Of the many Chester scenes depicted by BATENHAM, few have been less altered than now before us, although that rumours are rife that a wholesale destruction is looming in the early future. Let us hope that something even half as picturesque may take its place.

This side of BRIDGE STREET was, early in this century, almost monopolised by the butchers, whose savoury wares were sometimes, especially in high summer, the reverse of pleasant to the frequenters of the Row overhead. BRIDGE STREET Row, second only in importance to its EASTGATE neighbour, was for centuries known as MERCERS' Row, but is far from exclusively the mercers' centre now. The projecting house at the corner, in front of which the lamp-lighter is again seen on duty, marks the site of the ancient CONdUIT, which on festive occasions and election triumphs, long, long ago, used to flow with wine to refresh the thirsty citizens. Where the first butcher's block is seen, once stood the public Whipping Post, still, with its pendant handcuffs, remembered by some of the more ancient Cestrians.

The flight of steps on the right hand led up to the celebrated hostelry of the 16th century,--the BLUE POSTS, -where the popish Dr. Cole lost the commission he was taking to Ireland from Queen Mary, and which was to make short work of the Irish Protestants! Next door was, at the date of our Etching, and still continues, the goldsmith's establishment of Messrs. Lowe, -the honoured link in this View betwixt the old times and the new.

ST. PETER'S CHURCH, close by which we see three Rembrandt-like figures discussing local news, stands at the extreme left; and see! hanging from the roof is the City's staple emblem “of the glove,” notifying that it is CHESTER FAIR, and that strangers have permission to trade within the City until that curious banner shall be withdrawn.

The Row before us, sometimes called ST. MICHAEL'S Row was, when this View was taken separated from Mercers' Row " by flights of steps on either side, and was then very little frequented by the public; but since the substitution of the wooden bridge for the "eight and four stairs” as they were locally termed, connecting the two, a vast change for the better has come upon ST. MICHAEL’S ROW.

It is the old Church of that Saint that we are here looking upon,-a Church, not without some claims to architectural character; and the new one which has since taken its place retains the peculiar feature of .being perforated through its lower storey to form a passage from the Street to the Row. On the edges of the Plate at the extreme right we see one of the pinnacles of old St. Bridget's Church, which, on the erection of the Grosvenor Bridge and the laying out of Grosvenor Street, was pulled down and rebuilt on a site near the Castle, quite outside the parish proper.

PEPPER STREET, at the angle of which St. Michael's Church stands, marks the line of the old ROMAN WALL of the City, before the Saxon Princess, Ethelflada, so greatly enlarged its area upon the south side, nearly a thousand years ago.

The two elderly gossips near this end of the View, the wife of one of whom, parasol in hand, is evidently weary of their tirade, serve to add life and interest to the picture. Perhaps they are talking about Waterloo and Wellington, whose crowning victory was achieved and made public just as this Etching was being issued from BATENHAM'S press !

At our rear, as we stand looking at this scene, were at that time blocks of old buildings intersected by a narrow street, of mean proportions, but now opened out into a handsome roadway, GROSVENOR STREET, leading direct to the Castle, Grosvenor Bridge, and North Wales.

This dainty little bit of Chester architecture has almost entirely passed away, - the old Church of " ST. TOOLA's" alone surviving to identify the locality. It is a small edifice with but few remaining pretensions to special notice, but it is one of the earliest foundations of which the City can boast. The parish has, during this century, following the numerous examples of this kind of London been attached to its next neighbour under the joint title of St. Michael's and St. Olave's. The quaint half timber building next door was, at the date of our Etching, the brewery of Alderman Newell, and was a good example of the class of houses which studded our Chester Streets in the far-off days of famous Queen Bess. It was erected on the ancient burial ground and rectory land of the Church.

The gabled block to the right, with the barber's pole projecting from its angle, and the covered portico at the end, marked the commencement of the Old Coach Row, otherwise and sarcastically, " Rotten Row"; which, in its perfect state, must have been a telling feature with travellers as they made their, on that side, only possible entrance to the City, by coach, over the OLD DEE BRIDGE.

Immediately behind us was, at the date of the Etching, a fine old house, the city residence of the GAMULLS, whose hospitalities were there lavishly dispensed to King Charles the First, when that monarch visited Chester during the dread epoch of Civil War. SIR FRANCIS GAMULL was a staunch Royalist, and sacrificed fortune and civic status in the cause --the family, indeed, never recovered itself fully after that terrible conflict. of his ill-fated prince,

What has been said in the previous article applies also very much to the one now under review, for the two subjects immediately adjoin each other, and the Row here is only the detached end of the one on which we have been discoursing.

Standing on the rapid incline which in primitive times gave such natural strength to the Roman CASTLE, this was always, and by a long way, the steepest Row in the whole City. Awkward steps, and alterations of level, were frequent in it from end to end; and its nickname of " Rotten Row' iS amply justified when we look at the two bottom houses in the range. Both of them have departed most terribly from the perpendicular, and an ugly beam has perforce had to be placed across Duke Street, to save the premises from utter immolation.

It is difficult to say positively, from BATENHAM'S Etching, what was the architectural date of these buildings ; but there is good reason to believe that the lower house of the two stood on Norman foundations: and if this be so, it was about the earliest proof we then possessed of the very ancient origin of the CHESTER Rows. Certainly, it was considered good enough by the immortal Sam Prout to be sketched by his pencil, and few artists had ever a keener eye than he for the really antique or the telling in domestic architecture. Of this curious old Row but little now survives.

Behind the house on the extreme right will be noticed a narrow strip of light, indicating the entrance to CAPEL LANE, a horse track of remote date, which continued thence down to the City WALLS at the CAPEL (or Horse) GATE, parallel with Lower Bridge Street and the Bridgegate; but this landmark, like so many others in Old Chester, is now all but destroyed.