GENTLEMEN'S SEATS.

This neighbourhood may justly be deemed the seat of the arts, but not
the seat of the gentry.

None of the nobility are near us, except William Legge, Earl of
Dartmouth, at Sandwell, four miles from Birmingham. The principal houses
in our environs, are those of Sir Charles Holte, late member for the
county, at Aston; Sir Henry Gough, member for Bamber, at Edgbaston;
George Birch, Esq; at Handsworth; John Gough, Esq; at Perry; and John
Taylor, Esq; at Bordesley and at Moseley; all joining to the manor of
Birmingham. Exclusive of these, are many elegant retreats of our first
inhabitants, acquired by commercial success.

Full fed with vanity is an author, when two readers strive to catch up
his work, for the pleasure of perusing it:--but, perchance, if two
readers dip into this chapter, they may strive to lay it down.

I have hitherto written to the _world_, but now to a small part, _the
antiquarians_; nay, a small part of the sensible part; for a fool and an
antiquary is a contradiction: they are, to a man, people of letters and
penetration. If their judgment is sometimes erroneous, we may consider,
man was never designed for perfection; there is also less light to guide
them in this, than in other researches. If the traveller slips upon
common ground, how will he fare if he treads upon ice?--Besides, in dark
questions, as in intricate journies, there are many erroneous ways for
one right.