for depreciation of buildings) to £1,763 15s. 70d., leaving a balance in hand of £269 8s. 1d. The fund which is being raised for the enlargement of the institution then amounted to £605 15s., the sum required being £5,000. The society's capital was then £10,850 12s. 8d, of which £7,358 12s. 5d, had been laid out in lands and buildings. Mr. Tait, the medical officer, was of opinion that one-fourth of the children were capable of becoming productive workers under kindly direction and supervision, the progress made by some of the boys in basket-making being very marked.
Lunar Society.—So called from the meetings being held at the full of the moon that the members might have light nights to drive home, but from which they were nicknamed "the lunatics." Originally commenced about 1765, it included among its members Baskerville, Boulton, Watt, Priestley, Thomas Day, Samuel Galton, R. L. Erdgeworth, Dr. Withering, Dr. Small, Dr. Darwin, Wedgwood, Keir, and indeed almost every man of intellectual note of the time. It died down as death took the leaders, but it may be said to have left traces in many learned societies of later date.
Luncheon Bars.—The honour of introducing the modern style of luncheon bar must be awarded to the landlord of the Acorn, in Temple Street, who, having seen something of the kind in one of the Channel Islands, imported the notion to Birmingham. The lumber rooms and stables at back of his house were cleared and fitted up as smoke rooms, and bread and cheese, and beer, &c., dealt out over the counter. Here it was that Mr. Hilman took his degree as popular waiter, and from the Acorn also he took a wife to help him start "The Stores", in Paradise Street. Mr. Thomas Hanson was not long behind Hillman before he opened up "The Corner Stores," in Union Passage, following that with the "St. James " in New Street, and several others in various parts of the town. The "Bars" are now an "institution" that has become absolutely indispensable, even for the class who prefer the semi-privacy of the "Restaurants", as the proprietors of the more select Bars like to call their establishments.
Magistrates.—By direction of the Queen's Council, in 1569, all magistrates had to send up "bonds" that they would subscribe to the then recently passed Act for the Uniformity of Common Prayers and Services in the Church, and the Administration of the Sacraments. The local name of Middlemore appears among the few in this county who objected to do so, and most likely his descendants would do the same. The first twenty-five of our borough magistrates were appointed about nine weeks after the date of the Charter of Incorporation, 1839. In 184, 1819, 1856, and 1859, other gentlemen were placed on the roll, and in April, 1880, ten more names were added to the list, having been sent up to the Lord Chancellor a few days before he vacated office, by some knowing gentlemen who had conceived a notion that the Conservative element was hardly strong enough among the occupants of the Bench. There are now 52, in addition to the Stipendiary Magistrate and the Recorder, and as politics must enter into every matter connected with public life in Birmingham, we record the interesting fact that 31 of these gentlemen are Liberals and 21 Conservatives. Mr. T. C. S. Kynnersley first acted as Stipendiary, April, 19, 1856.
Magazines.—See "Newspapers and Periodicals."
Manor House.—How few of the thousands who pass Smithfield every day know that they are treading upon ground where once the Barons of Birmingham kept house in feudal grandeur. Whether the ancient Castle, destroyed in the time of Stephen, preoccupied the site of the Manor House
