DERBY--SOFT PASTE.--The Derby china--and the "Crown Derby," now most known--was famous in its day--from about 1750 to the end of the century--and from Derby, in England, it was sold to a very wide extent over Europe. Specimens are met with in Holland, Italy, Spain, etc. The factory was established by William Duesbury, and was, after his death, carried on by his son; by a Mr. Reeve, who married the widow; and, in 1815, it went into the possession of Robert Bloor. The works were not finally closed till 1848. Duesbury, who purchased the moulds and property of both the Bow and the Chelsea factories, carried on the works at Derby and at Chelsea for some time; and much of the porcelain made at that time is called Chelsea-Derby. The early mark of the Derby was a capital D, and the Chelsea-Derby mark is the same D, with the Chelsea anchor in its middle. The crown with the anchor, or with crossed lines and dots, and sometimes with the D under it, was used after the patronage of George III. had been extended to the works (about 1777), and is now most commonly found upon the best work of this factory. After 1815 "Bloor's" name is found upon the work. During the best portion of Duesbury's time, dinner, dessert, breakfast, and tea services, of great richness and splendor, were made; and at that time the patronage of nobility and gentry was more generous than it had been to any other English factory. Duesbury carried to great perfection the combination of a rich blue with gold, not only in his vases, urns, etc., but also as edges to his dinner and tea services. "He has brought the gold and blue to a degree of beauty never before obtained in England, and the drawing and coloring of the flowers are truly elegant," writes a tourist in 1777. In the examples I have had an opportunity of seeing, this is true; but one is obliged to feel in this, as in almost all the fine china of England, a lack of perfection and delicacy in form and modeling. Groups and figures were made in great variety and number at Derby, upon which no splendor or expense of gold and color was spared. These are found in nearly all the good collections of England and the Continent. At this time--the end of the last century--it was much the fashion for ladies to paint, for their own use and for gifts, single pieces, and indeed whole sets; and the white china of Derby was often sold for that purpose. These amateur productions occasionally find their way into the shops, and naturally perplex the collector. Duesbury's prices were not high. In an invoice extant we find: Pair of knotting figures, finely enameled and gilt £2 2_s._ Twenty-four dessert-plates, in medallions and grapes, each 13_s._ Three large punch-bowls, painted, ye allusion of stag-hunting, hare-hunting, and fishing; each 42_s._