by the instrument placed in the
wall of the Midland Institute. The dome of the Council House would be a
grand position in which to place a really good clock, and if the dials
were fitted with electric lights it would be useful at all hours, from
near and far.

~Clubs.~--No place in the kingdom can record the establishment of more
clubs than Birmingham, be they Friendly Clubs, Money Clubs (so-called),
or the more taking Political Clubs, and it would be a hard task to name
them all, or say how they flourished, or dropped and withered. In the
years 1850-60 it was estimated that at publichouses and coffeehouses
there were not less than 180 Money Clubs, the members paying in weekly
or fortnightly subscriptions of varying amount for shares L5 to L100,
and though there cannot be the slightest doubt that many of our present
mastermen owe their success in life to this kind of mutual help, the
spirit of gambling in money shares proved, on the whole, to be
disastrous to the members who went in for good interest on their
deposits. Of Friendly Clubs we shall have something to say under another
beading. Respecting the Political Clubs and those of a general nature we
may say that the earliest we have note of is the "Church and King Club,"
whose first meeting was held at the Royal Hotel, Nov. 27, 1792. Of a
slightly different nature was the "Hampden Club," established in 1815,
but which was closed by the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act in 1817.
During the troublous times of 1830-40, many clubs, or "smoke-room
palavers," existed, but, perhaps the only one that really showed results
was the Branch Club (or local agency), connected with the Land Scheme of
Feargus O'Connor [see "_Land Societies_"], and that ultimately dwindled
to naught. On July 5, 1847, a club on the plan of the London
"Whittington" was started here, but when or why it ended deponent
knoweth not.--The Union Clubhouse, corner of Newhall Street and Colmore
Row, which cost L16,000, was built in 1868-9, being opened May 3rd of
the latter year. This must be considered as the chief neutral ground in
local club matters, gentlemen of all shades of politics, &c., being
members. The number of members is limited to 400, with 50 "temporary"
members, the entrance fee being L15 15s., and the annual subscription L7
7s.--The Town and District Club, opened at the Shakespeare Rooms, in
August, 1876, also started on the non-political theory: the town members
paying L3 3s per annum, and