ed in 1800:--

The streets are pav'd, 'tis true, but all the stones
Are set the wrong end up, in shape of cones;
And strangers limp along the best pav'd street,
As if parch'd peas were strew'd beneath their feet,
Whilst custom makes the Natives scarcely feel
Sharp-pointed pebbles press the toe or heel.

About 1819-20 the roadways were stoned with the aid of a steam
paving-engine, supplied with a row of six heavy rammers, which dropped
on the uneven stones and drove them into the roads, the engine moving
about a foot after each series of blows. A wood roadway was laid in Moor
Street in April, 1873; and in June, 1874, the Council decided also so to
pave New Street, High Street, and Bull Street. At their meeting, June
1876, it was resolved to spend L30,000 a year for six years in paving
streets, and they have done all _that_.

~Pawnbrokers.~--In December, 1789, a Bill was prepared for presentation
to Parliament "to suppress all pawnbrokers within the town." and to
establish in lieu a general office for pledges. Wonder what our uncles
thought of it.

~Peace.~--A branch of the Workmen's Peace Association was formed
December 18, 1871.

~Pebble Mill Pool.~--The last few years a favourite spot for suicides,
no less than thirty-nine persons having drowned themselves there since
1875. Strangely enough there was not a single similar case in the four
years preceding, and only three cases of accidental drownings in the
last 27 years.

~Peck Lane.~--Originally called Feck Lane, leading out of New Street,
next to the Grammar School, was closed and cleared for the Railway
Station. Steep and narrow as the old thoroughfare was, it was at one
time thought quite as much of as Bull Street.

~Pearls and Pearl Fisheries.~--A few small pearls are occasionally found
enclosed in the nacre (or mother-of-pearl) of shells cut up for buttons,
&c., but seldom of much value, though it is related that a few years
back a pearl thus discovered by a workman, and handed over to his
employer, was sold for L40, realising L150 afterwards. In March, 1884,
Mr. James Webb, Porchester Street, had the good fortune to find a pearl
weighing 31 grains in an Australian shell he was cutting up, and it has
been valued at L100. As there is a good market here for pearls, no doubt
many others have been found that "have not come to light." A few years
back, "pearl fisheries" of rather an extraordinary kind were here and
there to be found in the outskir