The great Soho works, in the history of which is, in fact, enshrined much of that relating to the early days of engineering, have passed away; the engine factory having been removed to Smethwick in 1848, after the death of James Watt, the son of the inventor. The site on which Boulton’s house stood is now occupied by streets and terraces of unromantic houses. But the memory of Soho lingers in the name of an open space, and in that of streets and roads. At the beginning of the nineteenth century the desire to modernise Birmingham and to erect buildings with some pretension to architectural beauty seemed to have concerned the inhabitants, and we read, the town “is daily improving in the style of her buildings; there are now architects of the first eminence in the town, and others rapidly rising into notice.” The progress of Birmingham during the latter half of the nineteenth century has been wonderfully steady and marked. Of the ancient town there are nowadays scarcely any survivals; certainly few buildings of any public character, although “the mansion house of tymber” which Leland saw and specially mentioned, still remains in the guise of the “Old Crown Inn,” with several other quaint, timbered houses in the district of Deritend. In the old Bull Ring, an historic spot used in former times for the sport of bull baiting, stands St. Martin’s Church, the most notable and authentic building in Birmingham, for the modern building erected in 1872–75, at the cost of a sum of nearly £30,000, stands on the site of a Norman church of undoubted antiquity. In this ancient fabric, during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, many additions and alterations were effected, and the walls of the old church were formerly plentifully adorned with frescoes, representing amongst other scenes St. Martin on horseback giving part of his cloak to a beggar. Nowadays the only portion of the old church still standing is in the tower, but there are some fine altar tombs with recumbent figures of the old lords of Birmingham in the chancel. One is believed to be that of the third William de Bermingham, who was at the siege of Belgrade in France in 1297, and was taken prisoner there. There are also many other interesting and important memorials, and some extremely fine modern stained glass by the late William Morris. [Illustration: LONG COMPTON.]