Buttons and buckles, so far as they are articles of ornament, almost took their rise in Birmingham, and this town witnessed all the fluctuations of these manufactures, from the small plain buckle, and the horn or bone but. ton coated with metal foil, through all the capricious and almost innumerable varieties of form and ornament which prevailed during the age of powder, embroidery, and gold lace, or which the still more fantastic taste of foreign markets demanded. At length the buckle has been completely supplanted by shoe-strings, and the button has undergone great changes : moulds of wood or horn being now very generally covered with silk or some other woven material, as a substitute for the metal button. The button factories are among the largest establishments in Bir 'mingham. The denomination of ' The toy shop of Europe,' given to Birmingham by Burke, was correct at the time, but the exten sive application of powerful mechanical forces has now raised the character of the staple productions of the place. All articles of me tallic ornament, such as polished steel toys, gold and gilt jewellery, chains, snuff-boxes, &c., are still manufactured, but not to such an amount as to form a preponderant part of the industry of Birmingham.
The quantity of silver used in the manu facture of pencitcases, boxes, chains, thim bles, &c., and in the numerous fittings and mountings attached to glass and other wares, is considerable, and an assay office is esta blished in the town, where all articles in this metal being above five dwt. are examined, and if found to be of the proper standard, are marked with the government stamp. The use of gold and silver has greatlyincreased in Birmingham in recent years. The process of electro plating has given rise to a wholly new department of manufacture, of which Bir mingham is the chief seat.
Japanning in all its varieties, is another extensive branch of manufacture. It com menced with the varnished boxes and small articles, which were coarse imitations of the Oriental toys, but the art was gradually im proved by John Taylor, who gavo elegance to the devices on the surface ; and still fur ther by Baskerville, who introduced the light and highly polished but firm and durable papier widchl!, which he adorned with paint ings in a style before unknown. This branch )f industry has called forth great talent; and tome of those who have taken rank among the painters of their age have commenced their career by executing the ornamental de. tigns on the trays and waiters of Birmingham. articles of this kind are susceptible of great elegance, and when produced in perfection ire beautiful specimens of the pictorial art. [n all the recent Exhibitions of Manufactures n this country the papier nicicke of Messrs. fennens and Bettridge and other manufactu !ers at Birmingham, has been remarkable for is artistic beauty.
Glass making has long been carried on in Birmingham. This manufacture is not now :onfined, in its higher branches, to cut yes ;els for the table, nor to the sparkling drops vhich decorate girandoles and chandeliers; rut glass for ornamental purposes is cast into 'orms of scrolls, foliage, busts, and well brined complete figures of small size. Win
low-glasS is also made in large quantities. Views. Chance's glass works, among the argent in the world, are at Birmingham; it is here that the glass for the Industrial Palace has been made.
An apparently trivial article, the steel-pen, has latterly grown into such extensive use as to form a considerable branch of nnanufac ture. The price has been perpetually dimi nishing, and the article itself, at the same time, continually improving. This manufac ture was first established in Birmingham in 1821, before which time the article was scarcely known in the market. Shortly after this date they sold for 12s. per dozen, but the price rapidly fell to 2s. per dozen, or I/. 4s. per gross. The increasing facilities of pro auction, and the consequent abundant supply, added to the competition of the numerous manufacturers, has since gradually lowered the price to Cd. a gross, or even less. There is one establishment in Birmingham (besides others of less extent) where many hundred millions of pens are made annually, and where 1300 persons are employed.
The cutlers, lorimers, and makers of wrought nails, who in Leland's time formed the bulk of the industrious population of Birmingham, have thus been gradually driven away by the increasing demand for articles requiring more taste and skill in design and execution. Agri cultural and manufacturing steel and edge tools, including files and saws, are however still made, and numerous new manufactures have been introduced during the present cen tury, which owed their origin to the facilities afforded by the newly created mechanical forces, that gave a spur to invention by almost insuring its success. Among these are drawing, cut-nail, screw, and pin manufac turing. Fine turnery naturally arose from 'I the increasing use of the lathe. Die-sinkers, I modellers, and designers were required by those who used stamps and casting-moulds and engravers were called for to represent in the books of patterns exhibited by the mer chants the forms of the numerous articles prepared by brass and iron-founders and other manufacturers. Artists in these seve ral lines have been thus drawn to the place, and the arts themselves are here cultivated to a degree of perfection before unknown out of the metropolis, The establishment of gas companies gave an impetus to the manufacture of tubes of various descriptions, as well as to the taste of the designer in forming graceful combinations. One of the most complete establishments in the town, the Cambridge Works, comprising long ranges of newly-built premises, is de voted to the making of all kinds of furniture in which brass tubing can be employed.