le, and have even sat at meat with a Duke in his
palatial home, and did not fail to notice that his Grace was very easy
and human in his tastes and manners, and was not above taking a glass of
port wine with his cheese. I have just occasionally shaken hands with a
lord of high degree, and even with a belted earl, but I am not of the
Upper Ten, and am quite outside the gilded gate that encloses the noble
of the land. I have seen few people that were particularly worth seeing,
that is, for book-writing purposes, but I will take leave to reconnoitre
in my memory those I have beheld in Birmingham during the course of my
uneventful career.

I may, perhaps, preface my observations with the paradoxical remark
that the first great celebrity I ever saw I just missed seeing. This was
Louis Kossuth. I was only a small boy when the great Hungarian patriot
visited Birmingham in the year 1851. Hearing so much talk about Kossuth
I naturally burned with a desire to see him. When the eventful day of
his visit came I secured a very good position at the top of Paradise
Street, and fancied I was going to have a fine view of the distinguished
Hungarian and the procession that accompanied him. I waited patiently
for some hours, then I heard the sound of music in the distance, and
then the roar and cheers of many voices. They grew louder and louder;
then came the surging wave of a great crowd of people. For a brief time
I was quite submerged, and when I recovered my position the procession
and the patriot were past and gone.

I remember the visit to Birmingham of the Prince Consort in 1855 to lay
the foundation stone of the Birmingham and Midland Institute.

I saw his Royal Highness well and truly lay the said stone, and I
afterwards saw him in the Town Hall, where he was entertained at
luncheon. I have a very distinct recollection of the occasion even now,
and I call to mind in particular that the Prince wore a pair of light
grey trousers and a swallow-tail, that is, a dress-coat. We should think
this a strange costume for a gentleman at a morning function in these
days, but times have changed, and the dress coat is now never seen in
the morning, and not so much at night as it used to be.

Of course I remember the Queen's visit to Birmingham in 1858, for the
purpose of opening Aston Park, the "People's Park," as it was proudly
called. There was a deal of effervescent talk about this noble project.
The People, with a capital P, were going