Through Birmingham
25
Of Public Places for Amusement, we
Can boast of little more than two or three:[1]
Of Libraries rare,[2] we number two,
One call’d the Old, the other styl’d the New.
We've Mails and Coaches, Hourly setting out
For ev'ry Town and County round about,
And safe conveyance had to ev'ry part,[3]
For East, West, North and South, they daily start.
Of handsome Hackney Coaches we've our share,
But yet no Act to regulate their fare;
Of course the Coachmen charge whate'er they please,
Tho' few are found extorting extra fees;
You'll find them steady fellows, and quite willing,
To drive you several streets' length for a shilling;
- ↑ The Theatre, the Bowling Greens, & c. at Vauxhall, the Apollo in Deritend, and one near the Crescent; there are also Public Concerts and Aſsemblies, every fortnight at the Hotel, during the winter.—The Theatre is a noble structure, and is reckoned, for its size, one of the handsomest in Great Britain: it is open during four months in the summer, viz. June, July, August, and September, and the most eminent London and Provincial Performers are usually engaged for the season. The machinery and scenery are excellent, and the Manager spirited and attentive. We formerly had two Theatres; that in King-street is converted into a Diſsenting Chapel.—The New-street Theatre was burnt by accident in 1792, and the present superb building rose, like a Phœnix, from its ashes: for a view of which see Magnificent Directory, plate C.
- ↑ There are two excellent Libraries, the first established in 1779—the latter in 1796, to which any stranger may be introduced by a subscriber.
- ↑ London Coaches start, daily, from the Castle, the Dog, the George, Saracen’s Head, the Rose and Swan Inns,& c. and Mails every day from some of the above, for Bristol, Shrewsbury, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Nottingham, &c. The London Mail sets off every afternoon, from the Dog Inn, exactly at three o'clock, and the Bristol, at five, from the Castle.
