ds of the Manor prior to
that period.

Mercia was not only the largest, but also the last of the seven
conquered kingdoms--It was bounded on the North by the Humber, on the
West by the Severn, on the South by the Thames, and on the East by the
German ocean. Birmingham lies nearly in the centre. Cridda, a Saxon,
came over with a body of troops, and reduced it in 582; therefore, as
no after revolution happened that could cause Birmingham to change its
owner, and as land was not in a very saleable state at that time, there
is the greatest reason to suppose the founder of the house of Birmingham
Came over with Cridda, as an officer in his army, and procured this
little flourishing dominion as a reward for his service.

The succeeding generations of this illustrious family are too remote for
historical penetration, 'till the reign of Edward the Confessor, the
last of the Saxon Kings, when we find, in 1050,

ULUUINE, (since ALWYNE, now ALLEN,)

master of this improving spot.

RICHARD,

1066,

seems to have succeeded him, and to have lived in that unfortunate
period for property, the conquest.

The time was now arrived when this ancient family, with the rest of the
English gentry, who had lived under the benign climate of Saxon
government, and in the affluence of fortune, must quit the happy
regions of hospitality, and enter the gloomy precincts of penury--From
givers, they were to become beggars.

The whole conduct of William seems to have carried the strongest marks
of conquest. Many of the English lost their lives, some their liberty,
and nearly all their estates. The whole land in the kingdom was
insufficient to satisfy the hungry Normans.

Perhaps William took the wisest method to secure the conquered country
that could be devised by human wisdom; he parcelled out the kingdom
among his greater Barons; the whole county of Chester is said to have
fallen to the share of Hugh Lupus: and these were subdivided into 62,000
Knight's-sees, which were held under the great Barons by military
service. Thus the Sovereign by only signifying his pleasure to the
Barons, could instantly raise an army for any purpose. We cannot produce
a stronger indication of arbitrary government: But, it is happy for the
world, that perfection is not found even in human wisdom; for this well
laid scheme destroyed itself. Instead of making the crown absolute, as
was intended, it threw the balance into the hands of the Barons, who
became