If she was disfigured with
wounds and bruises in the combat, they were all in front: if her shield be
battered, it is yet resplendent.
Charles Mayo, Universal History, Vol. IV, 1804
The treaty signed at Amiens in 1802 brought the first Napoleonic War to an
end. The peace was destined not to last, but at the time, national pride coupled
with relief swept England. With her shield dented but her spear unbroken,
Britannia was the toast of taverns and the delight of the tea table. She and
the trappings of victory graced a wide range of pearlwares from dessert plates
and teapots to ale pitchers and punchbowls.
A year later England and France would again be at war. Nelson defeated Napoleon
at Trafalgar, but it would take Wellington and the Battle of Waterloo on June
18, 1815, to finally rid Europe of the despotic genius whom the British derisively
called “the little corporal.”
1.
Pitcher, pearlware. Inscribed May balmy peace/And wreath’d renown/Our Virtuous
Heroes Ever crown. Staffordshire, ca. 1802.
2–6.
Tea service, pearlware. Staffordshire, ca. 1802–1803.
7.
Dessert plate, pearlware. Impressed IH, probably for Joshua Heath of Hanley.
Staffordshire, ca. 1802–1803.
