The time of its production was limited to the life of Palissy, for there is not really a single good piece which can be traced to his successors. In the faA-ence d'Oiron, incorrectly called Henri Deux ware, we find a real cream-coloured earthenware taking precedence of two hundred years over our own. It was made between the years 1524 and 1567, and we have now every proof that three persons co-operated in this invention: HelA(C)ne de Hangest, who had been formerly entrusted by FranASec.ois I. with the education of his son, afterwards Henry II.; her potter at Oiron, named FranASec.ois Charpentier; and her secretary Jehan Bernart. The charming pieces resulting from the combination of these three intellects were few, and only intended to be offered as presents to the friends of the noble lady at court. This sufficiently explains the monograms and devices, which are found associated with the elaborate ornaments profusely spread over their surface. No ware was ever made before or after this, which required more care and delicate manipulation, and this explains why the highest prices paid in our generation for an article of pottery have been freely given for several of these curiosities. Their principal feature consists in inlaying differently coloured clays one into the other, a process not quite new, as it had been extensively used in mediA|val times for making encaustic tiles for the flooring of our churches, but they were so minutely and neatly executed, and the designs so well distributed, that they are justly considered as marvels of workmanship. In speaking of these faA-ences d'Oiron, we can hardly admire sufficiently the variety in the productions of this period of the Renaissance; and if we select four of these specimens, such as a piece of Faenza ware, one of stoneware, one of Palissy, and another of Oiron, they may fairly stand as good illustrations of the ingenuity of man. The progress realized in these times seems to have undergone a sort of lull, and if we accept the French and Delft faA-ences, which were a transformation of majolica, we find that the greatest portion of the seventeenth century was not marked by any new discovery or decided improvement. Towards its close, however, we begin to notice in Germany and the western countries of Europe several attempts at making a ware, possessing the three standard qualities of whiteness, hardness, and transparency of the Chinese, and these were the precursors of the great movement which occupied the whole of the eighteenth century. As might be expected, inquiries made in different countries by persons unacquainted with each other, brought different results; and if they failed in so much, that a porcelain identical to the Oriental was not reproduced, all of them succeeded in making a white ware of their own, adapted to the materials which they had at their disposal. And thus arose in each country the source of a prosperous trade.