The early ware of Worcester may be known by a peculiar greenness of hue in the body of the china. The first mark used was the letter W in some form or another. This letter may stand either for Wall or for Worcester, as D marked on Derby china may stand either for Duesbury, the founder, or for Derby. We reproduce several of the earliest Worcester marks. About the same time a crescent was used, which is believed to have been adopted from the arms of the Warmstrey family, in whose ancient mansion the factory was first started. The first two letters, [Illustration: W], in script, were used when the factory was under the direction of Dr. Wall, who died in 1776. The capital W was marked in blue on early printed china. The crescent in outline was one of the earliest marks, while the second crescent filled in with blue, under the glaze, occurs on blue-printed china, which was invented about 1755. Among other early Worcester marks are assimilations and variations of certain Chinese characters, probably from the models which the Worcester potters copied. Of the square marks, it may be observed that they do not always occur on Chinese patterns. Occasionally, too, a crescent in red is found with one of these squares in blue. Of the other ornate and curiously Eastern adaptations, it may be that they were workmen’s signatures, but they are only found on old Worcester. The love for Oriental flourishes is shown by a series of numbers. Examples from 1 to 9 are known. We reproduce the numbers 1, 4, 5, 7. In 1756 the important invention of transferring printed impressions from copper plates was introduced at Worcester. It is debatable ground whether Battersea, Liverpool, or Worcester invented it. But in 1757 it had arrived at a wonderful state of perfection at Worcester. The engraver, Robert Hancock, was employed. Valentine Green, the great mezzotint engraver, was his pupil. A mug bearing the head of the King of Prussia, and dated 1757, is held to be one of the most characteristic pieces of this period. Thomas Carlyle has a graphic description of one of these King of Prussia mugs, which piece of prose is worth giving in full, for we do not often see the historian of the French Revolution in the character of a china connoisseur:— “There stands on this mantelpiece,” says one of my correspondents, the amiable Smelfungus, in short, whom readers are acquainted with, “a small china mug, not of bad shape, declaring itself, in one obscure corner, to be made at Worcester, ‘R. I., Worcester, 1757’ (late in the season, I presume, demand being brisk); which exhibits all round it a diligent potter’s apotheosis of Friedrich, hastily got up to meet the general enthusiasm of English mankind. Worth, while it lasts unbroken, a moment’s inspection from you in a hurrying along. [Illustration: OLD WORCESTER MUG. (HEIGHT 5-3/4 IN.) (Transfer-printed in black.) With portrait of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia. (Signed with initials of Robert Hancock), and Anchor.]