Part 9 (2/2)
The headborough is only an a.s.sistant to the constables, chiefly in time of absence.
High tasters examine the goodness of beer, and its measure.
Low tasters inspect the meat exposed to sale, and cause that to be destroyed which is unfit for use.
a.s.seirers ratify the chief rent and amercements, between the lord and the inhabitant. And the
Leather sealers, stamped a public seal upon the hides, when Birmingham was a market for leather.
These manorial servants, inst.i.tuted by ancient charter, chiefly possess a name, without an office. Thus order seems a.s.sisted by industry, and thus a numerous body of inhabitants are governed without a governor.
Exclusive of the choice of officers, the jury impannelled by the low bailiff, have the presentation of all encroachments upon the lord's waste, which has long been neglected.
The duties of office are little known, except that of taking a generous dinner, which is punctually observed. It is too early to begin business till the table is well stored with bottles, and too late afterwards.
During the existence of the house of Birmingham, the court-leet was held at the Moat, in what we should now think a large and shabby room, conducted under the eye of the low bailiff, at the expence of the lord.
The jury, twice a year, were witnesses, that the famous dish of roast beef, ancient as the family who gave it, demanded the head of the table.
The court was afterwards held at the Leather-hall, and the expence, which was trifling, borne by the bailiff. Time, prosperity, and emulation, are able to effect considerable changes. The jury, in the beginning of the present century, were impannelled in the Old Cross, then newly erected, from whence they adjourned to the house of the bailiff, and were feasted at the growing charge of _two or three pounds_.
This practice continued till about the year 1735, when the company, grown too bulky for a private house, a.s.sembled at a tavern, and the bailiff enjoyed the singular privilege of consuming ten pounds upon his guests.
It is easier to advance in expences than to retreat. In 1760, they had increased to forty pounds, and in the next edition of this work, we may expect to see the word _hundred_.
The lord was anciently founder of the feast, and treated his bailiff; but now that custom is inverted, and the bailiff treats his lord.
The proclamation of our two fairs, is performed by the high bailiff, in the name of the Lord of the Manor; this was done a century ago, without the least expence. The strength of his liquor, a silver tankard, and the pride of shewing it, perhaps induced him, in process of time, to treat his attendants.
His ale, without a miracle, was, in a few years, converted into wine, and that of various sorts; to which was added, a small collation; and now his friends are complimented with a card, to meet him at the Hotel, where he incurs an expence of twenty pounds.
While the spirit of the people refines by intercourse, industry, and the singular jurisdiction among us, this insignificant pimple, on our head of government, swells into a wen.
Habits approved are soon acquired: a third entertainment has, of late years, sprung up, termed _the constables feast_, with this difference, _it is charged to the public_. We may consider it a wart on the political body, which merits the caustic.
Deritend, being a hamlet of Birmingham, sends her inhabitants to the court-leet, where they perform suit and service, and where her constable is chosen by the same jury.
I shall here exhibit a defective list of our princ.i.p.al officers during the last century. If it should be objected, that a petty constable is too insignificant, being the lowest officer of the crown, for admission into history; I answer, by whatever appellation an officer is accepted, he cannot be insignificant who stands at the head of 50,000 people.
Perhaps, therefore, the office of constable may be sought for in future, and the officer himself a.s.sume a superior consequence.
The dates are the years in which they were chosen, fixed by charter, within thirty days after Michaelmas.
CONSTABLES.
1680 John Simco John Cottrill 1681 John Wallaxall William Guest 1682 George Abel Samuel White 1683 Thomas Russell Abraham Spooner 1684 Roger Macham William Wheely 1685 Thomas c.o.x John Green 1686 Henry Porter Samuel Carless 1687 Samuel Banner John Jesson 1690 Joseph Robinson John Birch 1691 John Rogers Richard Leather 1692 Thomas Robins Corbet Bush.e.l.l 1693 Joseph Rann William Sarjeant 1694 Rowland Hall John Bryerly 1695 Richard Scott George Wells 1696 Joseph Haddock Robert Mansell 1697 James Greir John Foster 1698 John Baker Henry Camden 1699 William Kettle Thomas Gisborn 1700 John Wilson Joseph Allen 1701 Nicholas Bakewell Richard Banner 1702 William Collins Robert Groves 1703 Henry Parrot Benjamin Carless 1704 William Brierly John Hunt 1705 Jonathan Seeley Thomas Holloway 1706 Robert Moore John Savage 1707 Isaac Spooner Samuel Hervey 1708 Richard Weston Thomas Cope 1709 Samuel Walford Thomas Green 1710 John Foxall William Norton 1711 Stephen Newton John Taylor 1712 William Russel John Cotterell 1713 John Shaw Thomas Hallford 1714 Randall Bradburn Joseph May 1715 Stephen Newton Samuel Russell 1716 Stephen Newton Joseph Carless 1717 Abraham Foxall William Spilsbury 1718 John Gisborn Henry Carver 1719 Samuel Hays Joseph Smith 1720 John Barnsley John Humphrys 1721 William Bennett Thomas Wilson 1722 John Harrison Simon Harris
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