Forgeries.—The manufacture of bogus bank-notes was carried on here, at one time, to an alarming extent, and even fifty years ago, though he was too slippery a fish for the authorities to lay hold of, it was well-known there was a clever engraver in the Inkleys who would copy anything put before him for the merest trifle, even though the punishment was most severe. Under "Notable Offences" will be found several cases of interest in this peculiar line of business.
Forks.—Our ancestors did without them, using their fingers. Queen Elizabeth had several sent to her from Spain, but she seldom used them, and we may be quite sure it was long after that ere the taper fingers of the fair Brums ceased to convey the titbits to their lips. Even that sapient sovereign, James I., the Scotch Solomon, did not use the foreign invention, believing possibly with the preacher who denounced them in the pulpit that it was an insult to the Almighty to touch the meat prepared for food with anything but one's own fingers. Later on, when the coaches began to throng the road, gentlemen were in the habit of carrying with them their own knife and fork for use, so seldom were the latter articles to be found at the country inns, and the use of forks cannot be said to have become general more than a hundred years ago.
Forward.—The self-appropriated motto of our borough, chosen at one of the earliest committee meetings of the Town Council in 1839. Mr. William Middlemore is said to have proposed the use of the word as being preferable to any Latin, though "Vox populi, vox Dei," and other like appropriate mottoes, have been suggested. Like all good things, however, the honour of originating this motto has been contested, the name of Robert Crump Mason having been given as its author.
Fogs.—Bad as it may be now and then in the neighbourhood of some of our works, it there is one thing in nature we can boast of more than another, it is our comparatively clear atmosphere, and it is seldom that we are troubled with fogs of any kind. In this respect, at all events, the Midland metropolis is better off than its Middlesex namesake, with its "London particular," as Mr. Guppy calls it. But there was one day (17th) in December, 1879, when we were, by some atmospheric phenomena, treated to such "a peasouper" that we must note it as being the curiosity of the day, the street traffic being put a stop to while the fog lasted.
Folk-lore.—Funny old sayings are to be met with among the quips and quirks of "folk-lore" that tickled the fancies of our grandfathers. The following is to [**] with several changes, but it [**] good to be lost:—
"Sutton for mutton,
Tamworth for beeves,
Walsall for knockknees,
And Brummagem for thieves."
Fountains.—Messrs. Messenger and Sons designed, executed, and erected, to order of the Street Commissioners, in 1851, a very neat, and for the situation, appropriate, fountain in the centre of the Market Hall, but which has since been removed to Highgate Park, where it appears sadly out of place.
The poor little boys, without any clothes,
Looking in winter as if they were froze.
A number of small drinking-fountains or taps have been presented to the town by benevolent persons (one of the neatest being that put up at the expense of Mr. William White in Bristol Road in 1876), and granite cattle-troughs are to be found in Constitution Hill, Icknield Street, Easy Row, Albert Street, Gosta Green, Five Ways, &c. In July, 1876, Miss Ryland paid for the erection of a very handsome fountain at the bottom of Bradford Street, in near proximity to the Smith field. It is so constructed as to be available for quenching the thirst not only of human travellers, but also of horses, dogs, &c., and on this account it has been appropriately handed over to the care of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. It is composed of granite, and as it is surmounted by a gas lamp, it is, in more senses than one, both useful and ornamental.—The fountain in connection with the Chamberlain Memorial, at back of Town Hall, is computed to throw out five million gallons of water per annum (ten hours per day), a part of which is utilised at the fishstalls in the markets. The Water Committee have lately put up an ornamental fountain in Hagley Road, in connection with the pipe supply for that neighbourhood.
Foxalls.—For centuries one of the most prosperous of our local families, having large tanneries in Digbeth as far back as 1570; afterwards as cutlers and ironmongers down to a hundred years ago. They were also owners of the Old Swan, the famous coaching house, and which it is believed was the inn that Prince Rupert and his officers came to when Thomas, the ostler, was shot, through officiously offering to take their horses.