y Hall,
Aug. 20, 1878.

_Swimming_.--The Birmingham Leander Club commenced their aquatic
brotherhood in June, 1877, and the members do themselves honour by
gratuitously attending the public baths in the summer months to teach
the art of swimming to School Board youngsters. [See "_Baths_,"] The
celebrated swimmer, Captain Webb, who was drowned at Niagara, July 24,
1883, visited this town several times, and the Athletic Club presented
him with a gold medal and purse December 4, 1875.

~Statues, Busts, and Memorials.~--For many years it was sneeringly said
that Birmingham could afford but one statue, that of Nelson, in the Bull
Ring, but, as the following list will show, the reproach can no longer
be flung at us. Rather, perhaps, it may soon be said we are likely to be
over-burdened with these public ornaments, though to strangers who know
not the peculiarities of our fellow-townsmen it may appear curious that
certain local worthies of the past have not been honoured in marble or
bronze.

_Attwood_.--The figure of Thomas Attwood, in Stephenson Place, New
Street, is the work of Mr. John Thomas, who did much of the carving at
the Grammar School. The cost was about L900, and the statue was unveiled
June 6, 1859.

_Blue Coat Children_.--The stone figures of a Blue Coat boy and girl
over the entrance to the School in St. Phillip's Churchyard, were
sculptured by Mr. Edward Grubb, in 1770, and Hutton thought they were
executed "with a degree of excellence that a Roman statuary would not
blush to own." In 1881 the appearance of the figures was _improved_ by
their being painted in correct colours.

_Bright_.--At the time of the Bright Celebration in 1883, the Birmingham
Liberal Association commissioned Mr. A. Bruce Joy to execute for them a
marble statue of Mr. Bright, which the Association intend placing in the
new Art Gallery. The statue itself is expected to be finished in 1885,
but Mr. Bright has expressed his satisfaction with the model, which
represents him standing erect in an attitude of dignified tranquility,
easy and natural with his left hand in the breast of his coat, while the
other hangs down by his side, emblematic of the Christian charity so
characteristic of our distinguished representative.

_Boulton_.--There is a fine bust of Matthew Bolton in Handsworth, and as
the owner of the great Soho Works certainly did much to advance the
manufactures of this town, foreigners have often expressed surprise that
no s