and was introduced by the family of Kettle. The name of Steel-house-lane, will convey to posterity the situation of the works; the commercial spirit of the town will convey the pro

duce to the Antipodes.

From the warm but dismal climates of the town, issues the button which shines on the breast, and the bayonet intended to pierce it; the lancet which bleeds the man, and the rowel the horse; the lock which preserves the beloved bottle, and the screw to uncork it; the needle equally obedient to the thimble or the pole.

BRASS WORKS.—The manufactory of brass was introduced by the family of Turner, 1740. They erected those works at the south-end of Coleshill-street, then near 200 yards beyond the building; but now the buildings extend half a mile beyond them.

Under the black clouds which arose from the corpulent tunnel, some of the trades collected their daily supply of brass from the Macclesfield, Cheadle, and Bristol companies.

“Causes are known by their effects;" the fine feelings of the heart are easily read in the features of the face; the still operations of the mind, are discovered by the rougher operations of the hand. Every creature is fond of power, from that noble head of the creation, man, who devours man, down to the insignificant mite who devours his cheese: every man strives to be free himself, and to shackle another. Where there is power of any kind, whether in the hands of a prince, a people, a body of men, or a private person, there is a propensity to abuse it; abuse of power will everlastingly seek itself a remedy: nay, even this remedy, may, in time, degenerate into abuse, and call loudly for another.

Brass is an object of some magnitude in the trades of this town, the consumption is said to be 1000 tons per annum. The manufacturers of this useful article had not been long in the hands of a few and opulent men, who, instead of making the humble bow for favours received, acted with despotic sovereignty, established their own laws, choose their customers, directed the price, and governed the market. In 1780, the article rose, either through caprice or necessity, perhaps the former, from £72 per tun, to £84. The result was, an advance upon the goods manufactured, followed by a number of counter orders, and a stagnation of business.

In 1781, a person, from affection to the user, or resentment to the maker, perhaps the latter, harangued the public in the weekly papers, censured the arbitrary measures of the brazen sovereigns, showed their dangerous influence over the trades of the town, and the easy manner in which works of our own

might be constructed. Good often arises out of evil; this fiery match quickly kindled another furnace in Birmingham. Public meetings were advertised, a committee appointed, and shares of £100 each, was deemed a sufficient capital; each proprietor of a share was to purchase one tun of brass annually. Works were immediately erected upon the banks of the canal, for the advantage of water carriage, and the whole was conducted with the true spirit of Birmingham freedom.

The old companies, which we may justly consider the directors of a South Sea bubble in miniature, sunk the price from £84 to £56. Two inferences arise from this measure; that their profits were once very high, or were now very low; and, that like some former monarchs in the abuse of power, they repented one day too late.

NAILS.-The art of nail making is one of the most ancient in Birmingham. It is not, however, so much a trade in as of that town, for there are but few nail makers left in it. The manufacturers are so scattered round the country, that we cannot travel in any direction out of the sound of the hammer.*

When I first approached this town, says Mr. Hutton, from Walsall, in 1741, I was surprised at the prodigious number of blacksmith's shops upon the road; and could not conceive how a country, though populous, could support so many people in the same occupation. In some of these shops, I observed one or more females stript of their upper garment, and not overcharged with their lower, wielding the hammer with all the grace of her sex. The beauties of their face were rather eclipsed by the smut of the fire. Struck with the novelty, I enquired whether the ladies in this country shod horses?' but was informed with a smile, 'they are nailers.'

A fire without heat, a nailer of a fair complexion, or one who despises the tankard, are equally rare among them. His whole system of faith may be comprized in one article; that the slender earthen mug, (then used in the public houses,)" is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked."

While the master reaps harvests of plenty, the workman. submits to the scanty gleanings of penury, a thin habit, an early old age, and a figure bending to the earth. Plenty comes not near his dwelling, except of children and rags. His small hammer is worn into deep hollows, fitting the fingers of a dark hand, hard as the timber it wears, or the anvil it strikes. His face, like the moon, is often seen through a cloud, but not of so watery an element.

BELLOWS.-Man first catches the profession; the profession *There are now extensive nail manufactories, made by American machinery-in the town, of which number, the Britannia works may be mentioned.

afterwards molds the man. In whatever profession we engage, we assume its character, become a part of it, vindicate its honour, its eminence, its antiquity, its renown; or feel a wound through its sides. Though there had wont to be formerly, or may be now no more pride in a minister of state who opens a budget, than in a tinker who carries one, yet they equally contend for the honour of the trade.

The bellows maker proclaims the honour of his art by observing, he alone makes that instrument which produces the winds; his soft breeze, like that of the south, counteracts the chill blasts of winter; by his efforts, like those of the sun, the world receives light; he creates when he pleases, and gives breath, when he creates. In his dark caverns, the winds sleep at pleasure, and by his "orders," they set Europe in flames. He farther pretends that the antiquity of his occupation, will appear from the plenty of elm, once in that neighbourhood, but long cut up for his use; that the leather market of his town for many ages furnished him with sides; and though the manufacture of iron is allowed to be extremely ancient, yet the smith could not produce his heat without a blast, nor could that blast be raised without bellows. One inference will arise from these remarks, that bellows making is one of the oldest trades in Birmingham.

THREAD.-We who reside in the interior parts of the kingdom, may observe the first traces of a river; when it issues from its fountain the current is so extremely small, that if a bottle of liquor distilled through the urinary vessels were discharged into its course, it would manifestly augment the water, and quicken the streamlet; the reviving bottle, having added spirits to the man, would seem to add spirits to the river. If we pursue this river, winding through all its tortuosities, through 130 miles, we shall observe it collects strength, force, and volume; and as it runs, expands its banks and borders, swells into consequence, employs multitudes of people, carries wealth on its bosom, and exactly resembles thread making in this town. If we represent to our ideas, a man able to employ three or four people, himself in an apron, one of the number, but who, unable to write his name, shows his attachment to the Christian religion by signing the +, the symbol of his faith to his receipts; whose method of bookkeeping, like that of the publican, (who reciprocally taught each other this ancient system of accounts,) is a door and a lump of chalk, which when paid is readily erased:

"And therefore will he wipe his "doorway," clean,

And keep no tell-tale to his memory ;”

4

or producing a book of dirty curled leaves, which no one can interpret but himself; who having manufactured forty pounds weight of thread, of as many colours as was Joseph's coat, and rammed it into a pair of leathern bags, something larger than his own pair of boots, which we might deem the arms of his trade empaled; slung them on a horse, and placed himself on the animal's back by way of a crest; visits an adjacent market, to starve with his goods on a stall, or retails them to a mercer, nor returns without the money; we shall see a thread maker of 1652. If we pursue this occupation, winding through the mazes of 130 years, we shall see it enlarge its boundaries and wealth, till, in 1782, we behold the master in possession of correct accounts, the apron thrown into the tinder box, the stall kicked over, the bags tossed into the garret, and the mercer overlooked altogether in the grand prospect of exportation. We farther behold him take the lead in the provincial concerns of the town, steps into his own carriage, and hold the king's commission as a magistrate of the county." Hutton's History of Birmingham.

LIVERPOOL. This important sea port, now second only to London, in the year 1565, contained only 138 householders and cottagers. In the reign of William III., an act of parliament was obtained, enabling the corporation to build and endow a new church, and to make the town independent of the neighbouring village of Walton. Another church, St. Peter's, was

built in the reign of Queen Anne.

CHESTER was a sea port of considerable consequence, when its neighbour, Liverpool, was only a mere fishing village; sixty years past, it was the principal mart for Irish linens, after which, that intercourse began to decline.

BRISTOL, in the reign of the Stuarts, was the second port in the kingdom, and long had the most considerable connexion with this Union and the West India Islands.

HULL was the principal port for the North Sea whale fishery and the Baltic trade.

COVENTRY. This ancient city was early a manufacturing one, principally of woollen cloths, which has left it. In the early part of the 16th century it was famous for blue thread, which never faded. The manufactory of striped and mixed tammies, camlets, shalloons, and calimancoes, next succeeded and continued to occupy the inhabitants through the greater

part of the 18th century, all of which have dwindled away. The manufactory of silk ribbons was introduced in the 17th century, by a Mr. Bird; he was assisted, in the first instance, by the French refugees; this trade has extended considerably in the city and neighbouring villages. There has also been introduced considerable manufactories of excellent watches. In vol. i. page 258, I mention this market cross as the most beautiful of them all: at the time that vol. was printing I had it not in my power to give an engraving of it, having since received drawing, it is now hereto annexed. It was finished building, 1544, at the cost of Sir William Hollis, formerly

were enriched with a variety of figures bearing flags, on which were displayed the arms of England, or the rose of Lancaster; representations were added of the founder, trades, and com