ed by jewellers. It was in this street
that I first noticed a peculiarity in tradesmen's signboards, which
then was general through the town, and had a very curious appearance
to a stranger. Few of the occupiers' names were painted on the
_faciae_ of the shop windows, but in almost every case a bordered
wooden frame, following the outline of the window, was fixed above
it. Each of these frames stood upon three or four wooden spheres,
generally about the size of a cricket ball, and they were surmounted
by wooden acorns or ornaments. The boards were all black, and the
lettering invariably gilt, as were also the balls and the acorns.
This, however strange, was not inconsistent; but there were hundreds
of frames in the town stretched across the fronts of houses, and fixed
to the walls by iron spikes. Every one of these signboards, although
altogether unnecessary for its support, had three gilt balls
underneath. There was another peculiarity: the capital letter C was
invariably made with two "serifs"--thus, C--and for a long time I
invariably read them as G's.

Coming up Livery Street, which then was filled on both sides of
its entire length by buildings, it was pointed out to me that the
warehouse now occupied by Messrs. T. Barnes and Co. was built for a
show-room and warehouse by Boulton and Watt, and here their smaller
wares had been on view. Where Messrs. Billing's extensive buildings
now stand, was an old chapel, built, I believe, by a congregation
which ultimately removed to the large chapel in Steelhouse Lane. It
was used as a place of worship until about 1848, when Mr. Billing
bought it, pulled it down, and utilised its site for his business. The
whole area of the Great Western Railway Station was then covered with
buildings, and one, if not more, small streets ran through to Snow
Hill. Monmouth Street was very narrow. Where the Arcade now is,
was the Quakers' burial ground. Opposite was the warehouse of Mr.
Thornley, the druggist, who had a small and mean-looking shop at the
corner, fronting Snow Hill. At the opposite corner was a shaky-looking
stuccoed house, used as a draper's shop, the entrance being up three
or four steps from Steelhouse Lane.

Mr. George Richmond Collis had recently succeeded to the business, at
the top of Church Street, of Sir Edward Thomason, who was dead. It was
then _the_ show manufactory of Birmingham. The buildings--pulled down
seven or eight years ago--were at that time a smart-looking