There's Callow, too, the boy for pelf,

With Newton in the muster,

And Grace, the Workhouse graceless Elf,
With Johnson the Dancing Buster.

Then let us sing, &c.

There's Lawyer Griffiths, and there's Bower,

With Roberts Dick, we'll enter, sir;

There's Standley Ned, and Wilson Ted,

With Billy Wood, the Printer, sir;
There's Neddy Palmer and Ned Smith,
Ned Watts, and many more, sir,

It's been some time, sir, since we saw
Of NEDDY'S such a store, sir.

Then let us sing, &c.

The list thus fill'd, this long address
To Town had to jog on, sir,
And a deputation, nothing less,
Went off in Shackell's Waggon, sir;

If they succeed when danger's past
Of Reform us dispossessing, sir,

No doubt but at the General Fast

They'll have Tommy Moseley's blessing, sir. Then let us sing, &c,

Printed for T. Bland, Beck Street, Birmingham.

CHAPTER IV.

"Be wary how you place your words,
Talk like the vulgar sort of market-men,
That come to gather money for their corn."

SHAKESPEARE.

Ir was at this period that I returned to Birmingham; it was a great change to come from a quiet country town, to the volcano of an expected revolution. I took lodgings close to my place of business, and resolved to fill up my spare evening hours by becoming a member of the Mechanics' Institution, and my morning hours in learning the French language, by the aid of Levizac's grammar and a dictionary.

I say spare hours, but these were spared from sleep, as my business hours were early and late. I rose about half-past four in the morning, and very seldom went to bed before eleven o'clock at night. By this plan I accomplished my object. I was chiefly induced to do so from seeing so many letters arrive at the office from French merchants, all of which to me were as unintelligible as Greek.

There was one clerk who could translate, to whom I said nothing about my studies, but at last it came to his knowledge in a singular way.

It happened that he was absent on leave one day, when several letters came to hand from France. The senior partner opened them for the purpose of looking at the "bills of lading," and "drafts" inclosed. These he could make out only so far as the figures went, yet this must have been a satisfaction to him. He brought the letters after opening them into the clerks' office, and threw them on the desk without any remark.

It struck me that I could translate them with the help of my dictionary, so I fetched it, and whilst the head clerk was away I puzzled at them, and made them out pretty well with the exception of the quantities of the wheat put on board the vessels.

There was one thing that completely puzzled me-the bills of exchange. There were three for every amount, that is, one to be accepted and sent to the foreign merchant, one to be sent to his London agent, and the third copy to be kept by the acceptor. It was a long time before I understood how they could be considered as available as cash, but when I came to check off a bank book with a bill book, I saw that the cash had to be paid before the expiration of the time, as stated on the bill of exchange.

When I had completed the translations, such as they were, I took them up stairs to the senior partner. He was surprised, and asked me how and when I had studied French, I told him early in the morning and at night; he looked at them, and told me if I wished to make myself perfect, to find out a good master, and he would pay the cost.

This was very opportune, as I thought of attending a French class at the Mechanics' Institute for improvement. I made inquiries for a teacher, and fixed upon M. Chs. de Beaumont, a French refugee, living in Cannon Street.

He wished me not to study in Levizac's grammar, but as I had nearly got through it, I said I should not purchase nor study any other.

To this, after many shrugs and many a "Mon Dieu," he consented, and when I told him of the difficulties I had with the verbs, especially the impersonal, he very kindly said he would draw me out a perfect list of them, negative and otherwise.

So I went to work heartily, being fond of the language, and anticipating that its full acquirement would enable me to secure a much better position and salary than I then enjoyed.

When I had attended him for six months I joined the Mechanics' Institute, and entered the French class, which met twice a week. Soon after, one of the teachers left, and at the

request of the secretary, I took his place. This was a bold step, but I found that my three evenings a week with M. de Beaumont, soon qualified me to instruct others, and that I learned as much by teaching, as I did by being taught.

The institute had not been established many years; it was opened in 1826, so that it was in its apprenticeship when I became a member. In the first 30 years of this century Birmingham was making intellectual strides. The Theatre after 30 years of applications and refusals of licenses was opened in 1807,* the Mechanics' Institute in 1826, and the Society of Artists in 1829.

Being very anxious to learn still more, I joined a club of young men, (who were nearly all members of the Institute,) for the purpose of writing essays, by turn, and reading them to the club. At these readings criticisms were allowed, and our intellects were rather sharpened by the early hour at which we met, viz., six o'clock until eight every Sunday morning.

An unusual and very unpleasant matter took place during this period at the Birmingham office. The price of wheat was very low in 1832, therefore the duty on foreign was very high; the importers consequently had their money locked up to a large amount with no prospect of getting a release. This being the case, an attempt was made by a coalition of the corn merchants in various English ports to raise the value of English wheat, by buying simultaneously most of the English samples offered on the largest markets.

This of course required a further large amount of money, and consequently heavy remittances per post were made to and fro

* Hutton, the Birmingham historian, says, that so far as memory could go, the strolling players occupied a wooden shed in a street where Temple Street now stands, afterwards in a booth in one of the Hinkleys, and in a stable in Castle Street, in 1730. At that date a Theatre was built in Moor Street, and then a larger one in King Street in 1752, which was not opened until the 5th of June, 1775. In this year the Theatre in New Street was built, but not opened. In 1777 an attempt was made to get an Act of Parliament passed to license it, which Edmund Burke supported, but it was rejected on the second reading. No license was obtained for it until 1807. It was burnt down in 1820, and re-opened in the same year.

by the operators. One of these remittances (amongst many from our office) was £1,000, in two bank of England notes of £500 each. The cashier inclosed them in a letter, sealed it up, and I took it to the post office.

This letter never reached the hands of the merchant at Liverpool to whom it was addressed, and strange to say the notes were presented and cashed at the Bank of England the next day, one half in small notes, the other half in gold.

The description given of the person that cashed them was, that he was military in appearance, and wore black clothes. This description suited the appearance and dress of my father, but as I knew I had posted the letter, I was easy in my mind. Nevertheless as I was the last person that had possession of it, and having been severely questioned about my having put the letter in the post office, I felt that I was suspected.

As time wore on and the letter nor any trace of it turned up, the parties called in an eminent lawyer, who examined the clerks at our office, and those at the office at Liverpool, to which it was addressed; this proved of no avail, and the parties agreed to divide the loss.

Some twelve months afterwards one of the small notes found its way to a Liverpool bank; this unexpected appearance was followed up by tracing, and it was at last found that a person known to a shopkeeper in that town, had paid for some goods with it; this person proved to be the mother of one of the clerks in the Liverpool office, and he was the person appointed to fetch the letters for the merchant; this gave a good clue, and the father, mother, and son were apprehended, they were tried in due time, and the father and son were transported.

During the period between their apprehension and their trial it was shown that the father, being short of money, had induced the son to commit the theft,—that he had been abroad to sell the notes but was unsuccessful, and when his house was searched, nearly all the notes were found, and a large amount of gold.

Thus the guilty and the innocent were set right, and the owners of the notes lost but little of the amount.