Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 60.djvu/149

 . But with the other kind of variegated ware the case is different. This was cream ware, or later on a kind of stone ware, irregularly and picturesquely veined and mottled merely on the surface in imitation of various kinds of granite, porphyry, jasper, agate, and marble. It was largely used for vases, and was distinctly in advance of anything previously produced in this direction. A fourth ceramic body made by Wedgwood was probably a new departure. It was a kind of unglazed semi-porcelain, used occasionally for the plinths of marbled vases and for early portrait-medallions. It possessed a marked degree of translucency and a smooth waxen surface; but its usefulness was lessened by a tendency to warp and crack in firing, and by the dulness and yellowish cast of its white. Its place was taken, and more than filled, in after years by the greatest inventive triumph among all Wedgwood's improved wares, the jasper body. Of this more must be said presently, now one must be content with the bare mention of a fifth ware—the various kinds of terracotta, cane-colour, bamboo, brick-red, chocolate, and sage-green. These were often used in relief of one hue upon a ground of another.

At the time (1766) when Wedgwood was deeply occupied with the founding of the new Etruria, many other important matters engaged his attention. Among these the extension of the canal system to his locality ought to be named. Wedgwood's indefatigable efforts, with his knowledge of the requirements of the potteries' district, had been of great use in settling sections of the Grand Trunk Canal, in proving the weakness of rival schemes, and in gaining the approval of certain landowners. He was in frequent consultation with [q. v.], the engineer, and with, third duke of Bridgewater [q. v.]; while his friends [q. v.l and (1731-1780) [q. v.] helped his efforts by evidence and in writings and conferences when the bill was under discussion by a parliamentary committee. Finally the act received the royal assent on 14 May 1766. The Trent and Mersey Canal, which was opened in 1777, and of which Josiah Wedgwood was first treasurer, passed through the Etruria estate and proved, as Wedgwood foresaw, of enormous benefit to the chief local industry. Another matter gave some trouble to Wedgwood about the same time. His London showroom in Charles Street, Grosvenor Square, proved inadequate (and was indeed closed in October 1766), and it was not until August 1768 that larger premises were secured in Newport Street, St. Martin's Lane. Just before this, on 28 May, Wedgwood had his right leg amputated, foreseeing that this useless and often painful member would prove a serious encumbrance in his enlarged sphere of work at Etruria, and on 14 Nov. of the same year terms of partnership were finally arranged between Josiah Wedgwood and Thomas Bentley, the latter acquiring an equal share in the profits arising from the sale of ornamental as distinguished from useful ware. Wedgwood's letters to Bentley reveal the writer's appreciation of his partner's great services to the business, and show the innate refinement and amiability of Wedgwood's mind and character.

The out-turn and sale of the products of Wedgwood's factory greatly increased after the opening of the Etruria works in 1769. The ornamental as well as the useful ware became better and better known and appreciated, not only in England but on the continent. But as yet the most original and most distinctive of the ceramic bodies invented by Wedgwood had not been produced. He was endeavouring to compound a paste of fine texture allied to true porcelain, but endued with certain properties, which no hard or soft china previously made had possessed. He found the very substance required in certain mineral compounds of the earth baryta. The distinctive character of this earth seems to have been first made out in 1779 by Guyton de Morveau, while [q. v.] four years afterwards recognised the same base in a mineral carbonate from Lead-hills, Lanarkshire. But Wedgwood so early as 1773 was making trials of both these minerals. He was puzzled by the apparently capricious behaviour of these two compounds, but learnt where to obtain and how to recognise the more important of the two, the sulphate of baryta or cawk, which became henceforth the chief and characteristic constituent of his 'jasper,' although a small quantity of the carbonate of baryta was occasionally added to the mixture. One of Wedgwood's early recipes for this new jasper body, when translated into percentages, approaches these figures—sulphate of baryta 59, clay 29, flint 10, and carbonate of baryta 2. Within rather wider limits these proportions were varied with corresponding variations in the properties, texture, and appearance of the product. But the product was a ceramic novelty, a smooth paste of exquisite texture, without positive glass, yet so compact as to admit of being polished, like native jasper, on the