me
afterwards the word Royal being added in 1805, after His Royal Highness
the Duke of Gloucester slept there (May 4) on his way to Liverpool. In
1830 the Duchess of Kent, and Princess Victoria (our present Queen)
honoured it by their presence. In June, 1804, the Assembly Room (for
very many years the most popular place for meetings of a social
character) was enlarged, the proprietors purchasing a small piece of
adjoining land for the purpose at a cost of L250, being at the rate of
L26,000 per acre, a noteworthy fact as showing the then rapidly
increasing value of property in the town. The portico in front of the
hotel was put there in 1837, when the building had to be repaired, in
consequence of the kind attentions of the Birmingham Liberals at the
time of the general election then just passed. The whole of the front
and main portion of the hotel is now used for the purposes of the Eye
Hospital, the Assembly Rooms, &c., being still public.--Portugal House,
in New Street, on the present site of the Colonnade, prior to its being
taken for the Excise and Post Offices, was used for hotel purposes, and
was also called "The Royal."

_The Stork_.--The Directory of 1800 is the first which contains the name
of the Stork Tavern, No. 3, The Square, the host then being Mr. John
Bingham, the title of Hotel not being assumed until 1808. For a few
years the one house was sufficient for the accommodation required, but
as time progressed it became necessary to enlarge it, and this was
accomplished by taking in the adjoining houses, until, at last, the
hotel occupied one-fourth of The Square, from the corner of the Minories
to the Lower Priory, in which were situated the stables, &c. It was in
one of the houses so annexed to the hotel (No. 1) that Dr. Hector, the
friend of Dr. Johnson, resided; and at the rear of another part of the
premises in the Coach Yard, there was opened (in 1833) the "The
Equitable Labour Exchange." The whole of the hotel buildings were sold
by auction, Sept. 26, 1881, and quickly razed to the ground, which was
required for Corporation Street; but the Stork, like the fabulous
Phoenix, has risen from its ashes, and in close proximity to the old
site, stands boldly forth as one of the magnificences of that-is-to-be
most-magnificent thoroughfare.

_The Union_, in Cherry Street, was built in 1790, but much enlarged in
1825. It was one of the principal coaching houses, but will be
remembered mostly as furnishing the