Although in back slums of these towns, and amongst the dissipated, the pallid father, wan mother, and emaciated child may, as elsewhere, be occasionally seen creeping home; amongst the thrifty and orderly, no such lugubrious picture is presented; but as a rule one sees healthy-looking men and women, and rosy-cheeked urchins of the true English type. Indeed the beauty of delicate features and intelligence of expression, combined with physical vigour, are marked characteristics of the whole district, and such as a stranger would not be led to expect. While my metaphorical tent was pitched near a pretty little rivulet at Dresden, my visits to the neighbouring towns and places of beauty or interest were frequent, both in winter and summer; and I had consequently the best opportunities of inspecting these busy hives of industry, which have so marvellously sprung up from the original germ-thought of one man, Josiah Wedgwood, whose brain-labour has set all these hands in motion. It would be out of place to enter into a fully detailed account of the manufacture of the various wares known by the generic name of _china_; but a few particulars may not be unnecessary, as an introduction to the special process of embellishment. Most of us are familiar with the earlier difficulties in the plastic processes--from the potter's wheel to the mould--with which Wedgwood had to contend. We know the components of the superior wares, and have at length discovered the Chinese secret--that it is the ingredient of _bone_-dust which imparts the semi-transparent quality; while the properties of the shining surface are well understood; therefore it is with the _bisque_, or unglazed ware that we shall commence, after it has been withdrawn from the _bottle_-shaped oven to the _dripping_-house. In this latter department, the fresh-baked ware is immersed in a silicious solution, and thence conveyed, in bandbox-shaped _seggars_, to the 'glost' (glaze) oven to be fired. But should it be desired to ornament it with _printed_ paper patterns laid upon the surface, this is effected before it is dipped. The ware is now _fired_ until the glaze becomes transparent; after which it is removed to the 'glost' warehouse, where the various articles are assorted by classification, and then transferred to female artists skilled in the 'stencilled ground-laying,' as the process is locally termed, of the metallic colours, each of which is brought to a perfectly uniform tint with a 'boss' or pad. Passing from their hands to the kiln, the ware is again fired, after which it is transferred to the fair 'paintresses' (a local word), whose superior intelligence, or taste, qualifies them to embellish it with what they call 'enamel' paintings of birds, flowers, and other familiar objects. It is then fired for eight hours; and finally transferred to the gilders and burnishers, who, with their agate implements, bring the process of ornamentation to its last stage.