es; while merely L540
could be raised towards helping the thousands of poor Bosnian refugees
driven from their homes by the Russians in 1878, and of this sum L200
was given by one person.

~Bullbaiting~ was prohibited in 1773 by Order in Council, and an Act was
passed in 1835, to put a stop to all baiting of bulls, badgers, and
bears. At Chapel Wake, 1798, some law-defying reprobates started a
bullbaiting on Snow Hill, but the Loyal Association of Volunteers turned
out, and with drums beating and colours flying soon put the rebels to
flight, pursuing them as far as Birmingham Heath, where the baiters got
a beating, the Loyals returning home in triumph with the bull as a
trophy. The last time this "sport" was indulged in in this neighbourhood
appears to have been early in October, 1838, at Gib Heath, better known
now as Nineveh Road.

~Bull Lane~ was the name once given to that part of the present Colmore
Row between Livery Street and Snow Hill, though it has been better known
as Monmouth Street.

~Bull Street.~--Once called Chapel Street, as leading to the chapel of
the ancient Priory; afterwards named from the old inn known as the Red
Bull (No. 83).

~Burial Grounds.~--See "_Cemeteries_."

~Burns.~--Excisemen, when Robert Burns was one of them, were wont to
carry pistols, and those the poet had were given him by one of our
gunmakers, Mr. Blair. They were afterwards bought by Allan Cunningham,
who gave them back to Burns' widow.--Birmingham lent its rill to the
great river of homage to the genius of Burns which flowed through the
length and breadth of the civilised world on the occasion of the Burns'
centenary in January, 1859. The most interesting of the three or four
meetings held here was one of a semi-private nature, which took place at
Aston Hall, and which originated, not with Scotchmen, but with
Englishmen. Some forty-five or fifty gentlemen, only some half-dozen of
whom were Scotch, sat down to an excellent supper in the fine old room
in which the Queen lunched the previous year. The chairman was Mr.
Samuel Timmins, and the vice-chairman was Mr. Ross.

~Cabs, Cars, and Carriages.~--The hackney carriages, or four-wheelers,
of this town, have the credit of being superior to those used in London,
though the hansoms (notwithstanding their being the inventions of one
who should rank almost as a local worthy--the architect of our Town
Hall) are not up to the mark. Prior to 1820 there were no regular stands
for