REMINISCENCES OF OLD SHEFFIELD

CHAPTER V.

THE MARKET PLACE, KING STREET, ANGEL STREET.

Scene-Messrs. TWISS, LEIGHTON and EVERARD are discovered as the guests
of Mr. WRAGG. To them enters Mr. LEONAND, introducing a new member of
the fellowship, Mr. JOHNSON, a townsman of middle age.

Period-A.D. 1873.

WRAGG : Now for our old Market Place; and first as to the shops facing
the Shambles, from the bottom of High street to the Hartshead passage.

TWISS: I will attempt now to fulfil the promise I gave when last we met.
The property on the site now occupied by Messrs. Richards and Son,
tailors, was formerly- 1607-1621 -in the hands of the Blythes, who were
yeomen at Norton Lees., Johan Blythe married Thos. Bright, yeoman, of
Bradway, and surviving her husband, transferred this property to her
third son James, a mercer in Sheffield. (See Gatty's Hunter, pp. 417 and
414, note.) Now, Thomas Bretland was a grocer occupying a part of this
property, and Nevill Simmons, or Symmonds, stationer and bookseller, was
also a tenant, and married Bretland's daughter. He has been called "the
father of Sheffield bibliography." The name which he bore appears on
publications in such different parts of the country that it is
impossible to avoid some confusion. (See " Notes and Queries," 3rd s.
Vol. iii. p. 93.) But it seems probable that he was a native of
Sheffield, since he was married here and buried in the Parish Church
(died 17th July, 1735). But either he, or another man of the same name,
was a bookseller in London. One of his daughters, Mary, married the Rev.
Timothy Jollie, of the Upper Chapel (1681-1714), and he had sons Nevill
and Samuel. The former died before his father, but the latter was also a
bookseller in Sheffield, and possibly succeeded his father in the Market
place. I strongly believe that he was postmaster, and most likely he was
the " Mr. Simmons, bookseller, in Sheffield," one of the persons
appointed to receive subscriptions and advertisements for Homfray's
newspaper. LEONARD: And I have always understood that his was the
business to which Mr. John Smith, bookseller, of Angel street,
succeeded.

TWISS: At the same time that the Blythes held the property of which I
have been speaking, the Rollinsons belonged to that next below it, where
Mr. Jones is now. Robert Rollinson, he who improved Barker's Pool and
who died in 1631, had his shop here; his son Thomas Rollinson succeeded
him, and the family continued in possession of the property throughout
the greater part of the last century.

LEIGHTON: Seventy years ago and more Mr. Richards' shop was kept by a
hatter, Samuel Daniels. James Daniels, his nephew, succeeded him, but he
did not prosper in business. There was a well-known discounter
here-Francis Wright Everitt. At that time the shop of Mr. Brookes,
hosier, was a circulating library, kept by Thomas Cockburn. First above
the Hartshead entrance were Thomas and John Willey, drapers (afterwards
Willey and Judd).

WRAGG: In the shop of Mr. Jones, who removed there from King street, was
another draper, named Cooper. I am sorry to say he failed in business;
and it was not a case of mere plastering and whitewashing, as
bankruptcies are at present, for he was necessitated to enter the
workhouse. He rose to be the governor, and was a kind and considerate
man-not like many who, having had to endure adversity, try how harshly
and cruelly they can treat others. There were a few old shops here that
would perhaps resemble those still remaining at the top of High street,
now occupied by Messrs. Foster, Cooper and Shilcock.

LEIGHTON: The---George " Inn is unchanged; it is now just as it was
fifty or sixty years ago, when kept by Mr. and Mrs. Lawton, whose
property it was. They did well at it. At that time, too, the shop below,
Mather's, was, as now, a hatter's, one of the very few hat shops in the
town-Whiteley's. The druggist's shop below, now kept by Mr. Radley, is
unchanged too. It was a druogist's then, kept by Mr. Gillatt. At the
corner of Change Alley was Mr. Robert Wiley, father of the late
proprietor of " Old No. 12." He died in 1825.

WRAGG : He was a draper. The son Thomas was, for some cause, discarded
by the family; but subsequently, after passing through many
vicissitudes, he became a wealthy man, and a helper of those who had
once despised him.

JOHNSON : What an institution " Wiley's window meaning " Old No. 12
"-was ! It was almost a substitute for the daily papers of the present time.
 All, or nearly all, the events of the day were chronicled there-the deaths 
from cholera, the debates in Parliament, the elections-anything out of the
 ordinary course. I remember going down daily, during the debates on the first
 Reform Bill, to get the names of the speakers for my father.

LEIGHTON: Mr. Wiley displayed great enterprise, and made wonderful
exertions to get his news.

JOHNSON : Yes, when Earl Grey resigned, Mr. Wiley showed his public
spirit by having the Sun newspaper express sent to him. The news
travelled from London to Sheffield in 14* hours-a great advance on 1806,
when the news of the death of Mr. Pitt took three days to reach
Sheffield. Mr. Wiley died October 14th, 1851.

TWISS : Change Alley, I believe, was formerly the site of a bowling
green; and I somehow associate the name with the London Royal Exchange.
The Websters, who had a house there and in the Park (with which they
became connected* through the marriage of Leonard Webster, cutler, with
the widow of one of the Wrights of the Park), had relatives in London;
and possibly in this may be found a glimmering of the origin of the
name. The summer-house formerly standing on the ridge of the Park, was
built by Leonard Webster as a study for his son, afterwards the Rev.
John Webster, who was senior wrangler and senior chancellor's medalist
in 1756.

LEIGHTON : Let us just take a peep into Change Alley in the lively days
when coaches were coming to and going from the "King's Head," then kept
by " Billy Wright." He was one of the old school of landlords, and had
universally a good name. Mr. Wright drove the first coach from Sheffield
to Glossop; and I had the honour of sitting behind him. It was entering
a country which had hitherto been sealed to all but a few sportsmen. The
first view of Win Hill and the five miles of the Woodlands from Ashopton
to the " Snake " is one of the most beautiful drives in England, and can
never be forgotten. On that day, the sun shining brightly, the jovial
coachman, the splendid greys, the cheery notes of the bugle, heard for
the first time in those solitudes, caused the blood to dance merrily
through the veins of all that goodly company, and was a portion of the
sunshine of life.

How sweet in the woodlands, with fleet hound and horn, To waken dull
echo and taste the fresh morn."


Another of my coaching experiences from the " King's Head " was taking
my seat, more than fifty years ago, for London. and for years afterwards
I could remember all the different towns on the route. But I will not
dilate now on the pleasures of travelling by coach.

WRAGG: Your friend Mr. Wright was not such a model character as you
think. About half a century ago, the coach was about to start, but was
overloaded, and Wright ordered two additional horses to be put to,
telling one of his men to get ready to ride postilion. When he was
ready, Mr. Wright complained how long he had been, when the man replied
he had been as quick as he could. The master, without more ado, began to
horsewhip him. The passengers and lookers-on cried shame, and after more
delay, another man was sent instead.

TWISS : We can trace back the occupiers of the " King's Head " for a
long series of years. Samuel Tompson, who died in 1716, had held it. He,
1 think, had married the widow of Mr. Dickenson, a previous occupier,
and father of the Rev. John Dickenson, an assistant minister at the
Parish Church and curate of Ecelesall from 1752 to 1766. Mrs. Tompson
took a third husband, Mr. Richard Yeomans, from Buxton, who, when lie
brought Derbyshire produce to mark had been accustomed to put up at the
King's Head. He died in 1729; and the house in 1773 is described as
occupied by Henry Hancocks. The next year we find it tenanted by James
Kay, or Key, and he kept it for nearly the remainder of the century.
After him came " Billy Wright," who retired from the management in 1824,
and was succeeded by Mr. Wm. Woodhead, a name which brings us to modern
times. He married the daughter of Mr. Wright.

EVERARD: The shop at the lower corner of Change Alley, until just now
occupied by Mr. Stables, is, perhaps, the oldest in the town, and the
only one now remaining with a projecting gabled front. When I was a boy,
it was kept by Mr. Newton, brother to the Mr. Newton of the firm Of
Porter and Newton, in King street. On a certain occasion this building
and its residents had a narrow escape from destruction. Mr. Newton had
lately got a fresh apprentice out of the country, and one evening at
dusk, the boy went to fetch some goods out of the storeroom, which was
the garret, taking, instead of a lantern, a lighted candle in his hand.
Observing that lie returned without a light, Mr. Newton ascertained that
not only had lie committed this indiscretion, but that, to make the
matter worse, having no candlestick, he had stuck the candle in what he
called a barrel of " rape seed." " Rape seed," exclaimed Mr. Newton, "
why there is none there." It then, in a moment, struck him that it must
have been left burning in a barrel of gunpowder! As life or death and
destruction hung on every moment's delay, Mr. Newton, with that prompt
and decisive courage with which some men are inspired on perilous
occasions, immediately, without saying another word, went up the stairs,
and, on arriving in the garret, there saw the lighted candle stuck in a
barrel of gunpowder containing sufficient in quantity to have blown down
the house, and perhaps the adjoining property. Treading as softly on the
floor as possible, in order to avoid any shake which might send a spark
from the wick, he then very carefully got the candle between the second
and third fingers of the one hand, and, placing the other hand beneath
to catch any falling sparks, he slowly drew it out of the powder and
carried it down-stairs. This hazardous feat was accomplished before the
inmates below were aware of the extreme peril in which they had been
placed. The courage, coolness, and presence of mind which had hitherto
possessed him then gave way under a sense of the frightful danger that
had been incurred and providentially escaped. No wonder that he swooned
away. This account Mr. Newton gave to my grandfather with his own lips.

LEIGHTON : We must not forget to conjure up once more the different
scene presented aforetime, when this now decorous triangle was really
the Market Place, fenced round with posts and chains. The corn market
was still held here up to 1830, when the present Corn Exchange was
opened. All the vegetables were thrown in the middle of the street by
loads. The corn market was held first-till twelve o'clock, I think; then
the market keeper rang a bell, and the vegetable market began. The
Barkers-there were three of them, little men in top boots-and other
shoemakers were accustomed to bring wooden shops and fix them up ; and
other people used to have baskets of different things. Besides that, it
was a regular market for fish and everything else. Old Mr. Cade, quite a
celebrated man, kept a book stall by the right-hand gateway.

WRAGG: Yes; James Cade was well known. He resided in the " King and
Miller " yard, Norfolk street. In his lifetime he was always considered
to be a man of some wealth, but it was not so; he was one of those very
good men that we hear of now and then in whom every person feels sure
lie could place implicit confidence, but on whose death the public and
their friends find to their sorrow that they have been deceived. Not
only did Cade not die a rich mail, but lie was worth " less than
nothing," for his debts and liabilities wore greater than. his effects.
I am sorry to say that his character for honesty was sadly impeached,
as he mistook a sick club's money for his own. He died, I believe,
about 1829.

LEONARD (reads) At the bottom of High street you might have been
accommodated with a pair of 'leather clicks ' (breeches), either for
yourself or 'prentice lad, at Davenport's; or have gone for them to
Ellis Grant's stall, at the top of the Market, within the chains. You
would hay'; found 01(1 Milly Lowther's fish stall at the top of King
street (Pudding lane), and Molly Rawson's fish stall facing Change Alley
end ; and Billy Wright, mending old buckles or matching an odd one,
facing Hartshead. Then there were the 01(1 women with their meal tubs,
with their great coats and leather pockets, selling meal by the peck ;
and now and then a lad saying, 'Dame, will yo gie me a bit o'meal, if
you please ? ' 'Aye, lad, tak thee a bit.' New shoe stalls were
plentifully arranged, facing the front shops at the top of the
Shamble,,,, the dealers crying, ' Naa can oi suit yo pair ? they're
hoam-made uns  cum, try these on  oi think they'll abaat fit yo ; they
looken  yore soize.' "

LEONARD: James Wills describes a similar scene, and contrasts the old
Shambles, which formerly were "near the silk-draper's shop, now the
Fruit Market," and which, most dismal, were then made of wood,

The sheds of the stalls almost closing amain,
Formed an archway for customers out of the rain,"

with the time when


-'Tis commodious, and forms a good square, With abundance of fruit and
Potatoes sold there."

He adds:-

Not fifty years since at the Market Place head, Were tile broad shallow
tubs to sell oatmeal for bread And near them tile slaughter-house stood
in disgrace, Being a nuisance to all who passed by the place.
But now, who of shambles call make equal boast 


LEIGHTON : The shambles which excited his admiration (opened in 1786) 
were re-fronted, re-roofed, and altogether renewed in the interior, 
about 1855, and it is no longer true that

On the outside the figure of Justice doth stand,
With sword in theright, and scales in left hand."

What, I wonder, has become of her ? The shopkeepers around could hardly
help being honest and honourable, for they could not look from their
shops, morning, noon, or night, without seeing her to remind them of
their duties between man and man. That beautiful statue was a silent
monitor to them, and was worth a hundred sermons. If the figure was
thrown on the lumber heap, it was the act of a Vandal; if it was broken
up, that of an Iconoclast. But why not condone the deed by elevating our
friend Ebenezer Elliott to that higher sphere ? Too long has he had his
lodgings " on the cold ground." The position he occupies is degrading to
his memory, and disgraceful to the town. Place him on the site formerly
occupied by Justice, and let his figure be turned towards the three
valleys which lie loved so well, and which he has immortalised by his
verse. Then, in imagination, will " the poet's eye, in fine frenzy
rolling, glance from earth to heaven" without interruption from the
groundlings below him.

WRAGG : I do not know what has become of the figure of Justice. I should
have said it was over the Corn Exchange, (which was completed in 1830)
behind the New Market, but I find that is a larger figure.

LEONARD: No, you would be quite right. I have the authority of the Duke
of Norfolk's architect for saying that it is the identical figure which
stands over the now doomed Corn Exchange. I say doomed because that
building is soon to be swept away, its entire area to be thrown into the
wholesale vegetable market, and a magnificent Corn Exchange to be
erected beyond it, on the site of the present Hay Market. But even there
a niche has been prepared in which "Justice " is still to stand. She was
executed by Waterworth, of Doncaster.

LEIGHTON: Below the figure, and under the cornice, there used to be a
Latin inscription which I have tried in vain to recover. It began, " Hie
forum, cum laniaris juxta flumen -- " but I cannot get the rest.

LEONARD: Justice gave way to the Post-office, and the Post-office has in
turn once more given place to shops.

TWISS: Let us take this opportunity of recapitulating the old
Post-office sites and make the best list of postmasters we can. It is not 
an easy task to get it complete, as anyone who tries will find.

George Carr, postmaster, as his gravestone in the Parish Churchyard
tells us, " departed this life April ye 20th, 1701, in ye 68th yeare of
his age."

The same stone (which would seem to indicate relationship) records the
death of his successor, Jonathan Turner, postmaster, who died 12th
January, 1713, aged 36 years.

Samuel Simmons was postmaster in 1742. His shop, as we have seen, was
most probably in the Market Place, opposite the head of the Shambles. He
had a salary of £43 per annum. He died at Pitsmoor, April 18, 1790, aged
87.

Francis Lister is the next name we find, and the dates render it quite
possible that he was the same man who printed the Sheffield Weekly
Journal (see ante p. 78). He died in 1755.

In 1787, Miss Lister was postmistress, and at that time the office was
in a similar position to that which I suppose it to have occupied under
Samuel Simmons-in the Market Place, opposite where is now Elliott's
monument. In 1782, the salary of the postmaster had been raised to £50
per annum, and the single letter carrier had £12 a year as wages.

In 1791, B Rice James was postmaster.	The office was removed to
Castle street, near the end of Castle green. James died May 3rd, 1800.
He is buried in St. James's churchyard.

The period which follows is vague. A person named Hall,' who died March
5th, 1813'. was postmaster, I am told at the Church Gates.

Nathaniel Lister, as I have good oral authority for saying, had the post
office at the Church Gates, but I cannot give you the dates.

Richard Griffiths followed him, the office being in Church street, in
the premises now occupied by the Religious Tract Society. Griffiths left
to become agent for the Government packets at Holyhead, and was
succeeded by

William Todd, May 6, 1815. The next week the Post-office was removed to
Mr. Todd's premises in the Market Place, and there it remained until
1828. It is stated in the introduction to White's Sheffield Directory
for 1833, that the office was, in Mr. Todd's time, Worth £500 a' year.
Mr. Todd having left the town,

Mr. Joseph Wreaks was appointed Nov. 25th, 1826. He remained in the
Market Place until Feb. 4th, 1828, when he removed to the lower corner
 of Arundel street and Norfolk street,opposite the Assembly Rooms. In 
1833, the premises of Pickslay and Co., in High street, were purchased, 
for the erection of a Post-office, newsroom, &C., and thither Mr. Wreaks 
went in 1835. He died October 25th,1843, and was succeeded by

Ellen Wreaks, his daughter. In 1845, the office was removed to the
bottom of Angel street, and from thence in 1850 to the Market Place, the
head of the Shambles. There it remained until March 19, 1871, when it
was removed to the top of the Old Haymarket, and in July, 1872, Miss
Wreaks resigned, and was succeeded by Mr. T. Mawson, the present
postmaster.

LEIGHTON: Below Justice, at the top of the Shambles, were four shops,
two in the middle, under that figure, and two at the corners. In one of
the middle shops Messrs. Thompson, of Westbar, sold books. One Burden
had the other as a toy shop; and when he left it he went into the shop
which is now Mr. Roberts' carpet warehouse. He afterwards went to
America.

EVERARD: Mr. Burden was succeeded in the latter shop by the Rev. James
Everitt, at that time, on account of his health, a supernumerary
Methodist preacher. He dealt more especially in old and curious books.
He removed from Sheffield to Manchester, and kept a similar shop there.
On recovering his health, he resumed his place in the Wesleyan 'body,
and being eventually expelled, was one of -the chief instruments in
establishing the " Methodist Free Church." Below that shop, at the
corner of Market street, was a very respectable drapery establishment,
kept by Mr. George Smith, who, on account of his diminutive stature,
commonly went by the name of " Little Smith." He often, in the summer
time, wore nankeen trousers, white or light-coloured figured vest, and
displayed a full ruffled shirt front as he very courteously showed the
ladies into the shop, he usually standing near the door. At one time he
had a partner, of the name of Mr. Joseph Carr (brother to the late Mr.
Riley Carr, of the Glossop road), who in height was as much above the
ordinary size as Mr. Smith was below it. Afterwards, Mr. Ridal (who had
been his apprentice) became his partner; and for many years the business
was carried on under the firm of "Smith and Ridal." They afterwards
removed to the shop at the lower corner of Market street, and the
business is now carried on by Messrs. Arnison and Co.


TWISS : There is a tradition that Mr. Smith was once actually
apprehended, being mistaken for Napoleon Buonaparte. He died unmarried
in 1846, aged 77. His grandfather, George Smith, died ten months after
his marriage with Mary Greaves, and his grandmother was married for the
second time, to Samuel Glanville, of whom we shall hear in connection
with Angel street. But we are digressing.

JOHNSON : At the King street corner, on the site now occupied by
Alderman Michael Beal, jeweller, was the flax shop of Mr. Wm. Cockayne,
the grandfather of the present drapers in Angel street. Mr. Cockayne had
a number of knowing friends who met to talk over monetary affairs, and
chatted so much of the concerns of their neighbours, that his shop was
called the "weigh-house." A cheesefactor, named Stoakes, occupied the
premises after Mr. Cockayne's removal to a shop in Angel street, which
was his own property. It is now occupied by Mr. Watson, druggist. At the
Market street corner of the Shambles' head, was a butcher's shop. Much
later, these two corners were occupied by Fisher, Holmes and Co., and
Fisher Godwin, as seed shops.

LEONARD : Inside the Shambles the butchers were then, as now, in
possession; but outside there were fruiterers' stalls running down the
exterior, were there not ?

LEIGHTON: Yes. Inside the Shambles, at the bottom, used to be the
butter, egg and poultry market. There was a building above, at the back
of Mr. Younge's spirit vaults, supported by pillars. Up the middle of
the Shambles were two rows of wooden shops. In these the inferior kinds
of meat were sold, and on both sides were other butchers' shops, as now.
At the right-hand corner was a very respectable mail, named Middleton.

WRAGG : Sixty years ago, there were butchers in the Shambles who could
open their shops first thing on Saturday morning, and not have a bit of
meat left by dinner time, when they would close their shops and go home.
Then their shops were worth £100 goodwill; now the goodwill has quite
vanished.

LEONARD : This description of the Shambles, as they existed from 1786 to
1855, gives as good an idea of them, both outside and in, as we could
wish: " The Shambles are extensive and convenient, being 100 yards in
length and 40 in breadth, and having covered walks in front of the
various rows of butchers' stalls ; at the lower end a commodious market
for butter, eggs and poultry; and round its exterior shops for the sale
of fruit, vegetables, &C. It ifs approached by several gateways, one of
which opens into the market for shoes, tinware, &c., and another into
the vegetable and fruit market on the opposite side of King street."
When the last alterations were made, the whole interior area was cleared
for the poultry, butter, and game dealers, the butchers' shops running
all round.

LEIGHTON: The arrangement outside the Shambles was very different from
now. Down Market place, or the fruit market, from the top to the bottom,
outside, were sold fruit and such things. This lasted until the opening
of the Market Hall on Christmas-eve, 1851, when the shops were closed.
They wore afterwards removed to widen the streets.

TWISS: A colonnade ran all round, the pillars supporting a projecting
upper room, which at the same time afforded protection to the sellers
and purchasers below.

LEIGHTON : Mr.	Nicholson, market gardener, had the centre shop in the
Fruit market ; it corresponded with the market-keeper's house on the
King street side ; the others were little fruit shops. Opposite
Nicholson's was the old-established "Cross Dagegers. " It is now
converted into Mr. Colley's leather shop, new fronted, but with the old
rooms behind still. The stabling was up the yard, with an exit into
Norfolk street. Down King street were the market gardeners' and
vegetable shops. At the bottom of the Shambles, in the Bull Stake, was
Mr. Gregory, cheesemonger, father, I think, of the late Mr. James
Gregory, surgeon, Eyre street.

JOHNSON : In the lower part of King street, where is now Mr. Hunt's
flour shop, was formerly the father of Mr. John Jones, before he removed
into the premises still occupied by his son in the Market Place.

LEONARD: I remember the square just above there, now represented by
Garside and Shaw's timber yard and Castle court, where fruit and fish
dealers congregated. It was called " The Green Market," and was disused
after December, 1851.

EVERARD: Ah, that market was formed on the site of the old debtors'
gaol, taken down in 1818. A curious place, indeed, according to our
notions. It was a stone building, not very large, the gaoler being
Godfrey Fox. People were incarcerated there for ridiculously small
debts, and often for alehouse scores. The prisoners used to work at
their trades, and you might hear cutlers and filecutters hammering away
as if they had been in their shops. Friends brought the work and took it
back again, and also supplied the prisoners with food.

LEONARD: The debtors then made themselves tolerably comfortable ? '

EVERARD: Oh dear yes. It was a queer kind of imprisonment. The gaol was
often thronged with visitors until nine o'clock. There was a prisoner in
each room, above and below, who solicited the passers-by to " remember
the poor prisoners." The one above had a tin box suspended by a string;
and the other, in the lower room, with his hand through the window, held
a similar box.

TWISS: In 1791, at the same time that Broomhall was attacked, the mob
destroyed the doors and windows of the gaol and the house of Godfrey
Fox, and liberated the prisoners. It was the prison for the liberty of
Hallamshire and the property of the Duke of Norfolk.

EVERARD : There were two classes of prisoners, the fees in what was
called the " High Court " being 25s. ; in the " Low Court," only 6d.
There was, in addition, " garnish," 2s. 6d. for the High Court, and 1s.
2d. for the Low, with which coals, candles and soap were bought for the
common benefit of the prisoners. Nield, in his "Remarks on the Prisons
of Yorkshire," describes his visits to the place in 1802. There was, he
reported, no chaplain, nor any religious attention paid to the
prisoners. Mr. Moorhouse, the surgeon to the overseers of the poor,
attended to the sick. The High Court prisoners had a room about five
yards square, which had two windows looking into the street. Up-stairs
there were four rooms, two for men to sleep in, and one for women, the
fourth being used as a workshop. The keeper furnished beds at 10 1/2d.
per week, two sleeping in a bed. The Low Court prisoners, or those
detained for debts under 40s. (three months' imprisonment being held to
release them from their debt and costs), had two rooms, about five yards
by four, with a fire-place, and iron-grated windows looking into the
court. In these they worked and slept, which made them "filthy beyond
description." Four rooms had lately been added at the top of the house,
one of which was used for the women at night.

TWISS: When Howard, the prison philanthropist, visited the place some
time before, it would seem that these upper rooms were not in existence,
for he reported that there were only two rooms, which were also used as
night rooms for debtors of both sexes.

LEONARD: Nield adds that the Low Court prisoners found their own straw
and firing. The courtyard had a damp earthen floor, and was about ten
yards by six. Both sexes associated together in it ; and at his visit on
Sunday, the 15th August, 1802, the Low Court prisoners were busy sifting
cinders in it, the ashes of which they sold for three shillings a load.

EVERARD : After Godfrey Fox, Thomas Smith, constable, was gaoler, and at
the same time kept the " Royal Oak," which was next to the gaol. On the
gaol being pulled down, he and the prisoners removed to the premises in
Scotland street, formerly a merchant's warehouse, with the house
adjoining as his residence. Mr. Joseph Kirk succeeded him.

WRAGG: Thirty years ago, in one of the little market shops that then
stood on the site of the old gaol, was Mrs. Horsfield, the mother of two
Unitarian ministers, the Rev. T. W. Horsfield, the historian of Lewes,
and the Rev. Frederick Horsfield.

LEIGHTON: Above this was the grocers' shop of Messrs. Porter and Newton,
now carried on by the sons of the former, who have since removed one
door lower down. Their assistants are credited with the perpetration of
a practical joke, which became famous in local annals through a popular
song with a jingling chorus being composed upon it. Opposite Mr.
Porter's shop (about where is now the King street entrance to the
Shambles) was the house of Joseph Eyre, constable and market-keeper,
popularly known as " Buggy," or " Fussy." The lively young grocers
contrived to tie a rope to the market bell, and one night when-the place
being shut up-all was quiet, and " Fussy " was placidly enjoying the
repose to which so great a dignitary was well entitled, he was startled
and horrified to hear his bell- his own particular bell-begin ringing.
With his dog " Turk," he went round the Shambles, breathing vengeance
against the disturbers of his peace; and when this was fruitless, he
took up his station by the gate, assured that the ringers must be in,
and must come out that way, so as to give him a chance of revenge. But
he waited in vain. The bell went on tolling, to the great entertainment
of the crowd that had by this time collected, until the string (which
was stretched across the street) at length breaking, it fell among the
bystanders, and they kept up the fun. Eyre at length discovered the
trick, and breaking the cord short, stopped the game. "Hey, Turk,"
became a byeword. It was written up in large letters TWISS: Mr. Ralph
Hodgkinson's father was, I imagine, the first Sheffield druggist. He was
accustomed to go about from town to town on market days, selling his
drugs, and he was in King street in 1776-1792, when he gave up business,
and was succeeded by his son. The old man lived until 1810, in which
year he died at Eckington.

LEIGHTON: At the corner, now Mr. Muddiman's boot shop, was Mr. Gillott,
the hatter, who has already been mentioned.

TWISS: But before this time, certainly in 1774, and even for some years
earlier than that, Mr. Jonathan Whitham occupied that site with his
watchmaker's shop, his wife also carrying On a millinery business there.
Mr. Whitham- died about the year 1808.

JOHNSON: Leaving, King street we have now to cross the Shambles to
Market street. It was here that Northall's Courant, that thorn in
Montgomery's flesh, had its birth, June 10, 1798, but it was removed to
King street, March 1, 1794, and expired there August 1, 1797. The
Mercuryanother great trouble to the editor-poet, was also started in
this street, in May, 1807, by Mr. Wm. Todd, afterwards post-master in
the Market Place, who had his shop here. His wife was a sister of the
late Mr. Scholefield, M.P. for Birmingham; and Mr. Holland mentions that
Chantrey executed his bust of the Rev. Jas. Wilkinson, now in the Parish
Church, under Mr. Todd's roof, 'I the curiosity, the expectation, and
the wonder of the public being largely excited during the, important
process of carving."*

LEONARD  : In Market street was the manufactory of Messrs. Proctor and
Beilby, opticians, of whom I have compiled the following account from
one of the late Mr. John Holland's numerous anonymous papers. The firm
had been in Milk street, on the site of part of Messrs. Rodgers and
Sons' premises now; but when the old butchers' shops were removed from
Market street, the firm established themselves there, on the west side,
with workrooms and dwellinghouse in front, and workshops behind. The "
Cup " inn is there still, unchanged ; but everything else is altered.
The principals in the firm were Luke and Charles Proctor, natives of the
town, and originally makers, if not actually grinders, of lancets.
Beilby was a Birmingham man, and was a teacher of drawing in Sheffield.
" Luke Proctor was an agreeable man of fashion, an accomplished
violinist, and he soon fiddled himself out of the firm. Charles, a lover
of music too, was a quiet, assiduous and successful man of business,"
writes Mr. Holland, 11 and I remember how I used to look for his white
wig opposite one of the windows in the old Cutlers' Hall, at the
'Feast,' where he sat I above the salt.' He was a widower when first I
knew him. His family consisted of himself, his three sons-Luke, George
and William-his daughter, Deborah, and last, but not least, in those
days, his sister, 'Miss Nancy'-a sharp little consequential woman, who
did a great part of the familiar book-keeping of the concern, including
especially the entering of the men's work and wages,. Of the children,
Luke died young; George went to Birmingham, where he married and died;
William, of whom more hereafter, married Miss Deakin, a sister of the
founder of the Deakin Institution; Deborah married Thomas, a son of the
original Beilby. He ultimately went to Birmingham, entered into the
stationery business, and became the leading partner in the well-known
firm of Beilby and Knott, publishers of Aris's Gazette. Charles Proctor,
the head of the firm, died July 4th, 1808, and was carried by six
faithful workmen to his grave in St. Paul's Church, where his wife was
also buried. He left behind him, according to the 'Gossip's Gazette,'
property to the amount of £30,000. The concern in Market street had now
reached its culminating period of prosperity ; thenceforth its fortunes
were downward. This was apparently due to several causes." At length the
late Mr. Holland alone was left on the premises to make, as far as the
brass work was concerned, whatever might be wanted in the entire range
of the pattern book. " And although," says he, "it is long since I laid
down, and shall never again take up, the tools of the optical instrument
maker, I would not willingly lose the consciousness that I could still
alternate the cutting of a fine screw with the using of a bad pen." Mr.
Holland once gave an account of the more prominent workmen in this
establishment. There were his father, also John Holland, and his uncle
Amos, who made accurate imitations of the Dolland telescopes. Both lived
in the country, and were not only bird fanciers, but bee farmers. The
sycamore and mahogany outsides of the telescopes were made at a wheel on
the Rivelin by William Chadburn, grandfather of Chadburn Brothers, the
well-known opticians, of Nursery street, and it seems probable that his
father had been there before him. Besides optical instruments, there
were made tinder-boxes and inkpots in large quantities. "Excisemen's" inkbottles
were made of brass, and were polished by old Daniel Vaughan, a Chelsea
pensioner, who, after doing duty as a recruiting sergeant in Sheffield,
went abroad and fought beside General Wolfe, at Quebec. "His
extraworkboard forte was telling stories of soldier life, and especially
a rehearsal of the loyal speech he used to make in our Market Place,
while a handful of spade-ace guineas was kept dancing on the drum-head
for the too successful temptation of many a mother's son." Then there
was Ben Wright, another pensioner, who " treddled " his lathe with a
wooden leg; and George Hadfield, not less remarkable as a toper than as
a turner; old Billy Egginton, somewhat of a birdcatcher, who, living on
the banks of the Don, had secured a crested grebe; John Taylor, a member
of in old Sheffield musical family, his instrument being the French
horn; little Jemmy Johnson, who beat the big drum in the Volunteer band.
Then there was Dicky Hobson, a Birmingham man, in some way related to
Mrs. Sally Booth, the actress, who used to visit Sheffieid with
Macready, and whose graceful performance with the skipping rope was so
much admired. Another member of the Volunteer band was Johnny Coe, a
little knock-kneed man, whose military status was to march before the
leader with an open music sheet pinned on his back. He had been with the
Proctors from the first, and was early employed by them in making ring
dials, which some [though not Dr. Gatty-see his "Lecture to the Literary
and Philosophical Society," Dec., 1872] think to have been Touchstone's
dial. From Coe's account, these must have been common and cheap enough
during the earlier half of the last century. They consisted of a brass
ring, four inches in diameter. On being suspended from the hand by a
string, the sun shone through a small hole in the rim, and indicated the
time by a dot of light falling on the hour figure and its fractions
inside. Two of the workmen, Clarke and Hancock, were members of the
Volunteer force. William Padley was the brass caster, and Thomas Stovin
the glass caster. Stovin's hobby was to keep cows, and he did it
profitably. The chief of the spectacle makers was Thomas Bird, a brother
of the well-known Bristol artist of that name. The bead-roll would be
incomplete without the names of Ben Sayles and Grayson. "I regret," said
Mr. Holland, whose words I have, for the most part, been adopting, "to
be unable to recollect that religion was ever the subject of workday
'conversation, or, so far as I know, church-going the Sunday habit of
these men. I believe Jonathan Knight, a glass grinder, and Thomas
Wilson, a telescope hand, were chapel-goers. They spoke of having seen,
and had possibly heard, John Wesley, during one of the latter, visits of
that remarkable man to this town. Excessive drinking was then, as now,
the vice of the artisan."

WRAGG: Proctor's firm erected the first steam-engine in the town, in
1786. Boulton and Watt at that time let out engines by way of bringing
them into use; but whether Beilby and Proctor had theirs on loan, or
bought it, I cannot say. Their wheel has just been pulled down, and a
wooden circus occupies its site-adjoining Sheaf street. The late Mr. I.
P. Cutts served his time with them, and my impression of the issue of
the firm is different from Mr. Holland's; for I have understood that he
was taken into partnership, and ultimately had the trade in his sole
possession.

TWISS : Beilby and Proctor were not the first opticians in the town.
That honour is ascribed by the Local Register to Mr. Samuel Froggatt,
who died in 1787. His works were at Royd's Mill; and his son had a room
at Walk Mills, now the Albion Works, opposite the " Twelve o'Clock." His
grandson still carries on the business in the same neighbourhood.

LEONARD : I think we have now completed the circuit of the Market Place,
and are ready to descend Angel street.

WRAGG : In Angel street was Mr. Turner, draper, known as "Flannel Sam,"
to distinguish him from his neighbour, the publican, of the Hartshead,
of whom mention has been made before--" Gin Sam." He was the father of
the late Mr. S. W. Turner, solicitor.

TWISS: Both the grandfather and the father of Mr. S. W. Turner were
there. The firmer Samuel Turner, who died in 1791, had no fewer than
twenty-two children, one of whom succeeded to the business, and
afterwards resided at Chesterfield, dying in 1832. He, I imagine, was
the "Flannel Sam" of whom you speak. There was another Turner, who was a
mercer, in Angel street, on the other side of the way, where Mr.
Heppenstall afterwards was, and where Mr. Tasker is now. His Christian
name was John, and he was related to the Scholeys, of Coal Aston. He
would be a contemporary of the first Samuel Turner, if not even earlier
than that, as he died about the year 1796.

LEIGHTON: Down Angel street, where is now Mr. Carter's, shoemaker, there
was an' obstruction in the road. It was at the bottom of the "Angel"
yard, and Mr. Wormall's shop is part of it. It formed the Volunteer
rendezvous, or guard-room, and I have seen the men stand there to
receive their loaves. It made a regular corner, or bend, in the street.
After Mr. Peach, of the "Angel," died, Mr. Walker, tinman, altered it
into   its present form. He rebuilt, or newfronted, the I 'Angel " inn.

WRAGG: Mr. Walker occupied the shop that was lately Messrs. Wilson and
Sons, and is now a part of Mr. Hovey's drapery establishment. I think he
was the first man who made coal gas, and it was to be seen in his
shop-of course, very different in quality from what we see now, for it
made great clouds of smoke. He had the contract for lighting the town
with oil.

JOHNSON: Forty years ago gas had become common in saleshops, though
there were many to be seen without it; but it was very rare in houses,
and rarer still in workshops. We managed to see to read and write with
only one candle, but how I cannot imagine, after being accustomed to
gas.

WRAGG: I am speaking of longer ago than that, though it is only about
that length of time since the old oil lamps, which used to make "
darkness visible " in our miserably-paved streets, disappeared. The
last, I believe, were in Hanover street and Broomspring lane. One night
they were all smashed; their fragments must have been trampled upon, as
there was not a piece left on the ground the size of a sixpence; so they
were replaced with gas.

TWISS: I have met with a record that the first gas lamp lighted in
Sheffield was at the corner of Benjamin Walker's shop, Church Gates, on
September 19th, 1819. The same authority gives Howard Street Chapel
credit for having been the first public place of worship lighted by gas
in Sheffield. That took place on the 13th December, 1819. Queen Street
Chapel was partly lighted on the same evening.

LEONARD: I recently spent some weeks in a small out-ofthe-way German
town, amusingly quaint and primitive in some of its habits. There was no
gas, and the oil lamps hung from a cord swung across the narrow streets,
and could be lowered by a pulley to be lighted. That experience enables
me to imagine pretty clearly the state in which our English towns must
have been before gas was invented.

EVERARD: Yes; one must go abroad to appreciate some of the inconveniences 
of the old days. The open gutter down the middle of the street, for both
rain and sewage, can still be seen on the Continent; and the projecting 
spouts which, having no fall-pipes, discharged douches on the heads of 
passers-by, are only to be found in hidden nooks.

JOHNSON: As Wills sings

You remember the sinks in the midst of the streets, When the rain poured
in torrents ; each passenger greet& His fellow with ' What a wide
channel is here, We all shall be drowned, I'm greatly in fear.'

Yet, with all their good sense, still did none of them know How to light
streets with gas lamps as we have them now; While that ignis fatuus that
hung in our street Would scarcely discover the wretch we might meet."

LEONARD: And here is another quotation, as a contribution on the same
point: " The town was then in a very rude state in every respect, it
being only partially flagged, with many of the stones loose ; there were
'very few lamps, and those feeble and far apart-often Lot lighted, or
blown out. There were also projecting spouts from between the gutters of
the roofs, from which, during rain, the water flowed in streams.
Lanterns were dimly seen in the streets, like fireflies, flitting about.
Umbrellas were then unknown. A farthing candle was stuck in some of the
shop windows, just serving to make darkness more dark."*

J0HNSON: Horace Walpole, in a letter dated 1760, speaks of Sheffield,
through which he had passed, as " one of the foulest towns in England,
in the most charming situation."

LEIGHTON : The mention of old Sam Peech, of the

Angel," reminds us again, like the " King's Head," how with the past
coaching days has disappeared the lustre from these houses. Still, at
the " Angel," the coaching department was carried on with great spirit
by Mr. Wm. Bradley (of the Soho Brewery, lately deceased), up to the
time that railways destroyed coaching. The arrival and departure of
coaches running between Leeds and London, and on various other roads,
made the neighbourhood of the " Angel " very lively.

WRAGG : Mr. Peech kept the " Angel' for about thirty years. In running
opposition to other coach proprietors, Le was known not only to take
persons to London for nothing, but to give a bottle of wine into the
bargain. He died in 1809. It was his predecessor, Mr. Samuel Glanville,
who set up the first stage to London, in 1760, when pack-horses were
Autobiography of the late Samuel Roberts." superseded. The following
announcement, relating to Mr. Glanville's coaches, appeared in the
Sheffield Public Adver tiser, of November 4th, 1760, and it may interest
you: "Nov. 2: Notice is hereby given, that the London, Leeds, Wakefield,
Chesterfield, Mansfield and Nottingham machines on steel springs, in
four days, sets off from the 'Swan with Two Necks,' inn, in Lad lane,
London, and from the 'Old King's Arras' inn, in Leeds, every Monday and
Wednesday morning, at five o'clock; breakfasts at the 'Angel' inn, in
St. Alban's; dines at the 'White Horse' inn, in Hockley; and lies at the
. Red Lion,' at Northampton, the first night; breakfasts at the I Three
Crowns,' in Market Harborough; dines at the 'Bull's Head,' in
Loughborough; and lies at the 'Crown' inn, in the Long Row, Nottingham,
the second night; breakfasts at the 'Swan,' in Mansfield; dines at the
'Falcon,' in Chesterfield; and lies at the 'Angel,' in Shef field, the
third night; breakfasts at the 'White Bear,' in Barnsley; dines at the
'Coach and Horses,' in Wakefield, and lies at Leeds the fourth night.
And from Leeds to London: Breakfasts at the ' Coach and Horses,'
Wakefield; dines at the 'White Bear,' in Barnsley; and lies in Sheffield
the first night ; breakfasts at the ' Falcon,' in Chesterfield; dines at
the 'Swan,' in Mansfield; and lies at the 'BIackamoor's Head,' in
Nottingham, the second night; breakfasts at the 'Bull'S Head,' in
Loughborough; dines at the 'Three Crowns,' in Market Harborough; and
lies at the 'Red Lion,' in Northampton, the third night; breakfasts at
the 'Saracen'sHead,' in Newport; dines at the 'Angel,' in St. Albans;
and lies in London   the fourth night. Passengers and parcels are taken
in at the above places. Two places reserved in each coach for
Nottingham. Performed, if God permit, by. John Handforth, Samuel
Glanville, and Wm. Richardson."

TWISS: Mr. Glanville died in 1803, in the Duke of Norfolk's Almshouse,
at the age of 83.

EVERARD: There is a very interesting memorial of himone of the few
heirlooms Sheffield possesses-in the Mayor's Parlour, at the Council
Hall. This is his portrait, in crayon, presented to the Mechanics'
Library by Mr. B. Sayle, of Brightside; and beneath it his history is
thus given :- Samuel Glanville, born at Exeter about the year 1720;
entered early into the army, and was present as a drummer in the battle
of Dettingen. He afterwards came with a recruiting party to Sheffield,
and was billeted at the house of Mrs. Smith, in Church street; married
her, and afterwards kept the 'Angel' inn, to which house, about the year
1760, he worked the first stage coach from London. He died at Sheffield,
in 1803."

TWISS: The artist was Raphael Smith. There is also another crayon
portrait of Mr. Glanville in existence. It was in the possession of Mr.
Charles Ridal, of the late firm of Smith and Ridal, already mentioned
(see p. 87), until he left the town, when it was sold by auction. It was
from the pencil of Chantrey.

LEONARD : At the time the portrait was presented by Mr. Sayle to the
Mechanics' Library (would that more of our townsmen would follow his
excellent example), Mr. Montgomery wrote, in the Iris, of Mr. Glanville
as " no mean benefactor to the town ; " and he quoted from the Iris of
July 21, 1803, the following interesting sketch of his life:" He was
born about 1720, near Exeter; was apprenticed to a surgeon, but entered
early in life into the army as a private. In 1741 he came to Sheffield,
upon a recruiting party, and married Mrs. Smith, who kept a public-house
in Church street. In a course of time he became master of the 'Angel'
inn, and, about 1760, was a partner in the first stage coach from Leeds
to London. After some years, he retired from the public line to a farm
at the Edge, near this town, where he was noticed by Mr. Arthur Young as
an excellent agriculturist. But, becoming at length weary of
agriculture, he returned to his former occupation, and kept an inn at
the 'Cross Keys,' in Wood street; and some time after removed to the
'Black Bull,' in Stamford. Here he buried his wife, and married a
second. Business there, however, not answering his expectations, he came
back to Sheffield, and opened a public-house at the Hermitage ; soon
after buried his second wife; and, not long after, was admitted into the
Duke of Norfolk's Hospital, where he found a. comfortable asylum during
several years. In his early days, and in public life, he was steady,
active [the writer of this memoir has seen him carry out three dishes at
once upon his right arm from a public entertainment] , attentive and
obliging to his customers; cheerful, rational, and intelligent in
private conversation; was looked up to with great respect by all his
acquaintance, and closed his days with a constant serious attention to
the duties of religion." I presume the ,Wood street" mentioned would be
in London.

TWISS: Mr. Samuel Peech also lived to be an old man. He was 70 when he
died, in 1809, having kept the "Angel for thirty years. He had been
succeeded by William Peech, in the previous year. Samuel Peech is
credited with being the author of a large fund of shrewd sayings, and is
the hero of many quaint anecdotes. Reproached once with having been
originally, only a stable-boy, he made the scathing retort, " If thou
hadst been a stable-boy, thou'd be a stableboy still."

JOHNSON: The last Sheffield mail coach, the " Halifax Mail,' performed
the journey from London to Sheffield in sixteen hours, arriving here at
noon. After this was taken of, a coach called the 11 Brilliant " started
about 5 a.m., meeting the railroad at some point, and reaching London
in, I believe, about twelve hours.

LEONARD: The sculptor, Rossi, when a youth, lived with his father,
opposite the " Angel " inn. He executed that " Angel," in terra cotta,
which has been blowing so persistently on her brazen trumpet all these
years, without producing a sound.

TWISS: In Angel street, too, was the druggist's shop of Mrs. Mary
Handley, one of whose daughters became the wife of Mr. John Sterndale,
surgeon,. who lived in Norfolk street, in the house now occupied by Miss
Barry, dressmaker. Mrs. Handley lived, before the Sorbys' time, in the
old house on Spital hill, just beyond what was afterwards the Wicker
Station, called in the maps Hallear. Mrs. Handley was succeeded in the
druggist's shop in Angel street by Benjamin Rose.

EVERARD: Amongst the earliest of the silver-plate manufacturers in the
town, was the firm of Messrs. Ashforth, Ellis and Co., whose works were
in Angel street, up the passage adjoining the shop now occupied by Mr.
John Tasker, the workshops extending so far back that some of the
windows overlooked what was at a subsequent time, the fish and vegetable
market, situate between King street and Castle street. This company
carried on an extensive trade in various parts of the kingdom. They had
an establishment in Paris, in common with the celebrated Wedgwoods, of
Staffordshire, their silver-plated goods being exhibited in one window,
and the china and porcelain in the other. At the first French
Revolution, the mob broke into the shop, and destroyed or stole what was
valuable, from which they sustained a heavy loss. About the beginning of
the present century, the premises in Angel street being found to be too
small, the firm built works at the top of Red hill.

WRAGG: Your mention of Mr. Tasker reminds me that we are indebted to the
South Devon Militia for the presence of his family amongst us. Mr.
Leighton mentioned the other day one of the bitter remembrances the
Militia left behind them; suppose we mention some of the sweet ones ? 
They were considered a very respectable class of men, not like the
generality of militia regiments. They conducted themselves with
propriety, and made themselves generally useful where they were
billeted. One of the officers, Captain Toll, married the daughter of the
Rev. Alex. Mackenzie, of St. Paul's, and so became possessed of the
property at Sharrow-head, which he held until his death, when it was
sold. His wife, on her death-bed, advised him to marry a friend of hers,
and recommended her friend to marry him. Many of the men followed his
example by marrying Sheffield women; and when the regiment was broken
up, not a few returned and settled in the town. The father of Mr. John
Tasker was one; and his brother, the father of Alderman Tasker, was
another. William Melluish, who was also one of them, is the only
survivor. He worked for George Addy and Son, in Pea croft, until their
unfortunate failure.

LEIGHTON: The South Devon Militia came from that beautiful county, where
" all the men are brave, and all the women fair," which produced the
gallant sea kings, Drake, Raleigh, Gilbert, Frobisher, Winter, and a
host of others renowned in history. The commander, Colonel Laing, was
not a popular man. He pronounced the word " march " as 99 mairch," and
was so often reminded of it that, on one occasion, he sent a file of his
men into the gallery of the theatre to bring one or two of the culprits
out. This resulted in the regiment being ordered elsewhere.

TWISS: Speaking of the Rev. Mr. Mackenzie, he had himself come into
possession of the Sharrowhead estate through marriage with the niece of
Mr. Batty, the former owner. You will remember that the narrow country
lane surrounded by gardens, now supplanted by the Cemetery road, was
called Mackenzie Walk.

LEIGHTON: Mr. Mackenzie was one of the six men in the town, fifty years
ago, who were above six feet high. Mr. Carver, who lived at the bottom
of High street, was another.

WRAGG: Mr. Hutchinson, the coachmaker, of Ladies' Walk (Porter street),
would, I believe, be a third. He was so tall that he had a coach built
expressly, with a recess for his legs. Waterfall, constable, would, I
think, be the fourth. He had the largest foot of any man in Sheffield. I
knew a person who once put his own foot, shoe and all, inside the
constable's shoe, and he could move it freely about inside. I cannot
remember who the other two would be.

EVERARD: Mr. Holland, brother to the Doctor, certainly one of the
best-proportioned men in Sheffield, was of later date. He kept the "
Castle " inn, at the top of Snig hill and Water lane.

LEIGHTON: Besides being tall, Mr. Mackenzie was also very strong. It is
said that, on one occasion, when painting at his house, the workmen went
away to seek assistance in raising a ladder. When they got back, they
found that Mr. Mackenzie had reared it himself.

LEONARD : In Angel street (now No. 30), nearly opposite the " Angel "
inn, was the shop of John Smith, bookseller. He was a great dealer in
old books; but his misfortune as a tradesman was, that he loved his
books too well to sell them. He was the father of Dr. John Pye-Smith,
the celebrated Nonconformist scholar and divine, who was brought up in
his father's place as a bookseller and bookbinder, but had such a. greed
for learning that, at an early age, he completed his education at
Rotherham. College, under Dr. Williams, and then became classical and
mathematical tutor of Homerton College, where he spent more than fifty
years of his life. John Pye-Smith was one of the young friends of James
Montgomery, and edited the Iris for him when Mr. Montgomery was twice in
prison for what were then called " seditious libels." John Smith
(described by a gentleman still living, of the same surname-who sees a
resemblance to him in one of his great-grandsons-as a tall, thin, grave
man, wearing spectacles with a round horn rim) died in 1810, and was
succeeded in the business by his son-in-law, Robert Leader, who in 1830
became proprietor and publisher of the Independent. After occupying the
shop in Angel street for 22 years, Mr. Leader removed to High street to
the shop now No. 41.

TWISS: John Pye-Smith, so called in memory of his great-uncle, the Rev.
John Pye, minister of Nether Chapel from 1748 to 1773, was born lower
down, in Snig hill, on premises we shall come to presently, adjoining
the old Black Lion.

WRAGG: He was the most scholarly man Sheffield has produced. The preface
to his Latin Grammar, published in 1814, is a most masterly production.

LEONARD: An old bookbinder, named James Brown, who had formerly worked
for Mr. John Smith, used -to tell how the young apprentice (the future
Doctor) used to escape from his bookbinding and get away to his reading
in a quiet corner where he was removed from any chance of disturbance.

EVERARD: In the Brocco, just below Edward street, through a gateway
entrance, there was m my early recollection a day school, and here my
father had the honour of having for a school-fellow John Pye Smith, who
on that spot acquired the first rudiments of that learning for which in
after life he became so distinguished. Dr. Pye Smith was esteemed alike
for his erudition and his amiable and Christian character. The most important
 theological work he published was the " Scripture Testimony to the Messiah,"
 which was adopted by one of the universities-I think Cambridge-as the text book
 on the subject. The late much respected Mr. John William Pye-Smith, who in 1856
 occupied the position of Mayor of Sheffield, was his younger son.

LEONARD: Your mention, TWISS, of old Mr. Pye reminds me of his curious and
 systematic account-book, which is still in existence, and some extracts from
 which were published a few years ago. It is an instructive commentary on the
 cost of living in those days. Although Mr. Pye had an income of only £100, yet
 he kept a horse and saved considerable sums. Up to the year 1757, in which he
 was married, he paid the modest sum of £13 per annum for board and lodgings,
 and after his marriage his household expenses ranged from £2. 2s. to £4. 4s.
 per month. He appears to have paid his servant £2 per year in wages, and such
 entries as this occur: " For the keeping of my mare 6 weeks, 15s." Tea,
 however, is not the costly luxury it then was; for 11lb. he paid 12s. 4d.

WRAGG: Another Angel street worthy was the first Sheffield poet-the Rev.
James Cawthorn. He was killed in 1761 from the effects of a fall from
his horse. I thought his father was a bookseller, but I see it stated
that he was an upholsterer.

LEONARD: Yes, his grandfather was William Cawthorn, of Thurgoland, of
whom his father was the second son. At the age of fourteen, James Cawthorn wrote
 a paraphrase on the 139th Psalm, some other poems at fifteen, and at the age of
 seventeen, his " Perjured Lover, or the Adventures of Alexis Brima." His works
 were collected and published in 1771, ten years after his death. The Rev. Edwd.
 Goodwin, Perpetual curate of Attereliffe-1776 to 1817married one of his
 sisters; and Mr. Goodwin, his wife, their sons, and her sister, are all
 interred at Hill top, Attercliffe. John, the eldest son of William Cawthorn,
 and uncle to the poet, was the first tenant of a farm in Sheffield Park, where
 he planted a row of crab trees, and sold the verjuice to the medical men of
Sheffield, There may perhaps be still some old men living who remember
filling their pockets with the crabs. The last tree was taken down about
fifty years ago.

TWISS: The Rev. James Cawthorn does not appear to have held any living
here. He is spoken of as a person whose " acquired knowledge is allowed
to have been considerable; but his literary talents, it is said, bore
but an insignificant proportion to his moral excellence."

WRAGG: I think we have almost exhausted the interest of Angel
street-unless we recall the more modern name of Maugham, and are thereby
reminded of a shocking accident which excited much commiseration. Mr.
Maugham, draper, who occupied shops here, one of which is now Dick's
shoe shop, was driving into town one morning with his wife, from Wadsley
Park, when their horse took fright, and they were both thrown from the
carriage and killed. This was on the 10th of May, 1848.

TWISS: Although we have previously (p. 87) spoken of the Post Office
occupying, from 1845 to 1850, the site below that-in front of the Old
Bank-we should not omit to mention it here. The onestoried shops which
now stand there, occupy that Post Office site, and before the Post
Office the triangular area was a vacant piece of ground, in front of the
Bank, fenced off by an iron railing.

NOTE. Mr. c. Ridal, mentioned at pp. 87 and 101, died at Liverpool on
the 10th February, 1874, aged 80.