n-jurors,"
who refused to take the oath of allegiance to George I., appeared that
of John Stych, of Birmingham, whose forfeited estate was, in 1715,
valued at L12.

~Northfield.~--Four and a-half miles from Birmingham. There was a Church
here at the time of the Norman survey, and some traces of its Saxon
origin, students of architecture said, could once be found in the
ancient doorway on the north side of the building. Some forty years ago
the psalmody of the congregation and choir received assistance from the
mellifluous strains ground out of a barrel organ, which instrument is
still preserved as a curiosity by a gentleman of the neighbourhood. They
had an indelible way at one time of recording local proceedings in
matters connected with the Church here. The inscriptions on the six
bells cast in 1730 being:--

Treble.--We are now six, though once but five,
2nd.--Though against our casting some did strive,
3rd.--But when a day for meeting they did fix,
4th.--There appeared but nine against twenty-six.
5th.--Samuel Palmer and Thomas Silk Churchwardens.
Tenor.--Thomas Kettle and William Jervoise did contrive
To make us six that were but five.

~Notable Offences.~--In olden days very heavy punishments were dealt out
for what we now think but secondary offences, three men being sentenced
to death at the Assizes, held March 31, 1742, one Anstey for burglary,
Townsend for sheep-stealing, and Wilmot for highway robbery. The laws
also took cognisance of what to us are strange crimes, a woman in 1790
being imprisoned here for selling almanacks without the Government stamp
on them; sundry tradesmen also being heavily fined for dealing in
covered buttons. The following are a few other notable olfences that
have been chronicled for reference:--

_Bigamy_.--The Rev. Thomas Morris Hughes was, Nov. 15, 1883, sentenced
to seven years' penal servitude for this offence. He had been previously
punished for making a false registration of the birth of a child, the
mother of which was his own stepdaughter.

_Burglary_.--On Christmas eve, 1800, five men broke into the
counting-house at Soho, stealing therefrom 150 guineas and a lot of
silver, but Matthew Boulton captured four of them, who were
transported.--The National School at Handsworth, was broken into and
robbed for the fifth time Sept. 5, 1827.--A warehouse in Bradford Street
was robbed Jan. 9, 1856, of an iron safe, weighing nearly 4cwt., and
containing L140