Having thus seen how ceramic productions illustrate the art ideas of all nations, having touched upon the influence of pottery upon art in general, and having glanced at its present aims and possible accomplishments, it will not be forgotten, after what has just been said, that the combination of the useful and the beautiful is the great charm of the ceramic art, making between them a new beauty which finds its best place in the household. Let us look at the usual appurtenances of the table. They both reflect taste and form it. A wide range is before us from which to choose--from the vulgarity of overloaded glaring colors and gilt, to the most exquisite simplicity of design and perfection of workmanship. Every house-keeper ought to visit an extensive collection, and, by comparing and contrasting one style with another, learn in what the true beauty of ceramic decoration consists. The painting and moulding of pottery and porcelain are quite as important as oil-painting and sculpture. As we look at the pictures and statues in a gallery, we read the stories they tell, feel the sentiment they express, study the grace they embody, or linger lovingly over the evidences they present of artistic skill. A plate may appear an humble thing to which to turn from them. But let us consider the intimate relations into which we are brought with its unobtrusive beauty. It is the daily contact that lends so comparatively lowly a matter its real importance, and daily contact with delicately painted and gracefully moulded cups, platters, and dishes cannot be without its influence upon taste. Or suppose the ceramic treasure be an earthen-ware jar. It presents us with green, its depth suggestive of a forest glade, shading off into blue like that of the sky. As we turn it slowly round, a leaf appears attached to a tiny stem, and still farther lies a flower, colored with the very hue of nature, and suggesting the perfume of a garden in summer. Art such as that is never out of place, and never thrown away. Or let our attention rest upon more purely ornamental representatives of the art. There are vases which, while offering for our admiration a beauty which is eternal, are yet invested with a chameleon-like power of change. They never allow monotony to break their charm. It may consist of a mere color. Take the old turquoise-blue of China. The eye can scarcely catch the fleeting shades, to determine whether the vase is blue or green. While daylight lasts, the blue is dominant, but when the lamps are lit in the evening, the blue gives place to a green of greatly increased brilliancy. The same thing may be observed in many flower-painted vases. They may be examined once without revealing a tithe of their beauty. The sky is overcast and the outside world gloomy, and the flowers, as sympathetic as though growing in the garden, look sombre and drooping. But let a ray of sunshine fall across the vase, and mark how the flowers are glorified. Their hues change and