But in later ages, the passage was dignified with those of stone. In
1750, a wretched one was taken down, and the present bridge erected by
Henry Bradford and John Collins, overseers of the highway, consisting of
five arches; but the homely style, the deep ascent, and the
circumscribed width prevents encomium.



ADJACENT REMARKS.

SOHO.

If we travel two miles from the centre of Birmingham, upon the
Wolverhampton road, which may be called, the road to taste, and is daily
travelled by the nobility and gentry, we shall arrive at the epitome
of the arts.

Though this little spot lies in the county of Stafford, we must accept
it as part of Birmingham; neither is it many yards distant from
the parish.

The proprietor, invited by a genius, a fortune of 30,000_l_. and a
little stream, which promised to facilitate business, has erected the
most elegant works in these parts, said to accommodate seven hundred
persons. Upon that hungry ground, where, in 1758 stood one paltry
cottage, we now behold, a city in miniature.

From this nursery of ingenuity, originated the Soho button, the single
wheel clock, the improvement of the steam engine, the platina button,
the method of taking exact copies of painting, writing, &c. also, the