Dictionary of Birmingham. (continued 6)

The Shakespeare Memorial Library, though to all intents and purposes part and parcel of the Reference Library, has a separate and distinct history. Mr. Sam. Timmins, who is generally credited with having (in 1858) first suggested the formation of a library, which should consist solely of Shakespeare's works, and Shakespeareana of all possible kinds, said, at the tercentenary meeting, that the idea originated with George Dawson, but perhaps the honour should be divided, as their mutual appreciation of the greatest poet whose genius has found utterance in our language is well known. The first practical step taken was the meeting, held (July 10, 1863) of gentlemen interested in the tercentenary, for the purpose of considering a proposal to celebrate that event by the formation of a Shakespearean library. The Rev. Charles Evans, head master of King Edward's School, presided. The following resolution, moved by Mr. G. Dawson, and seconded by the Rev. S. Bache, was adopted:—"That it is desirable to celebrate the tercentenary of the birth of Shakespeare by the formation of a Shakespearean library, comprising the various editions of the poet's works, and the literature and works of art connected therewith, and to associate such library with the Borough Central Reference Library, in order that it may be permanently preserved." A hundred pounds were subscribed at this meeting, and a committee formed to proceed with the project. In a very few months funds rolled in, and Shakespeareans from all parts of the world sent willing contributions to this the first Shakespearean library ever thought of. It was determined to call it a "Memorial" library, in honour of the tercentenary of 1864, and on the poet's day of that year, the library was formally presented to the town at a breakfast given at Nock's Hotel by the Mayor (Mr. W. Holliday). Dr. Miller, George Dawson, M.D. Hill (Recorder), T.C.S. Kynnersley, R.W. Dale, Sam. Timmins, and others took part in the proceedings, and the Mayor, on behalf of the Free Libraries Committee, accepted the gift on the terms agreed to by the Town Council, viz., that the Library should be called "The Shakespearean Memorial Library," that a room should be specially and exclusively appropriated for the purposes thereof; that the library should be under the same regulations as the Reference Library; and that the Free Libraries' Committee should maintain and augment it, and accept all works appertaining to Shakespeare that might be presented, &c. As George Dawson prophesied on that occasion, the library in a few years become the finest collection of Shakespearean literature in Europe therein being gathered from every land which the poet's fame had reached, not only the multitudinous editions of his works, but also every available scrap of literature bearing thereon, from the massive folios and quaint quartoes of the old times to the veriest trifle of current gossip culled from the columns of the newspapers. Nothing was considered too rare or too unimportant, so long as it had connection even remote to Shakespeare; and the very room (opened April 23, 1888), in which the books were stored itself acquired a Shakespearean value in its carved and elaborately-appropriate fittings. When started, it was hoped that at least 5,000 volumes would be got together, but that number was passed in 1874, and at the end of 1878 there were more than 8,700, in addition to the books, pictures, documents, and relics connected with Stratford-on-Avon and her gifted son contained in the Staunton collection. How all the treasures vanished has already been told. Much has been done to replace the library, and many valuable works have been secured; but, as the figures last published show, the new library is a long way behind as yet. It now contains 4,558 volumes, valued at £1,352 9s. 3d., classified as follows:—English, 2,205 volumes; French, 322; German, 1,639; Bohemian, 14; Danish, 25; Dutch, 68; Finnish, 4; Frisian, 2; Greek, 9; Hebrew, 2; Hungarian, 44; Icelandic, 3; Italian, 94; Polish, 15; Portuguese, 3; Roumanian, 1; Roumelian, 1; Russian, 56; Spanish, 18; Swedish, 30; Ukraine, 1; Wallachian, 1; and Welsh, 1.

Libraries Suburban.—The ratepayers of the Manor of Aston adopted the Free Libraries Act, May 15, 1877, and their Library forms part of the Local Board buildings in Witton Road. At the end of March, 1883, the number of volumes in the reference library was 3,216, and the issues during the year numbered 8,096. In the lending department the library consists of 5,582 volumes, and the total issues during the year were 74,483; giving a daily average of 245. The number of borrowers was 3,669.—Aston and Handsworth being almost part of Birmingham, it would be an act of kindness if local gentlemen having duplicates on their library shelves, would share them between the two.

Handsworth Free Library was opened at the Local Board Offices, of which building it forms a part, on May 1, 1880, with a collection of about 5,000 volumes, which has since been increased to nearly 7,500. That the library is appreciated is shown by the fact that during last year the issues numbered 42,234 volumes, the borrowers being 514 males and 561 females.

Smethwick Free Library and Reading Room was opened Aug. 14, 1880.

King's Norton.—In or about 1680, the Rev. Thomas Hall, B.D., founded a curious old Library for the use of the parishioners, and the books are preserved in the Grammar School, near the Church. This is the earliest free library known in the Midlands.

Licensed Victuallers' Society.—See "Trade Protection Societies."

Licensed Victuallers' Asylum.—See "Philanthropical Institutions."

Licensed Victuallers.—The following table shows the number of licensed victuallers, dealers in wine, beer, &c., in the borough as well as the holders of what are known as outdoor licenses:—

Year. Licensed Victuallers. Beer and Wine On. Total. Population. Beer, &c.,Off. Grocers.

1870 687 1166 1853 337,982 .. ..

1871 683 1165 1848 343,690 .. ..

1872 684 1117 1801 349,398 .. 23

1873 684 1083 1767 355,106 4 53

1874 680 1081 1761 360,814 4 53

1875 676 1057 1733 366,522 7 73

1876 675 1059 1734 372,230 171 73

1877 673 1054 1727 377,938 223 74

1878 672 1046 1718 383,646 334 77

1879 671 1061 1732 389,354 433 61

1880 670 1060 1730 395,063 454 63

1881 669 1054 1723 400,774 454 55

1882 670 1054 1724 406,482 459 57

Lifeboats.—In 1864-65 a small committee, composed of Messrs. H. Fulford, G. Groves, J. Pearce, D. Moran, G. Williams, R. Foreshaw, and G. Lempiere, aided by the Mayor and Dr. Miller, raised about £500 as a contribution from Birmingham to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Two boats were credited to us in the Society's books, one called "Birmingham" (launched at Soho Pool, November 26, 1864), and the other the "James Pearce." These boats, placed on the Lincolnshire and Norfolk coasts, were instrumental in the saving of some hundreds of lives, but both have, long since, been worn out, and it is about time that Birmingham replaced them. Messrs. C. and W. Barwell, Pickford Street, act as local hon. secs. The "Charles Ingleby" lifeboat, at Hartlepool, was paid for, and the establishment for its maintenance endowed, out of the sum of £1,700, contributed by C.P. Wragge, Esq., in memory of the late Rev. Charles Ingleby.

Lifford, in the parish of King's Norton, once boasted of a Monastic establishment, which was squelched by Bluff King Harry, the only remains now to be found consisting of a few more than half-buried foundations and watercourses.

Lighting.—Oil lamps for giving light in the streets were in limited use here in 1733, even before an Act was obtained to enforce payment of a rate therefor. Deritend and Bordesley obtained light by the Act passed in 1791. The Street Commissioners, Nov. 8, 1816, advertised for tenders for lighting the streets with gas, but it was nearly ten years (April 29, 1826) before the lamps were thus supplied. The Lighting Act was adopted at Saltley April 1, 1875. Lighting the streets by electricity may come some day, though, as the Gas Works belong to the town, it will, doubtless, be in the days of our grandchildren.

Lighting by Electricity.—After the very successful application of the electric light in the Town Hall on the occasion of the Festival in 1882, it is not surprising that an attempt should be made to give it a more extended trial. A scheme has been drawn out by the Crompton-Winfield Company for this purpose, and it has received the sanction of the Town Council, and been confirmed by the Board of Trade, shopkeepers in the centre of the town may soon have a choice of lights for the display of their wares. The area fixed by the scheme is described by the following boundaries:—Great Charles Street to Congreve Street; Congreve Street to Edmund Street; Edmund Street to Newhall Street; Newhall Street to Colmore Row; Colmore Row to Bull Street; Bull Street, High Street, New Street, Stephenson Place, Paradise Street, and Easy Row. The streets to be supplied with electric mains within two years are as follows:—Great Charles Street (to Congreve Street), Congreve Street, New Street, Stephenson Place, Easy Row, and Paradise Street. The Corporation are to have powers of purchasing the undertaking at the end of sixteen years— that is, fourteen years after the expiration of the two-years' term allowed for the experimental lighting of the limited area. The order, while fully protecting the rights of the public and of the Corporation, justly recognises the experimental character of the project of electric-lighting from a common centre, and is much more favourable, in many ways, to the promoters than the legislation under which gas undertakings are conducted. Whether this will tend towards reducing the price of gas remains to be seen.

Lightning Conductors were introduced here in 1765.

Lindon.—The Minerva, in Peck Lane, was, circa 1835, kept by "Joe Lindon," a host as popular then as our modern "Joe Hillman," up at "The Stores," in Paradise Street.

Literary Associations.—The Central Literary Association first met Nov. 28, 1856. The Moseley and Balsall Heath, Oct. 11, 1877.

Livery Street.—So called from the Livery stables once there, opposite Brittle street, which is now covered by the Great Western Railway Station.

Livingstone.—Dr. Livingstone, the African traveller, delivered an address in the Town Hall, October 23, 1857.

Loans.—According to the Registrar-General's late report, there were 380 loan societies in the kingdom, who had among them a capital of £122,160, the members of the said societies numbering 33,520, giving an average lending capital of £3 12s. 10-1/2d. each. That is certainly not a very large sum to invest in the money market, and it is to be hoped that the score or two of local societies can show better funds. What the profits of this business are frequently appear in the reports taken at Police Courts and County Courts, where Mr. Cent.-per-Cent. now and then bashfully acknowledges that he is sometimes satisfied with a profit of 200 per cent. There are respectable offices in Birmingham where loans can be obtained at a fair and reasonable rate, but Punch's advice to those about to marry may well be given in the generality of cases, to anyone thinking of visiting a loan office. Young men starting in business may, under certain conditions, obtain help for that purpose from the "Dudley Trust."—See "Philanthropical Trusts."

Loans, Public.—England, with its National Debt of £776,000,000, is about the richest country in the world, and if the amount of indebtedness is the sign of prosperity, Birmingham must be tolerably well off. Up to the end of 1882 our little loan account stood thus:—

Borrowd Repaid Owing.

Baths £62,425 £27,743 £34,682

Cemetery 46,500 19,316 27,184

Closed Burial Gr'nds 10,000 41 9,959

Council House 135,762 10,208 125,554

Fire Brigade Station 6,000 53 5,947

Free Libraries 56,050 7,534 48,516

Gaol 92,350 79,425 12,925

Industrial School 13,710 2,310 11,400

Asylum, Winson Gn 100,000 97,020 2,980

" Rubery Hill 100,012 5,887 94,125

Markt Hall & Markts 186,942 73,463 113,479

Mortuaries 700 103 597

Parks 63,210 12,347 50,863

Paving roads 158,100 30,088 128,012

Paving footways 79,950 8,113 71,837

Police Stations 25,231 9,839 15,392

Public Office 23,400 14,285 9,115

Sewers & Sewerage 366,235 81,338 284,897

Tramways 65,450 17,125 48,325

Town Hall 69,521 37,885 31,636

Town Improvements 348,680 134,156 214,524

2,010,227 668,278 1,341,949

Improvem't scheme 1,534,731 31,987 1,502,744

Gasworks 2,184,186 142,359 2,041,827

Waterworks 1,814,792 5,086 1,809,706

Totals 7,543,936 847,710 6,696,226

The above large total, however, does not show all that was owing. The United Drainage Board have borrowed £386,806, and as Birmingham pays £24,722 out of the year's expenditure of £33,277 of that Board, rather more than seven-tenths of that debt must be added to the Borough account, say £270,000. The Board of Guardians have, between June, 1869, and January, 1883, borrowed on loan £130,093, and during same period have repaid £14,808, leaving £115,285 due by them, which must also be added to the list of the town's debts.

Local Acts.—There have been a sufficient number of specially-local Acts of Parliament passed in connection with this town to fill a law library of considerable size. Statutes, clauses, sections, and orders have followed in rapid succession for the last generation or two. Our forefathers were satisfied and gratified if they got a regal of parliamentary notice of this kind once in a century, but no sooner did the inhabitants find themselves under a "properly-constituted" body of "head men," than the lawyers' game began. First a law must be got to make a street, another to light it, a third to pave it, and then one to keep it clean. It is a narrow street, and an Act must be obtained to widen it; when widened some wiseacre thinks a market should be held in it, and a law is got for that, and for gathering tolls; after a bit, another is required to remove the market, and then the street must be "improved," and somebody receives more pounds per yard than he gave pence for the bit of ground wanted to round off the corners; and so the Birmingham world wagged on until the town became a big town, and could afford to have a big Town Hall when other big towns couldn't, and a covered Market Hall and a Smithfield of good size, while other places dwelt under bare skies. The Act by which the authority of the Street Commissioners and Highway Surveyors was transferred to the Corporation was passed in 1851; the expenses of obtaining it reaching nearly £9,000. It took effect on New Year's Day following, and the Commissioners were no longer "one of the powers that be," but some of the Commissioners' bonds are effective still. Since that date there have been twenty local statutes and orders relating to the borough of Birmingham, from the Birmingham Improvement Act, 1851, to the Provisional Order Confirmation Act, passed in 1882, the twenty containing a thousand or more sections. All this, however, has recently been altered, the powers that are now having (through the Town Clerk, Mr. Orford Smith) rolled all the old Acts into one, eliminating useless and obsolete clauses, and inserting others necessitated by our high state of advanced civilisation. The new Act, which is known as the Birmingham Corporation Consolidation Act, came into force January 1, 1884, and all who desire to master our local governing laws easily and completely had better procure a copy of the book containing it, with notes of all the included statutes, compiled by the Town Clerk, and published by Messrs. Cornish, New Street.

Local Epitaphs.—Baskerville, when young, was a stone cutter, and it was known that there was a gravestone in Handsworth churchyard and another in Edgbaston churchyard which were cut by him. The latter was accidentally broken many years back, but was moved and kept as a curiosity until it mysteriously vanished while some repairs were being done at the church. It is believed that Baskerville wrote as well as carved the inscription which commemorated the death of Edward Richards who was an idiot, and died Sept. 21st, 1728, and that it ran thus:—

The gravestone at Handsworth was "under the chancel window," sixty years ago, overgrown with moss and weeds, but inscription and stone have long since gone. Baskerville's own epitaph, on the Mausoleum in his grounds at Easy Hill, has often been quoted:—

Almost as historical as the above, is the inscription on the tombstone erected over Mary Ashford, at Sutton Coldfield:—

As a Warning to Female Virtue, And a humble Monument of Female Chastity, This Stone marks the Grave of MARY ASHFORD, Who, in the 20th year of her age, Having incautiously repaired To a scene of amusement Without proper protection, Was brutally violated and murdered, On the 27th May, 1817.

The following quaint inscription appears on the tombstone erected in memory of John Dowler, the blacksmith, in Aston churchyard:—

Sacred to the Memory of JOHN DOWLER, Late of Castle Bromwich, who Departed this life December 6th, 1787, Aged 42, Also two of his Sons, JAMES and CHARLES, Who died infants.

The latter part of the above, like the next four, has appeared in many parts of the country, as well as in the local burial grounds, from which they have been copied:—

From St. Bartholomew's:

From General Cemetery:

From Witton Cemetery:

From St. Philip's:

The next, upon an infant, is superior to the general run of this class of inscription. It was copied from a slab intended to be placed in Old Edgbaston Churchyard:

Ramblers may find many quaint epitaphs in neighbouring village churchyards. In Shustoke churchyard, or rather on a tablet placed against the wall of the church over the tomb of a person named Hautbach, the date on which is 1712, there is an inscription, remarkable not only for lines almost identical with those over Shakespeare's grave, but for combining several other favourite specimens of graveological literature, as here bracketed:

It is a collection of epitaphs in itself, even to the last line, which is to be found in Durham Cathedral on a "brass" before the altar.

Local Landowners.—It is somewhat a difficult matter to tell how much of the ground on which the town is built belongs to any one particular person, even with the assistance of the "Returns" obtained by John Bright of "the owner" of land so called, possessing estimated yearly rentals of £1,000 and upwards. That these "Returns" may be useful to biassed politicians is likely enough, as Lord Calthorpe is put down as owner of 2,073 acres at an estimated rental of £113,707, while Mr. Muntz appears as owning 2,486 acres at an estimated rental of £3,948. His lordship's £113,707 "estimated" rental must be considerably reduced when the leaseholders have taken their share and left him only the ground rents. The other large ground landlords are the Trustees of the Grammar School, the Trustees of the Colmore, Gooch, Vyse, Inge, Digby, Gillot, Robins, and Mason estates, &c., Earl Howe, Lench's Trust, the Blue Coat School, &c. The Corporation of Birmingham is returned as owning 257 acres, in addition to 134 had from the Waterworks Co., but that does not include the additions made under the Improvement Scheme, &c. The manner in which the estates of the old Lords of the Manor, of the Guild of Holy Cross, and the possessions of the ancient Priory, have been divided and portioned out by descent, marriage, forfeiture, plunder, and purchase is interesting matter of history, but rather of a private than public nature.

Local Notes and Queries.—The gathering of odd scraps of past local history, notes of men and manners of a bygone time, and the stray (and sometimes strange) bits of folklore garnered alone in the recollections of greybeards, has been an interesting occupation for more than one during the past score or two of years. The first series of "Local Notes and Queries" in our newspapers appeared in the Gazette, commencing in Feb., 1856, and was continued till Sept., 1860. There was a somewhat similar but short series running in the columns of the Journal from August, 1861, to May, 1862. The Daily Post took it up in Jan., 1863, and devoted a column per week to "Notes" up to March, 1865, resuming at intervals from 1867 to 1872. The series now (1884) appearing in the Weekly Post was commenced on the first Saturday (Jan. 6) in 1877.

Local Taxation.—See "Municipal Expenditure."

Locks.—The making of locks must have been one of the earliest of our local trades, as we read of one at Throckmorton of very quaint design, but rare workmanship, with the name thereon of "Johannes Wilkes, Birmingham," towards the end of the 17th century. In 1824 there were 186 locksmiths named in the Directory.

Lodger Franchise.—Considering the vast amount of interest taken in all matters connected with local Parliamentary representation, and the periodical battles of bile and banter earned on in the Revision Courts over the lists of voters, it is somewhat curious to note how little advantage has been taken of the clause in the last Reform Bill which gives the right of voting to lodgers. The qualification required is simply the exclusive occupation of lodgings which, if let unfurnished, are of the clear yearly value of £10; and there must be many hundreds of gentlemen in the borough residing in apartments who would come under this head. Out of a total of 63,221 electors in 1883 there were only 72 who had claimed their right to vote. In many other boroughs the same discrepancy exists, though here and there the political wire-pullers have evidently seen how to use the lodger franchise to much better effect, as in the case of Worcester for instance, where there are 59 lodger voters out of a total of 6,362.—See "Parliamentary Elections."

London 'Prentice Street, was called Western Street or Westley's Row on the old maps, its continuation, the Coach Yard, being then Pemberton's Yard. How the name of London 'Prentice Street came to be given to the delectable thoroughfare is one of "those things no fellow can understand." At one time there was a schoolroom there, the boys being taught good manners upstairs, while they could learn lessons of depravity below. With the anxious desire of putting the best face on everything that characterises the present local "fathers of the people," the London 'Prentice has been sent to the right-about, and the nasty dirty stinking thoroughfare is now called "Dalton Street."

Loveday Street, from Loveday Croft, a field given in Good Queen Bess's reign, by John Cooper, as a trysting-place for the Brummagem lads and lasses when on wooing bent.

Low Rents.—A return of unassessed houses in the parish of Birmingham, taken October 19, 1790, showed 2,000 at a rental under £5, 2,000 others under £6, 3,000 under £7, 2,000 under £8, 500 under £9, and 500 under £10.

Lozells.—In the lease of a farm of 138 acres, sold by auction, June 24, 1793, it was written "Lowcells." Possibly the name is derived from the Saxon "lowe" (hill) and "cele" (cold or chill) making it "the cold hill."

Lunacy.—Whether it arises from political heat, religious ecstacies, intemperance, or the cares and worry of the universal hunt for wealth, it is certainly a painful fact to chronicle that in proportion to population insanity is far more prevalent now than it was fifty years ago, and Birmingham has no more share in such excess than other parts of the kingdom. Possibly, the figures show more prominently from the action of the wise rules that enforce the gathering of the insane into public institutions, instead of leaving the unfortunates to the care (or carelessness) of their relatives as in past days, when the wards of the poor-houses were the only receptacles for those who had no relatives to shelter them. The erection of the Borough Asylum, at Winson Green, was commenced in 1846, and it was finished in 1851. The house and grounds covered an area of about twenty acres, the building being arranged to accommodate 330 patients. Great as this number appeared to be, not many years passed before the necessity of enlargement was perceived, and, ultimately, it became evident the Winson Green establishment must either be doubled in size or that a second Asylum must be erected on another site. An estate of 150 acres on the south-eastern slopes of Rubery Hill, on the right-hand side of the turnpike road from here to Bromsgrove, was purchased by the Corporation, and a new Asylum, which will accommodate 616 patients, has there been erected. For the house and its immediate grounds, 70 acres have been apportioned, the remainder being kept for the purposes of a farm, where those of the inmates fit for work can be employed, and where the sewage from the asylum will be utilised. The cost of the land was £6,576 8s. 5d., and that of the buildings, the furnishing, and the laying out of the grounds, £133,495 5s. 8d. The report of the Lunatic Asylums Committee for 1882 stated that the number of patients, including those boarded under contract at other asylums, on the first of Jan., 1882, was 839. There were admitted to Winson Green and Rubery Hill during the year 349. There were discharged during the year 94, and there died 124, leaving, on the 31st Dec., 970. The whole of the 970 were then at the borough asylums, and were chargeable as follows:—To Birmingham parish, 644; to Birmingham borough, 8; to Aston Union, in the borough, 168; to King's Norton, 16; to other unions under contract, 98; the remaining 36 patients not being paupers. The income of the asylums for the year was—from Birmingham patients £20,748 1s. 9.; from pauper patients under contract, and from patients not paupers, £2,989 9s. 5d.; from goods sold, £680 1s. 5d.; total, £24,417 12s. 7d. The expenditure on maintenance account was £21,964 4s., and on building capital account £2,966 7s. 7d.—total, £24,915 11s. 7d.; showing a balance against the asylums of £497 19s. The nett average weekly cost for the year was 9s. 6-1/2d. per head. Mr. E.B. Whitcombe, medical superintendent at Winson Green, says that among the causes of insanity in those admitted it is satisfactory to note a large decrease in the number from intemperance, the percentage for the year being 7.7, as compared with 18 and 21 per cent. in 1881 and 1880 respectively. The proportion of recoveries to admissions was in the males 27.7, in the females 36, and in the total 32.3 percent. This is below the average, and is due to a large number of chronic and unfavourable cases admitted. At Rubery Hill Asylum, Dr. Lyle reports that out of the first 450 admissions there were six patients discharged as recovered.—The Midland Counties' Idiot Asylum, at Knowle, opened in 1867, also finds shelter for some of Birmingham's unfortunate children. The Asylum provides a home for about 50, but it is in contemplation to considerably enlarge it. At the end of 1882 there were 28 males and 21 females, 47 being the average number of inmates during the year, the cost per head being £41 13s. 6d. Of the limited number of inmates in the institution no fewer than thirteen came from Birmingham, and altogether as many as thirty-five candidates had been elected from Birmingham. The income from all sources, exclusive of contributions to the building fund, amounted to £2,033 3s. 8d., and the total expenditure (including £193 3s. 4d. written off for depreciation of buildings) to £1,763 15s. 7d., leaving a balance in hand of £269 8s. 1d. The fund which is being raised for the enlargement of the institution then amounted to £605 15s., the sum required being £5,000. The society's capital was then £10,850 12s. 8d. of which £7,358 12s. 5d. had been laid out in lands and buildings. Mr. Tait, the medical officer, was of opinion that one-fourth of the children were capable of becoming productive workers under kindly direction and supervision, the progress made by some of the boys in basket-making being very marked.

Lunar Society.—So called from the meetings being held at the full of the moon that the members might have light nights to drive home, but from which they were nicknamed "the lunatics." Originally commenced about 1765, it included among its members Baskerville, Boulton, Watt, Priestley, Thomas Day, Samuel Galton, R.L. Edgeworth, Dr. Withering, Dr. Small, Dr. Darwin, Wedgwood, Keir, and indeed almost every man of intellectual note of the time. It died down as death took the leaders, but it may be said to have left traces in many learned societies of later date.

Luncheon Bars.—The honour of introducing the modern style of luncheon bar must be awarded to the landlord of the Acorn, in Temple Street, who, having seen something of the kind in one of the Channel Islands, imported the notion to Birmingham. The lumber rooms and stables at back of his house were cleared and fitted up as smoke rooms, and bread and cheese, and beer, &c., dealt out over the counter. Here it was that Mr. Hillman took his degree as popular waiter, and from the Acorn also he took a wife to help him start "The Stores," in Paradise Street. Mr. Thomas Hanson was not long behind Hillman before he opened up "The Corner Stores," in Union Passage, following that with the "St. James" in New Street, and several others in various parts of the town. The "Bars" are now an "institution" that has become absolutely indispensable, even for the class who prefer the semi-privacy of the "Restaurants," as the proprietors of the more select Bars like to call their establishments.

Magistrates.—By direction of the Queen's Council, in 1569, all magistrates had to send up "bonds" that they would subscribe to the then recently passed Act for the Uniformity of Common Prayers and Services in the Church, and the Administration of the Sacraments. The local name of Middlemore appears among the few in this county who objected to do so, and most likely his descendants would do the same. The first twenty-five of our borough magistrates were appointed about nine weeks after the date of the Charter of Incorporation, 1839. In 1841, 1849, 1856, and 1859, other gentlemen were placed on the roll, and in April, 1880, ten more names were added to the list, having been sent up to the Lord Chancellor a few days before he vacated office, by some knowing gentlemen who had conceived a notion that the Conservative element was hardly strong enough among the occupants of the Bench. There are now 52, in addition to the Stipendiary Magistrate and the Recorder, and as politics must enter into every matter connected with public life in Birmingham, we record the interesting fact that 31 of these gentlemen are Liberals and 21 Conservatives. Mr. T.C.S. Kynnersley first acted as Stipendiary, April 19, 1856.

Magazines.—See "Newspapers and Periodicals."

Manor House.—How few of the thousands who pass Smithfield every day know that they are treading upon ground where once the Barons of Birmingham kept house in feudal grandeur. Whether the ancient Castle, destroyed in the time of Stephen, pre-occupied the site of the Manor House (or, as it was of late years called—the Moat House), is more than antiquarians have yet found out, any more than they can tell us when the latter building was erected, or when it was demolished. Hutton says: "The first certain account we meet of the moat (which surrounded the island on which the erections were built) is in the reign of Henry the Second, 1154, when Peter de Bermingham, then lord of the fee, had a castle here, and lived in splendour. All the succeeding lords resided upon the same island till their cruel expulsion by John, Duke of Northumberland, in 1537. The old castle followed its lords, and is buried in the ruins of time. Upon the spot, about fifty years ago [1730], rose a house in the modern style, occupied by a manufacturer (Thomas Francis); in one of the outbuildings is shown the apartment where the ancient lords kept their court leet. The trench being filled with water has nearly the same appearance now as perhaps a thousand years ago; but not altogether the same use. It then served to protect its master, but now to turn a thread mill." Moat Lane and Mill Lane are the only names by which the memory of the old house is now retained. The thread mill spoken of by Hutton gave place to a brass or iron foundry, and the property being purchased by the Commissioners, the whole was cleared off the ground in 1815 or 1816, the sale of the building materials, &c., taking place July 5, 1815. Among the "lots" sold, the Moat House and offices adjoining realised £290; the large gates at the entrance with the brick pillars, £16; the bridge, £11; the timber trees, £25; a fire engine with carriage, &c., £6 15s. (possibly some sort of steam engine, then called fire engines); the total produce, including counting-house, warehouse, casting, tinning, burnishing, blacking, and blacksmiths' shops, a horse mill, scouring mill, and a quantity of wood sheds and palisading, amounted to nearly £1,150. The prosaic minds of the Commissioners evidently did not lead them to value "the apartments where the ancient lords kept their court," or it had been turned into a scouring or tinning shop, for no mention was made of it in the catalogue of sale, and as the old Castle disappeared, so did the Manor House, leaving not a stone behind. Mr. William Hamper took a sketch of the old house, in May, 1814, and he then wrote of the oldest part of the building, that it was "half-timbered," and seemingly of about Henry VIII.'s time, or perhaps a little later, but some of the timbers had evidently been used in a former building (probably the old Manorial residence) as the old mortices were to be seen in several of the beams and uprights. The house itself was cleared away in May, 1816, and the last of the outbuildings in the following month. So perfect was the clearance, that not even any of the foundations have been turned up during the alterations lately effected in Smithfield Market. In 1746, the "manorial rights" were purchased by Thomas Archer, of Umberslade, from whose descendants they were acquired by the Commissioners, in 1812, under an Act of Parliament obtained for the purpose, the price given for the Manor House, meat, and ground, being £5,672, in addition to £12,500, for "market tolls," &c.

Manufactures.—For a few notes respecting the manufactures carried on in Birmingham, see "Trades."

Maps of Birmingham.—Westley's "Plan of Birmingham, surveyed in the year 1731," is the earliest published map yet met with; Bradford's in 1750, is the next. Hanson's of 1778, was reduced for Hutton's work, in 1781. For the third edition, 1792, Pye's map was used, and it was added to in 1795. 1800 saw Bissett's "Magnificent Directory" published, with a map; and in 1815 Kempson's survey was taken, and, as well as Pye's, was several times issued with slight alterations, as required. In 1825, Pigott Smith's valuable map, with names of landowners (and a miniature copy of Westley's in upper left-hand corner), was issued, and for many years it was the most reliable authority that could be referred to. 1834 was prolific in maps; Arrowsmith's, Wrightson and Webb's, Guest's, and Hunt's, appearing, the best of them being the first-named. The Useful Knowledge Society's map, with views of public buildings, was issued in 1844, and again in 1849. In 1848, Fowler and Son published a finely-engraved map, 68-1/4in. by 50-1/2in., of the parish of Aston, with the Duddeston-cum-Nechells, Deritend, and Bordesley wards, and the hamlets of Erdington, Castle Bromwich, Little Bromwich, Saltley, and Washwood Heath, Water Orton, and Witton. The Board of Health map was issued in 1849; Guest's reissued in 1850; Blood's "ten-mile map" in 1853; and the Post-office Directory map in 1854. In the next year, the Town Council street map (by Pigott Smith) was published, followed by Moody's in 1858, Cornish's and Granger's in 1860, and also a corrected and enlarged edition of the Post-office Directory map. A variety, though mostly of the nature of street maps, have appeared since then, the latest, most useful, and correct (being brought down to the latest date) being that issued to their friends, mounted for use, by Messrs. Walter Showell and Sons, at whose head offices in Great Charles Street copies can be obtained.—In 1882 the Corporation reproduced and issued a series of ancient and hitherto private maps of the town and neighbourhood, which are of great value to the historian and everyone interested in the land on which Birmingham and its suburbs are built. The first of these maps in point of date is that of the Manor of Edgbaston 1718, followed by that of the Manor of Aston 1758, Little Bromwich Manor 1759, Bordesley Manor 1760, Saltley Manor 1760, Duddeston and Nechells Manors 1778, and of Birmingham parish 1779. The last-named was the work of a local surveyor, John Snape, and it is said that he used a camera obscura of his own construction to enable him to make his work so perfect that it served as correct guide to the map makers for fifty years after.

Markets.—Some writers have dated the existence of Birmingham as a market town as being prior to the Norman Conquest, charters (they say) for the holding of markets having been granted by both Saxon and Danish Kings. That market was held here at an early period is evident from the fact of the charter therefore being renewed by Richard I., who visited the De Berminghams in 1189. The market day has never been changed from Thursday, though Tuesday and Saturday besides are now not enough; in fact, every day may be called market day, though Thursday attracts more of our friends from the country. The opening of Smithfield (May 29, 1817) was the means of concentrating the markets for horses, pigs, cattle, sheep, and farm produce, which for years previously had been offered for sale in New Street, Ann Street, High Street, and Dale End. The Market tolls, for which £12,500 was paid in 1812, produced £5,706 10s. 5d. in the year 1840.

Cattle Market.—Prior to 1769 cattle were sold in High Street; in that year their standings were removed to Dale End, and in 1776 (Oct. 28.) to Deritend. Pigs and sheep were sold in New Street up to the opening of Smithfield. Some five-and-twenty years back a movement was set on foot for the removal of the Cattle Market to the Old Vauxhall neighbourhood, but the cost frightened the people, and the project was shelved. The "town improvers" of to-day, who play with thousands of pounds as children used to do at chuck-farthing, are not so easily baulked, and the taxpayers will doubtless soon have to find the cash for a very much larger Cattle Market in some other part of the borough. A site has been fixed upon in Rupert Street by the "lords in Convention," but up to now (March, 1885), the question is not quite settled.

Corn Market.—The ancient market for corn, or "Corn Cheaping," formed, part of "le Bul ryng" which at one time was almost the sole place of traffic of our forefathers. At first an open space, as the market granted by the early Norman Kings grew in extent, the custom arose of setting up stalls, the right to do which was doubtless bought of the Lords of the Manor. These grew into permanent tenements, and stallages, "freeboards," shambles, and even houses (some with small gardens abutting on the unfenced churchyard), gradually covered the whole ground, and it ultimately cost the town a large sum to clear it, the Commissioners, in 1806-7, paying nearly £25,000 for the purpose. The farmers of a hundred years ago used to assemble with their samples of grain round the Old Cross, or High Cross, standing nearly opposite the present Market Hall steps, and in times of scarcity, when bread was dear, they needed the protection of special constables.

Fish Market.—In April, 1851, the fishmongers' stalls were removed from Dale End, and the sale was confined to the Market Hall, but consequent on the increase of population, and therefore of consumption, a separate market, at corner of Bell Street, was opened in 1870, and that is now being enlarged.

Hide and Skin Market.—The sale of these not particularly sweet-smelling animal products was formerly carried on in the open at Smithfield, but a special market for them and for tallow was opened May 25, 1850; the same building being utilised as a wool market July 29, 1851.

Vegetable Market, so long held in the Bull Ring, is now principally held in the covered portion of Smithfield, which promises to be soon a huge wholesale market.

Marriages.—This is the style in which these interesting events used to chronicled:—

"Sept. 30, 1751. On Monday last, the Rev. Mr. Willes, a relation of the Lord Chief Justice Willes, was married to Miss Wilkins, daughter of an eminent grocer of this town, a young lady of great merit, and handsome fortune."

"Nov. 23, 1751. On Tuesday last, was married at St. Mary-le-Bow, in Cheapside, Mr. W. Welch, an eminent hardware man of Birmingham, to Miss Nancy Morton, of Sheffield, an agreeable young lady, with a handsome fortune."

"June 4, 1772 (and not before as mentioned by mistake) at St. Philip's Church in this town, Mr. Thomas Smallwood, an eminent wine merchant, to Miss Harris, a young lady of distinguished accomplishments, with a fortune of £1,500."

Masshouse Lane.—Takes its name from the Roman Catholic Church (or Mass House, as such edifices were then called) erected in 1687, and dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen and St. Francis. The foundation stone was laid March 23, in the above year, and on 16th August, 1688, the first stone of a Franciscan Convent was laid adjoining to the Church, which latter was consecrated Sept. 4. The Church was 95ft long by 33ft. wide, and towards the building of it and the Convent, James II. gave 125 "tuns of timber," which were sold for £180; Sir John Gage gave timber valued at £140; the Dowager Queen Catherine gave £10 15s.; and a Mrs. Anne Gregg, £250. This would appear to have been the first place of worship put up here by the Romish Church since the time of Henry VIII., and it was not allowed to stand long, for the Church and what part of the Convent was built (in the words of the Franciscan priest who laid the first stone) "was first defaced, and most of it burrent within to near ye vallue of 400lb., by ye Lord Dellamer's order upon ye 26 of November, 1688, and ye day sevennight following ye rabble of Birmingham begon to pul ye Church and Convent down, and saesed not until they had pulled up ye fundations. They sold ye materials, of which many houses and parts of houses are built in ye town of Birmingham, ye townsmen of ye better sort not resisting ye rabble, but quietly permitting, if not prompting them to doe itt." The poor priests found shelter at Harborne, where there is another Masshouse Lane, their "Masshouse" being a little further on in Pritchett's Lane, where for nearly a century the double work of conducting a school and ministering to their scattered Catholic flock was carried on, the next local place of worship built here being "St. Peters's Chapel," off Broad Street, erected about 1786. It is believed that St. Bartholomew's Church covers the site of the short-lived "Mass House."

Masonic.—That the Freemasons are many among us is proved by the number of their Lodges, but the writer has no record throwing light on their past local history, though mention is found now and then in old newspapers of their taking part in the ceremonies attending the erection of more than one of our public buildings. Of their local acts of benevolence they sayeth naught, though, as is well-known, their charity is never found wanting. The three Masonic charitable institutions which are supported by the voluntary contributions of the craft during 1883 realised a total income of £55,994 14s. 3d. Of this sum the boys' school received £24,895 7s. 1d.; the Benevolent Institution, £18,449 6s.; and the girls' school, £12,650 1s. 2d. The largest total attained previous to 1883 was in 1880, when the sum amounted to £49,763. The boys' school, which is now at the head of the list, is boarding, housing clothing, and educating 221 boys; the Benevolent Institution, the second on the list, is granting annuities of £40 each to 172 men and £32 each to 167 widows; and the girls' school houses, boards, clothes, and educates 239 girls, between the ages of seven and sixteen. The boys leave school at fifteen. During the year £8,675 has been granted to 334 cases of distress from the Fund of Benevolence, which is composed of 4s. a year taken from every London Mason's subscription to his lodge and 2s. a year from every country Mason's subscription. The local lodges meet as follows:—At the Masonic Hall, New Street: St. Paul's Lodge, No. 43; the Faithful Lodge, No. 473; the Howe Lodge, No. 587; the Howe R.A. Chapter; the Howe Mark Master's Lodge; the Howe Preceptory of Knight Templars; the Temperance Lodge, No. 739; the Leigh Lodge, No. 887; the Bedford Lodge, No. 925; the Bedford R.A. Chapter; the Grosvenor Lodge, No. 938; the Grosvenor R.A. Chapter; the Elkington Lodge, No 1,016; the Elkington R.A. Chapter; the Fletcher Lodge, No. 1,031; the Fletcher R.A. Chapter; the Lodge of Emulation, No. 1,163; the Forward Lodge, No. 1,180; the Lodge of Charity, No. 1,551; and the Alma Mater Lodge, No. 1,644. At the Masonic Hall, Severn Street: The Athol Lodge, No. 74; the Athol R.A. Chapter; the Athol Mark Master's Lodge; and the Lodge of Israel, No. 1,474. At the Great Western Hotel: The Lodge of Light, No. 468; the R.A. Chapter of Fortitude; and the Vernon Chapter of S.P.R.C. of H.R.D.M., No. 5. At the Holte Hotel, Aston: The Holte Lodge, No. 1,246.

Matches.—Baker's are best, the maker says. Lucifer matches were the invention of a young German patriot, named Kammerer, who beguiled his time in prison (in 1832) with chemical experiments, though a North of England apothecary, Walker, lays claim to the invention. They were first made in Birmingham in 1852, but they have not, as yet, completely driven the old-fashioned, and now-despised tinder-box out of the world, as many of the latter are still manufactured in this town for sundry foreign parts.

Mecca.—The late Mr. J.H. Chamberlain, shortly before his death, said that he looked upon Birmingham, "perhaps with a foolish pride," as the Holy City, the Mecca of England; where life was fuller of possibilities of utility—happier, broader, wiser, and a thousand times better than it was in any other town in the United Kingdom.

Mechanical Engineers.—The Institution of Mechanical Engineers was organised in this town, in October 1847, but its headquarters were removed to London, in 1877.

Mechanics' Institute.—The proposal to form a local institution of a popular nature, for the encouragement of learning among our workers, like unto others which had been established in several large places elsewhere, was published in June, 1825, and several meetings were held before December 27, when officers were chosen, and entry made of nearly 200 members, to start with, the subscription being 5/-per quarter. The formal opening took place March 21, 1826, the members assembling in Mount Zion Chapel, to hear an address from Mr. B. Cook, the vice-president. The class-rooms, library, and reading-rooms, were at the school attached to the Old Meeting House, and here the Institution, so far as the conduct of classes, and the imparting of knowledge went, thrived and prospered. Financially, however, though at one time there were nearly 500 members, it was never successful, possibly through lack of assistance that might have been expected from the manufacturers and large employers, for, hide it as we may, with a few honourable exceptions, that class, fifty years ago, preferred strong men to wise ones, and rather set their banks against opening the doors of knowledge to their workpeople, or their children. It was a dozen years before the Institution was able to remove to a home of its own in Newhall Street, but it rapidly got into a hopeless state of debt. To lessen this incubus, and provide funds for some needed alterations, the committee decided to hold an exhibition of "manufactures, the fine arts, and objects illustrative of experimental philosophy, &c." The exhibition was opened Dec. 19, 1839, and in all ways was a splendid success, a fairly-large sum of money being realised. Unfortunately, a second exhibition was held in the following years, when all the profits of the former were not only lost, but so heavy an addition made to the debt, that it may be said to have ruined the institution completely. Creditors took possession of the premises in January, 1842, and in June operations were suspended, and, notwithstanding several attempts to revive the institution, it died out altogether. As the only popular educational establishment open to the young men of the time, it did good work, many of its pupils having made their mark in the paths of literature, art, and science.

Medical Associations.—According to the "Medical Register" there are 35 physicians and 210 surgeons resident in the borough, and there are rather more than 300 chemists and druggists. According to a summary of the census tables, the medical profession "and their subordinates" number in Birmingham and Aston 940, of whom 376 are males and 564 females. In 1834, at Worcester, under the presidency of Dr. Johnson, of this town, the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association was formed for encouraging scientific research, improving the practice of medicine, and generally looking after the interests of the profession. In 1856 the name was changed to The British Medical Association, with head offices in London, but prior to that branches had been established in various large towns, the Birmingham and Midland Counties' branch being foremost, holding its first meeting at Dee's Hotel, in December, 1854. The society has now about 9,000 members, with a reserve fund of £10,000; in the local branch there are 359 members, who subscribe about £150 per annum. —The Birmingham Medical Institute was launched Feb. 5, 1876, but the question of admitting homeopathists as members was nearly the upsetting of the craft at the first meeting; thanks to the sails being trimmed with a little common sense, however, the difficulty was tided over. The opening of the Institute in Edmund Street took place December 17, 1880. The cost of the building was about £6,000, and the purposes to which it is applied are the providing accommodation for meetings of the profession and the housing of the valuable medical library of over 6,000 books. As something worthy of note, it may be mentioned that the Institute was opened free from debt, the whole cost being previously subscribed.

Memorials and Monuments.—See "Statues," &c.

Men of Worth.—The "Toy-shop of the World," the home of workers, free from the blue blood of titled families, and having but few reapers of "unearned increment," is hardly the place to look for "men of worth or value" in a monetary point of view, but we have not been without them. A writer in Gazette, September 1, 1828, reckoned up 120 inhabitants who were each worth over £10,000 each; 50 worth over £20,000; 16 worth over £50,000; 9 worth over £100,000; 3 worth over £200,000; 2 worth over £300,000 each, and 1 worth over £400,000. Taking certain Income Tax Returns and other information for his basis another man of figures in 1878 made calculations showing that there were then among us some 800 persons worth more than £5,000 each, 200 worth over £10,000, 50 worth over £20,000, 35 worth over £50,000, 26 worth over £100,000, 12 worth over £250,000, 5 worth over £500,000, and 2 worth over or near £1,000,000 each.

Mercia.—In 585, this neighbourhood formed part of the Heptarchic kingdom of Mercia, under Cridda; in 697, Mercia was divided into four dioceses; this district being included in that of Lichfield; in 878, Mercia was merged in the kingdom of England. According to Bede and the Saxon Chronicles, Beorned was, in 757, king of Mercia, of which Birmingham formed part, and in Canute's reign there was an Earl Beorn, the king's nephew, and it has been fancifully suggested that in this name Beorn may lie the much-sought root for the etymology of the town's name. Beorn, or Bern, being derived from ber, a bear or boar, it might be arranged thusly:—

Ber, bear or boar; moeng, many; ham, dwelling—the whole making Bermoengham, the dwelling of many bears, or the home of many pigs!

Metchley Camp.—At Metchley Park, about three miles from town, near to Harborne, there are the remains of an old camp or station which Hutton attributes to "those pilfering vermin, the Danes," other writers thinking it was constructed by the Romans, but it is hardly possible that an undertaking requiring such immense labour as this must have done, could have been overlooked in any history of the Roman occupation. More likely it was a stronghold of the native Britons who opposed their advance, a superstition borne out by its being adjacent to their line of Icknield Street, and near the heart of England. From a measurement made in 1822, the camp appears to have covered an area of about 15-1/2 acres. Hutton gives it as 30 acres, and describes a third embankment. The present outer vallum was 330 yards long by 228 wide, and the interior camp 187 yards long by 165 wide. The ancient vallum and fosse have suffered much by the lapse of time, by the occupiers partially levelling the ground, and by the passing through it of the Worcester and Birmingham canal, to make the banks of which the southern extremity of the camp was completely destroyed. Some few pieces of ancient weapons, swords and battle-axes, and portions of bucklers, have been found here, but nothing of a distinctively Roman or Danish character. As the fortification was of such great size and strength, and evidently formed for no mere temporary occupation, had either of those passers-by been the constructors we should naturally have expected that more positive traces of their nationality would have been found.

Methodism.—The introduction here must date from Wesley's first visit in March, 1738. In 1764, Moor Street Theatre was taken as a meeting place, and John Wesley opened it March 21. The new sect afterwards occupied the King Street Theatre. Hutton says:—"The Methodists occupied for many years a place in Steelhouse Lane, where the wags of the age observed, 'they were eaten out by the bugs.' They therefore procured the cast-off Theatre in Moor Street, where they continued to exhibit till 1782, when, quitting the stage, they erected a superb meeting house in Cherry Street, at the expense of £1,200. This was opened, July 7, by John Wesley, the chief priest, whose extensive knowledge and unblemished manners give us a tolerable picture of apostolic purity, who believed as if he were to be saved by faith, and who laboured as if he were to be saved by works." The note made by Wesley, who was in his 80th year, respecting the opening of Cherry Street Chapel, has been preserved. He says:—"July 6th, 1782. I came to Birmingham, and preached once more in the old dreary preaching-house. The next day I opened the new house at eight, and it contained the people well, but not in the evening, many more then constrained to go away. In the middle of the sermon a huge noise was heard, caused by the breaking of a bench on which some people stood. None of them were hurt; yet it occasioned a general panic at first, but in a few minutes all was quiet." Four years after the opening, Wesley preached in the chapel again, and found great prosperity. "At first," he wrote, "the preaching-house would not near contain the congregation. Afterwards I administered the Lord's Supper to about 500 communicants." Old as he then was, the apostle of Methodism came here a time or two after that, his last visit being in 1790. Many talented men have since served the Wesleyan body in this town, and the society holds a strong position among our Dissenting brethren. The minutes of the Wesleyan Conference last issued give the following statistics of the Birmingham and Shrewsbury District:—Church members, 18,875; on trial for membership, l,537; members of junior classes, 2,143; number of ministerial class leaders, 72; lay class leaders, 1,269; local or lay preachers, 769 (the largest number in any district except Nottingham and Derby, which has 798). There are 40 circuits in the district, of which 27 report an increase of membership, and 13 a decrease.—See "Places of Worship."

Methodism, Primitive.—The origin of the Primitive Methodist Connexion dates from 1808, and it sprung solely from the custom (introduced by Lorenzo Dow, from America, in the previous year) of holding "camp meetings," which the Wesleyan Conference decided to be "highly improper in England, even if allowable in America, and likely to be productive of considerable mischief," expelling the preachers who conducted them. A new society was the result, and the first service in this town was held in Moor Sreet, in the open air, near to the Public Office, in the summer of 1824. The first "lovefeast" took place, March 6, 1825, and the first "camp meeting," a few months later. A circuit was formed, the first minister being the Rev. T. Nelson, and in 1826, a chapel was opened in Bordesley Street, others following in due course of time, as the Primitives increased in number. The Birmingham circuit contains about 800 members, with over 2,000 Sunday School scholars, and 250 teachers.— See "Places of Worship."

Metric System.—This, the simplest decimal system of computation yet legalised is in use in France, Belgium, Holland, Italy, Spain, and other parts of Europe, as well as in Chili, Peru, Mexico, &c., and by 27 and 28 Vic., cap. 117, its use has been rendered legal in this country. As our local trade with the above and other countries is increasing (unfortunately in some respects), rules for working out the metric measures into English and vice versa may be useful. The unit of length is the metre (equal to 39.37 inches); it is divided into tenths (decimetres), hundredths (centimetres), and thousandths (millimetres), and it is multiplied by decimals in like way into hectometres, kilometres, and myriometres. The unit of weight is the gramme, divided as the metre into decigrammes, centigrammes, and milligrammes; multiplied into decagrammes, hectogrammes, and kilogrammes. The unit of capacity is the litre, divided and multiplied like the others.

1 inch equals 2-1/2 centimetres. 1 foot equals 3 decimetres. 1 mile equals 1-3/5 kilometres. 1 cwt. equals 50.8 kilogrammes. 1 ounce (troy) equals 31 grammes. 1 pound (troy) equals 3.72 decagrammes. 1 gallon equals 4-1/2 litres. 1 quart equals 1-1/16 litres. 1 metre equals 39.37 inches. 1 hectometre equals 109-1/3 yards. 1 cubic metre equals 61,027 cubic inches. 1 kilometre equals 1,093 yards. 1 decigramme equals 1-1/2 grains. 1 gramme equals 15 grains. 1 kilogramme equals 2-1/5 pounds (avoirdupois). 1 litre equals 1-3/4 pints.

To turn inches into millimetres add the figures 00 to the number of inches, divide by 4, and add the result two-fifths of the original number of inches.

To turn millimetres to inches add the figure 0 and divide by 254.

To make cubic inches into cubic centimetres multiply by 721 and divide by 44; cubic centimetres into cubic inches multiply by 44 and divide by 721.

To turn grains into grammes, multiply the number by 648 and divide the product by 10,000.

To turn grammes into grains, multiply by 10,000, dividing the result by 648.

The metric system is especially useful in our local jewellery and other trades, but it is very slowly making its way against the old English foot and yaid, even such a learned man as Professor Rankine poking fun at the foreign measures in a comic song of which two verses run:—

Mid-England.—Meriden, near Coventry, is believed to be about the centre spot of England.

Midland Institute.—Suggestions of some such an institution, to take the place of the defunct Mechanics', had several time appeared in print, but nothing definite was done in the matter until the subject was discussed (June 4, 1852) over the dinner table of Mr. Arthur Ryland. Practical shape being given to the ideas then advanced, a town's meeting on Dec. 3, 1853, sanctioned the grant by the Council of the land necessary for the erection of a proper building, and an Act of Incorporation was obtained in the following Parliamentiry session. In December 1854, Charles Dickens gave three readings in the Town Hall, in behalf of the building fund, whereby £227 13s. 9d. was realised, the donations then amounting to £8,467. The foundation stone was laid by Prince Albert, on Nov. 22, 1855, and the contract for the first part of the building given to Messrs. Branston and Gwyther for £12,000. The lecture theatre was opened Oct. 13, 1857, when addresses were delivered by Lord Brougham, Lord Russell, and Lord Stanley, the latter delivering the prizes to the students who had attended the classes, which were first started in October, 1854, at the Philosophical Institute. In 1859, the portrait of David Cox was presented to the Institute, forming the first contribution to the Fine Art Gallery, which was built on portion of the land originally given to the Institute, the whole of the buildings being designed by Mr. E.M. Barry. The amount subscribed to the building fund was about £18,000, and the coat, including furniture and apparatus more than £16,000. Great extension has been made since then, on the Paradise Street side, and many thousands spent on the enlargement, branch classes bring also held at several of the Board Schools to relieve the pressure on the Institute. In 1864, the members of the Institute numbered 660, and the students 880, with an income of £998; in January, 1874, there were 1,591 members, 733 family ticket holders. 2,172 students, and an income of £2,580. At the end of 1833, the number of annual subscribers was 1,900, and lecture ticket-holders 838. In the Industrial Department there were 4,334 students; the Archæological Section numbered 226 members, and the musical Section 183. 108 students attended the Laws of Health classes, 220 the Ladies classes, and 36 the classes for preparation for matriculation. The benefits derived from the establishment of the Midland Institute, and the amount of useful, practical, and scientific knowledge disseminated by means of its classes among the intelligent working men of the town and the rising generation, is incalculable. These classes, many of which are open at the low fee of 1d., and some others specially for females, now include the whole of the following subjects:—English language and literature, English history, French, German, Latin, Greek, and Spanish, algebra, geometry, mensuration, trignometry, and arithmetic, music, drawing, writing, English grammar, and composition, botany, chemistry, experimental physics, practical mechanics, and metallurgy, elementary singing, physical geography, animal physiology, geology, practical plane and solid geometry, &c. The general position of the Institute with regard to finance was as follows:—Gross receipts in General Department, £3,281 5s. 6d.; expenditure in this department (including £998 1s. 6d. deficiency at the close of the year 1882), £3,088 17s. 2d.; balance in favour of the General Department, £192 8s. 4d. Gross receipts in Industrial Department, £1,747 13s.; expenditure in this department, £3,173 7s. 10d.; deficiency, £l,425 14s. 10d., met by a transfer from the funds of the General Department. The total result of the year's operations in both departments left a deficiency of £1,233 6s. 6d. The amount due to bankers on the General Fund was £863 13s. 6d; and the amount standing to the credit of the Institute on the Repairs Account is £440 12s. 2d. It is much to be regretted that there is a total debt on the Institute, amounting to £19,000, the paying of interest on which sadly retards its usefulness. Many munificent donations have been made to the funds of the Institute from time to time, one being the sum of £3,000, given by an anonymous donor in 186[**], "in memory of Arthur Ryland." In August, same year, it was announced that the late Mr. Alfred Wilkes had bequeathed the bulk of his estate, estimated at about £100,000, in trust for his two sisters during their lives, with reversion in equal shares to the General Hospital and the Midland Institute, being a deferred benefaction of £50,000 to each.

Midland Metropolis.—Birmingham was so entitled because it was the largest town, and has more inhabitants than any town in the centre of England. To use a Yankeeism, it is "the hub" of the Kingdom; here is the throbbing heart of all that is Liberal in the political life of Europe; this is the workshop of the world, the birth-spot of the steam-engine, and the home of mock jewellery. In all matters political, social, and national, it takes the lead, and if London is the Metropolis of all that is effete and aristocratic, Birmingham has the moving-power of all that is progressive, recuperative and advancing. When Macaulay's New Zealander sits sadly viewing the silent ruins of the once gigantic city on the Thames, he will have the consolation of knowing that the pulse-beats of his progenitors will still be found in the Mid-England Metropolis, once known as the town of Burningsham or Birmingham.

Mild Winters.—The winter of 1658-9 was very mild, there being neither snow or frost. In 1748 honeysuckles, in full bloom, were gathered near Worcester, in February. In the first four months of 1779 there was not a day's rain or snow, and on the 25th of March the cherry, plum, and pear trees were in full bloom. An extraordinary mild winter was that of 1782-3. A rose was plucked in an open garden, in New Street, on 30th December, 1820. In December, 1857, a wren's nest, with two eggs in it was found near Selly Oak, and ripe raspberries were gathered in the Christmas week at Astwood Bank. The winter of 1883-4 is worthy of note, for rose trees were budding in December, lambs frisking about in January, and blackbirds sitting in February.

Milk.—The reports of the Borough Analyst for several successive years, 1879 to 1882, showed that nearly one-half the samples of milk examined were adulterated, the average adulteration of each being as much as 20 per cent.; and a calculation has been made that the Brums pay £20,000 a year for the water added to their milk! Next to the bread we eat, there is no article that should be kept freer from adulteration than milk, and the formation of a Dairy Company, in April, 1882, was hailed as a boon by many. The Company started with a nominal capital of £50,000 in £5 shares, and it rigidly prosecutes any farmer who puts the milk of the "wooden cow" into their cans.

Minories.—Once known as Upper and Lower Minories, the latter name being given to what, at other times, has been called "Pemberton's Yard" or the "Coach Yard." The names give their own meaning, the roads leading to the Priory.

Mints.—See "Trades."

Missionary Work.—About a million and a quarter sterling is yearly contributed in England to Foreign, Colonial, and Home Missionary Societies, and Birmingham sends its share very fairly. The local Auxiliary, to the Church Missionary Society, in 1882, gathered £2,133 8s. 6d.; in 1883 (to June both years) it reached £2,774 17s. 8d., of which £2,336 6s 11d. was from collections in the local churches. The Auxiliary to the London Missionary Society gathered £1,050, of which £991 was collected in churches and chapels. The Baptist Missionary Society was founded in October, 1792, and branch was started here a few months afterwards, the first fruits totting up to the very respectable amount of £70. A branch of the Wesleyan Missionary Society was formed here in 1814 for the Birmingham and Shrewsbury district, and the amounts gathered in 1882 totalled £4,829 10s. 3d. To the Society for promoting Christianity among the Jews, the Birmingham Auxiliaries in 1883 sent £323. There are also Auxiliaries of the Church of England Zenana, of the South American, and of one or two other Missionary Societies. The Rev. J.B. Barradale, who died in China, early in 1879, while relieving sufferers from famine, was educated at Spring Hill College. He was sent out by the London Missionary Society, and his death was preceded by that of his wife and only child, who died a few weeks before him, all from fever caught while helping poor Chinamen.

Moated Houses.—The Parsonage, as well as the Manor House (as noted elsewhere), were each surrounded by its moat, and, possibly, no portion of the United Kingdom could show more family mansions, and country residences, protected in this manner, than the immediate district surrounding Birmingham. Many more or-less-preserved specimens of these old-fashioned houses, with their water guards round them, are to be met with by the rambler, as at Astwood Bank. Erdington, Inkberrow, Yardley, Wyrley, &c. Perhaps, the two best are Maxtoke Castle, near Coleshill, and the New Hall, Sutton Coldfield.

Modern Monasteries.—The foundation-stone of St. Thomas's Priory, at Erdington, for the accommodation of the Monks of the Order of St. Benedict, was laid on Aug. 5, 1879, by the Prior, the Rev. Hildebrand de Hemptinne. Alter the date, and the reader might fancy himself living in Mediæval times.

Monument.—The high tower erected near the Reservoir has long borne the name of "The Monument," though it has been said it was built more as a strange kind of pleasure-house, where the owner, a Mr. Perrott, could pass his leisure hours witnessing coursing in the day-time, or making astronomical observations at night. Hence it was often called "Perrott's Folly." It dates from 1758—See also "Statues," &c.

Moody and Sankey.—These American Evangelists, or Revivalists, visited here in Jan. 1875, their first meeting being held in the Town Hall, on the 17th, the remainder of their services (to February 7) being given in Bingley Hall. They came also in February, 1883. when the last-named place again accommodated them.

Moor Street.—Rivaling Edgbaston Street in its antiquity, its name has long given rise to debate as to origin, but the most likely solution of the puzzle is this: On the sloping land near here, in the 14th century, and perhaps earlier, there was a mill, probably the Town Mill, and by the contraction of the Latin, Molendinaria, the miller would be called John le Molendin, or John le Moul. The phonetic style of writing by sound was in great measured practised by the scriveners, and thus we find, as time went on, the street of the mill became Moul, Moule, Mowle, Molle, Moll, More, and Moor Street. A stream crossed the street near the Woolpack, over which was a wooden bridge, and farther on was another bridge of more substantial character, called "Carter's Bridge." In flood times, Cars Lane also brought from the higher lands copious streams of water, and the keeping of Moor Street tidy often gave cause to mention these spots in old records, thus:—

£ s. d.

1637-- Paid Walter Taylor for ridding the gutters in Moor Street 0 0 11

1665-- Zachary Gisborne 42 loads of mudd out of Moore Street 0 0 7

1676-- J. Bridgens keepinge open passage and tourneing water from Cars Lane that it did not runne into More Street for a yeare 0 4 0

1688-- Paid mending Carter's Bridge timber and worke 0 5 0

1690-- John, for mending Moore Street Bridg 0 0 10

Moor Street, from the earliest date, was the chosen place of residence for many of the old families, the Carless, Smalbroke, Ward, Sheldon, Flavell, Stidman, and other names, continually cropping up in deeds; some of the rents paid to the Lord of the Manor, contrasting curiously with the rentals of to-day. For three properties adjoining in More Street, and which were so paid until a comparatively modern date, the rents were:—

"One pound of pepper by Goldsmythe and Lench, Two pounds of pepper by the master of the Gild, One pound of cumin seed, one bow, and six barbed bolts, or arrow heads by John Sheldon."

Moseley.—One of the popular, and soon will be populous suburbs, connected as it is so closely to us by Balsall Heath. It is one of the old Domesday-mentioned spots, but has little history other than connected with the one or two families who chose it for their residence ages ago. It is supposed the old church was erected prior to the year 1500, a tower being added to it in Henry VIII.'s reign, but the parish register dates only from the middle of last century, possibly older entries being made at King's Norton (from which Moseley was ecclesiastically divided in 1852). Moseley does not appear to have been named from, or to have given name to, any particular family, the earliest we have any note about being Greves, or Grevis, whose tombs are in King's Norton Church, one of the epitaphs being this:—

Hutton says that the old custom of "heriot" was practised here; which is not improbable, as instances have occurred in neighbourhood of Bromsgrove and other parts of the county within the past few years. This relic of feudalism, or barbarism, consists of the demanding for the lord of the manor the best movable article, live or dead, that any tenant happens to be possessed of at the time of his death.

Moseley Hall.—Hutton relates that on July 21, 1786, one Henshaw Grevis came before him in the court of Requests, as a poor debtor, who, thirty years before, he had seen "completely mounted and dressed in green velvet, with a hunter's cap and girdle, at the head of the pack." This poor fellow was the last member of a family who had held the Moseley Hall estate from the time of the Conquest. In the riots of 1791 the Hall was burnt down, being rebuilt ten years after.

Mothering Sunday, or Mid-Lent Sunday, has its peculiarities according to districts. In Birmingham the good people who like to keep up old customs sit down to veal and custard. At Draycot-le-Moors they eat pies made of figs. The practice of visiting the parents' home on this day was one of those old-time customs so popular in the days of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers (but which, with many others have fallen into disuse), and this is supposed to have given rise to the "Mothering Sunday" name. Prior to the Reformation, the Catholics kept the day as a holy day, in honour of the Mother of Jesus, it being a Protestant invention to turn the fast-day into one of feasting.

Mount Misery.—At the close of the great war, which culminated at Waterloo, it was long before the blessings of peace brought comfort to the homes of the poor. The first effects of the sheathing of the sword was a collapse in prices of all kinds, and a general stagnation of trade, of which Birmingham, made prosperous through the demand for its guns, &c., felt the full force. Bad trade was followed by bad harvests, and the commercial history of the next dozen years is but one huge chronicle of disaster, shops and mills closing fast, and poverty following faster. How to employ the hundreds of able-bodied men dependent on the rates was a continual puzzle to the Overseers, until someone, wise in his generation, hit upon the plan of paying the unfortunates to wheel sand from the bank then in front of Key Hill House up to the canal side, a distance of 1-1/2 miles, the payment being at the rate of one penny per barrow load. This fearful "labour test" was continued for a long time, and when we reckon that each man would have to wheel his barrow backwards and forwards for nearly 20 miles to earn a shilling, moving more than a ton of sand in the process we cannot wonder at the place receiving such a woeful name as Mount Misery.

M.P.'s for Borough.—See "Parliamentary."

Mules.-These animals are not often seen about town now, but in the politically-exciting days of 1815 they apparently were not strangers in our streets, as Mr. Richard Spooner (who, like our genial Alderman Avery, was fond of "tooling" his own cattle), was in the habit of driving his own mail-drag into town, to which four mules were harnessed. With Mr. Thomas Potts, a well-to-do merchant, a "bigoted Baptist," and ultra-Radical, Mr. Spooner and Mr. T. Attwood took part in a deputation to London, giving occasion to one of the street-songs of the day:—

Another of the doggerel verses, alluding to Mr. Spooner's mules, ran—

Municipal Expenditure.—Fortunately the population of Birmingham is going ahead rapidly, and the more the children multiply the more "heads of families" we may naturally hope there will be noted down as ratepayers by the heads of the gather-the-tin office. The cost of governing our little town is not at all heavy, and when divided out at per head of the inhabitants it seems but a mere bagatelle. Mr. J. Powell Williams, who takes credit for being a financier and man of figures, said in 1884 that the totals of our municipal expenditure for the past few years were as follows:—

In 1879 it was £354,000 or 18/3 per head

" 1880 " 343,900 " 17/5 "

" 1881 " 361,500 " 18/0 "

" 1882 " 374,000 " 18/4 "

" 1883 " 385,000 " 18/7 "

" 1884 " 385,000 " 18/3 "

The bachelors who live in apartments will surely be tempted to begin housekeeping when they see how low a sum it takes to pay for all the blessings conferred upon us by a Liberal Corporation; but what the Pater of half-a-dozen olive branches may think about the matter, is altogether a different thing, especially when he finds that to the above 18/2 per head must be added 2/7-1/2 per head for the School Board, and 1s. 2d. per head for the Drainage Board, besides poor-rates, Government taxes, gas, water, and all these other little nothings that empty the purse.

Murder and Manslaughter.—It would be too black a catalogue to give all the horrible cases of this nature which the local journals have chronicled in past years, those here noted being only such as have a certain historical interest.

"Tom and Jack."—"See Executions."

Sergeant William Cartwright, of the Coldstream Guards, was killed in Townsend's Yard by a deserter, September 13, 1796.

A desperate attempt was made to murder a young woman in Bull Street in the evening of a fair day, June 9, 1797.

Philip Matsell was hanged August 22, 1806, at the bottom of Snow Hill, for attempting to murder a watchman.—See "Executions."

A Mr. Pennington, of London, was murdered at Vauxhall, Feb. 6. 1817.

Ashford, Mary, May 27, 1817, murdered at Sutton Coldfield.

F. Adams was murdered by T. Johnson, in London 'Prentice Street, Aug. 5, 1821.

Mr. R. Perry was killed in Mary Ann Street, by Michael Ford, December 6, 1825. Execution, March 7, 1826.

J. Fitter was tried and acquitted August 11, 1834, on a charge of having murdered Margaret Webb, in Lawley Street, on 7th April preceding.

Mr. W. Painter, a tax collector, was robbed and murdered in the old Parsonage grounds (near what is now the bottom of Worcester Street), February 17, 1835.

William Devey murdered Mr. Davenport in a shop in Snow Hill, April 5, 1838.

Mrs. Steapenhill shot by her husband in Heneage Street, January 7, 1842.

Mrs. Davis killed by her husband in Moor Street, March, 1848.

Mrs. Wilkes murdered her four children in Cheapside, October 23, 1847; also committing suicide.

Francis Price was executed at Warwick, August 20, 1860, for murdering Sarah Pratt, April 18.

Elizabeth Brooks was shot by Farquhar, at Small Heath, August 29, 1861. He was sentenced to imprisonment for a long term, but was liberated in April, 1866.

Thompson, Tanter Street, killed his wife, September 23, 1861; hung December 30.

Henry Carter, aged 17, who had killed his sweetheart, was hung April 11, 1863.

George Hall shot his unfaithful wife on Dartmouth Street Bridge, February 16, 1864, and was sentenced to death, but reprieved. He was released March 5, 1884.

Murder and suicide in Nursery Terrace, November 28, 1866.

Mr. Pryse was murdered by James Scott in Aston Street, April 6, 1867.

Mary Milbourn was murdered in Heneage Street, January 21, 1868.

Murder and suicide in Garrison Street, November 25, 1871.

Richard Smith was killed by his fellow-lodger, in Adam Street, January 7, 1872.

Thomas Picken, of St. Luke Street, killed his wife, January 22, 1872. He was found next morning hanging to a lamp-post, at Camp Hill Station.

Jeremiah Corkery stabbed Policeman Lines, March 7; was condemned to death July 9, and hung July 27, 1875.

Patrick O'Donoghue was kicked and killed at the Flying Horse, Little Hampton Street, August 7. 1875. Moran and Caulfield, the kickers, were sent to penal servitude for ten years.

A woman, resisting indecent assault, was thrown into the canal, October 8, 1875, and died from effects.

Emma Luke, Hope street, killed her infant and herself, October 23, 1875.

Samuel Todd, a deaf-mute, killed William Brislin, in a fit of passion, December 31, 1875.—Fifteen years' penal servitude.

Gaorge Underhill shot Alfred Price, in Stephenson place, January 12, 1876, being in drink at the time, and thinking he was going to be robbed. Price died, and Underhill was imprisoned for twelve months.

Frederick Lipscombe killed his wife because she did not get his meals ready to the time he wished, July 18, 1876.

Mary Saunders, Aston, had her throat cut by F.E. Baker, her lodger, January 16, 1877. He was hung April 17.

John Nicholson killed Mary (or Minnie) Fantham, in Navigation Street, February 23rd, 1877, committing suicide himself. He was buried as a felo de se.

Francis Mason, Litimer Street, stabbed his wife, June 25, 1867, but the jury called it manslaughter, and he was allowed to retire for five years.

William Toy, a glasscutter, was killed in the Plasterers' Arms, Lupin Street, July 20, 1878, in a drunken row.

Edward Johnson, a retired butcher, of this town, killed his wife and drowned himself at Erdington, July 27, 1878.

Sarah Alice Vernon, married woman, aged 26, was first stabbed and then flung into the canal, at Spring Hill, by her paramour, John Ralph, a hawker of fancy baskets, early in the morning of May 31, 1879. He was hung August 26.

Caroline Brooks, a young woman of 20, was fatally stabbed on the night of June 28, 1879, while walking with her sweetheart, but the man who killed her escaped.

Alfred Wagstaffe, of Nechell's Green, kicked his wile for pawning his shirt, on October 25, 1879. She died a week after, and he was sent to penal servitude for ten years.

An Irishman, named John Gateley, was shot on Saturday, December 5, 1880, in a beerhouse at Solihull, by a country man who got away; the murdered man had been connected with the Irish Land League.

Mrs. Ellen Jackson, a widow, 34 years of age, through poverty and despondency, poisoned herself and two children, aged seven and nine, on Sunday, November 27, 1881. One child recovered.

Frederick Serman, at the Four Dwellings, near Saltley, Nov. 22, 1883, shot Angelina Yanwood, and poisoned himself, because the woman would not live longer with him "to be clemmed."

James Lloyd, Jan. 6, 1884, stabbed his wife Martha, because she had not met him the previous afternoon. She died four days after, and he was sentenced to death, but reprieved.

Mrs. Palmer and Mrs. Stewart were shot by Henry Kimberley at the White Hart, Paradise Street, Dec. 28, 1884. Mrs. Palmer died, and Kimberley was hung at Winson Green, March 17, 1885.

James Davis, policeman, while on his beat at Alvechurch, was murdered Feb. 28, 1885, by Moses Shrimpton, a Birmingham poacher and thief.

Elizabeth Bunting, a girl of 16, was murdered at Handsworth, April 20, 1885, by her uncle, Thomas Boulton.

Museums.—No place in England ought to have a better collection of coins and medals, but there is no Numismatic Museum in Birmingham. Few towns can show such a list of patentees and inventors, but we have no Patent Museum wherein to preserve the outcome of their ideas. Though the town's very name cannot be traced through the mists of dim antiquity, the most ancient thing we can show is the Old Crown public-house. Romans and Normans, Britons and Saxons, have all trod the same ground as ourselves, but we preserve no relics of them. Though we have supplied the whole earth with firearms, it was left to Mr. Marshall, of Leeds, to gather together a Gun Museum. Fortunately the Guardians of the Proof House were liberal and, buying the collection for £1,550, made many valuable additions to it, and after exhibiting it for a time at 5, Newhall Street, presented it to the town in August, 1876. There is a curious miscellany of articles on exhibition at Aston Hall, which some may call a "Museum," and a few cases of birds, sundry stuffed animals, &c., but we must wait until the Art Gallery now in course of erection, is finished before the Midland Metropolis can boast of owning a real Museum. At various times, some rich examples of industrial art have been exhibited in the temporary Art Gallery adjoining the Midland Institute, and now, in one of the rooms of the Free Library, there are sufficient to form the nucleus of a good Museum. We may, therefore, hope that, in time, we shall have a collection that we may be proud of. Mr. Joseph Chamberlain (April 26, 1875) gave £1,000 to purchase objects of industrial art, and it has been expended in the purchase of a collection of gems and precious stones, than which nothing could be more suitable in this centre of the jewellery trade. Possibly, on the opening of the new Art Gallery, we shall hear of other "thousands" as forthcoming.

Musical Associations.—There were, of course, the choirs attached to the churches previous, but the earliest Musical Society is believed to be that established by James Kempson, in 1762, at Cooke's, in the Cherry Orchard, and the founding of which led to the Musical Festivals. The members met for practice, and evidently enjoyed their pipes and glasses, their nightly song being:—

This society was appropriately known as the Musical and Amicable Society from which sprung the Choral Society in 1776, though the present Festival Choral Society only claims to be in its thirty eighth year. The Birmingham Musical Society dates from 1840; the Amateur Harmonic Association from January, 1856; the Edgbaston Musical Union from 1874; and the Philharmonic Union from 1870. The Church Schools Choral Union, the Sunday Schools Union Festival Choir, and the Birmingham Musical Association, with one or two others, are the progeny of later years; the last on the list of musical institutions being the Clef Club (in Exchange Buildings), established March 21st, 1832, for the promotion of musical culture by "providing a central resort for the study and practice of vocal and instrumental music, with the social advantages of a club."

Musical Festivals.—The credit of suggesting the first Musical Festival in aid of the funds of the General Hospital, has been assigned to Mr. Kempson a local musician, who, with his friends, formed a Glee and Catch Club at Cooke's, in the Cherry Orchard. The minutes-book of the Hospital under date of May 3, 1768, records that a resolution was passed that "a musical entertainment" should be arranged, and it was held accordingly on the 7th, 8th, and 9th of September in that year, part of the performances taking place at St. Philip's Church, and part at the Theatre, then in King Street, the Festival being wound up with a ball "at Mrs. Sawyer's, in the Square." Church, Theatre, and Ball was the order of the day for many succeeding Festivals, the Town Hall, which may be said to have been built almost purposely for these performances, not being ready until 1834. The Theatre was only utilised for one evening each Festival after until 1843, when three concerts were held therein, but since that date the Town Hall has been found sufficient. The Festival Balls were long a great attraction (no less than 1,700 attending in 1834), but, possibly from a too free admixture of the general public, the aristocratic patronage thereof gradually declined until 1858, when only 300 tickets having been taken, the Ball night was struck out of the future programmes. The first Festival performances were by purely local artistes, and on several occasions afterwards they formed the bulk of the performers, but as the fame of our Festivals increased so did the inflow of the foreign element, until at one period not more than half-a-dozen local names could be found in any programme. This has been altered to a considerable extent of late years, so much so that at the last Festival nearly the whole of the chorus of voices was composed of members of our local Musical Societies, and a fair sprinkling of the instrumentalists also. A big book would be required for a full history of the Birmingham Triennial Festivals, descriptive of their rise and progress, the hundreds of musical novelties introduced, the many scores of talented artistes who have taken parts, the lords and ladies who have attended, and the thousand odd notes appertaining to them all. In the following notes are briefly chronicled the "first appearances," &c., with the results and other items for reference.

1768, Sept. 7 to 9. The oratorios of "Il Penseroso;" and "Alexander's Feast" were performed at the Theatre in King Street; Handel's "Te Deum" and "Jubilate" with the "Messiah," at St. Philip's Church. The principal singers were Mrs. Pinto, first soprano, and Mr. Charles Norris, tenor; the orchestra numbered about 70, the conductor being Mr. Capel Bond of Coventry, with Mr. Pinto as leader of the band. The tickets of admission were 5s. each, the receipts (with donations) amounting to about £800, and the profits to £299.

1778, Sept. 2 to 4. The performances this time (and for fifteen festivals after), were at St. Philip's Church, and at the newly-built theatre in New Street, the oratorios, &c., including "Judas Maccabæus," the "Messiah," Handel's "Te Deum," "Jubilate," "Acis and Galatea," &c. Principal performers: Miss Mahon, Miss Salmon, Mr. C. Norris, and Cervetto, a celebrated violoncellist, the leader of the band being Mr. William Cramer, a popular violinist. The choir had the assistance of "the celebrated women chorus singers from Lancashire." The receipts were again about £800, and the profits £340, which sum was divided between the Hospital and the building fund for St. Paul's.

1784, Sept. 22 to 24. President: Lord Dudley and Ward. Following after the celebrated Handel Commemoration the programme was filled almost solely with selections from Handel's works, the only novelty being the oratorio of "Goliath," composed by Mr. Atterbury, which according to one modern musical critic, has never been heard of since. Master Bartleman, who afterwards became the leading bass singer of the day, was the novelty among the performers. Receipts, £1,325; profits, £703.