er and above
the prodigious number of tickets that had been sold, the enormous
sum of L1,200 was taken _at the gates_ for admission; and that,
financially as well as numerically, it far exceeded its predecessor.

It only remains to add, that four days afterwards, Messrs. Walsh,
Cornforth, Biggs, and Collins attended the Board Meeting of the
General Hospital, and handed over a cheque for L1,700 on account;
that at the next committee meeting it was resolved that the aggregate
results of both fetes should be ascertained, and that the amount of
the entire profits of both should be divided in equal moieties between
the two hospitals.

So ended the great Aston Fetes, the memory of which, and their
financial results, will be perpetuated by the marble slab at the
Queen's Hospital, which bears the following inscription--

This Tablet records
that a Committee of Manufacturers and Tradesmen
of Birmingham
projected and carried out, on their own responsibility,
the two Fetes Champetre, which took place at Aston Hall and Park,
on the 28th day of July and the 15th day of September, 1856,
in aid, and towards the support and improvement,
of the Queen's and General Hospitals of the town,
by which they realised (after the payment of L1,663 3s. 2d. for
expenses) the sum of L5,054 12s. 4d.,
which was equally divided between the two institutions.

JOHN WALSH WALSH, Chairman }
JOHN CORNFORTH, Vice-Chairman } of the
AMBROSE BIGGS, Secretary } Fetes Committee.
JOSH. THOMAS COLLINS, Treasurer }

The late Prince Consort, who was President of the Queen's Hospital,
caused copies of the tablet to be prepared for presentation to each of
the four gentlemen named, and to Mr. Onions, at whose house the fetes
originated. Each copy bears the autograph signature of the Prince. I
saw one the other day, occupying a place of honour in the house of its
possessor, who showed it to me with manly pride, as a memento of his
share in the work of the great Aston Fetes.

G.F. MUNTZ, M.P.

The second Parliament of Queen Victoria was dissolved July 23rd, 1847.
Mr. Muntz had represented Birmingham in both, having been elected on
the retirement of Mr. Attwood, in January, 1840, and re-elected at the
general election in July, 1841. It was customary i