230 KING'S NOMON.

common saying, that 'tis no festival unless there be some fightings." What would Mr. Hall have said to the modern "mops" or "statutes," which have rendered King's Norton somewhat notorious, by introducing to a quiet village some 2,000 or more of the "roughs" of Birmingham. His predecessor in the chapelry of King's Norton was the Rev, Joseph Cooper, a great Hebrew scholar and linguist, who was taken out of the pulpit and carried to Worcester gaol by a troop of horse in 1662. Those were stirring times, in truth, when parsons were not unfrequently called upon by some noisy Quaker or fanatic in the congregation to "give a reason for the faith that was in him," and to defend himself and his views in his own pulpit. We read in "Besse's Sufferings of the Quakers" that in 1657 "Jane Hicks, of Chadwitch, was sent to prison at Worcester for some offence which the priest of King's Norton took at her speaking to him."

Among the other institutions of the place are Day and Evening Schools, Penny Readings, Tea Parties, Amateur Concerts, Lectures, Clothing and other Clubs, an Alms Fund, &c., and the Vicar proposes to establish a Ladies' Visiting Society and a Lending Library.

There were 910 communicants (adults) in King's Norton in the year 1548. In 1861 the entire population was returned at 13,634 (?). In Leland's time there were here "fayre houses of staplers, that use to buy wool;" and at the close of the last century flax was grown in the parish by William Tay, who obtained a bounty for the same according to Act of Parliament. Considerable fluctuations have occurred in the fortunes of the place, if we may credit Hutton, who says, "One would think King's Norton fatal to greatness, for tradition tells us that in the last age the parish could boast the residence of five squires, who rolled in five carriages, but now the inhabitants themselves tell us they are a parish of paupers." Well, another cycle has gone round, and King's Norton can, no doubt, boast of her squires again. The chief landowners are W. F. Taylor, Esq., A. J. Taylor, Esq., the