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div.titlepage p {text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; + line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 3em; } + .ph2 { text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; font-size: x-large; margin: .75em auto; + page-break-before: always; } + .x-ebookmaker p.dropcap:first-letter { float: left; } + </style> + </head> + <body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77000 ***</div> + +<div class='tnotes covernote'> + +<p class='c000'><strong>Transcriber’s Note:</strong></p> + +<p class='c000'>New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain.</p> + +</div> + +<div class='titlepage'> + +<div> + <h1 class='c001'>❦ CHINA COLLECTING<br> IN AMERICA ❦ ❦ ❦<br> ❦ ❦ <span class='xlarge'>BY ALICE MORSE EARLE</span></h1> +</div> + +<div class='figcenter id001'> +<img src='images/i_title.jpg' alt='[Tea Pot]' class='ig001'> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c002'> + <div><i>ILLUSTRATED</i></div> + <div class='c003'>CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS</div> + <div>NEW YORK MCMVI</div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c004'> + <div><span class='small'><i>Copyright, 1892, by</i></span></div> + <div><span class='small'><i>Charles Scribner’s Sons</i></span></div> + <div class='c002'><span class='small'>TROW DIRECTORY</span></div> + <div><span class='small'>PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY</span></div> + <div><span class='small'>NEW YORK</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c004'> + <div>TO</div> + <div class='c003'>THE COMPANION OF MY CHINA HUNTS</div> + <div class='c003'>MY SISTER</div> + <div class='c003'>FRANCES CLARY MORSE</div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_v'>v</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CONTENTS</h2> +</div> + +<table class='table0'> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>I.</td></tr> + <tr> + <th class='c007'></th> + <th class='c008'>PAGE</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><i>China Hunting</i>,</td> + <td class='c008'><i><a href='#Page_1'>1</a></i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>II.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><i>Trencher Treen and Pewter Bright</i>,</td> + <td class='c008'><i><a href='#Page_38'>38</a></i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>III.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><i>Early Use and Importation of China in America</i>,</td> + <td class='c008'><i><a href='#Page_52'>52</a></i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>IV.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><i>Early Fictile Art in America</i>,</td> + <td class='c008'><i><a href='#Page_70'>70</a></i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>V.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><i>Earliest Pottery Wares</i>,</td> + <td class='c008'><i><a href='#Page_102'>102</a></i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>VI.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><i>English Porcelains in America</i>,</td> + <td class='c008'><i><a href='#Page_119'>119</a></i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_vi'>vi</span> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>VII.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><i>Liverpool and other Printed Ware</i>,</td> + <td class='c008'><i><a href='#Page_135'>135</a></i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>VIII.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><i>Oriental China</i>,</td> + <td class='c008'><i><a href='#Page_165'>165</a></i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>IX.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><i>The Cosey Teapot</i>,</td> + <td class='c008'><i><a href='#Page_196'>196</a></i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>X.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><i>Punch-bowls and Punches</i>,</td> + <td class='c008'><i><a href='#Page_210'>210</a></i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>XI.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><i>George and Martha Washington’s China</i>,</td> + <td class='c008'><i><a href='#Page_229'>229</a></i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>XII.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><i>Presidential China</i>,</td> + <td class='c008'><i><a href='#Page_249'>249</a></i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>XIII.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><i>Designs Relating to Washington</i>,</td> + <td class='c008'><i><a href='#Page_257'>257</a></i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>XIV.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><i>Designs Relating to Franklin</i>,</td> + <td class='c008'><i><a href='#Page_274'>274</a></i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_vii'>vii</span> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>XV.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><i>Designs Relating to Lafayette</i>,</td> + <td class='c008'><i><a href='#Page_288'>288</a></i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>XVI.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><i>Patriotic and Political Designs</i>,</td> + <td class='c008'><i><a href='#Page_299'>299</a></i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>XVII.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><i>Staffordshire Wares</i>,</td> + <td class='c008'><i><a href='#Page_316'>316</a></i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>XVIII.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><i>China Memories</i>,</td> + <td class='c008'><i><a href='#Page_376'>376</a></i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>XIX.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><i>China Collections</i>,</td> + <td class='c008'><i><a href='#Page_409'>409</a></i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><i>Index</i>,</td> + <td class='c008'><i><a href='#Page_425'>425</a></i></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_ix'>ix</span> + <h2 class='c005'>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> +</div> +<table class='table0'> + <tr> + <th class='c007'></th> + <th class='c009'>PAGE</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Wedgwood Pieces</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_1'>1</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>The Plate we Hoped to Find and the Plate we Found</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_9'>9</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Millennium Plate</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_24'>24</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>“<span class='sc'>Beach Ware</span>,”</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_27'>27</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Old Worcester in “Japan Taste,”</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_29'>29</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>“<span class='sc'>The Porringers that in a Row Hung High and Made a Glittering Show</span>,”</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_44'>44</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Winthrop Jug</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_55'>55</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Province House Pitcher</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_65'>65</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Bennington Ware</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_97'>97</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Hound-handled Pitcher</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_100'>100</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Delft Tea-caddy</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_104'>104</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Delft Vase</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_106'>106</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Fulham G. R. Jug</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_108'>108</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Sportive Innocence Pitcher</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_111'>111</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Farmer Pitcher</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_111'>111</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Castleford Teapot</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_117'>117</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Plymouth Salt-cellar.</span> <span class='sc'>Bow “Goat Cream-jug,”</span></td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_121'>121</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Plymouth Coffee-pot</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_123'>123</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Bristol Memorial Figure</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_125'>125</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_x'>x</span><span class='sc'>Crown Derby Covered Dish</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_129'>129</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>An English Notion of Washington</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_139'>139</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Masonic Pitcher</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_147'>147</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Lowestoft Vase</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_174'>174</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Helmet Creamer</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_176'>176</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Washington Coffee-pot</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_178'>178</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Chinese Ewer</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_190'>190</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Persian Vase</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_192'>192</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Lowestoft Teapot</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_208'>208</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Bristol Pottery Teapot</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_208'>208</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Bowl Given to Mrs. Allen Jones</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_221'>221</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Cincinnati Bowl</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_223'>223</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Cincinnati China</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_231'>231</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Washington’s Niederweiler China</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_245'>245</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Lincoln China</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_253'>253</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Grant China</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_254'>254</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Pitcher Portrait</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_259'>259</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Washington Monument Pitcher</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_262'>262</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Apotheosis Pitcher</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_265'>265</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>“Map” Pitcher</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_268'>268</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Niederweiler Statuette</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_275'>275</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Tomb of Franklin Teapot</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_285'>285</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>La Grange Plate</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_290'>290</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Cadmus Plate</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_292'>292</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Lafayette Landing Platter</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_294'>294</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Proscribed Patriots Pitcher</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_302'>302</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Naval Pitcher</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_309'>309</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_xi'>xi</span><span class='sc'>Pickle Leaf</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_317'>317</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Philadelphia Library Plate</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_319'>319</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Anti-slavery Plate</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_333'>333</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Plates</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_336'>336</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>State-House Plate</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_338'>338</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>John Hancock’s House</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_341'>341</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Harvard College Plate</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_348'>348</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Steamboat Plate</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_350'>350</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>MacDonough’s Victory Plate</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_351'>351</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Nahant Plate</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_354'>354</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>City Hall Pitcher</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_359'>359</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Park Theatre Plate</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_361'>361</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Fairmount Park Plate</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_364'>364</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Pilgrim Plate</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_366'>366</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Capitol Plate</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_374'>374</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Crown Derby Plate</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_379'>379</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Delft Apothecary Jars</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_382'>382</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Copper-Lustre Pitcher</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_387'>387</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>A Beaufet</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_415'>415</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>China Steps</span>,</td> + <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_419'>419</a></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<div class='figcenter id002'> +<span class='pageno' id='Page_1'>1</span> +<img src='images/i_015.jpg' alt='[Wedgwood Pieces]' class='ig001'> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c005'>I.<br> CHINA HUNTING</h2> +</div> + +<div class='c010'> + <img class='drop-capi' src='images/di_015.jpg' width='100' alt=''> +</div><p class='drop-capi_8'> +My dearly loved friend, Charles Lamb, +wrote, in his “Essays of Elia,” “I have +an almost feminine partiality for old +china. When I go to see any great +house, I inquire first for the china-closet, +and next for the picture-gallery. I have no repugnance +for those little lawless azure-tinted grotesques that, under +the notion of men and women, float about uncircumscribed +by any element, in that world before perspective—a +china teacup.” In that partiality for old china I +humbly join, and it is of the search through New England +for such dear old china loves, and of the gathered +treasures of those happy china hunts, that I write.</p> + +<p class='c011'>China hunting is a true “midsummer madness.” +When grass grows green and “daffodils begin to peer” +<span class='pageno' id='Page_2'>2</span>my fancy lightly turns to thoughts of china. Hot +waxes the fever as crawls up the summer sun; fierce +and fiercer rages the passion and the hunt, till autumn +touches with her cold though glorious hand the trees +and fields. Then doth my madness wane, and chase +grow dull, and icy winter finds me sane and calm, till +charming spring returns to witch me to “mine old +lunes” once again. Thus is every china captive of that +mad summer chase aglow to me with summer suns and +beauty—not a dull lifeless clod of moulded painted clay, +but a glorious idealized token of long warm halcyon +days too quickly passed, of “yesterdays that look backward +with a smile.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Were the possession of old or valuable specimens of +porcelain and pottery, or even of happy memories of +“days of joyance,” the only good things which came +from the long hours of country ranging and farm-house +searching spent in our china quests, Philistines might +perhaps scoff at the waste of time and energy; but much +else that is good have I found. Insight into human +nature, love of my native country, knowledge of her +natural beauties, acquaintance with her old landmarks +and historical localities, familiarity with her history, +admiration of her noble military and naval heroes, and +study of the ancient manners, customs, and traditions of +her early inhabitants have all been fostered, strengthened, +and indeed almost brought into existence by the +search after and study of old china. How vague and +dull were my school-day history-lesson memories of +Perry, of Lawrence, of Decatur, until I saw their likenesses +<span class='pageno' id='Page_3'>3</span>on some hideous Liverpool pitchers! then I read +eagerly every word of history, every old song and ballad +about them. How small was my knowledge of old “table +manners” and table furnishings until I discovered, +through my china studies, how our ancestors ate and +served their daily meals! How little I knew of the shy +romance and the deep-lying though sombre sentiment +in New England country life, until it was revealed to me +in the tradition of many a piece of old china. How entirely +powerless was I to discover the story of human +nature as told in the countenance until my inquiries after +old china made me a second Lavater in regarding the +possibilities of successful purchase in case the questioned +one chanced to own any old porcelain heirlooms! How +few of our noble wood and valley roads had I seen until +I drove through them searching for old farm-houses that +might contain some salvage of teacups or teapots! And +not only do we learn of America through our china +hunts, but of England as well; for nearly all of our old +table-ware was English, and the history of the production +of English china can be traced as easily in New +England as in old England. Few of the more costly +pieces came here, but humbler specimens show equally +well the general progress of the manufacture.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Let me be just and honest in my tale; though all is +ideal happiness in the hours of the china chase, the +counting of the spoils is sometimes vastly disappointing.</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“As high as we have mounted in delight</div> + <div class='line'>In our dejection do we sink as low.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c013'><span class='pageno' id='Page_4'>4</span>There is no hobby of so uncertain gait, none other +fancy in the pursuit of which one meets with so many +rebuffs as in china collecting. I mean in real china collecting +by individual search and pursuit, not in china +buying at high prices at a fashionable china-shop. For +such Crœsus buyers, who know not the sweet nor the +bitter of true china hunting, these pages are not written.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Sad, sad failures does your china hunter often make, +but there is a blessed delight and pride when a long +search is at last successful which rewards him and makes +him, or rather her, forget the cruel blows of the past, +and makes hope spring eternal in her breast, undying, +and undimmed. Disappointments were few in early +china-collecting days in America; friendly farm-wives +then gladly brought out their precious and plentiful +stores, and eagerly sold them for silver to buy a new +cotton gown or a shell-comb, and attics and pantries +were ransacked and depleted with delight. Now can +the china hunter drive for days through the country, +asking for old crockery at every house which is surmounted +by a gambrel roof, has a great square chimney, +or an old well-sweep, without even hearing of one old +teapot; and yet such is the power of china-love, she +will start out again the next week, cheerful, hopeful, +and undaunted, “to fresh woods and pastures new.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Nor will it always prove clear sailing should she discover +the home of the sought-for treasure. She may +learn from friendly and loquacious neighbors that “old +Miss Halsey” or “John Slade’s widder” has stores of +old crockery in barrels in the attic, or on the top shelf of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_5'>5</span>the pantry, or even “up over the wood-shed,” but she +cannot obtain one glimpse of the hidden hoards—far less +can she purchase them.</p> + +<p class='c011'>We have visited again and again one gray old farm-house +in Massachusetts, a farm-house with moss-covered +“lean-to,” which we know contains enough old English +pottery and porcelain to found a museum; but cajoleries, +flatteries, persuasions, open demands, elaborate explanations, +and assumptions of indignant and hurt astonishment +at refusals—one and all are in vain; not even +one old plate have we ever seen. The farmer’s wife +greets us most cordially, gives us doughnuts and milk in +summer, and apples and cider in the winter, maple-sugar +in the spring, and hickory-nuts and butter-nuts in the +fall, but in aggressively modern pitchers and dishes; and +when we leave she urges us hospitably and warmly to +“come again.” We know well where her precious china +is hidden. High up on either side of the great mantelpieces +in “living-room” and “best room” are cupboards, +so high that one would have to climb upon a chair to +see into them; and from the good wife’s frequent and +furtive glances—speaking though silent—at her locked +cupboard doors, we know well what treasures are stored +therein.</p> + +<p class='c011'>At that china-hiding abode we often have concocted +for us an old-time country drink, composed of water +flavored with molasses and ginger, which was in Revolutionary +times called “beveridge.” Gallons of that vile +fluid have I drunk with the hostess, hoping that the +joys of the flowing bowl might loosen her tongue and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_6'>6</span>unlock her cupboard doors, but I have risked my digestion +in vain. Still I sit “smiling with millions of mischief +in the heart,” for life is short, and I am waiting, +wickedly waiting; the farmer and his wife are old, very +old, and when they depart from this life they cannot +take their keys and crockery with them.</p> + +<p class='c011'>More complete and mortifying routs sometimes, +though rarely, have befallen us. We were driving quietly +along one day on the outskirts of the town, when +we saw at the door of a shabby modern house, a vinegar +faced woman, who sat energetically mixing chicken-dough +in one of the most beautiful old blue and white +Nankin bowls that ever was seen. As each blow of the +heavy iron spoon came down on the precious antique, it +struck an echoing and keener blow to our china-loving +hearts, and we hastened to ask the owner of the bowl to +sell it ere it was broken. Sell it? not she. She didn’t +know where it came from, nor who had owned it—and +she didn’t care, but she wouldn’t sell it for any money; +and if a tin pan was just as good to mix the meal in, she +would use this “old crockery thing” if she wanted to; +and she walked into the shabby house, and “slammed” +the door before our abashed and sad faces. The thought +of that bowl at the mercy of that fierce iron spoon has +made us very unhappy; scores of times have we driven +past the house glancing furtively in, at the wood-shed, +the hen-house, the kitchen door, ready almost to steal +the poor prisoner if we found it unguarded; but we do +not dare attempt an honest rescue lest we suffer a still +more ignominious and mortifying defeat.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_7'>7</span>Strange answers are sometimes made to our inquiries +and requests; strange objects presented to our china-searching +eyes. In farm-houses, presided over by deaf +old housewives we have had shown to us crackers for +crockery, pitchforks for teapots, tubs for cups, and once, +by some strange and incomprehensible twist of the poor +deaf ears, or our own dull tongues, were cheerfully offered +buckwheat flour when we asked to see a Washington +pitcher. We also drove several miles at the sea-shore, +in high spirits and with great expectations, to see some +very old teapots, “all kinder basket-work,” and were +confronted by a strange machine of seafaring appearance, +which proved to be an eel-pot, and was truly an ancient +one. Other kindly country souls, knowing well what +we want, offer us as far more desirable and artistic treasures, +faded samplers, worsted flowers, crocheted tidies, +preserved wreaths, wax fruit, hair jewelry, and Parian +busts, and look at us with commiseration when we +cling to our strange idiosyncrasy—our preference for old +china. Sometimes the kindly intention to guide and +help us to our goal is evident and powerful enough, the +desire to inform us is rampant, but power of expression +is lacking, or even a modicum of memory; the narrow +limits of country vocabulary are painful to witness and +the expressions of its poverty are painful to hear, and +suggestions only lead the speaker farther astray in his +attempted descriptions. He is also color-blind, and has +vague remembrance of size and nomenclature. He can’t +describe the china, he can’t date it, he can’t name it, +sometimes—though he vaguely remembers that he has +<span class='pageno' id='Page_8'>8</span>seen it—he can’t place it, he simply knows that somewhere +he has seen something that he fancies may be +somewhat like what we want; and too often when we +try to follow his vague and jejune clue, we go upon a +“thankless arrant.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>We once addressed to an old Yankee farmer, who had +brought a load of apples into town, the stereotyped inquiry +which we have asked, ah! how many hundred +times, and received this drawling answer, “No-o I donow +as I know anyone as has got any old furnitoor or chayner +she wants ter part with. My wife haint got any anyway. +My Aunt Rebecca’s got one curous old plate +and I guess she’d sell it—she’d sell her teeth if any-body’d +buy ’em an’ pay enough ter suit her.” We finally +extracted from him (after much parrying of our direct +questions) that, “she got it in Washington more’n +fifty year ago,” that “the folks set great store by it, +and said it came from Mount Vernon and belonged to +Marthy Washington,” that it had the names of the States +around it, “it was blue and perhaps green too, and it +had stars sure and he guessed they were gilt.” Now we +had seen pieces of the Martha Washington tea-set, and +we knew that it was decorated in blue and green with +the names of the States in the links of a chain, and the +initials M. W. in the centre in a great gilt star. We +knew at once that Aunt Rebecca’s plate must be one of +that set. What a discovery!</p> + +<div class='figcenter id002'> +<span class='pageno' id='Page_9'>9</span> +<img src='images/i_023.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>The Plate we Hoped to Find and the Plate we Found.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>To the benighted and narrow-lived souls who have +never hunted for old china it may seem strange that we +knew at once that it was one of those rare plates; but I +am sure every china hunter, whose path is always illumined +by the brilliant possibilities which form such an +encouragement in the pleasures of the china chase, will +fully comprehend our confidence and anticipation. We +figured our plate in all the loan collections, marked +with our names in large letters as joint owners; we +planned a velvet silver-bound box to safely hold our +“heavenly jewel” after we had caught it; we even +hesitatingly thought that we might make our joint will +and leave it to the Mount +Vernon Association—and +then we drove +eighteen miles to +secure it. I shall never forget the sickening disappointment +I felt when I saw the Martha Washington plate. +There were the names of the States; and stars there +were, but not a gilt one. And where were the touches +of verdant color? All was blue—deeply, darkly, vilely +<span class='pageno' id='Page_10'>10</span>blue. At any other time we should have hailed the fine +“States” plate which was shown us with keen delight, +but now we could hardly speak or bear to look at it. At +last, in sullen disparagement, we offered a dollar for it, +had our offer accepted, carelessly took it, threw it on the +carriage-seat and drove away. I reviled the farmer and +his villainous memory and vocabulary, and would not +look at the deep-dyed “States” impostor for a month, +but when I heard that a collector had paid twenty dollars +for a similar plate in New York, I unwrapped it and +hung it on my dining-room wall, where it now shines a +glowing bit of dark color, a joy forever.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Warned by many such dreary mistakes I am very shy +of having china sent to me through any interest awakened +by its description, and am equally shy of buying by +proxy.</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Let every eye negotiate for itself,</div> + <div class='line'>And trust no agent.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>I have learned also to listen with attention, not placing +the slightest confidence in what I hear, and yet always to +investigate with cheerfulness and alacrity. It is not, however, +from elaborately detailed and willingly told stories +that I have had knowledge of my richest “finds.” I +have learned to “take a hint”—a maxim which should +be eternally impressed on every china hunter. Learn to +“grasp the skirt of happy chance;” let your motto be, +“Semper paratus.” Let no suggestion of old people or +old house-furnishings, no glimpse of blue color or sprigged +surface, even on a broken sherd of crockery by the wayside, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_11'>11</span>no hint of distant and out-of-the-way farms, no +prospect of country sales, of “New England dinners,” no +news of refurnishing old houses, no accounts of the death +of old inhabitants fall on unheeding eye or ear. For +myself, I never hear the words “old china” but my +heart is moved, more than “with sound of a trumpet.” +I breathe the battle afar and hurry to the fray, to return +at times victorious with dainty trophies of war, and +sometimes, alas, empty-handed, with the hanging head +of sore disappointment and defeat. Sometimes the +scent is poor and broken and you must ferret out the +way to the lair; even with much trouble and diligence +you cannot always learn at once and definitely +the lurking-place of the porcelain treasures; you meet +with reserve and a disinclination to reveal. Then comes +stratagem to the fore. Learn to wheedle, to hint, to interrogate +slyly, to blandly let the conversation drift—“muster +all wiles with blandished parleys, feminine assaults, +tongue batteries”—in short, vulg. dict., to “pump”—and +work that pump with judgment, with craft, and +with thoroughness. Moments of quickly repented expansiveness +come to all mortals in country and in town, +and in those rare moments of telling all they know, even +reticent and secretive country people will give you many +a china clue to follow.</p> + +<p class='c011'>I have not found, as did the members of the China +Hunters’ Club, that country housekeepers would, as a +rule, rather have money than china; my country people +will not sell their china willingly—they prefer china +to silver. Times have changed since 1876; a fancied +<span class='pageno' id='Page_12'>12</span>knowledge, an exaggerated estimate of the value of old +“crockery” now fills many a country soul, and a high +monetary value is also placed on family relics, on +“storied urns” and on the power of association. I will +confess that, as a last resort in times of direst stress, +when you really cannot go without that Pilgrim plate, +when you positively need it—if you take your money +out and lay it on the table in full sight of the plate-owner, +you wield a powerful lever to work the transfer; +nor do I consider such a statement at all derogatory to +the character of my New England neighbors, nor is the +trait peculiar to them.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But do not make too aggressively prominent the +money part of the transaction. Be courteous and careful +even to extremes in addressing your country people +for purposes of china purchase. Never ask them to sell +their china—<i>sell</i> is a most offensive and brutal word—ask +them if they are “willing to part with it.” Never hint, by +word or deed, that you fancy they really need the money. +Never disparage the desired articles, the shrewd country +wives would see through your pretence at once—“Why, +if it be so commonplace, do you wish it?” A base and +deceitful, though clever, china hunter of my acquaintance +declares that she has found it invariably to her +advantage to say that the coveted article matched exactly, +either in shape or decoration, something which she +had at home. The staid country mind, liking to see +things in “sets,” always appeared to be most immoderately +and unaccountably influenced to sell by this disingenuous +assertion.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_13'>13</span>We have many times during the past five years crossed +the trail of a collector who appears to have wholly depleted +of china the old farm-houses of the Connecticut +Valley. We have found, through comparing the accounts +of his visits, that he has a little slyness too. He always +desires to purchase his particular bit of china simply to +form a link in a chain. He either has a specimen of the +entire succession of production of a factory except the +very piece the farm-wife has, or he has a perfect list of +historical plates except the very plate she owns, or he +has a choice bit of every known color of lustre except +her special pitcher. The satisfaction of supplying the +long missing link, and the value that link will give to a +history the purchaser is going to write of such china, +seem to prove a powerful lever to effect the transfer to +his catenulate collection.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The men are, as a rule, always willing to sell china—when +did man ever reverence the vessels of his household +gods? I always delight to ask a Yankee farmer, in +field or road, whether he has any old crockery that he +would be willing to part with. How he will skurry +home “cross-lots,” over the ploughed fields, or through +the rows of growing corn, eager to pull out and sell his +wife’s pantry treasures! Not that he can sell them if +“Mother” isn’t willing—in her realm she reigns supreme. +Even in the midst of my sore disappointment I have +thrilled with malicious satisfaction and delight to see +the calm and authoritative way in which “Father” is +turned out of the “butt’ry” when he tries to pull down +from the shelf an old blue bowl or plate to sell. “Mother” +<span class='pageno' id='Page_14'>14</span>has kept her cinnamon-sticks and nutmegs for her +apple-pies in that “Blue Dragon” bowl for forty years, +and she isn’t going to sell it now to please anyone. To +hail the farmer in advance with china questions is not, +therefore, so underhanded and despicable a proceeding as +might be thought, nor so dangerous to the family peace; +he really is a poor, uninfluential, unpowered vassal in +kitchen and pantry, his advice is not asked, his word is +not heeded, nor if he attempt to be at all bumptious will +his presence be tolerated. I have found it to be an unvarying +rule that the farmer is always willing and eager to sell +his wife’s mother’s china, while the wife is always openly +disparaging, and cares little for his mother’s china; and +when once the source of inheritance is discovered, the +rule of action and plan of attack are plainly defined.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It may be argued that it is neither very courteous nor +very kind to walk into a stranger’s house and ask him to +sell you his household goods and chattels. To such argument +may be offered the reply that one can hardly +judge a farm home by the same rule as one does a city +home. The visit of a stranger is regarded with widely +different eyes; it is a pleasure, a treat, to most farm-wives +to receive such a visit, and the farmer will come plodding +home from the distant fields, in order not to lose the +chat with the stranger and the pleasant diversion. Who +would attempt to enter and to lodge over night in a +stranger’s house in the city? A police-station or a lunatic +asylum would probably quickly shelter your intruding +head. There is hardly a farm-house where such +a suggestion would be unwelcome or resented, provided +<span class='pageno' id='Page_15'>15</span>you look not like a bandit or horse-thief. Then, too, +farmers and even farm-wives do not generally regard +their old furniture and furnishings with quite the same +feeling that we do ours. The old blue Staffordshire +ware they consider almost worthless, and are often glad +to sell it for ready cash; but their lilac-sprigged china, +a wedding gift or a purchase with their few hard-earned +dollars, they often value and cherish as we do Sèvres. A +farmer handles very little money—his wife still less, and +ofttimes the money paid by china hunters is a godsend +in country homes. Much good is done, much comfort +conferred by exchanging money for crockery. Carpers +say: “But you do not pay city prices.” Sometimes, +alas, we do, fired by our china mania, “the insane root +that takes the reason prisoner,” though we never should. +The farmer does not pay city rents, he has not the risk +and expense of transfer to the city, he pays no salesman. +If he could sell all his farm products as easily, profitably, +and safely as he sells his china, lucky would he be. +Sometimes the discovery that the “old blue pie-plates” +are of any value is a delight and a surprise to him, but +he sees at once that when they are worth so much he +cannot afford to keep them. Hence he is far from being +offended at the easy means of sale offered to him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>One piece of advice I give to china hunters—advice, +the wisdom and advantage of which I have learned at +the cost of much unpleasant and disappointing experience. +Do not hurry prospective china sellers: bustling +city ways annoy them, fluster them, and worry them, and +in sheer bewilderment they say “No” to get rid of you. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_16'>16</span>Be tentative and gentle in your approach. Do not—as +we did—rush in upon a deaf and timid old lady and +frighten her, by the bouncing and bustling inquiries we +made, into vehement denials of china-possession and +simultaneous refusals to sell anything. This dear old +“Aunt Dolly” lived in the sole new house in a village +of old colonial dwellings, and we rather contemptuously +thought to pass by the brand-new French roofed intruder, +but decided “just to ask”—and “just to ask” +and receive a frightened negative answer was all we +did do, and we left with self-important assurance, to +hunt elsewhere. A tin-peddler (a “china runner” perhaps +in disguise), with quieter voice and more truly +well-bred manners, carried off her rare treasures about a +week later—a canopy-topped mirror with Washington +and Franklin mirror-knobs, a “Boston State-House” +pitcher, four “Valentine” plates having Wilkie’s design, +half a dozen Staffordshire plates with the “cottage” pattern, +and two Wedgwood teapots; and Aunt Dolly took +as payment two shining new tin milk-pans and a cheap +wringing-machine that wouldn’t wring. We knew her +well in after years when it was too late, and she confessed +to us that at our first meeting we talked so fast, +and talked together, and “hollered so she couldn’t +hear,” and that she did not understand what we meant +or what we wanted, and said “No” to obtain peace.</p> + +<p class='c011'>And oh! what an enviable advantage the ubiquitous +tin-peddler, that “licensed vagrom,” has over every convention-trammelled +china hunter! What a delight, +what a dream it would be to go a-china hunting with a +<span class='pageno' id='Page_17'>17</span>tin-peddler’s cart; what lonely out-of-the-way roads and +by-lanes I would take, careless where I went, since +wherever I wandered I should be welcome. How I +would sit on my lofty seat and view the lovely country +o’er, in the “sessions of sweet, silent thought,” with my +strong and willing and safe horse to pull me up hill and +down dale; with my stock of shining tin-ware, my +brooms and notions and gaily painted pails, all ready +for advantageous exchange; with my big, red, roomy +wagon, in whose mysterious cavernous interior I could +store in safety unwieldy china treasures, such as tureens +and bowls and pitchers; with my air of ready assurance, +of intimate familiarity with the family, my jovial +raillery, my opportunities of kitchen and pantry investigation, +my anxious health inquiries and profound medical +advice, backed up by bottles of patent medicines +which I should sell at half-price to curry favor and +china; or, better still, exchange, giving a bottle of liniment +for a “Landing of Lafayette,” or a box of pills +for a Pilgrim plate—oh! next to being a gipsy living +under the greenwood tree, who would not be a Yankee +tin-peddler a-china hunting? But perhaps the +farm-wife might wish me to take in exchange for my +wares, eggs, or butter, or rolls of wool—what should +I do with a pail of butter in summer-time on a tin-peddler’s +cart? Or, worse still, old rags—just fancy it—instead +of old china! I should then answer her with +an air of deep and sombre mystery: “Madam, I would +gladly take your readily exchangeable merchandise an’ +I could; the old rags are particularly desirable and attractive, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_18'>18</span>but I have sworn a vow—I have a secret which +I cannot now divulge—it must be crockery or naught, +especially dark blue crockery with American designs, +else I and my glittering and uncommonly cheap wares +must pass wearily on, homeless, chinaless, a wanderer on +the face of the earth.” Alack-a-day! such happy peaceful +joys are forbidden to me, not because of lack of +inclination or capacity, but—thrice bitter thought—because +I am a woman. Tin-peddlering is not for me, it +is not “woman’s sphere.” Perhaps when I am old, too +old to clamber up and proudly sit on that exalted +driver’s seat (though never too old to go china hunting), +perhaps when women have crowded into every other +profession, calling, and business in the land, some happy, +bold feminine soul will taste the pleasures of “advanced +life for women,” the pleasures forbidden to me, and dare +to go tin-peddlering, though there will then be no old +china left in the country to buy.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Though I have never been china hunting with a tin-peddler +I have been on the trail with a Yankee china +dealer, and his unique method of management was delightful. +He worked upon the most secretive, the most +furtive plan. He never would have shared with us his +coverts nor taken us to his haunts, save for this reason: +he had run down a noble prey, an entire set of fine old +English ware, and to his dismay the owner refused to let +him enter the house. Again and again had he essayed +to come to some terms, even to see the china, but without +success. He felt sure, however, that if any woman +asked she would not plead in vain, hence his divulgement +<span class='pageno' id='Page_19'>19</span>as a favor to us. We made several stops at farm-houses +on the road to our goal, and his way of carrying +on his business of china buying deserves to be told as +a matter of interest and instruction to amateur china +hunters, for he was a professional, a star. He never, by +any chance, told the truth about himself, and above all +never gave his correct name and place of residence, nor +drove away from the house in the way he really intended +to go. He represented himself as an adopted son, this +seeming to be more mysterious than ordinary family conditions; +never gave twice alike the name of his adopted +father, but had a series of noble parents, the most prominent +and influential men in the country around. The +reasons he assigned for wishing to buy the china were so +ingenious and so novel that we listened to him in delight +and amazement, and with keen anticipation as to +what he would next invent; the glamour of romance was +added to the delightful madness of china hunting. He +was at one farm-house a tender-hearted, indulgent husband, +whose delicate invalid of a wife had expressed a +wish for a set of old china and he was willing to spend +days of search in order to satisfy her whim. It is needless +to add that he was a bachelor. At another time his +adopted father was losing his mind and would eat off +nothing but old-fashioned china; hence he was hunting +to find a set to carry dutifully home. Again he was fitting +out a missionary-box for the Western wilds, and +wanted to buy a little old-fashioned crockery to send out +to the minister to remind him of his New England home. +At the next door he assumed an air of solemnity and dignity +<span class='pageno' id='Page_20'>20</span>and announced that he was founding a museum, and +was forming a collection of old New England house-furnishings +as a nucleus. At another place he swelled with +paternal kindliness, and wanted to get a few plates to +give to his three little children to show them the kind of +crockery he used to eat from at his grandfather’s. Once +he boldly announced that he was a china-manufacturer +and was dissatisfied with the quality of his ware and +wanted some old china to grind up and thus learn the +correct ingredients. Then he was collecting china for the +Columbian Exhibition. At another door his wife turned +into an accomplished china-painter who wanted these +plates for patterns. He curried warm favor and won +much china at one house by stating that his mother’s +china set had been badly broken by her daughter-in-law +and he wished to replace the broken pieces. An aged +couple who were living with their son and his wife were +easy victims to this specious invention. He bargained +for hay, for potatoes, for a whole farm; we seemed at +one time in imminent danger of being forced to buy a +cow and to depart leading her behind the wagon. Let +me be just to this inventive soul; his dishonesty lay in +words only. He paid good prices for all the china he +bought, neither undervalued nor disparaged it; and +showed a thoughtful kindliness toward the dwellers in +every house he visited. After a prolonged stay within +one shabby kitchen he appeared with two little copper-lustre +saucers which he rather shamefacedly acknowledged +having paid two dollars for. We extracted from +him that he had found a bed-ridden old woman alone, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_21'>21</span>shivering, thirsty; that he had built a fire for her, +pumped water, and paid for her only pieces of old china +double their value because he pitied her so.</p> + +<p class='c011'>We suggested at one house that he should say plainly +that he was a dealer and wanted to buy the china +to sell. He scorned our dull, commonplace suggestion, +and said it wouldn’t be any fun, and that they wouldn’t +let him within their doors. “Half the places I go to +anyway they look out the window afore they answer +me to see if I aint got a sewing-machine in the wagon, +and if they don’t see any, then they think I must have +a cyclopedy.” China hunting was to him the romance +of his life, his tournament, his battle-field. He told +us of several narrow escapes he had had from detection, +and exposure of his fables. In addition to vending +old china, he sold old junk and farming tools; and +thrice farmers of whom he had bought china recognized +him within his own doors. But with the active imagination +of a Dumas, he had an instant explanation. He +had either just gone into the business, or else they were +mistaken: he had a twin brother who had been adopted, +etc. He developed to us a plan of action which we +were to pursue at the special farm-house that contained +the set of china. He would stop at the foot of the hill +and lurk out of sight while we climbed to the door. +Then we were to represent ourselves as relatives of the +Republican candidate for Governor, as it was within a +week of election and the farmer was a Republican. We +were to tell little anecdotes of the candidate’s private +life, to hint that it was to please the Governor-elect that +<span class='pageno' id='Page_22'>22</span>we wished this china, and that it would be used in the +gubernatorial mansion in Boston. He told us exactly +how we were to work up the conversation and lead up +to the purchase, what to pay and what to offer at first. +All was well and carefully arranged when a dire suspicion +seized him that Farmer Rice was a Democrat after +all. This depressed him much, and he decided to sound +a neighbor on this important point ere we committed +ourselves within doors. His conversation with the guileless +neighbor held us spellbound, he represented himself +as a political census taker and hinted darkly that we +were to be the candidates for high offices on the Woman’s +Rights ticket at the next election. He found that +farmer Rice was a bitter Democrat. This was a sharp +blow, for neither he nor we knew one thing about the +private life of the Democratic candidate—not even where +he lived, nor indeed on our part one thing about politics +anyway. Nothing daunted, he searched a newspaper +which he chanced to have, and invented an imaginary +home for the Democratic Governor, which would doubtless +have answered every purpose, with the strong points +on Free Trade and Protection which he drilled into us. +We very prosaically, however, preferred our old honest +plan, and whether because of our suspicious appearance +on foot at such a great distance from any village, or +because we made an extremely inauspicious entrance, +awakening a very deaf old lady from a very sound nap, +we could not buy the china either, but we saw it, a +whole chest full, and the sight was well worth the long +journey.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_23'>23</span>Thus it maybe seen that china hunting, like many another +hobby, is not a wholly ennobling pursuit. Strange +and petty meannesses develop in you, envious longings, +you have “an itching palm,” you learn to be secretive +and dissembling, “to smile and smile and be a villain.” +You learn to hide your trail, to refuse to give information +to other sportsmen, to conceal the location of your +hunting-grounds, to employ any wile to gain attention +and entrance. Two worthy young men, without a fault, +save an overweening and idolatrous love for old china, +can attribute their fall from the paths of honesty and +truthfulness to china hunting. Searching one day in a +country town, one of these china hunters descended from +the carriage and pounded the knocker of a fine but somewhat +dilapidated country mansion. A pompous and repelling +old gentleman of extreme deafness and reticence +opened the door. What was the amazement and mortification +of the waiting friend in the carriage to hear the +bold intruder roar in his loudest and most persuasive +voice, “I have come to see whether you have any old +china, or know of anyone who has old china to sell,” and +as the door was about to be slammed, he added, “My +friend, the late Judge V——, of Worcester, told me that +if anyone in the country knew of old china and relics it +was you.”</p> + +<div class='figleft id004'> +<span class='pageno' id='Page_24'>24</span> +<img src='images/i_040.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Millennium Plate.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>The way that proud and shy old man rose to that +transparent bait was wonderful to behold. He ushered +in the young deceiver, with Chesterfieldian bows of welcome. +The “late Judge V——” had been a man well +known and honored throughout the county, though he +knew so little and thought so little of china that he +might have dined off pewter and never known it—but +he was dead, and could never be brought up as a refuting +witness, which was a great point. The lonely watcher +in the carriage sat shamefacedly waiting, cringing at the +thought of his companion’s wickedness. He listened to +the loud roars into the deaf old ears as the twain walked +from room to room +while “glozed the +tempter,” and the +specious sounds +were wafted out on +the summer air; he +thought of possible +treasures within, he +listened and wondered +and yielded—such +is the contamination +of +wicked example—walked +into the +house, and added to the lie tenfold. As a result of their +duplicity, and since the flattered one was a widower with +no woman to say nay, they captured and brought away +four Millennium plates, two Wedgwood pickle leaves, a +silver-lustre teapot, and a glorious great flip-mug. But +“things ill-got had ever bad success;” as they lifted the +large and knobby newspaper parcel from the carriage, it +slipped from their contaminating grasp, and all the pieces +were broken save the flip-mug, which, being specially protected, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_25'>25</span>escaped. Though warned by this plain rebuke, +they persevere; and so hardened are they now become +in their base habits of deception, that they have worked +that “late Judge V——” scheme, with some slight +variations, in a score of country homes. They always +tell that abominable falsehood whenever they have a +man to deal with, not only adding deception to deceit, +but showing a most despicable lack of originality—a +“most damnable iteration.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>They cringingly allege their intention to change the +name of the imaginary recommender as soon as any one +of sufficient note and widespread fame in the county +dies, and thus through his death becomes eligible to the +position in the fable. I only wish the wraith of the late +Judge V——, a man of portentous ugliness in real life, +such abnormal ugliness that the thought of the sight of +his dematerialized ghost is really appalling—I only wish +his indignant wraith would appear before them at the +lintel of the door, at the portal of some china-besieged +house, and demand, in the loud roars which characterized +him in his lifetime, the meaning of this unwarrantable +and presumptuous use of his name.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In the meantime, unchecked and undiscovered, this +simple and transparent scheme invariably works to a +charm—how proud the man always is to learn that the +late Judge V—— recommended him as a connoisseur of +anything! he hastens to sell his china, if his wife be willing +and have any to sell, and he manages to think of +someone else who will probably sell, should he chance to +have none himself. The flip-mug has been filled many a +<span class='pageno' id='Page_26'>26</span>time to the old-time toast, “Success to Trade”—and +yet the base china hunters are really honest fellows +enough in every-day life. Alas! that greed for things +so beautiful should so deform the soul!</p> + +<p class='c011'>Such duplicity is, however, rare. I tell of it only to +express my abhorrence, my condemnation. Dissimulation +is seldom necessary. You are sometimes falsely +accused of it when your motives are as open as the +light of day. After telling with exact truth precisely +what I intended to do with some pieces of china, I was +answered, with an angry toss of the head, “Why didn’t +ye tell me first-off ye didn’t want me to know.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>We are sometimes, in our china hunts, brought into +close contact with baser crimes than falsehood and duplicity. +We have a number of daintily-shaped pieces +of sprigged china, with a graceful ribbon border, which +are known to us by the name of “Beach ware,” but +which would be generally and more correctly called +“cottage china.” These six-legged teapots and creamjugs +of “Beach ware” received their descriptive and +pretty title from the simple folk of whom they were +bought, not from the name of their maker nor from +their place of manufacture. “Beach ware” was found +in crates or boxes along the beach on the shores of +Barnegat Bay at the beginning of this century. It was +part of the cargo of a great English ship laden with +china, which was lured to destruction and robbed by +a notorious family of Barnegat “wreckers,” one of whose +members died not many years ago at the age of ninety +years, having served in his youth a well-deserved term +<span class='pageno' id='Page_27'>27</span>of twenty years’ imprisonment in State Prison, the sentence +received at his trial for cruel robbery and murder +through “wrecking.”</p> + +<div class='figcenter id002'> +<img src='images/i_043.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>“Beach Ware.”</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>At that time, though vessels and their cargoes were insured, +the underwriters frequently did not make their appearance +down the coast at the scene of the wreck for +many days and even weeks after the ship broke up or +came ashore. And when the tardy officials did arrive, +Barnegat natives, even from far inland—honest men and +knavish rogues alike—had always managed to capture +everything of value that came ashore or could be taken +from the vessel. In order to conceal their stolen salvage, +indestructible merchandise or articles that were not +affected by the action of the soil and water were frequently +buried until after the baffled insurance company +<span class='pageno' id='Page_28'>28</span>and the ship’s owners had left the scene. The arrest and +sentence of the leader of this gang of wreckers caused +much apprehension and excitement in every Barnegat +home, and much fine china was pounded up or thrown +into the water, as well as buried, lest its presence seem +proof of complicity in the convict’s guilt. Our pieces of +“Beach ware” remained under ground for years—it is said +until the wicked old convict served out his term in prison, +since he alone could find the spot where he had buried +it. The green-ribboned and pink-sprigged teapots and +teacups look too innocent to have known aught of such +wickedness and violence, but bear no more guileless face +than did the patriarchal old wrecker in the peaceful prosperous +days of his later years when he unblushingly and +unwincingly sold to us this “Beach ware,” of which his +gossiping neighbors had told to us the tale.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Shall I have the dire name of “fence” applied to +me when it is told that I am the receiver of stolen +goods?</p> + +<p class='c011'>The best piece of Wedgwood jasper ware that I own +was bought from an old Englishman of mild appearance +and junk proclivities. A second visit to his den found +it closed. A friendly plumber in the adjacent shop explained +with effusion that the junk-man was a wretched +old thief, and no one but thieves sold to him or bought +of him (I winced at the accusation); that “he broke +into a museyum in England and stole a lot of china and +brought it over here to sell, and had kep’ stealin’ ever +sense,” and he (the plumber) was “glad the perlice had +chased him out, for he was a disgrace to the neighborhood.” +<span class='pageno' id='Page_29'>29</span>Was not my pretty Flaxman-designed piece of +Wedgwood stolen from that English collection?</p> + +<div class='figcenter id002'> +<img src='images/i_045.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Old Worcester in “Japan Taste.”</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>A beautiful cup and saucer of old Worcester in the +“Japan taste,” rich without and within in red and gold +and blue, has long been regarded by me with intense +suspicion of my honest and legal right to its possession. +It was sold to me with the assurance that it had belonged +to Lucien Bonaparte; I did not doubt that part of the +story, for I had seen its sister in the possession of a +family who I knew inherited it through a gift of that +Bonaparte. But how should my cup and saucer have +been offered for sale to anyone? By a curious chain of +circumstances, too tedious to repeat, I discovered that +the pretty cup and saucer had been stolen by a servant, +and sold long ago to an old merchant in New York, who +should have and doubtless did know better, but who +<span class='pageno' id='Page_30'>30</span>loved old china. Shall I tell his name? Shall I hunt +up the lawful heir and owner of my Worcester teacup?</p> + +<p class='c011'>Only one possibility mars the pleasure of a day’s +china hunt—the necessity of obtaining a midday meal +“upon the road,” in any chance farm-house you may be +within at high noon. The old hunter fights shy of such +repasts by carrying her lunch with her, but when a drive +of several days is taken this course is not very attractive +or possible. She must then succumb to fate, accept the +hospitality which is invariably and cordially offered to +her, and eat, or, at least, try to eat. I think June is the +most trying month for such ventures. Spring vegetables +are unknown in the land of their supposed birth. +Fruits and berries are not ripe. You are given a mysterious +repast, flavored throughout with sour milk and +smelling of sour milk, which reaches its highest and +sourest point in the bread. I always plead dyspepsia +and cling to a milk diet, thus eliciting much sympathy, +and hygienic and medical advice. Doubtless in late +fall or in winter, country fare might be more endurable, +but, with keen and most vivid fancy, I cannot imagine +going china hunting in the country in the winter time. +Even glorious sleighing or the promise of vast treasure +trove could not englamour it with an enticing charm. +Think of shivering over snow-blocked roads under leaden +skies, through dreary, wind-wailing, naked woods, struggling +up icy, snow-swept, and blast-beaten hills to that +lonely hill-top home, a New England farm-house! +Hope would perish on the road. Think of entering +that drear abode; of sitting, while you unfolded your +<span class='pageno' id='Page_31'>31</span>wishes and went through the stereotyped china questions +with the stereotyped china smile, with bursting +veins and flushed face, in a stuffy, torrid, unaired room, +in front of a red-hot, air-tight stove, for there are no +glorious open wood fires nowadays in the great chimneys +of country houses in New England. Think of +going from that super-heated, stifling atmosphere to a +frigid pantry or icy best room to look at china! How +the congealed plates would clatter in your trembling +stiffened fingers; how you would hurry through the repelling +ordeal; never, as in summer, climbing upon +chairs to peer on upper shelves, never exploring in old +window-seats, never lingering to examine separately +and lovingly each plate in a great pile. Above all, +think of ransacking a farm-house garret, “in cobwebbed +corners, dusty and dim,” with the thermometer below +zero—it is beyond my power of fancy to fathom such +a scene. A fellow china hunter tells me a tale of a +lonely drive and Arctic exploration, and of riding gayly +home therefrom in the winter twilight, warming the +cockles of her heart with four Baltimore & Ohio plates +pressed closely to her side, with two Lafayette pepper-boxes +and half a dozen Lowestoft custard-cups packed +snugly in her muff, and with a Pennsylvania Hospital +platter in the fur robe at her feet. I never believed her; +it could not be true. China does not grow in winter, +’tis a fair summer flower, and must be gathered under +summer suns.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But to what out-of-the-way, simple, rustic scenes has +our china hunting led us through the long summer days, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_32'>32</span>scenes to be painted by Miss Wilkins or Mrs. Slosson. +To country auctions—not the ill-ventilated, Hebrew-jostled, +bawling arenas of city life, but auctions in country +villages, on old farms, where the auctioneer, if the day +be warm, stands outside the house on a door taken from +its hinges and laid across two barrels on the green, or +among the beds of flowering phlox and marigolds; where +the lots for sale, unnumbered, uncatalogued, and unclassified +are handed out, a heterogeneous company, to the +presiding seller through the open windows behind him; +where every small parcel of value is neatly tied up and +labelled with the names of past owners—Aunt Hepsy, +Mrs. Catey Doten, Old Job Greening; where every +queer-gowned and queer-coated neighbor for miles around +has driven over in every kind of vehicle to look at, if not +to buy, the scattering house treasures. At these country +auctions, china and ancient underclothes, or pewter porringers +with feather pillows, may form a single “lot,” and +you must buy all or none. If you purchase you pay your +money at once to the auctioneer, with much friendly +change-making by hard-fisted old farmers on either hand; +the china is delivered to your eager hands, the underclothes +are thrown to you or at you by the auctioneer +over the heads of the audience; the hay-rakes, or churns, +or quilting-frames, or whatever addenda may have been +tacked to your porcelain, are brought around and piled +in a little heap by the side of your chair, or if you have +“backed up” your country wagon, are placed therein. +I once bought six large bundles of neatly labelled pieces +of woollen cloth, pieces of all the old petticoats and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_33'>33</span>breeches and greatcoats that had been worn in that house +for forty years, just to get one India china plate. A rugmaking—or +I should say, “mat-braiding”—dame at my +left, seeing my dismay at my unsought treasures and +noting my love of china, offered to give me a modern +match-box for the tidy bundle of pieces, which kindly +exchange I gladly accepted as being less cumbersome, if +not more beautiful.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Surely the summer sunlight never flickered down on a +more typical New England scene than a country auction. +Sad are the faces around, quiet reigns; no one smiles, no +one jests as the hoarse-voiced auctioneer holds up, explains, +and extols some very mirth-provoking “lots.” +This breaking up and disbanding of a home has no droll +side to country minds. The last country auction I attended +was at an old house in Rutland. At it were sold +the effects of an ancient lady of ninety years, who had just +died. Her nephew, a lively lad of eighty, carried away +by the excitement of the sale, or by the sight of so much +ready money, recklessly handed out to the auctioneer, as +he stood under the dusty lilac bushes, a large number of +articles of furniture and table-ware which had been temporarily +stored in the house by the old lady’s housekeeper, +an equally ancient matron. The unconscious +theft was discovered late in the afternoon, just as we were +about to drive off, and the old man, overcome with horror +at his unwitting crime, or dread of the results of its +discovery, tearfully forced us to disgorge half a dozen +McDonough’s Victory plates and several mugs and pitchers +which we had eagerly purchased and gleefully packed +<span class='pageno' id='Page_34'>34</span>away. He “comforted us with apples,” however, pressing +upon us a peck of red-streaked, spicy Sapsons to console +us for our evident disappointment—and our sorrow that +we had not sensibly and cannily departed at an earlier hour.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But do not fancy that every gathering of country +wagons in country door-yards, every row of patient +horses hitched at barn doors and along the fence, denotes +an auction within the doors of the farm-house. Draw +no such rash conclusion, and make no hasty and unheralded +entrance within, else you may find yourself, with +china smiles on your lips and china inquiries on your +tongue, an impetuous and mortified intruder at the saddest +of all sad scenes, a country funeral. I cannot resist +telling that, after one such impertinent intrusion on that +solemn function, we returned in a few hours, when on +our way home, to apologize and explain our infelicitous +and uninvited entrance at so unfitting a time. When +we stated that we were hunting for old-fashioned china, +a gleam of comprehension entered the faces of the two +elderly women who sat rocking by the fireside in the +lonely kitchen, and as a result a china-closet was raided, +and we bought a number of pieces of unusually fine +Canton and Lowestoft china. At the time of purchase, +we innocently fancied that we gained this treasure honestly +from the new-made heirs, but have since then had +harassing suspicions that the china was sold to us by +temporary care-takers who remained to “redd the house,” +while the mourning relatives had driven to the country +graveyard, and who thus snatched from the jaws of +death a most dishonest penny.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_35'>35</span>Nor can you be over-confident that all auctions held +in the country are true country auctions. The ways of +“antique men” are past finding out. A sale of the +household furnishings of an old farm-house in the heart +of the White Mountains, attracted a vast number of summer +travellers, and brought forth purchase sums that bewildered +the farm residents for miles around. Ere the +sun went down on the day of the sale, a thrifty dealer +who happened to be present had had a conference with +the farm-wife, and as a result it was announced that she +had a reserve stock of furniture and china in her garret, +which would be sold the following week. Back to town +sped the dealer, packed up a vast collection of unsalable +débris which he chanced to have on hand, and an “assorted +lot” of modern willow-pattern ware, freshly imported +Canton china, new copper-lustre and painted tea-sets, +with a sparse sprinkling of old pieces. He sent the +entire lot by rail to the New Hampshire town; conveyed +it by dead of night to the farm-house; placed the crockery +in the cupboards, the brand-new brass candlesticks +on the mantels, and the flimsy new andirons in the old +fireplaces, arranged all the furniture in judicious shadow, +and had a successful auction of “rare old colonial furniture +and family china.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>A famous starting-point, or rather rallying-point, on a +china hunt is the district school. Driving along the +quiet country road, you chance, in some barren and unlovely +spot, often at some lonely cross-roads, upon a +small unshaded, single-storied building, whose general +ugliness and the beaten earth of whose door-yard tell to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_36'>36</span>you its purpose and character without the proof of the +high-pitched and precise chorus of monotonous three-syllabled +words that vibrates shrilly out through the +open window. Hitch your steed to a tree, a fence, by +the roadside, and enter one of the twin portals of the +abode of learning, passing by the low-hanging rows of +ragged straw hats, gingham sun-bonnets, and chip “Shakers,” +over the “warping floor,” in front of the “battered +seats, with jack-knife’s carved initial.” “Teacher” +is glad to see you, the children are gladder still. She +sends a grinning barefooted boy out to draw a pail of +fresh well-water. You are asked, as a distinguished visitor, +to address the scholars. If you are a man, and +thus of course an orator, you do so with fluent tongue. +If you are a woman, and thus tongue-tied in public, +you can ask for “recess” to be given, and make your +address informally to each little freckled face. You +are, of course, anxious to refurnish a house like the one +in which you lived when you attended the village school +in the days of your youth. Do the children know of +any old blue china plates with trees and houses on +them? Have their mothers or grandmothers any pitchers +with pictures of soldiers, or sailors, or ships? Of +course the children know; they know everything—far +more than grown people. You soon have an exact +ceramic report from every house in town whose little +sons and daughters are in the school, and of the homes +of all their neighbors too. You have extracted an unbiassed +account from a set of little ready-tongued and +keen-eyed spies, whose penetration is acute, and whose +<span class='pageno' id='Page_37'>37</span>memory is active. If you can draw you can quickly +show the children with chalk and blackboard the kind of +china you wish, and can depart with a long list of houses +which will repay you to visit.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But why do I longer tell the story of the chase, or +vainly try to give advice and rules for china-finding? I +can only “pay you my penny of observation,” knowing +well that “<span lang="la">Gutta fortunæ præ dolio sapientiæ</span>.” Nor +can I fitly paint the pleasures, nor tell the pains of +the search, more than I could mould and shape the +treasures it has brought to my home. Nor can I hope +to fire in other veins the fever that burns in mine; I +must be content to say with Olivia, “’Tis a most <i>extracting</i> +frenzy of mine own.”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_38'>38</span> + <h2 class='c005'>II.<br> TRENCHER TREEN AND PEWTER BRIGHT</h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c014'>The history of the use of china as table-ware in +America would be incomplete and ill-comprehended, +without some reference to the preceding +forms of table furnishings used by the earliest colonists, +the dishes of wood and pewter, which so long influenced +the form and even the decoration of their china successors. +As in the “Life of Josiah Wedgwood” we are given +an account of the pottery and porcelain of all times, so in +my story of china in America I tell of the humble predecessors +that graced the frugal boards of our ancestors.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In a curious book, Newbery’s “Dives Pragmaticus,” +written in 1563, a catalogue of English cooking utensils +and table-ware is thus given by a chapman:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“I have basins, ewers of tin, pewter, and glass,</div> + <div class='line'>Great vessels of copper, fine latten, and brass,</div> + <div class='line'>Both pots, pans, and kettles such as never was.</div> + <div class='line'>I have platters, dishes, saucers, and candlesticks,</div> + <div class='line'>Chafers, lavers, towels, and fine tricks;</div> + <div class='line'>Posnets, frying pans, and fine pudding pricks;</div> + <div class='line'>Fine pans for milk, trim tubs for souse.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>These were practically the table and kitchen furnishings +brought by the Pilgrims to New England, and for +<span class='pageno' id='Page_39'>39</span>similar furnishings they sent to old England for many +years.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The time when America was settled was the era when +pewter ware had begun to take the place of wooden ware +for table use, just as the time of the Revolutionary War +marked the victory of porcelain over pewter. Governor +Bradford found the Indians using “wooden bowls, trays, +and dishes,” and “hand baskets made of crab shells +wrought together.” Both colonists and Indians used +clam-shells for plates, and smaller shells set in split +sticks as spoons and ladles.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The Indians made in great quantities for their white +neighbors, even in the earliest days, bowls from the knots +of maple-trees that went by the name of “Indian bowls,” +and were much sought after and used. One large +bowl taken from the wigwam of King Philip is now in +the collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society. +The settlers also established factories for dish-turning. +One thrifty New England parson eked out his scanty and +ill-paid salary by making wooden bowls and plates for his +parishioners. Wooden “noggins,” low bowls with handles, +are often mentioned in early inventories, and Mary +Ring, of Plymouth, thought in 1633 that a “wodden +cupp” was quite valuable enough to leave “as a token of +friendship.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>In Vermont bowls and plates of poplar wood were +used until Revolutionary times, and fair white dishes +did that clean hard wood make. Sometimes the wooden +plates used by the poor planters were only square blocks +slightly hollowed out by hand—whittled, without doubt. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_40'>40</span>Wooden trenchers, also made by hand, were used on the +table by the colonists for more than a century. I find +them advertised for sale with pewter and china in the +<cite>Connecticut Courant</cite> of May, 1775. These trenchers +were either square or oblong. From an oblong trencher +two persons, relatives or intimate friends, sometimes ate +in common, just as they had done in old England. Two +children frequently ate from the same trencher, thus +economizing table furnishings. In earlier times man and +wife ate from a single trencher or plate. Walpole relates +that the aged Duke and Duchess of Hamilton, in +the middle of the last century, sat upon a dais together +at the head of their table and ate from the same plate—a +tender tribute to unreturnable youth, a clinging regard +for past customs, and a token of present affection and +unity in old age.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A story is told of a Connecticut planter, that having +settled in a quickly-growing town and having proved +himself to be a pious God-fearing man, his name was offered +to his church for election or ordination as a deacon. +Objection was made to him, on the ground that he had +shown undue pride and luxury of living in allowing his +children each to use and eat from a single plate at the +table, instead of doing as his neighbors did—have two +children eat from one trencher. He apologized for his +seemingly vain manner of living, and gave in excuse the +fact that previous to his settlement near New Haven he +had been a dish-turner, so it had not then been extravagant +for the members of his family to have a dish apiece; +and having grown accustomed to that manner of “feeding,” +<span class='pageno' id='Page_41'>41</span>he found it more peaceable and comfortable; but he +was willing to change his ways if they considered it desirable +and proper, as he did not wish to put on more +airs than his neighbors.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But wooden trenchers, even in the first half of the +first New England century, gave place to pewter, and +the great number of pieces of pewter table-ware still +found in New England country homes would alone +prove to how recent a date pewter utensils were universally +used. The number would doubtless be much +larger if it were not deemed by metal-workers that +new pewter is of much better substance if the metals +composing it are combined with a certain amount of old +pewter. Hence old pewter always has commanded a +good price, and many fine old specimens have been +melted up to mould over again for the more modern uses +for which pewter is employed by printers and lapidaries.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The trade of pewterer was for two centuries a very respectable +and influential one. The Guild of Pewterers +in London was a very large and powerful body, and +English pewterers, men of worth, came with other tradesmen +at once to the Colonies. Richard Graves was a +pewterer of Salem in 1639, and Henry Shrimpton, an +influential merchant who died in Boston in 1666, made +large quantities of pewter ware for the Massachusetts +colonists. The pewterers rapidly increased in numbers +in America, until the War of Independence, when, of +course, the increasing importation of Oriental and English +china and stone-ware, and the beauty and interest of +the new table-ware, destroyed forever the pewterer’s +<span class='pageno' id='Page_42'>42</span>trade. Advertisements of pewter table furnishings appear +frequently, however, in American newspapers until +well into this century.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Nor was it different in England at the same date. +Englishmen and Englishwomen clung long to pewter. +In a poem written in 1828 by J. Ward, of Stoke-upon-Trent, +upon the Potter’s Art, he says:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“The housewife, prim in days we know ourselves,</div> + <div class='line'>Display’d her polished pewter on her shelves;</div> + <div class='line'>Reserv’d to honour most the annual feast,</div> + <div class='line'>Where ev’ry kinsman proved a welcome guest.</div> + <div class='line'>No earthen plates or dishes then were known,</div> + <div class='line'>Save at the humble board as coarse as stone,</div> + <div class='line'>And there the trencher commonly was seen,</div> + <div class='line'>With its attendant ample platter treen.” (Wooden.)</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>It is a curious fact that in the inventory of the household +possessions of Thomas Wedgwood, the potter, made +at Burslem in 1775, we find that he had forty-four pewter +plates worth seven pence half penny each, and +twenty-four pewter dishes worth two shillings each, +though the inventory of the goods at his factory at that +time included two hundred and ninety-five dozen table +plates of best white ware.</p> + +<p class='c011'>At a very early date all well-to-do colonists had plenty +of “latten ware,” which was brass, as well as pewter. +All kinds of household utensils were made, however, of +the latter metal; even “pewter bottles, pints, and +quarts,” were upon a list of goods to be sent from England +to the Massachusetts Colony in 1629. I have +never seen an old pewter bottle, even in a collection or +<span class='pageno' id='Page_43'>43</span>museum, and they must soon have been superseded by +glass.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In the Boston <cite>Evening Post</cite> of July 26, 1756, appeared +this advertisement: “London pewter dishes, plates, +basons, porringers, breakfast bowls, table spoons, pint and +quart pots, cans, tankards, butter cups, newest fashion +teapots, table salts, sucking bottles, plates & dish +covers, cullenders, soop kettles, new fashion roased +plates, communion beakers and flagons, & measures.” +A vast number of names of other articles might be added +from other lists of sales of pewter at that time—“quart +& pint jacks,” “bottle crains,” “ink pots,” “ink chests,” +“ink horns,” “ink standishes,” and “ink jugs.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Pewter “cans for beer, cyder, and metheglin,” were in +every household; pewter mugs and pewter “dram-cups +with funnels,” pewter “basons,” cisterns, and ewers +graced the “parlour,” which contained also the best +state bed, with its “harrateen” or “cheney” curtains. +Pewter candlesticks held the home-made, pale-green candles +of tallow and spicy bayberry wax. “Savealls,” too, +were of pewter and iron. “Savealls” were the little +round frames with wire points which held up the last +short ends of dying candles for our frugal ancestors.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salt-cellars and spoons were of pewter, while extremely +elegant people had spoons of alchymy, or +occonny, alcaney, alcamy, occomy, ackamy, and accamy, +as I have seen it spelt, a metal composed of pan brass +and arsenicum. Forks were almost unknown, and fingers +played an important part in serving and eating at +the table. A lady traveller, in 1704, spoke with much +<span class='pageno' id='Page_44'>44</span>scorn of Connecticut people, because they allowed their +negro slaves to sit and eat at the same table with themselves, +saying that +“into the great dish +goes the black hoof +as freely as the +white hand.”</p> + +<div class='figleft id004'> +<img src='images/i_060.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic005'> +<p>“The porringers that in a row<br> Hung high and made a glittering show.”</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>Pewter porringers, +or “pottingers,” +of every size were +much prized. One +family, in 1660, had +seven porringers, +while another +housewife was +proud of owning +nine, and one silver +queen porringer. +The smaller porringers +were called +posnets, a word now +obsolete. Posnet +was derived from a +Welsh word, <i>posned</i>, +a little round dish. +In these posnets +posset was served, +and they were also +used as pap-bowls for infants. Posnets and porringers, +when not in use, were hung by their handles on the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_45'>45</span>edge of the dresser shelf. The porringers with flat +pierced handles are of English or American make, while +the “fish-tail” handles are seldom found in New England, +being distinctly Dutch.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Plates and platters were much valued. Governor +Bradford, of Massachusetts, left to his heirs fourteen +pewter dishes and thirteen platters, three large plates +and three small ones, one pewter candlestick and one +pewter bottle—a most luxurious and elaborate household +outfit. Governor Benedict Arnold, of Jamestown, +R. I., and Mr. Pyncheon, of Springfield, Mass., bequeathed +their pewter plates and dishes in the same list, +and with as much minuteness of description, as the silver +tankards and bowls, and the humble pewter was as +elaborately lettered and marked with armorial devices +as was the silver. Miles Standish left to his heirs sixteen +pewter dishes and twelve wooden trenchers.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Pewter was not thought to be too base a metal to use +for communion services. In 1729, the First Church of +Hanover, Mass., bought and used for years a full communion +service and christening basin of pewter; and +the bill of purchase and the old pieces are still preserved +by the church as relics. The pewter communion service +of the Marblehead Church is now in the rooms of the +Essex Institute, and until this century advertisements of +“Pewter Communion Flagons” appeared in New England +newspapers.</p> + +<p class='c011'>These pewter dishes and plates were a source of great +pride to every colonial housekeeper, and much time and +labor was devoted to polishing them with “horsetails” +<span class='pageno' id='Page_46'>46</span>(<i>equisetum</i>), or “scouring rush,” till they shone like fine +silver; and dingy pewter was fairly counted a disgrace. +The most accomplished gentleman in Virginia, of his +time, gave it as a positive rule, in 1728, that “pewter +bright” was the sign of a good housewife.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In some old country homes, either lack of money, +the power of habit, or the strong love of ancient articles +and associations, caused the preservation of the old +pewter utensils, and they now form the cherished ornaments +of the kitchen and dining-room. In the lovely +old town of Shrewsbury, which stands so high on Massachusetts +hills that the railroad has never approached its +lonely beauty, there stands on the edge of the “Common” +a house, in which everything that is good and +old has been preserved, and appears as when the house +was built, in the year 1779.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The old fireplaces have cranes and iron “dogs,” are +festooned with ears of yellow seed-corn, and are surmounted +by the old fire-arms, while by the chimney +sides are hung old-fashioned brooms of peeled birch. +These brooms are made of birch splints, carefully split +and peeled, and tied in place with hempen twine on the +strong handle; and many a farmer’s boy, years ago, +earned his first spending-money by making them, for six +cents apiece, for the country stores. Old settles, chairs, +and tables stand on the white-scoured floors; and in the +“living-room” is a piece of furniture seldom seen in New +England, though common enough in Pennsylvania, New +York, and New Jersey in olden times—a “slaw bank.” +The word is a corruption of <i>sloap bancke</i>, or sleeping +<span class='pageno' id='Page_47'>47</span>bench, and the slaw bank was the great-grandfather of +our modern cabinet folding-bed. At one end of the +room are doors apparently belonging to cupboards, +which, upon being swung wide open, disclose the oblong +frame of a bed with a network of ropes to serve as +springs. This bed-frame is fastened at one end to the +wall with heavy hinges, and was hooked up against the +wall in the day-time, and at night was lowered to a +horizontal position and supported on heavy wooden +turned legs, which fitted into sockets in the frame; +and it was thus ready for use. This bed is still kept +made up as of old, with hand-spun linen sheets, hand-woven +“flannel sheets,” a “rising-sun” patchwork quilt, +and blue and white woollen bedspread.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But in the dining-room and kitchen of this old Shrewsbury +homestead are the greatest treasures—corner cupboards +and shallow dressers full of pewter dishes, which +greet their owner with “shining morning faces” at +breakfast, and reflect in a hundred silvery disks the +goodly cheer on his table at midday and night. Round +plates and platters are there of every size, up to the +great round shield on which was placed of old the +enormous Thanksgiving turkey. All are round, for oval +platters seem to have been then unknown.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The deep bowls, in which vegetables were served, +stand there in “nests” of various sizes. Teapots, too, +and cream-pitchers and sugar-bowls, or sugar-boxes, +but no pewter teacups. I believe the little handleless +teacups were among the earliest pieces of porcelain imported +from China, and were often used when the rest +<span class='pageno' id='Page_48'>48</span>of the “tea equipage” was of pewter. Pewter salt-cellars, +mustard-pots, flip-mugs, and syrup-cups are interspersed +among the larger pieces on the dresser.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Some of these articles are marked with initials and +dates, not engraved, but stamped, as with a die, J. S. +and B. K., 1769. Doubtless these were wedding gifts, +and I doubt not that a set of shining pewter plates and +platters was as graceful and welcome a gift to Betsey +Sumner in 1769, as is a set of Royal Worcester porcelain +to her great-granddaughter Bessie, in 1892.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Some of the teapots are really beautiful in shape, and +are decorated with a quaint engraved design of leaves +and round flowers. These were undoubtedly of Dutch +manufacture, and are identical in shape and ornamentation +with teapots authentically known to have been imported +from Holland. These teapots were probably +used for company “tea drinkings” and such state occasions, +and thus the engraving on the soft metal was +not worn by daily use.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Pewter spoons, too, are there in every size, though +Betsey Sumner surely had silver teaspoons, for were +they not inherited from her by her son, the old parson? +As these pewter spoons were liable to be quickly bent, +worn, or broken, every thrifty household had its various +sized spoon moulds of heavy metal, into which the +melted pewter was poured and came out as good as new, +or, according to the apparent law of pewter, better than +new. Button moulds, too, were common enough, containing +deep holes to form half a dozen buttons at once. +And perhaps Betsey Sumner turned her old spoons into +<span class='pageno' id='Page_49'>49</span>buttons to adorn John’s coat, and polished them till +they shone like the silver and cut-steel buttons of the +French Court.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Many of the pewter articles in this homestead have +had recently engraved upon the underside various commemorative +dates, and the names of past owners, and +the outlines of any eventful story connected with the +dish, if story there fortunately be remembered to tell. +And every owner of pewter plate or porringer, who +knows by tradition the story of his old relic, should +have the statement engraved now upon the back of +the piece, for even in one generation these facts are +forgotten, and the article is rendered valueless as an +historic record.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In the kitchen of the great colonial house at Morristown, +N. J., now owned and occupied by the Washington +Association of New Jersey, may be seen a +fine collection of old pewter table and cooking utensils; +while at Indian Hill, at Newburyport, still is shining in +cupboard and dresser the rare pewter collected by Ben +Perley Poore.</p> + +<p class='c011'>To a day well within the remembrance of many now +living, round pewter meat platters were used in farm-houses, +long after the other pewter dishes had vanished; +for it does not dull a carving-knife to cut upon pewter +as it does upon porcelain or crockery, and old farmers +cling stubbornly to usages and articles that they are acquainted +with; and no “boiled dinner” ever could +taste quite the same to them unless all heaped together +on a great shining pewter platter.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_50'>50</span>Another pewter piece often found, and often still used, +is the hot-water jug with its wicker-covered handle. +This was brought every night, in colonial and Revolutionary +times, well filled with boiling water, to the master +of the house, for him to mix the hot apple-toddy or sangaree +for the members of his household, who drank their +share out of pewter cups or heavy greenish glasses. I +know of two of these pewter jugs which have been in +daily use for certainly forty years (though in the more +temperate vocation of hot-water jugs to carry shaving-water +to the bedrooms), and still retain, sound and +firm, the old wicker coverings on the handles, which +may have been woven upon them a hundred years ago. +Truly, our grandfathers made things for use, not for sale.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Strange hiding-places have these old forsaken and +forgotten pewter dishes. They lurk in tall and narrow +cupboards by the side of old chimneys, or in short and +deep cupboards over the mantel. They lie in disused +fireplaces, hidden from view by gaudy modern fireboards. +They are at the bottom of deep boxes under +wide window-seats, and are shoved under the dusty +eaves of dark attic-lofts. On the highest pantry shelves, +under cellar stairs, in old painted sea-chests, in the +woodhouse, are they found. From the floor of henhouses +have they been rescued, where they have been +long ignominiously trodden under foot by high-stepping +and imperious fowl.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Let us take them from these obscure corners, and preserve +them with care, for though they have no intrinsic +value like silver, no brilliancy like glass, no beauty of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_51'>51</span>color or design like china, they are still worth our interest +and attention, for they were the first table-ware +used by our ancestors. We are a young nation of few +years and few relics, let us then reverently preserve the +old pewter plates and platters, remembering that these +simple dishes of inexpensive metal illustrate the frugal +home-life of the men and women who were the founders +of the Republic.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_52'>52</span> + <h2 class='c005'>III.<br> EARLY USE AND IMPORTATION OF CHINA IN AMERICA</h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c014'>The knowledge and use of porcelain in England did +not long antedate the departure of the Pilgrims +for the New World. As early as 1506, one exceptional +importation of Chinese porcelain bowls is spoken +of; but even in 1567—half a century later—one of +Queen Elizabeth’s valued gifts was a “poringer of white +porselyn and a cup of green porselyn,” and the notice +paid such intrinsically valueless and small articles by +their mention proves their rarity. Great ignorance of +the processes of porcelain manufacture existed; even that +learned, that marvellously well-informed man, Lord Bacon, +wrote of “mines of porcelain,” and had the queer +idea that china was developed in the earth, out of the +common clay, by some strange and mysterious process of +purification. Another universal belief was, that porcelain +was a sovereign detector of poison, that it instantly +showed the presence of poison in any draught that came +in contact with it. Shakespeare speaks once of china, in +his “Measure for Measure,” “a dish of some three-pence, +your honors have seen such dishes, they are not china +dishes, but very good dishes.” Ben Jonson refers more +frequently to porcelain.</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_53'>53</span>“<cite>Broker.</cite>                     ’Tis but earth</div> + <div class='line in14'>Fit to make bricks and tiles of.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><cite>Shunfield.</cite>  ’Tis but for pots or pipkins at the best</div> + <div class='line in10'>If it would keep us in good tobacco pipes—</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><cite>Titus.</cite>      Or in porc’lane dishes.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>Again he says:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“The earth of my bottles which I dig</div> + <div class='line'>Turn up and steep, and work, and neal, myself,</div> + <div class='line'>To a degree of porc’lane.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>By the time of Pope and Dryden, china had become +more widely known in England, and these writers and +their contemporaries frequently refer to it. It is not +probable that much china came to England until 1650, +when the English East India Trading Company was +established, though the Dutch had even then a large +trade with China. Doubtless tea and china became +plentiful in Europe together.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Addison wrote in 1713, “China vessels are playthings +for women of all ages.... I myself remember +when there were few china vessels to be seen that held +more than a dish of tea; but their size is so greatly enlarged +that there are many capable of holding half a +hogshead.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>It is asserted that pieces of Delft ware were brought to +America by the first English and Dutch settlers. It +had been manufactured since the fifteenth century; but +when our Pilgrim Fathers made their night-trip through +Delft, no plebeian persons had Delft ware on their tables; +hence the Pilgrims could have brought few pieces to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_54'>54</span>New England on the Mayflower. Nor is it probable +that those frugal souls owned any India china. The +earliest Dutch settlers of New Netherlands were not +likely either to have brought to the new land any pieces +of the aristocratic Delft ware, though I have seen many +Delft plates and teapots that bore the reputation of +such ownership.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Blew & white ware” is however not an infrequent +item on early inventories of the last half of the century. +John Betts, of Cambridge, Mass., had before his death, +in 1662, “Som duth earthen platters & Som other +Earthen ware,” valued at 6s. 8d. A citizen of Salem +had in 1664 “17 pieces of blew & white earthen ware” +worth 8s. 6d. John Cross, of Ipswich, left behind him in +1650 his “Holland jugs.” All these were doubtless +Delft or the early imitations of Delft.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The oldest and most authentic piece of stone-ware in +the country is the fine jug preserved in the collection +of the American Antiquarian Society, at Worcester. It +was the property of Governor Winthrop, who died in +1649, and was given to the Society by a descendant, +Adam Winthrop. It stands eight inches in height +and is apparently of German Gres-ware, and is richly +mounted in silver. The lid is engraved with a quaint +design of Adam and Eve with the tempting serpent +in the apple-tree. Estienne Perlin, writing in Paris in +1558, says, “The English drink beer not out of glass +but from earthen pots, the cover and handles being +made of silver for the rich. The middle classes mount +them with tin.” Another writer, in 1579, spoke of the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_55'>55</span>English custom of drinking from “pots of earth of sundry +colors and moulds, whereof many are garnished with +silver or at leastwise with pewter.” Such is this “beer +mug” or tankard of +Governor Winthrop’s, +which is certainly +three hundred +years old. Other +Massachusetts colonists +had similar beer-mugs. +Jacob Leager, +of Boston, left in 1662 +a “stone judg tipt +with silver;” Henry +Dunster had a “tipt +jugg” in 1655; and +Thomas Rix had in +1678 “3 fflanders +jugs.”</p> + +<div class='figright id004'> +<img src='images/i_071.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Winthrop Jug.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>Lisbon ware, which +was earthen ware, was +left by will in Massachusetts +in 1650; and +Spanish platters and +painted platters are mentioned in an inventory in 1656. +Peter Bulkeley, of Concord, Mass., had in 1659 “ten +paynted earthen dishes” valued at ten shillings. In the +lists and inventories of the town of Stamford, from 1650 +to 1676, only two shillings worth of earthen ware is entered, +and Stamford planters were far from poor. In +<span class='pageno' id='Page_56'>56</span>the <cite>Boston News Letter</cite> of February 9, 1712, six hogsheads +of earthen ware, including teapots, were advertised +for sale. These early teapots are said to have been of +black earthen ware.</p> + +<p class='c011'>One of the earliest mentions of china in America is +in the inventory made in 1641, of the property of +Thomas Knocker, of Boston, “1 Chaynie Dish.” In 1648, +in the estate of President Davenport, of Harvard College, +was, “Cheyney, £4.” This was doubtless India china. +Governor Theophilus Eaton had a “cheny basen.” In +the list made in 1647, of the possessions of Martha Coteymore, +a rich widow (who afterward married Governor +Winthrop), is seen this item, “One parcel cheyney +plates and saucers, £1.” Katherine Coteymore had “3 +boxes East India dishes,” valued at £3. As early as +October, 1699, John Higginson wrote to his brother with +regard to importations from India, that “china and +lacker-ware will sell if in small quantity,” and without +doubt some small importations from India were +made.</p> + +<p class='c011'>After the first decade of the century many rich Bostonians, +such as Elizur Holyoke, had china. Isaac Caillowell’s +estate in 1718 contained “Five China Dishes, One +Doz. China Plates, Two China Muggs, a China Teapott, +Two China Slopp Basons, Six China Saucers, Four +China Cupps, and One China Spoon Dish.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The earliest mention of the sale of china table-ware +which I have seen is not in 1732, as given by Mr. Felt +in his “New England Customs.” There are several +notices of sales of china of earlier dates. In the <cite>New +<span class='pageno' id='Page_57'>57</span>England Weekly Journal</cite> of April 15th of the year 1728, +were advertised for sale, at the Sun Tavern in Boston, +“Chainey Bowles Dishes Cups Saucers and Teapots;” +and “china cups & saucers” on June 17th. This “chainey” +was probably all India china. In 1729, William +Welsteed, a Boston merchant, had a large number of +plates and “pickle caucers” for sale. In 1731, Andrew +Faneuil announced that he had for sale at his warehouse +“All sorts of Dutch Stone and Delf ware just imported +from Holland.” In 1730 John Buining and Mrs. Hannah +Wilson both advertised in the <cite>Boston News Letter</cite>, +that they had “several sorts of china for sale;” and another +Boston shopkeeper announced at the same time +that he was going to sell out everything he owned, including +china ware, and that his fellow-townsmen had +better flock to his shop, for “buyers have reason to Expect +good Bargains for this will be the Packing Penny,” +which I suppose was the colonial slang expression for +“bottom price.” At a later date the “Packing Penny” +became “to buy the pennyworth.” It was not till 1737 +that china ware was sold by “Publick Vandoo or Outcry,” +or by “Inch of Candle,” in Boston, thus showing +that it was being imported in larger quantities. In September +of that year there was sold on Scarlett’s Wharf, +with spices and silks and negro slaves,</p> + +<p class='c015'>“A Rich Sortment of China Ware. A Parcel of fine large +Enamel’d Dishes. Ditto of divers Sizes of Bowles burnt & +Enamel’d. Ditto of all Sorts of Plates. Sundry Complete Setts +of Furniture for the Tea-Table. Blue & White Bowles; Blue +& White Cups & Sawcers. Several sorts of small Baskets, &c.”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_58'>58</span>By this time Boston milliners and mantua makers, and +fan mounters, and lace menders, had all begun to announce +the sale of “chayney” in their show-rooms and +shops. Fair Boston dames picked their way along the +narrow streets, or were carried in stately sedan chairs, to +“Mistress Alise Quick’s, over against the Old Brick Meeting +House on Cornhill, at the sign of the Three Kings,” +or to “Widow Mehetable Kneeland’s,” to see her “London +baby drest in the latest fashioned Hooped Coat +and lac’d Petty Coat with ppetuna hood;” or to “Mrs. +Hannah Teatts, Mantua Maker, at the head of Summer +Street, Boston,” who charged five shillings for showing +her “Baby drest after the Newest Fashion of Mantues +and Night Gowns and everything belonging to a Dress, +latilly brought over on Captain White’s ship from London”—these +bedizened doll-babies being the quaint colonial +substitutes for fashion plates. These modish New-English +dames first pulled over and tried on the “rayls +and roquilos and cardinals,” and admired the ivory and +cocoa paddle stick-fans; and peeped at their own patched +faces and powdered hair in the lacquered looking-glasses; +and then, perhaps, selected some flower seeds for their +prim little gardens—their pleasaunces, “blew and yellow +lewpin, double larkin-spur, sweet feabus, Love lies bleeding, +Queen Margrets, Brompton flock, and sweet-scented +pease;” and then they turned, unwearied and unsated, +to the “Choise Sortment of Delph, Stone, Glassware, +and China, viz., Bowles of Divers Sizes, Plates of all +Sorts, and Dishes, Teapots, Cups & Saucers, Strayners, +Mugs of Divers Sorts and Colors, Creampots pearl’d & +<span class='pageno' id='Page_59'>59</span>plain, Bird Fountains, Tankards,” and they held up the +tiny china teacups to the light and examined the painting, +and perhaps sipped a little of the mantua maker’s +Orange Pekoe or Bohea. And I doubt not many a china +teapot or teacup stood cheek by jowl with quoyfs and +ciffers on colonial milliners’ bills, and many a feathered +“Kitty Fisher Bonnet,” or silver shape, or peaked Ranelagh +cap was sent home to the daughters of the Puritans, +packed with “catgut,” and “robins,” and “none-so-prettys,” +in an India china punch-bowl.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Of the prices paid for these colonial ceramic luxuries +we know but little. The enterprising outcrier, who cried +out and vandooed at the “Blew Boar, at the South End +of Boston,” announced in February, 1749, in the <cite>Boston +Independent Advertiser</cite>, that he had “Fine blue & white +and Quilted China Plates at Eleven Pounds the Dozen, +or Six Pounds the Half Dozen.” So the shades of our +ancestors can hardly cry out to us for extravagance. +These quilted china plates were, I think, from subsequent +references to them, plates impressed in the paste +with a basket design, as we often see now on Chinese +porcelain; or possibly with a larger, a truly quilted design, +such as I have seen on rare old Oriental porcelain. +In the inventory of the estate of John Jekyll, of Boston +(made in 1732), we learn that “2 Burnt China Bowls +were worth £2, 6 Chocolate Bowls £2, 1 Pr China +Candlesticks Tipt with Silver £4, 12 Coffe cups with +handles £1 7s.” In many inventories such a number of +pieces are “crackt” or “mendid,” and so little hint of +quality or decoration is given, that it is impossible to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_60'>60</span>compare justly the values assigned with those of the +present day. John Jekyll also had a “sett of burnt +china.” The first mentioned sale of a “set” of china is +in the <cite>New England Weekly Journal</cite> of April 19, 1737—“A +Fine Double Sett of Burnt China for sale, Enquire +of the Printer.” Until then the precious porcelain had +been sold only in single pieces, or in small numbers. +The wills and inventories of the times speak of no sets +of china, though the lists of the possessions of all persons +of wealth, the advertisements of sales of estates, +contain many items of china ware. Governor Burnet, +who died in 1729, owned much china—three hundred +pieces—as became a man who had £1,100 spent on his +funeral; and his friend and neighbor, Peter Faneuil, had +a bountiful supply of china and glass, as he had of other +luxuries.</p> + +<p class='c011'>There are far more frequent mentions and advertisements +of china in old New England newspapers than in +other American papers of the same years. The southern +publications of colonial times that I have seen contained +no announcements of the sale of china. None +appeared bearing date until after the Revolutionary War. +And it is plain, from the evidence of inventories, “enroulments,” +wills, and newspapers of the eighteenth century, +that porcelain was far more plentiful in New England +than elsewhere in America at the same date. Mr. +Prime says, “Few of the people of Revolutionary times +had seen porcelain;” but when it had been advertised +in every New England newspaper; had been sold in +grocers’, milliners’, chemists’, dry-goods, saddlers’, and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_61'>61</span>hardware shops; had been displayed at the printers’ and +book-shops and writing-schools in every town of any size +throughout New England; and sold in considerable quantities +by all the little Boston shopkeepers—the Amorys, +Waldos, Brimmers, Adamses, Sheaffes, and Boylstons, +I fancy all New England good wives must have owned +a few pretty pieces.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Doubtless the wealthiest Virginians of colonial times +also had some china. It is not, however, named in Baltimore +inventories until after the year 1700. Nor was it +plentiful in New York; one of the earliest mentions of +china in New York is in the list of the possessions of +wealthy Cornelius Stienwerck, “Ten pieces of china +dishes or porcelain £4.” In August, 1748, the <cite>New +York Weekly Journal</cite> contained its first announcement +of the sale of china—“A choice parcel of China Ware +just imported to be sold at Wholesale. Enquire of the +Printer.” Now, the “Printer” at that date was a woman, +the Widow Zenger, wife of the former owner of the +newspaper, and with her assumption of the printing and +editing business came various feminine advertisements +such as this of china ware, others of mantuas and hair-powder, +and of “bonnet-papers,” which she cut and +made and sold in large numbers; but this china sale was +certainly exceptional in New York at that date.</p> + +<p class='c011'>China did not abound in New York, either in Dutch or +English families, until after the Revolutionary War. Nor +did advertisements of it frequently appear in ante-Revolutionary +New York newspapers. In an inventory made +at that time of the contents of a house on the Neutral +<span class='pageno' id='Page_62'>62</span>Ground in Westchester County, there were such wealth-evincing +items as twenty-six horses, thirty-six table-cloths, +rich and abundant furniture, bed-linen, and clothing, large +quantities of fine silver; and of pewter, “1 Coffee Kettle, +1 Teapot, 27 Dishes, 12 Plates, 12 Soup-Plates, 6 Butter +Plates, 3 Mugs, 2 salons, 5 basons, 6 Spoons, 3 Measures;” +and not one piece of china. This list of household +belongings is not exceptional. China is seldom +mentioned. But few pieces of porcelain or pottery are +named in the inventories of the possessions of the New +Jersey farmers whose houses were burned, and whose +household goods were either destroyed or stolen by the +soldiers in the Revolutionary War, and who expected to +receive indemnity from the Government for their losses. +We discover therein that each family seldom owned +more than three or four china cups and saucers. These +records are extremely valuable for reference, as they are +true and faithful lists of the entire household belongings +of well-to-do people at that time; they indicate that +china was far from plentiful in New Jersey at that date. +Watson says in his “Annals,” “When china was first introduced +into America, it was in the form of tea-sets; it +was quite a business to take in broken china to mend. It +was done by cement in most cases, but generally large +pieces, like punch-bowls, were done with silver rivets or +wire.” An advertisement in the <cite>Boston Evening Post</cite> in +1755 reads: “This is to give Notice to all Them that have +any Broken China, at the Lion and Bell on Marlboro +Street, Boston, they may have it mended by Riveting it +together with a Silver & Brass Rivets it is first put together +<span class='pageno' id='Page_63'>63</span>with a Cement that will stand boiling Water and +then Riveted.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>China appears to have been more plentiful in Philadelphia +than in New York. Benjamin Lay, the “Singular +Pythagorean Cynical Christian Philosopher,” to show his +hatred of the use of tea, brought in 1742 all his wife’s +china into the market-place at Philadelphia, and began +to break it piece by piece with a hammer; “but the populace, +unwilling to lose what might profit them, overset +him, scrambled for the china, and bore it off whole.” +As the “Singular Pythagorean Philosopher’s” wife was +dead, this wanton destruction of her dear china was not +so cruel as at first appears. An old lady wrote in 1830, +about things as they were before the War of Independence—“Pewter +plates and dishes were in general +use. China on dinner tables was a great rarity. Glass +tumblers were scarcely seen. Punch, the most common +beverage, was drunk from a silver tankard. China teacups +and saucers were half their present size, and china +teapots and coffee-pots with silver nozzles were a mark +of superior finery. Where we now use earthen ware they +then used Delft ware imported from England, and instead +of queen’s ware (then unknown) pewter platters +and porringers made to shine along a dresser were universal. +Some, especially country people, ate their meals +from wooden trenchers.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>That frugal and plain-living man, Benjamin Franklin, +though he constantly impressed upon his wife, as well as +upon the public, the wisdom and necessity of great +economy, and the propriety and good taste of simplicity +<span class='pageno' id='Page_64'>64</span>in all modes of living, still could find time and money to +pick out for her, when he was in England, and to send to +her many a piece of china for her beaufet in Philadelphia. +He writes thus from London, in February, 1758, +to his Deborah: “I send you by Captain Budden a large +case and a small box containing some English china, viz: +melons and leaves for a dessert of fruit and cream or the +like; a bowl remarkable for the neatness of the figures, +made at Bow, near this city; some coffee-cups of the +same; and a Worcester bowl, ordinary. To show the +difference of workmanship, there is something from all +the china workers in England; and one old true china +basin mended; of an odd color.... I also forgot +among the china to mention a large, fine jug for beer, to +stand in the cooler. I fell in love with it at first sight, +for I thought it looked like a fat, jolly dame, clean and +tidy, with a neat blue and white gown on, good-natured +and lovely, and put me in mind of—somebody. +Look at the figures on the china bowl and coffee-cups +with your spectacles on, they will bear examining.” +This was certainly a very tender attention on the part +of Franklin, and one particularly grateful, doubtless, to +his good dame, if she loved china as do others of her +sex. In 1765 she wrote to her “dear child” (of over +three score years) while he was in France, and thus describes +a room that she had been furnishing: “The blue +room has a set of tea china I bought since you went from +home, a very handsome mahogany stand for the teakettle +to stand on, and the ornamental china.” This latter +clause refers doubtless to the fine English pieces which +<span class='pageno' id='Page_65'>65</span>he had sent her eight years previously. In spite of all +this fine array, Mrs. Bache wrote thus to her father, on +October 30, 1773: “We have no plates or dishes fit +to set before your friends, and the queen’s ware is +thought very elegant here, particularly the spriged. I +just mention this, as it would be much cheaper for you +to bring them than to get them here.” Let us hope her +father took this broad hint and brought the “spriged” +dishes to his daughter; and as there still exist among +her descendants, pieces of +a set of china bearing little +sprigs, I choose to +think that they are parts +of this very set.</p> + +<div class='figright id004'> +<img src='images/i_081.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Province House Pitcher.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>A very interesting pitcher +of English ware of yellowish +paste, with a raised +design of vine leaves in +vari-colored lustres, is +known to us by the name of the Province House Pitcher, +because it was found, with two tall pewter drinking-cups, +hidden behind a panel in the wainscoting of the historic +old Province House in Boston. I fear it is not old +enough to have been held by the fair hands of gentle +Agnes Surriage, but I doubt not some romance attended +its imprisonment.</p> + +<p class='c011'>By Revolutionary times a change appeared in the +character and quality of the china that was imported to +America. In the <cite>Connecticut Courant</cite> of September, +1773, we read in the advertisement of the “Staffordshire +<span class='pageno' id='Page_66'>66</span>and Liverpool Warehouse,” on King Street, Boston, that +they have “for little more than sterling cost, a fine sortment +of Crockery Ware, consisting of almost every kind +of China, Glass & Delph: Cream color, white, blue & +white, black, brown, agot, tortoise, melon, pineapple fruit +pattern, enaml’d, and many other kinds of Stoneware. +A few complete table services of very elegant printed and +painted and guilt ware;” and at a later date “Cream +Color Pyramids, Candlesticks, Inkstands, & Chamber +Lamps.” The advertisements of this importing house are +found in the files of New England papers for many years. +Every notice of “English goods” arrived from England +for Jolley Allen, for Hopestill Capen, for Cotton +Barrell, three thrifty Boston shopkeepers, contained items +of English and of India china. “Large & Neat Sortment +of India China Dishes of Various forms & sizes, +viz: Pudding, Soup, Mackrel, round, oval, Octagon, +ribb’d, scallop’d. Also a variety of table & Butter Plates; +Patty Pans, Bowls & Sauceboats.” Even in war times +there still was china in many shops outside of poor besieged, +war-swept Boston, though often only “a few crates +well Sortid considering the Scarsity.” By 1778 china +began to pour into other ports than Boston. In New +Haven were sold in August of that year (and strange to +tell, were advertised to be sold at the very highest price) +“Oval Dishes of Several Different Sizes, small Cream +coloured Plates, Punchbowles, cream colour’d Teapots, +Red ditto, Blue ditto, Colliflower ditto, Cream colour’d +coffee-cups & sausers, Tortoise-shell bowles, enamel’d flat +bottom cups.” The cream-colored wares of Wedgwood +<span class='pageno' id='Page_67'>67</span>and of Liverpool make, were evidently just beginning to +be fashionable, though the latter had been named in +the <cite>Boston Gazette</cite> as early as 1749. In 1780 we first +see the advertisement of Queen’s ware in the <cite>Providence +Gazette</cite>, the <cite>Connecticut Courant</cite>, the Boston newspapers. +In October, 1783, “An Assortment of Yellow +ware such as cups, saucers, mugs,” was advertised in the +<cite>Providence Gazette</cite>, and again “Yellow ware both flat +and hollow,” meaning plates and pitchers. Yellow ware +was Liverpool ware, and is still so called by country people +on the sea-coast. In 1783 there came into Baltimore, +on the ship Brothers, from Liverpool, “Queen’s ware & +Liverpool ware,” and on the ship Yungfrau Magretha, +from Copenhagen, more Queen’s ware; and on the ship +Pacifique, from France, “boxes and barrels of china +ware;” and on the ship Candidus, from Amsterdam, +“Delph ware”—and these vessels with their cargoes were +all advertised at the same date, bewildering Baltimore +housewives with the array of “richness.” Then came +announcements of “burnt china”—as if it were not all +burnt! In May, 1785, “Beautiful Pencil Chinney Tile,” +and then frequent announcements of “Pencil China,” +“Pencil ware,” “Pensil’d Yellow ware,” all of which were +one and the same—Liverpool ware printed with engraved +designs. “Enameled ware” doubtless meant glazed ware, +and was so called to distinguish it from the unglazed +wares of Wedgwood. The “Amiled Milk Pots” in the +<cite>Boston Evening Post</cite> of 1749 were doubtless also enamelled. +In 1784 and 1785, in all American newspapers of +note appeared announcements of sales of Nottingham +<span class='pageno' id='Page_68'>68</span>ware, a favorite importation before the war. Soon, with +the growth of ship-building and Oriental trade, came the +vast influx of Oriental porcelain direct from China, and +advertisements of Canton china crowded the columns +of every American newspaper.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It is interesting to note the various shapes of china and +the names of the pieces that were imported in colonial +and Revolutionary times, as well as the variety of wares. +In the <cite>Boston News Letter</cite> of 1742 I find “china boats +for spoons.” In the <cite>Boston Evening Post</cite> in 1749, “china +mugs, pitchers, and Turk caps,” which latter mysterious +articles were, I am sure, china also. What are “Mint +Stands in delph,” or rather what were they in 1751? In +1753 they had “custard-dishes” for sale; and did they +have “terines” or “terreens” before 1760? I do not find +them named at an earlier date. A year later came “sallade +bowls” and the first “china handle coffee-cups,” +though John Jekyll had had handles on his cups in 1732. +Not until 1772 do I find “Enamel’d Tea cups & Saucers, +with handles to the cups.” In 1763 china patch-boxes +and china sweetmeat boxes came to New England. +China stoves were advertised, but I think they were rare. +“China tumblers, with covers,” seem strange to us. +What were the “yellow klinckers and Red glaz’d pantils” +advertised in the <cite>South Carolina State Gazette</cite> in 1787? +China “sweetmeat and pickle saucers” came in 1773, and +“half pint blue & white enameled Basons with Sawsers.” +China milk-jugs, milk-pots, milk-cups, milk-ewers, and +creamers, all antedated the milk-pitcher. We had sugar-boxes, +sugar-basons, sugar-pots, and sugar-dishes before +<span class='pageno' id='Page_69'>69</span>we had sugar-bowls. “Twifflers” were of porcelain also—pudding-dishes +we call them now.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“China voiders” also are advertised for sale. These +colonial ceramic articles of nomenclature most unpleasing +in sound to modern ears, were really only an ancient type +of what are known to dealers nowadays as “crumb-trays.” +Into a voider fragments of food remaining on the table—bones +and the like—were gathered after a meal by a voiding-knife. +Pewter voiders abounded, and “china baskets +and voiders” appear in newspaper lists in 1740.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Doubtless many of these voiders and Turk caps, +twifflers, and mint stands have descended to us, but are +known now by the uniform and uninteresting name of +dishes.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_70'>70</span> + <h2 class='c005'>IV.<br> EARLY FICTILE ART IN AMERICA</h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c014'>In all our wanderings and searchings we have never +found any specimens of old American china, for one +author says that, like the snakes in Iceland, there +are none. The history of the early manufacture of porcelain +in this country is so meagre that it is quickly +written, and records of early pottery works are not plentiful, +and specimens are comparatively unobtainable, and +frequently far from beautiful or instructive. Still I believe +that America deserves a fuller ceramic history, and +has had a larger manufacture of pottery and porcelain +than is generally known.</p> + +<p class='c011'>One class of pottery relics should not be neglected by +collectors—those of the North American Indians. When +our Pilgrim Fathers landed on the bleak shores of New +England they found the red man using rough bowls and +pans of coarse earthen ware as cooking utensils. Gookin +wrote of them thus: “The pots they seethe their food +in are made of clay and earth almost in the form of an +egg with the top broken off.” Bradford wrote that the +colonists also found great pottery vessels buried in the +earth, containing stores of maize. Perfect specimens of +the work of New England savages are rare, and are usually +<span class='pageno' id='Page_71'>71</span>in a simple bowl shape. In the fragments found in +the Connecticut Valley mica is mingled with the clay, as +in the old Celtic wares of Ireland. Wherever the white +man landed, to whatever spot he penetrated, he found +Indians, and he also found the Indians using coarse pottery +vessels, “akeeks,” of their own manufacture. The +early accounts of the country—Spanish, Portuguese, +French, and English—all tell of the use and manufacture +of pottery among the Indians. In the “Brevis Narratio” +of Le Moyne de Morgues, written in the sixteenth +century, we are given illustrations purporting to be of +some forms of pottery used by the Florida Indians at +that time. Father Hennepin, writing about 1680, asserts +that before the arrival of Europeans in North America, +“both the Northern and Southern Salvages made use +of, and do to this day use, Earthen Pots, especially such +as have no Commerce with the Europeans from whom +they may procure Kettels and other Moveables.” It is +the fashion among antiquaries to place no confidence in +Father Hennepin, but I think we may believe this statement +of his, since we have so much additional evidence, +both through past writers and present discoveries.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In Hariot’s “Virginia,” of the date 1590, we learn +that the Virginian Indians “cooked their meate in +earthen pottes. Thier women know how to make +earthen vessels with special Cunninge, and that so large +and fine that our potters with thoye wheles can make no +better; and they Remoue them from place to place as +easeleye as we can doe our brassen kettles.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The Cherokee Indians, having fine clays of various +<span class='pageno' id='Page_72'>72</span>colors to work with, made a good class of pottery, far +better than any made by northern Indians, some of the +vessels being of large size. Lieutenant Timberlake, who +visited them in 1765, says he saw one at a “physic-dance” +that would hold twenty gallons. Adair, writing in 1775, +says that they made “earthen pots of very different +sizes, so as to contain from two to ten gallons, large +pitchers to carry water, bowls, platters, dishes, basons, +and a prodigious number of other vessels of such antiquated +forms as would be tedious to describe and impossible +to name. Their method of glazing them is, they +place them over a large pit of smoky pitch pine which +makes them smooth, black, and firm. Their lands +abound with proper clay and even with porcelain, as has +been proved by experiment.” A description of the vessels +of “antiquated forms” would, of course, have made +his account of far more use and interest to us nowadays. +William Bartram, that intelligent observer, writing +in 1773, confirms the accounts of other travellers +among the Indians in South Carolina and Georgia, and +tells of the discovery of a very interesting earthen +pot found in an Indian mound on Colonel’s Island, in +Liberty County, Ga. He says “it was wrought all +over the outside representing basket-work, and was undoubtedly +esteemed a very ingenious performance by +the people at the age of its construction.” This burial +urn (for such the pot proved to be) was indeed a very +good piece of work for an Indian potter, and is still preserved. +It is about fifteen inches in height and ten in +its greatest diameter, of graceful outline, and is covered +<span class='pageno' id='Page_73'>73</span>with an impressed design of fine basket-work. It was +made with an admixture of gravel and powdered shell, +which rendered it strong enough to resist the disintegrating +influences of the soil by which it was surrounded. It +was enclosed in two outer vessels of ruder workmanship, +which crumbled into fragments upon exposure to the air. +Within the inner vessel were the bones of a young child. +Too young to own any earthly possessions to be buried +with him, this little Indian baby was interred in the tumulus +of shell and clay, in his earthen coffin alone.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In the burial mounds of grown persons vast amounts +of broken vessels and ashes of other burnt property +are discovered. All peoples have at some period of +their history had the custom of burying articles of use +or value with their dead, or of burning these possessions +at the time of the burial of the dead owner. To +this custom, which existed among the North American +Indians, we owe the preservation of nearly all the specimens +of their poorly baked, fragile cooking utensils and +burial urns that we now possess. Many filled with food +and drink were whole when placed in the mound, but +were quickly destroyed and crushed by the sinking +earth, or disintegrated by the moisture. Many also remain, +and sherds of Indian pottery are constantly being +brought to light by our civilized ploughshares. It has +been erroneously thought by some students that Indian +pottery was only sun-dried; had it been so, no specimens +would have withstood for so many years the action of +the soil and elements, but would have returned ere this +to their old clayey consistency.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_74'>74</span>In examining this Indian pottery it is easy to see +the natural way in which the earliest forms were developed. +The gourd, the shell, the basket, the square +box of bark—all these primitive shapes of vessels were +copied in the pottery. The ornamentation, too, was +compassed in a simple fashion; the vessel was sometimes +modelled within a rush basket or frame of reeds—thus +the impressed design remained upon it. Rude dyes +were applied. One indented design is said to have been +formed by the finger-nail of the Indian potter; other +designs have been impressed by twisted thongs. All +these methods and forms of ornamentation were also +used by the Celtic potters. Little pieces of mica or shell +were inserted in the wet clay pot, and were fired in as a +further ornament.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The earthen vessel was either baked in a rude kiln or +inverted over coals of burning wood. We have several +very good descriptions of the methods of manufacturing +and firing of Indian potters at a later date. Dumont +writes in 1848, of the Louisiana Indians: “After having +amassed the proper kind of clay and carefully cleaned it, +the Indian women take shells which they pound and +reduce to a fine powder; they mix this powder with the +clay, and having poured some water on the mass, they +knead it with their hands and feet and make it into a +paste of which they form rolls six or seven feet long, and +of a thickness suitable to their purpose. If they intend +to fashion a plate or a vase, they take hold of one of +these rolls by the end, and fixing here with the thumb +of the left hand the centre of the vessel they are about +<span class='pageno' id='Page_75'>75</span>to make, they turn the roll with astonishing quickness +around this centre, describing a spiral line; now and +then they dip their fingers into water and smooth with +the right hand the inner and outer surface of the vase +they intend to fashion, which would become ruffled or +undulated without that manipulation. In this manner +they make all sorts of earthen vessels, plates, dishes, +bowls, pots, and jars, some of which hold from forty to +fifty pints.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>This is a prettier and more domestic picture of the +Indian wife than many we have of the draggled, overworked +squaw digging in the fields, or carrying the tent-poles +on her back like a pack-horse. The whirling coil +of clay, the growing earthen jar, the deftly-shaping +hand, are certainly picturesque and homely. The Indian +women were potters in all the tribes, it being deemed +unmanly work for a lordly brave.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The Indians of the Mohawk Valley, the Iroquois, +made much and varied pottery. In the fine collection +of Indian relics owned by A. G. Richmond, Esq., of +Canajoharie, N. Y., are some very interesting pieces of +pottery which have been taken from Indian mounds—among +them two jars of so delicate and friable a character +that one wonders how they have ever escaped disintegration +and destruction; also a rare fragment wrought +with a representation of the human figure.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Another form of Indian pottery must not be forgotten, +for the significance of the pipe in the early history of our +country cannot be over-rated. The calumet was a moral, +religious, and political influence; on its manufacture and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_76'>76</span>ornamentation the Indian expended all his skill and his +best labor; and to its suited and significant use he gave +his deepest thought. The use of the pipe was a devotional +service—the Great Spirit smoked His pipe, and his followers +did likewise in His honor; it was a political signal—no +war was declared, no treaty of peace was signed +without the accompaniment and symbolical use of the +pipe. Lieutenant Timberlake says that the Cherokees +made pipes “of the same earth they made their pots with, +but beautifully diversified,” and he pathetically records +that he was forced to smoke so many pipes of peace with +them that he was made very unpleasantly sick thereby. +This special tribe of Indians had such fine blue clay, and +knew so well how to mix and prepare it, that they made +better pipes than their neighbors, and thus pipes became +a medium of exchange—Indian money. The strong clay +pipes of the English settlers were, as soon as imported, +eagerly sought for and quickly purchased by the Indians.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Fine and varied specimens of the pottery vessels and +pipes of the various Indian nations may be found in the +cabinets of the Smithsonian Institution, in the rooms of +the various State historical societies, in the buildings of +our colleges and natural history associations, and may be +studied to advantage by the student of ceramics. A full +or worthy history of the fictile art of the North American +Indians has yet to be written.</p> + +<p class='c011'>I doubt if the colonists ever used the Indian pottery, +for at an early date they began to manufacture bricks and +earthen ware, and having wheels to help them in shaping +their pots, could far outdo the Indians. They made +<span class='pageno' id='Page_77'>77</span>laws to protect such manufacture. The General Court +of Massachusetts ordered, as early as 1646, that “tyle +earth to make sale ware shall be digged before the first +of 9 mo and turned over in the last or first before it be +wrought.” John Pride, of Salem, was registered as a +potter in 1641. He may have helped to establish a +pottery in Danvers, then a suburb of Salem, for the +manufacture of earthen ware in that town was coeval +with the existence of the settlement; and the Danvers +pot-works were, I believe, the first to be established in +America by any of the colonies. Higginson, writing +from Salem in 1629, said, “It is thought here is good +clay to make bricks & tyles and earthen pot as may +be. At this instant we are setting a bricke kill to worke +to make brickes and tyles for the building of our houses.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>William Osborne was the first Danvers potter, and his +descendants carried on the business in that immediate +vicinity for about two centuries. Mr. Joseph Reed then +took charge as the successor of the house of Osborne. +At the end of the eighteenth century the production of +“Danvers ware” was extensive. Morse’s <cite>Gazetteer</cite> of +1797 says, “Large quantities of brick and coarse earthen +ware are manufactured here.” A resident of the town +wrote thus in 1848, “Table-ware of Danvers China +brought a high price during the late war.” To call the +common red pottery “china” is certainly flattering, but +may be pardoned on account of the local pride of the +writer.</p> + +<p class='c011'>At the “time of the late war”—the war of 1812—there +were no less than twenty-six of these pottery +<span class='pageno' id='Page_78'>78</span>works where now there is only one. The situation of +the residence and pot-works of William Osborne is still +known, and the manufacture of earthen ware has gone +on in the same place without interruption ever since. +Simple forms only have been made—often lead-glazed—bean-pots, +jugs, pitchers, milk-pans, jars, etc. We must +except, of course, the table-ware of war times. This +Osborne kiln is situated in what is called Peabody, but +in the town of North Danvers there was discovered +a few years ago the foundation of an old forgotten kiln, +which had been owned by a potter named Porter. +There is no finer quality of clay than is still found in +large quantities within a quarter of a mile of this old +Porter kiln. This clay is, however, carried to Boston +and elsewhere instead of being manufactured where it is +dug. Potters make good citizens. Staffordshire men say, +“working in earth makes men easy-minded,” and a community +of potters is always orderly, law-abiding, thrifty, +and industrious. A larger and constantly increasing manufacture +of Danvers ware should have been encouraged.</p> + +<p class='c011'>An enthusiastic local minstrel sings thus of Danvers +pottery and patriots:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Here plastic clay the potter turned</div> + <div class='line in2'>To pitcher, dish, jug, pot, or pan,</div> + <div class='line'>As in his kiln the ware was burned,</div> + <div class='line in2'>So burned the patriot in the man,</div> + <div class='line'>Into persistent shape, which no</div> + <div class='line'>Turning could change back to dough.</div> + <div class='line'>It might be broken, ground to dust,</div> + <div class='line'>But ne’er made ductile as at first.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_79'>79</span>The Quakers kept up with the Puritans in the attempt +to establish home manufactures and home industries. +Father Pastorius wrote in 1684, “Of brick kilns and tile +ovens, we have the necessary number.” Gabriel Thomas +found in Pennsylvania, in 1696, both brick kilns and pot-works. +He writes thus to encourage emigration from +England, and to show the high wages in the new land. +“Brick-makers have twenty shillings per thousand for +their bricks at the kilns, and potters have sixteenpence +for an earthenware pot that may be bought in England +for fourpence.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>In New Jersey, at Burlington, Governor Coxe, of +“West Jersey,” established in 1690 a pottery of considerable +size and pretension. The Virginians kept pace +with the Quakers and Puritans. As early as 1649 there +were several pot-works in Virginia.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Potteries were also established on Long Island in the +eighteenth century. On March 31, 1735, “The widow +of Thomas Parmynter offers for sale her farm at Whitestone, +opposite Frogs Point. It has twenty acres of clay +ground fit for making tobacco pipes. For sale also two +negroes, with utensils and other conveniences for carrying +on that business.” On July 3, 1738, the same farm, +with its “beds of pipe-making clay,” was again sold. +On May 13, 1751, this advertisement appeared: “Any +persons desirous may be supplied with vases, urns, flower-pots +to adorn gardens and tops of houses, or any other +ornament made of clay, by Edward Annely at Whitestone, +he having set up the potter’s business by means of +a German family that he bought (?), who are supposed +<span class='pageno' id='Page_80'>80</span>by their work to be the most ingenious that arrived in +America. He has clay capable of making eight different +kinds of ware.” This was evidently quite a pretentious +start in the pottery manufacture, and with the assistance +of the ingenious family of German potters, and the advantages +of convenient beds of clay, Edward Annely +should have succeeded; but no record remains to indicate +either his success or failure.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Upon the old farm of John Lefferts, in Flatbush, Long +Island, there exists a large pond called by the apparently +incongruous name of Steenbakkery. This pond was +formed by the removal of clay for use in a steenbakkery +or pottery upon the place, and from the size of the excavation +vast numbers of bricks and coarse stone-ware +must have been made. The ruins of the racks for the +bricks remained standing within the memory of persons +now living. This pond having, of course, no outlet +through its clay bottom, has in our present age of sanitary +drainage been ordered to be filled in. In New +York City, near “Fresh Water Pond,” back of the City +Hall, a German potter named Remmey established +works, but his descendants were crowded out by the +growing city, and removed to South Amboy.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In 1748 the State of Massachusetts offered bounties to +encourage the manufacture of earthen ware, and many +new pot-works were established. “Mangness” for the +use of potters was offered for sale in the newspapers, and +the would-be purchaser was to inquire of the printer, +who in colonial days seemed literally to have a finger in +every pie. One of the oldest of these colonial potteries +<span class='pageno' id='Page_81'>81</span>was started previous to the year 1765, by a man whose +descendants of the same name still conduct the pottery +works known as the factory of A. H. Hews & Co., in +North Cambridge, Mass. The record of this family +firm is so remarkable for America that it should be told +at some length. Not only has the company continued +in the same business in an uninterrupted line of the +same firm name, but it possesses a record of a century +and a third of unspotted integrity in business dealings. +It has passed through times of foreign and civil wars, +through business crises and depressions, in an even +career of honor and fair-dealing, and now has earned a +deserved and independent position, having the largest +manufactory of flower-pots in the world—making many +millions yearly—as well as a large and varied line of art +pottery. When Abraham Hews was pottering around +in his little pottery in Weston, in 1765, making milk-pans +and bean-pots, and jugs and teapots, and exchanging +them for general merchandise, in which New +England rum and molasses took no inferior part, he +little foresaw the vast business enterprise that would +be carried out by his great-grandson in 1891. The clay +used by him in Weston was brought from Watertown, +and later from Cambridge, and the firm did not move +their works to Cambridge until 1870. Abraham Hews, +second, lived to be eighty-eight years old (being postmaster +for fifty-one years), and his son lived to be +eighty-one years old, dying in 1891—the good old Puritan +stock showing in long life as well as in honest life. +Thus does a chain of only three lives reach to ante-Revolutionary +<span class='pageno' id='Page_82'>82</span>times, and an ante-Revolutionary pottery.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In the <cite>Norwich Gazette</cite> of September 15, 1796, we +find this advertisement of a pottery: “C. Potts & Son +inform the Public that they have lately established a +Manufactory of Earthen ware at the shop formerly improved +by Mr. Charles Lathrop, where all kinds of said +Ware is made and sold either in large or small quantities, +and warranted good.” This pottery was on Bean Hill. +It is referred to in Miss Caulkin’s “History of Norwich,” +Dr. Peters’s “History of Connecticut,” and in Morse’s +<cite>Gazetteer</cite>.</p> + +<p class='c011'>At the commencement of the Revolutionary war a +man named Upton came from Nantucket to East Greenwich, +R. I., and there manufactured earthen ware. +The pottery when made was baked in a kiln which +stood at the corner of King and Marlboro Streets. He +made pans, bowls, plates, cups, and saucers of common +red clay, a little finer than that now used in the manufacture +of flower-pots. As little porcelain was imported +from Europe during the War, people used willingly, +and even eagerly, the coarse plates, and drank their +“Liberty Tea” from the coarse cups and saucers. The +clay came from Goold’s Mount, now owned by Mr. +Henry Waterman, of Quidneset. After the war was +ended Potter Upton went back to his safety-assured +home on Nantucket, and the Greenwich pottery was +closed.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In 1793 there was a flourishing pottery in Quasset, +Windham County, Conn., and the pottery carts of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_83'>83</span>Thomas Bugbee, the proprietor, were well known +throughout the county. He made inkstands, bean-pots, +jugs, jars, and many other common shapes, and the demand +for milk-pans alone always kept his kiln running +all summer. There was at this time another similar +pottery in Stonington, owned by Adam States, who +made gray jugs and pots and jars with salt-glaze. Another +firm at Norwalk manufactured red ware with a +lead glaze. There is a specimen in the Trumbull-Prime +collection. Mr. Prime says they manufactured mugs, +teapots, jars, and milk-pans at this Norwalk pottery. In +1794 a Mr. Fenton, of New Haven, set up in Lynn Street, +Boston, a pottery where “all manner of stone vessels +were made after the manner of imported Liverpool ware +and sold at a lower rate.” The clay for this manufacture +was brought from Perth Amboy, N. J.</p> + +<p class='c011'>An article in the <cite>American Museum</cite> in 1791, on the +existing state of American manufactures, said, “Coarse +tiles and bricks of an excellent quality, potters’ wares, +all in quantities beyond the home consumption, a few +ordinary vessels of stone mixed with clay, some mustard +and snuff bottles, a few flasks or flagons, a small quantity +of sheet glass, and of vessels for family use, generally of +inferior kinds, are now made.” Dr. Dwight, in 1822, gave +among his list of Connecticut factories and manufactures, +“potteries twelve,” “value of earthen and stone-ware +$30,940;” and for Massachusetts, “earthen ware, $18,700.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Though nothing but coarse earthen ware was made in +America in these colonial days, the new land played no +<span class='pageno' id='Page_84'>84</span>unimportant part in the first steps toward porcelain +manufacture in England in the middle of the eighteenth +century. It was the custom, when English vessels had +discharged their freights in southern American ports, for +them to take samples of the alluvial deposits of North +and South Carolina, of Georgia and Florida, to carry +back to England for English potters and chemists to experiment +upon. The Bow china-works began to manufacture +porcelain about the year 1744. In that year a +sample of china-clay being brought from America, a +patent was taken out by Thomas Frye, of West Ham, +Essex, and Edward Heylyn, of Bow, for the production +of porcelain, of which one of the ingredients was “an +earth, the product of the Cherokee nation in America, +called by the natives ‘<i>unaker</i>.’” When this patent was +renewed in 1794, no mention was made of “unaker.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>In Plymouth a shrewd old Quaker, William Cookworthy, +also had his eye upon the American china-clay. +He wrote to Mr. Hingston on May 30, 1745, saying +that kaolin and petuntse had been discovered in America, +and that he had seen specimens said to have been +manufactured from the American materials. One letter +of his on the subject runs thus: “I had lately with me +the person who hath discovered the china-earth. He +had with him several samples of the china ware of their +making which I think were equal to the Asiatic. ’Twas +found on the back of Virginia, where he was in quest of +mines, and having read Du Halde, he discovered both +the petuntse and the kaolin. ’Twas this latter earth +which he says is essential to the success of the manufacture. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_85'>85</span>He is going for a cargo of it, having bought from +the Indians the whole country where it rises. They can +import it for £13 per ton, and by that means afford their +china as cheap as common stone-ware. The man is a +Quaker by profession, but seems to be as thorough a +Deist as I ever met with.” In 1768 Cookworthy established +the Plymouth china-works, but no further mention +is made of the deistical Quaker and his promised +cargo of china-earth.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In 1655 a box of “porcelain-earth from the internal +parts of the Cherokee nation, four hundred miles from +hence (Charleston) on mountains scarcely accessible,” +was consigned to another English potter, Richard Champion, +who founded the Bristol china-works. This box +of clay was sent by Champion’s brother-in-law, Mr. +Caleb Lloyd, of Charleston, to be forwarded to the Worcester +china-works to be used there in experiments. +At the same time another box was sent to Champion +for a relative of his, the Earl of Hyndford, who desired +Champion to open it and make experiments with +it, or to give it to Mr. Goldney, “who is a very curious +gentleman.” The curious Mr. Goldney declined using +the clay, and Champion experimented unsuccessfully +“on the principle of Chinese porcelain,” and then decided +to use clay from Cornwall, which was “not so fine +as the Cherokee; however, there can be no chance of introducing +the latter as a manufacture when it can be so +easily procured from Cornwall.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>In 1766 the English Society for the Encouragement of +Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce gave a gold medal +<span class='pageno' id='Page_86'>86</span>to Mr. Samuel Bowen, with the inscription that it was +given to him “for his useful observations in china and +industrious application of them in Georgia.” It was +doubtless the industrious Mr. Bowen’s china that was referred +to in Felix Farley’s <cite>Bristol Journal</cite>, in the issue +of November 24, 1764. “This week some pieces of porcelain +manufactured in Georgia was imported; the materials +appear to be good, but the workmanship is far +from being admired.” Though this china venture was of +enough importance to be-medal its projector, all traces +of its location, progress, and fate have been lost.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Other and more pretentious pot-works were brought +into life by the Massachusetts bounties. In the <cite>Boston +Evening Post</cite> of October 30, 1769, we read, “Wanted +immediately at the new Factory in New Boston, four +Boys for Apprentices to learn the Art of making Tortoise-shell +Cream and Green Colour Plates, Dishes, Coffee +and Tea Pots, Cups and Saucers and other Articles in +the Potter’s Business, equal to any imported from England. +Any Persons inclined to Bind out such Lads to +the aforesaid Business is desired to apply immediately at +the said Factory or at Leigh’s Intelligence Office.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>It is very evident, from many advertisements at about +this date, that a strenuous and well-directed effort was +made to establish and maintain pot-works in Boston. +Thus on May 12, 1769, there appeared in the <cite>Boston +Evening Post</cite> this notice: “Wanted Samples of different +clays and fine White Sand. Any Person or Persons +that will send about 5 lbs. of Clay and a Pint of fine +white Sand to Leigh’s Intelligence Office, in Merchants’ +<span class='pageno' id='Page_87'>87</span>Row, Boston, if it is the sort wanted the Proprietors +will have advantage of Proposals made to them to supply +a quantity.” Good wages, too, for the times, were +offered to workmen, practised potters. “Twenty Dollars +per Month with Victuals Drink Washing and Lodging +given to any persons Skill’d in Making Glazing and +Burning common Earthen ware who can be well recommended. +Enquire of the Printer.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>All this applying and experimenting and establishing, +and the fact that a Quaker named Bartlam, an unsuccessful +English master-potter, had started a pottery in +Camden, S. C., in the very heart of the clay supply—all +this seriously alarmed that far-seeing and shrewd +business man, Josiah Wedgwood. He had once before +lost his foreman, Mr. Podmore, who left him with the +intention of establishing pot-works in America. Mr. +Chaffers, a Liverpool manufacturer, had caught the intending +emigrant during his pre-embarking stay in Liverpool, +and finding that Podmore showed so much intelligence +and practical knowledge of the business, had made +him sufficiently liberal offers to induce him to remain in +England. English potters had also emigrated in large +numbers.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Wedgwood wrote thus at that time to his patron, Sir +W. Meredith: “Permit me, Sir, to mention a circumstance +of a more public nature, which greatly alarms us +in this neighborhood. The bulk of our particular manufactures +are, you know, exported to foreign markets, for +our home consumption is very trifling in comparison to +what is sent abroad; and the principal of these markets +<span class='pageno' id='Page_88'>88</span>are the Continent and Islands of North America. To +the continent we send an amazing quantity of white +stone-ware and some of the finer kinds, but for the islands +we cannot make anything too rich and costly. +This trade to our colonies we are apprehensive of losing +in a few years, as they set on foot some pot-works there +already, and are at this time amongst us hiring a number +of our hands for establishing new pot-works in South +Carolina, having got one of our insolvent master-potters +there to conduct them. They have every material there, +equal if not superior to our own, for carrying on that +manufacture; and as the necessaries of life and consequently +the prices of labour amongst us are daily advancing, +it is highly probable that more will follow them +and join their brother artists and manufacturers of all +classes who are from all quarters taking a rapid flight indeed +the same way.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Wedgwood did not intend to be left out or left behind +in the “flight” into the benefits and resources of the New +World; Pensacola clay was brought to him in 1766; and +in 1767, from Ayoree (or Hyoree as he spelt it), other +clays were fetched, and the canny potter at once attempted +to secure a patent right to the exclusive use of +them. A man named Griffiths, who had owned in South +Carolina a one-third share in three thousand acres of land, +where he had “attempted the manufacture of maple-sugar +after the manner of the Indians,” now became Wedgwood’s +agent in America, under heavy bonds. Griffiths, +the owner of the ill-situated maple grove and sugar factory, +went to the Cherokee country and sent home clay to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_89'>89</span>Wedgwood to experiment upon. The growing and free +use of the Cornish clays, however, rendered the importation +of American clays as superfluous as it was expensive +and inconvenient; and the interference of the Revolutionary +war destroyed all fear of American competition +in the manufacture of pottery. The vicinity near +Camden, S. C. (where the Bartlam pottery had been +established), was particularly devastated, many fierce +battles being fought around it.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In 1784, Richard Champion, who was always an enthusiastic +lover of America, and who had unsuccessfully +experimented in England with the Cherokee clays, left +Bristol and came to live on a plantation named Rockybranch, +near Camden. Wedgwood must have felt many +apprehensions and fears when Champion took this step, +for he knew well the energy and determination of the +emigrant to America, who had in previous years completely +routed him in a long-contested and bitter lawsuit +over the use of certain English clays in the manufacture +of china. Wedgwood knew, too, Champion’s +ability and capacity as a potter, and without doubt +dreaded lest the man who had done such good work at +Bristol should do more and better still when in the land +of the Cherokee clay, at Camden. His fears (if they existed) +were destined never to be realized, for Champion +became a planter, filled several public offices in the State, +died in 1793, on the seventh anniversary of the day he +left England, and was buried near Camden.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In the year 1770 china-works were in operation in +Philadelphia. They were established by Gousse Bonnin +<span class='pageno' id='Page_90'>90</span>and George Anthony Morris. On December 20, 1769, an +advertisement was printed in a Philadelphia newspaper, +which read thus: “New China Works. Notwithstanding +the various difficulties and disadvantages which usually +attend the introduction of any important manufacture +into a new country, the proprietors of the China +Works now erecting in Southwark have the pleasure to +acquaint the public that they have proved to a certainty +that the clays of America are as productive of good Porcelain +as any heretofore manufactured at the famous +factory in Bow, near London.” Later Messrs. Bonnin +and Morris advertised for “broken flint-glass and whole +flint-stone,” and also for “shank-bones” to be delivered +at the china factory in Southwark. In April, 1772, +they advertised for “several apprentices to the painting +branch,” and encouragement was offered to “china painters +either in blue or enamel,” which latter notice shows +that their china products were decorated. They also +offered a reward for the production of <i>zaffre</i>, a compound +of cobalt.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This china venture failed, the real estate of the company +was sold, and the proprietors returned to England +asking public attention and charity for their poor workmen. +Thus forlornly ended the first porcelain factory +in America; and thus tamely subsided the rivalry between +English and American china materials. When +we consider the vast natural resources in America for +the china-maker to draw from—the inexhaustible supply +of raw materials—the unlimited beds of rich kaolin, the +vast stores of pipe, potter’s, ball, and fire clay—the endless +<span class='pageno' id='Page_91'>91</span>mines of quartz and felspar, the tinted earths of Alabama, +the colored kaolin of Illinois, the mines of lithomarge +in Tennessee—to say nothing of the boundless +wealth of supplies in the far West—it seems to us that +America was very slow—indeed is still very slow in taking +advantage of the hints given by Cookworthy, by +Champion, and by Wedgwood in the eighteenth century.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This quickly-ended china factory of Bonnin and Morris +is the one referred to in the <cite>Edinburgh Weekly Magazine</cite> +of January, 1771, which says: “By a letter from +Philadelphia we are informed that a large china manufactory +is established there, and that better china cups +and saucers are made there than at Bow or Stratford.” +Benjamin Franklin, writing to his wife from London in +January, 1772, after thanking her for the cranberries and +apples and various American home reminders that she +had sent to him, adds, “I thank you for the sauce-boats, +and am pleased to see so good a progress made in the +china manufactory. I wish it success most heartily.” +But writing to an English potter in November, 1773, he +says, “I understand the china-works in Philadelphia is +declined by the first owners; whether any others will +take it up and continue it, I know not.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Mr. Prime, in his book, gives the information that +there were “some undoubted specimens of the work +deposited in the Franklin Institute on exhibition.” I do +not know where those specimens now are. A pair of +vases at the H. L. D. Lewis sale in Philadelphia, in +December, 1890, were catalogued as having been made at +this first porcelain manufactory. There is no existing +<span class='pageno' id='Page_92'>92</span>record of the fact that they were produced there, and no +stamp or mark to prove it, and I do not know why +they were thus assigned. They were purchased by the +Mount Vernon Association for eighteen dollars each, +and can now be seen in Washington’s old home. They +stand ten inches in height, are flat in shape, about six +inches in diameter, have gilded griffin handles and polished +gilt faces, and are decorated with highly colored +views of naval battles. They have an interest to all collectors +as being specimens of the first china factory in +America, as well as from the fact that they were early +ornaments of Mount Vernon.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Philadelphia seems to have taken and kept the lead in +the manufacture of porcelain in America, or else we are +more fortunate in having the records of Philadelphia pot-works +preserved for us. The Pennsylvania Society for +the Encouragement of Manufactures offered in 1787, a +“plate of gold to the value of twenty dollars,” as a prize +for the “best specimen of Pennsylvania-made earthen +ware approaching the nearest in quality to the delft +white stone or queen’s ware,” and an equal prize for the +best salt-glazed ware; and in 1792 a prize of $50 for +similar ware. In 1808 Alexander Trotter exhibited at +Peale’s Museum, in Philadelphia, some of the articles +manufactured at his Columbian Pottery, which was situated +on South Street, between Twelfth and Thirteenth +Streets, in that city, while the warehouse was at No. 66 +North Second Street. This business continued until +1813. The proprietor advertised “tea and coffee-pots, +pitchers, jugs, wine-coolers, basins, ewers, and baking +<span class='pageno' id='Page_93'>93</span>dishes;” and it was also stated that an “elegant jug and +goblets from the queen’s ware manufactory” were used +at the Republican dinner on July 4, 1808, at Philadelphia. +This ware was similar to the Staffordshire stone +wares. In the same year a firm named Binney & Ronaldson +made in South Street, in Philadelphia, red and +yellow teapots, coffee-pots, and sugar-boxes. At the beginning +of the century D. Freytag advertised that, at +192 South 5th Street, Philadelphia, he would decorate +piece china with gold and silver; hence he must have +had a kiln for firing. In the year 1800 a pottery, called +the “Washington Pottery,” was established by John +Mullawney on the north side of Market Street, near +Schuylkill South, in the same city. The productions +were called “Washington ware,” and consisted of +pitchers, coffee-pots, teapots, cream-pots, sugar-boxes, +wash-basins, bowls, etc. It was carried on by the same +proprietor until 1816, and was in operation for many +years after. In 1813 the Northern Liberty Pottery was +founded by Thomas Haig on the corner of Front and +Market Streets, and the manufacture of earthen ware +is still continued by one of his descendants. David G. +Seixas had a similar manufactory at about the same time, +from 1817 to 1822, at Market Street near Schuylkill 6th. +In 1817 George Bruorton announced through the Philadelphia +press, that he would enamel and gild arms, +crests, ciphers, borders, or any device on china, or +queen’s ware as good as any imported. Also “china +mended by burning in and warranted as sound for use as +ever.” In 1826 Joseph Keen also decorated china in +<span class='pageno' id='Page_94'>94</span>Market Street, near Eleventh Street. So we can plainly +see how much the question of china decoration and +china-works was thought of in that town.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In the year 1828, William Ellis Tucker had a china +store at 86 Arcade, in Philadelphia. He thus advertised: +“American china of a quality equal in strength and +beauty to any that can be imported, and upon the most +reasonable terms. Initials or fancy work to suit the +taste of individuals will be executed agreeably to order +in the neatest style.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>In the year 1868 Miss Peters presented to the Historical +Society of Pennsylvania a porcelain pitcher +which had been made at the establishment of Messrs. +Tucker & Hemphill. At the request of the Society, +Mr. Thomas Tucker prepared the following paper on +the manufacture of porcelain in the United States.</p> + +<div class='lg-container-r c016'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Philadelphia</span>, May 13, 1868.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-l c016'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='sc'>To the Historical Society of Pennsylvania</span>:</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c015'><span class='sc'>Gentlemen</span>: Herewith please find a small account of the +manufacture of porcelain in the United States.</p> + +<p class='c015'>William Ellis Tucker, my brother, was the first to make porcelain +in the United States. My father, Benjamin Tucker, had a +china store in Market Street, in the city of Philadelphia, in the +year 1816. He built a kiln for William in the back-yard of the +store, where he painted in the white china and burned it on in +the kiln, which gave him a taste for that kind of work. After that +he commenced experimenting with the different kinds of clays, to +see if he could not make the ware. He succeeded in making a +very good kind of ware called queen’s ware. He then commenced +experimenting with felspar and kaolin to make porcelain, and, +after much labor he succeeded in making a few small articles of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_95'>95</span>very good porcelain. He then obtained the old water-works at +the northwest corner of Schuylkill, Front, and Chestnut, where +he erected a large glazing kiln, enamelling kiln, mills, etc. He +burned kiln after kiln with very poor success. The glazing would +crack and the body would blister; and, besides, we discovered +that we had a man who placed the ware in the kiln who was employed +by some interested parties in England to impede our +success.</p> + +<p class='c015'>Most of the handles were found in the seggars after the kiln +was burned. We could not account for it until a deaf and dumb +man in our employment detected him running his knife around +each handle as he placed them in the kiln.</p> + +<p class='c015'>At another time every piece of china had to be broken before +it could be taken out of the seggar. We always washed the round +Os, the article in which the china was placed in the kiln, with +silex; but this man had washed them with felspar, which of +course melted, and fastened with every article to the bottom. +But William discharged him, and we soon got over that difficulty.</p> + +<p class='c015'>In the year 1827 my brother received a silver medal from the +Franklin Institute of Pennsylvania, and in 1831 received one from +the Institute in New York. In 1828 I commenced to learn the +different branches of the business. On August 22, 1832, my +brother William died. Some time before he connected himself +with the late Judge Hemphill. They purchased the property at +the southwest corner of Schuylkill, Sixth, and Chestnut Streets, +where they built a large store-house or factory, which they filled +with porcelain. After the death of my brother, Judge Hemphill +and myself continued the making of porcelain for some years, until +he sold out his interest to a company of Eastern gentlemen; +but being unfortunate in their other operations, they were not +able to give the porcelain attention. In the year 1837 I undertook +to carry it alone, and did so for about one year, making a +large quantity of very fine porcelain, many pieces of which I still +have. The gilding and painting is now as perfect as when first +done.</p> + +<p class='c015'><span class='pageno' id='Page_96'>96</span>I herewith present you with a pitcher which I made thirty-one +years ago. You will notice the glazing and transparency of this +specimen is equal to the best imported china; but the gilding, +having been in use so many years, is somewhat injured. I would +like to give you a larger article, but I have but few pieces left.</p> + +<div class='lg-container-r c016'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Very respectfully yours, etc.,</div> + <div class='line in20'><span class='sc'>Thomas Tucker</span>.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>I cannot understand why Thomas Tucker should have +fancied that his brother was the first to make porcelain +in the United States. Could he not have known of the +ante-Revolutionary china-works of Bonnin & Morris?</p> + +<p class='c011'>There are in the Trumbull-Prime Collection several +specimens of Tucker’s “natural porcelain.” The paste +and glaze are excellent, but the forms are commonplace, +and the decorations indicate want of experience and +taste, gold being profusely used.</p> + +<p class='c011'>At an early date, certainly in the eighteenth century, +pot-works were established in Allentown, Pa., and in +Pittsburg, where decorated pottery was made which +resembled German manufactures, and which was often +ornamented with mottoes and legends in slip decoration.</p> + +<p class='c011'>From 1793 to 1800 John and William Norton made +red ware in Bennington, Vt.; since then stone-ware has +been made in the same works. In 1847 Messrs. Lyman +& Fenton started a pottery in Bennington, in which +they made both pottery and soft-paste porcelain. These +works continued for about twelve years. Specimens of +their tortoise-shell wares are in the Trumbull-Prime +Collection. One in the shape of a lion is here shown. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_97'>97</span>They also made figures of men and animals in Parian +wares, the first, doubtless, produced in America. The +impressed circular mark on some of the enamelled pottery +was “Lyman Fenton & Co. Fenton’s Enamel, +patented 1849, Bennington, Vt.”</p> + +<div class='figcenter id002'> +<img src='images/i_113.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Bennington Ware.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>In the year 1837 by far the most important enterprise +in the manufacture of pottery and porcelain that +had ever been organized in America was started under the +supervision of Mr. James Clews, who had been a potter +in Cobridge, England, from the years 1819 to 1829, and +who was the largest manufacturer of dark blue Staffordshire +wares at that date. An account of many pieces of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_98'>98</span>his production in his English pottery, and of the stamps +and marks used by him, is given in Chapter XVII.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He emigrated to America, and went to what was then +the Far West—to Indiana; and with capitalists from +Louisville, Ky.—Reuben Bates, Samuel Cassiday, William +Bell, James Anderson, Jr., Edward Bainbridge, +Perly Chamberlin, William Gerwin, John B. Bland, +Willis Ranney, and James Lewis—incorporated a company, +under the name of The Indiana Pottery Company, +with a capital of $100,000 and power to increase to +$200,000. A special act of January 7, 1837 (see Indiana +Local Laws, Twenty-first Session, p. 7), states that +these parties had “heretofore associated themselves together +for the purpose of manufacturing earthenware and +china in the State of Indiana, under the name and style +of The Lewis Pottery Company.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The Indiana Pottery Company built its works in +Troy, Perry County, thus having means of easy transportation +by the Ohio River to New Orleans and other +important points.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Mr. Clews had amassed much wealth in his Cobridge +works, but he quickly lost it in this new enterprise in +the new land, which proved far from successful. The +chief difficulty lay in the hiring of proper workmen. +The English potters proved wholly unreliable in this +country, and the expense of importing fresh relays of +workmen was too great to be endured. Nearly three +hundred potters were brought over from England. +The founders also found it impossible to make white +ware with the clay in the vicinity of Troy, and of the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_99'>99</span>vast beds of fine kaolin which exist in Indiana they were +doubtless ignorant. The dark blue ware which they +manufactured proved far from satisfactory, and though +so brilliantly started by practical and wealthy men, this +pottery was quickly closed, after making a considerable +quantity of yellow and Rockingham ware. In 1851 a +firm named Sanders & Wilson leased the buildings, +which were burned in 1854, but were rebuilt. There +are now two potteries in Troy.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In the early part of this century, probably in 1827, a +china factory was established in Jersey City, N. J., which +made hard-paste porcelain. Specimens of pure white +with gilded vines are in the Trumbull-Prime Collection. +In 1829 the works became known as the American Pottery +Company, and pieces of their manufacture at that +date bear that mark. This pottery is still in existence, +though known by another name. They made from the +year 1830 the embossed brown pottery pitcher with +“hound handle,” which was also such a favorite with +English potters from the time it was manufactured at Fulham. +The design for these American hound-handled +pitchers was made by Daniel Greatbach, a prominent English +modeller, who came to this country many years ago. +A specimen which I possess is of mottled tortoise-shell, +green, brown, and yellow, and bears the design of a hunt +around the body and grape-leaves on the top, but more +frequently the pitchers are simply colored brown. Some +have a mask of Bacchus on and under the nose, and one +I own has the nose formed by an American “spread +eagle.” They were a favorite hot-water jug in the early +<span class='pageno' id='Page_100'>100</span>years of their manufacture, their size, strength, and shape +making them particularly suitable for such a purpose. +They were sometimes +fitted with +metal covers fastened +to holes +drilled through +the pottery. I +have seen them +twenty inches in +height, and at +least three feet in +circumference. +In some parts of +the country they +are known as +“tavern pitchers,” +perhaps from +power of association. +Such is the one herewith shown, now owned by +Robert T. Van Deusen, esq., of Albany. Some were +doubtless from English potteries, but many are American. +Glazed brown “tobys” with the circular impressed +mark “D. & J. Henderson, Jersey City,” were also +made, but the exact age of such pieces is unknown.</p> + +<div class='figleft id004'> +<img src='images/i_116.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Hound-handled Pitcher.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>Of the later porcelain factories which have been established +in America I will not speak—the factories of +Trenton, Baltimore, East Liverpool, Long Island City—which +now number over five hundred. Their story will +doubtless be written ere long by some historian of the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_101'>101</span>ceramic art in America, but hardly comes within the +bounds of this work. Specimens of their manufacture, +especially of the truly artistic productions of the Baltimore +China Works, should, however, be secured by every +china collector, though they do not appeal so strongly +to the china hunter, to whom the pleasures of the chase +often exceed the delight in the spoils, and to whom old +china, like old wine, is better than new.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_102'>102</span> + <h2 class='c005'>V.<br> EARLIEST POTTERY WARES</h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c014'>The first rare pieces of porcelain owned by the +American colonists were India china; but Delft +ware, salt-glazed ware, and the tortoise-shell or +“combed” wares were the earliest forms of pottery that +were imported to any great extent.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Many pieces of heavy blue and white Delft have been +found in New England, some being Dutch, some English. +The shapes, decorations, and pastes are so similar +that it is impossible for even the most careful observer +definitely to judge of the place of manufacture, and there +are seldom guiding and aiding marks. In Connecticut +much Delft is found, sometimes with Dutch words +and inscriptions. Doubtless the Connecticut planters +bargained and traded with the New York Dutch, who +perhaps took onions and notions from the canny Connecticut +men in exchange for Delft. In New York, +along the Hudson River to Albany, much fine Delft is +still preserved in old Dutch families, especially in the +old Dutch farm-houses and manor-houses. At the +Albany Bi-centennial Loan Collection, in 1886, a fine +showing was made of old Delft by representatives of the +families of the old patroons—of the Ten Eycks, Ten +Broecks, Bleeckers, and Van Rensselaers.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A few stray Delft wanderers may be found in Massachusetts +<span class='pageno' id='Page_103'>103</span>and New Hampshire—meat dishes and plates, +pale and ugly, as if the journey inland had faded them +out. On Long Island, Delft is still kept and used in +Dutch families—it is not the oldest Delft, however, nor +is it much prized. The typical Delft vases, decorated in +blue, yellow, and white, once graced the high mantel or +beaufet of many a low, comfortable Dutch farm-house +in Flatbush, New Utrecht, and Gravesend, and occasionally +one can still be found. A fine set is in the old +“pirates’ house” at Flatlands. The Dutch made many +teapots, we are told, but I have never found an old Delft +one in America. I have seen a few dull blue and white +Delft flower-pots—possibly one hundred years old—clumsy, +ugly things, whether old or new. I wish I +could drive through the old Dutch settlements on Long +Island—New Utrecht, and Flatlands, and New Lots, and +Gravesend—and ransack the great, spacious garret of +every concave-roofed story and a half farm-house I +passed. I know I could bring many a piece of Delft to +light—forgotten and unheeded by its stolid owners.</p> + +<p class='c011'>That Delft was not very highly prized by the Dutch +settlers, nor by their descendants, may be proved by +many inventories and lists, such as this, of the estate of +John Lefferts, of Flatbush, made in 1792:</p> + +<table class='table1'> + <tr> + <th class='c017'></th> + <th class='c007'> </th> + <th class='c018'>£</th> + <th class='c019'>s.</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c017'>25</td> + <td class='c007'>Pewter plates (1s. each)</td> + <td class='c017'>1</td> + <td class='c008'>5</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c017'>37</td> + <td class='c007'>Earthen plates</td> + <td class='c017'> </td> + <td class='c008'>10</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c017'>9</td> + <td class='c007'>Pewter dishes</td> + <td class='c017'>1</td> + <td class='c008'>15</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c017'>8</td> + <td class='c007'>Earthen dishes</td> + <td class='c017'>1</td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c017'>6</td> + <td class='c007'>Sets china cups and saucers</td> + <td class='c017'>3</td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c017'>27</td> + <td class='c007'>Delft plates</td> + <td class='c017'> </td> + <td class='c008'>13</td> + </tr> +</table> +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_104'>104</span>Pewter was plainly much more valued than Delft, and +India china was still more highly prized.</p> + +<div class='figleft id004'> +<img src='images/i_120.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Delft Tea-caddy.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>Old Delft tea-caddies are both curious and pretty. +Here is one shown, marked with the names “Aalta +Evert and Gerrit Egben” and the date, 1793. It was +doubtless a wedding +or betrothal +gift. In this +piece the dark blue +decoration +is under the +glaze, and the +red and black +quaint Dutch-dressed +figures +and the inscription +are over the +glaze, and were +doubtless painted +to order and +fired when the piece was purchased for a gift or token. +This labor-saving device was brought to perfection by +a Dutch potter named Zachary Dextra, though the cunning +Chinese and Japanese had employed it when they +held supremacy over the Dutch market. If a skilled +painter painted under the glaze, an inferior workman +could easily do the finishing touches over the glaze.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The Delft apothecary jars are the rarest and most +curious pieces seen, and form a charming posy-holder. +They are eight or ten inches in height, and are lettered +<span class='pageno' id='Page_105'>105</span>with the abbreviated names of drugs. “Succ: E. Spin: +C.,” “U. Althae,” and “C: Rosar: E.” are on three of +my jars. They frequently have a spout on one side, +and are then usually globose in shape, with a spreading +base. Some have handles. When the Dutch used +these jars, a century or more ago, they covered the open +top with tightly-tied oil-skin and poured the medicinal +or chemical contents from the spout, which, at other +times, was kept carefully corked. These jars are identical +in shape with the old “sirroop-pots” of Dutch +museums; for instance, the one made by Haarles, the +eminent <i>plateelbakker</i>, in 1795, as a “proof of his skill,” +and now preserved in the archives at Delft.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The most familiar and universal decoration on Delft +plates and meat dishes is the conventionalized “peacock” +design. It sometimes takes rather a ludicrous +appearance, often forming a comical caricature of a ballet-dancer. +A coarsely-drawn basket of flowers is also +common. I have also seen in America specimens of the +“musical plates” of Delft. These bear designs of musical +instruments, scores of song or dance music, or simply +a staff with a few notes, a motif, accompanied usually +by inscriptions, mottoes, or couplets, sometimes in +Dutch, sometimes in French, the latter showing usually +so decided a touch of extreme opera-bouffe <i>équivoque</i> that +such “musical plates” would scarcely be in demand for +family use, and make us turn to the Dutch-lettered +pieces as being more desirable simply because the language +of their decoration is less widely known and +comprehended. Even these cannot be positively classed +<span class='pageno' id='Page_106'>106</span>as Dutch, for the early English potters copied servilely +the Dutch designs. The vases often have figures of men +and animals and Dutch landscapes. +A fine collection of Delft +plates and placques and vases may +be seen in the Trumbull-Prime +Collection.</p> + +<div class='figleft id004'> +<img src='images/i_122.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Delft Vase.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>“Fine Holland Tile” was advertised +in the <cite>Boston News Letter</cite> +of June 11, 1716—the first announcement +of the sale of Delft +in America, though not in the +form of table-ware—and in the +same paper, under date of August +10, 1719, we find a notice of +“Dutch Tile for Chimney.” From +that date, all through the century, +in the various newspapers, we find +constantly recurring advertisements +of Delft chimney tiles on the arrival of every +foreign ship. They must have been imported in vast +numbers, and were not expensive; “9 dozen Dutch tiles, +£1 10s., 10 dozen Dutch tiles, £2 10s.,” were the values +assigned. In spite of these facts I have found them very +rare in New England—they have wholly disappeared. In +historical rooms, in museums, they may be seen, but +seldom in old houses. The Robinson House in old Narraganset +has a fine set; in a few old houses in the Connecticut +valley I have seen sets of the coarsely painted +“scripture tiles” so disparaged by Benjamin Franklin, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_107'>107</span>but they are rare. Even on Long Island and on the +banks of the Hudson they are now seldom found. Storytellers +of New England life usually place blue and white +tiles around their Yankee fireplaces, but they are more +plentiful in the imagination of such narrators than in reality. +With the various changes in the manner of heating +New England dwellings, the chimney tiles have all +vanished, even when the houses still stand, and nearly +all the old city houses have been entirely removed to +make way for more modern business structures. English +potters made tiles in such close imitation of the +Dutch that it is impossible to distinguish between them. +Doubtless many of the “blue and white chimney tile” +so largely advertised were English manufactures imported +under the name of Dutch tiles, while still others +were not chimney, but roof tiles.</p> + +<p class='c011'>There have been found in New England, in numbers +which seem rather surprising when we consider their age, +ale-jugs of gray and blue stone-ware which are universally +known as Fulham jugs. They resemble in quality +and coloring the German stone-ware or our common +crocks, being of the same gray ware with a lead glaze. +They are decorated with rich blue like the German +wares, and have an incised design of leaves and scrolls, +circles or simple flowers. I have seen a number which +bore in the front an oval medallion with the incised initials +G. R., sometimes also a crown. These are said to +refer to Georgius Rex, the first of the English Georges. +I know of one G. R. mug which has an additional interest +in the form of a bullet of the Revolution imbedded +<span class='pageno' id='Page_108'>108</span>in its tough and uncracked side. Some of these Fulham +jugs have apparently had silver or pewter lids attached +to them. They are what are known as bottle-shaped, +round and protuberant, +narrowing +to a small neck +and base; others +are more slender, +almost cylindrical. +There are no +marks to prove +them to be Fulham +jugs, but as such +they are known.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Other Fulham +jugs are found of +brownish mottled +stone-ware with +hound handle and +raised decoration in the body of figures of the chase, and +with mask of Bacchus forming the nose. These have +been frequently reproduced in American potteries and +when unmarked, it is difficult to determine which are +English.</p> + +<div class='figleft id004'> +<img src='images/i_124.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Fulham G. R. Jug.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>Pieces of salt-glazed ware have been found in country +homes by many china hunters, and are among the most +pleasing articles to be obtained. The date of their +manufacture was from 1680 to 1780. An interesting +story is told of the discovery of the process of glazing +this ware. A servant maid having, in the year 1680, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_109'>109</span>allowed a pot of brine to boil over, the dull earthen pot +containing the brine became red hot, and when cold was +covered with a bright glaze. A sharp potter perceiving +it, at once utilized the hint. The story is pretty, but +it can scarcely be true, for such a glaze could not be +formed in an open place. But salt-glaze there is, and +in America too, of the very earliest manufacture—Crouch-ware, +or, as it is incorrectly and inappropriately +called, Elizabethan-ware. Crouch is the name neither +of a person nor of a place, but of the white Derbyshire +clay. The paste made from this clay is very dense, and +is of a greenish tint. The Elers-ware of buff ground +with simple raised scrolls and rosettes of white are also +of early date.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Some of the salt-glazed pieces were shaped by pressing +the moist paste into metal moulds, other pieces were +“cast” in moulds of plaster of Paris, the slip or liquid +paste being introduced to line the mould, and allowed +to set, and this operation being repeated until the piece +was of required thickness. As the taste for light delicate +wares increased, some were made as light and thin +as paper. If the piece were “cast” the handles, nose, +and feet (if it possessed any) were moulded and placed +on separately. The moulds used were frequently the +worn-out moulds that had been used for casting silverware; +hence pieces of salt-glazed ware usually resemble +in shape the pieces of silver of the same date.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The characteristic feature of salt-glazed ware—the +quality from which it derives its name—is its glaze. +This is easily recognized. It does not run and spread +<span class='pageno' id='Page_110'>110</span>like other glazes, but seems to form into minute coagulated +drops or granulations resembling somewhat the +surface of orange-peel. The glaze is often unequal, being +higher on some portions of the piece than others, the +vapor of soda (through which the glaze was made) not +penetrating with equal power to every point. Thus one +side of a piece may be dull and the other highly glazed.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The largest and finest example of salt-glazed ware +which I have seen in America is the exact duplicate of +the best specimen in the Museum of Practical Geology, +in Jermyn Street, London, numbered G. 111. It +is thus described in the catalogue of that museum: +“Large oval soup-tureen, cover, and stand. Height, ten +inches; greatest diameter, fourteen and one-half inches. +Body decorated with pressed ornaments, including scroll-work +and diaper and basket pattern; the tureen mounted +on three lion’s claws with masks.” This tureen is dated +1763. The beautiful and delicate specimen found in +America is absolutely perfect. It bore the difficult process +of making and firing (specially difficult in so large +a piece), crossed the water to the new land of Virginia, +passed through generations of use and the devastations +of the Revolutionary and civil wars, was gathered in +by a travelling dealer, brought in safety by rail to New +York, and ignominiously sold for a dollar and a half to +its present proud possessor. It was doubtless cast in +the same mould as the one in the museum. Another +similar piece is in the well-known English collection of +Lady Charlotte Schreiber.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A large number of smaller pieces of salt-glazed ware +<span class='pageno' id='Page_111'>111</span>have been found, including salt-boxes, creamers, and one +beautiful teapot which is so graceful and unique in design +that it has been +honored by being borrowed +by a prominent +china-manufacturer in +England to reproduce +in his modern ware. +Thus this frail waif +from the middle of the +last century has thrice +crossed the ocean in +safety.</p> + +<div class='figleft id004'> +<img src='images/i_127a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Sportive Innocence Pitcher.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class='figright id004'> +<img src='images/i_127b.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Farmer Pitcher.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>The pitchers shown are of salt-glazed ware and may +be Crouch-ware, though they are apparently of rather +later date. The first bears +in a heart-shaped medallion +a design of high-colored +children at awkward play, +and is labelled “Sportive +Innocence.” Similar ones +are frequently found in +America. I know of at +least a dozen. Some bear +on the reverse side a different +design with the same +children entitled “Mischievous +Sport.” In this +the boy is frightening the little girl with an ugly mask. +Other pitchers of precisely the same shape and borderdecorations +<span class='pageno' id='Page_112'>112</span>in orange, green, and blue have different designs +in the medallion, a peacock being frequently seen. +The farmer’s pitcher has the motto “Success to Trade,” +and is surely older as well as gayer in color than the +“Sportive Innocence” pitcher.</p> + +<p class='c011'>There were imported to America in great quantities, as +is shown by many eighteenth-century advertisements, +“tortoise-shell” and “combed pattern” wares, also the +pretty cauliflower, melon, and pineapple wares that have +been reproduced in our own day. These were manufactured +chiefly at Little Fenton by Thomas Whieldon, +a man who influenced much the potters’ art in England +from the year 1740 to 1780, during five of which years +he was a partner with Wedgwood. There are only two +specimens of these wares in the Museum of Practical +Geology, and Mr. Jewitt wrote in 1873: “These wares are +now very scarce and are highly and deservedly prized by +collectors.” At the time he wrote he could have gathered +in America scores, even hundreds, of pieces of the +Whieldon wares for English collections. Dr. Irving +Lyon, of Hartford, has a fine collection of them which +he picked up in the cottages of the Connecticut Valley—a +collection which any English china-lover would envy.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Whieldon was a man of great energy, with a practical +knowledge of his art, and he spent much time in his +works perfecting his patterns and processes. He compounded +the bright green glaze so admirable in his ware, +shown so beautifully in the cauliflower and melon patterns, +through the contrast with the cream color. He +also was a modeller, and from the imitation of leaves, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_113'>113</span>and fruits, and vegetables derived his best-known and +most successful patterns, and the novelty and ingenuity +of many of them charm us even in the present day. The +bird and animal shapes being grotesque rather than useful, +seldom came to America. I have seen here, however, +several tortoise-shell cows and one combed bird. +The tail of the cow forms the handle of the pitcher, the +liquid being poured from the nose. Reproductions of +these are now made at Jeffords Pottery in Philadelphia. +Little cradles and posy-holders, too, are found, sometimes +with dates. Whieldon’s two-handled “parting-cups,” +ornamented with raised grapes, leaves, and tendrils and a +head of Bacchus, are much more scarce than the melon +and cauliflower teapots, mugs, and dishes; and his perforated +ware I have never seen in America. Some of the +pieces of his manufacture are stamped and afterward +shaped somewhat by hand, others are cast, others pressed +in moulds. The “cast” pieces are considered to be of +earlier date, and may be known by their being thinner +and more delicate than the moulded ones. The mottled +browns, greens, and yellows of the tortoise-shell and +combed wares, like all of Whieldon’s decorations, are +under the glaze, and are very rich in tone, forming a delightful +bit of color in cupboard or cabinet. Occasionally +a purple mottle is seen. The colors were sponged, +floured, or blown on, painting and printing on pottery +being then unknown. These pieces of Whieldon’s are all +unmarked, and doubtless many specimens in America +came from the Wedgwood factory, for similar wares were +made there.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_114'>114</span>I hardly know how to account for the fact that I have +found so few, comparatively few, pieces of undoubted +Wedgwood ware in old houses in New England. That +vast quantities came to America we cannot doubt. +Wedgwood says so himself in his letter quoted on page +<a href='#Page_88'>88</a>. In other letters he refers again and again to consignments +made to the American market, “the green and +white wares,” “the Queen’s wares,” “the cream wares,” +etc. That these consignments were sent largely to the +various points supplied from the Charleston and Philadelphia +markets is known, and in those regions the +black basalts-ware, at least, is more plentiful than in +New England. Much Wedgwood ware must have come +also to the ports of Boston, Newport, and New Haven. +These wares may have been plentiful in the Connecticut +Valley, but I have seen little in other parts of New England. +A good opportunity of studying the various productions +of the Wedgwood factory is given through the +specimens in the Trumbull-Prime Collection. There +are at least one hundred “lots” of Wedgwood there +shown, and the cameos and intaglios, the jasper-wares, +the basalts, the queensware, the painted wares are all +illustrated by choice and varied pieces.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The story of Wedgwood’s life I will not even give +briefly, though the beauty and lesson of it make one +long to tell it till every American china-manufacturer +learns to read between the lines the story of personal +supervision, patient trial, unwearied labor, honest ambition, +and liberal broadness that made his life a success +and his productions a delight. Miss Meteyard and Mr. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_115'>115</span>Jewitt have given it in careful detail, and every word is +of keenest interest and importance to the china collector. +From these books, and from the beautiful volumes of +engravings and photographs of Wedgwood ware preserved +in English collections, the American china hunter +can learn, if not from the specimens themselves.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A few of the Wedgwood cameo medallions are found in +America. Wedgwood sent as a gift to Thomas Jefferson +three exquisite medallions; two were oval and one oblong +in shape. They were in blue and white jasper, with +mythological designs. The largest was twelve inches +long and six inches wide, and bore the lovely design +of Cupid and Psyche with troops of attending loves. +Jefferson had them set in the front of a mantel in a room +at Monticello, and one of them dropped out and was destroyed +before the family sold the house. The others +were picked or cut out and stolen. Mrs. Ellen Harrison, +the oldest living descendant of Jefferson, tells me that +during a visit to Monticello, some years before the present +owner took possession, she found on the floor a tiny +bit of blue jasper showing the foot and leg of one of the +loves. Thus did this English cherub cast from his feet +the dust of an inartistic and relic-hunting nation of vandals. +Oh, the pity that things so beautiful could be so +wantonly destroyed! Would that everything that Wedgwood +made had been endowed with qualities of immortality +and indestructibility to live forever as lessons and +examples for future generations of potters.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Occasionally a jasper medallion is found here with +Wedgwood’s famous anti-slavery design, a kneeling +<span class='pageno' id='Page_116'>116</span>slave with fetters falling from his hands, and the motto, +“Am I not a Man and a Brother?” Dr. Darwin says +that “Wedgwood distributed many hundreds of these to +excite the humane to attend to and assist in the abolition +of the detestable traffic in human creatures.”</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Whether, O friend of art, the gem you mould</div> + <div class='line'>Rich with new taste, with ancient virtue bold,</div> + <div class='line'>Or the poor tortur’d slave on bended knee,</div> + <div class='line'>From Britain’s sons imploring to be free.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>Many found their way to America and a few are still +preserved.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Occasionally also a rich dessert-service of old Wedgwood +ware is seen. Two superb ones were brought across +the water by a sea-captain at the beginning of this +century and landed at Hudson, N. Y. A fair young +bride saw and coveted one of these china treasures, but +stern and frugal parents were horrified at the thought of +spending seventy dollars for such an unnecessary luxury. +The bridegroom, Silas E. Burraws, at a later date the +starter of the monument to the mother of Washington, +more extravagant and more indulgent, bought it as a +wedding gift. It is “queen’s ware” of the rich blue, red, +and gold design which is known among American dealers +as “Queen Charlotte’s pattern.” The fruit dishes and +comports are of the unique and perfect shapes often found +in Wedgwood ware. I have seen a single plate of this +pattern in a shop labelled with the price “thirty dollars.” +The price given for a similar one in the South Kensington +Museum was four pounds. I know also of one or two +<span class='pageno' id='Page_117'>117</span>dinner services of yellow Wedgwood ware, with the vine +and grape border in white, early works of Wedgwood, +clear and firm in outline and beautiful in quality.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The frail fluted bowl, the graceful pitcher with twisted +handle, and the fragile creamer of queen’s ware shown +on page <a href='#Page_1'>1</a> are all Wedgwood of lovely shape and so +thin and delicate a paste, that it is wonderful that they +have been safely preserved for a hundred years outside +a collector’s cabinet, and stranger still, have been used +upon the tea-table of a country home.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id002'> +<img src='images/i_133.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Castleford Teapot.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>A pottery was founded at Castleford in 1770, and +black basalt ware, much like Wedgwood’s, was made, +and white stone-ware which must have been imported +to this country in vast quantity, for specimens are not +rare. A teapot commonly seen is here shown. It is +<span class='pageno' id='Page_118'>118</span>found both in black basalt, a curious brown ware, and +salt-glazed cream ware. Special raised work designs of +the figure of Liberty and the American eagle were used, +and the sugar-bowls, creamers, and teapots bearing such +designs were doubtless made entirely for this market. +The white surface of Castleford ware was frequently divided +into compartments by raised lines which were +colored blue or green. Teapots were made with lids +hinged on metal pins, or with sliding lids, and were exceedingly +pretty and convenient. They are often called +Wedgwood, as are also pieces of Castleford black ware.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_119'>119</span> + <h2 class='c005'>VI.<br> ENGLISH PORCELAINS IN AMERICA</h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c014'>As soon as porcelain was manufactured to any extent +in England it was exported to America. The +<cite>Boston Evening Post</cite> of November, 1754, advertised “a +variety of Bow China Cups and Saucers and Bowls,” +and other sales of Bow china were made, and special +pieces also brought across the ocean to wealthy Americans. +Specimens of Plymouth and Bow china may still +be occasionally found in America, but any such that +have been preserved and gathered into private collections +can be positively identified only by comparison with authenticated +and marked pieces in public collections. It +would be impossible to give any definite Bow marks. +The stamp or design of the anchor and dagger is popularly +considered proof that the piece thus marked is +Bow. The triangle, formerly regarded as a positive Bow +mark, now appears to have a rather shaky reputation, and +is as frequently assigned to Chelsea. The character and +shape of the ware, and the style of the decoration are +better grounds to base identification upon than any +marks. Excavations made upon the site of the old Bow +china-works revealed much débris of broken pieces of +china, and these specimens afford the most positive means +<span class='pageno' id='Page_120'>120</span>of identifying the paste and ornamentation. An account +of these discoveries was given in the <cite>Art Journal</cite> of 1869. +All the fragments found were of porcelain, milky-white +in color, and relatively heavy for the thickness; some +were ornamented in relief, with the May flower or hawthorn; +with a little sprig of two roses and a leaf on a +stalk; with the basket pattern; or with vertical bands +overlaid with scrolls. Some were painted in blue under +the glaze with Chinese landscapes, flowers, and figures. +All were hand-painted, none were printed. These hints +may serve as guides in the detection and identification +of Bow china.</p> + +<p class='c011'>I have seen in America cups and saucers painted with +the partridge pattern, which I believe are Bow, though +the same pattern is found on Worcester and Plymouth +china. The well-known and exceedingly valuable goat +milk-jugs that, after forming for years the immovable +standard from which streamed defiantly the flag of Bow, +are now calmly turned over to Chelsea. These creamjugs +are ornamented with two white goats in relief at +the base, and a bee is modelled on the front under the +nose. The handle is rustic with raised flowers. These +jugs often have the triangle mark. Some are painted +with flowers, others are plain white porcelain. Mr. +Jewitt says they were sometimes made without the +raised bee, but I have never seen such an one. Two of +these Bow jugs were in the Strawberry Hill collection.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A very excitable young woman came rushing home +one cold winter day, in New York, with a demand +for the “china books.” She had seen in an antique +<span class='pageno' id='Page_121'>121</span>shop, such a funny and pretty little pitcher, with a raised +bee on it, and she was sure that there was a picture of it +somewhere in the books—and she found it in Mr. Prime’s +book on pottery and porcelain—a Bow goat cream-jug. +Well, it snowed, and was cold, and was late in the afternoon, +and the confident young collector deferred a purchasing +visit till the following morning. Alas! such a +sickening disappointment—some miserable despoiler had +chanced to “drop in” on his way up-town and had carried +off the treasure. Worse still, the small boy who +had sold it did not know the purchaser’s name.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id002'> +<img src='images/i_137.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Plymouth Salt-cellar. Bow “Goat Cream-Jug.”</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>Deeply did she mourn her ignorance, her indecision, +her indolence, her carelessness. The opportunity of a +lifetime had thus been lost, to have a goat cream-jug such +as was sold at the Cother sale in London, in 1876, for +twenty-five pounds, to have such a jug offered for the +paltry sum of one dollar, and to refuse it—not to know +<span class='pageno' id='Page_122'>122</span>enough to grasp such a treasure. The bitterness of regret +and of self-reproach nerved her to action, and with +the friendly and actively interested aid of the antique-shop-boy, +the jug-buyer was waylaid within a month’s +time and cajoled into reselling his purchase, which he +did willingly enough. He had bought it to keep his +shaving brush in, because his father used to keep his +shaving brush in a similar one in England. With flecks +of dried shaving soap clinging to the goat’s horns, and +mottling the bee’s wings, she triumphantly brought her +treasure home. It varies slightly in height and by the +turn of a leaf and twig from my Bow goat cream-jug, +which came from the Cavendish-Bentinck sale in London. +The porcelain of the New York captive of the chase is not +so pure and clear and it may be of Chelsea manufacture.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Another dainty piece of Bow found by a friend is a +creamer or sauce-boat of the overlapping leaf pattern. +The handle is formed by a leaf stem; raised flowers are +at the base of the handle, and on the leaves flowers are +delicately painted. This is like Number “H. 12” in the +Museum of Practical Geology.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The beautiful tall coffee-pot here shown is Plymouth +with embossed surface and Chinese style of decoration +in blue. Its cover was destroyed, alas! by +some careless Newburyport housewife. The salt-cellar +of pure unpainted porcelain on page <a href='#Page_121'>121</a> is undoubtedly +Plymouth also, being clearly marked. The design of +vine leaves and grapes is very delicate and perfect. The +piece came from an old home in Baltimore.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Though Bristol china was manufactured only from the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_123'>123</span>year 1768 to 1781, and though pieces are rare and high-priced +in England, it is possible to obtain specimens in +America. Perhaps some invoices of the ware of the +short-lived factory were sent to the new land by Richard +Champion, the founder of the Bristol Works, for he was +an enthusiastic lover and admirer of America. In the +Trumbull-Prime Collection are a large number of pieces +classed as Bristol because they have the Bristol cross, +but not assigned definitely to that factory.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id006'> +<img src='images/i_139.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Plymouth Coffee-pot.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>The few Bristol pieces I have seen in American homes +are portions of tea-services, teapots being more plentiful +than other forms. Some have an imperfect or blistered +glaze, but occasionally fine specimens are found. It is +impossible to state the value of Bristol china. In the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_124'>124</span>Governor Lyon sale there were two lovely Bristol cups +and saucers decorated with a heavy gold rim and oriental +landscape in dark blue, that sold for four dollars +each. A plate with the same decoration brought only a +dollar and a half.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The most beautiful and interesting piece of Bristol +porcelain in existence is in America. It is owned by +Mrs. James M. Davis, of Camden, South Carolina. She +is a great-granddaughter of Richard Champion and inherited +it from him. This lovely piece is a funerary +design—a mourning female figure leaning against a pedestal +bearing a funeral urn. In one hand she holds a +wreath. The beauty of the figure, the grace of the +attitude, and the elegance of the drapery combine to +make this statue exceedingly exquisite. It was made +by the English potter as a memorial for his daughter, +Eliza Champion, who died in early youth—a memorial +such as was tenderly though crudely suggested by the +carefully made burial urn of the Indian mother. The +inscription is so simple and so touching, and is couched +in such quaint old-time diction that I copy it in full.</p> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div>ELIZA CHAMPION</div> + <div>Ob. XIII Octob. MDCCLXIX</div> + <div>AEtat XIV</div> + <div>Nat. XXI Mart. MDCCLXVI</div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>On the cornice of the pedestal are the words:</p> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div>“<span class='sc'>Ostendent Terris Hanc Tantvm Fata Nec Vltra esse Sinent.</span>”</div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='figcenter id006'> +<span class='pageno' id='Page_125'>125</span> +<img src='images/i_141.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Bristol Memorial Figure.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_127'>127</span>On the dado this inscription:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“We loved you, my dear Eliza, whilst you were with us. We lament +you now you are departed. The Almighty God is just +and merciful, and we must submit to His will with the Resignation +and Reverence becoming human frailty. He has removed +you, Eliza, from the trouble which has been our Lot, +and does not suffer you to behold the Scenes of horror and +distress in which these devoted Kingdoms must be involved. +It is difficult to part with our beloved Child, though but for a +season. Yet our Interest shall not be put into competition with +her felicity, and we will even bear her Loss with Chearfulness. +Happy in each other, we were happy in you, Eliza, and will +with contented minds cherish your memory till the period +arrives, when we shall all again meet and Pain and Sorrow +shall be thought of no more. R.C.—I.C.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>On the plinth lines altered from Book I., Ode XXIV., +of Horace are printed thus:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span lang="la">(<span class='sc'>Qvis desiderio sit pvdor avt modvs</span></span></div> + <div class='line in4'><span lang="la"><span class='sc'>Tam chari capitis?—</span></span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="la"><span class='sc'>—Cvi pvdor, et jvstitiae soror</span></span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="la"><span class='sc'>Incorrvpta fides, nvdaqve veritas</span></span></div> + <div class='line in2'><span lang="la"><span class='sc'>Qvando vllam invenient parem?</span></span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="la"><span class='sc'>Dvrvm! sed laevius fit patientia,</span></span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="la"><span class='sc'>Qvicqvid corrigere est nefas.</span>)</span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>On the base:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“<span class='sc'>This tribute to the memory of an amiable girl was +inscribed on her coffin the 16th of October, 1779, +by a Father who loved her.</span>”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Who could read, even after a century’s time, this beautiful +and tender tribute to the gentle young girl, who +died so many years ago, without feeling deep sympathy +<span class='pageno' id='Page_128'>128</span>with the bereaved father, “who loved her?” The unsuccessful +worker and the patriot speak plainly also in +the lines:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“He has removed you from the trouble which has been our Lot +and does not suffer you to behold the scenes of horror and +distress in which these devoted Kingdoms must be involved.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Mrs. Davis also possessed some of the beautiful +Bristol figures of Spring, Summer, and Winter, and she +patriotically sent them for exhibition at the Centennial +Exposition in Philadelphia, in 1876. Like many another +rare and beautiful article sent confidingly there +at that time, they were never returned to their owner. +This loss must have been hard to endure with patience, +not only from the historical and hereditary value and +interest of the pieces, but also because the previous year +duplicate pieces of Bristol were sold in London for £54 +each.</p> + +<p class='c011'>One of the most beautiful of Richard Champion’s +productions in England or America is the medallion +plaque of Franklin, described in Chapter XIV.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Mr. Owen’s description of Bristol china is very clear +and concise. “The pieces are graceful in form and well +moulded, the flowers brilliant in colour and skilfully +painted; and the gilding, bright though unburnished, is +of that particularly rich and solid character that always +distinguished the manufacture. Though it often bears +Dresden marks, and is moulded in Dresden shapes, the +quality of the paste is so different that it is easily distinguished +from the Dresden. The glaze is rich and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_129'>129</span>creamy white, while the Dresden has a cold, glassy surface.”</p> + +<div class='figcenter id006'> +<img src='images/i_145.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Crown Derby Covered Dish.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>Crown Derby is seldom picked up by the china hunter—never +I believe in country homes in New +England. Near New York a few rare pieces have been +found. Miss Henrietta D. Lyon, of Staten Island, has +part of an exceedingly rich and elegant Crown Derby +dinner service painted in delicate colors and gold, one +<span class='pageno' id='Page_130'>130</span>covered dish of which is here shown. The gilding and +painting upon these pieces is in the highest style of artistic +beauty and dexterity. They bear the mark used +at the Derby factory from 1784 to 1796.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The most common piece offered to the china hunter +in New England is what is known as the willow-pattern +ware. It was made first by Thomas Turner, at Caughley, +in 1780. He manufactured both pottery and porcelain. +I often have wished that he had never invented +that willow-pattern. I have had it thrust in my face +for purchase until I could scarcely bear to look at it. I +have had visions of dainty Bow, Bristol, and Plymouth +china brought before me through vivid but uncertain +description, only to come face to face with more +printed willow-pattern. I should imagine that a large +proportion of all that ever was made was sent to America. +And it has been made in vast quantities, too, for +it has been certainly the most popular pattern ever +printed anywhere on stone-ware or porcelain. Mr. Jewitt +says: “Early examples bearing the Caughley mark—the +cups without handles and ribbed and finished precisely +like the Oriental, are rare.” Of course they are, +in England, but not in America; as the prices prove +at the Governor Lyon sale. Old willow-pattern plates +sold there for one dollar each.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Pieces of willow-pattern ware are often of astounding +age and fabulous value. Forty dollars is the favorite +price that knowing country owners assert they can get +in the city for their willow-pattern platters. I have a +favorite formula which I always use in answer to these +<span class='pageno' id='Page_131'>131</span>aspiring traders—my “willow-pattern answer.” I reply, +gravely, “Yes, that pattern is priceless.” It does +not mean anything and it pleases them, and if you +told them that the platter was worth about two or three +dollars they would look upon you as a swindler. Modern +willow-pattern ware is also offered at fancy valuations. +I have never been able to decide whether an old +farmer who brought two willow-ware plates about a year +old to sell to me, assuring me (though they bore the visible +mark and stamp of modern production) that “this +old crockery had been in his fam’ly more’n a hundred +year”—I have never decided whether that ingenuous +bucolic were a deep-dyed swindler or the innocent tool +of some crafty sharper. I answered him soberly with +my patent “willow-pattern answer”—“That pattern is +priceless,” and he went away hugging his antiques with +delight. I have seen within a year at a well-known +dealer’s in New York, a modern willow-pattern platter +upon which was pasted this printed inscription: “This +platter belonged to Miles Standish, and was often used +by him, and is therefore very rare and of great historical +value.” This was an auction label cut from the catalogue +of a sale, and the dealer let it remain as a joke +for the knowing ones, and possibly as a bait for the unsophisticated.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“The Broseley Blue Dragon” and the “Broseley +Blue Canton” pieces and their imitations are frequently +found. These patterns were also made at the Caughley +or Salopian Works. The “cabbage leaf jugs” came +from that manufactory.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_132'>132</span>I have never been able to understand why the willow-pattern +should have been so much more popular than +the Blue Dragon. The latter is certainly very handsome +and consistent, or rather congruous throughout, +while the willow-pattern is neither “fish nor fowl nor +good red herring”—it is not English, and it is certainly +not wholly Oriental. The color is good, as was all blue +at that time.</p> + +<p class='c011'>At a later date than the reign of Lowestoft on “company” +dinner tables in New England, the fine “best tea +china” of well-to-do people was English porcelain of copper-lustre +and pink and green decoration. Many of +these pretty lustre sets are still preserved and can be +bought of country owners. A terrible blow has been +dealt, however, to the desire to purchase such wares by +the fact that modern reproductions showing equal beauty +of color and similar designs have appeared in large +numbers within the past two years. Pitchers of pottery, +“prankt in faded antique dress” of light brown or pinkish +purple lustres are now manufactured. They bear no +marks and cannot be distinguished from the old ones—and +are just as good, perhaps, for every one but a china +hunter. The solid lustre teapots, sugar-boxes, and +pitchers—copper-colored, brownish lustre or silver on a +pottery ground, have not, so far as I know, been reproduced. +On many pieces the lustre is diversified by a +pretty design in white, sometimes in relief or by painted +flowers. The finest old pitcher of this ware that I have +ever seen bore a graceful embossed design which was +decorated upon the highest reliefs in pink, green, and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_133'>133</span>gold lustre. This was positively affirmed to be part +of the Mayflower cargo. Most of these lustre pieces +are unmarked, hence it is impossible to assign them +to any factory. A few of them, the clearest and purest +in paste, and most delicate in decoration are New Hall, +for I have plates so marked. The stamp is a cursive +New Hall not enclosed in a ring. This stamp is not +given in English books of stamps and marks. Mr. Jewitt +says such pieces are rare in England. They certainly +have not been rare in New England. Some of the lustre +pieces may be assigned to Newcastle. The Woods also +manufactured them, while at Shelton were made pieces +with lustre borders and black printed designs signed +“Bentley, Weare and Bourne, Engravers and Printers, +Shelton, Staffordshire.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>I have never seen a dinner set of lustre ware—only tea-sets, +comprising usually a teapot, sugar-box, creamer, +bowl, a dozen tea-plates (often of different design and +paste), two cake-plates, a dozen cups and saucers, and +sometimes a dozen little cup-plates. Salt-cellars, pepper-boxes, +and mustard-pots of similar lustre are seen, and +sometimes wine-glasses, or rather wine-cups—but never +any of the pieces of dinner services. Pitchers appear in +various sizes. The china is usually clear and fine in +quality, but the design is often confused. A few punch-bowls +of copper-lustre on coarse pottery have also been +found in New England, but are curious rather than +beautiful.</p> + +<p class='c011'>I have never been able to add to my collection, +through china hunting, but one piece of Worcester porcelain, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_134'>134</span>the one shown on page <a href='#Page_29'>29</a>, nor have I ever +seen in a country home a piece of Chelsea, Coalport, +Pinxton, or Nantgawr porcelain, and but one set of +Spode, which was seized from an English vessel by a +Yankee privateersman in the war of 1812, and brought +triumphantly into Salem Harbor. Nor, may I add, have +I ever seen a piece of pottery or porcelain of Continental +manufacture, save Delft. For any porcelain save +that made in China and England, American collectors +must turn to china dealers.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_135'>135</span> + <h2 class='c005'>VII.<br> LIVERPOOL AND OTHER PRINTED WARE</h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c014'>At the end of the past and beginning of the present +century, great numbers of cream-colored pottery +pitchers and mugs were printed in England with +various designs and were sent to the United States for +sale. These pieces were advertised in early Federal +days, and are known as “yellow ware” and Liverpool +ware, and are found in seaport towns on the Atlantic +coast, especially in New England. Many bore mottoes, +inscriptions, likenesses, and views relating to America +and the celebrated Americans of the time, and thus +form interesting mementos of the wars of the Revolution +and of 1812. I have never seen a Liverpool pitcher +in an inland country home, nor have I ever had one offered +to me for sale in an inland town, either in a private +home or an antique shop. The reasons for this are +very simple: many of them were brought to America +by Yankee sailors and sailing-masters who lived, as a +rule, in seaport towns, and importations of these pitchers +were not transported inland in ante-railroad days with +the facility and safety that we find possible nowadays; +and, best reason of all, nine-tenths of them with their +ornamentation of ships and brigs and ropes and anchors +were made to tickle the fancy of a seafaring man, and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_136'>136</span>did not appeal to the sentiment of a land-lubber of a +farmer.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It is always a great delight to the inland-dwelling +and novelty-seeking china hunter when she enters a +low, single-storied seaside home, and spies on the mantelpiece +a creamy Naval or Sailor pitcher flanked by +a carved Indian idol and an elaborate model of the +“Nimble Nine-pence,” the “Belisarius,” or the “Three +Wives” (named by one stanch old widower after he +was married to wife number four). Her joy is, as a rule, +quickly turned to lamentation, for the housewife who +values her Liverpool pitcher enough to place it on her +parlor mantel, will never be “willing to part with it.” +And here let me render my thanks to the American +merchant service. Blessings on those dead and gone +old seafaring Yankees who risked their lives on the +stormy seas and brought home “behind their wooden +walls” the variety and wealth of china and crockery +that have descended to us, a pathetic reminder of the +weary watch on deck and the homesick hours in cabin +or forecastle.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A few Liverpool plates with Masonic designs are +found, and some teapots, but the majority of Liverpool +ware that was imported to this country was in the form +of mugs and what are known as “watermelon” pitchers. +I know of one great yellow ware cheese-dish in Newport—a +curious stand or frame in which a whole cheese two +feet in diameter could be placed upright on its edge and +thus served and cut on the table; but such pieces are +exceptional.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_137'>137</span>I am impressed when looking over the lists of sales +and the catalogues of existing collections in England, +that china collectors find in America more, cheaper, and +more varied specimens of Liverpool wares, especially +those bearing transfer prints, than can be found in England. +They abound in American antique shops. Even +the rarest and most interesting of all—prints on tiles, +pitchers, and teapots bearing the mark of Sadler—are +often discovered here. A whole set of Sadler’s tiles was +taken from an old colonial house in Newport.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Previous to the Revolutionary War no porcelain or +pottery was made specially for America, or, at any rate, +none with special designs; but after we became a separate +nation the English potters made much china and +crockery for the American market, and made patterns +for individual purchasers as well. Washington and +Franklin were the American names best known in England +previous to the year 1800; and I have never seen +Liverpool pieces that could be assigned to an earlier +date of manufacture than 1800 that bore the names even +of any other Revolutionary heroes or statesmen, except, +possibly, two pitchers decorated with battle-scenes, +which are entitled respectively, “Death of Warren” and +“Death of Montgomery;” a pitcher with a portrait of +Adams, and one mug printed with the name and portrait +of John Hancock. Englishmen had vague ideas of +the names of our States as well, for Boston and “Tenasee” +often appear on these wares in the list of the thirteen +States.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The number of stars depicted upon the American +<span class='pageno' id='Page_138'>138</span>flag or shield on these and Staffordshire pieces is often +held up as ample testimony to the date of the piece. +Such reasoning is, of course, absurd. English engravers +and potters were as ignorant about the number of States +as they were about the names of the States, and might +easily have given fifteen stars when there were only +thirteen States, or clung to the number thirteen long +after we had twenty States. I have seen several designs +with the United States flag bearing twelve and even +nine stars.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Many of these pitchers are decorated with designs relating +to the character, life, and death of Washington, +and such are known as Washington pitchers. A list +of the prints upon these pitchers is given in Chapter +XIII., devoted to the china commemorative of Washington. +These pitchers bear portraits and sentiments, +verses or inscriptions eulogizing the virtues and bravery +of the “glorious American,” or indicative of our national +loss, and grief at his death. The lines, “Deafness to the +ear that will patiently hear, and dumbness to the tongue +that will utter a calumny against the immortal Washington,” +were much favored and printed by English potters, +and were placed on pitchers and mugs of many sizes and +shapes. The legend fails to tell, however, the awful fate +which should fall on the hand which limned the senile, +feeble, forlorn caricatures of the face of Washington +which usually appear in company with the lines, and +make us suspect intentional malice in the British artist. +These absurd likenesses vary as much as did the canvas +portraits of the Father of His Country at the recent +<span class='pageno' id='Page_139'>139</span>Centennial Loan Collection at the Metropolitan Opera +House in New York, and in some cases bear no resemblance +whatever to the well-known benign countenance, +and are evidently a portrait of some English general +falsely labelled Washington.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id006'> +<img src='images/i_155.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>An English Notion of Washington.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>There is a print found on cream-colored teapots and +plates and jugs that look like Liverpool ware, which is +sometimes called “Washington and Martha Drinking +Tea,” by American dealers who assert that the two figures +in the out-of-doors tea-party are intended for the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_140'>140</span>General and his “lady,” as he called her. The man in +this print certainly bears a marked though somewhat +mincing likeness to our first President, while the fact +that the servant who approaches with a teakettle is a +negro, is offered as conclusive proof that the scene is +laid in America; and indeed, I have seen one teapot +upon which was pasted a paper label with the words, +“Scene at Mount Vernon, George and Martha Washington +Drinking Tea.” Of course every china student, +and indeed every person of art education, knows that +the figures of negro servants appear in many English +tea-party prints of that date, in such, for instance, as the +watch-back of Battersea enamel engraved by Richard +Hancock, of the Worcester China Works, and in the +transfer prints by the same artist, shown on page <a href='#Page_235'>235</a>, +Vol. I., of Jewitt’s “Ceramic Art in Great Britain.” The +pieces bearing this “George Washington” print that I +have seen, bore no stamp to show the place of manufacture; +but there is a tea-canister numbered G 252 in +the Museum of Practical Geology, printed with this +scene, which has the impressed mark “Wedgwood.” +It also has on the other side of the canister the same +group of shepherds and sheep that I have seen on +many pieces in America. I am afraid we cannot claim +this as a Washington print. It was engraved when +Washington was a struggling surveyor, when no Englishmen, +and few Americans, even knew his name. Miss +Meteyard says that this group is from one of Jenssen’s +printed enamels, and she gives an illustration of +it on page <a href='#Page_64'>64</a>, Vol. II., of her “Life of Wedgwood.” +<span class='pageno' id='Page_141'>141</span>I only mention this among the Liverpool prints, and +as possibly eligible to the Washington list, in order to +prove (to make an Irish bull) that it is certainly not +the one and probably not the other. It is quite as interesting, +however, to the china collector (if not to the +historical student or the relic hunter) as an example of +Hancock’s designs for transfer-printing; and when one +of these teapots is offered for $1.50 (as I have had one +in a New York shop within a year), it is well for any +collector to buy it.</p> + +<p class='c011'>I will say here that these cream-ware pitchers are not +from Liverpool factories alone, they are from various Staffordshire +potteries, but all cream-colored printed pitchers +are generally known in America by the name of Liverpool +ware. Some, of course, are unmistakably so, for +they bear the various marks of the Herculaneum Pottery, +or the figure of the bird which was the crest of the +arms of Liverpool—the liver or lever. A special design +or mark of the American eagle with the words “Herculaneum +Pottery, Liverpool,” seems to have been made +for pieces intended for the American market, and often +appears upon them.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The heroes and victories of the American navy form +frequent decorations of the specimens of this printed +pottery that are found in America. The first Naval +pitchers bore the design of a ship or a frigate under +full sail, with the American flag and the words, “Success +to the Infant Navy of America.” These were +printed to commemorate Truxton’s capture of the +French frigates Insurgente and La Vengeance while +<span class='pageno' id='Page_142'>142</span>he was commander of the Constellation during our little +marine war with France in 1799. This capture was +honored in a popular song called “Truxton’s Victory,” +and was as great a source of delight to Englishmen as +to Americans. Truxton received from England many +tokens of esteem, including a service of silver plate +worth over $3,000. Long and bitterly during the constant +naval defeats of the English in the War of 1812 +must those British merchants have regretted that silver +token of encouragement to the American Navy. A gold +medal was ordered by Congress to be struck in honor of +this victory, as was also done in honor of each of the +naval heroes of the war of 1812. And many pitchers +and mugs were decorated with their portraits and names +in order to commemorate their victories.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It seems odd that English potters should have made +so many pitchers bearing testimony to the victories of +their late enemies, unless they were ordered by American +dealers specially for the American market; but I +have never seen anything to prove that such orders were +given.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Many pieces bear the portrait of Perry and the words +of his famous dispatch, “We have met the enemy and +they are ours.” I never look at a Perry pitcher without +thinking with interest and pleasure of this brave young +captain, who was only twenty-seven years old when he +achieved his famous victory. He fought the fierce +naval battle clad in his sailor’s suit, but changed at +the last to his full-dress uniform in order to receive the +surrendering English officer with full dignity. Nor do I +<span class='pageno' id='Page_143'>143</span>ever see the jolly round face of Hull on pitcher or mug +without thinking of his comical appearance during the +naval battle between the Constitution and the Guerrière, +in which he won such deserved honors. Hull was very +fat, and being somewhat dandified wore very tight +breeches. When, in that fierce contest, he gave his first +roar of command to the gunners, “Now, boys, pour into +them—Free Trade and Seamen’s Rights!” he bent over +twice in his intense excitement and split his tight +breeches from waistband to knee. He was more of a +soldier than a dandy, however, for he finished the battle +and captured the English ship in that “undress uniform.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Of course the pitchers decorated with American subjects +are most interesting to Americans, but there are +many other Liverpool pitchers found in New England, +which bear, instead of American heroes and battles, such +lines as these:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Dear Tom this brown jug</div> + <div class='line in2'>Which now foams with new ale,</div> + <div class='line'>Out of which I will drink</div> + <div class='line in2'>To sweet Nan of the Vale.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>Another has the jovial inscription, “One Pot more—and +then—why then—Another Pot of course.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>And this sharp warning is given to those who would +wish to drink and not to pay:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Customers came and I did trust ’em,</div> + <div class='line'>So I lost my money and my custom,</div> + <div class='line'>And to lose both it grieves me sore,</div> + <div class='line'>So I am resolved to trust no more.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_144'>144</span>A few pieces bear less decorous and elegant verses, such +as the mug deriding the Established Church, labelled, +“Tythe in Kind or the Sow’s Revenge.” A clergyman +bent on collecting tithes is being attacked by a sow in a +pigsty. The farmer’s family are laughing while the +parson is crying out:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“The fattest pig it is my due;</div> + <div class='line'>Oh! save me from the wicked sow.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>Another pitcher has a fling at the Romish Church, for +it bears a likeness of his Satanic Majesty and of a priest, +with the words,</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“When Pope absolves</div> + <div class='line'>The Devil smiles.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>I have seen in America a number of drinking-mugs of +cream-colored ware, which may properly be spoken of +here, though it is doubtful whether many of them were +made in Liverpool. They have the raised figure of a +toad or frog placed inside, with the pleasingly jocose intention +of surprising and scaring the drinker, who would +fancy as the ugly head rose out of the decreasing liquor +that it was a real batrachian climbing up the side to +jump down his throat. One of these mugs had the +frog tinted a dull green and brown, entirely too natural +and life-like in color to prove pleasant or appetizing. +Another two-handled Frog mug was of coarse white +ware, unpainted, and had an exceedingly modern look. +This was probably Newcastle ware. The price asked +for these in “antique shops” is usually three or four dollars +<span class='pageno' id='Page_145'>145</span>apiece. I have seen none with mottoes as has the +one numbered S 17, in the Museum of Practical Geology.</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Though malt and venom</div> + <div class='line in2'>Seem united,</div> + <div class='line'>Don’t break my pot</div> + <div class='line in2'>Nor be affrighted.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>These Frog mugs are usually large in diameter, and +are sometimes decorated externally with designs of +ships or naval heroes. The frog’s appearance in sight +would then prove more effectually terrifying than if the +drinker were warned by an instructive motto of the +figured reptile within.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Another agreeable old English practical joke is in the +shape of puzzle jugs, specimens of which exist in England, +but have been rarely found in America. They +were made in Liverpool and Staffordshire in the seventeenth +and eighteenth century, and in salt-glazed stone-ware +at Nottingham in the eighteenth and nineteenth +centuries. They were so constructed that when lifted +to the lips they emptied by secret passages their liquid +contents over the face and breast of the drinker. Sometimes +there were three spouts from the rim. If the +drinker covered two of the spouts with his fingers, he +could drink from the third. This motto is on a puzzle +jug of earthenware, of Liverpool make, in the collection +of George M. Wales, Esq., of Boston:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Here, gentlemen, come try y<sup>r</sup> skill;</div> + <div class='line'>Ill hold a wager, if you will,</div> + <div class='line'>That you don’t drink this liq<sup>r</sup> all</div> + <div class='line'>Without you spill or let some fall.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_146'>146</span>Another rhyming inscription reads:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“From mother earth I took my birth,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Then form’d a Jug by Man,</div> + <div class='line'>And now I stand here filled with good cheer—</div> + <div class='line in2'>Taste of me if you can.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>Another short invitation reads:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“This ale is good, taste.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>And when you tasted, in good faith, you received a beery +shower-bath, which was no doubt considered very funny +by eighteenth-century Englishmen.</p> + +<p class='c011'>On another is written:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Mathew the V 16.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>—not a very appropriate text-reference.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Still another rhyming challenge reads thus:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“A Crown Ile bet</div> + <div class='line'>That None can get</div> + <div class='line in2'>The ale that’s in this Jug,</div> + <div class='line'>Nor drink his fill</div> + <div class='line'>Without he spill</div> + <div class='line in2'>And shall not use a plug.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>A puzzle jug in the possession of the Vintners’ Company +is in the shape of a milkmaid bearing a pail. The +pail is set on a swivel, and when the drinker tries to +swallow the liquor, the pail sends its contents over his +chest.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id006'> +<span class='pageno' id='Page_147'>147</span> +<img src='images/i_163.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Masonic Pitcher.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>Cream-ware pitchers bearing Masonic emblems are frequently +found, usually having also the name of the person +by whom they were ordered, or for whom they were +made. These rather egotistical lines were prime favorites +among these pitcher-buying Masons:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“The world is in pain</div> + <div class='line'>Our Secret to gain,</div> + <div class='line'>But still let them wonder & gaze on,</div> + <div class='line'>For they ne’er can divine</div> + <div class='line'>The word nor the sign</div> + <div class='line'>Of a Free and Accepted Mason.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>Another much-used set of Masonic verses runs thus:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“We help the poor in time of need</div> + <div class='line'>The naked cloath, the Hungry feed;</div> + <div class='line in2'><span class='pageno' id='Page_148'>148</span>’Tis our Foundation stone.</div> + <div class='line'>We build upon the noblest plan,</div> + <div class='line'>Where Friendship rivets man to man</div> + <div class='line in2'>And makes us all as one.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>And a third:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“To judge with candour and to speak no wrong,</div> + <div class='line'>The feeble to support against the strong,</div> + <div class='line'>To soothe the wretched and the poor to feed,</div> + <div class='line'>Will cover many an idle, foolish deed.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>Some of these Masonic pitchers are of enormous size, +as if the buyers wished as much of a pitcher as possible +for their money. Many of them were printed at the +Worcester factory. I have also seen some fine designs +that had been drawn with a pen by hand in mineral +colors and then fired in. Pitchers and mugs of Chinese +porcelain are also seen with decorations of Masonic emblems +and mottoes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Sailor pitchers are found in comparatively large numbers, +with touching prints of a sailor bidding an affectionate +farewell to his lass, under a flag and over an anchor, +accompanied by such appropriate verses as the following:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“When this you see</div> + <div class='line'>Pray think of me</div> + <div class='line'>And keep me in your mind;</div> + <div class='line'>Let all the world</div> + <div class='line'>Say what they will,</div> + <div class='line'>Think of me as you find.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>Or this legend, a misquotation from Charles Dibdin’s +song:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“D’ye see a cherub sits smiling aloft</div> + <div class='line'>To keep watch o’er the life of poor Jack.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_149'>149</span>This is often accompanied by the figure of a fat little +cherub perched in the rigging of a ship. These Sailor +pitchers were brought home frequently at the end of a +voyage as gifts for a sweetheart or a wife, as is plainly +seen by these verses printed with a picture called “The +Sailor’s Return”:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“I now the joys of Life renew</div> + <div class='line'>From care and trouble free,</div> + <div class='line'>And find a wife who’s kind and true</div> + <div class='line'>To drive life’s cares away.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>And also this tender sentiment:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“The troubled main, the wind & rain,</div> + <div class='line in2'>My ardent passion prove</div> + <div class='line'>Lashed to the helm, should seas o’erwhelm</div> + <div class='line in2'>I’ll think on thee, my love.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>Or these lines:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Kindly take this gift of mine,</div> + <div class='line'>The gift and giver I hope is thine,</div> + <div class='line'>And tho’ the value is but small</div> + <div class='line'>A loving heart is worth it all.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>It is a curious fact that feminine owners are exceptionally +unwilling “to part with” these Sailor pitchers. +A halo of past romance, of sentimental fancy, +surrounds the yellow ware love token that “Uncle Eben +brought from Injy to Aunt Hannah,” or “my grandpa +got painted in Chiny for my grandma when he was +courtin’ her” (for even these staidly sombre English +pitchers are gloriously Oriental in country owners’ eyes). +This latent longing for sentiment, this tender sympathy +<span class='pageno' id='Page_150'>150</span>with youthful love and affection, lies hidden deep in +every woman’s heart, no matter what her age; and, in +the dull, repressed life of many New England homes, +finds expression in a stolid clinging to the only visible +token of a love and lovers long since dead. One stout +old woman, with calm face but suspiciously shaky voice +and hands, brought out for our admiring view, in company +with a crimson silk crêpe shawl, a pair of small +Liverpool pitchers printed with a spirited marine view +of a full-rigged ship, the names John Daggett and Eliza +Maxom, and this doggerel rhyme:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“No more I’ll roam,</div> + <div class='line'>I’ll stay at home,</div> + <div class='line'>To sail no more</div> + <div class='line'>From shore to shore,</div> + <div class='line'>But with my wife</div> + <div class='line'>Lead a happy, peaceful life.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>“Who gave you them pretty picture pitchers, Grandma?” +said the little child who was clinging to her skirts. +“John Daggett ordered ’em painted for him an’ me in +Liverpool on the last trip he ever went on. He was the +han’somest man ye ever see! He died on the v’yage +home, an’ yer Granpa, he was a-seafarin’ then, he stopped +an’ got ’em on the way back, an’ brought ’em home ter +me.” Alas! poor John Daggett! your thoughtful gifts +of love furnished forth another wedding-feast with the +considerate sailor-companion as groom and comforter. +But though passed to “a happy, peaceful life” on a far-distant +shore, you are not forgotten, but through the +reminiscent power of your last gift, live a tender idealized +<span class='pageno' id='Page_151'>151</span>memory, a dream of eternal unchanging youth and +beauty, in your dear lass’s thoughts. Your two Liverpool +pitchers have never been thoughtlessly or carelessly +used in your shipmate’s, in “Grandpa’s,” home; they +have lain for half a century unscratched, unnicked, unbroken, +true cinerary urns of vanished hopes and promises, +wrapped in the crimson crêpe shawl in the deep +drawer of a high chest in your old sweetheart’s “spare-room.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>In this case we encountered a sentiment which we +have met more than once—a willingness on the part of +the owner, when she found we admired the piece, to let +us have it, since we would cherish it safe and unharmed, +rather than to give it or leave it to relatives who had +openly derided it or called it a worthless old thing. As +this New England sentimentalist expressed it, while she +slowly folded the shawl around the beloved pitchers, +“I’d almost ruther let ye have ’em, ye seem to set such +store by ’em, than ter leave ’em ter Asa’s wife, she aint +brought up the children extry careful, an’ I know they’d +smash ’em in no time, or put ’em in hot water or knock +the nose off. Come again next year an’ I’ll think it +over, I hate ter part with ’em just yet after I’ve kep’ ’em +fer fifty-two year an’ three months, but I’ll see.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Various prints that are of more interest to Englishmen +than to Americans are seen on these Liverpool pitchers; +such is the view on the large mug owned by an old +Newport resident, which bears the inscription, “An East +View of Liverpool Lighthouse and Signals on Bilston +Hill, 1788.” In the centre of the design is a lighthouse +<span class='pageno' id='Page_152'>152</span>with forty-four signals around it. Each signal is numbered, +and below is a key with the names of the vessels +and their owners. This print also occurs on plates. In +the days before the telegraph Liverpool merchants were +wont to go down to the riverside, about two or three +hours before high tide, to see whether there were any +flags hoisted on the lighthouse poles, as was always +done when a vessel came in sight. Thus were owners +notified a few hours in advance of the approach of their +craft to port.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Another mug owned by the same gentleman has a +map with a caricature of Napoleon Bonaparte standing +with one foot on Germany. The other foot, having +been placed on England, has been cut off by John Bull, +who says, “I ax pardon, Master Boney, but, as we say, +Pares of Pompey, we keep this spot to ourselves. You +must not dance here, Master Boney.” Napoleon is saying, +“You tam John Bull, you have spoil my dance, +you have ruin my projects.” A second Bonaparte +mug has a red print of John Bull sitting upon a pedestal, +inscribed “The British Constitution.” He looks +across the Channel at Napoleon, who is weeping and +crying out, “O! my poor Crazy Gun Boats, why did I +venture so far from home,” while John Bull says, “I +told you they would all be swamp’d, but you would be +so Damned Obstinate.” The inscription is “Patience +on a Monument smiling at Grief,” with this distich:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“The Mighty Chief with fifty thousand Men</div> + <div class='line'>Marched to the Coast and March’d back again.</div> + <div class='line in10'>Ha! Ha! Ha!”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_153'>153</span>A third Bonaparte mug is thus described in <cite>Notes +and Queries</cite>:</p> + +<p class='c020'>“Under a trophy of arms are figures of John Bull and Napoleon. +John Bull is in the act of striking his opponent with his right +fist a severe blow on the nose; the nether end of Napoleon is +at the same time in collision with sturdy John Bull’s left boot. +Inscription, ‘See here John Bull drubbing Bonaparte!’ On +either side of the picture we have,</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c021'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘What! to conquer all England how dares he pretend,</div> + <div class='line in2'>This ambitious but vain undertaker,</div> + <div class='line'>When he knows to his cost that where Britons defend,</div> + <div class='line in2'>He’s unable to conquer one Acre!’</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c020'>‘If your beggarly soldiers come among us, they’ll soon have +enough of it; and, damn me, if any ten of you shall have +my person or property—so be off!’ ‘Damn ye! you black-hearted, +treacherous Corsican! if you were not such a little +bit of a fellow in spite of your large cocked hat, I’d crack +your skull in an instant with my fist.’”</p> + +<p class='c013'>Another bears these short and pointed lines:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“May England’s oak</div> + <div class='line in2'>Produce the bark</div> + <div class='line'>To tan the hide</div> + <div class='line in2'>Of Bonaparte,”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c013'>which, though shaky in rhyme, are certainly more effective +than the illiterate, profane, and overlong inscriptions +on other Bonaparte mugs.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A well-engraved and well-designed Liverpool print is +that of “The Farmers’ Arms,” with armorial design ingeniously +formed of hay-rakes, scythes, flails, ploughs, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_154'>154</span>churns, sickles, etc., the mottoes being “In God we +Trust,” and “Industry produceth Wealth.” On the +other side are these verses:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in4'>“May the mighty and great</div> + <div class='line in4'>Roll in splendor and state,</div> + <div class='line'>I envy them not, I declare it,</div> + <div class='line in4'>I eat my own Lamb,</div> + <div class='line in4'>My own chicken and ham,</div> + <div class='line'>I shear my own sheep and I wear it.</div> + <div class='line in4'>I have lawns, I have Bowers,</div> + <div class='line in4'>I have Fruits, I have Flowers,</div> + <div class='line'>The Lark is my morning Alarmer;</div> + <div class='line in4'>So you Jolly Dogs now,</div> + <div class='line in4'>Here’s God bless the plow—</div> + <div class='line'>Long life and content to the Farmer.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>One of these really artistic Farmer pitchers with this +inscription and design sold at an auction in New York +for only seven dollars and a half, in spite of the catalogue’s +alluring description of its “having once belonged +to Robert Burns.” A similar one, numbered S 32, is in +the Museum of Practical Geology in London, and is +also described in Mayer’s “Art of Pottery and History +of its Progress in Liverpool.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Besides the design of the “Farmers’ Arms” is found +that of the “Blacksmiths’ Arms,” with the motto “By +Hammer and Hand all Arts do Stand;” the “Bucks’ +Arms,” with stag and huntsmen, and the motto “Freedom +with Innocence;” the “Bakers’ Arms,” and the +motto, “Praise God for All;” the “Hatters’ Arms,” with +the motto, “We Assist Each Other in Time of Need.”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_155'>155</span>Many of these Liverpool pitchers have an individual +interest connected with their original manufacture. +They were the favorite expression of respect of ships +crews to their commanders, of workmen to their employers. +Such is the beautiful pitcher owned by A. M. +Prentiss, Esq., bearing the motto, “Success to Henry +Prentiss and his Employ, 1789.” Henry Prentiss was +a Revolutionary hero, a member of the Tea Party, a +wealthy Boston merchant, a large cotton manufacturer, +a successful horticulturist, a man whose name brings to +old residents of Boston and Cambridge the memory of +many a story of his shrewdness and intelligence.</p> + +<p class='c011'>S. Yendell, great-grandfather of the present Governor +of Massachusetts, was similarly honored by a mammoth +presentation pitcher, which is owned by Mrs. Russel, of +Cambridge. It bears a print of the Columbia, on which +ship Mr. Yendell sailed on the famous voyage when the +Columbia River was discovered, in 1791. That does +not seem very long ago! Mr. Yendell lived till 1867. +To be sure, he was then the oldest man in Boston, +ninety-seven years of age.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The art of transfer-printing on pottery and porcelain, +by which all these pieces are decorated, has completely +revolutionized the business of china decoration in England, +and cheapened the price of decorated crockery, as +did the invention of types and printing cheapen and +multiply books. John Sadler, who invented the process +of transfer-printing, was originally an engraver. +He had his attention first called to the possibility and +desirability of china-printing by a very trifling incident—by +<span class='pageno' id='Page_156'>156</span>seeing some children when playing “doll’s house” +paste on broken pieces of crockery, pictures cut from +waste-paper prints which he had thrown away.</p> + +<p class='c011'>For years he and his partner, Guy Green, managed to +keep his invention enough of a secret, so that he printed +not only for Liverpool works, but for many others. +Much of the Wedgwood Queens-ware was stamped by +him, being made at the Wedgwood factory, carried in +wagons over bad roads to Liverpool, and, after being +printed, returned in the same manner to Burslem to be +fired. In spite of all this manipulation and transportation +it could be sold cheaply, for Sadler’s tariff of prices +for transfer-printing was very low. “For printing a +table and tea-service of two hundred and fifty pieces for +David Garrick, £8 6s. 1½d. Twenty-five dozen half-tiles +printing and colouring, £1 5s.” These printed half-tiles +were sold for 2s. 6d. a dozen, while the black printed +whole tiles brought only 5s. a dozen.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Sadler’s process was very simple. He printed on +paper with an ordinary copper or steel plate, then laid +the print while wet on the glazed piece of pottery. +Then, upon pressing it, the ink was transferred to the +pottery piece, and afterward burnt in. Nearly all these +wares were printed in black, but some have the prints in +blue, and some in vermilion. Others, printed in black +outlines, are filled in by hand with various colors, sometimes +with very good effect.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Hancock and Holdship followed quickly in Sadler’s +wake, in printing on pottery and porcelain in Worcester, +and there bat-printing was introduced at a later date. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_157'>157</span>In this process linseed-oil was used instead of ink, and +the oil design was printed on a “bat,” or sheet of prepared +glue and treacle, which, being pliable, adapted +itself readily to the shape of the pottery article to be +printed, and transferred to it the oil lines of the design. +Powdered color was dusted on these oil lines, the superfluous +color being removed by cotton wool, and then +fired in. Engravings for bat-printing were usually in +stipple work, and the prints can readily be recognized +and distinguished from those of transfer-printing.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It is interesting to us to know that an American who +seemed to have a hand in every invention of his day, +had also his little share in the suggestion, if not in +the discovery, of printing upon pottery and porcelain. +Benjamin Franklin wrote thus from London, November +3, 1773, to some unknown person:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I was much pleased with the specimens you so +kindly sent me of your new art of engraving. That on +the china is admirable. No one would suppose it anything +but painting. I hope you meet with all the encouragement +you merit, and that the invention will be +what inventions seldom are, profitable to the inventor. +Now, we are speaking of inventions, I know not who pretends +to that of copper-plate engraving for earthen ware, +and I am not disposed to contest the honor with anybody, +as the improvement in taking impressions not directly +from the plate, but from printed paper, applicable +by that means to other than flat forms, is far beyond my +first idea. But I have reason to apprehend that I might +have given the hint on which that improvement was +<span class='pageno' id='Page_158'>158</span>made; for, more than twenty years since, I wrote to Dr. +Mitchell from America proposing to him the printing of +square tiles for ornamenting chimneys, from copper-plates, +describing the manner in which I thought it +might be done, and advising the borrowing from the +booksellers the plates that had been used in a thin folio +called ‘Moral Virtue Delineated,’ for that purpose. +The Dutch Delft-ware tiles were much used in America, +which are only or chiefly Scripture histories wretchedly +scrawled. I wished to have those moral prints, which +were originally taken from Horace’s poetical figures, introduced +in tiles, which, being about our chimneys are +constantly in the eyes of the children when by the fireside, +might give parents an opportunity in explaining +them to express moral sentiments, and I gave expectations +of great demands for them if executed. Dr. Mitchell +wrote me in answer that he had communicated my +scheme to several of the artists in the earthen way about +London, who rejected it as impracticable; and it was +not till some years after that I first saw an enamelled +snuff-box, which I was sure was from a copper-plate, +though the curvature of the form made me wonder how +the impression was taken.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Sadly and deprecatingly must “Poor Richard” have +examined the printed tiles of John Sadler, for no “moral +virtues delineated” thereon are depicted. He found, +instead, the representation of such trivial and unmoral +pastimes as dancing, beer-drinking, pipe-smoking, fortune-telling—the +latter design being of an astrologer +seated at a table telling the fortunes of two young women. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_159'>159</span>One fair maid smiles with delighted anticipation as +she receives a paper of prophecy inscribed “A brisk +husband and son,” while the other poor creature is departing, +shedding bitter tears of disappointment, with a +similar paper bearing the depressing words, “Never to +be married.” American children doubtless lost much desirable +and laudable parental instruction when Franklin’s +worthy scheme failed in execution, but they were also +spared many a fireside lecture and nagging. How they +would have come to hate the sight of those moral lesson +tiles!</p> + +<p class='c011'>And while I am speaking of transfer-printing, let me +call attention to some pretty little ceramic relics of a +quaint old-time fashion, that are sometimes overlooked by +collectors—“mirror-knobs”—“Lookeing Glasse Nobs” +I find them called in ante-Revolutionary advertisements. +These knobs consisted usually of a painted or printed +medallion, frequently enamelled on the metal, or on little +oval porcelain placques or discs, which were then fastened +in brass, gilt or silvered frames, and mounted on a +long and strong screw or spike. Two of these knobs +were screwed into the wall about a foot apart, so that the +oval-framed medallions stood out two or three inches +from the wall. The lower edge of a mirror or picture +frame was allowed to rest on the iron screws behind +these two ornamental heads. These mirror-knobs were +also used to fasten back window curtains. The head of +the mirror-knob was usually decorated by the process of +transfer-printing; sentimental views of shepherds and +shepherdesses, mincing heads of powdered French dames, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_160'>160</span>and unintentionally funny likenesses of many of our +Revolutionary heroes and statesmen. The portrait of +Washington which was employed was fairly good; of +Franklin in the fur-cap, quite well drawn; but the others +that I have seen vied with one another in comical ugliness, +save that of John Jay, always too fine in feature to +be caricatured. In the Huntington collection in the +Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York, may be +seen a few of these mirror-knobs with portraits of Franklin, +John Jay, C. Thompson, W. H. Drayton, John Dickinson, +S. Huntington, Major-General Gaines, and an exceptionally +ugly one of H. Laurens, with a phenomenally +attenuated neck, a mere bone of a neck. Often +these little printed miniatures are in black and white, +but more frequently they are printed in outline, and +faintly and delicately colored. I wish I knew where +they were made, and who ordered them and imported +and sold them, and who drew them. I think that they +were made in Worcester, not in Liverpool. Aged country +people tantalizingly tell me of mirror-knobs made +of discs with white raised heads and figures on blue +grounds—Wedgwood medallions, were they not? But +they have all vanished from my ken, even the printed +knobs are now seldom seen. I know one drawer of an +old dressing-case in quiet Hadley town that holds fifteen +beautiful mirror-knobs, all whole, uncracked, unscratched; +but you will never see them nor buy them. +You might steal them, perhaps, if you only knew which +elm-shaded house contained them—you might steal the +whole dressing-case, indeed, if you were only quiet about +<span class='pageno' id='Page_161'>161</span>it, and you might walk the entire mile and a half of the +beautiful main street with the stolen furniture on your +back and meet not a soul to question or wonder.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Of the same class and decoration and of the same +materials were many dainty snuff-boxes and patch-boxes +that were made and used in England and imported to +America. The latter pretty trinkets were tiny oval or +round boxes about an inch and a half or two inches in +diameter, frequently made of fine Battersea enamel, or +of china medallions set in silver or gilt frames. Within +the lid was always found a little mirror, usually of polished +steel, in which the fair owner might peep to freshly +set or rearrange her coquettish patches. One patch-box +I have bears this motto on the top:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Have Communion with few,</div> + <div class='line'>Be familiar with one,</div> + <div class='line'>Deal Justly with all,</div> + <div class='line'>Speak evil of None.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>Another has a more frivolous verse:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Within this Beauty views her face</div> + <div class='line'>And with the patch gives added grace.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>Still another:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Love and Beauty conquer all,</div> + <div class='line in6'>Love to Beauty.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>Sometimes, as with the mirror-knobs, a little painting +of shepherds and shepherdesses is set in the lid, and, +with the jewelled and enamelled border, form a trifle +dainty enough to rival any modern bonbonnières. These +<span class='pageno' id='Page_162'>162</span>patch-boxes and “Gum Patches,” or “Patches for +ladies,” or “Face Patches,” were advertised freely in +American newspapers for many years previous to the +Revolution—as early, surely, as 1750 in the <cite>Boston Evening +Post</cite>; and patches were universally worn by American +beauties, as Whitefield and other pious travellers +sadly deplored. “China Snuff Boxes” were offered for +sale in the <cite>Boston Evening Post</cite> of April 16, 1773, were +bought and filled with Kippen’s snuff, were lost on Boston +streets, were advertised for reward in Boston papers, +and no doubt proudly and ostentatiously carried by Boston +beaux, as well as by Charleston macaronis. A few +snuff-boxes of Battersea enamel still remain to show +us how lovely they were, but the frail china ones have +nearly all been destroyed, and when still existing are +usually sadly cracked and disfigured. China and Battersea +enamel “tooth-pick cases” were also imported and +carried by Boston beaux.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But we must leave these dainty quaint trinkets and +go back to the far less beautiful Liverpool pitchers. +Though they have no great charm of color, shape, or +design, and are, in fact, the least graceful and beautiful +of all the old English wares commonly found in America, +all the historical pitchers must certainly be of great +interest to students of American history, as records and +relics of the early days of the United States. As new +pieces bearing hitherto unknown designs are constantly +being found, they will form, in fact do now form, with +the old blue Staffordshire plates, a valuable and lasting +ceramic record of the early days of our nation. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_163'>163</span>Let us hope that they will be carefully preserved by all +who are fortunate enough to own them; and, if they are +not placed in the safe keeping of museums or cabinet +collections, at least be kept from the debasing uses and +positions in which I have seen them in country homes. +My patriotic heart has thrilled with wounded indignation +to see mugs and pitchers bearing such honored and +venerated names and faces, battered, nicked, and handleless, +despitefully used to hold herb-teas, soft-soap, horse-liniment, +or tooth-brushes. I saw one Washington +pitcher, noseless and fairly crenated with nicks, shamefully +degraded to use as a jug to carry to the hen-house +the hot water with which to prepare the chicken-food; +while another contained a villainous-looking purple-black +liquid compound which the owner explained was +“Pa’s hair-restorer.” In spite of careless use, however, +many specimens still exist, for “antique” dealers find +them for their shops. In one Newport bric-a-brac shop +I saw, in the summer of 1891, at least fifteen Liverpool +pitchers varying in price from five dollars for a small +Sailor pitcher to thirty-five dollars for a fine perfect +Apotheosis Pitcher.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Fortunate is the household, and happy and proud +should be its members, that possesses one of these historic +relics. I know of no better way to impress upon a +child, or to recall to a grown person, the lesson of bravery, +courage, and love of country, than by showing him +the likenesses of Perry, Decatur, and Lawrence on mug +or pitcher, and telling to him their story, and reading or +reciting the old ballads and songs written about them. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_164'>164</span>Nor do I know of any more noble example of Christian +piety than that of the brave Macdonough, whose name +is so often seen on these pieces of old English ware. +Before the battle of Lake Champlain, when the deck of +the Saratoga was cleared for action, he knelt upon the +deck with his officers and men around him, asked Almighty +God for aid, and committed the issue of the +contest into His hands. Let us echo the toast which +was given to him at a large dinner in Plattsburg, shortly +after his victory. “The pious and brave Macdonough, +the professor of the religion of the Redeemer—preparing +for action, he called on God, who forsook him not in the +hour of danger. <cite>May he not be forgotten by his country.</cite>”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Let our respect and affection for our ancestors’ adored +heroes save to our descendants the Liverpool pitchers +bearing such honored historical names.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_165'>165</span> + <h2 class='c005'>VIII.<br> ORIENTAL CHINA</h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c014'>In that delightful and much-quoted book, “The +China Hunters’ Club,” the final chapter is devoted +to a most humorous description of the disbandment +and ignominious extinction of the club through a fierce +quarrel over a disputed piece of china—whether it were +Chinese or Lowestoft. Could I, as did Charlie Baker +in that story, label both my china of like character and +this chapter “Canton-Lowestoft,” it would fitly express +my feelings when I attempt to judge and write upon +the old pieces of hard-paste porcelain, so common in +America, called Oriental, Canton, India, or Lowestoft, +according to the belief or traditions of each individual +owner. I cannot give any positive rules by which to +classify this china, nor any by which to judge of independent +specimens. If I followed my own convictions +and my own researches on this puzzling subject, I should +in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred firmly state the +disputed piece of porcelain to be Chinese, and I could +quote in support of my views such an authority as +Franks, the great china collector, who says that,</p> + +<p class='c011'>“India china (that is, china made for the East India +Company for European trade—what Jacquemart calls +<i><span lang="fr">porcelaine des Indes</span></i>) has on one hand been attributed to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_166'>166</span>Japan, and on the other, by a still more singular hallucination +been ascribed to Lowestoft.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He also says, “There can be no doubt that there was +a considerable manufactory of porcelain at Lowestoft, +but this was of the usual English soft-paste. The evidence +of hard-paste having been made there is of the +most slender kind.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Mr. Owens, in his “Two Centuries of Ceramic Art in +Bristol,” says, with decision:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“There cannot be any doubt that hard porcelain, vitrified +and translucent, was never manufactured from the +raw materials, native kaolin and petunste, at any other +locality in England than Plymouth and Bristol. The +tradition that such ware was made at Lowestoft in 1775 +rests upon evidence too slight to be worthy of argument. +The East India Company imported into England large +quantities of porcelain for sale; and in the provincial +journals of the last century advertisements of sales by +auction of East India china occur frequently. This particular +ware, which is very plentiful, even at the present +day, and which has of late acquired the reputation of +having been made at Lowestoft, was simply, in form and +ornamentation, only a reproduction by the Chinese of +English earthenware models. The Chinese do not use +saucers, butter-boats, and numbers of other articles after +the European fashion, and the agents in China were +compelled to furnish a model for every piece of ware ordered. +These models the Asiatic workmen have copied +only too faithfully. The ill-drawn roses, the coarsely painted +baskets of flowers, the rude borders of lines and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_167'>167</span>dots are literally copied from the inartistic painting on +the English earthenware of by-gone days.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He also says, “It is painful to see in public and private +collections examples of Oriental ware labelled +Lowestoft, simply because, though hard porcelain, they +bear English armorial coats and initials. Many porcelain +punch-bowls are to be found in seaport towns with +names and portraits of ships and very early dates. +Those bowls are often attributed to the works at Liverpool +and Lowestoft. The officers of the East India +Company’s ships were accustomed to take out English +Delft bowls and get them reproduced in common porcelain +in China for their merchant friends, and many a +relic now prized as of home manufacture was procured in +this manner.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Mr. Prime writes more cautiously, after describing the +pieces:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“These are supposed to have been made on special +patterns furnished to the Oriental factories by the East +India Company. They resemble European work in the +decoration, and many of the Lowestoft paintings seem +to be imitations of these. It is, therefore, necessary +to be very cautious in classifying wares as of Lowestoft +fabric.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>And again he says, “The presence of a single decoration +like a flower or sprig of flowers in European style +on porcelain is not a sufficient reason for classing the +porcelain as European. Many such pieces were printed +in Japan and in China. And others are possibly the +work of decorators in Holland.”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_168'>168</span>Mr. Elliott says of Lowestoft in America:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It seems certain that this kind of decoration was +done at Lowestoft; it is equally certain that it was also +done in China, from designs sent out there. I have myself +seen pieces so decorated which were imported direct +from China to New Haven about the end of the last +century.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>On the other hand, that standard authority, Mr. Chaffers, +author of “Marks and Monograms,” says that “the +question about hard-paste porcelain having been made +at Lowestoft is placed beyond dispute upon the best +authority. It was introduced about 1773,” and he offers +a mass of testimony to prove his statements.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Mr. Owens fancies that sailing-masters took out English +Delft bowls to be reproduced in China; Mr. Marryatt +and Mr. Franks, that Chinese porcelain was imported +to Holland and painted in Delft; another +collector believes that Chinese kaolin and clay were +brought to Lowestoft, and there mixed, shaped, fired +and painted; and still another, that Lowestoft porcelain +was taken out to China to be decorated. The Catalogue +of the Museum of Practical Geology in London +very shrewdly and non-responsibly says of its Lowestoft +specimens: “It should be understood that several of +the following pieces are exhibited as ‘Lowestoft china’ +simply in deference to the opinions of certain collectors +and not as authenticated specimens.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>To show the doubtful eyes with which the Lowestoft +aspirants are regarded by authorities in England, I will +state that in this last-mentioned catalogue but twelve +<span class='pageno' id='Page_169'>169</span>lots of Lowestoft porcelain and pottery are named—a +small proportion—and a sharp lesson to American collectors +with their reckless and sweeping Lowestoft classifications. +None of the twelve bear any distinguishing +Lowestoft marks or names. The descriptions of some +of these are not at all like our American Lowestoft +wares. One reads: “Two plates ornamented with borders +in brown and gold, and with views of a Suffolk +village and river painted in sepia in a circular panel in +centre of each plate.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>From these few extracts which I have taken from +various authorities, it is plainly seen that no decision, +no judgment can be given in this Lowestoft case, that +each seeker after china and truth must judge for himself.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The history of the production of hard-paste china at +Lowestoft is exceedingly curious as an example and +proof of the suddenness with which recent facts and +circumstances may be forgotten. It seems fairly incredible +that the true particulars of the manufacture of this +ware (which it is alleged was produced in such great +quantities from the year 1775 to 1803) should be entirely +lost and forgotten in half a century’s time. The descriptions +and history of Lowestoft china in Mr. Llewellyn +Jewitt’s article in the July number of the <cite>London +Art Journal</cite> in 1863, were the first to call attention +to Lowestoft china, and I still consider him the best and +most trustworthy authority on the subject. Previous to +that time, in the catalogues of English Loan Collections +and Museums, the name even of Lowestoft does not appear, +though the ware was seen everywhere labelled +<span class='pageno' id='Page_170'>170</span>vaguely “Foreign,” or “Oriental.” At a later date Mr. +Chaffers’s book appeared with a warm endorsement and +enthusiastic setting-forth of the Lowestoft factory and +its wares, so warm and embracing in its description that +Mr. Jewitt in his later book, “Ceramic Art in Great +Britain,” fairly has to protest against such broad sweeping +into the Lowestoft net; and he must feel that he +“builded better than he knew” when he “wrote up” +the Lowestoft factory. He says: “Let me utter a word +or two of caution to collectors against placing too implicit +a reliance upon what has been written concerning +Lowestoft china, and against taking for granted that all +which is nowadays called Lowestoft china is really the +production of that manufactory. If all that is ascribed +to Lowestoft was ever made there the works must have +been the most extensive, and—if all the varieties of +wares that are now said to have been produced there +were made it is asserted simultaneously—the most extraordinary +on record. The great bulk of the specimens +now unblushingly ascribed to Lowestoft I believe never +were in that town, much less ever made there.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>When Mr. Jewitt wrote thus he knew nothing about +the vast additional stock of Lowestoft in America, +enough additional weight to swamp forever the Lowestoft +pretensions. Mr. Jewitt also resented with proper +indignation some criticisms which Mr. Chaffers dared to +make upon his <cite>Art Journal</cite> paper, saying, with truth, +that he (Chaffers) was indebted to him for nearly every +scrap of information about the Lowestoft factory that he +has embodied in his work. He might say for every +<span class='pageno' id='Page_171'>171</span>scrap of any importance. The three accounts form a +typical example of the controversies in private life, of +the minor disputes that always arise among china collectors, +not only over the claims of the Lowestoft factory, +but over even a single piece of Lowestoft hard-paste +porcelain.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The specimens of what are called Lowestoft ware +that are most frequently seen in America, are parts of +tea-services, punch-bowls and pitchers, coffee-pots and +mugs. The pieces often bear crests, coats of arms, or +initials. Shields supported with birds, and escutcheons +in dark blue are also frequent. The initials are usually +very gracefully interlaced. Sometimes the tea-caddy +will bear the crest or coat of arms with the initials, while +the remainder of the tea-service will have the initials +only.</p> + +<p class='c011'>On many of the pieces the border is of clear cobalt +blue (often in rich enamel), varied with gold stars or a +meander pattern in gold. Some unreasoning collectors +take their stand upon this blue and gold-starred border +as being the only positive indication and proof to their +minds that the piece thus decorated is truly Lowestoft; +but I have seen many pieces that were positively imported +directly from China to America that bore this +Lowestoft border. A red trellis-border and a peculiar +russet-brown or chocolate border also abound on these +disputed pieces, and the scale pattern in purplish pink. +A raised border of vine leaves, grapes, flowers and squirrels +is seen on the beakers; I have found both this form +and decoration rare in America.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_172'>172</span>When a flower pattern appears on Lowestoft china +the rose predominates. Chaffers says that the reason +for this use of the rose is twofold; the arms of the +English borough in which the china is said to have +been manufactured or painted, is the Tudor, or full-blown +rose surmounted by an open crown; and the +cleverest painter of Lowestoft ware was Thomas Rose, +and he thus commemorated his name. He was a French +refugee, and it is to his French taste we owe the delicate +style of whatever flower ornamentation appears on this +china. It is sad to read that he became blind and spent +the last days of his life as a water-vender, plying his +trade with two donkeys that had been given him by the +town. The pieces alleged to have been painted by him, +and indeed all the Lowestoft pieces, were seldom profuse +in decoration. Roses without foliage or stems, little +bouquets, or narrow festoons of tiny roses with green +leaves, were his favorite designs. Often a piece bore +only a single rose.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The mugs and tea and coffee-pots usually have twisted +or double handles crossed and fastened to the main +body of the piece with raised leaves or flowers. The +large pieces, such as punch-bowls and pitchers and the +helmet creamers, sometimes have an irregular surface, +as if, when in the paste, they had been patted into shape +by the hands. I have often seen this appearance also +on blue and white undoubted Chinese ware. The mugs +are both cylindrical and barrel-shaped; the cups are +handleless, as are usually the cups of all Oriental china +manufactured at that date.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_173'>173</span>Mr. Chaffers says that occasionally the smaller pieces +of Lowestoft will be seen embossed with the rice-pattern +or basket-work. I have never seen a piece thus embossed +but was as plainly and unmistakably Oriental as +a Chinaman’s pigtail and his almond eyes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The oval teapot shown on page <a href='#Page_208'>208</a> is a typical +Lowestoft piece, though not a choice one; and by many +ignorant collectors all teapots of that particular shape, +with twisted handles held to the body with embossed +leaves, no matter with what other decoration, are firmly +assigned to the Lowestoft factory. Many unmistakably +Chinese pieces, however, are seen in this exact shape; +for instance, a beautiful rice-pattern teapot in the Avery +Collection, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This +piece is rich in gold and blue, but has the knobs, twisted +handles, and embossed leaves of the Lowestoft pattern. +Perhaps, in spite of its Chinese rice-pattern, and the +quality of the paste, Chaffers would class it as Lowestoft.</p> + +<p class='c011'>There are found in America certain Oriental vases of +typical Lowestoft decoration which are usually in one or +the other of two shapes, cylindrical with suddenly flaring +top (or rarely an ovoid cylinder with similar top), or a +vase with small base, sharply bulging out at half its +height, and as suddenly contracting to a small neck. +These vases, in sets or garnitures of three or five pieces, +the two end vases always alike, graced the mantel of +many a “parlour” a century ago, and were frequently +decorated with initials or coats of arms. Such are the +beautifully-shaped vases with exquisite blue, brown, and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_174'>174</span>gold decoration, given by Lafayette to Cadwallader +Jones of Petersburg, Va., one of which is here shown. +These vases exhibit the impressed basket-work design; +they are in perfect preservation, +and have recently +come by gift into the possession +of the Washington +Association of New Jersey.</p> + +<div class='figleft id004'> +<img src='images/i_190.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Lowestoft Vase.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>There are in English collections +a few specimens of +the early soft-paste Lowestoft +manufactures, which +were always decorated in +blue, which bear Lowestoft +names or distinguishing +dates. Indeed, these blue +and white pieces are the +only ones that do have designating +Lowestoft marks, or bear dates, which seems to +me a very significant fact. I have never found any of +these blue and white Lowestoft pieces in America, either +marked or unmarked, nor do I know of any marked Lowestoft +pieces in any American collection. There are none +in the Trumbull-Prime Collection. I have seen a few +rather coarse blue and white Delft-ware pieces which I +suspect might be classed as Lowestoft.</p> + +<p class='c011'>I fear that in this attempt to throw light, or rather +borrow light, on the Lowestoft question, I have not succeeded +very well, and have perhaps cast a deeper shadow. +There is one other condition which has influenced and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_175'>175</span>helped me to form my condition of mind about Lowestoft +china, and that is the situation of the town. It is +the absolute “Land’s end,” the extreme eastern point of +England; the sand and some of the clay necessary to +make all this porcelain would have had to be transported +from the extreme western “Land’s end” of Cornwall, +and the great supply of coal to burn in the kilns, +from the extreme northern coast of Northumberland +and Durham—two most inconvenient and expensive +contingencies. It was, however, near to Holland, that +great producer of Delft-ware, and had an extensive +trade with that country, and Dutch vessels constantly +entered the Lowestoft port. And the first productions—the +only marked and dated ones—are all blue and +white and resemble Delft-ware: none are of porcelain. +The Dutch also were great importers of Oriental china. +Of course we must believe that some china also came +out of Lowestoft, but these are some of the very bewildering +accompanying conditions that we cannot crowd +out of our minds.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It is difficult to assign prices or values to pieces of +Lowestoft china, for, as in other wares, the quality of +the decoration, of course, influences the price. Teapots +similar to the one shown on page <a href='#Page_208'>208</a> are often +offered for from four to eight dollars—one sold in the +Governor Lyon sale in 1876 for $5. At that same sale +Lowestoft plates of ordinary design, with single rose +decoration, brought $1.50 each; cups and saucers of +similar design, the same price. A pretty dish of gold +and buff, with brownish bird in the centre, brought $3. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_176'>176</span>A helmet creamer, with decoration of grapes and vines +in gold and brown, brought $4; this is a decoration and +shape frequently seen in America. One bearing the +Morse coat of arms +is here shown. One +very curious piece, a +custard-cup belonging +to a “marriage +set,” sold for $6.50. +This cup was decorated +with festoons +and bunches of roses, +and on one side was +a hand holding two +medallions, with initials, +tied together +with a lovers’ knot +of ribbon, with the motto “Unit.” On the other side +were two coats of arms held and supported in the same +manner. It is said that this idea of a marriage set was +in high fashion a hundred years ago. At the S. L. +M. Barlow sale in New York, in February, 1890, the +prices of Lowestoft pieces were higher—partly because +the specimens were better. A sugar-box with blue and +gold ribbon decoration sold for $5, teapots for $8 and $10.</p> + +<div class='figleft id004'> +<img src='images/i_192.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Helmet Creamer.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>A device found on Lowestoft pieces is very common +in America—or at any rate, in New England—and is +frequently and erroneously supposed to be an armorial +bearing. It is a monogram or cipher written within an +oval or an escutcheon, backed by an ermine mantle, surmounted +<span class='pageno' id='Page_177'>177</span>by a wreath on which are perched a pair of +doves. This device was doubtless sent to China to be +painted on a service as a wedding gift, and proving popular +was often repeated. I have seen it on many pieces +in many families, in gold and various colors, the monogram +or initial only being different. A letter is in existence, +written by a gentleman in China in 1810, to a +fair bride in Hartford, saying that he sends to her as a +wedding gift a set of porcelain with this decoration. +Portions of the set are still owned by the bride’s descendants. +This of course proves the device to have +been painted in China. Perhaps it was painted in England +also, but I doubt it.</p> + +<p class='c011'>There is a very pretty Lowestoft design which I have +seen upon dinner- and tea-sets belonging to several families +in New England, which may have been made specially +for the American market, or at any rate must have +been sent here in large quantities. It consists of the +American shield and eagle in shades of brown touched +with gold, with a pretty delicate border of the same +colors, and tiny dots of vermilion. I speak specially of +this design because it is often offered for sale as “George +Washington’s China,” on the slight foundation, I suppose, +of having upon it an American shield and eagle; +and not only offered but sold, and no doubt exhibited +with pride by collectors of Washingtoniana. One +lucky dog of a relic hunter recently secured in New +York a “Washington” teapot with this design for the +sum of $75—a paltry amount, as he considered it. +There are a number of pieces bearing this decoration in +<span class='pageno' id='Page_178'>178</span>the Trumbull-Prime Collection, a portion of a set belonging +to a member of Mr. Prime’s family. A coffee-pot +of the set is here shown. This service was purchased +in England in +1804. The gilt +lettering on it, as +on others that I +have seen, is much +worn, while the +decoration is in +perfect condition.</p> + +<div class='figleft id004'> +<img src='images/i_194.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>“Washington” Coffee-pot.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>As an indication +of the vast amount +of Lowestoft wares +to be found in +America, let me +state that in the +Governor Lyon sale there were forty-nine lots labelled +Lowestoft, and many more among the historical pieces, +while there were only six of Delft, three of Bristol, five +of Chelsea, etc. As Governor Lyon collected nearly all +his pieces of English porcelain in America this might be +thought to be a fair means of judging of the proportionate +prevalence of china called Lowestoft, but I think +the number is hardly high enough. In the Trumbull-Prime +Collection are at least a hundred and fifty pieces +of Lowestoft, to which, however, Mr. Prime does not +definitely assign that title, but explains the doubts and +questions as to the ware. There are no rice-pattern or +basket-work pieces among them.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_179'>179</span>In New England seaport towns, where there has been +during past years a large direct trade with China, vast +quantities of Lowestoft ware are found. It would, of +course, be argued from this fact that such porcelain is +Chinese, and in truth it is Chinese in nine cases out of +ten. And I presume the reason that I am so incredulous +about Lowestoft china, is that I have really seen so little, +my Lowestoft studies having probably all been in +Chinese porcelain. Then, too, the Lowestoft factory, +had it sent all its wares direct to America, could never +have furnished our vast supply, from which we still +have plenty of specimens to dispute and quarrel over.</p> + +<p class='c011'>And is it not strange that we have no record of this +vast trade in English porcelain? Who ever knew of a +vessel arriving in an American port from Lowestoft? +Who ever saw an advertisement of Lowestoft china in an +old American newspaper? On the other hand, we know +well how Chinese porcelain could have been brought—nay, +was brought—in vast quantities to New England; +for though New York took the lead in sending a +single ship direct to Canton in 1784, the question of the +China trade had been agitating Salem for a year previously, +and in Connecticut, state aid had been asked +to further direct commerce with the Orient. This aid +had been at once refused by the prudent home-staying +farmers in the Legislature. Providence, Newport, and +Boston quickly awakened to the rich possibilities of the +new commercial opening with the Orient, but Elias Haskett +Derby, of Salem, known as the “Father of the East +India Trade,” crowded his great vessels across the ocean +<span class='pageno' id='Page_180'>180</span>to Canton and brought home rich stores of Oriental +products. His fine Grand Turk sailed from Salem +in 1785, and the return cargo doubled the money invested; +and in the rooms of the East India Marine +Company at Salem is a great Lowestoft bowl bearing +paintings of the Grand Turk and the date, Canton, +1786, which proves that that piece positively was +neither made at Lowestoft, painted at Lowestoft, brought +to Lowestoft, nor exported from Lowestoft. From that +year to 1799, of the hundred and seventy-five voyages +made by Derby’s stanch ships, forty-five were to India +and China. He had four ships at one time at Canton. +In 1793 three Indiamen brought into New England +ports $14,600 worth of “China-ware;” one of these +ships, the Rising Sun, landed at Providence. And Billy +Gray, of Salem, the largest ship-owner in the world at +that date, sold many a hogshead of chinaware from the +cargoes of his great ships, the Light Horse, the Three +Friends, the Lotus, the Black Warrior.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Though Connecticut farmers and law-givers looked +with timid and unfavoring eyes on the possibilities and +dangers of Oriental commerce, Connecticut merchants +were not to be left behind in the race for the golden +prizes of India. A great ship was fitted out in New +Haven, and the story of her first voyage in 1799 and of +its rich results reads like the wonder-tales of the East. +The ship was manned by thirty-five Connecticut men, +sons of respectable and well-to-do families; many of them +were graduates of Yale. In its provisioning and furnishing +merchants of New Haven, Hartford, Weathersfield, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_181'>181</span>Farmington, Stamford, and other neighboring towns +joined or “ventured.” The ship took no cargo. She +sailed to the Falkland Islands. The crew killed 80,000 +seals, packed away the skins in the ship’s hold, and +then sailed to Canton. The Neptune was the first New +Haven ship that furrowed the waves of the Pacific. The +sealskins were sold to Canton merchants for $3.75 each. +With $280,000 of the profits the Connecticut boys laid +in a rich store of Oriental goods, tea, silks, and 467 boxes +of fine china. These goods were sold in New Haven at +enormous profits. The ship paid to the Government, on +the results of that single voyage, import duties which +amounted to $20,000 more than the entire State tax for +the year. Mr. Townsend, the builder of the ship, +cleared $100,000 as his share of the profits; the super-cargo, +that useful and obsolete officer, took $50,000, +and the thirty-five Yankee sailors and the Yankee merchants +all tasted the sweets of this phenomenal venture. +Thirty-six other Connecticut merchants joined at +once in a venture in another ship, and the Cowles Brothers, +of Farmington, fitted out three vessels for Canton, +and vast amounts of Lowestoft porcelain were brought +back by them to New Haven.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It is only recently, and even now only among china collectors +and what a Newburyport dame called “city folks +and Yorkers” (that is Bostonians and New +Yorkers—or city people in general), that the pieces +spoken of in the last few pages would be called Lowestoft. +In country homes all are still Chinese or India +porcelain. It is the favorite tradition told of nearly +<span class='pageno' id='Page_182'>182</span>every piece, even of undisputed English wares of the +last century, that “my grandfather brought that bowl +to us from Hong Kong,” and even when you point out +the Caughley or Staffordshire marks, the owners are unconvinced +and openly indignant. Chinese porcelain +evidently denoted much higher aristocracy than English +ware in early Federal days, and the sentiment lingers +still among simple folk. Crests, arms, and initials are +very common, “put on for us in China,” and the +“China” or “India” tradition, must in such cases never +be openly doubted.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Much specially decorated porcelain did come to us +from China; there is plenty of proof in old letters, +bills, diaries, and shipping receipts, that persons in both +America and England ordered services of porcelain such +as we now call Lowestoft, to be made and decorated +for them in China. These orders were sometimes filled +in a manner which was vastly disappointing. Miss Leslie, +the sister of the eminent painter, related that she ordered +a dinner service to be made and painted for her in +China. She directed that a coat of arms should be +placed in the centre of each plate, and made a careful +drawing of the desired coat of arms and pasted it in the +centre of a specimen plate, and wrote under it, “Put this +in the middle.” What was her dismay when, on the arrival +of the china, she found on every piece not only the +coat of arms, but the words, indelibly burnt in, “Put +this in the middle.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Another person ordering porcelain in China sent out +a book-plate as a guide for outline in decoration, and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_183'>183</span>was much disgusted when the service arrived to find it +painted by the literal-minded Chinese artist in lines of +funereal black like the book-plate, instead of the gay +colors the china-buyer had desired, and which were then +so fashionable.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But I feel that in all this about the questionable Lowestoft +I am neither quite fair nor quite liberal to the +claims of the far Orient. We do not regard with doubt +or with question of English co-operation all the contributions +of China to our early table furnishings. About +the pieces just described, many collectors are reckless in +judging and naming, and too often unjust to our Asiatic +ceramic purveyors; but much porcelain came to America +which is known and acknowledged to be Chinese, +and which has never for a moment had the shadow of +suspicion of Occidental manipulation cast over it—I mean +“blue Canton china.” A hand whose clear and perfect +touch made beautiful, yet rendered truthfully everything +she described, wrote thus of such porcelain:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“The china here, as in all genuine Salem cupboards, +was chiefly of the honest old blue Canton ware. There +were shining piles of these plates, which while they are +rather heavy to handle, always surprise one by being so +thin at the edges. There were generous teacups like small +bowls, squat pitchers with big noses, and a tureen whose +cover had the head of a boar for a handle. And in all +this the blue was dull and deep in tint, with a certain ill-defined +vaporous quality at the edges of the lines, and the +white of the cool greenish tinge of a duck’s egg. You can +buy blue Canton to-day, but it is not old blue Canton.”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_184'>184</span>The stanch ships of Elias Haskett Derby, of William +Gray, of Joseph Peabody, brought to Salem hogsheads +and boxes and crates of this old blue Canton china; it +still lingers close-hidden and high-shelved in Salem cupboards; +it has been crushed grievously under foot in +Salem attics; has been sold ignominiously to Salem +junkmen, and also proudly and eagerly bought by Salem +collectors.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Many a “venture” was sent out by New England +dames to “far Cathay” in these East India trading-ships, +and many a pretty blue Canton teapot and cups +and saucers, or great ringing punch-bowl came home +from China in return for the hoarded egg-money, the +inherited Spanish dollars, or the proceeds of the year’s +spinning and weaving. Do you know what a “venture” +was a hundred years ago? It was a gentle commercial +speculation in which all Puritan womankind longed to +join, just as all New England ministers legally and +soberly gambled and revelled in the hopes and disappointments +of lottery tickets. An adventurer in those +days was as different from an adventurer of to-day as +was an undertaker of 1792 from an undertaker of 1892. +When a ship sailed out to China in the years following +the Revolutionary War, the ship’s owner did not own +all the cargo (if cargo of ginseng it bore), nor send out all +the contents of the bags of solid specie that were to be +invested in the rich and luxurious products of the far +land. There were no giant monopolies in those days. +All his friends and neighbors were kindly and sociably +allowed to join with the wealthy shipmaster in his risks +<span class='pageno' id='Page_185'>185</span>and profits, to put in a little money on speculation—in +short, to send out a sum large or small on a “venture.” +Sometimes orders were given that this “venture” should +be invested in special forms of merchandise; sometimes +it was only placed in the supercargo’s hands to share in +its proportion the general profit. Complicated books +must Elias Haskett Derby have had to keep through all +these petty “ventures,” but good profits did that honest +man render, though he left at his death the largest fortune +of any American in that century. Women, fired +by these alluring profits and assailed by a gambling obsession, +sold their strings of gold beads, their spring +lambs, their knitted stockings, and eagerly sent out the +accumulated sum by the ship’s purser, and received in +return tea, spices, rock-candy, crapes, china, anything +they coveted for their own use or fancied they could sell +at a profit. Men, too, sent out a “venture” as a gift to +their new-born children, or to fill their own pockets; fair +maids bought through a “venture” their bridal finery. +From Bristol one young miss sent in to a ship-owner +her gold earrings to “venture” for “a sprigged and bordered +India muslin gown of best make,” and she got it +too, thin and sheer, close-sprigged and deep bordered, +just as well selected and carefully conveyed as if she had +“ventured a hundred pound.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The newspapers of the times abounded in advertisements +of blue Canton china, such as this from the <cite>Columbia +Centinel</cite> of December 19, 1792:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Superfine Nankin blue enamelled landscape and +fancy pattern China-ware direct from China: among +<span class='pageno' id='Page_186'>186</span>other articles are complete dinner setts, tea coffee & +breakfast do; Teacups & saucers & Teapots separately +do; dinner breakfast & dessert flat & Deep Plates; +Punchbowles Mugs & Pitchers.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Frequently the china was sold direct from the vessel, +or from the wharf alongside. How truly Oriental +that old Canton china must have been to Boston and +Providence and Salem dames when they had tiptoed +down on the rough old wharf in wooden clogs or velvet-tipped +golo-shoes, their fair faces covered with black +velvet masks if the weather waxed cold or the wind +blew east; when they had seen the great weather-beaten +ship, with its stained sails and blackened ropes and +cables—the ship that had brought the fragile porcelain +cargo to port—the Lively Prudence, the Lively Peggy, +the Lively Sally, the Lively Molly, or any of the dozen +great ships named by Yankee shipmasters and ship-owners +for the lively young women of their acquaintance. +They had been on board the Indiaman, perhaps, +and smelt its bilge-water and its travelled stale ship-smells; +had watched the strange picturesque foreign +sailors, barefooted and earringed, as they brought the +packages and spread out the boxes on deck, or carried +in their brawny arms the great crates on Scarlett’s or +Rowe’s Wharf, and with their bronzed tattooed hands +took out the precious porcelain from its rice-straw packing +and rice-paper wrapping. How that old blue Canton +must have savored forever to the fair buyers of the +“bloom raisins,” the cinnamon, the ginger, palm-oil, +gum-copal, and ivory, the tea, the otto-of-roses, that had +<span class='pageno' id='Page_187'>187</span>been fellow-travellers for months in the good ship’s +hold; and have spoken, too, of far-away lands and +foreign sights, and of “the magic and mystery of the +sea.” Truly, we of to-day have lost all the romance, +the sentiment, that brightened and idealized colonial +shopping, when we know not the ship, nor scarcely the +country from whence come our stores.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In Newport, in Bristol, in Providence, in Boston—wherever +ships could sail from port, and wherever favoring +winds wafted them back again, vast stores of this +old blue Canton ware have been and can now be found; +“tall coffee-pots, with straight spouts, looking like lighthouses +with bowsprits; short, clumsy teapots with +twisted handles and lids that always fall off;” jugs, tureens, +helmet pitchers, and sauce-boats. At the recent +disbandment of the family and selling of the home of +one of the old presidents of Brown University, a score +of old Canton platters were found behind trunks and old +furniture under the eaves in the garret. Too heavy, +too cumbersome to be used on our modern tables, they +were banished to the garret rafters, and there prisoned, +were forgotten. In past years when roast-pig and giant +turkeys were served on that hospitable board, these +great platters proudly held their steaming trophies; but +now we have changed all that—the turkey is cut up +surreptitiously in some unseen corner, and the blue Canton +platters, dusty and cobwebbed, lie forgotten in the +garret.</p> + +<p class='c011'>These vast stores of blue Canton were doubtless part +of the cargo of the Ann and Hope, the beautiful and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_188'>188</span>stanch ship that in 1799 bore into Providence “one +hundred and thirty boxes of chinaware in tea and dinner sets.” +In 1800 she again brought into port three +hundred and sixty-two boxes and one hundred and +twenty-four rolls of chinaware, together with such other +delightful Oriental importations as two bales of gauze +ribbons, seven boxes of lacquered ware, five hundred +Chinese umbrellas, sixty bundles of cassia and five boxes +of sweetmeats, forty jars of rock-candy, and twenty tubs +of sugar-candy. In 1802 came on the Ann and Hope +one thousand and forty-eight boxes of chinaware, but, +alas! no sugar-candy, or sweetmeats for Providence lads +and lasses, but instead forty disappointing boxes of rhubarb.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Hot-water plates of Canton china did every well-regulated +and substantial New England family own, deep +hollow vessels, with their strong heavy bottoms and little +open ears. Not very practical nor convenient of use +were they—or, at least, so it seems to us nowadays. +And another and common form of coarse blue and white +Chinese ware which our grandmothers had by the score +need not be despised by china collectors—the old, high-shouldered +ginger-jars that fifty and seventy-five years +ago were so good in color. Some are mammoth jars +holding nearly a gallon, that are decorated with a chrysanthemum +pattern in clear dark blue, and when set on +the top of a corner cupboard need not fear even the proximity +of a cabinet specimen of costly old hawthorn. A +few members of the aristocracy of ginger-jars exist, not +in common plebeian blue and white, but with a greenish +<span class='pageno' id='Page_189'>189</span>ground covered with red and yellow enamelled flowers. +These were never sold in China, but were used as presentation +jars, being usually given by some Chinese grandee +or trader to some Yankee sea-captain, or sent to +America as a token of respect to some American merchant +or ship-owner. They sell readily for $5 each in +an out-of-the-way antique shop, for thirty in a fashionable +one. Six shockingly dirty specimens were found +in a hen-house on an inland farm on Long Island, and +after being pumped upon for a long season at the horse-pump, +and swept off vigorously with a birch-broom, they +revealed their original glories of color, and after a thorough +cleansing and disinfecting now grace teak-wood +cabinets in New York homes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A very dainty form of Oriental china was seen in +many hospitable homes in the beginning of this century, +a form now obsolete. I mean a “toddy strainer.” It +was a shallow, circular saucer or disk of fine Oriental +ware, blue Canton or Nankin, or white and gold Oriental +porcelain, and was pierced with tiny holes. It was about +four or five inches in diameter and bore two little projecting +ears or handles, which were fastened to the body +of the strainer by embossed leaves. On the edge of a +flip-mug or a toddy glass the ears of the toddy strainer +rested when used, and when the toddy was poured from +the great punch pitcher into the glass, the strainer prevented +the lemon- and orange-seeds from entering the +glass below. These toddy strainers are no longer imported +in our temperance-ruled and invention-filled days, +and being of frail china, have seldom outlived the years +<span class='pageno' id='Page_190'>190</span>when they were in such constant, jovial, and hospitable +use. Nor have I seen them elsewhere than in the seaport +towns of Narraganset Bay. I fancy some luxury-loving, +toddy-drinking, money-spending old Newport +merchant invented, explained to the Chinese, and imported +to America +these pretty porcelain +toddy strainers.</p> + +<div class='figleft id004'> +<img src='images/i_206.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Chinese Ewer.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>Sometimes a single +odd or beautiful piece +of Oriental china was +brought to America +in the olden times by +those far-roving and +home-bringing old +sea-captains, and the +single specimen still +exists—a stranger in +a strange land. Such +is the graceful little +ewer here shown, a +piece of Persian +shape, but of pure Chinese paste, and “with antick +shapes in China’s azure dyed.” This design, with its +“little lawless azure-tinted grotesques,” forms a piece +curious enough to be worthy a place in any cabinet. +Such also is a dull green enamelled and crackled bowl +which I own, and a Chinese dish of antique earthenware, +which has been mended and riveted by some +Oriental china-mender with gold wire. A great blue +<span class='pageno' id='Page_191'>191</span>and white tall jar with red lacquered cover is unique +in size as it is in its contents—long strings of sugar-coated +Chinese sweetmeats, sweetmeats so unpleasant +and outlandish in flavor and so mysterious in appearance +that they were regarded with keen disfavor by +simple stay-at-home New Englanders, who invested +the innocent sweets with alarming attributes, and laid +them under suspicion of concealing within their sugary +surfaces bits of all the heathenish edibles—sharks’ fins, +birds’ nests, puppies’ tails, and other unchristian foods +that had been seen and even tasted in foreign lands by +bold travelled mariners. Hence there still lie at the +bottom of the great jar a few silken strings of shrivelled, +unwholesome-looking black knobs like some strange +Oriental beads; despised by generations of sweet-toothed +children of the Puritans, and now too adamantine in +consistency to be tasted or nibbled even by the boldest +gourmand or curiosity-seeker of to-day.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Posy-holders” are found of India china with a rich +decoration of red, blue, and gold, with little flecks of +green, the cover pierced with holes to keep the stems of +the flowers in place; “bowpots” also of similar porcelain +and ornamentation.</p> + +<p class='c011'>I have not found in my china hunting any old blue +hawthorn jars, nor any fragile pieces of “grains-of-rice” +porcelain, nor sets of covered saki-cups in scarlet and +gold, nor dainty translucent cups that seem naught but +glaze, though I have been shown them in other collections +as country treasure trove. I have seen a few tall +green crackle vases and jars, of age and dignity enough +<span class='pageno' id='Page_192'>192</span>to chill unspoken within our lips any inquiry regarding +or suggesting purchase.</p> + +<div class='figleft id004'> +<img src='images/i_208.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Persian Vase.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>A few stray polychrome Chinese bowls of the description +known as “real Indian” I have found, and I hear +that whole dinner services +of +such wares were +imported. General +Gage had +one in Boston, +and a few of its +beautiful plates +escaped destruction +at the “looting” +of the Province +House. But +the old services +of Oriental china +that I have seen +have all been +blue Canton or +Lowestoft. The +graceful blue and +white vase here +shown I at first +sight fancied to be Chinese, but now believe to be Persian. +As the country owner of this oddly-shaped and +rather curiously-decorated vase knew nothing of how +it had been acquired by the members of her family, nor +how long it had been possessed by them, nor whence it +<span class='pageno' id='Page_193'>193</span>came, nor indeed anything, save that it had stood for +many years on her grandmother’s best room mantel-shelf, +it may be a comparatively modern piece of ware. +I have woven about it and haloed around it an Arabian +Nights romance of astonishing plot and fancy, in which +a gallant Yankee sailor, a hideous Arabian merchant, and +a black-eyed, gauze-robed houri fill the leading parts; +and perhaps my imaginative story of the presence of the +Persian outcast in a staid New England farm-house is +just as satisfactory as many of the wondrous china tales +we hear.</p> + +<p class='c011'>An everlasting interest rests in all Oriental china in +attempting to translate the meaning of the Oriental +stamps and marks. I have never deciphered any save a +few of the hundred forms of <cite>Show</cite>—the Chinese greeting, +“May you live forever,” and the marks on one old +Chinese bowl, which signified <i>wan</i>, a symbol used only +on articles made for talented literary persons; <i>Pŏ koo +chin wan</i> “for the learned in antiquities and old curiosities,” +and the mark of the instruments used by authors—the +stone for grinding ink, the brushes for writing, and +the roll of paper. I was highly delighted, and indeed +very proud, when I discovered the meaning of these +Chinese letters. I tried to fancy that it was a significant +coincidence—a friendly message from the old world to +the new—that pointed out that I too belonged to what +is in China the ruling class, the literati. But the more +closely I examined my literary tickets, the more depressed +I became. I found, alas, that these flattering +marks were never placed on my bowl by the Orientals; +<span class='pageno' id='Page_194'>194</span>they were skilfully painted over the glaze in oil colors +by the base, jesting Occidental who gave the piece of +old porcelain to me.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The china called Lowestoft was, without doubt, the +kind most desired and most fashionable in early Federal +times throughout both North and South. Such was +the dinner service of the Carrolls of Carrollton, with +bands of rich brown and gold and a pretty letter C. +Such was the family china of William Morris; of John +Rutledge, with the initials J. R. and the shield and +eagle; and the tea-service of John Dickinson, with blue +and gold bands and his initials. Of Lowestoft china +was one of the beautiful services of General Knox—his +“best china” that was used on state occasions. It was +banded with delicate lines of pale gray, black, and gold, +and the rich coloring of red, blue, and gold was confined +to the decoration in the centre of the plate. This was +an eagle with extended wings, bearing on his breast the +seal of the Society of the Cincinnati, a round shield with +a group of appropriate figures surrounded by the motto, +“Omnia relinquit servare rempublicam,” a motto certainly +very significant of General Knox’s patriotism. +The eagle was surmounted by a wreath of palm or laurel +leaves tied with a knot of blue ribbon. Beneath the +eagle were delicately formed initials about half an inch +in height—L. F. and H. K.—the H. and K. intertwined +just as General Knox always wrote them. This beautiful +service was a gift to Mrs. Knox from her rich grandfather, +General Waldo; a wedding gift, it is often asserted, +though I had hardly supposed that her relatives, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_195'>195</span>being so bitterly opposed to the <i>mésalliance</i> of the +“belle of Massachusetts” with the young clerk in a bookshop, +had given her any such rich tokens of approval. +Then, too, the runaway match was made at the beginning +of the Revolutionary War, and Mrs. Knox, following +her husband from battle-field to battle-field, would +hardly have needed or thought of such fine china. The +fact that it bears the decoration of the seal of the Cincinnati, +points to a date after the establishment of that society.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Lowestoft, too, was the china table-ware of John Hancock, +the table-ware that he ordered to be thrust one side +and replaced by old-fashioned pewter. And when he lay +in his bedroom groaning with the gout and heard the rattle +of a china plate on the table in the dining-room below, +he ordered his servant to throw the precious but noise-making +dish out of the window, and the thrifty black +man saved the dainty Lowestoft by throwing it on the +grass.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But the every-day china, the common table-ware, of +all these good American citizens and patriots—Knox, +Hancock, Paul Revere, the Otises, Quincys, and a score +that might be named—the plates and dishes of china +from which they ate their daily bread, were not of Lowestoft, +but of honest old blue Canton.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_196'>196</span> + <h2 class='c005'>IX.<br> THE COSEY TEAPOT</h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c014'>It is small wonder that the craze for the gathering together +and hoarding of teapots has assailed many a +feminine china hunter in many a land, and that +many a noble collection has been made. Teapots are +so friendly and appealing, one cannot resist them. No +china-loving woman can pass them by, they are so domestic +as well as beautiful; a steam of simple cheer and +homeliness ascends forever (though invisible) from their +upturned spouts, and a gentle genie of cosiness and welcome +dwells therein.</p> + +<p class='c011'>And then their forms are so varied! Plates, from their +nature, necessarily show a prosaic flatness and similarity +of outline; cups and saucers are limited in their capabilities +of diversification; but teapots! you may find a new +shape for every day in the year.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In America we have an extra incentive and provoker +of interest in the extraordinary great age assigned to +teapots. You can hardly find one of any pretension to +antiquity in America that is asserted to be less than two +hundred years old; and two centuries and a half are as +naught to teapot-owners. Sophisticated possessors are +a little shy about assigning their old teapots to the Mayflower +invoice, since we have heard so many incredulous +<span class='pageno' id='Page_197'>197</span>and bantering jibes about the size and tonnage of that +capacious ship; but country owners are troubled by no +such fears of ridicule, and boldly assert the familiar tradition; +while the pages of our catalogues of loan collections +containing entry after entry of “teapots brought +over in 1620,” “teapots three hundred years old,” show +the secret faith and belief of even more travelled and +studied teapot-owners.</p> + +<p class='c011'>1630—1640—1650! It would seem, could we trust tradition, +that teapots just swarmed in America in those +years. There were none then in England or Holland or +China, and no tea even in England; but it is proudly +boasted that we had teapots and, of course, tea also in +America. I wonder we do not claim the teapot as a +Yankee invention! The Chinese knew naught of any +such “conveniencys” at that time; they stupidly +steeped their tea in a cup or dish or bowl; indeed, they +do so still in the great shops, and tea-gardens, and yaamens +of China, and would doubtless have conservatively +clung to the same simple and primitive fashion in all +their houses to this day, had not the opened traffic with +the western world shown them the restless craze for +change common to nearly all Europeans and awakened +in them a desire for novelty and improvement.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The first mention of English teapots which I have +chanced to see is in the private memorandum book of +John Dwight, of Fulham, potter. The date of the entry +is previous to 1695. It is a receipt for “the fine +white clay for Dishes or Teapots to endure boiling water.” +Under date of November, 1695, he says: “The little furnace +<span class='pageno' id='Page_198'>198</span>where the last Red Teapots was burnt I take to be +a convenient one for this vse.” An entry dated 1691 +tells of a “strong Hardy Clay fit for Teapots;” and +again of a “dark colour’d Cley for marbled Dishes and +teapots to endure boiling water.” In Houghton’s Collections +of 1695 we read: “Of teapots in 1694 there +came but ten, and those from Holland, but to our credit +be it spoken, we have about Fauxhall made a great +many, and I cannot gainsay but they are as good as any +came from abroad.” The first successful experiment of +Bottcher in the manufacture of porcelain took the form +of a teapot; and potters of succeeding years have spent +much time and thought in inventing new shapes and decorations +for tea-drawing vessels. Would it not be interesting +to have a cabinet with a chronological and also a +cubical succession of teapots, from the tiny ones of Elers-ware +used in the time of Queen Anne, when tea was sold +in ounce packages at the apothecaries, down to the great +three-quart teapot used by Dr. Johnson and sold at the +sale of Mrs. Piozzi’s effects? There would I stop and +never admit as a teapot the ugly great spouted earthen +casks made in Japan, to satisfy abnormal-minded and +craving collectors. Into one of these hideous monstrosities +in the possession of a well-known collector, two +men were able to crawl, seat themselves, and have the +cover placed over them—a sight to make the judicious +china-lover grieve.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In still another china-succession might we write the +history of the teapot in America, from the simple plebeian +undecorated earthenware pot in which was sparingly +<span class='pageno' id='Page_199'>199</span>placed the precious pinch, through the gayly-colored and +larger teapot, earthen still, through Wedgwood’s varied +wares in which our patriotic grandmothers drank their +wretched “Liberty Tea,” to the fine porcelain treasures +of Worcester, Minton, Derby, Sèvres, and Dresden of +to-day—a story of the growth of our nation in luxury +and elegance.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The earliest known mention of the use of tea by Englishmen +is in a letter written in 1615 by one wanderer +in China to another fellow-soldier, asking for a “pot of +the best sort of chaw” and also for “three silver porringers +to drink chaw in.” By 1664 it appears to have +been sold in England in some considerable quantity, in +spite of Pepys’s oft-quoted entry in his diary in the year +1665 about tasting “thea a China drink” that he never +had drunk before. Pepys was far from rich at that time, +and tea may have been in frequent use for some years +among persons of wealth and quality without his ever +having tasted it. It quickly grew in favor in the court, +the first importations all coming from the Continent, +from Holland, and soon was plentiful and comparatively +cheap. Among the common people and conservative +country folk, however, beer still held its own at breakfast +and supper until Swift’s time.</p> + +<p class='c011'>New England dames followed the fashions, fancies, and +tastes of their sisters in Old England as soon as their +growing prosperity allowed. When in 1666 the fragrant +herb cost sixty shillings a pound in England, I hardly +think our frugal Pilgrim Fathers imported much tea. The +first mention of tea which I have found shows that in +<span class='pageno' id='Page_200'>200</span>1690 Benjamin Harris and Daniel Vernon were licensed +to sell “in publique,” in Boston, “Coffee Tee & Chucaletto.” +The following year two other tea-houses were +licensed. Dr. Benjamin Orman had a “Tinn Teapott” +in Boston previous to his death in 1695, an article of +novelty and luxury that probably few of his neighbors +possessed. Though Felt, in his “New England Customs,” +and Weeden, in his “Social and Economic History +of New England,” both say that green tea was first +advertised for sale in Boston in 1714, I find in the <cite>Boston +News Letter</cite> of March, 1712, “green and ordinary +teas,” advertised for sale at “Zabdiel Boyltons (or Boylstons) +Apothecary Shop,” and in the same year teapots +and tea-tables were sold at the Swing Bridge by “Publick +Outcry.” In 1713 Zabdiel Boylston had Bohea tea; +in 1714 “very fine green tea, the best for color and +taste,” was advertised; and in 1715 tea was sold at the +Coffee House, thus showing that it was being imported +in larger quantities. The taste quickly spread, and +wherever there was tea there was also a teapot. Weeden +says that it is strange that Judge Sewall, with all his +fussing about wine, and “chokolet,” and “cyder,” and +“pyes,” and cakes, and “almonds and reasons,” and +oranges and figs, says naught of tea. He does speak of +it; he drank at a “great and Thursday” lecture, at +Madam Winthrop’s house in the year 1709, “Ale Tea & +Beer,” and he does not especially note it as a rarity. I +do not believe, however, though he lived until 1730, +when it was sold in every Boston dry-goods, grocers’, +hardware, millinery, and apothecary shop, and advertised +<span class='pageno' id='Page_201'>201</span>in every Boston newspaper, that he often drank the +“cup that cheers but not inebriates.” He may have regarded +it as did Henry Saville, who wrote deploringly +of tea-drinking in 1678 as a “base and unworthy Indian +practice,” saying sadly, “the truth is, all nations are +growing so wicked.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>In 1719 Bohea tea was worth twenty-four shillings a +pound in Philadelphia. In 1721 it had risen six shillings +higher in price, while by 1757 it cost only seven shillings +a pound. In 1725 they had both green and Bohea tea in +Virginia and the Carolinas, as is shown by the writings +of the times; while, though I have not found it advertised +till 1728 in New York, the “tea-water pump” showed +its large use in that town. When tea was first introduced +into Salem it was boiled in an iron kettle, and +after the liquor was strained off, it was then drank without +milk or sugar, while the leaves of the herb were +placed in a dish, buttered and salted and eaten.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A letter printed in “Holmes’s Annals,” and written in +1740, thus complains: “Almost every little tradesman’s +wife must sit sipping tea for an hour or more in the +morning, and maybe again in the afternoon, if they can +get it, and nothing will please them to sip it out of but +chinaware. They talk of bestowing of thirty or forty +shillings on a tea equipage, as they call it. There is +the silver spoons, the silver tongs, and many other +trinkets that I cannot name.” Bennett, in his Travels, +told the same tale of Boston women. Each woman +then carried her own tiny teapot when she made one of +those much-deprecated tea-drinking visits, and often her +<span class='pageno' id='Page_202'>202</span>own teacup also, else she might have to drink from a +pewter cup. And she frequently brought her own precious +thimbleful of tea, especially if she chanced to have +a decided fancy in the variety of the herb that she used.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In the latter half of the eighteenth century tea and +teapots were common enough in America, and the +“China herb” played a part in our national history that +would have immortalized it had it no other claims to +our love and consideration. In December, 1773, Boston +Harbor was made one great “tea-drawing,” and after that +memorable event many American dames gave up from a +sense of duty their favorite beverage, but they did not +destroy their tea-sets. Here is the lament of one matron +over her empty urn:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Farewell the tea-board with its gaudy equipage</div> + <div class='line'>Of cups and saucers, Cream-bucket, Sugar-tongs,</div> + <div class='line'>The pretty tea-chest, also lately stored</div> + <div class='line'>With Hyson, Congo and best Double Fine.</div> + <div class='line'>Full many a joyous moment have I sat by ye</div> + <div class='line'>Hearing the girls tattle, the old maids talk scandal</div> + <div class='line'>Though now detestable.</div> + <div class='line'>Because I am taught and I believe it true</div> + <div class='line'>Its use will fasten Slavish chains upon my Country</div> + <div class='line'>To reign triumphant in America.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>There is in New Bedford one very interesting old teapot +which lays a very definite, decided, and special claim +to having been brought over in the Mayflower. It is +said to have been the property of Elder Brewster, and +is known as the “Elder Brewster Teapot.” It is a +pretty little cylindrical vessel with fluted bands, and is +<span class='pageno' id='Page_203'>203</span>decorated with gilt lines and dark red flowers and border. +Scoffers, of course, will bring up to you all the oft-enumerated +points—that the Pilgrims had no china, that +tea was not known in England, and probably not known +in Holland in 1620; that teapots are a comparatively +modern invention—but still we feel an interest in this +“Elder Brewster Teapot.” It brought at the sale of +Governor Lyon’s effects only $45, which low price was, +I fear, an indication that the belief of the scoffers prevailed +among the buyers there assembled. The firm of +Richard Briggs & Co., of Boston, caused to be manufactured +in 1874 a number of reproductions of this teapot. +Before taking the original to Messrs. Wedgwood, +at Etruria, they were careful to obtain the opinion of a +china expert, Mr. Townsend, of the South Kensington +Museum, who pronounced the “Elder Brewster Teapot” +old Delft, and showed to Mr. Briggs several specimens +similarly decorated. Whatever it may be—old Delft, +old Meissen, old Staffordshire, or even comparatively +modern ware—the reproduction is certainly a pretty little +teapot, even if the Mayflower episode in the career of +the original be said to be fabulous. The story of the acquisition +of this teapot by Governor Lyon is very interesting. +He bought it from an old lady in Vermont, but +only after repeated visits, much cajolery, many rebuffs, +and a very stiff purchase sum.</p> + +<p class='c011'>There is in Morristown, in the beautiful old colonial +mansion known as Washington’s Headquarters, a tall +teapot which is dissimilar in shape to the Elder Brewster +teapot, but which is exactly like it in paste, in decoration +<span class='pageno' id='Page_204'>204</span>of dull vermilion and maroon, and as a further resemblance, +it has the same rather curiously modelled flower +as a knob on the cover. This teapot is labelled “Old +English ware,” and old English Delft it apparently is. +It certainly looks like a sister of the Elder Brewster teapot.</p> + +<p class='c011'>At this home of the Washington Association may be +seen many other curious and interesting teapots—old +Spode, Staffordshire, and Wedgwood. Black basalts +and cream-ware specimens of good design are found in +the well-kept and well-arranged cases. All have a story +or a history of past owners to make them interesting, +aside from the longing we feel for them as “specimens.” +I would we could pour out from their spouts in old-time +words the stream of Continental tattle that has been +poured into them; we could write therefrom a social +and economic history of our country that would excel +in point of detail Boswell’s Johnson, Pepys’s Diary, and +Horace Walpole’s Letters all rolled into one.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A famous and curious teapot was the shape known as +the Cadogan. They were also used for coffee, and were +formed from a model of Indian green-ware brought from +abroad by the Marchioness of Rockingham, or the Hon. +Mrs. Cadogan, and from her received the name. They +were made at the Rockingham works; and George IV., +then Prince Regent, a connoisseur in tea, chancing to see +one and to praise the tea that came from it, the Cadogan +teapots sprang at once into high fashion. Mortlock, the +dealer, ordered for one season’s supply, £900 worth. +This teapot was all in one piece; it had no cover. It +<span class='pageno' id='Page_205'>205</span>was filled through a hole in the bottom. A slightly +spiral tube ran up from this hole nearly to the top of +the teapot. It can plainly be seen that when it was +filled with an infusion of tea and inverted, that the liquid +could only escape through the spout. The teapots +were decorated on the outside with raised leaves and +flowers. Some of these Cadogan teapots of course came +to America, and are now found in collections. I have +also seen Japanese “puzzle teapots” fashioned in the +same manner, to be filled at the bottom. Another Japanese +“puzzle-teapot” looks like a gray earthen doughnut +with a handle and spout, the tea being poured into +it through the hollow handle.</p> + +<p class='c011'>George IV. was a connoisseur in teapots not only +from a gastronomic point of view, but he was a collector +of them as well, and had at the Pavilion at Brighton +great pyramids formed of a vast variety of teapots. +Many collections of them have been made in England. +Mrs. Hawes left to her daughter three hundred choice +teapots which were arranged in a room built specially +for them. A number that had belonged to Queen Charlotte +were in this gathering. Such a collection is interesting +and instructive, the pieces being from various factories +and lands. Even more instructive still, because +gathered with a definite purpose and forming a serial +guide to the perfect knowledge of the ceramic productions +of a single country, is such a collection of teapots +as that in the unrivalled Morse Collection in the Boston +Museum of Art. But collections of modern Japanese +teapots, gathered simply for the sake of seeing how many +<span class='pageno' id='Page_206'>206</span>different kinds and what grotesque shapes one can get, +do not appeal to me. Such is said to be the modern +“assorted lot” of Madame de Struve, the wife of the +minister to Japan, who gathered together nine hundred +and seventy-five Japanese teapots. Such a collection +can be formed in a week by any person having money +enough to pay for them and interest enough to order +the cratefuls sent home; while a collection of good old +teapots of Oriental, English, French, and German wares +is a matter of a lifetime, especially if historical interest +is a desideratum, and good taste as well.</p> + +<p class='c011'>I have not seen in America, as may be found in boudoirs +and dining-rooms in France and England, any +friezes “three row deep” of teapots round the top of the +room; but one fair New York china-maniac, who says +with the vehement exaggeration so typical of American +women, “I love my teapots and my tea as I love my +life,” has a narrow shelf quite round the wall-top, about +a foot below the ceiling, filled closely with a gay procession +of vari-colored, vari-formed teapots. It is a +unique and striking decoration—in good taste, since the +frieze teapots are none of them gems, but simply gay and +effective bits of Oriental color and grotesque shape. In +a cabinet, glass-covered and screened, are all the old teapots +which she owns, a rare and dainty company of ancients +and honorables.</p> + +<p class='c011'>At Stockbridge, in the possession of Mrs. Plumb, may +be seen, arranged on shallow shelves, a large and good +collection of teapots, gathered chiefly from farm-houses +in the country around. Over one hundred old English +<span class='pageno' id='Page_207'>207</span>pieces are among the number, some of them being very +beautiful and rare.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Mottoes, names, and inscriptions are often found on +ancient teapots found in America. One of Leeds-ware +bears on one side the words:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“May all loving friends</div> + <div class='line in2'>Be happy and free</div> + <div class='line'>In drinking a Cup</div> + <div class='line in2'>Of Harmless Tea.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>Another bears these verses:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“My Lad is far upon the Sea</div> + <div class='line in2'>His absence makes me mourn</div> + <div class='line'>The bark that bears him off from me</div> + <div class='line in2'>I hope will safe return</div> + <div class='line'>And from his earnings I’ll save up</div> + <div class='line in2'>If lucky he should be</div> + <div class='line'>And then when old with me he’ll stop</div> + <div class='line in2'>And go no more to sea”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>Another friendly teapot has the lines:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Kindly take this gift of mine</div> + <div class='line'>Full of love for thee & thine. 1769.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>A fourth this good advice:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Drink only tea</div> + <div class='line'>& Sober keep.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>Many of the sailor mottoes found on Liverpool pitchers +are also seen on teapots of Liverpool ware, as if made to +some sailor’s order for a gift.</p> + +<div class='figleft id004'> +<span class='pageno' id='Page_208'>208</span> +<img src='images/i_224a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Lowestoft Teapot.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>Perhaps the +teapots most +commonly used +by our grandmothers +are +the types here +shown; one a +cylindrical +Canton china +teapot known +now as Lowestoft, +and one a +gayly painted +Bristol pottery teapot. Specimens of the latter and +Staffordshire pottery teapots differed much in shape, an +hexagonal form being frequent, and the swan or dolphin +knob being seen on many of the varied shapes. The +black Jackfield +teapots +with raised +designs, looking +like black +glass, are +sometimes +found, silver +mounted and +quaint.</p> + +<div class='figright id004'> +<img src='images/i_224b.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Bristol Pottery Teapot.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>For the perfection, +the +idealization of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_209'>209</span>the teapot we must turn to the productions of Josiah +Wedgwood. Appropriate and convenient in shape, elegant +in decoration, perfect in manufacture, they have +handles adjusted in precisely the best possible balancing +place, spouts shaped to empty the contents in the most +perfect and thorough manner, covers that slide or fit with +ease and yet with exactitude, bases that are perfectly +proportioned and levelled—in a Wedgwood teapot we +find elegance and fitness equally combined, it obeys and +satisfies every artistic, economic, and mathematical rule; +“built by that only law—that use be suggestive of +beauty.” Our modern tastes do not run now to the +black basalts, the blue jasper, the cream-ware of Wedgwood; +we fancy a glazed, painted porcelain for every-day +use, but the fact remains the same—the Wedgwood teapots +are the best, the most perfect ever made; even in +China and Japan, the acknowledged home of teapots, +where the little vessels are not only used to hold tea, +but as an omniparient cistern of every other liquid, even +in those countries can be found no more perfect teapots +than those of Wedgwood. They deserve the appellation +of De Quincey, “an eternal teapot.”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_210'>210</span> + <h2 class='c005'>X.<br> PUNCH-BOWLS AND PUNCHES</h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c014'>There is no individual piece of china around which +shines such a glowing halo of warm hospitality, of +good-fellowship, of good cheer, as around the +jolly punch-bowl. A plate, a mug, a pitcher, is absolutely +devoid of any interest or sentiment save what may +come from knowledge of past ownership, or from beauty +or quaintness of decoration; a teapot conveys a sense +of cosiness and homeliness; but a punch-bowl, even a +common, ugly, cracked crockery punch-bowl—visions of +good company and good companions rise at the very +sight, even at the very name.</p> + +<p class='c011'>What tales of colonial and continental times an old +American punch-bowl could tell if it only could and +would repeat half that it has heard; what gay drinking-songs, +what stirring patriotic speeches, what sharp legal +wit, what sober and circumspect clerical jokes, what +kindly eleemosynary plans would echo cheerfully out of +its great sounding bell could it, like the phonograph, +give forth what has rung into it in the past! What +scenes of rollicking mirth, of dancing feet and dicing-games +have been photographed on its insensitive and +unchanging glaze! In what scene of cheerfulness and of +seriousness alike did not the colonial punch-bowl take +<span class='pageno' id='Page_211'>211</span>its part? It encouraged the soldier on eve of battle, it +bade the sailor God-speed. The heavy Delft bowl stood +filled and refilled to the brim at the husking-party, the +apple-bee, the wood-spell, the timber-rolling, the muster, +the house-raising, the lottery-drawing, the election; +while the big India china bowl stood even on the church +steps at an ordination or a church dedication. It held +the water to christen the baby; it made cheerful the +wedding-feast; and even in times of sadness it was not +banished, but side by side with the funeral baked meats +the omnipresent punch-bowl stood to greet and cheer +every sad comer.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Indeed, at a funeral the punch-bowl specially shone. +Great pains were taken and no expense spared to properly +concoct and serve the sombre funeral-punches. “Rum, +lemons, a loaf of sugar, and spices,” sometimes also +“Malligo raisins and rose-water,” were items on every +reputable and <i>à la mode</i>, as they called it, undertakers’ +bills. A sober, responsible, and above all, an <i>experienced</i> +committee was appointed to carefully mix and +flavor the last libation that could ever be offered to the +dead friend. Small wonder with such good cheer that +even sober Judge Sewall openly called a funeral a “treat.” +And we can understand why a very worthy old gentleman, +a lover of the olden times, complained with much +bitterness in the early part of this century that “temperance +had done for funerals.” The gayly-flowered and +gilded punch-bowl was not sadly draped in trappings of +woe, nor set one side in seclusion, but standing cheerfully +in a prominent position with its spicy welcome, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_212'>212</span>made even sad mourners feel that life was still worth +living.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The punch-bowl certainly flourished proudly in America +through the eighteenth century, just as it reigned in +honor in England at the same time. Previous to that +date the English prototype of the punch-bowl had been +the posset-pot, and that primitive form still exists, and +indeed is made and used in Derbyshire and the neighboring +English counties to the present day. A few posset-pots +have made their way to America with Derbyshire +emigrants and have been gathered in by rapacious +collectors. On Christmas eve in olden times the great +vessel, which sometimes held two gallons, was filled +with the “good drink,” and a silver coin and a wedding-ring +were dropped in when the guests assembled; +each partaker in turn dipped out a great spoonful or +ladleful of the drink, and whoever was lucky enough +to fish up the coin was certain of good luck during the +ensuing year, while the ring-finder would be happily +and speedily married. Posset was a very good mixture—a +“very pretty drink”—not so good as punch, of +course, but to us invested with a reflected glory. Hath +not Shakespeare oft spoke to us of posset? In my +little “Queen’s Closet Opened,” a book of culinary, +medical, and potatory recipes collected by and for +Queen Henrietta Maria, I find half a dozen rules for the +brewing of “sack-posset.” “To make a Sack-Posset +without Milk or Cream: Take eighteen Egs, whites and +all, taking out the Treads, let them be beaten very well, +take a pint of Sack, and a quart of Ale boyl’d, and scum +<span class='pageno' id='Page_213'>213</span>it, then put in three-quarters of a pound of suger and a +little Nutmeg, let it boyl a few wames together, then +take it off the fire stirring the Egs still, put into them +two or three Ladlefuls of drink, then mingle all together, +and set it on the fire, and keep it stirring til you find it +thick then serve it up”—and not drink it, but cut it up +and eat it, one might fancy. There is no recipe for +punch in my “Queen’s Closet.” I fear Queen Henrietta +did not know about that new drink, punch, in 1676, +when this quaint old book was published. Had she +done so, she had not needed so many nostrums for insomnia. +Englishmen in India knew of it; “spiced punch +in bowls the Indians quaff,” wrote one in 1665, and in +1697 Tryer spoke of it and basely libelled it as “an enervating +liquor.” The punchless Queen knew, however, +how to make hypocras, metheglin, mead, caudle, cordial-water, +aqua-cœlestis, aqua-mirabilis, clary-water, gillyflower-wine, +usquebarb, and, best and delectablest of all, +she knew how to make a Damnable Hum, and I doubt +not she served it in a punch-bowl as was befitting so +noble a drink.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The posset-pot had some cousins in England—the +goddard, the wassail-bowl, the gossip-bowl, the caudle-cup—poor +relations, however, and feeble ancestors of +the glorious punch-bowl. To the Orientals, not to the +English, we owe our punch-bowls and our punches. +Punch or “pauch” was an Indian drink, and the word +meant five, and was named from the five ingredients +used in its composition—arrack, tea, sugar, water, and +lemon-juice. A “pauch” was also a conclave of five +<span class='pageno' id='Page_214'>214</span>men, a “pauch-pillav” a medicine of five ingredients, +and so on.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The English people took very readily to the new +Oriental drink and the new vessel to hold it, as it did +to everything else in India. We read in the old ballad +of “Jock-o’-the-Side,” “They hae gard fill up a punch-bowl,” +and when a ballad adopts a word, then it is the +people’s. As the potter’s art advanced in England, great +bowls were made to hold punch at taverns and halls, +often for the special use of the potters themselves. +Cheerful mottoes did these potters’ punch-bowls sometimes +bear. For simplicity and terseness this excels, +“One Bowie more, and then”—does it not speak a +never-ending welcome? A blue and white potter’s bowl +ten inches in diameter has this descriptive motto:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“John Udy of Luxillion</div> + <div class='line'>his tin was so fine</div> + <div class='line'>it glidered this punch-bowl</div> + <div class='line'>and made it to shine,</div> + <div class='line'>pray fill it with punch</div> + <div class='line'>let the tinners sitt round</div> + <div class='line'>they never will budge</div> + <div class='line'>till the bottom they sound.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>Glider meant to glaze, not to gild, and the verses refer +to the stanniferous opaque white glaze formed by the +use of Cornish tin.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Another bowl has these sententious lines:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“What art can with the potter’s art compare?</div> + <div class='line'>For of what we are ourselves of such we make our wares.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_215'>215</span>More serious rhymes still are found. At North Hylton, +in England, were made many punch-bowls of lustre +ware, and the proprietor, Mr. Phillips, must have been a +very serious-minded and inconsequential man, or he never +would have put these lines on so worldly a vessel:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“The loss of gold is great,</div> + <div class='line'>The loss of health is more,</div> + <div class='line'>But losing Christ is such a loss</div> + <div class='line'>As no man can restore.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>This bowl may, however, have been for a parson. On +another specimen of the Hylton pottery gayly decorated +with a print of a ship, a public house, and a hat-and-feathered +young woman with an umbrella and small dog, +are these sober and comically incongruous verses:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“There is a land of peaceful rest</div> + <div class='line'>To mourning wanderers given,</div> + <div class='line'>There’s a tear for souls distrest,</div> + <div class='line'>A balm for every wounded breast,</div> + <div class='line'>’Tis found above in Heaven!”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>Were it not for the public house, and the hat and +feathers, we should know that this punch-bowl was +surely made purposely to use at funerals.</p> + +<p class='c011'>One of the finest punch-bowls ever figulated is twenty +inches and a half in diameter. It is of Liverpool Delft, +painted in blue with ships and a landscape, and the inscription, +“Success to the Africa Trade, George Dickinson.” +When we remember of what the “Africa Trade” +consisted—the slave-traffic—we wonder the punch did +not poison the drinkers. I have often seen this bowl referred +<span class='pageno' id='Page_216'>216</span>to by authors as of extraordinary and unique size. +It is not as large as the grand blue and white punch-bowl +used by the first Continental Congress, a bowl which +is now at Morristown, at Washington’s Headquarters. I +do not know whether this mammoth Congressional bowl +is Canton china or English delft, for, since it stands in a +cupboard, one cannot examine it closely. The color and +design are good, and the size impressive, and altogether +it is a noble relic, for this courage-giver of those troubled +and anxious Federal days may have played no unimportant +part in the affairs and history of our nation; I +regard it with grateful awe and veneration, and also +with a rather unworthy pride and satisfaction in its great +size.</p> + +<p class='c011'>There were hosts of punch-bowls at that date in +America. Watson wrote in 1830, of old colonial Philadelphia: +“A corner was occupied by a beaufet, which +was a corner closet with a glass door, in which all the +china and plate were intended to be displayed for ornament +as well as for use. A conspicuous article was +always a great china punch-bowl.” And they needed a +punch-bowl, and a large one too, if we can trust the +local annals of the time. William Black recorded in his +diary in 1744, that he was given in Philadelphia cider +and punch for lunch, rum and brandy before dinner, +punch, Madeira, port, and sherry at dinner, bounce and +liqueurs with the ladies, and wine and spirits and punch +until bedtime. Well might he say that in Philadelphia +“they were as liberal with wine as an apple-tree with its +fruit on a windy day.”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_217'>217</span>A clergyman named Acrelius gives us the most abundant +proof why Philadelphians and their neighbors always +should need a punch-bowl. In 1759 there was +printed in Stockholm a detailed account of Pennsylvania +or New Sweden, written by this Parson Acrelius. He +fairly revels in his descriptions of the appetizing drinks +to be had in the new land, and he unctuously explains +how to concoct the “mixed drinks” in the most approved +fashion. Here is the list of American drinks +that he sent back to Sweden to encourage emigration. +French Wine, Frontenac, Pontac, Port-a-port, Lisbon +Wine, Phial Wine, Sherry, Madeira Wine, Sangaree, +Mulled Wine, Currant Wine, Cherry Wine, Raspberry +Wine, Apple Wine or Cider, Cider Royal, Mulled Cider, +Rum “which is like French Brandy, only with no unpleasant +odor,” Raw-dram, Egg-dram, Egg-nogg, Cherry-dram, +Cherry Bounce, Billberry Bounce, Punch, Mamm, +Manathann (made of small beer, rum and sugar), Hotchpot +(also of beer, curd and rum), Sampson (of warm cider +and rum). More familiar and modern names appear +also: Tiff, Flip, Hot Rum, Mulled Rum, Grog, Sling; +then come Long-sup, Mint-water, Egg-punch, Milk-punch, +Sillabub, Still Liquor (which was peach brandy), +Anise Cordial, Cinnamon Cordial—in all a list of fifty +drinks with an added finish of liqueurs, “drops almost +without end,” meads, metheglins, and beers. Now, do +you wonder that they had great and many punch-bowls +in Philadelphia? What a list to make a toper wish +that he had lived in Pennsylvania in colonial days.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Sober Boston was not one whit behind its Quaker +<span class='pageno' id='Page_218'>218</span>neighbor. As early as 1686 John Dunton had more +than one “noble bowl of punch” in that Puritan town. +Bennett, a visitor in Boston, in 1740, wrote, “As to +drink they have no good beer. Madeira wines and rum-punch +are the liquors they drink in common.” Boston +people of fashion served a great punch-bowl of flip or +punch before dinner. If the bowl were not too large +it was passed from hand to hand, and all drank from +it without the ceremony of intervening glasses. I doubt +not it was a test of high fashion to handle well and +gracefully the punch-bowl.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Various and strange were the names of the contents of +these punch-bowls—names not on Parson Acrelius’s list. +Madam Knights wrote in 1704, that “the Bare-legged +Punch had so awfull or rather awkerd a name that we +would not drink.” Berkeley wrote that the strong drink +of Virginia in 1710 was “Mobby Punch, made either of +rum from the Caribbee Islands, or Brandy distill’d from +their Apples and Peaches.” Another Virginian traveller +wrote in 1744, “Our liquor was sorry rum mixed with +water and sugar, which bore the heathenish name of +Gumbo punch.” “Pupello punch” was made from cider +brandy. “Sangry punch” was probably an accented +sangaree. “Rack punch” was made from arrack; while +“Jincy punch” I leave to the philologists, antiquaries, or +expert bartenders to define or analyze.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Where are all those great punch-bowls now that we +read of in history? I wish I could see the punch-bowl +used by the Newburyport ministers in their frequent +social meetings, the punch-bowl in the picture painted +<span class='pageno' id='Page_219'>219</span>over Parson Lowell’s mantel, the picture with its great +bowl, the parsons all smoking, and the cheerful motto, +“In Essentials, Unity; in Non-essentials, Liberty; in +All Things, Charity.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>I should like to see the bowl which played such an important +part in the transfer of the four hundred acres of +land which formed the birthplace of Thomas Jefferson. +Old Peter Jefferson made a very canny trade when he +acquired the deed of that large tract in exchange for +“Henry Weatherbourne’s biggest punch-bowl full of +arrack punch.” Golden should have been that bowl, +and vast its size, to justify its purchase-power.</p> + +<p class='c011'>I would I could see the great punch-bowls used by +the rollicking, hunting, drunken clergy of Virginia in +ante-Revolutionary times, at their “Monthly Meetings,” +the tale of whose disgraceful revelry has been told us by +Mr. Parton in his “Life of Jefferson.” Where is the +punch-bowl used at the Wolfes Head Tavern in Newburyport, +on September 26, 1765, “at the greate uneasyness +and Tumult on acasion of the Stamp Act;” the +bowl from which the alarmed citizens of Newburytown +drank fifty-seven pounds worth of “double and thribble +bowles” of punch, and in company with which they had +two pounds worth of supper and coffee. Well might +we say, “O monstrous! But one penny worth of bread +to this intolerable deal of Sack!” “Greate uneasyness,” +no doubt, they felt.</p> + +<p class='c011'>One of the oldest punch-bowls—indeed, one of the +oldest pieces of china in the country—is the beautiful +India or Chinese bowl now owned by Edmund Randolph +<span class='pageno' id='Page_220'>220</span>Robinson, Esq., of New York. It is eighteen +inches in diameter, of rich red and gold decoration, and +is mounted upon a black wood stand upon which is a +silver plate bearing the noble historical names of its past +owners, so far back as known. It is supposed to have +been brought to America by William Randolph, as his +son, Sir John Randolph, is known to have long possessed +it. This gentleman was one of the early Governors of +Virginia, and Attorney-General in the first part of the +eighteenth century. His son Peyton was president of +the first Continental Congress in 1774, and Attorney-General +of Virginia. From him it passed to Edmund +Randolph—also Governor and Attorney-General of Virginia—aide-de-camp +to Washington, and first Attorney-General +and second Secretary of State of the United +States. He was the great-grandfather of the present +owner. This beautiful relic has passed through good +service as a christening-bowl for many generations of +Governors and Attorney-Generals, as well as enduring a +vast amount of use on less solemn occasions.</p> + +<p class='c011'>How many punch-bowls did George Washington own? +The great India china bowl with a picture of a frigate; +the “rose china” bowl now at Mount Vernon; the fine +great bowl now in the National Museum; the china +bowl given by him to William Fitzhugh. He gave a +beautiful punch-bowl to his friend and aide-de-camp, +Colonel Benjamin Eyre; another to Tobias Lear, and +another to Mrs. Allen Jones, of Newberne, N. C. And +still less can we number the punch-bowls out of which +he once drank. We all have one in the possession of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_221'>221</span>some member of our family—I wonder, with all his +punch-drinking, that the father of his country was ever +sober.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id002'> +<img src='images/i_237.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Bowl Given to Mrs. Allen Jones.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>This beautiful great bowl, eighteen inches in diameter, +was given by Washington to Mrs. Allen Jones, and has +had sad usage. It was buried in the ground to hide it +from Tarleton’s men, and is grievously cracked and +broken. It is of richest decoration of red, blue, and gold +on an India china ground. It is now owned by the +Washington Association of New Jersey.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Washington’s India china punch-bowl, which was at +Arlington House in 1840, is thus described by Mr. Lossing. +“The great porcelain punch-bowl has a deep blue +border on the rim spangled with gilt dots. It was made +expressly for Washington, but when, where, and by whom +is not known. In the bottom is the picture of a frigate +<span class='pageno' id='Page_222'>222</span>and on the side are the initials ‘G. W.’ in gold upon a +shield, with ornamental surroundings. It is supposed to +have been presented to Washington by the French naval +officers.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>And the “rose china” bowl at Mount Vernon! That +was purchased by the Mount Vernon Association in +1891 from the Lewis estate, for $250—and it is +broken too. It is sixteen inches across and five and a +half in depth. On the rim, both inside and outside +the bowl, is an odd pink and yellow band. Scattered +over it are flowers of various colors, in which pink predominates.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The beautiful Chinese bowl given to Colonel Benjamin +Eyre, the Revolutionary patriot, by Washington, +is now in the possession of Colonel Eyre’s great-grandson, +Benjamin Eyre Valentine, Esq., of Brooklyn. It is +about fifteen inches in diameter and five and a half +inches high, of fine Canton china, and bears around +the outside of the bowl a scene in a Chinese town, and +at regular intervals flaunting flags of all the known nations +which were then engaged in maritime pursuits, our +new flag—the stars and stripes—being conspicuous +among them. This bowl thus possesses an additional +historical interest, in that it is the oldest known piece of +Chinese porcelain bearing the decoration of the American +flag. It is a counterpart in size and shape to the Washington +bowl now in the Smithsonian Institution, but the +latter is decorated with Chinese landscapes and figures. +It came into the possession of the Government through +the sale of Washington relics by the Lewis family.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id002'> +<span class='pageno' id='Page_223'>223</span> +<img src='images/i_239.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Cincinnati Bowl.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>The most curious Continental punch-bowl that I have +ever seen is the great bowl which is here shown. It is +now owned by the Washington Association of New +Jersey, and once belonged to Colonel Richard Varick, +aide to Washington. It is a beautifully-proportioned +vessel of Lowestoft or Canton china, about eighteen +inches in diameter. It has a dark blue border with +festoons of gilt, and bears on the side, in well-chosen +colors, all the words and design of the full certificate of +membership of the Society of the Cincinnati. The +winged figure of Fame, and the other symbolical figures +are carefully painted, and all the lettering, including +the fine text of the Latin mottoes on seal and crest, is +clear and exact. Doubtless a certificate of membership +was sent to be copied when the bowl was ordered by +Colonel Varick. It is in perfect condition, and is one +<span class='pageno' id='Page_224'>224</span>of the finest historical relics of early Federal times that +I have ever seen. It plainly shows the pride and delight +of Revolutionary heroes in their new country and +new associations. There are in the same building—Washington’s +Headquarters—half a dozen other punch-bowls, +all of historical interest, and all large enough to +show the vastly hospitable intent of the new-made citizens +of the new Republic.</p> + +<p class='c011'>How pleased good, plain American Republicans were +with that Society of the Cincinnati, and how it tickled +their pride to wear the Order! Adams and Franklin +were seriously alarmed at the powerful hold and influence +the decoration seemed to have, and used argument +and ridicule against it. One patriotic and vain citizen +had his portrait painted in the bottom of his punch-bowl, +with the Order proudly displayed around his neck. +Around him encircled that favorite emblem, the thirteen-linked +chain; great black links these were, with the +name of a State in each. On the side of the bowl the +Order was again displayed in larger size.</p> + +<p class='c011'>There is a gallant ten-gallon bowl in Upper Faneuil +Hall, which belongs to the Ancient and Honorable Artillery +of Boston. Captain Ephraim Prescott, when in +China in 1795, procured this great bowl as a suitable +present for his companions at arms. The generous captain +died during the voyage home, and on its arrival in +port the punch-bowl fell into strange hands. Thirty +years later Hon. Jonathan Hunnewell heard of its existence, +bought it for $15, and gave it to the military +company for whom it was originally purchased. Curious +<span class='pageno' id='Page_225'>225</span>old orders and entries exist about the purchase +of wine, rum, sugar, and “sourings” for the manufacture +of the ancient and honorable punches. “But if sowrings +be scarce & dear, wine & rum only.” You might +make a punch without lemons, on a squeeze, but not +without wine and rum.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Sourings” ought to have been cheap enough. Even +as early as 1741 lemons were plentiful and not at all +dear. In the <cite>Salem Gazette</cite> in 1741, is this notice: +“Extraordinary good and very fresh Orange Juice, +which some of the very best Punch Tasters prefer to +Lemmons, at one dollar per gallon. Also very good +Lime Juice and Shrub to put into Punch, at the Basket +of Lemmons. J. Crosby.” So there was with all the +punch-bowls, a regular profession of punch-tasting; just +fancy it.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Occasionally there is some definite means of tracing +the age of one of these pieces. Thus the fine, perfect +punch-bowl owned by William C. Townsend, of Newport, +is said to have been brought out by Captain Jacob Smith, +of the Semiramis, a ship that, returning home in 1804 +after an absence of three years, was lost on Nantucket +Shoals. Of her cargo, valued at three hundred thousand +dollars, but little was saved; but, strange to say, this +great punch-bowl, twenty-two inches in diameter, holding +eight gallons, was brought off in safety. It has the +typical Lowestoft border of blue enamel with gold stars, +and on the sides are large medallions so European in appearance +that at first they seem to stamp the bowl as +English. Examination, however, shows that the figures +<span class='pageno' id='Page_226'>226</span>have the almond eyes of the Chinese, as well as other +Oriental characteristics, and were undoubtedly copied +from French or English prints sent to Canton.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A modern writer thus sadly deplores the “good old +times:”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Fifty years ago the punch-bowl was no mere ornament +for the side-board and the china-cabinet; it was a +thing to be brought forth and filled with a fragrant mixture +of rum, brandy and curacoa, lemon, hot water, sugar, +grated nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon. The preparation of +the bowl was as much a labor of love as that of a claret-cup, +its degenerate successor. The ladles were beautiful +works of art in silver—where are those ladles now, and +what purpose do they serve?” Yes, it is true, the days +of universal use for the punch-bowl are over—ornamental +and curious they now are, and nothing more. Lucky it +is for us china collectors, that dinners and everything else +<i>à la russe</i> did not obtain with our hospitable ancestors. +No great tureens, no generous pitchers, no vast platters, +and no noble punch-bowls should we now have to admire +and gloat over, and place in our cabinets as monuments +of ceramic art. Had they lived as we do, not a single +punch-bowl should we have to glory in and grow sentimental +over. An ignorant butler would have carelessly +and prosaically mixed the drink in his pantry in any kind +of a pot or a pan, and then ignominiously bottled it, and +brought it in when required in driblets, in stingy little +glasses that say plainly: “Drink this, and no more.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Indeed, I doubt we ever would have had punch, for +in the gustatory and potatory laws of cause and effect, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_227'>227</span>I know the punch-bowl evoked or generated punch +instead of being made to hold punch. I would not go +back to the rollicking, roaring, drunken ways of the olden +time, but on the whole I am glad our grandfathers had +those ways and bequeathed to us the glorious, great, +ringing punch-bowls, in which they brewed and mixed +and concocted, and from which they drank that “most +insinuating drink” with which so often they got sadly, +hopelessly “lusky, bosky, buffy, boozy, cocky, fuddled, +balmy, pickled, screwed, funny, foggy, hazy, groggy, +slewed, ruddled, dagged, jagged, comed, elevated, muddled, +tight, primed, mainbrace well spliced, gilded”—or +whatever elegant, chaste, colonial appellation our synonym-lacking +language afforded to express being drunk.</p> + +<p class='c011'>One worthy tribute to an old punch-bowl has been +written by one of our best-loved poets. I would his +bowl had been like my theme, china instead of silver—ah, +no! I do not, for had it been of “tenderest porcelane” +it might have been broken a century ago, and we +should have known neither his punch-bowl nor his perfect +poem. How true the opening verses!</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“This ancient silver bowl of mine, it tells of good old times,</div> + <div class='line'>Of joyous days, and jolly nights, and merry Christmas chimes;</div> + <div class='line'>They were a free and jovial race, but honest, brave, and true,</div> + <div class='line'>That dipped their ladle in the punch when this old bowl was new.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>And can I end better than with the concluding verses?</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“I tell you there was generous warmth in good old English cheer,</div> + <div class='line'>I tell you ’twas a pleasant thought to bring its symbol here;</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_228'>228</span>’Tis but the fool that loves excess—hast thou a drunken soul?</div> + <div class='line'>Thy bane is in thy shallow skull, not in my silver bowl!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“I love the memory of the past, its pressed yet fragrant flowers,</div> + <div class='line'>The moss that clothes its broken walls, the ivy on its towers—</div> + <div class='line'>Nay, this poor bauble it bequeathed—my eyes grow moist and dim,</div> + <div class='line'>To think of all the vanished joys that danced around its brim.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Then fill a fair and honest cup and bear it straight to me,</div> + <div class='line'>The goblet hallows all it holds whate’er the liquid be,</div> + <div class='line'>And may the cherubs on its face protect me from the sin,</div> + <div class='line'>That dooms one to those dreadful words, ‘My dear, where have you been?’”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_229'>229</span> + <h2 class='c005'>XI.<br> GEORGE AND MARTHA WASHINGTON’S CHINA</h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c014'>In the long and apparently extravagant orders which +George Washington sent to England previous to +the Revolutionary War, for the purchase and exportation +to him of dress goods and house and table +furnishings of various descriptions, I find no mention of +table china. In 1759 he wrote for “four Fashionable +China Branches or Stands for Candles,” and for “Busts +of Alexander the Great, Charles XII. of Sweden, Julius +Cæsar, and King of Prussia, fifteen inches high and ten +wide. Others smaller of Prince Eugene & Duke of +Marlborough. Two wild Beasts twelve inches high and +eighteen inches long, and Sundry Small Ornaments for +the chimney piece.” As these were to be “finished neat +and bronzed with copper,” or to be gilt, they were +doubtless all of plaster or some similar composition. A +portion of the items in the order were sent to him, the +wild beasts being “Two Lyons.” These two plaster +“lyons,” shorn of their golden lustre and painted ignominiously +black, stood for years over a doorway at +Mount Vernon, were inherited by Lawrence Washington, +and sold in Philadelphia on April 22, 1891, for thirty +dollars.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_230'>230</span>I can find no hint of any china possessions of Washington +until the War of the Revolution was gloriously +ended. He had plenty of pewter—dinner dishes of that +humble metal with his initials and crest are still preserved. +His camp-service of forty pieces was entirely of +pewter, and I doubt not the greater part also of his +home table furnishings in his early married life.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In his directions for remodelling and refurnishing his +house at Mount Vernon, after the expiration of his terms +as President, he ordered that a small room be appropriated +for “the Sèvres china and other things of that sort +which are not in common use.” Mr. Lossing says:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“He undoubtedly referred to the sets of china which +had been presented, one to himself, and the other to Mrs. +Washington, by the officers of the French Army. The +former was dull white in color, with heavy and confused +scroll and leaf ornaments in bandeaux of deep blue, and +having upon the sides of the cups and tureens, and in +the bottoms of the plates, saucers, and meat dishes, the +Order of the Cincinnati held by Fame personated by a +winged woman with a trumpet. These designs were +skilfully painted in delicate colors.”</p> + +<div class='figleft id004'> +<span class='pageno' id='Page_231'>231</span> +<img src='images/i_247a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +</div> + +<div class='figright id004'> +<img src='images/i_247b.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Cincinnati China.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>While this description of Mr. Lossing’s is accurate as +to the decoration of the china, if not as to the quality +of the decoration, a china collector would at once discover +that the “Cincinnati set” was not Sèvres, but was +plainly Chinese. It is the well-known dull white, hard +paste of Canton manufacture, with a border of commonplace +Oriental design in deep blue under the glaze. Some +of the pieces have (all, perhaps, had originally) a narrow +rim of gilt on the +outer edge, and a +narrow line of gilt +within the border. +The rather insignificant +and undersized +figure of +Fame has bright +brown wings and +trumpet, a robe of +light green, a scarf of bright pink, while the bow-knot +sustaining the colored Order of the Cincinnati is light +blue. This design is not painted at all skilfully but quite +crudely over the glaze. Some of the covered dishes +bear upon the +cover the order +without the figure +of Fame. +In a note made +by Governor +Lyon he states +that this service +was “made in +Canton in 1784, +the design being +furnished by +General Miranda.” +Though +the design be insignificant +and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_232'>232</span>the execution crude, much interest is added to the Cincinnati +china to know that the “most gentlemanlike +of filibusters” made the drawing for the decoration. +That plausible and brilliant man who “talked so like +an angel” that Americans, Russians, and Englishmen +vied in endeavors to assist him in his visionary schemes; +who helped to establish independence in America, to +give freedom to France, to liberate his native land, Venezuela; +who aided in freeing thousands of others, died +himself in a Spanish dungeon a slave, a most miserable +captive, in chains, with an iron collar around his +neck.</p> + +<p class='c011'>No one was apparently better fitted to give information +on the subject of the Cincinnati china than Governor +Lyon, for he was a frequent visitor at Mount Vernon +and Arlington House in the middle of this century; he +was also collecting facts and details with a view to writing +a “History of the Ceramic Relics of the Revolution.” +Unfortunately he relied much on his memory, +and hence left few notes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Much ignorance about this Cincinnati china is displayed, +even by writers upon pottery and porcelain. +The author of “The Ceramic Art” calls it Sèvres, and +places the most Chinese-looking illustration of it alongside +the print of equally Frenchy Sèvres vases. That +careful observer and exact recorder, the author of “The +China Hunters’ Club,” falls into no such error, and +though unable to examine specimens closely, says “they +looked like so-called Lowestoft, and may have been +Chinese, English, or of some French factory.” Another +<span class='pageno' id='Page_233'>233</span>well-known writer says that this set was given to Washington +in 1780. As neither the Society of the Cincinnati, +nor its badge, existed until 1783, this statement is +palpably false.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The authorities at the National Museum, and all the +owners of pieces of the set, consider that it was presented +to General Washington by the entire Society of the +Cincinnati, and not by the French officers alone, as Mr. +Lossing states. It would seem probable that had the +French officers made the gift, it would have been of +French china of some elegance, instead of such commonplace +Chinese porcelain. Hon. Hamilton Fish, the +President of the Society of the Cincinnati, tells me that +the general society, and, as far as known, the individual +State societies, have no records of the gift of this china +to Washington; nor have I seen any letters, any entries, +any notes of the time, to prove, or even hint, that this +china was the gift of the Society of the Cincinnati. +Though Martha Washington mentions the set in her +will, she does not specify it as a gift, as she does the +“set given me by Mr. Van Braam.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>While I have never seen any statements to prove that +this set of china was the gift of the Society of the Cincinnati, +there is in the possession of Ferdinand J. Dreer, +Esq., of Philadelphia, a letter which would seem to indicate +that Washington may have bought the china +himself, or, at any rate, it proves that china with the +decoration of the badge of the Cincinnati was ordered +for the general American market. The letter, which +is very characteristic of Washington’s thrift and prudence, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_234'>234</span>is addressed to Colonel Tench Tilghman and runs +thus:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-r c016'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Mt Vernon</span> 17th Augst 1785.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c015'><span class='sc'>Dear Sir</span>: The <cite>Baltimore Advertiser</cite> of the 12th inst announces +the arrival of the ship at that Port immediately from China, and +by an advertisement in the same paper I perceive that the Cargo +is to be sold by public Vendue on the first of Octo. next.</p> + +<p class='c015'>At what prices the enumerated articles will sell on the terms +proposed can only be known from the experiment, but if the quantity +at market is great, and they should sell as goods have sold at +vendue bargains may be expected.—I therefore take the liberty +of requesting the favor of you, in that case, to purchase the several +things contained in the enclosed list.</p> + +<p class='c015'>You will readily perceive my dear sir, my purchasing or not depends +entirely upon the prices—If <i>great bargains</i> are to be had, +I would supply myself agreeably to the list. If the prices do not +fall <i>below</i> a cheap <i>retail</i> sale, I would decline them altogether or +take such articles only (if cheaper than common) as are marked +in the margin of the Invoice.</p> + +<p class='c015'>Before October, if none of these goods are previously sold, and +if they are, the matter will be ascertained thereby, you will be +able to form a judgment of the prices they will command by Vendue—upon +information of which, I will deposit the money in your +hands to comply with the terms of the Sale.</p> + +<p class='c015'>Since I began this letter I have been informed that good India +Nankeens are selling at Dumfries (not far from me) at 7/6 a pc +this Curr F——. But if my memory has not failed me, I used to import +them before the war for about 5S sterl. If so, though 50 per +cent is a small advance upon India Goods through a British channel +(and the duties and accumulated charges thereon) yet quaere? +would not 7/6 be a high price for Nankeens brought immediately +from India, exempted from <i>such</i> duties and charges? If this is a +conjecture founded in fairness, it will give my ideas of the prices +of the articles from that country and be a government for your +<span class='pageno' id='Page_235'>235</span>conduct therein, at or before the day appointed for the public +Vendue.</p> + +<div class='lg-container-r c016'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>With the highest esteem and regard</div> + <div class='line in6'>I am Dr Sir,</div> + <div class='line in12'>Yr affect friend and Obedt Serv’t</div> + <div class='line in32'><span class='sc'>G. Washington</span>.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c015'>Invoice of Goods to be purchased by Tench Tilghman Esqr on +account of Geo Washington agreeable to the letter accompanying +this of equal date.</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>A sett of the best Nankin Table China</div> + <div class='line'>Ditto—best Evening Cups & Saucers</div> + <div class='line'><a id='r1'></a><a href='#f1' class='c022'><sup>[1]</sup></a> A sett of <i>large</i> blue & white China</div> + <div class='line'>Dishes say half a dozen more or less</div> + <div class='line'><a href='#f1' class='c022'><sup>[1]</sup></a> 1 Doz. <i>small</i> bowls blue & white</div> + <div class='line'><a href='#f1' class='c022'><sup>[1]</sup></a> 6 Wash hand Guglets & Basons</div> + <div class='line'>6 Large Mugs or 3 mugs & 3 jugs</div> + <div class='line'>A Quart<sup>r</sup> Chest best Hyson Tea</div> + <div class='line'>A Leagure of Battavia Arrack if a Leagure is not large.</div> + <div class='line'>About 13 yards of good blu: Paduasoy</div> + <div class='line'>A ps of fine muslin plain</div> + <div class='line'><a href='#f1' class='c022'><sup>[1]</sup></a> 1 ps of Silk Handkerchiefs</div> + <div class='line'>12 ps of the Best Nankeens</div> + <div class='line'>18 ps of the second quality or coursest kind for servants.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-r c016'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='sc'>G. Washington.</span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-l c016'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>17th Augst 1785.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='footnote c016' id='f1'> +<p class='c011'><a href='#r1'>1</a>. With the badge of the society of the Cincinnati if to be had.</p> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>The sentimental and high-flown announcement in the +<cite>Baltimore Advertiser</cite> of the arrival of the vessel referred +to by Washington reads thus:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“On Tuesday evening last arrived here, directly from +China, the ship Pallas commanded by its owner Capt. +O’Donnell. She has on board a most valuable Cargo +<span class='pageno' id='Page_236'>236</span>consisting of an extensive Variety of Teas, China, Silks, +Satins, Nankeens, &c., &c. We are extremely happy to +find the Commercial Reputation of this Town so far increased +as to attract the attention of Gentlemen who are +engaged in carrying on this distant but beneficial Trade. +It is no unpleasing Sight to see the Crew of this Ship, +Chinese, Malays, Japanese and Moors with a few Europeans, +all habited according to the different Countries to +which they belong, and employed together as Brethren; +it is thus Commerce binds and unites all the Nations of +the Globe with a golden Chain.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The advertisement of the auction sale is also given:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“To be sold at Public Vendue at Baltimore on the 1st +of October next in Lots The Following Goods Just Imported +in the Ship Pallas, direct from China: Hyson +Teas, of the first Quality in Quarter-Chests and Canisters +of about 2¼ lb each; Hyson Tea of the second sort +in Chests; Singlo, Confee, Hyson-Skin, and Gunpowder +Teas of the first Quality in Chests; and a large Quantity +of excellent Bohea Tea; Table-Sets of the best Nankin +blue and white Stone China; white stone and painted +China of the second Quality in Sets; Dishes of blue and +white Stone China 5 and 3 in a Set; Stone China flat +and Soup-Plates; Breakfast Cups and Saucers of the +best blue and white Stone China in Sets; Evening blue +and white Stone China Cups and Saucers; Ditto +painted; <cite>Ditto with the Arms of the Order of Cincinnati</cite>; +Bowls—best blue and white Stone China in Sets; +blue and white Stone China Pint Sneakers; Mugs—best +Stone China in Sets; small Tureens with Covers; +<span class='pageno' id='Page_237'>237</span>Wash Hand Guglets and Basons; brown Nankeen of +the first and second Quality; plain, flowered and spotted +Lustrings of all Colours; Satins, the Greatest Part +Black; Peelongs of different Colours, in whole and half +Pieces; Sarsnet of different Colours; embroidered +Waistcoat Pieces of Silks and Satins; Silk Handkerchiefs, +very fine, and 20 in a piece; spotted and flowered +Velvets; painted Gauzes; Bengal Piece-Goods and +Muslins, plain flowered and corded; Silk Umbrellas of all +Sizes; elegant Paper-Hangings; japanned Tea-Chests; +Ditto Fish and Counter Boxes; Sago; Cinnamon and +Cinnamon Flowers; Rhubarb; Opium; Gamboge; +Borax; very old Battavia Arrack in Leagures; with +Sundry other Articles; the enumeration of which would +take up too much Room in a Public Paper.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then follow the terms and methods of the sale.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Though this inventory is of special interest to us on +account of the specification of the china with the Arms +of the Order of Cincinnati, the other items also merit +attention as showing the goods and merchandise imported +at that date to America. And the strange, obsolete +names of the china articles excite our curiosity. A +“guglet” is a juglet or little jug; and the word “sneaker” +is not a low Baltimorean Americanism, but good +old Addisonian English; for we read in <cite>The Freeholder</cite>, +No. 22, these lines: “After supper he asked me if I +was an admirer of punch, and immediately called for a +sneaker.” A sneaker was originally a smaller drinking +mug or beaker than was ordinarily used, and was drunk +from by a “sneak-cup,” that contemptible creature who +<span class='pageno' id='Page_238'>238</span>wished to shrink from his convivial duties by “balking +his drink,” or, to speak plainly, who wished to drink less +than his companions fancied he ought to. It came gradually +to be used as the name of a small mug, and as such +frequently appears in the inventories of china made and +sold at Worcester. Washington was no “sneak-cup,” +he boldly and liberally ordered large mugs instead of pint +sneakers.</p> + +<p class='c011'>We can well imagine the pride of Washington as he +read this announcement of the arrival of the ship direct +from China with its load of rich goods, his pride in the +prosperity and increasing commerce of the new Federal +nation. The Pallas was the second ship only to arrive +in the United States direct from Canton—for Canton +was at that date the only Chinese port open to European +and American vessels.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Watson, the author of the “Annals of Philadelphia,” +states that the first ship to bring porcelain direct to +America from China was commanded by Captain John +Green, and sailed patriotically from New York on February +22d, Washington’s birthday, 1784, and landed in +return on May 11, 1785. He says: “I have now a plate of +the china brought by him—the last remaining of a whole +set.” This ship was the Empress of China, and one +of her officers was Captain Samuel Shaw, a brave Revolutionary +officer who had been one of the original and +active founders of the Society of the Cincinnati; in fact, +one of the framers of the constitution of the society. +Thus it is easy to see the means and manner by which +the pattern of the figure Fame bearing the Cincinnati +<span class='pageno' id='Page_239'>239</span>badge, which had been drawn by General Miranda, was +conveyed to China. It is possible, of course, that Captain +Shaw brought home with him in the Empress of +China the “Cincinnati set,” as a gift for General Washington; +but General Knox had a similar set. It remained +in his great china-closet at his beautiful home +in Thomaston, Me., until the year 1840. A two-handled +cup of this set, bearing General Knox’s initials as well as +the Order of the Cincinnati, sold for twenty-one dollars +at the Governor Lyon sale in 1876. Two of the plates +that had belonged to General Washington’s set sold at +the same time for one hundred dollars each. Though I +have had two of these Cincinnati plates offered to me by +dealers, within a year, for a smaller sum, one with an authentic +history cannot now be purchased for less than +three hundred dollars. A plate and bowl were sold by +Sypher in 1890 for six hundred dollars. At the Loan +Collection held at the Metropolitan Opera House in +New York, in 1889, on the occasion of the centennial +celebration of the inauguration of George Washington +as President of the United States, there were shown several +pieces of the Cincinnati china that had belonged to +Washington, one plate belonging to Luther Kountze, +Esq., of New York; a plate and saucer belonging to +Edmund Law Rogers, Esq., of Baltimore, who is a grandson +of Eliza Parke Custis, the granddaughter of Martha +Washington. Mrs. Caleb Lyon also exhibited two plates, +a tray, and teapot. These pieces, with a pickle leaf and +“small terreen,” are now in the possession of Miss Lyon, +of Staten Island, and from them the illustrations on +<span class='pageno' id='Page_240'>240</span>page <a href='#Page_231'>231</a> were taken. There are no fewer than forty +pieces of this set in the National Museum in Washington; +most of these were purchased by the Government +from the Lewis family in 1878.</p> + +<p class='c011'>There are also in the National Museum several pieces +of the china known as the Martha Washington set. The +smaller of the plates shown on page <a href='#Page_9'>9</a> is one of this set. +Of this china Lossing writes:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“The set of china presented at the same time by the +French officers to Mrs. Washington was of similar material, +but more delicate in color than the General’s. The +ornamentation was also far more delicate, excepting the +delineation of the figure and Cincinnati Order on the +former. Around the outside of each tureen and the inside +of each plate and saucer is painted in delicate colors +a chain of thirteen large and thirteen small elliptical links. +Within each large link is the name of one of the original +thirteen States. On the sides of the cups and tureens, +and in the bottom of each plate and saucer, is the interlaced +monogram of Martha Washington—M. W.—enclosed +in a beautiful green wreath composed of the leaves +of the laurel and olive. Beneath this is a ribbon upon +which is inscribed, in delicately-traced letters, ‘<cite>Decus et +tutam enabillo.</cite>’ From the wreath are rays of gold which +give a brilliant appearance to the pieces. There is also +a delicately colored stripe around the edges of the cups +and saucers and plates.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>This description conveys an excellent idea of the set +to a careless observer, but is not wholly correct. The +“delicately colored stripe” is a blue and gold snake with +<span class='pageno' id='Page_241'>241</span>his tail in his mouth—a significant emblem. There are +fifteen long and fifteen short links instead of thirteen, +Kentucky and Vermont having at that time been added +to the thirteen original States. And the motto upon +the pink ribbon scroll to me appears to be, “<cite>Decus et +tutamen ab illo.</cite>” Mr. Lossing also says: “At that time +the china like that presented by the French officers was +only made at the Sèvres manufactory, the art of decorating +porcelain or china ware with enamel colors and gold +being then not generally known.” This, of course, is an +incorrect statement, since it was at the time of the greatest +splendor in the English factories. The decoration of +china with gold was forbidden for some time in France +except in the Sèvres factory, but this Martha Washington +set is not Sèvres. It is apparently Chinese. Mr. +Lossing wrote me a long letter on this subject. In +it he says that the French officers would not have sent +as a gift to Washington china from any factory save +Sèvres; but it seems now to be very doubtful whether +this set was the gift of the French officers. In the +National Museum at the Smithsonian Institution are +pieces labelled, “Presented to Martha Washington by +LaFayette.” There is no authority for the ascription +to Lafayette of the gift of this china. The only reason +given at the National Museum for thus labelling it is a +good one—that the ticket was on the china when it was +in the Patent Office in 1871, and so it will still be kept +on it until some good evidence is brought that such a +label is incorrect. The pieces exhibited at the Loan +Collection in 1889, by individual owners—Edmund Law +<span class='pageno' id='Page_242'>242</span>Rogers being one—were marked as the gift of Mr. Van +Braam. Mrs. Beverly Kennon, of Washington, D. C., +is the niece of George Washington Parke Custis, and +owns a cup and saucer of this set. She tells me that the +“Martha Washington china was presented (so said my +mother and uncle—both grandchildren of Mrs. Washington—who +certainly ought to have known) by General +Washington’s early friend, a Hollander named Van +Braam. It was made in China and painted in England.” +Mr. Custis thought that Mr. Van Braam was a merchant +in China; the Dutch at that time had the closest business +connections with that country. Miss Lyon also says +that Mr. Custis told her that the set in question was the +gift of Mr. Van Braam. In addition to all this testimony +in favor of Mr. Van Braam, may be given the clause +from Martha Washington’s will, referring to the “sett +of china given me by Mr. Van Braam.” Captain Van +Braam was a friend of Washington’s youth and taught +the future President the art of fencing. The gay fencing-master +cut but a sorry figure at a later date, being +more than suspected of treason and unsoldierly behavior.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Though neither of these sets were of Sèvres porcelain, +Washington is said to have owned two sets of Sèvres. +In the National Museum are twenty pieces of a service +called Sèvres that belonged to him, and which he used +both while he was President and at Mount Vernon. At +the Governor Lyon sale a white Sèvres plate, catalogued +as having belonged to Washington, brought twelve dollars. +Miss Lyon still owns a custard-cup of the set. It +<span class='pageno' id='Page_243'>243</span>has a pretty gold “dontil” rim and a gilt cherry as a +knob on the cover. It bears the Sèvres mark.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Another white and gold breakfast service, marked +“Nast”—a well-known French china-maker—also belonged +to Washington. Miss Mary E. M. Powel, of +Newport, has a coffee-cup and saucer of the set. It was +presented to Colonel John Hare Powel, of Powelton, +by Mrs. Custis, in 1812. The butter-dish of this service +is illustrated in “Mount Vernon and its Associations.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Another white and gold set of Canton china still has +existing pieces to show its character. This was probably +a dessert-service. A berry-dish and two dessert-plates +were sold in Philadelphia, in 1890, for H. L. D. Lewis +(one of the Washington heirs), for fifty dollars. They +were purchased by the Washington Association of New +Jersey (and can be seen at their building in Morristown), +with a cup of white porcelain with maroon ribbon and +wreath decoration, which also came from Mount Vernon. +Still other pieces of Washington china were sold in Philadelphia +in 1891, among them portions of a set of Crown +Derby with tiny sprigs and flowered border. Pieces of +this set were owned by the late William Henry Harrison, +Esq., of New York.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A very interesting plate is in the possession of Doctor +Allan McLane Hamilton, of New York. It was given +as a keepsake to Mrs. Alexander Hamilton by Mrs. +George Washington. It descended from Mrs. Hamilton +to Philip Hamilton, the father of the present owner. It +is of French porcelain, twelve and a half inches in diameter, +with slightly crenated edges. On the left rim it is +<span class='pageno' id='Page_244'>244</span>decorated with a festoon of oak leaves with gold acorns; +on the right with a border of laurel or myrtle. Above +is a lyre with a garland—both in gold. In the centre of +the plate is an eagle, perched upon a bundle of thunderbolts, +while on his head are the thirteen stars, all in +gold; beneath, in script, are the letters G. & M. W., surrounded +by a wreath of roses and forget-me-nots. This +plate is unique, the remainder of the service being either +lost or destroyed.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In the diary of Baron Von Closen, under the date of +July 19, 1792, this entry is found: “On my arrival Mrs. +Washington requested me to invite Count de Custine—who +was then at Colchester—with all the officers of his +regiment, to dinner for the next day. The Count accepted +the invitation with ten officers of the regiment, +and sent Mr. Bellegarde before him with a very valuable +present, a set of china coming from his own manufactory +at Niederweiler, near Pfalzburg, in Lorraine. It was +ornamented with a coat of arms and initials of General +Washington, surmounted by a laurel wreath, and was received +by Mrs. Washington with most hearty thanks.” +I can well believe the latter statement, for this Niederweiler +china was by far the most beautiful in quality, +decoration, and shape that Washington ever possessed. +The pieces were all slightly different, the only universal +decoration being a beautiful cipher of Washington’s +initials surrounded by a golden brown cloud background, +and surmounted by a tiny rose-wreath. The +other decorations were of festoons or interlaced wreaths. +A saucer of this set, owned by J. Chester Lyman, Esq., +<span class='pageno' id='Page_245'>245</span>is now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was +given to Timothy Dwight, Mr. Lyman’s ancestor, by +Mrs. Custis. The design on this piece consists of festoons +of very delicate leaves in various shades of gold. +Another piece has +wreaths of tiny +roses around the +edge. A sugar-box +and bowl, owned by +Mrs. Beverley Kennon, +of Washington, +bear still different +designs. A +covered jug of the +set is here shown. +The mark on this +china was the interlaced +Cs, the stamp +used by Count Custine, +and it also is +numbered “No. +29.” Martha Washington +divided this set among her three granddaughters +during her lifetime, which is the reason it is not mentioned +in her will.</p> + +<div class='figright id004'> +<img src='images/i_261.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Washington’s Niederweiler China.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>At Mount Vernon are two beautiful dishes which were +presented to the Association by Mr. Corcoran, and are +said to have been George Washington’s. One is a salad +or berry-dish, seven and a half inches square and an inch +and a half deep; the edges are irregularly and gracefully +<span class='pageno' id='Page_246'>246</span>scalloped. There is a narrow rim of gold around the +edge; within, a wide band of blue broken by a chain of +circular rings in gold, each enclosing a gold dot; within +this a narrow band of gold; and a delicate gold beading +forms the inside edge of the border. Little bunches and +sprigs of flowers are scattered over the centre, having gold +stems and leaves and blue blossoms. The plate has the +same decoration. Both have the small blue S of the +Salopian or Caughley works on the base. Mrs. Russel, +of Cambridge, Mass., has a plate of this set, which +was given to her by Mr. Corcoran. These three pieces +are evidently part of a dessert-service—but where are the +other pieces?</p> + +<p class='c011'>The “blue and white china in common use,” referred +to in Martha Washington’s will, was of a kind familiar to +us all, “old blue Canton.” Several pieces of it are now +in the National Museum. Miss Lyon has two dishes +of rather better quality that came from Mount Vernon, +Nankin china apparently. Others have recently been +sold at auction in Philadelphia in 1891. Washington +used this cheerful, substantial Canton china “for common +use” on his every-day table, just as did every other +good and wealthy American citizen of his day and time. +Besides the pieces of blue and white Canton china which +he ordered of Colonel Tilghman in 1785, Washington +also wrote to General Robert Ridgway, on September +12, 1783, a long and carefully expressed letter ordering +wine and beer glasses, and decanters and china. “If a +neat and complete set of Blue & white Table China +could be had upon easy terms, be pleased to inform me +<span class='pageno' id='Page_247'>247</span>of it, and the price—not less than six or eight doz., +however, and proportionable number of deep and other +Plates, Butter-Boats, Dishes & Tureens will suffice. +These things sometimes come in complete Setts ready +packed; should this be the case and the number of +Pieces greater than what is here mentioned, I should +have no objection to a case on that acc’t.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Washington had very decided opinions and tastes about +table furnishings, as he had about dress. When wine was +served to him and his visitors in some very ugly cups at +Princeton, and he was told that the cups were made by +a man who had since turned Quaker, he replied, with his +cumbersome and rare humor, that it was a pity the man +had not turned Quaker before he made the cups.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The china of Mary Washington did not go to her +illustrious son. By her will, made in 1788, she left to +her grandson, Fielding Lewis, “half my crockery ware, +half my pewter, and my blue and white tea china,” and +to her granddaughter, Betty Carter, the other half of the +crockery and pewter, and “my red and white china.” +Perhaps she fancied the General had enough china, as +he apparently did.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Washington progressed in mantel decoration somewhat +beyond the plaster “Lyons” and busts that decorated +the home of his early married life. The mantel vases +described by Mr. Lossing, and shown in an illustration in +his book, were sold in Philadelphia, in February, 1891, +for four hundred and fifty dollars each. They stood +about eighteen inches high, were decorated with butterflies +and flowers on a dark blue ground, and had covers +<span class='pageno' id='Page_248'>248</span>surmounted by the Dog Fo. Other vases which once +graced the chimney-pieces of Mount Vernon are still +owned by members of the Custis family. The profuse +mantel decoration of to-day was, however, undreamt of +by him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>There are many other pieces of table china now in existence, +and proudly shown, that are said to have belonged +to Washington. Doubtless their owners consider +that they have sufficient proof of the authenticity of their +relics, but as I know not the value of their proofs I will +not mention their china. I think, with the great number +of punch-bowls that once belonged to Washington, +and that are mentioned in another chapter, with the +vast assortment of rich glass-ware that once was owned +by Washington, and that is now in the National Museum, +in other public and in many private collections, +that the amount of china already named will quite swell +up a value far beyond the item in the sworn inventory +of the executors of George Washington’s will—“Glass & +China in the China Closet, & that up-stairs, & that in +the cellar, $800.” What would be a relic-lover’s estimate +of the value of that glass and china to-day?</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_249'>249</span> + <h2 class='c005'>XII.<br> PRESIDENTIAL CHINA</h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c014'>The sets of china used by other Presidents than +Washington, while their various owners were living +in the Executive Mansion, deserve to be mentioned +and described on account of historic interest, though not +always for their value as ceramics, and because specimens +of them are within the possibility of possession by +a china collector. I think the true china-lover will, however, +care little to own any piece of porcelain simply +because it is said to have belonged to or was eaten from +by some great man—if that be its only virtue; and I am +sure will care little for much of the china that has graced +the table at the White House.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Jefferson was, without doubt, as profusely hospitable +a President as ever dwelt in the Executive Mansion of +the United States. For this lavish hospitality he may +have had a double reason—not only to gratify his well-known +liberal disposition and his love of good company +as well, but to prove his shrewd suspicion, or rather his +firm conviction, that a well-cooked dinner was often a +potent factor in accomplishing his desired end when his +smooth and persuasive argument or his apparent candor +would have failed. A good illustration of his crafty, +worldly wisdom is shown in the result of the historically +<span class='pageno' id='Page_250'>250</span>renowned dinner given by him, when Secretary of State, +in 1789, at Philadelphia, to President Washington and the +prominent leaders of both parties of the House and Senate. +A fierce dispute between the Northern and Southern +members of Congress had risen over the location of +the national capital. The Southerners insisted that the +banks of either the Delaware or Potomac should be chosen +as a site; the Northerners were equally determined +upon the borders of the Susquehanna. An amicable and +peaceful settlement followed this famous dinner, and +shrewd Jefferson had his own way—the seat of government +was placed at Washington, on the Potomac. This +lavish hospitality, both in the Executive Mansion and in +private life, doubtless had much to do with Jefferson’s +subsequent financial embarrassments. Very few of the +pieces of table-ware used and owned by Jefferson, either +in public or private life, are now to be found. His married +life was short, and his housekeeping, both when +Secretary of State and President, was entirely in the +hands of servants, a condition never favorable to the +preservation of china. The dispersion of his household +effects caused the disappearance from sight and knowledge +of what few pieces remained. Though his silver is +carefully preserved by his descendants, they own no +china.</p> + +<p class='c011'>An octagonal plate of Rockingham ware, used by +Jefferson when President, is now in Washington. It bears +the stamp “<span class='fss'>BRAMELD</span>.” It is of the dark blue shade +frequently used in the Chinese designs on that ware, +a blue so rich and deep that it gives a character and tone +<span class='pageno' id='Page_251'>251</span>rarely found on pottery, and makes the plate as glorious +in tint as a block of choicest lapis lazuli. The glaze +is “crazed” on the entire surface of this particular plate, +both glaze and color being splintered in places from the +brownish pottery body. The plate has evidently been +frequently and severely heated in an oven. I have seen +other pieces of the same shape, bearing the same design, +which had not, however, the honorable distinction of +having been owned by Jefferson.</p> + +<p class='c011'>An exceedingly beautiful plate was sold at auction in +New York, about fifteen years ago, that was catalogued +as having been the property of Jefferson and used on his +dinner-table. It was apparently of Chinese manufacture +of the type known as Lowestoft. The rim and inner +border were diapered in dark blue, relieved by dainty +lines of gold. In the centre was the letter “J,” in gold, +enclosed in a shield outlined in blue enamel adorned +with thirteen stars. Above the shield was a blue and +gold helmet with closed visor. This plate brought $40, +being of ceramic value as well as of historic interest. +There was sold at the same time, for $2.50, a custard-cup +of French porcelain painted with detached bachelor’s buttons, +which was also said to have been Jefferson’s.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Of the china used by either President Adams I have +no definite knowledge, though I have seen several pieces +of Oriental china that bore the reputation of having +been used by these Presidents during their terms of office.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The china used by Madison was a set of finely painted +<span class='pageno' id='Page_252'>252</span>Lowestoft. Portions of it are owned by descendants in +Virginia. He also owned a set of fine French china with +his initials.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The next White House china-service of which I have +seen authentic pieces is the one known as the Monroe +set—Madison’s official china having been destroyed at +the burning of the Executive Mansion by the British in +1814. This Monroe set is of French china of good quality. +It has around the edge a half-inch band of pale +coffee color or brownish buff, edged with a burnished gilt +line on either side. It has a small and pretty coffee-cup +with extraordinarily flat saucer.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The Andrew Jackson set was of heavy and rather +coarse bluish porcelain, apparently of Chinese manufacture, +with bands of ugly dull blue and coarsely applied +gold, and a conventional and clumsy shield in the centre. +It was not very tasteful nor beautiful, any more than +was its Presidential owner, and very fitly furnished forth +his dining-table.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In Franklin Pierce’s time what is now known as “the +red-edged set” was bought, the border being of dark red +and gilt, with an inner circle of gilt. It was of French +china of fair quality. The cups of this set were very +large, while the saucers were exceedingly diminutive; +though people of fashion, even at that date, had not +wholly given up drinking tea from their saucers. A +lady at whose home Judge Story and Daniel Webster +were frequent visitors, tells me that those two representative +men of their day always drank their cooled tea +from their saucers.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_253'>253</span>The Buchanan set was of very commonplace ware, +with a stiff, meagre, and ill-painted spray of flowers in the +centre of each plate and on the side of each dish. Ugly +as they are, the plates are now valued at forty dollars +each. The saucers of this set were disproportionately +large, holding much more than the cups. A few pieces +of this Buchanan set still remain in Washington, though +none are preserved at the White House.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id002'> +<img src='images/i_269.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Lincoln China.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>A very full set of Presidential china was bought in +Abraham Lincoln’s time. It is of finest French porcelain, +with a border of crimson purple or plum color, with +delicate lines and dots of gold, and the plates, platters, +and saucers have slightly scalloped edges. In the centre +of the plates and on the sides of the dishes and small +pieces is a very spirited version of the coat of arms of the +United States, with the motto “E Pluribus Unum” upon +<span class='pageno' id='Page_254'>254</span>a clouded background of gold. A plate and cup of this +set, now in the possession of Miss Henrietta D. Lyon, +of Staten Island, is here shown. This design is very +dignified and appropriate, and, with the substitution of +a blue border with gilt ears of Indian corn, has been reproduced +for the present mistress of the White House. +Plates of this Abraham Lincoln set sold at the Governor +Lyon sale for +$4.25 each, and +little covered custard- +or egg-cups +for $1.50 each. I +have recently had +some of these +plates offered to +me for $25 apiece. +Portions +of this set still +remain and are +used at the White +House.</p> + +<div class='figleft id004'> +<img src='images/i_270.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Grant China.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>The General Grant set is well known, and is very +handsome. The border is of buff and gold, broken once +by a small United States shield in high colors. In the +centre is a well-painted spray or bunch of flowers, many +being the wild flowers of the United States. The coffee-cups +of this set were ordered to use at the wedding of +the President’s daughter, and were known as the “Nellie +Grant cups.” A plate said to have been ordered for +the White House in General Grant’s time is here shown.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_255'>255</span>Of the beautiful and costly set ordered by Mrs. Hayes +too much is known, and too many cheaper copies have +been sold, and may be seen in any large china-shop, to +make it worth while to give any detailed description +here. It was made at Limoges by the Havilands, as +was also the “Grant set.” It makes a fine room decoration +when the various pieces are arranged in the beautiful +buffet that President Arthur had made for it, and is +more satisfactory in that position than when in use on +the table.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It may be asked how all these pieces of Presidential +china come to be found in private collections, and +offered for sale, and so generally distributed over the +country. A very reprehensible custom existed until recent +years (and indeed may still be possible) of selling +at auction at the end of each Presidential term, or in +the middle if thought necessary, whatever household +effects the house steward and house occupants chose +to consider of no further use. These Presidential sales +were, of course, eagerly attended by relic-hunters. At +such a sale in President Grant’s day a lot of “old truck,” +as it was irreverently called, valued at $500, brought +$2,760. As there must be, of course, much breakage +of china in the pantry and dining-room of the White +House, and as it was considered for many years necessary +to have full “sets” of china table-ware, enough +to serve an entire dinner, the odd plates, cups and +saucers, and dishes were ruthlessly “cleared out” whenever +an appropriation was made by the Government, or +the President desired to buy a new set. It seems a pity +<span class='pageno' id='Page_256'>256</span>that a few pieces of each of these “state sets” should +not have been preserved in a cabinet at the White House +to show us the kind of china from which our early rulers +ate their daily meals and served their state dinners, as +well as to show our varying and halting progress in +luxury, refinement, and taste.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_257'>257</span> + <h2 class='c005'>XIII.<br> DESIGNS RELATING TO WASHINGTON</h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c014'>One scarcely knows where to begin or end this list +when one considers the vast number of pieces of +pottery and porcelain that bear the name and +ostensibly bear the portrait of Washington—more and +more varied even than the Lord Nelson prints in England. +Often Washington’s portrait is found with that +of Franklin or Lafayette; in such cases I have given the +subject of the most prominent or the named design the +honor of determining the place on the list. The largest +number of these Washington designs occur upon Liverpool +mugs and pitchers in black prints. Some few are in +blue upon Staffordshire earthenware. In the Huntington +Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in +New York, may be seen a vast number of ceramic likenesses +of the great American. Many of these are single +specimens painted by hand—both by artists and amateurs, +apparently. One set of four plaques has copies +of the Savage, Trumbull, Peale, and Stuart portraits of +Washington. Such I have not attempted to describe or +classify. One specially comical portrait plaque, painted +in China, shows an almond-eyed Washington with his +hair <i>à la chinoise</i>, with feminine hair ornaments, while +on his republican shoulders rests the dark blue sack +<span class='pageno' id='Page_258'>258</span>garment familiar to us as the festival garb of our Chinese +washermen. There are in the Trumbull-Prime +Collection a large number of Washington pitchers, from +which some of the entries on this list are described.</p> + +<p class='c011'>One Liverpool print deserves special mention, for a +very interesting story is attached to it, and is told in detail +by Benson J. Lossing in his “Mount Vernon and +Its Associations.” A dealer in Philadelphia imported a +number of pitchers of various sizes, each bearing a portrait +of Washington, the design for which had been +taken from Gilbert Stuart’s picture painted for the Marquis +of Lansdowne. Nutter had engraved this portrait +for Hunter’s edition of Lavater, and a copy of the engraving +was printed upon the pitchers. Mr. Dorsey, a +sugar-dealer of Philadelphia, purchased several of these +pitchers, and after a number of unsuccessful attempts to +separate the part bearing the portrait from the rest of +the pitcher, managed at last, by using the broad-faced +hammer of a shoemaker, to break out the picture unharmed +with a single sharp blow. The pottery fragment +bearing the portrait was handsomely framed by Mr. +James R. Smith, of Philadelphia, and sent to Judge +Washington at Mount Vernon, where it was hung and +was known as the pitcher portrait. A copy of it is here +shown.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id006'> +<span class='pageno' id='Page_259'>259</span> +<img src='images/i_275.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Pitcher Portrait.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>Mr. Smith owned a crayon portrait of Washington, a +copy made by Sharpless himself of his original picture of +Washington. On the back of this Sharpless portrait was +a long eulogy of Washington, written by an English +gentleman. Mr. Smith copied a portion of this eulogy +on the back of the pitcher portrait—as much of the inscription, +in fact, as there was room to write. It ran thus, +as given in “Alden’s Collections of American Epitaphs +and Inscriptions:” “Washington the Defender of his +Country, the Founder of Liberty and the Friend of Man. +History and Tradition are explored in vain for a parallel +to his character. In the annals of modern greatness +he stands alone, and the noblest names of antiquity lose +their lustre in his presence. Born the Benefactor of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_260'>260</span>Mankind he united all the qualities necessary to an illustrious +career. Nature made him great, he made himself +virtuous. Called by his country to the defense of +her liberties, he triumphantly vindicated the rights of +humanity and, on the pillars of National Independence, +laid the foundations of a Great Republick. Twice invested +with supreme magistracy, by the unanimous vote +of a free people, he surpassed in the cabinet the glories +of the field; and voluntarily resigning the sword and the +sceptre, retired to the shades of private life. A spectacle +so new and so sublime was contemplated with the profoundest +admiration, and the name of Washington, adding +new lustre to humanity, resounded to the remotest +regions of the earth. Magnanimous in youth, glorious +through life, great in death, his highest ambition the +happiness of mankind, his noblest victory the conquest +of himself. Bequeathing to posterity the inheritance +of his fame, and building his monument in the hearts +of his countrymen he lived—the ornament of the eighteenth +century, he died—regretted by the mourning +world.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The centre portion of this inscription has been within +a few years cut out of the back of the frame by some +vandal hands. The entire eulogy, as written on the back +of the Sharpless portrait, can be seen in Lossing’s +“Mount Vernon and Its Associations,” and in Sparks’s +“Writings of Washington,” and as a masterpiece of flattery—and +honest flattery, too—it knows no equal.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This pitcher portrait descended to Lawrence Washington, +Esq. It was exhibited at the Philadelphia State-House +<span class='pageno' id='Page_261'>261</span>in 1876, and was sold at auction April 22, 1891, +at Philadelphia, for $75.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Liverpool pitchers bearing the design like that of the +pitcher portrait are rare in America, but are found in a +few private collections; and oval plaques are also found +bearing the same portrait. These latter have a swelling +surface, as if cut from the side of a pitcher. There are +specimens with this print in the Trumbull-Prime Collection. +Some years ago a framed pitcher portrait was +found in the attic of an old house in Washington +Street, Newport, and is now in the possession of Benjamin +Smith, Esq., of Philadelphia.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Some very interesting ceramic portraits of Washington +were made in China, early in this century, on four porcelain +toddy-jugs, by order of Mr. B. C. Willcocks, of Philadelphia. +It is said that the portraits were copied from +one of these pitcher portraits, but the head on the toddy-jugs +is longer and narrower, and the neck is much longer. +This elongating may have been done by the Chinese artist, +but it looks more like the other Stuart portrait, the +one with lawn ruffles; the pitcher portrait has a lace +ruffle. One of this quartette of covered toddy-jugs was +kept by Mr. Willcocks, and the other three he presented +to three life-long friends who met frequently and regularly +to play whist with him. One of these Washington +toddy-jugs is now in a Washington collection in Newport. +It is a foot in height and seven inches in diameter, +of white Chinese hard porcelain. It has foliated +handles, heavy rim, and “chimera” knob on the cover, +all of gilt. On one side is the portrait of Washington, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_262'>262</span>but by reason of the bluish shade of the hard porcelain +it lacks the softness of the print on the Liverpool ware. +The portrait is banded with a heavy gold edge, and in a +similar gilt oval on the opposite side of the pitcher is a +pretty cipher, B. C. W.</p> + +<div class='figleft id004'> +<img src='images/i_278.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Washington Monument Pitcher.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>To this pitcher-portrait design, since so much honor +has been paid to +it, I will assign +the first place on +my Washington +list.</p> + +<p class='c013'>1. Washington. +Head from +Stuart’s Portrait. +Liverpool.</p> + +<p class='c011'>On oval plaques +and pitchers. +Described on +pages <a href='#Page_258'>258</a> <i>et +seq.</i>, and shown +on page <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>.</p> + +<p class='c013'>2. Washington. Head from Stuart’s portrait. Canton.</p> + +<p class='c011'>On Chinese toddy-jug. Described on preceding page.</p> + +<p class='c013'>3. Washington. Medallion head on monument. Liverpool.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This oval design is printed on pitchers of three sizes. In the +centre is a monument bearing a poor medallion portrait of +Washington, surmounted by a laurel wreath and urn, and +bearing the words “George Washington Born Feb 22, 1732 +<span class='pageno' id='Page_263'>263</span>Died Decr. 17, 1799.” Below the coat of arms of the Washington +family, a shield bearing five bars in chief three mullets. +A weeping female figure leans against the monument, +and a very sad eagle droops in the foreground, with two +equally drooping willows on either side. Above the design +are the words, “Washington in Glory,” below, “America +in Tears.” A pitcher bearing this design is here shown.</p> + +<p class='c013'>4. Washington. Medallion head. Liverpool.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Similar design to No. 3, but more coarsely engraved, while the +inscriptions are within the oval line of the print.</p> + +<p class='c013'>5. Washington. Medallion. Liverpool.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This is printed in black on mugs and pitchers of various sizes. +One is shown on page <a href='#Page_139'>139</a>. The portrait is mean and poor to +the last degree. On the right stands America with the words, +“Deafness to the ear that will patiently hear, and dumbness +to the tongue that will utter a calumny against the immortal +Washington.” On the left Liberty says, “My favorite Son.” +Below, the inscription, “Long Live the President of the +United States.” This, of course, was made previous to 1799, +the date of Washington’s death.</p> + +<p class='c013'>6. Washington. Portrait. Staffordshire.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Printed in black. Marked F. Morris, Shelton. Liberty holds +a wreath over the head of Washington. The inscription +reads, “Washington Crowned with Laurels by Liberty.” +This is surrounded by a chain with fifteen large links inclosing +the names of fifteen States.</p> + +<p class='c013'>7. Washington. Monument.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A plate of cream-colored ware printed in dull reddish brown. +Within a ring dotted with fifteen stars is the figure of the +Goddess of Liberty, with a shield and olive branch. Behind +her stands a pyramidal monument bearing a portrait of +Washington and inscribed, “Sacred to the Memory of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_264'>264</span>Washington.” On one side is seen the ocean with a ship, +and at the foot of Liberty is an eagle and a scroll with the +words, “E Pluribus Unum.” Around the edge of the plate +are long oval medallions of stripes and stars.</p> + +<p class='c013'>8. Washington. Portrait. Liverpool.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Printed in black or red. A poor portrait of Washington, over +which a cherub holds a wreath inclosing the word “Washington.” +Justice and Liberty on either side of portrait, and +Victory at base. A ribbon scroll has the names of fifteen +States and incloses fifteen stars.</p> + +<p class='c013'>9. Washington. Apotheosis. Liverpool.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Oval print, with a label at the base, the word Apotheosis. A +tomb with seated figures of Liberty and an Indian in the foreground. +Time is lifting Washington, clothed in a shroud, +from the tomb, while an angel holds the patriot’s hand and +points up to rays of glory. On the tomb the words, “Sacred +to the memory of Washington ob 17 Dec. <span class='fss'>A.D.</span> 1799. Ae 68.” +Outside the oval are winged cherub heads. Often under the +nose of the pitcher is seen the motto, “A Man without Example, +A Patriot without Reproach.” Pitchers bearing this +specially hideous print seem to be eagerly sought after by +all china collectors. It is a reduced copy of a large engraving +three feet long and two wide, which was issued by Simon +Chandron and John J. Barradet, in Philadelphia, in January, +1802. This engraving is still frequently seen in old Philadelphia +homes, and was common enough in the middle of the +century. In the large engraving many funny details can be +seen which are lost or blurred in the pitcher print. For instance, +the various decorations owned by Washington, including +the Order of the Cincinnati, are proudly displayed, +hanging over the stone of the open tomb. Sometimes the +print is seen without the word Apotheosis. One of these +pitchers is here shown.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id006'> +<span class='pageno' id='Page_265'>265</span> +<img src='images/i_281.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Apotheosis Pitcher.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c013'>10. Washington. Monument. Liverpool.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This design is printed in a scalloped oval. In a landscape with +water, ships, and a church, is a monument with a medallion +portrait of Washington and the words: “First in War, +First in Peace, First in Fame, First in Victory.” Fame +stands on the right, and a naval officer on the left. In +front is an American flag, cannon, swords, etc. Around the +edge of the oval are the names of thirteen States. I have +several times had a pitcher with this design offered to me for +purchase for $8, $10, or $15, according to the size and +condition; but I saw one in a jeweller’s shop in New +York during the Centennial celebration in 1889, marked $150, +and it was asserted that it was sold at that price. The revival +of interest at that time in anything and everything +that related to Washington, of course afforded the explanation +of this enormous and absurd price.</p> + +<p class='c013'><span class='pageno' id='Page_266'>266</span>11. Washington. Medallion Portrait. Staffordshire.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A poor full-face portrait, not resembling Washington, with same +legend as No. 5. It is marked F. Morris, Shelton.</p> + +<p class='c013'>12. Washington. Profile Portrait. Liverpool.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This is printed in black on small pitchers. Over the portrait +the legend, “He is in Glory, America in Tears.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>13. Washington. On Horseback. Liverpool.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This design appears upon a gallon bowl in the collection of the +Connecticut Historical Society, and also upon one in a collection +in Newport. Pitchers also have been seen with it. +Washington appears mounted, on a battle-field, with the +accompanying inscription: “His Excellency General George +Washington, Marshal of France, and Commander in Chief of +the North American Continental Forces.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Though this inscription dubs Washington a marshal of France, +it seems uncertain whether the title was correctly applied. +It is said that when Colonel Laurens was special ambassador +to France, a discussion arose as to the command of the +united armies in America. Of course Laurens insisted +firmly that Washington must have absolute control; but +Count de Rochambeau, an old lieutenant-general, could +be commanded only by the king or a maréchal de France. +Laurens with ready wit solved the difficulty by suggesting +that Washington be made a maréchal. This suggestion was +carried out, and the French at Yorktown addressed Washington +as Monsieur le Maréchal. On the other hand, when +Lamont, in his volume of poems, addressed Washington by +his French title of maréchal, Washington wrote to him in +1785, saying: “I am not a marshal of France, nor do I hold +any commission or fill any office whatever under that government.” +This letter would appear to be conclusive evidence.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The bowl also bears a fur-cap portrait of Franklin, the print +of the soldier and the British lion described in No. 106, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_267'>267</span>with the legend, “By virtue and valor we have freed our +country,” and also the “spatch-cock” American eagle and +shield.</p> + +<p class='c013'>14. Washington. On Horseback. Liverpool.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This print is similar to No. 13, but is apparently of earlier +manufacture.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The mounted figure has the right arm raised. One is upon an +octagonal Liverpool plate in the Huntington Collection, and +has the inscription, “His Excellency George Washington.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>15. Washington. Portrait. Liverpool.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Small portrait of Washington in black print on Liverpool pitcher, +with a design of Liberty cap and flags, and the verses:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“As he tills your rich glebe your old peasant shall tell,</div> + <div class='line in2'>While his bosom with Liberty glows,</div> + <div class='line'>How your Warren expired, how Montgomery fell,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And how Washington humbled your foes.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c013'>16. Washington. Medallion. Liverpool.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A background of weeping willows. In the foreground a monument +surmounted by an urn and bearing a medallion portrait +of Washington. Beneath this the arms of the Washington +family, and crossed swords with palm or laurel +branches. Above the entire design the words, “Washington +in Glory.” This design resembles No. 3, but is smaller. On +the reverse of the pitcher, a design of Ceres and Pomona +at either side of a cannon, and a spread eagle with the +words, “Peace, Plenty, and Independence.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>17. Washington. Map of United States. Staffordshire.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Printed in black on bowls, plates, and pitchers. It is thus wittily +described by George Champlin Mason in his book on +old Newport: “Washington and Franklin are inspecting a +map of the United States, which shows thirteen States. +Liberty and History look smilingly upon the pair, while +<span class='pageno' id='Page_268'>268</span>Fame blows a trumpet and flourishes her heels in dangerous +proximity to Washington’s head, who is the more prominent +of the two, Franklin being screened in part by the +pine-tree flag.” On +this map Louisiana +is called the Country +of Mines, and +stretches up to Lake +Superior. The +pitcher is marked +F. Morris, Shelton. +There are three +slightly varying +prints of this design, +one having +reference numbers +and a key with the +names of the figures. +A bowl twelve +inches in diameter +bearing this print +can be seen in the +Huntington Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. +There is also one in the Trumbull-Prime Collection. One in +Newport bears the date 1796. A pitcher from the Trumbull-Prime +Collection with this print is here shown.</p> + +<div class='figleft id004'> +<img src='images/i_284.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>“Map” Pitcher.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c013'>18. Washington. Portrait. Liverpool.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A full-face portrait of Washington, with inscription “His Excellency +Gen<sup>l</sup> Washington,” and the fur-cap portrait of +Franklin, on the outside of a bowl which has on the inside a +design of a full-rigged frigate, the Insurgente, and the same +legend as No. 101. It also has the motto:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“My love is fixed,</div> + <div class='line'>I cannot range;</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_269'>269</span>I like my choice</div> + <div class='line'>Too well to change.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c013'>19. Washington. Cameo. Wedgwood.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Made in white on colored grounds and in pure white. Mentioned +in Wedgwood’s Catalogue of 1787.</p> + +<p class='c013'>20. Washington. Intaglio. Wedgwood.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In highly polished black ware for use as a seal. Though so +small a head, the likeness is good. In Wedgwood’s Catalogue +of 1787. A specimen may be seen in Huntington Collection.</p> + +<p class='c013'>21. Washington. Medallion. Wedgwood.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Made both in black basalt and blue and white jasper. This +head is very fine, and an excellent copy may be seen in the +Huntington Collection.</p> + +<p class='c013'>22. Washington. Bust. Wedgwood.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This bust is in black basalt. The height is thirteen inches. A +fine engraving of it may be seen in Miss Meteyard’s “Wedgwood +and his Works,” numbered Plate XVIII. One is +owned by a collector in Chicago.</p> + +<p class='c013'>23. Washington. Medallion. Neale & Co.</p> + +<p class='c011'>An oval medallion in pottery with the head of Washington in +high relief.</p> + +<p class='c013'>24. Washington. Statuette. Enoch Wood.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This statuette is fifteen inches high, and is identical in dress +and figure with the statuette of Franklin, No. 46, save that +the head of Washington is covered with white powdered hair +or a white wig, instead of the dark natural locks that grace +the Franklin statuette. The head and face only are colored, +though the buttons, buckles, and coat ornaments or frogs are +gilded. It seems rather unjust in Enoch Wood to put the +head of Washington on Franklin’s extremely rotund body. +In the right hand of the figure is a scroll with vague lettering, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_270'>270</span>and under the left arm a cocked hat. I know of but +one of these statuettes with the Washington head; it is in +the Huntington Collection.</p> + +<p class='c013'>25. Washington. Statuette. Badin Frères.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This French statuette is about ten inches in height. Washington +is dressed in a yellow coat and blue waistcoat, and carries +a scroll marked “Patria.” By his side is an American eagle +crowing over a broken tablet painted with a picture of the +British lion. On the pedestal in gilt letters, “Badin Frères, +D’leurs, à Paris.” Specimen in the Huntington Collection.</p> + +<p class='c013'>26. Washington. Statuette. Badin Frères.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Statuette of glazed pottery. Washington has his foot on a +thoroughly subdued British lion and the British flag. He +carries in his hand a scroll with word “Independence.” +Specimen in the Huntington Collection. The face of this +statuette (as well as that of the preceding one, No. 25) bears +more of a likeness to the Rembrandt Peale portrait of Washington +than to any other.</p> + +<p class='c013'>27. Washington. Parian Pitcher.</p> + +<p class='c011'>An embossed full figure of Washington on a Parian pitcher in +the Huntington Collection. Also designs of flags and spread +eagles.</p> + +<p class='c013'>28. Washington. Bust. Ralph Wood.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Number G. 367, in the Catalogue of the Museum of Practical +Geology in London. It is thus described:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Bust of Washington, 10 inches high, in plain cream-colored +ware, with impressed mark Ra. Wood, Burslem.” Ralph +Wood, whose name is stamped on this piece, was the father +of Aaron Wood and grandfather of Enoch Wood.</p> + +<p class='c013'>29. Washington. Relief Portrait. Dresden.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Profile portrait of Washington in relief, gilded, on <i>bleu de roi</i> +ground. On other side similar relief portrait of Franklin. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_271'>271</span>In front an American eagle. Dresden mark. One may be +seen in the Trumbull-Prime Collection.</p> + +<p class='c013'>30. Washington. Medallion. Dresden.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dresden china cup and saucer, gilded without and within. On +the cup a blue oval medallion with exquisite head in white +relief of profile portrait of George Washington. This beautiful +piece is owned by Mrs. Nealy, of Washington, D. C.</p> + +<p class='c013'>31. Washington. Bust.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A bust of Washington in cream-colored oily pottery. It is about +four inches in height and is one of a set comprising busts of +Clay, Webster, Calhoun, Lafayette, Franklin, etc. I think +the date of manufacture was about 1850. They are common +in America. Specimens may be seen in the Huntington Collection.</p> + +<p class='c013'>32. Washington. Mirror Knob.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A portrait of head of Washington, in a cocked hat, on a porcelain +mirror-knob. A transfer print in black; sometimes +being printed in outline and filled in with pale colors. For +description of mirror-knobs see page <a href='#Page_159'>159</a> <i>et seq.</i></p> + +<p class='c013'>33. Washington. Tomb. Wood.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This dark blue design represents a bewigged man with knee-breeches +at the tomb of Washington. In his hand he carries +a scroll. This print is usually known as “Lafayette at the +tomb of Washington.” The face does not resemble Lafayette, +and when Lafayette visited Washington’s tomb he wore +trousers, knee-breeches being out of date. It has been suggested +that the solitary figure is intended for Jefferson. In +the background is a view of a town and water, with shipping. +The print is usually indistinct and poor, though the color is +good. It is seen on all the pieces of tea and toilet services. +Impressed mark, Wood.</p> + +<p class='c013'><span class='pageno' id='Page_272'>272</span>34. Washington. Funeral Urn. Canton.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The pieces bearing this design are extremely beautiful in shape, +quality, and decoration, every detail being perfect. The +owner called it Lowestoft, but it is plainly Oriental in manufacture, +being of very hard-paste, and the character of the +design (showing that it was executed after the death of Washington) +would hardly point to the Lowestoft manufactory as +its place of birth. The platters and plates have an open-work +basket-design border lined with delicate threads of golden +brown and gold. At each intersection of the interlaced +border is a tiny embossed rosette colored in gilt or bronze, +with a darker centre. The delicacy and beauty of this dainty +border can hardly be described. In the centre of each piece, +in various shades of gold—both dull and polished gold being +combined—is a design of a funeral mound and an urn bearing +the word “Washington,” overhung by a weeping-willow. The +leaves and branches of this tree are models of the gilder’s art. +On each piece are in gold the gracefully intertwined initials +J. R. L., probably the initials of the person for whom the set +was made. For beauty of design and workmanship these +pieces excel any others I have ever seen bearing any so-called +Washington design.</p> + +<p class='c013'>35. Washington Memorial.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This plate, with irregularly scalloped edge, is green in the centre, +with red border. The decoration is a scene with a +seated classical figure writing upon a tablet, and with a +Greek temple in the background. The border contains four +medallions of funeral urns and weeping willows. On the +back is stamped in red a funeral urn with the word “Washington,” +and the initials E. H. Y. S. The printing of this +design is very clear and the lines very delicate, and the drawing +is good.</p> + +<p class='c013'>36. Washington. Medallion.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A bowl of clear white china with plain band of gilt on the edge. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_273'>273</span>On one side, in blue, a medallion of Washington between two +flags, surmounted by a spread eagle. Unmarked.</p> + +<p class='c013'>37. Washington. Funeral Urn.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Plate with pink flower border, centre in green. A statue of +Washington and a cinerary urn with the word “Washington.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>38. Washington. Portrait.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A portrait of Washington printed in black on a white stone-ware +pitcher—apparently modern. Crossed flags painted in +colors. This pitcher may have been made to use in a hotel +or on a steamboat.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Washington. Portrait.</p> + +<p class='c011'>On “Emblem of America” Pitcher. See No. 98.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Washington. Views of Mount Vernon.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 195 <i>et seq.</i></p> + +<p class='c011'>Washington. Portrait. Erie Canal.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 166.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Washington. Portrait. Erie Canal.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 170.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Washington. Inscription. Proscribed Patriots.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 86.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Washington. Medallion. Staffordshire.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 251.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_274'>274</span> + <h2 class='c005'>XIV.<br> DESIGNS RELATING TO FRANKLIN</h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c014'>The great popularity and long residence of Benjamin +Franklin abroad would account for the many +and varied ceramic relics relating to him that +were manufactured in England and France during his +lifetime, and that are still in existence, more varied in +quality and shape even than those relating to Washington. +Nor after his death did the production cease. I +will place at the head of the list the most beautiful of +them all.</p> + +<p class='c013'>39. Group of Louis XVI. and Benjamin Franklin. +Niderviller.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id006'> +<span class='pageno' id='Page_275'>275</span> +<img src='images/i_291.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Neiderweiler Statuette.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>This lovely statuette is of purest white porcelain bisque, and is +about twelve inches in height, and ten inches in length. The +face of the figure of Franklin is exceedingly fine, and is, in a +degree, unlike any other portrait of him that I have seen. It +has all the benignancy and sweetness of expression with +which we are familiar, and an added nobility and intelligence +which is more marked and more impressive than in any +other likeness. It is an ideal portrait of Franklin, which +must be regarded with pleasure and interest by every historical +student. The figure of the King is also extremely fine +and imposing. The face is beautiful, the carriage manly, +and the half suit of armor, with the long royal cloak of ermine, +form an impressive contrast with the simple fur-trimmed +garment of Franklin, whose figure is slightly bent, but still +<span class='pageno' id='Page_277'>277</span>impressive. The King holds in his hand a parchment book +or scroll bearing on one leaf in golden letters the words, +“Indépendance de l’Amérique,” and on another leaf, “Liberté +des Mers.” This group was made to commemorate our +treaty with France in 1788. It is beautifully modelled and of +highest artistic merit, and must take rank as the most important +relic of our country that has yet been figulated. It +bears the stamp “Niderviller,” and was made at that factory +while it was owned by Count Custine. He had fought with +Lafayette in the war for American Independence, and doubtless +knew Franklin. The statue was evidently modelled from +life. Count Custine also gave to Washington the beautiful +tea-service described on page <a href='#Page_244'>244</a> <i>et seq.</i> Three only of these +portrait groups of Franklin and Louis XVI. are known to +exist; the only perfect one is owned by William C. Prime, +Esq., of New York, and will form part of the Trumbull-Prime +Collection at Princeton; from it the illustration here given +was taken. Another imperfect one is in the possession of +William A. Hoppin, Esq., of Providence; and a third and +mutilated specimen is in the Huntington Collection at the +Metropolitan Museum of Art.</p> + +<p class='c013'>40. Franklin. Medallions. Nini.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Some very good medallions of Benjamin Franklin were manufactured +by Jean Baptiste Nini, who in 1760 entered the employ +of M. Leray, or M. de Chaumont, at Chaumont. Nini +was a glass engraver of rare merit, and his work on these medallions +was very beautiful. The fine copper moulds for his +medallions that he employed were melted down into ingots in +1820. His work may be known by the mark engraved in the +soft-paste of “Nini,” or “J. B. Nini F.”—sometimes with the +date. He made at least six different sizes of medallions of +Franklin, some of which bear the date in relief.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Franklin, writing from Passy in 1779 to his daughter, Mrs. +Sarah Bache, speaks thus of these Nini medallions: “The +<span class='pageno' id='Page_278'>278</span>clay medallion of me you say you gave Mr. Hopkinson was +the first of the kind made in France. A variety of others +have been made since of various sizes; some to be set in the +lids of snuff-boxes, and some so small as to be worn in rings; +and the numbers sold are incredible. These, with the pictures +and prints (of which copies upon copies are spread everywhere), +have made your father’s face as well known as that +of the moon, so that he durst not do anything that would +oblige him to run away, as his phiz would discover him whereever +he should venture to show it. It is said by learned etymologists +that the name of doll for the image children play +with is derived from the word idol. From the number of dolls +now made of him he may be truly said, in that sense, to be +idolized in this country.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>In several other published letters Franklin speaks of making +gifts of these medallions to his friends, and states that they +were made at Chaumont. Madame de Campan says that +they were sold at the palace of Versailles, and bore this +motto, “<cite>Eripuit cœlo fulmen, sceptrumque tyrannis.</cite>”</p> + +<p class='c011'>There are in the Huntington Collection several specimens of +these Nini medallions, that collection containing in all eleven +medallions of Franklin, many of which being unmarked it is +futile to attempt to classify. A Nini medallion having a fine +fur-cap portrait sold in the Governor Lyon sale for ten dollars. +Mr. Huntington wrote thus to Hon. John Bigelow, of +Nini and his medallions: “He must have had a certain +vogue in his time, medallions of folks of the superior classes +from his hand still turning up at sales and in curiosity shops. +He did two Franklins—both at the Metropolitan Museum—dated +and signed. The smaller one, with the cap, ‘1777 B. +Franklin, Américain,’ was among the earliest of the Franklin +idols made here, and has been numerously reproduced by +French, English, and other engravers. The larger, which is +of the more usual size of Nini’s work, is much rarer, has never +been engraved from, as far as I know, and is to my notion +<span class='pageno' id='Page_279'>279</span>one of the most finely characterized of all the Franklin portraits—1799 +(and in some copies MDCCLXXIX.; you will find +specimens of both in the museum), with Turgot’s lines for the +legend. In his letter to his daughter, Passy, 3d of June, B. +F. writes: ‘The clay medallion of me you say you gave Mr. +Hopkinson was the first of the kind made in France.’ This +must be the one with the cap. If the Ven. F. is correct in his +statement, it would curiously seem that his friend Chaumont +set Nini at him as soon as he caught the artist, to start (we +should now say inaugurate) his furnace at Chaumont with the +likeness of his friend.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>41. Franklin. Medallion. Wedgwood.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This appears in Wedgwood’s Catalogue of 1787 under the head +of “Illustrious Moderns.” It was made in black basalt and +blue and white jasper. There appear to have been two of +these portraits; for at the sale of the collection of Dr. Gibson, +in London, March, 1877, a blue jasper medallion of Dr. +Franklin, by Wedgwood & Bentley, was sold for £12 12s., +while one with the fur-cap by Wedgwood sold for £11. Specimens +can be seen in the Huntington Collection at the Metropolitan +Museum of Art, and in the Trumbull-Prime Collection +at Princeton.</p> + +<p class='c013'>42. Franklin. Cameo. Wedgwood.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In Wedgwood’s Catalogue of 1787. Made in white on colored +grounds, and in pure white.</p> + +<p class='c013'>43. Franklin. Intaglio. Wedgwood.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This is named in Wedgwood’s Catalogue of 1787. It was +smaller, to be used as a seal, and was of black ware highly +polished. One may be seen in the Trumbull-Prime Collection.</p> + +<p class='c013'>44. Franklin. Oval Plaque. Bristol.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This medallion of Franklin is upon one of Richard Champion’s +exquisite flower-plaques. This plaque is considered by +<span class='pageno' id='Page_280'>280</span>Owen to be “the most important” of Champion’s work. +Champion was an ardent admirer of America and Americans, +and his special veneration for Franklin evidently impelled him +to produce this elaborate work. It is eight and a half inches +in length, and seven and a half in width, the portrait bust being +surrounded immediately by a laurel wreath tied with a bow-knot, +and outside the laurel wreath by a rich wreath of roses +and lilies in highly raised and most delicate work. Another +specimen of the same medallion is known to exist upon a plain +ground plaque, and has often been attributed to the Sèvres +manufactory. One of these flower-plaques with the bust of +Franklin was exhibited at the Loan Collection in New York, +in 1889, by Dr. Caspar Wister Hodge, of Princeton, N. J. +Rev. Dr. Hodge was the grandson of William Bache, the +grandson of Franklin. Dr. Hodge’s mother was born in +Franklin’s house in Philadelphia, and her account of the +flower-plaque was that it was made at the Sèvres manufactory +and was the gift of Louis XVI. to Benjamin Franklin; that it +had been sent to America by private hands, in connection +with a similar one of George Washington, which was surmounted +by a gilt crown; and that the messenger, in officious +democratic zeal, picked off the crown with his penknife before +delivering the medallion.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Hodge said it was a complete surprise to him, and it +could not have been a very pleasant one, when he offered the +plaque for exhibition in New York, to be told that it was +Bristol china, and was not unique. Of course these latter +facts might be so without destroying the other part of the family +tradition—that it was a royal gift; but it is far more probable +that Richard Champion presented this choice specimen +of his work to Franklin, for in a letter to Champion, written +from Paris, January 2, 1778, the unknown writer speaks of a +visit to Franklin, and says: “He begs his compliments and +is much obliged for your present, which arrived in perfect +safety. He says that there is a good likeness with Wedgwood +<span class='pageno' id='Page_281'>281</span>& Bentley’s, only with this difference, that he wears his hair, +which is rather straight and long, instead of a wig, and is very +high in his forehead.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>In the Lewis sale of Washington relics, held in Philadelphia, in +December, 1890, there was sold an “oval porcelain plaque +with a bust of Benjamin Franklin in a wreath of china roses +and lilies, 8½ inches by 7½ inches.” This I believe to have +been the one which tradition in the Hodge family says came +over to Washington. Some of the Bristol flower-plaques had +a crown above the medallion; one in Mr. Edkin’s Collection +is illustrated in Owen’s “Two Centuries of Ceramic Art in +Bristol.” The Franklin plaque sold in Philadelphia for +ninety dollars—a price to make an English collector groan +with envy—while the one in Mr. Edkin’s Collection (from +which is taken the engraving in Mr. Owen’s book) sold in +England in 1874 for £150. Dr. Hodge had an insurance of +one thousand dollars offered to him on his Franklin plaque +when it was in New York.</p> + +<p class='c013'>45. Franklin. Medallion. Neale & Co.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The head of Dr. Franklin in pottery, by Neale & Co., Hanley. +It is an oval medallion.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Franklin. Relief Portrait. Dresden.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 29.</p> + +<p class='c013'>46. Franklin. Statuette. Wood.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This pottery statue is fifteen inches in height, and is neither +very impressive nor well modelled. One in the Huntington +Collection is colored, Poor Richard being gayly attired in gray +coat, yellow waistcoat, and pink breeches. He carries his hat +under his left arm, and a scroll in his left hand. Another in +the same collection is precisely like it, save that the head +only is colored. It is labelled, in gold letters, “General +Washington.” This mistake easily arose, for the statuette of +Washington, described in No. 24, is exactly like this Franklin +<span class='pageno' id='Page_282'>282</span>statuette except the head, which in the latter has flowing +natural hair. A number of these Franklin statuettes +bear the name of Washington, and it does not matter much, +for they do not closely resemble either of the great Americans. +This statuette is attributed to Ralph Wood or Enoch +Wood, of Burslem. There are three of these figures in the +Trumbull-Prime Collection, dressed in vari-colored garments, +one being much smaller, about thirteen inches in height. But +for the right arm being more extended, it would appear that +the original mould had become worn and a new one cast, +which in shrinking made this reduction in the size of this figure. +One of these statuettes of Franklin in the S. L. M. +Barlow Collection was sold in 1890 for forty-two dollars.</p> + +<p class='c013'>47. Franklin. Statuette.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In the Catalogue of the Museum of Practical Geology, Number +G. 374, is described thus: “Statuette of Dr. Franklin painted +in colors. Height, 13¼ inches. Mounted on square marbled +pedestal with oval yellow medallions in relief; unmarked. +This may be a Salopian figure.” One of these statuettes is in +the Huntington Collection; the medallions being in blue and +white. Dr. Franklin wears in this case white breeches, blue +waistcoat, scarlet coat, a blue ribbon with an order, and a long +ermine cloak. This statuette is rather funny, though at first +glance it is quite impressive. The Doctor, comparatively devoid +of pendulous chin, stands erect and beautiful, with his +head thrown back with a most imperious and even imperial +air, to which the ermine cloak gives added weight and zest. +He is so erect and so slender that we hardly know him. But +when we glance at his feet, the impression of youthfulness +and beauty vanishes. With feet several sizes too large for his +figure, and gaudy light green slippers several sizes too large +even for those feet, we turn away to our familiar good old +dewlapped man with the fur-cap, and like him better than +this splay-footed, ermine-cloaked plantigrade.</p> + +<p class='c013'><span class='pageno' id='Page_283'>283</span>48. Franklin. Statuette.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Parian figure about seven inches in height. The likeness is +good, though the feet are abnormally narrow and pointed; +unmarked. A copy may be seen in the Huntington Collection.</p> + +<p class='c013'>49. Franklin. Statuette.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Pottery figure about seven inches in height, leaning on a pink +pedestal decorated with raised white eagles. The coat is +black, breeches yellow, and waistcoat pink. This gayly +garbed slim young fellow does not at all resemble our own +Franklin. The statuette is unmarked. A specimen may be +seen in the Huntington Collection.</p> + +<p class='c013'>50. Franklin. Statuette.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This pottery figure is fifteen inches in height, and is in feature +and figure and dress like No. 46, and was evidently modelled +by the same hand. It is a poor thing, and bears but little +resemblance to Franklin. A dilapidated specimen is in the +Huntington Collection.</p> + +<p class='c013'>51. Franklin. Mirror Knob.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Print of Franklin in black on oval porcelain plaque in a mirror +knob. For description of these knobs see page <a href='#Page_159'>159</a> <i>et seq.</i></p> + +<p class='c013'>52. Franklin. Fur-cap Portrait.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Round plate with fluted border, with splashes of purple and yellow +like No. 81. In the centre a good rendering of the fur-cap +portrait of Franklin. In the Huntington Collection.</p> + +<p class='c013'>53. Franklin. Fur-cap Portrait.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Plate with pierced border like No. 82. Well-painted portrait +in centre. In the Huntington Collection.</p> + +<p class='c013'>54. Franklin. Portrait. Dresden.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A Dresden plate with flower border and good portrait of Franklin. +In Huntington Collection.</p> + +<p class='c013'><span class='pageno' id='Page_284'>284</span>55. Franklin. Bust.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Small bust of Franklin in bisque, mounted on a yellow and gold +pedestal. Marked “Francklin.” In Huntington Collection.</p> + +<p class='c013'>56. Franklin. Bust.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A bust of Franklin in what appears to be modern majolica. In +Huntington Collection.</p> + +<p class='c013'>57. Franklin. Bust.</p> + +<p class='c011'>White pottery bust glazed, about ten inches in height. Around +the base a wreath of laurel. In Huntington Collection.</p> + +<p class='c013'>58. Franklin. Bust.</p> + +<p class='c011'>White porcelain bisque bust, five inches in height, mounted on +dark blue and gold stand. In Huntington Collection.</p> + +<p class='c013'>59. Franklin. Portrait. Dresden.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A portrait of Franklin on a great cylindrical covered jar, twenty +inches in height and eight inches in diameter. The portrait +is good, though the mouth is exaggeratedly small and the chin +exaggeratedly remultiplied. It is surrounded by a well-painted +wreath of flowers.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Franklin. Figure on Pitcher.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 17.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Franklin. Fur-cap Portrait.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 13.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Franklin. Emblem of America Pitcher.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 98.</p> + +<p class='c013'>60. Franklin. Tomb.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This design was printed in dark blue on dinner, breakfast, tea, +and toilet services in vast numbers. In such large numbers, +in fact, that the pieces with this design are cheaper than any +others bearing the names of any historical personages. I +<span class='pageno' id='Page_285'>285</span>have bought a large teapot for a dollar, cups and saucers for +a dollar, etc. This might be classed among the Lafayette +prints, but as we are not sure that the seated figure is intended +for Lafayette, and Franklin cannot escape the formal +witness of his inscribed tomb, we place it in this place in the +list. A teapot bearing this print is here shown.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id002'> +<img src='images/i_301.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Tomb of Franklin Teapot.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c013'>61. Franklin. Print. Fur-cap Portrait.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This print is in black on pitchers and bowls. It is the fur-cap +portrait with the glasses. The legend reads: “Benj<sup>n</sup> Franklin +Esq. LL.D. and F.R.S., the brave defender of the country +against the oppression of taxation without representation—author +of the greatest discovery in Natural Philosophy since +those of Sir Isaac Newton, viz.: that lightning is the same with +the electric fire.” See No. 18.</p> + +<p class='c013'><span class='pageno' id='Page_286'>286</span>62. Franklin. Portrait.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A full-length print of Franklin on mug, with various maxims of +Poor Richard’s.</p> + +<p class='c013'>63. Franklin. Portrait.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A light blue print of Franklin found on toilet services. The +philosopher is seen flying his famous kite.</p> + +<p class='c013'>64. Dr. Franklin’s Maxims.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Plate of cream ware with relief border of scrolls and scallops +intertwined, with words in ornamental capitals, “Fear God: +Honour your Parents.” In the centre is a green print of a +view of the inside and outside of a shop, with figures. Those +within are working, those without are idle. Above, the words, +“Dr. Franklin’s Maxims.” Below, the maxims, “Keep thy +shop and thy shop will keep thee,” “If you would have your +business done, go; if not, send.” This plate is in the possession +of Mrs. Nealy, of Washington, D. C.</p> + +<p class='c013'>65. Franklin’s Morals. Staffordshire.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dark blue plate with waving edge, and dainty border of fruit, +shells, and flowers. In the centre a man carrying a large +key. Houses and a bridge in the background. On the back +of the plate the words, “Franklin’s Morals, ‘The used key +is always bright.’”</p> + +<p class='c013'>66. Franklin. House at Passy.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Upon a beautiful Sèvres vase at the Executive Mansion in +Washington is seen a view of Franklin’s house at Passy.</p> + +<p class='c013'>67. Franklin. Portrait Plaque.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Oval plaque of Italian majolica marked with inscription, “Cortoni +Fab Alari. Beniamino Franklin, C. Brunacci Depinse.” +In the Huntington Collection. There are also three other +majolica plates and plaques in this collection bearing portraits +of Franklin.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_287'>287</span>I may say, in conclusion, what I have already shown in +detail, that there can be no better opportunity of studying +the face of Franklin, as shown in pottery and porcelain, +than in the Huntington Collection. There are +eleven relief medallions, eleven enamels, nine busts, six +statues, and a large number of plates and plaques. +You can also compare these ceramic portraits with innumerable +bronzes, engravings, art gems, cameos, gold and +silver and pewter work bearing the same serene, benignant +face, and with some very funny though unintentional +caricatures of Franklin by Japanese and Chinese +artists, in some of which the well-known fur-cap has +been transformed into a close crop of short woolly curls.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_288'>288</span> + <h2 class='c005'>XV.<br> DESIGNS RELATING TO LAFAYETTE</h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c014'>I have never seen in America any pieces of English +pottery or porcelain bearing the name, portrait of +Lafayette, or any reference to him that could be assigned +to an earlier date of manufacture than 1824, the +time of Lafayette’s last visit to America. It is worthy of +note, however, that the Lafayette pieces of crockery that +were printed to commemorate and illustrate that memorable +visit and that triumphal journey are, as a rule, in a +much better state of preservation, freer from marks of +fierce assaulting knives, barer of nicks and cracks, than +other American historical pieces of the same date. The +great veneration and affection felt by all Americans for +the noble character of Lafayette, and their gratitude for +his assistance in times of war, were doubtless the cause +of the careful preservation of the pieces relating to him +and printed in his honor. The fine platter shown on +page <a href='#Page_294'>294</a>, which is the clearest, darkest, “Landing” print +I have ever seen, was always kept carefully wrapped in +an ancient hand-woven “flannel sheet,” and laid away in +an upper drawer of a high chest, a “high-boy,” in a New England +farm-house, until it was ruthlessly removed from +<span class='pageno' id='Page_289'>289</span>its honored seclusion of half a century, and hung on the +wall of my dining-room.</p> + +<p class='c011'>During the triumphal journey of Lafayette through +this country in 1824, ladies, in honor of him, wore sashes +and belt-ribbons printed with his name and likeness, +gloves with his portrait stamped upon the back, and medallions +with laudatory inscriptions relating to him fastened +upon their neck-ribbons and necklaces; while men +and boys wore Lafayette medals, medallions, and buttons. +Of all these tokens few now remain; but the various +Lafayette plates and pitchers form lasting mementos of +the visit of the “Nation’s Guest.” Few families in New +England appear to have had more than two or three of +the Lafayette pieces, but in the vicinity of New York +persons purchased whole dinner services, especially of the +“Landing” pattern. Mrs. Roebling owns the remains +of an entire set purchased by her father, General Warren. +Mr. William C. Prime also owns an entire service.</p> + +<p class='c011'>La Grange, the home of Lafayette, was a familiar +scene to Americans, for many transparencies and paintings +of the château were exhibited during Lafayette’s +tour in 1824, and two views of it appear on plates and +platters. With these I continue the list of historical designs +and subjects.</p> + +<p class='c013'>68. Lafayette. La Grange. Enoch Wood & Sons.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This is a dingy and poorly printed view of the gloomy entrance +to the château, with its great fir-trees, an engraving of which +is seen in Cloquet’s “Recollections of Lafayette.” The blue +is good in tint, though the print is indistinct. It has a poor, +confused shell border. On the back the stamp of Enoch +<span class='pageno' id='Page_290'>290</span>Wood & Sons, and the mark “La Grange, the Home of +Lafayette.” A plate with this design is here shown.</p> + +<div class='figleft id004'> +<img src='images/i_306.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>La Grange Plate.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c013'>69. Lafayette. La +Grange 2. Wood.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The superb platters with +this print bear on the +back, in a wreath of laurel, +the stamp “Southwest +view of Lagrange, +the residence of Marquis +La Fayette,” also +the impressed stamp of +Wood. The color is of +the richest dark blue +tint, a true “lapis to +delight the world.” +Across the top of the +platter the border is formed in a graceful design of grapes and +vine leaves. On the left the border is composed of finely drawn +stalks of hollyhocks. On the right a tree and foliage form the +border. On the lower rim is a design of fleur-de-lis and roses. +The view of the château is different from No. 68, the whole +front of the house being shown. A broad expanse of lawn +fills the foreground, across which two dogs are running. Up +a path on the left walk a man, woman, and child. I have +never seen but two pieces bearing this design, both large platters +twenty-three inches long. I purchased one for $12, +which large price was unwillingly paid; but as I had never +seen nor heard of any pieces bearing such a design, I could +not bear to lose it when I believed it to be unique. Within a +week after this purchase I saw the second and better platter +and bought it for $1.50, and now I expect to find many +another piece with this “Southwest view of Lagrange.” I +give these prices to show the impossibility of assigning a definite +<span class='pageno' id='Page_291'>291</span>value to those “old blue” Staffordshire pieces. One of +these platters was obtained through the sale of the old dining-room +furnishings of Barnum’s Hotel, in Baltimore.</p> + +<p class='c013'>70. Lafayette. Medallion.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This design is the head of Lafayette in blue on a white porcelain +plate, with the surrounding words, “Welcome, Lafayette, the +Nation’s Guest and our Country’s Glory.” The plate has an +embossed border similar in design to that upon some New +Hall plates in my possession. It is unmarked. The portrait +is exceedingly ugly and mean.</p> + +<p class='c013'>71. Lafayette. Portrait.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A pitcher of stone-ware printed in blue, with a portrait of +Lafayette on one side, with this legend, “In commemoration +of the visit of Lafayette to the United States of America in +1824,” and a wreath entwined with these words, “Lafayette, +the Nation’s Guest.” On the other side a head of Washington. +Beneath the nose of the pitcher a spread eagle, and the +terse sentence, “Republicans are not always ungrateful.” +One may be seen in the Trumbull-Prime Collection. I have +also seen several for sale in city “antique shops.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>72. Lafayette. Medallion.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Medallion portrait of Lafayette and similar one of Washington +on common white stone-ware mug. Some of these mugs also +have the date 1824, not the year of manufacture apparently, +but the date simply of Lafayette’s visit to America.</p> + +<p class='c013'>73. Lafayette. Medallion.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A pitcher ten inches in height, bearing on both sides a good +portrait of Lafayette, with this legend, “General Lafayette +was born at Auvergne, in France. At 19 he arrived in America +in a war-ship furnished at his own cost in 1777, & volunteered +in our army as Major General. At Brandywine he was +wounded but refused to quit the field; he assisted the army +with £10,000 from his own purse, and kept in service until +<span class='pageno' id='Page_292'>292</span>our independence was sealed and country free; in 1784 he +returned to France loaded with honors and the gratitude of +the American people; in 1824 the Congress unanimously offered +a ship for his return, he declined the honor, but landed +from the Cadmus at New York, August 24th, 1824, amid the +acclamations of 60,000 freemen.” In front of the pitcher is +another portrait of Lafayette in vignette, with this legend +above it, “General Lafayette, welcome to the land of Liberty,” +and below, “He was born at Auvergne in France, 1757, +joined the American struggle in 1777, and in 1824 returned to +repose in the bosom of the land whose liberty he in part gave +birth to.” This pitcher is globose in shape, is in a good shade +of blue, and is unmarked.</p> + +<div class='figleft id004'> +<img src='images/i_308.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Cadmus Plate.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c013'>74. Lafayette. Cadmus. Enoch Wood & Sons.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This was the name of the ship which brought Lafayette to America +in 1824. The stamp “Cadmus” appears on a few only +of the plates, and the +others must be classified +by the knowledge of, and +comparison with, the +marked ones, or with the +illustration here shown. +This is an exceedingly +beautiful plate; the graceful +shell border is so rich +and dark a blue, and the +centre expanse of water +and full-sailed ship and +sloop are so distinct and +bright, that it gives one +the impression of looking +out from a dark cave upon the sunny ocean. Every plate that +I have seen bearing this design has been of the finest color, +clearest print, most brilliant glaze, and in good preservation. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_293'>293</span>They have the stamp “Enoch Wood & Sons.” The Cadmus +was built for Mr. William Whitlock, and belonged to the +Havre line of packet-ships organized and managed by William +Whitlock, Jr., & Co., of 46 South Street. When this eminent +shipping-house learned that Lafayette had declined the offer +of a national vessel, the members at once put the Cadmus at +his service, declining to receive any remuneration therefor. +No other passengers were allowed on board save the General +and his suite, and the ship took no cargo. Captain Allyn +was the commander. Lafayette fully appreciated this initial +act of American friendship and hospitality, and the first private +house at which he dined after arriving was at Mr. Whitlock’s. +The ship became in later years a whaling vessel. +The Long Island Historical Society have a portion of the +wood-work of the berths from the state-room occupied by Lafayette.</p> + +<p class='c013'>75. Landing of Lafayette. Clews.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Pieces bearing this print are perhaps more eagerly sought after +by collectors, patriots, and historical students than are those +bearing any other design. The prints are all in dark blue of +good tint (except a few rare polychrome prints of which I shall +speak), but vary in clearness and distinctness. It is said that +whole dinner services and tea-services were printed with it, +but I have never seen either teapots or creamers. I have +found four sizes of plates, including the tiny cup-plates; large +soup-plates, pitchers, platters, bowls, and vegetable-dishes, +and lovely little pepper-pots and salt-cellars. And I have +also seen an imposing toilet service proudly bearing in richest +blue the “Landing of Lafayette.” The border is a handsome +design of what I think is intended for laurel leaves (but which +more resemble ash), clusters of flowers which are perhaps +laurel blossoms, and larger flowers which may be wild roses, +but look like jonquils. In the centre of the plates and on the +sides of the larger dishes is a spirited design bearing at the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_294'>294</span>base, in dark blue letters, the words, “Landing of Lafayette. +At Castle Garden, New York, August 24th, 1824.” In the foreground +of this view are marshals or sentinels on horseback, +then comes a row of six smoking cannon, then the bay covered +with beflagged shipping and small sail-boats, and two +clumsy, strangely shaped steamers, the Robert Fulton and +Chancellor Livingston, with their side-wheels quite up out of +the water. At the right, a small bridge over the water leads +to an inclosed fort, over which floats the flag of the United +States. Over all is a sky of strongly defined clouds. On the +back is the impressed stamp, “Warranted Clews Staffordshire.” +A platter with this design is here shown. Plates of +this pattern sell for from four to ten dollars, according to clearness, +condition, and size. This design has been seen in polychrome. +A few years ago there stood in a barroom in New +York an enormous punch-bowl capable of holding many gallons. +It bore printed or painted in high and varied colors +the “Landing of Lafayette.” Plates and platters also have +been offered for sale in New York with the design in many +colors. Sometimes this design is found upon pitchers with a +poor portrait of Lafayette.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id002'> +<img src='images/i_310.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Lafayette Landing Platter.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_295'>295</span>Lafayette arrived in the Cadmus at Staten Island on Sunday, +but postponed by request his entrance into New York until +the following day. The landing at the Battery must have +been a magnificent sight. The steamship Robert Fulton, +manned by two hundred sailors from the Constitution, and +her companion ship the Chancellor Livingston, “led in triumph +rather than towed the Cadmus to the place of landing.” +Two hundred thousand persons welcomed the General with +shouts, cannon thundered from the shore, the forts, the vessels. +Flags, triumphal arches, decorations of various kinds +adorned the streets and buildings. For those who, when they +glance at their “Landing” plates, wish to find the image of +the General there present, I will add that he was then sixty-eight +years of age, was conceded by all to be far from a beautiful +or heroic figure, with his small head, staring eyes, retreating +forehead, and bad complexion, and he wore on that occasion +“nankeen pantaloons, buff vest, and plain blue coat with +covered buttons.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>76. Lafayette. Faïence Patriotique. Nevers.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A plate of coarse pottery, with border of blue and yellow +leaves. At the top two blue and yellow flags, and in the centre +of the plate this legend in hand-painted, irregular letters +of blue:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span lang="fr">(“Cadet Rousette a des plats bleus</span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="fr">Qui sont beaux, qui n’vont pas au feu;</span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="fr">Si vous voulez en faire emplette,</span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="fr">Adressez-vous à La Fayette.</span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="fr">Ah! Ah! Ah! mais vraiment,</span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="fr">Cadet Rousette est bon enfant.”</span></div> + <div class='line in16'><span lang="fr">1792.)</span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_296'>296</span>This is a good specimen of the “Faïences Patriotiques.” +These revolutionary emblems were made at the Nevers Pottery, +in France, in large numbers, at the time of the French +Revolution. They were coarsely painted with patriotic, +though frequently ill-spelled, designs and mottoes, and were +designed to appeal to and influence the French peasantry. +The great heat used in the firing prevented the potters from +using red paint (since that color was destroyed by the high +temperature), so in direct violation of all “rules of revolutionary +iconology,” the liberty cap was rendered in blue or yellow. +It was in honor of the “Fayence of Nevers” that the poem of +Defraney was written that begins,</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span lang="fr">(“Chantons, Fille du Ciel, l’honneur de la Fayence!</span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="fr">Quel Art! dans l’Italie il reçut la naissance</span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="fr">Et vint, passant les monts, s’établir dans Nevers.</span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="fr">Ses ouvrages charmans vont au delà des mers.”)</span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>This Nevers plate is in the Huntington Collection at the Metropolitan +Museum of Art.</p> + +<p class='c013'>77. Lafayette. Faïence Patriotique. Nevers.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Plate of coarse Nevers pottery with hideous profile portrait of +Lafayette in yellow and blue, and date 1794. Border of blue +leaves. Also in the Huntington Collection.</p> + +<p class='c013'>78. Lafayette. Faïence Patriotique. Nevers.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Plate of coarse Nevers pottery with scroll border of green, yellow, +and blue. A full-face portrait of Lafayette in bright yellow, +with purple hair. In the Huntington Collection.</p> + +<p class='c013'>79. Lafayette. Faïence Patriotique. Nevers.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Large plate of Nevers pottery, fourteen inches in diameter, with +slightly scalloped edge. In the centre a design of a long-legged +bird with man’s head, saying, “La Fayette, Je tends +mes filets.” The bird tramples under foot, or under claw, a +head marked “le Roi Soliveau,” and is addressing his remarks +<span class='pageno' id='Page_297'>297</span>to a head on a pole with a flag marked “Loi Martiale.” +There is also a network or fence inclosing frogs. Above all, +the inscription, “Les grenouilles qui demandent un Roi, ou +le Roi Soliveau.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>80. Lafayette. Portrait. Sèvres.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A Sèvres plate with an exquisitely painted portrait of Lafayette +in full uniform. A rich border of red, blue, and gold. In +the Huntington Collection.</p> + +<p class='c013'>81. Lafayette. Portrait.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Square plate with fluted border, with splashes of purple and +yellow, like No. 52. A spray of flowers in each corner. In +the centre a fine profile portrait of Lafayette in full uniform. +In the Huntington Collection.</p> + +<p class='c013'>82. Lafayette. Portrait.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Plate with pierced border like No. 53. In the centre the same +portrait as in No. 81. In the Huntington Collection.</p> + +<p class='c013'>83. Lafayette. Bust.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Bust four inches in height. One of same set described in No. +31. One can be seen in Huntington Collection.</p> + +<p class='c013'>84. Lafayette. Medallion.</p> + +<p class='c011'>White porcelain profile medallion about two inches and a half +in diameter. No mark.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Lafayette. At the Tomb of Franklin.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Were we sure that the figure in this design is Lafayette, it +would properly be placed here, but it is very uncertain +whether the seated mourner is Lafayette, or merely some +sombre-minded, non-historical, though patriotic citizen; so a +description and illustration of this design will be found among +the Franklin Prints, No. 60.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_298'>298</span>Lafayette. At the Tomb of Washington.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 33. The figure in this design may not be that of +Lafayette.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Lafayette. Portrait. Erie Canal.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 166. The presence of Lafayette at the formal opening +of the Erie Canal was naturally felt to be a great honor, +hence the appearance of his name on many of the plates; +but as the other design is more prominent it is classed +under that name.</p> + +<p class='c011'>There are many modern Parian busts of poor likeness +and indifferent artistic merit, and occasional hand-painted +plaques of Lafayette, but they hardly come +within the intentions and purpose of this list.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_299'>299</span> + <h2 class='c005'>XVI.<br> PATRIOTIC AND POLITICAL DESIGNS</h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c014'>The heroes and the naval battles of the War of 1812 +furnished manifold subjects for the designs printed +on a vast number of mugs and pitchers. They +were made and printed at the Liverpool and Staffordshire +pot-works to supply the American trade, and were +imported in great numbers to this country. English +potters appeared to have none of that form of patriotic +pride and independence that would prevent them from +celebrating and perpetuating the virtues and victories +of their late enemies, or hinder them from printing inscriptions +and verses insulting to their native land and +their fellow-countrymen; they were plainly and unsentimentally +mercenary. These portraits, mottoes, and battle-scenes +appear in various combinations of subjects, +sometimes in juxtaposition with Washington designs. +Occasionally a mammoth pitcher is found—a dozen +pitchers rolled into one—decorated with a dozen different +but generic prints. Such is the great heroic vessel +known as the “Historical Pitcher of the War of 1812.” +It was made by Enoch Wood & Sons of Burslem, +Staffordshire, England, about 1824, by the order of +Horace Jones, Esq., of Troy, N. Y. It is now owned +<span class='pageno' id='Page_300'>300</span>by his grandson, Horace Jones Richards, Esq., of the +same city. It stands twenty inches in height, and +measures twenty inches from the end of the spout to +the extreme point of the handle. The body is eighteen +inches in diameter—a foot and a half, and it holds +eleven and a half gallons. It has an embossed border +around the top, and is decorated with a coarse design +in copper-lustre and green. On the front of the pitcher +is the name of the purchaser, Horace Jones, and around +the body are various prints that are often seen singly +on other and smaller pitchers. In front, about five +inches above the base of the pitcher, is a small projection +or knob. This served as a second handle by +which to carry the pitcher (for it is a great weight +when filled—if it ever is filled), and it formed also a +support to rest on the edge of a smaller vessel when +pouring from the pitcher. On either side of this small +handle are portraits of Washington and Adams. There +are on one side of the great pitcher-body portraits +of Captain Jones, of the Macedonian, Major-General +Brown, of the Niagara campaign, Commodore Bainbridge, +of the Constitution. Below these portraits a +circle of prints representing the Constitution escaping +from the British fleet; Commodore Macdonough’s victory +on Lake Champlain, and a large American eagle +with the motto, “E Pluribus Unum.” On the other side +of the pitcher are the portraits of Commodore Decatur, +Commodore Perry, and Captain Hull, of the Constitution; +below are the engagements between the Chesapeake +and Shannon off Boston Harbor, June 1, 1813, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_301'>301</span>and Commodore Perry’s victory on Lake Erie. Below +the large handle on the right are two views of the manufactory +and the names of the makers, and on the left a +naval monument with flags and motto, “We have met +the enemy and they are ours.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>This pitcher arrived in Troy a short time before +Lafayette made his visit to that city in 1824, and was +first publicly used at the reception given to him September +18, 1824. Since then it has been used on many +notable occasions. A bill was introduced to the State +Legislature in Albany, in the spring of 1891, for the purchase +of this pitcher and its preservation in the State +Library. The purchase sum required was three hundred +and fifty dollars. The bill did not pass. It is a pity it +cannot be in the possession of the National Museum at +Washington, since the State of New York did not care +to preserve it as a relic.</p> + +<p class='c011'>There are some designs of the American eagle and +flag, and a few relating to men of Revolutionary times, +which may be assigned, though without any positiveness, +to the period between the War of the Revolution +and the War of 1812. With these prints I resume the +list of American subjects.</p> + +<p class='c013'>85. John Adams. Portrait.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A pitcher, eight inches in height, printed in black, with a very +good, though coarse, portrait of Adams, and the inscription, +“John Adams, President of the United States.” Underneath +is a design of two fat cherubs tying up a parcel and bundles—possibly +an idealization of emigration. The print is signed +“F. Morris, Shelton, Staffordshire.” Strange to say, this +pitcher was purchased in Chester, England.</p> + +<p class='c013'><span class='pageno' id='Page_302'>302</span>86. Proscribed Patriots. Liverpool.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A design printed in black on pitchers, and here shown. On +the side a medallion with a willow-tree and monument. On +the monument the +inscription, “G. W. +Sacred to the memory +of G. Washington, +who emancipated +America from slavery +and founded a republic +upon such just and +equitable principles +that it will” (remainder +illegible). Around +this medallion the legend, +“The Memory +of Washington and +the Proscribed Patriots +of America. Liberty, +Virtue, Peace, +Justice, and Equity to +all Mankind.” Under this, “Columbia’s Sons inspired by +Freedom’s Flame Live in the Annals of Immortal Fame.” +Under the monument are portraits of Samuel Adams and John +Hancock, and the letters S. A. and J. H.; and under these a +beehive and cornucopia. On the front of the pitcher is the +American eagle and shield, with inscription, “Peace, Commerce, +and Honest Friendship with all Nations, Entangling +Alliances with none. Jefferson. Anno Domini 1804.” Under +the handle, “Fame,” in clouds.</p> + +<div class='figleft id004'> +<img src='images/i_318.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Proscribed Patriots Pitcher.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c013'>87. William Franklin. Medallion. Wedgwood.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Two blue and white jasper medallions of the son of Benjamin +Franklin. These medallions appear in Wedgwood’s “List of +Illustrious Moderns.” William Temple Franklin was the last +<span class='pageno' id='Page_303'>303</span>Royalist governor of New Jersey, but his claim to fame rests +only on his being the son of his father. Two of these medallions +are in the Huntington Collection.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Samuel Adams. Portrait. Liverpool.</p> + +<p class='c011'>On Proscribed Patriots Pitcher. See No. 86.</p> + +<p class='c013'>88. Jefferson. Name in Inscription.</p> + +<p class='c011'>On a pitcher bearing a portrait of the American eagle, with +motto, “E Pluribus Unum,” are these stanzas:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Sound, Sound the trump of Fame,</div> + <div class='line'>Let Jefferson’s great name</div> + <div class='line'>Ring through the world with loud applause</div> + <div class='line'>As the firm friend of Freedom’s cause.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Let every clime to freedom dear</div> + <div class='line'>Now listen with a joyfull ear.</div> + <div class='line'>With honest pride and manly grace</div> + <div class='line'>He fills the Presidential place.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“The Constitution for his guide,</div> + <div class='line'>And Truth and Justice by his side,</div> + <div class='line'>When hope was sinking in dismay,</div> + <div class='line'>When gloom obscured Columbia’s day,</div> + <div class='line'>He mourn’d his country’s threaten’d fate</div> + <div class='line'>And sav’d it ere it was too late.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>Jefferson. Quotation. Liverpool.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 127.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Jefferson. At Tomb. Staffordshire.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 33.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Jefferson. Portrait. Staffordshire.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 166.</p> + +<p class='c013'>89. John Hancock. Portrait. Liverpool.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A black print on a mug. On a ribbon scroll the inscription, +“The Honorable John Hancock.”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_304'>304</span>John Hancock. Portrait. Liverpool.</p> + +<p class='c011'>On Proscribed Patriots Pitcher. See No. 86.</p> + +<p class='c011'>John Hancock. House.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 157.</p> + +<p class='c013'>90. Montgomery. Battle-Scene. Liverpool.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Black print on a pitcher of a battle-scene entitled “The Death +of Montgomery.” One may be seen in the Trumbull-Prime +Collection.</p> + +<p class='c013'>91. Warren. Battle-Scene. Liverpool.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Black print on a Liverpool pitcher of a battle-scene, with name +“The Death of Warren.” One may be seen in the Trumbull-Prime +Collection.</p> + +<p class='c013'>92. American Eagle. Sailor Pitcher. Liverpool.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A Liverpool pitcher with an American spread eagle over the +words “Herculaneum Pottery, Liverpool.” On one side +waves and a full-rigged ship bearing American flag; sometimes +printed in black, and often coarsely colored by hand. +This print is often seen on sailor pitchers with other prints of +different designs. On the other side, a sailor’s ballad surrounded +by wreath of flowers, with engraver’s signature, “Jo<sup>h</sup> +Johnson, Liverpool.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>93. American Eagle. Masonic Pitcher. Liverpool.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A Liverpool pitcher with American eagle and shield. On the +other side, Masonic emblems. There were a vast number of +these Masonic designs, one is shown on page <a href='#Page_147'>147</a>, and as they +were not specially American, though doubtless made largely +for Americans, it is useless to specify them.</p> + +<p class='c013'>94. Ship Alligator.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A pitcher with view of the ship Alligator on one side. On the +reverse a spread eagle, with a scroll border in gilt containing +the names of fifteen States.</p> + +<p class='c013'><span class='pageno' id='Page_305'>305</span>95. Mug. Union to the People.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A mug of Liverpool ware printed with a group of three men +clasping hands. They are supposed to be Hamilton, Madison, +and Jay, but may be any other American statesmen. +Above the group, a liberty cap with the words “Union to +the People.” Below are branches with leaves and the legend, +“Civil and Religious Liberty to all Mankind.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>96. Salem Ship-building. Liverpool.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Two prints representing scenes of timber-rolling and ship-building, +intended to commemorate the era of great prosperity in +Salem ship-yards. They are accompanied with these verses:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Our mountains are covered with Imperial Oak</div> + <div class='line in2'>Whose Roots like our Liberties Ages have Nourish’d;</div> + <div class='line'>But long e’er our Nation submits to the Yoke</div> + <div class='line in2'>Not a Tree shall be left on the Field where it flourish’d.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Should invasion impend, Every Tree would Descend</div> + <div class='line in2'>From the Hilltops they shaded Our Shores to defend;</div> + <div class='line'>For ne’er shall the Sons of Columbia be slaves</div> + <div class='line in2'>While the Earth bears a Plant, or the Sea rolls its waves.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>The finest specimen of Liverpool ware bearing these prints and +verses is a great punch-bowl, eighteen inches in diameter, in +the rooms of the East India Marine Society in Salem. It also +bears on the inside of the bowl, in large letters, the name of +the Society and other inscriptions, and the date 1800. Pitchers +also are found with these prints, and also with the spread +eagle with the mark “Herculaneum Pottery, Liverpool.” +One may be seen in the rooms of the Bostonian Society in +the old State-House, Boston. These prints are perhaps the +most pretentious of any made for commercial interests in this +country, and are usually very clear and good.</p> + +<p class='c013'>97. Plan of City of Washington. Liverpool.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A Liverpool pitcher with black print of a map between two female +<span class='pageno' id='Page_306'>306</span>figures. Inscription, “Plan of the City of Washington.” +On reverse is Washington design No. 13.</p> + +<p class='c013'>98. Emblem of America. Liverpool.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A Liverpool pitcher with a coarse black print of a female figure +holding the American flag, and facing two clumsily-drawn, +stumpy Indians. In the background a group of oval portraits +labelled Raleigh, Columbus, Franklin, Washington, etc. The +legend “An Emblem of America.” On the reverse a Washington +design.</p> + +<p class='c013'>99. Crooked Town of Boston. Liverpool.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A Liverpool pitcher printed in black, red, or green, with inscription, +“Success to the Crooked but Interesting Town of +Boston.” On the other side a long ballad, varying on different +pitchers.</p> + +<p class='c013'>100. Liberty. Liverpool.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A Liverpool pitcher with black print. Design, a seated figure +of Liberty with the legend, “May Columbia Flourish.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>101. Infant Navy. Naval Pitcher.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This design is found on Liverpool pitchers of at least four sizes. +Under the nose of the pitcher is in large letters the inscription, +“Success to the Infant Navy of the United States.” On +the side of the pitcher sometimes was seen a black transfer +print of a full-rigged ship, sometimes the American flag and +eagle, sometimes a large print of a naval battle with this +printed motto, “L’Insurgente French Frigate of 44 guns and +411 Men striking her Colours to the American Frigate Constitution, +Commodore Truxton, of 40 guns, after an action of an +hour and a half in which the former had 75 Men killed & +wounded & the latter one killed & three wounded, Feb. 20th, +1799.” A very good pitcher with the latter design may be +seen at Washington’s Headquarters, at Morristown. See also +No. 18, and pages <a href='#Page_141'>141</a> <i>et seq.</i></p> + +<p class='c013'><span class='pageno' id='Page_307'>307</span>102. American Flag.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This print is found on pitchers and mugs, sometimes colored +over the print. It is found on pieces with various other Washington +and Sailor prints.</p> + +<p class='c013'>103. For America. Liverpool.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A Liverpool pitcher with the Farmers Arms, described on pages +<a href='#Page_153'>153</a> <i>et seq.</i> Legend, “For America.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>104. Peace and Prosperity to America. No. 1.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Liverpool pitcher printed in red, with scrolls of pink lustre. +The design is a shield supported by two female figures; the +word “New York” on the top of the shield in large letters, +and the names of twelve other States, including Boston, on a +ribbon scroll. Legend, “Peace, Plenty and Independence.” +On the other side a shield supported by an eagle and an +Indian. Legend, “Success to the United States of America, +E Pluribus Unum.” In front of pitcher the motto, “Peace +and Prosperity to America.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>105. Peace and Prosperity to America. No. 2.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A Liverpool pitcher with a wreath of ribbons and stars bearing +names of eleven States, two of them being “Boston” and +“Tenassee.” In centre of wreath the words, “Peace, Plenty, +and Independence.” This wreath forms a medallion or shield +supported by two female figures, each with a cornucopia. +Above the medallion an eagle and flag. On the front of the +pitcher, the motto, “Peace and Prosperity to America.” +This much resembles No. 104.</p> + +<p class='c013'>106. United States Soldier.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Liverpool pitchers and bowls with black or red print of United +States soldier standing with his foot on the head of a British +Lion. Legend, “By Virtue and Valor we have freed our +Country, extended our Commerce, and laid the foundation of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_308'>308</span>a Great Empire.” In the background stand four Continental +soldiers.</p> + +<p class='c013'>107. Liberty. Naval Pitcher.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A black print of ribbon scroll with names of sixteen States, enclosing +verses beginning,</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Oh Liberty! thou goddess</div> + <div class='line in2'>Heavenly bright,</div> + <div class='line'>Profuse of bliss,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And pregnant with delight.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>On the reverse, a print of a ship with American flag.</p> + +<p class='c013'>108. People of America.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A Liverpool pitcher with a print of three men holding hands and +elevating a liberty cap on a pole. Underneath, “People of +America” on a scroll, and the words, “Civil and Religious +Liberty to All Mankind.” On the reverse, Liberty seated, +and a soldier standing with a harp between the two figures. +Beneath, the words “Tun’d to Freedom for our Country.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>109. Historical Pitcher of War of 1812.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Described on page <a href='#Page_299'>299</a> <i>et seq.</i></p> + +<p class='c013'>110. American Heroes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Pitcher printed in copper-lustre. On one side a full-rigged ship +surrounded by a chain of elliptical links containing the names, +Hull, Jones, Lawrence, Macdonough, Porter, Blakey, Beatry, +Stuart, Washington, Perry, Rogers, Bainbridge, Decatur. +Above are two clasped hands holding the chain. On the +other side is the American eagle with “E Pluribus Unum,” +and a similar enclosing chain with clasped hands and the +names Brown, McComb, Ripley, Pike, Porter, Miller, Bainbridge, +Izard, Van Rensallaer, Adair, Lewis, Gaines, Scott, +Jardson. This pitcher is globose in shape, and of fine quality +of ware.</p> + +<p class='c013'><span class='pageno' id='Page_309'>309</span>111. Naval Pitcher. Liverpool.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This print of two men-of-war in a close engagement, appears +with various names. A pitcher is here shown with the words +Macedonian and +the United States.</p> + +<div class='figright id004'> +<img src='images/i_325.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Naval Pitcher.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c013'>112. Perry. Portrait.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A white pottery +plate with a black +print of the portrait +of Commodore +Perry, surrounded +by a +design of flags, +cannon, and a +frigate; above +the name “Perry.” +The edge is +scalloped, with +a black border. +Impressed mark, “Davenport.” This design appears on +pitcher described in No. 115.</p> + +<p class='c013'>113. Perry. Portrait.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A white pottery plate with a black print. In the centre, a full-length +portrait of Commodore Perry surrounded by a design +of flags, powder-kegs, cannon, and a full-rigged frigate. +Above the name “Perry.” The plate has a scalloped edge +with a black border.</p> + +<p class='c013'>114. Perry. Portrait.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A portrait of Commodore Perry with the name O. H. Perry, Esq. +On a ribbon scroll, the legend, “We have met the enemy and +they are ours,” the words of Perry’s famous despatch. Under +<span class='pageno' id='Page_310'>310</span>this, the words, “Hero of the Lake.” See page <a href='#Page_142'>142</a> for description +of Perry at this battle.</p> + +<p class='c013'>115. Jackson. Portrait.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A large globose pitcher with a portrait of Jackson, and the +words “Major General Andrew Jackson.” On the other side +same portrait of Perry as No. 112. This print is also seen +upon plates.</p> + +<p class='c013'>116. Decatur. Portrait.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A portrait of Decatur on a mug. Above, the words “Commodore +Decatur;” below, on a ribbon, the famous war-motto, +“Free Trade Sailors Rights.” The old ballad says,</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Then quickly met our nation’s eyes</div> + <div class='line in2'>The noblest sight in Nature,</div> + <div class='line'>A first-class frigate as a prize</div> + <div class='line in2'>Brought back by brave Decatur.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c013'>117. Lawrence. Portrait. Newcastle.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A portrait of Lawrence in copper-lustre on cream-ware pitcher, +with motto, “Don’t surrender the ship.” His dying words, +“Don’t give up the ship,” have become a national watchword. +On the other side of pitcher, a portrait of Decatur, with his +name.</p> + +<p class='c013'>118. Bainbridge. Portrait.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A mug with a portrait of Bainbridge, with words, “Commodore +Bainbridge,” and his characteristic words, “Avast, boys, she’s +struck!” Commodore Bainbridge commanded the Constitution—Old +Ironsides.</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“On Brazil’s coast She ruled the roost</div> + <div class='line'>When Bainbridge was her Captain.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c013'>119. Hull. Portrait.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A pitcher bearing portrait of Captain Hull, and the words, +“Captain Hull, of the Constitution.” On the other side, a +portrait with the words, “Captain Jones, of the Macedonian.”</p> + +<p class='c013'><span class='pageno' id='Page_311'>311</span>120. Pike. Portrait.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A pitcher with the portrait of General Z. M. Pike; above it the +word “Pike;” below, his noble words, “Be always ready to +die for your country.” On the other side, a portrait and +name, “Captain Jones, of the Macedonian.” A specimen can +be seen in the collection of the Bostonian Society in the old +State-House in Boston.</p> + +<p class='c013'>121. Pike. Portrait.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Same portrait of Pike and same legend as No. 120. On the +other side, portrait of Hull and legend, “Captain Hull, of the +Constitution.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>122. Jones. Portrait.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Plate with a portrait of Captain Jones printed in blue in the +centre, with a ship on the left and flags on the right. Black +shell border. Impressed mark, “Davenport.” This description +was given me by Mr. Prime.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Jones. Portrait.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 120.</p> + +<p class='c013'>123. Preble. Portrait.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A pitcher with a good portrait of Preble, signed “D,” with a +figure of Fame on one side and the American flag on the +other, and the name “Commodore Preble.” On the other +side of the pitcher, a well-drawn oval print of ships attacking +fortifications. Above, the inscription “Commodore Preble’s +Squadron Attacking the City of Tripoli Aug 3. 1804. The +American Squadron under Commodore Preble consisting of +the Constitution 44 guns 2 Brigs & 3 Schooners 2 bombs & 4 +Gunboats Attacking the City and Harbour of Tripoli Aug 3, +1804. the city was defended by Batteries Mounting 115 +Pieces of heavy Cannon & the Harbour was defended by 19 +Gunboats 2 Brigs 2 Schooners 2 Gallies and a Zebeck. the +city Received Great Damage Several of the Tripolitan Vessels +<span class='pageno' id='Page_312'>312</span>were sunk 3 of their Gunboats taken & a Great Number +of Men Killed.” On the front of the pitcher is the American +spread eagle and the words, “Herculaneum Pottery, Liverpool.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>124. Trophy.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Pitchers printed in lustre and purple with a trophy of arms and +the verses,</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“United & Steady in Liberties Cause,</div> + <div class='line'>We’ll ever defend our Countries Laws.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>Under the nose the legend,</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“May the tree of Liberty ever flourish.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c013'>125. Macdonough. Bombardment of Stonington.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A pitcher of cream ware with a black print entitled “The Gallant +Defense of Stonington Aug 9th 1814.” It represents that +famous defence when the inhabitants of the town, with one +gun successfully resisted the attack of the British force of several +vessels, sinking one ship and driving off the others. +Underneath, the legend, “Stonington is free whilst her heroes +have one gun left.” On the other side is the print of a ship +with the words, “United States Frigate Guerriere, Com. +MacDonough bound to Russia July 1818.” Mr. Prime says +that a citizen of Stonington who went to Russia on public service +in the Guerriere ordered these pitchers in Liverpool. He +may have made the drawing of the battle for the engraver.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Macdonough. Victory on Lake Champlain.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dark blue print on Staffordshire ware. See No. 188.</p> + +<p class='c013'>126. Naval Battle.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A globose pitcher printed in vermillion with a design of a naval +battle. Underneath, the words “The Wasp and The Reindeer.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>127. Militia. Liverpool.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A Liverpool pitcher, twelve inches in height, bearing an oval +<span class='pageno' id='Page_313'>313</span>medallion with design of cannon, flags, etc., with a man in full +militia uniform. Above, this legend, “America! whose Militia +is better than Standing Armies.” At base, within the +medallion, “May its Citizens emulate Soldiers, its Soldiers +Heroes.” Below all, the lines:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“While Justice is the throne to which we are bound to bend</div> + <div class='line'>Our Countries Rights and Laws we ever will defend.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>Under the nose of the pitcher is the spread eagle, with this +legend, “Peace Commerce and honest Friendship with All +Nations Entangling Alliances with None; Jefferson.” This +pitcher is printed in black and is painted in colors. It was +made in 1808, in Liverpool, for a Narragansett sea-captain.</p> + +<p class='c011'>DeWitt Clinton. Portrait. Erie Canal.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 166.</p> + +<p class='c011'>DeWitt Clinton. Monogram.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 172.</p> + +<p class='c011'>DeWitt Clinton. Eulogy.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 168.</p> + +<p class='c013'>128. Steamship.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Printed in red on a cream-ware tea-service. On the large +pieces are two views, one a steamship at sea, with land and +a fort in distance. The ship floats American flag, and has +the smoke-stack nearly as tall as the mast. The other view, a +ship flying American flag over the British, approaching a shore +upon which lies an anchor. An American eagle on the shore +holds a laurel branch among the stars. The scroll border is +in purple lustre. This is apparently Newcastle ware. Specimens +can be seen at the rooms of the Essex Institute, in Salem.</p> + +<p class='c013'>129. Liberty Medallion. Head.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Embossed head of Liberty on Castleford teapots. The same +head used on gold coins of United States of 1795.</p> + +<p class='c013'><span class='pageno' id='Page_314'>314</span>130. Liberty Medallion. Figure.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Embossed figure of Liberty seated. Found on Castleford wares.</p> + +<p class='c013'>131. American Eagle. Medallion.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Embossed eagle and shield on Castleford wares. Same as die +on United States gold coin of 1797.</p> + +<p class='c013'>132. Harrison. Pitcher. American Pottery Co.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This pitcher is the most interesting piece of American pottery +bearing an historical design that I have ever seen. The +dealer who offered it to me asserted that only six were ever +manufactured. He also said that he could easily procure +dozens of Washington pitchers that were <i>two hundred years +old</i>, but that I would find it hard to get a <i>colonial</i> pitcher +with a picture of Harrison on it. To this latter assertion I +warmly agreed. It was six-sided, bulging in the middle to a +diameter of about nine inches, about eleven inches in height, +and with a foliated handle and scalloped lip. It was of +coarse-grained brownish pottery, darker in shade than Liverpool +ware. On four of its sides the pitcher bore a view of a +small log-cabin above a good portrait of Harrison, with the +words, “The Ohio Farmer W. H. Harrison.” Below all, a +spread eagle. On the bottom of the pitcher was printed in +black, “Am. Pottery Manf<sup>y</sup> Co., Jersey City.” It is the +only piece of American ware with printed decorations similar +to Liverpool ware that I have ever seen.</p> + +<p class='c013'>133. Columbian Star. Jno. Ridgway.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This plate, which is printed in light blue, is popularly known as +the “Log-cabin” plate. In the centre is a domestic scene +of a log-cabin with open door, and a woman and child are +seated outside watching a man who is ploughing a field in +the foreground. A “lean-to” joins the house, beneath which +stands the cider barrel of “hard cider.” A man in the background +is chopping stumps. A small river bears a canoe +with a single figure. Across the stream is a flagstaff with an +<span class='pageno' id='Page_315'>315</span>American flag. Pine-trees are grouped near the cabin, and +abundant smoke rises from the chimney. The border is +composed of large stars set in a firmament of small ones. +The inscription is, “Columbian Star. Oct. 20, 1840. Jno. +Ridgway.” It will be remembered that William Henry Harrison +was elected President in the fall of 1840. This plate is +owned by Mrs. Nealy, of Washington, D. C.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_316'>316</span> + <h2 class='c005'>XVII.<br> STAFFORDSHIRE WARES</h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c014'>No ceramic specimens are of more interest to the +American china collector than the pieces of +dark blue Staffordshire crockery that were manufactured +in such vast variety of design, and were imported +in such great numbers to America in the early years +of this century. Their beauty of color—the color called +by the Chinese “the light of heaven,” a blue like the +lapis the Bishop wished for his tomb at St. Praxed’s, a +tint unexcelled and hardly equalled in modern wares—makes +them a never-ceasing delight to the eye; and the +historical character of the decoration frequently adds to +their interest and value. Mr. Prime wrote in 1876 of +these pieces of crockery, “they have ceased to be common, +are indeed becoming rare, and collectors will do +well to secure good specimens.” Since that year specimens +have become rarer and more valuable still. The +Staffordshire pieces that date from the year 1830 to +1850, though still printed with American views, are lighter +and duller in tint of blue, and are more frequently +stamped in green, pink, sepia, chocolate, black, or plum +color. The designs, as well as the colors, are weaker, as +if fading gradually and dying into the vast expanse of +dead-white crockery and china which spread its uninteresting +<span class='pageno' id='Page_317'>317</span>level over the tables of country folk for the quarter +of a century that elapsed before the Centennial Exhibition +of 1876, that turning-point in household art +decoration in America.</p> + +<div class='figright id004'> +<img src='images/i_333.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Pickle Leaf.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>The shapes of the pieces of table-ware also became degraded, +and were not so graceful as the Staffordshire tea +and dinner sets of the first quarter of this century. One +specially pretty piece that came with many dark blue +dinner sets of the latter-named +date was the low fruit-dish with +its tray, both with pierced basket-work +borders. The pickle leaves +also were gracefully shaped. The +pitchers, both of the table and toilet +sets, were graceful, and “poured” +well, that most important, and ofttimes +lacking, attribute of pitchers. +Both basins and pitchers of toilet sets were, however, inconveniently +small. There was also not the monotony of +design which we find nowadays on sets of china. I mean +that all the pieces of a set were not stamped with the same +design. I am convinced that the tea-sets, such as the +familiar Tomb of Washington and Tomb of Franklin design, +seldom were furnished with a set of plates bearing +the same decoration, but consisted only of teapot, water-pot, +creamer, slop-bowl, sugar-bowl, and occasionally two +cake-plates. The copper-lustre china tea-sets of the +early part of the century seldom had tea-plates like the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_318'>318</span>rest of the sets.</p> + +<div class='figright id004'> +<span class='pageno' id='Page_319'>319</span> +<img src='images/i_335.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Philadelphia Library Plate.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>It was only the most popular and universally widespread +designs, such as that of the Landing of Lafayette +or the Pilgrim, or the Boston State-House, that were +found on all the pieces of dinner services and sold together. +Sets were formed, usually having the same border, +with different designs on the different-sized plates. +We found in the summer of 1891, under the eaves of an +old farm-house in Worcester County, a painted blue sea-chest +which contained a sight to make a china hunter +both smile and weep. The dust of years covered the +chest, the floor, the ladder-like stairs that led to the +attic. Every step of the staircase had to be cleared for +our climbing entrance of the accumulated and forgotten +autumn stores of what had been ears of seed-corn, but +were now only rat-nibbled cobs, bunches of cobwebbed +herbs, broken chairs, dried and withered gourds and +pumpkins. The house-mistress frankly acknowledged +that she hadn’t “been up garret for years,” she had been +“so poorly and tissicky.” We smiled when we opened +the lid of the chest and saw the familiar and much-loved +color, the color of our guiding star in our search, the +rich, dark blue. But we grieved as we lifted the pieces +out, for fully half of them were broken. There was an +entire dinner service of the “Beauties of America,” set +of J. & W. Ridgway. All had the same medallion +border that is here shown on the Philadelphia Library +plate. As the chief beauties of America in those days +were not fair maids, but almshouses, all the larger dishes +and tureens bore monotonously ugly views of square and +many-windowed almshouses. The views on the gravy +tureens, with their little accompanying platters, were all +of the Exchange at Charleston; the large platters were +of the Capitol at Washington; the smaller, of the Boston +Hospital. +The twelve dinner plates +bore a +view of New York +City Hall; the +breakfast-plates +were of the Philadelphia +Library; +the soup-plates all +bore the view of +the Boston Octagon +Church; little +plates six inches +and a half in diameter +had a view +of the Boston Insane Hospital; the pickle leaves and +handleless bowls of the ladles were still different, bearing +a small, unnamed house with the same border. Tumbled +in a crushed heap in the corner of the chest was the saddest +sight of all, a superb old Worcester cream-pitcher, +four pieces of Plymouth porcelain, an India china tea-set, +three Pilgrim plates, all broken, surmounted by two +heavy tankards which the owner thought were pewter, +but which were solid silver. They are all there still, huddled +in sad fragments in the old blue chest; and the Staffordshire +dinner set also, for the owner, though ignorant +of the value of the crockery and china, of their number +even, and their condition, still “couldn’t spare them” +<span class='pageno' id='Page_320'>320</span>when we asked to buy the whole pieces and thus rescue +them from the sad fate of their brothers. The wife was +deaf and poor and sick, and the husband looked sicker +and poorer still, but both were stubborn, good-temperedly +stubborn, in their assertion that they “couldn’t spare +them.” We sat down in the dust of the floor and +begged; we raised our offer to city prices; we offered to +send another dinner set of French china to replace the +Staffordshire one, but all in vain; we drove away and returned +again to use fresh entreaties; the owner did not +care for the “old crockery;” scorned the assertion that +the tankards were silver, and threw them carelessly back +into the chest; had no association with the pieces, no +sentiment against selling them; but he “couldn’t spare +them.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>It is difficult to find a full dinner set of the old Staffordshire +dark blue ware. The scattering of families and +consequent division of property, the destruction through +every-day careless use, have seldom left so full a set as +the one just described. The Ridgways issued another set +of views of the various colleges and buildings of English +universities. The stamp on the back was in blue, +a pointed oval, about three inches long, with words, +“Opaque China, J. & W. Ridgway;” in the centre of +the mark was the individual name of the building in +the design.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A great number of these pieces appeared in the antique shops +in the winter of 1890, through the sale of the +dining-room furnishings of an old hotel in Baltimore, +which must have consisted largely of this set of college +<span class='pageno' id='Page_321'>321</span>views. The owners sold all the old blue and white +table crockery, the old substantial and beautiful Sheffield +plated trays and tea-sets, and bought nice new American +“hotel ware” and shining electro-plated silver.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The name Cambridge on many of these University +plates enabled some unscrupulous or ignorant dealers to +palm off the college views of that University to a few +thoughtless buyers, at high prices, as views of Harvard +College, in Cambridge, Mass. Views of private residences +in London are frequently found in America with +the same border as the University pieces, a wreath of +convolvulus broken by pretty cameo-like medallions of +boys playing with goats.</p> + +<p class='c011'>All these English views are exceedingly useful for wall +decorations, especially for high shelves, or as a background +for lighter-colored bits of china, where it is not necessary +that the design of the decoration should be carefully distinguished; +and their vast variety makes them a constantly +interesting subject for investigation and purchase. +I have seen one collection of over two hundred Staffordshire +plates bearing each a different English view, and I +have seen many scores—perhaps hundreds—still different.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Some of the richest pieces of color are the dark blue +plates printed with the “Wilkie Designs,” such as the +well-known Letter of Introduction, and the much sought +after Valentine design. The Don Quixote series is also +good. Equally glorious and resplendent in color are +pieces bearing the Dr. Syntax designs. I have seen only +plates and tureens with the latter. These Syntax plates +<span class='pageno' id='Page_322'>322</span>have an additional source of interest in the wit of the +humorous scenes that they represent. “Dr. Syntax’s Noble +Hunting Party,” “Dr. Syntax Upsets the Beehive,” +“Dr. Syntax Painting the Portrait of his Landlady,” +“Dr. Syntax Star-Gazing,” “Dr. Syntax Reading his +Tour.” These I have seen, and there are doubtless many +others. They were printed from a set of pictures drawn +by Thomas Rowlandson, one of the most celebrated designers +of his day of humorous and amusing subjects. +They were drawn to illustrate a book published by William +Combe, in 1812, called “Dr. Syntax’s Tour in Search +of the Picturesque.” A second tour, “In Search of Consolation,” +appeared in 1820. This was also illustrated +by Rowlandson. A third tour, “In Search of a Wife,” +was printed the following year. These books had an +immense and deserved popularity. Not only did these +Staffordshire plates appear, but a whole set of Derby +figures were modelled—“Dr. Syntax Walking”—“In a +Greenroom”—“At York”—“Going to Bed”—“Tied +to a Tree”—“Scolding the Landlady”—“Playing the +Violin”—“Attacked by a Bull”—“Mounted on Horseback”—and +were sold in large numbers. The Staffordshire +plates have survived in greater variety in this country. +Doubtless they were imported in larger quantities +than were the Derby figures.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Strangely enough, no Biblical scenes are represented +on these Staffordshire plates, save one with a print of +the Flight into Egypt.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Other interesting forms of ware manufactured in +Staffordshire were the old drinking-mugs known as +<span class='pageno' id='Page_323'>323</span>“Tobys.” They were seated figures of rummy, old, red-nosed +fellows with drinking-mugs in their hands. They +wore usually cocked hats, the hat forming the lip of the +mug. They were gayly dressed in high colors, and were +sometimes twelve and even fourteen inches in height. +A terrible damper has been put, within a few years, on +the joy of collecting these “Tobys,” by the fact of their +reproduction in vast numbers after precisely the old +models, and in precisely the same colors. Of course, the +modern Tobys are very shining and new, and upon examination +are easily distinguished from the old ones; but +when a closet-door in an antique shop suddenly and +most unadvisedly swung open, the sight of a row of +twenty or thirty Tobys, all precisely alike, did not seem +to enhance the value of the asserted-to-be-unique specimen +on the shop shelf, nor make me very warm about +purchasing further specimens, were they old or new.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It is impossible to obtain any information in England +about this dark blue earthenware, or “semi-china,” which +was made for so many years in such vast quantities for +the American market. The Staffordshire pottery works +have all changed owners; the plates from which these +wares were printed have all been lost or destroyed; the +present owners of the works are ignorant of the existence +even of these printed American pieces. There are +almost no specimens to be seen in English collections, not +even of pieces bearing English views; none for sale in +English shops; and even in so exhaustive, extended, and +careful a treatise on the ceramic art of Great Britain as +that of Mr. Jewitt, he does not speak of them, and evidently +<span class='pageno' id='Page_324'>324</span>is ignorant of the wares, the stamps, and marks. +A careful search throughout the Staffordshire region developed +absolutely not one fact about these “American +historical pieces;” and I may add that a collection of +Staffordshire ware bearing both American and English +views is now being gathered in America for presentation +to the Museum at Burslem, and consequent enlightenment +of English collectors and manufacturers. Hence it +is plain that each American collector must be a law to +himself with regard to marks; or rather, American collectors +must unite and form a new table of marks of +“American pieces.” I will specify a few that I find on +my Staffordshire pieces.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A circular impression about an inch in diameter, with +an inclosed circle having in the centre the word “Warranted,” +and a spread eagle bearing a thunderbolt and +laurel leaf. In the quarter-inch ring inclosing this inner +disk are the words, in capital letters, “T. Mayer. Stone. +Staffordshire.” Accompanying this impressed stamp is +always found (on my pieces) a very spirited rendering +in dark blue of the American eagle, bearing a laurel +branch in his right claw, and a bunch of arrow-like +thunderbolts in his left. He measures two and three-quarters +inches from tip to tip of wings, has an American +shield on his breast, and a ribbon bearing the words +“E Pluribus Unum” in his mouth. The lighter, +clouded background has thirteen white stars. This +mark is the richest in color and best in drawing of any +that I have seen. This T. Mayer was, I judge, the +Thomas Mayer who had the Dale Hall Staffordshire +<span class='pageno' id='Page_325'>325</span>works from 1829, and of whom Shaw speaks as having +made the best specimen of solid earthenware ever produced +at that time—a vast table. This stamp and mark +are given by neither Chaffers nor Jewitt, nor Phillips +and Hooper. The marks E. Mayer, and E. Mayer & +Son, are frequently seen. These firms were in existence +from 1770 to 1830 in Hanley.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A distinct circular impression an inch in diameter; in +the centre appears a spread eagle with shield on his +breast, and below him the words “Semi China;” surrounding +all the words “E. Wood & Sons, Burslem. +Warranted.” In conjunction with this impressed stamp +appears often a dull blue mark, an oblong panel an inch +and a half long and about three-eighths of an inch wide, +inclosing the name of the view on the face of the plate. +On this panel stands an eagle with laurel branch in his +right claw, and in his beak a written scroll attached to +a small United States shield, and bearing the words +“E Pluribus Unum”—the whole on a clouded background. +Many of the pieces bearing both of these +marks are confused in outline, as if the dies or plates +from which they were printed were worn out. And +they also have the poorly drawn, ugly shell border. +This stamp and mark are not given by Chaffers or Jewitt. +The ware also varies greatly, the earlier plates +being of much lighter weight. The impressed circular +mark appears alone on some very richly colored, clearly +printed, and beautifully drawn pieces decorated with +spirited marine views and clear and graceful shell borders. +These were evidently made for the American +<span class='pageno' id='Page_326'>326</span>market, for on all of them appears prominently a full-rigged +ship bearing the American flag; yet they cannot +be classed as “American views.” The names given +to some of these views are “A Ship of the Line on +the Downs,” “In a Full Breeze,” “Christianeburg,” +“Danish Settlement on the Gold Coast, Africa,” “York +Minster.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The name “Wood,” alone, appears impressed, and +often accompanied by an impressed crescent. The date +of this mark is apparently about 1818, when the firm was +no longer Wood & Caldwell, and Enoch Wood’s sons +had not been taken into partnership. All the pieces +with this stamp are rich in color and clear in outline, as +if the dies or plates were fresh and new.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The mark “E. W. & S.” on lighter-blue pieces I have +also fancied stood for E. Wood & Sons.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A circular stamp, impressed, of a crown, surrounded by +words “A. Stevenson, Warranted Staffordshire.” This +stamp appears with a mark printed in blue of an eagle +holding a tablet, with the name of the view on the face +of the plate; or sometimes with a blue printed mark +of an urn festooned with drapery, on which is printed +the name of the view, which is usually of an English +scene. The Cobridge Works were erected in 1808, were +owned for a few years by Bucknall & Stevenson, and +afterward by A. Stevenson alone. The works were +closed in 1819, hence pieces bearing this mark can have +the date quite definitely assigned. The circular mark is +given by Chaffers as appearing once on a painted faïence +plate. The impressed mark of name Stevenson in capital +<span class='pageno' id='Page_327'>327</span>letters is found on many “American historical pieces,” +usually on plates with a beautiful vine-leaf border and +white impressed edge.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A circular stamp of concentric rings, impressed, about +one inch in diameter. In the centre a crown, and in +surrounding ring the words “Clews Warranted Staffordshire.” +After 1819 the Cobridge works passed into the +hands of Mr. James Clews, who continued them until +1829, when they were again closed and remained so until +1836, when they were opened under another firm name. +Mr. Clews came to America, and an account of his enterprise +here is given on page <a href='#Page_97'>97</a> <i>et seq.</i> This mark is not +given by Chaffers, who calls the firm J. & R. Clews, and +says they made “pale cream-colored ware.” During the +ten years that Mr. Clews owned these Cobridge Works +some of the richest pieces of dark blue color that were +ever made by any potter took the form of pieces bearing +American historical designs, and bear the last-mentioned +stamp.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The mark of an open crown surmounting the words +“Clews Warranted Staffordshire” appears on a set, +“Picturesque Scenery.” Upon the back of each piece +appears also the colored stamp which was placed by the +manufacturers to designate this set, all of which were +printed with American views. It is a little landscape of +pines and a sheet of water with a sloop. This scene is +crossed diagonally with an oblong stamp bearing the +words “Picturesque Views,” and the name of the special +view printed on the face of the piece; for instance, +“Penitentiary in Allegheny nr Pittsburgh Pa.” This set +<span class='pageno' id='Page_328'>328</span>of views of “Picturesque Scenery” was of much later +date than the rich dark blue pieces, being printed in +sepia, green, chocolate, or plum color, thus showing the +degraded taste of the second quarter of the century.</p> + +<p class='c011'>An impressed mark of Rogers appears sometimes in +conjunction with an eagle stamped in blue. Occasionally, +also, the eagle is seen without the Rogers mark. +Sometimes the chemical sign for iron is found with these +marks. The firm of Rogers was in existence in Burslem +until 1849.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A circular impressed mark, one inch in diameter, with +a star in the centre, surrounded by words “Joseph +Stubbs Longport.” This mark is not given by Chaffers, +nor the name of the manufacturer or manufactory. Jewitt, +who gives no marks, says that he was a successful +potter at Dale Hall from 1790 to 1829, preceding T. +Mayer at his pottery, and thus proving that pieces with +the Stubbs mark are the earlier of the two. The circular +mark of “Stubbs & Kent, Longport,” also unknown +in England, appears on many pieces; for instance, the +dark blue basket and rose, and the milkmaid designs so +common on toilet and dinner services. Still another impressed +mark of “Stubbs” alone, in capital letters, appears +on many American historical pieces, particularly +on the ones with what is known as the eagle, rose, and +scroll border.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A large number of pieces were printed, with views of +public buildings in America, by the firm of J. & W. +Ridgway. These pieces bore on the back an oblong +stamp inclosing the name of the building and its location, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_329'>329</span>as, for instance, “City Hall, New York;” above +this the words “Beauties of America,” below, J. & W. +Ridgway. One of the set is shown on page <a href='#Page_319'>319</a>. The +pieces bearing this stamp are only medium blue in tint, +though the color is good and some of the shading is +dark. These pieces are disfigured by the border, which +has the effect of oval medallions inclosing alternately a +single stiff rose and a six-petalled flower—a myrtle +blossom, perhaps. This border is poorly shaded and +far from graceful in designing. I cannot definitely assign +the date of these pieces; the firm succeeded Job +Ridgway & Sons in 1814, and was in existence in 1829. +This mark is not given by Chaffers. Another Ridgway +mark is an oval medallion with the initials J. R. under +a crown, and with the names of the pattern in a scroll. +Still another has the initials J. W. R., another Jno. +Ridgway, and another W. Ridgway.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A large number of very beautiful English views, printed +in dark blue, are found on dinner services of Staffordshire +ware, bearing the mark in blue of a spray of rose-leaves +with a double scroll and name “Riley,” and name also +of the view—for instance, “Goggerdan, Cardiganshire.” +The firm of John & Richard Riley rebuilt in 1814 the +Hill Works, that had formerly been owned by Ralph +Wood, and ran them until 1839. The prints of this +firm are clear and distinct, and really artistic in drawing, +the borders being specially graceful. The only mark +given by Chaffers is “Riley Semi-China” on blue willow-pattern +ware. This I have also found, the words appearing +within a circular belt. The impress Riley also is seen.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_330'>330</span>R. Hall’s wares were imported to America in large +quantities, especially his “Select Views.” I do not +know whether this is R. Hall who ran the “Sytch Pottery” +in Burslem until 1830, or whether he was Ralph +Hall who owned the Swan Banks Works, Tunstall, during +the first quarter of the century. Chaffers does not +mention either Hall, and Jewitt gives no marks. The +stamp most frequently seen is an oval ring in blue; at +the top, “R. Hall’s Select Views;” below, a sprig of +flowers and the words “Stone China.” The ring inclosed +the name of the view, Biddulph Castle, Staffordshire, +and Pains Hill, Surrey, being the most frequent. +I have seen hundreds of Pains Hill plates in New England, +fully half the country houses that I have entered +had a few on cupboard or pantry shelves.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Still another Hall mark is a crown-shaped blue stamp +with “Hall” and the name of the set—for instance, +“Quadrupeds.” Another, a blue stamp in an irregular +shield, at top and bottom “R. Halls Picturesque Scenery,” +in the middle the name—for instance, “Fulham +Church Middlesex.” Another is an irregular shield, with +scrolls with words “Oriental Scenery, I. (or J.) Hall & +Sons;” and also “Italian Scenery, I. Hall & Sons;” +and “Indian Scenery, I. Hall & Sons.” The views, of +course, on these pieces are indicative, respectively, of the +marks on the back.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The views of Oriental scenery were taken from the +illustrations of Buckingham’s Travels in Mesopotamia, +of the date 1828.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A very interesting mark is a wreath of blue flowers +<span class='pageno' id='Page_331'>331</span>inclosing the words “Bristol Flowers,” and accompanied +either by impressed initials in capitals, E. & G. P., or +an impressed cross like the Bristol stamp. This mark +has been seen only on pure white “semi-china,” decorated +in clear blue, with a design of fruit and flowers in +which the passion-flower predominates.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Still another blue mark, on pieces a trifle lighter in +tint, is a fine spread eagle; above, the word “Ironstone;” +below, “Sydenham J. Clementson.” Chaffers +does not mention this name or mark. Jewitt gives no +marks, but says Clementson became proprietor of the +Sydenham works about 1832, and manufactured for the +American market.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The impressed mark of “Adams Warranted Staffordshire” +appears in a circle around an American eagle. +And the initials R. S. W., in a graceful scroll with a +branch of leaves, appear on many beautiful American +views. I have been told that this was the stamp of R. +S. Warburton, but can give no proof nor further information. +It may be the stamp of some member of the +Wood family, so many of whom were potters.</p> + +<p class='c011'>When we examine all these special American marks +on English pottery, it seems odd to read Mr. Jewitt’s +statement, that marks were frequently omitted on the +English china sent to America, “on account of the jealous +dislike of the Americans of that day to anything +emanating from the mother country.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>With the pieces of Staffordshire wares bearing American +designs, and a few pieces which cannot be classed +elsewhere, I conclude my list.</p> + +<p class='c013'><span class='pageno' id='Page_332'>332</span>134. Albany.</p> + +<p class='c011'>View of city of Albany printed in black on plate. Date of view +apparently about 1840.</p> + +<p class='c013'>135. Albany.</p> + +<p class='c011'>View of Albany in bright dark blue. E. Wood & Sons. +Marked on back, “City of Albany State of New York,” and +spread eagle with E Pluribus Unum. In centre the Capitol +Hill with old Capitol. On the river a steamboat and sailing +vessels. Cows grazing in foreground. Shell border.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Albany. Capitol.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 166.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Albany. Theatre.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 170.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Albany. Canal.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 171.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Alleghany.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 241.</p> + +<p class='c013'>136. Anti-Slavery Plate.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This design is printed in a purplish and rather light blue on +various pieces of dinner and tea-services. The plates are +most frequently found. One is here shown. They have +slightly scalloped edges and a scroll border dotted with stars. +Four American eagles and shields are in the border, and four +medallions. The upper one contains the figure of Liberty +standing beside a printing-press, while a negro kneels at her +feet. Around the design are the words, “The Tyrants Foe—The +People’s Friend.” In the lower medallion is the design +of the scales of Justice. In the medallion to the right are +the words, “Of One Blood are All Nations of Men.” In the +medallion to the left, “We hold that all men are created +equal.” In the centre of the plate, against the background +<span class='pageno' id='Page_333'>333</span>of a sun-burst, are these words: “Congress shall make no +law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the +free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or +of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble +and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. +Constitution U. S.” On some of the pieces—pitchers and +teapots, for example—there also is seen this inscription, +“Lovejoy—the First Martyr to American Liberty. Alton, +Nov. 7th, 1837.” It is asserted that the pieces bearing this +design were the gift of the English Anti-Slavery Society to +the American Abolitionists, shortly after the death of Lovejoy; +that they were sold at auction in New York, and the proceeds +devoted to the objects of the Society of Abolitionists. +If this account is true, these plates are certainly among the +most interesting relics of those interesting days.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id006'> +<img src='images/i_349.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Anti-Slavery Plate.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_334'>334</span>Battery. New York.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 217.</p> + +<p class='c013'>137. Baltimore. Battle Monument.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A plate printed in black, dark brown, or green, with border of +flowers. In the centre a view of the city of Baltimore with a +monument in the foreground. Name on the back, “Battle +Monument Baltimore.” This monument, which stands in +Battle Square at the intersection of Calvert and Fayette +Streets, is commemorative of those who fell defending the +city when it was attacked by the British in 1814. It has a +square base twenty feet high, with a pedestal ornamented at +the four corners with sculptured griffins. On each front is an +Egyptian door with bas-reliefs and inscriptions. A column +eighteen feet high rises above the base and is surrounded by +bands inscribed with the names of those who fell in battle. +The column is surmounted by a marble figure typical of the +city of Baltimore.</p> + +<p class='c013'>138. Baltimore. Exchange.</p> + +<p class='c011'>View of Exchange building, in dark blue. This plate is very +rare.</p> + +<p class='c013'>139. Baltimore. Court-House.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A dark blue plate with a rose and fruit border. In the exact +centre of the plate is the Court-House in an open square. +Pedestrians are walking to and fro. The design of this plate +is very stiff and ugly. The mark on the back is a scroll of +blue, with words “Baltimore Court-House;” also a circular +impressed mark, smaller than the Clews mark, with words +“Warranted Staffordshire.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>140. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. Wood.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Plates printed in dark blue with rich shell border, with a train +of little cars like stage-coaches, and the stumpy little locomotive +which it is said was designed by Peter Cooper, and which +<span class='pageno' id='Page_335'>335</span>was originally intended to have sails like a boat to help propel +it along. The corner-stone of this railroad was laid in +Baltimore, July 4, 1828, by Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the +last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence. +This event was considered of so great importance that it was +celebrated by a great trades-procession in Baltimore, during +which the cordwainers made a fine pair of satin shoes which +were at once sent to the idolized Lafayette, and were placed in +the museum at La Grange.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In 1830 the first locomotive was placed on the road. Peter +Cooper thus describes it:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“The engine was a very small and insignificant affair. It was +made at a time when I had become the owner of all the land +now belonging to the Canton Company, the value of which, I +believe, depended almost entirely upon the success of the +Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. When I had completed the +engine I invited the directors to witness an experiment. +Some thirty-six persons entered one of the passenger cars, and +four rode on the locomotive, which carried its own fuel and +water; and made the first passage of thirteen miles over an +average ascending grade of eighteen feet to the mile, in one +hour and twelve minutes. We made the return trip in fifty-seven +minutes.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The locomotive on these blue plates is not like the Tom Thumb +locomotive in an old print which I possess; it is more like +the “Stourbridge Lion,” the first engine made in England +for America, which arrived in New York in 1829. Marks on +plate both E. Wood and Wood.</p> + +<p class='c013'>141. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. Down Hill.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This plate is in dark blue with a shell border. It has a stationary +engine at the top of a hill, with a number of small freight +cars running down a very steep grade, with the cars at a +very singular angle. Both Baltimore & Ohio plates are here +shown.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_336'>336</span>There were several of these down-hill tram-roads built at an +early date in America. One on the western slope of Beacon +Hill, in Boston, was constructed in the year 1807. It was used +for transporting gravel from the top of the hill down to Charles +Street, which was being graded and filled. The descent of +the heavy gravel-loaded train drew up the empty cars—thus +the machinery was worked without horse-power. In 1810 a +similar one was built in Ridley, Pa., for transporting stone. +In 1825 a third road was built, in Nashua, N. H., to carry +down earth from a hill to fill up a factory location on a grade +below. In 1826 a road three miles long at Quincy, Mass., +carried in the same manner granite to the Neponset River. +In 1828 the coal-mines at Mauch Chunk, Pa., had a road nine +miles long to the Lehigh River. The empty cars were drawn +up by mules. In 1828 the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company, +and the Bunker Hill Monument Company, had similar +tram-ways or roads.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id002'> +<img src='images/i_352.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Plates.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>Other views of early railroads and locomotives appear, and are +often sold as of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. They are +probably views of English railways.</p> + +<p class='c013'><span class='pageno' id='Page_337'>337</span>142. Boston. Almshouse. J. & W. Ridgway.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This view is upon the cover of an enormous soup-tureen, described +in No. 178. The set medallion border is shown on +page <a href='#Page_319'>319</a>, and is found on all pieces of this “American +Beauties” set. Stamp on back in oblong disk, “Beauties +of America. J. & W. Ridgway. Almshouse, Boston.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>143. Boston. Common.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Comparatively modern print in black of a view on Boston Common.</p> + +<p class='c013'>144. Boston. Hospital. Stevenson.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dinner set printed in dark blue with view of the Hospital. +Trees in foreground, and a smart chaise with man and woman +driving. Border of vine leaves on dark blue. White impressed +or fluted edge on some specimens. Mark in blue on +back, “Hospital, Boston.” Impressed mark, “Stevenson.” +There is said to be another view of this hospital with a canal +in the foreground.</p> + +<p class='c013'>145. Boston. Insane Hospital. J. & W. Ridgway.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Printed in dark blue on various pieces of a dinner service. +Small building in centre with high fence in foreground. Same +medallion border as shown on page <a href='#Page_319'>319</a>. Stamp on back +in blue, “Beauties of America. Insane Hospital, Boston. J. +& W. Ridgway.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>146. Boston. Octagon Church. J. & W. Ridgway.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A plate printed in dark blue, with view of the church and of +other buildings. In the foreground a curious covered coach +or carriage with two horses, one carrying a postilion. The +same medallion border as shown on page <a href='#Page_319'>319</a>. Stamp on +back, “Beauties of America. Octagon Church, Boston. J. +& W. Ridgway.” This Octagon Church was often known as +the New North Church, and was built in 1815. A description +of it is given in Drake’s “History of Boston,” page 552.</p> + +<div class='figleft id004'> +<span class='pageno' id='Page_338'>338</span> +<img src='images/i_354.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>State-House Plate.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c013'>147. Boston. State-House.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Print in dark blue, on dinner and toilet services, of a view of the +State-House and surrounding buildings, including the John +Hancock house. Trees and the Common in foreground, and +a group of grazing cattle. Three poplar-trees appear at the +right; also a man with a wheelbarrow. The border is a +pretty design of roses and forget-me-nots. The mark on +the back is different +from any stamp I +have seen—simply the +American “spatch-cock” +eagle in blue. +This State-House +plate is popularly +known as “the one +with John Hancock’s +cows.” One is here +shown. The “New +State-House” was +built on a portion of +John Hancock’s field, +where not only his +cows, but those of +many of his fellow-townsmen, +found pasturage. During the memorable visit of +D’Estaing and his officers to Hancock, the latter’s servants +milked all the cows on the Common to obtain milk enough to +supply the visitors. This pasturing of cows on the Common +in front of the State-House continued until the year 1830, +when accidents from bovine assaults upon citizens became so +frequent that the cows were exiled from their old feeding-ground. +The pitchers printed with this view are very handsome, +often having an extended view of Boston in the vicinity +of the State-House encircling the body of the pitcher. I have +<span class='pageno' id='Page_339'>339</span>seen one with the initials R. S. W. on the base, though I have +always attributed this view to Rogers.</p> + +<p class='c013'>148. Boston. State-House.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Print in rather light blue of a view of the State-House. Surrounding +buildings do not show in this design. In the foreground +is a horse and chaise with driver. No maker’s stamp. +Border of roses.</p> + +<p class='c013'>149. Boston. State-House. Jackson.</p> + +<p class='c011'>View of State-House with group of persons in foreground. +Printed in pink. Mark, “Jackson.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>150. Boston. St. Paul’s Church.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Blue and white plate with view of St. Paul’s Church.</p> + +<p class='c013'>151. Boston. Athenæum. J. & W. Ridgway.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This dark blue design is on plates of different sizes, and possibly +on other pieces of dinner services. It has the set medallion +border shown on page <a href='#Page_319'>319</a>. Mark on the back, “Boston +Athenæum. Beauties of America. J. & W. Ridgway.” In +the present Athenæum building may be seen one of these +plates with this note: “This building stood in Pearl St., and +one-half was given by Mr. James Perkins, the other half +bought of Mr. Cochran in 1822, and the whole occupied by +the Athenæum until 1849.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>152. Boston Court-House. J. & W. Ridgway.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This design is on platters, plates, and dishes in dark blue. It +has the set medallion border shown on page <a href='#Page_319'>319</a>, and in the +centre a view of the Court-House. Mark on the back, “Boston +Court-House. Beauties of America. J. & W. Ridgway.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>153. Boston. Lawrence Mansion.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Though all the plates, pitchers, and basins which bear this +beautiful dark blue design are unstamped and unmarked, it +is well known that it is a view of Mr. Lawrence’s handsome +house, which stood on Winter Street, Boston. It is a view of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_340'>340</span>a large three-storied double mansion, surmounted by a steeple +which at first sight seems a part of the house, but which is +intended for the steeple of the Park Street Church in the +background. A garden is on one side of the house. It has a +clear vine-leaf border.</p> + +<p class='c013'>154. Boston. Warehouse. Adams.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This is a rich plate printed in clear dark blue, with a design +showing Boston streets and buildings. A large warehouse +stands at the right, on the left a block of buildings, and in the +background the wharves and harbor with shipping. The +beautiful border is formed on the top and sides by a design +of trees with foliage. On the back is the stamp, in blue, +“Mitchell & Freemans China and Glass Warehouse Chatham +St. Boston Mass.;” also the impressed mark, “Adams.” +No doubt these plates were made at the order of the Boston +firm whose name they bear. I have known of but four +pieces with this design. A plate may be seen at the rooms +of the Bostonian Society, in the old State-House in Boston.</p> + +<p class='c013'>155. Boston. Almshouse.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A view printed in dark blue of the old Almshouse on Leverett +Street. The border is the beautiful design of vine leaves +like that on No. 144, and the plates and platters have a +white edge. Mark on back, “Almshouse Boston.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>156. Boston Mails.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Plate printed in brown or black. The border contains the figures +of four steamships with these names severally printed +under them—Acadia, Columbia, Caledonia, Britannia. In +the centre is a view labelled “Gentlemen’s Cabin.” Mark on +the back, “Boston Mails.” These plates were doubtless +printed to commemorate the opening of the first line of steamships +between Liverpool and Boston. I have seen the date of +the first trip given as July, 1840, when the Britannia arrived +in Boston.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id006'> +<span class='pageno' id='Page_341'>341</span> +<img src='images/i_357.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>John Hancock’s House.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c013'>157. Boston. John Hancock’s House.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This print is seen in red, blue, or green on cups and saucers, or +on slightly scalloped plates. One of the latter is here shown. +This historic house is not now in existence. It was the intention +of Governor Hancock to present the handsome and substantial +mansion, with its elegant furniture, by bequest, to the +Commonwealth of Massachusetts, to be preserved as a memorial +of great historical events, and to be used, if necessary, by +the Governor of the State during his residence in Boston +through his term of office. Hancock died without signing this +bequest, and his heirs then offered it to the Government for a +modest purchase sum. After many years of indecision, half-acceptance, +and final refusal on the part of the State, this fine +old house was in 1863 pulled down. In it Washington, Lafayette, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_342'>342</span>and scores of other distinguished men were visitors. +There D’Estaing made his home in 1778, and with forty of his +officers dined with hospitable welcome every day for many +weeks. It was during this visit that the event occurred of +which Madame Hancock complained—that D’Estaing went to +bed overcome with Hancock’s good wine, and tore her best +satin bedspread in pieces with his spurs, which he had been +too drunk to remove.</p> + +<p class='c013'>158. Brandywine Creek.</p> + +<p class='c011'>View of Gilpin’s Mills on Brandywine Creek. Dark blue. Mark +on back of scroll, eagle and E Pluribus Unum.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Brooklyn. View from.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 208.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Bunker Hill Monument.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 164.</p> + +<p class='c013'>159. Burlington. Richard Jordan’s House. J. S. & +Co.</p> + +<p class='c011'>View of a commonplace frame house and outbuildings, and an +inclosed door-yard, with a broad-brimmed Quaker and a cow +in foreground. Mark, “Richard Jordan’s House. J. S. & +Co.” This house was in Burlington, N. J. The design is +printed in pink or black on tea-services, and appears to have +been a popular one in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Cadmus.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 74.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Cambridge. Harvard College.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 179 <i>et seq.</i></p> + +<p class='c011'>Capitol at Washington.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 259 <i>et seq.</i></p> + +<p class='c013'>160. Catskills. Pine Orchard House.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This is a pretty landscape in dark blue, with hotel in the distance, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_343'>343</span>and a man on horseback in the foreground. Mark on +back, “Pine Orchard House, Catskills.” It is doubtless +made by E. Wood & Sons.</p> + +<p class='c013'>161. Catskills.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Print in rich dark blue of a mountain-scene with cliffs, peaks, +and pines, and a solitary figure. A confused shell border. +Mark on the back, of eagle with E Pluribus Unum, and an oblong +stamp with the words, “In the Catskills;” also a confused +impressed stamp, probably E. Wood & Sons.</p> + +<p class='c013'>162. Centennial.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Various pieces of ornamental and useful nature were made of a +clear white china for the Centennial of 1876. The stamp on +the bottom was, “Manufactured solely for J. H. Shaw & Co., +New York. Trade Mark, Philadelphia, 1876.” Each piece +bore the words, “A Memorial of the Centennial, 1876;” also +in high colors a medallion with portrait of Washington and +two United States flags surmounted by an eagle. These modern +pieces deserve mention among the historical china, since +a single piece is usually desired by collectors. Views also +were made of the different buildings at the Centennial Exhibition +of 1876, on porcelain plates, with ugly purple and brown +border.</p> + +<p class='c013'>163. Charleston. Exchange. J. & W. Ridgway.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This is one of the few Southern views. Dark blue print, with +medallion border shown on page <a href='#Page_319'>319</a>. Stamp on back, “Exchange, +Charleston. J. & W. Ridgway. Beauties of America.” +This historical building was erected in 1767, at a cost of +£60,000. It was used as a “provost” during the occupation +of Charleston by the British during the Revolution. Prisoners +were confined in the cellars. Colonel Isaac Haynes, an +American officer, spent, in 1781, the last few months of his life +in confinement within its walls, and from thence he was taken +to his execution amid the protests of the entire populace. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_344'>344</span>His death so enraged the officers of the American army that +they joined in a memorial to General Greene, proposing +measures of retaliation on captive British soldiers and officers, +thus subjecting themselves to a certainty of like death in case +they were captured by the enemy. After the Revolution the +Exchange was used as a Custom-House and Post-Office, and +is now used in the latter capacity. It is still standing. The +cupola has been removed.</p> + +<p class='c013'>164. Charlestown, Mass.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A view in black of Bunker Hill Monument at Charlestown, Mass.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Chief Justice Marshall. Steamboat.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 185.</p> + +<p class='c011'>City Hall. New York.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 211 <i>et seq.</i></p> + +<p class='c011'>City Hotel. New York.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 218.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Columbus. Landing of.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 186.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Constitution of United States.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 136.</p> + +<p class='c013'>165. Conway. New Hampshire.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A pink or red print. In the centre a view of dwellings, including +a log-cabin with sheds; mountains, highway, pine-trees, +and people. Marked on the back “View near Conway N. +Hampshire.” A plate bearing this design is usually considered +to be worth about a dollar and a half.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Deaf and Dumb Asylum.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 178.</p> + +<p class='c013'>166. Erie Canal. A. Stevenson.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This print is in dark blue on plates. In the centre of the plate +<span class='pageno' id='Page_345'>345</span>is a view of buildings, among them a church with a high fence. +These are said to be intended to represent the Capitol grounds +and surroundings at Albany. The border is of oak leaves +and acorns, broken by five designs, four being the portraits +of Jefferson, Washington, Lafayette, and Governor Clinton, +with their respective legends, “Jefferson,” “President Washington,” +“Welcome Lafayette The Nations Guest,” and +“Governor Clinton.” The fifth design, at the bottom of the +plate, is the picture of an aqueduct with the words, “View of +the Aqueduct Bridge at Rochester.” Mark, impressed, “A. +Stevenson warranted Staffordshire,” in circle, with crown in +centre. Another mark printed in blue is of an urn, wreath, +and the words “Faulkner Ware.” This plate is in the possession +of A. G. Richmond, Esq., of Canajoharie.</p> + +<p class='c013'>167. Erie Canal. Utica.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The plate bearing this design is usually known as the “Utica +Plate.” In the centre is printed these words, “Utica, a village +in the State of New York, thirty years since a wilderness, +now (1824) inferior to none in the western section of the +state in population, wealth, commercial enterprise, active industry, +and civil improvement.” This inscription is inclosed +in a laurel wreath. The border of this plate has two views of +a canal lock and aqueduct, and two of a canal-boat. The +print is also seen on pitchers.</p> + +<p class='c013'>168. Erie Canal.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Same border, with designs of canal-boats and locks as No. +167. In the centre the words, “The Grand Erie Canal, a +splendid monument of the enterprise and resources of the +State of New York. Indebted for its early commencement +and rapid completion to the active energies, pre-eminent talents, +and enlightened policy of DeWitt Clinton, Late Governor +of the State.” I have seen pitchers bearing this design +and the design described in No. 167.</p> + +<p class='c013'><span class='pageno' id='Page_346'>346</span>169. Erie Canal at Buffalo, N. Y.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This print is in black upon a plate marked “R. S.” (Robert +Stevenson.)</p> + +<p class='c011'>Erie Canal.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This entry might properly come under the head of either No. +166 or No. 167, since it describes a pitcher which had both of +those decorations in blue, and also an American eagle with +the words “E Pluribus Unum.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>170. Erie Canal.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Black print upon a pitcher. On the right of the handle is a +large view of an aqueduct, river, hills, and buildings, and the +words, “View of the Aqueduct Bridge at Little Falls.” At +the left of the handle a building, with the words “Albany +Theatre 1824.” Below the spout a front view of the head of +Washington, and words, “President Washington.” This +piece is not marked with maker’s name.</p> + +<p class='c013'>171. Erie Canal. Clews.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Entrance of the Erie Canal into the Hudson at Albany. Marked +“Clews.” It is a pretty view of a canal lock with boats, and +with high-wooded hill in the background. In foreground, +groups of men fishing. This design is seen on dinner and toilet +services. The border is of roses. The color is rich and +dark.</p> + +<p class='c013'>172. Erie Canal.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Oval platter of Oriental china of greenish tint, decorated in gay +colors, with a gold edge, and the monogram D. W. M. C. +(DeWitt and Maria Clinton). In the centre a landscape with +the Erie Canal. This odd and interesting piece sold at the +Governor Lyon sale for $10.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Fairmount Park.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 227 <i>et seq.</i></p> + +<p class='c013'><span class='pageno' id='Page_347'>347</span>173. Fishkill.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This is one of the sets of Clews Picturesque Views. Marks are +described on page <a href='#Page_327'>327</a>. Printed in red, green, black, and +brown. The name on back, “Nr Fishkill Hudson River.” +This is a pretty view of an old Dutch house and kitchen on a +high bank. In the background, poplar-trees and a manor-house. +By the side of the water fishermen are stretching +nets.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Fort Gansevoort, New York.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 215.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Gilpin’s Mills.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 158.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Girard’s Bank.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 231.</p> + +<p class='c013'>174. Harper’s Ferry. W. Ridgway.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Print of landscape view in black or sepia. Mark on back, +“Harper’s Ferry from the Potomac side. W. Ridgway.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>175. Hartford, Conn. State-House.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Print in dark blue of the old State-House, with two stiff poplar-trees +on either side.</p> + +<p class='c013'>176. Hartford, Conn. Mount Video.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Print in dark blue of Mount Video, now known as Wadsworth +Tower.</p> + +<p class='c013'>177. Hartford, Conn. Mount Video. Jackson.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Print in black of view similar to No. 176. Mark, “Jackson +Ware.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>178. Hartford, Conn. Asylum. J. & W. Ridgway.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Print in dark blue on enormous soup-tureen and other pieces of +a dinner service, of a view of the Deaf and Dumb Asylum at +Hartford which was established by Dr. Gallaudet. Same +medallion border as shown on page <a href='#Page_319'>319</a>. Mark on back, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_348'>348</span>“Deaf and Dumb Asylum, Hartford. J. & W. Ridgway. +Beauties of America.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>179. Harvard College. R. S. W.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A very finely printed plate in dark blue of the College buildings. +Only three halls are shown. The trees in foreground are unusually +well drawn. The clear border of oak leaves and +acorns is on a stippled background. Mark on back, in scroll +with rose branch, “Harvard College,” and some specimens +also R. S. W. A plate is here shown.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id002'> +<img src='images/i_364.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Harvard College Plate.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c013'>180. Harvard College. E. Wood & Sons.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Black print with flower border marked “E. Wood & Sons.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>181. Harvard College. E. W. S.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A clear and beautiful print in medium shade of blue on white +ground. The edge has a white beading. The border is a +most artistic design of flowers and fruit, with a pretty spray of +blackberries. In the centre a well-drawn view of four college +buildings. A pond is in the foreground, with tree at right and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_349'>349</span>left. By tradition this platter once formed part of the table-furnishing +of the College dining-hall. Mark on back, “Harvard +College. E. W. S.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>182. Hoboken. New Jersey.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A view of the old Stevens mansion, marked on the back “View +at Hoboken New Jersey.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>183. Hudson, N. Y. Clews.</p> + +<p class='c011'>View of the town of Hudson as it looked in 1823, printed in +black, with rose and vine border. On the back or underside +of this dish are views of Stockport, a few miles above Hudson. +It is said that engravings were sent abroad by Hudson residents, +from which these views were copied.</p> + +<p class='c013'>184. Hudson River. Baker’s Falls.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Black print of view of Baker’s Falls.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Hudson River, near Fishkill.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 173.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Independence of Texas.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 254.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Jordan, House of Richard.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 159.</p> + +<p class='c013'>185. Hudson River. Steamboat. E. Wood & Sons.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This is a view in dark blue of a steamboat on the Hudson River +taking passengers from the shore in a small boat attached to +a rope which is wound around the steamer’s wheel. Accidents +became so frequent from this means of transfer that the +method was quickly abandoned. There are two of these sets +of plates, precisely alike, save that on one on the wheel-house +of the boat is the name “Chief Justice Marshal Troy,” and +on the other the words “Union Line.” On another flag, which +is seen on both plates, are the words “Troy Line.” They +<span class='pageno' id='Page_350'>350</span>are marked “E. Wood & Sons.” I have seen three sizes of +plates bearing these designs. One is here shown.</p> + +<div class='figleft id004'> +<img src='images/i_366.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Steamboat Plate.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c013'>186. Landing of Columbus. +Adams.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A plate stamped in +pink or black with a +pretty design of the +landing of Columbus. +He stands +with his two captains +dressed in +Spanish costume; +Indians peer out +from behind the +trees; the three +Spanish ships lie +anchored off the +shore. A scroll and +flower border inclosing +four medallions of quadrupeds. The stamp is “Adams.” +The name “Columbus” is on an anchor.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Landing of the Fathers.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 240.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Landing of Mayflower.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 240.</p> + +<p class='c013'>187. Lake George.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A beautiful view printed in dark blue on platters and plates, +with shell border. Mark on back “Lake George, State of +N. Y.” This is doubtless by E. Wood & Sons.</p> + +<p class='c013'>188. Lake Champlain. Macdonough’s Victory. Wood.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This is a rather confused view of a naval encounter representing +the battle of Lake Champlain. It has the clear, beautiful +<span class='pageno' id='Page_351'>351</span>shell border, and the color is invariably rich and dark. It appears +on all the pieces of tea and dinner services, and must +have been sent to America in large numbers. On a rock in +the foreground are the words “Commodore MacDonough’s +Victory.” On the +back, the impress +mark “Wood.” A +plate is here shown.</p> + +<div class='figright id004'> +<img src='images/i_367.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>MacDonough’s Victory Plate.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>Lawrence Mansion.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 153.</p> + +<p class='c013'>189. Lexington. +Transylvania University. +E. Wood +& Sons.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A plate with a view +of Transylvania +University in the +centre. On either +side are rows of stiff poplar-trees, and in the foreground a +man and woman walking. The print is in a good shade of +dark blue, and has the poor shell border. It is marked on +the back with an eagle, shield, and “E Pluribus Unum,” +and words “Transylvania University Lexington.” Also the +impressed mark of E. Wood & Sons. I have rarely seen this +plate—one lot of three only, and all three were rather indistinctly +and poorly printed; still they may be plentiful in the +South or in the neighborhood of the University.</p> + +<p class='c013'>190. Lexington. Transylvania University.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Transylvania University. A print in black or light blue of a +smaller representation of the University and grounds. Apparently +quite modern.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Little Falls. Erie Canal.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 170.</p> + +<p class='c013'><span class='pageno' id='Page_352'>352</span>191. Louisville. Marine Hospital.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A rich dark blue plate with shell border. Stamp on back, +“Marine Hospital, Louisville, Kentucky.” This is doubtless +by E. Wood & Sons.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Macdonough Victory.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 188.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Marine Hospital. Louisville.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 191.</p> + +<p class='c013'>192. Maryland. Arms of State. T. Mayer.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A large oval soup-tureen and plates, printed in dark blue, with a +handsome and spirited version of the arms of the State of +Maryland. The stamp of T. Mayer and the blue mark of an +eagle that appear on these pieces are fully described on page +<a href='#Page_324'>324</a>. The border is a beautiful design of trumpet flowers and +roses, while the extreme edge of the plates is ornamented with +a conventionalized laurel wreath broken at intervals of about +six inches with a star.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Mayflower. Landing of The.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 240.</p> + +<p class='c013'>193. Mendenhall Ferry. Stubbs.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A print in clear dark blue of a landscape with cattle in the foreground +and a comfortable house, a story and a half high, a +Lombardy poplar and an elm-tree, and a narrow river. In +the background, on the opposite side of the river, hills with +several dwelling-houses. The main point is the ferry—a +cable stretching across the river, and by which boats were +taken from side to side. The ferry-boat is shown. The border +is a scroll, with eagles with half-spread wings and flowers, +such as is shown on page <a href='#Page_354'>354</a>. Though these pieces have +no maker’s stamp, the impressed mark on pieces bearing the +same border is “Stubbs.” The only mark on this piece is +the name Mendenhall Ferry in an oval medallion. Mendenhall +<span class='pageno' id='Page_353'>353</span>is an old Pennsylvania name, but I do not know where the +ferry was located. Joseph Mendenhall owned a farm of a +thousand acres on the Brandywine, below Shadd’s Ford, in +Chester County, and it is very probable that the ferry was +there.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Merchants’ Exchange. New York.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 204.</p> + +<p class='c013'>194. Millennium.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A plate printed in blue, plum, green, black, and pink. In the +centre a design of a lion led by a child, while lions and lambs +lie peacefully at their feet. Above, the words, “Peace on +Earth,” surmounted by a dove with olive branch. Below, the +words, “Give us this day our daily Bread.” The border is a +design of wheat sheaves and fruit, broken at the top of the +plate by an eye and a Bible open at Isaiah. Mark on back, +“Millennium.” One is shown on page <a href='#Page_24'>24</a>.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Mitchell & Freeman’s Warehouse.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 154.</p> + +<p class='c013'>195. Mount Vernon.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This view of Mount Vernon is in black on a cup and saucer of +white china. It is the front view of the house, and in the foreground +a negro is leading a prancing white horse. At the top +is this inscription, “Mount Vernon, Seat of the late Gen’l +Washington.” Inside the cup is a dotted border. It has no +stamp or mark of maker. I have also seen this print upon a +cup and saucer of cream-colored Liverpool ware.</p> + +<p class='c013'>196. Mount Vernon.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Landscape in dark blue. Marked “Mount Vernon nr Washington. +J. & W. Ridgway.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>197. Mount Vernon.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dark blue plate with Mount Vernon in foreground and city of +Washington in background. Mark, “View of Washington +<span class='pageno' id='Page_354'>354</span>from Mt. Vernon.” Geographical and topographical laws +were naught to English potters.</p> + +<p class='c013'>198. Mount Vernon.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Stamped in pink. In the centre a group of visitors at a monument; +the border a good floral design. On the back of plate +the mark, “Virginia.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Mount Video.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 176 <i>et seq.</i></p> + +<p class='c013'>199. Nahant. No. 1. Stubbs.</p> + +<div class='figleft id004'> +<img src='images/i_370.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Nahant Plate.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>This plate is ten inches in diameter, of a rich dark blue color, +and is very handsome—as are all the plates with its border, a +scroll containing alternate +eagles and +roses. In the centre +is a view of the Nahant +Hotel, with the +ocean and rocks in +the foreground. On +one rock are a dog, +and a man firing a +gun; on a second, two +women fishing; on a +third, a man and woman +walking. On the +right of the foreground +is an old-fashioned +curricle with two +horses harnessed tandem. +On the back +of the plate is an oval blue stamp with the words, “Nahant +Hotel near Boston.” One of these plates is here +shown. This hotel was built of stone in the year 1818, by the +Hon. Edward H. Robbins, at a cost of sixty thousand dollars. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_355'>355</span>It was enlarged by a wooden addition until it contained three +hundred rooms. It was burnt on September 12, 1861, and has +never been rebuilt. The view on the plate shows only the old +stone part of the hotel. It has been suggested that these +plates were decorated for and used in the hotel. There is no +evidence to prove this, nor is it probable. I have never seen +any pieces save plates with this design.</p> + +<p class='c013'>200. Nahant. No. 2. R. S. W.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Same view of the hotel at Nahant, with a large tree in the foreground +at the left, and no curricle. The border is the oak +leaf and acorn design, shown on page <a href='#Page_361'>361</a>; the stamp on the +back, “Nahant Hotel nr Boston R. S. W.” The plates bearing +this design are about an inch less in diameter than the +ones described in No. 199.</p> + +<p class='c013'>201. Natural Bridge. Virginia.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A poor and small view of the Natural Bridge, printed in light blue +or pink in the centre of a white plate. Sometimes the +plate has a weakly drawn flower border.</p> + +<p class='c013'>202. Newburgh, on the Hudson River. W. R.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This is a black print on a white china plate twelve inches in +diameter. On the back an impressed shield and eagle, and +an oblong stamp surmounted by an eagle and having a pendent +festoon of flowers. The name “View from Ruggles House in +Newburgh Hudson River,” and the initials W. R., are on the +stamp. There is no border. In the centre of the plate is a +pretty view of the Hudson River with the familiar mountains +in the background. The water is dotted with sloops and little +boats, and a large tree is at the left of the foreground.</p> + +<p class='c013'>203. Newburgh, on the Hudson River.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Black print on dinner set of a view of Washington’s Headquarters +at Newburgh. Confused rose border.</p> + +<p class='c013'><span class='pageno' id='Page_356'>356</span>204. New York Fire, or Ruins of Merchants’ Exchange.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This plate is ten inches in diameter, in a brown or dull blue +print. A view of the ruins of the Merchants’ Exchange, with +the front still standing, is in the centre of the plate. A safe +and books and papers, and a group of persons, are in the foreground, +also a squad of four soldiers with an officer. Sentries +patrol in front of the Exchange; groups of lookers-on are on +either side; and flames and smoke in the background. The +border is divided by eight scrolls bearing alternately the +words “Great Fire” and “City of New York.” The spaces +contain alternate subjects; one a group of old fire-implements, +a fire-engine, fireman’s hat and trumpet, and underneath +the date, 1833; the other space contains a phœnix with +flames behind, against a background of old city buildings, and +underneath the date, December 16th. On the back of the +plate, the same phœnix over the stamp “Ruins Merchants +Exchange,” and in fine letters the mark “Stone-Ware.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>This plate was printed to commemorate the terrible fire which +devastated the business portion of New York in 1833, burning +over thirteen acres in extent and causing a loss of seventeen +million dollars. The fire extended from Coffee House Slip +along South Street to Coenties Slip, thence to Broad Street, +along William Street to Wall Street, burning down the south +side to the East River, with the exception of the buildings +from Number 51 to 61. The Merchants’ Exchange was one of +the last buildings to yield to the flames.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This beautiful marble building had a front of one hundred and +fifteen feet on Wall Street, was three stories high above the +basement, and was considered at the time the handsomest +building in the United States except the New York City +Hall. The Post-Office had been established in its basement +in 1827. The letters and mails were removed to a place of +safety, but the noble marble statue of Alexander Hamilton, +which stood in the Rotunda, was crushed by the falling sidewalls. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_357'>357</span>The Seventh Regiment (then called the National +Guard) kept guard over the ruins, and the funny fur-capped +sentries shown on the plate are doubtless of this regiment. A +fine view of the front and rear of the ruins of the Merchants’ +Exchange is shown in William L. Stone’s “History of New +York;” but the old stone-ware plates form an equally faithful, +and much more curious and interesting, memorial of the +great conflagration.</p> + +<p class='c013'>205. New York. Arms of State. T. Mayer.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The arms of New York with seated figures, instead of standing +figures as in the present coat of arms; also the motto “Excelsior” +and name New York. On the back is printed in blue +the American eagle, with motto “E Pluribus Unum,” also the +impressed mark of “T. Mayer, Stone, Staffordshire.” Both +marks are described on page <a href='#Page_324'>324</a>. There were doubtless dinner services +with the arms of all the existing States of the +Union, but I have seen only the plates and platters with arms +of New York, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina, +and the soup-tureen with the arms of the State of Maryland.</p> + +<p class='c013'>206. New York. Arms of State.</p> + +<p class='c011'>I have seen in many collections, the Trumbull-Prime Collection +being one of the number, pieces of Lowestoft china bearing a +poor and crude rendering of the Arms of State of New York. +These must have been decorated in China in large numbers, +to be so widespread and numerous.</p> + +<p class='c013'>207. New York Bay. Clews.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This view of the Bay is taken from Castle Garden. In the centre +is the fort on Governor’s Island. A side-wheel steamer and +frigate are among the shipping. The stamp on back is “View +of New York Bay.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>208. New York. Stevenson.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A dark blue print of a view of New York from Brooklyn +<span class='pageno' id='Page_358'>358</span>Heights. In the foreground is a pretty old Dutch homestead +view, low sheds, a well, and a man on horseback. On the river +is some shipping and a small steamboat. In the background +the lower portion of New York, showing Trinity Church spire. +The border is a rose pattern. On the back is the mark +“View of New York from Brooklyn Heights by (or for), Wm. +C. Wall Esq.” Also the impressed mark of “Stevenson +Warranted.” A plate with this print is in the rooms of the +Long Island Historical Society, in Brooklyn.</p> + +<p class='c013'>209. New York. Jackson.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A view of Castle Garden, with a tree to the right, printed in +brown. Marked “Jackson’s Ware.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>210. New York. Scudder’s Museum. Richard Stevenson +(?).</p> + +<p class='c011'>A dark blue plate with a design in the centre of the plate of a +house with the sign “American Museum,” and a garden in +front. The border is a pretty design of oak leaves. On the +back, in a scroll, the mark “Scudder’s American Museum +R. S.” This museum stood in a garden on the corner of +Broadway, where now is the great <cite>New York Herald</cite> building. +It was a famous place of amusement in its day, and afterward +passed into the possession of P. T. Barnum; there he laid the +foundation of his fame and fortune.</p> + +<p class='c013'>211. New York. City Hall. Jackson.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This is a black or brown print with a flower border. In the centre +is the City Hall with flag flying from the staff on the roof; +in the foreground a horse and wagon, men and boys. Stamped +on the back “City Hall New York;” and “Jackson Warranted.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>212. New York. City Hall. J. & W. Ridgway.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A plate printed in dark blue with a view of the New York City +Hall. In the foreground are large trees and a wondrouslyattired +<span class='pageno' id='Page_359'>359</span>man, woman, and child standing facing the building, to +which the man points with his cane. The border is the ugly +set medallion border of flowers shown on page <a href='#Page_319'>319</a>. Mark in +blue on the back, “City Hall New York. Beauties of America. +J. & W. Ridgway.” The corner-stone of this building +was laid in 1803, and the edifice was completed in 1812. It +stood with the bridewell on the west, the almshouse behind it, +and the jail on the other side. It cost half a million dollars—a +most reasonable expenditure when compared with the twelve +million dollars for its neighbor the Court-House—and was at +that time the handsomest structure in the United States. The +“three fronts,” as they were called, are of Stockbridge marble. +It is still standing, a good example of pure design and +style. A very simple way of dating the various City Hall +prints is found in the presence in the design of the clock in +the cupola; this was placed in its position in 1830. Some +prints show the dial very distinctly.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id002'> +<img src='images/i_375.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>City Hall Pitcher.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c013'>213. New York. City Hall. Stubbs.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Same view of City Hall as No. 212, but the park in the foreground +<span class='pageno' id='Page_360'>360</span>is intersected with paths and the trees are different. +The border is of scrolls, roses, and eagles, shown on page <a href='#Page_354'>354</a>. +Color, dark blue. Mark on back, “City Hall New York.” +This view is taken, I think, from a drawing by W. G. Wall, +which was published December 20, 1826.</p> + +<p class='c013'>214. New York. City Hall.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Same view of City Hall as No. 213, with no trees in the foreground. +Oak leaf border with outer edge of white. Color +dark blue. Probably by Stevenson. A pitcher bearing this +view is here shown.</p> + +<p class='c013'>215. New York. Fort Gansevoort.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Printed in dark blue on various pieces of a dinner service. A +view of the fort with water and sloop in foreground. A confused +leaf border. The pieces I have seen bore no maker’s +mark.</p> + +<p class='c013'>216. New York. Almshouse. J. &</p> + +<p class='c011'>A view printed in dark blue of the ugly Almshouse on Blackwell’s +Island. One of the Beauties of America set, with same +marks and border as shown on page <a href='#Page_319'>319</a>.</p> + +<p class='c013'>217. New York. Battery.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A view of the Battery in common black print.</p> + +<p class='c013'>218. New York. City Hotel. R. S. W.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A plate printed in dark blue, with a view looking down Broadway, +and including Trinity Church. In the foreground, in the +middle of Broadway, in front of a hotel, a man is sawing wood +on an old-fashioned saw-buck. The clear oak leaf and acorn +border, and scroll mark on back, with R. S. W., as in No. 219.</p> + +<p class='c013'>219. New York. Park Theatre. R. S. W.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id006'> +<span class='pageno' id='Page_361'>361</span> +<img src='images/i_377.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Park Theatre Plate.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>A view of the Park Theatre, including the lower end of City Hall +Park with its ancient brick posts, where now stands the Post-office. +In the distance the spire of the Old Brick Church, +where Dr. Spring preached. A clear oak leaf and acorn +border, and scroll and leaf mark, with initials R. S. W. A +plate is here shown. The first Park Theatre was built in +1797. It stood in Park Row, about two hundred feet from +Ann Street. It was opened on January 29, 1798, the first play +being “As You Like It;” $1,232 were taken in at the first +performance. In May, 1820, it was burned to the ground. In +1821 it was rebuilt, and opened with “Wives as they Were +and Maids as they Are.” It was burnt on December 16, 1848. +An original water-color drawing of the interior is in the rooms +of the New York Historical Society, with a key to the members +of the audience, for the figures are portraits. Many of +the men are sitting with their hats on. In this theatre +appeared Thomas A. Cooper, Charles Mathews, the Keans, +Charles and Fanny Kemble, Malibran, Celeste, Fanny Ellsler, +Madame Vestris, Clara Fisher, Julia Wheatley, Master +<span class='pageno' id='Page_362'>362</span>Burke, the Ravels, Mr. and Mrs. Wood, Charlotte Watson, +Charlotte Cushman, Ellen Tree, Taglioni—what prettier +memento of the old New York stage can there be than the old +Park Theatre plate?</p> + +<p class='c013'>220. Niagara.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A view of Niagara Falls in a pink print on small plate.</p> + +<p class='c013'>221. Niagara.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Print in medium shade of blue. A large house and trees in +foreground and diminutive semi-circular waterfall in background. +On back the stamp “Niagara.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>222. Niagara. Table Rock.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This beautiful dark blue plate has the rich shell border of Wood, +though it does not bear his impressed mark, and has only the +stamp with eagle and motto “E Pluribus Unum” and words +“Table Rock Niagara.” The view is taken from the foot of +Table Rock looking upward, and is very artistic. Entire dinner +services bearing this design were exported to America.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Park Theatre. New York.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 219.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Passaic Falls. Trenton.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 256.</p> + +<p class='c013'>223. Peace and Plenty. Clews.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A medium blue plate decorated with border of fruit and flowers. +In centre, a Roman husbandman crowned with grain and +surrounded by sheaves of wheat; in his right hand a sickle, +and in his left a basket of fruit; by his side a shield with the +American eagle and the motto “Peace and Plenty.” Made +by Clews. Two plates bearing this design sold at the Governor +Lyon sale for three dollars each.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Penn, Wm. Treaty with Indians.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 267.</p> + +<p class='c013'><span class='pageno' id='Page_363'>363</span>224. Pennsylvania. Arms of. T. Mayer.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A very spirited and beautiful rendering of the arms of this State, +printed in dark blue on platters and plates, with border and +marks like No. 190. Marks fully described on page.</p> + +<p class='c013'>225. Pennsylvania Hospital. J. & W. Ridgway.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In dark blue, marked “J. & W. Ridgway. Beauties of America.” +Border shown on page <a href='#Page_319'>319</a>.</p> + +<p class='c013'>226. Philadelphia. View.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This print is in dark blue upon a plate six inches in diameter. +The border is a confused scroll with roses. The spires of two +churches are seen, and in the foreground is a wharf with a +derrick, and a sloop alongside. Some of the plates have upon +the back the stamp “View of the city of Philadelphia.” Also +the impressed stamp of a star like the Worcester mark.</p> + +<p class='c013'>227. Philadelphia. Fairmount Park. Stubbs.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A view of Fairmount, with a large tree in the foreground, and a +man and woman in the dress of the early part of the century. +On the opposite and further shore of the lake are two of the +handsome dwelling-houses which stood there at that time. +The border is the handsome design of scroll, roses, and eagles. +The medallion stamp on back “Fairmount near Philadelphia.” +Impressed mark, Stubbs. A plate with this design is +here shown.</p> + +<p class='c013'>228. Philadelphia. Upper Bridge. Stubbs.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This is one of the four Fairmount Park views. It bears on the +back the impress and the oval blue stamp “Upper Bridge +over River Schuylkill.” The border is the same as shown on +page <a href='#Page_364'>364</a>. On the left of the foreground of the view is a +large tree, and under it is a group of persons, one of whom is +sketching. At the left is an old covered Pennsylvania wagon +with six horses. The view of the ferry bridge is clear and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_364'>364</span>good, and the color is a good blue, though not rich and dark. +Impressed stamp on some specimens, Stubbs.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id006'> +<img src='images/i_380.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Fairmount Park Plate.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c013'>229. Philadelphia. Library. J. & W. Ridgway.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Plate printed in dark blue with set medallion border. In the +centre a view of the Library at Philadelphia. Mark on the +back, “Philadelphia Library. Beauties of America. J. & +W. Ridgway.” One of these plates is shown on page <a href='#Page_319'>319</a>.</p> + +<p class='c013'>230. Philadelphia. Stoughton Church. J. & W. Ridgway.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Plate printed in dark blue with set medallion border shown on +page <a href='#Page_319'>319</a>. In the centre a view of the old church which stood +on Filbert Street above Eighth. The church looks like an +old Grecian building. Mark on the back, “Stoughton Church. +J. & W. Ridgway, Beauties of America.”</p> + +<p class='c013'><span class='pageno' id='Page_365'>365</span>231. Philadelphia. Girard’s Bank. Jackson.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A view, printed in pink or black, of Girard’s Bank. Mark on +back, “Jacksons Warranted.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>232. Philadelphia. United States Hotel.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A view of the hotel in rich dark blue, with a border composed +chiefly of the foliage of two trees standing at the right and +left and meeting overhead.</p> + +<p class='c013'>233. Philadelphia. Woodlands. Stubbs.</p> + +<p class='c011'>View of a low building like a lodge and landscape in dark blue. +Scroll, eagle, and rose border shown on page <a href='#Page_364'>364</a>. Stamp +on back, “Woodlands near Philadelphia.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>234. Philadelphia. Washington Church.</p> + +<p class='c013'>235. Philadelphia. Race Street Bridge. Jackson.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Print in black, brown, or pink, marked on back with name of +view and “Jacksons Warranted.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>236. Philadelphia. Race Street Bridge. Stubbs.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Eagle, rose, and scroll border like No. 225. Impressed mark, +“Stubbs.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>237. Philadelphia. Waterworks. R. S. W.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Low building with dome in centre of the plate, fountain at +right, and trees, fence, and an old-time covered emigrant +wagon in foreground. Distinct oak leaf and acorn border, +like No. 180. Clear dark blue in color. Mark on back in +scroll with leaves, “Philadelphia Waterworks. R. S. W.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>238. Philadelphia. Waterworks. Jackson.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Same view as No. 237, but smaller, and printed in black. +Mark on back, “Jacksons Warranted.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>239. Philadelphia. Bank of the United States. Stubbs.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A plate in dark blue with street and buildings in the centre. +Eagle, rose, and scroll border shown on page <a href='#Page_364'>364</a>. This is +<span class='pageno' id='Page_366'>366</span>the bank which was in 1833 forced into bankruptcy by President +Andrew Jackson.</p> + +<p class='c013'>240. Pilgrims. Enoch Wood & Sons.</p> + +<div class='figleft id004'> +<img src='images/i_382.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Pilgrim Plate.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>This Plymouth Rock decoration is found on plates and pitchers, +and the pieces are perhaps more highly prized than any other +historical Staffordshire wares, especially by all descendants +from and lovers of the Pilgrims. The print is clear and good, +though the blue color is not very dark. In the centre of the +plate is a print representing +a “rock-bound +coast” with +the Mayflower and a +small boat overfilled +with Pilgrim Fathers +landing on Plymouth +Rock, upon which are +inscribed the names +Carver, Bradford, +Winslow, Brewster, +Standish. Two +Indians are also +perched on the rock. +Above this print is +the small-lettered inscription “The Landing of the Fathers at +Plymouth, Dec. 22, 1620.” The border consists of a handsome +design of eagles and scrolls, broken by four medallions +or shields. The upper one contains the words “America +Independent, July 4, 1776;” the lower the words, +“Washington born 1732, died 1799;” on the right a little +view of two full-rigged ships with names Enterprise and +Boxer (?); on the left a part of the print on No. 128—a +steamer, rock, and eagle. On the back is the blue stamp +“Enoch Wood & Sons Burslem.” One of these plates is here +shown. In spite of the presence of the steamship, the name +<span class='pageno' id='Page_367'>367</span>of Washington, and the date 1799, I have been gravely informed +by country owners that these plates were two hundred +years old, and once even that they “came over in the Mayflower.” +We have often been told that the plates were “made +for the dinner at the laying of the corner-stone of Bunker Hill +Monument, in 1824, when Daniel Webster spoke.” This account +was obviously improbable, since nothing in the design +on the plate bore reference to that occasion, and the +probability seemed equally clear that the celebration was instead +the bicentennial celebration of the Landing of the Pilgrims, +which was held in Plymouth in 1820, and at which +Webster, clad in silk gown and satin small-clothes, made the +address which laid the foundation of his reputation as an orator. +I was glad to receive confirmation of my belief from Mr. +T. B. Drew, Librarian of Plymouth Hall, at Plymouth. He +says, “The Pilgrim plates you refer to were made in England +by order of John Blaney Bates, a well-known contractor +and builder of his day, who in 1820 was building the Plymouth +County Court-House. He had it so nearly completed that the +dinner of the celebration was provided in that building. It +was, as you say, the bicentennial of the Landing of the Pilgrims, +but often termed by us the Webster celebration, on +account of Daniel Webster being the orator of the day. +There were two sizes of pitchers and two of plates, and one of +the plates has on the rock the names as you describe. After +the dinner the wares were sold either at auction or private +sale, and the different pieces became distributed quite widely +through New England. I know of no publication that gives +any account of what I have been telling you, but the facts +were well known and have been told by aged people who remember +the circumstances.” To this information I can add +in one respect. There are six sizes of plates, one being deep +like a soup-plate. An old lady still living in Plymouth, asserts +that while the plates were furnished by Mr. Bates, her +husband, seeing their popularity and ready sale, ordered the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_368'>368</span>pitchers, as she remembers, from Holland. As the print on +the pitchers varies from that on the plates, being encircled +also by a narrow ribbon scroll with the words “The Landing +of the Fathers,” and as the former do not bear the stamp of +Enoch Wood of Burslem, this reminiscence is probably correct, +except possibly the point that the pitchers came from +Holland. These plates are usually found one in a family, but +from one household, near Worcester, Mass., were purchased +by a china hunter eight tea-plates, and from another family +two soup-plates, four tea-plates, seven saucers, and ten “cup-plates.” +By cup-plates I mean the little flat saucers in which +our grandmothers set their teacups when they poured the tea +in the deep saucers to cool.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Pine Orchard House.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 160.</p> + +<p class='c013'>241. Pittsburg Penitentiary.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This is upon large and small platters and plates in purplish pink, +blue, brown, and black prints. The ware is stone-ware +of good quality. The border is a pretty scroll-work design +with roses and other flowers and eagles. The edges are +slightly scalloped. This Pittsburg plate has a clear unperspectived +drawing of the Penitentiary, with high hills at +the background. Stiff little houses and trees are scattered +around. In the foreground a man in knee-breeches is holding +a horse which is harnessed to a chaise. The building in this +print is the Western Penitentiary of Pennsylvania, at Alleghany +City. It is an enormous stone building of ancient +Norman style of architecture, that was built in 1827.</p> + +<p class='c013'>242. Pittsburg.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Print in pale blue, brown, or black of a view of Pittsburg, with +the Iron Mountain in the background and two large steamers, +named respectively “Home” and “Pennsylvania” in the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_369'>369</span>foreground. Mark on the back, “Picturesque Views, Pittsburg.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>243. Pittsfield. Clews.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A winter view of the town common at Pittsfield, Mass., with the +church and other public buildings. In the foreground an +elliptical enclosure with a skeleton elm-tree, intended to represent +the famous great Pittsfield Elm. The author of “The +China Hunters’ Club” quotes from a newspaper of 1864, that +the trunk of this tree was made into bowls and other relics, and +that “about 1825 Mr. Allen, a merchant of Pittsfield, had a +view of the elm and park, as they then appeared, taken and +sent to England, where it was reproduced on blue crockery +ware.” As the fence which appears in the view on the plate +was not placed around the elm until 1825, this date is +probably correct. Before that the tree had been entirely unprotected; +it was sadly nibbled by the farm horses that were +frequently hitched to the iron staples that were driven into +its trunk. When the elm fell in 1861, a great number of these +staples were found imbedded in the wood. The design of the +church appears in four medallions in the border of the plate. +It is marked “Clews” and the name “Winter View of +Pittsfield Mass.” I have also seen this same view with a +vine-leaf border.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Plymouth Landing.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 240.</p> + +<p class='c013'>244. Quebec.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dark blue print of view of the heights at Quebec. Mark on +back in blue scroll “Quebec,” also the impressed stamp of a +Greek cross.</p> + +<p class='c013'>245. Quebec. Falls of Montmorency.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dark blue view of the Falls, with a shell border. Stamp on the +back “Falls of Montmorenci near Quebec.” This and the +previous number are the only views of Canadian scenery that +<span class='pageno' id='Page_370'>370</span>I have ever seen on old Staffordshire plates. Persons who +have gathered china in Canada tell me that they have found +no other views there.</p> + +<p class='c013'>246. Rhode Island. Arms of State. T. Mayer.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dark blue print marked “T. Mayer Stone Staffordshire.” Same +border as No. 192. Marks fully described on page <a href='#Page_324'>324</a>.</p> + +<p class='c013'>247. Richmond, Va. College.</p> + +<p class='c011'>View of college printed in light blue.</p> + +<p class='c013'>248. Savannah. Bank. J. & W. Ridgway.</p> + +<p class='c011'>View of the Bank at Savannah. It has the same set medallion +border shown on page <a href='#Page_319'>319</a>. Mark on back “Bank, Savannah, +Beauties of America. J. & W. Ridgway.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Scudder’s Museum. New York.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 210.</p> + +<p class='c013'>249. South Carolina.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A plate with a palmetto-tree in the centre, and a ship in the distance, +on either side a flag. A shield with the date July 4th +and the motto of the State of South Carolina. Flower border +like plates of E. Wood & Sons.</p> + +<p class='c013'>250. South Carolina. Arms of State. T. Mayer.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dark blue plate. Marked “Stone Staffordshire T. Mayer.” +Same marks and border as No. 192, and a very clear rendering +of the State arms.</p> + +<p class='c013'>251. States. Clews.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This design is the larger plate shown on page <a href='#Page_9'>9</a>. It is found on +all the pieces of a dinner service, but I have never seen a +tea-set. The dinner plates are exceptionally large. The print +is in a rich shade of dark blue. In the centre is a medallion +of what is said to be the White House, at Washington, with +sheep or cattle grazing in foreground. It is supported on one +side by a kneeling figure with plumed helmet and bearing a +<span class='pageno' id='Page_371'>371</span>liberty cap—labelled Independence. On the other side the +figure of a woman kneeling on her ankles with the bandage of +justice on her eyes, and Masonic emblem on her apron. She +holds a portrait medallion labelled Washington. On the pedestal +at her ankles, the word “America.” The border is of +flowers and a scroll with names of fifteen States, and with fifteen +stars. On some pieces these stars are simply crosses. +Impressed stamp “Clews Warranted Staffordshire.” On the +larger pieces, such as tureens, the centre view is often of an +English castle—the White House view not being large enough, +apparently, to fill the space. Some of the platters have in the +centre a view of a two-story house, while in the foreground are +two men and a sheet of water with a sloop. This is sometimes +called the Washington Masonic Plate.</p> + +<p class='c013'>252. Steamship.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A dark blue print of a side-wheel steamship, bark rigged, under +full sail, and flying the American flag. Impressed mark of +“E. Woods & Sons.” This may commemorate the Savannah, +the first steamer to cross the Atlantic, in 1819.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Stevens Mansion.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 182.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Stoughton Church.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 228.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Table Rock. Niagara.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 222.</p> + +<p class='c013'>253. Temperance Plate.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This curious and finely printed plate is very rare. It is made +of a soft yellowish paste, and the decoration is printed in +black. The edges are slightly scalloped and have a little line +of black. In the centre of the plate is a shield supported by +the figures of a man and woman; the man bearing a banner +inscribed with the word “Sobriety,” and the woman a similar +<span class='pageno' id='Page_372'>372</span>banner with the words “Domestic Comfort.” By the side of +the man is a small figure of a boy seated reading; on the opposite +side that of a girl sewing. The shield is surmounted +by a crest—an oak-tree—and above that a scroll containing +the motto “Firm as an Oak.” Below the shield are clouds and +two shelves of vases and jars of antique shapes; and beneath +all a scroll with the motto “Temperance, Sobriety.” The +shield is divided by perpendicular lines and transverse bars. +In the spaces thus formed are designs. That of a beehive +has on the bar beneath it the word “Industry;” that of a +farmer working in a field, the word “Health;” that of a +sailor, the word “Freedom;” that of a pile of money, the +word “Wealth;” that of a cornucopia, the word “Plenty;” +that of a snake, the word “Wisdom;” in the lower space are +an open Bible and the letters I.H.S. There is no stamp or +mark on the back. It is probably a Masonic design, but is +called the “Temperance Plate.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>254. Texas. J. B.</p> + +<p class='c011'>English stone-ware with blue or pink prints. Trophies of war +in the corners, and on the sides symbolical figures of Peace +and Plenty. In the centre, a fight between Texans and Mexicans, +marked “Gen. Taylor in Texas.” It was doubtless +printed to commemorate the Independence of Texas. +Marked on the back with initials J. B. A large platter bearing +this design sold in the Governor Lyon sale, in 1876, for +$7.50.</p> + +<p class='c013'>255. Texan Campaign.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Plates with a small, poor print in sepia green, red, or black, of a +scene with troop of soldiers with mounted commander. Border, +a scroll with trophies of arms and flags. Stamp on the +back “Texan Campaign.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Transylvania University.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 189 <i>et seq.</i></p> + +<p class='c013'><span class='pageno' id='Page_373'>373</span>256. Trenton Falls.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This plate is eight inches in diameter, of a rich dark blue. The +handsome shell border indicates it to be one of Clews manufacture +(as Mr. Prime asserts); the impressed stamp on the +back cannot be deciphered. The view in the centre of the +plate is a pretty group of pine-trees with the Passaic Falls in +the middle. On the back is a blue stamp of an eagle with the +scroll and the words “E Pluribus Unum,” and the name +“View of Trenton Falls.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>257. Troy. Clews.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A view of Troy, N. Y., from Mount Ida, marked Clews.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Union Line. Steamboat.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 184.</p> + +<p class='c011'>United States Bank.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 239.</p> + +<p class='c011'>United States Hotel.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 232.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Utica.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 167.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Virginia. Natural Bridge.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 201.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Virginia.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 198.</p> + +<p class='c013'>258. Virginia. J. W. Ridgway.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Print in black or brown with floral border. In centre a landscape +view. Mark on back “Virginia. J. W. Ridgway.” +The house bears a close resemblance to Arlington House.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Wadsworth Tower.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 176.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Washington’s Headquarters.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 203.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_374'>374</span>Washington, D. C. View of.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 197.</p> + +<p class='c013'>259. Washington, D. C. Capitol. J. & W. Ridgway.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A view of the Capitol in dark blue with man and woman on +horseback in the foreground. Medallion border shown on +page <a href='#Page_319'>319</a>. Marked “J. & W. Ridgway. Beauties of America. +Capitol Washington.” This appears usually on large platters.</p> + +<p class='c013'>260. Washington, D. C. Capitol. R. S. & W.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id002'> +<img src='images/i_390.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Capitol Plate.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>A very beautiful dark blue plate with slightly scalloped edge, +with view of the Capitol, large tree in foreground. A vine-leaf +border. Mark on back in shield “Capitol Washington. +R. S. &. W.” One is shown here.</p> + +<p class='c013'>261. Washington, D. C. Capitol. Stevenson.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dark blue print of same view. Vine-leaf border and white +fluted edge. Impressed mark, Stevenson.</p> + +<p class='c013'>262. Washington, D. C. Capitol. E. Wood & Sons.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dark blue plate with view of the Capitol. Confused shell border. +Mark “E. Wood Warranted Staffordshire.”</p> + +<p class='c013'><span class='pageno' id='Page_375'>375</span>263. Washington, D. C. White House. Jackson.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This is a view of the Executive Mansion at Washington, with +garden to the left and a group of figures to the right. It is +printed in black and marked “Jackson.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>264. Washington, D. C. White House.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Another view printed in black of the White House. Scalloped +edges and wide ornate border. Marked on the back “White +House Washington.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>265. Washington, D. C. White House. Jackson.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Pink and white printed plate marked on the back “Presidents +House Washington,” and mark “Jacksons Warranted.” +Same border as No.    .</p> + +<p class='c011'>White House. Washington. States.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 251.</p> + +<p class='c013'>266. West Point. Clews.</p> + +<p class='c011'>View of West Point, with river and steamboat and row-boat. +Mark on back “Picturesque Views. West Point Hudson +River,” also impressed mark “Warranted Clews Staffordshire.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>267. William Penn. Treaty with Indians. Jackson.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Print in black or brown on dinner service of a view with +William Penn, in Quaker garb, talking with an Indian chief. +At their feet a box of treasure, including a string of beads +which an Indian woman is examining. Border a stencil +design.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Woodlands.</p> + +<p class='c011'>See No. 233.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_376'>376</span> + <h2 class='c005'>XVIII.<br> CHINA MEMORIES</h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c014'>What fancies we weave, what dreams we dream +over a piece of homely old china! Every cup, +every jar in our china ingatherings, has the +charm of fantasy, visions of past life and beauty, though +only imagined. I like to think that the china I love +has been warmly loved before—has been made a cherished +companion, been tenderly handled ere I took it to be my +companion and to care for it. It is much the same +friendly affection that I feel for an old well-read, half-worn +book; the unknown hands through which it has +passed, the unseen eyes that have gazed on it, have +endeared it to me. This imagined charm exists in china +if it be old, though we know not a word of its past, save +that it has a past and is not fresh from the potter’s wheel +and the kiln. The very haze of uncertainty is favorable +to the fancies of a dreamer; I summon past owners from +that shadowy hiding-place; weave romances out of that +cloud; build past dwelling-houses more quaint, more romantic +than any in whose windows I have gazed, whose +threshold I have trodden in my real china hunting. +Victor Cousin says: “If beauty absent and dreamed of +does not affect you more than beauty present, you may +have a thousand other gifts, but not that of imagination.” +<span class='pageno' id='Page_377'>377</span>If you have no imagination you may have none of these +china dreams—these “children of an idle brain,” but you +still may have china memories. Fair country sights +does my old china bring to my eyes; soft country sounds +does it bring to my ears, the sound of buzzing bees, of +rustling branches, “the liquid lapse of murmuring +streams,” of rippling brooks where we dipped the old +blue crockery mugs and cups the day we found them, +and drank the pure but sun-warmed water. When I +look at this queen’s-ware creamer, I hear the sweet, clear, +ear-thrilling notes of the meadow-lark, “in notes by +distance made more sweet”—who sang outside of the +farm-house where I first saw the dainty shell of china. +Sweet scents, too, does the old china bear. When I +found that old yellow Wedgwood dish in the country +tavern, it was filled with tiny fragrant wild strawberries—I +smell, nay, I taste them still. That flaring-topped +vase was full of sweet white honeysuckle when I espied +it in a farm-house window—I carried away the scent +of the honeysuckle when I bought the vase. This old +mottled stone-ware jug, with the hound handle, stood +in the deep shade of a stone wall by the side of a sunny +hay-field when first it met my view. It was filled with +honest home-brewed beer for the hay-makers. We sat +fuming and sizzling in the hot sun, watching them +spread and turn the fragrant hay until the beer had all +been drunk (and we did not have to wait long), and we +bore the jug off in triumph, breathing to us forever the +scent of new-mown hay with, to speak truthfully, a +slight tinge of stale beer.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_378'>378</span>A halo of “sweet Sabean odors” fairly envelops all +family china. In those blue and white Canton sugar-bowls, +and in that great jar with the red lacquered cover, +my grandmother kept her fragrant spiced rose-leaves—there +are rose-leaves in them now. In that tall pitcher +she always placed the first lilac and cherry blooms—and +lo! as I look at the poor cracked thing, “sweet is the air +with budding haws and white with blossoming cherry-trees.” +More prosaic and homely, but equally memory-sweet, +what a penetrating aroma of strong green tea rises +out of that copper-lustre teapot! What a burnt and bitter, +but wholly good-smelling steam arises from that old +flip-mug, the steam from many a quart of flip brewed +from New England rum, and home-made beer, stirred +with the red-hot iron loggerhead.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id002'> +<span class='pageno' id='Page_379'>379</span> +<img src='images/i_395.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Crown Derby Plate.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>Like Charles Lamb, I was born china-loving. “I am +not conscious of a time when china jars and saucers were +introduced into my imagination.” When I was a little +child the dearest treasures of my doll’s house were a +small cup-plate of purest porcelain, delicately bordered +with a diagonal design of tiny berries and spike-shaped +bachelor’s buttons and fine lines of gold, and a nicked +India china tea-caddy, cork-stoppered, and filled with +precious rose-water—rose-water of my grandmother’s +own make, distilled in the old rose-water still that +stood, when unused, a cumbrous and mysterious machine +under the dusty eaves of the garret. I suspect +that still had been employed in early colonial days +to manufacture a less innocuous liquid than rose-water, +but now only the petals of the Queen of the Prairie, the +sweet-brier, the cinnamon roses, went into its innocent +limbec; and its sweet-scented product was intensified by +the contents of one of the long, thin, gilt glass bottles +of ottar of roses that my great-uncle, Captain Royal, who +“followed the sea,” brought home in such vast numbers +from China. One day there poured out from the door +of my doll’s house a penetrating fragrance of roses; I +peered within—the keen anguish of that moment fills +me even now; the tea-caddy had fallen—nay, had been +knocked on my precious little plate, and both were +broken. There on her back, drenched with my cherished +rose-water, lay the iconoclast, my miserable maltese kitten, +in mischief still, pulling down with her sharp, +wicked claws my proudest masterpiece, a miniature +<span class='pageno' id='Page_380'>380</span>chandelier of wire and glass beads over which I had +spent many a weary hour. I burst into a loud wail of +hopeless despair; the bedraggled kitten rushed frightened +from my side, shedding odors of Araby as she +bounded away,</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“An amber scent of odorous perfume</div> + <div class='line'>Her harbinger.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>Ah! never again, even at sight of housemaids’ broken +spoils, have I felt such heart-breaking grief. To this +day, when I look back at the plate here shown and the +little coffee-cans of the blue Tournay sprigged set which +I now know to be Crown Derby, and to have been +bought by Uncle Royal in a sudden streak of extravagance +(perhaps he, too, was china-mad); to this day I +grieve for their companion, the little broken cup-plate, +and again I smell the sweet, cloying fragrance of rose-water.</p> + +<p class='c011'>These old dark blue plates also tell a tale. They +are known to us as “the doctor’s pie-plates,” not from +the comical figure of Dr. Syntax with which they are +decorated, but so called in derision. An old New +England physician, a pie-hater, stole, one Thanksgiving +eve, twenty-eight carefully made pies that his patient +wife and daughters had provided for his Thanksgiving +guests. He rose stealthily in the dead of night, threw +lemon and apple, quince and cranberry, mince and +“Marlborough” pies to the pigs, and hid the blue pie-plates +in an old rat-nibbled, cobweb-filled, musty, dusty +coach that had stood for half a century in his carriagehouse, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_381'>381</span>and in which his English grandmother had journeyed +in state throughout New England. Thirty years +later, after his death, at the destruction of the old coach, +these hidden pie-plates were found by his descendants. +They are therefore not simply “good pieces of blue,” +they are ceramic monuments of the household tyranny +of man.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Shall I ever forget my first view of my largest and +choicest Washington pitcher? It stood filled with dried +grasses and pressed and varnished autumn leaves, and +painfully covered with an ignominious shell of decalcomanie +and scrap-book pictures, on a table in a lonely +lighthouse. Only by its shape did we know it, the old +watermelon shape of Liverpool ware. Not a vestige of +its early decoration could be seen, but we bought it as a +hazard of fortune. Oh, the delight I felt when I reached +home and scraped off Pauline Hall’s smirking and high-colored +countenance, and saw with a thrill of friendly +recognition the black-lined face of my own solemn and +immaculate Washington surmounting her full-blown, +rosy shoulders and scarlet and gold bodice. Never do I +look at my fully restored pitcher but I see him again, as +then, with his dignified head turned very much aside, +as if sadly shocked at the position and dress he found +himself in.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The clear blue letters on these old Delft apothecary +jars speak not to me of the drugs and syrups, of the lohocks +and electuaries that were contained within them +in olden times; they are abbreviations of various Biblical +proverbs, such as “Every fool will be meddling,” +<span class='pageno' id='Page_382'>382</span>and “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest +he fall.” The little, ill-drawn blue cherubs that decorate +these jars seem always to wink +and smirk maliciously at me, +and to hold their fat sides as +though they were thinking of the +first time they gazed at me and +jeered at me out of the window +of the gray old farm-house in +Narragansett, as I stood entrapped +by the sudden crushing +in of a peaked-roofed hen-house +upon which I had climbed to +peer within a window at the +hidden Delft treasures. There I +stood on broken eggs and piercing +splinters for one hour, with +only distracted hens and scarcely +less distracted thoughts for +company, until the owner of hen-house +and Delft jars returned +and kindly chopped me out of +my absurd and well-deserved +stocks. Severe and unceasing +monitors are my old apothecary +jars.</p> + +<div class='figleft id004'> +<img src='images/i_398a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +</div> + +<div class='figright id004'> +<img src='images/i_398b.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Delft Apothecary Jars.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>When I stick gillyflowers and +clove-pinks in the pierced tops +of these three-legged India china “posy-holders,” I +am, like Marjorie Fleming, “all primmed up with Majestick +<span class='pageno' id='Page_383'>383</span>Pride”—the honest pride of a successful china-finder +who has snatched her prize from before the +very face of a dozen other collectors. These “posy-holders” +stood for forty years on the high-towering mantel-tree +of a country parlor, a parlor that was viewed +yearly by scores of inquisitive and curiosity-seeking summer +visitors, visitors too dull-visioned to recognize these +china treasures. Perhaps the high-shelved station of the +china, a foot only from the ceiling, helped to hide them. +Perhaps the gruesome row of oval silvered disks that +stood in their company, tarnished coffin-plates bearing +the names of past and dead dwellers in that home, may +have chilled and repelled investigation. Perhaps the +scarlet, blue, and gold dragons and shrimps on the posy-holders +were dulled by the greater glories of their surroundings, +for this parlor shone resplendent with glowing +color. The walls had been painted by a travelling +artist in the early part of this century, and lavish was his +fancy and his sense of color. Above the high black +mantel-shelf a yellow ochre sun threw his rays over vermillion +and purple clouds. These rays of light were +gilded and curved in various directions, and gave Phœbus +the appearance of a good-tempered, smiling octopus, +withal somewhat intoxicated. At either side of the fireplace +sprung a great palm-tree that bore at the base of a +spreading cluster of leaves luscious bunches of great +hanging pineapples. Around one tree a frightful serpent +coiled, his striped folds most beautifully diversified with +gilded spots. Behind the other tree lurked a crouching +tiger. On the plastered wall were painted two portraits +<span class='pageno' id='Page_384'>384</span>with fine simulated gold frames, apparently held in place +by heavy cord and tassels; one was of George Washington, +the other the past owner of all these glories. It +was curious to see the marked and comic likeness a fair +young daughter of the house, the village school-mistress, +bore to the hard-faced, non-perspectived old daub of a +grandfather on the wall; had you dressed her in a brass-buttoned +blue coat and a high stock, she would have +been far more like the portrait than most portraits are +like their originals. One large space was decorated with +a full-passengered coach with four prancing horses; the +other bore a marine view—fierce waves, and a strangely +rigged brig, with gilded cannon, and fine flags and pennants +all blowing stiffly against the wind that filled the +sails. A steamboat, too, sailed these waters blue—the +greatest triumph of the painter’s art. Robert Fulton’s +invention was in its infancy when this steamboat was +evolved, and it was plainly constructed from the artist’s +imagination. The cranky hull bore two brick chimneys; +it rested on crossbars like a wagon, and had four great +wheels that sat well up out of the water. The floor of +this room was painted a dull drab color, and in brilliant +yellow was displayed a diagram of the solar system, +planets, moons, and orbits, sadly worn and defaced, however, +by the footsteps of three generations of New Englanders.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Do you wonder that the china posy-holders were +overlooked in all this blaze of glory? I recount the +gaudy decorations with grateful praise. Through them +my treasures stood, ever “eye-sweet and fair,” but unnoticed, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_385'>385</span>for years, humbly awaiting my china-loving and +china-spying vision.</p> + +<p class='c011'>These dainty egg-shell cups and saucers have also +their memory, their lesson—a word softly spoken but +clear; they were once owned by two silver-haired “antient +maides” of Chippendale elegance and Pilgrim +blood, who lived under the moss-covered, decaying rooftree +of a pallid, gaunt, old colonial home in New England. +These “last leaves on the tree” kept their dainty, +shallow, apse-shaped china closets in a state of snowy +purity, of precise and unvarying order, of unspotted contamination, +which might be taken as an emblem of their +narrow, pure, and monotonous lives. No thick, substantial +modern wares, no gayly painted crockery, no vessels +of common clay, stood on their well-ordered and softly +shining shelves, just as no modern notions, no knowledge +of the common, the evil things of life, had ever entered +their simple minds, had ever shocked their fair souls. +Fragile, graceful, antiquated, pale in decoration, were +their weakly sprigged, lavender-bordered, delicately fluted +cups; looking like their own softly wrinkled faces, +their meagre, bent figures, their slender hands. Worn +was the gilt on the china, faded was the furniture of +their rooms, as ill-health had worn their gentle spirits. +Rather scantily filled were their china shelves, as were +thin and few their garments, as was sparsely filled their +larder. Deep green shadows fell on the glass doors and +white shelves of their china closets from the thick-branched +old lilacs that close-screened each small-paned +window, from the dark century-old cedars that overhung +<span class='pageno' id='Page_386'>386</span>their home; death and loneliness and scanty means had +shadowed their lives. My pure, dignified, and silent old +cousins, no sweetly-perfumed, softly-tinted, strong-growing +blossoms of New England life were you, but rather +the sad, white, scentless “life everlasting” that waved +like summer snow-drifts over your own sterile, rock-filled +fields. These fragile porcelain emblems of your colorless +life shall not be carelessly handled and rudely gazed at +in their new home, but, close-hidden away in an old apple-wood +beaufet which once stood beside your virginal +china closets, shall forever teach to me the lesson of contentment, +simplicity, and resignation which you showed +in your gentle lives, the lesson which through your old +china still lives—the lesson of peace and rest.</p> + +<div class='figright id004'> +<span class='pageno' id='Page_387'>387</span> +<img src='images/i_403.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>Copper-Lustre Pitcher.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>A halo of mysterious ghost-seeing, an eternal radiance +of poesy, surrounds this copper-lustre pitcher. We found +this irradiated pitcher when we went a-spinet-hunting. +We found the ghost also, a tall, pale, terrifying apparition, +who stealthily entered our room at midnight as we slept +in the old Pardon tavern, who mysteriously and quietly +carried off our gowns, but who proved in the cold disillusionizing +daylight to be our landlady’s daughter, an +amateur dressmaker of unbounded ambition and few resources. +And our poet! we found him also, a unique +and untutored son of the gods, a rare product of New +England soil. We prosaically hired this Yankee Walt +Whitman to drive us to the Maybee farm—the house +which we had been assured held both china and spinet. +Our dearly-remembered poet was a tall, wiry New Englander, +whose only visible attire was a moth-eaten fur +hat, a woollen shirt, a pair of heavy boots, and faded +overalls, held in place by a single suspender. He looked +too thinly clad for the raw spring weather, but seemed +perfectly comfortable +and contented in his +light clothing. Poet-like, +his hair was long. +Four little wintry +curls blew out from +under the old hat. +We had been warned +that he did not call +himself a farmer, but +proudly avowed and +named himself a poet; +and it was hinted that +he was a little “luny.” +He had begun his +rhyming career with the composition of epitaphs for all +the village inhabitants, both living and dead; and from +thence had advanced to the constant use of rhymes in +every-day life and hence had acquired the name of +“Rhyming Darius.” He “lisped in numbers for the +numbers came;” and proudly did he display his God-given +talent to us prosy city folks. He also combined +with his vocation as poet the additional talent of employing +intensely legal forms of speech; for he had at +an early period of his life been a witness in some country +trespass case, and had since then always spent a day “in +court,” whenever the rare days of idleness of a New +<span class='pageno' id='Page_388'>388</span>England farmer would permit. As a result, he always +cross-questioned everyone with whom he had any conversation, +and adopted, as far as he could remember, a +lawyer’s phraseology and legal terms. He had a wily +manner of evading questions, and seldom gave a direct +answer; so between questions and answers we held “open +court” all the way to the Maybee farm.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Our poet also made a strange introduction of the letter +“u” into words—which use he evidently regarded as +something extremely eloquent and scholarly, but which +produced some very astonishing variations in our vernacular +speech. He was much excited at the nocturnal +abstraction of our gowns and he poured forth a perfect +volley of rhymed questions upon the subject to us as he +drove, seated sidewise, fixing us “with his glittering +eye:”</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Why didn’t she apply to ye purs-u-nal</div> + <div class='line in2'>An’ ask ye fur the garment?</div> + <div class='line'>Did she retain the artucle</div> + <div class='line in2'>Long enough to bring a warrant?</div> + <div class='line'>Did she take it with malice of forethought</div> + <div class='line in2'>Or unpre-med-ure-tated?</div> + <div class='line'>Did she terrure-fy ye very bad</div> + <div class='line in2'>A-purloinin’ as ye stated?</div> + <div class='line'>What air ye goin’ to do?</div> + <div class='line in2'>Did her mother know it too?</div> + <div class='line'>Why didn’t ye holler out?</div> + <div class='line in2'>An’ ask her what’s she’s about?”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>At last, to stop his flood of inquiry, we began to question +him, to draw him out about the spinet and china.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Do you know the Maybees well?”</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_389'>389</span>“Wall—I may perhaps assert</div> + <div class='line in2'>And assure-vure-rate I do;</div> + <div class='line'>At any rate I know him</div> + <div class='line in2'>And I s’pose I know her too.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>“Is it an old farm, and an old house?”</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“It ain’t so old as some,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And it’s a little older ’n others.</div> + <div class='line'>The farm ’s older ’n the house;</div> + <div class='line in2'>It used to be my brother’s.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>“How long have you known them?”</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Oh—quite an in-ture-val,</div> + <div class='line in2'>But I ain’t known ’m all my life;</div> + <div class='line'>I’ve known him sence I was two year old,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And a leetle longer his wife.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>“Do you know whether they have an old spinet?”</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“I’ll tell you in a minute</div> + <div class='line'>If you’ll tell me what’s a spinet?”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>“It is like a little old-fashioned piano. Have they +got such a one? Is it old? Is it small? Describe it +to us.”</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“They ‘ve the funniest thing you ever see;</div> + <div class='line'>It’s just as cur-u-ous as it can be;</div> + <div class='line'>How to dure-scribe it just beats me;</div> + <div class='line'>Spinet’s the name for it down to a T.</div> + <div class='line'>It ain’t so big as some pianures,</div> + <div class='line'>And it ain’t so small as othures;</div> + <div class='line'>’Tain’t so old as some you’d see,</div> + <div class='line'>And ’tain’t so new as it might be;</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_390'>390</span>That is all that I can say.</div> + <div class='line'>I heard old Maybee tell one day</div> + <div class='line'>He’d a mus-ure-cal com-bure-nation</div> + <div class='line'>He’d be glad to sell for a very small sum;</div> + <div class='line'>’Twas as old and mean</div> + <div class='line'>As any he’d seen,</div> + <div class='line'>And he’d like to sell it, he says,</div> + <div class='line'>Before it drops to pieces.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>We looked at each other in amazement at this strange +specimen of Yankee humanity—that is, we did it whenever +his gaze was averted long enough to give us any +chance to look at each other. We sank back in despair +of ever receiving a definite description of the spinet, and +above all of any china—that most indescribable of country +possessions. We feebly tried to parry him with some +of the skill which he himself displayed, but failed ignominiously +under the scathing sharpness of this “lawyer” +of thirty years’ experience. We finally answered his +rhyming questions with as much directness and truth as +the chief witness in a murder trial. As we alighted +from the wagon and were about to enter the Maybee +door, Darius pulled me back by the sleeve and whispered:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Ye mustn’t mind Miss Maybee</div> + <div class='line in2'>If ye find her a leetle cross;</div> + <div class='line'>She ain’t at all e-lab-ure-ate,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Any more than my old horse.</div> + <div class='line'>She won’t show any man-ures</div> + <div class='line in2'>When you ask to see her pianure.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>A sharp-featured young woman advanced to meet us. +Her hair bore two partings, an inch apart, and the middle +<span class='pageno' id='Page_391'>391</span>lock was strained painfully back. Her face was +curiously mottled with yellow patches which showed +plainly that dyspepsia and biliousness had marked her +for their own. She looked so sour, so sharp, so devoid of +“man-ures” that we quailed visibly before her keen black +eye. What new specimen of humanity had we here? +Into what world was our China and spinet-hunting carrying +us?</p> + +<p class='c011'>We began the conversation very mildly by saying that +we had heard that Mrs. Maybee had some china that +she wished to sell.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Then you’ve heard a lie,” the acrid voice broke in.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But surely we have heard that you have a piano to +sell?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, I ain’t. I’ve got a musical combination, but +I ain’t so awful anxious to sell it.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>For minutes we stood there, facing this resentful +being, who showed no desire to have us seat ourselves, +while we pleaded, we praised, we cajoled, we apologized, +and we questioned, until, at last, she allowed us to see +her precious spinet. We entered the gloomy “best +room” where it stood, gave one glance at it, and sank on +the haircloth sofa. It was a <i>melodeon</i>—a forlorn, broken-down, +old <i>melodeon</i>—to which some farm-tinker had +added an oblong frame strung with catgut and wire +strings, in the apparent hope of forming some instrument +of the nature of an Æolian-harp.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Tears of disappointment fairly sprang to our eyes; +but the contrast, the revulsion of feeling, the sense of +the ludicrous, was so keen, that we gave way to hysterical +<span class='pageno' id='Page_392'>392</span>laughter; we could not suppress it. Where, alas! +were our “manners?” I was the first to recover my +self-possession. I turned to Mrs. Maybee, who stood +before us speechless with angry astonishment, and said +pacifically: “You were very good to let us see it. It is +not quite what we expected to find. It is so much +newer than an old spinet! I fear my sister could not +afford to buy it, as she has one piano already. It is very +curious and very ingenious, and no doubt you will sell it +to someone.” We were walking slowly toward the open +door in the hope of immediate escape; but we were not +to escape so easily, not without punishment for our adventurous +raid. As we drew back, Mrs. Maybee advanced; +and it seemed for a while that we should be +obliged to buy the old melodeon and take it off with us. +But I seized upon a diversion, a godsend, in the shape +of a row of window-plants in the kitchen. One fine geranium +flourished in this “copper-lustre” pitcher, which +had had a hole knocked in the bottom, to permit the +water to drain out. I immediately began to admire that +geranium, and offered Mrs. Maybee a dollar for the +pitcher and plant. This diverted her mind from the unfortunate +“spinet;” and after much sharp talk and bargaining +we paid her one dollar and seventy-five cents for +the geranium and pitcher, rushed from her inhospitable +door, and drove away with our poet. “The True Story +of the Life, Temper, and Adventures of Orvilla Maybee,” +related to us in legal verse by “Rhyming Darius” +on our homeward drive, made us wonder that we escaped +unharmed from that New England vixen.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_393'>393</span>So our broken lustre pitcher was all that we had to +carry home with us from our “spinet hunt.” And I will +close this little tale of New England experience with a +simple statement of the cost of the pitcher and the geranium +(which died when transplanted).</p> + +<table class='table1'> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>Two fares to Pardon and return</td> + <td class='c008'>$4 00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>Bill for supper, bed, and breakfast for two</td> + <td class='c008'>1 50</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>Wagon, poetry, and legal advice</td> + <td class='c008'>1 00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>Paid Mrs. Maybee for pitcher</td> + <td class='c008'>1 75</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'><hr></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c018'>Total cost of pitcher</td> + <td class='c008'>$8 25</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p class='c011'>As I have since seen a fac-simile of our pitcher (only +whole and unbroken) in a bric-a-brac shop, ticketed +$2, we cannot consider the trip financially successful; +though, truth to tell, it was far more so than many another +expedition we have made. But a golden lustre, +the memory of our legal poet, englamours forever in our +eyes our copper pitcher. When we look at it we hear +again the strident voice, the bizarre pronunciation, the +voluble rhymes of our poet of the soil, our Darius, as +he exclaimed in amazement:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Ye don’t hang ’em on the wall,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Them cracked old kitchen dishes!</div> + <div class='line'>An’ keep a frac-tured pitcher</div> + <div class='line in2'>As if ’t was act-ure-ly precious!</div> + <div class='line'>They say that city folks</div> + <div class='line in2'>Is mighty extrav-ure-gant,</div> + <div class='line'>But with such test-ure-mony</div> + <div class='line in2'>I’m willin’ to swear they ain’t.</div> + <div class='line'>There ain’t a party in this town</div> + <div class='line in2'>So stingy an’ such a non-com</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_394'>394</span>As to hang that pitcher on the wall,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Lookin’ ’s if ’t was jest goin’ ter fall,</div> + <div class='line'>An’ the hole showin’ in the botturm.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>Many ghosts has our china hunting revealed to us; +the ghosts of the past, the visions and dreams that never +become realities, the inexorable fate, the sad kismet of +New England life. Such was the story of the house of +Hartington, a story sadly typical of many New England +homes; a story which the sight of these little lettered +and escutcheoned cups always retells to us.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A description had been given to us of an old town +with old houses and old people and old china, and after +a gloomy night in a hideous country hotel we started out +to find some townsman of whom we could hire a horse +and carriage of some or any sort to carry us to Rindge +and Anthony Hartington’s house—the oldest house +of all.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A thin, auburn-haired, freckle-faced Yankee, about +twenty-one years old, answered our questions with the +greatest interest, and finally offered us the use of his own +horse and open wagon for the whole day for two dollars. +“And I’ll drive fer ye, too,” he added, with enthusiasm. +“Ye’d never find old Hartington’s if ye took the hoss +yerself, an’ I do’ ‘now as I can neither, without some +pretty tall huntin’ and questionin’.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>So off we started on the back seat of an open country +“express wagon” to find “old Hartington’s farm.” +The warm October sun streamed down upon us, the +great red and russet rock-broken fields stretched off into +the beautiful lonely purple mountain, “heeding his sky +<span class='pageno' id='Page_395'>395</span>affairs,” the dying brakes and weeds sent forth their +sweet nutty autumn fragrance, the soft yellow and +brown leaves fluttered down on us, and the ripe chestnutburrs +fell rustling by our side as we rode through the +narrow wood-roads. The hard New England landscape +was softened and Orientalized by the yellow autumn +tints. The half-sad stillness of dying nature and the +warmth of the Indian summer inclined us to ride quietly +and thoughtfully along the country roads, but that +neither Mr. Simmons, nor his new wagon, nor Jenny, his +steed, would for a moment permit. She had the unpleasant +habit, so common among country horses, of “slacking-up” +suddenly at the foot of every hill. The wagon +was a “jump-seat,” so the back seat was not fastened in +securely. At every hill (and the New England hills are +countless) we and the seat were pitched forward on Mr. +Simmons’s back. He seemed to expect this assault and +rather enjoy it. To quite counterbalance this sudden +stoppage of progression, Jenny would spring forward +with much and instantaneous speed whenever she caught +sight of Mr. Simmons’s short whip. This whip he used +as a pointer in his many and diffuse explanations, so +whenever our attention was called to an old house, or a +poor “run-out” farm, or “the barn old White hung +himself in,” Jenny emphasized the explanation with a +twitch of our necks that brought into active play muscles +little used before.</p> + +<p class='c011'>At last the long hill leading to the Hartington house +was reached, the longest and steepest yet seen. The +road was almost unused, a mere track, and spoke to our +<span class='pageno' id='Page_396'>396</span>china hunting instincts most favorably of the little intercourse +held by the Hartingtons with the rest of the +world. Slowly plodded Jenny over the fringed gentians, +for here the road was full of them, as open and blue as +the October sky over our heads. We had never seen this +lovely delicate flower growing elsewhere than sparsely +by a brookside or in damp ground, but here, on this +rocky hill-side, in this poor soil, it opened its blue eyes in +such luxuriance that the road was as full of its azure +bloom as in September the fields are yellow with goldenrod, +or in June white with daisies. As we turned in +from the main country road we passed an elderly man +with bowed head, ragged clothes, slouching gait, and a +general appearance of extreme depression and sadness +more marked even than is usual in the carriage of the +New England farmer. As he did not lift his head to +look at us, nor nod with the cordial common country +form of recognition, we did not speak to him, and he +slowly followed us up the hill.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The Hartington house was a mansion, a brick manor-house. +We were met at the great door by a young untidy +woman, whose clear pink-and-white complexion +and curly hair could not, however, compensate for her +lack of good teeth, several front teeth being missing and +the others discolored. This poor care and poor condition +of the teeth is most common among New England +women in the country. Nearly every woman over +thirty years of age will show when speaking two rows +of blue-white porcelain disks so evidently false that they +hardly seem like teeth, but look like a “card” of cheap +<span class='pageno' id='Page_397'>397</span>buttons. We thought her the daughter of the house; +she proved to be its mistress, the wife of Anthony Hartington. +A more desolate, unhappy, hopeless home I +have never seen. The elderly gloomy man, who now +entered, proved to be Anthony himself. He spoke but +little, and from the young wife, who seemed in a feverish +state of excitement at our visit, we learned the forlorn +and desolate story of the household.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Anthony had married early in life and had had nine +children, all of whom, with his wife, had died of that fell +curse of New England—consumption. The last child, +a daughter, Luriella, had died in June. This young +wife had been her school friend and had married the +forlorn old man two years ago, in order to come to live +there and nurse her friend through her last illness, thus +giving a touching example of the life-sacrifices and self-abnegations +so sadly frequent in New England country +homes. “We didn’t think she’d live through the +winter,” she said, “but she did, and died in June. I +was glad she lived till it was warm. It is so cold here +in winter,” she added apologetically.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A heavy gloom settled on us as we walked from room +to room, and I was additionally overwhelmed by the uncanny, +unreasoning sense that I had been there before, +had lived there. It was all so familiar to me, so +strangely well known, that I could scarcely speak, but +walked bewildered and frightened through the rooms I +had known a hundred years ago. I have never felt at +any other time that sense of pre-existence, but I know +that nothing about that old house was new to me.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_398'>398</span>The upper part of the windows were of small panes of +greenish “bull’s-eye” glass, rarely found in the country +now; the lower panes of cheap, modern glass, some being +broken and pasted over with dirty bits of calico and +paper, and all as opaque with dirt as the ancient upper +panes. Outside the windows lay an unkempt tangle of +lilac bushes, shrubs, weeds, straggling withered flowers, +box borders, and thistles, that once had been a lovely, +well-kept garden, but had evidently been unentered and +unheeded for years. It stretched down the hill-side to +the well-tenanted family graveyard with its moss-grown +and chipped slate headstones with their winged cherubs’ +heads and crossbones. I had often gathered flowers in +that garden; I remembered it well, and had walked and +played among the gravestones.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Inside the four great parlors hung cobwebs and dust—and +wasps! the floors were sprinkled with them; +thousands lay dead in the two-feet-wide window-seats, +while swarms of live ones buzzed loudly at the dingy +windows. “They won’t touch you,” she said, as we +drew back. “He thinks there must be a nest somewhere.” +A nest! A colony of nests rather—a hundred +nests, the accumulated nests of years.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The parlors had few pieces of furniture, and all were +broken except a modern marble-topped table and a +“what-not.” “I bought these,” she said, “when I was +married, to please Luriella; I didn’t want to spend +much, for fear she would need medicine. But she didn’t +take much at last; she thought it didn’t do any good.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>A set of painted book-shelves in a corner held a few +<span class='pageno' id='Page_399'>399</span>books, two or three china dogs, some common seashells, +a large ginger-jar, and a number of really beautiful +pewter porringers with handles. My companion +had already conveyed to “him” our wish “to buy any +old pieces of furniture or china you may wish to part +with,” and though we had not heard a word nor seen a +gesture of assent, the wife told us that “he” was willing +to sell. Yet, when we said we would like to buy the +little handled porringers, he walked out of the room +without a word.</p> + +<p class='c011'>All the wood-work in these parlors—the wainscoting, +the high mantels, the panels of the doors, the heavy +window-frames—were ornamented with a curious design, +a row of half-pillars joined at the top in a series of +pointed arches, with carved sunbursts in the spandrels. +It was most graceful and odd—I have never seen it elsewhere—yet +it was perfectly familiar to me; I could almost +remember, yes, I could remember, counting the +number of pillars in the room.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The two kitchens were enormous rooms. One, entirely +closed away and disused, disclosed a horror of +dirt and rubbish, old pots and pans, and tubs, and +wheels, thrown, a shapeless mass, into the fireplace, and +scattered over the floor. In the smaller kitchen the +chimney-nook, the great fireplace, had been boarded +over, and a small rusty kitchen stove placed for daily +use. I seemed to remember when I sat by this ingleside, +and great logs lay on this broad hearth, and the +roaring flames surged up the great chimney and threw +their cheerful light into the now desolate room.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_400'>400</span>Through this kitchen there wailed a moaning noise +from the empty chimney, which made even my cheerful +companion look solemn and depressed. She “didn’t +like to hear it, either,” our guide said, quietly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Two bedrooms and a “living-room” completed the +number of apartments on the ground floor. But the +living-room was not lived in; the two bedrooms were +the only apartments that bore signs of occupation. +There was not a carpeted floor in the house, but to +these two rooms, braided rag rugs and strips of homespun +carpet gave an appearance of comparative comfort. +The “rising-sun” and “twin-sister” patchwork quilts on +the untidy beds added to the effect.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The most incongruous, most inadequate apartment on +this floor was the pantry, a little dark box of a closet, to +which one small greenish glass window dispensed a +dingy light. We had intended to ask for our dinner, +since it was then “high noon,” but a sight of this +cooking sanctum dispelled all thought or wish for dinner. +It was so cobwebby, so dusty, so poor-looking, +that we could not wish to eat any dinner that could issue +from its dark shadows. We found afterward, beyond +the disused kitchen, a large square room which, in +the early days of the prosperity and good cheer of this +house, had doubtless been a pantry, but was now filled +with broken grindstones, crushed Dutch ovens, fragments +of crockery, pails and pans, “peels” and “slices,” +yarn-winders, and part of an old rose still. Indeed, +through this entire house, nothing could ever have been +wholly destroyed or carried away, but was thrown, in +<span class='pageno' id='Page_401'>401</span>its broken, grimy desuetude, into some neglected closet +or room to gather years of dust and dirt, as if the owner, +too poor to buy new furniture, still clung to the shattered +remnants of past plenty.</p> + +<p class='c011'>We rescued from the dingy little pantry, from among +the litter of broken cups and plates and knives, bunches +of dried herbs, empty spice-boxes, cracked woodenware, +and greasy pans, a few treasures which we spread +out on the kitchen table—half a dozen “Pain’s Hill” +plates (a favorite pattern throughout New England), +two open-work bordered Leeds platters, a dear little +boat-shaped queen’s-ware creamer with dainty twisted +handles, two helmet pitchers, two teacups, and half a +dozen plates of a set of old Lowestoft china bearing +a pretty armorial device and initials. We hardly dared +ask to buy the latter pieces until we saw the evident +contempt the farm-wife had for them. Nothing so +American as a Lafayette or Pilgrim plate was to be +seen.</p> + +<p class='c011'>One large dresser in the kitchen was found to be +literally filled with battered and broken brass and pewter +candlesticks, glass whale-oil lamps, snuffers, pewter +savealls, extinguishers, and trays, and brass chimney +hooks for shovel and tongs. We rescued from this +medley several candlesticks, two curious Dutch hanging-lamps, +and a really beautiful but broken candelabra +of Sheffield plate. These we placed with the china on +the kitchen table. I wished to add the pewter porringers +found in the parlor, but the wife softly drawled +in her nasal voice: “He won’t sell ’em—they were hers—she +<span class='pageno' id='Page_402'>402</span>used to make mud-pies in ’em when she was little.” +And pretty playthings they must have been—fifteen +dear little shallow pewter posnets and porringers with +flat pierced handles, varying in size from one large +enough to hold a pint to a true doll’s or a “’prentice” +porringer an inch and a half in diameter. They were +full of little, common, colored pebbles and shells, dried +seeds, and old purple glass beads, perhaps just as “she” +had last played with them. Other and more distant +memories, too, may have clung to the old porringers—of +days when the old man was a boy and took his “little +porringer” and ate his supper of bread and milk from it; +and perhaps, in the far years when the old man was a +baby, his mother had had served to her in one of these +old porringers her “dish of caudle,” that rich mixture +of eggs, spices, bread, milk, and wine which was thought +years ago to be the proper diet for a sick person.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then we mounted the spiral staircase to the second +floor, the chambers. Through this dreary expanse we +walked slowly—the dusty half-furnishings growing +shabbier and shabbier—still stumbling over broken furniture +on the uneven floors, until we entered a south +room that was such a blaze of cheerful, yellow, tropical +light that we exclaimed with delight. Walls and ceilings +were hung solid with long yellow ears of corn, left +to dry for use in the winter. Even the old cherry fourpost +bedstead was draped with them. Such a color! +Such a glory! “She used to like to see them too,” the +low voice murmured.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A third story, a gambrel-roofed attic, was too dusty +<span class='pageno' id='Page_403'>403</span>and repelling to enter, but in one of the deserted bedrooms +we found, whole, though black with dust, a dressing-table +which had been the lower portion of a high +chest of drawers. As is common now in New England +farm-houses, the top drawers had been lifted from this +table portion and set upon the floor to use as a bureau; +not half so tidy and cleanly a fashion of furniture as +when it stood on its high legs and let a broom or brush +sweep freely every portion of the floor under it. The +upper portion of this high chest was seen afterward in +the outer wood-shed full of strips of leather, broken +harness, nails, and pieces of iron. It had been gnawed +by rats and whittled by knives till it was valueless. +The lower or table portion was whole. It had three +shallow “jewel drawers,” three deep drawers with brass +handles and carved “sunbursts.” It proved, when dusted, +to be of curled maple; and after long discussion +with Mr. Simmons we decided to take it with us. Its +bowed legs ended in claw-and-ball feet that would just +set within the carriage sides. “If one on ye don’t mind +settin’ in front with me, the other can set in the back +seat with the table in front of her,” he said.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This young wife had not once shown the usual country +curiosity about us, but as she turned away to find +some newspapers to wrap around the plates, I said to +her, “There is much here we should like to buy and take +away with us, but it would cost so much to move the +pieces so far, and they are so out of repair.” Then we +told her who we were, whence we came, what we should +do with the china, and that we should often think and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_404'>404</span>speak of her when we looked at the plates this coming +winter. “I can’t bear to think of the winter without +her,” she answered, softly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Jenny had been fed and watered and “hitched up,” +and we prepared to start. I clambered into the back +seat of the wagon, then the dressing-table was lifted in +and placed in front of me. Luckily its legs were long +enough, so the weight did not rest on my legs, else I +could never have taken it. Our laps were filled with the +frail china; the candlesticks, lamps, and two warming-pans +were placed on the floor of the wagon, and we +started, leaving the two dreary figures and the dreary +house behind us. All the way down the steep hills I +had to hold the table to keep it off the occupants of the +front seat, and all the way up the steep hills it lay heavily +in my lap; but at last we reached the country station +and packed our china and brass in two market-baskets +which Mr. Simmons brought us from his “store.” We +could hear the sallies of country wit from the loafers at +the station at Mr. Simmons and his strange load, and +his indignant and most offensively personal and profane +answers in return. Then we received a baggage-check +for the dressing-table, and finally entered the train rather +conscious that two warming-pans and two newspaper-covered +market-baskets are hardly ordinary or desirable +travelling luggage.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A few days later, when cleaning the inside of the +dressing-table, the following letter was found. It had +been caught and held by a splinter of wood under the +top of the table, and had evidently lain untouched for +<span class='pageno' id='Page_405'>405</span>years. It was folded in the old-fashioned way, dated +May 12, 1810, and addressed to Madam Janet Hartington. +It read thus:</p> + +<p class='c015'><span class='sc'>D<sup>r</sup> and Respect<sup>ed</sup> Mother</span> The letter which I wrote you +some three months ago on the s’bj’ct of my proposed marriage +was answered by you, and the answer duly rec<sup>d</sup> by me.</p> + +<p class='c015'>The two letters I wrote you since on the same s’bj’ct have rec<sup>d</sup> +no answer.</p> + +<p class='c015'>And now it is too late to receive any further advice on the matter, +for I wish to most Respectfully inform you that I married the +object of my choice a week past to-day in Kings Chapel in Boston. +There were but few present, as was Oriana’s wish.</p> + +<p class='c015'>The plans you wrote me, most Respect<sup>ed</sup> Mother, for the advancement +and future prospects of our family, interested me much, +and I quite concur in them all.</p> + +<p class='c015'>And no one could be more fully fitted to assist me in my career +than my Oriana. Her graceful and ladylike deportment fit her to +adorn any circle no matter how exalted.</p> + +<p class='c015'>She is quite ready to become a most dutifull and obedient daughter +to you and I trust, my D<sup>r</sup> Mother, the fact of her being an orphan +will open your heart to her; and then the wish you have always +had, viz, to have a daughter, may thus find its fullfillment.</p> + +<p class='c015'>I know not from what source you obtained the strange advice +that her Father did amass his fortune in the African Slave Trade. +I have never wounded her tender heart by inquiry as to the source +of her Fathers wealth (tho’ ’tis a calling & trade has been followed +by many citizens apparently much respect<sup>ed</sup>). But the thought of +his “ill-gotten gold” need no further trouble you. Thro’ ill advice +and knavery, her fortune has dwindled to a thousand dollars, +and now her wealth is only in her beauty and her amiable disposition. +She has however much good furniture and china which will +grace well our home.</p> + +<p class='c015'>I regret much to hear that my bills and debts in College have +<span class='pageno' id='Page_406'>406</span>cost you so much, and that the Farm is so run behindhand. This, +with the debts my Father left behind him, make it most advisable +for me to give up my intention to practice as a lawyer, and have +decided me to return to manage your Farm.</p> + +<p class='c015'>It is quite opportune and most Providential that your Farmer is +dead, since he managed so ill.</p> + +<p class='c015'>With your wise instructions and counsels, we can no doubt retrieve +the money that has been lost, and carry out my Grandfathers +plans to make our house and name one of the most powerful +in the State.</p> + +<p class='c015'>Thus shall I assume the position in town and county that you +always wished me to take.</p> + +<p class='c015'>We shall leave by coach for Ringe in a week, our household +goods and furnishings to follow us in waggons.</p> + +<p class='c015'>I know, D<sup>r</sup> Mother, that you will admire and praise my Oriana, +as who could do otherwise?</p> + +<p class='c015'>I have talked much to her of your aspirations and ambitions, and +she hopes most Respectfully to help to carry out any plans you +may have.</p> + +<p class='c015'>With most affectionate greeting from Oriana and myself, I am</p> + +<div class='lg-container-r c016'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Your Loving and Honour<sup>ed</sup> Son</div> + <div class='line in16'><span class='sc'>George Hartington</span>.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>In due time the table was scraped, cleaned, and polished, +and with its cheerful mottled golden color and +shining brass handles, was most thoroughly attractive +and satisfying. The pretty Lowestoft china cups were +set on it and used for petty toilet purposes. An old canopied +mirror was hung over it, and every night after I +had lighted the candles in the repaired and resilvered +candelabra, I sat there looking at the china, thinking of +the blue-fringed gentians, the old house, of the lonely +empty rooms, the poverty, the dreariness; then of the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_407'>407</span>high hopes and ideas of George Hartington, and ambitions +of his mother, and, above all, the strange familiarity +I had had with my old home.</p> + +<p class='c011'>At last I wrote to the wife at the farm, telling her of +the old letter; asking of the career of George Hartington, +his success, his life, his fate. I thought he must +be Anthony’s grandfather or granduncle. The answer +came, written in a stiff, uneven hand, but showing more +intelligence than her conversation: “George and Oriana +Hartington were my husband’s father and mother. My +husband is seventy-five years old, and was their only +child. George Hartington died three years after he was +married. My husband remembers his mother as a feeble, +sickly woman who didn’t have much to say on the +farm, and seemed always afraid of Madam Hartington. +She died of consumption when he was twelve years old. +That was her china you bought with the O on it. His +grandmother lived to be ninety-two years old. He is +not very well this winter, he has a bad cough. If you +know of any good cough medicine, I could buy it with +the money you gave us for the table and china,” etc.</p> + +<p class='c011'>And this is the end of all Madam Hartington’s ambitions—a +broken-down, broken-hearted, childless old +man. It is the New England kismet.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Sad often are many of the memories, sad are the pictures, +brought to my mind by my old china. It speaks +to me too often of deserted farms, of unthrifty farmers; +of shabby homes, the homes of drunken fathers and +sickly mothers; of rasping young Philistines, haters of +old things and old ways; of miserly old women and extravagant +<span class='pageno' id='Page_408'>408</span>young ones; of gloomy widowers and miserable +bachelors; of the hopeless round of toil of New +England farm-wives, those human beasts of burden, +bending grievously under the heavy load of loneliness +and labor; it speaks sadly to me of the pinched ways +and poor living, the <i>res angusta domi</i> too frequently to +be seen, alas! in my beloved New England. All these +shadows, however, are softened and lessened by the lapse +of time, just as in my memory the days of my china hunts +have all been sunshiny and bright; it never +rained, nor was it cold nor windy, nor was it ever sultry +or dusty when I have been a china hunting; all china +days were Emerson’s</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in14'>“... charmed days</div> + <div class='line'>When the genius of God doth flow.</div> + <div class='line'>The wind may alter twenty ways,</div> + <div class='line'>A tempest cannot blow;</div> + <div class='line'>It may blow north, it still is warm;</div> + <div class='line'>Or south, it still is clear;</div> + <div class='line'>Or east, it smells like a clover-farm;</div> + <div class='line'>Or west, no thunder fear.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_409'>409</span> + <h2 class='c005'>XIX.<br> CHINA COLLECTIONS</h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c014'>In past years any stray china-lover who wished to see +and to learn had to search well to find any public +collections, or even specimens of old china, in America. +In town-halls, in the curiosity shops of eccentric +old women, or in the “museums” of land-stranded old +sailors, a few pieces might be seen—not saved nor shown +because they were china, but because “Parson Boardman, +who preached forty-nine years in this town, owned +this tea-set;” or “this china was taken out of the cabin +of an English frigate in 1813;” or “these mugs were +used when George Washington passed through the +town.” In this class of discursive and disjointed collections, +though of course in a superior and highly honored +way, might be placed the china of the Museum of the East +India Marine Company in Salem, of whose arrangement +Eleanor Putnam wrote, “it was as if each sea-captain +had lounged in and hustled down his contribution in any +convenient vacant space.” In that old museum, as I remember +it a decade ago, elaborate models of Chinese +junks and American merchant vessels bore on their miniature +bowsprits strange additions to their rigging, and +shadowed by their dusty hulls queer and varied trophies, +queerer then than now—sharks’ teeth, Turkish pipes, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_410'>410</span>sandal-wood beads, Italian crucifixes, Peruvian pottery, +and South Sea shells and savage weapons. Teak-wood +furniture and miniature palanquins and pagodas sheltered +many curious china treasures which I vaguely recall, +queer in name and shape—nests of egg-shell saki-cups +and saki-bowls galore; ink-stones of green celadon +with their accompanying water-bottles and little cakes +of gilded India-ink; perfume flasks of painted Japanese +wares; bottles of purest porcelain for Oriental hair-oil, +or, rather, hair-glue; pottery jars full of unpleasant-looking +mouldy mysteries, which might be preserved fruit or +might be mummies; “plaster boxes” lettered in Chinese; +strange triangular bits of blue and white Persian porcelain +“to clean out shoes with;” old Liverpool mugs taken +from a wreck and wildly labelled “from Ceylon;” and, +chief of all, two vast soup-tureens of purest white Canton +porcelain, duck-shaped, six feet in length from beak to +tail by <i>memory’s</i> measurement. In the cold light of recent +and more mature inspection these two great East +India birds of good cheer, like many another remembered +object of the good old times, shrank to about half their +ancient size; but are still impressive relics of the great +days and great dinners of the old East India Marine +Company, the dinners where, filled to the wings with +some hot, well-peppered Indian broth, the twin tureens +graced the board around which gathered all these old +treasure-bringing and treasure-giving Salem mariners.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A recent visit to my dearly loved and warmly-remembered +old museum grieved my heart; its charm was gone. +Great, light, airy rooms have been added to the old +<span class='pageno' id='Page_411'>411</span>building; an arranger, a labeller, and a model cataloguer +have ruthlessly invaded the dusty cases and weeded out +the boxes of dried-up and shrivelled fruits, the skins of +moth-eaten birds, and of seedy and disreputable fishes. +The Chinese paper-fans and woven baskets, once rare +enough to be carefully treasured in a museum, now seen +in every dry-goods shop in the land, seem wholly to have +disappeared. The iconoclasts have prosaically separated +each old sea-captain’s relics into parcels and placed them +in wonderfully well-arranged and classified cases, labelled +Madagascar, Alaska, Sumatra, or whatever the land of +their early home may be. I suppose the shoe-cleaners +and hair-oil bottles are there somewhere in their properly +assigned places, but I did not search for them. I glanced +at my old friends, the punch-bowls, and the great duck-tureens, +but the old-time glamour, the “unstudied grace” +of the museum was gone.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In many public buildings at the present day, among +treasured colonial relics, may be seen fine specimens of +old china. A neighbor of the East India Marine Company, +the Essex Institute, has a small but interesting +and well-labelled collection of old Salem china.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The Bostonian Society displays in its rooms in the old +State-House in Boston a number of old Liverpool pitchers +and about twenty Staffordshire plates and platters with +American designs, as well as some pieces of the china of +John Hancock and a few other good Boston citizens.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In the rooms of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, +in Locust Street, Philadelphia, may be seen a +number of interesting pieces, including a set of Dresden +<span class='pageno' id='Page_412'>412</span>cups and saucers, presented to Benjamin Franklin by +Madame Helvétius, of Auteuil, that extraordinary friend +of Franklin’s whose behavior so shocked Mrs. Adams. +By the side of this Dresden set are the beautiful coffee-cups, +teacups, saucers, teapot, creamer, bowl, and chocolate-pot +presented to Mrs. Robert Morris, wife of the +United States Minister of Finance, by Luzerne, the +French Minister; a cup and saucer said to have been +used at the wedding of George Washington; a punch-bowl +made for the Society of the Cincinnati by order +of Colonel Hampden; several Washington pitchers; a +Perry pitcher, and an Erie Canal pitcher.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In the Deerfield Memorial Hall, in the rooms of the +Connecticut Historical Society, of the various societies +of antiquity, and local associations throughout New +England, may be seen good pieces of old pottery and +porcelain, often with an interesting and doubtless authentic +story attached, but too frequently wildly and +amazingly labelled as to place of manufacture and date.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Many rich private collections exist. Vast stores of old +colonial treasures are preserved in private houses in our +Eastern States. The Washington pieces of pottery and +porcelain in the Huntington Collection are far outdone +in beauty and in rarity by many private collections, +such, for instance, as that of Miss Powel, in Newport; of +Mrs. Russell, in Cambridge; while the varied collection +of old china at the house of the Washington Association +of New Jersey, with the exception of the historical interest +which attaches to it through the story of various +past owners of renown, and excepting, of course, the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_413'>413</span>rare and beautiful punch-bowls, is equalled and excelled +in many a New England home. In Hartford the collections +of Mr. Trumbull, of Dr. Lyon, would make envious +any English china-buyer. In Albany, in Philadelphia, +in Worcester and Providence, in New Haven and Washington, +in New York and Brooklyn, many a closet and +room full of well-preserved colonial china show the +good taste and careful judgment of loving owners. In +Boston the collection of Mr. Wales is of unbounded interest +and value.</p> + +<p class='c011'>There is but one public collection in America which I +have seen that is of positive and unfailing worth to the +American china collector—the Trumbull-Prime Collection. +I mean for the china collector for whom these +pages are written, the gatherer of household wares of +colonial times and of the early part of this century. It +is much deplored by residents of New York that this +beautiful and instructive collection has not found a +home on shelves neighboring the Avery Collection of +Oriental porcelains in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. +But it has been placed where it will serve a nobler purpose +than contributing to the pleasure or profit even of +china-lover or china collector—where it will instruct the +china-maker. In the spacious cabinets of the beautiful +art building of Princeton College, it is near the great +china factories of Trenton; and may the owners of +those factories soon learn the lesson of beauty and variety +of form, color, and paste, that is so plainly shown in +the china treasures gathered by Mr. and Mrs. Prime.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It has been easy for anyone, for everyone, who had +<span class='pageno' id='Page_414'>414</span>any idea or knowledge of old china, to form a collection +of china in America. Of course, the value of the accretion +was variable, not so much resulting from the length +of the purse of the gatherer as from his judgment and +care in buying. It is still possible to obtain such a collection. +The old china is not yet all discovered and +culled from country towns. One china hunter found in +Northampton, that besearched city, in a summer week +in 1891—found and bought and bore away in triumph—a +large States pitcher, a Boston State-House pitcher, a +Trenton Falls plate, a Capitol plate, two State-House +plates, several pieces bearing the design of McDonough’s +victory, a dozen or more plates with English views, two +helmet-pitchers, several pepper-pots, and, in addition to +the “treasures of clay,” a tall clock and four harp-backed +chairs that once were Jonathan Edwards’s, a Chippendale +table, and various trophies of pewter and brass. Dealers +might have visited these Northampton folk in vain, +but this beguiling china hunter bore away his cart-load +of old furniture and crockery for a sum total as small as +in days of yore.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It is for such slow and careful collectors that these +pages are written, for the collectors who having read and +studied all the foreign text-books and histories and manuals +of pottery and porcelain still know very little of +the china within their gates, the china to be gathered +in America. The number of such china hunters is steadily +crescent. In Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, china +collections are being formed; and many of the finest +specimens of American historical china that have been +<span class='pageno' id='Page_415'>415</span>offered for sale in New York and Boston “antique shops” +during the past year have been purchased and sent to +California.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id006'> +<img src='images/i_431.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>A Beaufet.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_417'>417</span>It is a matter of course that this old china should +show to its best advantage in an old-fashioned house, or +in a new house built in “American colonial” style of +architecture. But whatever the house may be in which +all these loved china waifs are assembled and cherished, +it should not conceal them, as in Charles Lamb’s “great +house,” in a china-closet. A suitable resting-place for +the old pieces is in the sheltering home in which it +passed its early days—in a corner cupboard. This was +in olden times called a “beaufatt,” or “bofet,” or +“beaufet,” or “bofate,” or as Cowper wrote of it—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“This china that decks the alcove</div> + <div class='line in2'>Which here people call a buffet,</div> + <div class='line'>But what the gods call it above</div> + <div class='line in2'>Has ne’er been revealed to us yet.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>A corner cupboard seems to be, like all old-fashioned +furniture, well adapted for the express purpose for +which it was made. It is not a modern pattern combination +china-closet, washstand, and refrigerator all in one, +but for the simple purpose of china-holding and china-showing +it is perfect. The old china never looks prettier +(except when on the table) than in its wonted home—a +corner cupboard or beaufet. The narrow scalloped +or crenated shelves with their wider rounded projections +at the extreme back seem expressly shaped to show each +piece to its best advantage. Even the Gothic small-paned +<span class='pageno' id='Page_418'>418</span>glass door, when present, does not hide the dainty +pieces. The apse-shaped, shell-fluted top with its pillared +frame and carved sunbursts, and its surmounting brass +eagles or balls, seems a fitting roof to shelter the fragile +ingatherings.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The old china seems always to look better and more +at home in an old-time setting. On page <a href='#Page_44'>44</a> is shown +a shallow dresser, an adaptation of an old kitchen fashion, +with narrow ledges of shelves hung with old pewter +porringers, which proves also a delightful way to +show to plain view the rows of blue and white plates, +especially the dainty gems of “cup-plates,” which are so +treasured and loved by the china hunter that there +never seems to be any spot altogether worthy to hold +and display them quite as they ought to be shown. Of +course, large articles—what were called in olden times +“hollow-ware”—cannot be placed on a dresser; tiny +pepper-pots, salt-cellars, tea-caddies, very small creamers, +and plates and platters set on edge must form the dresser’s +only burden.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id006'> +<span class='pageno' id='Page_419'>419</span> +<img src='images/i_435.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>China Steps.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>Another old-fashioned resting-place for china may be +adopted in modern times for the sustentation of any +broken-nosed, handleless, nicked, cracked, or scorched +treasure, “the broken teacups wisely kept for show,” +which no true china hunter will despise, but which +will not bear the too close examination of scoffers, and +to which distance lends a haze of enchantment and veil +of perfection. I mean a “crown of steps,” or “shelf of +steps,” or “china steps,” as they were variously called. +One is here shown, but as they are so rare nowadays +<span class='pageno' id='Page_421'>421</span>perhaps the term needs some explanation. On top +of a high chest of drawers, a “high-boy,” was placed +in olden times a three-tiered, graduated platform of +“steps” to hold and display china. The lower tier of +the platform was about eight or ten inches shorter and +five inches shallower than the top of the “high-boy.” +This left free a shelf of about five inches wide upon the +sides and front of the top; the tier was four or five +inches high. The second tier, or step, was made shorter +and narrower in the same proportion, thus leaving a +second ridge or shelf. The top tier, or platform, was +smaller still. Thus when the china was arranged around +the three sides of the “crown of steps” it made a pretty +pyramid of pitchers and teapots and jars, and each piece +could be plainly seen. Rather high up in the air they +were, perhaps, for purposes of close examination or for +freeing from dust, but safe from danger of breaking. +Very rarely an old “high-boy” will now be seen with a +fixed or permanent “crown of steps,” but usually this +set of china shelves was separate, and frequently was +only made of stained wood. Such were probably the +“Steps for China Ware” of Abraham Blish, of Boston, +in 1735, which were worth only two shillings. Such +also were “the steps & some small China thereon” of +John Proctor in 1756, since they were worth only five +shillings and fourpence. Another inventory has this +item: “1 Japan Chest Draws and Steps for China.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>On such a “shelf of steps” the china is “out of the +way;” and for the same virtue I like to hang china on +the wall—pitcher, jugs, cups, as well as plates—they are +<span class='pageno' id='Page_422'>422</span>so safe and yet so plainly visible in that position. Then +you can do away with “the dozen little teetery tables” +that litter and obstruct our rooms and make man’s life +a burden. There is a certain restfulness in the spacious +parlors of some old houses that I know, a sense of room +in which to move, of liberal elegance, of substantial good +taste, that is owing largely to the absence of small littering +chairs and tables. Everything is upon the walls that +can be hung or placed there; decoration is profuse, but +not in the way. I would rather keep china anywhere +than upon a table. Perhaps the upsetting of a tea-table, +with its burden of eighteen teapots, and the utter annihilation +of teapots and depression of spirits that resulted, +may have conduced to this feeling. For the purpose of +hanging plates upon the wall come various little wire +frames or holders; but when you have fifty or one hundred +plates in your dining-room, even these cheap holders +are quite an expense. Mr. Prime gives in his book +an illustration and the details of the manner of making a +wire frame or holder by which to hang plates on the +wall. This invention of his is very ingenious and very +good; many a one have I in my home; but it requires +for its manufacture a wire-workman or a tinker, either +amateur or professional, and tools of various kinds, and a +neatly made spiral cylinder of wire. This places the +possibility of manufacturing Mr. Prime’s holder quite +out of the reach of the average woman. I, too, have +invented a holder, and it can be made by any woman, +since she need employ but one tool—her own distinctive +instrument—a pair of scissors. The materials, too, are +<span class='pageno' id='Page_423'>423</span>peculiarly feminine—picture-wire or strong twine, and +dress-hooks. I will say for the benefit of the masculine +china hunter who may read these pages that both white +and black dress-hooks can be purchased for a few cents a +dozen, and of various sizes, from the heavy cloak hooks, +which are strong enough to hold a thick Delft plaque, to +the tiny hooks that are sufficient to sustain a fragile +saucer. And the process of manufacture of my plate-holder +is so simple! You use your tool but once—to +cut off the length of wire. Then place four of the dress-hooks +at equal distances around the rim of the plate, +slipping them firmly over the edge. String your wire on +the back of the plate through the two loops at the end +of each of the four hooks and draw it tight. Twist the +ends of the wire firmly and neatly together, make a little +wire loop by which to hang it, and your plate-holder is +done. A man may use a pair of “cut-nippers” to cut +the wire, and a pair of pincers to twist it if he so will; +but a pair of scissors is all that is really necessary, and +will answer every purpose, though the usage is not thoroughly +conducive to the welfare of the scissors. I will +not say that this holder is better than Mr. Prime’s, though +I point with pride to the facility and simplicity of its +construction; but I think I can boast that it is cheaper.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The dark blue Staffordshire plates especially should +be thus hung on the wall, where they form so rich a point +of color that they put to shame all the thin water-colors +and pale French china in their vicinity, and make us +fully appreciate Oscar Wilde’s sigh of “trying to live up +to his blue and white china.”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_424'>424</span>But let me no longer dwell on the charms of our +widely gathered possessions, lest it be said of me as was +of Horace Walpole—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c012'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“China’s the passion of his soul,</div> + <div class='line'>A cup, a plate, a dish, a bowl</div> + <div class='line'>Can kindle wishes in his breast,</div> + <div class='line'>Inflame with joy or break his rest;”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c013'>but end with the assurance that I fully concur in the +words of a well-known English collector: “China-collecting +is not a mere fancy—it is a complete education.”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_425'>425</span> + <h2 class='c005'>INDEX</h2> +</div> + +<ul class='index c002'> + <li class='c023'>Acrelius, Parson, <a href='#Page_217'>217</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Adams, President, china of, <a href='#Page_251'>251</a>, <a href='#Page_301'>301</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Alchymy spoons, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Annely, Edward, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Anti-slavery plate, <a href='#Page_333'>333</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Apotheosis of Washington, pitcher, <a href='#Page_265'>265</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Arnold, Governor Benedict, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Auction, country, in New England, <a href='#Page_33'>33</a></li> + <li class='c002'>“Baby,” Milliner’s, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Bache, Mrs., <a href='#Page_65'>65</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Bainbridge portrait on mug, <a href='#Page_310'>310</a></li> + <li class='c023'><cite>Baltimore Advertiser</cite>, announcement in, of sale of china, <a href='#Page_235'>235</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Baltimore plate, <a href='#Page_334'>334</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Baltimore and Ohio plates, <a href='#Page_334'>334</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Barlow, S. L. M., sale of china of, <a href='#Page_176'>176</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Bat-printing, <a href='#Page_156'>156</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Beach ware, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Bennington ware, <a href='#Page_97'>97</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Binney & Ronaldson, <a href='#Page_93'>93</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Bonaparte, Lucien, cup and saucer of, <a href='#Page_29'>29</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Bonaparte mugs, <a href='#Page_152'>152</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Bonnin, Gousse, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Boston plates, <a href='#Page_337'>337</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Bostonian Society, the, <a href='#Page_305'>305</a>, <a href='#Page_311'>311</a>, <a href='#Page_411'>411</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Bow china, <a href='#Page_54'>54</a>, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a>, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a>, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Bowen, Samuel, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Bradford, Governor, china of, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Bristol porcelain, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a>; + <ul> + <li>teapot, <a href='#Page_208'>208</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c023'>Broseley blue dragon pieces, <a href='#Page_131'>131</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Buchanan, President, china of, <a href='#Page_253'>253</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Bugbee, Thomas, <a href='#Page_83'>83</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Burlington, old pottery at, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Burnet, Governor, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a></li> + <li class='c002'>Cadogan teapot, <a href='#Page_204'>204</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Calumet, the, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a>; + <ul> + <li>of the Cherokees, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c023'>Cambridge plates, <a href='#Page_321'>321</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Canton china, blue, <a href='#Page_183'>183</a>; + <ul> + <li>sale of, direct from the vessel, <a href='#Page_186'>186</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c023'>Castleford pottery, <a href='#Page_117'>117</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Centennial china, <a href='#Page_343'>343</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Champion, Richard, <a href='#Page_85'>85</a>, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a>, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a>, <a href='#Page_280'>280</a></li> + <li class='c023'>China collector, a professional, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>; + <ul> + <li>a Yankee, <a href='#Page_18'>18</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c023'>China in America, earliest mentions of, <a href='#Page_56'>56</a>; + <ul> + <li>advertisements of, in the early Boston papers, <a href='#Page_66'>66</a>;</li> + <li>old American, <a href='#Page_70'>70</a>;</li> + <li>inexhaustible materials for manufacture of, in America, <a href='#Page_90'>90</a>;</li> + <li>with American scenes, etc., <a href='#Page_137'>137</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c023'>China steps, <a href='#Page_418'>418</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Chinese ewer, <a href='#Page_190'>190</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Cincinnati punch-bowl, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a>; + <ul> + <li>of General Washington, <a href='#Page_230'>230</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href='#Page_239'>239</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c023'>City Hall pitcher, <a href='#Page_360'>360</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Clews, Mr. James, <a href='#Page_327'>327</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Congressional punch-bowl, <a href='#Page_216'>216</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Cookworthy, William, <a href='#Page_84'>84</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Copper-lustre pitcher, <a href='#Page_387'>387</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Crouch-ware, <a href='#Page_109'>109</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Crown Derby plate, <a href='#Page_380'>380</a></li> + <li class='c002'>Danvers pottery, song of, <a href='#Page_78'>78</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Davis, Mrs. James M., Bristol porcelain urn of, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a></li> + <li class='c023'><span class='pageno' id='Page_426'>426</span>Decatur portrait, <a href='#Page_310'>310</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Deerfield Memorial Hall, <a href='#Page_412'>412</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Delft ware, early, <a href='#Page_53'>53</a>; + <ul> + <li>early sale of, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a>;</li> + <li>in New York, <a href='#Page_102'>102</a>;</li> + <li>on Long Island, <a href='#Page_103'>103</a>;</li> + <li>price of, <a href='#Page_103'>103</a>;</li> + <li>tea-caddies, <a href='#Page_104'>104</a>;</li> + <li>apothecary jars of, <a href='#Page_105'>105</a>, <a href='#Page_382'>382</a>;</li> + <li>in the Trumbull-Prime collection, <a href='#Page_106'>106</a>;</li> + <li>tiles, <a href='#Page_106'>106</a>, <a href='#Page_158'>158</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c023'>Derby, Elias Haskett, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a></li> + <li class='c023'>De Witt Clinton, portrait of, <a href='#Page_313'>313</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Dextra, Zachary, <a href='#Page_104'>104</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Drinks, colonial American, <a href='#Page_217'>217</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Dwight, John, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a></li> + <li class='c002'>East India Marine Company’s Museum, <a href='#Page_409'>409</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Elder Brewster teapot, <a href='#Page_202'>202</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Erie Canal plates, <a href='#Page_345'>345</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Essex Institute, the, <a href='#Page_313'>313</a>, <a href='#Page_411'>411</a></li> + <li class='c002'>Faneuil, Andrew, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Faneuil, Peter, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Farmer pitchers, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Franklin, Benjamin, sends china to his wife, <a href='#Page_64'>64</a>, <a href='#Page_91'>91</a>, <a href='#Page_157'>157</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Franklin pottery, list of, <a href='#Page_274'>274</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + <li class='c023'>Franklin, William, medallion, <a href='#Page_302'>302</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Frog mugs, <a href='#Page_144'>144</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Fulham jugs, <a href='#Page_107'>107</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Funeral-punches, <a href='#Page_211'>211</a></li> + <li class='c002'>“Guglet,” <a href='#Page_237'>237</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Ginger-jars of Canton china, <a href='#Page_188'>188</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Glazing, Indian method of, <a href='#Page_72'>72</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Glider, to, <a href='#Page_214'>214</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Goat cream jugs, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Grant, General, china of, <a href='#Page_254'>254</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Gray, Billy, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a></li> + <li class='c002'>Haig, Thomas, <a href='#Page_93'>93</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Hall’s, R., wares, <a href='#Page_330'>330</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Hamilton, Mrs. Alexander, china of, <a href='#Page_243'>243</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Hancock, John, portrait, <a href='#Page_304'>304</a></li> + <li class='c023'><span class='pageno' id='Page_427'>427</span>Hanover, First Church of, pewter service of, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Harrison pitcher, <a href='#Page_314'>314</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Hartington house, the, <a href='#Page_396'>396</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Hayes, President, china of, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Henrietta Maria, Queen, recipe book of, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Hews, A. H., & Co., <a href='#Page_81'>81</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Historical Society of Pennsylvania, collection, <a href='#Page_411'>411</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Hodges, Dr. Caspar Wister, <a href='#Page_280'>280</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Hound-handled pitcher, <a href='#Page_99'>99</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Holder for hanging china, <a href='#Page_422'>422</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Hull pitchers, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Hull portrait, <a href='#Page_310'>310</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Huntington collection, <a href='#Page_160'>160</a>; + <ul> + <li>Franklin pottery in, <a href='#Page_287'>287</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c023'>Hylton pottery, <a href='#Page_215'>215</a></li> + <li class='c002'>Indian bowls, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Indiana Pottery Co., <a href='#Page_98'>98</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Inscriptions on pitchers, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a></li> + <li class='c002'>Jackfield teapots, <a href='#Page_208'>208</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Jackson, President, china of, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Japanese teapots, <a href='#Page_205'>205</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Jefferson, Thomas, Wedgwood cameos of, <a href='#Page_115'>115</a>; + <ul> + <li>hospitality of, <a href='#Page_249'>249</a>;</li> + <li>china of, <a href='#Page_250'>250</a>;</li> + <li>portraits, <a href='#Page_303'>303</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c023'>Jones, Cadwallader, vases given to, by Lafayette, <a href='#Page_174'>174</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Johnson. Dr., teapot of, <a href='#Page_198'>198</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Jug, hot water, of pewter, <a href='#Page_50'>50</a></li> + <li class='c002'>Keen, Joseph, <a href='#Page_93'>93</a></li> + <li class='c002'>Lafayette, <a href='#Page_241'>241</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Lafayette pottery, <a href='#Page_288'>288</a>; + <ul> + <li>list of, <a href='#Page_289'>289</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c023'>Lafayette Landing platter, <a href='#Page_294'>294</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Lamb, Charles, <a href='#Page_1'>1</a>, <a href='#Page_378'>378</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Lawrence portrait, <a href='#Page_310'>310</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Lay, Benjamin, <a href='#Page_63'>63</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Lefferts, John, <a href='#Page_103'>103</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Lincoln, President, china of, <a href='#Page_253'>253</a></li> + <li class='c023'><span class='pageno' id='Page_428'>428</span>Liverpool ware, <a href='#Page_135'>135</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Liverpool pitchers, <a href='#Page_162'>162</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Lowestoft ware, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a>; + <ul> + <li>vase, <a href='#Page_174'>174</a>;</li> + <li>value of, <a href='#Page_175'>175</a>;</li> + <li>in New England seaport towns, <a href='#Page_179'>179</a>;</li> + <li>in the south, <a href='#Page_194'>194</a>;</li> + <li>of John Hancock, <a href='#Page_195'>195</a>;</li> + <li>teapot, <a href='#Page_208'>208</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c023'>Lowestoft town, <a href='#Page_175'>175</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Lustre sets, <a href='#Page_132'>132</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Lyman & Fenton, <a href='#Page_96'>96</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Lyon, Dr. Irving, <a href='#Page_112'>112</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Lyon, Miss Henrietta D., <a href='#Page_129'>129</a>, <a href='#Page_254'>254</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Lyon, Governor, sale of china of, <a href='#Page_175'>175</a>, <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>, <a href='#Page_203'>203</a></li> + <li class='c002'>Macdonough’s victory plate, <a href='#Page_351'>351</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Macdonough portrait, <a href='#Page_312'>312</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Madison, china of, <a href='#Page_251'>251</a></li> + <li class='c023'>“Map” pitcher, <a href='#Page_268'>268</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Mayer, Thomas, <a href='#Page_324'>324</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Metropolitan Museum, <a href='#Page_160'>160</a>, <a href='#Page_173'>173</a>, <a href='#Page_245'>245</a>, <a href='#Page_257'>257</a>, <a href='#Page_270'>270</a>, <a href='#Page_271'>271</a>, <a href='#Page_277'>277</a>, <a href='#Page_279'>279</a>, <a href='#Page_283'>283</a>, <a href='#Page_284'>284</a>, <a href='#Page_286'>286</a>, <a href='#Page_296'>296</a>, <a href='#Page_297'>297</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Millennium plate, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a> 353</li> + <li class='c023'>Milliners, Boston, sell “chayney,” <a href='#Page_58'>58</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Miranda, General, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Mirror-knobs, <a href='#Page_159'>159</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Monroe, President, china of, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Montgomery pitcher, <a href='#Page_304'>304</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Morris, George Anthony, <a href='#Page_90'>90</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Morristown, pewter utensils in the Washington House at, <a href='#Page_49'>49</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Morse collection, <a href='#Page_205'>205</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Mottoes on teapots, <a href='#Page_207'>207</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Mount Vernon plates, <a href='#Page_353'>353</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Museum of Practical Geology, <a href='#Page_110'>110</a>, <a href='#Page_112'>112</a>, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a>, <a href='#Page_140'>140</a>, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a>, <a href='#Page_168'>168</a></li> + <li class='c002'>Nahant plate, <a href='#Page_354'>354</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Naval pitchers, <a href='#Page_141'>141</a>, <a href='#Page_309'>309</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Neptune, the, voyage of, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Newbery’s “Dives Pragmaticus,” <a href='#Page_38'>38</a></li> + <li class='c023'>New Jersey, early china not plentiful in, <a href='#Page_62'>62</a></li> + <li class='c023'><span class='pageno' id='Page_429'>429</span>New York plates 356</li> + <li class='c023'>Niederweiler china of Washington, <a href='#Page_244'>244</a></li> + <li class='c023'>“Noggins,” wooden, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Norton, John and William, <a href='#Page_96'>96</a></li> + <li class='c002'>Osborne, William, <a href='#Page_77'>77</a></li> + <li class='c002'>“Packing Penny,” the, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Pain’s Hill plates, <a href='#Page_330'>330</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Park Theatre plate, <a href='#Page_361'>361</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Patch-boxes, <a href='#Page_161'>161</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Pepys’ tea-drinking, <a href='#Page_199'>199</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Perry pitchers, <a href='#Page_142'>142</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Perry portraits, <a href='#Page_309'>309</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Persian vase, <a href='#Page_192'>192</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Peters, Miss, <a href='#Page_94'>94</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Pewter plates and platters, <a href='#Page_47'>47</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Pewterers, English, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Philadelphia, colonial drinks of, <a href='#Page_216'>216</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Philadelphia, early china in, <a href='#Page_63'>63</a>; + <ul> + <li>plates, <a href='#Page_363'>363</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c023'>Philadelphia Library plate, <a href='#Page_319'>319</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Pierce, President, china of, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Pike portrait, <a href='#Page_311'>311</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Pilgrim plate, <a href='#Page_366'>366</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Pitcher, historical, of the war of 1812, <a href='#Page_299'>299</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Pitcher portrait of Washington, <a href='#Page_260'>260</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Pitchers, patriotic, etc., list of, <a href='#Page_301'>301</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + <li class='c023'>Plymouth coffee-pot, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Poore, Ben Perley, collection of pewter of, <a href='#Page_49'>49</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Porcelain ware, early in America, <a href='#Page_52'>52</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Porringers, pewter, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Posset-pot, the, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Posnets, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a></li> + <li class='c023'>“Posy-holders,” <a href='#Page_191'>191</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Pottery of the North American Indians, <a href='#Page_70'>70</a>; + <ul> + <li>in burial mounds, <a href='#Page_73'>73</a>;</li> + <li>in Louisiana, <a href='#Page_74'>74</a>;</li> + <li>of the Iroquois, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c023'>Preble, portrait of, <a href='#Page_311'>311</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Prentiss, A. M., presentation pitcher of, <a href='#Page_158'>158</a></li> + <li class='c023'><span class='pageno' id='Page_430'>430</span>Presidential china, auction sales of, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Pride, John, <a href='#Page_77'>77</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Province House pitcher, <a href='#Page_65'>65</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Punch, <a href='#Page_213'>213</a>; + <ul> + <li>varieties of, <a href='#Page_217'>217</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> + <li>bare-legged, <a href='#Page_218'>218</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c023'>Punch-bowl, the, <a href='#Page_210'>210</a>; + <ul> + <li>of lustre ware, <a href='#Page_215'>215</a>;</li> + <li>of Liverpool Delft, <a href='#Page_215'>215</a>;</li> + <li>Henry Weatherbourne’s, <a href='#Page_219'>219</a>;</li> + <li>of Washington, <a href='#Page_221'>221</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</li> + <li>of the good old times, <a href='#Page_226'>226</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c023'>Puzzle jugs, <a href='#Page_145'>145</a></li> + <li class='c002'>Quilted china plates, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a></li> + <li class='c002'>Randolph, Edmund, punch-bowl of, <a href='#Page_219'>219</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Reed, Joseph, <a href='#Page_77'>77</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Remmey, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Richards, Horace Jones, <a href='#Page_300'>300</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Richmond, A. G., his collection of Indian pottery, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Ridgway, J. & W., china, <a href='#Page_318'>318</a>, <a href='#Page_328'>328</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Rose, Thomas, <a href='#Page_172'>172</a></li> + <li class='c002'>Sadler, John, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Sadler’s ware, <a href='#Page_137'>137</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Sailor pitchers, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Salt-glazed ware, <a href='#Page_108'>108</a></li> + <li class='c023'>“Savealls,” <a href='#Page_43'>43</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Sewall, Judge, <a href='#Page_200'>200</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Seixas, David G., <a href='#Page_93'>93</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Shrewsbury, old house in, <a href='#Page_46'>46</a></li> + <li class='c023'>“Slaw bank,” a, <a href='#Page_46'>46</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Smith, James R., <a href='#Page_258'>258</a></li> + <li class='c023'>“Sneaker,” <a href='#Page_237'>237</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Sack-posset, recipe for, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a></li> + <li class='c023'>“Sourings,” <a href='#Page_225'>225</a></li> + <li class='c023'>South Amboy, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Staffordshire crockery, <a href='#Page_316'>316</a>; + <ul> + <li>marks on, <a href='#Page_324'>324</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c023'>Standish, Miles, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Steamboat plate, <a href='#Page_350'>350</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Stienwerck, Cornelius, <a href='#Page_61'>61</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Syntax, Dr., designs on china, <a href='#Page_321'>321</a></li> + <li class='c002'><span class='pageno' id='Page_431'>431</span>Tea, in Boston, <a href='#Page_200'>200</a>; + <ul> + <li>price of, <a href='#Page_201'>201</a>;</li> + <li>drinking of, <a href='#Page_199'>199</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c023'>Tea-sets, Staffordshire, not uniform. 317</li> + <li class='c023'>Teapot friezes, <a href='#Page_206'>206</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Teapots, mottoes on, <a href='#Page_207'>207</a>; + <ul> + <li>Lowestoft, <a href='#Page_208'>208</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c023'>Temperance plate, <a href='#Page_371'>371</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Thomas, Gabriel, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Timberlake, Lieutenant, <a href='#Page_72'>72</a>, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a></li> + <li class='c023'>“Tobys,” <a href='#Page_323'>323</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Toddy strainer, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Transfer-printing, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Trenchers, wooden, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Trumbull-Prime collection, <a href='#Page_96'>96</a>, <a href='#Page_99'>99</a>, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a>, <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>, <a href='#Page_261'>261</a>, <a href='#Page_268'>268</a>, <a href='#Page_279'>279</a>, <a href='#Page_291'>291</a>, <a href='#Page_304'>304</a>, <a href='#Page_413'>413</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Truxton, Commodore, <a href='#Page_142'>142</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Tucker, William Ellis, <a href='#Page_94'>94</a></li> + <li class='c002'>Van Braam, Mr., china given by, to Martha Washington, <a href='#Page_233'>233</a>, <a href='#Page_242'>242</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Voiders, china, <a href='#Page_69'>69</a></li> + <li class='c002'>Wales, George M., <a href='#Page_145'>145</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Ward, J., poem of, on the Potter’s art, <a href='#Page_42'>42</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Warren pitcher, <a href='#Page_304'>304</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Washington, George, china, <a href='#Page_177'>177</a>, <a href='#Page_229'>229</a>; + <ul> + <li>value of, <a href='#Page_248'>248</a>;</li> + <li>letter of, to Colonel Tilghman, <a href='#Page_234'>234</a>;</li> + <li>portraits of, on china, <a href='#Page_257'>257</a>, <a href='#Page_265'>265</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c023'>Washington, Martha, plate, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a>; + <ul> + <li>china, <a href='#Page_240'>240</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c023'>Washington pitchers, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Washington Association, <a href='#Page_174'>174</a>, <a href='#Page_203'>203</a>, <a href='#Page_216'>216</a>, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a>, <a href='#Page_243'>243</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Washington pottery, list of, <a href='#Page_262'>262</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Washington toddy-jugs, <a href='#Page_261'>261</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Washington, D. C., plates, <a href='#Page_374'>374</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Wedgwood, Josiah, his alarm at the progress of china manufacture in America, <a href='#Page_87'>87</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Wedgwood, Thomas, pewter plates of, <a href='#Page_42'>42</a></li> + <li class='c023'><span class='pageno' id='Page_432'>432</span>Wedgwood ware, in America, <a href='#Page_114'>114</a>, <a href='#Page_116'>116</a>; + <ul> + <li>teapots, <a href='#Page_209'>209</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c023'>Welsteed, William, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Willow-pattern ware, <a href='#Page_130'>130</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Winthrop jug, <a href='#Page_54'>54</a></li> + <li class='c023'>Worcester ware in “Japan taste,” <a href='#Page_29'>29</a>; + <ul> + <li>porcelain, old, in America, <a href='#Page_133'>133</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c002'>Yendell, S., presentation pitcher of 155</li> +</ul> + +<div class='pbb'> + <hr class='pb c003'> +</div> +<div class='tnotes x-ebookmaker'> + +<div class='chapter ph2'> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c004'> + <div>TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES</div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + + <ul class='ul_1 c002'> + <li>Typos fixed; non-standard spelling and dialect retained. + </li> + </ul> + +</div> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77000 ***</div> + </body> + <!-- created with ppgen.py 3.57e (with regex) on 2025-09-11 21:18:01 GMT --> +</html> + diff --git a/77000-h/images/cover.jpg b/77000-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fc60970 --- /dev/null +++ b/77000-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/77000-h/images/di_015.jpg b/77000-h/images/di_015.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5bd7009 --- /dev/null +++ b/77000-h/images/di_015.jpg diff --git a/77000-h/images/i_015.jpg b/77000-h/images/i_015.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c3b85e1 --- /dev/null +++ b/77000-h/images/i_015.jpg diff 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