“Large quantities of blue-painted ware issued from the Bow works, and there are frequent allusions to them in the order-book, for cheap services. On examining the blue pieces, which can be safely assigned to Bow from the nature of the body, there is a peculiarity in the glaze which arises in this way: blue being at that time the only colour that would bear the intense heat of the kiln (_au grand feu_), it is always painted on the biscuit before being dipped in the glaze; consequently portions, however slight, are apt, while the glaze is in a fluid state, to spread over the surface, giving it a blue tinge, especially on large surfaces; the other colours, as well as the gold, are painted _over the glaze_, and set in a kiln of lower temperature, called the reverberatory or muffle kiln. Hence the blue, being _under the glaze_, is imperishable, but the other colours, from frequent use, get rubbed off. “We find in the order-book the blue Newark pattern; blue dolphin pickle-stand; ‘setts of blue teas.’ A dinner-service was ordered to be ‘blue and pale as you please,’ &c. “Among the patterns noticed in the same book are white bud sprigs, sprigged tea sets, and Dresden sprigs; partridge services, imaged services, and dragon services, were in great demand; Chelsea cabbage leaf, the lady pattern, and the Princess of Wales’s pattern, white men with salt boxes, mugs painted to the fine landscape pattern, &c. “Of the figures and groups, only a few are mentioned, such as Minerva of two sizes, Flora, imperial shepherd and shepherdess, the new shepherd and its companion, Cupid, gentleman and lady, boy and girl, fluter, fiddler, harlequin, columbine, and pierrot or clown, tambourine-player, sportsman, cook, Dutch dancer, woman with chicken, Turk and companion, female figure, birds on pedestals, swans, boars, squirrels, buck and doe, goat, and toys of all sorts. “These short notices of Bow figures, although far from being important examples, will remind many of our readers of similar pieces which have been classed as Chelsea. “We may also refer to the pair of white china figures of Woodward the actor, and Mrs. Clive, in the costumes as given in Bell’s ‘Collection of Plays.’ A pair of these in the white Bow china, exquisitely modelled and finished, bear the date 1758 stamped in the clay: they are in the possession of a lady whose family has retained them ever since they came from the factory. * * * * * “Memorandum-book of John Bowcocke for 1758. “There is very little to interest us in this book. Bowcocke was at Dublin for the first eight months, receiving consignments of glass and china from the works, which were sold principally by auction. The money taken was remitted weekly to the company. “‘_Feb. 9, 1758._ Dublin. I went to see Sheridan, in Hamlet. _April 19._ Lady Freik shew’d me two tureens she brought from France, moulded from a full-grown cabbage. (A sketch is given.)