Stole the seed by night."
Sown far and wide in every town, it won universal admiration, and, says the poet—who, by the way, was thinking of plagiarists of his own style—
"Most can raise the flowers now,
For all have got the seed."
We must make one other point; it was Wedgwood who lighted the way even to his source of inspiration. He made no secret of his indebtedness to the art of the silversmith, and in recognising in the antiquarian works of Count Caylus and Sir William Hamilton a new field, he left it open for others to go to the same original sources, nor were his contemporaries slow in doing this. So that, in a measure, this second class of potters may be exonerated from the charge of plagiarism when we find them striking out for themselves.
Chippendale, when he promulgated his "Director" giving designs for furniture, straightway started a school of cabinet-makers, who worked after his designs in every locality in England. These early pioneers in art—Chippendale, the masterly adapter of all that was best on the Continent, and Wedgwood, translator of classicism into English pottery—worked with broad and generous spirit, and their contemporaries and those who came immediately after them helped themselves liberally to the overflowing profusion of ideas.
The third class is the great crowd of lesser men, potters who claim little attention for original work, but who are remembered as producing, as an echo to the great classic revival, designs and shapes and copies of Wedgwood's ware, sometimes in stoneware for jugs, and more often in cream-ware, without an added touch of originality. In this decadent period, when not only in Staffordshire but in other parts of the country this was being largely done, and not always done well, though there are exceptions to which we shall allude later, one is reminded of the pregnant words of Goethe: "There are many echoes, but few voices."
William Adams (1745–1805).—The Adams family are renowned in Staffordshire as being among the oldest potters in the country. In connection with classic ware William Adams, of Greengates, is pre-eminent. At his death, in 1805, the works were carried on by Benjamin Adams till 1820. There is considerable confusion between contemporary members of this family, both of the same name, William Adams (of Cobridge), William Adams (of Greenfield), and the subject of the present remarks, William Adams, of Greengates, who commenced as master potter there in 1789. There were other firms, such as J. Adams & Co., or Adams & Bromley, who made jasper ware between about 1870 and 1886, and who stamped their ware "Adams," or "Adams & Co." This, of course, does not come into the realm of collecting, and this latter firm has nothing to do with the old-established family of Adams. But collectors cannot be too careful when auction catalogues describe such ware as "Adams."
The beautiful Adams blue which is of a violet tone is much admired, and in the finely-modelled classic reliefs the style is less frigid than Wedgwood, as William Adams drew his inspiration more from Latin than Greek models. As a rule his jasper is a trifle more waxen than that of Wedgwood, but never glossy. William Adams was a favourite pupil of Wedgwood, and was doubtless indebted to him for the guidance that set the young potter to work in friendly and amicable rivalry with his late master.