Bewilderment Relieved. 97 



Staffordshire potteries. The account of his adventures 

 there must be given in his own words : 



"Here," he says, "my hardships began. A milky 

 way of potteries ! I had no guide to help me to find 

 the things that I wanted ; besides, I had very little 

 knowledge of the trade, only there were a few things 

 that I knew that I specially wanted, and was resolved 

 to hunt till I got them. Each manufacturer in general 

 was confined to a special class of goods, which made 

 it much more difficult to find what you were in search 

 of. The first place that I went into, the salesman 

 attended with open book in hand to take my order, 

 but they did not seem to have anything in my way. 

 After calling on a few others with the same results, I 

 at last came to one place that had some of the goods 

 that I was seeking for, and I there gave a small order. 

 When it was paid for, I asked the young man who 

 served me if he knew where such and such things 

 were made. He said that it was against their rules 

 to give any information regarding what other manu- 

 facturers made, but, if I went to a Mr. Hamilton's, I 

 would get several of the things that I had named. 



" As soon as I entered Mr. Hamilton's warehouse, I 

 was delighted to see the chief things that I was in 

 search of. I was attended to by Mrs. Hamilton, a 

 very courteous person. She soon saw that I did not 

 know much of the trade, but not like many under the 

 same circumstances who take advantage of those who 

 cannot judge for themselves, on the contrary, she 

 seemed to try only to put things into my hands that 

 would suit my market. It was here that my chief 

 opponent got most of his goods, and, from some 



H 



