Except in the provinces contiguous to France, Germany was never a producer of majolica. It created, however, a pottery entirely of its own, full of originality in its general appearance, and which, by the peculiarity of the process, was really a very distinct type. I am alluding to the Flemish and German stoneware. There is a tradition, that the first pieces were made in Holland at the very beginning of the fifteenth century. The principal centre of its production was, however, in Germany, at Nuremberg, Ratisbon, Bayreuth, Mansfeld, and other places; but the best were made in the neighbourhood of the Lower Rhine, where the clays most fitted for that class of pottery were easily to be found. Here we find, for the first time in Europe, the body of the ware partly vitrified by the high temperature to which it was submitted, and also the remarkable peculiarity, that it was glazed by the volatilization of common salt, thrown into the oven when the temperature had reached its climax. The combination of these two processes had never been effected before, and it would be difficult on that account to find any connection between stoneware and some of the Egyptian potteries. This stoneware varied in colour: some were almost white, some brown, others of a light grey, the last being the most valuable when the effect was increased by blue or purple grounds, harmonizing admirably with the foundation colour of the ware. The shapes are generally elaborate, with a great many mouldings, enriched with embossed ornaments in good taste, some of which were designed by no less an artist than T. Hopfer. The decline of this stoneware began with the seventeenth century, and from that time to the present, this material was only used for wares of the commonest kind. It is only very lately, that it was revived successfully by Messrs. Doulton and Co., of Lambeth. France, which had not as yet any ideas about the process for imitating the Italian majolica, created towards the same time two new sorts of pottery, one of which is the Palissy ware, the other the faA-ence d'Oiron. Palissy, a very inquisitive and intelligent man, is said to have been possessed by a strong desire to reproduce some Italian ware, which he had the opportunity of seeing; whether it was a piece of majolica or of graffito, is not known. Left to his own resources--for there was nobody to instruct him--he succeeded by perseverance and industry in finding out the process for making the different coloured glazes that the Moors had used long before him. There was no discovery in this, but the talent which he displayed in the mixing and blending of these vitreous colours, combined with the incontestable originality of his compositions, have made this ware very difficult to imitate.