants begin to find us Out, and of* late have made
some considerable Emplettes. We really have nothing capital left.
You should forward us a supply immediately. The sorts most wanted
are small and large rounds for snuff-boxes, small oblong squares, octa
gons, and ovals for rings, chains, keys, &c. . . . But I must observe they
complain very much that they have nothing but the same subjects over
and over again ; that it's quite discouraging. Whether true or not, I will
not pretend to say ; but they always tell me Mr. Daguerre's assortment is
much more new and agreeable than ours. You will be careful to send
no more Dancing Nymphs in bowls . . . nor any green cameos of any size.'
Maynard to Byerley, Paris, Feb. 14, 1788. Mayer MSS.
E

50 DAGUERRE IN LONDON.
Be this as it may, the next we hear of Daguerre is that
he is in London ; still holding business relations with
Mr. Wedgwood, and on terms of friendship with him.1
The result ofthe arbitration, therefore, whatever it might
have been, had not put an end to all intercourse or
business relations between them. ' I am very sorry
that I cannot find Mr. Daguerre's model, nor can I
recollect anything of it,' wrote Wedgwood, by the hand
of his son Josiah, in some memoranda sent from Etruria
to London March 3, 1791 ;2 ' he had better get another
from Paris. I have no sketch of the size. As to mak
ing four Academies, that is quite out of the question.
I can make four subjects of Lady D. Beauclerk's boys,
or perhaps find two subjects which will match with the
Academies. Pray make my compliments and excuses
to him, for I am really sorry.'
From this it is evident that Daguerre had not relin
quished his dealings in works of art ; and, more im
portant still, that he was in England at this date.
There is reason to think — indeed there is a tradition to
that effect — that he visited Etruria, as was customary
with most foreigners, and whilst there he probably
witnessed some of those experiments on hght and
heat with which Wedgwood's youngest son was then
occupied. The nature of heat and its relation to light were just
then engaging a good deal of philosophic speculation.
Black's discovery of the principle of latent heat had
greatly stimulated further research in this direction ;
and the practical questions arising from the use and
1 He was in London four years previous to this date. We fincL Mr.
Byerley and Daguerre dining with Sykes, in the Crescent, New Bridge'
Street, Blackfriars, July 1787. Mayer MSS.
2 Mayer MSS.

EXPERIMENTS ON LIGHT. 51
improvement of his father's thermometer, the occasional
appliance of the camera obscura, rude as was then its
condition, to artistic purposes, and the experiments then
in hand at Etruria towards a new style of ornamenta
tion for black ware in silver lustre, were, apart from
purposes of abstruse speculation and philosophical
research, undoubtedly amongst the minor causes which
led Thomas Wedgwood to take up the study of this
class of subjects.
As early as his sixteenth year we find him, on his
own account, sending to. London for a copy of
' Newton's Optics.' He may have been induced to .
enter upon the study of that immortal book by the
admirable analysis which Priestley gives of its chief
principles and discoveries in his work on c Vision Light
and Colours,' published in 1772, and to which the
elder Wedgwood had been a subscriber. To us it seems
that in many parts of the ' Optics ' several of the after
tracks of discovery in relation to heat, hght, and colour
are indicated, if not precisely defined ; and further study
must have made young Wedgwood well acquainted
with the fact that, as early as 1558, it had been noticed
that horn silver was blackened by the sun's rays. Petit
had shown that nitrate of potash and muriate of
ammonia crystalhsed more readily in hght than they ;
did in darkness. Scheele had analysed the action and \
studied the influences of the differently coloured rays of
light. He had also discovered that the chloride of
silver spread on paper was speedily darkened in the
blue rays, whilst the red rays produced but very little
or no change. Senebier had repeated Scheele's expervf
ments, and with fresh results ; so that, whatever were
his purposes — whether a mere abstract and philosophical
one, or experiments carried on with a view to artistic

52 SILVER WIRE AND CYLINDERS.
improvements in manufacture-^young Wedgwood had
had predecessors in this curious branch of physical
enquiry. Under the dates March 1, 1790, and November 2,
1791, we find him sending to Burley in Birmingham
for steel or iron, as also silver, wire of extreme fineness,
cylinders of highly polished silver, and philosophical
instruments of several kinds.1 At the same time he
was corresponding with Priestley as to the course he
was pursuing. ' I like very much the plan of experi
ments that you mention,' wrote Priestley in reply, ' as
1 ' Nov. 8, 1790. Memoranda from Etruria to Greek Street. Coloured
silk stockings for Mr. T. W. ; also procure ditto two pounds of purest
quicksilver ; also, from Wilmington, mathematical instrument maker, a
small pair of screw steel dividers, for accurate divisions, for Mr. -T. W,'
' Nov. 2, 1791. Thomas Wedgwood, Etruria, to Burley, Great Charles
Street, Birmingham. " Sir, I am obliged to you for the silver pieces,
but the workman has not at all attended to my directions ; he has made
them square. I asked for cylinders, and drew a square for a section
only. One of the cylinders was to have been of a high polish, and the
other like a worn shilling. He has made them both alike in this re-
pect; they should have been solid, too. Directions : a solid cylinder of
silver T25 inches in diameter and -^ in height, to be turned on a lathe,
out of a solid lump of silver, and polished in the highest manner, both
ends and sides much higher than the pieces I have received. Suppose
silver wire was ever made ^ inches diameter. I want a bit cut off ^
inches long, and the cut off bit very highly polished. Another solid
cylinder of very exactly the same dimensions, not polished higher than
a common worn shilling. These you will easily get made in a day, and
I am very much distressed for want of them. I hope you will oblige
me by sending them in a day or two." ' In another letter, addressed to
Burley, of about the same date, he says ' I am much obliged by the
attention you have given my commission. You may tell the German
that all I want is two common barometer tubes, blown into a bulb,
something of the form I drew in my last. The whole tube and bulb
together to be about thirty-six or thirty-seven inches. Show him this
drawing, and I am sure he can make me two in five minutes' time. He
has no more to do than to direct his flame to the end of a common
barometer tube, of as narrow a diameter as he can above £ inches, and
to blow up the other end. Please to send them as soon as possible.
Please to send me two or three yards of the very finest possible steel or
iron wire. It cannot possibly be too fine,' Mayer MSS.

ENCOURAGED BY PRIESTLEY, 53
they will very probably throw some new hght on a
very important subject about which we as yet know
very little. Indeed, hght and heat are little known,
and yet I think they are as open to investigation as
air.1 Later in the same year Priestley added : ' I do not
know that any experiments have been made on the
curious and important subjects you mention, and I have
little doubt but your labours in so new a field will be
crowned with considerable success. All that is knOwn
of the kind is the general aptitude of the more re
frangible rays tO be reflected in such media as water
and the atmosphere.'2 'There is nothing,' added
Priestley in a further letter,3 ' more within the field of
random speculation than light and heat ; their connec
tion is evident, but which is the element of the other is
unknown.' The immediate result of these experiments was the
appearance of two papers on the ' Production of Light-
from Different Bodies,' in the volume of ' Philosophical
Transactions ' for the year 1792. They are, as literary
productions, very immature, and needed, as Priestley
justly observed, incorporation and curtailment ;4 for
the observations and experiments of others are merely
strung together, without those connecting links of
inference and speculation so necessary to philosophi
cal discussion, and which at the same time constitute
its chief value.
It is curious to observe how much the experiments
1 Priestley to T. Wedgwood, June 20, 1791. Finch MSS.
2 Ibid. Oct. 18, 1791.
3 Ibid. Feb. 22, 1792.
4 Referring to the second article, Priestley wrote, ' I think, however,
it might not be amiss to recompose some parts of your paper, in order to
make the correction of the observation in the former part of it unneces
sary.' Finch MSS.

54 EXPERIMENTAL SUBSTANCES.
narrated in the earlier paper were made with sub
stances used in his father's manufactory, or arranged in
his collection of fossils. Crystal, the diamond, quartz,
chert, felspar, barytes, whiting, earthenware, white
porcelain, flint and plate glass, moorstone, borax, alum,
Derbyshire black marble, and many others ; these
producing, when rubbed, white or red light of different
degrees of intensity. He also found that all hard
earthy bodies emit a peculiar smell on attrition ; and
that in some cases these bodies were raised to a
temperature beyond visible red heat ; it remaining, at
the same time, entirely problematical in what manner
heat operated to produce this light ; for the air did not
seem to have any concern in its production, as bodies
are equally luminous in all kinds of air, and when
immersed in liquids. Thus having made incombustible
bodies red-hot without the aid of fire, young Wedgwood
at once conceived that all the light which they emit,
when heated to redness in the fire, proceeded entirely
from their great phosphorism ; for he could not suppose
that they absorbed light from the burning fuel and
emitted it again at the same time, and during a con
tinuance of the same circumstances.1
In the second of the papers, which rises considerably
above the literary average of the first, we come upon
the purpose for which the cylinders, previously referred
to, were procured. In order to discover what effect
the hght of burning fuel had on incombustible bodies
he fixed into the end of a tube of earthenware two
equal cylinders of silver with polished surfaces, half
an inch in length and a quarter of an inch in diameter.
,One of the cylinders was painted over, except the end
1 Phil. Trans, vol. Ixxxii. p. 28.

LIGHT AND HEAT. 55
within the tube, with a thin coat of incombustible
black colour, to make it absorb the incident light ; the
other end, intended to reflect, was left with its polished
surface. Applying his eye to the opposite extremity
of the tube, which was fitted exactly so that no ex
traneous light could enter, and directing it towards the
two polished ends of the cylinders, he held the tube
within a red-hot crucible, surrounded by burning coke,
and continually turned it round, so that both cylinders
might be equally exposed to hght and heat. The
result of this was that the end of the blackened
cylinder began to shine a considerable time before that
of the polished one, and remained constantly somewhat
brighter. On removing the tube from the crucible,
still looking within it, he was surprised to see the
appearance renewed ; the polished cylinder continuing
to shine for some time after the blackened one had
ceased. Cylinders of gold and of iron, treated in the
same manner, gave the same result ; but the differences
between the polished and the blackened ones were not
so remarkable in these as in the silver.
This and other experiments were made to ascertain
whether metals and earthy bodies began to shine at
the same temperature, and the result led to the
inference that they invariably did. They also showed
that red-hot bodies ignited by white light give out
only red rays, and that light produced by bodies from
attrition is double.1
At this date, or somewhat previously, Eichard Lovell
Edgeworth, who for near a quarter of a century had
been a friend of the elder Wedgwood, was engaged in
some experiments bearing on the better ventilation of
1 Phil Trans, vol. Ixxxii. p. 270.

56 VENTILATION OF IRISH PRISONS.
Irish prisons. He considered that were air passed
through a heated chamber prior to its inhalation by
those shut up in close places it could be freed from
many impurities ; and during a visit which he and Mrs.
Edgeworth made to Etruria, in the autumn of 17 90, the
subject seems to have been discussed by him and
Thomas Wedgwood. Correspondence followed, Edge-
worth proposing to pass the air through a large retort
partly composed of iron and earthenware ; young
Wedgwood objecting on the ground that air brought
into connection with heated metals, iron especially, was
deleterious. ' Since our conversation on heated air,'
he wrote, ' I have examined the subject with some
attention, and hope I shall be able to give you a satis
factory account. In the first place, it is well ascertained
by experiment that air heated by a substance not in
combustion suffers no other change than a diminution
of its density. So that air passed over heated earthen
ware, argillaceous, or siliceous stones is perfectly inno
cent. On the contrary, air which has been in contact
with any substance which either calcines or consumes
becomes highly mephitic. L-on is one of the worst
metals that can be used. It may be said to consume,
though at a much slower rate, in the same manner as
any combustible substance ; for sprinkle a few iron
filings into a smart fire, and they will instantly flame
and become a mere calx. Air passed through any
fire is still more noxious. . . . Accordingly, experi
ment discovers a large quantity of pure air in all calces
of metals and in the ashes of consumed wood and coal ;
and the air caught from a fire extinguishes animal life.
The attention which you show to the health of the
prisoners does you great honour ; in strict justice their
position should be made as easy as possible ; for no

HUMANE SUGGESTIONS. 57
punishment should be inflicted where the crime is
only supposed. It is a shocking reflection that so
many innocent men should experience the gloom and
disgrace of confinement, should languish for many
months in a noisome dungeon, whilst their families
are starving, and their fairest hopes blasted for ever.
But it is fruitless to lament ; all general laws involve
a number of evils, and the laws of Nature are perhaps
not wholly exempt. If prisons lost all their horrors,
the temptation to commit crimes would be greatly
increased ; for the prison, I beheve, is more* formidable
than the gallows. A just medium must be sought, and
on this principle.'1 He then proceeds, in this and a
subsequent letter, to the suggestion of measures for
improving the condition of prisons and the health of
prisoners ; such as the frequent whitewashing of walls
and ceilings, the use of. ventilators in the panes of
upper windows, the passage of warm air through
earthen pipes, the introduction of improved closet pans,
baths, and a frequent change of clothing.2 These
improvements now form a part of every prison and its
discipline ; but in that day, in spite of what Howard had
effected, the condition of the prisons of Great Britain
and Ireland was horrible to. contemplate ; and thus propo
sitions which appear commonplace and supererogatory
to ourselves were then, in the highest degree, the test of
thought and philosophic culture.
It must not be supposed that the abstract studies and
experiments of a youth who had not yet reacned his
twentieth year were so wholly absorbing as to deprive
him of interest in the questions of the day, whether
they were social, political, or literary, or of sharing
1 Thos. Wedgwood to Edgeworth, Oct. 6, 1790. Edgeworth MSS.
3 Ibid. Nov. 26, 1790. Edgeworth MSS.

58 STAFFORDSHIRE BOWMEN.
in amusements so common with the young. On the
contrary, we find him ordering cricket bats and balls
from London ; and he was a prominent member of a
county association called the ' Staffordshire Bowmen.'
Ladies were received into membership, and, dressed in
Watteau-like costume, contended for a prize ; and the
gentlemen wore a handsome uniform of green and gold.
The coat, waistcoat, and sleeve buttons were works of
art made at Soho ; and it is probable that young
Wedgwood acted as treasurer or secretary to the corps,^
as we find "him, late in the autumn of 1792, paying
Boulton a bill for these of 41 1. 6s.1 The gentlemen
used painted and silvered arrows ; the ladies polished
quivers and gilded marks.2
In January 1793, Josiah Wedgwood the younger
married Miss Ehzabeth Allen, eldest daughter of John
Allen, Esq., of Cresselly, Pembrokeshire, a gentleman
who, in early life, had seen service in the ' seven years'
war.' At a somewhat later date, John Wedgwood, the
eldest brother, married a younger sister of this lady.
The second wife of Sir James Mackintosh was another
sister ; and a fourth was the Mrs. Drewe who, with her
daughters, followed Francis Horner to his foreign
, grave. These ladies were all personally attractive,
and their letters give evidence of superior intellect and
cultivation. It was at this period, or somewhat earlier, that
Thomas Beddoes, a man of most original mental
powers, conceived the idea that the permanently elastic
fluids, if medically administered, might serve as a
palliative, if not an absolute cure, for consumption.
The first germ of this idea he had derived from
1 Soho MSS. * Bills_ Mayei, Mgs_.

THOMAS BEDDOES. 59
Priestley's work on 'Air,' as also from Mayow, a medical
writer of the seventeenth century, whose indications of
discovery in various branches of pneumatic chemistry
had astonished Black. Beddoes, whilst chemical lec
turer at Oxford— an appointment he held from 1788
to 1791 — had published an analytical account of
Mayow's writings ; and various experiments subse
quently made, whilst residing at Ketley in Shropshire,
as the guest of his friend William Eeynolds, the cele
brated ironmaster, confirmed him in his opinion as to
the remedial character of the artificial gases. Both
Eeynolds and his brother were men of enlarged
capacity, and, like other of the industrial leaders of
their time, willing recipients of such new ideas as wore
ameliorative promise. They therefore entered warmly
into their friend's idea of opening a medical institution
for the administration and trial of medicated airs. For
this purpose they each contributed the sum of 2001. ;
a Mr. George a like amount ; and Beddoes, who
possessed a small patrimony, added the same sum.
London was the first place thought of for the institu
tion, but subsequent considerations pointed to Bristol ;
and thither Dr. Beddoes repaired in March 1793.
Here he found Edgeworth, who, already known to him,
was at this date residing at Clifton, on account of the
health of a son, and with his aid the difficulty in pro
curing a suitable house was surmounted ; for the rumour
had got abroad that the gases to be employed were
dangerously explosive; and that the house in use as a
hospital would be a focus of contagious disease. What
followed was the work of time. There was to prepare
the medicated gases, as also to ascertain, by experiment
on animals, the quantity of non-respirable airs which
might be safely mixed with atmospheric. The airs, at

60 MEDICATED AIRS.
first administered appear to have been a compound
mixture of diluted ether with hydrogen or azotic gas ;
but subsequently carbonic acid gas, obtained by pour
ing on it diluted sulphuric acid. Erasmus Darwin,
whose acquaintance Beddoes had made in 1788, looked
favourably on these attempts to solve the question as
to how far pneumatic chemistry could aid in the cure
of disease ; and Dr. Withering of Birmingham, Dr.
Ewart of Bath, and Dr. Thornton of London, lent their
countenance to the scheme.
The first idea appears to have been that the Pneu
matic Institution should be merely a place for chemical
trial ; a testing point, as it were, for the gases to be used
in private practice. But as time progressed it occurred
to Beddoes that the Institution would best answer its
intended purpose were it made capable of receiving
from six to twelve patients ; these to remain whilst
cure was in progress. The necessary apparatus would
be on the spot, the gases in their highest state of
efficiency, and medical aid constantly at hand. In this
i idea he was encouraged by the Duchess of Devonshire,
"" then residing at Clifton ; and, as funds were necessary,
he made known his intentions to a number of persons,
and received in return assurances of co-operation.
It is not very clear by what means Beddoes came
first in contact with the Wedgwoods. It may have
been through the instrumentality of Keir, whom he
knew, of Edgeworth, of Darwin, or of Watt. But, at
least, one of the earliest of the letters bearing relation
to the extension of the Pneumatic Institution was
addressed to the elder Wedgwood; and by him, as
was customary, promptly and generously responded to.
None knew better than he did, who had had to contend
with disease under the pressure of incessant duty, the

THE PNEUMATIC INSTITUTION. 61
great boon conferred by every true advance in the art
of medicine. The sum is not given; but Beddoes's
letters of appeal were only written in the autumn of
1794, and on December 4 in the same year it was
Mr. Byerley's province to pay into Coutts's bank a
remittance to his credit.1
The machinery at first employed in the administration
of fictitious airs was ludicrously complicated ; but an
application to Watt resulted in an apparatus as simple
as it was efficacious. Of this Watt wrote a description,
which was appended to Beddoes' later pamphlets on
' Fictitious Airs.' His correspondence with Watt was
spread over a considerable period, and is said to have
been of a most interesting character ; for it included the
discussion of many points of scientific interest, besides
those connected with pneumatic chemistry. The men,
too,, were so different, and yet so original — Watt
cautious, reflective, severely logical, and desponding ;
Beddoes sanguine to a fault, hasty in judgment, and
prone to theories which, in many respects, proved little
more than day dreams.
His contribution to the Pneumatic Institution was
amongst the last benevolent acts of the elder Wedg
wood's life. He died a month afterwards, January 3,
1795 ; and from that day the English Etruria might be
considered a place of the past. Disintegrating influences
were soon at work ; and his family, dispersed hither and
thither, were brought within new influences, and more
or less into connection with the opening of a greater
age of fresh thought and freer action.
1 Mayer MSS,

REMOVAL FROM GREEK STREET.

CHAPTEE HI.
Removal of Wedgwood's Show Rooms from Greek Street, Soho, to
York Street, St. James's Square— Spaciousness of the Premises — Fine
Objects shown there — The Rendezvous of eminent Men — Progress
of *the Pneumatic Institution — Thomas Wedgwood a Patient— His
Faith in the ultimate Value of Pneumatic Chemistry as a Branch of
Science^— The Predilection of the Staffordshire Potters for the South
of England — The Cause of this — Bristol — Coleridge and Southey —
Coleridge's Introduction to Thomas Poole of Nether Stowey — Poole a
Tanner, and a Man of extraordinary Parts — His Friend Mr. Purkis.—
De Quincey's Opinion of Poole — The Watchman — Coleridge's Journey
through the Midland Counties — His Settlement at Nether Stowey —
Wordsworth to his Sister— Description of Coleridge — The Words-
worths at Alfoxden — Its beautiful Neighbourhood — Suspicions of the
Tory Squires— Information sent to the Government — Cottle's Visit —
Thomas Wedgwood at Nether Stowey — Humphrey Davy— Thomas
i;and Josiah Wedgwood pass a Winter at Penzance — They assist Davy
|— Mr. Giddy, afterwards Gilbert — Davy introduced to Beddoes— His
feemoval to Bristol — Mr. Wedgwood and Mr. Lambton generously
aid the Pneumatic Institution — The Fictitious Gases — Their Effects —
Character of Beddoes — Great Ability as a Physician — Frogs — Failure of
the Institution — Philosophic Toys— Coleridge's Necessities — Preaches
-^Offers his Services to the Unitarians at Shrewsbury — Refusal of
100Z. — Memorable Sermons — Hazlitt present at the first— Accepts an
Annuity of 1501. per annum for life, and quits the Ministry — Thomas
Wpdgwood in search of an Estate — His continuous Illness and Depression
— Both Coleridge and Wordsworth visit Germany at his Expense — In
Somersetshire— His Letters— Buys Castle Florey— His female Servant
t —His domestic Projects— Proposed Sale of Etruria Hall— A Step to
be regretted — The elder Mrs. Wedgwood in Somersetshire— Thomas
Wedgwood again a Wanderer.
The leases of the several premises in Greek Street,
Soho, which Wedgwood had held from the autumn
of 1773, were, at the time of his death, expired, or
nearly so ; and in the March following application
was made for their renewal to the agent of the Duke
of Portland. But, it being the intention, of his Grace

WEDGWOOD'S SHOW-ROOM, YORK STREET, ST. JAMES'S SQUARE,. FROM 1796 TO 18Z9

YORK STREET, ST. JAMES'S SQUARE. 63
to sell the whole estate to the •original lessees, or, in
case of their refusal, to the then occupiers/itso occurred,
probably through- the lessee, a Mr. Gullen, retaining the
property for himself, that new premises had to be sought
for ..the London .warehouse.1 In July, a very -large
house, with a smaller one attached, as also a chapel,
were treated for and ;ultimately, purchased by Messrs.
Wedgwood and Byerley from the ^assignees of Messrs.
Freeman and Grace. The 'situation was aristocratic,
but eminently dull, being /.on the north side of St.
James's Square, and' stretching far/ up '.th©j eastern side
of York. Street towards Picqadilly; •..Considerable, ex
pense and difficulty attended the purchase, as it; was
necessary to: ascertain whether any Act of rParliament
had ever passed to restrain the ^occupiers of houses in
St. James's Square from converting the same into shops
and warehouses. After much search,: no prohibitory
clause could be found, though a general- opinion. had
prevailed, and been acted upon, thai? ho shop or waref-1
house could be opened on three sides of the square'.!
Thus the purchase was concluded- ; and in the March/
following the small house' and chapel in York Street
were let to the Eeverend Mr.. Leycester for .fourteeai
years, at an annual rent of a hundred and.nfty poundsi?
The chapal'was',, however, relet at no late date, and?
Sydney Smith, as we shall see, idesired to rent it, aiid
occupy its pulpit.
According: to our present ideas, the situation/was ill-
suited to the necessities of ;a. fbusiness the prosperity of
which depended more upon, the sale of objects of utility
than of luxury. There; was Bond Street, or St. James's
Street, or Piccadilly, if fashionable patronage were alone
1 Solicitors' hills, Ward, Dennent, and. "Greaves, ' Mayer MSS.
8 !&*#, Mayer MSS.. -  ......'',,, .. . ,.; >

64 ITS NOBLE SHOW-ROOMS.
desired ; but a corner of one of the dullest and most
silent squares in London seemed scarcely the place for
the general public. Time, perhaps, made this evident,
for commercial success was never yet maintained by
the patronage alone of a given class. However, for a
period of thirty-three years — viz. from 1795-6 to 1829
— the well-reputed wares of the great Staffordshire
house of Wedgwood found here their centre of disper
sion. Its rooms were lofty and noble, its offices con
venient, its staircases wide, its cellarage on a scale to
accommodate the wares of Brobdignag. Its show
rooms were magnificent, and for the first few years
after opening, whilst the stores of a great artistic era
were yet unexhausted, and fine modellers and facile
workmen yet wrought at Etruria, they held such an
assemblage of noble works as no other capital of
Europe could show. But there followed a time of
war, heavy taxation, deep commercial distress, political
uneasiness, and dissatisfaction. The great naine of
Wedgwood was less familiar to a new generation, the
veneration for his art remained only with a cultivated
few, classical taste gave way to a preference for gaudy
colouring and crude form : and so countless fine objects
dropped away from sight, and were lost in dusky closets
and cellars, till the closing of the London warehouse in
1829. A general disentombment and sale then took
place. Objects, the models of which had cost pounds,
or on which the finest work of the enameller was
displayed, were sold for a few shillings. Thus, more
for curiosity, or from a love of acquisition, than true
taste, many collections were formed, to be distributed
again and again in our own generation at prices con
stantly increasing. This is the true secret of many
collections of Wedgwood ware. Original and degenerate

A RESORT OF EMINENT MEN. 65
copies are intermingled. And it is only perhaps in the
possession of the nobility or old county families that
specimens had direct from Wedgwood himself now.
remain. The great era of Wedgwood's art was from:
about 1772-3 to 1795 ; and, so far as London is con
cerned, the place to be associated with it is Greek
Street, Soho.
But another sort of fame connects itself with that dull
corner of St. James's Square. None of the Wedg-:
woods made York Street their residence when in town,:
though in later years there was a proposition that
Mr. Byerley should remove from Sloane Street thither.
Mr. Josiah Wedgwood, junior, usually lodged in
Charles Street hard by, or in Howland Street, Pitzroy
Square, then an airy part of the town, but there was
an office or parlour in which the. brothers, when
variously in London, saw their friends. There often
went Coleridge whilst engaged upon the 'Courier,'
and Brougham, Horner, and Basil Montague, were
accustomed to call on their way to and fro from West
minster Hall, or the House of Commons. Here Davy
sent for specimens of pottery with which to illustrate
certain Lectures at the Eoyal Institution. Thomas
Poole of Nether Stowey — whom De Quincey styles ' a
stout, plain-looking farmer ' — was often a visitor whilst
engaged with Eickman on the Poor Law Enquiry ; and
Sydney Smith, Thomas Campbell, Basil Montague, and
others, render that dusky corner of St. James's Square
more worthy of remembrance than did the noble lords
and ladies and bucolic squires who inspected dinner-
services, or ordered tiles and milk-pans for their dairies.
Useful art, even fine art, is one thing ; fresh thought and
the bold advocacy of truth, in all its forms, another,
and much higher, F

68 THOMAS WEDGWOOD A PATIENT AT CLIFTON.
In 1790, when Josiah Wedgwood the elder retired)
from an active part in business, the firm, carried on
solely in his name from the death of Bentley, was
newly constituted, under the title of Wedgwood, Sons
and Byerley. Two years later, the eldest son, John
Wedgwood, joined the London and Middlesex Bank,
Stratford Place, as a junior partner ; and half a year
later — namely, in June 1793 — both he and his youngest
brother, Thomas Wedgwood, ceased to be partners in
the Staffordshire firm. Prom this we may reasonably
conclude that the health ofthe latter had already given
way, and that, advised by his physicians to travel, he.
spent some time on the Continent. He was again in.
England in January 1795, as all the brothers were
gathered round the elder Wedgwood's deathbed.
Meanwhile Dr. Beddoes and his proposal for a
Pneumatic Institution were becoming widely known.
If his general freedom of opinion in those days of
narrow beliefs repelled many, his fame as a physician.
attracted an equal number to Clifton and its neighbour
hood. And his various lectures delivered at the
Institution excited general admiration for their simpli
city and yet richness of experiment and illustration.
Let it be remembered that Thomas Beddoes was the
first who delivered medical lectures to females, and
who considered that bad training and a miserably
inefficient scale of education alone rendered them
mentally inferior to men.
For the sake of placing himself under the medical
care of this now famous physician, Thomas Wedg
wood passed some portion of 1796 or 1797 at Clifton.
At first he probably resided with the doctor, as Beddoes
had married, during the summer of 1794, Anna, the
youngest daughter of Eichard Lovell Edgeworth by his

HIS FAITH IN PNEUMATIC CHEMISTRY. 67)
first wife, Maria Elers, and had thus a domestic circle
in which to receive an occasional high-class patient.
But towards the close of 17 97,1 John Wedgwood, after.
residing at Tallaton in Devon, hired Cote House at.
Westbury, near Bristol. And here it was that Thomas
Wedgwood often stayed, in his fitful wandering to and
fro. It is not known if he tested by experiment the
medicated airs, imperfect as they were, prior to the
advent of Davy in the autumn' of 1798 ; but, if he did,
they afforded no alleviation of the disease from which
he suffered. On the general point of medical skill .his,
opinion of. Beddoes remained unchanged,, ahd time
strengthened his faith in pneumatic chemistry as a
branch of science ; for it would necessarily occur to a
philosophic mind like his, that the various gases en
gendered by heat, if not remedial agents, might contain
latent principles of equal value in scientific medicine — :
an opinion of account, as time has proved, for in this
experimental quackery of the early part of the present
century lay the germs of the great modern discovery of
anesthetics and their application.
By that Jaw which makes opposites attractive, the
Staffordshire potters, so long as locomotion has been
improved, have shown a preference for the southern
counties of England. The continuous canopy of smoke
which envelopes their own bleak moorlands and the
humid and misty nature of the climate combine to
render.pecuharly attractive the open downs and hills of
the south. There, also, are found several ofthe neces
sary materials of their manufacture, and in the train
of business relations naturally follow those of social in
tercourse. Thus Dorsetshire, Devonshire, and Cornwall
1 In this year the Wedgwoods presented Dr. Beddoes with a copy of
the Barherini vase. r 2

68 . THE SOUTHERN COUNTIES.
have been better known to many potters than their own
immediate neighbourhood ; and a favourite employment
of their brief seasons of repose has been a journey south
from the dull, bleak region of their labours.
When the finer clays of the south began to be first
used there were not, as now, merchants or middlemen^
who explored for clay, dug the pits or mines, and con
tracted to supply certain quantities at given periods ;
but each man had to seek these new materials for him
self. If .he could command sufficient time and money,
and was eager to lead the competition of the period,
he usually set off alone on these exploring expeditions,
carefully concealing his journey and its purpose from
his neighbours.1 Then when successful, and the neces
sary clays and gritstones were found, he hired men to
dig, and ships to carry them round the coast. Occa
sionally two or three potters would journey together,
and now and then a clay-company was formed under
rules of stringent monopoly ; but, more usually, each
man served himself. The elder Wedgwood made
several of these private journeys into southern England,
Once he visited Cornwall in company with Matthew
Boulton ; on another occasion he was there with Boulton
and Watt ; and the coast of Dorsetshire and Devonshire
was familiar to him. When he -first beheld Mount
Edgecombe, his admiration was intense ; he felt, com
paring the scene with his own bleak moorlands, as
though he had had a vision of Paradise. But he was
too patriotic and far-sighted to live too much away
from the country of his race and bread — for at that
day the strong instincts of locality were less smoothed
away than with ourselves — yet, wearying, as it would
1 An admirable and graphic description of one of these journeys is to
be found in Mr. Mayer's Art of Pottery in Liverpool, pp. 16-18.

SOUTHEY AND COLERIDGE. 69
seem, of Buxton, he, during the last summer or two of
his life, delighted to repair, when in town, from the
-turmoil and closeness of Greek Street to Cobham in
Surrey, where his son Josiah had lived from the period
of his marriage. It was here that the elder Wedgwood
indited some of his most characteristic letters to his
friend Lord Auckland.
Soon after Dr. Beddoes had settled at Chfton, Bristol,
so near at hand, was brought into connection with
circumstances simple in themselves, but strangely in
terlinked in their bearings upon the great intellectual
movement then apparent. The old city of the merchant
-princes had already produced one poet, Chatterton,
born in 1752 ; and twenty-two years later — namely, in
1774— Eobert Southey honoured it in his birth. In
1793 the latter entered as student at Balliol College',
Oxford, and in the following summer, June 1794, he
made the acquaintance of Coleridge, who had come to
visit an old schoolfellow, then resident at the Univer
sity. Similar intellectual tastes and pursuits resulted
in appreciation and friendship ; Coleridge, who was
Southey's senior by nearly two years, soon leading him
to share in one at least of his own visionary projects.
It was one which, in some shape or another, has been
the day-dream of many young and intellectual men —
that of testing civilisation under purer and less con
ventional forms. A band of brother-adventurers was
to be, collected ; they would go forth to the New World
with their wives and other female relations, purchase
land with their joint contributions, till it by their
joint labours, and thus found a community at once
industrial and intellectual. There were adherents to
this scheme prior to and after. Southey ; but they were
all more or less of the stuff that poets are made of, and

70 THOMAS POOLE,
not the rough pioneers who can alone succeed in a
wild, unsettled country. Want of the necessary funds
and marriage gradually lessened the faith in Pantiso-
cracy, and it faded away as a vision of the two poets.
: Upon leaving Oxford, Coleridge, after a visit to
London, made a tour in Wales ; and on his return
thence stayed five weeks in Bristol, where he was- in
troduced to Sarah Pricker, his future wife, to Joseph
Cottle, the bookseller, and other of Southey's friends.
This was in August 1794. He spent the Michaelmas
Term at Cambridge, his last there ; and then, repairing
to London, met with Southey, and at his solicitation
returned with him to Bristol. The dream of Pantiso-
eracy was now at its full, but the means to live were
wanting, and to meet this necessity a course of lectures
by both poets was the result ; Coleridge choosing poli
tical and moral subjects, and Southey historical. But
this lecture-giving was not their sole business. Their
intellectual power was of the highest kind, and had
already found expression ; Cottle having in the preced
ing year published Southey's 'Joan of Arc,' whilst Cole
ridge's ' Minor Poems ' were to follow in a httle while.
In the autumn of this year, 1795, both the poets mar
ried; Southey after that event visiting Portugal, and
Coleridge settling for a brief time at Clevedon in
Somersetshire. The lectures given by Coleridge were probably the
means which brought about his acquaintanceship with
Thomas Poole — a man as remarkable in his way as
either of the poets. He was then in the prime of
life, and, pursuing the trade of a tanner, lived with his
mother at Nether Stowey, in Somersetshire ; a quiet
little town, lying rather more than forty miles from
Bristol, amidst the greenness of the Quantock hills.

HIS SOUKD AND VARIED INFORMATION. 71
In that day the mere ability to read and write was
considered as education sufficient for a man in trade,
but Poole's acquirements went far beyond. Early in
life he had gone to London, and, in order to master his
business in a thorough manner, he worked in the yard
of Mr. Purkis, of Brentford, the foremost tanner of the
day. Here he soon attracted notice by his extra
ordinary knowledge of the Bible and . Shakespeare.
Mr. Purkis sent for him, and was so much pleased with
his intelligence that they became great friends.1
Whether he established his tanning business at Nether
Stowey for himself, succeeded some relative, or pur
chased it, is not very clear ; but it was on a considerable
scale, and he seems to have added to it occasional
deahngs in land and wool. These multifarious occu
pations took him from time to time over a large extent
of country, and he thus acquired that great amount of
original information, relative to the tillage, acreage,
population, and Poor Law administration of the south
western counties, which rendered his aid so valuable to
•the Government on the occasion of taking the second
census 'in 1810. This local knowledge was backed
by the culture derived from incessant and careful
reading and foreign .travel. On all points relative to
continental and English agriculture he was well in
formed; and he had so mastered the political philosophy
of Turgot, Adam Smith, and other advanced thinkers,
as to suggest free trade when the Government proposed
to raise the tax on bark.2 Eeferring to a few years
later, 1807, De Quincey gives this charming character
of Poole : ' I consented willingly. . . . Jo stay a day
1 From information kindly afforded by Richard Poole King, Esq., of
Brislingtoh, Bristol, a nephew of Mr. Poole.
2 Mayer MSS,

72 DE QUINCEY'S DESCRIPTION OF POOLE.
or two with this Mr. Poole — a man on his own account
well deserving a separate notice; for, as Coleridge
afterwards remarked to me, he was almost an ideal
model, for a useful member of Parliament. I found him
a stout, plain-looking farmer, leading a bachelor life, in
a rustic, old-fashioned house ; the house, however, upon
further acquaintance, proving to be amply furnished
with modern luxuries, and especially with a good library,
superbly mounted in all departments bearing at all
upon political philosophy ; and the farmer turning out
a polished and liberal Englishman, who had travelled
extensively, and had so entirely dedicated himself to
the service of his humble fellow-countrymen, the
hewers of wood and drawers of water, in this southern
part of Somersetshire, that for many miles round he
was the general arbiter of their disputes, the guide and
counsellor of their difficulties ; 1 besides being appointed
executor and guardian to his children by every third
man who died in or about the town of Nether
Stowey.' *
Poole had relations in Bristol, his sister having
married Mr. King, a solicitor, and probably brother
of the surgeon of that name who resided at the
Pneumatic Institution with Dr. Beddoes, and who
married a sister of Mrs. Beddoes, namely, Emmeline,
daughter of Eichard Lovell Edgeworth, by his second
wife, Honora Sneyd. He thus occasionally went thither,
and, either by attending his lectures or through private
introduction, made the acquaintance of Coleridge. A
consistent- Whig in politics, and of a liberal religious
creed worthy of his culture and his sound, healthy
1 This universal faith in Poole's honour is referred to by Thomas
Wedgwood under date April 26, 1799. Mayer MSS.
2 De Quincey's Autobiography, vol. ii. p. 145.

THE ' WATCHMAN.' 73
understanding, he was just the man to be attracted by
the genius and eloquence of Coleridge, whose meta
physics, as yet, had not, through the use of opium, de
generated into mysticism, or his politics narrowed to an
effete Toryism. The result of this acquaintanceship
was an invitation to Nether Stowey, which Coleridge,
after a brief residence at Clevedon, accepted, in October
1795. Early in the year succeeding he returned to
Bristol, to superintend the press whilst his poems were
printing, and to prepare for the issue of a cheap
miscellany, to be entitled the ' Watchman,' which, pub
lished every eight days, would give a summary of news,
and discuss political and literary topics. It is not im
probable, considering Coleridge was so fresh from Nether
Stowey and the influence of a practical mind like that
possessed by Poole, that the first idea of this publica
tion was due to the latter. If it sold it would produce
a steady income, and confirm Coleridge in a continuous
habit of work. At first matters wore a promising
aspect. With unusual activity Coleridge made a
journey to the chief midland towns, and finally to
London, to canvass for subscribers, and with a success
which a more practical man would have turned to
account ; but in this case, as might have been expected,
the ' Watchman ' ceased to be at its tenth number. Its
opinions went too far for some, and not far enough or
full enough for others ; in short, Coleridge had pro
mised too much and fulfilled too little. But his extra
ordinary eloquence and knowledge had secured him
friends wherever he had gone. At Worcester he had
charmed the household of Mr. Barr, one of the partners
in the porcelain works of that city. In Birmingham
the letters he bore had introduced him to the family of
the Lloyds, the head of which was a wealthy banker.

74 COLERIDGE AT STOWEY.
The eldest son of this gentleman, being gifted with
poetic taste, if not possessing great intellectual strength,
was so attracted by the wonderful visitor as shortly
afterwards to become his resident guest at Nether
Stowey. At Derby Coleridge saw Wright the painter,
and Erasmus Darwin, the latter of whom he styled
' everything but Christian.' But it was the fashion of
the day, in imitation of the savants of the new regime in
France, to somewhat coarsely avow heterodox opinions ;
and Darwin, with the natural contempt of a strong
mind for what is weak and effete, was just the man to
fall into an extreme. But if this were coarse, nay un
wise, compared with the method of our ' milder day,'
there can be little doubt from which pole of belief the
intellectual impetus has come. Metaphysics have done
but little towards the intellectual or moral well-being
of mankind, even though clothed in the gilded words
of a man so originally gifted as Coleridge.
Soon after the natural death of the 'Watchman,'
Coleridge, at the invitation of Poole, repaired with his
wife and child again to Stowey. This time a house,
with orchard and garden, at the rent of 11. per annum,
had been secured, and. here, with the exception of an oc
casional journey on business or pleasure to Bristol, Bath,
or London, he remained till his visit to Germany in Sep
tember 1798. On reaching his new abode he thus wrote
to Cottle: 'We arrived safe. Our house is set to rights.
We are all — wife, bratling, and self — remarkably
well. Mrs. Coleridge likes Stowey, and loves Thomas
Poole and his mother, who love her. A communica
tion has been made from our orchard into T. Poole's
garden, and from thence to Cruickshanks', a friend of
mine and a young married man, whose wife is very
amiable, and she and Sara are already on the most

DESCRIPTION OF COLERIDGE. 75
cordial terms ; from all this you will conclude we are
happy.'1 In the previous autumn, 1795, Wordsworth and his
sister had settled for a time at Eacedown Lodge, near
Crewkerne in Dorsetshire, not more than twenty miles
from Stowey. The surrounding country was attractive,
and they varied their time in gardening, country rambles,
and literary occupation — Wordsworth at that time
being engaged in writing his tragedy of ' The Borderers'
and his ' Lyrical Ballads.' Two years previously he
had published two little volumes, one entitled ' Descrip
tive Sketches,' the other ' The Evening Walk ;' and the
former, having fallen into Coleridge's hand during his
last term at Cambridge, had won his warm admiration.
Yet Wordsworth had been almost a year at Eacedown '
before they met, though in comparatively such near
neighbourhood, and eventually through what means
does not appear. At length, in June 1797, Coleridge (
went over to Eacedown, and there enjoyed an intellec
tual intercourse such, as poets can alone know. They
read each other's poems, praised. each other fully, and
in conversation drank deep of felicitous thought and
expression. Miss Wordsworth, writing at the time to a
friend, thus describes Coleridge : ' You had a great loss
in not seeing Coleridge. He is a wonderful man.
His face teems with mind, soul, and spirit. Then he
is so benevolent, so good-tempered and cheerful, and,
like Wilham, interests himself so much about every
little trifle. At first I thought him very plain — tnat is,
for about three minutes ; he is pale; thin, has a wide
mouth, thick lips, and not very-good teeth, longish, loose-
growing, half-curling, rough, black hair' (in both these
1 Cottle's Reminiscences of Coleridge, edit. 1847, p. 100.

76 THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF STOWEY.
respects a striking contrast to his friend Wordsworth,
who in his youth had beautiful teeth and light brown
hair). ' But if you hear him speak for five minutes
you think no more of them. His eye is large and full,
and not very dark but grey, such an eye as would
receive from a heavy soul the dullest expression ; but
it speaks every emotion of his animated mind : it has
more of ' the poet's eye in a fine frenzy rolling' than I
ever witnessed. He has fine dark eyebrows and an over
hanging forehead. . . . The first thing that was read
after he came was William's new poem, 'Euined Cot
tage,' with which he was much delighted ; and after
tea he repeated two acts and a half of his tragedy,
' Osorio.' The next morning William read his tragedy,
' The Borderers.' x
This visit made the poets so desirous of further
intimacy that in the following month, July 1797,
Wordsworth and his sister spent a fortnight- with
Coleridge, and were so enchanted with the country
about Stowey as to wish to find a home there. ' You
know how much we were delighted with Stowey,' wrote
Miss Wordsworth in letters to a friend ; ' sea, woods
wild as fancy ever painted, brooks clear and pebbly as
in Cumberland, villages so romantic; and William and
I, in a wander by ourselves, found out a sequestered
waterfall in a dell formed by steep hills covered by full-
grown timber trees. The woods are as fine as those
at LoAvther, and the country more romantic ; it has the
character of the less grand part of the neighbourhood
of the lakes.' In a letter written in August from
Alfoxdea she continued : ' The evening that I wrote to
you, William and I had rambled as far as this house,
and pryed into the recesses of our little brook, but
1 C. Wordsworth's Life of Wordsioorth, vol. i. p. 99.

ALFOXDEN. 77
without any more fixed thoughts upon it than some-
dreams of happiness in a little cottage, and passing
wishes that such a plaGe. might be found out. We
spent a fortnight at Coleridge's : in the course of that
time we heard that this house was to let, applied for it,
and took it. Our principal inducement was Coleridge's
society. It is a month since we came to Alfoxden.
' The house is a large mansion, with furniture enough
for a dozen families like ours, and it is situated in a
large park with seventy head of deer. There is a very
excellent garden, well stocked with vegetables and
fruit. The garden is at the end of the house, and our
favourite parlour, as at Eacedown, looks that way. In
front is a little court, with grass plot, gravel walk, and
shrubs ; the moss roses were in full beauty a month
ago. The front of the house is to the south, but it
is screened from the sun by a high hill which rises
immediately from it. This hill is beautiful, scattered
irregularly and abundantly with trees, and topped with
fern, which spreads a considerable way down it. The
deer dwell here, and sheep, so that we have a living
prospect. From the end of the house we have a view
of the sea, over a woody meadow country ; and exactly
opposite the window where I now sit is an immense
wood, whose round top from this point has exactly the
appearance of a mighty dome. In some part of this
wood there is ah under grove of hollies which are now
very beautiful. In a glen at the bottom of the wood is
the waterfall of which I spoke, a quarter of a mile from
the house. We are three miles from Stowey, and not
two miles from the sea. Wherever we turn we have'
woods, smooth downs, and valleys with small brooks
running down them, through green meadows, hardly
ever intersected with hedgerows, but scattered over

78 THE TORY SQUIRES.
with trees. The hills that cradle these valleys are
either covered with fern and bilberries, or oak woods
which are cut for charcoal. . . Walks extend for miles
over the hill-tops, the great beauty of which is their
wild simplicity ; they are perfectly smooth, without
rocks.'1 This residence of Coleridge made Stowey for the
time a centre of attraction to others besides Words
worth and his sister. Charles Lloyd was domiciled
with the poet — as occasionally George Burnet, one of
his Pantisocratic friends. John Thelwall the politician
also resided in the neighbourhood, peacefully occupied
on a .small farm, but not forgotten or unobserved by
the agents of the Government. He had been drawn
hither, like the rest, by his admiration for Coleridge,.
who at that day shared with him in the belief that:
Parliamentary Eeform was the one great necessity, and"
without which misgovernment would increase and con
stitutional liberty be still more imperiled. • The Tories
in the, neighbourhood were soon alert. John Thelwall
was a.bad man ; Coleridge and Wordsworth were known
admirers of Eobespierre. At length the country gen
tlemen following scent on this air of treason, one of'
their number, a Sir Philip Hale of Cannington, gave
notice to the Government that some very suspicious
persons had congregated in their neighbourhood.2 A
spy was therefore sent down, and his report was that
Coleridge might be harmless, but that Wordsworth was
suspicious, as his habit was to walk by moonlight in
the loneliest valleys of the Quantock hills, where his
mutterings to himself were audible to every listener.
Some said he was a poet, and that his verses were
1 C. Wordsworth's Life of Wordsworth, vol. i. pp. 104-105.
3 Letter, Richard Poole King, Esg_.

COTTLE AT STOWEY. 7»
addressed to the moon, to the owls, to the flowers, and
to such simple objects of nature. But this was a sort
of thing bucolic brains could not be brought to under
stand ; so these squires and their dependents made their
neighbourhood as uncomfortable as they could, and
after a year Wordsworth quitted it, never to return,
except on a flying visit years long after. As to Tom
Poole, he might be dangerous, for he was so violent, and
always talking of Parliamentary Beform, an amended
Poor Law, and lessened taxation. But brave Tom Poole
held his own against the Tory squires, and hved not
only to see the passing of the Eeform Bill, a better
administration of parish relief, a more enlightened
government, and a more educated people, but to know
that the noble verse of his friends Wordsworth and
Coleridge had survived the ignorant criticism so long
at war against it, and was enshrined, as a precious
heritage, in the hearts of his countrymen ; whilst he
himself died in a green old age, reverenced and beloved
through a wide compass of men.
However, for a time the poets gathered their friends
about them and. enjoyed, life. Southey came from
Burton, near Christchurch, in Hampshire, as also from
Bristol, on more than one visit ; Charles Lamb was
also, a guest ; and Cottle mingled business and pleasure,
when he took the stage from Bristol to Bridge water,
from whence his friend Poole drove him to Stowey. Of
his first visit, in July 1797, he himself gives us- this
exquisite description : ' It is delightful, even at the
present moment, to recal the images connected with
my then visit to Stowey (which those can best under
stand who, like myself, have escaped from severe
duties to a brief season of happy recreation). Mr.
Coleridge welcomed me with the warmest cordiality.

80 AN EXQUISITE PICTURE.
He talked with affection of his old schoolfellow Lamb,
who had so recently left him ; regretted he had not an
opportunity of introducing me to one whom he so
highly valued. Mr. C. took particular delight in assuring
me (at least, at that time) how happy he was ; exhibit
ing successively his house, his garden, his orchard laden
with fruit ; and also the contrivances he had made to
unite his two neighbours' domains with his own. After
the grand circuit had been accomplished, by hospitable
contrivance we approached the " Jasmine harbour,"
when, to our gratifying surprise, we found the tripod
table laden with delicious bread and cheese, surmounted
by a mug of true Taunton ale. We instinctively took
our seats ; and there must have been some downright
witchery in the provisions, which surpassed all of its
kind ; nothing like it on the wide terrene ; and one glass
of the Taunton settled it to an axiom. While the
dappled sunbeams played on our table through the
umbrageous canopy, the very birds seemed to parti
cipate in our felicities, and poured forth their selectest
anthems. As we sat in our sylvan hall of splendour, a
company of the happiest mortals (T. Poole, C. Lloyd,
S. T. Coleridge, and J. O), the bright blue heavens,
the sporting insects, the balmy zephyrs, the feathered
choristers, the sympathy of friends — all augmented the
pleasurable to the highest point this side the celestial !
Every interstice of our hearts being filled with happi
ness, as a consequence, there was no room for sorrow,
exorcised as it now was, and hovering around at unap
proachable distance. With our spirits thus entranced,
though we might weep at other moments, yet joyance
so filled all within and without, that if, at this juncture,
tidings had been brought us that an irruption of the
ocean had swallowed up all our brethren of Pekin,

COLERIDGE AND THOMAS WEDGWOOD. 81
from the preoccupation of our minds,' " Poor things "
would have been our only reply, with anguish put off
till the morrow. While thus elevated in the universal
current of our feelings, Mrs. Coleridge approached with
her fine Hartley ; we all smiled, but the father's eye
beamed transcendental joy.' x , <.
During the period that Poole and his friends made
Stowey thus, attractive Thomas Wedgwood was a
guest. Cottle, referring to February 1798, says : 'It is
proper here to mention. „ . . that Mr. Poole, two or
three years before, had introduced Mr. Coleridge to Mr.
Thomas Wedgwood. This gentleman formed a high
opinion of Mr. C.'s talents, and felt an interest in his
welfare.'-2 This is sufficiently . vague, as it gives either
1795 or 1796 for the introduction, which undoubtedly
took place in Bristol, through the instrumentality of
Dr. Beddoes or Mr. King. With time so entirely at
his own disposal, and even thus early incessantly seeking
relief in change of scene and society, young Wedgwood
was likely to accept from time to time Poole's invitations
to Stowey ; and, this the more readily when he had once
practically tested the hospitality and genuine sympathy
of Poole, and the intellectual freshness and power of the
young poets.
In his ' Life of Sir Humphry Davy,' Dr. Paris, in
referring to young Gregory Watt, and the : winter he
spent at Penzance, in the hope of benefiting . by a
milder climate, thus adds: 'Mr. Wedgwood and his
brother Thomas also spent a winter at Penzance ; lind
I have reason to beheve that their friendship was of
substantial benefit to Davy.' 3 As usual, in that lax
method which used to prevail in writing biography and
1 Cottle's Reminiscences, pp. 150-151, edit. 147.
* Ibid. 171, " a Vol. i. p; 49.
G

82 HUMPHRY DAVY.
history, no date is given ; but we come upon it thus in a
solicitor's bill of costs belonging to Josiah Wedgwood,
junior : ' 1797, Nov. 7 : Your having wrote to us from
Penzance, to know whether the grant which had been
made some years past by the late Josiah Wedgwood
to Mr. Thomas Wedgwood out of the Staffordshire
estate was a sufficient qualification to enable Mr. Thomas
Wedgwood to kill game.'1 It was not. A. special
grant was at once prepared, and sent down to Cornwall
before the month had closed ; thus leading us to- the
conclusion that field-sports were another means by
which the invalid sought to find relief from the tozdium
vitos from which he suffered.
What were the benefits conferred on Davy by the
Wedgwoods is not stated ; but he certainly did not owe
to them his introduction to Beddoes. That was due to
Davies Giddy, who in 1788, when the latter returned
to Oxford to take the Chemical Chair, was an under
graduate at Pembroke College. Constant attendance
upon the eloquent and able lectures delivered by
Beddoes led to acquaintanceship, and, upon their joint
removal from Oxford, to correspondence. Mr. Giddy
¦ — or Gilbert, for he afterwards took the latter name —
was a native of Cornwall, a man of position and wealth,
an admirable chemist, and the possessor of literary tastes.
He resided at Tredrea, near Penzance, and walking one
day with a friend in the latter town, he observed an
odd-looking boy swinging on a half-gate before a house.
' That boy,' said the friend, ' is young Davy the carver's
son, and he's fond of making chemical experiments.'
' Chemical experiments,' exclaimed Mr. Giddy ; ' if that
be the case, I must have some conversation with him.'
1 Ward, Dennetts and Greaves. Mayer MSS.

MR. GIDDY'S LABORATORY. SS,
The introduction was made, and the conversation
followed. Other interviews took place, all confirmatory,
of Giddy's first impression, that Humphry Davy was a
youth of singular genius. Whereupon he invited him,
to Tredrea, offered him the use of his library, and
introduced him to a Dr. Edwards, who afterwards
removed to London, and became chemical lecturer at
St. Bartholomew's Hospital. This latter gentleman was,
with his father, employed in the assay of metals, and.
possessed a well-appointed laboratory. Upon his first
visit with Mr. Gilbert,- this was shown to the young
chemist. 'The tumultuous delight which Davy ex
pressed on seeing, for the first time, a quantity of
chemical apparatus hitherto only known to him through
the medium of engravings is said by Mr. Gilbert to
have surpassed all description. The air-pump more
especially fixed his attention, and he worked its piston,
exhausted the receiver, and opened its valves with the
simplicity and joy of a child engaged in the examination
of a new and favourite toy.' x
It is evident that Mr. Gilbert, in his letters to Dr.
Beddoes, had variously referred to Davy, and also in
formed the latter that Beddoes' opinions coincided with
those of Lavoisier as to the non-existence of caloric as
a cause or substance of heat. Upon this Davy wrote
to the Doctor, and gave an account of his own re
searches on Light and Heat; at the same time offering
for his perusal an Essay he had drawn up on friction
and percussion, which proved heat to be but motion.
Beddoes appears to have formed no very high notion of
what was thus offered ; , but when the papers detailing
these experiments reached him, through the hands of
1 Paris, Life of Sir H. Davy, vol. i. p. 47.
g 2

84 DAVY'S REMOVAL TO BRISTOL.
Gregory Watt, he was surprised by their ability ; and
at once it flashed across his mind that the young ex
perimentalist was just the person he required as super
intendent of the Pneumatic Institution. He rephed to
Davy, offering to print his papers in a work he was
then meditating on physical and medical subjects from
the West of England. Of this proposed work he
enclosed a prospectus, as also a printed account of some
experiments made by Count Eomford, and of which it
was evident Davy was entirely ignorant. At the same
time Beddoes wrote to Mr. Gilbert, offering through
him the place of superintendent to the young chemist.
This was towards the close of July 1798. By the end
of September, the negotiations relative thereto were
brought to a close by Davy's acceptance of the offer.
On October 2, the same day which brought to England
the news of Nelson's glorious victory of the Nile, he set
off on his journey to Bristol.
As yet the Pneumatic Institution was a dream in
printers' ink, rather than a reality. But the experiments
connected with the chemical lectures delivered by Dr.
Beddoes had popularised the subject of the gases ; and
many were now willing to try their effects. Subscrip
tions increased ; and amongst those who gave were
persons of rank and fortune. Still a large sum was
needed. To obviate further delay, Mr. Lambton, father
of the afterwards celebrated Earl of Durham, and at
that time one of Beddoes' patients, gave 1,500/., and
Thomas Wedgwood 1,000/. ; the latter considering 'that
it was worth while to expend the sum subscribed in
order to assure us that elastic fluids would not be ser
viceable as medicines.'
Soon after Davy's arrival a house for the pur
poses of the Institution was taken in Dowry Square,

A REMARKABLE DISCOVERY. 85
Hotwells, and a laboratory established on a most
efficient scale. By the succeeding April there were
several in-patients and more than eighty out-patients ;
and in the interval Davy, who had carried on an
elaborate course of experiments on the physiological
effects of such aeriform fluids as held out any promise
of useful agency, made a discovery of a highly interest
ing character. The gas named by Dr. Priestley, its
illustrious discoverer, dephlogisticated nitrous air, and
by the French chemists the gaseous oxide of azote, had
hitherto most contradictory qualities assigned to it.
Curious to test these, Davy carefully prepared the gas
and then cautiously respired it. Finding it could be
inhaled without danger, he ventured upon a larger dose,
and was surprised by experiencing the most vivid sen
sations of pleasure, accompanied by a rapid succession
of highly excited ideas. His report induced others to
make a trial of it, and all with varying effect. Mr.
Coleridge felt a highly pleasurable sense of warmth and
an inclination to laugh ; Southey's merriment was at
first tempered by fear, but further inhalations excited
him as much as Davy. ' Oh, Tom ! ' he wrote to his
brother, July 12, 1799, ' such a gas has Davy discovered,
the gaseous oxyde ! Oh, Tom ! I have had some ; it
made me laugh and tingle in every toe and finger tip.
Davy has actually invented a new pleasure, for which
language has no name. Oh, Tom ! I am going for
more this evening ; it makes one strong and so happy !
so gloriously happy ! and without any after debility,
but, instead of it, increased strength of mind and body.
Oh ! excellent air-bag ! Tom, I am sure the air in
heaven must be this wonder-working gas of delight.' x
1 Southey's Life and Correspondence, vol. ii, p. 21.

86 EFFECTS OF THE NITROUS OXIDE.
Others who tested it were equally rapturous. Some
danced, a few were pugnaciously inclined, others were
affected by nausea or revived rheumatic pains. Davy
himself ran hither and thither, and a young lady, after
inhaling the nitrous oxide, dashed out of the room and
house, and was only overtaken by her fleetest friend.
Such were the scenes at the Pneumatic Institution.
For a time this wonder-working gas exorcised philo
sophic gravity, and converted the laboratory into a
region of hilarity and relaxation. But only for a time.
Davy was too ardent an experimentalist to be long
idle. He next tried the nitrous oxide whilst his system
was in a high state of stimulation from drinking wine,
but found no increase of stimulus therefrom.
As may be imagined from his sanguine temperament,
Dr. Beddoes' hopes were raised by this discovery to the
highest pitch. ' I shall not dissemble,' he wrote, ' that
the contemplation of the phenomena revived, in more
than their original force, certain well-known physiologi
cal conjectures which I had formed many years ago, and
concerning which I had so ardently desired that they
should be submitted to an experimental scrutiny.
That oxygen should have seldom been administered in
its most perfect state ; that the newly-tried gas may be
regarded as a more powerful form of oxygen gas ; and
that between the two we should now have at our dis
posal an infinite series of powers, are considerations
highly encouraging. And the possibility of exalting the
bodily and mental powers and of renovating excitability
seem now more feasible than ever.' In these hopes
Beddoes was in a measure disappointed. But, as in all
cases of the kind, a philosophical residue was left of the
highest value. The enemies of medical improvement
raised a cry far and wide of quackery and exaggeration,

FURTHER EXPERIMENTS. 87
not seeing the valuable part illusion and exaggeration
often play in working out a priori conceptions. In
reply to some expression of the sort, Southey wrote,
-and truly, ' Of Beddoes you entertain an erroneous
opinion. Beddoes is an experimentalist in cases where
the ordinary remedies are notoriously and fatally in
efficacious. .... The faculty dishke Beddoes, because
he is more able, and more successful, and more
celebrated, than themselves, and because he labours to
reconcile the art of healing with common sense, instead
of all the parade of mystery with which it is usually
enveloped. Beddoes is a candid man, trusting more to
facts than reasonings : I understand him when he talks
to me, and, in case of illness, should rather trust myself
to his experiments than be killed off secundum artem,
and in the ordinary course of practice.'1
Having succeeded so well with the nitrous oxide,
Davy next hazarded a trial with a far more deadly
agent, nitrous gas. But, in spite of all precaution in
inhaling it, nitrous acid was formed by the unavoidable
mixture of the gas with common air, and with effects
so painful on his teeth, tongue, and palate as to pre
clude any further experiment. He next tested the
effects of carburetted hydrogen gas, a compound much
like our present illuminating gas, but with an effect so
deadly that, .but for the dropping of the mouthpiece
from his unnerved hand, he would have died at the
third inspiration. Still the experiment served for
something. It proved that the hydrocarbonate acted
as a sedative, producing diminution of vital action and
consequent debility without previously exciting.
Fortunately for himself, Davy's next experiment to
1 Life and Correspondence, vol. ii. pp. 23-24.

"88 -THE ROYAL INSTITUTION.
inspire fixed air, or carbonic acid gas, was frustrated
by his inability to draw it into the windpipe ; although,
in a very diluted form, he so far tested its effects upon
the human frame as to indicate that it produced gid
diness and a tendency to sleep. Without doubt these
frequent and varied experiments with the most deadly
gases known to chemists left effects upon -his respiratory-
organs which told in an after day ; but their immediate
and indirect results were most valuable to Davy. He
described them in a volume entitled 'Eesearches, Chemi
cal and Philosophical, chiefly concerning Nitrous Oxide
and its Eespiration.' This was widely circulated, and
amongst the earliest of those who were attracted by its
philosophic spirit, its cautious induction from ingeni
ously contrived experiments, and its happy talent for
analysing the different circumstances which influence
the chemical changes observed, was Dr. Hope of
Edinburgh. This eminent physician had already met
Davy at Bristol, and now forming the highest opinion
of his ability, he was the means of introducing him to
Count Eomford, under whose auspices the Eoyal Insti
tution in London had been recently established. A
lecturer of talent was wanting to fill the chemical
chair ; and this appointment, as also that of director of
the laboratory, was conferred on Mr. Davy during the
early part of 1801.
Both for the interests of science and of Davy per
sonally this appointment was a most fortunate one;
for the Pneumatic Institution, so far as the administra
tion of the gases was concerned, had for some time
been in a state of slow collapse. When it was found
that they were not a panacea for every human ill ; that
at best they were but palliatives in some few forms of
chronic affection, as palsy, rheumatism, scrofula, asthma,

BEDDOES' FAVOURITE REMEDIES. 89:
liypbchondriacism ; that in no single instance had they
effected any real or permanent cure, public interest in
the medicated airs died rapidly away. The nitrous
oxide was occasionally administered and held its
ground to the last, and the hydrocarbonate gas and
nitrous acid were occasionally and beneficially resorted
to ; but, except as he experimentalised on a wider field
and in the cause of pure science, Davy's work was
done. The Pneumatic Institution became a mere dis
pensary for the administration . of ordinary medical
remedies, and for the trial of many that were new.
Muriate of hme was used on a most extensive . scale
in cases of scrofula, a preparation of foxglove in cases
of consumption and dyspepsia, and a favourite tonic
was a highly oxygenated preparation of iron. Bed-
does was also a believer in that opprobrium medicince
¦calomel. His faith in digitalis or foxglove, both alone
and in conjunction with other medicines, was as great as
that of Bishop Butler in tar- water. He wrote in favour
of it, and held,. contrary to the opinion of his profes-
¦sional brethren, that it was an anodyne and a stimu
lant bordering upon opium, and, when judiciously ad
ministered, was useful as- a stomachic. Whether he
tested the effects of galvanism upon his patients is not
very clear, but he and Davy dosed, electrified, and ad
ministered fictitious airs to scores of puppies, kittens,
and frogs. The last were in such request during" the
early days of the Pneumatic Institution that the supply
-from about Clifton and Bristol being exhausted, Dr.
Beddoes applied to his friend Mr. William Austin,
-of Madeley Wood in Shropshire.. That gentleman set
the lads of his neighbourhood to work, and scores
were soon fished out of pond and marsh and packed
in a cask. In those days large trows came down the

90 GALVANISM.
Severn from Shropshire to Bristol, and by one of them
the cask was sent. But the trowmen, being ignorant
of its precious contents, bumped it down heavily on
Bristol Quay ; when lo ! the cask burst, and the frogs,
saved from nitrous oxide, digitalis, and galvanic shocks,
leaped about in all directions, to the dismay of hundreds
of worthy Bristolians, who, conjecturing that they had
been brought there as food for Frenchmen, smelt a plot
and a revolution, and fancied French incendiaries were
hiding in their quiet little city.1
. Some of Davy's earliest experiments at the Pneu
matic Institution related to Galvanism — a subject on
which Dr. Beddoes was almost as enthusiastic as him
self. They proved to him, thus early, that galvanism
was a purely chemical process, depending wholly on
the oxidation of metallic surfaces having different
degrees of electric conducting power. He decom
posed water by the galvanic pile, tested its effects on
oxygen and various acids, and by the variety and
exactness of these experiments prepared the way for
that series of electro-chemical investigations which have
immortalised his name.
The Pneumatic Institution, so long as Davy remained
connected with it, was a centre of attraction. Coleridge,
Southey, Wordsworth, Cottle, the Wedgwoods, the
Lambtons, Clarkson, Edgeworth, various physicians, and
foreign professors, to say nothing of titled people, went
to and fro, testing the gases, witnessing experiments,
or, carried away by Beddoes' enthusiasm, became con
verts on the spot to the virtues of the nitrous oxide
or all-curing digitalis. Davy seems to have been every
body's favourite. Under his guidance prosaic Joseph
1 Letter, Thos. Poole King, Esq.

DECLINE OF THE PNEUMATIC INSTITUTION. 91
Cottle commenced a series of chemical experiments,
and the young Lambtons, who were domiciled with
Dr. Beddoes, often referred, in after life, to the know
ledge they unconsciously picked up from one who
delighted to be their companion and friend. Of these
bright days, when science and poesy were alike young,
Southey wrote long after : ' This was one of the happiest
portions of my life. ... I was in most frequent
and familiar intercourse with Davy, then in the flower
and freshness of his youth. We were within an easy
walk of each other, over some of the most beautiful
ground in that beautiful part of England. When I
went to the Pneumatic Institution he had to tell me of
some new experiment or discovery and of the views
which it opened for him, and when he came to West-
bury there was a fresh portion of 'Madoc' for his
hearing. Davy encouraged me with -his hearty appro
bation during its progress ; and the bag of nitrous
oxide with which he generally regaled me upon my
visit to him was not required for raising my spirits to
the degree of settled fair, and keeping them at that
elevation.'1 Davy told Cottle that during the latter part of his
stay at Bristol the Pneumatic Institution was only kept
open by bribing each patient with sixpence a day.
But this was not exactly the case. Finding, like most
medical men, the difficulty of insuring the regular
attendance of the less educated classes, Beddoes made
each patient, upon entrance, deposit half-a-crown.
This Was returned if the patient left the Institution in
a regular manner ; but was forfeited and given to a
charity for absence or other non-conformance to rules.
1 Life and Correspondence, vol. i. p. 339.

92 BEDDOES' ENLIGHTENED VIEWS.
In spite of this comparative failure of the gaseous
remedies, Beddoes never lost faith in his opinion that
they contained principles which others would pursue
and turn to account. He wrote much and well upon
the laws of health. He showed that they ought to be
as commonly taught in schools and families as the
ordinary branches of knowledge. He warmly advo
cated temperance and personal, cleanliness at a date
when neither was commonly practised. In regard to
education he held most enlightened views, and proposed
to teach, even in play, by the use of what he called
' rational toys.' For the construction of these upon a
sufficient scale a committee was formed and subscrip
tions raised, but the matter, after some little agitation,
fell to the ground. One of the committee was John
Wedgwood, Esq., of Cote House, Bristol ; and refer
ring to the education of the young Lambtons, who
resided with him, Dr. Beddoes thus wrote to Mr.
Giddy : ' I wish you and Josiah Wedgwood hved
near me, as by joining purses we might procure some
uncommon advantages for all the children.'
During the two years and a half Coleridge resided
at Stowey he appears to have written httle else than a
few poems. How he lived and kept a wife and child
seems inexplicable, unless we presume that even thus
early he was helped in all directions by his friends.
He was always soliciting small doles from Cottle, and
Poole was also called on in various ways. So long as
Charles Lloyd remained his guest he was handsomely
remunerated ; but, differences occurring, young Lloyd
returned to Birmingham at the close of 1797, and
some other source of income had to be thought of.
Necessity had already suggested to Coleridge the
ministry as • a means of subsistence. His opinions

¦ UNITARIANISM IN SHREWSBURY. 93
were Socinian, and he had preached at Bath, Bridge-
water, Taunton, Sheffield, and Birmingham. Cottle
gives a ludicrous account of his first appearance in the
pulpit ; but his subsequent essays at Sheffield and
Birmingham were far more favourable, and thus the
Unitarian body regarded him in the hght of an ac
credited minister. When, therefore, towards the close of
1797, or the beginning of 1798, it became known that
the Unitarian pulpit at Shrewsbury was vacant, it
occurred to him to offer his services. But some of his
friends were against the scheme, as removing him from
the wider and more useful field of literature ; whilst
others considered that certainty and permanence of
income, combined with the necessity of regular occu-
pationj would be a great boon. Whilst the matter thus
hung in suspense, Thomas Wedgwood sent, through his
brother Josiah, the sum of 1001., hoping thereby to
remove the necessity of Coleridge's acceptance of the
ministry^ But the 1001. would soon be spent, and
then the old necessities would recur ; and thus, guided
by prudential reasons^ which were those of his wife
or Poole rather than his own, he returned the money
to Josiah Wedgwood, with a long letter stating his
reasons for so doing. He then set forth for Shrews
bury. The Unitarian pulpit in that town had been for some
time filled by an extremely able and eloquent minister
named Eowe ; but a vacancy occurring at Bristol, he
had removed thither, leaving thus an opening to such
candidate as might by his gifts secure the suffrages. of
a somewhat large and critical audience. For though
at a period when it required no small amount of moral
courage to profess belief in Unitarianism, the Shrews
bury congregation had largely increased under Eowe's

94 COLERIDGE'S ELOQUENT SERMONS.
ministry — in fact, it was attended by many who were
not Socinian in opinion, but who could appreciate
eloquence and breadth of thought apart from dogma.
Amongst the prominent members of the congrega
tion was a family of the name of Taylor, who occupied
a large and handsome house on St. John's Hill near
the Quarry, and thither Coleridge repaired upon
reaching Shrewsbury. The Taylors and Wedgwoods
had long been intimate, and as a friend of the latter, as
much as for his own gifts, Coleridge met with a hearty
welcome ; and, it being the middle of the week when he
arrived, he went, according to custom, the round of
what might be presumed to be his future congregation,
and, his fame as a poet and a scholar having preceded
him, his reception was flattering in the extreme. The
expectation thus excited was shared by the pastors of
several surrounding congregations, who, on the event
ful Sunday morning, helped to fill the httle chapel on
Swan Hill to overflowing ; for, as a matter of course,
they were well acquainted with the various ministerial
needs and changes of their persuasion. Amongst
others was William Hazlitt, the son of the Unitarian
minister at Wem. He was then a mere youth, but the
impression left by Coleridge's sermon was never effaced.
Nineteen years afterwards, when he addressed the
editor of the ' Examiner,' in relation 'to Coleridge's
' Lay Sermon,' he referred in terms of warm admira
tion to the memorable discourse he had listened to in
January 1798.1 The contrast between the opinions of
1 It was in January 1798, just nineteen years ago, that I got up one
morning, before day-light, to walk ten miles in the mud, and went to
hear a poet and a philosopher preach. It was the author of the Lay
Sermon. Never, Sir, the longest day I have to live, shall I have such
another walk as this cold, raw, comfortless one, in the winter of the
year 1798. Mr. Examiner, II y a des impressions que ni le terns ni les cir-

THE. 'LAY SERMON;' 95
the two was scarcely to be realised by a rational mind ;
for involved was not the ordinary and natural ascent
Constances peuvent effacer. DussH-je vivre des siicles entiers, le doux tems de
ma jeunesse ne peut renaitre pour moi, ni s 'effacer jamais dans ma me-
moire. When I got there, Sir, the organ was playing the 100th Psalm,
ahd when it was done Mr. C. rose and gave out his text : ' And He
went up into the mountain to pray, Himself, Alone.' As he gave out
this text his voice ' rose like a steam of rich distilled perfumes,' and
when he came to the last two words, which he pronounced loud, deep,
and distinct, it seemed to me, Sir, who was then young, as if the sounds
had echoed from the bottom of the human heart, and as if that prayer
might have floated in solemn silence through the universe.. The idea of
St. John came into my mind, ' Of one crying in the wilderness, who had
his loins girt about, and whose food was locusts and wild honey.' The
preacher then launched into his subject like an eagle dallying with the
wind. That sermon, like this sermon, was upon peace and war ; upon
church and state — not their alliance, but their separation; on the spirit
of the world and the spirit of Christianity — not as the same, but as
opposed to one another. He talked of those who had 'inscribed the
cross of Christ on banners dripping with human gore.' He made a
poetical and pastoral excursion, and to show the fatal effects of war
drew a striking contrast between the simple shepherd boy driving his
team afield, or sitting under the hawthorn piping to his flock, as though
he should never be old, and the same poor country-lad crimped, kid
napped, brought into town, made drunk at an alehouse, turned into a
wretched drummer-boy, with his hair sticking on end with powder as
pomatum, a long cue at his back, and tricked out in the loathsome finery
of the profession of blood.
' Such were the notes our once loved poet sung.'
And, for myself, Sir, I could not have been more delighted if I had
heard the music of the spheres. Poetry and Philosophy had met
together, Truth and Genius had embraced, under the eye and with the
sanction of religion. This was even beyond my hopes ; I returned home
well satisfied. The sun that was still labouring pale and wan "through
the skies, obscured by thick mists, seemed an emblem of the good cause ;
and the cold, dank drops of dew that hung half melted on the beard of
the thistle had something genial and refreshing in them ; for there
was a spirit of hope and youth in all nature that turned everything
into good. The face of nature had not then the brand of Jus Divintjm
on it— ' Like to that sanguine flower inscribed with woe.'
Now, Sir, what I have to complain of is this : that, from reading your
account of the 'Lay Sermon,' I begin to suspect that my notions
formerly must have been little better than a deception; that my faith in .

m COLERIDGE ACCEPTS AN ANNUITY.
from error to truth, but the descent to rehgious narrow
ness and obsolete political faith.
Whilst thus there seemed every likelihood that
Coleridge would accept and be accepted by the Shrews
bury congregation, he received a letter from Thomas
Wedgwood, offering, on his own part and that of his
brother Josiah, an annuity for life of lbOl. per annum,
if Coleridge would relinquish the ministry. Mr.
Wedgwood was of opinion that the duties connected
therewith would interfere with Coleridge's literary
pursuits ; and the offer was thus generously made with
the view of securing him simple independence and
peace of mind whilst realising, by his pen, some few of
the splendid visions which were ever crowding in his
brain. No one at that date appreciated more justly
than Thomas Wedgwood Coleridge's extraordinary
subtlety and force of intellect. Few perhaps had the
Mr. Coleridge's great power must have been a vision of my youth, that,
like other such visions, must pass away from me; and that all his
genius and eloquence is vox et preterea nihil : for otherwise how is it lost
to all common sense upon paper ?
Again, Sir, I ask Mr. Coleridge why, having preached such a sermon
as I have described, he has published such a sermon as you have de
scribed ? What right; Sir, has he or any man to make a fool of me, or
any man ? I am naturally, Sir, a man of a plain, dull, dry understand
ing, without flights or fancies, and can just contrive to plod on if left
to myself; what right then has Mr. C, who is just going to ascend in
a balloon, to offer me a seat in the parachute only to throw me from
the height of his career upon the ground and dash me to pieces ? Or,
again, what right has he to invite me to a feast of poets and philosophers,
fruits and flowers intermixed — immortal fruits and amaranthine flowers
— and then to tell me it is all vapour, and, like Timon, to throw his
empty dishes in my face ? ' No, Sir, I must and will say it is hard. —
Hazlitt's Political Essays, edit. 1819, pp. 137, 138.
Though Hazlitt did not stay to hear it, the evening discourse seems tp
have been as remarkable as that of the morning. The fame of the
latter was spread about the town, so that with evening a large miscel
laneous congregation filled the chapel to overflowing, for many stood
without the doors and by the windows. Till recent years, Coleridge's
-discourses were well remembered by inhabitants of Shrewsbury.

IN SEARCH OF AN ESTATE. 97
capacity to do so. His intellect was as profound and
wide in its range as that of Coleridge. And he could
thus accurately gauge what the product might be if
circumstances were favouring.
Coleridge accepted the offer,1 and after two further
discourses to what was probably the disappointed con
gregation he repaired to Bristol, where Mr. Thomas
Wedgwood was then staying with his brother John at
Cote House. Here instructions were given to Messrs.
Ward, Dennetts and Greaves of London to execute the
necessary deed securing the annuity;2 the amount of
which probably represented the stipend annexed to the
Shrewsbury pastorate.
At this date Thomas Wedgwood was traversing mid
land and south-western England in search of an estate ;
it being his desire to purchase one, in the hope of
securing health and pleasurable occupation in its im-
1 In the following hasty note : — Shrewsbury, Friday night, 1798.
My dear Sir,
I have this moment received your letter, and have scarcely
more than a moment to answer it by return of post. If kindly feeling can
be repaid by kindly feeling, I am not your debtor. I would wish to
express the same thing which is big at my heart/ but I know not how to
do it without indelicacy. As much abstracted from personal feeling as
possible, I honour and esteem you for that which you have done.
I must of necessity stay here till the close of Sunday next. On
Monday morning I shall leave it, and on Tuesday be with you at Cote
House. Very affectionately yours, S. T. Coleridge.
T. Wedgwood, Esq.
Cottle's Reminiscences, edit. 1847, p. 172.
2 Feb. 17, 1798. Writing an answer to a letter received from you,
requiring to know in what manner you would charge your Copyhold
Estate with the payment of an annuity of 1501. per annum. Solicitors'
bill of costs. — Josiah Wedgwood, Esq., to Ward, Dennetts and Greaves,
Mayer MSS. H

98 COLERIDGE AND WORDSWORTH VISIT GERMANY.
provement and cultivation. Advertisements x had been
inserted in several provincial papers, but hitherto with
out effect, nor was it till the following year that a
purchase was made.
Sometime during the spring of 1798 he was again at
Nether Stowey with his friend Poole. Here, it- seems,
the idea of Coleridge's visit to Germany was first
broached ; and, as the scheme grew, Wordsworth and
his sister were included ; for, though a fact hitherto
unknown, they were, in relation to this journey and
residence in Germany, as much indebted to Thomas
Wedgwood as Coleridge. At the close of June, Words
worth and his sister made a short tour on the banks of
the Wye, passing through Bristol, where they stayed
with Cottle. In July they returned there, in order that
Woids worth might be near the printer whilst the
' Lyrical Ballads ' were passing through the press. At
the end of August they left Bristol for London ; and
on September 16, 1798, Wordsworth, his sister, and
Mr. Coleridge sailed from Yarmouth for Hamburgh.
The sums supphed -to Coleridge, and possibly to
Wordsworth, prior to their leaving England, would, as
a private transaction, remain unknown ; but being
accredited to the house of Phillip and Otto Von Axen,~ •
the Hamburgh agents of the firm of Wedgwood, the
sums drawn by both poets whilst in Germany passed
necessarily into the accounts transmitted to England,
and have thus been preserved.2 The poets reached
1 Paid postage of Sundry • Letters addressed to our house, in conse
quence of the advertisement inserted for the purchase of an Estate.
Though inserted in his brother's bill, these various items were charged
to Thomas Wedgwood, as the bill is indorsed ' 11. 10s. to be charged
to T. W.'
a Translation of accounts, 1795-1801. Phillip and Otto Von Axen,
Hamburgh. Mayer MSS. The invoices of ware sent to this eminent

VON AXEN'S ACCOUNTS. 99
Hamburgh on September 18, and on October 2 Words
worth received by letter from the firm 321. 7s. 3d. ; on
the 12th of the same month Coleridge was paid 351. ;
on December 24, 301. ; on January 24, 1799, 301. ; March
29, 301. ; and on July 8, the poets conjointly received
the sum of 106/. 10s. This last sum must refer to a
current account between March and July, as Words
worth and his sister returned to England early in the
spring of 1799.
Prior to his visit to Germany, Coleridge knew nothing
of the language ; and thus his acquaintance with its
literature had been derived solely from translations.
But these were already numerous ; and, embracing the
best works on philosophical, religious, and other sub
jects, had improved in the highest sense the tone and
character of the more advanced phase of public thought:
Young men like Wedgwood and Coleridge, with their
natural taste for philosophic inquiry, were necessarily
influenced by these broadening tendencies ; though whilst
the one seems to have remained a steady adherent of
Eeid and Hartley to the end, Coleridge converted the
idealism of Kant and Fichte into mysticism; and with
it accepted and promulgated that narrowness of belief
which mysticism begets.
Coleridge, during his year's residence in Germany;
corresponded regularly with the Wedgwoods; and about
the time that Wordsworth and his sister returned to
England we come upon more vivid traces of Thomas
Wedgwood. He was at Cote in February; from there
he removed to Cobham; and travelling thence with his
servant, and in a gig, tandemwise with a pair of horses*
firm give lists of works of the finest character. Through this medium
the States of Northern Germany were supplied with vases, medallions,
and cameos.
h 2

100 MIDLAND ENGLAND.
we find him at Maidenhead, on his way into the mid
land counties, on March 1, 1799. Various rephes to
his and his brother's advertisement for an estate had
been sent in, and whilst desirous to purchase .one near
Bath, the matter was sufficiently doubtful to render a
further survey necessary. By March 14 he had reached
Worcester, and he thus announces disappointment to
his brother Josiah ; the estate in question having found
another purchaser. ' Thus you see our fate is com
pletely decided. We are altogether unfortunate, and
where we shall now turn ourselves I know not. I have
heard of nothing new in this country, and but one
place to look at in Worcestershire — Marsh Court and
only two hundred acres, between Little Malvern and
Tewkesbury. . . I am heartily sick of my mission, but
determined to persevere. The E. wind is returned
this morning, and the snow along with it. I shall
brave it, however. . . My best love to Susan and the
Doctor.1 I cannot quit my present object, or it would
be very delightful to me to spend a few days with them.
I am mortified to think that my search is now more
and more remote from them. . . I have heard from T,
Poole about Luttrell's estate ; large enough, good land,
but dirty in wet weather, not very pretty, no mansion,
but a good farm-house. Perhaps it may be worth
looking at when I am in the country. I shall write to
you again as soon as I have seen Marsh Court, if it is
likely. Else I shall proceed into Herefordshire first,
where I have three objects — Armstone House, on the
left bank of the Wye, between Hereford and Eoss
belonging to Woodhouse ; Hartleton, left of road from
1 Dr. R. W. Darwin of Shrewsbury, who in the spring of 1796 had
married the eldest Miss Wedgwood. Josiah W., jun., was on a visit to
Shrewsbury.

THE COUNTRY ROUND BRIDGEWATER. 101
Gloucester to Eoss, with house, 300 acres, at 250/. ;
and the site of castle and large estate, four miles below
Eoss on the Wye, belonging to D. of Beaufort. Pray
let me have the consolation of a letter from you
at Bristol Post Office ; I shall be there in three days at
the latest. I find it very cheering at a lonesome fire
side to hear any tidings of my clan. I spent a day and
two nights at Moseley's. . . Walter is very friendly,
hot rolls to breakfast, and an excellent table. Yours
ever, T. W.' * The search was unsuccessful, and a fresh
attempt was made to secure the estate near Bath by
offering a handsome premium. Writing from Newport,
Monmouthshire, on March 16, he says : 'I own the hope
is forlorn ; but a drowning man, &c. Where are we
to turn ourselves? the more I see of these counties,
the more I am convinced we shall find nothing compar
able to Bishop's Leigh.2 . . I go to Clifton to-morrow,
and next day but one to Stowey. I shall return
to Bristol. If my search and this desperate attempt
at B. Leigh prove altogether unsuccessful, I do not
know what I shall do to gain a little strength this
summer. I dare not stay at Stoke,3 and next winter
I must migrate, so that you see our living together de
pends upon getting B. Leigh ; do give it your most
earnest attention.'
Upon reaching Stowey, Mr. Wedgwood seems to
have found that his friend Poole had been busy in his
behalf in respect to land in a beautiful country about
twelve miles from Bridgewater. It was in separate
lots, and for various reasons required adroit negotiation

1 Thos. W. to J. W., March 14, 1799. Mayer MSS.
2 The name of the estate near Bath,
s Stoke House, near Cobham, Surrey; the residence of Josiah Wedgwood
the younger till his purchase of an estate in Dorsetshire.

102 CASTLE FLOREY.
so as to secure the whole. One portion with a house
was known as Castle Florey, others as Combe Down
farm, Miles farm, Combe Wood, &C.1 ' Between Miles
farm,' he writes to his brother, ' he some lands which
have been for some time purchasable — one front
taking in a reach of Taunton Dean, the other the
whole of the beautiful little Combe and its picturesque
objects. Now, what say you, if you consider the B.
Leigh business altogether desperate, of immediately
getting some farmer to purchase Miles and Wood farm
as for himself, and Poole, as tanner, to purchase Combe
Wood. We would then buy the intermediate land, wait
awhile for the chance of the home lot, and, the worst
come to the worst, build. What other chance remains ?
What place combines so many advantages ? The wood
swarms in pheasants, hares, and woodcocks, and I am
sure we should never meet with any difficulty about
partridge shooting. 2. The climate is warm. 3. The
scenery cheerful and picturesque. 4. The land of the
most desirable quality. 5. An excellent road. to a
capital town. 6. Proximity to romantic country.
7. Within an easy day's journey from John and Jane,2
of Caroline.3 8. A most pleasant part of England.
9. Near to warm retreats in winter. 10. Perfect retire
ment. In Bagbourne is a very pretty house which is,
I believe, to let ; I think it would do for us till our
1 These beautiful spots were all apparently in the parish of Combe
Florey, of which, in later years, Sydney Smith was incumbent. It is
thus described by Lady Holland : ' The climate, the vegetation, and the
soil were all in strong contrast to the north, and it well deserved the
name of Combe Florey, for it really was a valley of flowers, a lovely
little spot, where nature and art combined to realize the Happy Valley.' 
Memoir of the Rev, Sydney Smith, vol. i. p. 228.
2 Namely, from Cote House, Bristol.
3 Mrs. Drewe of Broadhembury, Devon, sister of the wives of John
and Josiah Wedgwood, and at a later day the friend of Francis Horner.

A DELIGHTFUL COUNTRY. 103
own was built. I have no doubt of our lodging ourselves
somewhere in the neighbourhood. Turn it in your
mind. ... If you accede, I think it will be absolutely
necessary for you to come down to Bridgewater, where
— or at Stowey you shall find me. . . in order to satisfy
yourself as to the spot for building on. . . The
business will not admit of delay. . . there scarcely is in
all the countries I have looked — Worcester, Gloucester,
Hereford, and Somerset — any likely region to look for
anything suitable.' Writing to his brother five days
later, he is still more urgent ; he describes anew the
beauty of the situation proposed for the house : —
' There are some charming rides about Castle Fleury,
to Lidyard, and Cothelaston is one of the finest
views and rides I ever beheld. The whole land for
miles about C. Fleury is a dry and sandy loam, the
fields very pretty, and most agreeably soothing and
pleasant to walk in. I am convinced we shall never find
such a retreat again, and that two years hence we shall
be much better satisfied with our situation than if we
were to buy B. Leigh, for even then we shoidd have
to do with brick and mortar. Poole seems to think
we may buy the scattered lots cheap. . . The whole for
9007.' Then, urging his brother to come down to
Bridgewater, he appends a sketch, and adds, ' If no letter
by Monday's mail, by G  I will buy the place
myself.' x
Under the date of March 27, we hear that negotiations
still go on, and that the sale of certain portions of the
land is fixed for April 6. 'You shall know our fate as
soon as possible,' he tells his brother, who, unable to
attend, trusts all to his discretion. ' I go to Beddoes to-
' i Thos. W. to Josiah W.; March 17, 1799.

104 POOLE'S UNTIRING KINDNESS.
morrow, where I find myself very comfortable, and
oxygenerate, warm bath, ride, and talk metaphysics till
the awful April 6 be over. Poole is indefatigable ; it
is incredible the trouble he has given himself. ... I
am exceedingly wearied, as you may suppose, of this
business ; but I rather get strength than lose it. . . I
have a good deal more to say, but cannot persuade
myself to go further into the subject till these ten fretful
days have passed away. I am, however, quite a philo
sopher to what I was. We have done all that was
possible ; success is with the Gods, and patience and
resignation I am determined to exercise, and indeed have
practised for some days.' 2
Whilst these several purchases were awaited with that
morbid impatience which comes of disease, Bishop's
Leigh, the estate first desired, was offered, as also another,
to which the objection is stated to be that it is situated
in a ' country full of clothiers and steep hills.' But the
offer came too late. The exquisite situation of Castle
Florey made it now the one great object of desire.
But some measure of disappointment came. Whilst with
Beddoes at Clifton, Thomas Wedgwood heard from
Poole to the effect that portions of the coveted estate
had been disposed of, and thus his anxiety to possess
what remained was intensified. ' I have found no
benefit from oxygen and warm bathing, and have
discontinued them. I resist the cold better than I did
in the winter by going out a good deal ; my stomach
1 T. W. to J. W., March 28, 1799. Mayer MSS. At this date, or a
little later, Poole, in writing to Coleridge, informed him of this matter.
In return, Coleridge thus wrote to Josiah Wedgwood: — 'Poole half
mentioned in a hasty way, that depressed my spirits for many days,
that you and Thomas were on the point of settling near Stowey, but
abandoned it. God Almighty ! what a dream of happiness it-held out to
me.'

RURAL OCCUPATIONS. 105
is at the weakest. I expect the happiest effects if fortune
does not again spite us at C. Fleury.'1
It did not, for in the next letter Watt is to be con
sulted as to the aspect of the proposed house ; timber,
bricks, and a long &c. are to be bought, orders are
given for the purchase of sixty head of sheep, and
pleasant neighbours are referred to. Still later, Watt
has sent his advice as to situation, as to means of
deadening sound from floor to floor, "as to chimneys,
and the best method of speedily drying new-built rooms.
The elder Mrs. Wedgwood is already in the neigh
bourhood, and on April 26 Thomas Wedgwood tells
his brother, referring to the original house or ^cottage
of Castle Florey : ' I shall not be in my cot these four
days. I have bought a cow, almost hired a woman.'2
May comes, and the sick man is almost well, through
novelty and excitement. Staplegrove House is to be
hired as a residence for his mother and sisters ; Up-
cott House for his brother Josiah. He hears of more
land, and he will buy. ' Yesterday I spent in the
wood, and condemned 400 great, and small to the
stroke of the axe — 300 oak and 100 ash.3 ... If my
things are not sent off by waggon, I wish to have my
double saucepan ; it has two insides. I can buy nothing
of the kind here. And I should be much obliged to
my sister to buy me a good cheap calico for a bed 6.
feet 6 inches long by 5 feet. ; no lining. ... I shall
have 3 draught horses in a day or two if we build. I

1 T. W. to J. W., April 3, 1799. In some jottings of accounts in a
letter of the previous day, April 2, a payment to Coleridge of 150/. is
notified, as also one to Leslie of 75/. The latter seems to have received
a regular annuity of 150/. per annum from the Wedgwoods.
2 Thos. W. to J. W., April 26, 1799. Mayer MSS.
* Poole was a large purchaser of the bark. He bought more than
twenty- three tons at the price of 98/. 5s. 6d.

106 FARMING.
must get a plough of oxen for the farm beside. I have
got some of the most beautiful ewes and lambs, about
40. Send me the Bath Agricultural Eeports with the
other things. I begin to waver about having a bailiff.
I mean such a one as I have often talked of. Our
concern is too small, and I think it would render me
too listless about the farming concerns. . . . The
Taunton Balls and Card Assemblies are very well kept
up. They often"" dance two sets. The country gentry
attend. .Sixteen couple last ball was considered a
very poor meeting. I tried ploughing this morning ; I
made a sad hand of it ; but it is very good exercise, and
I shall learn. I can't help thinking my mother and
sisters might be very comfortable at the cottage1 till
Staplegrove House was made ready for them. They
would be within two miles of that place without
passing through Taunton, so that they would have a
daily object in forwarding the gardening, planting,
furnishing, &c. I am afraid they will trifle with
the only opportunity which is likely can arise to serve
them till it is past. ... I want very much a good
elementary book of Agriculture. I know there are
several describing different soils, cultivation, imple
ments, &c. More wou'd ask A. Young which is the
best. Get him to do it for me. . . . Pray enquire
the wholesale price of Indian corn.'2 Two days later,
after describing his purchase of a plough of six oxen,
we have this pleasant picture : £ My female servant is
come to my cot to-day, and as busy as a bee. She is,
I am told at all hands, a most excellent servant ; but her
wages — 101. 10s. and no tea — are deemed enormous.3
1 Castle Florey.
* Thos. W. to Jos. W., April 9, 1799. Mayer MSS.
3 What would Mr. Wedgwood have said to wages in the present day ?
No capable servant, not even a kitchen-maid, can be got for 10/. 10s.

ORCHARDS AND CIDER. 107
& autre part, she is not to have an under servant, and
is to wash, cook, bake, brew, dairy, pig-stye, &c. She
is .45, and a picture of health, cheerfulness, and in
dustry. My dairy sets agoing to-night ; in two or
three days I drink buttermilk. I am in no hurry to
get into my house, as I now dine enfamille, and find
the society a great comfort.1 There is a bowling meet
ing at the Gore Inn. Twenty-six attended yesterday
— the first gentry ; I shall try to get in. My first
introduction to my neighbours will be the next Vestry.
I am looking after the poor. ... I am going to pur
chase 20 acres of marsh land to fatten some stock
every summer, and enable me to keep 2 cows for the
use of dear Castle Fleury — a thing I have set my heart
on. Not a drop of milk to be bought here. The
marsh land sells at 25 years' purchase — is quite a drug,
Poole says.2
Later in May, Upcott was hired as a temporary
residence for Josiah Wedgwood, and after expatiating
on its orchards — for it had three — and the beauty of
the neighbouring scenery, Thomas Wedgwood adds :
' Never was a greater show of apples than this year.
You will make some hogsheads of cider, some of it of
the best kind. . . . My bailiff is quite aufait of cider ;
he will save you all trouble in that concern ; he says
you may make 50 hogsheads.'
As May steals on, he still tries to deaden his eter
nal sense of weariness and pain by busying himself in
Some other curious particulars as to rise in prices will appear as we
proceed. 1 Mr. Wedgwood was boarding temporarily with a family in the
neighbourhood. The house alluded to was the original Castle Florey,
apparently a mere cottage.
2 Thos. W. to J. W., York Street, St. James's, May 11, 1799. Mayer
MSS.

108 STORES FOR WINTER.
small matters for his brother's benefit, and by antici
pating another of those journeys which the restless
ness of disease made necessary ; for to be still was, as
it seemed, impossible. After requesting that his minnow
rod be sent, Eomford's Essays, and other things,he adds :
' I am going to bottle your gooseberries ; have you
any receipt which practice has proved good ? I pro
pose to bottle six dozen quart bottles, and shall get
the best sorts. ... I wish you could get me a gig — new
or second-hand, as you find expedient — to have a head,
and not (be) a slight carriage. . . . How do you go
to Shrewsbury ? I should like to ride it. Pray let
me know your plans as soon as fixed. What stay at
Shrewsbury ? Do you go with my mother ? . . . T.
Poole sets out for London to-morrow. ... I cannot
boast any improvement in health for my journey to
Cote. I long to be with you all again. The days at
Cote are too long for me by some hours. . . . Come
when you will, I can lodge you at my cot. . . . Pray
remember me to Mrs. Mackintosh.' Another day he
says : ' These cold winds keep me very weak, and my
stomach has been retrograde, but is recovering. I dig
everyday. . . . I am laying in for your provision, viz.,
setting excellent potatoes, of different kinds, in quan
tities ; making some capital rich cheese ; curing hams
in quantities, some with hardly any salt but plenty of
smoke, others little salt and no smoke ; fattening six
Purbeck wethers, &c, &C.'1
Incredible as it may appear to our present generation
— which, with all its faults, proves its higher tone of
moral and intellectual culture by the reverence which
it pays to the memory of its eminent countrymen —
Etruria Hall, emptied and dismantled, was to be sold !
1 Thos. W. to Jos. W., May 1799. Mayer MSS.

SALE OF ETRURIA HALL PROPOSED. 109
Early in April Thomas Wedgwood had written to his
brother: 'I wish most sincerely you may sell Etruria.'
And so, like some roadside tavern, anyone might buy
it who had a sum sufficient ! It is astonishing. The
garden which the greatest of English potters had created
out of the stone-covered, heathery moor ; the house
which he had made it his unceasing hobby to fill with
utilities, comforts, and beauties ; this scene of the friend
ships of his life and of the triumphs of his art — and
he not dead a century, but scarcely more than four
years ! Did the smoke, the air, the scenery offend ?
What was it? Even now, internally, Etruria Hall is a
singularly convenient and cheerful dwelling, though its
surroundings are somewhat besmeared and smoke-dried
from the constantly encroaching neighbourhood of pits,
iron furnaces, and potters' kilns. But in the last year
of the last century, little other than Etruria works and
the small gathering of workmen's dwellings lay out
stretched to view ; and even these picturesquely varied
by fields, trees, canal, and the green moorland ridge
leading to Newcastle. These rural environments have
almost all passed away ; yet it is still the spot, Artes
Etrurios renascuntur. There was something akin to
disloyalty in selling it ; and, with full allowance for
disease and the weariness of soul which disease begets,
one reads this expression of pleasure at the prospect
of disposal in juxtaposition with the anticipatory facts
of bottling gooseberries, curing hams, making cheese
and cider, and setting potatoes, with somewhat the
grim wonder that one learns that a man has turned
renegade to his faith or his country. Although it was
not eventually sold, but let as an ordinary dwelling,
the mere suggestion of sale — even of abandonment —
reads curiously, nay painfully. Need there was none—

110 SURREY AND SOMERSETSHIRE.
for the sons of Wedgwood were at that day very wealthy
men. If to them as a dwelhng it had lost its old
charms, if to them of the past no poetry remained, it
could have been kept as a show-place at little cost ;
and, with its assemblage of vases, medallions, cabinets
of gems, fire-places, friezes, panellings, and countless
other ornamental objects, might have handed down to
our time a more vivid picture of the man and his
works than what we can now gather from biographies
or perpetuate by institutes.
The elder Mrs. Wedgwood and her two unmarried
daughters, having thus left Etruria Hall, were spending
their time in London, or between Cobham in Surrey
and Cote by Bristol. But now, with a view to residence
and companionship, Mrs. Wedgwood and one of her
daughters travelled into Somersetshire. ' My mother
and Kitty,' Thomas Wedgwood wrote, ' came to
Taunton on Tuesday, where I soon found them — my
mother still an invalid, but better for her journey.
Her spirits seem to fail her exceedingly on the subject
of change of abode. On Wednesday we went to see
the house at the 2 mile-stone, Kitty and I. My
mother staid in the chaise on the road. There is one
very comfortable parlour and bed-room ; the rest small,
the whole ill-finished. I think, and so does Kitty,
that, with the addition of a parlour and two bedrooms,
the house may be made to do. I proposed to my
mother, in order to remove all anxiety and care from
her mind, that you and I should undertake to make
the house complete for her, without her giving herself
any kind of trouble. The present tenant offers to quit
at Christmas, and I am sure, from his manner, that he
might be cheaply bribed to quit at a few days' notice,
As it is essential that any house they ultimately make

STAPLEGROVE BY TAUNTON. Ill
their residence should be between Taunton and
Castle Fleury, I can't help thinking they had better
take this place at once if it can be bought at any
moderate price. I hear of nothing else on that road,
therefore it seems in vain to advertise. My mother
will consult you on this. She seemed well pleased
with the country and Castle Fleury ; Kitty very much
so. We went across the hill to Bridgewater and slept
there ; I am just returned Trom them. They went on
to Cote, where they will stay 2 or 3 days. I tried to
prevail on my mother to stay longer for change of scene,
and half prevailed. Kitty backed my solicitation. . . .
I do not get into my house for some days.' l
What was the result of these visits and negotiations
is not exactly clear ; but, no great while after, Mrs.
Wedgwood and her daughters were temporarily settled
at Staplegrove, a country house near Taunton, and
where they remained till Thomas Wedgwood returned
from the West Indies, and removed to Eastbury by
Gunville. 1 Thos. W. to Jos. W., May 1799. Mayer MSS.

112 THOMAS WEDGWOOD IN LONDON.

CHAPTEE IV.
Thomas Wedgwood in London — A Benefactor to Godwin — Purchases
the Estate of Gunville in Dorsetshire, but transfers it to his Brother
Josiah — Voyage to and Return from the West Indies — Still ill ; yet
consulted occasionally on difficult matters connected with Manufactur
ing Processes at Etruria — The Scenery and Climate of Bermuda
referred to by Basil Montague — Invites Thomas Wedgwood to
Cambridge — A Letter from Poole — Sale of Castle Florey in Somer
setshire — Basil Montague in respect to Lane, a Barrister — The
Bounty and Good Nature of the Brothers Wedgwood encroached
upon — Montague's literary Projects— Coleridge and Jeremy Taylor —
Letter from Poole — Somersetshire Cider — A noble Relic worthily
enshrined — Young Wedgwood's Hypochondriacism — Consults Drs.
Baillie and Cline — Plans a long Continental Tour — Seeks a Com
panion — Difficulties connected therewith — Poole's Letter — Refers to
Thomas Wedgwood's metaphysical Work — Willmott as Steward —
An extremely worthy and able Man — Increase of Thomas Wedg
wood's Illness — Goes abroad — Calais and Bruges.
Ok his way from Taunton to Shrewsbury, at the end
of May or the beginning of June 1799, Thomas Wedg
wood passed through London, and for a few days at-
least was again amongst his literary and scientific
friends. He appears, however, from the annexed letter,1
1 Dear Wedgwood, I received a letter from you in June last, which afforded
me considerable pleasure, and in some degree satisfied me in the
disappointment of not seeing you in Town a short time before. I did
not answer it because I did not know exactly where to address you,
and because correspondence loses much of its charms when one of the
parties to it feels himself restrained from writing, or from writing at large.
I now trouble you to request information respecting the promissory
Note of Robinson the bookseller for 257/. which I put into your hands,
and which became due in the beginning of this month. My Novel2
2 St. Leon.

GODWIN'S LITERARY WORKS. 113
to have missed Godwin, whom he knew, probably,
through Thelwal, and had assisted in a pecuniary sense.
Godwin at this period was at the height of his literary
fame. He had pubhshed ' Political Justice,' ' Caleb
Williams,' ' The Enquirer,' and ' Cursory Strictures '
upon the charge of Judge Eyre, which, first appearing.
in the pages of the ' Morning Chronicle,' had greatly
influenced the result of the Government prosecutions
against Hardy, Home Tooke, and Thelwal, and mainly
contributed to their acquittal. In the previous year,
1798, he had issued the life and posthumous works of
Mary Wollstonecraft, and he was now occupied with
his novel of ' St. Leon,' which came out towards the close
ofthe year in question, 1799. But with Godwin as a
political thinker, rather than a novelist, young Wedg
wood had probably the greatest sympathy.1 He and
has proved under my hands to extend to a volume more than I expected,
which of course gives me an additional demand upon him. But this
additional demand I do not wish to bring forward till I know that the
former one has been settled. I therefore intreat you to inform me if it
has been paid ; and if it has not yet been presented for payment, I shall
take it as a particular favour if you would take care that it should be
presented with the least possible delay.
I hope that your health is now better than when you wrote last ; and
with every possible wish for your prosperity and perfect command of
leisure and spirits, Yours ever, W. Godwin.
Polygon, Somers Town,
Oct. 26, 1799.
Endorsed, Thos. Wedgwood, Esq.,
York Street, St. James's Square. *
To be forwarded.
1 In some very interesting book bills we find that Thomas Wedg
wood was in every sense Godwin's friend and patron. In November
1795, he bought a copy of the 'Political Justice,' in the mouth ensuing
' Caleb Williams,' and a few days later another copy of the ' Political
Justice.' And we may infer the general style of his reading from the
entry of Pindar's Works, Hutton's Dictionary, Nicholson's Dictionary,
¦ '« ,

114 PURCHASE OF GUNVILLE.
his brother Josiah had bought a copy of the work on
' Political Justice ' as soon as it appeared ; and their
father had read it the year prior to his decease. The
views it took of social and political liberty were new
and striking, and won necessarily the favour of all those
who, unlike Burke and his followers, saw that the ex
cesses of the French Eevolution were the natural result
of long political oppression, social neglect, and dense
ignorance, and not inherent in the principles of liberty-
themselves. In September he added largely to his landed property
by purchasing the estate of Gunville, near Blandford, in
Dorsetshire ; but possession did not bring him — what
he so much needed — health. In January 1800, he
was again at Chfton with Dr. Beddoes, from whence he
seems to have gone to France for a short period,1
Upon his return a voyage to the West Indies was
suggested, and he sailed to that country not long after.
It was probably thought he would never hve to return,
for prior to leaving England he made his will, and.
conferred a power of attorney on his brother Josiah
during his absence.2 Of this voyage and its results no
Priestley's ' Hartley,' Berkeley's ' Analysis,' Tooke's 'Purley,' Reynolds's
Works, and various other books of travel and medicine.
1 Southey refers to this in a letter to Coleridge, Jan. 8, 1800.
' Thomas Wedgwood has obtained a passport to go to France.' — life and
Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 39.
2 January 23, 1800. ' Taking instructions for a drawing, and ingross-
ing a power of Attorney from you to Mr. Josiah Wedgwood, to enable
him to transact all your affairs in England, and to appoint substitute if
he should think proper.'
January 25. ' Paid carriage and porterage of the same, in a parcell to
you at Clifton. Paid Coach hire on that occasion for the sake Of ex
pedition, it being necessary that it should go by this night's mail.'
' As to your will,'
January 28, 1800.
' Mr. Josiah Wedgwood, having informed us by Letter that you in
tended making your will at Bristol, and wishing to be furnished with a

VOYAGE TO THE WEST INDIES, 115
further data is preserved than what follows in two of
Mr. Byerley's, letters. Writing from London to Etruria
May 28, 1800, he says ; ' We have just had the plea
sure to hear that Mr. Thomas Wedgwood arrived
safely in the West Indies, and was very considerably
better in health, so as to give hopes that the voyage
will be likely to restore him to perfect health.'1 But
these hopes were unfulfilled, for in somewhat less than a
month he again wrote, this time from Etruria, to London :
' Mr. Thomas Wedgwood is arrived at Falmouth, finding
the climate of the W. I. not likely to be serviceable
in his complaint.' 2
The estate of Gunville, near Blandford, in Dorsetshire,
was leased,3 almost as soon as purchased, to his brother
Josiah for life ; and prior to his landing at Falmouth,
on his return from the West Indies, Mr. Thomas
Wedgwood's solicitors — Messrs. Ward, Dennetts and
Greaves — were in treaty with the agent of the Marquis
of Buckingham for the purchase of Eastbury, an estate
contiguous to Gunville. It comprised a park and
woods of considerable extent ; the house in the former
being inhabited by French priests. A fresh residence
seems to have been provided for them ; and after a
long negotiation, extending over fourteen months — for
Lords Arundel, Temple, Aylesbury, and Grenville were
proper description of your landed property, perusing the conveyance of
the Combe Florey and Gunville estates, and drawing out a description
of each, for the purpose of sending to you as instructions for your will:'
— Bill. Ward, Dennetts and Greaves. Mayer MSS.
1 Mayer MSS.
2 Ibid. June 26, 1800.
3 Feb. 10, 1800. ' Upon receiving a Letter from you, immediately to
prepare a Lease, from Mr. Thomas Wedgwood to you for life, of all the
Gunville Premises, in order to your residence thereon; and to send the
same to you at Falmouth, Josiah Wedgwood, Esq., to Ward, Dennetts
and Greaves, respecting the lease from Mr. Thomas' Wedgwood to you
of the Gunville Manor and Estate.' i 2

116 . QUESTIONS FROM ETRURIA.
parties in the matter with the Marquis of Buckingham
— the estate was sold to Mr. Thomas Wedgwood for
70,000/., 22,000Z. of which was paid on March 31,
1801. ' Yet two months prior to this final settlement
he had written thus from Etruria to York Street : L I
wish Mr. Howship would buy me a book translated
lately from the German : " The art of preserving feeble
life under incurable diseases." ' 2
When he rallied, as he occasionally did, from these
fits of extreme illness and consequent depression, he
took a lively interest in all that was going on at Etruria
in the way of improvement and revival. When any
doubts or desiderata arose as to the manipulation
or components of any new body, colour, or glaze, it
was, if possible, usual to refer to him. ' I wish,' wrote
Mr. Byerley, sometime during the autumn of 1800,ito
one of the London clerks, ' Mr. Mowbray would bor
row again from Colonel Ironside the bottle he lent
us some time ago, and show it to Mr. Thos. W. . . .
T. W. will know that there is no difficulty in
making a porous body hke this; but the bottle is
covered with a white varnish that we know nothing
about, and cannot imitate. A glaze cannot be used,
and this is none but a hard varnish, through which the
water exudes, without doing it any injury, for the
vessel being emptied and dried the varnish resumes
its first appearance. I think it likely Mr. T. W.
can tell us what this varnish is, or perhaps, through
Mr. Johnson or some West India friend, can get
us information about it. Be so good as to mention
this subject to Mr. T. W. only in the case you think
1 Ward, Dennetts and Greaves, respecting the Eastbury Estate.
Mayer MSS.
2 Jan. 26, 1801. Mayer MSS.

BASIL MONTAGUE. 117
he is sufficiently in health and spirits to find such a
thing no trouble to him.' J
Although returned so recently from a sea-voyage,
another was soon in contemplation. It is probable
the invalid found relief in the continuous motion of the
sea, as the moment he set foot on land his malady
returned. From Basil Montague we hear of this new
proposal. Writing from Cambridge to Josiah Wedg
wood, at Gunville, he says : ' I heard some days since
that your brother had some thought of, " Bermudas."
If I am right I can promise you every information
respecting it, from a very intelligent young man, the
son of a gentleman who resides, there. , He speaks to
me as if it were the Garden of Eden ; and, if you please,
you may use my name and write to Mr.. Tucker, of
Jesus College, at Mr. Dawson's, Sedburgh, North ;
where he is now reading mathematics. This will not,
perhaps, be worth the expense of postage, except as a
mark of the affection with which I think of you and
all dear to you. How happy should I be could I
contribute to . alleviate Tom Wedgwood's sufferings.
I have not a thought of him but of love and kindness.
If he do not go out of England he may like Cambridge.
I will be a brother to him. I can promise him a
lodging near to me; such society is not to be found in
any other part of England. I have often thought that
a month or two here would serve him — come first and
try. Ask Sydney Smith what the Genius of the
Place is. I met him a few days since and was much
pleased with him. My boy's asleep, my wife playing
upstairs, and I as happy as I wish. Ever yours,
' Basil Montague.' 2*
1 Mayer MSS.
* Basil Montague to Josiah Wedgwood, July 9, 1801. Mayer MSS.

118 REMOVAL FROM COMBE FLOREY.'
But this invitation, cordial as it was, did not draw
him to Cambridge. On the contrary, after a visit to
Paris, he was again at Gunville with his brother.
Poole was invited over from Stowey to meet him, but
thus declined : ' I received your kind and friendly
letter, for which I sincerely thank you. I particularly
thank you for the invitation you have given me to
Gunville ; most glad should I be to meet you and Mr.
T. Wedgwood, but at present I feel I should neither
contribute to your pleasure nor my own by paying you a
visit. Pray remember me kindly to him. What does
he say of Paris ahd the Chief Consul?' After a long
and most interesting letter on the question of dibbling
wheat in preference to sowing it — the method admir
ably illustrated by a pen-and-ink sketch — Poole adds
in a postscript : ' I received a letter a few days since
from Coleridge ; he has a great affection for my mother,
and he wrote inspired by it. He does not speak of his
health, on which account I hope he is better.' a
A few days from this date, the estate, or portion of
it, at Combe Florey, in Somersetshire, was leased, or
more probably sold, to a Mr. Totterdale. From an
inventory2 of fixtures and other goods taken by the in
coming tenant, the dwelling attached- to the estate
appears to have been on a very humble scale, contain
ing but a parlour, kitchen, two or three bedrooms, and
a dairy. Poole, with his usual generous kindness, undertook
the necessary business of Combe Florey. Of his success
and the removal to Gunville, Thomas Wedgwood thus
wrote to him : ' Oh ! mihi post nullos, I cannot express
how deeply I feel your continued kindness — your in-
1 Thomas Poole to Josiah Wedgwood, Sept. 26, 1801. Mayer MSS
2 Mayer MSS.

HOUSEHOLD GOODS. ll9
defatigable zeal. How can we be otherwise than
satisfied with the result of the Combe Florey business ?
You have procured all we wished, and more than I
ever ventured to expect. As my health forbids my
writing more than is absolutely essential, I must re
luctantly dress the subject of feeling by a most un
feigned assurance of gratitude, esteem, friendship.
Instead of sending the waggon, I send a man, boy, and
two horses, to bring ba,ck the cart and what goods it will
hold (the boy to drive the cows) ; viz. ah the bedding,
linen, kitchen chairs, bed-room carpets, tables, chairs,
fire-irons, fenders, earthenware, glass noggins, watering
can, bucket. No brewing utensils, but if they be ap
praised much below their value, they may be reserved.
The kitchen dresser is a good piece of furniture, and
would come into use here immediately, if the cart will
hold it, but if very heavy may be disposed of. The
horses will be. there on Wednesday evening. Probably
the cheese would pay for carriage, but this I leave to
you ; we shall be glad of any bacon or ham. < I am
very sorry your letter came too late for the venison.
It would not keep, and we waited as long as we dared,
waiting for your direction. The season for,. Buck
venison is over ; you shall taste the Doe as soon as we
get any. I send you two dozen pounds of Honey in a
stone jar, thinking the honey of this county superior to
any I ever tasted. It is drawn from wild thyme, lime
blossoms, &c. The Honey is to be emptied immediately,
or it will candy, and you will not be able to get it out.
In a day or two look out for a brace of hares.' x In a
letter two months later from Gunville Mr. Wedgwood
continues : ' I shall like very much to come and see you
1 Thomas Wedgwood to T. Poole, Sept. 29, 1801. Communicated
by Ven. Archdeacon Sandford.

120 PROBLEMS OF HUMAN LIFE.
at Stowey, if I can do it without putting you to any
inconvenience. But I am engaged to meet Mackintosh
in town on December 1, and I don't know how long I
may stay. Have you any woodcocks or snipes in
your immediate neighbourhood after the hard weather
sets in ? If so I will bring some spaniels. Your un
fortunate honey left Westminster a fortnight since in
Brown's Taunton waggon. Write to his warehouse in
Taunton about it. It is directed to you at Eossiton.
Is Coleridge coming alone ? Make him write a letter
when he comes.'1
It is uncertain at what date the younger Wedgwoods
became acquainted with Basil Montague, but it was
prior to July 1799, as a letter shows that they had
already discussed some of the great problems of human
hfe, and that those trifling differences which make the
sun and shade of almost every friendship had occurred
between the lawyer and his elder friend. ' I received
a note from you some time since in London,' wrote
Montague to Josiah Wedgwood, ' and must say a few
words — not in answer to it, but to assure you that I
never think of you but with the utmost affection, love,
and respect. I have for some months enjoyed a portion
of tranquillity and happiness which I am not conscious
of having before experienced during the course of my
existence. I have had what are called troubles, too.
I have, however, satisfied my mind upon moral subjects.
I have passed through Hell. I shall not look back. I
am much deceived if my investigations will not tend to
my permanent comfort through life. I hope it will
be a long life. I hope that hereafter we shall meet ;
but, wherever separated, be assured that I know your
1 Thomas Wedgwood to T. Poole, Nov. 20, 1801. Archdeacon Sand-
ford's MSS.

GENEROSITY OF THE WEDGWOODS. 121
worth, and that I esteem you. Eemember me affec
tionately to your wife and to Tom ; and I do not forget
old Joss. God bless you ! Basil Montague. Hunting
don, Saturday. I know not the day of the month. I
take for granted that Lane wrote" to you. This shall
be franked by the Husband of an Angel, infinitely more
beautiful and more lovely, I had almost said, than Mrs.
J. Wedgwood. Should this be' forwarded to you at
Cote, do remember me with the kindest affection.'
This letter was franked by G. Chambers, at Hunting
don, where Montague was upon circuit, July 9, 1799 ;
and addressed to Josiah Wedgwood, at Dr. Darwin's,
Shrewsbury.1 Wealthy, kindly, and generous, Thomas and Josiah
Wedgwood gave liberally of their wealth ; in some
cases, as in that of Coleridge, they even anticipated the
wants of their friends. Occasionally this good nature
was trespassed' upon, but, generally speaking, their
literary and scientific friends were men of honour and
principle. If they borrowed they returned ; though
often with difficulty and after long delay. Upon the
death of his brother Josiah Wedgwood began to see
the prudence and necessity of resisting solicitations,
which in some' few instances were thus made without
1 ' Basil Montague's feeling face and gentle tones were very interesting.
Wordsworth said of him that he is a " philanthropised courtier." He
gave me an account of his first going the Norfolk Circuit. He walked the
circuit generally, and kept aloof from the Bar ; in this way he contrived
to pay his expenses. He began at Huntingdon, where he" had a half-
guinea motion, and as he was then staying at his brother's house, he
walked to Bury with that money in his pocket, picked up a fee there,
and so went on. Mackintosh was the immediate senior of Montague,
and assisted in bringing him forward. Mackintosh had business imme
diately as a leader, and after a short time the two travelled together.
But, during some time, Montague lived on bread and cheese. He is a
strenuous advocate for all reforms in the law, and believes that in time
they will all take place.' — H. Crabb Robinson, Diary, vol. i. p. 488.

122 THIS ENCROACHED UPON.
delicacy, and apparently in entire oblivion of former
loans. At a later period he cancelled the share he had
hitherto paid of Coleridge's pension ; the other portion
being a special bequest secured by a clause in the
will of Thomas Wedgwood. Basil Montague and Lane,
both of them barristers, at this date, on the Home
Circuit, had borrowed and found it difficult to return.
' My dear Wedgwood,' wrote Basil Montague, ' I know
not what you have seen in my conduct to induce you to
entertain the beginning of a thought that I should be so
unmindful of all that is valuable as to be silent to any
application of yours ; but I have seen sufficient of your
conduct to know that a hasty expression will sometimes
escape ; and I love and respect you too much to be
displeased, nay to be pleased, with these little sparks
struck off at a heat. I will see Lane at the ensuing
assizes; but I will undertake to pay 100Z. at three
months from this day, and the remaining 100/. at six
months. I hope that when I see Lane I shall be able
to send you directly the whole sum. If I had a
farthing in the world at my command I would now
send it to you, but I am poor, and, I suspect, supposed
to be rich. I am rich. I have about 4:001. a year with
my wife. I think that by my Professional labours I
shall this year clear about 300/. I am living with my
wife in the Temple, without any establishment, a laun
dress, and my clerk. I intend annually to appropriate
my earnings to the liquidation of my debts. I labour
hard ; I think I am succeeding. I have not a farthing
in the world of ready money ; and if I am now to pay
you, I assure you, upon my soul, that I shall be obliged to
borrow the money. I shall do it with pleasure. Draw
upon me at the times I have mentioned, and I will

. MONTAGUE'S LETTERS. 123
take care that the bills are paid. I love Lane as I love
my life ; and, if you did know him, you would laugh
as I do at talking of Attornies. I think he acts wrong.
I told him, in a letter which I wrote to him a few
weeks ago, that the consciousness of really loving his
friends reconciled him to the appearance of neglecting
them. I have sometimes been months without being
able to hear from him. He too, I conceive, imagines
that I am in opulence. Were there any defaults before
my marriage ? So much for that.
' I am now to apologise for my apparent neglect in
not having written to you. Day after day, for some
months, have I intended to write : but whether from
the consciousness that I had little worth communicating,
or from the fear that after so long a separation et tot
.discrimina rerum that little might not be acceptable, or
whether from the failing which I have attributed to
my worthy friend Lane, I have been silent. I never
think of you, or of any of your family, but with
affection and with gratitude ; and though I have known
— I ought to say I have thought — that my worth has
been improperly estimated by some of your family, I
loved you all, and shall till the last beat of my heart.
I now feel dearer to myself, from knowing that no
misunderstanding, nothing that I suffered (and indeed
I suffered much),, ever made me unmindful that the
greatest pain I ought to endure should arise, and did
arise, from the recollection that I had interrupted the
tranquillity of the best and kindest of my fellow-
creatures by making her the accidental cause of misery
to a man who loved her with his whole soul. If I were
to -say another word you would have a renewal of my.
folio letters. I have done.

124 LITERARY ENGAGEMENTS.
' I am now engaged in publishing 2 law works : the
one on Bankruptcy, the other on Larceny. Coleridge1
is to meet Mawman (a bookseller) here this evening
respecting the publication of an Essay on the life and
spirit of the writings of Jeremy Taylor, with extracts
from his works. I had engaged in and partly completed
it ; but hope to resign it where it will be so much better
completed. In the summer I hope to compleat a little
system of Astronomy. I am advancing in my Profession.
If I were writing to any other person but you, I should
say, for the next three years I shall reside either in
London or in Cambridge ; i.e. in vacation. Eemember
me most affectionately to your wife. Heaven bless you
all. Basil Montague. Temple, Saturday, 3 o'clock. . . .
I have written in great haste. I am obliged instantly to
go to the Old Bailey, and I received yours just as I re
turned from Lincoln's Inn Hall. I answered it directly.
I have said whatever presented itself to my mind, with
out a second thought. B. M.' 2
In February 1802, Thomas Wedgwood was staying
with his brother at Gunville,3 and it was thus that
Poole wrote to him from Stowey : — ' My dear Sir, I last
night received the following letter from my Uncle at
Taunton. I have made every enquiry to get some bottled
1 Poole, as also Coleridge, was at this time in London. Ward, the
partner to the former, in writing to him, says : ' Remember me to Mr.
Coleridge. I hope you- will write me some account of Mr. Davy's
lectures. I trust they will give you pleasure and instruction.' Jan. 12,
1802. Archdeacon Sandford's MSS.
2 Mayer MSS. Feb. 1802.
3 Of his health he says to Poole at this date : ' Thank you most
sincerely for your kind recollection of me in your offer of the house.
Your country is too difficult for my powers, and too much competition
of shooters. I am now walking four hours a day, and am better; I
shall try to continue the plan all summer. Nothing I crave so much
as the ability to rest at home.' T. Wedgwood to Poole, Feb. 2, 1802.
Archdeacon Sandford's MSS.

A NOBLE RELIC. 125
cyder for Mr. Wedgwood, but to no purpose. I thought
I had procured half dozen bottles from a private friend,
but on examination it proved to be Perry. If you think
that would be acceptable I can send it by the first con
veyance, and shall thank you to let me know. Apples
have been so scarce for several years, till the last, that
no person has any bottled cyder by them. . I doubt not
but I could get a hogshead of prime cyder of the year's
growth, if Mr. Wedgwood would. like to have it, of
which you will be so good as to inform me ; but that is
not yet fit to bottle.
'Thus far my Uncle. I am truly sorry for this
disappointment; but, were I you, I would. have im
mediately the hogshead of cyder, of which, you may
bottle some as soon as it is tapped and then draw
upon it, and by the time it is out the bottled cyder
would be up. You need not doubt of the cyder being
good, and it will be by far the cheapest plan, though
I know they used to charge from six to ten guineas a
hogshead for the select cyder in question. Let me hear
from you about this, and if you wish the perry to be
sent. ' I thank you for sending Cruikshank his honey.
' I have nothing, my dear Sir, further to say, except
that I have got possession of a relick, by means of a
Friend of mine, worthy of being deposited in the Port
land vase, where I mean to deposit it : it is a lock of
General Washington's hair. It was given me by a
beautiful Lady just come from America, who received
it from Mrs. Washington herself since the General's.
.death. I mean to have a gold box with a glass cover to
place it in. On the back of the box shall be engraved
an account of the manner in which I came by the lock
of hair. The box shall be placed with a contrivance to

126 THOMAS WEDGWOOD'S ILLNESS INCREASES.
take it in the portland vase, for which I am indebted to
your brother ; and I think it will be the most magnifi
cent entombment of General Washington's remains which
those venerated remains have yet experienced.1 Speak
ing of great men no more, what a loss is the Duke
of Bedford. God bless you, and believe me, with kind
regards to all, yours ever, Thomas Poole.' 2
His rest at Gunville was but of short continuance, for
about the middle of March 1802 Thomas Wedgwood
had repaired to London, for the purpose of consulting
Dr. Baillie, and arranging a fresh trip to the Continent.
Both the hypochondriacism and tcedium vitce from which
he suffered had increased, and alarming symptoms
had begun to show themselves. Writing at the close
of March to his brother at Gunville, he says : ' I am
very sorry it has escaped me to acknowledge the 1,200Z.
I have been exceedingly engaged since I came to town.'
After speaking of a subscription to Stockdale for maps,
he continues: 'I have nearly settled my route, to Leip-
sic, Carlstadt, Staplitz, Dresden, Vienna, there spend
Septbr, Italy via Tyrol. Hawkins 3 is very kind to me ;
he is exerting himself to procure me a good com
panion. I cannot quite make up my mind to quitting
1 This vase was left by Mr. Poole to John Kenyon, Esq., of St. Peter's
College, Cambridge, but is now in the possession of Richard Poole
King, Esq. ' The vase,' writes Mr. King, ' was the mausoleum of a
lock of Washington's hair. A note accompanied the lock of hair from
Mrs. Marchant (nee Coffin), the most beautiful American that "ever came
to England." She married Charles Jos. Harford, Esq., of Stapleton, near
Bristol. ' The vase stood over the fire place in Mr. Poole's library ; underneath
it a small portrait of Washington, the glass of which, as a boy, I had
the misfortune to break, and great were my disgrace and punishment,
unless I had it restored. I therefore remember it without much plea
sure.' — Letter, Richard Poole King, Esq., July 6, 1868.
* T. Poole to T. Wedgwood, March 19, 1802. Mayer MSS.
3 His bailiff at Eastbury.

DISEASES OF BRAIN AND STOMACH. 12?
England. I am thinking of attaching somebody to ine,
forming a little estabhshment near town. God knows
what will become of me at present, but I suppose I
shall be driven to travel. I have had many painful
conflicts of mind from imagining that I had only to
forget that I was an invalid to be like other people
and get well. I now know that my body is seriously
damaged ; my feelings and views are undergoing a
change in consequence.'
At this date little, comparatively speaking, was known
of the intimate relation existing between disorders of
the stomach and those of the brain ; or that rarely the
former is seriously affected without implicating the
latter, through a train of maladies which too often end
in insanity. Dr. Baillie and Mr. Chne's advice and pre
scriptions appear to have effected little or no benefit.
The former considered it an ordinary case of hypo
chondria, the result, usually, of over-mental work, and
this view was confirmed by what the sick man admitted :
that 'his low spirits came on in the midst of his experi
ments on Light, and obliged him to desist.' Baillie ad
vised foreign travel as the best means of amusing his
mind by new and interesting objects ; but he had a
loathing for going abroad, and was yet utterly unable
to devise any practicable scheme of living in England.
With a view of companionship whilst abroad, negotia
tions with an artist of the name of Chamberlaid were
opened, and a temporary association took place; but
there was a failure of health, and they separ&ted^
' The horror I have of quitting this country,' wrote
Thomas Wedgwood to his brother, ' is founded on a
conviction of my inability to exist long together without
the comfort of domestic society. Enough at this time.
Do you know if anything was ever given to Howarth — -

128 SOMERSETSHIRE CIDER.
father and son — for writing my Essay ? n In another
letter, of somewhat the same date, to Thomas Poole,
he says, in reference to his disease and Baillie's advice:"
'Medicine can do nothing. I must try some active
scheme of life and persevere in it, and I may then
surmount it. I propose a horseback tour through
Germany and Italy, there to spend the winter, in
cessantly travelling, and goading my jaded mind in
every possible way. In the course of ten days, or
sooner, I should be glad of the English opium, a little
parcel by coach to York Street. I have sent you Cole
ridge's pictures by wagg°n-'
Whilst Thomas Wedgwood was thus consulting
physicians, visiting his club, which met at the Crown
and Anchor in the Strand,2 and preparing a fresh
tour on the Continent, Thomas Poole was sending
further pleasant letters to Josiah Wedgwood. Thus on
April 7, 1802, he wrote from Stowey : : I was with
my uncle of Taunton, Saturday, and he has promised to
procure for you a hogshead of the best cyder to be had
in that neighbourhood. He means, if possible, to get a
hogshead of the golden pippin cyder. In a week or ten
days, he said, it should be ready ; so that by the time
you have done barley sowing, I doubt not, it will be in
my order for your cart. You begin to talk like a
Farmer, ' and I dare say you will be opposing me soon
in obtaining all the premiums I shall think of. My fat
ox has made wonderful progress since its return from
Bath, and it is really a chef d'oeuvre. The poor fellow
is to die the Tuesday before Easter, and Friday in Easter
week some of my friends and neighbours are to dine
1 Probably that on Our Notions of Distance.
11 He wrote, in reference to his club, ' I was very warmly greeted at
K. Club by Sharpe, Scarlet, Rogers, Philips. Sharpe and I preserve our
cordiality. I am to dine tete-a-tete, and afterwards meet Sheridan.'

A' VARIETY IN POOLE'S LETTER. lag
with me on the rump of him. I wish you were a little
nearer, and I should request you to make one of the
Party. BiUingsley and Tom Cook have promised to come
down. My good Friend Mr. Tom Wedgwood, you say,
is in Town. Eemember me kindly to him when you
write.1 Tell him I shall be very glad to hear his plans.
Iwish they could chime in with any part of mine for the
coming summer. I have been expecting to hear some
thing of his metaphysical work : I hope it is in a
progressive state. Every thing has gone on as I could
wish — that is, my business, &c, are approaching to a
situation which enables me to leave home without a
sense of imprudence or neglect. I see ho reason why I
should remain here longer than the beginning or the
middle of next month. Could you lend me Young's
Agricultural Tour through France? I will return it
with Phytologia with the Cyder. I have also -J a doz.
of the Chedder Cheese here for you, which I shall get
to Taunton in time. During the last month I have been
amused by the conduct of our new vicar, Mr. North ey.
He has behaved to me and others in a most ungentle-
manly like manner. He is gone for the present ; ahd we
hear that he means to request Mr. Davis of Longleet to
come and survey the living. I sincerely hope it may be
so, for there is need of aU Mr. Davis's ability to remove
the impression of dislike which he has left behind him.
I hope you will have a pleasant journey to Etruria.
You move En Prince; it is almost a little Colony.
You will remember me with all respect and kindness
to every one around you, not forgetting Mademoiselle
B  and Master Jos.2 I am, my dear Sir, Your
sincere Friend, Thos. Poole. P.S. King is with me1

This letter is addressed to Gunville.
Mr. Wedgwood's eldest daughter and son.

130 POOLE INTRODUCES WILLMOTT.
(my Brother in law). He has desired me to ask if
you have a Pointer Puppy which you could give him.
Don't part with anything, I beg you, that you want ; but
if you have one more than you wish to keep, you "will
oblige me by sending it to him — -Mr. King, North Street,
Bedminster, Bristol.' x
Generous in character and a true friend, Poole's
services had a wide range. A fortnight later he writes
thus of a female servant, who leaves his and mother's
house to take place at Gunville ; and in the same letter
we hear first of one of the most faithful servants the.
Wedgwoods ever had, a man of the name of Willmott,
who, like Poole himself, possessed a well-cultivated
intellect of wide range, and was a gentleman in
thought and feeling- Hitherto a bailiff of the name
of Hawkins had been found sufficient for the manage
ment of the Somersetshire property ; but the wider
estates in Dorsetshire called for the services of an able
man. ' Jenny was not engaged,' wrote Poole. ' I
have mentioned your proposal to her, at which she
seems much pleased; she leaves me the 5th of next
month. She wishes to be at home a few days before
she goes to Gunville, and next Thursday fortnight,
or any day sooner or later, she will be at your service.
Be so good as to inform me on what day you would
wish her to leave Taunton, and by what conveyance,
and I will take care to give her the necessary instruc
tions to be punctual. Hawkins, I suppose, will not
leave you before Michaelmas next, so that there will
be time for consideration respecting the future plan of
managing your estates. If you could find such a
Character as you first sketched in your last letter, he
1 Mayer MSS.

A MOST ABLE MAN. 131
certainly would take a great deal of trouble and
anxiety from your own mind. I do know one man
whom I believe to be fully qualified to fill the situation ;
but whether he would hke it, or leave his present
employment, / know not. Mr. T. Wedgwood knows
him, and you, I think, once saw him. The person I
allude to is Mr. Willmott of Woodlands, who occupies
the estate there. He was well educated, is a good
Accountant, understand^ Land surveying, and has
applied himself with more intensity and success to
agriculture, the value of lands, the knowledge of stock,
and in short to every branch of rural concerns, than
any man I know. Under such a man you need only-
have what we call a head Workman on each of your
estates, and he could well attend to the Staffordshire,
the Dorsetshire estates, and to the whole of your private
concerns. I certainly will sound Willmott if you wish
me so to do ; but in this case it will be necessary for
you to inform me more explicitly of the nature of the
situation, the salary you would adequate to such
services, and, in short, the rank you would wish such a
man to hold in Society. Willmott at present lives in
the most economical manner, but with great credit,
and I know his circumstances are very narrow. With
respect to the other plan, I know many who would
fill Hawkins's place if it were not for the accompts ;
but you can have no notion of the little- attention paid
to education in this part of the world among that class
of men. There was one who applied to me six months
ago to recommend him to a situation of the sort, and
the young man appeared to be well qualified, and will
inquire the first opportunity if he be engaged. My
Shepherd (whose Father, you may recollect, lives at
K 2

132 SHEEP FARMING.;
Pentridge) went home to see his Friends at Easter ; he
saw Hawkins, I understood, at Gunville, and walked
over some of your estate with him. He says you have
land to keep a much larger flock of sheep. This, I know,
you are aware of; and certainly I would keep as many
as I could, as nothing has been more profitable for
some years past. Should you want a Shepherd,
Thomas has a brother of whom I have often heard
him speak, and who, by his account, must be a valuable
servant. I know of no precautions necessary in the
cultivation of the Swedish turnip, except sowing early,
manuring well, ahd hoeing with attention. I will
write to Hawkins when the cyder is ready at Taunton,
and the cheese (which I bought wholly for you) shall
be there at the same time. I have heard from Mr. T.
Wedgwood. He has told me his plans, and God grant
they may effect the purpose intended. I have asked him
if I can possibly contribute to carry them into execu?-
tion, and have intreated him to tell me his feehngs on
the subject without reserve ; and this I trust he will do,
as he knows how happy I should be to add one
moment to his happiness, and, on the other hand, how
miserable it would make me if I thought he sacrificed
one pleasure, even in idea, on my account. I hope to
leave home in three weeks. With respect to all, Yours
ever, Thos. Poole.'1
In the course of a few days, Poole sought Willmott,
and wrote to Mr. Wedgwood at Etruria thus : — ' In con
sequence of what you said in your last concerning Mr.
Willmott, I yesterday went over to Woodlands. I hinted
the business to him, and, he not appearing to be
disinclined to accept such a situation as you- proposed
, * Thomas Poole to Josiah Wedgwood, Etruria, Staffordshire, April
25,1802. Mayer MSS.

WILLMOTT'S PROPOSAL. 133
I more fully explained the nature of it. He said :
"Provided Mr. Wedgwood will make the situation
reputable, I have no objection to accept it. As to the
business, I trust I should be able to conduct it as it
ought to be conducted, and to Mr. Wedgwood's satisfac
tion." He adds, " If he were at Gunville, he sees no
occasion for any servant beyond a confidential Workman
on whom he may depend as doing what he directed to
be done during his absence in Staffordshire and on your
other concerns." On my mentioning to him about the
house he said that, he thought, could be no obstacle, as
a very small one, provided it was comfortable, would be
sufficient for him. He said he thought he should give
up his whole time to Mr. Wedgwood's concerns, and, as
he was now at the time of hfe when he should exert
himself, that Mr. Wedgwood should pay him 200?. per
annum. To auditing your Brother's accounts, he said he
could have no possible objection. He added : " You know
I rent this estate very dear; and though I think I could
get people who would take it, yet I see no prospect of
doing myself much good here ; nevertheless, I live com
fortably, and by no means lose money." I desired him
to consider every part of the subject and to call on me
to day. This morning he was with me, and says on
consideration, he has no reason to alter what he before
said, and that if you thought proper he should think
himself happy to- be your steward. The more I think of
this the more I am satisfied that you would be pleased
with the arrangement, as he is really the only nian I
know- capable of fulfilling the duties you pointed out ;
indeed, I don't think there are five men in the County
so capable of performing them. Willmott has a wife,
a very excellent woman, but no family, nor is he likely s
to have any. As to what you hinted concerning seeking

134 THOMAS WEDGWOOD AGAIN ABROAD.
for mortifications, he has too much sense for that ; he
only wishes to be considered the Steward of your con
cerns. I of course informed him that all I had said
was by on means proposing anything, but merely in
quiries of mine. He said he perfectly understood me.
Should you authorise me to make proposals to him, he
probably could soon dispose of his estate and be at
Gunville, or, at any rate, he could frequently spend a
week or a fortnight there. till Michaelmas, by which
time he certainly could dispose of his concern here. I
have written to you without waiting for your letter
concerning Fleury, as, if anything was done in this
business, I should be glad to see it in forwardness
before I go. God bless you, my dear Sir. Yours most
truly, Thos. Poole. Willmott, if you liked it, could
at any time come to you, when you could see some
thing of him, and be enabled more fully to explain the
nature of the situation. Should you think proper to
farm to a much greater extent at Gunville, he said
he should have no objection to undertake the direc
tion of it.. Excuse this hasty scrawl and the numerous
saids.' 1
For some weeks prior to his leaving England, Mr.
Wedgwood's illness had increased, and his family, by
whom he was idohzed, were deeply grieved. ' I
sympathise with you in your affliction about your
brother Thomas,' wrote Byerley to Mr. Josiah Wedg
wood at Gunvillle ; 2 but nevertheless the invalid left
London on the 7th of May, and on the 9th wrote thus
from Calais: ' I have just a moment to say that I got
here in good plight at 5 yesterday, and that all goes
1 Thomas Poole, Stowey, to Josiah Wedgwood, Esq., Etruria, Stafford
shire, April 6, 1802. Mayer MSS.
2 April 25, 1800. Mayer MSS.

BIANCHI THE VIOLINIST. 135
on as well as I could desire. We had a four hours*
passage, and I was not sick in the full sense of the word.
We had at least 30 passengers, and in not being sick I
was very singular. If my baggage, left behind, comes
to-day, I go to Dunkirk to-morrow, thence next day
40 miles by water to Bruges, and so by Ghent to
Brussels. I like my companion better the more I see
of him.1 He is so pliant that I entertain some hopes of
moulding him a little to my own' inclinations. He is
quite enraptured with my fiddle. He says all the Con
noisseurs at the Concert came flocking about him to look
at the fiddle that had excited such astonishment by its
exquisite tone.2 Dear Jos, I fully meant to have said
a word in reply to your kind expressions. You may
readily believe that the desire of exchanging a few
words before my departure was naturally felt ; but, had
I intended it, it was not in my power, nor, as you say,
would any sufficient good have resulted from it. Thank
Susan 3 for her kind farewell, and Bess,4 and distribute
mine about you. I will write again very soon, and
trusting to hear from you Poste Eestant a Bruxelles
I remain most affectionately yours, T. W.' 5
But in the brief period of five days Bianchi's power
of pleasing was at an end. He fell ill, was peevish and
irresolute, and was at once dismissed. He had con
cealed indifferent health, and this disingenuousness,
coupled with a deficiency in good manners in mixed
company, convinced his employer that he had sustained
no great loss ; though it mortified the solitary man to
1 An Italian violinist, named Bianchi. Mr, Wedgwood performed
well on the violin.
2 Mr. Wedgwood's own violin, a true Cremona, sent purposely from
Gunville to lend Bianchr,
3 Mrs. Darwin. 4 Mrs. John Wedgwood,
5 Mayer MSS.

¦136 EN ROUTE TO BRUSSELS.
find that his six weeks' labour in London, in search of
a companion, had thus been thrown away. He pro
ceeded from Bruges to Ghent by water, thence by
diligence to Brussels, where he had a letter to deliver
to M. Eomberg, an agent of the house of Wedgwood.

A HOPELESS JOURNEY. 137

CHAPTEE V.
Mr. Thomas Wedgwood at Brussels — His foreign Servant — Cheapness
of living at Brussels — Want of a Companion — Desponding Travels on
Horseback — Longs to be again with his Family — Exceeding Love for
Children — Likes, the Flemish — Probably meets Poole in Paris, and
accompanies him to Switzerland — Glimpse of Sir James Mackintosh
• — On Circuit with Basil Montague — Poole's History of Willmott —
Originally a Silk Throwster — Receives little Benefit by his Father's
Will, and turns Farmer after due Attention and Practice — Willmott's
Eligibility not to be questioned — Thinks he could not well divide his
Attention between Gunville and Etruria — Letter from Leslie — Pro
poses to visit Etruria — Thinks Thomas Wedgwood's Case a hopeless
One — The. 'Silver Pictures' — Watt proposes to make Experiments —
Not a Particle of Likeness between them and the ' Soho Pictures ' —
Related neither by Processes nor Time — Davy's Lectures on Chemistry,
illustrated by fine Specimens of Wedgwood Ware — Paper on the
Heliotype Processes in the Journals of the Royal Institution — Wedg
wood and Davy's Experiments not successful — Two original Helio-
types — Daguerre dead at this Date — His Son, without doubt, the
Daguerre of 1824-8 — Mackintosh and his procrastinating Habits — ;
Long in writing the Epitaph for Flaxman's Monument of the elder
Wedgwood-»-Thomas Wedgwood again in England— Beddoes' Pre
scriptions not salutary — Goes into South Wales with Coleridge — -
Shoots, and is delighted, but soon wearies — Renewed Despondency —
Coleridge as a Companion— Renewed Mania for the Purchase of
Estates.
The next we hear of the sick and wandering man is from
Brussels, where he was on May 17, 1802. Nothing
can be more melancholy than the record of «these
purposeless and hopeless journeys. ' I am mortified to
learn to day,' he wrote to his brother, ' that a letter I
wrote from Ghent six days ago is still lying there, as I
did not know it was necessary to pay postage. I write
to have it sent hither, and then I shall forward it. It

138 LIFE IN BRUSSELS.
was to announce Bianchi's departure thence for Paris:
His health failed him. I arrived here on Saturday
night. On Sunday I dined with Eomberg, to whom I
had a letter from Messrs. W. and B.1 It is a great
house of business. He is extremely obliging; has
undertaken to procure me two horses. He introduced
me as a visitor for one month to the Literary Society
of 220 members. I dined there on Monday, but not a
word did I hear on any literary subject. A very dull
dinner of about a dozen. I have since that dined at the
table d'hote which is quite the first in the town ; and at
the next best, always on the look-out for a companion.
As yet my search is perfectly fruitless and hopeless. I
have to-day begun German, and my master promises
to make all possible enquiries for a likely companion.
I have bought a gay cabriolet, which is to be finished
in two days, and will cost me 55/. A servant who
speaks French, German, Eussian, Danish, a native
of Florence, and who has been travelling all his life,
has brought me most abundant attestations to his
merit and fidelity from divers Princes and Seigneurs,
and I shall engage him to-morrow, I believe, at 4Z.
per month, he clothing himself, and Is. 8d. per diem
for his food and lodging. To day I made an acquaint
ance with an elderly gent named Forbes, known to
Tobins and Pennings, once resident at Nevis. I dine
with him at table d'hote to-morrow, and he takes me to
a private collection of pictures. Many English will
no doubt come here, as provisions are very cheap :
butchers' meat, 4i.; butter, 3d. to hd.; and lodging in
proportion. Mr. Forbes told me that his whole ex-
pences in one of the best inns in the place do not exceed
1 Wedgwood and Byerley.

TRAVELS TO MONS. 139
80s. a week. I have at present no plan ; perhaps
I may go to Paris.. I feel so lost for want of a
companion that the sight of any young person of
decent appearance sets me speculating on him in a
minute. To day I proposed to a young Genevese
after five minutes sight and conversation, but he was
going to England. I have not yet courage to set out
for Leipzig. I have no temptation, however, to continue
here. I see no probabihty of getting into any pleasant
society. To day the weather has relaxed for the first
time since my arrival. - We have had alternate storms
of hail, rain, and snow, and hard frosts at night. Many
thanks to Sally1 for her good letter. To day's post was
barren, and I begin to think some letter must have
miscarried, as the time appears very long since I left
England. My mind is at present in so unsettled a state
from the complete absence of all plan that I cannot
write more with any satisfaction. I have got the
saddles and trunk.'
In a hurried postscript, just, as he closes the letter, he
adds : ' John, write a letter to Odier for T. Poole ; speak
highly of him.'2
He writes next from Mons : ' My last was so truly
dismal, that I feel that I owe you a letter in preference
before all my other correspondents. As I expected, my
spirits have recovered themselves wonderfully, and but
for the reason before stated I should be much con
cerned and ashamed on account of my seeming weak
ness. I am just now seated in my chair after near 4
hours horseback. One of my horses was too frisky for
the cabriolet, so I clapped a saddle on him, and my
servant followed at a foot's pa,ce. Everybody tells me:
1 Miss Sarah Wedgwood.
2 T. Wedgwood to Josiah Wedgwood, May 17, 1802. Mayer MSS.' '

140 CARRIAGES AND HORSES.
I have made a good bargain in horse-flesh. I have"
given 40 louis for a pair of chesnut geldings ; one,
slighter than the other, makes a tolerable hack, about
as strong as Diggory. The other is well worth 30
louis, and an English dealer whom I consulted about
the purchase assures me the pair will fetch sixty in
Paris. I am already sick of a carriage on broken
chaussees and mud chemins de terre, and I have scarcely
a doubt left but my plan of travelling is to come round
again to horseback. I shall probably immediately dis
pose of my carriage in Paris at no great loss, purchase
another horse for my companion, and make a fair trial
of this kind of exercise, continued for months together.
I must pursue warm weather, wheresoever it may lead
me, as that is quite essential to my plan, which is
founded on the production of agreeable feeling. I must
leave near two-thirds of my baggage behind me in
Paris, or have it sent from town to town by diligence.
But I consider this as a mere bagatelle, if horseback
give cheerfulness and tone in a superior degree to
lolling and fretting in a carriage on bad roads ; and of
this I have at present very little doubt. That black
horizon which lately seemed to close in around me has
given place to a prospect of tolerable cheerfulness. I
now feel as if it were not impossible but I may be
tolerably happy spending my winter in Spain, pur
chasing a nice farm near Valencia, and another in the
Limosia, to bait at for a month or two at my annual
horseback visit, and return to my bien-aimes in England,
with whom I can spend four months of their best
summer. The purpose of my letter is now answered,
and dinner hour approaches— vale, me ama. I could
write to you for ever, but for my warning symptoms.
Warmest love to Bess. I never knew till I left England

THE FLEMISH CHARACTER. 141
how much I loved my 3 eldest nephews and nieces,
I often think of thetn with a delightful feeling which
nothing but children, and children of sensibility, ever
can give. I feel nothing like solitude just at present.
I accost everybody, and meet with some rebuffs and
make some friends. I was well kissed yesterday by an
unshaven Flamand, who loaded me with every kind
attention and mark of attachment. The Flemish are a
very pleasant character ; half way between the English
and French. May I never live to know an abatement
of your affection and esteem. Adieu, adieu. I cannot
feel satisfied with myself in not having yet written to
my mother ; assure her of my most entire love and
duty. A kind word to Susan and Kate.' 1
Another letter from Mons, dated two days later,
completes all we know of this continental trip. It
seems evident that he joined Mr. Poole in Paris,
travelled with him to Switzerland, and returned to
England some time in August of the same year. ' Hav
ing at length procured a carriage,' he writes, ' a pair
of tolerable horses, and a good servant, I am happily
got thus far on my road to Paris. I find the roads so
much rougher than I was given to understand that I
almost resolved to sell my carriage as soon as I get to
Paris, and to make my journey on horseback. I have
made a four hours' stage on horseback this morning,
and find myself much the better for it. Indeed a whole
nest of blue devils hatched in Brussels have taken wing
in this one stage. I am just going to set out for 2
hours more to-night to sleep in a nice country village.
After spending 2 months in cities and in perpetual
1 Thomas Wedgwood to Josiah Wedgwood, Etruria, Staffordshire,
June 4, 1802. Mayer MSS.

142 A MESSAGE THROUGH DAVY TO POOLE.
agitation, the calm and verdure of the country is quite
delicious. I still long for a companion — sympathy more
than doubles all my pleasures — but I do not feel solitude ,
painful. I hope to meet Poole in Paris ; we may perhaps
jog to Geneva together. If he is not set off, I wish
John would write a line to him, and beg him to address
a letter to me immediately, chez M. Peregaux, Banquier
a Paris, and to beg him to call for me at Peregaux' s. I
shall be glad to hear when Sharpe comes, and any
other friend's. John and Sally's letters came together.
Many thanks to them both. I don't suppose you will
now get my letter from Ghent, and you have no loss,
for I was not in the happiest state when I wrote it.
I wish, before writing to Poole at Stowey, that a note
were sent to Davy at the Institution to enquire whether
Poole is in town, or set out from Stowey. I wish it
to be constantly kept in remembrance that the most
minute family details are extremely interesting to me ;
and if I do not put a thousand particular questions, it
is merely to save writing, which, I still find, disagrees
with me so much. The same circumstance gives my
letters an air of continued egotism which I do not like
to observe ; but this must be a good deal the case when
the writer is in the midst of Philistines whom one can
never mention. The frost has made terrible havoc in
this country. Whole woods and whole countries of rye
quite perished. I shall write as soon as I get to Paris.
At this moment my horse is just coming to the door. I
feel myself unable to say anything more. I'll just men
tion, as it occurs to me now, that Eomberg, at Brussels,
as a great favour, introduced me to a friend of his to
assist me in purchasing a horse. Now, this friend, I
soon found by his manner, was actually in partnership
with the Horsedealer he took me to, and so I found it to

MONTAGUE AND MACKINTOSH ON CIRCUIT. 143
be afterwards. But I will not believe that Eomberg knew
this. I almost as good as told it him myself. My blood
was warmed, and I treated his friend with as much be
coming shyness as certain ladies did a late visitor of
theirs. Farewell all. T. W.' 1
In the meanwhile various letters had passed between
Basil Montague and Josiah Wedgwood, but, as they
relate to pecuniary matters, they have little interest,
except as they give an occasional ghmpse of Sir James
Mackintosh, for Basil Montague and he travelled the
Norfolk Circuit together. In explaining the cause of
his remissness in writing, Montague says : — ' On Wed
nesday we arrived at Cambridge. All the business in
which the parties had been so imprudent to employ me
(except a paltry brief which Mackintosh was so good
as to hold for me on the Friday) was finished on the
Thursday. You know, possibly, how I loath the Circuit :
on Friday morning I ascended the Cambridge diligence,
I arrived in town. I returned the next day, and arrived
at Cambridge just time enough to join Mackintosh, the
chaise being at the door to convey us to Thetford. The
next spare day was on a Sunday. There was a bad
fever at Bury, and neither Mackintosh nor myself
thought it worth while to continue. We, to my great
joy, returned to Town on the Saturday.' 2
Two days later, we have another of Poole's interest
ing letters. It gives a history of Willmott, and preserves
some few particulars of the silk trade, which at that
date, as also the staple of wool, was carried on in the
coombes and valleys of Somersetshire and Wiltshire.
' Your inquiries concerning Mr. Willmott,' he wrote
1 Thomas Wedgwood, Mons, to Josiah Wedgwood, Esq., 38 Guildford
Street, London, redirected to Etruria, June 11, 1802. Mayer MSS.
2 Basil Montague to Josiah Wedgwood, May 11, 1802. Mayer MSS.

144 WILLMOTT'S HISTORY.
from Stowey, " ye 16th May 1802 " are very natural,"
considering the nature of the situation in question. I
think the best way of answering them is to give you a
short account of his life. Willmott's Father was in the
Silk trade, a silk throwster. He had one Sett of mills at
Sherborne and another at Taunton ; he died in affluent
circumstances, and left a large family of young Children.
To his eldest son John, the person in question, he gave,
when he became of age, the Mills at Taunton; at the
same time leaving a discretionary power' with the
Trustees under his Will, if they should think it for the
advantage of the Family, to dispose of those Mills ; but
it was soon discovered that they were obliged to do so,
for Mr. Willmott was in partnership with a Mr. Norman
at Taunton in this concern, and one article of the
Partnership was that the Survivor should have the whole
at a fixed valuation. The Mill at Sherborne was directed
to be carried on till the second son became twenty-two,
when he and a third brother were to have the concern.
Thus Willmott was thrown out of the silk trade, and,
strange to say, his Father had made no distinct provision
for him, so that he came in only with his four sisters
in the share of the residue of his Father's property ; and
this, too, after deducting what was given to Mrs. Will
mott, his mother. This will was a death-bed testament,
made when Mr. Willmott was little able to comprehend
the state of his own affairs. Willmott, at his Father's
death„was just come from school, sixteen years old. He
continued with his mother, and had the whole manage
ment of the business, the keeping the accounts, &c, for
the general good of the Family. When he grew up,
nineteen or twenty years old, he began to look a little
into his situation, and soon found it necessary to think
of something for himself. Yet he did ; for he found it

WILLMOTT'S FARM. 145
necessary for the welfare of his Family to continue to
conduct the business till he was near four-and-twenty,
when the second son being grown up, and Willmott
being attached to the Person who is now. his wife, he
resolved to turn his attention to Farming — he placed
himself with one of the best Farmers in the Neighbour
hood, and added to the practice which he there saw, and
in which he shared all the information which could be
obtained by books. About five years ago he married,
and took Woodland estate, where he has acted in a way
to make every Farmer who knows him allow that he is
as good a Farmer, and as good a judge of Stock, as any
in the neighbourhood. Willmott would fain have been
a Silk Throwster, the business to which he was used,, but
he found his capital was not sufficient to carry it on to
the extent he wished, and he gave it up. He had at
Sherborne the management of three hundred hands.
Their accounts were always kept in the regular mode of
merchants' accts. and he has no doubt of being able
to understand any system of book-keeping presented to
him. As for the circumstances of Willmott's leaving
home, it was this — Willmott found he had taken a larger
estate than his capital was equal to ; he had laid out
a great deal of money upon it, and became embarrassed ;
he very foolishly did not mention his situation to his
friends — he was frightened and became out of spirits.
Mrs. Willmott was unfortunately gone on a visit to his
mother. He brooded over his situation till he had made
the gloomy dark, &c. &c. and he determined to leave it.
He was soon brought back to his Friends, and in an
investigation into his affairs, it was found that he was
going on very well and only wanted a little more
money, which was immediately procured him, and no
Man in the World can have acted with more propriety
h

146 HIS POSITION AND EDUCATION.
than he has since. There were many little circumstances
which have no relation to our business, which attended
this affair, but I need not add, my dear Sir, that there
was nothing which I think could affect his eligibihty
for the situation in question. Willmott himself says
that he thinks it right that you should know every act
of his past life, and every circumstance relative to his
affairs, as well as he does himself, and that if there be
wanting anything in this letter he would be himself
most happy to answer any further inquiries you would
be so good as to make. Willmott's friends are very
respectable ; his brother now carries on the concern at
Sherborne, &c. &c. As to your farm-house I have no
doubt with repairs it would be equal to his wishes.
With respect to the proposal in the postscript of your
letter, Willmott says that for a short time he could
have no objection, till Mich, or Xmas next, say,
but that afterwards he thinks that he should be so
divided between concerns at such a distance that neither
would be conducted as he would wish, but this he
leaves for your consideration. On the whole, I think
you had better write to him, and I need not add say
everything, without any sort of reserve, which you would
wish to say. Willmott's education appears to me a com
bination of literature, trade, and agriculture, better
combined for your purpose than you will easily meet
with in another ; to which you may add perfect integrity
and habits of industry and economy. So much for him,
of whom you will think, but by no means allow what
I say (any further than giving you information) to
influence your plans. Jenny will go to Gunville as
soon as possible and will give Hawkins due advice ; she
undertakes the washing, the Bailiff and Boy, and the
other business you mentioned. The wages are, and I.

POOLE'S CONTINENTAL TRIP. 14?
beheve were at C. Florey, 10 guineas and a guinea for
tea. I heard from Mr. T. Wedgwood from Calais ; he
has smoothed the way for me in my expedition by a
hundred kind attentions ; among others he desires me to
ask you for any letters you can give me to the places I
may visit. I know not exactly where I shall- go ; my
present plan is Paris* Lyons, Geneva, Switzerland, back
to Paris, and perhaps home through Flanders and
Holland. Sometimes I look over the Alps, but dare
hardly indulge the idea. I need not add how valuable
I shall feel any introduction you can give me in any
part of my route. Excuse me using so little ceremony:
Make my respects to all at Etruria, and believe me
yours most truly, Thos. Poole. I hope to leave
home, this day week — Monday morning.1
' Mr. Willmott's address is Woodlands, near Stowey,
Bridgewater, Somerset.'
Eleven days later we hear again of Poole, who is at
Bristol, on his way to town. ' I am here on my way to
 ,' he writes to Etruria. ' I sincerely thank you
for the letters you were so good as to send me ; and I
need not add particularly for the confidential clause in
the latter part of that to M. Perigaux.2 If I use it, I
will punctually give you advice ; but Mr. T. Wedgwood
recommends me to talk with Mr. Johnson, at your
Brother's Bank,3 on pecuniary arrangements, and on
the whole he thinks Henri's letter of credit the best
plan I can adopt. I mean to go to London to-morrow.;
should anything occur which you would wish to say to
me, a letter directed to the care of Davy, Eoyal
Institution, will reach me. Can I do anything for you
1 T. Poole to Josiah Wedgwood, May 16, 1802. Mayer MSS.
2 Messrs. Wedgwood and Byerley's Parisian banker.
' That of Messrs. Templer, Wedgwood and Co., Stratford Place.
l 2

143 A LETTER FROM LESLIE:
where I am, or can I go anywhere out of my route to
be of use to you going ? if so, employ me in any
way. I am in great hopes Mr. T. W. will surprise me
some morning in my route ; he tells me it is uncertain
if his present Companion and he shall remain long
together. I shall write to him as soon as I get to Paris.
God bless you, my dear Sir. May you and all around
you enjoy health and happiness till we meet again,
and for ever. Your's most truly, Thos. Poole. P. S. I
have told Willmott that he may expect to hear from
you ; should you ever want advice of me, by writing
to Ward you will hear where I am. Adieu ! I would
write you a longer letter, but dinner is on the table.' 1
As already stated, John Leslie, who, formerly
tutor at Etruria, became Professor of Mathematics
in the University of Edinburgh, received, like
Coleridge, an annuity of 150/. per annum from the
Wedgwoods. The three brothers probably contributed
each his share. Thus occasional intercourse was kept
up between them ; and from a letter written by Leslie
to Josiah Wedgwood, at this date, June 1802, we find
. with what little hope the friends of Mr. Thomas
Wedgwood viewed his case. From Carlisle Leslie
wrote, ' I am thus far on my way to the South. I in
tend to make a short ramble on foot from this place to
see the lakes of Cumberland, &c. and fall into the great
west road about Lancaster. I expect to spend a day
at Etruria with Mr. Chisholm, whom I have not seen
for some years ; and I am (not) without hopes of still
meeting yourself there. After spending a week or two
in, London, I mean to proceed to Flanders, and so
through to Paris. This plan I had formed some time
1 Thomas Poole to Josiah Wedgwood, May 27, 1802. Mayer MSS.

REFERS TO THOMAS WEDGWOOD. 149
since, and expected to have begun the journey in April,
but have from different circumstances been induced
repeatedly to defer it. One thing that diminishes the
pleasure of the excursion is, the idea of travelling
alone. While in Edinburgh I renewed my inquiries
respecting Miss Crawford. Her situation, I find, is
much the same as before. She very laudably supports
herself and an aunt by her industry, and shows
great fortitude and evenness of spirits. Yet -I doubt
whether she would come up to your idea of a gover
ness : whether she possesses sufficient strength of
mind, information, and accomplishments. And if on
trial her deficiency were found, it would be mortifying
to return her back to her former situation. I have
given no hint of the object of the inquiries. Your
brother Tom's case is truly lamentable. The only
thing that seems to afford a prospect of amelioration is
to procure some active varied employment. Travelling,,
in the first instance, if a proper plan could be devised,
would surely be productive of benefit. Might he not
revive his Eastern scheme on a smaller scale ? Visit
Constantinople, and the Greek Isles ; x see Italy in
going out — entering, either by the mountains of Savoy
or those of Genoa — and on the return visit Hungary and
Bohemia. Excuse this hasty scrawl written at an inn,
1 Southey refers to this scheme of travel in a letter to Coleridge,
dated Bristol, Dec. 27, 1799. It had been suggested that he and Cole
ridge should accompany the Wedgwoods, though objected to on the
part of Coleridge, that he was under engagement to write the Life*of
Lessing, an engagement never fulfilled. ' The W.'s are at Clifton ; if
they saw the probable advantages of a journey to Italy, of the possible
reach to Constantinople, the Greek Islands, and Egypt, in a light as
strong as I do, they would, I think, wish to delay the new birth of
Lessing ; but this is, on your part, a matter of feeling ; and, when I
spoke of your joining us, it was with the conviction that it was a vain
wish, but it is a very earnest one.' — Southey's Life and Correspondence,
vol. ii. p. 36.

160 THE 'SILVER PICTURES.'
amidst every sort of interruption. I am, my dear Sir,
with very sincere regard, your's, John Leslie.' 1
At this period, 1802, the subject of the ' silver pic
tures,' so far as the name of Thomas Wedgwood is
concerned, finally reappears. From about the years
1793-4, when his health gave way, he seems never to
have repeated his experiments on any truly scientific
scale ; but his camera and other instruments remained
at Etruria ; and these, when seen by visitors, occasionally
brought the subject under discussion. Mr. Chishohn
and Mr. Josiah Wedgwood — who had been often; pre
sent during these experiments — could give every detail ;
and thus when James Watt visited Etruria in 1799, on
business relative to a hand-mill he and Boulton were
supplying to the firm, the subject of Thomas Wedg
wood's extraordinary discovery seems to have been
discussed ; and a few days later, Watt received a letter
(probably a promised one) from Josiah Wedgwood, in
which were given the details necessary to experiment.
To this Watt replied, ' Dear Sir, I thank you for your
directions for the silver pictures, on which, when at
home, I shall try some experiments. I was thinking
on your mill after I left you, and fear the motion of
the spindle is too slow,' &c.2
Now, if the coloured pictures found in recent years
at Soho, and the two ' heliotypes ' still existing, and
known to be the result of a most original discovery
made by Thomas Wedgwood in 1791, were one and
the same, would Mr. Wedgwood have given this detail
of process, or Watt acknowledged its receipt? The
1 John Leslie to Josiah Wedgwood, Etruria, Staffordshire, June 12,
1802. Mayer MSS.
, 2 James Watt to Josiah Wedgwood, docketed 'Hand Mill 1799.'
Wedgwood MSS.

EGGINTON'S WATER-COLOUR PROCESS. 151
business of producing cheap pictures by colour-washing
had been carried on at Soho since 1772-3, and would
not Watt have applied to Boulton or Egginton ? or, in-
' deed, would it have been necessary, when five minutes
in the workshops close at hand would have supplied
him with every process used in the application of colour
to paper, pasteboard, wood, and metal P Moreover,
the Soho pictures and the Wedgwood heliotypes, when
seen side by side, are so utterly and wholly dissimilar
as to present not a vestige of affinity. The same
methods could not -possibly have been used in their
production. In the Soho pictures we see clearly a
faded water-colour, generally lilac shaded by faint
black, laid on by a mechanical, though free, process
akin to stencilling ; whereas the two heliotypes still in
existence show strongly the results of a metallic
solution made active by some instantaneous process.
The hues are those of tarnished silver— faint through
time and an imperfect method of manipulation.
After his processes were perfected in 1772-3, Eggin
ton produced these coloured copies of pictures by the
score, They were usually sold in glazed and oval
frames of black or gilt, and are still to be seen in the
remote chambers of old houses. They generally re
present subjects taken from Angelica .Kauffmann,
Benjamin West, Zoffany, Eeynolds, and other fashion
able painters of the time, this water-colour process
being found more suitable to portraiture and figures
than landscapes. But after the advent of Boydell, and
the fine engravers he employed, such mechanically pro
duced pictures fell into disrepute, and Boulton and
Egginton were too commercially wise to continue the
manufacture of unsaleable articles. The processes
were discontinued, i or turned to other accounts, the

152 DAVY'S CHEMICAL LECTURES.
stock sold cheaply off, and such remnant as remained
being stored away in the chambers and closets of a
great manufactory, only came to light when the gene
ration of workmen who had assisted in their production
had died out.
We have seen that Thomas Wedgwood- arrived in
London from Dorsetshire on March 5, and left it May
7, 1802. In this period of two months he probably
made several visits to the Eoyal Institution in Albemarle
Street, where Davy was then busy with a series of
splendid experiments, and with his Lectures on Gal
vanic Phenomena. Though so -great an invalid,
Thomas Wedgwood could walk and ride, and to a man
of his wealth, a carriage was necessarily at all times
at disposal. We find him dining at the King of
Clubs, at the Crown and Anchor in the Strand, on
April 24, his associates being Horner, Mackintosh,
Scarlett, Sharp, Eogers, and Maltby.1
Davy varied his Lectures on Galvanism by those on
Chemistry, and with his habitual taste for variety of
illustration, he sought objects in many directions, and
in April he addressed Josiah Wedgwood as follows :
' Dear Sir. My friend Mr. Poole, when He was at
Gunville, I believe mentioned to you that I had a
great wish to be able to show two or three specimens
of your porcelain manufactory in my lectures on
Chemistry in the Eoyal Institution. Would it be in
convenient to you to grant me the loan of one of the
imitations of the Portland Vase, and any similar work
of Art, for a couple of days from your House in St.
James's Square ? It shall be used with great care and
returned with great care. With resp1. comp*3. to
1 Life of Francis Horner, vol. i. p. 193.

HELIOTYPE EXPERIMENTS. 153.
Mrs. Wedgwood, I am, Dear Sir, Your obliged huble.
ser*. H. Davy.. Eoyal Institution, Wednesday.'1
Now, the fact of this letter being addressed to Josiah
Wedgwood at this date must in no way militate against
the almost positive assurance that Thomas Wedgwood
and Davy met both at the Eoyal Institution and else
where. If health permitted, Mr. Wedgwood was
certain to be one amongst the brilliant crowd which
filled the theatre of the Eoyal Institution whenever
Davy lectured, and he may have passed some hours in
more scientific communion with Davy in his laboratory.
But certainly, in the months of April or May 1802,
Davy tried the heliotype processes at the Eoyal Insti
tution, and it may have been in conjunction with Mr.
Wedgwood; for Davy's article thereon was printed in the
June number of the ' Journals of the Eoyal Institution.'
It must, therefore, have been printed in May, and the ex
periments themselves may have taken place at intervals
during the months of March and April. If it be said
that did they thus meet at the Institution or elsewhere,
it would be more natural for Davy to ask his friend off
hand for the loan of pottery, than make the more
formal request in writing to his brother. But the
matter had already been opened to Mr. Josiah Wedg
wood, and Thomas Wedgwood had long seceded from
ah business cares. As usual in cases of severe brain
and stomach disease, he had, as his friends well knew,
the utmost dislike to being troubled on subjects #not
chosen by himself. He had a distaste of the business
of the past, because he had lost the strength and power
of the past, and it was thus customary never to refer to
him, except when absolutely necessary. In case, too,
1 Mayer MSS.

1-54 A COPY OF THE PORTLAND VASE.
of a request for the loan of so costly an article as a
copy of the Portland Vase, even Mr. Byerley would have
applied to his chief, and Davy, who was a man of clear
thought, rapid action, and great punctilio, did what his
friend would have advised if applied to — ' Write to my
brother.' The response was ready and generous. A
fine copy of the Barberini vase, in its case fined with
crimson velvet, some magnificent plaques and bas-
reliefs, and a dejeuner service, blue and white jasper
with Flaxman's figures of the Graces, were sent to the
Eoyal Institution, where for some days they aided the
illustrious chemist in his brilliant exposition of the
science connected with their constituents and fabrication.
The paper published in the June number of the
'Journals of the Eoyal Institution' was headed 'An
Account of the Method of Copying Paintings upon
Glass, and of making Profiles by the agency of Light
upon the Nitrate of Silver. Invented by Thomas
Wedgwood, Esq., with observations' by H. Davy.'
Here, in the plainest and briefest words, we have the fact
of the invention, and the name of the inventor, pubhcly
stated by one who was not merely a friend, but a man
of the highest moral character and scientific attainments.
Egginton and Daguerre are as remote from these facts
as though they had never existed. Had they been
false, some other man would have claimed the dis
covery ; or had it been practised elsewhere, the scientific
and artistic rivalries of the day were sufficiently keen
to have led at once to denial and adverse claims.
It is not at all improbable that, so far as the copying
of paintings upon glass went, Thomas Wedgwood may
have derived some hints from his father, whose old
friend, Matthew Turner, the Liverpool surgeon, had
expended much time, care, and chemical knowledge,

THE FUTURE OF PHOTOGRAPHY PROPHESIED. 155
on the application of colour to glass, both as a fusion
with components, and an after fixture. He was also
probably aware that both Scheele and Senebier had
made observations analogous to his own, as to the action
of the sun's rays upon the muriate of silver; but,
beyond this, the discovery is indisputably his, of pro
ducing copies of objects by bringing the solar rays to
act upon a solution of the nitrate of silver. The in
superable difficulties which neither his own experi
ments, nor those of Davy, could in that stage of chemi
cal knowledge overcome, were want of permanence in
the colouring matter, and the impossibility of removing
it from those parts of the surface of a copy which had
not been exposed to hght. The latter considered that,
both in the case of the nitrate and muriate of silver, a
portion of the metallic oxide abandoned its acid to
enter into union with the animal or vegetable substance
on which the solutions were laid, thus forming, with it,
an insoluble compound ; and he was also of opinion
that it was more than probable that ultimately sub
stances would be found capable of destroying the com
pound, either by simple or complicated affinities — a
prophecy which has been more than fulfilled. Davy
projected further experiments on this subject, and an
account of them in some future number of the ' Journals
of the Eoyal Institution,' for he considered that ' nothing
but a method of preventing the unshaded parts of the
delineation from being coloured by exposure to the
day, was wanting to render the process as useful as it
is elegant ;' but his labours in connection with agri
cultural chemistry and electricity so occupied succeed
ing years, as to leave no time for experimental disco
very in this branch of chemical optics.
Of the processes employed, or the results obtained

156 TWO HELIOTYPES DESCRIBED.
from these heliotype experiments at the Eoyal Insti
tution, no account exists. Of the earliest heliotypes,
those taken at Etruria, 1791-3, two are still extant.
One, a breakfast-table scene, is to be found engraved in
the ' Life of Wedgwood ; ' x the second, and most
valuable, is given here. It is clearly a heliotype, or, as
we should now say, a photographic copy, of an ordinary
book-engraving, for the cross-hatching of the graver's
tool is distinctly visible. It was, probably, hastily torn
from some book of travels lying on the table, for the
purpose of fixing in the camera, or behind the glass
through which the rays of the sun were to pass. The
original of this heliotype would just fit into an octavo
volume, and appears to represent a Savoyard piper in
the costume of his country. Whether the furnace was
in the original print seems uncertain; but whatever it
really be, it bears some resemblance to the enamelling
kilns in use at that time. Like all educated men of
active intellect, Thomas Wedgwood was an incessant
reader of books of travel ; and they form, with works
on philosophy and science, the staple of his numerous
and costly book-bills. From the dark shades yet re
maining, this heliotype of the Savoyard was evidently
taken on a summer's day, when the sun was at meri
dian. Finding some experiment succeeding, he may
have torn a print from the nearest book at hand, and
thus immortalised, by a new art, what in itself was
intrinsically worthless. The authenticity of this helio
type is undoubted, and as the earliest known specimen
of a most original and beautiful discovery, is considered,
by those most competent to judge, to be of great value.2
1 Vol. ii. p. 585.
2 When shown at a Meeting of the Photographic Society, it was
particularly admired by the late Lord Chief Baron Pollock, Bennett
Woodcroft, Esq., and other members.

DAGUERRE AGAIN. 157
And Daguerre ? Daguerre at this date was dead.
He must have died between 1798 and 1802, as in the
former year we have a notice of his dining with Sykes,
in Bridge Street, Blackfriars. ¦ Our evidence touching
Daguerre's death is as follows. v Writing from London
to Etruria, January 17, 1802, Mr. Byerley Remarks
to Mr. Wedgwood, at the close of a long letter, ' I
have great pleasure in telling you that Lignereux has
most honourably brought Daguerre's executors to York
Street, and caused them to pay £173, as the amount of
goods sold by him, but of those left with them on sales
ten years ago, by you and I, which you will recollect
were only riff-raff. He promised to send the account
as soon as he gets home. They were all cameos and
old portraits.' 1 It is certain from this that Daguerre
was dead, and he died in debt ; for not only was he a
debtor in Alderman Boydell's bankruptcy, but in this
same letter Mr. Byerley's list of foreign debts places
Daguerre's account still due to Mr. Wedp-wood at
1,108Z. He appears to have possessed more or less
taste for the ' fine arts, for he speculated largely in
prints, fine pottery, and general articles of vertu ; but
his careless and unapt business habits were probably
what made success in life an impossibility. His son,
who was with him in his visits to Etruria in 1791 and
1793, was about twenty or twenty-one years old in
1802. If he inherited his father's tastes, we may
reasonably conclude that he was one and the saine
with the M. Daguerre who, in 1824, -improved* the
heliotype process, by the application of iodine to plates
of silver coated on copper, the iodine being decomposed
by the influence of light.2 He may have been led to
these researches either through memory of what he
1 Mayer MSS. 2 Hunt, Researches on Light, p. 33.

158 THE ELDER WEDGWOOD'S EPITAPH.
had seen or heard of Thomas Wedgwood's experiments.
The chain of evidence is slight, but it at least makes
clear, that Thomas Wedgwood the younger, of Etruria,
was the discoverer of modern photography ; and that
Wedgwood-type is a term which ought in justice to be
added to its scientific nomenclature.
Flaxman's slow labours in connection with the tablet
to be placed in the parish church of Stoke-upon-Trent,
to the memory of the elder Wedgwood, were now
nearly at an end ; but the inscription, which Mackintosh
had been asked to write, was still waited for. Pro
crastination was as much a failing with him as it was
with Coleridge, and he seems repeatedly to have deferred
this promised task. On September 23, 1802, he wrote
thus from Guildford Street to Josiah Wedgwood : ' My
conscience will not let me set off for Paris without
writing you, though I have only five hurried minutes
to do it. I have tried five or six times to do the
Epitaph, but I have been so hurried and interrupted,
and above all so agog, that I could not do it tolerably.
I thought you would much prefer my delaying till my
return to doing it in a hurried miserable manner. I,
therefore, take it upon myself to presume that if you
knew the circumstances you would dispense with the
performance of my promise and grant me an indulgence
till November, when I shall neither expect nor deserve
further indulgence. We go at six to-morrow morning,
and it is now near eleven. Therefore, I can only add
that I am affectionately yours, J. Mackintosh.' 1 The
Epitaph was eventually written, though whether at the
date here promised is unknown.2 Even when effected
1 Mayer MSS.
2 Flaxman was paid Sept. 3, 1803, 931. 19s. for Wedgwood's monu
ment. Mayer MSS.

THOMAS WEDGWOOD AND COLERIDGE. 159'
it was not a success. It is too long, and too much after
a Latinised type. A shorter and simpler record would
have been more in keeping with the character of the
man ; for the services he had rendered to the arts and
manufactures of his country were too important not ,
to become a part of its social history.
Thomas Wedgwood and his friend Poole had returned
to this country by" September, for, on the 20th of the
month, the former signed an agreement as to the
lease of some farms at Gunville. In October he was
again under Beddoes's direction, drugging himself with;
one of that class of medicines which is now well known
to increase rather than give relief in cases of stomach
disease. ' I should think,' wrote the Clifton doctor to
Josiah Wedgwood, ' that the fear of thirst need be no
objection to Tom's taking -the Epsom salt with the
sulphate of iron, because thirst, depending upon a bad
state of the stomach and bowels, is always, removed by
any medicine that brings, them to a healthy state.'1
Valerian, strychnine, and chloroform would now be
administered with a view to give power to the digestive
organs and tone to the nerves, instead of drastics,
which could only lower the general system and increase
hypochondriacism. Early in November he was again on the move, this
time towards Bristol, with a view to settling some
further scheme of travel, and Coleridge, who was then
residing at Keswick with his wife and children, was
enlisted as his companion. The summons was brief
and readily responded to. Dating his letter from Kes
wick, Nov. 3, 1802, Coleridge wrote, ' Dear Wedgwood.
It is now two hours since I received your letter ; and
1 Dr. Beddoes to Josiah Wedgwood, Gunville, Oct. 4, 1802. Mayer
MSS.

160 COLERIDGE INTERCEPTED.
after the necessary consultation, Mrs. Coleridge herself
is fully of opinion that to lose time is merely to lose
spirits. Accordingly I have resolved not to look the
children in the face (the parting from whom is the
downright bitter in the thing), but to go to London by
to-morrow's mail. Of course I shall be in London,
God permitting, on Saturday morning ; I shall rest that
day and the next, and proceed to Bristol by Monday
night's mail. At Bristol I will go to Cole House.1
At all events, barring serious illness, serious fractures,
and the et cetera of serious unforeseens, I shall be
at Bristol, Tuesday noon, November 9 ' . . .2
But on Sunday, November 7, Thomas Wedgwood
wrote to one of the head clerks in York Street to this
effect, the purpose being evidently to intercept Coleridge
and prevent his journey to Bristol : ' To Mr. Howship
or Mr. Howarth. Dear Sir, I shall be much obliged to
you to take this letter to Mr. Stuart, Editor of the
Morning Post, and try to find out where Mr. Coleridge
is ; if not there leave a line for him, saying you have -a
letter for him at York Street, and be so good as to go
with the letter to the Eoyal Institution in Albermarle
Street, and, inquiring for Mr. Davy, leave a similar
notice there, and also at Mr. Tobin's, No. 6, Bernard's
Inn, who will probably not be at home, but you can
drop the notice through his door. It is necessary this
should be taken immediately, to prevent Mr. Coleridge
taking a place to leave town on Monday. Your
obt. ser*. Thos. Wedgwood.'3
Mr. Wedgwood seems to have set off from Eastbury
on the following Thursday with his sister Sarah, and
arrived at the end of one of the stages, Salisbury or
1 The residence of Mr. John Wedgwood.
2 Cottle's Reminiscences, p. 448. s jfayer jf gg.

THOMAS WEDGWOOD AND COLERIDGE IN WALES. 161
Bath, wrote thus to his mother : ' Dear Mother, I have
just a moment to say we got here to our time, and I
wish we may do the same the next stage ; but Sally is
only just returned after a shopping of near two hours. •
As soon as her hair is cut, we embark in John's chaise
for Cote.' At the end of this letter he addresses his
brother thus : ' To Jos. You must allow ample width
in your approaches through the plantation in South;
Mead, otherwise the trees 40 years hence will over
shadow the road, and you will be obliged to trim them
and spoil their beauty. I should think there should be
at least 5 yards of turf on each side of the road. I
am sure you will never repent a httle nobleness of plan.
I hate anything that seems strangled and skrimped.'
After referring to a Mr. and Mrs. Nares, he adds :
' Farewell both houses.1 I must talk to my neighbour,
and I don't find my pen and tongue go two ways at
once quite so easily as the knox does; Ever yours truly,
T. W. . . Mother, try my short hooked walking stick. ; .
Eastbury clock is near \ slower than the Cathedral
here.' This letter is addressed 'Mrs. Wedgwood,
Eastbury,' and is enclosed in a parcel of stockings ' for
Mrs. Moore's rheumatic legs.-'
When Mr. Wedgwood writes again he is somewhere
in South Wales, though no place is named ; his sister
Sarah and Coleridge are his companions. ' Sally and we
arrived here on Monday evening,' he tells his brother
John at Cote ; ' execrable horses all, but the last stage,
and we are determined to try the lower road on our
return. But for perpetual flogging my journey would
have been very pleasant ; but I am much disappointed
in Carmarthen Vale. Coleridge and I are very comfort-
1 Gunville and Eastbury.
M

162 SPORTING DETAILS.
ably settled here. My-: dogs did not arrive till the. day
after ; but I could not wait, so I hired a man and
dogs, and killed a couple of cocks on Tuesday. To
day I have been out 7 hours and only killed
one. I have seen 8 or 10 each time ; they are not
very plentiful here, though the woods are abundant. I
ride about 2 or 3 miles to cover, wrapped up like
a gouty old gentleman, cast off my wrappers, shoot,
and return again in full cloathing. I am as fond of
shooting as I almost ever was, if it will but last. There
is very capital snipe shooting here, as I am told. I
shall probably stay here 10 days, and then try some
other place. Mr. Bagstock has invited me to Bleupant,
but gives me no information. I will not go there. I
have had the kindest calls possible to Cressejly, but I
am so knocked up when I come home from shooting,
that I could not bear not to be at that perfect ease,
which is not to he had out of one's own house or an
inn. My spaniels have worked vastly well to-day, and. I
am sure will prove as good as any dogs. Sally went
on Tuesday morning in a chaise and pair from this
place, and was 4^ hours on the road. I have just
heard from her. She seems very happy, and says T.
Bagstock will not be there till after Xmats, I am
going to look at a house standing near a famous Sewwi
fishery and excellent covers. If the rent is not great, I
shall be very apt to take it, provided I continue to,
relish shooting a month longer. Enquire at Sheppens,
for game. I intend sending you some on Friday,
perhaps Thursday ; but my Keeper seems a very bad
sh.ot. Forward this to Gunville. Best love to all, at
the three houses. T. W. — Coll1 and I harmonise ama?-;
1 Mr. Wedgwood styled him ' Coll ' at Coleridge's own desire. ' I
am anxious,' the latter wrote, in the letter part of which has been already

COLERIDGE AT CRESSELLY. 163
ingly well. He likes the scheme, takes very long rambles,
and writes a great deal. He proposes my going to
Ireland. Perhaps I may ; in short, I will do anything
rather than be confined by the cold as I have here
tofore been.'
The next letter is from St. Clears, Carmarthenshire,
and is dated Nov. 15. It relates principally to clothing
ahd success in sporting: ' When I have a little burst of
good sport, how much I long to have yoii with me ; but
there is nothing worth travelling half so far for. Let
me hear often. . . Coll desires to be very kindly re
membered. We do vastly well together.'1 A fortnight
later j and the old life weariness has returned. ' I was;
indeed,' he tells his brother, ' glad of sight of the old
scribble " last night. I have been here (Cresselly)
since Tuesday. . . The two first days I enjoyed myself
very much, but since Thursday iny spirits and strength,
without any assignable cause, have entirely failed me.
Shooting is become an intolerable bore and fatigue, and,
cocks being seare'e, I don't think I can continue above
two or three days longer in the country. If Sally could
foresee any convoy, she would remain here some weeks
longer, and I much wish her to do it, as she is very
happy and much enlivened ! As to myself, God knows
What I can do. I am going -with Tom Afleri to have a
day to-morrow, and I shall be rejoiced beyond measure
if I can shake off the slough of despondency which now
hangs about me. Cbleridge is all kindness to me, and
in prodigious favour here. He is quite easy, cheerful, and
quoted, ' in the event of our travelling together, that you should yourself
be at ease with me, even as you would with a younger brother, to whom,
from his childhood, you had been ih the habit of saying, " Do this,- Col,
or don't do that." All good be with you.' — Cottle's Reminiscences,
p. 450.
1 Thos. W. to J. W., Nov. 15, 1802. Mayer MSS.
m 2

164 WEARINESS OF LIFE;
takes great pains to make himself pleasant. He is
willing, indeed desirous, to accompany me to any part
of the Globe ; and I dont know what else I can do to
mitigate the weariness of life but travel. I adhere to
my regimen strictly, but have left off Sulphat, as I took
a little too much and suffered for it. Coleridge is
astonished at my pertinacious regularity and abstemi
ousness ; says if Wordsworth had a quarter as much
control over himself he would be in perfect health
instead of great hypochondriacism. But my constitu
tion is incorrigible, and I am weary to death of my
unavailing efforts. . . Coleridge has expressed a strong
desire to spend a fortnight at Gunville. You are
certainly a great favourite of his ; he always desires to
be most kindly mentioned to you. I have assured him
of a hearty welcome.'1
Strange to say, whenever this tmdium vito3 was at its
worst, the mania — for such it really was — of acquiring
more and more landed property returned. Two days
after this last letter he sees an advertisement in the
' Morning Post ' relative to the speedy sale of Manors
and Farms in Dorsetshire, and forthwith he employs
Miss Frances Allen, his brothers' wives' sister, to copy
it out in the letter he sends : 'I have got Fanny to copy
an advertisement out of the "Morning Post" of a late
date. Samways2 knows the place, and says there is
abundance of game there : Pheasants, Ducks, and Snipes
all the year round, Cocks plenty, and stay late. Fine
bottom of alders and springs ; most excellent fishing.
I am very eager about it, as its proximity to Gunville
is inestimable. If it prove at all desirable in the above
points, I am determined to give a good price. My
1 Thos. Wedgwood to Josiah Wedgwood, Gunville, Nov. 28, 1802.
2 His servant.

ESTATES IN WALES. 165
dear fellow, I am in a temper of mind to risk all on a
single throw. I am trying to rent something in this
county, to come to when the winter is at the hardest.
I am just returned from a 3 hours beat, and have
seen but 1 cock. Yet I am better than when I wrote
my last jeremiad. I shall stay here about a week longer,
and you may direct your next here. What I request
of you is to take a ride to the spot, and get what
information you can, without your name appearing,
and give me as particular account as you can, par
ticularly as to sporting advantages, for I care not how
ugly the country be. I shall be glad to hear that the
house is tolerable, and the country warmer than
Gunville, and that the trees are not bent over and
shorn by the S.-west. ... I need not say that
time presses, as I expect many competitors 
Unless your account be very discouraging, I shall
immediately come over to Gunville with Coll. ... I
am applying here about Temple David, which is to let,
perhaps sold ; and about Trewerne, which has the
Tave washing the garden, and was some time ago to be
let. I shall go to Keswick to see Mr. and Mrs. Luff, if
my spirits keep up at all. . . . Forgive my last, and
believe me ever and ever yours, T. W.' Miss Allen's
portion of the letter draws a pleasant picture of Miss
Sarah Wedgwood,1 as also of Coleridge : ' We are in
hopes that Sally2 may be induced to remain with us
after the departure of her brother and Mr. Coleridge.
She is. at present wavering, and a favourable letter from
Kitty3 will turn the balance in our favour. . . . My
father is wonderfully pleased with her, and is nearly,
1 and 2 The youngest surviving daughter of Josiah Wedgwood the elder.
3 Miss Catherine Wedgwood, second daughter of Josiah Wedgwood
the elder.

166 COUNTRY EXCURSIONS.
if not quite, as great a favourite as Mrs. Darwin with
him. I cannot tell you what pleasure her company
has given us all, and more so as I am nearly certain
she likes her stay here. . . . Yesterday all the party
except Tom walked to North Down to, stay. till to
morrow. I walked part of the way with them, and
will engage they feel no fatigue, as Mr. Coleridge was in
one of his pleasantest mopds. ... To day they mean
to show Mr. Coleridge the rocks below Pembroke and
dine with E. Leach.'1
1 November 30, 1802; Mayer MSS.

VARIETY OF WEDGWOOD'S WORKS. 167

CHAPTER VI.
Variety and Perfection of the elder Wedgwood's Works — The later
Modellers— Theedj Westmaeott, and Wyatt — Porcelain made at
Etruria — Beauty of its Painting* — Difficulties and Hindrances of
Foreign Commerce — Imports into Italy prohibited— French Pro
hibition—Frankfort Fair — The Barberini Vase again lent by the
Duke of Portland — A Copy sent to the Republic of France — Ac
knowledgment of. its Receipt by the Minister of the InterioT— Mr.
Byerley's two eldest Sons educated in Germany---Mr. Josiah Wedg
wood's Removal from Stoke House; Cobham, into Somersetshire and
Dorsetshire— Non-resident in Staffordshire twenty Years — Need of the
Master's Eye— Mr. Byerley not a trained Artist or Potter — Deficiency
in Taste of new ornamental Good's- — Mr. Wedgwood's Life at Gun
ville — Field Sports, Planting, Farming — Turnip Husbandry and
Improvement in Breed of Sheep — Agricultural Associations — Sir Joseph
Banks — ¦ Cranbourn Chace — Its Disfranchisement proposed — Evils
generated by Waste and Forest Rights — Eastbury — Josiah: Wedgwood
Sheriff of Dorsetshire — Prejudices of County Nabobs — Illustrious
Visitors to Gunville— Simplicity and Retiredness of Life — Letter to a
Governess— -Diffieultfes with Workmen at Etruria — Contest about a
¦ Book of Mixtures — The Greatbaches and Hackwoods — The young ,
Byerleys at Etruria — Wild proceeding of the second Son — A Cadet-
ship procured for him through' the Interest of Lord Auckland — Mr.
Byerley's Honesty of Purpose^ — Afflicting Sentiments — The Hollands
— Childhood of Sir Henry Holland — Related to the Wedgwoods and
the Darwins — A few Facts worth preserving — Foreign Apprentices
and Commissions..
At the date of the elder Wedgwood's death theworks at
Etruria were in their highest state of efficiency. Except
experimentally on a few dccasions, the manufacture of
porcelain, distinctly as such, had not been introduced,
although many ofthe new bodies invented and brought
to perfection by the great potter, as those of jasper and

168 NEGLECT OF THE ARCHITECTS.
variegated crystalline, were porcellaneous in character.
The range and variety of Wedgwood's productions at
this ultimate period exceed belief ; no shape or utility
in table and culinary ware had been forgotten. Chil
dren were delighted by toy services and little orna
ments of every kind and degree of beauty. For their
infancy were feeding boats and lamps, and artificial
breasts, known as ' bubbles.' The sanitary reformer
had closet pans and pipes, the gardener glazed tiles for
speeding the ripening of his fruit, the farmer the finest
pans, tiles, and cisterns for his dairy ; and even draining
tiles were prepared for experimentalists like Arthur
Young. The architects could have been supphed with
every ornamental internal and external requisite, had
they encouraged their manufacture ; but, wedded to the
shams of ornamental stucco, all but a few ignored the
simplest as the finest works in terra-cotta. Here and
there an architect endowed with foresight and taste,
or a connoisseur with feeling and higher cultivation,
patronised jasper friezes and chimney-pieces : but,
generally speaking, this class of greatly possible and ex
quisite art was utterly ignored. Not a single architect
of that day knew what the Saracenic artists had effected
in tile-work, the Lombardian potters in ornamental ter
ra-cotta, or the capacity of fine clay for limitless and
durable effects. Thus unpatronised, Wedgwood's archi
tectural ornaments were rather experiments than suc
cesses. The culture of the period, the heavy taxation,
the chaotic state of pubhc affairs, afforded neither taste,
time, nor money for the cultivation of true art. Even
now, after long peace and a degree of national cultiva
tion in the arts, we scarcely realise the conception
that the potter is the true ally of, and sculptor for, the
architect. In most other classes of ornament the public

THE LATER MODELLERS. 169
patronised Wedgwood to the full extent of his ceaseless
invention. Scarcely an article worn upon the person
but what was decorated with his cameos. Those were
times of war, and even art was subservient to its needs ;
and the hilts of swords, hangers, and daggers were
beautified with cameos, dark blue in ground, and with
appropriate devices. Every kind of ladies' trinkets,
snuff-boxes, opera-glasses, work and jewel boxes, harpsi
chords, were more or less decorated in this manner ; door
handles and bell pulls were often pretty works in clay ;
and from about 17821 the East India nabob and the
Turkish pasha received the ornaments of their chibouques
and hookahs 2 from Etruria. From 1791 to 1810 pipe
ornaments were exported in considerable numbers,
chiefly by the Levant merchants,
Henry Webber's long and successful labours as chief
modeller at Etruria were continued till the close of
1794. He was succeeded by Flaxman's friend, John
Daveare, or, as he was generally called, De Vere. In
1798 he modelled the bust of Lord Nelson; and, in
December of the same year, those of Lords Howe, St,
Vincent, and Duncan.3 Theed modelled the capital for
a column in March 1801, and two months later he was
working at Etruria, as he sends thence a request to
York Street that thirty pounds may be paid to his
brother, Mr. Joseph Theed. The names of Westmaeott,
probably the father of the eminent sculptor, and Wyatt
the builder appear in the subjoined account and letter ;
but what was the nature of the work referred to as a

1 They are mentioned in an account of returned ware, in 1785. Gilt
hookahs were 7s. each, black .5*., red and black 5s. Pipe heads of silvered
ware are mentioned in the invoices of 1790.
2 Hookahs for Turkey were made for Rundell and Bridge, the well-
known goldsmiths, in Oct. 1800.
3 Receipts and accounts of modellers. Mayer MSS.

170

WYATT THE ARCHITECT.

set-off against the claim made by Mr. WedgwoodV
executors is not evident.1 Benjamin Papera, a modeller

1 James Wyatt, Esq.
To the Executors of the late Josiah

I, Dr.

18th July, 1793, 1 Medallion Apuleuis
Delivered Queen Anne Street.
2nd June, 1784, 2 Square Bas-reliefs
3 Smaller ovaL. Do. (Seasons). .
Delivd to: Mr. Male, Portland Road.
12th June, 2 Bas-reliefs. Slate ground
3 Oval ditto 
Delivered in Queen Anne- Street,
14th March, 1786, Light blue Jasper with white bas-reliefs
2 Oblong Tablets, Vitruvian Scroll, to pattern 10

d. 6

2 Oblong Tablets (Boys)
3 Small round ditto . ,
Delivered in Queen Anne Street.
27th Oct., 1787 1 Portrait Shakespeare
2 Cameos ....
3 Portraits (imperfect)
Delivered in Queen Anne Street.
15th Nov. 1 Oval Tablet, blue ground
2 ditto, 18*. ,
3 round ditto, 31s. Qd.
Delivered in Queen Anne Street.
24th Novhr. 1 Etruscan painted vase .
Delivered in- Queen Anne Street.
3yd Jan?., 1788. 2 Friezes of the Vitruvian Scroll
2 Top parts of the pilaster of the. same
3 Bottom parts of th& pilaster
Delivered to Mr. Westmaeott, Upper Mount. Street.
Discount, 6s. Qd.

2 0
16 0
2 0
14 0

10 0
2 0
11 6
5 0
7 0
7 6
2 0
16 0
14 6

4 4 0

10 0
10 0
10 0

Ml 19 0

Mr. Byerley's note respecting the same :
James Wyatt, Esq., Queen Anne Street, East.
Sir,,—, Jany. 5, 1797.
The executors of the late Mr. Wedgwood, understanding yon
have declared you have a claim upon them as a set-off to the bill against
you, desire me to request the favour of you to state what it is, as neither
they nor I know or have before heard of any.
I am, very respectfully,
Sir, Your's most obediently,
(Copy.) T. Byerley.

MODEL OF A RUINED TEMPLE. 171
living in Marylebone Street, Golden Square, modelled,
in June 1802, the busts of Mrs;. Siddons, the Honble.
Mrs. Darner, and Lord Nelson, as also ' one vase with
lamp.' 1
Of Hackwood, so long the elder Wedgwood's able.
servant at Etruria, some interesting notices, appear.
' We have got our Temple put together, and the effect
answers my expectations,' wrote Mr. Byerley from Etruria
tp Cobham, January 5, 1798. 'The dome?,the. entabkv-
ture, the columns, and the base aye. all to be thrown and
turned. The figures Hackwood has to alter, and a good
deal of modelling, but all, the above parts , we fire
separately, and we shall begin to make directly we get
to work again. I think to make the base or ground of
the Temple black ; it will fire better, and we can rub it
smooth, if not pplish it. The columns, I can assure you,
are secuyidem, artem in proportion and decoration.. We
intend to fire in cases lying horizontally— -a stick running
through them and uniting them to- top and bottom.' 2 It
does not appear exactly what this Temple was— whether
a design from some of the great ruined temples of
antiquity, as those of Passtuin, Corinth,, or Athens, or a
composition merely. We owe to these days of com
parative degeneracy — degenerate rather from the circum-
This business appears to have been settled in November 1797; The
sum paid by Wyatt was 47£. 13^ lld.,r whilst there was a set-off by,
casts of 10Z. 13s. lid. Mayer MSS.
1 He received 16s. for the bust of Mrs. Siddons, 12s. for that of Mrs.
Darner, and 10s. 6d. for that of Nelson. The vase was charged 11. 7s. 6rf.
Mayer MSS.
2 Theed had something to do, with, this Temple, as in some memoran
dums sent from Etruria, in February 1800, it is thus mentioned : — '¦ Mr.-
Theed has taken the dimensions, of ;,the Temple in order to make a sketch
reduced to the proper size for a pateau (sic, probably patera meant), as
suggested by Mr. Fitz water,, who has-taken some of the cards, and will
endeavour, to get them into the King's hands, and at the same time.
explain for what use the ornament is intended. Mayer MSS.

172 HACKWOOD THE MODELLER.
stances of the time, and the terrible need of cultivated
presiding rule, than from the lack of well-qualified
modellers — the ruins of a Temple so bad, in an artistic
point of view, in composition and manufacture, as to be
scarcely credible when compared with the works of a
few years earlier. This Temple was made in several
sizes, of which a small one is to be seen in the Kensing
ton Museum, where it is questionable taste to permit
it to remain. An artist can be alone judged by his
best works ; and Wedgwood suffers, as any of his com
peers might suffer, by assigning to him and his great
day, works of doubtful taste and bad manufacture,
simply because they are impressed with his name.
Moreover, regarding the matter from an aesthetic point
of view, it is questionable if to copy imperfect works — as
ruins must necessarily be — be art at all. Art, if it be
the expression of truth under its ideal form — which it is
¦ — can alone be represented by truth, or, in other words,
by the perfect ; and ruins, as the mutilation of what
was once perfect, can but be the negative expression of
the artistically perfect. The only pity is, that Wedg
wood did not, like some of the great painters, brand
all his works with the year of their production, as well
as with his name. Had this been done, we feel sure.
the number of his extant works would have been
enormously pared down, and a mass of artistic excres
cences, now assigned to his era, seen to be the creation
of later and inferior days.
Hackwood was at this time advancing in years.
John Hackwood, his son or brother, held the post of fire
man, and later of turner. Another relation, Lewis Hack-
wood, had been taught copperplate engraving, and did
much work of this character for his father's employers.

DE VERE AND AARON STEEL. 173
Printed ware had, in a great measure, superseded
enamelled or painted ware in the general market ; and
in. both directions the patterns of this period, 1795-
1815, were flowing, bold, and in many cases very
admirable. Except occasionally, the elder Wedgwood's
patterns, even when borrowed from the somewhat bald
examples of antiquity, were a little finikin ; but the en
gravers and painters employed after his death took a
bolder and wider sweep, both in treatment and subject,
and this with excellent results?
De Vere, in addition to his abihty as a modeller, was
an exquisite figure and landscape painter, and so highly
was his work considered, that, during the time he re
mained at Etruria, a studio was assigned to him at the
hall. Aaron Steel painted the red and black outlines on
Etruscan vases, and his work, for export to Eussia and
Germany, was always in request. Some few of the
enamellers who had worked so choicely and deftly
twenty years before, at Chelsea, were on the workmen's
roll of names, long after the elder Wedgwood's death,
and as late as November 1800 Ealph Unwin received
hi. 5s. for painting a tea service. Indeed, during
the period porcelain (soft paste) was made at Etruria
some very fine enamel painting was effected. A
coffee-can and saucer, in the possession of Sir ~D. C.
Marjoribanks, Bart., and on which birds are painted,
rival, both in design and colouring, the best productions
of Chelsea and Sevres;1 The chief engravers of this
1 This class of painting was chiefly on tea and dessert sets. Among
the orders of May 3, 1815, is the following: —
W. Egerton, Esq., China, No. 723 ; birds and feathers, gold dentil
edge, 48 plates, 9 inches, to pattern, Gondola Compotiers. The birds to
be large and bold, same as pattern ; to be all different, and principally
' Game,' the feathers to correspond with bird in centre. The price of

174 COMMERCE AND ITS DIFFICULTIES.
later period were :- at Etruria, Jesse Bourne and Lewis
Hackwood; and in London William Sharpe, of St. Benet's
Hill, Doctors' Commons ; John Eobinson, of Great
Newport Street ; T. Gangain, Samuel Vernon, and G.
Martin. Eobinson and Vernon were chiefly employed
upon initials and crests j and Hackwood and Bourne
upon borders and ornaments for useful ware.
Commerce, throughout the long period from the
declaration of war With France in 1793 till the peace of
1815, was carried on under the greatest disadvantages.
At times rigid exclusion from the most valuable ports
Was the rule ; at others tariffs were so raised as to
amount to prohibition, or so fluctuated as to be ruin
ous to the speculative merchant. There were dangers
by land, and greater dangers by sea. After a journey
of hundreds of miles goods might be seized as Contra
band, or be pillaged by hostile soldiery or peasantry ; and
on the ocean, unless merchant ships Went under convoy,
there was no chance of safety. Those were sad days',
as all days in which war is the humour of mankind
must necessarily be. Hundreds of letters, in German,
French, Italian, and Dutch, are big With laments of this
nature. In July 1796 an embargo Was laid, by Order
in Council, upon all ships and vessels bound to any of
the ports in the territories of the Grand Duke of
Tuscany. Of this embargo, its relation to commerce,
and Nelson's brilliant achievement in the Mediterranean1,
some Liverpool merchants thus wrote, two years later,
to Messrs. Wedgwood and Byerley : ' As soon as we
received the account of Admiral Nelson's glorious
the plate now sent is 10s. Qd., but will have no objection to give Is.
each more, to have them well and carefully done. Return the pattern,
as it belongs to a tea set. Mems. from London to Etruria. Mayer
MSS.

THE MEDITERRANEAN TRADE. 175"
victory we wrote to Mr. Turnbull,1 desiring him to give
us some information as to its effects upon the Commerce
of Italy. . . . Our own Ideas are^ that if War is to be
renewed upon the Continent it will require a more hearty
Co-operation of the Allied Powers than can reasonably
be expected from them, to prevent the French from
becoming masters of all Italy, which would give the
Death-blow to all British Commerce in those parts, how
ever triumphant our Navy might be. But if Peace
shall be the result of the Negotiations at Eastadt, we
look forward to some stipulations being required by
the Emperor from the French favourable to the in
dependence both of Tuscany and of Naples. A short
time; must now determine either for Peace or War, and
we think the prudent part to take is to await the event
of the negotiations upon the Continent.' To this Mr.
Turnbull, the London correspondent of these merchants1,
adds, in two letters : ' I have received ample and
satisfactory assurances from His Majesty's Ministers that
the ascendancy of our naval force will be maintained in
the Mediterranean during the continuance of the pre
sent War ; and there is likewise reason to. hope that
the Grand Duke of Tuscany and the King of Naples,
by the assistance or mediation of the Emperor, will be
able to preserve their dominions* At. the same time I
would beg, leave to suggest that the pohtical affairs of
Italy are at present in a very critical situation ; and as
the fate of the two before-mentioned States must be
very soon in some way or other decided, it may be
better to defer, any expeditions to Italy by the first
Convoy. Another will be readily granted so soon as
there are sufficient ships to go with it ; and, indeed, untill
the embargo is taken off, which I have applied tp have
1 Their London agent.

176 GOODS FOR FRANKFORT FAIR.
done, no merchants' vessels can be cleared out to Leg
horn. . . . With regard to the expediency of ship
ments for the ports of Italy and Levant, I have only to
add that before the departure of the subsequent convoy
to the present one, I trust that the security of the King
dom of Naples will be so far ascertained that commercial
speculations may be made to the Ports thereof without
any great degree of apprehension.' 1
Two years later, we have an example of the results
of French prohibition. The letter was written by Basil
Paul Schilling, of Bayreuth, in Franconia, one of Messrs;
Wedgwood and Byerley's most valued correspondents.
Schilling was a gentleman of great taste and enterprise,
having shops in Frankfort and other places.2 ' I am
glad that the orders given in January were not executed
for last Frankfort Fair, for the repeated prohibition of
the French Government not to let any English goods
come on the left bank of the Ehine, nor in any country
under the French control, has rendered this Fair,
contrary to all expectations, as bad~ as any during the
war, so that I, who used to sell at this Fair from 150/.
to 200£ worth of goods, have not been able to sell hi.
worth; on the contrary, have had to expend ^20/. in
warehouseroom and travelling. I look forward with
impatience when I can sell more and pay my debts to"
you. But this unfortunate war has impoverished alike
the middling as the higher classes, and it will be some
time before they can buy articles of luxury. It will be
therefore better for me to return, and you will oblige
me infinitely by so allowing me, to any place you
1 Thos. and William Earle, of Liverpool, and John Turnbull, London,
Oct. 25, 1798. Mayer MSS.
2 He had dealt with the firm at Etruria from 1788, and appears to
have been introduced by Boulton.

GERMAN AND RUSSIAN TRADE. 177
please, the articles enamelled in blue and green jasper,
as also those in black basalt. Concerning the com
mon earthenware, it will find a greater sale than ever,
on account of the cheapness of it, as soon as the trade
between France and England is regulated and free,
which is soon expected to be the case.'
This improved state of things was probably brought
about ; and three months later Schilling repeated his
magnificent order for ornamental ware, for the reple
nishment of his shop at Frankfort ; and it included
vases, figures, tritons, cameos, and every kind of orna
ment ; but these difficulties of transit were ever recur
ring, and so continued till the Peace of 1815.
Yet, in spite of this abnormal state of things, Wedg
wood and Byerley's finest goods found their way into
Eussia, Germany, and Italy, and had large sales. The
two former countries were the best customers ; the
Germans in useful ware, favouring the antique patterns,
as the red and black Egyptian, and the Eussians a
greater variety. In an order that went to Eiga in 1798
were 400 dozen plates, and other articles proportionate ;
the patterns being green and purple drop husk, brown
green fine, and brown barley on yellow ground. In
May 1802 a large number of old cameos and medallions
in the hands of Sykes and Liguniroux were sold in
Paris, and in 1805 there was a general revival of
trade. In October 1800 the Duke of Portland lent again
the Barberini vase,1 and it was for some time in the
hands of Messrs. Wedgwood and Byerley. Fresh
copies were made, and of these or earlier copies
one was despatched to the Eepublic of France. Its
1 Note from Bulstrode, steward of Duke of Portland, Oct. 7, 1800.
Mayer MSS. N

178 A MINISTERIAL LETTER FROM FRANCE.
receipt was thus acknowledged by M. Chaptal, the
Minister of the Interior, to the Minister of External
Eelations : —
'J'ai examine avec beaucoup d'interet, mon cher
Collegue, la Copie du Vase de Barberini, executee par
M. Wedgwood. II n'est point de Collection oil il ne
merMt de trouver une place distingue'e. J'ai admire"
la precision du travail et la beaute de l'execution. II
est honorable pour M. Wedgwood, et les amateurs des
Beaux-Arts lui Sauvont gre, d'avoir perpetue d'une
maniere si parfaite un des principaux monuments de
l'antiquite. Je vous Salue avec cordialite. Chaptal.'
This paper, which is partly printed, is surmounted
by a rudely engraved female figure. She is seated and
draped. One hand upholds the axe and fasces, the
other a scroll. At her feet is a cock. Above her
head is engraved ' Bepublique Francaise,' and on either
side Liberte — Egalite ; ' and beneath the printed regis
tration are endorsed the words : — ' Le Vase envoye
par Monsr. Wedgwood, Sera place au Museum.' 1
Mr. Byerley, who had married in 1781, had by the
close of the century a numerous family rising round
him ; for in 1801 his wife gave birth to her fourteenth
child, thirteen of whom were living. During his early
married life he seems to have lived at Etruria ; but in
the autumn of 1795 we find him making a garden to
the front of his house in Camden Town. In 1803 he
was again living at Etruria; and finally in 1807 we
shall see him contemplating a removal from his house
in Sloane Street, Chelsea, to the upper part of the house
1 Chaptal, 1802, Barberini vase. Mayer MSS. In 1798, R. L. Edgworth
wrote to St. James's Square, as to the price of the copy of the Barberini
Vase sent to Dr. Beddoes. Mr. Byerley replied, that copies without
blemish sold at thirty guineas ; those with a few flaws, at twenty-five
guineas each. Mayer MSS.

A GERMAN-ENGLISH LETTER. 179
in York Street, St. James's Square. Evidently with a
view to their becoming potters^ his two eldest sons,
Josiah and Thomas, were instructed in the elements of
mineralogy and chemistry ; and for this purpose, as also
that of acquiring the French and German languages,
they resided some time in Germany. They were there
in the year 1798, their tutor being a mineralogist of
the name of Wiedeman, residing in Brunswick.1 In a
letter to Mr. Byerley, referring to a mineral collection
which the latter declined to purchase, Wiedeman
wrote : — ' Your sons go on very well ; especially the
eldest, who no doubt will by further application be a
very good chemist. I hope you will approve of a plan
of making a little journey on foot next summer to the
Harz, where I wish to shew and explain to them espe
cially the metallic processes and operations on a large
scale, which together with other objects will be of very
great use to them. ... If I can be of any service to
you, Sir, in procuring specimens of minerals as well from
the Harz as from Tyrol, Hungary, Saxony, where I
have correspondents, I shall be very happy. You are
no doubt acquainted Mvith the many new discoveries
lately made in Mineralogy, there are hardly any speci
mens wanting in my collection, and many of them I
could most probably get sent to me by some friend or
other. Mr. Klaproth has of late discovered a new metal
in the Magyag gold ores which he called Tellurium
I am glad to find, that one of your own countrymen
has likewise found the non-existence of a new metal in
the Terra australis, which Klaproth has shewn some
years ago ; I saw this in . the last volume of the
" Philosoph. Transactions." Klaproth has analyzed a
1 C. W. Krause and Son were the agents in Brunswick of Messrs.
Wedgwood and Byerley. k 2

180 LONDON AND ETRURIA.
great many precious stones, and. found their constituent
parts very different from what Bergman, Achard, and
others have asserted. He chiefly uses caustic alcali in
his decompositions. 'x
From the date of his marriage in 1793, or soon after,
till the autumn of 1799, Mr. Josiah Wedgwood resided,
as we have seen, at Stoke House, Cobham, in Surrey.2
From thence he removed to Upcott House near Taunton,
where he resided till 1800, and then removed to Gun
ville Hall, by Blandford, Dorsetshire. He finally left
the latter county in October 1807, having in November
1 802 bought the estate of Maer in Staffordshire, where,
he settled for the rest of his hfe. He was thus non
resident in Staffordshire for more than twenty years.
He visited Etruria two or three times each year, often
staying long and devoting his time to work ; but this, as
might have been foreseen, and as events proved, was
insufficient for the proper guidance of a great body of
workmen and the multitudinous details of a manufactory.
Mr. Byerley was constantly passing to and fro between
London and Etruria, yet nevertheless the master's eye
and hand were missing everywhere. Amongst the
greatest proofs of genius are range and rapidity of
mental perception, as well as power in the mastery of
detail ; or as it has been well said, genius is only a
transcendent capacity for taking trouble ; and with these
characteristics the elder Wedgwood had been richly
endowed. He forgot nothing, he overlooked nothing.
His desire for thoroughness in every detail resulted in
the perfection of his manufactured goods. None of his
1 Wiedeman to T. Byerley, Brunswick, Dec. 7, 1798. Mayer MSS.
2 The Cobham bills give curious particulars. Thus, in Oct. 1798, we
find the funeral items of Mary Ann Wedgwood, a child, about two or
three years old. She was the second daughter of Josiah Wedgwood the
younger.

LACK OF THE MASTER'S EYE. 181
workmen could neglect their duty. The slip-makers,
the mixers, the flint-grinders, were just as certain of his
oversight as the modellers, and pohshers ; and hence
his work is, in so many instances, absolutely perfect.
You may turn it over and under, inside ..and out, and
yet you find no flaw. But when he was gone, there
was no one to take delight in the work, for the work's,
sake. If a modeller like old Hackwood, or a figure-
painter like Aaron Steel, did their work in the old
manner, it was not certain — as it had been absolutely
in former days — that others prior or after would attend
to theirs. The clay might be badly tempered, the
firing imperfect, and the result obvious ; simply for want
of the old controlling power that had grasped and
gathered details into unity. And blame unfortunately
could be apportioned nowhere, except in the lack of
judgment in not giving up potmaking if it was distaste
ful, or if it was to come simply to the mere ignoble
manufacture of plates and dishes. The true remedy
would have been in securing an active working partner
hke Spode, Turner, or Adams, who loved the work for
something higher than profit alone, and who in the
vigour of hfe would have made Etruria his home. As
it was, Mr. Byerley was declining in health and years,
his wife was sickly, his family numerous and a source
of much anxiety, and he had to take part in duties not
relevantly his. He had not been brought up as a
potter, had no training as an artist, seen nothing in his
early days but the rude provincial life of a little country
town. He had gone to America, had been a school
master, a book-keeper, a commercial traveller, and at
last, by force of mere circumstances alone, a partner in
a great manufacturing firm, the fame of which was
chiefly due to ornamental art. Of this he was in a

182 NEW ORNAMENTS.
degree aware, for he frequently incited his partners 1 to
take more interest in this portion of their trade ; and
he laboured .hard in this department himself, though
with a sad falling off from the high aims and results
of a former day. ' You have never said,' he wrote from
Etruria, ' how you and the Pubhc like the new brown
and green Cottages ? — You will receive this week four
new ornaments in form of Viol del Gamba or Violoncello
for Musical Amateurs — to be used either as flowerpot,
bulbous-root, or candlestick. They belong to a set
intended to captivate musical people." The centre is a
chest form ornament with the Muses, and to hold three
bulbs. The two sides are in hand still, the whole bear
ing relation to Music, and joyous Subjects celebrated
by Music. The other parts will come^ I expect, this
week's end.'2 Yet, whilst thus meeting, rather than
elevating, the low popular taste of the period, he was
desirous of being kept au courant with the wants and
wishes of customers. ' We cannot,' he wrote to Mr.
Mowbray, the presiding clerk in York Street, ' make the
yellow and brown Beehives otherwise than by enamel
ling—if that way — we will try. You will oblige me
infinitely by a frequency of these sorts of suggestions,
whether practicable or not. I have such constant
employment for my thoughts and hands in the detail of
business that invention of this kind is too much neglected.
But these things must be perpetually occurring to you
1 Mr. John Wedgwood again joined the firm. 'May 20, 1800., At
tending Mr. Jos. Wedgwood this day, taking his instructions for altering
the draft of the articles by introducing the name of Mr. John Wedg
wood.' Feb. 14, 1801, as to signing the ' articles and copy.' Attorney's
accounts, Messrs. Ward, Dennetts, and Greaves. Mayer MSS.
2 Mems. Etruria to London. Mayer MSS. Byerley to Mowbray, Feb.
21, 1801. Mayer MSS.

COUNTRY LIFE. 183
in your daily business, and arise from the observations
of your customers. I do not mean to blame you for a
paucity this way, because I am certain it is not so ; but
I want to urge you to a full and constant practice of
picking up and furnishing me suggestions.'
Mr. Wedgwood's employments as a country gentle,-
man were enough in themselves, without the anxieties
and mischances attending a great manufacturing busi
ness in a place then so remote as Staffordshire from
Dorsetshire. Although, when he travelled from one
county to the other, it was, as Poole remarked in one
of his letters, ' en prince,' carriages and four with pos
tillions in scarlet liveries could in no way lessen the
great distance implied in two, if not three, days' journey
across England.1 The estates of Gunville and East
bury comprised a great extent of woodland, and still
more of pasture and arable. Greatly attached to a
country life, both Mr. Wedgwood and his eldest brother,
John, took delight in field-sports. They hunted and
shot ; and the former entered with spirit into the business
of farming. He planted extensively, and, from bills yet
preserved, frequently trees of new and rare kinds.2 He
1 The route generally taken from Etruria to Gunville was as follows ;
— Newcastle, Stafford, Wolverhampton, Stourbridge, Broomsgrove,
Gloucester, Bath, Warminster, Shaftesbury, Gunville. A journey partly
by coach and partly by posting, of a nursemaid and children, cost in 1802
10/. 3s. Od. Bills. Mayer MSS.
2 Thus, in November 1802, the planting consisted of 10,000 Scotch
firs one year transplanted, 3,000 transplanted beech, 2,000 birch, 3,000
ash,, 1,000 pine aster, 1,000 larch, 1,000 Scotch elm, 1,000 spruee, 1,000
Spanish chestnuts, 500 seedling ash. These trees were supplied by the
celebrated Veitch of Chelsea, at a cost including packages, and his own
expenses into Dorsetshire, of 79/. 5s. Od. Mayer MSS.
Earlier in the same year, March 1802, the following number of young
trees were sent from Gateshead, in Durham, by way of sea, to London :
4,000 larch, 3,000 beech, 2,000 ash, 1,000 ditto transplanted one and a

184 SHEEP AND WOOL.
patronised the hoe husbandry then so much in vogue,
the cultivation of the Swedish turnip, and wheat drilling.
More important still, he purchased sheep largely, and
improved their breed by the importation of Merino
rams at a considerable cost. In those days a great
change was coming over the whole spirit of British
agriculture. Farmers were beginning to understand
that if war taxes were to be paid, and high prices con
tinued, production and quality must be increased by
more skilful husbandry. The woollen manufacturers
also demanded better and finer descriptions of wool ;
and thus, alike for food and raiment, sheep grew in im
portance as stock. Here and there over the breadth
of England, Agricultural Associations were formed, and
one of their specialities was for improvement in the
breed of sheep. The Society of Arts offered prizes for
the weightiest fleeces and the finest wool ; and country
gentlemen, even more than farmers, were stimulated
to competition. This question of wool was at that date
one of supreme importance in the clothier counties of
Wilts and Somerset ; and Sir Joseph Banks, with his
accustomed zeal, bestirred himself in the formation and
encouragement of societies in which turnip husbandry
and the breeding and management of sheep were
essential features. He and the elder Wedgwood had
been old friends ; and now he and the second son met
and corresponded on the question of Merino sheep.
One of these societies held periodical meetings in
Blandford and the adjacent towns, and this Sir Joseph
attended, to award prizes and deliver addresses, making
half years, 2,000 sycamores, 1,000 ditto transplanted one and a half years,
20,000 firs, two years old seedlings, '5000 ditto one and a half years trans
planted, 2,000 silver firs, 3,000 spruce, 500 white American spruce, 200
ditto transplanted.' Bills. Mayer MSS.

CRANBOURN CHACE. 185
his "home, when there, at Gunville with the Wedg
woods. The estates of Gunville and Eastbury lay adjacent
to Cranbourn Chace, a vast unenclosed tract, thronged
with deer. It was one of those legacies from the bad
old days of feudal power, which then, more than now,
were scattered over England, and which for centuries
had been a prolific source of strife between the pro
prietors who owned it, and the copyholders. It was
considered that these Chace-rights tended to discourage
industry, promote idleness and immorality, and were
injurious to the community,1 and in 1787 a meeting had
been held for the purpose of procuring disfranchise
ment. Another took place in 1790, but no agreement
was come to ; and thus the matter stood over till Mr.
Wedgwood purchased Gunville, and seemed a man hkely
to favour disfranchisement. Hereupon the subject
was again broached, and a vast correspondence ensued.
Writing to Mr. Wedgwood on the question of compensa
tion to Lord Eivers, a Mr. Davis, who had been long
active in the matter, said : — ' It strikes me that 1,000/.
per ann. and 300Z. in land, (it can't be more) in all 1,300/.
cannot be above half the damage which all the deer do
to the woods in that immense tract of country — putting
1 ' I was yesterday honoured with your letter of the 5th, signifying a
proposal had been made to Mr. Salisbury for the Disfranchisement of
Cranbourne Chace, which had been consented to by Lord Rivers under
certain conditions; My property within the Ohace being very small,
not exceeding thirty acres, and my enclosed lands well fenced, and with
a watchful eye upon them, I receive no annoyance from the deer ; but
the temptations and opportunities of committing depredations have so
corrupted the morals of the Common People in Handley, that it requires
no small degree of patience to reside among them. I have therefore
great pleasure in hearing that the business has been taken up by the
gentlemen mentioned, and I hope it will be brought to a successful issue.'
---E. B. Batson, Esq-., to Josiah Wedgwood, Gunville, April 8, 1803,
Mayer MSS.

186 DISFRANCHISEMENT.
the corn out of the question.1 — If I can at any time
render you any service in this business I shall be happy
to do it, upon this condition, that you keep the manage
ment of it in your own hands — for I am certain, without
flattery — there is no one else in the county so capable
of it. I fear you will not be able to do the business
without going to Parliament. I think it impossible to
guarantee the rent charges to Lord Eivers without it.
Many persons (such as Lord Bath) having woods alone,
and no open land — and perhaps an Act of Parliament is
at all times the safe way in these cases.' 2 Much
active business followed on letters such as this, and
subscriptions were raised in order to. procure an Act of
Parliament ; but it is not evident if the disfranchise
ment took place before Mr. Wedgwood had disposed of
Gunville and left Dorsetshire.
Eastbury was only divided from Gunville by a short
walk across the park ; 3 and here, in a small plain country
house or cottage, Mr. Thomas Wedgwood, when
home from his incessant wanderings, resided with his
mother and two unmarried sisters, Catherine and Sarah,
1 Yet, in spite of the number of deer, venison does not seem to have
been particularly cheap. The following is a Chace-keeper's bill :
Josiah Wedgwood, Esq., to Elias Bailey.
1802 * £ s. d.
July 26. To a Shoulder and Fry  0 9 6
Aug. 27. To a Shoulder and Chine  0 9 6
Sept. 2. To Half a Buck  0 2 6
Sept. 15. To the fee for half a Buck . . . . 0 13 0
„ To a Shoulder and Chine"  0 9 6
£2 4 0
Mayer MSS.
2 Thomas Davis, Esq., Horningsham, Wilts, Feb. 27, 1803. Mayer
MSS. 3 ' We are now planting the large larch from Eastbury to Gunville.'
Steward's letter, April 19, 1802.

ARISTOCRATIC PREJUDICES. 187
then (in 1802) young women of the respective ages of
twenty-eight and twenty-six. These latter were often
away on visits, the younger especially ; but their mother
hved thus near enough her second son and his family
to partake of their attentions and society.
Mr. Josiah Wedgwood was pricked as sheriff for
Dorsetshire in 1803, and his year of office was a com
paratively brilliant one in county annals. But, generally
speaking, the family led a quiet and retired hfe. Indeed,
on the evidence of those still living, it was never very
cordially accepted by the proud old local gentry, full
of obsolete notions concerning birth and pedigree.
Nature's noble rank, the only rank ; the possession of a
name which needed only time and knowledge to become
historic ; the possession of great wealth, and its intelli
gent and charitable use— were nothing with a generation
whose notions of pedigree began with the Conquest,
and thence must have due record in parchment rolls
and title-deeds. To be in trade, or to possess wealth
derived from trade, was then a sufficient blot on any
man's escutcheon to weigh heavily against the worthiest
qualities ; particularly in counties so far removed from
metropolitan influence as those of southern England.
It was enough that Mr. Wedgwood was a Staffordshire
potter to insure the cold reception of a narrow-minded
squirearchy, who, from prejudice and ignorance, were
unable to receive, much less generate, the idea, that the
great progressive middle class of England — till its lower
are educated and civilised — are the life-blood" of the
nation, the payers of its taxes, the creators of its wealth,
the recipients and handers-down of that intelligence
which is vital and thus progressive. But for her Staf
fordshire potters, her Manchester manufacturers, her
mechanists, her scientific and literary men, the country

188 GUESTS AT GUNVILLE.
would have never tided over that long and weary span
of misgovernment, war, and war-taxation. We know
this well enough now, and are only too apt to fall into
the other extreme — of an excessive covetousness and
idolatry of material well-being. What we need is a more
equable dispersion, not the concentration, of wealth ;
and this, by natural, irreversible law, will surely, if
slowly, follow the spread of true enlightenment. For
selfishness, whether national or individual, is only an
expression of mental and organic forces of low quality
and condition.
But Gunville, if it lacked as guests some few of the
nabobs and squirearchy of southern England, welcomed
a class of men who were moulding English thought and
speech into a higher and newer expression of freedom
and intelligence. Coleridge was frequently a guest, as
also his brother George, the schoolmaster of Ottery;
and Wordsworth, Sydney Smith, Sir Joseph Banks,
Davy, Poole, Horner, Montague, Wrangham and
others partook at times of its hospitality. Some of
Samuel Taylor Coleridge's finest letters were addressed
to Josiah and Thomas Wedgwood whilst residing at
Gunville and Eastbury. Both brothers seem to have
been singularly attractive to him ; Josiah even more so
than Thomas. And yet by all accounts the former was
a silent, reserved man, with ever a disinclination to
recur to the past ; and hence so much was lost relating
to his father which our generation would have prized.
Tenderly attached to his family; morbidly alive to the
health and well-being of his children ; generous and
friendly to the few with whose tastes and intelligence
he had sympathy — Josiah Wedgwood the younger had
never the popularity of his father. Perhaps it is that
exhausted fires burn low, and that, psychologically and

FAMILY LIFE. 189
physically speaking, the sons of energetic men can in
many cases be no other than taciturn. Of the domes
tic life at Gunville we have this dehneation in a
sketch of a letter addressed by Mr. Wedgwood to a
governess in 1803 : — 'T returned home yesterday, and I
am happy to find that Mrs. Wedgwood had not entered
into any engagement in my absence. We shall therefore
be happy if you accept our situation after I have given
you a fuller account of it, than I could do, when I had
the pleasure of seeing you. — Our family consists of five
children, of whom the eldest is not quite nine years old.
We have wished for a governess, not so much for the
sake of the accomplishments that are often a principal
object in education, as to secure the constant super-
intendance of a respectable person on whom we may
rely for a steady attention to the health, disposition,
and manners of our children, and to prevent the
necessity of their being much with servants. We have
consequently made it a point that the children should
live as much as possible with the governess, when not
with ourselves, and she has breakfasted and drunk tea
with the children. She has taken her dinner with us,
except when we have had parties ; and we have always
been desirous that she should join our family party
whenever it was agreeable to herself. Our situation is
very retired, and I am afraid the very little society it
might afford you would not prevent your being very
sensible of the difference between it and a lively town. —
Some of the disagreeable feelings wliich will, in almost
all cases, attend the undertaking such, a situation, es.
pecially for the first time, might perhaps be prevented,
if mutual confidence could be at once established, and
the parties rely on the candour and liberal disposition
of each other. Allow me then to assure you that you

190 DANIEL GREATBACH.
would on every occasion be treated with respect and
consideration ; and that if anything should at any time
wear a contrary appearance it would be the effect of
misapprehension on your part, or inadvertence on ours.
I beheve I may refer you with confidence to the lady
who is leaving us, as to this point and another connected
with it, and equally desirable for you to be assured of:
I mean our habit of expressing our wishes without re
serve on every subject relative to the children, being
convinced that a good understanding cannot be pre
served without openness, and a freedom of communi
cation.' x Mr. Wedgwood then proceeds to offer an
extremely liberal salary for days when educational
services were not remunerated as in our own, and con
cludes by requesting the lady, should she accept the
situation, to repair to Gunville with as little delay as
would be compatible with her convenience. The whole
letter leaves the impression of a grave, punctilious,
anxious gentleman ; liberal in feehng but cold in ex
pression. Whilst Mr. Wedgwood was thus occupied in Dorset
shire with the duties and pleasures incident to the life
of a wealthy country proprietor, there were hitches and
difficulties at Etruria, that had to be referred to his
judgment, and often needed his presence. In January
1802, whilst Mr. Wedgwood was with his brother John
at Cote House, Bristol, Mr. Byerley speaks of a curious
difficulty in connection with the son of one of the old
workmen. After stating some private business having
relation to his share in the York Street property, he
continues : — ' Poor Daniel Greatbach died this morning,2
1 Josiah Wedgwood, Esq., to Miss Webster; Gunville, Sept. 29, 1803.
Mayer MSS.
• 2 Jan. 7, 1802.

A BOOK OF MIXTURES. 191
after a service of more than forty years. He caught
cold about six weeks ago, and has not been well since,
though not confined till within a week. He has left
one only son, with whom he lived, and whose wife
being tidy, he has wanted no help, and I fancy he has
left a little money behind him to reward their care.
To-day his son wrote to me to acquaint me with this
event, and said he had his key and books in his posses
sion. I asked him to come to me and bring them with
him. I missed the httle book in which he entered the
mixtures. That the son said the father had given him
by telling him it would be a friend to him when he
might want one. I told him, it was no more his than
the other books, being like them, merely a book of
business, wherein he was to enter mixtures, which were
either dictated to him, or given to him in writing. He
said his father in so many years' experience had im
proved and invented many things, and would not have
given him this book if he had conceived he had not a
right so to do — but that he would be very happy to be
of what use he could to the concern in the same way
as his father had been— by which I understood that it
was his father's intention, and the young man's wish,
that he should take his place, I just told him this
was an improper way of proceeding — that it was an
attempt to force things upon us whether we would or
not — that he must in the first place be just, and give up
what belongs to us, and he needed not fear every dis
position in us to serve him for the sake of his father —
but we must not be prevented from making use of this
event to improve the situation of affairs, if found ne
cessary, and which had been probably deferred during
his father's life, through a disinclination to disturb him
after so long a service. As he appeared to be much

192 DANIEL GREATBACH THE YOUNGER.
affected with the loss of a good parent, I urged it no
further, but told him, I would defer it, till I had made
you acquainted with the affair and knew your senti
ments. He seems a very decent young man — but too
young I think for such a place. He can have no judg
ment in the value of work — and knowing but little how
to battle about prices with the ornamental old stagers.
His father, though perfectly honest and anxious for the
interest of his employers, was not always able to do it.
I think too, that the whole business of superintending
so small a work may be done by one man — that is that
Daniel's and Beardmore's business may be united. I
should propose indeed that some part of it should be
taken into our own hands. That we should have a
mixing room on the spot, and make all our own mix
tures and give them out to the slip-makers. To-morrow
I shall take my place in Daniel's office, and make up
this week's account myself, and by thus getting
intimately acquainted with the affairs, shall better see
the best way of proceeding. . . .' x
Ten days later, we hear further of this valuable
book. ' I have read,' wrote Mr. Byerley to Mr. Wedg
wood, ' your letter to Daniel Greatbach, who warmly
and promptly declared, he would not part with the
book to any man living — that his father had given it to
him with a request and he believed it his duty to obey.
He over and over again said " Let the consequence be
what it will, I never will part with it." I asked him, if
he had any objection to my looking at it — he said he
would not let it go out of his hands to any one. He
confessed he thought himself too young and inexpe
rienced to take the place of his father, and that in point
1 Mems. from Etruria. Byerley to J. W., Cote House, Bristol, Jan. 7,
1802. Mayer MSS.

OPINION OF COUNSEL. 193
of emolument, he should gain nothing by it, for that
he gets as much now as his father did. I have no
doubt W. G.1 is his adviser in this business, and it is
very probable the same thing will be attempted by his
sons. I think it will be quite right when our steam-
engine is up to prepare a quantity of all these glazes
ready for such an event ; and perhaps, when you come
over, you may see it right to require of him an account
of the processes used, that they may be entered into
our books. However, we have here at once made so
much progress in glaze as to be able to prevent any
greater inconveniency than we shall suffer from with
holding D. G.'s book, of which I have a copy, taken in
December 1800; since which I know of nothing of
importance that has been entered into it.' ... At the
close of the same letter Mr. Byerley adds, Mr. Wedg
wood having, as it appears, meanwhile consulted counsel:
' Mr. Martin says4 " As the receipts seem to have been
copied into a book by his foreman, not in his individual
capacity or for his own experiment, but merely as a
servant to the manufactory, and perhaps with a view
to save a repetition of instruction, I think he had no
right to bequeath such a book to his son, more espe
cially if it were paid for by the Company. It will
be proper to send some person to inform the son that
you have spoken to a professional man, and to make a
personal demand of the book. Should he then refuse, I
think no time should be lost in sending for a writ
against him, as he may copy the instructions which the
book contains, unless the service of the writ induces
him to relinquish such intention." ' 2 These instructions
remained probably in abeyance, for a few months later
1 William Greatbach, a relation, and foreman in another department*
2 Byerley to J. W., Jan. 17, 1802. Mayer MSS.
0

194 DISSATISFIED WORKMEN.
we hear further of the matter. ' I forgot to ask you,'
wrote Byerley in July to Mr. Wedgwood, ' if you had
any conversation with Daniel Greatbach, when you
were here, about his father's book. I am told he in
tends to leave at Martinmas, and, if he can, to take some
one away with him who can assist in a plan to make
Porphyry-spotted ware ; and some other things which
he purposes to make, get fired where he can, and sell
to the trade ; or, if this will not do, to engage himself
to Wilson, who is said to be very anxious to make
Porphyry ware, and does not at present know anything
about it. I believe John Hackwood1 is the person
leagued with him in this plan, and who has of late,
more than once, on occasion of ware not being quite
ready for him, or such as he wished, threatened to de
mand his discharge, and I had made up my mind, next
time he did so, to give him his discharge. The objects
at which these people aim are of no great consequence
to us ; but it is unpleasant to have things peculiar to this
manufactory thus circulated through the country. We
shall not, however, be able to prevent it perhaps, unless
by some sacrifice or concession to persons that, it is
evident, care very little about us. I shall be very glad
to hear what you think of the business.2 The book
was probably given up to the rightful owners ; but these
contentions with the workmen continued, and were
complicated and increased by the temptations offered
by rival masters. ' Dan Greatbach,' wrote Mr. Byerley
in the following month, ' has declared to J. Beardmore
that he does not mean to be hired at present. • John
Hackwood has told him that he means to leave at
Martinmas. I have said nothing to either, nor should
1 He seems to have been both fireman and turner.
2 Byerley to J. W., July 24, 1802. Mayer MSS.

SPODE, TURNER, AND ADAMS. 195
not for my own part ; but if you think it necessary I will
do it. Parting with a Turner and Handler together
naturally contracts the work, and our sales in this branch
seem to require it. Our foreign orders are inconsiderable
for black ware and ornaments, and our sale at home
too small for the quantity, especially of black ware, of
which our stock is accumulating very fast. Jarvis the
mould maker, in a drinking bout, told Will Moreton that
he knew old Hackwood meant to leave at Martinmas
next, and Will M. told Beardmore. I have no reason
to suppose it from any part of Hackwood's behaviour,
but there seems a close connexion between Daniel G.
and the Hackwoods. I think it not improbable that
something is brewing, to use John Beardmore's expres
sion. I know that Spode has endeavoured to get some
of our men, and he may think such a party as this may
be of considerable importance to him. He is very
anxiously endeavouring, I believe, to get into the same
tracks that we are in, and to imprpve his articles by our
models, and I do not think he will be very scrupulous
in the means. Do you think I should ask Hackwood
about this?'1 Spode, the second of his name, the
Turners, and Adams ofTunstall, were at this day formi
dable rivals. Spode had commenced porcelain making
in 1800, and by the judicious use pf calcined bones and
feldspar had brought it to a high degree of transparency
and perfection. The Turners, who had recently taken
out a patent for an improvement in the composition
of ware, were manufacturing ornamental jasper of a
high degree of beauty, both as to form and originality
of decoration ; and Adams of Tunstall almost equalled
them in this department. It was natural, therefore, that
1 Byerley, Etruria, to J. W., Etruria, Aug. 20, 1802.
o 2

196 THE YOUNGER BYERLEYS.
this rivalry of competition engendered plots and coun
terplots amongst masters and workmen that were far
from defensible or just.
Whilst these were among the manufacturing diffi
culties which Mr. Byerley had to report to his partner
in Dorsetshire, heavier griefs oppressed him nearer
home. His wife was ill, his eldest son dull and slow,
his second more than insubordinate. As early as 1800
the eldest was engaged in the correspondence at Etruria,
and in February 1802 the second son was employed
there in another department. ' When you mentioned
a second time,' wrote Mr. Byerley to his chief, ' the
necessity of somebody to speak French, and coupled
German with it, I thought you might perhaps be of
opinion that one of my sons ought to be placed there.1
If it is so, I shall be very glad to know your mind more
fully about it. I must confess a feeling how much I
myself have suffered, at every period of my life, through
the too early loss of a parent. I have always been
inclined, when it should be in any ways practicable, to
keep my children around me, and, at any rate, out of
situations of high temptation, until the season of danger
should be a little past. The plan they are on here will
be, I persuade myself, of use to the manufactory by intro
ducing a more active system of superintendence than
can be done by me, or any one person, as they become
capable, together with the translating. Jos. is just now
pretty fully employed in the counting house, and Tom
I have set to make the mixtures at O,2 to keep the work
books there, and make up the accounts of the work
men, in conjunction with J. Beardmore, and under my
inspection. He has also made some progress in enamel
1 York Street. 2 The ornamental workg.

DOMESTIC ANXIETIES. 197
painting, as I wished him to acquire a taste for that,
and a knowledge of its management, that when Belfield
is out of the way, as he is now very often ill, he might
take his place and keep things a little in order. These
sort of arrangements, by bringing them acquainted with
the manual operation of the manufactory, will be of no
little service, even if they are transplanted to London —
where, in truth, a knowledge of these things is also
.essential. I need not tell you that I have constantly
many anxious hours about these boys, who are, however,
truly good ; but the variety of my avocations and cares
has not left me the power to lead them on as I ought
to have done, and something has perhaps been defective
in my plans. But I will not trouble you about these
affairs. If you had thought of one of them taking a
station in town, and if my wife, whom I will consult as
soon as I can, has no objection, I think it may be
managed. . . . Poor Chisholm has been in a good
deal of pain lately. . . . He went out without his hat
in the severe weather, caught cold, and his mouth has
been in a very bad way, the skin off. He is, however,
now getting better of this complaint, and is tolerably well
in other respects. I hear my wife is so much better
that I mean to fetch her home this week's end, and once
more unite my family in peace and harmony. The last
few months of our lives have been tainted with unhappi-
ness, never known to us before ; but I sometimes suspect
I think too deeply on these subjects, and see things in a
light others do not. Since my poor wife has been so ill
I have been forced to think almost alone. I am vexed
that I have said so much, but I pray think nothing
of it. I am, on the whole, tolerably well ; and when
I can go about again, as I shall in a day or two, shall
be as cheerful as ever. I think to stay in Derbyshire

198 JOSIAH BYERLEY.
2 or 3 days per remaining as I am ; the constant -
influx of affairs very much retards the complete
establishment of my health.' x
Upon re-entering as partner at Etruria, Mr. John
Wedgwood took an active interest in the works ; often
staying there, and, when away, being consulted on most
points. At this date, that portion of the manufactory
devoted to the production of the old cream-colour ware
was about to be enlarged ; and Boulton and Watt were .
erecting a powerful steam-engine. Writing to Gunville
on these and other topics, Mr. Byerley thus refers to
his eldest son : ' A part of the business (posting) being
taken by Hamlet Wood, he would be at liberty to be
employed in the business of the counting-house, which
is hkely enough to increase with the extension of the
works. As to the foreign business, I have a pro
posal on the part of Josiah. I find, with respect to
his talents, your brother agrees with you. I think, if
he should be ever taken into a situation that will call
forth his exertions, it will be seen that nature is not in
fault there, any more than in forming his disposition.
Something of this may have been defaced in his mili
tary career. Every consideration induces me to wish
ardently that he may begin to do something for him
self. I have no desire that he should be a potter.
It is one reason, but I will not say the only one, that
I never wish to see any of us in a situation that shall
tempt us to make any feeble efforts to injure the estab
lishment that has reared us, or shall cause us to be
suspected of a wish to do so. If I could set him up
iti some business of making articles of consumption for
the neighbourhood, he might be kept amongst us, and
1 Byerley to J. W., Feb. 1802. Mayer MSS.

A BUSINESS SUGGESTED. 199
attend on the foreign post days to translate. He is
fond of Chemistry. There are many things might be
made in this neighbourhood to advantage, and in time
grow into a considerable manufactory. Such as White
Lead, Turpentine, Beductions' of Zaffra, Enamel Colours,
Aerated Waters, and various other articles. A small
capital would suffice at first for all these, except lead,
which might be deferred awhile. Mr. W. Henry, of
Manchester, has very different acquirements, certainly,
than Josiah ; but they were not all necessary in estab
lishing his manufactory of fictitious waters, by which, it
appears, he is gaining money. I have taken no step at
present, nor do I think it necessary to be in great haste.'1
Whilst these were Mr. Byerley's anxious thoughts about
the well-being of one son, who already, in some form
or another, appears to have sown his wild oats in a
military escapade, the second, who was supposed to be
making chemical mixtures and learning the art of
enamel painting, had committed a great indiscretion
which promptly led to a cadetship in India, procured
through the interest of Lord Auckland. The error
rested with the father, in setting these raw untractable
boys in a business for which they had not a particle of
taste ; for a man to be a potter must be born to it, as a
man is born to be a painter, an architect, or a poet.
Mr. John Wedgwood, who was in London with Mr.
Byerley, thus announces the matter to his brother, who,
with his family, were at Etruria : ' I did not receive
your letter till late this evening, owing to Mr. Byerley
being so unwell that he had not opened the papers
which came by the box. He received no letter from
his wife, so that we have no information respecting the
1 Byerley to J. W., Gunville, April 25, 1802. Mayer MSS.

200 AN INDIA CADETSHIP.
elopement, except what your letter conveyed, and you
will allow that was not very satisfactory. Poor Mr.
Byerley was httle able to stand the shock, having been
ill of a bad cold. He is very much affected by the
news and appears very miserable, but very much aware
of the bad disposition of the boy. I hope he will to
morrow receive some more certain intelhgence. If he
does not hear anything favourable, he talks of returning
to Etruria without delay. I approve of your plan of
enlarging the works. So long as there are orders it is
a great pity not to be able to execute them. I agree
fully with you that it would be highly improper to put
the throwers to piece-work. If you can get Breeze1
again it will be a piece of great service to the manu
facture. He is certainly a much superior thrower to
his successor, and you will have full work for all your
throwers and Breeze added to them. . . . Mr.
Johnson2 promises to look out for a situation for Tom
Byerley in the East ; but I don't yet know what parti
cular one he can find for him. . . . My coming to
Etruria will be determined by my being wanted there,
as I look upon myself as engaged to go as soon as
called.' 3 A day or two later Mr. Byerley writes thus
feelingly to his chief : ' I have the unhappiness to hear,
by Dr. Eobinson, that the agitation of spirits has been
too much for my poor wife, but he leaves me room to
hope she will be better. If he should not tell me the
truth, I hope some good friend will do it for me. He
assures me that my unhappy boy is very penitent,
that he is sensible of the enormity of his conduct, and
1 He was an exquisite workman, and as much a notability at Etruria
as Hackwood or Aaron Steel. Note by Mr. Mayer.
2 A partner in the banking firm of Temple, Davidson and Co.,
London. 3 John W. to J. W., Gunville, April 1802. Mayer MSS.

FATHERLY SENTIMENTS. 201
anxious to be allowed to go on with the business
allotted to him till the return of his brother. He is
but 18, unhappily of a disposition easily led astray
by bad examples ; but he has some good qualities to
counterbalance his faults, and I must not yet despair
. of my child, and abandon him to his fate. He will be
best under my own roof at present. I ask it of your
friendship for myself to forgive my poor boy the want
of respect he has shown to yourself. I beg you will
allow him to resume his translating, and to do what he
can to be useful till 1 return home. I entreat you also
not to listen to every idle tale you hear about him.
His manners, I have to lament, have never been very
conciliatory. If he has not enemies, there are many who
would take a pleasure in speaking ill of him ; and, when
a narrator has that disposition, fair representation stands
but httle chance. I cannot desert him. If all others
should rise against him, I must and will be still his
father and his friend, and shelter him in my bosom, even
under ignominy, whilst there is a chance of saving him.' 1
And this affecting appeal was, without doubt, listened to
by the feehng, generous man to whom it was addressed.
But the East Indian cadetship was not so easily obtained,
and then only through the agency of Lord Auckland.
' I have done for my son Thomas,' again wrote Mr.
Byerley, ' what is rather unpleasant to my feelings on
several accounts, but not till I was thoroughly satisfied
there was no other way of obtaining the object wished
for, the Cadetry. I have ventured to ask the inter
ference of Lord Auckland. I have explained to his
Lordship my situation, as the best excuse I could offer
for so much freedom. He said it was a new thing to
1 Byerley, London, to J. W., Etruria, April 28, 1802. Mayer MSS.

202 THE WILLETS AND HOLLANDS.
him. He knew nothing of it, but would speak to Lord
Dartmouth, who is President of the Board of Control,
and let me know in 4 or 5 days. I have been well
assured that the appointment can only take place by
the consent of that Board. Last year 300 were sent
out. Every Director had a number of appointments ,
allotted him, and he was happy to get rid of them as
soon as possible. No ships are likely to sail before
October.' x
It will be recollected that Katherine, the youngest
sister of Josiah Wedgwood the elder, married the Eev.
William Willet, the Unitarian minister of Newcastle-
under-Lyme, who died in the spring of 1778. Of this
marriage were several children, one of whom, Mary
Willet, married, about 1786, Peter Holland, a surgeon,
of Knutsford, in Cheshire. She died in early life,
leaving four children, a son and three daughters, the
former of whom is the eminent physician Sir Henry
Holland. Of his infancy we have this interesting
notice, in a letter written, about 1789, by Miss Byerley
of Newcastle-under-Lyme, to her brother Thomas
Byerley, then residing with his family in London :
' We have just received the beads, and are much
obliged to you. It was very good of you to write us
a few lines, and we heartily wish such oppertunities
occurred oftiner, as the pleasure would be very great
on our side. We are in the very midst of business and
bustle. Our Theatre opens next week for a fortnight,
and the races and balls put every one in motion. Our
cousin Mary Holland is here with her sweet httle boy.
You say nothing of poor Sally. I hope she continues
mending, and that the rest are all well. My mother
1 Byerley to J. W., May 15, 1802.

THE HOLLANDS OF KNUTSFORD. 203:
will be obliged to you to order a newspaper instead of
that we have, as she would rather have one that is
published twice a week, and leaves the choice to you.'1
The Hollands, as we have seen, had been brought,
long before, into contact with the Wedgwoods. The
Eev. Philip Holland of Bolton, in Lancashire, had
been schoolmaster to the sons of the elder Wedgwood
from 1774 to 1779; and now, in 1802, another
of the family, Samuel Holland, of Sandle Bridge,
Knutsford, who was a land-agent and father of Peter
Holland, comes prominently upon the scene, in the
negotiations for the purchase of Maer, from a Mr.
James Bent of Basford, in Staffordshire.2 Sir Henry
Holland, whose second wife, Saba, was the favourite
daughter of Sydney Smith, is therefore great nephew of
the elder Wedgwood ; and in the same way connected
by a common ancestor3 with the eminent naturalist
Charles Darwin, whose mother was the eldest daughter
of Josiah Wedgwood, senior. As we proceed we shall
find many brief, but interesting, notices of Sir Henry
Holland's studious and painstaking youth, and the
judicious interest his father, Peter Holland, took in his
education — aninterest supplemented by the legacy which
accrued in 1805 to Peter Holland's children under
Thomas Wedgwood's will.4
Some few of the many facts appertaining to the
1 Mayer MSS.
2 The elder Wedgwood's surgeon. m
3 Thomas Wedgwood ofthe Churchyard Works, Burslem, father of
Josiah Wedgwood, born 1687, died 1739.
4 They were also benefited by the death of their grandmother, Kathe-
rine Willet, in the previous year, 1804. She was the elder Wedg
wood's favourite sister, and was handsomely remembered in his will,
The interest on the money thus left amounted to 95/. yearly. It was
paid to her in half-yearly sums by Mr. Byerley. She died at the age
of 78.

204 EARTHENWARE PIES.
period between 1795-1802 are worthy a passing notice.
One refers to a curious description of pottery, brought
greatly into use by the scarcity and high price of food.
It consisted of artificial pies and puddings, formed of
clay. Some were merely dummies, but the larger
number — as those representative of game, pork, and
other standing pies — were hollow receptacles for less
savoury and dainty viands than what they outwardly
betokened. Thus, what might wear the semblance of
a partridge or chicken pie would contain some such
simple mess as furmety or rice ; and a delicate tartlet,
with a lattice work of crust over, might show beneath
it nothing more expensive than stewed fruit. Many of
these curiosities of a famine-period are still extant in
collections of Wedgwood-ware. The mere dummies
have a very artificial look, but the raised pies might
pass for what they seem with those whose eyes were
not critical, or but indifferent. It would be curious if
the idea of these articles first arose from Eichard Lovell
Edgeworth, for in a letter of his to the elder Wedg
wood, written in 1786, he says : ' I think oval baking
dishes for meat pies, in the shape of raised paste pies,
with bunches of grapes, &c. &c, on their outsides, made
of cane-coloured ware, not glazed, but nearly as pos
sible the colour of baked paste, would be saleable
articles. If any should be made, be so good as to
send me half-a-dozen. They should have covers.'1
Whether this induced the elder Wedgwood to make
articles of this appearance is not certain. They are not
to be observed in any bills till 1795, but after that date
frequently. Thus in an account of J. H. Astley, Esq.,2
June 29, 1801, 'A Eaised Pie' is charged 12s. Qd.
1 Edgworth MSS. A drawing is attached to this description.
3 Probably one of the Astleys of Norfolk. Mayer MSS.

WILLIAM HENRY OF MANCHESTER. 205
They continued in favour for a considerable period.
Lord Cockburn, in ' Memorials of his Time,' has an
interesting notice of this manufacture : ' In the years
1795 and 1796 there was a greater dearth than has
ever since visited the British Islands. . . . Then
was the triumph and the first introduction of public
kitchens, Count Eumfords, and cooking committees.
Chemistry strained itself. One ingenious sacrifice in
wealthy houses was to produce an appearance of wheat
at table without the reality. So dishes were invented
which in shape and colour resembled the forbidden
articles, and the knife often struck on what seemed good
pie-crust, but was only clay.'1
Another fictile manufacture, then of recent date, was
greatly improved and its sale extended — it was that of
bottles, of great variety of forms, for aerated and other
artificial waters. These compounds were chiefly used
for medicinal purposes, and were principally manu
factured by William Henry of Manchester, a chemist of
great inventive and practical ability. In lieu of repair
ing to foreign or English places famous for mineral
waters, Henry's inventions enabled patients to drink
their exact substitutes at home, thus avoiding long and
expensive journeys and residence. The sale of pyro-
metrical beads, evaporating dishes,2 and crucibles to
bear intense degrees of heat, was also extended.
Though often mentally incapacitated and lost to
public view, the old King still patronised the famous
wares of Wedgwood. His residence at Weymouth was
generally notified by a royal order, and the dukes and
princesses of his family often purchased vases, cande-
• 1 Pp. 72-73.
2 These were chiefly used in the Ketley iron-works, in a laboratory
carried on there by the Reynoldses.

206 DINNER WARE WITH CRESTS.
labra, and other fine ornamental objects. As the fashion
increased of enamelling services of table-ware with
purchasers' crests, the name of almost "every notable1
and aristocratic person in the kingdom appears. Sir
William Hamilton, still interested in English imitations
of Greek fictilia, called occasionally in York Street.
' If Sir William Hamilton should call again,' wrote Mr.
Byerley from Etruria, March 28, 1801, ' be so good as
to make an acknowledgement for his attentions.'
On more than one occasion, young foreigners, gene
rally the sons of well-known and well-to-do correspon
dents, had been taken as apprentices, or to otherwise
learn methods of business. A youth named Balsan
Boehler, a native of Darmstadt, was at Etruria some
portion of the time from June 1794 to 1797. After
serving his apprenticeship, he made business journeys
into the northern counties, and, returning to Germany
in the latter year, joined his brother in business at
Darmstadt. Later, in 1801, the residence of a young
Dutchman at Etruria is thus reported to London :
' You will be visited soon,' wrote Mr. Byerley to
Mowbray, L by a young Dutchman, on his return home,
after living with us three years to learn the language.
He is accompanied by a Mr. Shorthose and Mr.
Mare, both our friends and neighbours ; but, being
manufacturers, we don't wish them to see the ware
house. The father of this youth, who keeps a ware
house of our goods in Amsterdam, is very desirous he
should spend what time he can, during the fortnight he
stays in town, to see the nature of business there, and
we shall be much obliged to you to give him a httle
1 Those of Mrs. Jordan, Lord Clive, Alderman Beckford, Warren
Hastings, Mrs. Montague, Walter Ruding, who wrote on coins Sir
Joseph Banks, and Wilberforce, are a few amidst many.

FOREIGN COMMISSIONS. 207
attention. If he should wish to be altogether there
for 2 or 3 days, whilst his travelling friends are other
wise engaged, I shall be much obliged to Mr. How-
ship if he can contrive to give him a breakfast and
supper ; and with anybody that will go with him, and
get a dinner at the Queen's Larder or elsewhere, he may
lie in my debt. He is to have a few clothes whilst in
London, and I have told Mr. Shorthose the bill will be
paid by Mr. Howship, if signed by Mr. Shorthose. If
he should also want a little more money — that is, if
Mr. Shorthose should want it for him — say 10 or 20
guineas, let him have it.' x This courtesy to foreigners
was frequently extended in many curious ways, as it
was also by Boulton and Watt, and others of the large
export firms. They undertook commissions for such
goods as thread, beer, cheese cloth, glass, and an end
less variety of articles, from trifles of a shilling value to
those of many hundred pounds.
» March 10, 1801. Mayer MSS.

208 OPIUM-TAKING.

CHAPTEE VII.
Coleridge — Opium-taking — Receives large Sums from the Wedgwoods
— Professes a Desire, which has no Reality, to go abroad with Thomas
Wedgwood — His childish complaining — His Opinion on Life — A
Supply of Indian Hemp or Bang — Mr. Thomas Wedgwood goes
abroad — Soon returns — His great Liking for Thomas Campbell — De
spondency — His Letters mere Fragments — Hazlitt — Coleridge renews
his Offer of Companionship — Goes to Malta — Poole and Rickman —
Francis Horner — Volunteering — Chapel in York Street — Manufactur
ing Reforms needed at Etruria — Elegant Articles at this Period — A
curious Suggestion of Bramah, the Mechanist — Poole — Improvements
in the Breed of Sheep — Female Friendly Societies — Poole's Book-
Room at Stowey — Thrashing Machines — Poole's Ideas on Education —
Willmott at Etruria — Chisholm still delights in Science — Improve
ments in the Pyrometer — Mackintosh's Letter from Bombay — Young
Byerley — Law Reforms — Invites Thomas Wedgwood to India.
During their brief stay in Pembrokeshire, in the early
winter of 1802-1803, Thomas Wedgwood and Coleridge
appear to have varied their metaphysical discussions in
planning schemes of foreign travel, either in companion
ship or separately. They parted without fixing upon
any ; Mr. Wedgwood returned to Cote, and Coleridge
to his family at Keswick. At this time both were in
wretched health : one breaking up under the incurable
brain and stomach disease from which he had so long
suffered ; the other a prey to oft-recurring mental and
physical misery, from indulgence in opium. Cottle says
distinctly that Coleridge, in January 1800, was no
stranger to this fatal lethe ; and the habit probably
dates back to some years earlier. It is unknown how
he acquired this habit. He may have taken it at first
for assuagement of pain, and, delighting in the soothing

COLERIDGE'S PHYSICAL INHERITANCES. 209
elation it produced, repeated the dose again and again
till the habit became confirmed. If he acquired it from
others, it could not be from Thomas Wedgwood. The
latter seems to have tried the nepenthe of every nostrum
and drug which might relieve, even temporarily, his
fits of hypochondriacism ; but then the cure of his dis
ease lay on the track of stimulation. But he possessed
a strong will and the highest moral nature ; and when
he tried opium it was as a medicine, which lasted its day
of favour, and no longer. On the other hand, Coleridge
rapidly became its slave. Won by its temporary effects
on body and mind, and regarding not the ever recur
ring Nemesis of the morrow, he succumbed more and
more to terrible excess, and, living for years in an
alternate state of diseased exaltation and suicidal de
pression, wrecked on it the hopes of his hfe: Under
the influence of watchful care, his doses of the per
nicious drug were abridged in later years ; out, furtively
or openly, he was an opium-taker to the -end.
Much has to be said in palliation, for no man causes
his own physical organisation and inheritances. Cole
ridge derived from a gouty and eccentric father pecu
liarities and infirmities of constitution which needed
throughout life judicious government. In childhood
and boyhood he was neglected and unhappy ; in man
hood still more unfortunate, for that steady industry
which would have insured self-respect and cheerfulness,
and relieved him from the continuous anxieties of
poverty and dependence, was rendered impossible by
this fatal habit. It is not probable, constituted as he
was, that Coleridge, even under a system of friendly
control, would have ever been a man capable of
achieving those long and laborious mental tasks which
require, for accomplishment, immense patience and
p

210 SOURCES OF COLERIDGE'S INCOME.
unceasing force of will ; yet undoubtedly, but for this
nepenthe, he would have left the world larger pos
sessions in his transcendent verse ; his speculations,
other than the product of self-imposed excitement and
hallucination, would have rested on a sounder basis,
and his political and religious views been worthier of
a cultivated mind than what they were.
De Quincey, Southey, Cottle, and others, have specu
lated as to the sources whence Coleridge derived much
of the money spent in opium. The Mayer MSS. clear
up the mystery in part. Beyond the annuity of 150/.
per annum, secured to him by the bounty of Josiah and
Thomas Wedgwood, there was a large margin of gifts
and borrowings. Nor was he the only recipient of
what the generous brothers would give or lend. We
have already seen1 that Wordsworth and Coleridge
received between them, from the month of September
1798 to July 1799, 263Z. 17*. 3d., of which the larger
portion went to Coleridge. In another account of
1799, 226/. 10*. is set against the name of Coleridge.
In 1800 the annuity alone appears ; in 1801 the
aggregate received is 188/. 10*. The accounts for
1802 are imperfect, but 25/. was paid on March 27,
and in September 50/. In a balance sheet of 1803,
Coleridge's name stands opposite the large sum of 505/.,
whilst Wordsworth receives 73Z. 7*., the Eev. Francis
Wrangham 50/., and James Mackintosh 150/: Cole
ridge was also helped by Poole, Cottle, Southey, De
Quincey, and others.
His hypochondriacism and wretched health at this
period must have rendered him singularly unfitted to
fill the office of companion ; and, moreover, though
utterly without means except such as he could borrow,
1 Ante, p. 99.

ITALY OR SICILY. 211
he was, early in January 1803, planning a Quixotic
voyage to the Canary Islands, or otherwise a journey to
Italy ; and Mr. Wedgwood, restless and ill, was again
bent on leaving England. His sister and his friend
Eichard Sharp both wrote to Coleridge, proposing
that he and Mr. Wedgwood should travel together ; but
Coleridge, though professing the utmost readiness,
evidently did not wish to go thus accompanied. He
wrote long and childish histories of his wretched health,
and hinted that he might not always be up to the neces
sary high mark of cheerfulness. The true reason was
undoubtedly the dread that his supplies of opium might
fail him. Writing from Keswick, January 9, 1803, he
says -to Mr. Wedgwood : ' If your last plan continue
in full force, I have not even the phantom of a wish
thitherward struggling -,1 but if aught have happened to
you, in the things without or in the world within, to
induce you to change the place or the plan, relatively
to me, I think I could raise the money. But I would
a thousandfold rather go with you, whithersoever you
go. I shall be anxious to hear how you have gone on
since I left you. You should decide in favour of a
better climate somewhere or other. The best scheme
I can think of is to go to some part of Italy or Sicily,
which we both liked. I would look out for two houses;
Wordsworth and his family could take the one and I
the other, and then you might have a home either with
me, or, if you thought of Mr.2 and Mrs. Luff under this
1 To the Canaries.
2 In a subsequent year, this friend and neighbour of the Wordsworths
wrote thus to the firm at Etruria : — Patterdale, July 9th, 1808.
, Gentm. You will oblidge me in sending a Crate of your White Ware
to Wm. Wordsworth, Esq., Grasmere, near Kendal, Westmoreland, and
p 2

212 DOUBTS AND SUGGESTIONS.
modification, one of your own ; and in either case you
would have neighbours, and so return to England when
the home sickness pressed heavy upon you, and back
to Italy when it was abated, and the climate of England
begun to poison your comforts. So you would have
abroad, in a genial climate, certain comforts of society
among simple and enlightened men and women ; and I
should be an alleviation of the pang which you will
necessarily feel as often as you quit your own family.
I know no better plan ; for travelling in search of
objects is at best a dreary business, and, whatever ex
citement it might have had, you must have exhausted
it. God bless you, my dear friend. I write with dim
eyes, for indeed, indeed, my heart is very full of affec
tionate, sorrowful thoughts towards you.' 1 In a sub
sequent letter, written from Stowey, he adds : ' With
regard to myself and my accompanying you, let me
say thus much. My health is not worse than it was
in the North ; indeed, it is much better. I have no
fears. But if you fear that, my health being what you
know it to be, the inconveniences of my being with
you will be greater than the advantages (I feel no
reluctance in telling you so), it is so entirely an affair of
spirits and feeling that the conclusion must be made by
you, not in your reason, but purely in your spirit and
another to John Mounsey, Esq., Patterdale Hall, near Penrith ; both the
Crates to contain the same Articles as sent to us.
I will take an early opportunity of remitting you the money for my
Crate, and also for Mr. John Landerland's. I am, gents,
Yr. very obdt. hbl. servt., C. Ltjit.
Messrs. Wedgwood and Co.
Etruria, near Newcastle under Line,
Staffordshire.
1 Cottle's Reminiscences, pp. 450-451.

PROFESSIONS THAT WERE UNDOUBTEDLY SINCERE. 213
feeling. Sorry indeed should I be to know that you
had gone abroad with one to whom you were com
paratively indifferent ; sorry if there should be no one
with you who could, with fellow-feeling and general
like-mindedness, yield you sympathy in your sunshiny
moments. Dear Wedgwood, my heart swells within
me, as it were. I have no other wish to accompany
you than what arises immediately from my personal
attachment, and a deep sense in my own heart that, let
us be as dejected as we will, a week together cannot
pass in which a mind hke yours would not feel the
want of affection, or be wholly torpid to its pleasurable
influences. I cannot bear to think of your going abroad
with a mere travelling companion ; with one at all
influenced by salary or personal conveniences. You
will not suspect me of flattering you ; but indeed, dear
Wedgwood, you are too good and too valuable a man
to deserve to receive attendance from a hireling, even for
a month together, in your present state. If I do not
go with you, I shall stay in England only such time as
may be necessary for me to raise the travelling money,
and go immediately to the south of France. I shall
probably cross the Pyrenees to Bilboa, see the country of
Biscay, and cross the north of Spain to Perpignan,- and
so on to the north of Italy, and pass my next winter at
Nice. I have every reason to believe that I can live,
even as a traveller, as cheap as I can in England. God
bless you. I will repeat no professions, even in the
superscription of a letter. You know me, and that it
is my serious, simple wish that in everything respecting
me you would think altogether of yourself and nothing
of me, and be assured that no resolve of yours, how
ever suddenly adopted, or however nakedly com
municated, will give me any pain — any at least arising

214 PHILOSOPHIC THOUGHTS.
from my own bearing.' In a postscript he adds:
'Perhaps Leslie will go with you.'1
It is in one of these two letters, amidst weak com
plainings of self-caused bodily indisposition and a vivid
description of a foolish ascent of Kirkstone mountain
during a storm, that we come upon one of the finest
passages of philosophic thought Coleridge ever penned,
and one which shows, had he based his idealism upon
a scientific foundation, how much more it would have
done, than it has, towards shaping efficiently modern
ideas. Speaking of his exhilaration of spirit when
climbing mountain heights he says : ' The further I
ascend from animated nature, from men and cattle, and
the common birds of the woods and fields, the greater
becomes in me the intensity of the feeling of life. Life
seems to me then an universal spirit, that neither has
nor can have an opposite. " God is everywhere," I have
exclaimed, " and works everywhere, and where is there
room for death ? " In. these moments it has been my
creed that death exists only because ideas exist ; that
life is limitless sensation ; that death is the child of the
organic senses, chiefly of the sight ; that feelings die by
flowing into the mould of the intellect becoming ideas,
and that ideas, passing forth into action, reinstate them
selves again in the world of life. And I do believe that
truth lies in these loose generalisations. I do not think
it possible that any bodily pains could eat out the love
of joy, that is so substantially part of me, towards hills,
and rocks, and steep waters ; and I have had some
trial.' 2
In order probably to settle some one of the various
schemes of travel afloat, Coleridge repaired to Bristol,
1 Cottle's Reminiscences, pp. 459-461. 2 Ibid. pp. 454-456.

INDIAN HEMP. 215
where Southey, then residing, thus refers to him
in a letter of January 30, to his friend Eickman :
' Coleridge is with me at present ; he talks of going
abroad, for, poor fellow, he suffers terribly with the
climate.'1 Ten days later Coleridge was at Nether
Stowey, from whence he wrote to his friend Thomas
Wedgwood, at Cote, those doubts just quoted as to the
eligibility of their travelling together.
In the hope of finding in its use some alleviation to
his sufferings, which were more mental than bodily,
Thomas Wedgwood had been advised to try bang, or
Indian hemp, a narcotic used in the East. Thinking that
Humphry Davy might be able to procure some, he
wrote to him at the Eoyal Institution. Davy's answer
is interesting : ' My dear Sir, I have endeavoured, but
without success, to procure for you some of the intoxi
cating Indian hemp. The only chance that there is of
your procuring it in a short time is by means of Dr.
Beddoes. Mr. Fitzpatrick, a gentleman from the East
Indies, has collected with much difficulty a small
quantity of it, which he intends to present to the
Doctor. Mr. Fitzpatrick is just gone to Bath : and
Dr. Beddoes, if he have not yet received the Hemp, may
easily procure it by writing. He knows Mr. Fitzpatrick's
address. I am truly sorry that you continue ill. I
have, always looked forward with hope towards a time
when your health would permit you to act upon the
public by truths which cannot fail to enlighten, and
to be useful to all classes of men: I trust that time will
yet arrive. Believe me, I always look back to the few
hours that I have spent with you with feelings of
pleasure, of gratitude, and of regret. Your opinions
1 Life and Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 201.

216 EFFECTS OF INDIAN HEMP.
have been to me as a secret treasure, and they have
often enabled me to think rightly when perhaps, other
wise, I should have thought wrongly. I am, my dear
Sir, with unfeigned respect and affection, very truly
yours, H. Davy, Eoyal Institution, Feb. 12, 1803.
For Thomas Wedgwood, Esq., Cote House, near Bristol/1
Coleridge also made enquiry after a supply of bang.
He wrote to Captain Wordsworth2 without result, though
promised some, if any ship from Barbary arrived ; for
nothing of the kind was brought in China ships. He
next, at Poole's suggestion, addressed Mr. Purkis at
Brentford, who, through his numerous scientific experi
ments and improvements in tanning, had acquired the
friendship of Sir Joseph Banks. Sir Joseph was a likely
man to know all about bang and its whereabouts, and
this proved correct, for he replied at once to Purkis's
letter, enclosing with it a small portion of the drug.
His comments thereon are worth quoting : ' The Bang
you ask for is the powder of the leaves of a kind of
hemp that grows in the hot climates. It is prepared,
and I believe used, in all parts of the East, from Morocco
to China. In Europe it is found to act very differently
on different constitutions. Some it elevates in the
extreme ; others it renders torpid, and scarcely obser
vant of any evil that may befal them. In Barbary it
is always taken, if it can be procured, by criminals
condemned to suffer amputation ; and it is said to enable
those miserables to bear the rough operations of an
unfeeling executioner ¦ more than we Europeans can
the keen knife of our most skilful chirurgeons. This
1 Wedgwood MSS.
2 This was the poet's brother. He was lost with his ship, the 'Aber
gavenny,' in the spring of 1805. Several interesting bills of ware supplied
to him are extant.

TRIAL OF VARIOUS NARCOTICS. 217
it may be necessary to have said to my friend Mr. T.
Wedgwood, whom I respect much, as his virtues deserve ;
and I know them well. I send a small quantity only,
as I possess but little. If, however, it is found to agree,
I will instantly forward the whole of my stock, and
write without delay to Barbary, from whence it came,
for more.' To this Sir Joseph adds, in a postscript :
' It seems almost beyond a doubt that the Nepenthe
was a preparation of the Bang known to the Ancients.'
This parcel had been forwarded by Mr. Purkis to
Gunville, and from thence was sent on by post, instead
of by carrier, to Stowey. As Poole and Coleridge were
about to pay a visit to Gunville, where Mr. Thomas
Wedgwood intended to go in ten days, they were to
take it with them, and, informing Mr, Wedgwood of
this in his letter, Coleridge adds : ' We will have a fair
trial of Bang. Do bring down some of the Hyoscya-
mine pills, and I will give a fair trial of opium, Hen
bane, and Nepenthe. By-the-by, I always considered
Homer's account of the Nepenthe as a Banging lie.'
Coleridge was hot hkely to commit excess when with a
friend who, as he himself wrote, urged him for the sake
of health, to abstain ' from vegetables, wine, spirits, and
beer.' The result of this meeting at Gunville was a decision
that, as Coleridge's health was then so indifferent, and
might at any moment incapacitate him, his place should
be supplied by Mr. Underwood, a friend of Davy's, with
whom some sort of arrangement seems to have" been
already made. He was a man of scientific tastes and
some standing, but Coleridge had but a poor opinion of
him, and did not hide it. ' He is one of those weak
moralled men,' he wrote to Thomas Wedgwood, ' with
whom the meaning to do a thing means nothing. He

218 ONCE MORE IN FRANCE.
promises with ninety parts out of a hundred of his
whole heart, but there is always a stock of cold at the
core, that transubstantiates the whole resolve into a
lie.'1 Mr. Wedgwood and his companion left London at
the close of March, and a business letter, which im
mediately followed him to Dover, gives affecting evi
dence that he was very ill. He had arranged to con
vey to his brother some recently purchased estate ; but
scarcely had they parted than the acting solicitor found
it necessary that the conveyance should be in writing.
' But,' added Mr. Josiah Wedgwood, ' instead of writing
any answer, it will be enough if you return me this
letter, with your signature approving of it ; ' whereupon
Thomas Wedgwood makes the endorsement : ' I per
fectly approve of and consent to the above arrange
ment ; ' and after a memorandum of conveyance, which
is signed by himself, T. E. Underwood, and M. Wallace,
he adds: ' My dear Jos., Thirteen hours' posting brought
us safe to this place. The wind is pretty fair, and I
shall probably be at Calais before night. You may, at
all events, write a line to me at Chiliaes, if you have
anything to say before you have my address. I have
nothing more to add, unless I say a great deal, but that
I am, if possible, more than ever yours gratefully and
affectionately, T. W., Dover, March 25, 1803.' 2
If even Italy was reached, the residence there could
have had no duration.3 In August, Mr. Wedgwood
1 Cottle, p. 462. 2 Mayer MSS.
3 By June he had returned, and was staying at Maer, from whence he
wrote to Poole, declining an invitation to Stowey. ' I am at present
much too unwell in body and too depressed in mind to quit my own
fireside, or I don't know any I should sooner fly to than yours. It is
with real pain that I write a word ; so excuse me, and believe me your
much attached T. W.'— T. Wedgwood to T. Poole, June 19, 1803.
Archdeacon Sandford's MSS.

THOMAS CAMPBELL. 219
was again in London ; and he appears, from what he
says, writing to his brother, to have been there some
little time. Dating from his friend Tobin's residence
in Bernard's Inn, he writes : ' Dear Jos., I went with
Sharp into the country, but the spiteful weather
changed, and I was a close prisoner, with a bowel
complaint. We had, however, some animated con
versations, and parted, I believe, with increased regard
for each other. Nothing can exceed his attentions to
me. I am mortified to find that the pleasure of these
conversations bears no proportion to their apparent
interest ; I could at almost any moment quit it without
a sense of privation. Commend me to family gossip.
I have had 40 letters -,1 only one or two that can pos
sibly lead to. anything on further enquiry. Campbell
spent 2 hours with me this morning:; he is the most
observant, speculative, and least ^prosing young man I
ever met with. There is a great sympathy between
us in matters of feeling and general interest, and I still
cherish a hope of making him my companion, though
this is too strong an expression for the degree of con
fidence I feel in ever realising my present . scheme. I
have hardly 10 minutes in a day in which I dare fairly
look upon my real situation. I find long conversations
exhaust me almost to fainting, and yet I am obliged
to be in company of some one or other unceasingly, as
I am perfectly disheartened when alone. I almost live
with Tobin. His brother is not in town, and I believe I
am almost as useful to him as he is to me. *I this
morning went to see sugar baking, in hopes of being
able to find an employment; but it is not better than
pottery. Campbell drinks tea here to day, and as he
1 In reply to an advertisement for a companion.

220 BODY AND MIND WORN OUT.
seems as much interested in me as I in him, I shall
contrive to see him every day till I know him well.
Carlisle dines here to-morrow. Campbell plays on the
flute, and seems to have lively feelings about music. I
hope for a letter to-morrow, to say that my mother
and sisters are at least on their way. Unhappily,
Campbell's domestic feelings are as strong as my own,
and I am almost afraid he is determined on remaining
in Scotland, and where he goes in a month. He will
first spoil me, perhaps, for any other companion ; com
mon men will appear horribly dull and confined after
him. Best love to Bess. If I don't get a little strength
soon, I shall begin to think, and with rapture, that I
am verging towards a close of a scene of intolerable
tediousness and disgust. My body at present quite
laughs at all my attempts in regimen, &c. &c. Yours
ever, T. W.'1
And in this way, so typical of long suffering and its
approaching close, these abrupt fragments, rather than
letters, to his favourite brother end. They cannot, in
the least, give us an idea of the man in health and the
fulness of intellectual strength. They are merely the
readiest found and commonest expressions relative to
the necessities and feelings of the hour; and rarely, if
ever, betray a cultivated mind, or indicate philosophic
thought. They read as though the mere material
mechanism of the body survived the spirit, and alone
indicated existence ; and this was the case. The body
grew feebler and feebler, and the mind, as its expres
sion, was nearly worn out. He had great gifts ; and
these poor egotistical fragments of a period of decay
can in no way represent the man. The character of
1 Thomas Wedgwood to Josiah Wedgwood, Gunville, Au». 1803
Mayer MSS..

COLERIDGE'S CHARACTER OF HAZLITT. 221
Thomas Wedgwood must be drawn rather from indica
tions than results. His friends confessed to the noble
influence of his character and opinions, and these friends
were amongst the foremost men of their time.
A month later he seems to have thought of Hazlitt
as a companion, but, referring to Coleridge, the latter
dissuaded him. ' Hazlitt,' wrote Coleridge, ' is a think
ing, observant, original man, of great power as a painter
of character-portraits, and far more in the manner of
the old painters than any living artist ; but the objects
must be before him. He has no imaginative memory ;
so much for his intellectuals. His manners are, to ninety-
nine in one hundred, singularly repulsive ; brow-hang
ing, shoe-contemplating, strange. Sharp seemed to
like him ; but Sharp saw him only for half an hour, and
that walking. He is, I verily believe, kindly natured ;
is very fond of, attentive to, and patient with, chil
dren ; but he is jealous, gloomy, and of an irritable
pride. With all this, there is much good in him. He is
disinterested ; an enthusiastic lover of the great men
who have been before us. He says things that are his
own, in a way of his own ; and though from habitual
shyness, and the outside of bearskin, at least of mis
anthropy, he is strangely confused and dark in his con
versation, and delivers himself of almost all his concep
tions with a Forceps, yet he says more" than, any man
I ever knew (you yourself only excepted) of that which
is his own, and in a way of his own ; and oftentimes,
when he has wearied his mind, and the juice is co*me out
and spread over his spirits, he will gallop for half an hour
together with real eloquence. He sends well feathered
thoughts, straight forward to the mark with a twang
of the bowstring. If you could recommend him as a
portrait painter, I should be glad ; to be your com-

222 COLERIDGE AT GRASMERE.
panion he is, in my opinion, utterly unfit. His health is
fitful. I have written, as I ought to do, to you most
freely. You know me, both head and heart, and I will
make what deductions your reasons may dictate to me.
I can think of no other person (for your travelling com
panion). What wonder ? For the last years I have been
shy of all new acquaintance.'1
Coleridge wrote thus from Keswick, whither he had
returned upon leaving Gunville in the early part of
the year. But his health being very indifferent and
his mind set upon a voyage to Madeira, he left home
towards the end of December, travelling by Grasmere,
to see the Wordsworths. Here he was detained for a
month by a severe fit of illness, induced, if his descrip
tion is to be relied on, by the use of narcotics. Unsus
picious of the cause, Mrs. ahd Miss Wordsworth nursed
him with the tenderest affection, whilst the poet him
self, usually a parsimonious man, ' forced upon him,' to
use Coleridge's own words, a hundred pounds, in the
event of his going to Madeira, and his friend Stewart
offered to befriend him. From Grasmere he went to
Liverpool, where he spent a pleasant week with his old
Unitarian friend Dr. Crompton, and arrived in London
at the close of January 1804.
At this date enquiries were being made into the
actual state of the poor in England, and for the pur
pose an office had been established in London. Of
this the superintendence had been assigned to Mr.
Poole by Eickman, a clerk of the House of Commons,
1 Coleridge to Thos. Wedgwood, Sept. 16, 1803. Cottle's Reminis
cences, p. 465. As the letters thus used by Cottle are from the batch of
MSS. marked ' Wedgwood,' they are used whenever necessary to make
the narrative intelligible. Cottle commits several errors in the way of
dates, by reason of trusting to indorsements instead of postmarks.

THE POOR_LAWS. 223
who had been introduced to Poole by Coleridge in
January 1802. In the May and June of the succeed
ing summer, Poole was in London, and here he and
Eickman meeting frequently, they discussed the ques
tion of the Poor Laws, their viciousness of principle,
their contradictions and abuses, their encouragement to
idleness, their immense burden on those who paid, and
their degradation to those who received. Poole had
conceived that the principles of Benefit Societies might
be extended and modified so as to remedy the greater
part of these evils. Thus, when Sir George Eose
wished to bring a Bill into Parliament for obtaining in
formation from the overseers of every parish concern
ing the poor, he applied to Eickman to assist him in
framing it; and when the Bill was passed and the
returns came in he again requested him to get some
one to make an abstract ; and Eickman, acquainted with
Poole's great ability and interest in the question, pro
posed that he should undertake it, and that his expenses
should be paid with, a douceur of three or four hundred
pounds. Poole accepted the offer, and saying the
smaller amount of remuneration would be sufficient,
nobly added, ' the douceur would be the pleasure of
being useful to the poor.' Accordingly he came to
London for some months ; and here in Abingdon Street,
' looking worshipful among his clerks,' Coleridge found
him. Through December and January Thomas Wedgwood
was at Cote very ill — one day meditating a fresh voyage
to the West Indies, the next writing those letters of
despair it was so great a pang to his friends to receive.1
To one of these Coleridge rephed thus, from Abingdon
1 He was in treaty for another companion, of the name of Legant.

224 COLERIDGE'S APPEAL AGAINST DESPAIR.
street : ' It is idle for me to say to you that my heart
and very soul ache with the dull pain of one struck
down and stunned. I write to you, for my letter can
not give you unmixed pain, and I would fain say a
few words to dissuade you. What good can possibly
come of your plan? Will not the very chairs and
furniture of your room be shortly more, far more, in
tolerable to you than new and changing objects ? more
insufferable reflectors of pain and weariness of spirit ?
Oh, most certainly they will! You must hope, my
dearest Wedgwood ; you must act as if you hoped.
Despair itself has but that advice to give you. . . .
Worse than what you have decreed for yourself cannot
well happen. Say but a word and I will come to you,
will be with you, will go with you to Malta, to Madeira,
to Jamaica, (or if the climate, of which, and its strange
effects, I have heard wonders, true or not), to Egypt.
At all events, and at the worst even, if you do attempt
to realise the scheme of going to and remaining at
Gunville, for God's sake, my dear, dear friend, do keep
up a correspondence with one or more ; or, if it were
possible for you, with several. I know by a httle what
your sufferings are, and that to shut the eyes and stop
up the ears is to give one's self up to storm and dark
ness, and the lurid forms and horrors of a dream. I
scarce know why it is ; a feeling I have, and which I
can hardly understand. I could not endure to hve if
I had not a firm faith that the life within you will pass
forth out of the furnace ; for that you have borne what
you have borne, and so acted beneath such pressure,
constitutes you an awful moral being. I am not
ashamed to pray aloud for you. Your most affectionate
friend, S. T. Coleridge.'1
1 Cottle's Reminiscences, pp. 471-472.

POOLE INTRODUCED TO HORNER. 225
Before leaving Cote Wedgwood wrote thus to Poole,
at his official residence, 16 Abingdon Street : ' Have
you ever seen Oxford? Davies Giddy is resident
there for the winter ; he formerly studied there. If
on your return you should be inclined to see him and
that place, it would give me great pleasure to bring
you together, and you will see it to the best advantage.
Would you like an introduction to poet Campbell ? he
is certainly a very clever fellow ; or to Horner, the
political economist of the Temple I mentioned to you 2'
A few days later he enclosed Poole a letter to Horner
and added : ' You had better forward the enclosed a day
or two before you call on Horner. You must get his
address at Mackintosh's. I cannot write at present,
being rather worse than usual. I have desired Horner
to ask you something about your present mission to
town. Campbell will perhaps entertain you ; he has
excellent parts, and has travelled. Try him. You will
find his address at No. 8 Park Street, Westminster. I
have said you will call in a day or two after sending
the letter.'1
Using the letter of introduction he had received,
Horner, when he had made the acquaintance of Poole,
wrote thus to Wedgwood : ' I have had the pleasure
of receiving your letter, and since that of seeing Mr.
Poole. I cannot refrain from thanking you for having
introduced me to his acquaintance. He appears to
possess an intelligent, active, and ardent mind, and to
feel a strong, manly interest upon many important
subjects. The business in which he is at present en
gaged cannot fail to be productive of most valuable
information, and that may in time, or rather must, lead
* Jan. 14, 1804
Q

226 VOLUNTEERING.
to practical results. Mr. Poole has kindly offered to
shew me the materials upon which he is at work ; an
opportunity of which I will certainly avail myself. I
am much concerned to hear that your health is still so
precarious. It has ever since occasioned me much
regret that I had so few opportunities of seeing you
when you were in London. I hope at your next visit
we shall meet more frequently. I dined yesterday in
Dover street, where I had the pleasure of meeting
your brother and Mrs. Wedgwood. We are to lose
Mackintosh very soon, this week I fear. It is^ a loss of
entertainment and instruction to London Society which
can never be repaired. Beheve me yours, with great
and sincere regard, Fra. Horner. Temple, 18 January
1804.'1 At that period, as in our own, volunteering was
going on ; and all over the kingdom the amateur drum
and fife were to be heard, and musket and sword ex
ercise to be seen. As early as 1798 troops of Volunteer
Cavalry and Infantry were raised in the Potteries, and
later, in 1803, this local force, including officers and
subalterns, mustered more than 1,400 men. Of these
was a corps of Infantry raised at Etruria. It consisted
of two companies, commanded respectively by Captain
John Wedgwood and Captain Josiah Wedgwood, and
numbering about 110 men, chiefly workmen at the
manufactory. Great were the complaints of the fore
men ofthe time lost by these men in learning to drum
and fife ; and much money seems to have been spent
in their array. Their Captains dressed handsomely in
the uniform of light dragoons : and of this dress and
more serious matters the elder Captain wrote thus from
1 Wedgwood MSS.

UNIFORMS, BUTTONS, AND SWORDS. 227
London in February 1804 : 'I do think, if Tom could
bring himself to the determination to come up to Town,
the change might be very beneficial to him.. After he
has rested himself from the fatigues of his journey to
Gunville, I hope he will feel sufficient courage to under
take a further journey. ... I am desired to ask you
about the Chapel in York Street, whether it is let on a
lease, or whether it is likely to be soon vacant. Sydney
Smith is very anxious to get a chapel, and if the one in
York Street was hkely to be soon vacant he would be
very glad to take it. I have written to Etruria for my
uniform and the buttons for one for you, and have ordered
your Sword, &c, at Prosser's. As soon as I get my jacket
. I will forward it to you, together with the materials for
making up one for you, and I will also buy you a
feather for your Cap. 1£ you furnish Mr. Byerley with
the circumference ofthe outside your hat, orthe inside
diameter, he could procure you a cap similar to ours at
Newcastle. Before your family goes down to reside at
Maer I think you would do well to go and spend some
time there, to arrange matters, and I wish to propose
that you be down for our next inspection, which will, I
believe, take place the latter end of March. There are
many things that may be done then and at Etruria, if
we were to stay ten days or a fortnight together. The
whole system of the slip kilns and clay beating is
gone to ruin, and nothing will restore it but vigorous
measures, and these cannot so well be taken as when
we are all on the spot. Jos. Byerley might have been
of use, but the absurd manner in which he has been
brought up has rendered him totally inefficient, for he
knows notliing of the manufacture, and sleeps his time
over the correspondence solely. Whilst I was at Etruria
I had begun to bring back the clay into gopd prder; but

228 CLAY, KILNS, AND OVENS.
it is a work of such length that as soon as I had begun
to see the good effects of my efforts I was called away ;
and Mr. B. not knowing anything at all of the manipu
lations, he is of no use but to fall into passions and
get laughed at. When I was at the works this last
week I found the clay was in miserable order. Now
Wm. Hollinshead, the porter, who weighs the clay, is
an excellent judge of the quality as well as quantity,
and I should propose adding 5*. per. week to his wages
to superintend the getting off the kilns, and to see that
the men did not burn the clay and then wfet again,
which is no uncommon practice ; but a very shocking
one for us, as the clay is never good for anything in that
state. We cannot also get a week's stock beforehand,
so that occasionally the clay is used before it has had
time to cool. This is a most expensive process to us,
as it destroys a great deal of clay and causes an extra
ordinary quantity of shavings to be used, for the plate-
makers are obliged to make their bats thicker. The
whole system ofthe ovens also requires a fresh arrange
ment. ... I am afraid I bore you with repeating these
things to you ; but they are so strongly impressed on my
mind, and I am anxious to show that I am not quite a
dead letter when I am in the country, that I do feel
extremely desirous to spend some time with you at
Etruria. I hope to be able to come and take a fort-1-
night's hunting with you this spring at Gunville. Jane
has gone to Hampton Court with the Philipp's. With
best love to all your circle, Believe me yours affec
tionately, John Wedgwood. — Does. Tom want a servant
if he does not come up to town ? n
Thus through the absence of the master hands, of
1 John W. to Josiah W., Feb. 17,' 1804. Mayer MSS.

INCENSE BURNERS. 229
-those most interested and best capable of overlooking
the manufactory, matters were fast going to the bad
at Etruria. Even the principals complained of the
purple hue of the black ware, and the quality of the
old cream ware caused great dissatisfaction amongst
dealers ; but improvement and renovation were at hand.
Mr. Josiah Wedgwood had purchased Maer, a choice
estate near Newcastle, and it was being prepared for
residence ; and Mr. John Wedgwood sold Cote in the
autumn of this year, and after some sojourn in Bed
fordshire settled at Seabridge, also near Newcastle-
under-Lyme. Yet in spite of shortcomings many
beautiful articles were produced.1 This date saw the
introduction of incense burners ; and many of the old
forms of tripods, vases, and Eoman and Grecian lamps
were elegantly adapted to their use. They seem first
to have been suggested by a Mrs. Olier of Gloucester
Place, Portman Square, who, having seen them used in
Paris, sent a sketch. They were made in various
bodies, but principally in black. A mixture of casca-
rilla and frankincense was burnt in them, and they
became a fashion.
In spite of Coleridge's adjuration to the contrary,
Thomas Wedgwood returned to Eastbury, and On
April 2 the former sailed for Malta, ' in a miserable
state of health,' as Poole reported. A few days
afterwards Wedgwood wrote as follows to Stowey :
' I must still remain largely in your debt, for I cannot
make a letter of this. . . . Opium has somewhat
restored the tone of my spirits, but it has, if either,
1 ' Your brother John arrived here this morning, having been invited
by me to spend the remainder of the time I stay here with me. He has
been up all night, and on going to look at the fine things in the rooms
fell fast asleep there.' Byerley, York Street, to Josiah Wedgwood, June
8, 1804. Mayer MSS.

230 LESLIE'S VISIT TO STOWEY.
added to the uneasiness of my body and destroyed my
sleep, so that I cannot feel sanguine about any lasting
good effects from its use. ... I am now a miserably
feeble creature, hardly able to partake of the society
of those about me. . . I am afraid I cannot come to
town ; I should feel too dependent on my friends there,
as I cannot endure to be a moment alone, and yet am
Unable to converse above two or three hours in a day,
often the whole day. This temper limits my residence
to that of my family, and I propose going with my
mother and sisters to spend a fortnight at Cote in the
beginning of May ; thence to Maer for another fort
night, and then, if I have strength and courage, to Luffs
on the banks of Ullswater for a month, and probably
to Edinburgh. I hope to return home in three months
from the time I leave it, and hope, too, that we shall
then meet.' 1
It is questionable if Thomas Wedgwood remained so
long away from Eastbury as three months ; but in
September he was there, and in his correspondence
with Poole speaks of a visit from Leslie, and, as ever,
of his own melancholy state: 'I thank you most
cordially for your affectionate letter. You must think
me unworthy of it. I have been very unable to write
at all. I have had a few hours' shooting, but it dis
agrees with me, and I am now much worse than when
I began, being oppressed with continual fever. Leshe
has left me, after confirming his discovery, made at
Stowey, that water dissolved in air is propagated in
direct rays through the air, which may be conveyed,
like the rays of heated air, to a focus by his speculum.
I expect Luff here on the 2Qth next. Jos. is here, and
J- April 9, 1804.

BRAMAH THE MECHANIST. 231
lie and I keep Eastbury; his children are at Gunville. . . .
I saw the picture, and was not disappointed, but my
head would not allow me to stay long before it. It is
certainly a Leonardi, and I can hardly think it equal to
Annibal Caracci. Perhaps it is a Guido. It is farcical
for me to talk in this way, as I am miserably ignorant ;
but I know you wished to know what opinion I had
thought most probable. ... I have written all this, and
have not yet thanked you for kindness such as I never
experience from other hands than yours. My dear
friend, I cannot express what I feel towards you.'1
For many years the celebrated mechanist Joseph
Bramah had worked hand in hand with the Wedgwoods
in the manufacture of sanitary pottery, he supplying
drawings, and they adapting clay to the forms sug
gested. Of one peculiar form they allowed him the
trade monopoly ; and now writing in relation to a new
kind of wash-hand basin he says : ' There is another ^
Idea, which any Inginious person in your Line might
make money by at a great rate, if conducted in a way I
am able to discribe, and in which I should like to be a
sleeping partner very well- — I mean the making of arti
ficial Teeth of such of your composition as is best suited for
that purpose, and which would undoubtedly become an
object of the very first Importance to human happiness
if carried into effect on a judicious and proper scale.
There is a French-Man in London who has a patent
(nearly out) for this article ; and altho managed in
the most bulgling manner possible, and conducted
with the greatest personal Impertinance, yet he can
make more money by his own Labour only, in one
Month, than all my Works clears me in a Year. This
1 Sept. 1804. Archdeacon Sandford's MSS.

232 ARTIFICIAL TEETH.
is so glaring a Matter that I think it a disgrace to
English Ingenuity that some liberal opposition is npt
commenced for the accommodation of the public. And
I am persuaded that was sQch a circumstance to be
wisely and properly set about, with that kind of
Management and Ingenuity which has ever distin
guished Mr. Wedgwood's Works, even to possess the
Mint itself would scarcely promise more pecuniary
advantage ; nay, if even the Metal to work upon was
given gratis. The fact is, I speak feelingly, because
from Sundry Accidents I have for some time lost all my
Teeth in the upper Jaw, which circumstance, some years
ago, drove me to the above person for the assistance
Art would give, and I must say that although he
charges 60, 70, and 80 guineas for what I am sure can
be much better done for 60 pence, yet I would not be
deprived of the comfort of them for 60/. per annum.
How far you may like the principle of my having stolen
this man's trade from my enjoying his production, I
cannot say ; but I assure you that I am persuaided that
such a public comfort is derivable from the thing pro
posed, that some person or other must take it up. At
any rate, I hope you will pardon this trespas on the
Subject, and, if below your attention, I shall esteem it
kind if you recommend me an Ingenious person in your
Line who would be competent to execute.' 1
The year 1805 opened with a pleasant letter from
J. H. Allen of Cresselly in Pembrokeshire, the^brother
of Mrs. John and Mrs. Josiah Wedgwood, but referring
1 J. Bramah to Wedgwood and Byerley, Dec. 26, 1804. Mayer MSS.
Nothing seems to have come of this suggestion, but at a later day the
idea was taken up by the Americans, by whom a vast and constantly-
growing trade is now carried on in artificial teeth. They are made of a
fine porcellaneous body, in which bone and felspar play an important
part.

FINE WOOL. 233
to private affairs, hunting, woodcock shooting, game
and social on dits, has no general interest ; but before
January had ended Poole comes before us again.
Writing from Stowey to Gunville, on the 15th of that
month, he says : ' I write to you so soon principally
to ask after your Brother's health. Your account of it
is so melancholy, that when I think of it it makes me
so restless and excites such bitterness of heart that I
could fain persuade myself you have something better
to say. We should recollect that these winter months
have been for years past his gloomy Season ; and I
really think, when he was with me, that he was as well
as when I saw him at Taunton (for instance) before he
went to the West Indies. Dolet me hear the result of
Mr. Dugard's Prescriptions. I have ever cherished the
hope that he would live out his Complaints, and I am
loath to abandon it. I regret that you were prevented
being at the Bath Society, as I should, on every account,
have been glad to have met you. We had much in
teresting matter brought forward concerning fine Wool.
Doct. Parry gained great credit for his exertions in
this way. The Wool of his 4th Cross on the Bylands
was determined to be finer than the Fleece of a Spanish
Eam given to the Society by the Marquis of Bath. I
dined with Doct. Parry, saw his httle Farm, and had
a great deal of conversation with him on the subject of
Wool and on the advantage of crossing with the Merinos.
High as his Notion is of the advantage on the whole of
this System, he could not help thinking but that the
Proof of our highest Proof Sheep was injured by the
mixture. This certainly, agrees with my observation ;
as you have found it otherwise, I am in hopes that you
have a higher proof Merino than any which I have yet
seen. The Test seems to be, Do you now find your

234 MERINO AND SOUTH- DOWN SHEEP.
Merino Eams in as good or better order than your
South Down Eams under the same circumstances? If
so, I have no doubt you are right, and that you will get
rid of the only possible disadvantage which can at all
counteract the many disadvantages of the Scheme. I
need not say that I am anxious to see your Merinos. . .
When I was at Bath I proposed, and after some
discussion established, a Premium of 10/. 10*. to be
paid to each female friendly Society in future established
under certain Conditions in either of the Western
Counties. For reasons which I have not room here to
state, I think, of the two, female friendly Societies.
of more use than similar Societies among Men. A
Premium to the same amount existed before for the
encouragement of these latter. I also proposed Davy.
as a honorary Member of the Society, which was un
animously agreed to. It so happens that he fills the
Vacancy made by the death of Dr. Priestley. It would
have given me pleasure to have seen all at Gunville,
and to have met Giddy ; but as I must go the latter
end of next Month to London I could not well afford
an intervening absence from home. In my way to or
from London, if it be then convenient to you, I will
pass a few days at Gunville. With my kind remem
brances to all, particularly to Mrs. Wedgwood, believe
me, yours ever, Thos. Poole.'1
A few days later, Mr. Poole writes thus to Eastbury
to Thomas Wedgwood: ' On telling Betty just now that I
expected two or three to dinner with me to-day, she said,
" Why, sir, it is the 30th of J any., and we used to fast
to-day." Though this remark of Betty's did not alter
my intention of making a good dinner, it put me in
mind of your kind offer of a brace of Pheasants, and that
I had probably lost them by neglecting to accept them.
1 Thos. Poole to Josiah Wedgwood, Jan. 15, 1805. Mayer MSS. •

THE BOOK ROOM AT STOWEY. 235
If you have saved a brace for me, be so good as to send
them, directed Samuel Purkis, Esq., Brentford, Middle
sex ; but if they are all gone, so much the better, as it
will be a proper punishment for my inattention. I thank
you in either case for your kindness. I shall go to
Bridgwater in a few days, and will ascertain the truth
of the Story of five Children. I can only say, if it be
hot true, I have been living under a delusion the best
part of my Life. I have been grieved at hearing from
time to time of the State of your Health. The Heart of
the Winter, always your gloomy Season, is now past ;
and the Spring may, and I trust will, give you more
Life and Pleasure than you expect. I know these
are words which you cannot now endure ; but we will
cherish them for you, depend upon it. Though I trouble
you with this letter, don't attempt answering it; it is a
sufficient Tax on you to read it, and when I recollect your
state, I am afraid I have written with more levity than
will give you pleasure. On my-Eeturn from London I
hope you will again think of Stowey. Our wooden Tunnel
completely cured the Chimney ofthe Book Room, and I
have contrived to lower the Fire, so -that I think, on your
next visit, you will find the Eoommuch more comfort
able than when you were with me. My Experiments
with this and some other Chimnies in the House have
given me some new Notions on the Subject, and I
think many ofthe received Theories are yet contradicted
by Facts. I have planted round under the Book Room
Window, so as to conceal the most unpleasant part of
the Stable, &c. ; but I have not yet had courage to begin
the great Improvement of pulling down the Garden
Wall. My Neighbour the Vicar has put up a new con
structed Turnabout on one of his Chimnies, with a very
nice Vane'on the top of it. I see by it which way the
wind blows as I sit by the fire ; and as it turns round,

236 THRESHING MACHINES.
often enveloped in smoke, it forms a very picturesque
object. Eemember me Kindly to Mr. Jos. Wedgwood.
I thank him for his last letter. Tell him I will give
him due notice of my coming to Gunville. The small
Thrashing Machine here will not clean above 30 bushells
of Wheat or Barley a day or 60 bushells of Oats. They
require two Horses, either to work together or by turns,
so that, Valuing the labour of the Horses, there is very
little profit with them. A Machine costs 40/., indepen
dent of Timber. Where you have Water, they are very
desirable, but without it (if you have Workmen and
common Honesty) they are hardly worth thinking of. I,
with Willmott, had at first a high notion of them. But
lately, tell Willmott, Mr. Govett of Strengston and Mr.
Cruickshank of Emroe had each put up one (which is
allowed to be better than Woodhouses), and I have
stated the Eesult of their Experience. I think, for a
Grammar School,1 Mr. Wedgwood has chosen an ex
cellent one for Jos. ; but I hope great attention is
paid to writing and arithmetic. The first I have felt,
to my cost, of more consequence than one can well
imagine ; the second, even in the higher Branches, I
think Boys more capable of understanding, till they
get 9 or 10 years old, than the abstract subject of
Grammar. From 7 to 10 much valuable information
may be acquired, which, if then neglected, is but too
often neglected for ever. From 10 to 20, nay, we may
say to the end of our Lives, as much of Languages as is
consistent with more necessary avocations. Make my
respects to all around you, and believe me, with sincere
affection, Yours, Thos. Poole. I have not heard from
Coll. our Virtues. . . be proud, &c. He would cer-
1 That of Ottery St. Mary, of which S. T. Coleridge's brother George
was then headmaster. Infra, p. 244.

WILLMOTT AND CHISHOLM. 237
tainly have written to you, if he had had anything im
portant to say.' J
Mr. Willmott, who, as we have seen, had entered Mr.
Josiah Wedgwood's service as bailiff and general man
ager of his affairs in 1802, occasionally visited Etruria
to look after land and house property and the general
statement of accounts connected with the manufactory.
Whilst there in February 1805 his business letters con
tain some notices of Alexander Chisholm, which, though
brief, are interesting. This worthy and most competent
assistant of his eminent master, the elder Wedgwood,
had retired, at the death of the latter, upon the annuity
secured to him for life by his will. Having neither wife
nor children, and probably few or no family ties else^-
where, he remained at Etruria, boarding and lodging
with a Mr. Jones,2 a bailiff or employe of some kind,
and passing his time in reading and being read to on
his favourite scientific subjects. Willmott possessing
strong literary tastes, and lodging at the same house
when at Etruria, fraternized with the old man, and thus
refers to him in a letter filled otherwise with mere busi
ness details : ' I am at Mr. Jones's, where I have great
pleasure in the conversation of the intelligent Mr. Chis
holm. His faculties do not seem to be at all impaired,
and he avers the same thing himself. Most of my leisure.
is filled up by reading to him Mr. Leshe's ' Inquiry into>
the Nature of Heat.' 3 Apart from these more intellectual
1 T. Poole to T. Wedgwood, Stowey, Jan. 30, 1805. Mayer MSS.
2 Probably at the little inn close to the entrance gates of the manu
factory. Till quite recently this inn was kept by a very aged woman of,
the same name, probably a niece or daughter.
s Willmott to J. W., Feb. 7, 1806. Mayer MSS. A month later the
venerable friend of the elder Wedgwood was very ill. Writing to his,
brother Josiah, March 28, 1805, John Wedgwood says : ' Mr. Chisholm
has been very unwell, but is a little better : apparently of an inflammation
of the stomach. He suffered great pain.' "Mayer "MSS,

238 THE PYROMETER RESUSCITATED.
pleasures, and his special business in connection with
land, stock, and houses, the time spent by Willmott at
Etruria must have been far from agreeable. Mr.
Wedgwood wished him to assist in inspecting and or
ganising the accounts of the manufactory. This Mr.
Byerley wished to be done after his own method.
WiUmott considered he should lose much time ; differ
ences arose, and increased, and finally led the latter
to give up his situation. After Mr. Byerley's death he
returned, both, as it would seem, to his own satisfaction
and that of his appreciating friend and master.
The Pyrometer, as an instrument for measuring de
grees of heat, had remained for many years as the elder
Wedgwood left it. So few were made, that when, in
April 1800, one was wanted for exhibition at the Eoyal
Institution, London was searched in vain. As an incita-
tion, perhaps, to some efforts for its manufacture and
improvement, Anthony Carlisle wrote a letter to Josiah
Wedgwood, in which, with playful irony, he presumed
that 'Philosophical ardour was asleep in the Wedg
wood family.' x Whether prompted by this or not, or
1 My dear Friend, — Overhearing (without being a Listener) some great
folks mentioning your name, I beg you will excuse my turning Informer
by telling you the following story : — Sir Joseph B., Count Rumford, Sir
0. Blagden, and a magnificent <&c. of greatness were discoursing about
the Royal Institution, and your father's pyrometers came up, when a
sort of compassionate regret diffused itself in consequence of the Philo
sophical ardour being asleep in your family. They all spoke of the
inconveniences arising from a want of these pyrometers. The Town had
been searched for one to be exhibited at the Royal Institution without
success. And, if I understood them rightly, by a bequest of your father's
the Royal Society were to possess an inexhaustible fund of pyrometical
clay. I wish you would give this matter a thought, and anticipate any
troublesome enquiries of these people, by letting one of your people do
something to satisfy their desires. Perhaps you would do well to become
a proprietor at the Institution, for, whether it turns out eventually
useful or not, it tends to philosophize every species of Manufactory,- and
to build a bridge for pedestrian Communication between the Celestial

PLATINA AND CLAY. 239
more likely by some scientific experiments of the time,
Josiah Wedgwood, four or five years later, took up the
pyrometical question, and writing to Chisholm, it would
seem, on the use of platina in conjunction with clay,
elicited this reply, and the scientific statement which is
given in the Appendix : ' This morning our good friend
Mr. Chisholm has dictated to me, agreeably to your
request, the enclosed reply to your letter of the 2nd
inst., which you have exactly in his own words. He
could have added more upon the subject, but he desires
me to say that he fears you will think him already too
prolix. He says that the principle is quite new to
him, and never occurred to your late father or to him
in the course of their Experiments ; that platina is the
only substance that can be employed to make the bats
of; and that perhaps the Mixtures had better be used
in a dry state, and small cavities made in the platina
bats to receive them, as it will be very inconvenient to
keep the mixtures in a moist state, and they will be
liable to settle unequally, owing to the difference of the
specific gravities of their component parts. It appears
to me, and Mr. Chisholm is of the same opinion, that it
Sciences and the meanest grovelling occupations. Add to all this the
Rage, the Fashion, and the affectation of Wisdom, which has got into the
heads of all these Improvers. I am, my dear friend, Yours ever, A. Carlisle.
Monday, 20th April, 1800.
P.S. If you wish to bow at Sir Joseph's Sunday Lounge, I'll take
you there with a certainty of being well received, provided you do not
judge it better to be announced from a fuller mouth than mine.
Josh. Wedgwood, Esq.,
No. 39 Gloucester Place,
Portman Square.
—Wedgwood MSS.

240 MACKINTOSH FROM BOMBAY.
may be possible to make mixtures that will do for all
degrees of heat from 10° to 16°, merely of Flint and
Oxyde of Lead, varying the proportion of the latter
according to the degree of heat ; if so, it will facilitate
the adjustment exceedingly. In fine, Mr. C. seems
of opinion that this new pyrometer is new and unex^
ceptionable in its principle, and that the only difficulty
will be in the adjustment of the scale. I hope, dear Sir,
that you will be kind enough to employ me in making
any experiments in this or anything else, and, if I fail,
to ascribe it to a want of ability rather than a want of
inclination.'1 Mackintosh, who had been knighted and made
Eecorder of Bombay, had departed thither early in the
previous year, 1804. Writing to Josiah Wedgwood in
the February of the following year, he thus refers to his
brother and young Byerley, who, as seen, had gone out
as a cadet in the East India Company's service : 'About
three months ago young Byerley came here from the
coast of Malabar, and within this fortnight he is gone
on service into Gunurat. During his stay I paid him
all the attention in my power — first, no doubt, for your
sake, but afterwards, I must say, for his own. I saw him
very often, and he made a very favourable impression
on me. I have seen no young man in this country
approaching him. I thought his capacity excellent, his
dispositions of every kind good, his manners modest
and gentlemanlike, and his ardour of curiosity on every
important subject interested me very much. But I did
not mean to make his panegyric. What I wished to
tell you is, that I am convinced his passion for a military
and adventurous life is altogether subsided. He has, I
daresay, resolution enough to submit to his present
1 Josiah Byerley to Josiah Wedgwood, Feb. 11, 1805. Mayer MSS.

THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S CREDIT.: 241
cPurse of hfe, if it be inevitable, and I am sure he will
never himself complain of it. I can see that he dreads
the blame of levity and inconsistency, and that he dreads
still more the thoughts of returning to be a burden on
his Father's family, who has perhaps settled his plans
in such a way as to make his return inconvenient.
These fears will keep him silent, and, if it be necessary,
I think he will learn to accquiesce, and cheerfully, in his
destiny. But I can discover enough of his feehngs-
to induce me to say to you, that if Mr. Byerley has
any room for him in Staffordshire he will very, much
relieve a deserving son, and that he will also rescue an
ingenious and liberal-minded young man from a scene
that is unworthy of him. I should myself rather chuse
to have a small share in a manufacture in Staffordshire
than to be Great Mogul, with the necessity of residing
in my Empire. I believe B.'s sentiments to be the
same. With these observations I leave him in your
hands. You may communicate to his Father, as you
think right, the whole, or any part, or no part, of what
I have said.1 You must have already heard so much
from Kitty 2 of this place that I have nothing new to tell
you about it. The dullness of the Society certainly
grows more tolerable, probably in proportion as I grow
more dull. If I had only one Metaphysician with, me
I could do, especially if he was very paradoxical and
very disputatious. But my Scotch Philosopher is too
faint an opponent, too mild and polite, to exercise the
understanding. It is extremely difficult to keep out of
the world of reality without a companion ; but with
1 As will be seen subsequently, Mr. Wedgwood very prudently did
not communicate this to Mr. Byerley, with the exception of the few
first lines, which are still within the brackets marked by his pen.
2 Lady Mackintosh, who was sister to Mrs. John and Mrs. Josiah
Wedgwood and Mrs. Drewe. R

242 MACKINTOSH ON JUDICIAL REFORMS.
such a Companion I think the Climate very favourable
to that sort of intellectual dreaming which is called
Enquiry into First Principles, which has the advantage
of being an absolutely inexhaustible amusement. I
have been able to do some good judicially. The
Law allows us here to fix the sum below which the
Court may grant relief under the Lords' Act to
Prisoners for Debt. I have raised it to 12,000 Eupees,
which; on a review of 6 years, comprehends f$ of the
Debtors in Prison ; so that the Cases will be very few
indeed in which a Debtor is left to the mercy of his
Creditor. The Law of Imprisonment for Debt will
therefore be more mildly administered in this Island
than it ever has been in any part of the British
Dominions. And if I should discover any instances of
oppression for large Debts, I have resolved to increase
the Sum. It is an evil which I think I can cure, and
which I therefore will cure. Some other things I have
done, but they are more involved in judicial and legal
detail. ' I wrote to Tom in Autumn about his health, his liver,
mercury, this Climate, &c. Dr. Scott's opinion, which I
sent to him-— that his case is hepatic, and would probably
be cured by a strong Mercurial course — I, of course,
cannot pretend to vouch for. But, from what I have
seen here, I must say that I am disposed at least to
think it deserving a fair trial. Beddoes will tell you
what Scott's character and talents are. I can only add
that if Tom has courage to venture a voyage to Bombay
he will be lodged in a noble house, and with a host and
hostess who know how to value him. His metaphysics
he shall have by the Devaynes, which will leave this in
April or May. I wish I could look to a shorter termi
nation of my exile ; but as my Savings will not begin to

RATE OF INTEREST IN INDIA. 243
accumulate for me till the end of this year, I fear
I must lay my account with seven years from that
period. Several persons here find means to shorten
their exile by borrowing money from their monied
friends at home at English interest, and lending it here
at Indian interest, and deriving from it Indian profit.
A subscription of 10,000/. raised for a man in England
soon begets a fortune here with little or no risk to the
subscribers. I know you do not write unnecessary
letters, but I shall be very glad to hear from you about
Byerley, in whom I take a very warm interest. ., Kitty
will herself send all sorts of affections, loves, &c. I
shall therefore conclude with very honestly assuring
you that I ever am, Dr Wedgwood, with the greatest
esteem and affection, Yours most truly, James
Mackintosh.' 1
1 Parell, Bombay, Feb. 25, 1805. Mayer MSS.

R 2

244 GEORGE COLERIDGE.

CHAPTEE VIII.
The Grammar School at Ottery — George Coleridge— Poole's high:
Opinion of him — Printed Ware first made at Etruria — Interesting
Particulars of William Wood the Modeller — Manufacturing Reforms
— Robert Waring Darwin— Settles as a Physician at Shrewsbury —
An admirable Centre for Medical Practice— The mediaeval Aspect of
the Town — Dr. Withering — Dr. Darwin's House — Beauty of Situa
tion — He marries Miss Wedgwood — His Taste for Botany — Kindness
to Animals — The 'Mount' Pigeons — Dr. Darwin's medical Fame —
His great Practice — Always in his Chaise — His Appearance— His
Unostentation and Benevolence — His Love of Children — Dr. Dugard
of the Salop Infirmary visits Thomas Wedgwood in Dorsetshire —
Mrs. Darwin's Letters — Letter of James Watt, junior — Pressgangs
— A Steward's Letter — Mrs. Drewe — George Coleridge's Pedagogue-
ship — Thomas Campbell — His high Opinion of Thomas Wedgwood —
Seeks a Companion for him — Applies to Benjamin Thorpe, who
declines — A Mr. Standert selected — Preparations for a Voyage to
the West Indies closed by the sudden Death of Thomas Wedgwood.
The interest taken by the Wedgwood family in the
fortunes of S. T. Coleridge extended to his brother
George Coleridge, who, like his father before him, was
in orders, and head-master of the Grammar School of
Ottery St. Mary. Early in 1805, Josiah Wedgwood
consigned his eldest son, then a boy of about nine years
old, to his care, and with him he remained, with the ex
ception of a long period of illness, till the close of 1807.
He and another brother were then sent to Dr. Valpy's
at Beading ; but for some reason or another they were
removed at the end of six months, and went for a brief
period to Mr. Coleridge. The latter was a voluminous
letter- writer, and, true to that pecuhar physical idiosyn
crasy which runs in families, his handwriting is strangely

POOR LAWS AND EDUCATION. 245
like that of his brother, though with more verve and
distinctness. He is a little pedantic, a little more
subservient than befits our modern ideas, and he has
a somewhat high notion of scholastic discipline and
classical learning ; nevertheless, his letters are those of a
well-bred, educated gentleman, with a peculiar manner
of redundant expression of thankfulness which brings to
mind his brother the poet. It is pleasant to read that
the schoolmaster, a brother, and a nephew conjointly,
travel to Gunville to fetch the boy, and there are won
by generous hospitality. Of him and some other points,
Poole thus writes to Josiah Wedgwood in March 1805 :
' I ventured to write a Letter to Mr. T. Wedgwopd some
time ago, in which I said something in answer to your
last letter, and intimated that I may probably see you
the latter end of last or the beginning of this month.
The delays which have taken place in printing the ab
stract of the Poor Eeturns have delayed my journey
to Town, and consequently the pleasure of meeting you
at the time I proposed. When this long Job will be com
pleted I don't exactly know, but you shall hear from
me as soon as I do know — I should hope in a month.
I hope Mr. T. Wedgwood is better than when you last
wrote to me. Eemember me most kindly to him, and
thank him for the fine brace of Pheasants which my
Friend Purkis duly received, and for which he has
thanked me. Your son Jos, I suppose, is by this time
with Mr. Coleridge. Since I wrote to your Brother, I
met him by accident with Mr. Coleridge's unassuming and
sensible address to the Public on Education, pubhshed in
1795. I was much pleased to see that he lays due stress
on every branch of Education, without confining himself
(as is commonly the case with the Masters of Grammar
Schools) to the Classics. If he practises what he pro-

246 TOBIN'S COMEDY.
fosses (and from everything which I have heard of Mr.
Coleridge there can be no reason to doubt it) I cannot
conceive a better School for Jos than that which you
have chosen. He is too young for a pubhc School;
and I think I have heard you express an aversion to
public Schools. The propriety of a public School
depends altogether, in my mind, on the dispositions of
a Lad, and on the line of Life for which he is intended.
But this subject would lead to too long a discussion for
a letter.' After further matter relative to a new thresh
ing machine, the production of an able agriculturist, the
Eev. H. J. Close, of Trimley, Suffolk, and later ofHordle,
Lymington, Hants, Mr. Poole concludes thus: 'You
know that the popular new Comedy, the Honey-Moon,
is a production of Tobin 's Brother. He will get 700/.
by it. Davy 'supplied the Prologue, with a few hints
from Sotheby.'1
Printed ware was first made at Etruria in 1805. Liver
pool monopolised this branch of the trade till near the
close of the preceding century, and till thus taken up at
Etruria it was effected in the neighbourhood, by special
hands. Of this printing and other business, Mr. Byerley
thus writes at the end of March in this year, and relates
some particulars relative to one of the famous modellers
of the old days which are worth preserving : ' We get
all our business done with as much economy as is con
sistent with having it well done. The increased price
of every article of consumption, as well as of labour and
the property tax, have made a great impression on
the profits ofthe trade ; and I think, too, our stock here
increases in many articles, particularly pressed-ware,
prodigiously. If we begin to make printed ware, we
1 T. Poole to Josiah Wedgwood, March 6, 1805. Mayer MSS.

A FAMOUS MODELLER. 247
can remedy that by applying a part of the hands to
that business. We could do more business if we had
more thrown ware, and yet we have throwers enough.
It will be absolutely necessary, I beheve, to put a part
of them, at least, to piece-work. Our Ornamental work
is absolutely a losing concern, and must be renovated.
We pay for making black ware almost as much as others
sell it for. We could sell a great deal of black ware on
the Continent, if we could get it made somewhat cheaper,
and sell it at a price a little more proportioned to that of
the country. Your brother is extremely active and intel
ligent, and is fast paving the way for a radical reform, and
will greatly benefit the concern.' . . After relating the
particulars of a trial at the Stafford assizes, in connection
with an apprentice who had enlisted, and which ended
by the boy being given up to the authorities of the
Crown, Mr. Byerley continues : ' I am not sure that
your brother has named to you the affair of William
Wood, and as it may save him something I will now
do it. W. W. applied to your brother soon after he
came here for an increase of salary (he has now 70/.),
on the ground that the necessaries of life are so enhanced
in value, and the wages of other branches, less important,
advanced so greatly. A few days ago he spoke to me,
saying he was in debt about 30/., part to his brother
and Mr. Caldwell, and about 10/. or 12/. for malt ; that
he could not do without malt hquor in the house ; that
he had none, and was ashamed to go for more till he
had paid off the old score. He would not, however, ask
for money, but would prefer waiting till some decision
was had on the subject he had mentioned to your
brother. That he had long been very unhappy, finding
1 Mr. John Wedgwood, then temporarily residing at Maer.

248 A HIGHER SALARY.
that he was making no provision for such contingencies
as old age or an inability to work, or a change in
the manufactory ; for, if you should abandon it, those
who succeeded you either might not continue him, or
he would find it painful to serve another master ; that
he, besides, had a helpless child, unable to get her living,
and it was his duty to make use of his talents to gain a
provision for her in case of his death ; that at his present'
salary that was impossible ; that, however, the advance
of salary should be considered together with that of its
permanence, if he should receive an assurance of the
continuance of his salary through life ; at all events,
he should be content with less than he might think at
present he ought to have. He wished for a speedy
answer. He remembers that modellers were formerly
thought of some importance, and an arrangement of
this nature was not delayed. A short time before his
Apprenticeship expired, he put your father in mind of
it, and in a few days he and Thomas Wedgwood x came
to him, as if they were afraid of delaying it, and made
a bargain with him. I told him at that time2 there
were only 3 modellers in all the country. — W. G.,3
Bullock, and W. W.'s father ;4 that the trust in him as
to the management of that part of the business and the
care of the moulds, in addition to the use of his talents,
had greatly increased his usefulness to the -concern.
We might and would believe, he hoped, that it would
be very painful for him to look out for another place,
but that the imperious motives he had named seemed
to require it, if we were not disposed to do something
more for him. I asked him to say what he expected.
1 The partner and couein of Josiah Wedgwood the elder. He died
in 1786.
2 1766 or 1767. 3 William Greatbach. •< Aaron Wood.

GENEROUSLY GRANTED. 249
106/. per annum. Why that odd sum? When I was
first engaged my salary was 53/. ; everything is doubled
since, and so should my salary. When you were raised
from 60/. to 70/. and a house, was it not understood
that was to be the last time ? Yes, he could not deny
it ; but he now found it would not do. He spoke of
his imprudence in having delayed this subject so long,
and how much his family had suffered by it ; perhaps
he conceived that ought to bear upon about 40/. which
he borrowed some time ago. I have endeavoured to
name to you all that passed, as I have no doubt you
will feel interested in doing something to make this old
servant comfortable and easy. In some parts of the
conversation he was a good deal affected, and seemed
to apprehend that he might be reduced to spend the
latter end of his days in a workhouse ; but I tried to
inspire him with more confidence in his employers than
to entertain such gloomy thoughts. Your brother feels
for him, and is desirous that something should be done,
and will be glad to hear from you soon.' 2
1 Byerley to J. W., Gunville, March 31, 1805. Mayer MSS. This
prayer of William Wood appears to have been generously and readily
acceded to, and he closed his life in the service of his masters. He
was chief modeller in the useful department ofthe works, just as Hack-
wood, considered apart from high artists like Webber, De Vere, Theed,
and others, was in the ornamental ; and many of those fine forms of
the best period, such as fruit-baskets, centre-pieces, salt-cellars, bowls,
irigs trays, and a long etcetera, were from his moulds and models.
William Wood was the son of Aaron Wood, the celebrated modeller
who worked for Wheildon when in partnership with Josiah Wedgwood.
Shaw in his interesting History ofthe Staffordshire Potteries, sfys: 'Mr.
W. Wood, son of Aaron Wood the modeller, was for some years general
modeller to Mr. Wedgwood. He appears to have been in high favour with
his master for ability and integrity, and most of the useful articles manu
factured fit Etruria are from models and moulds of his production. He
worked only for Mr. W., and died in the service of the present worthy
descendant of the founder.' Shaw adds an extract from a letter written by
William Wood, some time prior to his death, to his son Hamlet Wood,

250 SOCIETY AND IMPROVEMENTS.
Mr. John Wedgwood was at this time residing tem
porarily at Maer Hall with his wife. He overlooked
improvements and alterations in the house and grounds,
visited old friends amongst the neighbouring gentry,
and spent much time at the works. Of these things
and his brother's sad state, he says, in a letter of April
2 : ' Mr. Willmott left this place this morning on his
way to Dorsetshire, and means to take Sherborn on his
road, so that he will be some time before he reaches
you. I did not therefore write to you by him. Jane
wrote both to Bessy and Kitty, so that they will have
the news of Maer up to the date of her letter. Yester
day I called at Darlaston in my way to Maer. I saw Mr.
Sneyd and his wife, and we are to dine there on Easter-
Monday ; and Mr. and Mrs. Caldwell dine with us on
Thursday, when I will give your message to him. I
have received the Violin, and, I hope, safe ; but it is here
at present unpacked. . . After referring to house-im
provements,- which have no interest, he continues : ' We
are going on here at the Works certainly better than
what we were, but not so as I could wish to see the
work done ; but, having let the matter get a-head of us
so much, it is necessary to go on quietly. I go every
William Wood was bom about 1746, and died prior to 1829. ' Having
served two years in part of an apprenticeship to Mr. John Mitchell, to
learn the art of a flowerer and handler, my father (Aaron W.) and my
master agreed to make void the indentures, and at Martinmas 1762, at
the age of about sixteen years, my father bound me apprentice for five
years more to Josiah Wedgwood to learn "handling and pressing " at the
weekly wages of 2s. 3d., 2s. 6d., 3s., and 3s. 6d. each year; however, at
the end of my four years apprenticeship, my father, and Mr. Wedgwood,
and myself agreed that I should serve four years longer as a Modeller,
at the weekly wages of 4s., 5s., 6s., and 6s. 6d. each year, receiving
10s. Qd. each year earnest; but the two last years and a half my
master's bountiful hand gave me 8s. per week, and now and then half
a guinea as a present.' Shaw, pp. 189-190. The wages of modellers
are now much higher, and young men of ability earn from 30s. to 40s.
per week.

YOUNG WORKMEN. 251
day into different quarters, such as the biscuit house,
handling room, plate houses, and make my remarks on
what I see. I endeavour to whip up Eichard Ehead
to see that the men do their duty ; but he has permitted
them to do their work in a slovenly manner .for . some
time past, so that it is no easy matter to catch again
his old regular strictness. But I must keep teazing him
on untill he feels that it will be more comfortable for
him to watch the men than to have me watching both
him and the men. We have a great many very young
workmen, which is very inconvenient ; but the soldiers
are ridding us of that plague very fast 5 men have
enhsted within the week, besides Levi Ehead ; three of
them from the other works.1 All 3 return to us.
Alcock the packer gone, and three hollow ware pressers
frc-m this, so that now we are reduced a little in number
of pressers, of whom we were too full. We are short
of a Turner, and cannot meet with one in any part of the
country. Our ware comes out of the Biscuit Oven much
better than what it did ; the plates more sortable, and
the ware in general not scorched as it was before. The
Glos men now do their duty, and send the ware in
very good order, and the firemen are become much
more regular and steady.2 Upon the whole, I have the
1 The Ornamental.
2 In a previous letter of March 25, Mr. Wedgwood wrote in respect to
his valuable labours : ' The ware now comes very good indeed out of
the Gloss Oven. About a fortnight ago we had upwards of 60 doz.
of plates out of one oven spoiled by the fires, the next oven had forty
doz,, and the men seemed inclined to consider that as a very faia? sample
of firing; but I declared at once I would no longer submit to such work,
but would discharge them at once. This has had its proper effect. I am
now trying much the same plan with the biscuit men with regard to
their scorching the ware, and we have of late had much less complaints of
that sort, and I am in hopes to do away almost entirely with the necessity of
keeping of rubbers of ware. The new white ware is found not entirely free
from the old failing of crackling or crazing. We have had complaints

252 MRS. BEDDOES.
satisfaction of thinking that my residence here has not
been without benefit to the concern.' After speaking
of the steam-engine x and its working, Mr. Wedgwood
continues to his brother : ' I yesterday received your
letter. . . I was very sorry to read your account of
poor Tom ; indeed his is a most lamentable case. We
learn by other Channels that Sally2 is gone to Clifton
to see Mrs. Beddoes,3 and I hope she will be better for
her trip. We should be very glad if some good-natured
lady would come and enhven our solitude at Maer,
for Jane spends many hours of the day quite alone, as
from Litchfield, and have found that some ware has gone at home. We
shall always be liable to this inconvenience so long as we fire that and
the cream colour together ; and indeed that is not the greatest incon
venience we sustain, for our cream-colour body is much more highly
flinted than it ought to be, and the glaze made much harder, so that
we fire much harder both biscuit and gloss than necessary for cream
colour, in order to bring up the fire hard enough for the white ware.
This is an unnecessary expenditure of coals, and the cream colour has
lost its softness and evenness of surface, which constitutes its great
beauty. The only way to obviate this would be to make and to fire the
white ware by itself.' Mayer MSS.
1 This engine was erected in 1801, by Boulton and Watt, at a cost of
10951. It was improved in 1808.
2 Miss Sarah Wedgwood.
3 The following letter must belong to this period. The only indorse
ment it bears is, ' Mrs. Beddoes, 1805.' It invites Thomas Wedgwood
to Clifton. ' I know you are so ill that the trouble of reading a letter
is painful to you, therefore I will say as little as possible. All I want
from you is a line written by one of your Sisters, to tell me that now,
or some future period, you will be able to put my plan into execution.
I wish exceedingly that you would once more come and stay with us,
as you accidentally did some years since, when your brother was not in
the neighbourhood. We live so quietly (as your poor sister knows")
that you would not be incommoded by visitors ; we have so much room
that you might be entirely alone whenever you liked it. The Dr., you
know, is a most peaceable being, and could not disturb you. I would
not; and I know nothing that would gratify me more than to nurse you
whenever you would suffer me to do anything for you ; indeed, in this
respect, you should find me another Sister, though I am aware of my
vanity in saying so. I will not fatigue you by adding anything more
than my name, A. M. Beddoes.' Mayer MSS.

DR. ROBERT DARWIN. 253
I am so much here. Yesterday I was very unwell, and
did not come over. The fatigue I had undergone last
week brought on a degree of fever which rendered all
exertion very irksome to me, and rendered my mind so
very active I could not dismiss the works in my sleep.
I am to-day partly well again, but take my work
quietly. Philhmore comes to us this dreadful day of
snow, sleet, and rain. To-nlorrow and Saturday we
are to be inspected at Newcastle.' x
From the date of 1780, when early in that ,year he
was studying French and Chemistry with the young
Wedgwoods at Etruria, we have heard nothing of
Eobert Waring Darwin, the youngest son, by his first
wife, of Erasmus Darwin of Lichfield. But during
the long interval he had studied in Edinburgh, taken
with great honours his several degrees in that Univer
sity, written with marked ability the necessary Latin
thesis, associated with its most eminent men ; and,
after residing for some time at Leyden and visiting
Germany, he settled down in 1786 to a life-long practice
in the ancient and picturesque town of Shrewsbury.
Almost as soon as he had settled there, we hear of him
by the pen of his father, who, wishing his son to be an
F.E.S., applied for aid to the elder Josiah Wedgwood,
the friend by whom he knew what he asked for would
be granted. ' When I want anything to be done (sais2
an old tutor of mine),' wrote the poet Darwin, ' I look
put for a man who has the most business of his own ;
for if I can prevail on him to undertake it, it is sure to
be done soon and well ! Hence I apply to you, who
1 John Wedgwood, Etruria, to Josiah Wedgwood, Gunville, April 2,
1805. Mayer MSS.
2 Much of Erasmus Darwin's uncouth spelling was undoubtedly
the result of vagary. We have an analogous case in Walter Savage
Landor.

254 THE ROYAL SOCIETY.
have more to do of your own than any other man I
have the pleasure to be acquainted with. My son, Dr.
Eobert Waring Darwin, of Shrewsbury, I wish to be
a member of the Eoyal Society, as it would be a feather
in his cap, and might encourage him in philosophical
pursuits ; and I flatter myself He will make an useful
member of that ingenious society. Now, I am unac
quainted with the necessary form, and if it be not either
too troublesome or Disagreeable to you, I should be much
obliged to you to hang up . his name, and take what
steps are necessary. I have written to Mr. Charles
Greville, who has spoken to Sir J. Banks on the sub
ject. Mr. Greville desires me to write to my friends,
and sais He will receive their certificates. I don't well
know what this means ; he writes in a great hurry, and
sais 1 may expect success. I intend to write to a few
acquaintance I have in town, as Sir G. Baker, Eev. Dr.
Kaye, Mr. Whitehurst— Professor Martyn, I fear, is not
a member ; Dr. Blagden I am not personally acquainted
with — Sir Eichard Jeb.'1
In the year following, January 1788, we learn, in
relation to some disorder which had attacked the elder
Wedgwood's eyes, that Dr. Eobert Darwin had written
on ' Ocular Spectra,'2 and in April of the same year
Wedgwood had the pleasure of effecting what the
elder Darwin desired. The former was at that time
in indifferent health. ' Dr. Darwin of Shrewsbury,' he
wrote from London to Erasmus Darwin at Lichfield,
' came to the Archdeacon's on Wednesday to dinner,
where I was to have met him, but my spiteful pain
1 Darwin to Wedgwood, May 8, 1787. Darwin MSS.
2 New experiments on the Ocular Spectra of Light and Colours.
Phil. Trans. Abr: xvi. 121. 1786. Dr. R. W. Darwin also wrote Prin-
cipia Botannica, of which a 3rd edition appeared in 1810.

SHROPSHIRE AND SHREWSBURY. 255
would not suffer it ; however, I had the pleasure of
meeting him at the E. S. on thursday, and seeing him
presented by Dr. Hoar, and accompanying him to the
president's next morning. In the afternoon he returned
for Shrewsbury.' x
Thus accredited, and bearing an already popular
name, Eobert Darwin could have chosen no more
fitting centre for his life-long labours than the ancient
border town of Shrewsbury. It was still in a great
measure what it had long been, the metropolis of the
adjacent country ; for here, in place of taking a tedious
journey to London, by what Arthur Young aptly
called ' infernal roads,' many of the aristocracy of a
wide surrounding country settled during the winter
months ; and balls, suppers, oyster-feasts, meets of
hounds, and an occasional visit from a party of strolling
players, afforded variety and amusement. It was the
centre of a great district in which provincial cities lay
far away. Worcester and Hereford were remote to the
south ; Birmingham, Coventry, and Warwick were suffi
ciently removed ; while to the West lay the wide sweep
of Brecknockshire, Eadnorshire, Montgomeryshire, and
Denbighshire, in which there were no cities, and of
which the chief towns were little more than large
villages. In all this land and border were a rich and
powerful titled aristocracy and an equally wealthy and
proud squirearchy, who, though untitled, derived their
lands and names from a period long anterior to the
Norman William. If this wide area was beautifully
picturesque, varied, verdant, and fruitful, full of rich
corn land, pasture, orchards, and fair streams, the old
halls and country granges were, for the larger part,
1 Wedgwood to Darwin, April 5, 1788. Darwin MSS.

256 A MEDIAEVAL TOWN.
worthy of the landscapes amidst which they were set;
and embraced every variety of domestic architecture,
from , the earliest Tudor to the bald, ill-adapted
classicism of the Georgian era. Nowhere else in rural
England was a more, exuberant half-feudal hospitahty
than in these homes of the Powyses, the Myttons,
the Minors, the Owens, the Sandfords, the Corbets, the
Kyiiastons, the Lloyds, the BettonSj the Beddoes, and
many others. Mighty ale and an imposing array of
rural dainties appeared at most meals in the great
wainscoted feudal chambers ; and staircases of ancient
oak, wide enough for the passage of a railway train, led
to vast rooms where for generations human life had
made its entrances and its exits. The rural population
were for the major part notably well off, and, in most
points, no spot in England was better fitted for a
physician who had great skill, vast physical strength,
and indomitable industry.
When Dr. Darwin settled in Shrewsbury, 1786, the
old town still wore much of its Middle-Age aspect..
Almost all the better-class dwellings were in the style
which preceded and lasted through the period of the
Eeformation. Constructed with vast beams of oak
filled up with plaster, adorned with carving, and much
other variety of ornamental wood-work, lighted by
vast diamond-paned casements, which made more show
than they gave light, and interiorly divided into great
chambers which afforded space, but probably httle
warmth or comfort, these dwellings not only marked
the main streets, but were to be found in remote court-
ways and hilly winding lanes. Interspersed with these
were a meaner class of thatched and plaster houses ; so
that if variation be a necessary law of the picturesque
in this old town it was prominent. The streets were

SHREWSBURY SCHOOLS. 257
narrow, ill-paved, and worse lighted, and many of the
chief shops remained much as they were in the reigns
of Eichard III. and Henry VII. , for they still displayed
their wares upon baulks and hanging shutters. One
of its two bridges over the deep and swift Severn had
been recently rebuilt; but the other still remained
facing the Marches of Wales with its gateway and
tower, but rebuilt in 1795. The grand .old crenellated
wall of red sandstone still, in part, surrounded the
Abbey ; so that, wherever a stranger might tread, there
were helps for him to draw a pretty accurate mental
picture of the town and town life of mediaeval England.
The middle classes of Shrewsbury were, for the main
part, wealthy and intelligent ; so far as inteUigence went
where religious creeds and political opinions were ahke
narrow and bigoted to excess. They highly prized
their great foundation School, though till the advent of
its illustrious master Dr. Butler, in 1798, it rather slept
over its work than produced scholars.1 But under all
conditions the Schools had been a great boon to the
town, in attracting strangers to make residence, and in
conferring education on those sons of its burgesses who
otherwise might have had little or none. If much that
was taught was useless, or forgotten in after days, classical
learning had not been without results if it only led to
an appreciation of learning in others. But it often did
much more ; and fathers who themselves had stopped
short at the Latin Accidence hved to see their sons
men of culture and members of learned professions.
Born in 1766, Eobert Waring Darwin was but
twenty-one years old when he settled in Shrewsbury.
His" professional rivals were numerous. According to
1 Dr. Butler held his post from Midsummer 1798 till 1836, a period
of thirty-eight years. S

258 LOCAL DOCTORS.
a subscription list appended to Phillips's ' History of
Shrewsbury,' there were, in 1779, three physicians, six
surgeons, and divers apothecaries practising in the
town. Dr. Cheney Hart headed the physicians, and a
handsome marble tomb with an elaborate Latin inscrip
tion in St. Giles's churchyard hands down his name and
honours to posterity. But in cases more important
than usual, Dr. Withering, the eminent physician and
botanist, was summoned from Birmingham. Soon after
Dr. Darwin had settled in Shrewsbury, he and Dr.
Withering met in consultation at Wellington, in respect
to a complicated case, and differed in opinion, as doctors
are apt to do. Darwin's opinion and treatment proved
correct. He wrote a pamphlet on the subject, it had a
wide circulation, and from this date he soon took the
lead in his profession ; and physicians from remote dis
tances ceased to be called in to cases within the wide
range of his practice. Towards the close of the
century, Dr. Cartwright, brother of the famed inventor
of the power-loom, was practising in Shrewsbury; a
httle later a Dr. Evans ; and as surgeons were two
young men destined to become as eminent in their way
as Dr. Darwin— William Clement1 and Thomas Sutton.
Mr. Dugard, afterwards Dr. Dugard, was surgeon at
the Infirmary.
His practice thus increasing, Dr. Darwin, at no re
mote date after his settlement in Shrewsbury, bought
some fields or otherwise waste land on the Welsh side
of the town, and built a plain, substantial family house,
which, from its elevation on a bank a hundred feet
above the Severn, he named ' The Mount.' Its situation,
apart from the wretched suburb of Frankwell which
1 Father of the still more eminent surgeon, recently deceased, William
Clement, late M.P. for the borough of Shrewsbury.

'THE MOUNT;' 269
led to it, was exquisite in the extreme. To the [rear
lay the town, of which, when the extensive shrubberies
and gardens of the new house came into prime, all
sights and sounds were closed, In front rolled the
Severn in swift, pellucid, and magnificent volume, its
near shore formed by pastures which sloped gently
upwards to the wide lawn. To the side, rearward, on
the opposite bank, lay a beautiful ensembiage of
clustered castle, bridge, free schools, and church-spires ;
and nearer to the front of the house, still on this oppo-,
site shore, hung- — but divided from the Severn by a
wide towing-path: — the sloping gardens of Outlying
villas, and a mansion called 'The Flash.' In the
distance the Severn rolled down from its far-off Plin-
limmon, amidst a pomp of woods, undulating shores,
and islands ; the isle nearest to the town having been
in residential occupation, it is said, by one family from
times anterior to the Conquest.
Till our modern age of change, it might be noticed
that the suburbs of ancient fortified towns, like this
of Shrewsbury, particularly in the direction of those
thoroughfares which led to the more important points
of attack and defence, as bridge, castle, and outer
ballium, had always a mean, irregular, and scattered
appearance, as though built under the pressure of cir
cumstances, and with no view to permanence — mere
places of shelter, ever open to destruction by fire,
sword, and battering ram. FrankweU, or the town of
the Franks, wore all this appearance. It had been
frequently burnt down by the Welsh, in their forays
across the Marches, and in the reign of Henry IH. 1%
in ashes from this cause for some time. It was a mere
narrow, ill-paved defile of mean and tottering tenements,
interspersed here and there with an old timbered house
s 2

260 ITS BEAUTIFUL GROUNDS.
of more pretensions ; and where some newer hand had
tried his skill in building, the result was so utterly
mean, wretched, and unworthy, as to add to the gene
ral air of squalor and indigence. Although FrankweU
was on the greatest highway, south of Chester, into
North Wales, and along it nightly dashed the pic-
tureque Holyhead mail, with two-thirds of the cor
respondence of Ireland sealed up in its great leathern
sacks, such was its condition for many years. Consider
ing the distance, and what beautiful old garden houses
with stately courtways and precincts were in the town
and on its other side, it evinced no ordinary courage to
choose this site for his house ; but Dr. Darwin prized
the beautiful foreground, and knew full well that
civilisation would do its work with this suburb— as
with most other things.
His house thus prepared, and his practice large and
profitable, Dr. Darwin married in AprU, 1796, Susan,
the eldest daughter of the great Enghsh potter, the
late Josiah Wedgwood of Etruria.1 They had been
acquainted from childhood ; their fathers had been as
brothers ; and their union had been probably looked for
ward to by both families long before it took place. Miss
Wedgwood brought Dr. Darwin a fortune of 25,000£, in
addition to what accrued to them both on the death of
her brother Thomas Wedgwood. But her higher fortune
was a gentle, sympathising nature. She entered zealously
into all her husband's pursuits ; and as he took almost
as much interest in botany and zoology as his father,
Erasmus Darwin, their gardens and grounds became
noted for1 the choicest shrubs and flowers. They petted
1 April 18, 1796, married at St. Marylebone Church, Dr. Darwin of
Shrewsbury, to Miss Wedgwood, eldest daughter of the late Josiah
Wedgwood of Etruria, Staffordshire.— Gent. Mag. vol. 66, p. 351.

MRS. DARWIN. 261
and reared birds and animals ; x and the beauty, variety,
and tameness of ' The Mount pigeons ' were weU known
in the town and far beyond. But the wife of the lead
ing physician of an important provmcial city like
Shrewsbury had, in those days more especially, a
multitude of other duties, that only a woman of educa
tion and tact could effect. There was often to receive,
sometimes entertain, high-class patients in her husband's
absence ; to give dinner and supper parties ; to be on
visiting terms with the gentry of a wide neighbourhood ;
to take an interest in the town and town-folks ; and
not omit what was one of the estabhshed customs of
the place, two great yearly feasts to the chief medical
practitioners of town and country. To this Mrs. Darwin
added much assistance to her husband in his large
correspondence. There can be little doubt that when Dr. Eobert
Darwin first settled in this stronghold of the ortho
doxies — political, social, and religious— he had much
to encounter from the prejudices of those who, from
education and interest, often' both combined, held the
1 The physicians of that day did much to inaugurate the better treat
ment of dumb animals. Dr. Withering, of Birmingham, the eminent
botanist and physician, equalled the Darwins in his kindness to and
interest in animals. His love for his dogs was proverbial ; his obser
vations on hydrophobia acute in the extreme. He held the opinion that
monkeys possess more intelligence than any animal except man ; that a
mischievous disposition does not exist in them naturally, but is the effect
of fear in most cases, and of bad education in others. They much re
semble man in a state of childhood, both as to his improvidence and his
tyrannical disposition, but are without the means of further improve
ment, and are totally destitute of gratitude and good manners ; so that,
superior to the dog in intellect, they are not as good companions for
man. Dr. Withering's scientific observations confirmed the opinion
arrived at by Camper through his dissection of monkeys, particularly the
orang-outang, that they are prevented speaking by certain aerial follicles,
which are general in that race of beiDgs — a singular and little-known
fact.

262 DR. DARWIN'S GREAT PRACTICE.
narrowest opinions on every point. For he was known
to be the son of the famous author ; and the views
promulgated in the ' Botanic Garden,' ' Zoomania,' and
other works, were as obnoxious to that generation as
those of Natural Selection to our own — indeed, more
so, and to a greater number, for public enlightenment
was far less general. But Eobert Darwin inherited
with his father's great talents the same bravery of
truth, and whilst he seems never to have obtruded his
opinions on anyone, he never concealed them when
asked for. Largely hberal in every opinion and view,
no wonder, even at this day, with the generation fast
dying out, the doctor is regarded as a man clever but
heretical. But men's bodies needed healing, and, be
coming famous as a great healer, bigotry did not
injure him, as it surely would have done smaUer men.
For full fifty years his practice was wonderful. Like
his father, he was always on the road. He was literaUy
ubiquitous. His smaU yellow chaise, within which, so
exactly did it fit him, there was not an inch to spare ;
its two sleek horses, for he rarely used post-horses, and
his steady coachman, were to be seen everywhere. Dr.
Darwin and his weU-known chaise were just as hkely
to turn up in the wild solitudes of Offa's Dyke and
Gun Forest, on the steeps of the Stretton hills, or in
the narrow valleys of the Longmynd, as on the high
ways of Welchpool, Hereford, Birmingham, or in the
streets of Shrewsbury. Weather was no hindrance to
him. Floods might be out, deep snow cover the
country, a fierce meridian sun beat down, yet Dr.
Darwin still went forth. Often at night, when the
Holyhead mail had swept through the town with the
speed of the winds, and nothing would be heard in the
still streets but the cry of the old-fashioned watchman

HIS PERSONAL APPEARANCE. 263
or the roU of the Severn across its fords, if an approach
ing noise induced any watcher to look from his case
ment, it was almost certain to be Dr. Darwin's chaise,
and the doctor obeying some sudden professional call.
At any time, when the doctor thus sped on, was seen
the same powerful, unimpassioned, mild, and thought
ful face. Unlike his father and Dr. Withering, who
used their chaises as a study, Dr. Eobert Darwin always
sat as though carved in stone ; as though books were
unnecessary to one whose treasury of knowledge and
thought was alike inexhaustible. Dr. Erasmus Darwin,
of Lichfield and Derby, was cast in a gigantic mould ;
his son in a stiU greater.1 Dr. Eobert Darwin stood
considerably more than six feet in height; his bulk was
proportionate, and became enormous as age increased.
Like his father, he was a great feeder, eating a goose
for his dinner as easily as other men do a partridge.
In his latter days it was impossible for him to ascend
or risk narrow staircases and rotten floors; and as both
were common in the more ancient parts of the town, a
confidential servant was sent to make survey before
hand. When at home, and not engaged with patients,
his gardens, greenhouses, and books afforded him in
finite pleasure and occupation ; for aU which was new
and progressive in literary thought found its way to
' The Mount.' His mornings were given to patients — of
whom a large number, rich and poor alike, sought his

1 It is a curious physical fact, and one worth recording, that the men
pf Newark and its neighbourhood, from whence the Darwins originally
came, were renowned from the earliest times for great stature and
prowess. For this reason they were selected to march in the van to
battle, just as the free-miners of the Forest of Dean were chosen to form
part of besieging trains on account of their skill in mining. The stature
and prowess of the Newark men are spoken of in more than one of the
early ballads.

264 WEDGWOOD WARE.
advice. Some were awed by his peremptory commands,
others amused by his comic sayings ; and all were won
by his kindness. His house, so far as it was seen by
patients, was a marvel to many ; for the general know
ledge relative to fine works in pottery was in that
day but smaU ; and the doctor's house was, as was
natural, a shrine of Wedgwood's art, in vases, plaques,
figures, and other lovely ornaments. The doctor was
always buying, the Wedgwoods often gave, and thus
the number of beautiful objects, both in useful and
ornamental ware, went on increasing through many
years.1 An opinion prevaUed that the doctor was
avaricious of fees ; but, if true, he was in many respects
a man of untiring and unostentatious benevolence.2 He
1 As early as October 1793, Dr. Robert Darwin wrote thus from
Salop to his future brother-in-law, the younger Josiah Wedgwood.
After referring to an account relative to a tea-pot and some jasper
flower-pots, he continues, ' I will thank you to open my new account
with a head of Franklin and Washington and two of the Botany Bay
medallions. I am infinitely obliged by your father'3 kind intention
respecting the Portland Vase, but should think myself sufficiently grati
fied in being allowed to have one on the terms I mentioned in my last.'
Mayer MSS.
2 Dr. Robert Darwin had a taste for mechanical invention, like his
father, Erasmus Darwin. He made a design for a nursery lamp, for use
in feeding children. It was in part manufactured at Etruria, and had a
large sale. He confined the sale of this in Shrewsbury to some dealers in
earthenware, of the name of Cook, who were poor and needed assistance..
Of his kindness Mrs. Cook thus wrote to Mr. Byerley at Etruria, in
January 1804 : ' The recent experience I have had, not only of your
generous and benevolent disposition, but for your sympathetic feelings
for the distress'd, encourages me to hope you will not be offended that
I take the liberty to request you to send me a few Tea-pots (as on the
other side). Many trials I have been called to pass through, but none so
severe as the loss of my truly valuable and beloved husband, Thomas
Cook. This painful event took place on September 4, after an illness of
five months, all which time Dr. Darwin attended him with a tender
solicitude peculiar to himself, and which I hope will ever be remembered
by me with the utmost gratitude. Not only was this attendance gratis,
but wine, fruit, peas, artichokes, &c, sent frequently from his house.
By means of the Subscription, in which you, Sir, have so liberal a part,

AN INFANT SCHOOL. 265
visited the poor without reward, and assisted them in
other ways. He occasionally made small loans to
struggling tradesmen, and assisted them by giving
work, and by recommending them to others. Towards
the close of his hfe, he was caUed ' the Father of Frank-
well.' In about 1823 or 1824 he and his daughters
established the first infant school in Shrewsbury at a
considerable cost — for it included a specially erected
schoolhouse in a squalid district by the Welsh Bridge
— and this was supphed with the then novel appliances
of black boards, arithmetical beads and frames, and the
other educational devices of Pestalozzi, Wilderspin, and
others. Dr. Darwin's dress at that period was inva
riably a snuff-coloured cloth suit — coat, waistcoat, and
breeches alike. Gaiters of the same buttoned above
the knees ; his waistcoat had the old-fashioned lappet
above the pockets, and the cuffs of his coat were wide.
His shirt-frill and many-folded necktie of soft lawn
were alike ample, and his ponderous watch-chain was
conspicuous ; but otherwise no ornaments were worn
by the plain, unostentatious gentleman. His love of
children was marked. He would address them in
his small, high-pitched, falsetto voice, and if their an
swers pleased him he would reply ; and occasionally,
lifting them on to a chair or table, he would measure
their heads with his broad hand, as though reading
character, and mentally prognosticating their future fate.
Twenty years earlier than this, Dr. Darwin was in
the prime of hfe, and being visiting physician to the
Shrewsbury Infirmary, he appears to have mentioned
my dear Mr. Cook's affairs were settled before his death. I am advised
by some friends to continue the business. I have a prospect, through
the blessing of God, of providing necessaries for my family. If you are
so good as to send me the few things, I hope to pay for them in clue
time.' Mayer MSS.

266 DR. DUGARD.
the case of his brother-in-law, Thomas Wedgwood,
to the resident surgeon, Mr. Dugard. The latter pre
scribed, and the invalid, by the testimony of Thomas
Poole's letter, appears to have tried the prescriptions ;
possibly with some small temporary effect, for now,
early in April, 1805, an effort was made to obtain
leave of absence for Mr. Dugard, it being probably
thought that, were he to visit Dorsetshire and reside
with Mr. Wedgwood for a short time, his advice might
be still more salutary. For some reasou or another
this proposed leave of absence seems to have caused
a stir in certain circles of the town, for Mrs. Darwin,
writing to her brother Josiah, adds : ' The medical
commotion here is not yet subsided. The ladies are
now taking up the cudgels. Dr. Dugard has had a
thundering letter from Mrs. Evans, and to-day Mrs.
Sutton has favoured my husband with an epistle. I
have not yet any thoughts of taking up my pen.' x After
some httle trouble leave of absence was obtained — a
fact which Mrs. Darwin thus announced to her brother:
' The Dr. has lost no time in soliciting the consent of
all the Faculty, Directors, &c, and has this morn
ing been to the Board at the Infirmary, and I am
happy to add he has been successful in obtaining leave
of absence for Mr. Dugard. Mr. D. has also got a
person to supply his place at the Infirmary, whom he is
to pay, which is pleasanter than laying himself under
any great obhgation. Mr. D. will leave here on
Monday morning, and hopes to be with you on Wed
nesday night ; you will best judge whether to send to
meet him at Shaftesbury or not, as we know nothing
of the time of the Coaches leaving Bath. I need not
1 Mrs. Darwin to Josiah Wedgwood, Esq., Gunville, Blandford, Dorset.
April 4, 1805. Mayer MSS.

JAMES WATT, JUNIOR. "267
add how earnestly I wish poor Tom may find comfort
and relief from this scheme.' l This fervently expressed
wish was made in vain. In a letter written by Mrs. Clive,
wife ofthe member for Shropshire, to Josiah Wedgwood,
Gunville, she says : ' I am much concerned to hear so
indifferent an account of Mr. T. Wedgwood's health.
I fear he has derived no benefit from the medical skill
of Mr., I should say Doctor, Dugard, whose residence
under the same roof would, I had hoped, have enabled
him to form a more accurate judgment of his complaint
than anyone else has hitherto done.' *
Yet whUst so iU Thomas Wedgwood was still think
ing of his friends, and a present, probably of venison,
sent to Soho at this date, was acknowledged by James
Watt, junior, in a letter to Josiah Wedgwood. It
furnishes some interesting particulars. 'Dear Wedg
wood. Give my kindest thanks to your brother for his
present, which is arrived in exceUent condition. Any
token of his recollection would at all times have been
agreeable ; but I particularly feel the value of this at
a time when his attention must be so much directed to
his own harassing complaint. How lamentable that
such fine talents should be exposed to so large a share
of the evils of human hfe. It seems almost as if nature
meant to equalize her gifts by too frequently combining
splendid abilities with infirmity of, constitution. Poor
Gregory ! I have more than once thought of writing to
you upon this subject, but I feared it would be harass
ing your feehngs. His loss wiU ever be to me irrepa
rable ; it has caused a total change in every feeling and
prospect in Ufe. He possessed myfuU affection and
esteem, and now has my unbounded regret. But
1 Ibid, date torn dff. Mayer MSS.
2Styche,Salop, April 9, 1805. Mayer MSS. ;

268* A LETTER FROM GUNVILLE.
it answers no purpose to go on, and I drop the subject.
I have much gratification from your remembrance of
the hours we have formerly .passed together; it has
been more my misfortune than my fault that we have
seen so little of one another of late years. It is right
you should know that last summer, or rather autumn,
I made an attempt to visit you, and actually had got
the length of Blandford, when I met your servant
accidentally, and learnt from him that you were absent,
and your brother preparing to leave Gunville the next
day. I thought that under such circumstances a visit
might be hurrying to him, and therefore pursued my
journey into Devonshire. As you are now hkely to
become an occasional resident in this or the neighbour
ing county, the distance wiU not preclude an occasional
visit, if I know, where to find you. Please offer my
best respects to Mrs. Wedgwood, your mother, and
sisters. We have been under great alarm for our old .
friend, Mr. Boulton, this winter. He had a severe
attack of fever, produced, we suppose, by his too
great anxiety and attention to his new Coinage, which
has left him in a very debUitated state, and he does not
yet see even his most intimate friends ; but we expect
the fine weather will recruit him. My father and Mrs.
Watt are now tolerably well, and beg to be kindly re
membered to yourself and brother ... I am, with much
regard, dear Wedgwood, Yours truly, J. Watt, Jun.' x
Early in May, Mr. Josiah Wedgwood traveUed, by
way of Bristol, to Etruria, and from one of some interest
ing letters written to him from GunviUe, by his wife,
we can vividly realise the working of the press-gang
system of that and an earlier period. The evil was rife
1 To Josiah Wedgwood, Esq., Gunville, Dorset, April 7, 1805. Mayer
MSS.

PRESS-GANGS. 269
in these southern sea-board counties, and was as much
an infringement of the rights of individuals as opposed
to sound pohtical morality. ' The only thing that has
occurred since I wrote last has been the taking of poor
Job Harding by the Press-gang, which has excited a great
sensation in the Village, and for which I am very truly
concerned. The night before last they knocked at the
door and told the Hardings to get up, as the Press-gang
were at Hinton, and were coming to take them. Job
got up and went down stairs ; but they had broke open
the door, and seized him and carried him off without
giving him time to tie his garters or to put on his coat.
The other brother, Jem, was very iU from a chiU, but
the Lieu*- went up and satisfied himself as to the
truth of it ; and he had humanity enough to leave him
behind, though they said they should come for him
very soon. They then went to George Collins's, but
he would not open the door or answer when they called,
but prepared to stand on the defensive ; for which
purpose he broke the child's crib to have the stick as
a weapon of defence. The crew, hearing the crash,
thought he had broke through to the next house and
made his escape, and so they went off, and he escaped
this time ; but I am afraid they will get him and Jem
Harding. The poor wife of Job (unlike her namesake
in the Bible) is gone off this morning to comfort her
husband, and to carry him some necessaries, and I sup
pose the pay she received last night, which amounted
to 16s., to which Tom added some articles from his
wardrobe, and I a guinea ; and A. Harding's wife went
with her out of friendship— a walk of forty miles to and
from Poole. A good many of the women went to send
her. I saw a letter to-day from him to his wife, written
in such a simple, honest style, that it interested me very

270 THE MISERIES OF IMPRESSMENT.
much in his favour. The other two men aire frightened
to death at the thought of their turn coming next, and
they don't lie at home ; but what a sad life it is to be
feeling the torments of fear and skulking like a felon,
and that for such a length of time as they probably
will. I shall conclude this long story by heartily wish
ing that all those of our wise legislators who are so
fond of voting for war were themselves pressed and
sent on board a tender.1 Our waggoner, coming from
Poole yesterday, met poor Harding escorted by three
men, and himself pinioned. I declare this circumstance
almost made a Bethlem Gaber of me.' After referring
to Mr. George Coleridge and her boy's midsummer
holidays, Mrs. Wedgwood thus speaks of an early visit
to London : ' I have written to J. A.2 to get us apart
ments at one of the hotels, and also to bespeak a job,
and we mean to set out on Thursday and get to Town
on Friday. Tom is better, but Kitty has caught a vile
cold, which indisposed her much yesterday. Tom has
had an answer from Mr. Poole to say that he should be
glad to see him at Stowey and would return with him,
but he has written to Mr. Poole to put him off from
1 There had been many worse cases of impressment than this, so
graphically recorded by Mrs. Wedgwood. In 1773, a farmer who resided
near Shaftesbury had a family of thirteen sons. He rented a very large
farm of the squire of the district, and was a well-to-do man, some of his
sons assisting him in tilling his land. Early on a Wednesday morning,
in the autumn of this year, four of the sons and two waggoners set out
with a great store of corn for sale, at Poole, on the following, which was
market day. The parents watched their sons from the door, and never
beheld them again. They were impressed at Poole, shipped to America,
fashioned into soldiers ; three of them perishing, in June 1774, at the
battle of Bunker's Hill. The fourth son, Christopher, either escaped,
or, discharged on the removal ofthe British troops from North America,
went to the East Indies, where he settled as a ship-chandler. He amassed
considerable wealth, but, dying intestate, the money still remains un
claimed. This is a veritable history.
2 Her brother, Mr. Allen.

A STEWARD'S LETTER. 271
both, as he says matters are changed now. Eastbury
will not be deserted so soon, and I don't think he
chooses to have Tom Poole to himself. I hope I shall
hear in your first letter that John has sold Cote advan
tageously, and that you found aU there quite weU.' J
It is not often that we find stewards writing to their
employers other than of details relative to their steward
ship, but John WiUmott — Poole's friend— had been
cast in a higher mould. After an iUness of some days,
and before entering upon details relative to stock and
farming operations, he thus writes of his recovery to
Mr. Wedgwood : ' I thank God, on the Sunday morn
ing following I felt much refreshed by a sleep of 2
hours, and awoke just as the sun had opened the most
splendid dawn I ever beheld, and of which from my
bed I had a cheering prospect. It would be most un
grateful not to confess the sublime impression stamped
in that moment on my feelings. Eeturning Health then
leapt of Joy. A superstitious mind would have found a
wide field for indulgence, and the antient mythologist
would have seen Aurora leading the goddess' Hygasia,
dispensing all around Health and delight to the Heart
of man; I thought ofthe Persian worshiping the rising
sun, and for once admired the segacity of an Idolater
in confining his adoration to Nature's sublimest object.'2
Another pleasant correspondent of this period was
Caroline Drewe, sister of Mrs. Jos. Wedgwood, but
more memorable as the tender lady who in a foreign
land foUowed Francis Horner to his solitary grave.
She and her husband resided at Broadhembury, near
Honiton, in Devonshire. She receives kindnesses from
Josiah Wedgwood, and writing to him in grateful terms
1 Mrs. Wedgwood to J. W., May 5, 1805. Mayer MSS.
2 WiUmott to J. W., May, 16, 1805.

272 A RIDE TO OTTERY.
of friendship, refers to having ridden pillion-wise to
Ottery to see his son, although at this time she was
suffering from a disorder in her eyes : ' Jos. did not
write to me on Sunday, as he promised, so, as I was a
little anxious to know how his cold went on, I mounted
double yesterday to pay him a visit. On my way to
Ottery I met Captain Becon, who gave me a note from
him, containing a very good account of himself, which
I found confirmed by his appearance and Mr. and Mrs.
Coleridge's account of him. His cold was nearly gone.
He was playing in the Churchyard when I came, so I
only detained him a few minutes to make my observa
tions on him, thinking his play-time was precious,
whilst I sat half an hour with Mr. and Mrs. Edward
Coleridge, whose appearance I liked very much. The
account they gave me of your boy was such that I
would gladly live, even blind, to hear the hke of mine.'1
A month later Mr. George Coleridge gives the same
flattering account to the father, though he writes terribly
like a pedagogue of the old school. Even the hohdays
must not be without a little Latin, and if not Latin —
French. Eeferring to his pupil's diligence, docility, and
obedience, he adds : ' Of these I can give no stronger
proof than by referring you to his accuracy in analyzing*
the Latin language. To accomplish this he dedicated
full two months to get a regular knowledge of inflection,
gender, formation of verbs, and particularly a true
notion of Syntax and Government. The previous
information which he acquired with you has much
conduced to facilitate the passage through this dreary
region, and he is in consequence nearly two years on
his journey in my School. He will take home with
1 Catherine Drewe to J. W., Fenton's Hotel, London, May 18, 1805,
Mayer MSS. '

THOMAS CAMPBELL. 273
him the Ovid, a part of which he has been lately con
struing. If you employ him in French, he will not be
expected to' get a task — otherwise he will commit to
memory a great part of the Epist. of Dido to iEneas.'1
No wonder that the boy's health soon gave way under
scholastic regimen such as this.
In the letter written by Thomas Wedgwood in
August, 1803, reference is made to Campbell the
poet, but by whom an introduction was effected is
uncertain. It may have taken place either through
Gregory Watt or Sir James Mackintosh, as young
Watt and Campbell had been fellow-students and in
separable companions in Glasgow. But more likely
Wedgwood and Campbell first met at the Club. — known
as ' The King of Clubs,' upon the second visit of the
latter to London, in the summer of 1^8 02. 2 In Che
1 George Coleridge to J. W., June 18, 1805. He adds in another
letter, ' During the holidays I would advise him to retrace the ground
which he has gone over in Euclid by himself, and to commit to
memory that part only of the " Ars Poetica " of Horace which he had
construed to me previous to removal.' G. C. to J. W., Dec. 10, 1807.
Mayer MSS.
2 The Club is thus referred to in ' Mackintosh's Life ' : 'As an agreeable
rallying point, in addition to the ordinary meetings of this social circle, a
dinner (christened " The King of Clubs " by Mr. Robert Smith) was
founded at a party at his house, consisting of himself and the following
five gentlemen, all of whom have since been in Parliament, and all of whom
still survive : — Mr. Rogers, Mr. Sharp, Mr. Robert Smith, and Mr. John
Allen. To these original members were afterwards added the names
of many of the most distinguished men of the time, and it was with
parental pride and satisfaction that he received intelligence, some time
after, of their " being compelled to exclude strangers, and to limit Jheir
numbers ; " so that in what way " The King of Clubs " eats, by what
sacred rites and institutions it is conducted, must be matter of conjecture
to the ingenious antiquary, but can never be regularly transmitted to
posterity by the faithful historian.' Life of Sir J. Mackintosh, vol. i.
pp. 137-8. It lasted twenty-four years, being founded in 1800' and
dissolved in 1824.
Campbell sketches this literary club in one of his letters : ' Mackintosh,
the " Vindicice Oallicce," was particularly attentive to me, and took me
T

274 CAMPBELL TO DR. CURRIE.
spring" of 1803, Campbell, on his way from Liverpool,
visited the Potteries, and was 'feted' at Etruria, as
elsewhere, by some of the Wedgwoods then in resi
dence. And a little later, July 17, 1803, he thus
refers to Thomas Wedgwood, in a letter to Dr. Currie,
of Liverpool. Speaking of his own hability to depres
sion of spirits, and loss of confidence in himself and
the world, he continues : ' I thought this malady of
Metempsychosis peculiar to one unhappy being. I
believe I did not mention it to any one, for if I had
observed any symptom of it in others, it was in some
bad characters, whom I did not like myself for resem
bling. But I found it lately, by the confession of a
candid and worthy man, in one who is more than my
fellow-creature in this failing, as he has it even worse
than myself. I have even been reconciled to it from
seeing it the concomitant of a mind perhaps the finest
I ever met with. The person I speak of is Thorn.
with him to his convivial parties at the King of Clubs, a place dictated
to the meetings of the reigning wits of London, and, in fact, a lineal
descendant of the Johnson, Burke, and Goldsmith Society. It is con
stituted for literary conversational rivalship, maintained, to be sure, with
perfect good nature, but in which the gladiators contended as hardly as
ever the French and Austrians did in the scenes which I had just wit
nessed. Much, however, as the wit and erudition of these men please
an auditor at the first or second visit, the trial of minds becomes at last
fatiguing, because it is unnatural and unsatisfactory. Every one of these
brilliants goes there to shine ; for conversational powers are so much the
rage in London, that no reputation is higher than his who exhibits
them to advantage.. Where everyone tries to instruct there is, in fact,
but little instruction; Wit, paradox, eccentricity, even absurdity, if
delivered rapidly and facetiously, takes priority, in these societies, of
sound reason and delicate taste. I have watched sometimes the devious
tide of conversation, guided by accidental associations, turning from topic
to topic, and satisfactory upon none. What has one learnt ? has been
my general question.. The mind, it is true, is electrified and quickened,
and the spirits are finely exhilarated ; but one grand fault pervades the
whole institution : their enquiries are desultory, and all improvement
to be reaped must be accidental.' — Beattie's Life of Campbell vol i
pp. 383-4..

HYPOCHONDRIASIS:. 275
Wedgewood, the son of the Potter, of whom you may
have heard, as he is known, to literary people. We
have been sometime Well acquainted ; and from finding
him a man above par, I was fond of his conversation.
We met one day, both in a cold and cramped state of
Metempsychosis. He was cramped with bad health,
and I was crossed with my love affair ; and our con-*
versation got upon this subject. We both declaimed
upon the same malady ; and for once in my life I
found one who understood the fault of it completely.
Of this I have said enough, perhaps bothered you with
auricular confession too much/ But I cannot help
noticing poor Wedgewood — a strange and wonderful
being. Full of goodness, benevolence, with a mind
stored with ideas — with metaphysics — the most . ex-
quisitively fine I ever heard delivered ; a man of won
derful talents, a tact of taste^aeute beyond description
- — with even good-nature and mild manners, he is not
happy. I thought, till I saw him, that happiness was,
to be defeated by no other circumstances than weak
ness, vice, or an uncommanded temper.'1 Campbell
had studied medicine, and must have known full well
that what he. here caUs somewhat absurdly - metem
psychosis ' was no natural condition of the mental
state, but one, under many variations, which was
referable to physical condition or disease. Like too
many men and women of acute nervous temperament,
he suffered greatly through life from hypochondriasisj
or morbid condition of cerebral action ; and there* can
be little doubt but what the insanity of his eldest son,
which displayed itself even in the nursery, grew out
ofthe morbid mental action here complained of; so
1 Beattie's Life of Campbell, vol. i. pp. 463-464.
t 2

27Q BENJAMIN THORPE,
intimate, hidden, and fine are these psychological links
between being and being.
; Mr. Wedgwood, as seen, had two years previously
thought of Thomas Campbell as a companion, but the
poet returned to Scotland, and later, though again in
England, marriage and active literary pursuits closed
all possibility on that score. But the friends corre
sponded, and when in the June of this year, 1805, Mr.
Wedgwood,' appearing better, though rapidly sinking,
again decided to go abroad, Campbell was deputed to
look out for a companion. In the first instance he had
not far to look. In his father-in-law's (Mr. Sinclair's)
counting-house was a young clerk of high character
and attainments, named Benjamin Thorpe, known in
after years as the able antiquary and great Anglo-
Saxon scholar'! and to him Campbell made the offer ;
with repetition, as it would seem, for he wrote thus
from Sydenham, to young Thorpe, on June 8 ; ' My
deaf Sir- — I do not write to importune you, for I dare
say you may think I have done so already too much;
But I trust your correspondence with Wedgewood will
produce some good. I hold Wedgewood to be the
purest and best heart in the Universe, and though you
may think it flattery, I think, from all I have heard
and seen, so much of you, that I wish you to become
friends. I think he is worthy of you, and you of him.
I wish you not to be afraid of health in any place to
which he will go, for, depend upon it, he will run no
risks. Yours, T. CampbeU.' Addressed ' B. Thorpe,
Esq., 8, Jeffrey Square, St. Mary's Axe.'1
After weighing all the considerations connected with
the proposal, Mr. Thorpe decided against it, and
1 Letter communicated.by the late B. Thorpe, Esq., Feb. 24, 1870.

CAMPBELL'S SEARCH FOR A COMPANION. 277
Campbell again looked around him ; with but indiffe
rent success, as he thus explained : 'Dear Wedgewood
• — In the full consciousness that you know how strongly
I wish to succeed in the obtaining of a substitute for
Thorpe, I omit offering any apology for having not
yet succeeded, but I think it proper to let you know I
am still on the look-but, in case you should imagine I
had given up the search. On Monday (it was the first
day I could travel) I went to town, in consequence of
hearing that a son of Boyd, the translator of Dante,
might be likely to answer the situation. Yesterday I
found both the father and got from another quarter
a very good account of his talents and disposition ; but
the story of a disappointment must be short. I did not
get an accPunt of his age, which is but twenty, till I
had completed the enquiry into his character, which is
amiable. That age I conceived too youthful for your
society ; and there was another insuperable objection —
his friends would not hear of the West Indies. In
speaking of the West Indies, I must beg you, my dear
Friend, not to suppose me capable of the offensive
intention either to make any remarks on your choice-
of a situation, which I should think an impertinent
liberty on my side, as you must be the best and only
judge of that choice, or to insinuate, by stating the
general objection of people to go to the West Indies,
that 1 consider myself warranted to exert less perse
verance in executing my commission ; but I really
Cannot conceal how many objections are made at the
bare mention of the West Indies by men who might be
expected to grasp with avidity at the offer of protection
and provision from so respectable a quarter. I have
explained as strongly as possible that it is to a posi--
tively healthy and delightful part of Jamaica you mean

278 OBJECTIONS TO THE WEST INDIES. '<
to go, but stiU the prejudice is insuperable. The West
Indies sounds dismal, . . I want to get an amiable, in
teresting mind, with something like accomplishments,
and, as far as I can understand, activity and a knowledge
of money-management will be an advantageous recom
mendation. . . The persons to whom I have spoken to
to look through among their acquaintance for some
person such as I wanted uniformly shook their heads at
the " West Indies," and the only persons except Boyd's
son, who were even proposed were absolutely such as
were fitter for enlisting in a West India regiment than
in your society, I scarcely needed to describe yourself
and family and the advantage of their patronage ; that
is a thing popularly known ; but it would, be of a httle
advantage to have a precise statement of the situation,
which, in certain respects, I could only describe by
saying it would be a genteel allowance. You will
think me, perhaps, indelicate in asking the question ; it
is really not from impertinent curiosity, but from a
desire to possess more strongly the representative power.
of conducting a negotiation for you. Now, hitherto I
have only been telling you what I have not done, and
what expectations I have not been able to realize.
What I have been able to do amounts only to having"
lodged letters to aU my most likely acquaintance in
London to say that by getting me information of such
a person as I described they would oblige me, and they
would have an opportunity of doing what was still more,
of eventuaUy providing protection and provision for
some deserving man who might otherwise be friendless;
My letters have been lodged since Saturday. They pro
duced only one tolerable prospect of success. Four of
them are to eminent booksellers. Their acquaintance

SONG-BIRDS. . 273;
among literary men is likely to lead to the, discpvefy of
some good person.' x
In spite of these prevalent objections to the West
Indies, Mr. Wedgwood, before June closed, had decided
upon a voyage to Jamaica, his passage was taken, and a
companion engaged, although it seems CampbeU's search
stUl continued. A Mr. Johnstone, who had been secretary
to General Nugent,2 and residing in Jamaica, was
temporarily in this country, was, if he sailed before, on
his return, to provide a furnished house ; and on July 1,:
Standert, the companion, a scientific as weU as medical
man, recommended by Carlisle, the eminent surgeon,
thus wrote to York Street in relation to certain prepara
tions. Mr. Wedgwood, it appears, had. a wish to take
out Enghsh song-birds. '• I have this morning ordered.
the press to York Street, and have made every enquiry
in my power respecting song-birds. There seems to be
much more difficulty in procuring birds with their pure
native song than I at first apprehended, and I believe
it wUl be scarcely possible in London to get a full-
grown Blackbird or Lark that has not acquired some
artificial notes. A man conversant with the subject
informs me that Linnets, Blackbirds, and Larks parti
cularly, have so great a propensity to imitate,, that they
invariably acquire false notes ; but that Bobins, Night
ingales, and Thrushes preserve their song with greater
purity. The Wood-lark and Tit-lark he also mentions
as exceptions to the Lark tribe, aU the others being
mock birds. I think it will be the best plan to* rear
some birds from the nest. In this state they will pro
bably suffer less from change of climate ; and if there
1 Without signature or date, but addressed, ' Thomas Wedgewood,
Esq., Eastbury, Blandford,' and endorsed ' T. Campbell, 1805.' Mayer
MSS. 2 J. H. Allen to Josiah W., June 24,, 1805. Mayer MSS.

280 YORK STREET CHAPEL.
be any reasons to suppose they will not attain their full
natural song, yet those wUl perhaps be balanced by the
certainty of its purity. However, I can easfiy make
the experiment. I went on board the Wellesley
yesterday, and found her in great forwardness. AU
her stores were on board, except Gunpowder, and she
was expected to drop down the Eiver the latter end of
this Week. My packages will be ready in a day or two,'
and I will thank you to acquaint me if they should be
sent to York Street or on board the ship. I understand
from the sailor I found on board that our party whT
consist of three Artillery Officers and three Ladies. At
present the cabin smeUs very much of paint, but perhaps
this will go off before Mr. T. Wedgwood inhabits it. I
have not provided any bedding, conceiving you have
made those arrangements. I subjoin a hst of my
books.'1 At the date Campbell thus wrote again in reference to
a companion Sydney Smith quaintly introduced, 'a
Mr. Allen, of Wales,' to Josiah Wedgwood, and en
quired after York Street Chapel. Dating from 8,;
Doughty Street, Brunswick Square, he said : ' When the;
lease of your Chapel in York Street is expired, wiU
you give me the refusal of it? I shall not be quite as'
enthusiastic a tenant as its present occupiers are, but, I
hope, as good a one to you. I am very sorry our
rambles this summer will take a direction so contrary
1 This letter is probably addressed to Mr. Byerley. From the books
we may conclude that Standert was not onlya surgeon; but"a man of scien
tific tastes: — Sy sterna Natures, Lin. ; Lee's Botany ; Blasii Anatom. Comp.;
Monro's Comparative Anat. ; Accum's Analysis of Minerals ; Parkinson's
Chemistry; Scheele's Essays ; Black's Lectures ; Young's Syllabus; Bonni-
castle's Geometry; Euclid's Elements; Newton's Optics; Celarii Geograp.
Antiq.Florilegium, Tibulli, Catulli, Propert.; Ovid. Op. &c. ; Hqracii Opera ¦
Greek Lexicon ; French Grammar ; Cullen's Practice of Physic ; Fordyce-
cm Digestion ;- Curry on Fevers; Bell's Surgery; Winslow's Anatomy. -

LETTER OF SYDNEY SMITH. 281
to Dorsetshire, or we should have had the greatest
pleasure in paying our respects to Mrs. Wedgwood and
yourself. This L1'- wiU be brought to you by a Mr.
Allen, of Wales, a very promising young gentleman,
whom I beg to introduce to your acquaintance. He is
totally free from the vices of his countrymen, and
neither addicted to genealogy nor cheese. He has, to
be sure, faU'n.into some wicked courses in London, by
keeping company with a Mr. Phillimore, a gay deceiver
of this place ; but from these habits he will, I have no
doubt, be graduaUy estranged by the regularity of a
family. , With best regards to your amiable lady, from
Mrs. S. and myself, I remain, Dr- Sr- with real esteem
and regard, Yours very truly, Sydney Smith.'1
Though Mr. Standert was thus engaged as companion,
and the preparations for Mr. Wedgwood's voyage all
but completed, Campbell seems to have been unenlight
ened thereon, and still continued his search amongst the
bookseUers. Two letters, of no particular interest,
relate to these enquiries, and especially in regard to a
young man of the name of Taylor, assistant to Hood, a
well-known bookseller ; but, as CampbeU confessed in
one of these letters, written in answer to Josiah Wedg
wood, 'men fit for affording entertainment by their
conversation to your brother are not thickly sown in
society. A man of taste and inteUect is not to be kept
in a state of incitation by ideas much less valuable than
his own. I am persuaded that of half a million of men
in the population of London, there are not half a
dozen of men accomplished, ingenious, and informed
to the degree I conceive to be expressed by your letter.'
But on the day (July 10, 1805) this reply of Camp-
1 Sydney Smith to Josiah Wedgwood, Gunville, July 6, 1805. Mayer
MSS,

282 DEATH OF THOMAS WEDGWOOD.
bell's passed through, the London Post-office, on its way;
to Eastbury, Thomas Wedgwood died, and aU the
anxieties of many friends and many men on his behalf
were at an end for ever. Dr. Darwin, of Shrewsbury,
had long anticipated that his life would close in frenzy
or paralysis. The last was the merciful ordination..
In an instant the brain was stricken. He ceased to
all outer volition and consciousness, and calmly died
no long while after. Yet so sudden was the shock
that, whilst no one regretted that his long sufferings
had ceased, his friends heard of his sudden death with
an emotion that testified to their regard and true
veneration.

CAMPBELL TO THORPE. 283

CHAPTEB IX.
Campbell and Thorpe on Thomas Wedgwood's Death — Dr. R. W;
Darwin on the same Subject — Love of Children and Benevolence — '
His LegaeieS^P«ter Holland — Sydney Smith- — Poole and a Mourning
Ring— Last Conversations -— Metaphysical Essays — Farming and.
Philosophy— Neglect of Sir James Mackintosh — Coleridge and Leslie
— Thomas Wedgwood's Essay on Our Notion of Distance — Josiah
Wedgwood to Mackintosh — Mackintosh to Wedgwood— Mrs. Cole
ridge's Letter— George Coleridge as to his Brother— Francis Horner—
Preparations for leaving Dorsetshire — Francis Wrangham — Warden-
ship of Dulwich College — Henry Holland in Edinburgh — His Agri->
cultural Survey of the County of Chester — Sale of Gunville— Will
mott — His Valuable Services — Poole on Vaccination.
A letter from. Campbell to Benjamin Thorpe preserves:
the clearest account we have of Thomas Wedgwood's
death; ' My dear Sir,' he wrote, *I ask your pardon
for not immediately answering your polite and atten-.
tive note to me on Wedgewood's death. I know not
what bundle of anxieties, such as I have had, should
weigh so. heavy on my attention as to make me neg
lect the decent ceremonial of acknowledging your
friendly, enquiries. Wedgewood has left an existence of
little value to himself. His organs of happiness, if we
may. say so, were impaired, almost annihilated. His
heart, however, as it regarded sympathy with others,
was not impaired^ He died without a struggle, or any
symptom of pain. It was, perhaps, an alleviation of
his fate,, or rather of the feehngs of his relations, that
he died among their hands, and had not begun his
intended voyage. In thinking of poor Thorn. Wedge
wood, I deplore the loss of a man who gave me every

284 DR. R. W. DARWIN.
reason to call him my friend, and whose intellect I
revered, while I loved his feeling dispositions. I regret,
also, that the world he has left contains so few simUi-
tudes of this departed philanthropist ; for such he was,
though he felt the coarser grains of human nature
sometimes so sorely as to appear half worthy of the
opposite name. But that Wedgewood ceases to exist,
I cannot, on deliberate reflection, on the whole, lament.
I shall be happy to see you soon, and have a long
conversation with you, and remain, with great esteem,
your sincere friend, T. Campbell.'1
And all the many friends2 who communicated on
this occasion thought in the same way, that death, to
new and unpainful life, was great gain. ' I have just
received your kind letter,' wrote Dr. Darwin, from
Shrewsbury, to Josiah Wedgwood, ' and am glad you
feel and think upon the loss you have sustained in the
manner you do. A thousand circumstances at present
will hourly remind you of him, but in time you will
have the recoUection of him impressed upon your mind
with melancholy, though less painful, associations. My
wife, I am happy to say, only feels as she ought ; she
is anxious to see your mother and sisters .... Your
poor Brother having appointed me executor with you
is a great mark of respect. Feeling it such, I could
wish to do everything in my power in respect towards
his memory, as well as to save you any trouble. You,:
1 Thos. Campbell to B. Thorpe, kindly communicated by the receiver
a short time prior to his lamented death.
2 His old and attached friend Richard Sharp gave facilities to Mr.
Howship, the head clerk in York Street, for the necessary arrangements
with the shipowners, and writing from 17 Mark Lane to Josiah W., he
said, ' I need not say how greatly I regret your loss, and your brother's.
early departure from a world which he was so well fitted to benefit by
his talents and virtues.' July 31, 1805. Mayer MSS.

LOVE OF CHILDREN. 285
however, with your usual active kindness, I know, will
do everything that is necessary, and therefore I have
only to say, if you wish me to do anything, you will
have the goodness fo instruct me. . . My wife desires I
wiU say she has felt much for you, and wished to have
written to you, but could not.'1 In a previous letter
the Dr. had said : ' I have written both to Eastbury and
-to Worcester, in the hope of prevailing upon your
mother and sisters to come to us. My wife is very
much afflicted, and I think being with Mrs. and Miss
W. they may all help to console and comfort each other.
There were three modes of termination to be expected
in your poor unfortunate brother's state of health, and
that which has . occurred was by far the least deplorable,
as it was without pain. The moment the paralysis
took place aU sensation would cease. Febrile action
and phrenzy were the other two.'2
Of Thomas Wedgwood's personal appearance no ac
count remains, except that one of his nieces remembers
h'im as a taU, thin, pale, sickly gentleman, moving feebly,
by the aid of a stick, about the grounds at Eastbury ;
staying occasionally to watch, with interest, his brother's
phUdren play, and remarking, as he did so, that he
would give half his fortune if he could possibly partake
of their health ahd buoyancy of spirits.3 He seems to

1 R. W. D. to J. W., July 17, 1805. Mayer MSS.
2 Ibid. July 14, 1805. Mayer MSS.
* To an enquiry made to the late Mr. Thorpe respecting Thomas
Wedgwood, the former replied : 'I never saw Thos. Wedgwood. All
that I know having reference to him forms a very short episode in my
early career. My first employment was in the counting-house of an
Jnsurance Broker and Underwriter, who had 7 full-grown daughters,
the youngest of whom (Matilda) afterwards became Mrs. Campbell.
The family was Scotch, and T. C, when I first knew him, had recently
come from Glasgow. He was an old and intimate friend ofthe family in
question, and thus our acquaintance began. I had never heard of T. W.

286 THOMAS WEDGWOOD'S BENEVOLENCE.
have been intensely beloved by children, and no man
had ever a greater share of attached personal friends.
His large fortune was liberally divided amongst his
family. To the playfellows of his childhood, Mary
Willett, otherwise Holland, and Jane Willett, otherwise
Turner, he left handsome legacies ; the former Was
dead, but her children were benefited. Mrs. Drewe's
daughters were legatees, and Coleridge and Leslie were
continued in their annuities. He left the sum of 5001.
to be distributed amongst poor bearers of his name, and
of these there were a large number in Burslem and the
Potteries. Of the legacy to his children, Peter Holland
thus wrote to Josiah Wedgwood. After referring to
Thomas Wedgwood's death, he continues : ' I feel much
gratified by the proof he has left of the regard he had
for the excellent .mother of my children, Henry? Mary,
Bessey, and Lucy. The two first are old enough to
feel, as they ought, the obligation. Henry spent the
last winter in Glasgow ; he is now busily employed in
Liverpool. Mary is with her aunt Turner, at Newcastle.' 2
His liberal subscriptions to certain London Societies
and Charities were continued by his family for many
years, and soon after his death those who had interested
until Campbell expressed the wish that I would accompany him to
Jamaica. For me, a clerk with 501 or 601. a year, the offer of 300/. per
annum, free of any expense, was not to be rejected without deliberation.
I did, however, eventually reject it. Nevertheless Campbell pressed me
to accompany him to Salisbury to meet T. W., and make his personal
acquaintance. I yielded to his wish, and we started with the intention
of proceeding thither ; but, from some cause or other, after going to all
the places where post-chaises were to be hired, we could not, get one; all
being away. The consequence was, we gave up the intention, and thus
ended my chance of acquaintance with T. W.' Communicated March 8,
1870. 1 The present Sir H. Holland, Bart.
2 P. Holland, Knutsford, to J. W., Gunville, July 22, 1805. Maver
MSS. . J

LIBERALITY TO CAMPBELL. 287
themselves in his intended West Indian voyage were
handsomely remunerated. Standert, who had been
engaged by Anthony Carlisle, was at his instance paid
LOO/.,1 and through the graceful agency of Sydney
Smith Campbell received a liberal honorarium. Of
this, and of Thomas Wedgwood's death, Sydney Smith
wrote in this wise : ' Many thanks for yr Game— of
great intrinsic merit; but greater, as a proof of yr
kindness and good nature. I have had no opportunity
of. saying anything about yr poor Brother's death ;
indeed, it is very difficult to know in what light to
consider it. It is painful to lose such a man ; but who
would have wished to preserve him at such a price of
-misery and pain ? He will not easily be forgotten. I
know no man who appears to have made such an im
pression upon his friends. Mrs. S. and her little ones
are quite weU. We. all unite in kind regards to Mrs.
W. and yourself. Yrs. very truly, and with the most
respect and regard, Sydney Smith.'2 In December, he
writes of CampbeU ; ' I thank you very kindly for
yr liberality to Campbell, and upon that subject will
implicity follow yr directions. Many thanks for
remembering my former application.3 I will see Mr.
Byerley to-morrow, and you shall hear from me as
soon as I have mastered the business, in doing which I
will take as little time as possible. My great difficulty, I
perceive, will be Andrews ; but I think I can get at him.
Wehave not heard of any governess yet for Lady M.,4 but
I hope we shaU soon. One we have rejected on account
of her beauty. I write to save this post. You shall hear
1 A. Carlisle to J. W.,, July 13, 1805. Mayer MSS.
^ 3 Doughty Street, October 5, 1805. Mayer MSS.
s As to the Chapel in York Street. A Mr. Wallach, an auctioneer,
made an application at the same date.
* Lady Mackintosh.

288 POOLE'S LETTERS.
from me again soon at large. Yrs. very truly, and with
much obligation, Sydney Smith.'1 With respect to
Campbell, nothing further appears of much interest.
He occasionally corresponded with Josiah Wedgwood,
who sent him game, and in February, 1806, the latter
and his two unmarried sisters subscribed each a guinea
for the quarto edition of Campbell's poems.2
Poole's letters reappear, and they increase in interest.
There is a freshness and a vigour in their diction
which indicate a character of great force and originality^,
and many of the opinions expressed were uncommon
in that day. To his three choicest friends Thomas
Wedgwood had left mourning rings ; and of these
friends Poole was one. With this expression of attach
ment he was greatly pleased. ' I duly received the
parcel,' he wrote to Josiah Wedgwood, ' containing the
measures and your letter, and I have returned the
measures to Green, Ward, and Green, saying that the
letter if fits my finger. To be thought of by him on such
an occasion, and to be one of three only whom he thus
distinguished, affects me much more than I can express.
I will retain the Eing for his sake as long as I live.
I now often think of all I remember him to have said,
but particularly I am impressed by a Conversation
which I had with him when I was last at Gunville. It
seemed as if he felt it would be the last time that he
should see me. He said that he thought we must tread
back our steps, and that the more we deviated from a
simple mode of Life the less happy we were, and the
more difficult it was to be made happy. . The refined
man, said he, does not meet with one in a hundred
whose society gives him pleasure ; the Peasant does not
1 Doughty Street, December 5, 1805. Mayer MSS.
2 Campbell's receipts for same. Mayer MSS..

OPINIONS AND ESSAYS. 28
meet with one in a hundred from whom he cannot
extract pleasure. These remarks he illustrated with a
force and vivacity which proved how clearly he saw
through, and seemed to leave behind him, the Vanities
of human Nature. Much must be aUowed for the melan
choly state in which he was ; but yet, if we can retain
that love of simple Life so natural, I believe, to every
virtuous mind, that capability of being easily pleased
and easUy satisfied which most of us feel in the begin
ning of Life, and at the same time not sink into inactivity
or any of the defects of simple Life, we shall, I doubt
not, possess the frame of mind which gives the largest
share of happiness on Earth. From his Influence in
private Life, I am led often to think of what his In
fluence would have been (had he been blessed with
health) on the Public. Here is, in fact, the greatest Loss!
for I am persuaded, with his originality and acuteness
of Mind, and with his inclination to apply those Powers
to useful rather than curious speculations, that he
would, by his labours, eminently have increased the
Happiness of Mankind, Whatever he did would have
been seasoned, too, with a delicacy and simplicity of
moral feeling, and with a correctness of taste, which, if
not essential to reasoning, are always the best guard
against its abuse, and the surest passport for its recep
tion. All this is past ; but I trust you will think it
proper that which he has left behind him may in due
time appear. I allude chiefly to those Metaphysical
Essays which Sir James Mackintosh undertook to bring
forward. If he has hitherto omitted to arrange them,
surely this event will stimulate him to perform his
engagement. They will be found, I doubt not, to
contain much original matter. I beg my respects to
Mrs. Wedgwood and the Family at Eastbury. I hope
u

290 SIMPLICITY AND CULTURE.
your Mother bears this severe and affecting stroke with
fortitude. Yours most sincerely, Thos. Poole.' x
A healthier state of feeling and further consideration
would have proved to Thomas Wedgwood that it is
not by treading back, but by treading onwards in the
course of civilisation, that true happiness, as expressed
by simplicity of life, will be found. Just as the simple,
the pure, and the true were the highest expressions of
art in the greatest age of Greek sculpture, so the highest
refinement of manners and rthe highest intellectual
culture will be found as the co-ordination and result
of a civilisation which we may prognosticate, but to
which, as yet, we have made but httle approach. [ High
culture means less selfishness and a truer perception of
what constitutes our duty to others ; and with a more
equable distribution of wealth, brought about by less
greed on the part of those who possess, and more
industry and prudence on the part of those who ac
quire, will be found that mean of mutual simplicity
and well-being in which true happiness consists.
Thomas Wedgwood, like his father, had caught up
Eousseau's baseless theory of the perfectibility and
happiness of man in the savage state : whereas modern
discoveries and modern knowledge prove him to be
a base and sensual animal, with neither a taste for sim
plicity nor a conception of what truly constitutes
human happiness.
Upon the receipt of the ring, Thomas Poole wrote to
Josiah Wedgwood, who was staying in Pembrokeshire :
' I received the Eing which you were so good as to
order for me last week. I should have written to you
on the receipt of it, but I had hopes daily of hearing
1 Thos. Poole to Josiah Wedgwood, Gunville, Stowey, August 2,
1805. Mayer MSS.

A MEMORIAL RING. 291
from you. I like it very much, but I must confers that
it would have been still more significant to my mind;
and more valuable to me, if it had contained some
of his Hair. But this, I conclude, is not the present
fashion, and to fashion, I suppose, our Feelings must
submit; tho' I suspect, where they really exist, they
will be found unmanageable (at least those of the sort
I aUude to) by Fashion. It wiU give me great Pleasure
to hear from you, tho' I hardly know why I ask it ;
knowing as I do the numerous engagements which you
must have on your hands at present. Have you made
any progress in your arrangements for the sale of
GunvUle ? How does your Flock go on, and what are
your views for its future management ? I shall be
interested to know those things. I am here rather
melancholy than otherwise, and certainly should be
very melancholy if I were not very much engaged.
We are in the midst of Harvest. I am to-day carrying
Barley and Peas and cutting Wheat. The Crops of
all sorts, I think, are abundant ; but the Rust, which
committed such depredations on the Wheat last year,
has again injured the late Crops. You have seen, I
suppose, Sir Jos. Banks' satisfactory developement of
the cause of this disease. One notion in Sir Jos.' Paper
I think rather dangerous. I allude to his recommend
ing the using, for seed, the Corn injured by the Bust.
In good land, and in a good season, this may do as
well as the best Corn ; as, under those circumstances,
the mere Eye of a potatoe answers as weU as the plant
ing of a large piece of the potatoe with it. But in poor
land, and in unfavourable seasons, the infant plant
seems to require part of the parent plant, that first food
which Nature has intended for it before its organs get
sufficiently strong to find, to lay hold of, and to digest
v 2

292 THOUGHTS ON DEATH.
the nourishment in the earth around it, Thus in my
garden the Eye of a potatoe has produced a fine Crop ;
in a field, in common cultivation, where the cuttings of
potatoes have answered very well, the Eye has produced
a weak plant with little or no product. In fact, sowing
Corn without Flour in it, -or planting the Eye alone of
a potatoe, is like depriving an Infant of its milk. It
may, with great care, do without it, but it will generally
do much better with it.' . . . After referring to the
prevalence of scarlet fever in his neighbourhood, and
the loss of a fine young man, the son of a worthy
farmer, named Patten, Poole continues : ' The poor
Father's anguish this morning was terrible. I was
never more affected. What an Exciter of thought!
What a Cutter up of Schemes ! What a Humbler of
human Pride is Death ! All we can say is, that tho'
spring-guns lie in our way, it is our duty to pursue it ;
and to pursue it vigorously, as giving us the best
chance of avoiding the danger. With my respects to.
all, ever yours, Thos. Poole.' 1
A month later, Poole varies a business letter with
some remarks of interest. Of the elder Mrs. Wedgwood,
the widow of the great potter, he writes : ' I was very
sorry to hear that Mrs. Wedgwood had been attacked
with that complaint on her chest. I sincerely hope
that her health is now as well re-established as her
age and infirmities will allow her to expect. All who
know Mrs. John Wedgwood have trembled for some
years past when they think of the state of her health,
I hope she is got well. I suppose no woman ever
excited a more lively interest. Your visit to CresseUy
must, I think, have been a pleasant one ; and you now
must feel less weight upon your mind than you have
1 T. Poole to Josiah Wedgwood, August 25, 1805. Mayer MSS.

THE MENTAL VALUE OF GOOD DEEDS. 293
done, I think, for some years past. The sympathy and
the labour which you so cheerfully gave your Brother
occupied no smaU part of your thoughts and of your
time. They are now closed, and you will find them,
as they well deserve to be, a source of the purest future
pleasure. They are mental riches, which, when- all
others fail to lighten the heavy hours of life, will be
alone efficacious. It is pleasant to call up before us
the good deeds we have done : there cannot be more
delightful nor improving company. We are excited
by it to increase the number of our Guests. I believe
we could name him of all others who had the largest
Society of this sort. I hope Sir J. Mackintosh has done,
and wiU do, his duty with respect to those Papers. If
he does not. . .' I am very glad to hear you say that
you shall make Maer an agreeable residence. It is,
without doubt, the proper residence for you, and I am
truly happy you be at home at last. I have many
schemes in view, the anticipation of which gives me
great pleasure, but certainly no one more than that of
visiting you, some day or another, in Staffordshire.'
Eemarking on an interesting account Mr. Wedgwood
had given him of ' Fallett's FloCk and Wool,' Poole
continues : ' When you leave Gunville we will have
a flaming agricultural Auction. A complaint is made
here that Clothiers will not give the real value of our
fine wools, and this circumstance (which is produced
merely by the want of a little general communication)
is a great check to the advance of the breed in this
neighbourhood. Have you heard anything of Coleridge
lately ? I am informed that he is very well off at Malta.
Do you know Eickman, the Speaker's Secretary ? He is
1 Poole's threats are thus expressed.

294 OUR NOTION OF DISTANCE.
lately married, to the surprise, I believe, of most of his
Friends. How does Leslie go on with his Professorship ?
I see that he and Count Eomford are at issue in the
Monthly Eeview. With my kind respects to all with
you, believe me, Yours most sincerely, Thos. Poole.
P.S. What think you of the Continental War ? We
have frightful rumours from Germany. I trust that
they are exaggerated. If they be true, what shall we
say ? that the Talent of governing is worn out with the
old Governors of the World. At any rate, they seem to
want prompt action in an age when everything is done
by it. I thank you for offering me the partridges at
Gunville ; but when I come to GunviUe, it is to see
you rather than partridges.' '
Of the Metaphysifial Essays here referred to by
Poole as being in the hands of Sir James Mackintosh,
for arrangement and publication, nothing is known.
They were never published, and, hke the Life of Thomas
Wedgwood which he was to write, and towards which
his brother contributed many facts and valuable papers,
endless promises were made and never fulfilled. Habits
of procrastination were through Ufe as much an enemy
to Mackintosh as they were to Coleridge ; and the
papers, laid aside for intended use at some future time,
appear to have been lost sight of or destroyed. The
only essay or fragment which survives is a paper
entitled ' An Enquiry into the Origin of Our Notion of
Distance.' It was drawn up by some one, whether
Mackintosh or Leslie does not appear, and was pub
lished in the third volume of the ' Quarterly Journal
pf Science and Arts.' It will be seen 2 to be, consider
ing the immense scientific advance made since that day,
1 Poole to Josiah Wedgwood, Stowey, ye 29th October, 1805.
Mayer MSS. 2 Appendix.

BROTHERLY LOVE. 295
a somewhat feeble attempt to replace the Berkeleian
theory of optical distance by the more objective ideas
of Eeid, of whom Thomas Wedgwood was an ardent
admirer. In the September of 1,805, Josiah Wedgwood
answered the letter of Sir James Mackintosh previously
•given. This reply was worthy of the preservation a
rough copy gives, and testifies, in the unmistakable
words of deep brotherly affection, the worth of him
whose death no man could mourn. The answer is
dated from Cresselly: 'My dear Mackintosh,' wrote
Josiah Wedgwood, 'I received your letter of 21st of
February yesterday. Every mark of your remembering
¦me with kindness gives me the greatest pleasure, and
I can never forget your warm invitation to Tom to
seek that health with you that he could not ensure in
-England. You have probably heard of his death. It
was a release to him from hopeless misery, and to his
famUy from looking on the sufferings of a man extremely
dear to them all, without the power of mitigating them,
and with the horrible prospect of their being increased
until Nature should fail under them. I believe the
probable terminations of his disease were palsy or
frenzy, and happy it is for us all that death came in
the milder form of palsy. I had long ceased to look
¦on him with any hope, and I may be said to have seen
him die for two years. No one was so intimately
acquainted with his whole existence as I was. He had
not a thought he concealed from me ; and very few, I
¦believe, have been the men whose thoughts and feelings
¦would better have borne to be made public. I know
that time will wear away the fineness of the impression
I have of his pure and manly virtues, his talents, his
taste, and his genius ; but I shall, I trust, never lose the

296 FINE AND PATHETIC REGRETS.
heartfelt satisfaction with which I remember that I am
his brother, and that I never forfeited his esteem- or
his love. As a father my loss is very great, for, young
as my children are, he had acquired in an extraordinary
degree their veneration, their love ; and if he had
lived, with even a very moderate share of health and
comfort, his example and his influence would have
formed them to elegant tastes and pursuits, and to
virtuous habits. I cannot deny myself the pleasure, of
opening my heart to you, who knew him well. He
was a son worthy of my father, and I am proud of my
relation to two such men. I shall receive the work,
which is probably on its way hither, with a melancholy
pleasure. In one of his late conversations, which were
touching and even sublime from the simphcity with
which he spoke of himself, as if he were already
detached from the earth, and soared above its petty
vanity and selfish egotism, he expressed his regret that
he sh&uld have been deprived by ill health of the
power of showing what he felt that he had otherwise
been capable of performing — a regret that no one
would have felt in a livelier manner for another, and a
regret in which the generous will join for him. Perhaps
your work founded on his metaphysical speculations
may awaken the sympathy of similar minds, and his
regret, expressed in so pathetic a manner to me, may
prove an anticipation of what others will feel for him.
When I see the work I may judge whether ¦ you mean
it for publication ; but I think it will be better to wait
for hearing from you again, as perhaps you will indulge
me with writing an introduction or preface referring
to the pecuhar circumstances of the work with more
liberty than you would have done in his lifetime. I
shall, at any rate, take no step without consulting Sharpe.

MR. BYERLEY'S SONS. 297
I should be glad to induce you to write an epitaph
for him, but I can scarcely venture to make the request.
I wish I could second your kind exertions in favour of
T. B. His father gave him a good education and
placed him in our counting-house, but he was unable to
set himself steadily to work, and he was in danger of
becoming profligate as well as idle. Mr. B. bestowed a
greater expense on Tom than was perhaps strictly just
towards his very large family. If he were to return to
England, I fear he would be a burden on his father,
who has not the means for doing more for him, and who
would be utterly at a loss how to dispose of him ; nor
do I know in what way he could earn his bread. I
have, therefore, not thought it right to disturb Mr. B.'s
mind by acquainting him with your opinion of his
son's wishes, but I have copied your very pleasing
character, and sent it to him. When I see Mr. B. I
may find, in conversing with him, what he knows of his
son's wishes and what he purposes to do for him. At
present I believe he knows from T. B.'s letters that he
would be glad to return; but as he is at this moment
anxiously settling his elder son in business, and suffer
ing from the unsteadiness of the son next to Tom, I
must as yet leave Tom's wishes unknown to him, if he
is not already acquainted with them.
' You will not find us at Gunville when you return.
I am going to sell all my property in Dorset, and to live
at Maer. My principal inducement for this change is,
that I may look to my business, and next, that I may
diminish a very heavy load of debt which I have in
curred in making purchases quite disproportionate to
my means. If I sell my estate, I may then be able to
join any of your moneyed friends in a loan to you, for
the purpose you have pointed out ; though I shall even

298 A WISE APPEAL.
then be considerably in debt. At present, I cannot do
more than meet the caUs that are made on my income.
I should not have mentioned this subject, if I had not
thought it possible that you might think me able to
contribute to a loan, and therefore unkind in not doing
it. I don't know that there is any. probability of a sum
being raised for your use ; and I believe that one man,
to whom you would naturally look as a first mover
in the business, is not in better plight for lending
than myself. I say this without any communication
with him, and it is merely my unauthorised opinion.
But do not, dear M., whilst you are forming more splen
did projects which may never be realised, throw away
the opportunity you have in your hands. The distance
that separates me from you seems to diminish the re
straint arising from the ordinary forms of politeness, and
to cast a seriousness upon our intercourse, which raises
me above the feelings that would prevent my presuming
to offer an opinion or advice relative to your concerns
if you were still in England ; though I am confident I
might, in any case, rely on your good temper and good
nature for an excuse for taking a friendly liberty with
you. Allow me, then, to urge you to consider whether
you are not spending more than you need do. I can
not help fearing that you may, and I do believe your
habits and inclinations to be so adverse to anything of
parsimony that I am persuaded you will not make a
fortune without considerable exertion of self-command
and a frequent and close inspection of your expenditure.
For example, a coach and four seems to be as expen
sive, except for the taxes, in Bombay as in England ;
and a man would not drive four horses in his carriage
here if he were determined to save a considerable
fortune from a limited income. I cannot help fearing

SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH. 299
that your expenditure is formed on the habits of men
who make fortunes by great gains, rather than on those
of men who make fortunes on the savings of moderate
incomes. Saving is an art you have to learn ; and it
is unfortunate that each little, which is to form the
aggregate saving at the end of the year, seems at the
critical moment a matter of no consequence, and does
not offer a sufficient inducement to overcome the indo
lence or the inclination of a man accustomed to hve as
he pleases. All this, I know, is perfectly obvious and
commonplace, and perhaps for that very reason it may
not be sufficiently a part of your daily habits of thought.
' We have all a great interest in your success in
obtaining the object for which you went out, and, after
the health of yourself and Kitty, this is the object of our
greatest solicitude. It is in this view that we consider
all you tell us of yourselves and all we hear of. you
from others. Excuse me, dear M., and do not let Kitty
be angry with my preaching  n
Of the philosophical speculations and the memoir of
Thomas Wedgwood, Sir J. Mackintosh wrote more
explicitly, in the subsequent February, 1806. 'It is
now nearly two months,' he said to Josiah Wedgwood,
at Etruria, ' since we. learnt poor Tom's death, by the
Morning Chronicle, and the delay of the ship for Bom
bay has still kept us ignorant of the particulars. I will
not, by any detail of what we felt, disturb the tranquillity
which your rational and firm mind must have regained
long before the distant period of your receiving this
Letter. It was a death which perhaps affection ought
not to have prevented, if she could not have made life
more happy. But Catherine, who- has more sensibility,
1 Josiah Wedgwood to Sir J. Mackintosh, September 16, 1805.
Mayer MSS.

300 A PROMISE NEVER FULFILLED.
as well as more of every other high virtue, than I have;
was suddenly and deeply affected by the death of one
who deserved so much and enjoyed so little ; by that
Event which precludes the possibility of any compensa
tion for suffering, at least in our world. I felt it a
good deal, though not so deeply and not so honestly
as she did. I have some mixture of self-reproach that
I was prevented by a thousand unworthy causes from
gratifying him as I ought to have done. Nothing
remains but the duty which I owe to his memory,
that of showing his understanding to the small Public
which can see it ; of showing how bright a philosophi
cal genius went out when the life of that feeble body
was extinguished. That duty I am prepared, inclined,
and indeed resolved, to perform with all my soul and
with all my strength. But it would be improper to
publish his philosophical speculations without some
account of the very extraordinary man whose specula
tions they were. If there be Errors, the reader ought to
be warned that they may be the Errors of an Interpre
ter who has suffered to pass by for ever the opportu
nity of being corrected by his Author. Sketches so
masterly ought not to be deprived of the Interest which
they derive from being traced by a dying hand. Nor
ought it to be concealed from the Public that the
superiority of his Understanding was the least part of
his claims to distinction above most other men. His
virtues ought to be fully displayed, which the words
charity and generosity do very inadequately represent ;
and which approached more nearly to a total want of'
preference of himself over others. All this ought to be
done. It cannot, however, be done without most ample
materials from you. You must send the dates of his
Birth, of his various Courses of Study, reading, or medir

MATERIALS FOR A MEMOIR. 301
tation, of his travels, of his Illness, in short, of the few
occurrences of his too short Ufe, with such Anecdotes as
have impressed themselves on your mind, and such
.observations on his intellectual and moral Character as
have occurred to your excellent and most vigorous
understanding, in the course of that affectionate and
really brotherly intimacy which subsisted between
you. Mr. Leslie will not be unwilling to contribute
his Share. Dr. Beddoes, Coleridge, &c, will not surely
decline to take a part in the labour of love. The only
title that I have to superintend the arrangement of the
Materials is that I was chosen by himself to be the
Editor of his Philosophical Speculations, or, as I would
rather call them, discoveries. Before I can receive
from you aU these materials for the Introduction I
shaU have long completed the body of the work.
Place unbounded confidence in me on this occasion,
and I will justify it. I hardly know how to add any
thing on less interesting subjects, and Kitty's Journals
and Letters, with mine to John and Baugh, will have
communicated all the news which our comfortless
banishment can afford. I look with impatience for the
China Ships, which wiU, I hope, bring a release to poor
Byerley, who deserves a better fate than that of being
a subaltern at Guzurat, Short of absolute want, there
can hardly be a worse. I am glad to find that you are
about to reassemble in Staffordshire, which I consider
as the seat of your hereditary. . . } A Wedgwood
living out of Staffordshire must lose something of his
proper importance. With my best remembrances to
aU the Wedgwoods and Aliens, believe me, dear
Wedgwood, Yrs entirely, James Mackintosh.'2
1 Obliterated.
2 Sir J. Mackintosh to Josiah Wedgwood, Bombay, February 28,
1806. Mayer MSS.

302 COLERIDGE AND LESLIE.
This letter was answered in the following October,
and a half-obliterated and fragmentary copy shows
with what interest Mr. Wedgwood had, amidst countless
other avocations, already taken up the subject of a
memoir of his brother. He had received Sir J.
Mackintosh's letter in July, and, referring to delay in
answering it, he says : ' I have been travelling to and
from Etruria and Gunville, bargaining for the sale of
the latter and all upon it, moving my family, &c, &c.
In short, I have had so many concerns to attend to,
relative to Gunville, Etruria, and Maer, that I have
always put off writing to you to a more tranquil
moment. I lost no time, however, in applying to
Leslie to furnish me with materials for the account you
propose to write of Tom's life. I also made the same
request to Coleridge immediately on his return to
England, about six weeks ago. I have not heard from
either of them, but I have no doubt of their complying
with my request. I have begun to write all that
occurs to me on the same subject, but the information
I can give will be very meagre, for I have an uncom
monly bad memory. I shall make it, however, as
complete as I can, and I hope to send you all that can
now be collected by the spring ships. I shall be more
desirous to write all that occurs to me than to be
studious of the arrangement or selection of the matter;
I shall write without reserve. You will take what
suits your purpose, and give it the proper tone for the
public ear. I cannot expect that the public wiU
sympathise with my feelings and opinions, and I shall
write only as for you.'1
Josiah Wedgwood was a man of punctilious business
1 Draft of letter. Josiah Wedgwood to Sir J. Mackintosh, Etruria,
October 11, 1806. Mayer MSS.

LOST OPPORTUNITIES. 303
habits, and on this question of his brother his feelings
and interest were much concerned. There is therefore
no reasonable doubt but what these materials for a
hfe of his brother were collected and .despatched to
Bombay. But no Essays or Memoir ever appeared ;
and the omission reflects great discredit on Mackintosh,
Coleridge, and Leshe. The two last were benefited by
the dead man's gifts to the end of their days ; and the
merest sense of gratitude ought surely to have prompted
their laggard pens. But a fatalism attended aU record
of the Wedgwoods. It was with the son as it had
been with the father: those who could have written
with the vitality of personal knowledge suffered oppor
tunities to pass which no man can recall.
Coleridge was in Malta at the time of Thomas Wedg-^
wood's death, and some months elapsed before he
learnt the fact. His wife, making enquiry of Josiah
Wedgwood as to how her husband's annuity was
affected by this event, explains her reason for silence
thereon. Dating from Keswick, Oct. 13, 1805, she
wrote : ' Before I can take, the liberty of drawing on
you as usual, I must entreat the favour of a Une from
you, in which you will have the goodness to inform me
if any arrangements occasioned by the decease, of
your lamented Brother make it improper that I should
do so. And while I am writing I cannot resist the.
melancholy inclination I feel of expressing my sincere
condolence for the loss of a brother, and of a friend so
estimable and so beloved. It will, I fear, prove a dread
ful shock to Coleridge on his landing, for I have not.
written him an account of it, knowing how much mis
chief things of that nature occasion him. He kept his:
bed for a fortnight after being suddenly told of the fate
of his friend Captain John Wordsworth. I received a

304 SARA COLERIDGE.
letter from Coleridge about a month since, dated July
21. He says he shaU certainly quit Malta in a Month
from that time ; he is only waiting the arrival of Mr.
Chapman, the former Secretary, to resign his office to
him. If Mr. Chapman does not arrive, I do not
suppose Coleridge can come, for he says Sir A. B.
behaves so well to him and with so much kindness, that
he shou'd be sorry to occasion him any inconvenience.
But he is unhappy in the extreme, not having received
above 3 or 4 letters from home during the time of his
residence on the Island. I myself have had only four
from him ; the last but one was more satisfactory than
the last, for his health had been greatly injured by grief
for the Wordsworths. Whatever your wishes and
commands are, believe me, they shall be cheerfuUy
obeyed. I beg my compliments to Mrs. Wedgwood,
and remain, dear Sir, yours most respectfuUy, S.
Coleridge. If you have lately heard from Mr. Poole,
of Stowey, I should be very glad to hear that he is
well, as I have not at present any correspondents in his
neighbourhood. ' *
The inducement which led Coleridge to visit Malta,
instead of Madeira, was an invitation from his friend
Mr. Stoddart, afterwards Sir John, who resided there.
Shortly after landing, he was introduced to Sir
Alexander BaU, the governor of the island, whose Secre
tary being absent, Coleridge officiated for some months
in that capacity. But the post was discordant to his
habits and tastes, and he gladly left upon the return of
Mr. Chapman to his post. StiU officially employed, he
took Sicily on his way to Eome, as we find in the
following extract from a letter of George Coleridge
1 Sara Coleridge, Keswick, to Josiah Wedgwood, Etruria, October
13,1806. Mayer MSS.

." COLERIDGE IN ITALY. 305,
to' Mr". Wedgwood": 'I- am obhged to you for your
friendly communication respecting my brother Samuel.
The same account I received about a fortnight, since,
by means of a gentleman who had been spending some
time in the neighbourhood of Keswick,, who added
likewise that my Brother had contracted for Corn so
.ably in Sicily, that he had been requested to go to the
Morea to handle and contract for Bullocks. My Brother
Edward, with Mrs. L. Coleridge,1 unite with me in
thanking you for no less than five hares. They have
been divided, I believe, agreeable to your wishes. I
hope, however, you wiU not think it necessary to send
us Game . at all, scarcely not in such abundance, as
must cause yeu much trouble in procuring.'2 There is
no evidence that Coleridge visited the Morea, but he
spent some time both in Naples and Borne, and returned
to this country in August 1806. De Quincey considered
that Coleridge's visit to the Mediterranean, from. which,
according to Southey, he was to come ' home fuU of
'.pontics,' was an unfortunate chapter in his hfe, as he
there confirmed and cherished his habit of taking opium
in large quantities.
A pleasant letter of September 1805, from Francis
Horner to Josiah Wedgwood, relates to Sir James
iMackintosh. Mr Erskine had written from Bombay
to Horner in respect to the illness 'of Lady Mackin
tosh and her family. After referring to this point
with ' regret, Horner continues : ' Erskine says that
Mackintosh continues , stiU much oppressed by the
nothingness of Bombay Society. He has not been idle,
.though making little progress in his metaphysical
.speculations. His collections for a political and moral
1 The wife of his brother Luke.
2 G. Coleridge to J. Wedgwood, November^, 1805. Mayer MSS. .

306 PRESENTS FROM GUNVILLE.
history of India are already very large and valuable.
Great progress is already made in a statistical or
economical survey of the islands of Bombay and Salsette,
and he has even interested the Governor himself in the
undertaking. A literary Spciety of Bombay is likewise
established, of which he is President. He delivered an
admirable discourse on opening this institution, and
proposed to follow this by others. The meetings are
monthly. Several papers had been read, and a premium
offered for the best Essay on a passage of the Periplus.
This, 1 think, is the substance of my letter.' 1
Mr. Wedgwood, at this date, August 1805, was pre
paring for the sale of his Dorsetshire property. Friends
in every direction were receiving parting- tokens of his
kindness. Game and venison were despatched hither
and thither in abundance-. Mr. Drewe was offered a
mare, by name Matilda, but he refused it ; ' for I must
repeat,' he said, ' I cannot think of aUowing you to heap
such treasures so abundantly on me, and therefore hasten
to say that, though I do not accept this fresh offer of
your kindness, I shaU ever feel as grateful as if Matilda
was my own.' In concluding his letter he adds : ' I
hope little Jos. will reach you safely; he's likely to have
bad weather for travelling. Caroline has informed
Bessy of the sharp PhiUppic Mr. G. Coleridge wrote me
for asking only one Holiday.'2
Great improvements had been effected at Maer since
its purchase at the close of 1802 and possession in the
spring of 1803. Mr. Pepper, of Newcastle, advised by
¦Mr. Haycock, of Shrewsbury, had projected and super
intended them. Windows were brought from Etruria
1 Francis Horner to Josiah Wedgwood, September 12, 1805. Mayer
MSS. .
2 E. Drewe, Esq., Broadhembury, to J, Wedgwood, Gunville, December
1805. Mayer MSS.

THE STAFFORDSHIRE GENTRY. 307
and set up at Maer, and at the same date the beautiful
Jasper ornaments with which the elder Wedgwood had
adorned his various rooms at Etruria Hall1 were
removed to this new residence. These ornaments were
in great variety, including panels, friezes, door-plates,
chimney-pieces, and brackets. The Staffordshire gentry
seemed heartily glad to have the Wedgwoods once
more amongst them. Mr. Caldwell, of Linley Wood,
and Mr. Sparrow, of Bishton, both of them local nota
bilities, sent their congratulations to Josiah Wedgwood
and hoped ' they would often meet,' and his friend
Francis Wrangham, afterwards Archdeacon, wrote :
'You told me something which rejoiced my heart ; your
thought of exchanging GunvUle for Etruria, and that
we should again become comparatively neighbours.
My brain has dwelt upon the idea frequently since,
and I have even gone so far as to project bringing Mrs.
Wrangham for 3 days to see you in Staffordshire
about the middle of next April, if you should by that
time have reached your new old abode. . . You had
a brother, too, whom I never saw without feeling that I
had before me not only one of the most enlightened,
but (what added much to his earthly value, and I doubt
not adds at least proportionately to his. present happi
ness) one of the most benevolent of men. And I doubt
not, if we are worthy, we shaU see him, too, in our
future and better existence.' 2
In the summer of 1805 the election of a new Warden
1 The following relates to these architectural enrichments : — ' I re
member seeing in your father's House the sides of the Shutters — that is,
the Imposts or Architraves— finished with Medallions, Antiques, blue
ground, let into the sides. I think they were from 2 to 3 inches
broad. Do you make any of them at present ? ' — W. F. Brockholes,
tClaughton, Cheshire, to JosisdiWedgwood, Etruria, February 27, 1812.
"* 2 Francis Wrangham, Hu^ftmanby, to Josiah Wedgwood, Gunville,
December 8,-1805. Mayer MSS. x 2

308 DULWICH COLLEGE.
for Dulwich College took place, and, from two Candi
dates who were chosen from many others, L. B. Allen,
son of John Allen, of Cresselly, and brother of the wives
of John and Josiah Wedgwood, was elected by drawing
lots. He was a young man of moderate fortune, and
resided when in London with his brother, who had
chambers in Paper Buildings, Temple. His letters
show him to have been an educated, refined gentleman,
a lover of horses and dogs, a keen sportsman, possessor
of a yacht, and a gay, dashing fellow. He and his
competitor drew lots for the Wardenship, agreeing
beforehand to pay to him who lost 100 guineas.
Being successful, he had to find a dinner for. aU the
unsuccessful candidates, which was to cost 40Z., and he
adds, in a letter to Josiah Wedgwood : ' I have not yet
been a visitor to Dulwich, the Master not having got
his things out of my rooms, and the Carpenters being in
his. I shall, therefore, not get into them before I go
into the country, which will be, I hope, immediately
after the 4th of September, if these cursed Frenchmen
aUow us to move anywhere. I will then go down as
fast as I can to Cresselly, and shall enjoy myself not a
little, and not the less for the probability of meeting
you. . . I have had some excellent venison from
Dorsetshire. Carhsle has given me a paper read at the
Eoyal Institution for you on the Physiology of the
Ear.'1 Peter Holland's letters again appear, and contain
brief passages which are now of interest. Writing from
Knutsford to Josiah Wedgwood, he says: 'My son
Henry is setting out for Edinburgh in three or four
days, and has desired me to request you to favour him
with a letter to Mr. Leshe. He has no intention of
1 J. B. Allen, August 19, 1805. Mayer MSS.

AGRICULTURAL SURVEY X)F CHESHIRE. 309
attending Mr. L.*s lectures this winter, as his other
engagements wiU scarcely aUow him time for this ; but
he thinks an introduction through your means to Mr.
L. may be both pleasant and useful to him. I think I
told you that Henry had deserted the mercantile life, in
which he had embarked, and was intending to study
medicine. The last three months a portion of his time
has been occupied in drawing up a kind of survey of
the county of Chester for the Board of Agriculture.
Whether the Board wiU consider it worthy of publica
tion I do not know. He has nearly completed it.' x
The survey was not only published, but is even at this
day one of the most readable books of its class, and
fuU of sound and well-prepared material. It brought
considerable reputation to its writer, as, apart from its
merit, it was considered a remarkable performance for
so mere a youth as Henry Holland then was. His
father, however, probably assisted him. Peter Holland,,
the Knutsford surgeon, had a widespread local reputa
tion, and his letters evince a refinement and cultivation
not Common to country surgeons of his time. He had
a brother a merchant at Trieste, to whom he often
refers in his correspondence with Mr. Wedgwood ;
another brother was partner in the firm of Holland and
Humble, Liverpool export merchants ; and a third came
from abroad and entered as a partner in an English
foundry. Peter Holland appears to have had a taste
for mineralogy, and was one of the original' share
holders in the Herculaneum Pottery in Liverpool.
In another letter Mr. HoUand says : ' I was much
obliged to you for your letter, with the incfosure to Mr.
Leslie, which Henry wiU find highly useful to him when
1 P. Holland to J. W., October 11, 1806. Mayer MSS..

310 SALE OF GUNVILLE.
he gets to Edinburgh. He is probably there by this
time, though 1 have not heard of his arrival. He was
fortunate in getting other introductory letters to Playfair
D. Stewart, Hope, &C.'1
After due advertisements in the county and other
newspapers, and negotiations with several bidders, Mr.
Wedgwood's Dorsetshire property, which included
Tarrent Hinton, Hinton Bushes, Eastbury Garden,
Eastbury Park, Bussey Stool, and Tarrent GunviUe, aU
of them places between four and six miles from Bland
ford, was sold to John James Farquharson, Esquire, of
Langton Maltravers, near Wareham, for h2,000L, being
1,270Z. increase upon the original cost. But much had
been done to raise the value of the property by im
proved farming and planting. Mr. Wedgwood's services
towards improving the breed of sheep in that district,
were highly considered ; and his flocks of Spanish
and other sheep sold high, bidders coming from
remote parts, to the sale. A considerable number were
retained by Mr. Wedgwood, and sent into Staffordshire.
The business with Mr. Farquharson was closed on
September 3, 1806, and Mr. Wedgwood, journeying
with his family to Etruria, thus wrote to WiUmott : ' We
had all a very prosperous journey to this place, and
were overtaken at a few miles distance by my brother
and Mrs. Wedgwood. We are now preparing for the
Prince of Wales, from whom we expect a visit on
Friday.' After referring to the transit of plate and
other valuable goods, Mr. Wedgwood continues :
' Be so good as to write a line to Mr. Farquharson, to
say I wish to gather a bag of laurel berries when they
are ripe, and provide for their being sent to Poole, to
1 P. Holland to J. W., October 25, 1806. Mayer MSS.

FARMING STOCK. Sll
come here by sea.'1 Numberless plants also added to
these Dorsetshire mementoes.
With the sale of the Dorsetshire property, an arrange
ment appears to have been made that Mr. Willmott
should leave his employer. But Mr. Wedgwood was
aware of his merit in furthering an advantageous sale of
his estate, for he wrote : 'lam very sensible how zeal
ously you exert yourself for my interest, and I return
you my thanks.' In this same strain, Mr. Davis, a land
surveyor and agent, of Homingsham, near Warminster,
also wrote : ' I am very happy to hear you have got
through your Jobs so weU. I think as you do, that the
Nursery was valued low. However, it is so far all gain,
as the original cost was trifling, and if Mr. W. had been
left to his own good Nature he would have given Mr.
F. the whole. Your Farming Stock has told out weU,
and I am certain you are entitled to great Credit on that
Account. I must also aUow Hawkins his share in having
the Farm in such order. Mr, F. is quite right in employ
ing him. I wish to God he would also employ you in
some higher concern. I should think he must have many
concerns that require such a head as yours, and where he
is to get it elsewhere I know not. I speak this from my
Heart, and without meaning to flatter you, for I must
say I never saw Books kept in such a style as yours.
My acquaintance in the Mercantile World is very slight
indeed. Among the Landed men it is pretty general.
But I shaU be very happy to have it in my power to
answer any references that may be made to me in the
way that you have a right to expect from me, and to
which you have a just claim.' z

1 J. W. to Willmott, Etruria, September 10, 1806. Mayer MSS-
" Thos. Davis to J. Willmott, September 28, 1806. Mayer MSS.

312 POOLE ON VACCINATION.
. Poole, too, also offered his congratulations oh this,
advantageous close of the Dorsetshire business : ' I need
not say it gave me pleasure to read that the GunviUe
business had closed to your entire satisfaction. I
fear the Poor of GunviUe will send many sighs after
you.' The same letter shows that Poole, hke many other
men of sound common sense, had a stronghold of opinions
into which hght from the new and experimental did
not enter. Just as Sir Humphry Davy did not believe
that the fighting London with gas was an experi
ment which could be practically solved, and Dr.
Lardner that ships propelled by steam could cross the;
Atlantic, so Poole had. httle or no faith in vaccination.
' I am truly glad to hear your Family have got through
the Measles well. I have always considered them as
worse than the smaU-pox, under inoculation even ; and
more, supposing you a Friend to Vaccination (about
which I have great doubts), the measles are indeed the
disease which we have most to dread. I therefore
heartily congratulate you and Mrs. Wedgwood, on
their being past.'1
Poole had, at this date, entered into partnership with
a Mr. Ward, and added to his business of a tanner
that of timber merchant and dealer in bark. To extend
these business concerns he and Ward borrowed 2,500/..
of Mr. Wedgwood, which was duly secured, and returned
in a comparatively brief period; and' through 1807
they bought largely at Mr. Wedgwood's Dorsetshire
sales of bark and timber. In relation to this carriage-
of timber he wrote : ' I have some thoughts of going to
Bristol next week. Is there anything I can do for you
1 Thos. Poole to Josiah Wedgwood, Etruria, October 20, 1806.
Mayer MSS.

CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS. '313
there ? We find such a difficulty in hiring timber car
riage, and they charge so extravagantly, that I am going
to buy a carriage and hire horses there. We are certain,
though it will cost a httle trouble, that it will well pay.'
This was written on December 27, and in allusion to
the Christmas holidays he adds : ' I forgot to mention
in my last that I was vexed and disappointed at not
being able to meet your Jos. in his way from School^
at Bridgwater ; but I was obhged on that day to
attend a Meeting of Justices on some business of con
siderable consequence to this Parish. I hope nothing
wiU prevent my seeing him on his return, and do allow
him to pass a few days with me. Seeing him for a few
minutes is really nothing.'1 In a previous business
letter he had written : ' I am truly happy to hear you
have escaped so weU the breaking up of the Continent.
I trust you wiU some day or another be paid your
debts, for there is yet honour left among private men/ 2
1 Poole to Wedgwood, December 27, 1806. Mayer MSS.
2 Ibid. December 20, 1806. Mayer MSS.

314 POOLE'S OPINIONS OF BONAPARTE.

CHAPTEE X.
Poole's Letters — His Dislike to Bonaparte — Regretsprofoundly Coleridge's
neglect in writing Thomas Wedgwood's Life — Wool Trade. — Cornish
Mines — Literary Materials sent to Sir J. Mackintosh — Poole's Work
on the Poor Laws — Bark and Leather — George Coleridge— Sickness
in his School — Mr. Wedgwood's Generosity — Poole's Description of
S. T. Coleridge and his Children — Whitbread's Educational Schemes
— Coleridge's Letter from Bridgewater — His Trial of the Bath Waters —
The Portland Administration — The Life of Colonel Hutchinson---
Badness of Trade — Coleridge's Lectures — Davy's Analysis of Water
— Exports to America— Decorations on Table Ware — A Swindler —
Pastile Burners for the Bishop of Winchester — Interesting Notice of
Aaron Steel — His Vase Painting — Irish Trade — Warehouse in
Dublin — Mr. Byerley's Remarks on Bentley — These valuable to
Connoisseurs — Richard Lovell Edgeworth — Proposes to make his Son
a Potter — Mr. Wedgwood's Opinion — Orders in Council — Henry
Brougham — The Fate of Eastbury.
During 1807 and 1808 Poole's letters to Mr. Wedg
wood were numerous, and many of them are preserved.
They refer frequently to Coleridge in this the saddest
and darkest period of the poet's life, and they are in
teresting from the variety of other subjects touched
upon. Poole was a staunch Whig, yet it is curious to
find him a protectionist where his trade was concerned.
Like many other sensible Englishmen of his time, he
judged Bonaparte to be no better than a military
adventurer, and his power but a baseless despotism ;
though defeat and collapse came much less quickly
than he imagined they would. Writing to Mr. Wedg
wood on business, Poole continued: 'We thank you
for all the trouble you take on this business, as weU as
for the pleasant accommodation which your advancing

COLERIDGE'S DILATORINESS. 315
the money has afforded us. The political prospects of
the Party you met in London are melancholy indeed.
From the various accounts we have from Poland, I
know not what to beheve: but if Buonaparte met
with one decisive defeat, he would faU hke a Balloon
bursting in the highest clouds. If the Continent be
subdued, I think we may stand, if we are worthy of
standing. Our FalUng will be the proof of our un--
worthyness. I should very much like to meet you in
London in the Spring, and your being in London will
be one great inducement, added to the many I feel, to
pass a few weeks there if I can. Do let me know at
what time you will be there. If Jos. be not gone to
school, pray inform me of the day on which he wiU pass
through Bridgewater, as I wish much to see him, and
will be really disappointed if I do not. I can say
nothing in extenuation of Coleridge's conduct, and it is
useless and afflicting to make the observations which it
deserves; but I mean to write to Davy shortly, and as
Coleridge is to exhibit at the Eoyal Institution, I wiU
desire Davy to ascertain if Coleridge is doing anything
concerning your dear Brother's Life, or if he intends
doing anything. I should Uke to see much your Place
and your Improvements in Staffordshire, and see I
trust I will, with your good leave, before I am a twelve
month older. I know not if the non-importation of
Spanish wool will make our mixt wools of readier
sale : but certes, the chief obstacle now to the increase
of the mixt breed is the tardiness of the Clothiers in
purchasing the wool. They will not give nearly its
real value. To whom did you seU your mixt wool at
Gunville ? I wUl surely send you a Hha of painted
Ladies, if I can procure them ; but I am afraid the sort
is got out of this neighbourhood. ShaU I send a TLh?

316 LITERARY MATERIALS SENT TO MACKINTOSH.
of the Kidneys with them, which we think a very
good Potatoe ? Your Testimony of WUlmott gives me
very great pleasure. I shall be truly glad to hear the
poor fellow has a situation. . . Have you heard that
Davy is elected Secretary to the Eoyal Society, a situ
ation, I suppose, of honour and profit ? ' l
To this letter Mr. Wedgwood wrote in reply : ' How
agreeably we have been disappointed by the opening
speech of Lord H. Petty. The arrangement to carry on
the war without more taxes appears to me a trait of
genius, and I have no doubt wiU make the Ministry
popular at home and place our peace resources in a
formidable point of view to Buonaparte. I trust your
expectations of one decisive defeat of the French wiU be
put to the test, and that the result wiU do honour to your
sagacity. I own I do not believe one defeat wiU ruin
him. My going to London is quite uncertain. If I go
I will let you know, and I hope we may meet there.'
Just previously to this date Poole had become an
adventurer in a Cornish copper mine, and in relation
thereto Mr. Wedgwood continues, ' I heard from Giddy
lately that copper is so much reduced in price that the
Cornish mines will be ruined. Have you begun to work
your mine ? If not, I suppose the state of the trade wiU
prevent your carrying on the work. I have this day
sent to Mackintosh my materials for my brother's life*
and I have copied your just and able character of him.
What I have furnished is very deficient in information,
particularly as to his studies and the history of his
speculations. I believe Leslie will help out in these
respects, but I have yet received nothing from him,
owing to a mistake between him and me. I hope
1 T. Poole to Josiah Wedgwood, Etruria, January 28, 1807. Mayer
MSS.

MANAGEMENT OF THE POOR. 317
Mackintosh wiU execute what he has undertaken ; but
he has been so long without doing anything, that I
doubt whether he will or no. If you have preserved
a letter I wrote you soon after my brother's death, I
shall be obliged to you for a sight of it. I wiU return
it, with my brother's letters to you. I hope you will
not fail to let me see your work on the Management
of the Poor, which I think a subject of the greatest
importance to our national welfare, and on which I
beheve you are able to throw a great deal of hght. In
that, as in commerce, it will probably appear that true
wisdom would consist in not regulating at all ; but it
would by no means foUow that we can in either discard
regulation at once. I am persuaded, however, that we
must try to arrest the progress of the system that has
been making such rapid advances. Jos. will go through
Bridgewater on Saturday next, in the Exeter coach from
Bristol. I am very sensible of your kindness in wish
ing to see him.' 1
Poole was called by business unexpectedly to London,
and on his way thither he wrote thus from the inn at-
Bridgewater : 'I am writing here at the George, wait
ing to see Jos. ; and with an intention afterwards of
proceeding in the Bath coach to Bath, and from Bath
to London, where I hope to arrive Monday morning.
You see I am in London before you, which I did not
expect or think of when I wrote last. I am solicited
in a way which, added to my other inducements, I
cannot resist, to come up concerning the BiU which is
now pending in Parliament relative to oak bark and
to the leather manufacture. Our object is to prevent
oak bark being bought to seU again, which has been
1 Josiah Wedgwood, Etruria, to T. Poole, February 2, 1807. Mayer
.MSS.

318 THE BATH COACH.
prevented by law since the 2nd James 1st, but which
Law the pending Bill proposes to repeal. We think
we can prove if the Bark (trade) is absolutely thrown
open, that bark will much exceed its present enormous
price ; and if this should be the case, the leather trade
must be much diminished or the price of leather much
increased ; either of which would be injurious to all
classes. Bark makes, on an average, at least Is. 3d. on
the value of leather. If you could assist us, I would
send you details of our case. If I can do anything for
you in London, I need not,. I hope, say, command me.
At present (tiU I have found Lodgings) a letter will find
me directed for me at George Ward's, No. 37 Paternoster
Bow. . . The state of the copper trade I think encou
raging to our adventure. We shall have none to seU
for nearly two years, by which time it wiU be probably
dear ; and, in the meantime, we shall have men and
materials cheap. I hope Mackintosh will fulfil his
promise ; if he does not, we may admire, but cannot
respect or love, Men of Genius, I leave a bit of paper,
with the hope of telling you in five minutes that Jos.
is well. With respects most truly to all, ever yours
Thos. Poole. Bath, Sunday Morning. I was obliged
to set out in the Bath Coach from Bridgewater before
the Bristol Coach arrived ; but I knew I should meet
it. Found Jos. on the top of the Coach like a little
soldier. I stopt the Coaches for a few minutes. He is
grown indeed a fine Boy. I enquired if they had such
a passenger. " Here am I," he said. " Why do you
ride on the top ? " "I like it." After hearing of your
welfare, and seeing him as happy as a Boy could be
coming from School, we parted, my desiring him to
take particular care not to fall ; but at this he seemed
to laugh. He seems fit to go through the world, and

THE WEDGWOODS AND GEORGE COLERIDGE. 319
as interesting a boy as I ever saw. May he and all
yours be blessings to you. My dear Sir, adieu.' 1
Kindly man and strict pedagogue as he was, George
Coleridge received his pupfi gladly ; but in little more
than a month iUness had entered the sehool. To cer
tain cakes and cold the disorder was attributed ; but
presently, when no amendment came, Mr. and Mrs.
Wedgwood and a sister2 of the former were summoned.
After a few days' kindly intercourse with the Coleridges,
they and their boy departed for Exeter, where was
higher medical skill than Ottery could afford. Here
cold and stomach disorder merged into scarlet fever.
But before this had declared itself Mr. G. Coleridge
thus wrote in acknowledgment of some new kindness
of his generous friends-. He was a weakly man, often
aihng from attacks of hereditary gout, and Mr. Wedg
wood's intention of presenting him with some wine is
aUuded to : ' Mr. Hart (who is with us) has just imparted
to me your kind intention of presenting me some wine.
That it is not possible for any person to lay an obliga
tion on you I have had ample occasion to observe — and
truly it is more blessed to give than to receive. But
you must aUow that I am much your debtor, and can
assure you, with the utmost sincerity, that in the httle
attentions which Mrs. Coleridge and myself have lately
had an opportunity of shewing you and your famUy
our motive has been to repay, and not to create, an
obligation. Under this impression, be assured that I can
1 T. Poole to Josiah Wedgwood at Dr. Darwin's, Shrewsbury, February
7, 1807. Mayer MSS.
2 G. Coleridge seems to have loved teaching for its own sake, and to
have been not unwilling to see a pupil in every friend. He says in a
letter of November 27, and in allusion to Mr. Wedgwood's sister: 'We
should have been happy to have made a more intimate acquaintance. I
think she had some notion of learning Greek from me. I believe
shouldiave found a very apt pupil.'

320 HOLIDAYS AT OTTERY.
expect no extension of those favours which, personaUy
and coUaterally, I have received, and which, possibly,
I shall never have an opportunity of repaying ; unless,
indeed, it be (in the language of Milton) the repayment
of a grateful Heart which in owing owes not, but is at
once indebted and discharged. This which is in my
power I will endeavour to cultivate, in lieu of that
which is not in my power ; and wiU, moreover, strive
through life to prove to you, in every substantial act
which falls in my way, how much and how truly I
am, dear Sir, your obliged Friend and Servant, G.
Coleridge..' l
In April, the boy was removed from Exeter, but on
his way he suffered a relapse, and was for some time
very ill again at Newport, near Berkeley, in Gloucester
shire. This occasioned letters of enquiry from Poole and
others ; but at length, better and safe in Staffordshire,
we gather from G. Coleridge's communications thereon
some few facts as to himself which are interesting. 'I
am nOw, I think,' he wrote, ' completing my 25th
Campaign in the West of England, and I do not remem
ber, saving the illness of poor Jos., that I have ever
finished one more to my satisfaction. I reckon it
among the comforts of this late Session that I have had
an opportunity of knowing you and your family, and
of witnessing those qualities for which, before, I had
given you credit., Badley Salterton, or some obscure
place by the sea, wiU soon receive us for five or six
weeks, after which Mr. Warren, my Assistant (who is to
inhabit Warden House, with ten or twelve Boys), and
myself recommence our usual work.'2 A fortnight
later he writes again : ' Your kind letter met me at
1 Ottery, March 31, 1807. Mayer MSS.
2 Ottery, June 21, 1807. Mayer MSS.

JOSIAH WEDGWOOD'S GENEROSITY. 321,?
Badley Salterton, whither for quiet, and for the purpose
of new stringing my crazy instrument, I have made my
retreat. The place is so healthy, and the opportunities.
for bathing so excellent, that but for your mutual loss
in the way of domestic Affection I could wish Jos. here.
To repay you in any way for your repeated kindness
and generosity would be some satisfaction. The ad
dition which you have made to my BUI (consideratis-
considerandis) was superfluous, and therefore deserves
my most grateful thanks. The addition, too, which
you have made to my happiness, by announcing Josiah's
complete restoration to Health and his intended return
to me, is a subject of sincere congratulation and com
fort to Mrs. Coleridge and myself. We shaU be truly
happy to receive him any time after the 3rd of August
next. You were right in supposing that the enclosed,
letter for my Brother Samuel would have met him at
Ottery, to which place he delays his intended visit,
because we cannot receive him and his Family here. I
shall therefore forward it to Stowey.'1
Before passing to the letter which this of Mr.
Wedgwood's at length elicited ., from S. T. Coleridge, it
is interesting to hear what Poole says of him and his
increased habits of procrastination. His and Coleridge's
letters were both written on the same day. ' I should
have written to you a few days ago,' wrote Poole to
Mr. Wedgwood, at that date in London, ' but I was
willing that Coleridge should write before me, or at
the time I did. He has been with me for these
three weeks, with Mrs, Coleridge and his Children ;
but the last three or four days he passed at Aisholt,,
with Mr. Price, from which Place, I find, he wrote you;
l, G. Coleridge to Josiah Wedgwood, July 4, 1807. Mayer MSS.
T

322 POOLE ON S. T. COLERIDGE.
a letter, which I hope you have received. I admire
him and pity him more than ever. His information is
much extended, the great quahties of his mind height
ened and better disciplined ; but alas ! his health is
weaker, and his great failing procrastination, or the
incapability of acting agreeably to his Wish and WiU,
much increased. Where a Man has such a Heaven in
his own Mind he is averse to exercise the Body ; and if
the Body is weak it has httle power over the- Mind.
The tide of life which gives joy does not exist ; there
is in such a Being little reciprocity of action' between
Body and Soul. But the worst of all is this — that, for
want of such corporeal exercise, the weak Body gets5
weaker and weaker, till it is finally shook off, and then
we lament ; for the only medium by ' which we could
communicate with such a spirit in this World, and
through which such a Spirit could be useful to us, is
destroyed. Heaven grant that Coleridge may be an
exception to this sort of necessity attending such Men.
' Certainly Coleridge's neglecting to write to your dear
Brother, and to you, and to me, did not arise from the
want of the sincerest love. He was dreadfully affected
when I first spoke of your Brother, and he told me, as
a proof of how much he had been in his thoughts, that
he had a paper, now in its way from Malta, in which
he had portrayed your Brother, and, to the best of his
ability, made a sketch of his extraordinary Mind. This
was done while he was at Malta, and he did not hear
of his death until his arrival in England. Mrs. Coleridge
is very weU, and the Children as fine a Family as you
can see. Hartley is exactly hke his Father. Derwent is
also much like him, but is stronger bodied, and more
of the common of the World in him. The little
girl is a sweet little animated Fairy, that looks like her

¦ WHITBREAD'S EDUCATIONAL SCHEMES. 323"
Mother's Family with her Cap on, but like her Father,
with her Cap off.
' Coleridge educates the boys, and he is beginning
with Greek, in which I think he is very right. He is
forming a Grammar and Lexicon from Greek, at once,
into English, for their use, and, I trust, for publication.
' I agree entirely in sentiments with you as to the
late and present administration. As to Mr. Whitbread's
Schools, " where the very early labour of Children is
profitable," there must be time aUowed for educating
them, or they cannot be educated at aU, : and that they
should not, I am sure, you are not prepared to admit,
I, should suppose a certain quantity; of work and educa
tion may in such districts go on together, and time
aUpwed for Play also, which I hold to be absolutely
necessary to form a human Being worth a farthing for
any situation. Whitbread's Premiums I like ; but his
honorary Badges I do not. I suggested to him a useful
Piece of Furniture, such as a Clock, in lieu of such
Badges. The Badge of disgrace, under the restrictions
he proposes, I rather think, 'would be useful. The
.Cottage Plan I consider as applicable only to particular
cases, and in such cases that a power of the sort should
exist in the Statute Books seems to me proper. I am
sorry to hear what you say about Trade ; our Trade
feels it, too ; but I fear this is only the beginning of
sorrows. I am pleased to hear that yoii have reason to
be more pleased with the sale of Gunville. I think you
sold it in a lucky time. My brother-in-law King* sold
his Estate at Beton, about three months ago, for less, I
think, than 25 years' purchase.'1
Coleridge's letter from Aisholt, near Bridgewater,
1 Thos. Poole, Stowey, to Josiah Wedgwood, 24 Charles Street, St.
James's Square, June %7, 1807. Mayer MSS.
-'•'•-  -  "i"a """ " ' - ' ""'" - •'  '

324 AN ORIGINAL LETTER OF S. T. COLERIDGE.
saddens whilst it interests. It betrays how entirely at
this date he had given himself up to the ceaseless Lethe
of opium : for the pains, the irresolution, and the de
spondency he so vividly describes are little other than
those of the habitual drunkard after his debauch. Poole
writes in apparent unconsciousness of the true cause ;
referring it to a sickly habit of body, induced, in a great
measure, by neglect of exercise. Coleridge, we shaU
see, had, whilst at Malta, written an account of Thomas
Wedgwood and his metaphysical writings ; but the chest
containing his books and papers was lost during its
transit to this country, and, unfortunately, he failed to
re- write it. His criticism, that Mackintosh was a man
of talent, not of genius, had given offence, but was
nevertheless true ; defining genius to be the highest
expression of the human inteUect. Aisholt,
My dear Sir, near Stowey.
' As to reasons for my silence, they are impossible,
and the number of the causes of it, with the almost
weekly expectation for the last eight months of receiving
my books, manuscripts, &c, from Malta, has been itself
a cause of increasing the procrastination which constant
Ill-health, Despondency, Domestic Distractions, and Em
barrassment from accidents equally unconnected with
my will or conduct, had already seated deep in my very
muscles, as it were. I do not mean to accuse myself of
Idleness — I have enough of self-crimination without
adding imaginary articles — but in aU things that affect
my moral feelings I have sunk under such a strange
cowardice of Pain that I have not unfrequently kept
Letters from persons dear to me for weeks together un
opened. After a most miserable passage from Leghorn
of 55 days, during which time my Life was twice given

HIS AFFECTION FOR THOMAS WEDGWOOD. 325"
over, I found myself again in my native Country, UI,
penniless, and worse than homeless. I had been near
a month in the Country before I ventured, or could
summon courage enough, to ask a question concerning ^
you and yours ; and yet, God Almighty knows that every
hour the thought had been gnawing at my Heart. I
then for the first time heard of that Event which sounded
Uke my own kneU, without its natural Hope or sense
of Best. Such shah I be (is the thought that haunts
me) ; but 0 ! hot such. 0 ! with what a different retro
spect. But I owe it to Justice to say, Such good I truly
can do myself. Long, long before I received your mes
sage, I had impatiently waited for my effects, which
have been most unkindly or injudiciously detained by
Stoddart, 'after having been received from the French
at Naples, by the unusual address and more extraordit
nary courage of Mr. G. Noble. Among my papers I had
a MS. in which I had reduced into form all I had
understood of my Benefactor's opinions in psychology^
written partly from my sense ofthe possibility of Sir J,
Mackintosh's death, or loss of the only authentic materials
in his possession from other accidents, and partly, too, 1
own, in justification of an assertion I had once made to
Mr. Sharp and Sir James respecting the main principle
of the System. But which showing that it was only in
the main principle, and not in the proofs or in the
manner of coming at it, that it agrees with some
philosophers of another country, I had drawn at full
a portrait of my friend's mind and character. *0 Sir,
if you knew what I suffer, and am at this moment
suffering, in thinking of him — how often the top great
pain has baffled my attempts in going over again the
detail of past times — and added to it my own bad state
.of health and worse state, of mind, you wpuld be more

¦826 EXCUSES FOR: NON-FULFILMENT.
disppsed to pity than wonder at my day after day
prPcrastinating, when I had every right and every
reason to expect the receipt of that which would enable
me to do weU, and with comparatively little suffering,
what without them I could not do but most imperfectly:
In other respects, too, I have been a great sufferer (for
I can appeal to Mr. Southey, and to Mr. Wordsworth
and his family, that no event has happened of any im
portance in the Mediterranean — the Constantinople
business, the Explosion and Mutiny at Malta, and the
occupation of Egypt with inefficient Troops — which I
had not distinctly stated the probabihty -of).'- I was, it
is true, sent for by Lord Howick, in consequence of my
conversations with Mr. W. Smith ; but his Lordship's
Porter repelled me from his door with gross Insult/ and
took my Letter, even, with a broad Hint that he should
not deliver it
' If I can summon fortitude enough, as I trust I shall,
to give you the detail of my Life from the time of my
leaving Portsmouth to my Eeturn, you would see that
I had been least of aU things idle or ill-employed,' tho'
for others' credit and advantage more than my own
immediate benefit; and that, as extremes meet, the
faultiest parts of my conduct have arisen from qualities
both blameable indeed and piteable, but yet the very
opposite of Neglect or Insensibihty.
' In less than a week I go down to Ottery, with my
children and their Mother, from a sense of duty as it
affects myself, and from a promise made to Mrs. Cole
ridge as far as it affects her, and indeed of a debt of
respect to her for her many praiseworthy qualities.
' Before I went abroad I had written a long Letter to
Miss S. Wedgwood concerning some very gross misre
presentations of my conduct respecting Sir J. M, from

CHRISTABEL. 327
.a very worthy. but a very rnischevious man, who (I
believe in great measure from causes connected with
¦his want of sight) is sure to modify whatever he hears
into his own preconceptions, and to spread abroad what
ever he imagines himself to have heard. But when I
understood that I had been charged by Miss Wedg
wood herself and by the Miss Aliens without having
talked unkindly and contemptiously of their Eelation
before, them at Crescelly, I burnt it. For I had con
nected with Crescelly, and the sisterly kindness with
which I was treated there, some of the warmest feelings
of my nature ; and so help me God ! I cannot recollect
a single conversation which might enable me to plead
guilty to the charge, unless it were that, admitting him
to be at the very head of the men of great Talents, I
stiU could not, according to my own notions, consider
him as a Man of Genius. My last call on Sir James
was, I may truly say, forced upon me by Mr. T. Poole,
and I certainly understood him to imply that it was a
request, or at least a wish, of my revered Friend, and I
went thither expecting nothing more or less than to
hear something concerning his metaphysical MSS.
After leaving him I met Mr. Tobin at Mr. Davy's (if I
recollect right), and mentioned Sir James's kindness
to me, quietly and respectfully, which I am led to
suppose Tobin coloured and shaped , according to his
own antipathies.
' I am at present on the eve of sending two volumes
of Poems to the Press, the work of past years,. My
Christabel, which had been the1 , . . and most
greatly admired, I have been told by Davy, Lamb,
Wm. Sotheby, Sir G. and Lady Beaumont, and at least
1 Word imperfect.

328 THE CAUSE OF SHORTCOMINGS.
a dozen others, has been anticipated as far as all origi
nality and style and manner goes, by a work which I
have not read, and therefore cannot judge how far
the opinion is just. If so, it is somewhat hard, for the
Author had long before the composition of his own
publickly repeated mine. Besides, I have finished a
Greek and English Grammar on a perfectly new plan,
and have done more than half of a small but sufficiently
compleat Greek and English Lexicon, so that I can put
both to the Press whenever I can make just terms with
my Bookseller ; for, if it should succeed, it might be of
consequence to my chUdren and their mother when I
am no more. I am, my dear Sir, with unaltered esteem,
gratitude, and affection, ' Your obliged Friend,
'S. T. Coleridge.'1
Every word in this depressing letter bears the im
press of profound sincerity. Coleridge felt all this and
much more ; indeed, more than pen could write or
tongue utter. He must have been conscious that
almost all his duties in life were neglected, and yet he
made no attempt to put aside the stumbling-block
which stood in the way of fulfilment. It is nonsense to
say he could not. One exertion of his will to resist the
deadly source of this intolerable misery for himself and
others would have strengthened him for a second
resistance -f and thus onward, till he had so far mastered
his propensity as to have had time, strength, and
inclination to have re-written not only his memoir andt
metaphysical analysis, but to have produced works from
the profit of which comfort and independence would have
1 S. T. Coleridge to Josiah Wedgwood, 24 Charles Street, St. James's
Square, June 27, 1807. Mayer MSS.

COLERIDGE AT BRIDGEWATER, ,329
'come. His miserable self-delusion that ' constant Ill-
health, Despondency, Domestic Distractions, and Em
barrassment ' arose from accidents unconnected with his
' wiU or conduct,' only proves how far selfish indulgence
can go in deadening our lofty faculty of conscience. ,
At the end of July we hear again of Coleridge
and of other matters. ' I am glad,' wrote Poole, ' to
hear that Jos. is proceeding again to School. If you
have time, do give me a line to say when he wfil pass
through Bridgewater. It will be a long journey for
him to return at Xmas. Would you allow him to pass
that vacation here with me ? I promise you I will
take the best care I can of him in every respect.
Besides the pleasure I should feel at having him here,
I think it would tempt you once more to see Stowey,
which I really think would be a better plan than his
-taking so long a journey in the midst of Winter.
Coleridge is gone to Bridgewater to pass two or three
days with Mr. Chubb, where Mrs. Coleridge and the
Children now are.1 They leave Bridgewater this
•morning for Bristol. Coleridge I expect here again
this evening or to-morrow. He told me a few days
since that he wanted to write to you, and I suppose you
will hear from him shortly. By accident Dr. Gibbs of
Bath called here a. few days ago, and he seemed to
think CoL's complaint gouty, and on the whole that
Bath inay be of service to him-, at least, he said^
"The tendency of the Waters on his constitution
may be ascertained by a week's residence, and he
thought the experiment should be tried." Col. says
he certainly will try Bath before he leaves the Country,
I sicken when I think of Politicks. That the only
1 This is the visit referred to by De Quincey. Autobiography, vol. ii,
p. 156, et. seq.

330 .' THE PORTLAND MINISTRY.
Power capable of saving the World from a military
Despotism should be placed in such hands as our present
Ministry1 is a wonderful circumstance in the history of
Man. Could any Eeader of that history, any common
Judge of human Nature, have anticipated such a circum
stance ? And this, too, exhibited in a Country famous for
great and virtuous Men, and for its form of Government,
Calculated to call forth and exhibit their greatness and
Virtue. Shall we fear that God has deserted the Planet
and resign ourselves to our Fate ; or shall we rather
believe (and which I believe) that it is intended to
hasten a crisis which will be eminently advantageous
to us and to Mankind? Our public Men must be given
a new Spirit, and there must not be so many of theifi,
like our Friend D. Giddy, admirers of the Attorney
Noy. I have not room for the subject, but cannot
help expressing what I strongly feel — that Giddy would
have been happy, ah ! too happy, if he had never been
a M.P. What a miserable exhibition he has made
since the change of Ministry ! What respect has' he
1 The Portland Ministry, of which Castlereagh was Secretary of
State and Eldon Lord Chancellor. It inaugurated a period of bigotry
and intolerance worthy of Laud and Strafford. Of this and, its pre
decessor, the Grenville Ministry, Mr. Byerley wrote to his chief: < To
morrow Parliament will be dissolved. What confusion will be made in
the country by this event, considering that Religion is to be brought in
as a party on this occasion. The most irreligious men of all are those
who introduce her into such bad company. A picture of political life is
thought to be now exhibiting that is extremely degrading and mortifying.
The Committee of the House of Commons has made discoveries of pecu
lation implicating men of the highest classes for birth and talents, and
persist in their determination to make them known, although in one
case or two restitution has been made by the friends of the defaulters to
the amount of 20,000/. It it said, then, that the whole work of the
Committee must be quashed by dissolution, that the publication will too
much inflame the public mind, nor will be necessary, because the present
Ministers, knowing all the facts, will privately apply the remedy. The
Dissolution, I am told, was not finally decided on till late on Saturday
night.' Mems., London to Etruria, April 27, 1807.

LIFE OF COLONEL HUTCHINSON. 331
lost! There is a book " lately published " which I
suppose you have seen ; but if you have not I am sure
it wUl give you great pleasure to read. I mean the
Life of Col. Hutchinson, one of King Charles Judges,
written by his wife, who was a Model for Women. I
am sure the Book will do more good than any which
has been published these last 20 years.' r
Amongst the improvements at Maer was the drainage
of a morass, partly for the purpose of converting the
area into meadow-land, and partly for the formation of
a large pool. Consulting his Stowey friend, as usual
on topics of the kind, Mr. Wedgwood's letter was thus
referred to. And first as to his son : ' I had the gratifi-
• cation of meeting Jos. yesterday at Bridgewater,' wrote
Poole. ' He was going on remarkably well. He was
wishing to ride outside the Coach ; but I dissuaded
him from it,' as the evening was coming on, and thos©
outside were beginning to put on their great Coats. So
he proceeded inside, and as the Guard was an acquaint^
ance of mine (my Uncle, in fact, procured him his situa
tion), I desired him to speak to the Landlord at
Cullompton to be sure and give him a well-aired Bed.
However, Jos. is grown such a fine Boy that he wants
no one to take care of him. Indeed, I was surprised
to see how much he was grown.' After referring to
the morass, Poole continues, 'I thank you for your
kind invitation to Etruria. I intend paying you a
visit this autumn, if I am not induced to go into Corn
wall to get skiU in mining. Our Mine wiU now, I
believe, proceed forthwith ; and, as many of the Ad
venturers depend much on me, I feel it a sort of duty to
become as familiarly acquainted with the business as I
1 T. Poole to Josiah Wedgwood, Etruria, July 30, 1807. Mayer
MSS.

332 . MINING AND TRADE.
can. Indeed, the Ecton Mine ih your County would
perhaps be as good an example as we could take, as I
understand the Copper at Ecton Mine is, or has been,
found in the same substance in which it is found here,
viz., a recently formed Limestone. Horner is at
Bridgewater on our Circuit. I expect him to pass a
day here before he leaves the County. Davy and
Tobin are at Lyme. I am in daily hopes of seeing
them. I wish, my dear Sir, you were nearer. Your
account of Trade is melancholy ; but what trade is not
bad ? I can truly say the Leather trade was never
worse. The raw material scarce and dear ; the manu
factured plenty and cheap. What think you of the
disgusting scene in the House of Lords concerning the
Place Eeversion Bill ? If there be any love for what
is fair and detestation for what is mean left ih the
Country, it will not endure such conduct.' 1
Writing again in November in relation to business
connected with a large purchase of timber, Poole con
tinues : ' I am truly sorry to hear such an account of your
Trade. Your wish to extend the home trade I should
think very rational, for the home demand in every branch
is always the most steady, and, if not the most profitable,
is at least less exposed to accidents than foreign trade;
I hope your proposed Dublin Warehouse wiU turn out
everything you could wish ; but I must acknowledge
the political state of that Country would make me
•hesitate to give large credit there. If you have no
establishment at Liverpool, I should think that a good
Place ; but it is ridiculous for me to suggest hints to
you on such a subject. I was very glad to hear by
your letter that WiUmott was likely to be with you
¦ ^T. Poole to Josiah Wedgwood, August 9, 1807. Mayer MSS.

COLERIDGE'S LECTURES. 333
again. It gave' me great pleasure, because it was such
a testimony, of your approbation of his past conduct ;
but I was surprised and mortified a few days ago at
learning by a letter which he wrote me that he had
agreed with Fry and Co., the Tea Warehouse. He
.speaks of it with regret. He says he should have pre
ferred your situation, but Mrs. WiUmott was anxious
to remain in London on account of many of her oldest
friends residing there. . . . Coleridge is, I beheve, in
London, about to deliver Lectures, chiefly on Poetry,
at the Eoyal Institution. His Health is very bad, but
to describe it would alone require a long letter. I
wish you could see him ; you would pity and admire.
He is much improved, but has stul less voluntary Power
-than ever. Yet he is so committed that I think he
must dehver those Lectures.' 1
Coleridge did not add to his reputation by these
-Lectures, though he received a hundred guineas for the
course of sixteen. He bestowed httle pains upon their
preparation ; his audiences were repeatedly dismissed
with pleas of Ulness ; and those who attended when
the Lectures were reaUy given were disappointed both
¦with their substance and deUvery.
At the close of December, Poole again touches upon
the political aspect of the times. ' I regret,' he writes,
' that you are inconvenienced with this Eussian War :
whether it would have come without our vile attack on
Copenhagen, I know not. I think Ministers are bound
to prove that they would. The Event in Portugal is
splendid and interesting. The House of Braganza, or
its advisers (for I fear that Stock, too, is worn out), has
lost some of its credit by hesitating : but, however, as it
*• T. Poole to Josiah Wedgwood, November 10, 1807. Mayer MSS.

334 AN ANALYSIS OF WATER,
is, I think it one of the finest things in modern history,
and one in which I should have Uked best to participate.'
Speaking of the advantages and differences of public
and private education, and of a change of school which
Mr. Wedgwood contemplated for his eldest son — for
the scholars at Ottery had been sent home before the
usual time, through a fresh alarm of fever, which, how
ever, proved groundless — Poole adds a question : ' But
with your property, do you never think of putting
business put of the question with Jos., and aUotting
business to your second or other Sons ? In this case,
I think I would breed Jos to the Bar, tho' he never
practised. One may fancy, in a concern like yours, each
Generation may establish an elder Son as a Man of
Property. This, I grant, is an aristocratic notion, and
I don't know if you will Uke it.' At the close of this
letter, Poole refers to Davy : ' You have heard of poor
Davy's dangerous illness, and of his happy recovery ; -I
hope recovered to add still more to our knowledge.'1
In the April of 1807, Dr. Daniel, the physician at
Exeter who had attended Mr. Wedgwood's son upon
his removal from Ottery School, addressed the former
as to an analysis of water from a certain spring. Mr.
Wedgwood referred the point to Davy, and elicited the
following reply : 'My dear Sir, If Dr. Daniel will ad
dress a quart Bottle of the Water recently taken from
the spring, corked and carefully sealed, to me, I will
procure an analysis of it for him, either by my friend,
Mr. Allen, of Plough Court, or by the operator to the
Eoyal Institution. The common charge for a complete
Analysis is, I believe, 10 guineas ; for such a trial as
:would merely indicate the general nature of the water,
. ' Poole to Josiah Wedgwood, December 27, 1807. Mayer MSS.^

DECORATED TABLE WARE. 335.
half that sum. I congratulate you on the. recovery of
your Son, and I hope Mrs. Wedgwood and your family
are weU. I some time ago received some specimens of
Cobalt from Mr. Stanley, of Cheshire. Amongst many
useless varieties of Ore, one good specimen occurred.
Would you permit me to send a smaU quantity of it to
Etruria, for the purpose of exp* ? He states that he has
found some quantity of the good variety. With com
pliments to Mrs. Wedgwood, I am, my dear Sir, very
faithfully yours, H. Davy.'1
As shown by Poole's letters, our trade with Conti
nental States was, at this date, all. but ruined. The
American market was open under a certain range of
low duties ; but America was, as yet,-a poor and thinly
peopled country, and there was little or no demand for
goods of an ornamental character. In pottery, as in
other things, exports chiefly consisted of cheap, and
consequently inferior, goods. Even Etruria found it
profitable to send second-class cream ware ; and . orna
mental goods consisted chiefly of teapots, candlesticks,
and flower-pots in jasper, with white reliefs. But the
home trade was of more account. Such architectural
decorations as cornices,2 mouldings, and chimney-pieces
were still occasionally caUed for ; and considerable
taste was shown in the variety of patterns for table and
dessert ware. A chief pattern of this period, 1807, was
what was caUed ' gilt peony,' a large blue flower under
a fine glaze, thrown negligently on the body or occa-
sionaUy on the rim of the plate, whilst the edge* was
richly gilt. Of one such service Mr. Byerley writes in
his memoranda from London to Etruria : 'Mrs. Eoberts^
the famous swindler, has been with us, and. got a set of
1 H. Davy to J. Wedgwood, April, 1807. Mayer MSS.
2 Cornices were supplied to Earl Talbot .in 1806. . . . : .

336 WANT OF NOVELTY..
blue Peony and gold edge, about 27£ We were all"
completely deceived by her address and her equipager-
and our porters had not the smaUest suspicion, finding
6 servants in Livery in the house. Qur set and 12
more from other shops, the richest,! daresay, she could
lay her hands on, were all cleared off the premises,
mostly converted into money instantly, and some taken
in execution, as was the case with ours. We had no
gUt plates, and therefore lent our gUt ones for present
use, 8 doz. These we have claimed as our property,
but are resisted. However, I think we should persist,
as the case is clear. Without plates the other things:
cannot be sold for much. If they go for a trifle I wUl.
buy them in ; they have never been used.' A few days;
later Mr. Byerley adds : ' I have bought back at Auction
the Peony and gold ware we were swindled of. What
we charged 17Z. I have got for 71. It had never been
used.' 1
Mr. Byerley was often urgent for the exercise of
more originality and taste. ' I am sorry to teU you,'
he wrote, ' that we appear here to stand in need of all
the aid you can give us with Novelties, for, though the
town is very fuU, our rooms are very empty most days.
I wish I had something to go to the Queen with. She
graciously expects us at this time of the year ; but I
know of nothing new and good enough.'2
The best engravers were employed to vary received
patterns and compose new, and it began to be perceived,
if as yet dimly, that much of the oriental adaptation of
colour and decoration was perfect. Hence various fine
objects in oriental china were bought and studied.
Eeferring to a border sent in by Gangain the engraver,
1 Mems., London to Etruria, April 14 and 29, 1807. Mayer MSS.
2 Ibid. April 20, 1807. . .

ORNAMENTAL WARE. 337
Mr. Byerley remarked : ' The Alagree border is very
fine, but stiU it is only a repetition of what one sees in
every glass and earthenware shop window in town and
country. Whatever merit may be displayed in the
execution of things so much in public view, it wiU add
but Uttle to . the fame of your establishment, always
characterized by originality. To maintain that character
requires depth of research. With a sufficient quantity of
that, I should not despair stiU of finding subjects that
other artists in our way have not had access to, and
thus take the lead, instead of halting after others.1 A
great many subjects bearing aUusion to ancient customs
still remain to reward the diligent researcher. ... A
very good selling Article are candlesticks for reading*
toilettes and washstands in dressing-rooms. They should
be light in form, slightly but tastefuUy decorated, and
come cheap. These things would seU fast, in blue and
white jasper, 4, 5, & 6 inches high, All the forms we
have in black are old, but not hke some other things*
bettered by being so.'2
At this period, as already shown, pastile burning, for
the purpose of purifying the air of dining and other
rooms, was much in fashion ; and on this subject Mr.
Byerley records in his memoranda, April 18 : ' I have
just been attending the Bishop of Winchester, who has
laid out some guineas in ornaments, and wants a vase for
perfuming large halls, ofthe form 290 Dolphin Tripod,
about 5 times as large as what we now make, that 3
or 4 pastiles may be burnt at once. I have promised
him that one shall be made, and that he shall not be
charged, for the model, as it is a thing very likely to
1 At this date Spode, Adams, and others were keen competitors, Spode'
taking the lead.
2 Mems., London to Etruria, April 20, 1807. Mayer MSS,
Z

^38 ETRUSCAN VASES.
sell, and these things are coming more and more into
use. I hope, therefore, you wiU order it to be gone
about. It is to be in black, ornamented as the small ones
are ; I wish to have six in black and six in red, for the
rooms.' A few days later Mr. Byerley continues : ' The
good bishop may then take his choice, and we shall be
prepared for an extensive sale of them. You have
nothing to model but the Dolphins, and I think you
have already many sizes of them. . . . Some may be
made in Jasper, but I don't think they will seU so weU
in anything as black, on account of discolouring. I
have heard that Davenport has taken the Shakespeare
Gallery for an exhibition room of his glass, E'ware,
and China. I am not at all frightened at this, if I could
once see a httle fondness in you and your brother for
our own ornamental branch. You possess advantages
which no manufactory can acquire for many years,
even with an adequate portion of talents and money.
I could wish to see Aaron Steel employed in painting
large Etruscan Vases, such as that we have just sold to
Mr. Egerton. He is the only man in the country with
much knowledge of that work, and as such very valu
able. Make the most of him for the remainder of his
days ; but pray don't part with him to your Competitors.
I wish you would make some large black Vases.
Begin, if you please, with that I have spoken of, that
Aaron may be set to work out of hand. Formerly we
had a black Vase 7 feet high that stood on the Staircase
in Greek Street, and was sold to a German Prince.
Can we do nothing of that sort now ? A selection of
Etruscan-shaped Vases, for ornamenting, to sell without
painting, and plain for painting, may easily be made.
The very large ones will require no ornamenting, but
fluting bold and round ; better, perhaps, without even

AARON STEEL. 339
festoons, to which accidents are always happening.
There is a charming Vase, one of the Vols, of Sir Wm.
Hamilton, in the Museum, which Mr. Egerton wants us
much to make and paint, and I think it practicable.
If you have the book I wiU teU you what number it
is.'1 This extract is valuable and interesting, referring as
it does to one of the elder Wedgwood's most celebrated
workmen. As early as April 1784 he signed articles
of agreement for three years to paint in London on the
terms of lbs. per week, and here, at the distance of
twenty-three years, he was stUl with the sons of his old
master. He ended his days in their service, and was
alive so recently as 1845. Whatever merit is due to
these reproductions of Etruscan form and colouring —
and but little is aUowed by classic fictUists of severe
archaic- taste who object to weight, drawing, and colour
; — a portion belongs to this painter. His touch was
delicate, his taste elegant, and his aerial figures are
often supremely graceful. With such instruction as
could be now procured in Schools of modern Art,
Aaron Steel would have probably risen into something
much higher than a mere decorator of reproductions
from the Antique. There seems to have been no
canon, as there should have been, in the colour of these
paintings. The black upon red remained, of course,
pretty uniform, but the red upon black greatly varied.
In a foreign order of 1801 the red colour Was to be
' light and fiery,' whilst in a memorandum of Oct. 1815
a pair of vases for a Dr. Williams are thus characterized :
' Two Etruscan painted Vases, No. 439, 12 inches high.
Groups of figures on the front of each vase, different
1 Mems., London to Etruria, April 23, 1807. Mayer MSS.
z2

340 MR. BOARDMAN OF LIVERPOOL.
subjects ; the colour not so red as they have been, but
rather more approaching orange.' This order Mr.
Josiah Wedgwood endorses in red ink : ' The color
for aU vases should be less red.'
A warehouse in Liverpool, as suggested in Poole's
letters, had been long an accomplished fact ; and
under one administration, that of Mr. James Boardman,
the friend and former partner of Mr. Bentley. Its
fortunes had been various ; ebbing and flowing as the
tide of commercial prosperity rose or sank. At this
juncture, when it was a great necessity to strengthen
and enlarge the home trade, a stimulation of business
in Liverpool was thus referred to : ' A set or two of
the new Peony Ware complete should be sent to Mr,
Boardman. He should be desired to give notice to
the Ladies, who have been in the habit a long time of
calhng upon him, of an arrival of an assortment of this
new ware, and if this has not been done, it may stiU be
done. The quality for Liverpool may be a little lower
than that for London. . . Peony tea ware to be sent
to Manchester.' x
The part the elder Wedgwood had taken in respect
to the Irish Propositions in 1786 had gone far to ruin
his trade with Ireland ; and the Eebelhon and general
impoverishment of the country which foUowed left
little power with those who had taste and desire for
these beautiful English goods. But time lessens com
mercial as it does political rancours ; and when the
necessity for enlarging the home trade thus came
Dublin was again fixed upon as a centre for that with
Ireland. In the summer of 1807 Mr. Byerley repaired
thither, and bought what appears to have been a large-
1 Byerley to Josiah Wedgwood, April 14, 1807.

WAREHOUSE IN DUBLIN. 341
mansion in one of the principal streets, for the purposes
of a warehouse. The house was surrounded with great
yards and outbuildings, ' wanted only in a great noble
man's family,' and in the same letter he thus describes
one of the chief rooms : ' The waUs of one room of our
house have very rich Mouldings. I think to fix the
shelves to Battins, stretch coarse canvas over them, and
paper with cartridge paper, so as not at all to injure
the mouldings, and the waUs very httle.' And then,
amongst the details of the various class of goods which
were to fill these noble rooms, we come upon a most
valuable statement, which, if strictly correct, fixes for
the artist and connoisseur the date of the earliest of
the jasper vases : ' About the year 1780, when Mr.
Bentley died, a great many discerning people who had
been captivated by his intelligent and animated conr
versation, believed and propagated the opinion that he
was the origin of all the fine works of taste, and all
which they saw exhibited in our rooms, without re
flecting that he could not be spending his days in social
intercourse with them, and at the same time sitting
down at the workmen's benches for days together,
directing them in the production of beautiful forms
and inventing new modes of decoration, of which the
art was not thought susceptible, and of whose opera
tion he was indeed completely ignorant. He had some
merit as a culler and an index to works of antient art ;
but infinitely less, even in this way, than has been im
puted to him. It was, however, to be feared that this
mistake would lead to a notion that with him would
die away the whole of the art ; and to counteract this
it was determined to open the rooms, after the public
sale of Wedgwood and Bentley, with works of original.
merit, and quite dissimilar to anything before seen. At

342 ITS SHOW ROOMS.
this period Jasper Vases were first introduced and
answered the intention. Before that time only a few
medallions had been made in that way. Much such a
circumstance attends our commencement in this country.
There is hardly a species of earthenware now made, or
an ingenious contrivance for advancing the comfort of
domestic life, but I could trace its source at Etruria
at some period or other. Yet the whole of the manu
factories are now so completely in possession of all, that
it will be difficult to give our rooms an appearance
different from the shops with which the public eye is
familiar. I place some dependence on placing aU the
different objects in a more distinct view than they can
elsewhere be seen. The plain cream-colour in a room
apart, where all its useful particulars will be distinctly
and at once striking to the eye. The enamelled cream-
colour (next step) in another room by itself ; the black
tea-ware, &c, with flower-pots to enliven the scene, in
a third ; the white ware, printed and enamelled, in a
fourth ; and in a fifth the ornaments or works of fine
art. Whereas in other shops these are all in a mass
together without discrimination,- and present only a
confused and vulgar heap, and I have no doubt our '
superior forms and style of workmanship will, by such
arrangement, have its due effect. But I should feel more
secure if we had something peculiar, and in this respect
the Jasper may still befriend us, for there is very little
of it in the market. What we have of it is, I fear,
however, more calculated to stand on our shelves and be
admired than to produce profit. I could wish to apply
it to all those things which people buy, to economize
and simplify the ornaments upon it, that it may come
within the compass of their pockets, and that every
body may go away with something as a specimen of-

-NO POTTERIES IN IRELAND. 343-
the warehouse. . . At the same view I would have a-
good show of Etruscan Vases, which have not been
seen here, and a table service of new white.'1 Mr.
Byerley then proceeds to suggest various novelties in
jugs, an article of good sale amongst the Irish, their
preference being given to low, flat shapes. He enume
rates amongst other novelties ' basket-work,' 'Bed with
Egyptian ornaments, brown jugs sparkling with gold
mica, and blue jugs sprinkled with gold to look hke
lapis lazuli.'
The result of opening this Dubhn warehouse, or the
time it remained there, is unknown. At the same date
it was proposed to open a like establishment in Edin
burgh. These efforts in relation to the home trade
were necessitated by the critical condition of our com
mercial relations with foreign countries, Mr. Wedgwood
having alone in the Eussian trade ' 5,000/. locked up,
or lost.' But it is a question, as manufactures grow more
and more complete and extensive, if production and
distribution can be profitably united. It would seem
not, by the fact of their almost entire, and what wOuld
seem permanent, separation in our own time.
Whilst the subject of Ireland is before us, it may not
be uninteresting to show that at this period, and most
likely with a patriotic view, Eichard LoveU Edgeworth
was thinking of training up a son to the trade, of. a
potter. With the exception of a few manufactories of
coarse and heavy goods, such as tiles, pans, and flower
pots of common brick earth, Ireland had not a gottery
in the length and breadth of her domain, and he
may have thought that such a manufacture might be
easily introduced. But Edgeworth's patriotic schemes
1 Byerley, Dublin, to Josiah Wedgwood, Etruria, October 1, 1807.
Mayer MSS.

344 RICHARD LOVELL EDGEWORTH.
were, however well intentioned, not always practical.
He thus wrote from Edgeworthstown, on April 20,
1807 : ' Some time ago, I mentioned to you a son of
mine, who was then a child, as a boy whom I wished
to breed up to business. I talked of making him a potter
in this Kingdom. He is now between thirteen and
fourteen, and, if I do not deceive myself, he is singularly
qualified for any pursuit that requires mechanical in
vention, powers of calculating, and steady perseverance,
and he can have the command of a considerable capital.
I now renew my application, upon the score of long
intimacy with your famUy, and with the hope I have
conducted myself in life so as not to have forfeited any
of the esteem which I may have formerly obtained
from my friends. Is my scheme for William advisable ?
Can you assist him ? I am, my dear Sir, Yours sincerely,
Eichd- Lovell Edgeworth.'
A rough copy of Mr. Wedgwood's answer to this
letter remains, and it is curious, as showing how wholly,
as yet, manufacturers in clay faUed to perceive that
theirs is not only a fine art, but in its higher branches
requires in those who would be its true exponents dex
terous manipulative skill combined with a wide range
of intellectual culture. The potters of the classic age,
who, as Mr. Eedgrave has finely said, ' turned the clay
of Samos into gold,' were many of them accomplished
in other arts and sciences, and trained in phUosophy
and rhetoric. In like manner the Italian potters of the
fifteenth century numbered amongst them the most
accomplished gentlemen of their age. And just as
Euskin truly says, ' the sculptor must be a gentleman
and not a clown,' so also must be the master potter, if
England has any desire to be renowned'for the beauty as
for the fineness of her fictile wares. The great deside-

DIFFICULTIES IN ESTABLISHING POTTERIES. 345
ratum of modern culture is a newer and more lasting
development of this union between practice, inteUect,
refinement, and utility.
' My dear Sir,' replied Josiah Wedgwood the younger
to Edgeworth, ' I have lived all my life, and especially
the last 9 or 10 years of it, too little as a manufacturer
to be well qualified to give you a useful opinion on the
enquiry you make of me respecting your scheme for
your son William, but I will give you the best I can.
I should think it a very hazardous employment of capital
to endeavour to establish a manufactory in a new
country, and the hazard is much increased if, as is the
case in pottery, the success of the process depends
much on the skill of the workman ; for steady, good
workmen will not be induced to leave their own country.
The difficulties that must be encountered would be
great to a master who had spent half a life in the busi
ness, and of course much greater to a young man. I
don't mean to say they are insuperable, but they are
such as I think afford a very smaU chance that the first
undertaker should reap a profit for himself. Pottery
has been carried out of this country into Wales, York
shire, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne ; but in these instances
the difficulties were less than I suppose they would be
found in Ireland. The objection of the Staffordshire
workmen to migrate to another part of England, where
a communication with Staffordshire could be easily kept
up, would be less than to remove them to Ireland.
The habits of the people were favourable, as manufac
tures were already established, and the undertakers
had only to direct habits of industry, not to form them.
The advantages of Ireland, I suppose, are the cheapness
of coals and labour ; but probably coals are not much
cheaper than in Wales, Yorkshire, and Newcastle ; and

346 THE TRAINING OF POTTERS.
I beUeve the cheapness of labour will for many years-
be much more than counterbalanced by want of skill
and industry.
' How do you mean your son to be instructed in the
business? It is very httle the custom of this country
for the masters to take young men into their houses ;
and there are few with whom you would wish your
son to hve for as long a time as would be required for
him to learn the business. In general the master
potters have been journeymen, and those who have not
been originally of that class are not likely to take a
young man and instruct him in their processes, as every
manufacturer keeps them as secret as he can. Mr.
Watt, some years ago, found great difficulty in placing.
his nephew in such a situation in this country, and did
not obtain a good one. My father placed a relation
with a manufacturer, and gave a premium, but the
manufacturer evaded instructing him in the most
important processes.
. ' I say nothing of myself, because my residence, at 9
miles from the manufactory, and my habits make me
unfit to take such a charge upon me, if I was otherwise
wilhng to do so. In fact, I have long made a resolution
not to undertake such a responsibility. I wUl add that
I see so much difficulty in uniting a good education
with the habits that are requisite to form a potter, that
I am very doubtful if any one of my own sons will
succeed me in my business. I have recoUected a
manufacturer who has been a bankrupt without any
imputation upon his character, and who is setting up
again in a smaU way, that I think would probably be
induced, by a premium, to instruct a young man in the
business, and I believe him to be very well qualified.' 1
1 Josiah Wedgwood to Richard Lovell Edgeworth, April or- May
1807. Mayer MSS. It is probable that Josiah Wedgwood visited

, NEED OF HIGH CLASS CULTURE. 347
It is thus probable that Edgeworth's son never learnt
the business, and very many years elapsed before the
manufacture was introduced into Ireland. But it was
then, and is very much more so now, that youths from
the class to which Edgeworth belonged were wanted
as students in that class of fine arts which includes
pottery, glass-making, colouring and painting, wood-
carving, and metal-casting. To say nothing of the
benefits drawn from the prior cultivation of race, a
youth who has received a good education, and been
surrounded all his hfe with the amenities and appliances
which good means and position confer, is very much
more Ukely, should his tastes lie that way, to make a
potter capable of suggesting and working out original
ideas, than a boy sprung from the working classes,
whose whole antecedents have involved poverty, igno
rance, and, of necessity, barrenness of ideas. But in
those days, as far too much in these, all the fine arts*
with the exception of painting and sculpture, were
regarded as mere trades, unfit for gentlemen. Indeed,
almost up to the period of John Bacon, sculpture in
England was considered as Uttle other than work for
masons ; and engineering was, as we know, in the days
of Brindley and George Stephenson, regarded as a coarse
handicraft, fit only for blacksmiths, miUwrights, and
miners. Yet think what engineering is now; What its
triumphs, what the rank of its professors ? And this
chiefly by reason that it has grown from a trade into'
a profession,: through the services of a highly- trained
and highly-educated body of men. And all the arts
Edgeworth in the following spring. He may have been in Dublin when
he received a letter of invitation, in which Edgeworth says: ' Old friend
ships should not be abandoned from trifling considerations, such as the
common plea of business and want of time.' May 12, 1808. Mayer
MSS.

348 ORIENTAL PATTERNS AND COLOURS.
connected with utility must, so far as originating and
directing go, be raised into professions before any
marked results can come. Were there institutions in
the Potteries and in London where young men of good
position and education could receive practical instruction
in these classes of fine arts, and graduate in them as in
other subjects and other Universities, we should hear
less of a church overburdened with curates, courts of
law with barristers, and cities and to.wns with physicians
and surgeons. By a method of this sort we should
turn to account a vast mass of unused talent, and
prepare a class of men able, when opportunity and
materials occurred, to found and realize these great
industries in other and newer lands.
The resort to oriental sources for colour and decora
tion led to many new patterns in 1807-1808. Japan
patterns, ' with but little blue, and got up cheap,' found
a good sale, as also others in which orange was used
instead of gold. Prom the Chinese was borrowed ' a
red ground and white figures of flowers interspersed
with landscapes in red imitating engraving.' A pattern
of 1808, and called the ' Chrysanthemum,' grew out of
Chinese examples. A ' good red under the glaze, like
the Chinese,' was a desideratum, and so tried for ; and
such patterns as ' purple laurel leaf and gold ' and ' gold
leaf with red lines' were new and in request. Services
for Prancis Wrangham, Philip Arkwright, and Dawson
Turner, of Great Yarmouth, were respectively ' Greek
pattern, opal ground,' 'olive edges and crest,' and:
' botanical flowers, gold.'
In 1808 Sir Eichard Colt Hoare was busy with his
excavations in the Wiltshire tumuli. His finds in
cluded both red and black Eoman ware, and of these
he sent examples to "Etruria to be copied. The results

ORDERS IN COUNCIL, 349
Were, he considered, ' admirable.' x In the same year
some Orders in Council relative to the general export
trade with America shows us that Henry Brougham
interested himself in behalf of his old friends the
Wedgwoods. ' Since you wrote things have happened
so crossly that no petitions will be received against the
Orders in Council. I quite agree with you that .
ours is .not the house to stir in the business. On
Wednesday, Mr. Brougham called on me in York
Street, and left a note to ask me to meet him at the
House of Lords, to have some conversation respecting
the effects of the Orders on our trade. This was at
five o'clock in the afternoon, when I was quite tired
out with waiting all day to see nobody. I declined
going down, but wrote a note to him, stating that the
only effect the Orders would have on the trade of our
country would be by their producing a war with
America, which was now the only country to which
we could export earthenware, and that I believed be
tween 40,000 and 50,000 crates were annuaUy shipped
to America. These numbers I fixed upon because the
Canal Company annually carry about 50,000 to Liver
pool. The Lords refused to hear counsel, and so I
suppose the matter will now drop, unless some
member chances to go into the subject, on making a
motion respecting the Orders in Council.'2
After his purchase of Gunville and Eastbury, Mr.
Farquharson appears to have let the former for a time
to one of those young fox-hunting squires with which
Dorsetshire then abounded. As a body they had re
gretted Mr. Wedgwood's departure from the county,
1 Sir R. 0. Hoare to Wedgwood and Byerley, February 15 and .29,
1808. Mayer MSS.
2 John Wedgwood to Josiah Wedgwood, March, 1808. Mayer MSS,

350 DORSETSHIRE FOXHUNTERS.
for one of their elder members had written : ' We shaU
lose a pleasant companion and one fond of Foxhunting; ' 1
and later, a friend and neighbour, Mr. Simpson, who
had no taste for their pursuits, thus paints GunviUe and
Eastbury for Mr. Wedgwood's eye : ' One can never,'
he writes, ' estimate justly the value of good neighbours
except by experiencing the loss of them. This is an ob
servation which we have daily reason to make. . . Our
neighbours The Groves, as they say in this county, are
at length arrived. He appears to be a good-humoured
young man, but his whole Life and Soul absorbed by
Foxhounds and Setters and Pointers and Horses, and his
companions of the same stamp, as far as I have seen.
He has now a Mr. Coles, son of Coles, near Taunton,
and another Foxhunting youngster staying with him ;
and as I do not know much of a Horse except a kind
of hereditary skiU as a Yorkshireman, and could hardly
distinguish a Foxhound from a Beagle, I am afraid our
society will not accord. But the great comfort to me
wiU be that my wife will, I think, have a good neigh
bour in Mrs. Grove. Poor Eastbury is tenantless, and,
I fear, going rapidly to ruin. The house totally shut
up, and never a window even opened. It seems to us
to be a pity that so pleasant a spot should be un
occupied. If Mr. Farquharson should marry, it
would be desirable for the Mother to be near her
-Daughter, and I hope we shall by some means or other
get a neighbour. The Dogs are in possession of the
out Buildings for a time, and there is a splendid Kennel
building towards the lower part of the South Park, not
far from the Gate which opens into the Lanes near
1 — Stuart, Esq., to Josiah Wedgwood, June II, 1805. Mayer MSS.

HOUNDS AND KENNELS. 351
Hinton Bye, as it is caUed. A man of such fortune
ought to have a good Kennel, whether he keeps Hounds
or not, as he must have a few dogs pf some sort or
other.' 1
1 F. Simpson, probably Rev., to Josiah Wedgwood, February 26,
1807. Mayer MSS.

352 GODWIN.

CHAPTEE XI.
Godwin and his Necessities — Opens a shop for the sale of Children's
Books— A Subscription raised — Failure of his Scheme — His work on
' Political Justice ' — Mrs. Darwin's Letters — Beautiful Pottery from
Etruria — Death of Mrs. Darwin — Dr. Darwin and his Daughters —
His Medical Contemporaries^— Dr. Beddoes — His Merits as an Experi-,
mentalist — Peter Holland — His Son Henry — The Report on the
Agriculture of Cheshire — Highly commended— His Medical Studies — ¦
Cobalt and its Mysteries — Poole's Letters — Spanish Sheep — Govern
ment Enquiry as to Wool — Planting Apple Trees— The Malt Tax —
Poole's enlightened Views — His Admiration of the Scenery and Soil of
Cornwall — Events in Spain — His Labours in relation to a new Poor
Law — His Character and Scientific Tastes — Willmott's Return to
Etruria — Death of Chisholm — George Coleridge — His difference with
his Brother, S. T. Coleridge — Basil Montague — His Friendly Offers —
Mrs. Drewe — Death of Francis Horner — The Misses Allen of Cresselly
— Mr. Byerley— Proposed Removal of his Family to York Street —
Probably not carried out — His Anxieties and Death — Hospitality at
Maer — The Visits of Sydney Smith and others — The last of York
Street — Conclusion.
How often Godwin was assisted in a pecuniary sense
by the Wedgwoods is unknown ; but judging from
a note in Crabb Eobinson's Diary,1 we may pretty
certainly infer that the aid rendered in 1799, prior to
1 ' Godwin and Rough met at a dinner party for the first time. The
very next day Godwin called on me to say how much he liked Rough,
adding : " By-the-by, do you think he would lend me 501. just now, as I
am in want of a little money? " He had not left me an hour before
Rough came with a like question. He wanted a bill discounted, and
asked whether I thought Godwin would do it for him ? The habits of
both men were so well known, that some persons were afraid to invite
them, lest it should lead to an application for a loan from some friend
who chanced to be present' — Note, vol. i. p. 372. Rough was a serjeant-
at-law, and married to a daughter of John Wilks,

JOHNSON THE PUBLISHER. 353
the publication of ' St. Leon/ did not stand alone. But
the aid of friends and the gains of literature — for since
'St. Leon ' Godwin had published his 'Life of Chaucer '
and his novel of ' Fleetwood' — were insufficient for his
necessities; and thus in the interval between the publi
cation of the latter novel in 1804 and the ' Essays on
Sepulchres' in 1809, he wrote and pubhshed some
children's books, to which, for obvious reasons connected
with his political opinions, he did not append his name.
Their sale was so good as to lead Godwin to open a
bookseller's shop in Skinner Street, Snow Hill ; but soon
finding the need of capital to increase and extend his
trade, he appUed to his friends Eichard Sharp.andWiUiam
Smith, M.P. for Norwich. These gentlemen consulted
Godwin's friend and publisher, Johnson, of St. Paul's
Churchyard, and eventually formed themselves, with
the Eight Hon. Henry Gratten and Johnson, into a sort
of committee for raising such funds as were considered
necessary. Johnson, undertaking the necessary applica
tions to those who were known as friends and admirers
of Godwin, addressed Josiah Wedgwood, and with a
mere letter of form enclosed this manuscript paper : —
' Mr. William Godwin, a gentleman well known to
the public by his numerous writings, but who in
worldly circumstances partakes of the usual fate of
authors, has lately digested a plan for providing for
himself and famUy by entering into the business of a
bookseller, principally in the mode of supplying books
for schools and young persons. He has composed
several works in prosecution of this plan, which have
not appeared under his name, as he apprehend that
they might not in that case have obtained a fair trial,
in consequence of the prejudices which have been in
dustriously circulated against him. These books are
A A

354 CHILDREN'S BOOKS.
so written as to be incapable of occasioning offence to
any, as indeed Mr. Godwin would have held it an un
generous and dishonourable proceeding to have insinu
ated principles not generally received into the minds of
young persons under colour of contributing to their
general instruction. The books have accordingly been
commended in the highest terms in aU the Eeviews,
and are now selling in the second and third editions
respectively. A commercial concern, however, can
only have a gradual success, and requires a capital
greater than Mr. Godwin can command. He has cheer
fully devoted himself to this species of pursuit that he
might secure independence and competence to his
family, and nothing can be more promising than the
progress the undertaking has already made. But it is
feared that it cannot be carried on to that maturity to
which it naturally tends, unless such opulent persons as
are impressed with favourable sentiments of the talents
and personal character of Mr. Godwin will generously
contribute to supply him with those means which he
does not himself possess.
'Influenced by these considerations, and by the
opinion that it is a much truer act of liberality to assist
a man we esteem by giving effect to the projects of his
industry than to supply his necessities when the period
of such industry is no more, the undermentioned noble
men and gentlemen have respectively advanced for the
furtherance of Mr. Godwin's project the foUowing sums :
The Earl of Lauderdale 100/., Lord Holland 100/.,
The Eight Hon. Henry Gratten 50/., William Smith,
Esq. 50/., Eichard Sharp, Esq. 50/., Mr. Jos. Johnson,
Bookseller, 100/.' x 1 Maver MSS.

A FUND RAISED. 355
Eeplying with his accustomed ready liberality in such
cases, and more especially in one like that of Godwin's,
where there was great literary merit and undoubted
worth of character, Mr. Wedgwood received in due
course the following letter from Johnson. The paper
enclosed, which was undoubtedly a fist of subscriptions,
is lost, and thus we do not learn the amount subscribed
or the names of all those who befriended Godwin in.
this one of his too many hours of need. ' Dear Sir,'
wrote Johnson, ' Mr. Godwin is so strongly sensible of
his obligation to you, and at the same time desirous
of your being acquainted with what is going forward
respecting him, that he has requested me to send you,
the enclosed. Mr. Smith and Mr. Sharp requested'
some knowledge from me of the state of his affairs.
before they embarked. This I communicated, giving it,
at the same time, as my opinion, that if he were effec-
tuaUy assisted he might, in the way he is embarked,
be able to bring up and provide for his famfiy. By
effectual assistance I mean that he should have at least
1,500/. advanced him now or soon, and that interest
should not be remitted for a number of years. I need
not ask your influence with any gentlemen of your
acquaintance. I am, Sir, Yr- obed*1 ser*' J. Johnson.
Josiah Wedgwood, Esq., York Street, St. James's Square,
private.' 1
This sum named by Johnson was undoubtedly raised,
but Godwin's scheme of writing and selling books for
the young came ultimately to nothing. Judging by
his literary fault of excessive analysis, we can fancy
that his attempts to amuse and instruct the young
wanted that variety of subject, rapidity of narration,
1 April 19, 1808. Mayer MSS.
A A 2

356 GODWIN'S 'POLITICAL JUSTICE.'
and picturesqueness of effect so delightful to children,
and so necessary to win their suffrages. He was also'
so utterly unpractical in all the necessary business of
life as to make it a matter for wonder that Johnson,'
so practical himself, should conclude for a moment
that Godwin would combine the two very opposite
callings of book- writer and bookseller. It had been
often attempted, but never with any profitable result,
and Godwin was the last man to succeed where others
had failed. He soon feU back into his old way of
life, writing such books as ' Mandeville ' and ' The
History of the Commonwealth of England,' and yet'
ever indigent and relying on the aid of friends. As
late as July 12, 1823, Crabb Eobinson records : ' I
called on Murray, and signed a letter (which is to be
lithographed, with a fac-simile of handwriting) re
commending Godwin's case. It is written by Mackin
tosh. The object of this letter was to obtain a sum of
money to help Godwin out of his difficulties.' x God
win's first work, ' Political Justice,' is his best. However
unpractical some of its theories and opinions may be,
it is full of noble sentiments, worthy of the man and of
the language in which they are written. No one can
read it without receiving into himself somewhat of
the lofty enthusiasm it inspires, both as to the moral
and political future of mankind. This masterpiece
should be amongst the earliest reading of young men
and women. For their analysis of character Godwin's
novels are wonderful productions, but their dramatis
personal are too automaton and lifeless to win our
affections or excite our interest. It is in his proofs
and vindication of human rights that Godwin shows
himself a master of his art.
1 Diary, vol. ii. p. 257.

MRS. DARWIN. '357
Dr. Darwin, of Shrewsbury, was too busy and practical
a man to write many letters ; and when he did write
it was briefly on some medical or domestic business.
But here and there in his statement of a case, or in
some striking difference of opinion with his medical
brethren, we gather how the cultivation of philosophical
thought carried him beyond mere routine into the
higher region of successful experiment. Mrs. Darwin
was often his amanuensis ; and writing for herself or
her husband, her letters have some few passages of
interest. She seems never to have been very strong,
and with something like a prognosticating sigh, that
she must leave her young children too soon, she. writes
in June 1807, 'Every one seems young but me.'
A while later, she fills up a letter on medical subjects,
and in which she has been her husband's interpreter,
in this wise, to her. brother Josiah: 'My dear Jos., I am
very glad to find I have a chance of seeing you at Maer,
but from the expression in your letter I fear you mean
to fob me off with a dinner, whereas I had intended
passing a week with you. We are very much obliged by
your kind intention respecting the dinner service, which
we are in no kind of haste for, as it is not the custom
of this town to give dinners in summer. I am there
fore well inclined to follow your advice and wait for
the very handsome pattern. My love to B., and tell
her we have a couple of Doves for her ; but as we do
not yet know which are pairs, I shall not bring them
with me, but you may prepare a cage. Our pair have
, not produced any young ones yet.'1 In a letter, of a
month later Mrs. Darwin adds : ' We should advise
you to see pur Dove cage before you make one,' Early
1 Mrs. Darwin to Josiah Wedgwood, August 25, 1807, Mayer MSS..

358 WHITE POPLAR TREES.
in the foUowing year, Mrs. Darwin, writing to her
brother, makes interesting reference to another of
her husband's hobbies, the cultivation of beautiful
shrubs and trees : ' The Dr. sends you by to-morrow's
Coach some suckers of the white Poplar, and, as they
have good roots, he has no doubt of their growing. If
you want more say so, and they shall be sent. It is
the common white Poplar. It is become so fashionable
a tree that Lady Bromley has sent for some cuttings
for Baroness Howe, to decorate Pope's Villa at Twick
enham, as all his favourite trees have been cut down.
Our children are all much better of their colds, which
have been very severe, and the Dr. has not escaped.
We are preparing for two great feasts to-morrow and
Thursday. If you have a mind to meet Mrs. P. and
Lady F., you will pop upon us the latter day. We join
in best love to you all. Yours affectionately, S. Darwin.
Monday night, Feby. 8, 1808.' 1
Not long after Mrs. Darwin writes thus on a more
prosaic matter : ' We are much obliged by your kind offer
of furnishing us with earthenware, but cannot think of
accepting it, as there is no reason for it, and also it
would quite preclude our ordering anything in future.
However, to show you I am not disposed to pay too
much, I shall mention that the two sets of bronze were
presents from John. When he gave me the first tea
pot, he saw there was so bad a crack in the handle
that it was not safe to use ; he therefore sent another,
and being of a different color'd bronze, the cream and
sugar basons came with it to match. The Dr. says the
easiest way to settle this mighty bill wiU be for you to
pay yourself when you next balance his account with
1 Mrs. Darwin to Josiah Wedgwood. Mayer MSS.

DOVES. 359
you.1 . . The Dr. is not in very good feather just at
present ; he is so much engaged that it harasses him a
good deal. Surely warmer weather must come, soon,
and that, I hope, will give him more liberty. He is gone
7 miles beyond Whitechurch to-day, which is out of
his usual beat.' 2 Dr. Darwin was, in fact, ever journey
ing.' In December 1808, Miss Sarah Wedgwood, on a
visit to Shrewsbury, thus wrote to her brother Josiah :
' Dr. Darwin has gone to the Priory to see Mrs. Darwin,
who is extremely ill. I believe he thinks there is little
chance of her recovery. He was with her last week,
and last night a messenger came to desire him to go
over again, with whom he returned instantly, and will
probably stay at the Priory some days.' This was the
widow of Erasmus Darwin. She was his second wife,
and prior to marriage the widow of Colonel Pole. The
Priory here referred to was at Breadsall, near Derby,
the later residence of Erasmus Darwin, and where he
died in April 1802.
We have one further notice of the Doves. ' TellB.,'
wrote Mrs. Darwin to her brother,' one little Dove is
born, so there are hopes there may be a couple in
Time. . . John once gave the Dr. ajar of fine levigated
chalk, and he would be thankful for such another
present.' 3
The Dr. and Mrs. Darwin made usually a flying visit
to . London during the season, and occasionally they
took a wider range. They were in .Dorsetshire in the
1 Dr. R. W. Darwin was worthy of being the son-in-law of the illus
trious potter, for he was always purchasing beautiful ware for his table. ¦;
In an order list of 1815, we find for Dr. Darwin : ' Tea-ware, broad
green stained border, and gold inside. Green border and gold outside :
saucer. To be particularly well painted.'
2 Mrs. Darwin to Josiah Wedgwood, March 29, 1808.
s Ibid. March 2, 1808. Mayer MSS.
•

360 DEATH OF MRS. DARWIN.
autumn of 1806, for Davis, the land-agent at Hornings-
ham wrote to Gunville : ' I was much gratified with Dr.
Darwin's company, and I hope he and Mrs. D. got home
safe.'1 After a long decline Mrs. Darwin died at The Mount,
Shrewsbury, July 15, 1817, at the comparatively early
age of fifty-two years. She survived her mother, who,
whilst capable, was a frequent visitor at The Mount, but
little more than two years.2 In the chancel of the
beautiful little church of Montford, some four miles
from Shrewsbury, thus lies aU that was mortal of the
eldest daughter of England's greatest potter, and the
mother of the illustrious naturalist, Charles Darwin.
To her husband and children her loss must have been
extreme. But as time wore on his daughters became
the doctor's ministers, and aided him in all his labours
of love in educating the poor of his neighbourhood.
In those days Dr. Darwin's name, with that of his
daughters, would be mostly found among the list of
visitors to the ' Hunt BaUs,' the fashionable gatherings
of the district, where Lotharios of the tally-ho and spur
figured in scarlet coats ; and more frequently he might
be seen accompanying them in their rides, for they were
excellent horsewomen. But nowhere was Dr. Darwin
seen to such advantage as in the invariable yellow chaise.
This, and his burly form and countenance within, were
known to every man, woman, and child over a wide
extent of country. Like old Samuel Butler, the mighty
schoolmaster who always receipted his bills ' with
•thanks,' Dr. Darwin was as much a feature of the
1 August 11, 1806. Mayer MSS.
2 Died April, 1815, at Parkfields, Staffordshire, in her 80th year,
Mrs. Sarah Wedgwood, relict of the late Josiah Wedgwood, of Etruria.
Gent, Mag. vol. Ixxxv. p. 378.

THE SHREWSBURY DOCTORS. 86l
town as the river, the abbey, and the schools ; and
many was the stranger who lingered to see them both.
At length, when that long day's work was done— and it
was a very long and hard one — his portly form vanished
from the streets, and he, too, departed to that quiet rest
ing-place beside his favourite Severn. He died on the
15th day of November, 1848, aged 82 years. Dr.
Darwin survived two of his more eminent medical con
temporaries in the town, Mr. Sutton and Dr. Dugard.
The latter, a pale, portly little man, unlike farmer-look
ing Dr. Darwin, had the air and appearance of a court
physician. He wore powder, orthodox black, highly
polished Hessian boots with big tassels, ponderous seals,
an important frill of snowy lawn, and he carried the
professional cane. The elder Clement, who had been
the pupil and friend of the great Jenner, known Cole
ridge, Wordsworth, Southey, Hazlitt. Thelwall, and
Home Tooke, and stood forth as the unflinching advo
cate for Parliamentary Eeform and civil and rehgious
liberty in this most aristocratic borough in the kingdom,
died at the age of 90, in January 1853. He had the
countenance of a philosopher. Such were a few of the
Shrewsbury doctors forty years ago.
Like those of other busy and preoccupied men, Dr.
Beddoes' letters never diverge from the object for which
they were written, and this being medical and tempo
rary, they have no interest. Once only he passes from
his invariable theme, to ask Josiah Wedgwood, in a
postscript, ' Have you heard of Davy's splendid discovery
of the decomposition of the fixed Alkalies?'1
Until 1807, Dr. Beddoes continued to preside over
the Pneumatic Institution, although it had long become
1 November 17, 1807. Mayer MSS.
#

362 DR. BEDDOES.
little other than a charitable dispensary, in which he
could make experiments in medicine and physiology.
He then relinquished it to the care of his brother-in-law,
Mr. King, an eminent Bristol surgeon.1 His private
practice had largely, increased, and many persons of dis
tinction soliciting him to do so, he began to think of
removing to London. But his engagements prevented
a speedy removal, and illness of a serious character
intervened. To a renewal of this he suddenly suc
cumbed on December 24, 1808, in the 49th year of his
age. His writings were numerous, but they have for the
most part passed into oblivion ; for they want manner,
method, and gravity. Beddoes was too impatient for
an experimentalist ; he roved from subject to sub
ject in a manner the reverse of philosophical. His
great merit consisted in having suggested new ideas in
the treatment of disease, and more particularly in
relation to the respirative organs. He perceived the
value of Mayow's speculations, and, starting on the track
of experiment, led indirectly to Davy's valuable dis
covery of nitrous oxide. But in spite of its advocates,
the scientific world of that day failed to estimate its
value, and in place of experiment allowed itself to be
overruled by the ridicule of Gay-Lussac, and other
chemists as shortsighted. Moreover, the nitrous oxide
gas was then only known in its bulky form. But the
processes of modern science have led to compression ;
this again to fiuidification ; and it is now in the hands
1 Mr. King married Emmeline Edgeworth, sister of Mrs. Beddoes.
Southey says in a letter to his friend May, September 15, 1827, 'I
would have you know King, the surgeon, with whom I have lived in
great intimacy, and for whom I have a great . and sincere regard. . . A
more remarkable man is rarely to be found, and his professional skill is
very great.' — Life and Correspondence, vol. v. p. 310.

PETER HOLLAND. 363
of every intelligent dentist as the cheapest and safest of
anaesthesia. Peter Holland still varied his business letters with
news of his son. « Henry writes me word from Edin
burgh,' he tells Josiah Wedgwood, ' that he has seen a
good deal of Mr. Leslie, to whom you Were kind enough
to give him a letter. I am not sure that I can add
that Henry has been much pleased with him ; I rather
think he has been a little disappointed in him. He has
too much of the bon vivant about him for Henry's taste.
Whether this character is lately acquired or not, I can
not teU.' l A while later he adds : ' I am happy to hear
that my Aunt and your sisters are comfortably fixed
in their new habitation. . . . You would perhaps be
informed that Henry intended, when he was in Stafford
shire, paying you a visit at Maer, and regretted to find
you absent. He has just been flattered by the Board
of Agriculture. Last year an application was made to
him from the Board to draw up a report of the Agri
culture of the County of Chester, and a remuneration
of 100/. was promised him if he did this to the satisfac
tion of the Board. Sir J. Sinclair has sent to him to
say that the Board are so perfectly satisfied that they
have ordered him 200/. When it is considered that he
drew out this (Eeport) before he had completed his
18th year, it is, I think, highly creditable to him.
Whether the pubhc will think as favourably of the
performance as the Board have done remains to be seen.
Henry is now correcting the press, but I fancy*it will
scarcely be published in less than three or four months.' 2
Again he writes : ' I am much obliged to you for the
expression of your good opinion of Henry. In truth I
1 P. Holland to Josiah Wedgwood, July 7, 1807. Mayer MSS.
a Ibid. July 27, 1807. Mayer MSS.

364 LORD SHEFFIELD.
have every reason to be satisfied, both with his disposi
tion and attainments. Pray do you ever see the
'Athenaeum?' In the Nos. for August, Sept., and Oct.
there is a sketch of the present state of Edinburgh, Which
is a production of his. . . I received this week from
Lord Sheffield a set of queries to which he requests me
to procure him answers. I will take the liberty of
enclosing them to you, and shall be much obliged to
you, if anything occurs to you on the subject of any of
them, to communicate it to me at your leisure. I shall,
of course, not introduce your name in replying to his
Lordship, unless you make no objection to this. Most
of the enquiries appear to me too general to make it
probable that specific answers can be procured.'1 In
the month following, Mr. Holland again refers to his
son : ' My children are all weU. My daughter Mary is
on Sunday going to Newcastle, to pay a visit to Miss
Caldwells. Henry, from the account he sends me of
himself, is, I hope, got quite stout again. He tells me
his report ofthe Agriculture of Cheshire will be pub
lished in about a month. He has entered himself as a
physician's pupil at Guy's, and is busied in attending
the anatomical lectures and the dissecting rooms at St.
Thomas.'2 Another trifling notice or two concludes
aU we thus learn of the youth of this eminent physician :
' Henry returned from London three weeks ago, and
will probably stay with me a year or two before he
again goes to Edinburgh. As I can find him some
employment, I hope his time wUl not be misspent as
to himself, and his company will be highly delightful
to me. He begs me give his kind regards to his friends
1 P. Holland to Josiah Wedgwood, October 9, 1807. Mayer MSS.
These enquiries appear to have related to the then condition of trade
and agriculture.
1 Ibid. October 3, 1807. Mayer MSS.

COBALT AT ALDERLEY EDGE. 365
in Staffordshire.'1 The studious youth appears to have
been far from strong, and suffering at this date from
cough and an affection of the chest, he spent some
weeks in Liverpool with his uncle Samuel, a merchant
largely engaged in the Mediterranean trade, particularly
with Sicily and Malta. In July of the same year we
hear once more of him, for his father wrote : ' We are
all feeling the relaxing effects of this intensely hot
weather. Poor Henry, who is, I regret to say, far from
strong, is excessively enfeebled by this, and by some
disturbed nights which his professional avocations have
occasioned hinL'2 Henry Holland took his degree in
1811, and in 1815 published a quarto volume of 'Travels
in the Ionian Islands, Albania, Thessaly, and Macedonia.'
His later works on medical and scientific subjects are
well known.
His father seems to have had a taste for science, for
he often refers to the question of Cobalt at Alderley
Edge in his correspondence with Mr. Wedgwood.
Indeed he seems to have acted as a sort of agent in
procuring supphes from the Cheshire mines, and, as
usual in all transactions connected with Cobalt, there
was a fact of mystery in this recently found at Alderley
Edge. ' The cobalt ore at Alderley Edge,' he wrote to
Josiah Wedgwood, ' Sir J. Stanley let a few weeks ago,
to some gentlemen concerned in a pottery at Ferry
Bridge, for 2,000/. per annum, exclusive of his lord's
share, which will amount to about 400/. per annum in
addition. Seaton and Plough is the name of the firm
who have taken it. They are limited as to the quantity
of ore, and are to pay in the same ratio for all above
this quantity. In what way they mean to employ the
1 P. Holland to Josiah Wedgwood, April 8, 1808. Mayer MSS.
2 Ibid. July 15, 1808. Mayer MSSL

366 CAPTAIN BULLER AND DR. PARRY.
ore is still a mystery. They were very anxious to
have the contract signed, but keep secret their
intended application of it. My own idea is, that they
do not intend to extract the metal, but to expose it to
heat with the sandstone with which it is combined.'1
In spite of a severe accident by a faU from a gig in
the autumn of 1807, and an illness which succeeded,
Mr. Holland hved out his life of utility to extreme age..
He died in 1852, being nursed most tenderly to the
end by an unmarried daughter.
Mr. Poole's few remaining letters contain some pas
sages of interest. In January, 1808, he thus refers to
the death of his friend arid relative Captain Buller.
' Our Christmas is sadly damped by the account in
the papers of the death of Cap*- BuUer, who fell in the
West Indies, in attempting to board a French Privateer.
He was a near relation and particular Friend of mine.
He was my Playmate. He had been in a series of
severe service since he was 14. He was just rewarded
with a command ; he merited it many years ago, but it
came too soon, probably, to last.' 2 A few days' later
Poole adds, on the same subject : ' Cap*' Buller, who
was killed the other day in the West Indies, was a
native of Stowey. He died nobly, poor Fellow, in
attempting to board a French Privateer ; but his death
has sadly damped our New Year. He was a brave,
well-informed, worthy man.' 3 In the following month,
Poole renews the important subject, improvement in
the breed of sheep : ' I was a few days since at Bath,
and Dr- Parry4 informed me that he was endeavouring
1 P. Holland to Josiah Wedgwood, April 8. 1808. Mayer MSS.
2 T. Poole to Josiah Wedgwood, January 2, 1808. Mayer MSS.
3 Ibid. January 8, 1808, Mayer MSS.
* Dr. Parry was the father of the eminent navigator.

PLANTING APPLE TREES. 367
to ascertain the number of Spanish Sheep in England,
and of -those of the third or fourth Cross with the
Spanish. His object, I believe, is to furnish Govern
ment with an account of the means we possess of
producing fine wools independently of, importation,
and to suggest measures to encourage their production.
The Doc*- does not seem to know much about your
Friend's (Mr. Tollett, I think) flock. If you would
inform me how many merino Eams, and how many
Ewes of a year old and upwards, and how many Eams
and Ewes of the third or fourth Cross, with any of our
Breeds, he has, I should be much obliged to you, as I
know it would much gratify Parry to learn. He is
busily employed in inquiring himself, and desires every
one he knows to enquire for him, as in a work of this
extent there must needs be many Labourers. I need
not add, that if there are any other Spanish or crossed
Flocks within your reach, the particulars of them would
be an additional favour. I am very busy at this time
planting upwards of three hundred apple Trees. The
heavy tax on Malt and the last year's large crop of
apples are inducing almost every one to plant those
Trees where there is a chance of their succeeding. The
first reason (tho' I have no doubt the chief with most
of us), one should hope, cannot last long : for a more
partial tax, or one more extraordinarily unjust in its
operation, cannot, I think, be desired.1 We of Cyder
Counties have, or may have, almost all our liquor
without tax, -whilst other Counties pay the malftax, or
must at least pay for the conveyance, profit of middle
men, &c, on Cyder. But the injustice of the malt tax ,
seems most extraordinary, for Mr. Addington's 2/6 per I
1 This still survives, though almost one of the last of the old taxes of;
the Georgian era.

368] WILLIAM COBBETT.
bushel made every Hogshead of Cyder of 20/ more
value than it was before, thus granting a bonus to many
Estates that I know, of greater amount than aU the
taxes they pay in consequence of the late War. The
Eemedy, surely, should be lowering the duty on Malt.
A tax on cyder was not endured when it was last
proposed, and I hope it never will be endured ; but
alas ! our notions of resistance are mightily softened to
things of this sort.
' What think you of Mr. Spence and Mr. Cobbett's
lucubrations concerning Commerce ? There was no need
of a Ghost from the dead to inform us that, if Men
would be satisfied without superfluities, we could live
on the produce of our own soil ; but it is to obtain
these superfluities, whether mental or physical, that aU
the bustle and contention among Individuals and among
Nations take place. If those Gentlemen would show us
that the exertion and time used to produce those super
fluities would be wisely employed in diminishing the
fatigue of the labourer, in directing some of this Labour
to the rearing of mighty, magnificent, and useful Works,
as durable as the Mountains, enabling all to become
instructed ; in one word, in elevating generally our
Nature, then indeed there would be reason to thank
them. But what a Set are we to realize such things as
these ? No ! one-tenth would be gorging within with
beef and pudding, while the rest are clamouring at the
gate.'1 Poole's enlightened opinion, that a continued increase
in the necessities and luxuries of mankind is one of
the chief causes of human well-being and culture,
shows that' he was thoroughly acquainted with the
1 T. Poole to Josiah Wedgwood,. February 16, 1808. Mayer MSS.

CORNISH SCENERY. 309
doctrines of Adam Smith on those and kindred
subjects. How little weight there was in Cobbett's
rant is shown by the utter oblivion into which his
opinions have fallen. His style was felicitous, his idiom
perfect, and his descriptions of English scenery and
Enghsh manners, as in his ' Eural Bides,' remarkable
for vigour and fidelity ; but a writer bigoted and igno
rant enough to revile instead of argue neither deserves*
nor should expect the adherence of a more enlightened
posterity. In the next and last letter preserved we have the
impression which Poole received from the scenery of
CornwaU : ' Soon after my receiving your last letter I
went into Cornwall, going down bythe north coast even
to the Landsend, and returning by the south coast as
far as Dartmouth, from which Place I crossed to Exeter,
and so Home by CoUumpton and your, old Parish,
Comb Fleury.
' The finest thing I saw of pure Nature was Nenace
Cove at the Lizard, where Nature and the hand of
Man were mixed. I need hardly mention Mount Bay
and Mount Edgecombe. The business of the Mines-
and the gigantic machinery employed about them were
extremely interesting, as were also, in an agricultural
point of view, the peculiar barrenness of the uncul
tivated Parts of CornwaU, and the peculiar fertility of
the cultivated Parts. Indeed I know no soil which
is so wonderfully improved by cultivation. It is no
uncommon thing to see a field surrounded by waste
land not worth 3s. per acre yielding a rent of 3/. per
acre. The cultivation is, without doubt, expensive ;
but the expense is weU repaid. Plantations there, also,
are perhaps more profitable than anywhere else, and
B B

370 MR. TOLLETT'S FLOCK.
certainly are nowhere more wanted ; but the chief
attention of Cornish Men is to Mines and Boroughs.
' Since my return I have been engaged with hay
making and harvest, the latter of which we have just
finished. We have had a remarkably fine season for
both. Our crops of wheat and barley are not so good
as those of last year : much of, the wheat is kearned,
and is injured, by the rust. Beans and Oats are better
than last year. Peas very good, and Potatoes are
remarkably fine. We had a good crop of hay, and
now (which is extraordinary) a plenty of after-grass.
I was much obliged to you for procuring me that
interesting account from Mr. ToUett of his fine wooled
Flock. I transmitted it to Doc*. Parry, who thanked
me " for the full and important, narrative." He
remarks : " In, Mr, Tollett's Flock there is one curious
circumstance, which is the propensity to produce
Twins. This certainly is not the case with the pure
breed in Spain, and is probably the result of constant
high feeding." I think great praise due to Mr. ToUett.
Such men deserve peerages more than Cornish Borough
Mongers. Doc*. Parry asks me " if I have seen the 2ea.
edition of Sir F. Eden's Pamphlet on the Maritime
Eights of.G*. Britain. It contains " (he continues) " on
my suggestion, a great deal of discussion on the ex
pediency and possibility of employing the means now
in our hands for the full supply of our fine wooled
manufactures without going to Spain for the raw
material." I have not seen the Pamphlet to which
the Doc*, alludes. But our relations with Spain are
wonderfully changed since he wrote, and the progress
of the moral miracle working there is so rapid that
perhaps we shall in future be little anxious to find
substitutes for Spanish produce. This may be short-

EVENTS IN SPAIN. 371
sighted Policy ; but at present we must talk of no
competition with Spain, except in acts of generosity
and in the love of liberty. Yet it is good to be inde
pendent, even of our best friends. What a magnificent
series of events is passing before us in Spain ! What
a scene was reserved for our days ! Have we a Thucy-
dides, a Tacitus, or a Thuanus1 to tell the story?2 I
Cannot describe to you the interest I feel in the Spanish
Cause. It exceeds anything, except perhaps that which
I felt in the first moments of the French Eevolution.
May the Spaniards obtain perfect Liberty, and raise
the Goddess for the admiration of Mankind from that
Abyss in which the French have left her. But that
the Spaniards should be chosen for this achievement
Would have been the Thing the most contrary to
human prediction six months ago. It seems, as if to
confound our ability, that in aU great dispensations
Instruments are chosen whom we should have thought
the most inadequate to the Work. It is a fine Lesson
fo Nations and to Governors — teaching the first never
fo despair, the latter never to tyrannize. It shows,
with aU our inquiry into the subject of Government,
how ignorant we are of what are causes to produce
certain effects. Who was aware that a few wretches
like the old Government of Spain were a cause equal
to keep so long in a state of degradation such a People
as the Spaniards ? "A good People " (we were told)
"would make a good Government, or a good Govern
ment a good People." The first clause of the maxim
is contradicted in Spain, and perhaps the second in
1 The mention of this obscure historian, whose Historia sui Temporis
was edited by Scaliger in 1740, proves in what remote quarters Poole
spught knowledge.
2 In all probability Mr. Poole lived to read Colonel F. W. Napier's
noble history of these events.
b b 2

372 INQUIRIES.
North America. Certainly the Spaniards are kept in
obedience by the abuse of their Religion, and they
have been chiefly excited by a laudable application of
it. Both are striking instances of the power of this
Principle, and of the little knowledge of human Nature
in our modern Writers on Government, who (except
those avowedly profane) have rather spoken of the,
Principle because it was decorous to speak of it, than,
laid it down, or proposed its being used, as the Prin
ciple by which Man may be most powerfully actuated.
May it in future be under a gracious direction in
Spain. . . . Did you fix Jos. at Eaton, or where is he,
and how does he go on ? You hear, of course, from Sir
James Mackintosh. Has he prepared your Brother's
Manuscripts and the Memoir of his Life for the press ?
Of all publications, this is . that which I most wish tor
hear announced. I hope you have finished your im
provements. What are they which you say if you had.
not begun you should not commence? ... Is Willmott
again with you ? because I heard indirectly the other
day that he was. If so, I am very glad to hear it ; but
how happened it ? ' 2
How futile were these hopes for political and reli
gious liberty in Spain Poole must have soon perceived.
The Spaniards were not mentally or morally prepared
for the recipience and exercise of true freedom. The
Bourbons were to be reinstated, priestcraft and super-,
stition to be again as intolerable as they had ever been,
and years of political oppression had yet to crush out
almost the conception of liberty. Even now, sixty-three
years later, we are hoping, as this good man hoped, for
the regeneration of this great people. The hope is
1 T. Poole to Josiah Wedgwood, 'Stowey, ye 5th September 1808.'
Mayer MSS.

THE SECOND CENSUS-- >378
nearer becoming fact in our day, because human in
teUigence has received an impetus no man can stay ;
and as enlightenment increases so must decrease, in
proportionate ratio, the adverse power of religious,,
political, and social despotisms.
The letter just quoted is the last preserved of the
correspondence between Thomas Poole of Nether
Stowey and Josiah Wedgwood the second of Etruria.
But we may well believe that they corresponded more
or less so long as the former survived. There were
many subjects of great political and social interest
to discuss, and their visits to each other at distant
intervals must have been especially pleasant. In
the year 1810 Mr. Poole conducted in a most efficient
manner the taking of the second census. He was
one of the magistrates for the county of Somerset,
and, discharging the duties connected therewith in a
way which gave the highest satisfaction, was, moreover,
the referee and friend of rich and poor. He lived till
the 8th of September 1837, and must have thus had
the great satisfaction of witnessing the passing of the
Eeform BiU, the estabhshment of a more efficient system
of Police, the new Poor-Law,1 and the inauguration of
the Eailway system. He just missed the great triumph
of Free Trade, and it might be well he did so. Although
such a fresh and original mind as his rarely sinks
into decrepitude, yet we can fancy that entire and
unrestricted freedom in commerce would have ,, raised ,
1 Of this his labours had laid a considerable portion of the foundations. -,;
So much were his opinions valued on this important topic, that on ;
arranging the preliminary details for the establishment of the Quarterly ,
Review in the autumn of 1808, it was sought to obtain his assistance in
discussing this subject. Southey wrote to G. C, Bedford, November
17 1808 : 'Iain particularly anxious that any hint about Poole should
be adopted. One article from him about the poor will be worth its^..
weight in gold:3 — Life and-Corr'espondence, vol. iii. p. 188,

374 DEATH OF THOMAS POOLE.
his doubts and fears ; so true is it that no man can
wholly shake off the influences and opinions amidst
which he has been reared. And this fact makes us
see, from its philosophical point of view, the beneficence
of the great law of change comprised in the one word
Death. But for this, the best of us would more or less
be cherishers of obsolete opinions, ,and drags upon
the wheels of Time. To the last Mr. Poole seems to
have kept his taste for scientific problems and enquiry,
for we find him in November 1836 entertaining Mr.
Crosse, who, through his electrical experiments, raised
questions not yet set at rest in relation to spontaneous
generation. He corresponded with and received long
visits from Sir Humphrey Davy, and as late as 1826
travelled through Scotland and Ireland. He was
altogether a fine example of a true Englishman : in
genious, independent, fearless, and warm-hearted ; a
friend to every honest man, and the unflinching enemy
of every knave, let his rank be what it would. He was
a Cobbett without dogmatism ; an Arthur Young with
more picturesqueness. If there be character in hand
writing, Thomas Poole describes his. It is original and
marked, hke the gnarled boughs of his native woods.
WiUmott returned to Mr. Wedgwood's service for
wards the close of 1808. In the interval he had been
clerk in a large establishment in Throgmorton Street,
and whilst there he acquired a ready acquaintance
with the French and German languages. His services
became thus more valuable. He was glad to return to
Mr. Wedgwood, to whom he was partial ; and a liberal
salary and a house rent free proved that the master
valued his faithful services. But Willmott had lost the
leompanionship of his old friend Alexander Chisholm.
The old man had died early in the previous year, 1807.

THE COLERIDGES. 375
With simple tastes and few -luxuries, except it Were his
pipe and a scientific book, the little income devised to
him by his iUustrious friend and master more than sup
plied his wants. A small sum was in hand at his death,
for Mr. Byerley wrote from town: 'Mrs. Cole (late
Keeling), the female friend of poor Chisholm, has
called here. I told her I believed he had left her a
small remembrance. If it is so, shall I pay her ? She
is rather in want, as it seems.' 1
At Midsummer, 1808, George Coleridge, though still
retaining the Mastership of Ottery Grammar School,
ceased taking boarders, except in a special case, and
removed his dwelhng to the Warden House, hard by
the School. His gouty habit rendered him infirm, and
both he and his wife had begun to feel the effects of
their long and arduous labours. Meanwhile Mr. Wedg
wood's son had cCased to be his pupfi, and various
educational plans passing ih review, Coleridge thus
Wrote quaintly to the father : ' You, I know, wUl take
good care that his progress in learning shaU not be
retarded ; and I wiU add my researches to your- own
for the purpose of procuring a good classical tutor for
him, for such a person, I presume, you want. My
nephew W. Coleridge is just gone to enter at Christ-
church, and may help in procuring what is wanted,
as there are frequently young Graduates who wish
to occupy advantageously a year or two before they
take orders. Should you eventually send Josiah to
Eton, I wUl commend him to the particular care of my-j
nephew John Coleridge, who I think will remain there?
about two years longer. He is a most excellent and, !
may add, learned youth ; and as weU on my account as;
on Josiah's, with whose character he is well acquainted,
1 Mems., London to Etruria, April 21, 1807. Mayer MSS.

376 S. T. COLERIDGE.
I know he will act as an elder brother by him.'1 After
receiving the opinions of many friends, Dr. Darwin
and Eichard Sharp included, as to the merits of various
public schools, Mr. Wedgwood sent his eldest and
second sons to Dr. Valpy's at Beading. Here they
remained but six months. They then went to Mr.
Coleridge for a brief space, and finaUy to Flton, where
they were in September 1810, in company with a son
of Mr. Tollett, whose services had been so eminent in
respect to improving the breeds of English sheep.
The long-promised memoir of Thomas Wedgwood
was yet unwritten, and Sir James Mackintosh was as
full of shortcoming on this head as S. T. Coleridge,
In respect to the latter, the fact was more reprehensible,
as the bread his children ate was in part derived from
the generous bequest of the dead ; and feeling this
neglect sorely, Mr. Wedgwood justly and probably
expressed as much to his friends. Coleridge in turn
heard of this, and with hasty judgment fancied his
brother George was at fault. He wrote harshly, and
George at once addressed Mr. Wedgwood on the subject.
' In a letter which I received from my brother Samuel,
about a fortnight since,' he wrote, 'was the following
passage : " But I should indeed be ashamed, if I had not
been deeply wounded, that one honoured Individual's
feelings had been prejudiced against me by a Person
whom that man would never have known but for my
enthusiastic praises and expressions of grateful love."
As I know no one but yourself to whom this could
refer, I stated in my answer that he must mean Mr.
Josiah Wedgwood ; and that with his (my Brother's)
approbation (which I would take for granted, if I did
- ' George Coleridge to Josiah Wedgwood, January 18, 1808. Master
MSS.

BROTHERLY DIFFERENCES. 377
not hear from him within a week) I would cite his very
words, and submit them to Mr. Wedgwood, who would,
I was assured, do me the favour and Justice to answer
them to him. As I have received no answer from my
Brother, I presume I am correct in fixing on you as the
Person alluded to, and that he approves of my referring
to you. If you will do me the kindness to declare to
my Brother (who dates from 348 Strand) whether his
accusation of me in this respect be true, you will add
to the favours for which I am happy to subscribe
myself, dear Sir, Your obliged Friend, Geo. Coleridge.
. . . If you judge it proper, I have no objection that
this, my letter, should be forwarded to my Brother.'1
Nothing is left to show what was the result of this
correspondence. It is most likely that Coleridge, as
was then his habit, threw the letters into some box or
drawer, and never opened them, much less read them.
Almost every letter was a sting and a reproach to his
conscience, in face of that Lethe in which he steeped
his soul. He was greatly attached to his brother George ;
and it may be that this difference, whether it was ex
plained away or continued,, suggested those exquisite
lines in the second part of "Christabel," and which, as
Coleridge himself tells us, was written at Keswick in
1808 :—
'Alas ! they had been friends in youth ;
But whispering tongues can poison truth ;
And constancy live in realms above,
And life is thomy, and youth is vain ;
And to be wroth with one we love
Doth work like madness in the brain.'
But Josiah Wedgwood, a naturally silent and reserv e
man, was both just and generous, and the last one to
^ George Coleridge to Josiah Wedgwood, Ottery St. Mary, May 26,
1808. Mayer MSS. • . .'•

378 UNACCOMPLISHED TASKS.
set strife between the brothers. Still, there were feel
ings and acts on various sides, the prompting causes of
which are lost to us, but which undoubtedly centred in
Coleridge himself ; the neglect of his duties to his wife,
his children, and his friends. Amongst these must be
sought the motives which led Mr. Wedgwood in 1811
to withdraw his share of the annuity paid to Coleridge.
An exceUent, even over-anxious, father, he was Ukely
to be shocked at a neglect which imposed on the
generosity of Southey, himself heavily burdened, those
duties which every man of feeling and honour proudly,
even jealously, guards as his own. Viewing the matter
by the light of common sense, Mr. Wedgwood was quite
justified in staying his kindly hand, however much our
generous sympathies lean towards one who, not master
of himself in one respect, failed in so many-^a man
organically affected, and of feeble will, but whose
virtues were many, and who was inspired by the hal
lowed fire of a true poet, if ever man was. Mr.
Wedgwood had a large famfiy of his own ; property
had been recently and heavily taxed ; and trade and
commerce were in such a condition that only firms
backed by great capital could bear up against the
losses of those disastrous times. The pension of 150/.
per annum had been originally granted with the view
to secure Coleridge independence and leisure whUst he
effected some few of his manifold projects of Uterary
work.1 But ten years had passed, and these projects
were still in nubibus — even the ' Life of Lessing,' even
J the briefer memoir of Thomas Wedgwood — and gifts
so well-intentioned had, as it were, ministered to evil
1 'You spawn plans like a herring; I only wish as many of the seeds
were to vivify in proportion.' Southey to Coleridge, Life and Corre
spondence, vol. ii. p. 190.

HARTLEY COLERIDGE. 379
rather than to good. One could have wished, for the
sake of that more immortal portion of man's being,
and the part it plays in raising and purifying human in
telligence, that the little sum had been spared to the
end ; but, viewed dispassionately, the act was justified.
Coleridge returned to Keswick, and in 1809 started
a periodical paper called the ' Friend,' which soon died
a natural death, from what Southey called 'its round-
aboutness both in matter and manner.' In the year
foUowing he left the Lakes, and it is believed never
returned. He was again engaged upon the ' Courier.'
In 1812 his tragedy of 'Eemorse' was brought out
at Drury Lane, and from that date, more and more a
prey to opium, he hung upon any friend who would
pity or aid him. For months he was lost to those
who needed him most. ' Can you teU me anything of
Coleridge ?¦' wrote Southey to Cottle, in October, 1812.
'A few lines of introduction for a son of Mr.  , of
St. James's (in your city), are aU that we have received
since I saw him last September twelvemonth in town.
The children being thus entirely left to chance, I have
appUed to his brothers at Ottery concerning them, and
am in hopes, through their means, and the aid of other
friends, of sending Hartley to College. Lady Beaumont
has promised 30/. a year for this purpose, Poole 10/. I
wrote to Coleridge three or four months ago, teUing him
that unless he took some steps in providing for this
object I must make the application, and required his ,
answer within a given term of three weeks. He receivedl
the letter, and in his note by Mr.  promised to
answer it ; but he has never taken any further notice of
it.'1 From this date matters grew worse and worse,,!
At length his own instinct led him to seek some resting-
1 Life and Correspondence, vol. iv. pp. 82-83,

380 THE GILLMANS.
place where he could be constrained and guarded. He
found it at Highgate with the Gillmans, and there for a
space of eighteen years he led that childlike and purer
life which won back the love and admiration of friends,
and stilled the reproaches of enemies, if any he had.
But these were his waning days. His prime had van
ished, and the signs of its strength and fruitfulness were
too few.1 Posterity wiU ever hunger for more of
Coleridge's melodious verse, and would spare for it his
purposeless discussions and dreamy metaphysics. All
that we have further of Coleridge in these papers is a
cheque for 40/. drawn by his wife in January, 1815,
upon Mr. Wedgwood, and backed by Eobert Southey.
The pecuniary matter referred to in the letters of
Basil Montague, written in 1802, appears to have been
settled by Montague himself, and thus it ended. But
one of these letters, and another written in 1808,
contain some few touches and traits of friendship which
are worth preserving. 'I had intended some time
ago,' he wrote to Mr. Wedgwood, ' to have informed
you of my residence at this place,2 where I am happy
as man can be who has every opportunity to in
dulge his anxiety to improve himself. It was not
with an intention solely to inform you of my comfort,
but to say that if now, or at any time hereafter (for of
course I shall reside here three years), I can be of any
1 ' I had a letter a few days ago,' wrote Davy to Poole, February 11,
1825, 'from Coleridge, who writes in good spirits, and who, being within
a few miles of London, might, as far as his friends are concerned, be at
John o' Groat's House. He writes with all his ancient power. I had
hoped that, as his mind became subdued and his imagination less vivid,
he might have been able to apply himself to persevere, and to give to
the world some of those trains of thought so original, so impressive, and
at which we have so often wondered.' Paris, Life of Sir H. Davy, vol.
ii. p. 285. .
s Cambridge. - - - " ' ' <

BASIL MONTAGUE IN GRAY'S INN. 381
service to Jos., I shaU not easily forget his little affec
tionate cry of Mundoo ; nor, however separated, shall I
forget your "good soul. I will be to him as a father, if
you wish him to learn anything (at any time) in this
place. I can give him bed and board, and will take him
to any lecture with me, for which lectures you shall
pay. He may have Tutors, and reasonable ; excellent
classics and good mathematicians. Basil begins next
term to attend lectures on Chymistry and Anatomy and
anything that can address the Senses  I have
another little Boy.' l Again, six years later, writing in
reference to some mercantile introduction which might
benefit a friend of Mr. Wedgwood's, he, recurs to the same
theme. He was then residing near London, and had
chambers in Gray's Inn. ' I avail myself of this op
portunity to repeat that, if either the wish to improve
any of your children by a residence near London, or to
benefit their health, or any other motive, should induce
you to be desirous to place them near to London, I will
do aU in my power to supply the place of a father to
them. If I am not rich, you shall pay just what they
cost, so that there wiU not be any money obligation ;
but I trust that I shall soon have money enough at my
command. I have a certain annual income of about
530/. ; my wants are few, very few. I work to pay my
debts, and my work prospers. I am beginning to make
a large income, and in time shall liquidate what I
consider, although you may not consider, my debt to
you. God bless you, and all dear to you.« BasiL|
Montague, Gray's Inn. A Staffordshire Client, by the
name of Bill, is just come into my -chambers. "I ami
John Gilpin' like when a customer comes in.'2
1 B. MoAtague to Josiah Wedgwood, Cambridge, December 17, 1802*,
Mayer MSS. .... , -^
s JB, Montague to Josiah Wedgwood,.; June 17, 1808. Mayer MSS- ,.$|

382 LEONARD AND FRANCIS HORNER.
Mrs. Drewe's further letters are but few, and have
little general interest. In 1804 her sight was perfectly
restored, and later, in 1808, her generous spirit, warmed
by the great political movements in Spain, led her to
close a letter to Josiah Wedgwood: thus : ' I wonder I
could write so much without a word of the Spanish
Patriots. Heaven prosper their glorious resistance !
If I was an independent Man I should certainly join
them.'1 This lady had six daughters, and it is probable
in relation to the decline and death of one of them, or of
Miss Allen, her sister, that she was at Pisa in February
1817. Her affecting and womanly services whilst there
are thus recorded ; . 'I should do injustice to ray feelings,'
writes Leonard Horner at the close of his brother's
memoirs, ' were I to omit to say that upon this trying
occasion ' — the death and burial of Francis Horner
-*— ' I derived the greatest comfort from the more
than friendly attentions of Mrs. Drewe (the sister of
Lady Mackintosh), her daughters, and the Miss Aliens,
her sisters, who had come to Pisa on a simfiar melan
choly errand. They did not leave the last duties to
their departed friend to be performed by strangers,
and they stood by my side when I laid the mortal re
mains of my dear brother in his grave, in the Protestant
cemetery at Leghorn.' 2
These ladies, the Misses Allen of Cresselly, seem to
have been charming women, and well educated for
their day. There were originally at least eight of them.
Caroline married Edward Drewe, of Broadhembury, in
Wiltshire ; Catharine, Sir James Mackintosh ; Elizabeth*
Josiah Wedgwood ; Jane, John Wedgwood ; a fifth, M.
Sismondi, who resided at Chene, in the neighbourhood
Caroline Drewe to Josiah Wedgwood, July 14, 1808. Mayer MSS.
Memoirs and Correspondence of Francis Horner, vol. ii. p. 408. """

MACKINTOSH'S RETURN FROM INDIA. 383
of Geneva. Fanny and Emma remained unmarried.
Lady Mackintosh did in 1830, and her husband thus
characterizes her: 'She was an upright and pious
woman, formed for devoted affection, who employed
a strong understanding and resolute spirit in unwearied
attempts to relieve, every suffering under her view.' x
Elsewhere Sir James records, after his return from
India in the spring of 1812 : ' From the parsonage' —
Sydney Smith's: — 'we went to Wedgwood's at Maer,
where we found the, two Mrs. W.'s and three Miss
Aliens. These last had just left their pleasant residence
at CrCsselly ; they have not yet fixed on their home.
They are my prime favourites, and they gave me five
delightful days ; indeed, the only five of that sort that
I have enjoyed during my second European existence.'2
A curious incident connected with this return from
India is related by Mackintosh. He had landed scarcely
three weeks before Spencer Perceval, then Prime
Minister, made pohtical overtures. Taking time to
consider, and preparing a written answer that he would
not ' go into public fife on any terms inconsistent with
the principles of liberty,' he was about to send it to
Downing Street, ' when,' to use his own words, ' Josiah
Wedgwood came into the parlour of our. house, in
New Norfolk Street, with information that about five
Perceval had been shot through the heart by one
Bellingham, a bankrupt ship-broker in Liverpool, who
had formerly been confined for lunacy in Eussia.' 3
Considerably prior to this date, 1812, Mr. Byerley's
long and earnest services were drawing to their close:J
Though not a man of more than average ability, andj
with little or no aptitude for that vocation which
1 Life of Sir James Mackintosh, vol. ii. p. 465.
* Ibid. p. 254. 3 Ibid. vol. ii. p. 247.

384 THOMAS BYERLEY.
circumstances rather than inclination had made his,
he was skilful in business, and seemingly desirous that.
the old fame of Etruria for ornamental art should not
die out. But of art he knew nothing ; in that learning
which is creative he was deficient, as indeed were
almost all business men of that day. • Unlike his uncle,
the elder Josiah Wedgwood, he had no skill in govern
ing turbulent and unruly workmen, little or no practical
knowledge wherewith to direct them, so that in cases
where his uncle was obeyed he was disregarded. He
was, moreover, a man of many sorrows. His own
restless and wayward youth appeared again in that of
his elder sons, and there seems to have been a want
of care and economy in his home. His wife was good
and amiable, but not the rigid governor and frugal
housewife a man of many children and limited means
needed. So cares increased. As one means of econo
mizing, it was proposed late in 1807 that he should
leave his house in Sloane Street, Chelsea, then a beautiful,.
half-rural, though expensive quarter of the town, and
take up his residence in York Street. But there were
points for grave consideration, and he leaned upon Miv
Wedgwood like a son upon a father for his judgment
and advice. ' I have the satisfaction to find,', he wrote
to Mr. Wedgwood, ' that the idea is not new to my
wife, who amidst her anxiety for her children has often
thought of it as one of the expedients against the
enormous expenses we are at, and which no less weigh
down her spirits than my own, and which it is incum
bent upon me to bear witness to, in common justice to
her, who, only I think for want of being better known,
has been thought differently of in this respect. She is
something more than resigned to such an alteration.
Neither she nor I have anything to sacrifice that we

ROOMS. IN YORK STREET. 385
cannot cheerfully give up to obtain any permanent
relief from our present sufferings. I have, however,
reason stiU to think that this measure would not be of
that kind. However, if you consent as far as the
business will be affected, and she continues anxious
about it, I am determined to make the trial. My
"apprehensions are the foUowing. That the cooping
up so large a family in the small compass they must
necessarily be confined to, nearly at the top of a high
house, with the sun upon it during the whole day, will
have worse effects upon the health in the summer months
than are likely to be thought of at this season of the
year. I know, too, that in the atmosphere of this house
there is constant floating dust, too fine to be shut out
of any room, occasioned by the motion of so many
persons through every part of the house, which renders
it unhealthy. .These circumstances, added to the
difference in respect to repose and tranquillity (so
many persons continually passing about them), I fear,
will occasion my children, and my wife too, to droop
in health and spirits, and they will become a prey to
disorders, from which we have hitherto been happily
more free than could be expected in so large a family.
In such a situation will it be right, wiU it be possible, for
me to resist a removal into the country, and would not
such a measure defeat the purpose for which we move
now. The case of a family born and reared under
these circumstances is dissimilar with those of my
chUdren now at home. The only rooms we could
have would be the two in front, which you occupy
when in town. The bed-closet might be broken down
so as to make a larger room, the garret above, Howorth's*
two rooms, and two garrets above. If the painters ¦
could be removed it would help, and leave that stair-
c c

386 THEIR UNFITNESS FOR A FAMILY.
case solely for family use; but I cannot find a place to put
them in. Our stores are full, and will not admit of being
further cramped. The kitchen is a miserable dark one*
and being so connected with the labouring men below
would have many inconveniences, and my wife would
seldom be able to visit it, as an economist ought to do ;
therefore she would have one above. You would be
deprived of your rooms, and Howorth must be turned
out, for which doubtless he would expect some equivalent,
if we should not risk the losing a very valuable man,
by so weakening his attachment ; and some expense
must be incurred in fitting up, to say nothing of the
general inconvenience which so large a family must
unavoidably occasion to the business. Some inconve-
niency, too, may arise if it should be thought necessary
for me to go from home at anytime ; but with respect
to myself, I have no wish to say a word. I shall
probably, however, sustain some loss in Sloane Street,
which is to.be set against the proposed advantages. I
shall be very thankful for your opinion and advice
soon. Also be so good to teU me if you see anything
incompatible with sound prudence in the following
plan.' Mr. Byerley had established his eldest son Josiah
as a potter at Fenton in Staffordshire. Here the young
man had a house, and for some time his eldest sister had
acted as his housekeeper. The plan, proposed was to
send another sister in her place, as also two younger
children. The letter proceeds : ' Jos., I fear, has a little
propensity to company, but he has a strong affection for
his sisters, and their society would leave him without
an inducement to go out in an evening. My daughter
Fanny is one of the best of human beings, considerate
and prudent ; but you will fancy the father speaks, and

HOSPITALITY AT MAER. 387
not the man. She knows our situation ; she has pre
pared herself to take two of her younger sisters,
finish their education, and take care of Josiah's
housekeeping. Their board I should pay for, of course.
Jos. would himself be useful to them in instruction to
them in the evenings, and I persuade myself they would
be happy together.'1
There is no clue to how these matters ended. Mr.
Byerley was right in his judgment that a large house
of business in an extremely closed-up quarter like that
of York Street, St. James's Square, was most unfitted
for a family of children, and for anything like the
comfort of domestic life. All that is spared is the
draft of a letter of the previous 15th of December
from Mr. Wedgwood, in which the necessity of
economy, both in London and at Fenton, is strongly
pointed out. It is the letter of a grave, kind,
thoughtful man, in whom lived again no small portion
of his father's prudence and earnestness in well-doing.
It is probable that Mr. Byerley's educational scheme
was as futile as others which had gone before." It is
not likely that he ever removed to York Street, but, if
at aU, to some cheaper suburb. He had long been
subject to attacks of the gout, and these anxieties of
later years must have increased their effects. He died
at the close of 1810, at the age of sixty-two years.
Settled once more in his native county— -and no
other was so well suited to his name and duties — Mr.-
Wedgwood's hospitahty did not decrease. We have
seen Sir James Mackintosh and his family at Maer in,
1812, and Mrs. Marsh Caldwell, the well-known|
writer, gives us a similar picture in relation to Sydney:
1 T. Byerley to Josiah Wedgwood, January 4, 1808. Mayer MSS. <

388 SYDNEY SMITH AT MAER.
Smith : 'If I recollect right, it was about the year
1812 that I first had the gratification to meet Mr.
Sydney Smith ; it was at the house of Mr. Josiah
Wedgwood. He arrived about the middle of the day
with his wife and children. He entered, and in an
instant made everybody feel at their ease, and infused
a portion of his animation into aU around him. I
remember him standing with his back to the fire, or
leaning over the back of his chair, conversing with
us for several hours. . . . The next morning he took
a long walk over the hills with us ; and most agreeable
he was, giving out his mind with a variety and abun
dance of ideas which delighted us, and showed how
little need he had of external excitement to call forth
his powers of wit and wisdom. ... It was his custom
to stroll about the room in which we were sitting, and
which was lined with books, taking down one lot after
another, sometimes reading or quoting aloud, some
times discussing any subject that arose. He tookdown
a sort of record of those men who had lived to a great
age. " A record of little value," said Mrs. Wedgwood,
" as to hve longer than other people can hardly be the
desire of any one." " It is not so much the longevity,"
he answered, " that is valued as the original build and
constitution, that condition of health and habit of life
which not only leads to longevity, but makes life enjoy
able whilst it lasts, that renders the subject interesting
and worth enquiry." "You must preach, Mr. Smith,"
said Mrs. Wedgwood (it was Saturday). " We must
go and try the pulpit, then," said he, "to see if it suits
= me." So to the church we walked, and how he
amused us by his droll way of " trying the pulpit," as
he called it. . . . In 1816 I had again the- happiness

JOHN FLAXMAN. 389
to pass a few days with Mr. Smith in the same family,
and we found him, if possible, stUl more delightful than
before ; he would sit for hours with us by the fire,
discoursing and making us all wiser and better, and of
course most proud and happy by his notice.' x We
may be certain — did similar evidence exist — that the
visits of Archdeacon Wrangham, Basil Montague, Dr.
Darwin of Shrewsbury, Poole, and others as well-known,
were as full of pleasantness as these recorded. Josiah
Wedgwood the second of Etruria died at Maer HaU
July 13, 1843, aged 73 years.
Many of the engraved patterns of 1809 were very
admirable. In the same year there is a note of Flax-
man's relative to a cast of Sir Isaac Newton's face. It
is not improbable, from this note finding its way to
Etruria, that the cast was copied in the black body for
the Earl of Buchan. Flaxman addressed himself to the
Eev. James Hall, Chesnut Walk, Walthamstow, Essex :

'May 19, 1809,
' Buckingham Street,
' Fitzroy Square.
' Sir, ' Some time since you favoured me with a letter
enclosing one from the Earl of Buchan, in which his
Lordship desired a cast from the face of Sir Isaac
Newton, in my possession. I have no mould of this
face myself, but the original mould from it belongs to
Mr. De Ville, figure-maker, Newport Street, Newport ;
Market, who sells them at two shillings or half-a-1
crown each. Ii I had known how to convey one to
the Noble Lord, either in town or Country, agreeable|
1 Memoir of the Rev. Sydney Smith, by Lady Holland, vol. i. pp. 315,',;
316,317.

390 ORNAMENTAL WARE.
to his wishes, it should have been done without giving
you this trouble.
' I have the honour to remain,
'Sir,
' Your most humble servant,
' John Flaxman.'
On the back of this note is endorsed, ' A Cast taken
from the face of Sir Isaac Newton. The mould in the
possession of Mr. Flaxman, Statuary of London.'1 This
mould must have been Flaxman's work.
Amongst a list of retaU customers in 1810 are the
names of Wordsworth, De Quincey, Bernard Dewes of
Wellesbourne, the relation of Mrs. Delany, P.M.
Chaworth of Annesly, father of Lord Byron's Mary, and
Charles Waterton the naturalist. In the same year, a
service, ' Barley pattern and Agricultural Devices,' was
prepared for Lord Auckland. In 1813, landscapes were
in favour, and many of them were richly painted. A
set of fine Etruscan vases, for bookcases, were made
for the Marquis of Lansdowne. They were copies from
the antique, and were considered so admirable, both in
form and painting — red figures on a black ground— as
to fetch. a large sum in the sale which took place at
the death of the Marquis. About the middle of 1815,
china-making was given up at Etruria ; and henceforth
Spode executed any matches for customers. Amongst
the last articles made of porcelain at Etruria were some
v bowls for the Marchioness of Lansdowne, which were
decorated with an exquisitely enamelled pattern — haw
thorn buds and leaves, varied by red and gold lines.
In the same year a dinner service was prepared for the
1 Mayer MSS.

SERVICES FOR THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON. 391
Eothschilds in truly oriental taste. Its decoration is
thus described : ' Blue and gold diamonds, surrounded
by blue triangles, edges of the articles in gold.' The
East India Company sent as a present to the Emperor
of China a table and dessert service made at Etruria ;
and, stiU more important, the Prince Eegent ordered
that every requisite in pottery and porcelain for the
use of the Emperor Napoleon at St. Helena should
be supphed by this famous house. The break
fast service was of pale blue jasper, ornamented with
white bas-reliefs from designs originaUy modeUed by
Flaxman. The dinner service was white and gold ;
the centre of each dish, plate, &c, containing an
elegantly-executed landscape of British scenery. The
bird-painting of this period was very good, and violet
baskets of good form and ornament were a speciality.1
Yet fashions changed and stocks accumulated. In a
list of unsaleable ware of 1825 are many things which
in our day would sell at extravagant prices, some of
them being in that lovely sea green, as also lilac jasper,
now so highly prized. In 1828, Eoman paterae from
the WUtshire and other excavations were copied for
E. C. Hoare, Esq., and in the same year it was publicly
announced that the firm of Wedgwood and Sons would
sell off and close its London business. From this date
tiU the autumn of 1829 the sale continued, the goods
being ticketed in lots, and so disposed of. Thus
medalhons, cameos, and seals of every period and
character were thrown together, vases contrasted each :
other, and the beautiful, the mediocre, the hideous, and j
the imperfect were weighed in one common balance. ¦
Thus for a few shillings lots were bought ; but weeded
1 Mems., orders, and papers, 1809 to 1815, Mayer MSS.

392 THE LAST OF YORK STREET.
out, and their residues aggregated, the nucleus of many
modern coUections was formed : collections as valuable
to the artist as of interest to the lover of his country.
But it is not for its artistic associations that the dull
house in York Street, St. James's Square, claims notice.
Its period, 1796 to 1829, is remarkable for its indirect
association with the names and fortunes of some distin
guished men, whose beliefs were of a newer day, and
whose services, scientific, literary, and political, advanced
truth in many important directions. True to the prin
ciples in which they had been reared, the sons of
Wedgwood, though, with one exception, in no way
highly educated or intellectual men, had the wisdom to
make friends of these newer poets and more able and
honest poUticians, and so far identify themselves with
their fortunes as to give generous and ready aid where
such was needed. They were a group of remarkable
men, and our interest in them and in their fives lends
value to even minor details.

THE PYROMETER. 393

APPENDIX.

CHISHOLM ON THE PYEOMETEE.
Your objection to our pyrometer pieces, my dear sir, were not
altogether unforeseen ; but it was hoped that they would be
obviated by preparing at once a large quantity (more than
half a ton), and mixing the whole exquisitely together.
The alumine necessary for increasing the contraction of the
clay was in a state very favourable for such mixtures ; for
after repeated washings with boiling water, it continued
to settle in the form of a thin jelly, which is more readily,
and perhaps more uniformly, diffused than it could easily be
in any other state. It was expected that such a composition,
after being manipulated by the most intelligent and ex
perienced artists in clay, would be perfectly alike throughout,
in contraction by fire as well as in its other qualities ; and
the only source of disagreement that we could think of was
some inequality of pressure in the formation of the pieces ;
and even that could have no considerable influence, as all
the pieces which differed above one or two degrees from the
standard dimensions were rejected.
When a disagreement began to appear among pieces which
had passed through the same heat, I imagined that some
alteration had happened in their form, either from some ';
accident in their soft state, or from their being warped in ')
the fire. Conceiving that they must be alike in total con-j
traction, and that what was wanted in one direction would
be compensated in another, I measured many pieces in
length, breadth, and thickness, and found that those which
were deficient in one direction were so in all.

394 THE USE OF PLATINA.
The alumina jelly is very tenacious of its water, and when
once thoroughly dried unites difficultly with water again
into a gelatinous consistence. In our first experiments for
adjusting its proportion to the clay, we found that when per
fectly dried it did not increase the contraction of the clay,
and that in some cases it considerably diminished it. If,
then, the composition became dry, the alumine, having lost
much of its affinity to water, would not easily soften to the
due consistence by moistening the mass with fresh water ; so
that the pieces would have less of a volatile ingredient in
their composition.
Our composition was intended to be kept moist; but I
have reason to believe that part of it at least did dry more
than once ! and, what is worse, the pieces that were rejected,
as before mentioned, after being dried by the heat of boiling
water, were sent to be worked over again.
The Pyrometer you propose appears to be unexceptionable
in principle, and I am only afraid that it will be found too
operose in adjustment and too incommodious in use. The
small plates of. platina will be excellent substrata for the
pyrometric strokes or dots, as they will quickly transmit
the heat, and remove the capital objection which I should
otherwise have made ; for bats of any earthy composition
would influence the vitrification of the pyrometers, which
would always be a compound of the substance of the bat
and the pyrometer. Thus chalk on a substratum of clay, or
in a common crucible, vitrifies on the surface in contact with
the clay in a fire not very strong, all the other parts of it
remaining unaltered; and powdered fluor sprinkled on a
bat of biscuit ware melts, and forms a glaze on the surface
'&;." in a moderate heat (B B 0),' but in a greater heat (or even a
lower heat, if long continued) not only is there no glaze
¦*f|i formed, but the former one is destroyed.
I believe there will be no insurmountable difficulty in
_.¦ obtaining the simple earths in a pure state, though it
< /would be difficult indeed to adjust proportions of them of
different degrees of fusibility so as to form an intelligible
scale of heat. We shall only be able to say the heat in
which such a mixture vitrifies, but we can have no -idea of

OUR NOTIONS OF DISTANCE. 395
their differences from one another. The most refractory of
earthy compositions that are at all vitrescible may be
equivalent perhaps to 160°, and the most fusible about 100°
of our pyrometer ;, for all below this flint, with different pro
portions of lead calx, will probably be the best pyrometer ;
and lead being the direct flux, intelligible degrees of heat
may be settled by different proportions of it. The prepara
tion of lead which I think will be best for this purpose is a
precipitate by alkali from the nitrous acid, well washed.
The calces prepared by fire seem to be improper on account
of the variable proportions of carbonic acid which they
contain.

AN ENQUIEY INTO THE OEIGIN OF OUE NOTION
OF DISTANCE.
Drawn up pbom Notes left by the late Thomas Wedgwood, Esq,.
(From the Quarterly Journal of Science and Arts, vol. iii.)
Since the publication of Bishop Berkeley's 'Theory of Vision,'
it seems to have been unanimously admitted by philosophers
that our visual perceptions undergo, in the process of ex
perience, an important and extraordinary revolution.
. The eye originally perceives only length and breadth, not
depth or distance, from itself. Some philosophers allow it
no other original perception but that of light and colours :
the majority, however, have held that space in two of its
dimensions is a primary object of vision.
It has been generally said that all objects in this original
state appear in the same plane. This is an incorrectness
naturally arising from the inadequacy of language t to the
description of this unremembered state of mind, and from
the almost inevitable anticipation of terms which are only.|
significant when they relate to a more advanced stage in thefi
progress of experience. A plane — as Condillac and Eeid
have observed — implies the existence of a solid, and is not,^
therefore, a proper term in that state of perception which*

396 SIGHT AND TOUCH.
precedes all notion of solidity. An object removed from
the eye must then have appeared only to lessen, and an
object placed at different distances from the eye must have
appeared to have different magnitudes, or rather to be
different objects.
In process of time we acquire a notion of distance from
the eye, or what Berkeley calls outness. "We form tolerably
correct estimates of what we call the real distances and
magnitudes of objects not very remote from us, and we
substitute them so instantaneously for the apparent ones
that the mind is unconscious of the change, and mankind in
general consider real magnitude and distance from ourselves
as direct and primary perceptions of sight. By this great
change, which it is impossible for any man who has grown
up to maturity, with the use of his senses, fully to conceive,
vision becomes so important and comprehensive an inlet to
knowledge. Doctor Berkeley, who first demonstrated the reality of
this change, has endeavoured to explain its nature, and his
beautiful theory has been received with general assent.
Distance and magnitude are, according to his perceptions,
acquired by the sense of touch. When we have learned by
touch the real magnitude of an object, the visual or apparent
magnitude becomes only a sign which instantly suggests the
tactual magnitude. As in the case of language, the mind
passes over the sign, and attends only to the thing signified.
The visual magnitude, which in the primitive state of the
human mind was its only object in the progress of experience,
entirely vanishes from its notice. It so immediately calls
up the tactual magnitude that what can only be touched
appears to us to be seen.
Much of this ingenious theory is undoubtedly true, and
was in the time of Berkeley, in the proper sense of the term,
a discovery. He first clearly proved the original imbecility
and confusion of the sense of sight and its subsequent ac
quirements. He showed the instantaneous correction of
visual appearances by notions derived from experience ; and
he was the first who advanced the important principle that
some perceptions are capable of becoming a language by

VISUAL IDEAS. 397
which other perceptions are represented and suggested.
These are additions to the stock of certain knowledge ; but
that the notions of distance and magnitude are acquired by
the sense of touch will perhaps appear to be doubtful.
It will surely be admitted that touch is altogether incom
petent to give a notion of colour; but rigidly excluding
every idea of colour, what distinct notion can remain of
any visual object or of its outness ? I can as readily conceive
a triangle which is neither equilateral, nor isosceles, nor
scalene, as I can imagine magnitude or figure to exist inde
pendent of colour.
Let any one try to consider abstractedly the impression of
touch from a point or a ball, and he will find himself utterly
unable to divest it of the idea of the figure of the object.
If there be any such quality as tactual magnitude or figure,
at least we are ignorant of its nature, since it always occurs
united with ideas of sight. This invariable conjunction of
the notions of touch and sight prevents our ever ascertaining
distinctly their separate properties; hence the one is fre
quently mistaken for the other, the secondary for the
principal. I shall give an instance or two. A person thinks
that when his skin is simply cooled the feeling is different
from what he experiences when it is cooled by the applica
tion of cold water. Try the experiment. Blindfold him,
and put a tin funnel into his hand ; fill it gently with water
without letting him know that you are doing so ; he will
observe that his hand is simply cooled. Eemove the bandage
from his eyes, and hastily pour water into the funnel with
such force that it shall seem to splash over ; he will now
say that he feels his hand wetted as well as cooled. It, is
certain that the sensation of touch was the same in both
cases, but there was present in the latter a vivid idea of
water on the skin, from the imagined dashing oyer the
funnel. It follows that the supposed difference resulted
from the obtrusion of a visual idea in the latter case, which ;
was absent in the former.
On the same principle depends the common experiment
of a body seeming double when felt in the angle of the tips
of the first and second finger crossed. . A person is blind-

398 CONTACT OF BODIES.
folded and desired to attend to the impression of touch from
a body so placed : the bandage being removed, he is directed
to look at his fingers while the object is placed as before.
He will say, that the first time he felt two bodies at a distance
from each other, and that now he feels only one: in his
prior experience, if similar sensations occurred on the remote
sides of those two fingers, they had always been occasioned
by the contact of two bodies. When he was blindfolded,
therefore, the idea of the usual visual appearance of two
bodies came into his mind, and made him imagine that he
touched two bodies ; when the bandage was removed, and he
saw that there was but one, he immediately perceived that
he felt but one. As the sensations of touch from the same
impressing body must have been the same in both cases, the
supposed difference in them must have been owing to some
circumstance of vision : in the first case the experimenter
was deceived by a visual idea ; in the second he was rightly
informed by a visual impression.
In the same manner we may conclude that the notions of
magnitude and figure suggested to us by the contact of
solid bodies in the dark are derived from the visual idea of
the portions of our skin which are touched by the solid
bodies. If we grasp a small body in the dark, we have a
visual idea of that portion of the hand which enfolds it ; if
the whole length of our arm touches the solid body, our judg
ment of its size is formed from a visual idea of the length
of the arm.
But some tactual sensations are not connected with im
pressions of sight ; if these sensations suggest the ideas of
magnitude and figure, these qualities must belong to the
sense of touch ; if they do not suggest them, the fact is nearly
decisive of the contrary position. A person ignorant of
anatomy, and therefore having no visual ideas of the parts
under the skin, Would not form any notion of the size or
figure of his liver from the sensations of touch excited
through its whole substance by inflammation ; but if a scald
occasion the inflammation of his finger, or of any visible
part of the skin, he will have a distinct idea of the size and
form of the part affected. We may conclude, then, that this

SENSATIONS AND. IDEAS OF TOUCH. 399
idea is derived from sight, as touch in the preceding instance.
was. found incapable of giving any notion of the size or
figure of the inflamed part.
It may be objected that the hand is the proper organ of
touch, and that the sensations ofthe liver are not calculated
to impart ideas of magnitude and figure ; but the impact of
of a cube against the hand of a child who has never yet seen
his hand, and the impact of the cube against the coat of the
stomach, seem equally incapable of giving any notion of
magnitude or figure ; and the superiority of the hand above.
other parts of the body in suggesting these notions is owing
entirely to the more numerous visual ideas which our habits
have connected with it. The hand is indeed the most con
venient organ of touch ; but if from accident other parts of
the body are much exercised in its stead, we find that they
acquire much of that delicacy which is peculiar to the
hand. Spasms or inflammation will sometimes produce sensations
of touch exactly resembling those occasioned by the contact
of external objects. An acute spasmodic affection will ex
cite the tactual idea of a point, minute prickly spasms that
of numerous points, and a duller diffused spasm that of a
curved surface. Suppose that such sensations of touch
were experienced by an infant anterior to all impressions
of sight, can it be thought that from them he would derive
any notion of figure ? If he would not, touch is incompetent
to suggest the notion of figure ; and whenever it seems to
introduce that notion into the mind, we may be assured that,
it has acted a subordinate part.
Touch is equally incompetent to excite the notion of
position ; if it could suggest position, it must also suggest
combined position, and consequently figure ; if it gave a
notion of the situation of each part of an inflamedjiver, it ,
would give an idea of the whole figure.
If a person who has a pain in his back be desired to,
place his finger on that spot on the back of a statue which-;
corresponds to that which he conceives to be the painful
place in his own, he will hesitate long, and at last decide
with much uncertainty ; but if he turn his head so as to sea

400 POSITION DETERMINED BY SIGHT.
a bruise on his back, which had been, unknown to him, the
source of his pain, he will positively refer the pain to that
spot, which will probably differ considerably from the one he
had marked on the statue : thus the position is determined
by an impression of sight, touch having been found incom
petent to ascertain it.
A person who has lost a hand often fancies that he feels
pain in a finger of that hand, and refers it to that place in
the air which his finger would have occupied if he had not
lost it. Nothing can more incontestibly prove the inade
quacy of the sense of touch to mark position, since the
touch or pain is here supposed to suggest its having position
in a place where there is no part of the body existing.
I shall now endeavour to show that the idea of distance
is acquired by the sense of sight alone, though not originally
suggested by it.
For this purpose it will be necessary to enquire into a law
of the understanding which, though it must have occurred
in some of its modifications to all who have philosophised
on the mind, has not been unfolded by any as its importance
requires. The two acts or. states of the mind, called perception and
idea, have a common nature, I was accustomed some years
ago to the view of a street in London into which my house
looked. I now think ofthe same scene, which I can recall with
ease and accuracy. My present notion of it differs from that
which entered through the eye only in the superior vivacity
and steadiness of the perception over the idea (all considera
tions of the idea of past time and of the belief of outward
existence are here intentionally waved). When two percep
tions have entered the mind together, or in immediate
succession, the recurrence of the idea of one tends imme
diately to suggest the idea of the other. The same law
obtains between perceptions and ideas. When I perceive a
small part of an object which I have known familiarly,
that perception instantly calls up the idea of all the
other parts, and, though I only see a part, I think. of the
whole. The perception and the recollection blend together,
so as to form one homogeneous whole. Almost all that

PERCEPTION OF OBJECTS. 401
seems to be simple perception is in fact the result of thi3
process. Suppose any object — a chair, for example — to be
presented frequently to view, and allowed each time to con
tinue in sight for the space of a second ; it is plain that
each separate perception is the same as that which pre
ceded it, that as a mere perception of the sense the twelfth
perception differs nothing from the eleventh, nor the eleventh
from any one that has gone before. Yet the picture of the
object, after the first glimpse or two, is confused and faint ;
after the twelfth time it becomes clear and accurate.
Something, therefore, must have coalesced and assimilated
with the last perception to render it so much more correct
and vivid ; and that can only be the ideas, the reproduction
or reminiscence of the preceding perceptions. Every per
ception of the object leaves behind it an idea which in
stantly coalesces with the subsequent perception. The last
perception, blended with all the ideas derived from the
antecedent ones, gives a full and distinct notion of the chair.
It often happens that the perception is obscure and im
perfect, compared with the antecedent kindred ideas ; but
deriving clearness and completeness from the accession of
these, it becomes as useful for all the purposes of reasoning
or life as the most perfect perception.
Hence the facility with which familiar objects are recog
nised. The slightest glance of a horse would give us a
distinct idea of his form ; but a single fleeting view of a
llama would. give us the most imperfect notion of it. The
latter perception is of the same duration, and, from its
novelty, perhaps more vivid than the former ; but the per
ception of the horse immediately absorbs, as it were, into
itself the numerous preceding ideas of that animal, or ex
cites the mind to reproduce the past perceptions which
blend with the present one ; while the perception of the
llama, being conjoined with no antecedent ideas, is left to
its own weakness and indistinctness.
Hence the singular acuteness with which men distinguish
between objects with which they are particularly conversant.
A shepherd will select a particular sheep from the most
numerous flock. A seaman will descry a vessel on the bounds
D D

402 FACILITY OF RECOGNITION AND DISTINCTION.
of the horizon, discern its size, shape, and rigging, determine
of what make it is, and whether it be for war,, or commerce,
when a landsman, if he see anything, can discover only a
black spot. The shepherd and the seaman may be inferior
to other men in their natural powers of sight, exercised upon
objects with which they are not peculiarly conversant ; but
in their own departments they have a store of correct and
assimilated ideas, which immediately arise at the call of the
faintest perception, and lend to it their fulness and vivacity.
One used, for instance, to finding hares, looks into a brake
and spies part of the head and the tips of the ears of a hare ;
another person, unaccustomed to field sports, looks on the
same spot and sees nothing but the tangling brambles. The
optic powers and the actual perception were the same in
both persons, but the peculiar shades and contours did not
find, in the mind ofthe latter any previous store of ideas of
the form and appearance of a hare ready to blend with the
faintest perception.
The same principle will be found to operate in most of
those cases which are usually referred to a greater perfection
of sense. The facility of recognition and distinction depends
not on better sight, but on better memory, and on a conse
quent tendency to associate what is remembered with what is
seen ; imperfect recognition is the difficulty of blending them.
Why does a painter discern more of the particulars of a
picture than a person ignorant of the art ? Not from the
superior rapidity of examination which he has acquired by
habit, for it will still be the case if he does, not permit his
eye to roll, and at the first glance, when the impression on
his eye must be the same with that on the eye of another
man ; but his mind is filled with a thousand lively ideas
which crowd into every picture upon the slightest impulse
of association.
Why do we perceive so much more quickly and correctly
of which we have been in expectation than others ? Because
the effect of expectation is to keep up lively ideas of the
objeot expected, which, coalescing immediately with slighter
perceptions than would be otherwise noticed, form a complete
notion of it.

COALITION OF IDEA WITH IMPRESSION. 403
It is indeed chiefly in consequence of this coalition of
idea with impression that the operations of the mind and
the business of human life are carried on with facility and
despatch. If it were not for this law, every view of an
external object would be attended with all the labour
and protracted to all the length of a first examination.
Experience would be in a great measure useless, and on
every new examination of an object we should have to
study it as if it were for the first time. But in consequence '
of this law, the slightest and shortest impression on the
senses is sufficient in all familiar cases. The least spark
lights up the train of associated ideas. Perception becomes
a language of which the chief use is to excite the correspon
dent series of thought, and the senses are seldom intensely.
and long employed but in the examination of new ob
jects. The far greater part of what is supposed to be percep
tion is only the body of ideas which a perception has awak
ened. If, from particular circumstances, our preconceptions
or those accumulated antecedent ideas are uncommonly
vivid, the slightest incident is sufficient to recall them, and
every new impression that bears the remotest similitude to
the original will revive the whole train of sensations : if,
for example, a man come to an interview in very anxious
expectation of a friend, he will sometimes for a moment
mistake a mere stranger for the expected friend. After
living a week in the centre of a deer park, I mistook the
first flock of sheep I saw for deer. A peasant, whose mind
is well stored with tales of ghosts sees a female figure
clothed in white in a stone or a cow. In these cases the
previous ideas modify the perception so as to produce
mistake, usually referred to the senses, but which is really
referable to the mind. In the approaches, and still more
under the influence,, of insanity, an idea may predominate so
strongly as to assimilate to itself every perception to which
it bears the most distant resemblance. In Irwin's ' Voyage
on the Eed Sea,' we read of a young man whose mind was so
constantly haunted by the dread of assassination by the
Arabs, that, looking one day earnestly at the bottom of the
boat, he exclaimed, ' The darts of the Arabs,' nor could he be
d ,t> 2

404 HOMOGENEOUSNESS OF PERCEPTION AND IDEA.
convinced that what he saw were merely reeds. Such was
the first indication that he gave of mental derangement.
These observations will be sufficient to prove the homo-
geneousness of perceptions and ideas, and their capacity of
being thoroughly blended so as to form one whole. The
principle is implied, though not unfolded, in Berkeley's own
' Theory of Vision,' for it supposes the ideas of objects derived
from touch to be excited by the perceptions which enter
' through the eye, and the idea to be so constantly associated
with the perception that they never can be separated. But
its importance deserves that it should be distinctly con
sidered as one of the principal of the secondary laws of
thought ; and that importance will appear to be still greater
if I am successful in deducing from it a new and more
probable theory of the acquired perceptions of sight.
It has already been said that superficial distance (or space
considered merely in length and breadth) is an original
object of vision. It must indeed be as much so as colour,
since it is manifestly inconceivable that we should see un-
extended colour. Figure is bounded extension ; and these
three perceptions — namely, colour, superficial extension, and
superficial figure — are the three coeval and inseparable per
ceptions of sight which must have entered the mind together
on the first exercise of the faculty of vision, and which can
never be imagined to exist separate from each other. The
generally received doctrine, that distance is not an original
object of sight, is ambiguously expressed. As superficial
space is an original object of sight, so must the distance
between two points which (to borrow an expression from
subsequent experience) are in the same plane ; otherwise one
circle would not originally appear larger than another. That
which is not an original object of vision is distance from
the eye or outness, and the manner in which we acquire this
notion is the object of the present enquiry.
A child has at first no conception that any part of the
picture presented to his eyes is composed of his own figure.
He views his hand, body, or foot with the same interest as
the trees, stones, &c. He has no idea of sentience connected
with one object more than another, nor a thought, like what

CORRECTION OF IMPRESSION. 405
he afterwards acquires, that he is himself present in one part
of the picture, from which the distances of the rest are
measured. The notion of his person is acquired by observing that
sensation is always connected with certain parts of the picture,
and that those parts never vary like the others in distinct
ness, size, colour, &c. His own figure is then made up of
a certain observed portion of the picture, which is a constant,
uniform, unvarying object in every different picture of
objects which are unceasingly changing their aspects. •
Let us now suppose him to look at his finger, held in that
position in which all the parts of it are at nearly an equal
distance from the eye. He repeats the observation so often
that he acquires a full notion of the superficial distance of
all the parts of the finger from each other. Suppose the
finger then to be placed somewhat obliquely, the more dis
tant parts of its surface will make a smaller impression on
the eye (that is, will subtend a less angle) than they did
before. But the idea of these more distant parts gained
from former observation will be immediately excited. This
idea will correct the impression made on the sense, and thus
the more distant parts will seem to be as large as before the
finger was moved into an oblique position. When the child
has looked often enough at all the parts of his finger, a
glimpse of one part of its surface will excite the ideas of all
the other parts of it. After a thousand views of the finger
in all directions, he never looks at one side without synchro
nous ideas of the other side : it is hardly observable where
impression ends and idea begins. He cannot see the
knuckles in a fore-shortened view without synchronous ideas
of the parts interjacent (for they are like the further side of
the finger in the preceding case, parts now unseen, but of
which there are familiar ideas in the mind), and he cannot
have these ideas of the interjacent parts without imagining
the knuckles at something like their real distance from each
other ; this gives outness or distance from the eye, which
differs from superficial distance only in this respect, that the
eye must be considered as one of the points between which
space is extended.

'406 VISUAL PERCEPTIONS AND IDEAS.
A child believes his finger in all views to be the same
object, because he never has -a new impression of it without
some recognised part of a former impression along with it,
and also some idea of parts obscure and unseen.
If the more simple parts of this process are distinctly
apprehended, there will be no difficulty in conceiving those
which are more complicated.
I look at a globe; no more of it than one hemisphere can
be the direct object of vision. But I have no separate
notion of the hemisphere I have before seen as soon as I
discern the one which I now see. The idea of the invisible
part of the globe instantaneously blends- with the perception
of that which is visible, and they jointly form my notion of
the globe.
There is a certain distance from the eye at which an object
must be placed in order that it may be most distinctly seen.
This is the. nearest distance at which the eye can distinctly
take in the whole object : when the object is brought nearer
the eye sees only a part of it ; when it is removed to a greater
distance the impression on the sense is smaller. This is the
largest possible view of the object, and that which leaves
behind the fullest and clearest idea of it. This perception
is, in other respects, of such importance that the mind
naturally recurs to it more frequently than to any other.
The idea, then, of the object seen at this distance is in itself
the most full and distinct, and is associated with the greatest
number of other ideas, as well as with the strongest emotions.
Here, then, is a visual idea of an object which may be
substituted for the tangible magnitude of Berkeley. This
idea furnishes what we call the real magnitude of the object.
All the other perceptions of the object, being comparatively
indistinct and uninteresting, are chiefly useful in calling up
this idea. Thus a standard visual idea of every object is
formed, which instantly blends with every fugitive perception
and corrects it. A visual perception is a sign which excites
the standard visual idea, and the whole of that process is
performed by the sense of sight alone, for which Berkeley
called in the assistance of the sense of touch.

INDEX.

ADA
ADAMS, the, of Tnnstall, rivals of
Etruria, 195. Their works, 195
Agricultural Associations, formation of,
184
Aiken, Dr., at Warrington Academy, 26
Alderley Edge, cobalt at, 365
Allen, Miss Elizabeth, married to
Josiah Wedgwood the younger, 58
Allen, Miss Frances, 164, 383. Her
account of Miss Sarah Wedgwood,
165
Allen, Mr. L. B., elected Warden of
Dulwich College, 308
Allen, Misses, of Cresselly, Sydney
Smith's letter respecting, 383 .
Architects, their neglect of the work of
the potter, 168
Aristocratic prejudices, 187
Arkwright, Richard, destruction of his
machinery, 14
Auckland, Lord, letters of Wedgwood
to, 69

BALL, Sir Alexander, gives the post
of secretary to Coleridge, 304
Banks, Sir Joseph, a guest at Gunville,
188. Procures some Indian emp,
or bang, for Thomas Wedgwood. 216.
His account of its effects, 216. His
development of the cause of rust in
wheat, 291
Barberini vase, a copy of, presented by
the Wedgwoods to Dr. Beddoes, 67
note. Other copies of, 177. One
sent to the French Republic, 177
Bark, oak, law respecting, 317
Barr, Mr., of Worcester, becomes ac
quainted with Coleridge, 73
Beddoes, Dr. Thomas, his views re
specting the cure of consumption, 58.
His analytical account of Mayow's
writings, 59. Encouraged by various
persons, 60, 61. Establishes the
Clifton Pneumatic Institution, 60.
His the first medical lectures to

BYE
females, 66. Assisted by Watt and
Wedgwood, 61. Marries Anna
Edgeworth, 66. Presented with a
copy of the Barberini vase, 67 note.
Opens a correspondence with Hum
phry Davy, whom he induces to come
to Bristol, 84. His hopes of tho
nitrous oxide gas, 86. Collapse of
the Pneumatic Institution, 88. The
doctor's favourite remedies, 89. His
enlightened views, 92. Hands over
the Pneumatic Institution to his
brother-in-law, Mr. King, 362. His
death, 362
Beddoes, Mrs., invites Thomas Wedg
wood to Clifton, 252 note
Bentley, Wedgwood's letters to, 9, 10,
12, 14, 16-18, 21, 23, 25. Goes to
France, 42. His taste and merit, 341
Black, Dr., at Edinburgh, 37
Boardman, Mr. James, at Liverpool,
340
Boehler, Balsan, of Darmstadt, an ap
prentice at Etruria, 206
Bonaparte, opinions of, 315. Services
for, when at St. Helena, 391
Book of mixtures, Greatbach's, 191-
193
Book-room at Nether Stowey, 235
Bow, earthenware of, 40
' Bowmen, the Staffordshire,' 58
Boyd, Mr., his son proposed for a com
panion for Thomas Wedgwood, but
not allowed by his friends to go, 277
Bramah, Joseph, the mechanist, 231.
Proposes the manufacture of artifi
cial teeth, 231
Brougham, Henry, a visitor at York
Street, 65. Interests himself on be
half of the Wedgwoods, 349
Buller, Captain, his death, 366
Burnet, George, an occasional visitor to
Coleridge at Nether Stowey, 78
Byerley, Josiah, 179, 196. His father's
proposal respecting him, 198. Esta
blished as a potter, 386

408

INDEX.

Byerley, Mr., his qualifications, 20.
Goes to France with young John
Wedgwood, 43. Mayflard's letter
to, 48 note. His wife and family,
178. Wiedeman's letter to, 179.
Notice of him, 181. His domestic
anxieties, 196-202. His sons, 297.
His remarks on Bentley, 341
Byerley, Thomas, jun., 179, 196. His
father's sentiments respecting him,
200, 201. On service in India, 240.
Macintosh's opinion of him, 240, 241,
301. Account of him and of his
family, 384

CALDWELL, Mrs. Marsh, at Maer,
387
Campbell, Thomas, a visitor in York
Street, 65. His conversations with
Thomas Wedgwood, 219. His
knowledge of music, 220. His do
mestic feelings, 220. Living in Park
Street, Westminster, 225. A school
fellow and friend of Gregory Watt,
273, His high opinion of Thomas
Wedgwood, 275, 276. Proposes
Benjamin Thorpe as a companion for
him, 276. Looks out for another,
281. His letter on Thomas Wedg
wood's death, 283. His wife, 285.
Liberality of Josiah Wedgwood the
younger to him, 287
Carburetted hydrogen gas, Davy's ex
periments with, 87
Carlisle, Anthony, on the pyrometer,
2:8 note
Carmarthen Vale, 161
Castle Florey, the country surrounding,
102, 103. Purchased by T. Wedg
wood, 105
Chapman, Mr., secretary to the gover
nor of Malta, 304
Chappuis, Charles, his correspondence
with Wedgwood, 43
Chaptal, M., Minister of the Interior,
his receipt of a copy of the Barberini
vase, 178
Chatterton, Thomas, his birth at Bris
tol, 69
Chelsea earthenware, 40
Cheshire, Sir H. Holland's agricultural
survey of, 309
Chisholm, Alexander, 237. His illness,
237 note. His death, 374. On the
pyrometer, 393
Cider, Somersetshire, 125, 128
Clement the elder, the Shrewsbury
doctor, 361. His death, 361

COL
Clubs, Beattie's remarks respecting,
274 note
Cobalt and its mysteries, 365. At
Alderley Edge, 365
Cobbett, Mr., his lucubrations respecting
commerce, 368
Coleridge, Derwent, 322
Coleridge, Rev. George, a, guest at
Gunville, 188. His grammar school
at Ottery St. Mary, 244. Poole's
high opinion of him, 245. His
pedagogueship, 272, 273. Receives
young Josiah back from the holi
days, 319. The boy ill and sent
to Exeter, 319. Coleridge's holidays
at Ottery, 320. His remarks on the
education of the son of Josiah Wedg
wood the younger, 375. His differ
ences with his brother, 376
Coleridge, Hartley, at Nether Stowey,
81. In 1807, 302. Plans for his
education, 380
Coleridge, John, at Eton, 375
Coleridge, Mrs., 70. Her letter to
Josiah Wedgwood, 303. Neglected
by her husband, 378
Coleridge, S. T, a visitor at York
Street, 65. Becomes acquainted with
Southey, 69. Their visionary schemes
of pantisocracy, 69, 70. His wife,
Sarah Fricker, 70. His introduction
to Joseph Cottle, 70. And to Thomas
Poole of Nether Stowey, 70, 72.
Whom he visits there, 73. His paper
' The Watchman,' 73. His journey
through, and friends in, the Midland
counties, 73. His opinion of Dar
win, 74. Settles at Nether Stowey,
74. Miss Wordsworth's character of
him, 75. Wordsworth settles near
him, 77. His friends in the neigh
bourhood, 78. Visited by Southey,
Lamb, Cottle, and Thomas Wedg
wood, 79, 81. His necessities, 92.
His sermons at various places, 93.
Receives money from Thomas Wedg
wood, but returns it, 93. Goes to
Shrewsbury, 93. His welcome there,
94. His 'Lay Sermon,' and Haz-
litt's account of it, 94, and note. Ac
cepts an offer of an annuity from the
Wedgwoods, 97, and note. Visits
Germany with Wordsworth and his
sister, 98. His philosophy, 99. En
listed by Thomas Wedgwood to ac
company him to Wales, 160, 161.
Called ' Coll.' by Wedgwood, 1 62. At
Cresselly, 163. A guest at Gunville,
188. An opium-taker, 208, 209.

INDEX.

409

COM
His -physical inheritances, 209. Re
ceives large sums from the Wedg
woods, 210. Proposal for him to
travel again with Thomas Wedgwood,
211. His letter on the subject, 211-
214. His philosophic thoughts on
life, 214. At Bristol with Southey,
215. Travels again with Thomas
Wedgwood, 218. His opinion of
Hazlitt, 221. At Keswick, 222.
Visits Wordsworth, 222. In London,
222, 223. His appeal to Thomas
Wedgwood against despair, 224.
Sails for Malta, 229. His position
there, 293, 303. Letter from his
wife to Josiah Wedgwood, 303. His
post in the island, 304. Manages a
contract for corn in Sicily, 305. Re
turns to England, 305. His dilatori-
ness, 315, 322, 378. His wife and
children, 322. Given up to the lethe
of opium, 324. His opinion of Mac
kintosh, 324. And of Thomas Wedg
wood, 325. His excuses, 326. His
'Christabel,' 327. Cause of his
shortcomings, 328. His Greek and
English grammar, 328. At Bridg
water, 329. His trial of the Bath
waters, 329. His lectures at the
Royal Institution, 333. His differ
ences with his brother George, 377.
Returns to Keswick, and writes
'Remorse,' 379. The half of his
pension withdrawn by Josiah Wedg
wood, 378. At Highgate with the
Gillmans, 380
Commerce, 'difficulties of, 174-176.
Lucubrations of Mr. Spence and Mr.
Cobbett respecting, 368
Consumption, Thomas Beddoes' opinion
as to the curability of, 58
Cornwall, scenery and Boil of, 369.
Mines in, 369
Cottle, Joseph, his visits to Poole and
Coleridge at Nether Stowey, 79. His
description ofthe neighbourhood, 79
Cranbourn Chace, rights of the copy
holders of, 185. Endeavours for pro
curing disfranchisement, 185, 186
Crawford, Miss, 149
Crompton, Peter, at Warrington Aca
demy, 27

DAGUERRE, Dominique, his corre
spondence with Wedgwood, 43.
Their agreement, 45. His negligence
and incapacity, 46. And inattention
to the invoices, 47. His ruin of the

DAV
consignments made to him, 47. His
contest with Wedgwood, 48. In
London, 50. Probably at Etruria,
50. His death, 157. His debts, 157
Daguerre, M., probably the son of the
former, his improvements in the
heliotype process, 157
Damer, Hon. Mrs., bust of, 171, and note
Darwin, Charles, the naturalist, death
of his mother, 360
Darwin, Dr. Erasmus, at Lichfield, 11.
Loses his son Charles, 11. A student
at Edinburgh, 35. Looks favourably
on Beddoes' attempts with medicated
airs, 60. Coleridge's opinion of, 74.
Desires an F.R.S. for his son Robert,
253
Darwin, Dr. Robert Waring, at Etru
ria, 12. Married to Miss Wedg
wood, 100. His education, 253.
Settles to a practice in Shrewsbury,
253. Becomes an F.R.S., 254. His
works, 254. His rivals at Shrewsbury,
258. His house, ' The Mount,' 258,
259. His marriage, 260. His wife,
260, 261. His great practice, 262.
His personal appearance, 263. His
collection of Wedgwood-wa.re, 264.
His taste for mechanical invention,
264 note. His infant school at
Shrewsbury, 265. His dress, 265.
His letter respecting Thomas Wedg
wood's death, 284. His wife his
amanuensis, 357. Her death, 360.
His medical contemporaries, 361.
His death, 361
Daveare, or De Vere, John, his models
at Etruria, 169. Estimation in which
his works were held, 173
Davy, Humphry, his introduction to
Davies Giddy, or Gilbert, 82. Goes
to London, 83. His first sight of a
well-appointed laboratory, 83. His
researches on light and heat, 83.
Accepts Beddoes' offer, and removes
to Bristol, 84. His elaborate expe
riments and discoveries there, 85, 87,
88. His 'Researches,' 88. Intro
duced to Count Romford, 88. Who
obtains his services at the Royal In
stitution, 88. His friends at Bristol,
90, 91. His lectures there, 124 note,
152. His letter to Josiah Wedg
wood, 152. His heliotype experi
ments, 153. His observations on
Thomas Wedgwood's invention of
photographic pictures, 154. His pro
phecy of the future of photography,
155. A guest at Gunville, 188. His,

?410

INDEX.

letter to Thomas Wedgwood respect
ing Indian hemp, 215. Elected Se
cretary to the Royal Society, 316.
His illness and recovery, 334. His
analysis of water, 334. His friend
ship with Thomas Poole, of Nether
Stowey, 374
Death, Poole's thoughts on, 292
De Quincy, his character of Thomas
Poole, 71
Derby, earthenware of, 40
Dinner-ware, with crests, manufacture
of, 207
Doves, Mrs. Darwin's, 357, 359
Drewe, Mrs. Caroline, 271. Follows
Francis Horner to his grave, 271, 382
Dublin, a Wedgwood warehouse in, 341.
Show-rooms in it, 342
Dugard, Dr., the Shrewsbury surgeon,
his prescription for Thomas Wedg
wood, 266. With whom he resides
for a time, 267. His personal ap
pearance, 361
Dulwich College, Mr. L. B. Allen
elected Warden of, 308
Duncan, Lord, bust of, 169

EARTHENWARE, importation of
French, 39. Improvements in
English pottery, 40. Increase of
English exports, 41. See Etruria
Earthenware pies made at Etruria, 204
Eastbury by Gunville, residence of Mrs.
Wedgwood the elder at, 111. Thomas
and Josiah Wedgwood there, 229
Edgeworth, Anna, maTries Dr. Beddoes,
66
Edgeworth, Emmeline, married to Mr.
King, of Bristol, 72.
Edgeworth, Richard Lovell, his daugh
ter Anna, 66 ; Emmeline, 72. His
correspondence with Thomas Wedg
wood as to improvement of the air
of prisons, 56. His patriotic schemes,
344
Egginton, his colour-washed pictures,
151
Enfield, Dr., at Warrington Academy, 26
Enfield, Richard, at Warrington Aca
demy, 27
Engraving forpottery supersedes painted
or enamelled ware, 173
Etruria, 2, 3. Effect of Wedgwood's
death on the future of, 61. Variety
and perfection of the elder Wedg
wood's works at, 167. His modellers
Theed, Westmaeott, and Wyatt, and
their works, 167-170. Lack of the

'GUN
master's eye at, 180, 181. Hitches
and difficulties at, 190-194. Foreign
apprentices and commissions, 206.
State of affairs at, 227-229. Printed
ware first made at, 246. State of the
works, 247, 250. Customers at, in
1810, 390. China-making given up,
390. Sale of Wedgwood ware, and
close of the business, 391
Etruria Hall, proposed to be sold, 109
Etruscan school, Wedgwood's, 19, 23.
The day's work at, 24

FARQUHARSON, James, Esq., pur
chases Gunville, 310
Flaxman, John, his letter respecting
the face of Sir I. Newton, 389
Flemish character, the, 141
France, earthenware of, and its defects,
39. Change in the balance of trade
against, 40-43. Prohibition of the
French Government against English
goods, 176
FrankweU, a suburb of Shrewsbury,
258-260

GANGAIN, an engraver, his border,
336
Geneva, course of studies at the Uni
versity of, 29
George III., his residence at Wey
mouth and patronage of Wedgwood-
ware, 205
Germany, Wedgwood-ware sold in, 177
Giddy, or Gilbert, Davies, 82. His
introduction to Humphry Davy, 82.
At Oxford, 225. As a member of
Parliament, 330
Godwin, W., his friendship with Tho
mas Wedgwood, 113. His works,
113. His necessities, 352 note.
His works, 353. Sells children's
books, 354. Failure of his scheme,
355. His 'Political Justice,' 356
Good deeds, the mental riches of, 293
Governess, letter to a, 189 •
Greatbach, Daniel, his death, 190.
His son and the book of mixtures,
119
Greville, Mr. Charles, receives certifi
cates for Dr. Robert Darwin, 254
Gunville, estate of, purchased by
Thomas We'dgwood, 114-116. Sheep
farming at, 132. Guests at, 188.
Domestic life at, 189. Sold by Jo
siah Wedgwood, 310. Let to a fox-.
hunter, 349

INDEX.

411

SAC
HACKWOOD, Lewis, engraver, 172
Hackwood, John, the fireman,
172. Difficulties caused by, 194
Hamilton, Sir William, his interest in
Wedgwood-ware, 206
Hart; Dr. Cheney, of Shrewsbury, 258
Hazlitt, William, his account of Cole
ridge's 'Lay Sermon' at Shrews
bury, 94-96 note. Thought of as a
companion for Thomas Wedgwood,
221. Coleridge's character of, 221
Heat, Thomas Wedgwood's experi
ments on, 50, 55. Davy's researches
on, 83
Heliotypes, Thomas Wedgwood's, 150.
Davy's experiments, 153. Two helio
types described, 156. Daguerre's im
provements, 157
Hemp, Indian, or bang, Thomas Wedg
wood advised to try, 215. Sir
Joseph Banks' account of the effects
of, "216
Henry, William, of Manchester, his
manufacture of aerated and other
artificial waters, 205
Hoare, Sir Richard Colt, his excava
tions in Wiltshire, 348
Holland, Sir Henry, notice of him in
his infancy, 202. His connection
with the^ Wedgwoods, 203. His
second wife Saba, daughter of Rev.
Sydney Smith, 203. His education,
203. Related to the Darwins, 203.
Legacy left by Thomas Wedgwood
to, 286. In Glasgow and Liverpool,
286. In Edinburgh, 309. Studies
medicine, 309. His agricultural sur
vey of Cheshire, 309. His disappoint
ment with Professor Leslie, 363.
His~ report of the agriculture of
Chester, 363. Enters himself at
Guy's, and attends the dissecting-
rooms at St. Thomas's, 364. In Liver
pool with his uncle, 365. Takes his
degree, 365. Publishes a volume of
travels, 365
Holland, Peter, legacies of Thomas
Wedgwood to his children, 286. His
letters to Josiah Wedgwood the
younger, 308-310. His letters re
specting his son, 363. His old age
and death, 366
Holland, Rev. Phillip, educates Wedg
wood's sons, 9, 10
Hollands of Knutsford, 'their connec
tion with the Wedgwoods, 202, 203
Hookahs and pipe-heads made at
Etruria, 169
Hope, Dr., of Edinburgh, introduces

MAC
Humphry Davy to Count Romford,.
88
Horner, Francis, a visitor at York
Street, "65. A guest at Gunville, 1 88..
Poole introduced to, 225. His letter
to T. Wedgwood, 225. His letter re
lating to Sir J. Mackintosh) 305*
His death, 382
Horner, Leonard, 382
'Hutchinson, life of Col.,' by his-
wife, 331

TNCENSE-B ORNERS, introduction of,
JL and of incense-burning, 229
India, Mackintosh's judicial reform in,
242. Rate of interest in, 243
Ireland, no potteries in, 343

T7"AY, Mr., destruction of his ma-
Ja. chinery, 15
King, Mr., of Bristol, married to
Emmeline Edgeworth, 72
'King of Clubs,' the club so called, 273.
Campbell's sketch of it, 273 note

LAMB, Charles, visits Coleridge at
Nether Stowey, 79
Lane, a barrister, borrows money from
Thomas Wedgwood, 121-123
' Lay Sermon,' Coleridge's, Hazlitt's de
scription of, 94-96 note
Leslie, Professor John, at Etruria, 34.
His excellence as a chemist, 37. ¦ And
as a mathematician, 37. His ' Life of
Wedgwood,' 37. His work on heat,
37, 38. Receives an annuity from
the Wedgwoods, 148. His letter to
Josiah ' Wedgwood, 148. Visits
Thomas Wedgwood at Eastbury, 230.
At issue with Count Romford, 294
Life, Coleridge's philosophic thoughts
on, 214
Light, Thomas Wedgwood's experiments
on, 50, 55. His study of Newton's
' Optics,' 51. Davy's researches on,
83
Lloyd, Charles, domiciled #ith Cole
ridge, 78. Returns to Birmingham,
92
Lloyd family, of Birmingham, becomes
acquainted with Coleridge, 73

¦MACKINTOSH, Lady, her illness,
Mackintosh, Sir James, his second wife,

412"

.1NDEX.

MAE
58. Travels circuit with Basil Mon
tague, 143. His procrastination, 158.
Writes the elder Wedgwood's epitaph,
159. In Bombay, 241. His letter
from there, 240. His opinion of
Thomas Byerley, jun., 240. His judi
cial reforms, 242. Invites Thomas
Wedgwood to India, 242. His pro
crastination and its consequences, 294.
Josiah Wedgwood'B letter to, 295.
His remarks on the death of Thomas
Wedgwood, 299. Oppressed by
Bombay want of society, 305. Mate
rials for the life of his brother sent
by Josiah Wedgwood, 316. Returns
from India, 383. At Maer, 387
Maer, purchased by Josiah Wedgwood,
229. Hospitality at, 387
Malthus at Warrington Academy,
27
Malt Tax, the, 367
Manufacturing industry of England in
the last half of the eighteenth century,
1. The future of, 2
Maynard, Mr., his letter to Byerley, 48
note
Mayow, his indications of pneumatic
chemistry, 59. Beddoes' analytical
account of his writings, 59
Measles, Poole's remarks on, 312
Mob riots against machinery in Lanca
shire, 14-16
Monkeys, how regarded by Dr. Wither
ing, 261 note. Why they are pre
vented from speaking, 261 note
Montague, Basil, a visitor at York
Street, 65. Proposes to Thomas
Wedgwood to go to the Bermudas,
117. Invites him to Cambridge, 117.
Grabb-Robinson's account of Mon
tague, 121 note. His literary en
gagements, 124. Travels the Norfolk
circuit with Sir James Mackintosh,
143. A guest at Gunville, 188. His
friendly offers, 381

NAPOLEON, Emperor, services made
for the, at St. Helena, 391
Nelson, Lord, bust of, 169, 171 note
Nepenthe of Homer, 217
Nether Stowey, Thomas Poole at, 70.
Coleridge settles near, 74. Words-
wurth in the neighbourhood of, 77.
Cottle's description of it, 79. The
book-room at, 235
Newton, Flaxman's letter respecting the
face of, 389

POO
Nitrous oxide gas, Davy's experiments
with, 87

OTTERY St. Mary, Rev. George
Coleridge's school at, 244

PANTISOCRACY of Coleridge and
Southey, 69, 70
Parry, Dr., father of Admiral Sir
Edward, his enquiries as to the breed"
of sheep in England, 366
Pastile burners, 337
Peel, the second Sir Robert, 4
Perceval, Spencer, shot by Bellingham,
383
Percival, Thomas, at Warrington Aca
demy, 27
Petty, Lord H., his speech on the war,
316
Photography, Thomas Wedgwood's dis
covery of, 150, 154-158. Davy's ex
periments, 153. His remarks on
Wedgwood's discovery, 154. His
prophecy ofthe future of, 155
Pictet, M., Professor of Mathematics at
Geneva, 27. His visits to England,
28
Pies, earthenware, 204
Pitt, Right Hon. W., his scheme of free
trade with France, 45, 48 note. Its
short life, 48 note
Pneumatic Institution at Clifton esta
blished by Dr. Beddoes, Humphry
Davy at, 84. In a state of collapse,
88, 91
Police, the new system of, 373
Poole, Thomas, of Nether Stowey, a
visitor at York Street, 65. His
acquaintance with Coleridge, 70,
72. His sound and varied infor
mation, 71. De Q.uincy's character
of him, 71. Invites Coleridge to
Nether Stowey, 73. Holds his own
against the country squires, 79. In
troduces Mr. Willmott to the Wedg
woods, 130. His continental trip,
147. In France and Switzerland,
141. Returns with Thomas Wedg
wood, 159. A guest at Gunville, 188.
Assigned the superintendence of an
office in London for enquiry into the
Poor Laws, 222, 223. Introduced to
Francis Horner, 225. His book-room
at Stowey, 235. His remarks on
threshing machines, 236. On the
Poor Laws and education, 245. Re
specting the Rev. George Coleridge;.

INDEX.

41S

POO
245. Left a mourning ring by Thomas
Wedgwood, 288, 291. His recollec
tions of Wedgwood's conversations,
288. His remarks on the rust in
wheat, 291. And on death, 292. His
remarks on measles and vaccination,
312. His dislike of Bonaparte, 314.
On the wool trade, 315. Embarked
in a copper mine, 316, 331. His
work on the Poor Laws, 317. His
account of S. T. Coleridge and his
family, 322. Loss of his friend
Captain Buller, 366. Busy planting
apple-trees, 367. His admiration of
the scenery and soil of Cornwall, 369.
His conduct of the second census,
373. His character and death, 374
Poor, enquiries into the state of the, in
England, 222
Poor Law, the new, 373
Poplar, white, trees, 358
Portland ministry, the, 330
Portland vase, loan of the Wedgwood
copy of the, obtained by Davy, 153,
154. See Barberini vase
Potet, M., a French prisoner, teaches
French at Lichfield, 23
Potteries, none in Ireland, 343. Diffi
culties in establishing, 345. Train
ing of the workmen in, 346. And
need of high-class culture, 347
Press-gangs, evils and miseries of the,
269, 270
Priestley, Dr., at Warrington Academy,
26. Encourages Thomas Wedg
wood, 53
Printed ware supersedes enamelled or
painted ware, 173. Chief engravers
of the period, 174
Prisons, Irish, correspondence between
R. L. Edgeworth and Thomas Wedg
wood respecting the air of, 56, 57
Purkis, Mr., his friendship with Mr.
Poole, of Nether Stowey, 71
Pyrometer, improvements in the, 238.
"Carlisle's letter respecting, 238 \ note.
Chisholm on, 293

T)AILWAY system, inauguration of
It the, 373
Reform Bill, passing of the, 373
Reynolds, Thomas, ironmaster, helps
Beddoes to found his Pneumatic
Institution in Clifton, 59
Rickman, the Speaker's secretary, his
marriage, 293
Rome, art in, 33.. The climate at, 33

SOU
Romford, Count, introduced to Hum
phry Davy, 88. Engages Davy to
lecture at the Royal Institution, 88.
At issue with Professor Leslie, 294
Rough, Mr. Serjeant, his necessities,
352 note
Royal Institution, letter from A. Car
lisle respecting, 238
Russia, Wedgwood-ware sold in, 177

ST. VINCENT, Lord, bust of, 169
Schilling, Basil Paul, his trans
actions with Wedgwood, 176. His
stock at Frankfort, 177
Sheep farming at Gunville, 132
Sheffield, Lord, his queries to Peter
Holland, 364
Shrewsbury, Unitarianism at, 93. Cole-.
ridge at, 93, 94. The country about,
253. The town in 1786, 256. The
schools, 257. Local doctors, 258. Dr.
Robert Darwin's house at, 259. The
suburb of FrankweU, 259. The
Shrswsbury doctors forty years ago,
361
Siddons, Mrs., bust of 171, and note
Silk trade of Somersetshire and Wilt
shire, 144
' Silver pictures,' the, 150
Smith, Rev. Sydney, desires to rent the
chapel in York Street, 63. Visits
the Wedgwoods, 65. Basil Mon
tague's account of him, 117. A guest
at Gunville, 188. His letter respect
ing York Street Chapel, 280. And
relating to Thomas Wedgwood's, 287.
At Maer, 388. His remark on lon
gevity, 388
Society of Arts gives prizes for fleeces
and wool, 1 14
Soho, Boulton and Watt's manufactory
at, 2
Soho colour-washed pictures, 151
Song birds, Thomas Wedgwood pro
poses to take, to the West Indies,
280
Sons of remarkable men, 3
Southey, Robert, his birth and birth
place, 69. Goes to Oxford and be
comes acquainted with Coleridge, 69.
Their visionary projects, 69. His
lectures, and publication of his ' Joan
of Arc,' 70. Visits Coleridge at
Nether Stowey, 79. His letter on
the nitrous oxide gas, 85. And re
specting Beddoes, 87. His friend
ship with Davy, 91

414

INDEX.

SPA-
Spain, events in, in 1808, 371
Spode, a rival of Etruria, 195. His
porcelain, 195
Standert, Mr., engaged as companion of
Thomas Wedgwood, 279. Who dies,
282
Staplegrove, residence of Mrs. Wedg
wood the elder at, 111
Steel, Aaron, his works, 173, 338, 339
Stewart, Dugald, at Edinburgh Univer
sity, 35
Stoddart, Mr. (afterwards Sir John),
invites Coleridge to Malta, 304
Stoke House, at Cobham, the residence
of Josiah Wedgwood the younger,
69, 101
Sykes and Compagnie, their negotia-
, tions with Wedgwood, 45

TABLE-WARE, decorated, 335
Teeth, artificial, Bramah's sugges
tions for the manufacture of, 231,
232
Tellurium, discovery of, 179
Temple, model of a ruined, 171
Theed, his models at Etruria, 169
Thelwall, John, his residence in Somer
setshire, 78
Thorpe, Benjamin, proposed for a com
panion for Thomas Wedgwood, but
declines, 276. Campbell's letter to,
on Thomas Wedgwood's death, 283
Tobin, his comedy of tbe ' Honey-Moon,'
' 246
ToUett, Mr., his flock of sheep, 370
Trade, badness of, in 1807, 332
Turners, the rivals of Etruria, 195.
Their works, 195

TTNDERWOOD, Mr., 217. Cole-
U ridge's opinion of him, 217
Unitarianism in Shrewsbury, 93
Unwin, Ralph, his works, 173

VACCINATION, Poole's remarks on,
312
Valpy, Dr., his school at Reading, 244
Vevrier, M., his proposal to Wedgwood,
45
Volunteering in 1804, 226

WAKEFIELD, Dr., at Warrington
Academy, 26
Wales, visit of Thomas Wedgwood and
Coleridge to, 161

WED
Waltire, Mr., gives lectures on chemistry
at Etruria, 11, 12
Warrington Academy, 26. Closed, 27
Washington, General, lock of his hair,
125
' Watchman, The,' Coleridge's, 73
Water, Davy's analysis of, 334
Watt, Gregory, his death, 2, 273. At
school at Glasgow, 273
Watt, James, junior, letter from, to
Josiah Wedgwood the younger, 267
Watt, James, his assistance to Beddoes
in his Pneumatic Institution, 61.
Contrasted with Beddoes, 61
Webber, Mr., the modeller from Etruria,
at Rome, 32. His models, 169
Wedgwood, Miss Catherine, 165. With
her mother, 186
Wedgwood, John, 7. His character,
8. At school, 8, 9. Receives in
struction at Etruria, 12. Goes to
Warrington Academy, 26, At Edin
burgh University, 27. His marri
age, 58. His residence in Devonshire
and Somersetshire, 67- Joins the
firm, 182. His delight in field sports,
183. Takes an interest in Etruria,
198. A captain of volunteers, 226.
His letter to his brother Josiah, 227,
228. SeUs Cote, and settles at Sea-
bridge, 229. His activity and in
teUigence, 247. Temporary residence
at Maer Hall, 250. His society and
house improvements, 250. His wife's
health, 292
Wedgwood, Josiah, the elder, his sons,
2. His journey with them, 9. His
companionship with them, 9. Their
education, 10. His opinions respect
ing education, 21. His export trade.
in earthenware, 41. His agreement
with Daguerre, 45. Marriage of his
sons Josiah and John, 58. His con
tribution to Beddoes' Pneumatic In
stitution, 61. His death, 61. Variety
and perfection of his works made at
Etruria, 167
Wedgwood, Josiah, the younger, 7.
His character, 8. His illness, 13, 17.
Learns French, 23. At Edinburgh
University, 35. His marriage, 58. His
lodgings in London, 65. Resides at
Cobham, in Surrey, 69. Non-resident
in Staffordshire for more than twenty
years, 180. His delight in field
sports, 183. His life at Gunville,
1 84. Pricked off as sheriff of Dorset
shire, 187. Prejudices against him,
187. His guests at GunviUe, 188.

INDEX.

415

WED
A captain pf volunteers, 226. Joins
his brother Thomas in offering Cole
ridge an annuity, 96. Upcott hired
fpr him, 107. Letter from Poole to
him, 128. And from Leslie, 148.
At Eagtbury with his brother Thomas,
229. His son Josiah at schopl at
Ottery St. Mary, 244, 272.' The
boy's health, 272, 273. His presents
from GunviUe, which he prepares to
seU, 306. Disposes of it, 310. His
son Josiah on the top of the Bristol
coach, 318. The boy's iUness, 319.
He is taken to Exeter, 319. His
hospitality at Maer, 387. His death,
3;89
Wedgwood, Mrs.., the elder, in Somerset
shire, 105, 110. Settles at Staple-
grove, 111. Letter, from her son
Thomas, 161. Her health, 292. Her
death, 360 note
Wedgwood, Miss Sarah, accompanies
. her brother Thomas into Wales, 161,
165. With her mother, 187
Wedgwood, Susan, daughter of Josiah
Wedgwood, married to Dr. Robert
Darwin, 260. Her fortune, 260.
Her character, 261. Her death, 360
Wedgwood, Thomas, his scientific and
social tastes, 6. His birth, 7. His
character, 8. At school, 10. Pro
posal to send him to Rome, 32. Pur
sues his studies at home, 34. His
experiments on light, heat, and
colour, 50. Sends to Birmingham
for silver wire and cylinders, 52.
Encouraged by Priestley, 53. His
papers in the ' Philosphical Trans
actions,' 53. His experimental sub
stances, 54. His correspondence
with Edgeworth respecting the air of
Irish prisons, 56, 57. His amuse
ments, 58. Retires from the Staf
fordshire firm in bad health, and
becomes a patient at the Clifton
Pneumatic Institution, 66. His fit
ful wanderings, 67. At Nether
Stowey, 81. At Penzance, 81. His
tcedium vitce, 82. Sends a sum to
Coleridge, which is returned, 93.
Offers Coleridge an annuity, and
begs him to leave the ministry, 96.
Travels in search of an estate, 97.
Purchases Castle Florey, 105. His
female servant, 106. His stores for
winter, 108. In London, 112. A
benefactor to Godwin, 113. Pur
chases the estate of Gunville, in
Dorsetshire, 114, 115. Goes to the

WIL
West Indies, 114. But returns,
115. Price of Gunville, 116. Expe
rimental questions from Etruria, 116.
Proposal from Basil Montague to him
to go to the Bermudas, 117. Re
moves from Combe Florey, 119. At
GunviUe with his brother, 124. His"
diseases of brain and stomach, 127.
Proposes to go abroad, 126, 127.
Travels with Bianchi, the violinist,
127. Whom he dismisses, 135. At
Brussels, 137. At Mons, 139. A
scheme of Eastern travel, 149. His
discovery of photograph pictures,
154-158. Returns to England with
Poole, 159. Under Beddoes' direc
tion, 159. EnUsts Coleridge as his
companion for a journey to Wales;
160. His letter to his mother, 161.
At Cresselly, 162. Renewal of his
despondency, 163, 164. Proposition
to him to travel again with Cole
ridge, 211; Advised to try Indian
hemp, or bang, 215. Goes abroad,
but soon returns, 217, 218. Visit
from Thomas CampbeU to him, 219.
His body and mind worn out, 220.
Thinks of HazUtt as a companion,
221. At Cote iU, 223. At East
bury with his brother Josiah, 229.
Takes opium, 229. Invited to India
by Mackintosh, 242. And to Clifton
by Mrs. Beddoes, 252 note. Dr.
Dugard's prescriptions, 266. Camp
bell's high opinion of him, 275, 276.
Benjamin Thorpe proposed as a
companion for him, 276. A Mr.
Standert chosen for him, 279. His
sudden death, 282. Letters from
CampbeU and R. Darwin on the
subject, 283. His personal appear
ance, 285. His love of children, 286.
His legacies, 286. His last conver
sations, and metaphysical essays, 289,
294. His essay on * Our notion of
Distance,' 294. Wrangham's letter
respecting him, 307. Coleridge's opi
nion of him, 325. The paper on ' Our
Notion of Distance ' in extenso, 395
West Indies, objections tS*the, 277, 278
Westmaeott, his models at Etruria, 169
Whitbread, Mr., his educational schemes,
323
Wiedeman, teaches the young Byerleys,
177
Willets, their connection with the Wedg
woods and HoUands, 202
Willmott, Mr., of Woodlands, intro
duced to the Wedgwoods as steward

416

INDEX.

WIT
at Gunville,Sl30-132. Poole's account
of him, 144. At Etruria, 237. His
illness and recovery, 271. Leaves
Gunville, 311. Testimonies to his
worth, 311. Returns to Mr. Wedg
wood's service, 374
Withering, Dr., of Birmingham, 258.
His. kindness to, and interest in,
animals, 161
Wollstoncraft, Mary, Godwin's ' Life
and Posthumous Works ' of, 113
Wood, William, a famous modeller,
247. A higher salary granted him,
248, 249. Account of him, 249 note
Wool, fine, and merino and South Down
sheep, 233, 234. The wool trade of
the West of England, 144
Worcester, ehina of, 40
Wordsworth, Captain John, effect of his
death on Coleridge, 303
Wordsworth, Miss, her character of
Coleridge, 75. Her delight with the
neighbourhood of Nether Stowey, 76.
Her description of it, 77

Y0R
Wordsworth, WiUiam, resides near
Crewkerne, 75. His work there, 75.
His acquaintance with Coleridge, 75.
Resides at Alfoxden, 77. Driven
away from it, 79. Visits Germany
with his sister and Coleridge, 98.
A guest at GunviUe, 188
Wrangham, Rev. Francis (afterwards
Archdeacon), a guest at Gunville,
188. His opinion of Thomas Wedg
wood, 307
Wright, the painter, 74
Wyatt, his models at Etruria, 169

YORK Street Chapel, 227. -Letter
from Sydney Smith respecting it,
280
York Street, St. James's, Wedgwood and
Byerley's show-rooms at, 62. Spa
ciousness of the premises at, with
the objects shown, 63, 64. A resort
of eminent men, 65. The last of
the house in, 392

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