WEDGEWOOD, JOSIAH, the celebrated potter, was descended of respectable parentage, being a younger son of a person of the same profession in Staffordshire,—and was born in the month of July 1730. His education was not very liberal; and his patrimony was small; but no circumstances could easily have retarded his genius or extinguished that activity of mind for which through life he was distinguished. Till his time, the manufacture for improvements and inventions in which he became so eminent, had made little progress in Britain, though it had been introduced for a considerable time. (See the articles PORCELAIN and POTTERY in this work.) He made improvements, with regard to form, colour and composition, in every species of earthenware made before his day; and he in vented others. In 1763, he invented a new species of ware for the table, known by the name of ware, because patronized by her late majesty. It was formed of clay got from Devonshire and Dor setshire, mixed with ground flint, and covered with a vitreous glaze. This step, though a great one, was only the first in his career of invention and im provement; in which, it may here be mentioned, he was much assisted by his respectable and talented partner, Mr. Bentley, as also by Mr Chisholme, a chemist of considerable eminence, on whom he be stowed liberal remuneration, and of whose scientific services he amply availed himself. By varying and repeating his experiments in regard to Queen's ware, he discovered modes of making other species of pottery and porcelain, equally elegant and useful. Of these, the most important are the following: I. a species resembling porphyry, Egyptian pebble and other beautiful stones of the siliceous or crys stalline kind. II. Jasper, a white porcelain which rivalled the productions of antiquity, which was soon known throughout Europe: it was possessed of properties similar to the natural stone of the same name, susceptible of a high polish, resisting all the acids, and bearing with impunity a very strong fire; together with the singular property of receiving from metallic calces, the same colours which those calces impart to glass or enamels in fusion; a distinction possessed by no porcelkin of ancient or modern composition. III. Basaltes, a
black porcelain biscount, which, like the preceding, bore a strong similarity to the natural stone, could receive a fine polish, resist the acids, and bear, without injury, a very strong fire. IV. White porcelain biscuit, of a smooth waxlike appearance, of properties similar to basaltes. V. Bamboo, a cane-coloured substance, resembling, in its charac teristics, the kind last described. VI. A porcelain biscuit, remarkable for its hardness, similar to that of agate; a property which, with its impenetrability by acids and every known liquid, makes it pecu liarly well adapted for the formation of mortars and other chemical vessels.
His famous imitation of the Barberini vase, dis covered in the tomb of Alexander Severus, may here be mentioned. The imitation was so perfect, that the late Duchess of Portland paid him 1000 guineas for it; from which circumstance it has ob tained the name of the Portland vase. He obtained subscriptions of £.50 each for 50 similar vases; which were manufacted accordingly; but so expen sive was the execution of them that he really was a loser by the speculation: the modeller got no smaller a sum than 500 guineas for his part of the work. Nor should we omit mentioning two cele brated Cameo's of Mr. \Vedgewood's manufacture; one of a slave in chains, exquisitely formed, with the inscription, " Am I not a man and a brother?" of which he distributed many hundreds, to excite the public interest in the abolition of the slave trade: the other consisted of a figure of Hope, attended by Peace, Art and Labour, composed of clay from Botany Bay, to which colony he sent many of them to show the inhabitants what the materials of their country could produce, and to stimulate their industry. (See Philosophical Tran sactions for the year 1786, p. other things, it may also be stated, that Wedgewood made great improvements in the potter's lathe, and in tit,: machinery for reducing the clay to pow der, and for separating the grosser parts from the fine.