Hill, nearly to Waterloo Street, and an old brick summer-house, which
stood in the angle, was then occupied by Messrs. Whateley as offices,
and afterwards by Mr. Nathaniel Lea, the sharebroker. At the corner of
Temple Row West was a draper's shop, carried on by two brothers--William
and John Boulton. The brothers fell out, and dissolved partnership.
William took Mr. R.W. Gem's house and offices in New Street, and
converted them into the shop now occupied by Messrs. Dew; stocked it;
married a lady at Harborne; started off to Leamington on his wedding
tour; was taken ill in the carriage on the way; was carried to bed at
the hotel at Leamington, and died the same evening. His brother took to
the New Street shop; closed the one in Temple Row; made his fortune; and
died a few years ago--a bachelor--at Solihull.

The present iron railings of St. Philip's Churchyard had not then been
erected. There was a low fence, and pleasant avenues of trees skirted
the fence on the sides next Colmore Row and Temple Row. I used to like
to walk here in the quiet of evening, and I loved to listen to the
bells in St. Philip's Church as they chimed out every three hours the
merry air, "Life let us Cherish."

A few weeks before my arrival, a general election, consequent upon the
dissolution of Parliament by the death of the King, took place. The
Tory party in Birmingham had been indiscreet enough to contest the
borough. They selected a very unlikely man to succeed--Mr. A.G.
Stapleton--and they failed utterly, the Liberals polling more than two
to one. The Conservatives had their head-quarters at the Royal Hotel
in Temple Row. Crowds of excited people surrounded the hotel day
by day and evening after evening. One night something unusual had
exasperated them, and they attacked the hotel. There were no police
in Birmingham then, and the mob had things pretty much their own way.
Showers of heavy stones soon smashed the windows to atoms, and so
damaged the building as to make it necessary to erect a scaffold
covering the whole frontage before the necessary repairs could be
completed. When I first saw it, it was in a wretched plight, and it
took many weeks to repair the damage done by the rioters. The portico
now standing in front of the building--which is now used as the Eye
Hospital--was built at this time, the doorway up to then not having
that protection.

From this point, going towards Bull Street, the roadway suddenly
narrowed to the same wi