lease the land for more than ninety-nine years and wanting 20s. per acre rent.  In July, 1877, a “Sutton Park Crystal Palace Co. (Lim.)” was registered, with a capital of L25,000 in L5 shares, for buying Mr. Cole’s Promenade Gardens, erecting Hotel, Aquarium, Skating Rink, Concert Hall, Winter Gardens, &c., and the shares were readily taken up.  Additional grounds were purchased, and though the original plans have not yet been all carried out, a very pleasant resort is to be found there.  Day’s, in Smallbrook Street, is also called a “Crystal Palace,” on account of the style of decoration, and the immense mirror the proprietor purchased from the Hyde Park Exhibition of 1851.

Curzon Hall, built originally for the purposes of the Dog Shows, was opened in 1865.  It is the property of a company, and cost about L7,500.  The building is well suited and has been often used for exhibitions, panoramas, circus entertainments, &c., the hall being 103 ft. long by 91 ft. wide; the stage is of the fullest width, with a depth of 45 ft.  There is room for 3,000 seats.

Danielites.—­A tribe who eschew fish, flesh, and fowl, and drink no alcohol; neither do they snuff, smoke, or chew tobacco.  At a fruit banquet, held on August, 1877, it was decided to organise a “Garden of Danielites” in Birmingham.

Dates.—­The most complete work giving the dates of all the leading events in the world’s history is “Haydn’s Book of Dates,” the latest edition bringing them down to 1882.  For local events, the only “Local Book of Dates” published is that of 1874, but “Showell’s Dictionary of Birmingham” (by the same author), will be found to contain more reliable data than any book hitherto issued.  For information of a general character, respecting the immediate neighbourhood and adjoining counties, our readers cannot do better than refer to the files of Birmingham newspapers, preserved in the Reference Library, or write to the present editors of the said papers, gentlemen noted for their urbanity, and readiness to tell anybody anything.

Dawson, George, See “Parsons, Preachers, and Priests,” and “Statues.”

Deaf and Dumb Asylum.—­See “Philanthropic Institutions.”

Debating Societies.—­From time immemorial the Brums have had their little Parliaments, mostly in public-house parlours and clubrooms, and certain Sunday nights gathering at “Bob Edmonds” and other well-known houses have acquired quite an historical interest; but the regularly-constituted “Spouting Clubs” of the present day cannot claim a very long existence, the Birmingham Debating Society having held their first palaver on the 3rd of Dec., 1846.  In 1855 they joined the Edgbastonians.  The latest of the kind started in 1884, is known as the Birmingham Parliamentary Debating Society, and has its premier, parties, and political fights, in proper Parliamentary style.

Deer Stealers.—­There was a taste for venison in more classes than one in 1765, for it was found necessary to offer rewards for the detection of those persons who stole the deer from Aston Park.