It is a common belief that high art and commercial success cannot go hand in hand,--that to make things _sell_ you must sink _art_--or that, if you produce high art examples, you must give up all expectations of a remunerative trade. This theory I do not believe in. I hold it to be the mission of the manufacturer, in whatever branch he may be engaged, to produce such goods as shall tend to educate the public taste, and to lead it gradually upwards to a full appreciation of the beautiful. The manufacturer is quite as much a _teacher_ as the writer or the artist, and he is frequently a much more effectual one. In pottery especially, where the wares of one kind or other are hourly in the hands of every person in the kingdom, it behoves the manufacturers to produce such perfect forms, and to introduce such ornamentation, even in the commonest and coarsest ware, as shall teach the eye, and induce a taste for whatever is beautiful and perfect and lovely in art. The mission of the manufacturer is to _create_ a pure taste, not to perpetuate and pander to a vicious and barbarous one; and I believe, in the end, that those who do their best to elevate the minds of the people by this means will find that, commercially, their endeavours will be most satisfactory--assuredly they will be the most pleasant to their own minds. The Worcester people seem to understand this thoroughly, and to have wisely determined that nothing, even of the most simple design or common use, which is not pure in taste and elegant in form shall be issued from their works. The marks of Messrs. Kerr and Binns were the following:--[Illustration: Figs. 567 and 568.] But they had also another, a special mark, designed by Digby Wyatt, which is used solely for marking the goods made for her Majesty. In the mark (Fig. 568) in the third quarter of the shield, left white in the engraving, the initials of Mr. Bott, the painter, are found on his beautiful enamels. [Illustration: Fig. 569.] [Illustration: Fig. 570.--Breakfast Service made for the Duke of Cumberland in 1806.] [Illustration: Fig. 571.--Service made for King William IV. in 1831.] [Illustration: Fig. 572.--Service made for the Princess Charlotte on her marriage in 1816.] [Illustration: Fig. 573.--Service made on the occasion of the creation of the Duke of Clarence in 1789.] The Worcester works have, at one time or other, been favoured more than most English establishments with orders from royalty. Of these I give five examples of plates, to show the beauty and intricacy of their designs. Fig. 569 is a part of a service made for the Queen; Fig. 573, from the service made for Prince William Henry, Duke of Clarence, in 1789; 572, for the Princess Charlotte on her marriage; 571 for his Majesty King William IV.; and 570, for the Duke of Cumberland in 1806. [Illustration: Fig. 574.]