Page:Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham.djvu/96

84 yard of the meeting-house in Bull Street.

Froggery.—Before the New Street Railway Station was built, a fair slice of old 15irriiiiigliam had to be cleared away, and fortunately it happened to be one of the unsavoury portions, including the spot known as "The Froggery." As there was a Duck Lane close by, the place most likely was originally so christened from its low-lying and watery position, the connection between ducks and frogs being self-apparent.

Frosts.—Writing on Jan. 27, 188l, the late Mr. Plant said that in 88 years there had been only four instances of great cold approaching comparison with the intense frost then ended; the first was in January, 1795; the next in December and January, 1813-14; then followed that of January, 1820. The fourth was in December and January, 1860-61; and, lastly, January, 1881. In 1795 the mean temperature of the twenty-one days ending January 31st was 24.27 degrees; in 1813-14, December 29th to January 18th exclusively, 24.9 degrees; in 1820, January 1st to 21st, inclusively, 23.7 degrees; in 1860-61, December 20th to January 9th, inclusively, 24.5 degrees; and in 1881, January 7th to 27th, inclusively, 23.2 degrees. Thus the very coldest three weeks on record in this district, in 88 years, is January, 1881. With the exception of the long frost of 1813-4, which commenced on the 24th December and lasted three months, although so intense in their character, none of the above seasons were remarkable for protracted duration. The longest frosts recorded in the present century were as follows:—1813-14, December to March. 13 weeks; 1829-30, December, January, February, 10 weeks; 1838, January, February, 8 weeks ; 1855, January, February, 7 weeks; 1878-79, December, January, February, 10nbweeks.

Funny Notions.—The earliest existing; statutes governing our Free Grammar of King Edward VI. bear the date of 1676. One of these rules forbids the assistant masters to marry.—In 1663 (temp. Charles II.) Sir Robert Holte, of Aston, received a commission from Lord Northampton, "Master of His Majesty's leash," to take and seize greyhounds, and certain other dogs, for the use of His Majesty!— The "Dancing Assembly," which was to meet on the 30th January, 1783, loyally postponed their light fantastic toeing, "in consequence of that being the anniversary of the martyrdom of Charles 1."—In 1829, when the Act was passed appointing Commissioners for Duddeston and Nechells, power was given for erecting gasworks, provided they did not extend over more than one acre, and that no gas was sent into the adjoining parish of Birmingham.—A writer in Mechanics' Magazine for 1829, who signed his name as "A. Taydhill, Birmingham," suggested that floor carpets should be utilized as maps wherewith to teach children geography. The same individual proposed that the inhabitants of each street should join together to buy a long pole, or mast, with a rope and pulley, for use as a fire- escape, and recommended them to convey their furniture in or out of the windows with it, as "good practice."—A patent was taken out by Ebezer Edwards, in 1853, for a bedstead fitted with a wheel and handle, that it might be used as a wheelbarrow.—Sergeant Bates, of America, invaded Birmingham, Nov. 21, 1872, carrying the "stars and stripes," as a test of our love for our Yankee cousins.

Funeral Reform.—An association for doing away with the expensive customs so long connected with the burying of the dead, was organised in 1875, and slowly, but surely, are accomplishing the task then entered upon. At present there are about 700 enrolled members, but very many more families now limit the trappings of woe to a more reasonable as well as economical exhibit of tailors' and milliners' black.