_Cock-pit Hill._--There is nothing yet known as to the time when these works were first established. It is certain that at a tolerably early period coarse brown ware was made here, of much the same general character as that made at Tickenhall and by the Tofts, but researches have as yet failed to bring to light any particulars regarding them. There is a positive certainty that the Mayer or Mier family were potters in Derby for more than one generation. A John Mier--an ancestor probably of the Mayers or Meers, of Staffordshire--was a pot-maker in 1721. Some vessels bearing his name are extant. One of these, a posset-pot, bears the words IOHN MIER MADE THIS CUP 1721. Another has been described as “a three-handled pot that holds about two gallons, which is said to have been made at these pot works.” It is of coarse brown ware, glazed, and bears the words:-- “Drink be merry and mary God Bles creae George & Queen ann John Mier made this cup 1708.” Another, a large pitcher in my own possession, traditionally said to have been made in Derby, bears the initials I S between the date 1720 (Fig. 42), and below the I S the letters D F, about which it is perhaps scarcely worth hazarding a conjecture. It is 16½ inches in height, and is of dark brown glazed ware. The name best known in connection with these works is that of Heath, and they were carried on by this family for a considerable number of years. How, or when, the works came into the hands of the Heaths, remains to be discovered. In 1772, in some very curious and unique MS. “Lists of Gent., &c., in Derby, 1772,” in my own possession, occurs in one, under “Cock-pitt Hill,” “Mayer Mr...... pott merchant,” and in another, “Cock-pitt Hill,” “Mr. Mayer...... pott merchant.” In the same list, dealers are put down as keeping a “pott shop,” while Mayer is returned as a “pott merchant.” In this same list “John Heath” is entered as an “Alderman;” and “Mr. Chris. Heath” as a “Comon Council Man.” [Illustration: I S 2 DF Fig. 42.]