many tons are annually worn out and thrown away as useless. Articles placed in these moulds part with moisture so rapidly, that when put in a very temperate stove, they will become dry enough for removal in two hours, and each individual mould is capable of being used for forming four or five different articles in the course of a working day of twelve hours. The stove wherein these moulds, with their contents, are placed to dry, is a small room built with bricks, and having wooden shelves ranged round it, and over one another from the floor nearly to the ceiling; it is heated by warm air conducted through it in an iron pipe. Moulds for producing simple wares, such as plates and dishes, and generally for such objects as are formed by pressing, are simple in their construction; but others, which are used for the third department, that of casting, call for much more art and skill for their invention and execution. For these, the taste of the modeller is put in requisition, calling for the exertion on his part of a high degree of skill and ingenuity in forming patterns, and adapting to them appropriate ornaments. To be a perfect modeller, in the higher branches of the art, a man should have an acquaintance with the best productions of the classic climes of Greece and Rome; he should be master of a competent knowledge of the art of design; his fancy glowing with originality, tempered and guided by elegance and propriety of feeling, and restrained by correctness of taste and judgment. To a man thus gifted, the plastic and well-tempered material wherewith he works offers little of difficulty in the execution of his conceptions. In the most considerable works, and where the proprietors are ambitious of excelling, modellers are kept in constant employment. Other manufacturers content themselves with buying new moulds from artists who compose them on speculation, and who are sometimes so little scrupulous as to dispose of the same pattern to several different purchasers. For want of due encouragement, high degrees of excellence in this art were formerly not of frequent occurrence. Mr. Wedgwood, to whom the porcelain manufacture of England owes so many and such various benefits, proved that talent in this branch of art needed only for its developement to be fostered and encouraged with liberality. This patriotic individual paid the sum of four hundred pounds to Mr. Webber for modelling the Portland or Barberini vase, although the work called for no original or inventive powers. Since that time, English modellers have attained to such a degree of excellence, that it is said any good modeller, with one qualified assistant, would be able to achieve, in the short space of two weeks, the task which occupied Mr.Webber for many months, and which was viewed, at the time, as an honourable proof of both his talent and industry. The model, when moulded by the hand, must be trimmed, carved, touched, and retouched with suitable tools, constructed of metal or wood, and sometimes even of ivory, for the more perfect finishing of the whole composition. When thus completed, the model passes into the hands of the mould-maker, whose occupation is quite mechanical and distinct from that of the modeller. A strong casing of clay is first formed and securely fixed round the model, leaving sufficient space between for the substance of the mould. Proper proportions of plaster of Paris and water are then placed in a jug, and the mixture is briskly stirred, so that the water may thoroughly pervade the whole, which is then poured gently upon and around the model, covering it in every part to the requisite degree of thickness. Upon this some heat is sensibly given out by the plaster, and the whole is very shortly converted into a hard compact mass, easily separable from the model, and found to exhibit a perfect impression of its form, and the minutest niceties of its ornaments. The mould is, after this, placed in a stove to be thoroughly dried, and is then fit for use. Many articles were formerly made by casting, which are now produced by the operation of pressing last described. Casting is now employed only for the formation of irregular-shaped vessels, where much nicety is required, and which need not have much strength. The casting operation is performed by intimately mixing the united clay and flint with very pure water to the consistence of cream. On pouring this dilution into the mould, the plaster quickly absorbs water from that portion which lies in contact with its surface, hardening it to such a degree, that on the central and still fluid part being poured off, a coating of clay will remain attached to the mould. This coating having been allowed further to dry during a short time, a second charge of diluted clay, but the consistence of which is much greater than the creamy fluid first used, is poured in, and adds to the substance of the first deposit. Having remained in the mould sufficiently long for this purpose, the remainder of the semi-fluid is poured off, and the mould, with its contents, are set in a stove: when sufficiently dry to allow of separation, the article is taken from the mould, and left until it is brought to the green state, when all imperfections are rectified. by the workman, whose skill is exerted to render the vessel as smooth and as perfect as possible. It is essential to the excellence of all kinds of earthenware, that the means used for drying it previous to the baking should produce an uniform evaporation throughout its entire substance. If too much heat were artificially employed, the surface might be hardened, while the internal part remained moist; and this would be attended with disastrous consequences in the oven, owing to the unequal contraction that would then ensue. It is, for this reason, necessary to allow time for the gradual dispersion of moisture, which, however, may be advantageously expedited, by placing the pieces upon plaster shelves, whose absorbent property would occasion the requisite drying in a shorter time, and with increased regularity and uniformity. CHAP. V. ON THE PROCESSES OF FIRING AND GLAZING. SEGGARS. PROPER MATERIALS FOR THESE WANTING IN ENGLAND. NOT SO IN FRANCE.NUNGARROW WORK. WHY DISCONTINUED. GREAT ESTIMATION OF ITS WARES. — CAUSE OF SUPERIORITY. USE OF SEGGARS. THEIR FORMS. -MODE OF USING THEM. -SEVRES MANUFACTORY. -IMPROVED FURNACE. ITS ADVANTAGES. DESCRIPTION. CONSTRUCTION OF THEIR CHINESE METHOD OF FIRING. - In the state whereto the vessels are now brought, they are ready to undergo the first application of fire in the oven. For this purpose they are placed in deep boxes called seggars, made of a mixture of fire clay and old ground seggars, which should be well baked, and capable of sustaining the most intense degree of heat without being fused. The porcelain manufacturers of this country labour under a considerable disadvantage in this respect, being unable to procure materials for the construction of these cases that will sufficiently withstand the direct heat of the furnace. This difficulty does not occur in France, a fact which is assigned by our potters as one principal reason for the better quality of French porcelain. A porcelain manufactory was carried on some years since at Nungarrow in Wales, but which is now dis continued. The wares produced in these works were perhaps superior in quality to any porcelain that hitherto has been made in any other part of this country. No expense was spared either in the procurement of materials, or in conducting the various processes; and the want of success on the part of the spirited proprietors is referrible solely to the deficiency of public patronage, it being found impossible to procure a price for the goods which could adequately meet the cost of their manufacture. Since the discontinuance of this establishment, the excellent quality of its wares has been more justly estimated, and the prices which are now eagerly given by amateurs and collectors for pieces of Nungarrow porcelain, are out of all proportion greater than were originally demanded by the makers. The materials of which this porcelain is composed are of the most refractory quality, and it is understood that success in their conversion was only attained through the expensive measure of sacrificing the seggars employed, which, owing to the high degree of heat whereto they were exposed, could never be placed a second time in the furnace. The office of the seggars is to protect the wares while being baked from the direct application of flame and from smoke; the heat is somewhat modified in its transmission through them, and applies itself uniformly to each part of the vessels. The cases are made of various shapes, sizes, and depths, to suit the different pieces they are to contain, and some judgment is required in their composition, to fit them for the several kinds of pottery. To prevent any adhesion of the pieces to the seggars the flat bottom of each is covered with a thin layer of fine white sand. That this even may not adhere to the porcelain, the Chinese strew over the sand some dry kao-lin in powder. Pieces of any considerable size must each be enclosed in a separate case, but smaller objects, such as cups or saucers, may be placed together to the number of six or twelve, but in no case must one |