2647.; another, now in the Louvre, with the subject of the youthful Hercules strangling the serpent, was purchased for 2401.; another, with the subject of Dejanira, Hercules, and Hyllus, brought 142l.; and a crater, with the subject of Acamus and Demophon bringing back Æthra, 170l. ; a Bacchic amphora of the maker Enecias, of the Archaic style, was bought by the British Museum for 1421. Some of the finest vases belonging to the Prince of Canino, at the sale in 1837, obtained very high prices: an anochoë, with Apollo and the Muses, and a hydria, with the same subject, were bought in for 801. each; a cylix, with a love-scene, and another, with Priam redeeming Hector's corpse, brought 2647.; an amphora, with the subject of Dionysus, and a cup with that of Hercules, sold for 3201. each; another brought 2801. At Mr. Beckford's sale, the late Duke of Hamilton gave 2001. for a small vase with the subject of the Indian Bacchus. But very much larger sums than these have been given at Naples. 500l. was given for the vase with gilded figures discovered at Cuma; only half a century back 8,000 ducats, or 1,500l., was paid to Vivenzio for the vase in the Museo Borbonico, representing the last night of Troy; 1,000l. for one with a Dionysiac feast; and 8001. for the vase with the grand battle of the Amazons, published by Schulz. Large prices continue to be given for fine specimens. At the Castellani sale last year, a drinkingcup, in the form of a horse's head, in black, with ornaments in red and other colours, fetched 120l.; a very beautiful terra-cotta sarcophagus, 4001.; a vase at the Pourtales' sale, the year before, 3601.

Leaving these Etruscan, or, as they are perhaps more correctly called, Italo-Greek vases, there is little if anything worth noticing, excepting perhaps the so-called "Samian" ware-some beautiful specimens of which may be seen in the Roach Smith collection now in the British Museumtill we come to the lustred ware, made probably by the Moors in Spain in the 15th century. Several plateaus of this ware are at South Kensington; and I may specially mention a vase, twenty inches high, with flat expanded handles, and a bowl and ewer; each of these cost 801. Of Italian terracottas, one very pretty one, of the latter part of the same century, is in the same Museum. It represents the Virgin and Child with angels, and was purchased for 8001. Early in the succeeding century we come to some very fine examples. Luca della Robbia, tired of his occupation as a worker in metal, took to modelling in clay; and when he had discovered, about 1511, a new glaze for his terra-cottas, containing tin, sand, antimony, and other materials, at first white, then coloured by the addition of metallic oxides, he succeeded in producing works which are deservedly held in high estimation. They are generally of large size-altar-pieces for churches, &c. A very fine altar-piece by him, representing the coronation of the Virgin, is in the Academy of Fine Arts at Genoa. A series of twelve medallions, representing the months, probably of his workmanship, and now at South Kensington, came from the Campana collection. A bust of Christ was purchased at the Piot sale for 801. 16s. Other members of the same family produced similar works, specimens of which may be seen at South

Kensington. One, for instance, six feet four by five feet eight, with the Adoration of the Magi, cost 100l.; another somewhat larger, with the Virgin giving her girdle to St. Thomas, 120l.; and another, with the Annunciation (in this instance the terra-cotta is uncoloured), 150l. One of the most important works executed by them was the decoration of the Château de Madrid, the palace of Francis I., on the Bois de Boulogne, upon which 15,000l. were spent. It was destroyed in the Revolution.

From the Della Robbia terra-cottas is derived a species of pottery which is of high repute among collectors. It is known by a variety of names,— Majolica, Faenza, Gubbio, Urbino, and Raffaelle ware. About 1115, Nazaredeck, the Moorish king of Majorca, who was said to have had 20,000 Christians in his dungeons, was besieged by the Pisans and slain. Amongst other spoils were several tiles and tablets of painted earthenware, which were brought back to Pisa, and are still to be seen let into the walls of some of the churches there at a great height from the ground. The Italian imitations of these are supposed to have got their name Majolica from the island from which these pieces were brought. Faenza, Gubbio, and Urbino indicate some of its chief places of manufacture, and the name Raffaelle has been given to the ware because that great artist was supposed to have painted some of the specimens himself. At the Bernal sale was a plate, 9 inches in diameter, which excited a most lively competition. It was described as "a plate of the most rare and interesting character, in very strong colours; the subject believed to be Raffaelle himself and the Fornarina seated in the studio of an artist, who is occupied in painting a plate." It was originally in the possession of the Duke of Buckingham, and at the Stowe sale fetched 41. At the Bernal sale, under the impression that it was a plate painted by Raffaelle himself, it fetched the very large sum of 1201. It is, however, of later date than Raffaelle, and is now ticketed at South Kensington as Caffagiolo ?-a place near Florence, where was a castle of the Medici.

It has been often stated that a letter of Raffaelle to a Duchess of Urbino is still extant, telling her that the drawings for certain vases were ready. But the writer of the letter was either Raffaelle dal Colle or R. Ciarla, both of whom are known to have been employed on majolica. The finest specimens were not made till 1540, twenty years after Raffaelle's death. But his drawings were eagerly collected for the decoration of pottery, and particularly by Guidobaldo II. This duke specially employed two artists-Battista Franco for making designs (one fine specimen by him, a plateau twenty-one inches in diameter, belonging to the Queen, is now at South Kensington), and Orazio Fontana to paint them.

The Gubbio ware has a peculiarity confined almost entirely to specimens made there and at Pesaro. This is an iridescent ruby glaze, which shines through the picture afterwards painted on it, and varying with the angle at which the light falls upon it. It was the invention it seems of Maestro Georgio Andreoli of Pavia, who settled at Gubbio in 1498. One of his finest works is an altar-piece, made for the Dominican church at

Gubbio in 1511. It is in three compartments, the centre one representing the coronation of the Virgin. Altogether there are several hundred figures in it. In 1835 it was removed to the Städel Museum at Frankfort.

The manufacture of fine specimens of majolica came to an end because the Dukes of Urbino became so much involved they could no longer afford to keep it up. On the death of the last duke, Francesco Maria II., their magnificent collection of majolica passed into the possession of Ferdinando dei Medici, who carried it to Florence, and there it is still. One portion, however, the vases of the Spezieria (the medical dispensary and laboratory), 380 in number, were given as an offering to our Lady of Loretto. For these vases, Queen Christina of Sweden is said to have offered their weight in gold.

Fine specimens of majolica fetch very large prices. The South Kensington Museum possesses a fine series of the works of Maestro Georgio, several fruttieras which cost from 30l. to 50l. a-piece; a plateau, eighteen inches in diameter, representing a saint with two dogs, one of his largest and most important works in this branch, which cost 150l.; and a vase, about fourteen inches high, from the Soulages collection, 2007. A plate, with a very fine portrait of Pietro Perugino, cost the same sum. A beautiful plateau, nearly sixteen inches in diameter, with "the Stream of Life," after a very rare engraving by Robetta, which does not appear to be in the Print Room of the British Museum, was purchased at the Bernal sale by Mr. Fountaine, of Narford Hall, Norfolk, whose collection of majolica is almost unrivalled, for 1421. A plateau at the Rattier sale produced 1951. Probably the largest price ever given for this ware was for a plate with "the Three Graces," after Marc Antonio, which Mr. Marryatt, in his books on pottery and porcelain calls surpassingly beautiful. At M. Roussel's sale, Mr. Fountaine purchased it for 400 guineas. Of Pesaro specimens, the British Museum purchased a plate with St. Bartholomew in the centre for 411. Of Urbino ware, at the same sale, a very fine dish with Pompey and Cleopatra, now at South Kensington, sold for 501.; a salt-cellar, now in the British Museum, for 617.; a plateau, eighteen inches in diameter, with Moses striking the rock, after a design by Battisto Franco, cost 1001.; a very pretty group, an organ-player and boy blowing bellows, the same sum; a dish at M. Rattier's sale fetched 1871.; and the pair of flasks, or pilgrims' bottles, eighteen inches high, of this or Castel Durante ware-the palace built and ornamented by Francesco Maria II.—now at South Kensington, 250l. There were two vases of this ware at the Bernal sale, both purchased by Mr. A. Barker, one for 2001., the other for 2201. Of Faenza ware, the British Museum gave 431. 1s. for a plate at the Bernal sale; and Baron A. de Rothschild 901. for another very fine one. A fruttiera at South Kensington, with the children of Israel gathering manna, from an engraving of Agostino Veneziano after Raffaelle, cost 100l.

The manufacture of French faïence was encouraged principally by Catherine dei Medici. But I must pass on to a most famous ware-that

of Bernard Palissy. There are few autobiographies so charming and interesting as his. Of humble birth and great talents, the sight of an enamelled earthen cup of great value determined him to discover the secret of its manufacture. "Regardless of the fact," as he tells us, "that I had no knowledge of clays, I began to seek for enamel as a man gropes in the dark." After fifteen or sixteen years of indomitable perseverance, in which his money was exhausted, the palings of his garden, the tables, the very flooring of his house burnt-even his wife's wedding-ring consigned to the crucible-he met with complete success. After all, he died in. -the Bastile, for his religion, at the age of ninety. It is not everybody that admires the crawling things he decorated his plates with -snails, toads, serpents, and such like creatures-but it cannot be denied that the modelling is most admirable. And there are other exquisite examples of his art besides those he covered with specimens of natural history. And the prices his ware sells at now would have satisfied Palissy himself. At the Bernal sale a dish originally purchased, then broken, for twelve francs, and when mended, bought by Mr. Bernal for 41., sold for 1627.; two specimens belonging to M. Rattier produced 200l. and 2451.; a dish at South Kensington, from the Pourtales collection, cost 1157.; and another, from the Soltikoff collection, twenty inches in diameter, with a border of arabesques, 1937.

But the Palissy prices, large as they are, are moderate in comparison with those obtained now-a-days for the ware known to collectors as the faïence de Henri Deux. The total number of known specimens of this ware does not amount to more than sixty, and about half of these are in England. Sir A. de Rothschild, for instance, possesses no less than seven. To show the prices which specimens fetch, I need do no more than mention those given for the five examples at South Kensington. A dish cost 1407; a tazza, 1801.; a salt-cellar, 32 inches by 44, 3007.; a tazza and cover, 4501.; and a candlestick, 7501. Mr. Malcolm, however, gave even a larger sum for a "biberon," at the Pourtales sale, 1,100. Mr. Magniac's ewer is said by Mr. J. C. Robinson to be "in every respect unquestionably the finest and most important specimen of Henri Deux ware now extant.” The price paid for it at the Odiot sale was 801.; in all probability it would now realize at least 2,000l. The companion ewer to one in the possession of Sir A. de Rothschild is valued by M. Delange at 30,000 francs (1,2007.), but would probably, if brought to the hammer, as Mr. Robinson assures us, realize a much greater sum. There is unquestionably a certain degree of prettiness about the ware, but I am afraid I should, except for possible mercenary considerations, prefer Minton's imitations to the originals. The peculiarity about the ware is that the ornaments on it have not been painted, but inlaid with pieces of coloured clays, in patterns previously made in the mould, into which the clay was to be pressed by metal stamps, like those used in ornamental bookbindings. Until very lately nothing was known of its history, but M. Fillon, of Poictiers, has discovered that it was made at Oiron, near Thouars, Deux Sèvres, for Madame Hélène de Han

gest-Genlis, widow of Artus Gouffier, and mother of Claude Gouffier, Grand Ecuyer de France. Their librarian was the Jean Bernard already mentioned in these " Jottings" as furnishing designs for ornamental bindings. Specimens of an excellent imitation of this ware by Minton can be seen at South Kensington.

The earliest specimens of English pottery that possess much interest are the stoneware of Dr. Dwight or De Witt, of Fulham, whom I shall have to mention again, when I come to speak of porcelain. Many specimens of his "Grès de Cologne" are to be found in collections; but perhaps the most beautiful is in the possession of Mr. C. W. Reynolds, with many other heir-looms of the Dwight family. It is a half-length figure of a child lying on a pillow, with a bouquet of flowers in her hand, and a piece of lace on her forehead. It is inscribed "Lydia Dwight, died March 3, 1672."

Our fine pottery began with Wedgwood. Thanks to Miss Meteyard, we have a complete and most interesting life of this great artist. Very curiously, Mr. Bernal, who collected almost everything, from brown mugs to the pâte tendre of Sèvres, had not a single specimen of Wedgwood in his possession. But Mr. Mayer of Liverpool and Mr. T. de la Rue of London neglected no opportunities of securing the works of one of whom Mr. Gladstone has said, that "beginning from zero, and unaided by national or royal gifts, he produced truer works of art than the works of Sèvres, Dresden, or Chelsea." Perhaps the finest service he ever executed was for the Empress Catherine of Russia. Upon each piece was a different view of the palaces, seats of the nobility, and other remarkable places in England: 1,200 views were required, and three years spent in making them. The service being intended for the Grenouillère, part of a palace near St. Petersburg, a frog is painted on the under-surface of each piece. A cup and saucer of this pattern, but without the frog, is in the Mayer collection. Mrs. Delany mentions the service in her letter to Mrs. Post, 1774:-"I am just returned from viewing the Wedgwood ware that is to be sent to the Empress of Russia. It consists, I believe, of as many pieces as there are days in the year, if not hours. They are displayed at a house in Greek Street, Soho, called Portland House. There are three rooms below and two above filled with it, laid upon tables; everything that can be wanted to serve a dinner. The ground, the common ware, pale brimstone; the drawings in purple, the borders a wreath of leaves; the middle of each piece a particular view of all the remarkable places in the King's dominions, neatly executed. I suppose it will come to a princely price; it is well for the manufacturer, which I am glad of, as his ingenuity and industry deserve encouragement." The price paid is said to have been 3,000l., but even at that price it was far from remunerative to Wedgwood.

Several specimens of his ware are at South Kensington, and among them five of his busts in black jasper-Cato, Zeno, Seneca, Bacon, and Ben Jonson-purchased at various prices from 71. to 151. A still finer