a good judge, said that the floral arrangements at the opening of the Mason Science College surpassed anything of the kind ever seen in Birmingham, Mr. Vertegans having supplied not less than thirty van loads, comprising over 5,000 of the choicest exotic flowers and evergreens.
Oak Leaf Day.—in the adjoining counties, and to a certain extent in Birmingham itself, it has been the custom for carters and coachmen to decorate their horses' heads and their own hats with sprays of oak leaves on the 29th of May, and 99 out of the 100 would tell you they did so to commemorate Charles II. hiding in the oak tree near to Boscobel House. It is curious to note how long an erroneous idea will last. The hunted King would not have found much shelter in his historical oak in the month of May, as the trees would hardly have been sufficiently in leaf to have screened him, and, as it happened, it was the 4th of September and not the 29th of May when the event occurred. The popular mistake is supposed to have arisen from the fact that Charles made his public entry into London on May 29, which was also his birthday, when the Royalists decked themselves with oak in remembrance of that tree having been instrumental in the King's restoration.
Obsolete Street Names.—Town improvements of one sort and another have necessitated the entire clearance of many streets whose names may be found inscribed on the old maps, and their very sites will in time be forgotten. Changes in name have also occurred more frequently perhaps than may be imagined, and it will be well to note a few. As will be seen, several streets have been christened and re- christened more than once.
- Baskerville-street is now Easy-row.
- Bath-road is Bristol-street.
- Beast Market was that part of High-street contiguous to New-street; also called English Market.
- Bewdley-street, afterwards Ann-street, now Colmore-row.
- Birch Hole-street has been improved to Birchall street.
- Black Boy Yard is now Jamaica-row.
- Brick Kiln lane is the Horse Fair.
- Broad-street—Dale End was so called in the 15th century.
- Buckle-row. Between Silver-steeet and Thomas-street.
- Button Alley—Bishop-street, Masshouse-lane.
- Butts lane—Tanter-street; The Butts being Stafford-street.
- Catherine-street—Whittal-street.
- Cawsey (The Causeway)—Lower part of Digbeth.
- Chapel-street—Bull-street was so called in the 14th century.
- Chappel-row—Jennens'-row and Back-street.
- Charles or Little Charles-street—Now part of New Edmund-street.
- Cock-street—Upper part of Digbeth; also called Well-street.
- Colmore-street—From Worcester-street to Peck-lane.
- Cony Greve street is now Congreve-street.
- Cooper's Mill-lane is Heathmill-lane.
- Corbett's Alley—Union-street.
- Cornh Cheaping or Corn Market was part of the Bull Ring.
- Court-lane—Moat-lane.
- Cottage-lane—Seepcote-laue.
- Crescent-street—Part of King Edward's Road.
- Cross-street—Vauxhall-street.
- Crown-street, afterwards Nelson-street is now Sheepcote-street.
- Deadman's Lane—Warstone-lane.
- Ditch—The Gullet was The Ditch.
- Dock Alley—New Inkleys.
- Dudwall-lane—Dudley-street
- Farmer-street—Sand-street.
- Ferney Fields—Great Hampton-street
- Feck-lane or Peck-lane—Covered by New-street Station,
- God's Cart-lane—Carrs-lane.
- Grindstone-lane—Westfield-road.
- Hangman's-lane, or Hay Barns-lane—Great Hampton-row.
- Harlow-street—Edmund-street.
