_Proud Salopians._--I have never heard a satisfactory account of the origin
of this title, given to persons belonging to my native county.
In the neighbourhood the following story is frequently related, but with
what authority I cannot tell, viz. "That upon the king (Query which?)
offering to make Shrewsbury a city, the inhabitants replied that they
preferred its remaining the largest borough in England, rather than it
should be the smallest city; their pride not allowing them to be small
among the great."
If this history of the term be true, it would appear that the name should
only be applied to _burgesses of Shrewsbury_.