industrial art, and it has been expended in the purchase of a collection of gems and precious stones, than which nothing could be more suitable in this centre of the jewellery trade. Possibly, on the opening of the new Art Gallery, we shall hear of other "thousands" as forthcoming. ~Musical Associations.~--There were, of course, the choirs attached to the churches previous, but the earliest Musical Society is believed to be that established by James Kempson, in 1762, at Cooke's, in the Cherry Orchard, and the founding of which led to the Musical Festivals. The members met for practice, and evidently enjoyed their pipes and glasses, their nightly song being:-- "To our Musical Club here's long life and prosperity; May it flourish with us, and so on to posterity, May concord and harmony always abound, And division here only in music be found. May the catch and the glass go about and about, And another succeed to the bottle that's out." This society was appropriately known as the Musical and Amicable Society from which sprung the Choral Society in 1776, though the present Festival Choral Society only claims to be in its thirty eighth year. The Birmingham Musical Society dates from 1840; the Amateur Harmonic Association from January, 1856; the Edgbaston Musical Union from 1874; and the Philharmonic Union from 1870. The Church Schools Choral Union, the Sunday Schools Union Festival Choir, and the Birmingham Musical Association, with one or two others, are the progeny of later years; the last on the list of musical institutions being the Clef Club (in Exchange Buildings), established March 21st, 1832, for the promotion of musical culture by "providing a central resort for the study and practice of vocal and instrumental music, with the social advantages of a club."