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 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.*

* 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.

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 conies 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