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canal is also remarkable for the grand proportions of the 

 bridges of masonry and of iron, which cross the deep excava- 

 tions. Birmingham will soon be the centre of extensive 

 railway communications in different directions. That will: 

 London is now (1835) in progress. 



Camden, who travelled through England in the sixteenth 

 century, a few years after Leland, says of Birmingham, in 

 his ' Britannia,' that ' most of the inhabitants be smiths ;' 

 to which Bishop Gibson, in his edition of Camden, pub- 

 lished in 1 722, adds, ' and other artificers in iron and steel, 

 whose performances are greatly admired both at home and 

 abroad.' The editor was, however, scarcely correct if he 

 meant it to be understood that the manufactures of the 

 town were in his time confined to iron and steel goods. 

 Various fancy articles in other materials were then regu- 

 larly made, and the manufacture of brass goods had com- 

 menced. The use of this valuable compound metal has 

 continually increased during the last hundred years, and the 

 talent of the designer has been tasked in the invention of 

 new forms, and in the adaptation of classical models to the 

 purposes of modern domestic comfort and ornament. The 

 introduction of the stamp especially, which was first applied 

 to the multiplication of copies of smaller wares, as buttons, 

 buckles, and cloak pins, and which was at length adapted, 

 by increasing its power, to the production of large forms, 

 has caused the greatest change in this branch of manu- 

 facture. The process of casting, though preferable for 

 many articles, is tedious: the forms require considerable 

 repairing and finishing after they leave the sand, and the 

 metal is necessarily so thick as to be for many purposes in- 

 conveniently heavy : but the stamp brings up the work on 

 the die, on light rolled sheet metal, so that the most intri- 

 cate and involved patterns are executed with the greatest 

 precision ; and by the ingenious application of separate 

 parts, the work of the carver and gilder, in large decorative 

 pieces of scroll and foliage, is successfully imitated. 



In plated wares the style and form were long deficient in 

 grace, but the taste and spirit of Messrs. Boulton and Watt 

 were instrumental in improving the forms of the articles 

 usually produced ; and an increasing familiarity with antient 

 models, and with the flowery and playful style of the age 

 of Louis XIV. .continues to give new impetus to this manu- 

 facture. The introduction of the new mixture called Albata, 

 or British plate, will also, by its superior durability, increase 

 the use of that material in domestic articles, superseding to 

 a great degree the use of spoons, knives, and forks, plated 

 on steel, which have hitherto been made in large quantities. 

 In these manufactures also the stamp is extensively used, 

 assisted by the chasing tool and hammer for ornaments of 

 low relief. 



The founding of iron is rapidly improving and extending 

 itself. A comparatively few years ago the principal cast 

 articles of this material were heavy kitchen articles, grates 

 and stoves ; but increased care in the selection of the metal, 

 and a desire to produce elegant forms at a cheap rate, has 

 caused cast iron articles to be manufactured of small size 

 and of light and tasteful patterns, which, when coloured by 

 bronzing, almost equal the more expensive brass wares ; 

 and in hollow vessels such perfection in thinness and light- 

 ness is attained, that the use of beaten copper is almost 

 forgotten. 



The manufacture of guns was introduced at the com- 

 mencement of the last century, and has been carried on to 

 an immense extent ; a total of nearly 5,000,000 of fire-arms 

 were supplied from Birmingham between the years 1804 

 and 1818 inclusive, to meet the demands of government and 

 of private trade. A proof-house, under the conduct of a 

 master, wardens, and trustees, has been established by act 

 f parliament, where the fabric of all guns and pistol barrels 

 is tried by a heavy charge : all those which sustain the ex- 

 plosion receive a stamp, to counterfeit which is felony ; and 

 to sell such barrels without the stamp U punishable by 

 heavy fines. 



Buttons and buckles, so far as they are articles of orna- 

 ment, almost took their rise in Birmingham, and this town 

 witnessed all the fluctuations of these manufactures, from 

 the small plain buckle, and the horn or bone button coated 

 with metal foil, through all the capricious and almost innu- 

 merable varieties of form and ornament which prevailed 

 during the age of powder, embroidery, and gold lace, or which 

 the still more fantastic taste of foreign markets demanded. 

 At length the buckle has been completely supplanted by 

 hoe-strings, and the button, except where the taste of foreign 



countries demands otherwise, ig generally worn with a well 

 gilt but plain or slightly ornamented surface. The deno- 

 mination of ' The toy-shop of Europe,' given to Birmingham 

 by Burke, was correct at the time, but the extensive appli- 

 cation of powerful median ical forces has now raised the 

 character of the staple productions of the place. All articles 

 of metallic ornament, such as polished steel toys, gold and 

 gilt jewellery, chains, snutf-boxes, &c. are still manufactured, 

 but not to such an amount as to form a characteristic part 

 of the industry of Birmingham. 



The quantity of silver used in the manufacture of pen- 

 cil-cases, boxes, chains, thimbles, &c., and in the numerous 

 fittings and mountings attached to glass and other wares, is 

 considerable, and an Assay Office is established in the town, 

 where all articles in this metal being above 5 dwt. are ex- 

 amined, and if found to be of the proper standard, are 

 marked with the government stamp. The quantity of silver 

 used in the manufactures at Birmingham is about 3000 

 ounces weekly, or 150,000 ounces per annum. 



Japanning, in all its varieties, is another extensive branch 

 of manufacture. It commenced with the varnished boxes 

 and small articles, which were coarse imitations of the 

 Oriental toys, but was gradually improved by John Taylor, 

 who gave elegance to the devices on the surface ; and still 

 further by Baskerville, who introduced the light and highly 

 polished but firm and durable papier mache, which he 

 adorned with paintings in a style before unknown. This 

 branch of industry has called forth great talent ; and some of 

 those who have taken rank among the pointers of their age 

 have commenced their career by executing the ornamental 

 designs on the trays and waiters of Birmingham. Articles 

 of this kind are susceptible of great elegance, and when pro- 

 duced in perfection are beautiful specimens of the pictorial 

 art. 



Glass-making has long been carried on in Birming- 

 ham. This manufacture is not now confined, in its higher 

 Jrancb.es, to cut vessels for the table, nor to the spark- 

 ing diips which decorate girandoles and chandeliers; but 

 ;he glass for the latter purpose is cast into forms of scrolls, 

 foliage, busts, and well-formed complete figures of small size-, 

 with a degree of boldness hitherto unknown, and is rendered 

 susceptible of all the variety of form which a metal could 

 take ; while the lathe and cutting-tool give it a perfection of 

 surface which imparts a delicacy and a brilliancy attainable 

 n no other material. 



An apparently trivial article, the steel-pen, has latterly 

 frown into such extensive use as to form a considerable 

 jranch of manufacture. The price has been perpetually 

 diminishing, and the article itself, at the same time, conti- 

 nually improving. The principal manufacturer of steel-pens 

 employs 250 individuals, and consumes annually upwards 

 of forty tons of fine sheet-steel, each ton of which will make 

 nearly 10,000 gross of pens. Supposing the whole work of 

 :he other manufacturers in the town to equal that of this 

 ndividual, it will give a total of 800,000 gross, or nearly ten 

 millions of steel-pens, annually made in Birmingham, be- 

 sides the large numbers made at Sheffield and other places, 

 This manufacture was first established in Birmingham 

 about the year 1821, before which time the article was 

 scarcely known in the market. Shortly after this date- 

 they sold for 12*. per dozen, but the price rapidly fell to 2. 

 )er dozen, or M. 4s. per gross. The increasing facilities of 

 >roduction, and the consequent abundant supply, added t* 

 he competition of the numerous manufacturers, has since 

 .gradually sunk the price of well made 'three-slit pens' 

 down to 1 *. per gross, while commoner articles are made at a 

 irice very much lower. 



The cutlers, lorimers, and makers of wrought nails, who 

 .11 Leland's time formed the bulk of the industrious popula- 

 :ion of Birmingham, have thus been gradually driven away 

 )y the increasing demand for articles requiring more taste; 

 and skill in design and execution. Agricultural and ma- 

 nufacturing steel and edge tools, including files and saws^ 

 are however still made, and a number of new manufactures 

 save been introduced during the last half century, which 

 owed their origin to the facilities afforded by the newly 

 created mechanical forces, that gave a spur to invention by 

 almost insuring its success. Among these are wire-drawing, 

 cut-nail, screw, and pin manufacturing. Fine turnery 

 would naturally arise from the increasing use of the lathe. 

 Die-sinkers, modellers, and designers were required by those 

 who used stamps and casting-moulds ; and engravers were 

 culled for to represent in the books of pattern^ exhibited by 



