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strength and elasticity to the china. Minton ware, first made in 1791
and now extensively manufactured in England and sold throughout the
china-buying world, is one of these bone chinas. It is a great
favorite because of its durability as well as its beauty. There were
in addition many other very fine chinas made in England--far too many
of them for me to enumerate. One was the Lowestoft, made from about
1756 in soft paste, and in 1775 in hard. Much of it is in imitation of
the Chinese, although some was decorated with roses, and some with
landscapes or coats of arms. As it had no mark upon it it is now
difficult to be sure of the genuine ware. Moreover, a large amount of
the white porcelain, it is said, was sent from China to Lowestoft to
be decorated, and therefore the body of it is of Oriental and not
English make. Worcester is another of the celebrated soft paste
chinas, which at first copied Oriental designs, and later branched off
into imitations of Dresden or Sevres wares. It is still made and
widely sold."

"It seems as if a great many of the English wares were copies of
somebody else's work," remarked Theo.

"I am afraid they were," owned Mr. Croyden. "England was not rich in
originality of design. The work of Wedgwood is the only distinctively
inventive contribution made to the china-making art. However, the
English bone porcelains are very beautiful, and though they are not
genuine feldspathic products they are highly esteemed and in demand
everywhere. Now you must own, Theo, that I have given you a pretty
complete outline of the pottery and porcelain-making of the European
countries. Holland and Belgium, as I have told you, lack both clay and
fuel and therefore had not a fair chance to compete with the other
nations; but they did make some little porcelain. Sweden also turned
out a little. Denmark gave a real contribution to the world in its
Copenhagen ware, a type of white porcelain decorated beneath the glaze
in cobalt. The fabrique for making this china was opened as early as
1760 but it never paid, and in 1775 the Government took over the works
and it became a royal factory where women of rank and position joined
the artists in designing and decorating the porcelain. The
undertaking, however, proved so expensive that in 1876 the factories
went back into private hands. But the porcelain has become
world-famous and holds its place in the list of the distinctive chinas
of the art universe. Look up Roya