CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 3^57 



** The arrangement of these pillars, the size of the stalls, and the raeastirement 

 of the worlc, comparing its progress with the area on the surface, under which the 

 mine is to extend, is the office of the ground bailiff, who superintends every 

 operation, and lieeps order among the often mischievous spirits who form the 

 population of a mine." 



In glancing over this useful and intelligent work, we find that 

 Birmingham, commencing its existence in the profound depths of an- 

 .tiquity, and drawing its raw material from its own vicinity, was the seat 

 of manufactures, while yet manufactures were few and simple, and 

 before commerce had dispersed them in other directions. Inconsiderable 

 in point of size and popuhition, for many generations this town was very 

 little known, but being principally peopled by a race of artificers in iron, 

 its inhabitants slowly and decisively acquired fame and skill ; and when 

 circumstances favoured the introduction of new manufactures, they were 

 prepared to take advantage of every change, and to exercise their 

 ingenuity in the fabrication of articles of ornament which had hitherto 

 been unknown in the country. About the time of the restoration of 

 Charles II., whose long residence on the continent gave new tastes and 

 new habits to his Court, the first great step towards improvement took 

 place ; and when, in consequence, the fashions and the ornaments of 

 foreign countries began to claim admiration, and to excite the emulation 

 of imitators. Then dawned a new era in Birmingham — the era of 

 enterprise and improvement. This change was likewise accelerated by 

 political circumstances, which brought a large influx of individuals from 

 cities and boroughs of chartered importance, bringing with them capital 

 and industry, who settled in this then inconsiderable town. Since that 

 time Birmingham has continually and rapidly advanced ; and towards 

 the middle of the last century, its original vulcanian pursuits having 

 ceased to form its prominent characteristics, and the ornamental manu- 

 factures so extended and varied themselves, that in his day, Edmund 

 Burke termed the place, not inaptly, " the toy-shop of Europe.*' There 

 was such a want of classical and elegant taste, however, at this period, 

 in most of their fancy and ornamental manufactures, that the name of 

 *' Birmingham" became a jest and a bye-word, and was fastened on any 

 article of ornament which was distinguished by misplaced or incongruous 

 decoration. Time and competition have, however, induced an acquaint- 

 ance with better principles of art ; and at the present time its inhabitants 

 are competent to the design, as well as the execution of all articles that 

 require the exercise of taste, skill, and science, in the course of their con- 

 ception and completion. The change in the manufacturing pursuits, 

 which began to take place at the close of the last century, had an intel- 

 lectual and improving tendency. Steam-engines and their attendant 

 mechanical inventions could not fail to enlarge and improve the minds 

 of those engaged in putting them into action. Such a mass of scientific 

 power could not be accumulated, without rendering science itself familiar 

 to many minds. The extended trade of the town, and the consequently 

 increasing habits of locomotion, tended also to increase liberality of 

 sentiment — the principal inhabitants became imbued with chastened and 

 enlarged views on political as well as other subjects, and the more ardent 

 spirits on both sides were thus held in salutary check. 



Birmingham is in every sense of the word a *' manufacturing town," 

 the birth-place and chosen spot of the most effective machinery, 

 and with such pretensions and advantages as no other place in the 

 British empire can equal — in wealth and magnitude, in population and 

 importance it is inferior in rank only to the metropolis. It must not be 

 inferred from this observation, however, that the hammer and the anvil 



