CHAPTER VI.
BRICK-MAKING—HALESOWEN—NAIL TRADE—SHENSTONE AND THE LEASOWES.
SHENSTONE! what a classical sound that word has wherever the English language is spoken! Even if it had not been the name of a man who won such wide renown, it is in itself full of pleasant accent and significance, though one may not say why. A painter, poet, or statesman inheriting such a name finds half the battle fought and won for him at the outset of his career. A long distance must have been mastered on the high road of merit before Dobbin or Bobbin can overtake him at his starting point. A good Teutonic word it is, doubtless coming from Schwen-stein or Shining-stone. He was the poet lawnate of England, if it be admissible to coin a word, which the dictionary lacks, to give the distinguishing characteristic of his genius and works. I was not aware that he planted his little elysium on the near edge of the Black Country until I had been
