weighing three ounces, was sold for six-and-
forty guineas.

Since there are many amateurs in porcelain
whom it is not hard to deceive, and since
there are some ways of deceiving even the
most accomplished, a trade in old china will
sometimes bring good returns to any man
with pliability of conscience. For example,
before hard porcelain was understood at
Sevres, there was a soft kind made there, and
beautifully painted; as it was made only
between the years 1740 and 1769, it is
extremely rare and costly. Suddenly several
individuals exhibited a most promiscuous taste
for soft ware porcelain, of all sorts, whether
valuable or not. At length their object was
discovered; they could scrape off the glaze,
and with it the painting, upon this material,
which had absorbed the glaze so much that
on a second baking a fresh portion of it was
brought out. This second glaze could then
be painted in imitation of the choicest Sevres
of the soft kind, and deceive the most acute.
In this way a large fortune was accumulated
by a dealer, who is now no more among the
living.

We have been reading lately the very
interesting book concerning Pottery and
Porcelain written by Mr. Marryatt, and
luxuriously illustrated by Mr. Murray's liberality
with coloured plates of jugs and mugs, and
all their kindred, as they are seen in the
forms most prized by collectors. If we now
amuse and interest our readers with the
information we propose to furnish, let them
pay their thanks to Mr. Marryatt for having
built and filled the storehouse out of which
we fetch our grain.

Pottery and porcelain differ not only in
quality, but, to a certain extent, they differ
also in their nature. The plain distinction
between them is obvious enough. Pottery,
like our pipkins and stone ware, is opaque;
porcelain is translucid, being a sort of cross-
breed between pottery and glass. In the way
of etymology the matter is reversed, the
derivation of the word Pottery is quite
transparent; that of Porcelain, however, it is not
possible to see through. The ordinary theory
about the origin of the word is as follows:-
It comes out of the Portuguese, that nation
being once upon a time monopolist of Eastern
trade, fingered much Oriental money in the
shape of shells, which, on account of a fanciful
resemblance between their backs and the
backs of little pigs, were commonly called
porcellana. At this similitude we grunt a
little; but the shells being called porcellana,
that name presently was transferred by
merchants to the thin, shell-like substance of
the Oriental cups with which they made
acquaintance, and so china-ware acquired the
name of porcelain, and porcellana so became
the Portuguese word for a cup. Unfortunately,
however, for the first part of this
theory, it is found that the word pourcelaine
existed in the French language before China
porcelain was brought to Europe, and it then
signified a stone prized well enough to be set
in company with gold and pearls. Perhaps
it was chalcedony; milky, translucent, and
therefore very likely to have suggested to the
Portuguese their name for the shell-money
and the cups. Taking this fact into account,
we must suppose the before-mentioned theory
to have been saddled by etymologists on the
backs of little pigs, for their own private
riding.

Pottery and porcelain, then, being two
distinct things, we will treat of them distinctly.
Of each there are said to be two kinds, hard
or soft; a kind that can, and a kind that
cannot, be scratched with a knife. If pottery
and porcelain are the two great kingdoms of
crockery, these are their classes. And each
class is subdivided into genera, each genus
into species; we shall not, however, be minute
upon such matters; it is not worth while.
Into each kingdom we shall travel with eyes
unscientific and profane, to make note of
whatever things we may believe to be most
worthy of attention.

Painted pottery first came into Europe
through Italy; and to begin at the beginning,
we must go back to the Crusades and the
Mussulmen, and that atrocious king of
Majorca, Nazaredeck, who confined twenty
thousand Christians in his dungeons. In
1115, after twelve months of resistance from
the Saracens, Majorca was taken, with many
prisoners and much spoil, by Crusaders from
Pisa. The spoil went to Pisa, and included
the first load of painted Moorish pottery.
Afterwards warriors who stopped at Majorca,
on their way home from the Crusades, were
in the habit of bringing home from thence, as
trophy, portions of the Moorish painted ware,
to stick into the walls of their own Christian
churches. Painted pottery was an architectural
decoration common to the Saracens, and
at this day, among the mountains about
Mesopotamia, humble shed-churches of the
Nestorian Christians have crockery-ware
fastened to their walls.

These pieces of pottery, upon the walls of
churches in Pisa and Pavia, were called, from
the island whence they came, Majolica. For
two hundred years they were objects of
admiration as religious trophies, before any
attempt was made to imitate them by Italian
manufacturers.

Luca della Robbia led the way, however,
not as an imitator of the Moors; but
altogether in an independent manner. Since he
is to be regarded as the first of European
potters, we ought not to pass him over lightly,
so we take Vasari from the shelf, and turn
to the name Luca della Robbia. He was
born at Florence in 1400, and was handsomely
educated, so that he could not only read and
write, but knew a little of arithmetic. He
was apprenticed to a goldsmith of eminence,
who instructed him in the arts of drawing
and modelling in wax. Luca took confidence,