he
trade of Messrs. Keep and Hinckley, whose place of business was for
years near St. Mary's Square, is now carried on by Keep Bros., in Broad
Street. The establishment of Rabone Bros., merchants, also in Broad
Street, still stands where it did. The businesses of Rock and Blakemore,
Moilett and Gem, and others, are still carried on by survivors of the
old firms.

As for the new industries, the new firms and companies that have been
created in our midst during the past half-century, their enumeration and
description would be a big story, and would require a large volume to
tell it. That volume I do not propose to begin. I desire to close my
present little chapter, and perhaps I shall not be the only one who will
be glad to come to the end of it.

XVI.

THE MUSICAL FESTIVALS.

Though it can hardly be said that the Birmingham Musical Festivals have
had any direct bearing upon the progress and development of town and
city, the world-renowned musical gatherings associated with the name of
Birmingham have had something to do with the fame and fortunes of the
Midland capital. Established more than a century and a quarter ago, they
attained a pitch of musical excellence and importance that attracted the
attention of the civilised world. Birmingham, indeed, was for a time,
and is still to some extent, the Mecca of musicians, and the Birmingham
Musical Festival is generally regarded as the premier musical meeting of
the country.

One specially fortuitous event has stamped the Birmingham "music
meeting" with a glory and prestige all its own. I refer to the
production of Mendelssohn's "Elijah" in 1846. This was, indeed, a piece
of great good fortune, for Mendelssohn's oratorio aroused an interest
and enthusiasm throughout the musical world that has not yet died down.
The occasion certainly gave the Birmingham Festivals a new lease of
life, and attracted more musical pilgrims to our town than ever.

I am not old enough myself to recollect the first performance of the
"Elijah," and as I only propose to write down now what I have myself
seen and heard, I refer those who desire to learn the history of the
Festivals to the records written by other more or less accurate writers.

The first Festival at which I was present was that of 1852, and I have
been at every Festival and at nearly every performance since that date.
In the year mentioned I sang as a boy in the chorus, and experienced a
great and novel joy that I have