A Huguenot Exempted from the Massacre

Bernard Palissy, born in Agen, France, in 1510, was the first to rediscover the art of producing white enamel. He was the leading representative of French ceramic art in the sixteenth century; was an originator, and his life is characterized as "the great romance" in the history of ceramics.

An enamelled cup of "faience," which he saw by chance, inspired him with the resolution to rediscover the mode of producing white enamel. Neglecting all other duties, he devoted himself to this one object for sixteen years. He had exhausted all his resources, and, for want of money to buy fuel, was reduced to the necessity of burning his household furniture piece by piece; his neighbors laughed at him; his wife overwhelmed him with reproaches, and his starving children surrounded him crying for bread; but, in spite of all these discouragements, he persisted in the search until his labors were rewarded with success.

A few pieces sold for high prices, and enabled him to complete his investigations, after which he became famous,--famous at the expense of an injured wife, a broken family, and a row of little graves.

His second success was a jasper glaze, which shows a mixture of brown, white, and blue. His third success, an achievement which brought him enduring fame, was the manufacture of "Rustiques Figulines," which consisted of curiously shaped dishes and vases, ornamented with shells, frogs, lizards, snakes, fishes of many varieties, and leaves. These are now best known by the imitations. Barbizet claims to have rediscovered Palissy's method, which was lost as a specialty upon the death of his immediate family.

Palissy aimed at absolute truth to nature: his moulds were formed from living specimens, and he reproduced the exact colors of his models. Having become a Protestant, he was thrown into prison, in Bordeaux, but was released by King Charles IX., in order to become "Potter to the King." Under royal protection he removed to Paris, and set up his works in a place called from his tile-kilns "Tuileries." Afterwards, when the palace of the king was built there, it retained the name; and the royal residence has ever since been known as the "Palace of the Tuileries."

Palissy, having been employed to ornament the gardens of the palace, was specially exempted by Catherine de' Medici, Queen of Henry II., from the massacre of St. Bartholomew, Aug. 24, 1572.

In 1575 he commenced a course of lectures on natural history and physics. He gave the first right notions of the origin of springs, and the formation of stones and fossil shells. These, with his theories regarding the best method of purifying water, have been fully supported by recent discovery and investigations.

In 1588 he was arrested as a heretic, and thrown into the Bastile, but died in 1590 before his sentence was pronounced.