and made attempts in bronze and marble.
He abandoned the goldsmith's trade, and
worked all day with his chisel, studying at
night; "and this he did," Vasari says, " with
so much zeal, that when his feet were often
frozen with cold in the night time, he kept
them in a basket of shavings to warm them,
that he might not be compelled to discontinue
his drawings." He did this as a boy,
and consequently prospered as a man. In
bronze and marble he executed some great
works; " but when, at the conclusion of these
works, the master made up the reckoning of
what he had received, and compared this with
the time he had expended in their production,
he perceived that he had made but small
gains, and that the labour had been excessive;
he determined, therefore, to abandon marble
and bronze, resolving to try if he could not
derive a more profitable return from some
other source. Wherefore, reflecting that it
cost but little trouble to work in clay, which
is easily managed, and that only one thing was
required, namely, to find some method by
which the work produced in that material
should be rendered durable, he considered
and cogitated with so much good-will on this
subject, that he finally discovered the means
of defending such productions from the
injuries of time." He discovered, in fact, a
glaze or enamel, which gave beauty, and " an
almost eternal durability," to his works in
terra cotta—works of extreme beauty. Afterwards,
he added the further invention of
giving colour to his white enamel, and painted
eventually flat pictures on glazed surfaces of
terra cotta. " The fame of these works having
spread, not only throughout Italy, but over
all Europe, there were so many persons
desirous of possessing them, that the Florentine
merchants kept Luca della Robbia
continually at his labour, to his great profit; they
then despatched the products all over the
world." So Luca triumphed through his
perseverance, and his work was carried on by
brothers and descendants. The Italian
pottery, Majolica, was perfected afterwards under
the patronage of the Dukes of Urbino.
Raffaelle himself found some, and his scholars
many, of the painted designs for plates and
vessels. For this reason, the Majolica has
sometimes been styled "Raffaelle ware."
Bankruptcy at last became an hereditary
complaint in the ducal family; the potters' ware
deteriorated, and the manufactory at last was
broken up. Among the pretty toys made in
Majolica, were little basins (baccinetti), gifts
for a lady-love, on which her portrait was
painted, with her style and loving title
underneath, " Cecilia Bella," or, as we might say,
"Pretty Poll!"

Majolica was introduced into France under
the name of Fayence, by Catherine de Medicis.
The manufactory was at Nevers. But directly
we begin to mention French Pottery, we
come to talk about Palissy. Bernard Palissy
was a man great in mind and soul. Born of
poor parents about the beginning of the
sixteenth century, he acquired skill enough
to earn his living as a land-surveyor. Land-
surveying made it necessary for him to draw
lines and diagrams; so he acquired, or rather
developed, a taste for drawing generally, and
betook himself to copying from the great
masters. This new talent gained him employment
in copying images, and painting upon
glass. In his travels, he employed his mind
in the study of the soils and minerals over
which he passed; and to understand them
better, he devoted his time to chemistry.
At length, settled and married at Saintes,
Palissy lived thriftily as a painter. A
beautiful foreign cup of enamelled pottery
being once shown to him, the thought sprung
up in his fertile mind that, if he could but
discover the secret of the enamel, it would enable,
him to place his wife and family in greater
comfort. He consumed all his savings in
experiments. Being employed, in 1543, to
survey some salt marshes, he earned by that
work a sum of money, which no persuasion
of his wife could hinder him from spending
on renewed experiments. All was consumed.
The wife became shrewish, and the children
hungered. The business that would have fed
them was neglected; yet Palissy clung to his
idea, and borrowed money for another
furnace. When that had been all expended,
friends remonstrated, and neighbours sneered.
He could buy no more fuel for his fire. He
broke his tables up, and used the planks
out of his floors. He discharged his assistant;
whom he could pay only by giving him a
portion of his clothes. He dared not face
his angry wife, and trembled when he saw
his children's hungry features. But he knew
that he was labouring for the possible; and
that what is possible is certain to him who
perseveres. He looked as cheerful as he
could, and persevered. For sixteen years he
wrought on; and then he discovered the
enamel, which soon brought him fame and
royal patronage.

When the Reformation got afoot, Palissy
became a reformer; but although court
favour exempted him from edicts against
Protestants, it could not protect him against
public feeling. His workshops were destroyed,
and the King called him to Paris as his
special servant, to protect his life. In the
Tuileries he escaped the massacre of St.
Bartholomew; he lectured there to the learned
men of the capital, on natural history and
science; he was then more than eighty years
of age, but his white hairs could not plead for
him before his enemies, and he was presently
shut up in the Bastille. The King, visiting
him in prison, said, "My good fellow, if you
do not renounce your views upon religious
matters, I shall be constrained to leave you
in the hands of my enemies." " Sire," answered
I'alissy, "those who constrain you, can never
have power over me, because I know how to
die." His prosecution was averted by the