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798) 
fence, are alfo: made-here im great num- 
hers. -Moft part of the town of Bir- 
MINGHAM is. quite modern, ‘and its po- 
pulation is faid to be now near 70,000 In- 
habitants. Were thatnumerous aflembly 
of people employed im cultivating the watte 
lands in the kingdom, they would render 
a much more effential fervice to the pub- 
lic in. retutn for their fupport. This 
town ftands in a fine, open, and very plea- 
fant fituation, and the country around it 
3s cheerful: acanal, which communicates 
with different parts’ of the country, 
comes up to it. The ftreets are moftly 
uniform, pretty wide and clean, but not 
univerfally fo, Coals are cheap and plentiful 
here, which is very favourable to the ma- 
, nufaéturer. New buildings; and even new 
ftreets, are rifing on almoft every fide 
of the town. An idea may be found of 
the progreffive increafe of inhabitants 
from the number of births and burials at 
different periods: in the year 1555 there 
were 37 births and 27 burials; in 1690 
there were 127 births and 150 burials; 
and in 1791 there were no fewer than 
35310 births and!3,280 funerals. 
Auguft 11, I wentfrom BIRMINGHAM 
to WOLVERHAMPTON, in Staffordfhire, 
14 miles. The country extremely popu- 
lous, large villages filled with manufac. 
turers of guns, piftols, locks, buttons, 
buckles, nails, &c. wages are very high, 
even the women in thefe manufaétures 
earn confiderably by filing. The war isufe- 
ful to moft of thefe bufineffes. The build- 
ings in this diftri€t are good, mace with 
brick and tile, butdook dirty and black, as 
do the inhabitants, which is probably the 
confequence of their employ ;'the furface 
is generally level, the afpect of the coun- 
try pleafant, rather open, but it is far 
from being deftitute of wood. The foil 
various, bur chiefly clay with a mixture 
of fand, and in feveral parts rather bar- 
ren; but ir abundantly compentates for 
that defeét by ‘affording plenty of fine 
coals, which are got clofe by the road. 
This isthe firft coal county 1 have met 
fnce I lefe the North. In travelling on 
this read, I was furprifed to fee a number 
of fmall fires burning ina field of oats 5 
on engoiry I was told, that the field con- 
rained feveral old coal-pits, which, by 
fome means or othér, “were fet on fire, 
and: could not be extinguifhed. Here 
are feveral large works for forging iron, 
which belong to Mr.Wilkinfon, of Caftle- 
head, in Lancafhire. ' Warwickthire is 
much noted for iron and fteel manufac- 
tures; bur I-did not obferve any fuperio- 
ens 
Mr. Houfeman’s Tour continue 
> & 
e ‘ 
d. uodat > 39 
rity in its a cultural, department 3 it 
contains fer} elegant feats of noblemen 
and gentlemen, parks, and tracts of wood- 
land; its air is pure,,.water generally 
plentiful, and buildings good. The farms 
are of all fizes, but more land in {mall than 
in large ones. The furface.of the country 
pretty level, with here and there a little 
elevation: foil contains much clay, but 
not, in general, of the moft fertile nature, 
and it need not be repeated that it produces 
free-ftone and coal. WOLVERHAMP- 
TON is a large manufacturing town, and 
is fuppofed to contain near 20,000 inhae 
bitants: its manufaétures are chiefly the 
heavier forts of hardwares, fuch as axes, 
eridirons, trowels, fmoothing irons, locks, 
&c. there are alfo fome manufactures of 
fpeftacle cafes. The ftreets of this town 
are very narrow and dirty, but many of 
the houfes are pretty good, and the fur- 
rounding country is pleafant. ‘ A canal 
comes up to this town. It is very re- 
markable that in thefe fouthern counties 
the poor and labouring claffes of people 
have a great hatred tocanals: thefe canals, 
fay they, are the ruin of the country; 
the farmers by their means can fend the 
corn, and other pruduétions of their farms, 
where they pleafe, at a trifling expence, 
and thereby keep up the prices; feveral 
refpeCtable tradefmen alfo entertain the 
fame fentiments, and further add, that 
canals {poil and deftroy much good land. 
Thefe people view the fubje& with a mi- 
crofcopic eye; for did they confider the 
effeéts of canals with refpeét to the king- 
dom in general, they would fee that. 
whatever contributes towards leffening’ 
labour, reducing the number of horfes, 
and facilitating the conveyance of. differ- 
ent articles from places,where they.are 
lefs wanted to other parts where they 
are more wanted, at a {mali expence, is a 
great national gain and convenience. If 
thefe navigations are occafionally abufed 
in conveying corn more fnugly out of the 
kingdom when wanted at home, the fault 
is not in the canals, but in the criminal 
negligence of the officers who are apr 
pointed to fuperintend, the exportation 
bufinefs. I took a walk one. phafanr 
evening into a field near Wolverhamp- . 
ton, and looking to the N. W. faw a 
mountain at a diftance, and afterwardstwo- 
or three more; thefe I underftand were 
the Shropfhire hills, and were the firft 
eminences J had feen, that could be called 
mountains, fince I lefc Yorkihire and Drr- -_ 
, byfhire. 
(To be continued.) ™ 
ORIGINAL 
