the town should ever want bread on that evening for evermore. He was as good as his vow, and immediately settled his manor and estate at Bescot upon the corporation to maintain this dole, which was "one penny and no more on Twelfth Eve to all persons then residing in the town and borough of Walsall and in all the villages and hamlets belonging thereunto." This is the traditionary, but not the authenticated origin of this charity.
The Town Hall, recently erected, is a building that would do credit to any large city. It is a large and elegant structure, of imposing exterior aspect, and with interior arrangements and embellishments and comforts which must make the honour and duty of a Mayor, Alderman, or Councillor more attractive and worthy of ambition. There are other buildings, especially the National School, which may serve as models, and are very creditable to the taste and liberality of the townspeople.
The great distinctive industry of Walsall is saddlery and harness ware. This manufacture has doubtless been the speciality of the town for several centuries, and it may have furnished the bits and stirrups and spurs of many of the knights in the Wars of the Roses. The history of the county, already mentioned, states that at the close of the seventeenth century, the ironworks of the town were chiefly employed in
