In 1789 it was proposed that the inmates of the workhouse should be employed at making worsted and thread. Our fathers often tried their inventive faculties in the way of finding work for the inmates. A few years later it was proposed (August 26) to lighten the rates by erecting a steam mill for grinding corn.

On the retirement of Mr. William Lucy, in 1850, from the Mayoralty, the usual vote of thanks was passed, but with one dissentient. Mr. Henry Hawkes was chosen coroner July 6, 1875, by forty votes to one. The great improvement scheme was adopted by the Town Council (November 10, 1875), with but one dissentient.

A certificate, dated March 23, 1683, and signed by the minister and church-wardens, was granted to Elizabeth, daughter of John and Ann Dickens, "in order to obtain his majesty's touch for the Evil." The "royal touch" was administered to 200 persons from this neighbourhood, March 17, 1714; Samuel Johnson (the Dr.) being one of those whose ailments, it was believed, could be thus easily removed. Professor Holloway did not live in those days.

Sir Thomas Holte (the first baronet) is traditionally reported to have slain his cook. He brought an action for libel against one William Ascrick, for saying "that he did strike his cook with a cleaver, so that one moiety of the head fell on one shoulder, and the other on the other shoulder." The defendant was ordered to pay £30 damages, but appealed, and successfully; the worthy lawyers of that day deciding that though Sir Thomas might have clove the cook's head, the defendant did not say he had killed the man, and hence had not libelled the baronet.

Interpreters.—In commercial circles it sometimes happens that the foreign corresponding clerk may be out of the way when an important business letter arrives, and we, therefore, give the addresses of a few gentlemen linguists, viz.:—Mr. H.R. Forrest, 46, Peel Buildings, Lower Temple Street; Mr. L. Hewson, 30, Paradise Street; Mr. F. Julien, 189, Monument Road; Mr. Wm. Krisch, 3, Newhall Street; Mr. L. Notelle, 42, George Road, Edgbaston; and Mr. A. Vincent, 49, Islington Row.

Invasion.—They said the French were coming in February, 1758, so the patriotic Brums put their hands into their pockets and contributed to a fund "to repel invasion."

Inventors and Inventions.—Birmingham, for a hundred years, led the van in inventions of all kinds, and though to many persons patent specifications may be the driest of all dry reading, there is an infinitude of interesting matter to be found in those documents. Much of the trade history of the town is closely connected with the inventions of the patentees of last century, including such men as Lewis Paul, who first introduced spinning by rollers, and a machine for the carding of wool and cotton; Baskerville, the japanner; Wyatt, partner with Paul; Boulton, of Soho, and his coadjutors, Watt, Murdoch, Small, Keir, Alston, and others. Nothing has been too ponderous and naught too trivial for the exercise of the inventive faculties of our skilled workmen. All the world knows that hundreds of patents have been taken out for improvements, and discoveries in connection with steam machinery, but few would credit that quite an equal number relate to such trifling articles as buckles and buttons, pins and pens, hooks and eyes, &c.; and fortunes have been made even more readily by the manufacture of the small items than the larger ones. The history of Birmingham inventors has yet to be written; a few notes of some of their doings will be found under "Patents" and "Trades."

Iron.—In 1354 it was forbidden to export iron from England. In 1567 it was brought here from Sweden and Russia. A patent for smelting iron with pit coal was granted in 1620 to Dud Dudley, who also patented the tinning of iron in 1661. The total make of iron in England in 1740 was but 17,000 tons, from 59 furnaces, only two of which were in Staffordshire, turning out about 1,000 tons per year. In 1788 there were nine blast furnaces in the same county; in 1796, fourteen; in 1806, forty-two; in 1827, ninety-five, with an output of 216,000 tons, the kingdom's make being 690,000 tons from 284 furnaces. This quantity in 1842 was turned out of the 130 Staffordshire furnaces alone, though the hot-air blast was not used prior to 1835. Some figures have lately been published showing that the present product of iron in the world is close upon 19-1/2 million tons per year, and as iron and its working-up has a little to do with the prosperity of Birmingham, we preserve them. Statistics for the more important countries are obtainable as late as 1881. For the others it is assumed that the yield has not fallen off since the latest figures reported. Under "other countries," in the table below, are included Canada, Switzerland, and Mexico, each producing about 7,500 tons a year, and Norway, with 4,000 tons a year:—

Year. Gross Tons.
Great Britain 1881 8,377,364
United States 1881 4,144,254
Germany 1881 2,863,400
France 1881 1,866,438
Belgium 1881 622,288
Austro-Hungary 1880 448,685
Sweden 1880 399,628
Luxembourg 1881 289,212
Russia 1881 231,341
Italy 1876 76,000
Spain 1873 73,000
Turkey -- 40,000
Japan 1877 10,000
All other countries -- 46,000
Total 19,487,610