Before entering on the fresh epoch in the History of Potting which opens with the work of Wedgwood, it will be as well to recount the end of the salt-glaze industry. It was a risky manufacture. The ware was thin, and many accidents happened in firing. Therefore the ware was costly; and only small pieces could be so glazed. The fluid lead glazes used by the skilful potters of the latter half of the century gave a surface smoother and more suitable for food. The demand for ornamental salt glaze was small, and the enormous demand for useful ware sent all the best potters into the useful trade; while in the ornamental lines Wedgwood’s Greek and Etruscan shapes entirely ruled the market. All these causes conspired to ruin the salt glaze, and by 1770 it had fallen into general disuse. The last considerable makers of salt glaze were the Baddeleys and Christopher and Charles Whitehead of the Old Hall, Hanley.[79] No single maker of salt glaze occurs on the 1787 lists. It was a fine ware, characteristic of and peculiar to Staffordshire, and when one considers the difficulties under which its production was carried on, a tribute of praise is due to those potters who so quickly developed it to its highest state of perfection. Shaw had an account, from the lips of an old man of eighty-three, born in 1720, showing the conditions under which this old-world industry was carried on.[80] And before we come to the modern life with its canals and steam and complete “factory system,” it is worth while to give this recollection of potting in 1750. “Ralph Leigh was employed by John Taylor of the Hill Top, to look after his horses, and was the first man whose wages were raised from 10d. to 12d. a day. With four or six horses he went twice to Whitfield, or thrice to Norton, in a day for coals; of which each horse brought 2½ cwt. on its back; along lanes extremely dirty. At the pit, coals then cost 7d. the draught, whether 2, 2½, or 3 cwt., for the colliers guessed at the quantity. The charge for carrying each load from Norton to Burslem was 3d., a penny a mile.[81] During a long time he carried crates of pottery to Winsford, and brought back ball clay. Each horse carried a crate on a pack saddle, and a small panier on each side was used to hold two or three balls of clay, weighing 60 or 70 lbs. Each horse was muzzled to prevent it biting the hedges, and the roads were narrow and bad and without toll gates. Afterwards with a cart and four horses he went to Winsford and delivered his crates the same day; and on the second day brought back a ton of Chester clay to Burslem. He was allowed four days to take crates to Bridgenorth, and bring back shop goods for Newcastle. He went with crates to Willington Ferry, and returned with flint, plaister stone and shop goods. He has gone to Liverpool and also as far as Exeter, before there were regular carriers.” [Illustration: ETRURIA WORKS] CHAPTER VI. WEDGWOOD AND THE CREAM COLOUR.