The Whittington Potteries[32] are of very old establishment, having been in existence since about the middle or latter end of the seventeenth century, if not longer. Here the ordinary brown ware of the period was manufactured; the ware being of extreme hardness and closeness of texture, and having a rich warm reddish-brown colour. About the year 1800, and for some years later, the works, which were near the race-course, were held by Mr. William Bromley, who, in addition to the ordinary brown ware, made also a white, or cream-coloured, earthenware of fine quality. In this fine body he manufactured dinner, tea, and other services, principally decorated, in the prevailing manner, with transfer-printing in blue. He also practised batt-printing for some of his goods. Mr. Bromley also made some experiments in, and succeeded in producing, a very good china ware, but he did not prosecute this branch of manufacture to any extent. At that time, when Mr. Bromley was making the fine earthenware, and was experimenting on porcelain bodies, my late father, Mr. Arthur Jewitt, then a young man, was residing at Brampton, and was in habits of close intimacy with him. My father being a man of scientific, as well as of high literary attainments, and being, moreover, a good artist, took considerable interest in his friend Mr. Bromley’s manufacture, and at his own house at Brampton entered with spirit into a series of experiments in enamelling and enamel-printing, and in other processes for decorating the wares. For this purpose he caused to be erected in his own house two enamel kilns, one of which he had constructed on the ordinary simple principle of heating, and the other on the spiral principle. He also fitted up, for the purpose of these private experiments, a small printing-room, and here, being, as I have said, a good artist, he tried various processes for transferring aquatints and etchings (which he etched and prepared himself) by the batt-process, both on to the biscuit and on to the white glazed ware. By this process he produced many remarkably successful transfers; but, like the boy who dug up the seeds in his garden day by day, to see if they were sprouting, and so killed them, he was always so impatient to see the result of his experiments that he did not wait for the fire in the kilns to die out, but opened the doors, and so frequently spoiled all the pieces. Sufficient, however, remained each time to show that he was right in his experiments, and that his trials were all that could be desired. [Illustration: Fig. 103.]