160 LETTERS TO MARCO xxiv 



of cinders and brickbats : not the deep red 

 bricks of Berks or Kent, but dull, pale 

 abominations peculiar to the Midlands. From 

 Nuneaton to Measham the canal runs beside 

 the railway, going on to the coal districts. 

 I had only one hour to find the tinman at 

 Measham, but luckily came across him at once, 

 a Mr. Malcolm ; he was an intelligent and 

 clever workman, and possessed quite a little 

 manufactory, in which he made these cans 

 and other things used by the bargees dippers, 

 and those tin pots for the horses' food, amongst 

 others. He had no can ready, having sold 

 the last the day before, but I commissioned 

 him to make one, which he said he would 

 pack and send ; it was to cost five shillings 

 for the can, and the flowering would be half 

 a crown more, but it will be on the whole a 

 rather expensive can to me. The flowering is 

 done by some local artist, who may have learnt 

 his art at some of the potteries in the district, 

 where the old-fashioned hand-painted crockery, 

 though fast dying out, is still occasionally made. 



