[Illustration: Fig. 296.--Dresden Cup and Saucer. Marcolini Period, 1796. (J. C. Runkle Coll.)] The annals of the last century contain many curious stories of runaway workmen selling their secrets, and of the steps taken to keep down opposition and to acquire a knowledge of the manufacture by any means that offered. A runaway from Meissen led to the establishment at Vienna of a factory in 1720. After twenty years it rose to considerable eminence, although in both paste and glaze it is inferior to Dresden. Its raised gold decorations have brought it in modern times a certain celebrity. It came to an end during the directorate of Alexander Lowe, who was appointed in 1856. Some excellent specimens are in the collections of Mr. Walters, of Baltimore, and Mr. Gibson, of Philadelphia. From Vienna the secret spread to Höchst, whither it was conveyed by a workman named Ringler. Ringler was in the habit of carrying with him written notes regarding the manufacture. His fellow-workmen at Höchst made him drunk, copied his notes, and offered the secret thus obtained for sale at other centres. One of these runaways founded the workshop of Fürstenburg. A few of the Fürstenburg workmen attempted to establish a manufactory at Neuhaus, but, on discovery, were sent out of Brunswick. Another Fürstenburger, a flower painter, tried to start the industry at Höxter, whither he had fled, but failed, and was followed in the endeavor by one of the defrauders of poor Ringler. This man’s name was Becker, and he succeeded in Höxter, after fruitlessly hawking his secret through Belgium, Holland, and France. He was bought up by the offer of a pension, and his competition was thus brought to an end. When Ringler awoke to a full realization of the consequences of his folly at Höchst, he went to Frankenthal, Bavaria, where the factory founded by Hannong, of Strasburg, made porcelain in 1755. This existed down to 1800. In the mean time, however, Ringler had left, as we find him first at Neudeck-Nymphenburg, in Bavaria, and then, in 1758, founding a factory at Ludwigsburg, Würtemberg, which was worked until 1821. The porcelain made here was of excellent quality, and the figure pieces were admirably modelled. After this we hear no more of Ringler. In this way the industry spread over the whole of Central Europe--to Anspach, Baireuth, Baden, to Hesse-Cassel, Darmstadt, and Thuringia, each new workshop becoming the centre for a number of offshoots. [Illustration: Fig. 297.--Recent Dresden Porcelain Candelabrum. (D. Collamore.)] [Illustration: Fig. 298.--Berlin Porcelain. (D. Collamore.)]