be manufactured here, the truth is that five-sixths of the villainous crew who deal in that commodity obtain their supplies from London, and not from our little “hardware village.”  But alas! there is a dark side to the picture, indeed, for, according to the Registrar-General’s return of June, 1879 (and the proportionate ratio, we are sorry to say, still remains the same), Birmingham holds the unenviable position of being the town where most deaths from violence occur, the annual rate per 1,000 being 1.08 in Birmingham, 0.99 in Liverpool, 0.38in Sheffield, 0.37 in Portsmouth, the average for the kingdom being even less than that—­“the proportional fatality from violence being almost invariably more than twice as large in Birmingham as in Sheffield.”

Cross.—­In the Bull Ring, when Hutton first came here, a poor wayfarer seeking employ, there was a square building standing on arches called “The Cross,” or “Market Cross,” the lower part giving a small shelter to the few countrywomen who brought their butter and eggs to market, while the chamber above provided accommodation for meetings of a public character.  When the Corn Cheaping, the Shambles, and all the other heterogeneous collection of tumbledown shanties and domiciles which in the course of centuries had been allowed to gather round St. Martin’s were cleared away, the Market Cross was demolished, and its exact site is hardly ascertainable.  At Dale End there was a somewhat similar erection known as the “Welsh Cross,” taking its peculiar name, says Hutton, from the locality then called “Welsh End,” on account of the number of Welsh people living on that side of the town; though why the “Taffies” were honoured with a distinct little market house of their own is not made clear.  This building was taken down in 1803, the 3-dial clock, weathercock, &c., being advertised for sale, October 12, 1802.

Crown.—­The old Crown Inn, Deritend, is one of the very few specimens we have of the style of architecture adopted in the days of old, when timber was largely used in place of our modern bricks.  Leland mentions the Crown Inn as existing in 1538, and a much longer history than that is claimed for it.  In 1817 there was another Old Crown Inn in New Street, on the spot where Hyam’s now stands, access to the Cherry Orchard being had through its yard, the right of way thus obtained being the origin of the present Union Passage.

Crystal Palaces.—­It was proposed in August, 1853, that the Corporation should join with the Midland Railway Co. and the Corporation of Sutton in the erection of a “Sydenham Palace” in Sutton Park:  Birmingham to lease 250 acres for 999 years, at 1s. per acre, find from L20,000 to L30,000 for the building and divide profits, the Midland Railway Co. being willing to make branch from Bromford and run cheap trains.  The scheme was highly approved, but the Suttonites killed the goose that was to lay them such golden eggs by refusing to