Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham - A History and Guide Arranged Alphabetically by Thomas T. Harman;Walter Showell
page 174 of 741 (23%)
page 174 of 741 (23%)
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Vans or light Post Waggons, was hailed with glee. These Fly Vans left
the Crescent Wharf (where Showell and Sons' Stores are now) three evenings a week, and reached Sheffield the following day. This was the first introduction of a regular "parcels' post," though the authorities would not allow of anything like a letter being sent with a parcel, _if_ they knew it. ~Foolish Wager.~--On July 8,1758, for a wager, a man named Moraon got over the battlements of the tower at St. Martin's, and safely let himself down to the ground (a distance of 73 feet) without rope or ladder, his strength of muscle enabling him to reach from cornerstone to cornerstone, and cling thereto as he descended. ~Football.~--See "_Sports_." ~Forgeries.~--The manufacture of bogus bank-notes was carried on here, at one time, to an alarming extent, and even fifty years ago, though he was too slippery a fish for the authorities to lay hold of, it was well-known there was a clever engraver in the Inkleys who would copy anything put before him for the merest trifle, even though the punishment was most severe. Under "_Notable Offences_" will be found several cases of interest in this peculiar line of business. ~Forks.~--Our ancestors did without them, using their fingers. Queen Elizabeth had several sent to her from Spain, but she seldom used them, and we may be quite sure it was long after that ere the taper fingers of the fair Brums ceased to convey the titbits to their lips. Even that sapient sovereign, James I., the Scotch Solomon, did not use the foreign invention, believing possibly with the preacher who denounced them in the pulpit that it was an insult to the Almighty to touch the meat |
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