In a recent Number (563) we adverted to the origin of these interesting structures, and attributed their erection to pious feelings, as well as for purposes of a commercial character.  The specimens before us appear to have belonged to the latter appropriation—­inasmuch as they are what are commonly termed Market Crosses.  The first is situate at Leighton Buzzard, or as the name was anciently written, Leighton beau-desert, on the borders of Buckinghamshire, and said to be the Lygean-burgh of the Saxon Chronicle, which was taken from the Britons by Cuthwulph, in the year 571.  The principal of the antiquities of the town is the above Cross.  It is of a pentagonal form, and of beautiful pointed architecture:  it is stated to have been built upwards of five hundred years, but the name of its founder is not known.  The anxiety of the inhabitants of Leighton-Buzzard to preserve this relic of olden time is entitled to special mention.

[Illustration:  (At Leighton Buzzard.)]

“In the year 1650, this cross was presented at the court-leet as being in such a ruinous state, that it greatly endangered the lives of those persons who were passing near it.  Upon this occasion a rate of 4_d._ was levied upon every inhabitant to defray the charge of repairing it.  The height of the cross is twenty-seven feet two inches, from the top of the stone-work to the basement story, which is seven feet four inches from the ground, at the lowest side, and consists of five rows of steps rising from the earth.  The centre pillar, which supports the arch, is eight feet two inches high, and one foot one inch and a quarter wide, on the side fronting the largest angle.  The upper story is disposed into five niches, and there were formerly as many pinnacles at the corners; but one of them has been destroyed:  each niche contained a statue.  The first appears to have been intended to represent a bishop, another seems like the Virgin and Jesus; a third appears to be Saint John the Evangelist; the others are too much mutilated to be known.  Over each arch attached to the cornice, surrounding the building, there were three grotesque heads.  The entire height of the cross, from the lowest base to the top of the vane, is thirty-eight feet.  It is constructed of stone, and is situated in an open area, near the market-house.”

[Illustration:  (At Holbeach.)]

The second Cross is at Holbeach, in the Holland division of Lincolnshire.  The Cross is situate in the market-place of the town; and it is supposed to have been raised about the year 1253; near which period, Thomas de Malton, Lord Egremont, obtained for Holbeach the grant of a weekly market and annual fair.

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WINTER EXHIBITION OF PICTURES, AT THE SUFFOLK STREET GALLERY.