other apartments, adapted for the display of paintings during the exhibitions, which are held in the autumn. There is a large circular room devoted to models of sculpture, where the students of the institution attend. It is supported by voluntary contributions.

The Theatre, in New-street, is a large and elegant edifice, with a long colonnade and balcony in front, supported by two pairs of Ionic columns; and the interior is fitted up in the style of the London theatres, having two tiers of boxes, and is capable of holding 2,000 persons. A full house, at the usual prices, would produce 2501.

The Post Office, which is a neat plain square building, with a portico and four pillars, is situated at the corner of New-street and Bennett's-hill, and has been considerably enlarged since the opening of the Railways. There are now three receivals and deliveries daily from and for London, Liverpool, and Manchester, and the amount of business is constantly increasing.

The News Room, in Bennett's-hill, is a very handsome and spacious building, of the Ionic order, having four lofty columns in front, and six on the side, and is enclosed by iron palisadings. The principal room, where the papers are kept, is very capacious and commodious, and there is a constant supply of the daily and other newspapers, Foreign as well as English. It is supported by subscriptions of two guineas per annum.

Infant Schools are established in many parts of the town, but the principal institutions are in Ann-street, Islington, St. George's, and Cherry-street. Upwards of 350 children are instructed, the expense of which is defrayed by public subscriptions and the payment of two pence a week by each child.

There is a Medical Library, at the School of Medicine, Paradise-street, for the use of the medical profession, and a Law Library, in Waterloo-street, for the use of the legal profession, both of which are very valuable.

The Savings Bank is in Temple-row, and is open every Monday and Thursday, between the hours of twelve and two.

The Athenæum, for the diffusion of Literature and Science, was established in March, 1839, and monthly courses of Lectures are delivered at the room, Temple-row. There is also a News Room connected with the institution.

The New Library. This institution is situated in Templerow West, and is similar to the Old Library, but of much smaller extent.

The Stamp Office is in Colemore-row.

The Blue Coat School, which is a large building, occupying

the east side of St. Philip's Churchyard, was erected in part in the year 1724, and has been considerably enlarged since then. It is for the reception of poor children, and accommodates upwards of 200. It is supported by bequests, subscriptions, and collections at the churches. The children are taught the plain and simple elements of education, and the religion of the Established Church.

The Old Library. This is a handsome structure, in Unionstreet, with large and lofty rooms, with every accommodation for reading, and a fine collection of books amounting to 18,000 volumes. It is supported by annual subscriptions. The celebrated Dr. Priestley was the principal founder of this institution. The Infirmary for Diseases of the Eye is situated in Cannonstreet. The surgeons are Messrs. Hodgson, Ledsam, and Middlemore.

The Philosophical Institution. This is an institution for the diffusion of scientific knowledge amongst the middle and higher classes. Lectures are delivered every season. There is a handsome Theatre, a large Museum, with collections of fossils, and minerals, &c., a Library, Reading Room, and Laboratory. It is situated in Cannon-street.

Mechanics' Institute. This is an institution for the improvement of the working classes. Spacious premises have recently been purchased in New Hall-street, which are now admirably adapted to the required purpose. The advantages offered to the members are classes every evening for instructing the youth in writing, arithmetic, drawing, grammar, the mathematics, and French; lectures on one evening in each week; the use of a large and valuable Library, and attendance upon a News and Reading Room, besides admission to a valuable Museum. Other advantages are likewise in contemplation, which will much increase the usefulness of this excellent institution.

The Assay Office, in Cannon-street, is the place to which all goods which are manufactured of gold and silver are obliged to be taken to be marked, to prevent imposition. Seventeen shilJings per ounce is paid for gold, and one shilling and sixpence for silver work.

Excise Establishment, Offices, 102, New-street.

CHARLES INSTAN, ESQ., Collector,
MR. MOFFAT PETERS, Clerk.

Hours of attendance for transacting public business from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

MR. JOHN TERRY,

MR. JOSIAH LOWE,

Supervisor, 1 District, Spring Hill,
Supervisor, 2 District, Lee Bank,

MR. STEPHEN BURNETT, Supervisor, 3 District, 302, Summer-lane, Supervisor, 4 District, Heneage-street, Supervisor, 5 District, Deritend.

MR. JOHN EVANS,

MR. JOHN FORBES,

Permit Writers-Mr. Edward Meredith, Mr. Thomas Dibble, and Mr. William Austen.

The Free School. This building, which is composed of a peculiar white stone, brought from Darley Dale, in Derbyshire, is the most elegant structure in the town, and one of the most beautiful in the kingdom. It is a mixture of the collegiate, civil, and ecclesiastical pointed architecture, and is usually described as pure Gothic. It is a regular quadrangular figure, 174 feet in front, 125 feet in flank or side, and sixty feet high. The main body of the front elevation is composed of two stories, each having a handsome series of seven windows, enriched with tracery corresponding to its order of composition. The wings project forward as far as the buttress, forming gable ends, and are of the same height as the main building. Each wing has a lofty oriel window, two stories high; but the ordinary windows are plain and rectangular. The windows of the flank or side are like the ordinary windows of the wings, and are in three tiers. The back front is similar to the principal front in its elevation, buttresses, and wings, but has seven large pointed windows in the first floor, and in the lower story there is a series of open arches forming a covered court, and a range of cloisters. The windows belonging to the first story are very low, compared

with the second, and the arches are flat or obtuse angled. The windows of the second story are much more lofty, but of the same shape as the others. These windows are separated by buttresses, which form each space into a separate compartment; and as the buttresses ascend, they diminish at each story with triangular facings, and terminate in lofty pinnacles above the embattled parapet which surrounds the building.

The principal entrance is by the central compartment between the bases of two buttresses, under a handsome porch into a vestibule. Two large apartments, with oak pannelled walls and ceilings, one on the right and the other on the left, are the school rooms for commercial education and instruction in modern languages. Still further on we come to a large and handsome corridor, with a groined ceiling wrought in stone, and sides of window work with richly painted glass, which leads to the grand stone staircase, by which we descend to the vaulted court below, or ascend to the apartments above. In ascending, we come to another corridor of the same work as the one below, but much longer and more lofty, leading to the two grand rooms of the building. A large open square court is on each side of the corridors, between them and the wings, so as to furnish light and ajr to the interior of the building. The Grammar School is at the rear, and is directly over the vaulted court below. It is 120 feet long, forty-five feet high, and thirty feet wide, and has a lofty angular roof supported by a series of magnificent obtuse angled arches of the Tudor style. At the end, where the chair of the head master is placed, there is a handsome lofty oak carved screen, behind which is a platform for visitors, and for a drawing class. The second master's chair is opposite to this, and the four ushers' chairs are on the sides. The desks and forms for the boys occupy the intermediate space, and are capable of accommodating 230 pupils.

Another large apartment is in front, and is intended to be the library. It is 102 feet long, thirty-one high, and twenty-five wide, and contains the grand second series of windows. The ceiling is a noble low flat arch of oak, pannelled in squares, with arched beams to sustain it.

The roofs, ceilings, and pannels, are made of oak and plaister, and the arches chiefly of iron; the whole being painted and varnished to such perfection, that they have the appearance of the finest sort of the noble wood which they are intended to imitate. The reason for this imitation was simply necessity, there not being oak enough in the neighbourhood for the purpose. The wings are appropriated for the residences of the head and

second masters, and are fitted up very handsomely with oak furniture. The whole of this magnificent structure cost upwards of 50,000l. The building is from the design of Mr. Barry, of London.

The founder of this School was Edward VI., who gave the property of the "Guild of the Holy Cross," one of the monasteries which had been suppressed, for the purpose of educating the youth of Birmingham in sound learning and true religion. At that time the value of the income was 211., but since then, 1552, by the progress of the town, and by additional bequests, the income, which is now 5000l., and in two years more will be 9,000l., by the falling in of leases, is expected in the year 1850, to be nearly 40,000l., per annum; an enormous revenue, sufficient to give the most complete education to all classes in the

town.

The School is under the management of twenty governors and the Bishop of the Diocese. There are a head and second master, and four ushers, for the classical department; and also masters for the modern languages and commercial departments. The scholars are not admitted until they are eight years of age, and can read and write their own language; nor are they allowed to stay beyond the age of nineteen. There are ten yearly exhibitions of 50l. each, with a residence at Oxford or Cambridge for four years. Annual examinations are made by three resident members of one of the Universities.

This is a

The Court of Requests is situated in High-street. court for the summary recovery of sums under 5l. It is held every Friday, before the commissioners of that court.

The Dispensary. This handsome stone building is situated in Union-street, and was erected in the year 1808, at an expense of 8000l. Three physicians and six surgeons gratuitously attend the patients, from four to five thousand of whom are annually relieved. It is supported by subscriptions.

The Market Hall. This building, which is constructed of free stone, from a design by Mr. Edge, of Birmingham, extends from High-street to Worcester-street, and is 360 feet long, 108 wide, and 28 high up to the roof. It is a plain Grecian structure, with a deep base, and a projecting entablature, having one large and lofty Doric entrance in High-street, and another in Worcester-street, two similar entrances, with plain pyramidal projecting façades in Philip-street, and two in Bell-street to the under part of the building, and from thence by steps up to the Hall. The roof is composed of a lantern middle part for air and light, and has fifty-six windows on each side, and five at