A Journey to London in 1840. 141 



Though we sto])ped at seven pLices or stations these were 

 not all towns. The onlv towns we passed were Warrington, 

 beautifully situated nu a gentle eminence; Stafford, a small burgh 

 chiefly remarkable as the capital of the county of the same name; 

 Wolverhamjjion, celebrated for its manufacture <if x'arious kinds 

 of hardware articles, particularly japanned ware and locks; 

 AValsal!, also distinguished for the same. The Potteries were not 

 within .ight, but the mind natural!) recalled that celebrated dis- 

 trict to :)ur remembrance as also Wedgwood, who may be regarded 

 as the father of British earthenware. Within two miles of 

 Birmingham, itself in Warwickshire, is Soho in Staffordshire, the 

 famous establishment of Boulton and Watt, perhaps the most 

 celebrated and extensive manufacturers of steam-engines in the 

 world. \\'e alsi) saw Aston, the residence of Mr Watt's son, a 

 splendid spot with a magnificent axenue, the place being rendered 

 more picturesque by liaving in its near vicinity a venerable country 

 church with a loftv S(]uare spire. A beautiful lake overshadowed 

 by tall elms adds poetrv to the scene. Stafford.shire ranks next to 

 South Wales in imp<irtance for its iron manufactures. The Trent 

 and Merse_\- Canal runs through the country which is traversed by 

 many other such lines of communication. 



On arrixing at Birmingham, I resolved to stay a night in 

 ■order to have time to sur\'ey a town which has attained to such a 

 degree of Chartist notoriet}- of late, but which is most honourably 

 distinguished as the chief seat of the hardware manufacture in 

 this country. It is an elegant enough town for a manufacturing 

 place — it was not ina})tly called by Burke " the t<jy shop of 

 I'Airope." I visited the Bull Ring, as it is called, where the in- 

 tatuated and arrogant Chartists used to hold their meetings. In 

 1791 a riot took place of a \ery different kind though also politi- 

 cal. The populace rose in fa\'Our of Toryism and high Church- 

 ism, and committed enormous de\astations, destroying the houses 

 and libraries of Dr Priestly and Mr Hutton, the historian of the 

 town. In 1839 the political <ipinions of the inhabitants of Birm- 

 ingham ]ia\e gone to the \er\ opposite extreme, and are now in 

 favour of that most absurd rhapsodical and ill-defined concern 

 i-alled '"The People's Charter.'' Horace sjieaks of the fickle 

 Romans, iiiobiHiiin tiirba qiiiniuiiu, but the fickleness of the 

 " Brummagem " men, or rather rheir ignorance and recklessness, 

 are bevond all com])are and leave the \eneraf)le Romans uns]:)eak- 



