STANDARD LAMP.

is necessary to fix the shank to the surface of the button. In 1834, one manufacturer had in his workshop10,000 double sets of cut-steel dies for livery-buttons only; and in 1849, no less than 135 firms were engagedin the button-trade. Horn, shell, glass, pearl, paper, jet, coal, wood, cornelian, ivory, and other materials,are also employed in Birmingham in making fancy buttons.

Any notice of the productions of Birmingham would be imperfect without a reference to the great nameof Boulton. He established, in 1764, at Soho, in the suburbs of the town, that great factory which isassociated with the proudest recollections of every Englishman. Originally intended to supply Europe with“ toys,” the motive power employed at Soho was water; subsequently steam-power, on Savary's principle, wasintroduced; and in 1775 the genius of Watt, uniting with that of Boulton, rendered the establishment the grandfocus of engineering skill and manufacturing ingenuity. So great were the results of Watfs extension ofsteam-power, that between 1780 and 1836, no fewer than 169 steam-engines were erected in different factoriesin the town. In 1839 Birmingham possessed a working power of 3436 horses,* equivalent to the labourof 55,000 men. Ten years later it was computed that this gigantic power had increased so much as torepresent the labour of 100,000 men, requiring the supervision of about 7500 persons, men, women, andchildren.

Messrs. Boulton and Watt, at an early period, applied their energies to the stamping of medals, tokens,&c.; and, in fact, to all the operations of coinage. They were employed in this department by the State;and some of the copper coinage of the close of the last century, bearing the name of their far-famedestablishment, is still in circulation. In their hands, as well as in those of Sir Edward Thomason, and hisable successor, Mr. Collis, the medal business has been carried to very great perfection, both in the beautyof the dies and in the precision of striking. We have already (Plate CXXIX.) alluded to the adoption ofthe Sheffield plate-trade by these and other Birmingham manufacturers.

The brass toy-trade owes much to the genius, industry, and taste of the late Mr. Messenger, who wasin the habit of employing the first artists in the kingdom as designers. Specimens modelled by Flaxman,Chantrey, and others of almost equal reputation, still decorate the pattern-room of his son and successor.The brass furniture of Mr. Winfield displayed in the Great Exhibition was valued at 3000?., and a copiousaccount and illustrations of it will be found in the “ Official Descriptive and Illustrated Catalogue.”

Though the pin-trade of Birmingham is confined to a few hands, those few manufacture upon a largescale. From the works of Mr. Phipson there frequently issue a million and a half of pins per day. Thesteel-pen trade is also very extensive. Mr. Gillott, the principal manufacturer, produced in 1843 no less than105,125,493 of these useful articles. The subject of electrotyping, as practised by Messrs. Elkington and Co.,will be found described in other pages of this work.

In some degree apart from metal-work, japanning occupies a large share of industry in Birmingham .The staple trade of old John Baskerville , the printer, was that of a japanner; which, indeed, he carried onfrom 1740 to 1770. His apprentice, Clay, first used papier-mache boards, which he made himself bycarefully glueing together a succession of sheets of unsized paper. He realised a large fortune by his labours ;and it is satisfactory to know that his success has been since surpassed by Messrs. Jennens and Bettridge,and other manufacturers.

We might enlarge considerably upon many curiosities among the Birmingham productions; but we mustconclude with simply noticing the often-quoted fact, that on one occasion an order was actually given for 500?.worth of dolls eyes; whilst, as an illustration of the effect of labour in enhancing the value of the mosttrifling articles, we may mention watch-springs, which, as finished in Birmingham , acquire a value equal to20,000 times that of the raw material.

* Of these 1770 horse-power were used in working metals; viz. 162 by iron-founders; 570 in rolling copper, brass, &c.; 150 in drawingwire; 201 in iron forges and wrought-iron nails; 74 in nail-cutting; 104 in screw-making; and 24 in drawing metal tubes.