Will my readers note that in the earlier pieces of Derby and Crown-Derby china the crown is carefully jewelled; in the later productions of the Duesbury period the mark was rudely executed, and the crown was hastily pencilled. [Illustration: DERBY FIGURE GROUP. Lady and gentleman dancing. Decorated in rich colours and gilded.] Of the introduction of the cross daggers and six spots, about the year 1782, there is the tradition that it was a defiance to all manufactories except three, viz., those of Sèvres, Dresden, and Berlin. [Illustration: CROWN DERBY PASTILLE-BURNER (4 IN. HIGH). _In the Collection of the Author._] We give as a headpiece a typical example of early Crown-Derby. It represents a two-handled covered cup and saucer decorated with the well-known rich blue and gold border and festoons in pink. It is marked in puce with jewelled crown. This specimen is from the national collection now at the Bethnal Green Museum. The vase we reproduce is 6-1/2 in. high and has the crown and crossed batons and dots, which mark has been photographed and appears in the illustration (p. 17). It is richly decorated and a good specimen, as is the smaller vase, or pastille-burner, with masks, and similarly marked (p. 11). These two specimens, together with the Crown-Derby mug and saucer, decorated in tomato red and gold, are from the collection of Mr. W. G. Honey, which was on view at the Cork Exhibition. The first William Duesbury died in 1785. His son, William, who had for the last few years been in partnership with him under the firm of Duesbury and Son, succeeded him. This second William Duesbury increased the fortunes of Derby china with astonishing rapidity. The King and Queen, and the Prince of Wales (afterwards George IV.), and the leaders of fashionable society were among his customers. There was a craze for a time, and titled ladies painted flowers and other pictures on the porcelain supplied to them by the Derby factory. It was afterwards fired and finished for their own special use. Of these ladies, Lady Margaret Fordyce, Lady Plymouth, and Lady Aubrey executed some beautiful drawings, which probably still remain in their families. Lord Lonsdale had twenty-four plates painted with landscapes in Cumberland after his own sketches, and many other noblemen and gentlemen did the same. [Illustration: _W. G. Honey._] [_Cork._ CROWN DERBY MUG AND SAUCER. (Tomato red and heavy gold decoration.)] [Illustration: MARK ON ABOVE MUG (IN RED).] On the death of Duesbury the second, his widow married his late partner, a Mr. Michael Kean, an Irishman, and clever artist. This was in 1798. But Kean hastily withdrew from the concern when the third William Duesbury came of age, who for a time carried on the factory under the firm of “Duesbury and Sheffield.” In 1815 the premises passed into the hands of Mr. Robert Bloor.