So great was the secrecy at first, that Böttcher and his assistants, when Charles XII. of Sweden invaded Saxony, were removed by the Elector for greater safety to the castle at Königstein, where they were practically imprisoned. Even the clay was sealed up in barrels by dumb persons, and every workman was required to take a solemn oath not to reveal the secret. “Be silent unto death” was the motto of the establishment.
How the method of manufacture and the secrets of Meissen finally became known to other countries, and how manufactories came to be set up at Vienna and Petersburg, is one of the romances of trade.
So much for the early history of porcelain in Europe. During this period the art of the potter had not made very great progress in England. These “Chats” have shown of the heroic attempts to emulate the success of Meissen, but it was slow, uphill work to reach the heights of Worcester and of Derby in porcelain and of Wedgwood in earthenware.
Stoneware mugs were more in accordance with the taste of our forefathers than pewter pots for drinking purposes, a comparatively modern prejudice. A variety of mugs called Longbeards, largely imported from Low Countries, were in general use during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries at inns for serving all the customers. The name “Bellarmine” was sarcastically given them in reference to the cardinal most conspicuous in opposing the Reformed faith in the Netherlands, the potter representing, with grotesque art, his Eminence with short stature and rotund figure.
JOHN BULL JUG.
Blue and white (101⁄2 in. high).
From Collection of Mr. W. G. Honey.
It is but a short step from the ware imported from the Low Countries to the pottery of Staffordshire. The celebrated pattern of the Toby jug is well known. Dickens, in “Barnaby Rudge,” makes Gabriel Varden ask Dolly to “put Toby this way.” Uncle Toby himself might have suggested the design, but it is said to be derived from one Toby Philpot, “a thirsty old soul as e’er drank a bottle or fathomed a bowl.” We give, from Mr. W. G. Honey’s collection at Cork, two fine specimens—one an old Staffordshire jug (101⁄2 in. high), representing John Bull, and marked “I. W.”; the other, the well-known pattern of the Vicar and Moses (91⁄4 in. high). This latter is the work of Ralph Wood, of Burslem, and was frequently reproduced by later potters. Both these pieces are blue and white.