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A second trial was followed by no better results, and then the King became furious; for he had confessed and received absolution before beginning the second experiment. Frederick Augustus now resolved on forcing Bottgher to disclose the golden secret, as the only means of relief from his urgent pecuniary difficulties. The alchemist, hearing of the royal intention, again determined to fly.
This royal edict probably gives the best account of the actual state of Bottgher's invention at the time. It has been stated in German publications that Bottgher, for the great services rendered by him to the Elector and to Saxony, was made Manager of the Royal Porcelain Works, and further promoted to the dignity of Baron.
But, impatient for gold, he wrote Bottgher from Warsaw, urging him to communicate the secret, so that he himself might practise the art of commutation. The young "gold-cook," thus pressed, forwarded to Frederick a small phial containing "a reddish fluid," which, it was asserted, changed all metals, when in a molten state, into gold.
The discovery, in Bottgher's intelligent hands, led to great results, and proved of far greater importance than the discovery of the philosopher's stone would have been. In October, 1707, he presented his first piece of porcelain to the Elector, who was greatly pleased with it; and it was resolved that Bottgher should be furnished with the means necessary for perfecting his invention.
Bottgher at last fell seriously ill, and in May, 1713, his dissolution was hourly expected. The King, alarmed at losing so valuable a slave, now gave him permission to take carriage exercise under a guard; and, having somewhat recovered, he was allowed occasionally to go to Dresden. In a letter written by the King in April, 1714, Bottgher was promised his full liberty; but the offer came too late.
It so happens that the history of Pottery furnishes some of the most remarkable instances of patient perseverance to be found in the whole range of biography. Of these we select three of the most striking, as exhibited in the lives of Bernard Palissy, the Frenchman; Johann Friedrich Bottgher, the German; and Josiah Wedgwood, the Englishman.
The King himself visited him, and told him in a severe tone that if he did not at once proceed to make gold, he would be hung! Years passed, and still Bottgher made no gold; but he was not hung. It was reserved for him to make a far more important discovery than the conversion of copper into gold, namely, the conversion of clay into porcelain.
"I will devote my whole soul to the art of making porcelain," he writes on one occasion, "I will do more than any inventor ever did before; only give me liberty, liberty!" To these appeals, the King turned a deaf ear. He was ready to spend money and grant favours; but liberty he would not give. He regarded Bottgher as his slave.
He had in fact accidentally discovered red porcelain, and he proceeded to manufacture it and sell it as porcelain. Bottgher was, however, well aware that the white colour was an essential property of true porcelain; and he therefore prosecuted his experiments in the hope of discovering the secret.
Tschirnhaus was a man of education and distinction, and was held in much esteem by Prince Furstenburg as well as by the Elector. He very sensibly said to Bottgher, still in fear of the gallows "If you can't make gold, try and do something else; make porcelain." The alchemist acted on the hint, and began his experiments, working night and day.