within, at his own expense. The Staircase consists of 172 Steps, geometrically projected, forming a Well from the bottom to the landing: round the Well upon each step stands a cast iron Balustrade, with a pannel in its centre; in the pannel is raised a Roman gilt letter, of two inches, forming the following inscription:

"This STAIRCASE was the GIFT of JOHN STRAPHEN, the BUILDER, as HIS Donation toward ERECTING this COLUMN. The First Stone of the Foundation WAS LAID December 27th 1814; and completed June 18th 1816; the ANNIVERSARY of the GLORIOUS BATTLE of WATER

The whole of this noble Structure was begun and completed in eighteen months and eighteen days; the last stone was laid on the 18th of June, 1816,*

* On that day the first Stone of a Column was laid in the Island of ANGLESEY, in honour of the gallant MARQUIS.-See Shrewsbury Chronicle of that date.

Exclusive of the Staircase, Stone Plinth, and Palisading round the Base of the Column.

THE COTTAGE

Is a DORIC design, and was also erected by a Public Subscription; it consists of a Parlour, Kitchen, and Bed-room, for the residence of a Veteran Soldier, appointed to shew the Column.

At a Meeting of the Committee for Erecting the Column. held, the 9th of July, 1817, it was unanimously resolved, "to address a Letter to General LORD HILL, K, B. &c. informing him that the Column and Lodge, erected as a Memorial in honour of his Lordship, will be fully completed by the first of September; and that he be requested to take possession of both from that period, and to accept the same as the property of himself and his heirs for ever."

His Lordship thus acknowledged the preceding Resolution :

(Extract.)

"Cambray, Sept. 1st, 1817. "I now seize the earliest opportunity of requesting you will be pleased to offer to the Gentlemen of the Committee my sincere and grateful thanks for the very flattering resolutions

they have been pleased to pass, and which are the more gratifying, from being totally unexpected on my part. I am extremely happy in having this opportunity of requesting the Gentlemen of the Committee, individually and collectively, will accept my warmest acknowledgments for the indefatigable attention they have bestowed on the planning and execution of a beautiful work, so far beyond my merits, yet so worthy the taste and liberality of the Town and County of Salop."

On the 8th September, 1817, his Lordship wrote as follows: Cambray, 8th Sept. 1817. "SIR,-After giving every possible consideration to the merits of the several Candidates who have been proposed to me as proper persons to be appointed to the charge of the Column, I have been induced to decide in favour of SERJEANT THOMAS DAVIES, of the Royal Welsh Fusileers, whose claims to this preference I have to request you will be pleased to communicate to the Gentlemen of the Committee.

"SERJEANT DAVIES is a Shropshire man; has been nearly twenty years in the army, the greater part of which on active service he was a private three years, two years a corporal, and the remainder of the time a serjeant; when the appointment of Colour-Serjeants was established in 1813, Serjeant Davies was promoted to the rank. (I beg to observe, that there is one Colour-Serjeant to each Company, with additional pay, &c.; he generally has the charge of the payment of his company, and is invariably chosen from the best conducted and most deserving of the serjeants.) Davies has been with his regiment on the following foreign services:-Hanover, Copenhagen, North America, West Indies, Peninsula, Netherlands, and France; and was present at the following general actions Martinique, Copenhagen, Albuera, Cuidad Rodrigo, Badajos (where he was wounded), Salamanca, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Orthez, and Toulouse-and on all occasions conducted himself as a gallant soldier.

"In May, 1815, previous to the Battle of Waterloo, Serjeant Davies was selected by his Commanding Officer as a proper person to be my Orderly-Serjeant. From that period to the present time, he has been constantly under the immediate observation of myself and the Officers of my Staff: and it is with much satisfaction I have to observe, that not the slightest complaint has ever been made of him. Serjeant Davies is particularly neat and clean, and will, I have no doubt, give his whole attention to the care of whatever he may be entrusted with. These considerations, together with his excellent character as a soldier, induce me to think him in every respect fit for the proposed appointment; if, however, on trial, he should not fulfil my expectations, I have given him to understand that he must expect to be removed from the situation.

"I have now to request, as a particular favour, that the Gentlemen of the Committee will be pleased to frame such instructions as they may judge expedient for the guidance of the person in charge of the Column; and I shall direct Serjeant Davies to wait upon you for the same, giving him strict injunctions to pay every attention to the fulfilment of them.

I have the honour to be, Sir,

Your obedient and very faithful Servant,

HILL."

"Davies was the first Serjeant appointed in his regiment to the rank of Colour-Serjeant, and in five months will have completed twenty years' service."

Serjeant Davies died on the 16th August, 1820, and was interred with Funeral honours: he was a native of St. Martin's near Oswestry. His widow continued to enjoy, by the permission of LORD HILL, the Situation of her truly respectable Husband.

In the spring of 1833, GEORGE OKELEY, a veteran trooper of the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards Blue, who had long served in that distinguished Corps, of which Lord Hill is the Colonel, was appointed by his Lordship Keeper of the Column. The Medals which adorn his breast-one for Waterloo, the other the Reward of Merit, attest his fitness for the charge.