Maud and Gertrude were going towards the garden after leaving Mrs. Ashurst; they saw the postman quitting the door, and the servant came to them with a letter, which she handed to Maud. That young lady opened and read it, but she could scarcely have gone through a few lines, when a particularly stern expression came over her face, her brows were knit, and her lips set tightly together.
"What's the matter, Maud?" asked Gertrude, looking on in wonder. "Who's the letter from?"
"From our new mistress!" said the girl; "at least, I expect she intends we should regard her as such—Mrs. Creswell. They are to be at home at the end of next week, and my lady thinks she shall require what is now our music room for her boudoir. We can have the room at the end of the north passage. Can we, indeed! How very considerate! And it's no use appealing to uncle! He daren't help us, I know! What did I tell you, Gertrude? This woman won't rest until she has crushed us into a state of mere dependence!"
Birmingham a Century ago.
Local history, carefully done, is as interesting in its own way as individual biography. On looking back into the condition of past times, we can trace how the changes in modes of life and thought have been brought about by the discoveries characteristic of the last two or three generations. We can see how gas has diminished the number of street robberies; how railroads have all but put an end to highwaymen; how free trade has altered the course of industrial discontent; and how, instead of petitions to kings and courts for a continuance of certain fashions whereby a number of hands are employed, manufactures are now left to find their own level and fluctuate with the rest, sure that when one thing goes out another comes in, and that new manipulations can be learnt when the old have ceased to attract. We shall find how true all this is if we take Mr. J. A. Langford[1] for our guide, and go through the most salient points of Birmingham history according to his showing. We could not have a better guide, for he has done his work both well and thoroughly.
In 1741, Birmingham was comparatively a mere village, with cherry orchards and flower gardens, bowling greens and grazing plots, where now stand the thickest of the shops and the busiest of the factories. Just about the spot occupied by Nelson's statue was the Old Cross, a square building with open archways on each side, the floor space of which was used as a Saturday market, the upper room as a military guard-house, and considered the centre of the Birmingham of the day. Some of the advertisements of the time are very quaint. Among them is one of three sons at a birth—"Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob;" another of "An old-accustomed Mug-house to be lett;" another advertises a runaway wife, who had "eloped from her husband without any manner of reason, and took some things of Value with her." Godfrey Wildsmith, the husband in question, advertises her partly to warn the trading world against trusting her with goods, partly to say that "if any one will help her to him again they shall be well rewarded and as little regarded, and shall have a Strike of Grains for their Pains of me, Godfrey Wildsmith." Penelope Pretty, too, is advertised as having also eloped from her spouse "without any just cause or reason," but "if she will return again and behave as she ought to do, she shall be kindly received by her husband, Edward Pretty." Other advertisements tell how certain gentlemen were married to certain ladies, one to "an agreeable young Gentlewoman with a Fortune of one thousand pounds;" another to "a beautiful young Lady with a great Fortune and fine Accomplishments;" a third to a "young Lady of Great Merit with a Fortune of ten thousand pounds;" a fourth gets a "young Lady endowed with every qualification that can render the Marriage State happy;" while Miss M. E., a "country young Woman, with good Health and a tolerable Person, brought up in an honest and plain Way, about Twenty years of age, and whose Father, she thinks, will give her five hundred pounds down if she marries with his consent, offers herself for a Wife to any sober, good-tempered, well-looking Man between Twenty and Thirty, who is settled in a good Trade in Birmingham or that Neighbourhood, in which she promises to give every Assistance in her Power." If things are settled to her satisfaction, she promises to make an obedient and good wife. And then comes a postscript: "My Father says Trade is better than the Farming Business." In another page we learn how Samuel Whitehurst, having tried the state which Miss M. E. so desired to know, is now as anxious to be rid of his bargain as he was once, presumably, anxious to obtain it; wherefore he sells his wife to Thomas Griffiths, for one shilling, money down, "to take her with all faults." The entry was made in the toll book of the Bell Inn, Edgbaston-street, and the commentator stated that "the parties are exceedingly well pleased." But the most painful advertisement of all was dated November 11, 1771, setting forth how "a Negro Boy from Africa, supposed to be about Ten or Eleven Years of Age, remarkably straight, well proportioned, speaks tolerably good English, of a mild Disposition, friendly, officious, sound, healthy, fond of Labour, and for colour an excellent fine black," is to be "sold by Auction at
- ↑ A Century of Birmingham Life; or a Chronicle of Local Events from 1741 to 1841. Compiled and Edited by John Alfred Langford. Osborn, Birmingham; Simpkin, Marshall, and Co., London.
