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fmoJte and fteam are not fo prejudicial to Iicalth a« have 

 been. imagined : his iuftancL's are one ptrfoii sged lOO, a I'e- 

 cond 103, a third 104, and a fourth 107, four upwards of 90, 

 and '3 upwards of 80. 



Bir;nii)gham is not a place a gentleman would chiife to 

 make a rdidence. Its continual noife and fmoke prevent 

 it f:om being d<.firable in that rcfpcct. 



Many ancier.t families who once floi'.riflied at and near 

 Birmingham, arc mentioned by Mr. liutton to have fallen 

 i;:to irretrievable decay ; one inllance is vvorl'i tranfcribing. 

 " We have among us a family of the name of Middlemore, 

 of cjrcat antiquity, deducible from the coiiquell ; who held 

 the chief pofTelhons, and the chief offices in the county, 

 and who matched into the firft families in the kingdom, but 

 fell with the intereil of Charles ]., and are now in that low ebb 

 of fortune, that I have frequently, with a gloomy pleafurc, 

 relieved them at tliC common charity b.^ard of the town." 



It appears upon record, that in 125!, Will am de Eir- 

 mingham, lord of the manor, procuied an additional charter 

 from Edwaid III. reviving lome decayed privileges, a:;d 

 granting others ; among the lad was that of the Whitfuntide 

 feir, to begin en the eve of Holy Thurfday, and to con- 

 tinue for four days. At the alteration of the flvle in 1752, 

 it was prudently changed to the Thurfday in Whitfun 

 week, that lets time might be loft to the injury of the 

 manufacturers and their workmen. The fame perfon alfo 

 procured another fair, to begin on the eve of St, Mi- 

 chael, (which is coHimoaly calit-d the Onion fair, on ac- 

 count of the great quantity of onions fold at the time) 

 both of which are at this day in great repute. The horfe 

 fair, which formerly was kept in Edgbafton-ftreet, was, in 

 1777, removed to Brick-kiln-lane ; and that for btafts, which 

 ufed to be in the High-lireet, into Dale-end, in 1769. 



Near Birmingham, on the London roaJ, is Carap-hill, 

 where the army of prince Rupert were encamped, during 

 the fiege in 164.3. '^^^ inhabitants are accufed of dif- 

 loyalty by lord Clarendon, for feizi.ig the carriages which 

 contained the royal plate and furniture. The prince, with 

 2000 men, had been commanded by the king to open a 

 communication between Oxford and York, but the hardy 

 and imprudent inhabitants of this town dared to oppofe 

 this force, with only a company of fi ot, and a trcop of 

 horfe. Though they had thrown up fome flight works, 

 and block-Kded the llreet^, yet the king's army forced 

 through tfiefe trifling oblbuftions, and entered the tov/n 

 fword in hand. The earl of Denbigh, a royalill, was killed 

 in this affair, as was a clergyman vrho acted as governor for 

 the parliament, and who rctufed quarter. Bi;'mi:;gham had 

 a narrow tfeape fr"im deftruclion, for the exalperated com- 

 mander ordered the place to be burnt, but fome favourable 

 eircumdaiice confined the conflagration to a few houfes in 

 BuU-llreet. 



The plague of i66y, was imported into the town in a 

 box of cK)atlis brought to the White Hart inn. Hence the 

 fatal poifon iaiinu-ited itielf tlirour;h the ftrcets and houfes, 

 deilroyig great numbers of the inhabitants, whofe bodies 

 foon filled the chureh-yard, and alfo an acre of land at Lady- 

 wood gr^en, which was afterwards called the Pell-gronnd. 



Altho'.'gli fome degree of eminence attached to Birming- 

 ham previouOy to the reign of Charles II,, yet it is from 

 that period that its rapid increafe miilk be dated. Build- 

 ing leifes t'len became common, and numbers of houfes 

 arofe to accommodate the increafii.g population wh'eh affein- 

 bh'd, in coulcqucnce of the cultivation of the mechanical 

 arts. 



About the year 1700, the number of ftrects in Birraing- 

 VoL. in. 



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ham r.as only 30, but now there are nearly 2Jo ; befide*, 

 feveral of the oldeft are confiderably improved and augment- 

 ed. This will, in fome meafure, aflilt the imagination in com- 

 prehending the amazing increafe of the town in fize, wealth, 

 and manufactures, during that time; and it is no prefump- 

 ti >n to fuppofe, that it has not yet arrived at its zenitii ; 

 one inftance of increafe will be fufEcient to point out 

 the general improvement. Between the roads to Wolver- 

 hampton and Dudley, there were only three houfes March 

 14, 1779. By that day twelve months they increafed to 

 55, and March 14, 1781, there were 144. The fame day 

 in I79r, there was an addition of 833. 



Thomas Sherlock, bilhop of London, purchafed of the 

 ladies of the manor in 1730, land worth 400I. per annum ; 

 in 1 758, the income was doubled. He always refufed to 

 let it on building leaftf, allcdging, that his fucceffor would 

 be compelled to remove the rubbifh at the expiration of the 

 tenns ; iir Thomas Gooch, who held the land after the 

 above prelate, procured an acl about 1766, for letting afide 

 the prohibitory claufes of the bilhop's will ; immediately 

 let the ground, and improved the rents to 2400I. per 

 annum ; it appears from the books of the poor-rates, that 

 lefs than 5000 houfes pay the parochial dues, and more 

 than 8qoo houfes are exempt ; this fact denotes the prevail- 

 ing defcription of population. 



Manufactures, lye. The extraordinary increafe in the fize, 

 populatioi', and profperity of Birmingham, arifes principally 

 from its proximity to the coal mines, from the nature of the 

 foil, from its canab, from the fucctfsful exertions of a few 

 individuals in fome mauufacluring fpcculations, and from its 

 being exempt from borough, and coi-porate laws and 

 reftriclions- To invelligate and detail the whole of thcfe 

 caufcs, with their eifefts, would occupy more fpace than we 

 can confidently appropriate. The molt prominent charafterif- 

 tics, however, fiiall be narrated. To the late John Taylor, efq. 

 a man of great induftry and ingenuity, the public are in- 

 debted for the gilt button, the japanned and gilt fnuff- 

 box, with the numerous clafs of enamels; alio the painted 

 fnuft-boj:, at which employ, one fervant earned 3I. los. per 

 week, by painting them at a farthing each. In his fhops 

 were weekly manufactured buttons to the amount of 800I. 

 exclulive ot other valuable produdlions, and eighty guineas 

 have been given him for a fingle toy made at his fhop. He 

 died in 1775, "' '^^ ^S^ °^ ^4' ^^'^'' acquiring a fortune of 

 200,cool. His fon is now partr.er in one of the largell pro- 

 vincial banking houfes in England. 



The greated and moll noted manufaftory of this place, 

 and perhaps in Europe, is that at Soho, about two miles 

 from Birmingham. This is the property of Mcffrs. Boulton 

 and Watt, who have advanced certain pieces of mcchauifm 

 and productions of art to a ftate of excellence, that 

 have excited the a'toniihmcnt and admiration of na- 

 tions. The large warehoiilcs, work-lhop>, and the ele- 

 gant manfion of the former gentleman, cover the declivities 

 of a hill, which a few years back was a barren heath, tenanted 

 only by rabbits, and a warrener's hut ; now this once defo- 

 late fcene is converted into an emporium of arts and beau- 

 ties. Such are the wonderiul powers of human ingenuity 

 and indudry. In 1757, this fpot, with fome contij:uou» 

 land, was leafed for 99 years, to Mcflrs RiiHoT and Evans, 

 who erefted a houfe and a mill for rolling n-.etal, S:c. At 

 Lady day 1762, Mr. Boulton bought the whole, and re- 

 moving to it foon afterwards from Biimingham, commenced 

 the prefent extcnfive premifes, which were nearly completed 

 in 1765, at an expence of 9&ccl. He now admit- 

 ted a partner, Mr. Fothcrgill, into the concern, and 



3 O tftablidied 



