over it.



THE MOATS.

In the parish of King's-norton, four miles south west of Birmingham, is
_The Moats_, upon which long resided the ancient family of Field. The
numerous buildings, which almost formed a village, are totally erased,
and barley grows where the beer was drank.



BLACK GREVES.

Eight miles south west of Birmingham, in the same parish, near Withod
Chapel, is _Black Greves_ (Black Groves) another seat of the Fields;
which, though a family of opulence, were so far from being lords of the
manor, that they were in vassalage to them.

The whole of that extensive parish is in the crown, which holds the
detestable badge of ancient slavery over every tenant, of demanding
under the name of harriot, the best moveable he dies possessed of--Thus
death and the bailiff make their inroads together; they rob the family
in a double capacity, each taking the best moveable.

As the human body descends into the regions of sickness, much sooner
than it can return into health; so a family can decline into poverty by
hastier steps, than rise into affluence. One generation of extravagance
puts a period to many of greatness.