Birmingham : A Poem, in Two Parts, with Appendix.

small 8vo., (19cm), xiv, 290pp., engraved frontispiece, additional engraved title, errata leaf at rear, bound in twentienth century calf backed marbled boards. A VG+ clean tightly bound copy of this scarce work. The first part is a 100 page poem dealing mainly with the town and its products. Part two, the appendix, deals more with Birmingham's industries and the local worthies, whose names are usually given in footnotes. Under the parochial system of governance the established church had been able to impose a levy on households in the town to cover mainly the costs for the overseeing of the poor but also the cost of upkeep of the churches, and known as the church rates. Responsibility for the poor was moved elsewhere but the rates continued. This was not popular and there was trouble, as described by the Poet."Twas here religion s battle first was waged;Here that the people, by the fraud enraged,Against their pious foes at last engaged.For ever honour d be the names of thoseWho, strong in truth, against the Church aroseAnd, with unflinching courage, dar d withstandHer ever grasping and rapacious handDespite her canon laws, and eke the state,They called the plunder which she called the rate.Muntz, Parc, and Trow, the foremost in the fight,Suffered, but conquered, in the cause of right.Since then the good old town has been exemptFrom pious frauds, the objects of contempt."George Muntz was a highly successful metal-roller, who invented a type of brass called Muntz metal. He was extremely eccentric and very aggressive and in 1837 he led a minor riot in a vestry meeting in St Martin s church in protest against church rates. He was convicted on a charge of affray but this was later quashed. Not long after he entered politics and became an MP. This account of the affair also says a lot about the Poet.…