about 1825, and has long been full, is also doomed to make way for the extension of the same line.—During the year 1883 the time-honoured old Meeting-house yard, where Poet Freeth, and many another local worthy, were laid to rest, has been carted off—dust and ashes, tombs and tombstones—to the great graveyard at Witton, where Christian and Infidel, Jew and Gentile, it is to be hoped, will be left at peace till the end of the world.
In 1860, the Corporation purchased 105 acres of land at Witton for the Borough Cemetery. The foundation stones of two chapels were laid August 12, 1861, and the Cemetery was opened May 27, 1863, the total cost being nearly £10.000. Of the 105 acres, 53 are consecrated to the use of the Church of England, 35 laid out for Dissenters, and 14 set aside for Catholics and Jews.
Census.—The numbering of the people by a regular and systematic plan once in every ten years, only came into operation in 1801, and the most interesting returns, as connected with this town and its immediate neighbourhood, will be found under the heading of "Population."
Centre of Birmingham—As defined by the authorities for the settlement of any question of distance, Attwood's statue at the top of Stephenson Place, in New Street, is reckoned as the central spot of the borough. In olden days. Nelson's monument, and prior to that, the Old Cross, in the Bull Ring, was taken as the centre. As an absolute matter of fact, so far as the irregular shape of the borough area will allow of such a measurement being made, the central spot is covered by Messrs. Marris and Norton's warehouse in Corporation Street.
Centenarians.—John Harman, better known as Bishop Vesey, died in 1555, in his 103rd year. James Sands, who died at Harborne in 1625, was said to have been 140 years old, and his wife lived to be 120. Joseph Stanley, of Aston, died in May, 1761, in his 106th year. Wesley, under date of March 19, 1768, wrote of having seen George Bridgens, then in his 107th year; Hutton, in noticing the long life of Bridgens, also mentions one John Pitt who lived to be 100, a Mrs. Moore who reached 104, and an old market man who completed his 107th year. A Mr. Clarkson died here, in February, 1733, aged 112. William Jennens, the Jennens of untold, but much coveted, wealth, died in June, 1798, aged 103. John Roberts, of Digbeth, had a family of twenty-eight children, six by his third wife, whom he married when nearly eighty, and lived to see his 103rd year, in 1792, dying July 6. Thomas Taylor, a cobbler, stuck to his last until a week of his death, July 8, 1796, at 103. T. Blakemore died November 12, 1837, aged 105. Mrs. E. Bailey, founder of the Female Charity School, was also 105 at her death, December 2, 1854. Another old lady was Elizabeth Taylor, who died at Sparkbrook, March 5, 1864, aged 104 years. Mary Hemming, of Moseley Wake Green, died December 5, 1881, in her 104th year.
Centenary Celebrations, more or less worthy of note, are continuously recurring, and the date of some few are here preserved. Our loyal grandfathers honoured the hundredth anniversary of the Revolution of 1688, by a public dinner, November 4, 1788. Old Blue-coat boys in like manner kept the centenary of their school, August 24, 1824. Admirers of the Philosopher Priestley chose All Fools' Day, 1831, as the fitting day to celebrate the anniversary of his birth. The Centenary of the Protestant Dissenting Charity Schools was worthily celebrated by the raising of a special sum amounting to £1,305, as an addition to the funds. In January, 1859, Robert Burns' anniversary was remembered by the holding a supper in Aston Hall, at which only half-a-dozen Scotchmen were present out of half-a-hundred guests. The Dissenting Ministers of this and the neighbouring coun-
