gun makers had long been in the habit of marking their goods as being made in London. In 1813, some of the principal gun makers of London, brought a bill into parliament to oblige every manufacturer of fire-arms to mark them with his real name and place of abode. The Birmingham gun makers took the alarm; petitioned the house against the bill. They represented that they made the component parts of the London guns, which differed from theirs only in their being put together, and marked in the metropolis.* Government authorized the gun makers of Birmingham to erect a proof-house of their own, with wardens, and a proofmaster; and allowed to decorate their guns with the ensigns of royalty. All fire-arms, manufactured in Birmingham and its vicinity, are subjected to the proof required by the Board of Ordnance; the expence is not to exceed one shilling each piece; and the neglect of proving is attended with a penalty of £20.† LEATHER. Though there is little appearance of that necessary article in this town, yet it was once a famous market for it. Digbeth, not only abounded with tanners, but large numbers of hides arrived weekly for sale, and here the whole country round found a supply. When the weather would allow, they were ranged in columns in the High-street, and at other times, in the leather hall at the east end of New-street, appropriated for their reception. This market was of great antiquity, perhaps not less than 700 years, and continued till There was also an excellent flint gun maker, of the name of Smith, he much improved the shape of the pan and the hammer. Dr. Forsyth, a Scotch gentleman, invented the percussion gun, his price at first was £105, but it was a complicated affair. I believe it was Nock, who invented the copper cap, but could not effect sales, without the permission of Forsyth, his patent not having expired. There was a talented maker of the name of Probyn, author of (a very popular song sixty years past,) "Wednesbury Cocking," which depicted, in glowing terms, the rude manners of the people in that uncultivated district: he made excellent fowling pieces, in Birmingham. So strictly is this regulation enforced, that no gun barrel can be fresh stocked, without being fresh proved; the writer has had two barrels bursted, which was sent to be restocked. The gun makers find it to their interest to attend rigidly to this law; it is a great cause of the English guns being so good, so safe, and consequently of such high repute; when a favourite barrel is sent to be refitted, if it bursts, the owner will be likely to buy a new gun; nor need any one regret this rigid regulation, far better is it to have them burst in the proof-house, than on the moors, the fields, or the woods; the writer has had a gun burst in his hands, and, therefore, speaks feelingly upon the subject. Revolving guns are not of modern invention; Mr. Daniel Sankey, of Coalbrook-dale, has a very old one, with a revolving breach, which fires six times, supposed to have been made some where on the continent of Europe. chanics' Magazine. Me the beginning of the eighteenth century. Two officers are still chosen who are named leather sealers, from a power given them by ancient charter, to mark the vendible hides; but now the leather sealers have no duty but that of taking an elegant dinner. Shops are erected on tan-vats, the leather hall is gone to destruction, and, in 1781, there was only one solitary tanner in the town. STEEL. The manufacture of iron in Birmingham is ancient beyond research; that of steel is of modern date. Pride is inseparable from the human character; the man without it, is the man without breath. We trace it in various forms, through every degree of people; but, like those objects about us, it is best discovered in our own sphere; those above and those below us rather escape our notice; envy attacks an equal. Pride induced the pope to look with contempt on the European princes, and it now induces them to return the compliment; it taught insolence to the Spaniards; selfishness to the Dutch; it teaches the rival nations of France and England foolishly to contend for power. Pride induced a late high bailiff of Birmingham, at the proclamation of the Michaelmas fair, to hold his wand two feet higher than the rest, that he might dazzle the crowd with a beautiful glove pendant, a ruffle curiously wrought, a ring set with brilliants, and a hand delicately white. Pride preserves a man from mean actions; it also oftentimes throws him upon meaner; it whets the sword for destruction; it urges the laudable acts of humanity. It is the universal hinge on which we move; it glides with the gentle stream of usefulness; it overflows the mounds of reason, and swells into a destructive flood. Like the sun, in his milder rays, it animates and draws us toward perfection; but like him in his fierce beams, it scorches and destroys. Money is not the necessary attendant on pride, for it abounds nowhere more than in the lower ranks. It adds a sprucer air to a Sunday dress, casts a look of disdain upon a bundle of rags; it boasts the honour of a family, while poverty unites a sole and upper leather with a bandage of shoe thread. There are people who even pride themselves upon their humility. This dangerous good, this necessary evil, supports the female character; without it the brightest part of the creation would degenerate. It will be asked, what portion may be allowed?' Prudence will answer, as much as you please, but not to disgust.' It is equally found in the senate house, and the button shop. The scene of action, is the scene of pride. He who makes steel, prides himself in carrying the art one step higher than he who makes iron. This art appeared in this town in the seventeenth century, 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 produce 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, |