_Hard._—China which, on being broken, shows a sparkling surface like that of a flint stone, and is impervious to any staining by colour applied to it. Plymouth and Bristol and New Hall are the only true hard-paste porcelains of this country. _Soft._—China which, on being broken, shows a porous surface capable of absorbing colour. _Porcelain._—Commonly called china; is distinguished from pottery by being translucent. _True Porcelain_ is made from a mixture of two minerals—_petuntse_, or “china stone,” and _kaolin_, or “china clay,” with nothing artificially added; _e.g._, Chinese, Dresden, Plymouth, and Bristol chinas. _Glassy Porcelain_, containing an artificial admixture of glass to give the paste translucency; _e.g._, Chelsea, Bow, Nantgarw, Pinxton. _Bone-ash Porcelain_, of which Spode’s china is an example. _Pottery._—A term used to include all the earthenwares. _Printing._—Formerly, in old chinas, all the coloured decorations were painted. Now, by use of various mechanical devices, women and girls are employed to transfer printed patterns on modern china. _Transfer-printing._—A process used at Liverpool by Sadler and Green, and at Worcester, in which the design from an engraved copper plate was transferred to specially prepared paper and applied to the ware. Black and brown were the main colours used (see Illustrations, pp. 244-5 and facing p. 76). _Translucent._—Transparent. All porcelains, when held up to a strong light, are translucent, in varying degree, according to thickness of paste. I OLD DERBY [Illustration: EARLY CROWN DERBY CUP AND SAUCER. _In Victoria and Albert Museum._] CHATS ON ENGLISH CHINA I OLD DERBY It is not too much to hope that the eyes of some reader will stray into these pages as a wanderer in a strange land, one whose interest in china has never been awakened. We hope to lure such a wight with sweet cajolery. If perchance we can get him to examine one or two dainty specimens of old blue china we shall have him enmeshed in our toils. If he be an artist he will not escape from the enchantment of Derby and of Worcester. If he be a mere business man, here is an item from Messrs. Christie’s catalogue of a sale on January 14, 1902: “Coffee-pot and cover, Worcester. Painted with figures, birds, and flowers, in colours in Chinese taste, and with alternate dark-blue scale-pattern panels—£28 7s.” And this, mark you, is an ordinary item selected at random, a business sample, if you will. Mr. Andrew Lang, in one of his “Ballades in Blue China,” has cunningly put into rhyme a poet’s reason for his love of china:—