Scaliger states in reference to the Italian pottery as comparable with the porcelain of China, that the former derived its name from Majorca, of which the wares are most excellent. Fabio Ferrari also, in his work upon the origin of the Italian language, states his belief “that the use of majolica, as well as the name, came from Majorca, which the ancient Tuscan writers called Maiolica.” Thus Dante writes:--“Tra l’isola di Cipri e Maiolica;” showing the then mode of spelling the name of the island, and it would seem but natural to distinguish an imitation of its produce as “à la Maiolica.” The “mezza-maiolica” was the coarser ware, formed of potter’s earth, covered with a white “slip” upon which the subject was painted; then glazed with the common “marza-cotto” or lead glaze, over which the lustre pigments were applied. The “maiolica,” on the other hand, was the tin enamelled ware similarly lustred. As before stated, these terms were originally used with reference only to the lustred wares, but towards the middle of the sixteenth century they seem to have been generally applied to the glazed earthenware of Italy. We think with M. Jacquemart, M. Darcel, Mr. J. C. Robinson, and others, that the word _maiolica_ should be again restricted to the lustred wares, although in Italy and elsewhere it is habitually used to designate all the numerous varieties of glazed earthenware, with the exception of the more common “terraglia” and in distinction from porcelain. The Germans ascribe the discovery of the tin enamel glazing to a potter of Schelestadt, in Alsace, whose name is unknown but who died in the year 1283; and in the convent of St. Paul at Leipzic is a frieze of large glazed tiles, with heads in relief, the date of which is stated to be 1207. The potters’ art is said to have developed itself in that country at an earlier period than in Italy; rilievo architectural decorations, monuments with figures in high relief, and other works of great artistic merit having been executed in 1230 at Breslau, where there is a monument to Henry IV. of Silesia who died in 1290, an important work in this material. Later, at Nuremberg, the elder Veit Hirschvögel was born in 1441, and by him the use of the tin glaze was known. Specimens ascribed to his hand and dating from 1470 are preserved in museums. At Strehla a pulpit of glazed terra-cotta is of the date 1565, and at Saltzburg is the wonderful chimney-piece of the fifteenth century, still in its original position in the Schloss. At that time, also, Hans Kraut, of Villengen in Swabia, produced good works, but it is probable that many of these larger examples are covered with an admirably manipulated green or brown glaze which is produced without the admixture of tin.