better supplied with gardens than Birmingham, almost every house in what are now the main thoroughfares having its plot of garden ground. In 1731 there were many acres of allotment gardens (as they came to be called at a later date) where St. Bartholomew's Church now stands, and in almost every other direction similar pieces of land were to be seen under cultivation. Public tea gardens were also to be found in several quarters of the outskirts; the establishment known as the Spring Gardens closing its doors July 31, 1801. The Apollo Tea Gardens lingered on till 1846, and Beach's Gardens closed in September, 1854.
Gas.—William Murdoch is generally credited with the introduction of lighting by gas, but it is evident that the inflammability of the gas producible from coal was known long before his day, as the Rev. Dr. John Clayton, Dean of Kildare, mentioned it in a letter he wrote to the Hon. Robert Boyle, in 1691. The Dr.'s discovery was probably made during his stay in Virginia, and another letter of his shows the probability of his being aware that the gas would pass through water without losing its lighting properties. The discovery has also been claimed as that of a learned French savant, but Murdoch must certainly take the honour of being the first to bring gas into practical use at his residence, at Redruth, in 1792, and it is said that he even made a lantern to light the paths in his evening walks, the gas burned in which was contained in a bag carried under his arm, his rooms being also lit up from a bag of gas placed under weights. The exact date of its introduction in this neighbourhood has not been ascertained though it is believed that part of the Soho Works were fitted with gas-lights in 1798, and, on the occurrence of the celebration of the Peace of Amiens, in 1802, a public exhibition was made of the new light, in the illumination of the works. The Gazette of April 5, 1802 (according to extract by Dr. Langford, in his "Century of Birmingham Life" described the various devices in coloured lamps and transparencies, but strangely enough does not mention gas at all. Possibly gas was no longer much of novelty at Soho, or the reporter might not have known the nature of the lights used, but there is the evidence of Mr. Wm. Matthews, who, in 1827 published an "Historical Sketch of Gaslighting," in which he states that he had "the inexpressible gratification of witnessing, in 1802. Mr. Murdoch's extraordinary and splendid exhibition of gaslights at Soho." On the other hand, the present writer was, some years back, told by one of the few old Soho workmen then left among us, that on the occasion referred to the only display of gas was in the shape of one large lamp placed at one end of the factory, and then called a "Bengal light," the gas for which was brought to the premises in several bags from Mr. Murdoch's own house. Though it has been always believed that the factory and offices throughout were lighted by gas in 1803, very soon alter the Amiens illumination, a correspondent to the Daily Post has lately stated that when certain of his friends went to Soho, in 1834, they found no lights in use, even for blowpipes, except oil and candles and that they had to lay on gas from the mains of the Birmingham and Staffordshire Gas Company in the Holyhead Road. If correct, this is a curious bit of the history of the celebrated Soho, as other manufacturers were not at all slow in introducing gas for working purposes as well as lighting, a well-known tradesman. Benjamin Cook Caroline Street, having fitted up retorts and a gasometer on his premises in 1808, his first pipes being composed of old or waste gun-barrels, and he reckoned to clear a profit of £30 a year, as against his former expenditure for candles and oil. The glassworks of Jones, Smart, and Co., of Aston Hill, were lit up by gas as early as 1810, 120 burners being used at a nightly cost of 4s. 6d., the gas
