This locality, crowded as it must have been before the removal of these obstructions, was also annually the scene of the _Corporation Bullbait_, thus vividly described by Cowdroy, a local scribe of the last century: “The Cross is famous for being the annual scene of exhibition of that _polite play_ called a bull-bait; where four or five of these _horned heroes_ are attended by several hundred lovers of that _rational amusement_. Till within a few years the _dramatis personæ_ of this _elegant scene_ included even magistracy itself, the mayor and corporation attending in their official habiliments, at the Pentice windows, not only to countenance the _diversions_ of the _ring_, but to participate in a sight of its _enjoyments_. A proclamation was also made by the crier of the court, with all the gravity and solemnity of an oration before a _Romish sacrifice_; the elegant composition of which runs thus, ‘_Oyez_! _Oyez_! _Oyez_! _If any man stands within twenty yards of the bull-ring_, _let him take_—_what comes_.’ After which followed the usual public ejaculations, for the safety of the king, and the mayor of the city;” when the _beauties_ of the scene commenced, and the dogs immediately _fell to_. Here a prayer for his worship was not unseasonable, as even the ermined cloak was no security against the carcases of dead animals, with which spectators, without distinction, were occasionally saluted. In many ancient boroughs a law formerly prevailed, that no bulls should be slaughtered for food without having been first thus baited by dogs. They loved tender beefsteaks in those days! This barbarous recreation of a bygone age has long since been put down by the strong arm of the law, and we can now from the very spot study the character of yonder Row, which commanded in those days so near a view of the revolting spectacle. The ancient and the modern in domestic architecture here stand forth in curious juxtaposition. To the left rests a building of venerable mien, the builder of which flourished probably in the sixteenth century, when Harry the Eighth or Elizabeth swayed the sceptre of England, and when wood and plaster was the chief ingredient in houses of this description.