ago one of the supporters of a light temple looking
building of the same name, that served as a shelter to the country people
who here hold a small market on Wednesdays and Fridays for the sale of
butter, eggs, &c. Here the members of parliament are proclaimed, and
here also may be seen on Michaelmas day, the grotesque ceremony of the
poor men of Trinity Hospital, arrayed like ancient Knights, having rusty
helmets on their heads and breast-plates fastened over their black
taberdes proclaiming the fair.

Some paces lower the massy stone front of an edifice adorned with
rusticated pillars points to the eye the _County Goal_, erected in the
year 1791, at the expense of six thousand pounds. The spectator may
prehaps be led into a reflection on the violation of propriety, when he
sees the Roman Fasces and Pileus encircled by heavy chains decorating an
English prison. Under these symbols the name of the Architect is fully
conspicuous, and it may be observed as an example of sudden vicissitude,
that the builder of this fabrick became, as a debtor, its first
inhabitant.

This prison, to which the county bridewell is now added, was erected,
upon the scite of the old goal, some years after the benevolent Howard
visited Leicester, and is built with solitary cells after the plan
recommended by that celebrated philanthropist.

The mention of a character so widely expanding beyond the customary
sphere of human action irresistibly arrests the attention of the heart
that glows into admiration at striking examples of virtue, and of the
head that feels interest in tracing the motives which influence the
conduct of man.

Separated from the county prison, by a lane called _Free-School Lane_, is
a rude heavy building, adorned with the Royal Arms. This is the FREE
GRAMMAR SCHOOL, the aera of whose original foundation has been thought
uncertain; but upon the authority of the learned topographer Leland, it
is ascertained to have been founded by one of the three Wigstons interred
in the collegiate church in the Newark, and who, according to the same
writer, was a Prebendary of that church. This, if not the same person,
was brother to him who founded the Hospital dedicated to St. Ursula, now
called _Wigston's Hospital_. The master of that Hospital, had formerly
the privilege of recommending, if not appointing the master and usher of
the school, but this right is now exercised by the Mayor and senior
Aldermen.--The present building was