whose area of 60,000 acres was covered with forest till the terrible | married three times. One of his sons by his third wife was father tide of the year 709. The equinoctial tides reach a vertical of Charles Montagu, created earl of Halifax in 1699. height of nearly 50 ft. In the bay the picturesque walls of the abbey rise from the summit of a rock 400 ft. high. The Sée, which waters Avranches, and the Couesnon (separating Manche from Ille-et-Vilaine) disembogue in the bay.

The climate of Manche is mild and humid, from its propinquity to the sea. Frosts are never severe; myrtles and fuchsias flourish in the open air. Excessive heat is also unusual; the predominant winds are south-west.

The characteristic industry of the department is the rearing of horses and cattle, carried on especially in the rich meadow of the eastern Cotentin; sheep are raised in the western arrondissement of Coutances. Wheat, buckwheat, barley and oats are the chief cereals cultivated. Manche is one of the foremost departments for the production of cider-apples and pears; plums and figs are also largely grown. Butter is an important source of profit, as also are poultry and eggs. Flourishing marketgardens are found in the west. The department contains valuable granite quarries in the Cherbourg arrondissement and the Chausey islands; building and other stone is quarried.

EDWARD MONTAGU, 2nd earl of Manchester (1602-1671), eldest son of the 1st earl by his first wife, Catherine Spencer, granddaughter of Sir John Spencer of Althorpe, was born in 1602, and was educated at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. He was member of parliament for Huntingdonshire 1623-1626, and in the latter year was raised to the peerage in his father's lifetime as Baron Montagu of Kimbolton, but was known generally by his courtesy title of Viscount Mandeville. His first wife, who was related to the duke of Buckingham, having died in 1625 after two years of marriage, Mandeville married in 1626 Anne, daughter of the 2nd earl of Warwick. The influence of his father-in-law, who was afterwards admiral on the side of the parliament, drew Mandeville to the popular side in the questions in dispute with the crown, and at the beginning of the Long Parliament he was one of the recognized leaders of the popular party in the upper House, his name being joined with those of the five members of the House of Commons impeached by the king in 1642. At the outbreak of the Civil War, having succeeded his father in the earldom in November 1642, Manchester commanded a regiment in the army of the earl of Essex, and in August 1643 he was appointed major-general of the parliamentary forces in the eastern counties, with Cromwell as his second in command. Having become a member of the "committee of both kingdoms" in 1644, he was in supreme command at Marston Moor (July 1, 1644); but in the subsequent operations his lack of energy brought

Villedieu manufactures copper-ware and Sourdeval iron and other metal-ware; and there are wool-spinning mills, paper-works and leather-works, but the department as a whole is industrially unimportant. There are oyster-beds on the coast (St Vaast, &c.), and the maritime population, besides fishing for herring, mackerel, lobsters or sole, collect seaweed for agricultural use. Coutances is the seat of a bishopric of the province of Rouen. The depart-him into disagreement with Cromwell, and in November 1644 he ment forms part of the region of the X. army corps and of the circumscriptions of the académie (educational division) and appeal-court of Caen. Cherbourg (q.v.), with its important port, arsenal and shipbuilding yards, is the chief centre of population. St Lô (q.v.) is the capital; there are six arrondissements (St Lô, Avranches, Cherbourg, Coutances, Mortain, Valognes), with 48 cantons and 647 communes. Avranches, Mortain, Coutances, Granville and Mont Saint Michel receive separate treatment. At Lessay and St Sauveur-le-Vicomte there are the remains of ancient Benedictine abbeys, and Torigni-sur-Vire and Tourlaville (close to Cherbourg) have interesting châteaux of the 16th century. Valognes, which in the 17th and 18th centuries posed as a provincial centre of culture, has a church (15th, 16th and 17th centuries) remarkable for its dome, the only one of Gothic architecture in France.

MANCHESTER, EARLS AND DUKES OF. The Manchester title, in the English peerage, belongs to a branch of the family of Montagu (q.v.). The first earl was SIR HENRY MONTAGU (C. 1563-1642), grandson of Sir Edward Montagu, chief justice of the king's bench 1539-1545, who was named by King Henry VIII. one of the executors of his will, and governor to his son, Edward VI. Sir Henry Montagu, who was born at Boughton, Northamptonshire, about 1563, was educated at Christ's College, Cambridge, and, having been called to the bar, was elected recorder of London in 1603, and in 1616 was made chief justice of the king's bench, in which office it fell to him to pass sentence on Sir Walter Raleigh in October 1618. In 1620 he was appointed lord high treasurer, being raised to the peerage as Baron Montagu of Kimbolton, Huntingdonshire, and Viscount Mandeville. He became president of the council in 1621, in which office he was continued by Charles I., who created him earl of Manchester' in 1626. In 1628 he became lord privy seal, and in 1635 a commissioner of the treasury. Although from the beginning of his public life in 1601, when he first entered parliament, Manchester had inclined to the popular side in politics, he managed to retain to the end the favour of the king. He was a judge of the Star Chamber, and one of the most trusted councillors of Charles I. His loyalty, ability and honesty were warmly praised by Clarendon. In conjunction with Coventry, the lord keeper, he pronounced an opinion in favour of the legality of ship-money in 1634. He died on the 7th of November 1642. Manchester was 1 The title was derived, not from Manchester in Lancashire, but from Manchester (or Godmanchester) in Huntingdonshire, where the Montagu family estates were.

strongly expressed his disapproval of continuing the war (see CROMWELL, OLIVER). Cromwell brought the shortcomings of Manchester before parliament in the autumn of 1644; and early in the following year, anticipating the self-denying ordinance, Manchester resigned his command. He took a leading part in the frequent negotiations for an arrangement with Charles, was custodian with Lenthall of the great seal 1646-1648, and frequently presided in the House of Lords. He opposed the trial of the king, and retired from public life during the Commonwealth; but after the Restoration, which he actively assisted, he was loaded with honours by Charles II. In 1667 he was made a general, and he died on the 5th of May 1671. Manchester was made a K.G. in 1661, and became F.R.S. in 1667. Men of such divergent sympathies as Baxter, Burnet and Clarendon agreed in describing Manchester as a lovable and virtuous man, who loved peace and moderation both in politics and religion. He was five times married, leaving children by two of his wives, and was succeeded in the title by his eldest son, Robert, 3rd earl of Manchester (1634-1683).

See Lord Clarendon, History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England (7 vols., Oxford, 1839) and Life of Clarendon (Oxford, 1827); S. R. Gardiner, History of the Great Civil War, 1642–1649. (4 vols., London, 1886-1891); The Quarrel between Manchester and Cromwell, Camden Soc., N.S. 12 (London, 1875); Sir Philip Warwick, Memoirs of the Reign of Charles I. (London, 1701).

CHARLES MONTAGU, Ist duke of Manchester (c. 1656–1722), son of Robert, 3rd earl of Manchester, was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and succeeded to his father's earldom in 1683. Warmly sympathizing with the Whig revolution of 1688, he attended William and Mary at their coronation, fought under William at the Boyne, became a privy councillor in 1698, and held various important diplomatic posts between that date and 1714, when he received an appointment in the household of George I., by whom on the 28th of April 1719 he was created duke of Manchester. He died on the 20th of January 1722, and was succeeded successively in the dukedom by his two sons, William 2nd duke of Manchester (1700-1739), and Robert 3rd duke (c. 1710–1762), who was vice-chamberlain to Queen Caroline, wife of George II.

GEORGE MONTAGU, 4th duke of Manchester (1737-1788), was the son of Robert, the 3rd duke. He was a supporter of Lord Rockingham, and an active opponent in the House of Lords of Lord North's American policy. In the Rockingham ministry He died in of 1782 Manchester became lord chamberlain. September 1788.

and the traveller passes from one town to another by lines of street which, for the most part, are continuous. Facility of communication is essential to the commercial prosperity of Manchester, and its need was recognized by the duke of Bridgewater, whose canal, constructed in 1761, has now been absorbed by the Manchester Ship Canal (q.v.). The making of this early waterway was an event only less important than the opening of the Manchester & Liverpool railway in 1830.

WILLIAM MONTAGU, 5th duke of Manchester (1768-1843), | railways and tramways so as to form one great urban area, second son of the preceding, was educated at Harrow, and having become a colonel in the army in 1794, was appointed governor of Jamaica in 1808. Here he remained, except for a visit to England (1811-1813) till 1827, administering the colony with ability in a period of considerable difficulty, and doing much to prepare the way for emancipation of the slaves. From 1827 to 1830 he was postmaster-general in the cabinet of the duke of Wellington, and died in Rome on the 18th of March 1843. His wife was Susan, daughter of the 4th duke of Gordon. He was succeeded by his son George, 6th duke (1799–1855), a captain in the navy; whose son William Drogo, 7th duke (1823-1890), married Louise, daughter of the Comte d'Alten of Hanover, who after his death married Spencer Cavendish, 8th duke of Devonshire. William was succeeded by his son George Victor Drogo, 8th duke of Manchester (1853-1892), on whose death the title devolved on his son, William Angus Drogo, 9th duke of Manchester (b.1877). (R. J. M.) MANCHESTER, a township of Hartford county, Connecticut, U.S.A., about 9 m. E. of Hartford. Pop. (1890), 8222; (1900), 10,601, of whom 3771 were foreign-born; (1910 census) 13,641. Manchester is served by the New York, New Haven & Hartford railway and by electric line connecting with Hartford, Rockville and Stafford Springs. The township covers an area of about 28 sq. m., and includes the villages of Manchester, South Manchester, Buckland, Manchester Green and Highland Park. The Hockanum River provides a good water power, and Manchester has various manufactures. At South Manchester, an attractive industrial village, a silk mill was built in 1838; the silk mills of one firm (Cheney Brothers) here cover about 12 acres; the company has done much for its employees, whose homes are almost all detached cottages in attractive grounds. Manchester was originally a part of the township of Hartford, and later a part of the township of East Hartford. The first settlement within its present limits was made about 1672; the land was bought from the Indians in 1676; and the township was separated from East Hartford and incorporated in 1823.

See also Meakin's Model Factories and Villages (1905).

MANCHESTER, a city and county of a city, municipal, county and parliamentary borough of Lancashire, England, 189 m. N.W. by N. of London, and 31 m. E. by N. of Liverpool. It stands for the most part on a level plain, the rising ground being chiefly on the north side. The rivers are the Irwell, the Medlock, the Irk, and the Tib, the last entirely overarched and covered by streets and warehouses. The Irwell, which separates Manchester from Salford, is crossed by a series of bridges and discharges itself into the Mersey, which is about 10 m. distant. The chief part of the district, before it was covered with the superficial drift of sand, gravel and clay, consisted of upper New Red Sandstone with slight portions of lower New Red Sandstone, magnesian marls and upper red marls, hard sandstone and limestone rock, and cold clays and shales of contiguous coal-fields. The city, as its thousands of brick-built houses show, has been for the most part dug out of its own clay-fields. The parliamentary and municipal boroughs of Manchester are not conterminous. The city boundaries, which in 1841 enclosed 4293 acres, have been successively enlarged and now enclose 19,914 acres.

There are four large stations for the Lancashire & Yorkshire, London & North-Western, the Midland, Cheshire lines, Great Northern, and Great Central railways, and many subsidiary stations for local traffic. Tramways, as well as railways, run from Manchester to Oldham, Ashton, Eccles, Stockport, &c., with which places the city is connected by continuous lines of street. The length of the streets in the city of Manchester is 758 m. (exclusive of those in the district of Withington, which joined the city in 1905). The tramway lines within the city boundaries extend to III m., and in addition there are 58 m. leased to the corporation by adjacent local authorities. As a matter of fact, the whole of south-east Lancashire and some portions of Cheshire are linked to Manchester by

The township of Manchester, which forms the nucleus of the city, is comparatively small, and outlying hamlets having been added, its size has increased without regularity of plan. Roughly speaking, the city forms a square, with Market Street as its central thoroughfare. The tendency of recent development is to reduce the irregularities so that the other main streets may either run parallel to or intersect Market Street. Deansgate, which formerly ended in a narrow tangle of buildings, is now a broad road with many handsome buildings, and the same process of widening, enlarging and rebuilding is going on, more or less, all over Manchester. Market Street, which has not been widened since 1820, has been termed, and with some reason, the most congested street in Europe "; but relief is anticipated from some of the other street improvements. The centre of the city is occupied by business premises; the factories and workshops are mainly on the eastern side. The most important of the public buildings are in the centre and the south. The latter is also the most favoured residential district, and at its extremity is semi-rural in character. Large masses of the population live beyond the city boundary and come to their daily avocations by train and tram. Such a population is rarely homogeneous and Manchester attracts citizens from every part of the globe; there are considerable numbers of German, Armenian and Jewish residents. The houses are for the most part of brick, the public buildings of stone, which is speedily blackened by the smoky atmosphere. Many of the warehouses are of considerable architectural merit, and in recent years the use of terra-cotta has become more common. It is only in the suburbs that gardens are possible; the air is laden with black dust, and the rivers, in spite of all efforts, are in the central part of the city mere dirty ditches. It is impossible to describe Manchester in general terms, for within the city boundaries the conditions vary from the most squalid of slums to suburban and almost rural beauty.

Churches.-Manchester is the seat of an Anglican bishopric, and the chief ecclesiastical building is the cathedral, which, however, was built simply as a parish church, and, although a fine specimen of the Perpendicular period, is by no means what might be expected as the cathedral of an important and wealthy diocese. In the course of restoration a piece of Saxon sculpture came to light. This "Angel stone represents a winged figure with a scroll inscribed In manus tuas Domine in characters of the 8th century. The bulk of the building belongs to the early part of the 15th century. The first warden was John Huntington, rector of Ashton, who built the choir. The building, which was noticed for its hard stone by Leland when he visited the town, did not stand time and weather well, and by 1845 some portions of it were rapidly decaying. This led to its restoration by James P. Holden. By 1868 the tower was almost completely renovated in a more durable stone. Further restoration was carried out by J. S. Crowther, and the addition of a porch and vestries was executed by Basil Champneys. The total length is 220 ft. and the breadth 112 ft. There are several stained-glass windows, including one to the memory of "Chinese Gordon." The recumbent statues of Bishop James Fraser and of Hugh Birley, M.P., should also be named. In the Ely chapel is the altar tomb of Bishop James Stanley. In the stalls there are some curious miserere carvings. The tower is 139 ft. high, and contains a peal of ten bells, chiefly from the foundry of the Rudhalls. There are two organs, one by Father Smith, and a modern one in an oak case designed by Sir G. Scott. The parish church was made collegiate in 1422, and when in 1847 the bishopric of

by Ford Madox Brown, illustrating the history and progress | other pupils are received on payment of fees. Among those of the city. The royal exchange is a fine specimen of Italian educated at the grammar school were Thomas De Quincey, architecture and was erected in 1869; the great meeting-hall Harrison Ainsworth and Samuel Bamford the Radical. After is one of the largest rooms in England, the ceiling having a the grammar school the oldest educational foundation is that clear area, without supports, of 120 ft. in width. The exchange of Humphrey Chetham, whose bluecoat school, founded in is seen at its best on market days (Tuesday and Friday). The 1653, is housed in the building formerly occupied by the college assize courts were built in 1864 from designs by Waterhouse. of clergy. This also contains the public library founded by The style is a mixture of Early English and Decorative, and Chetham, and is the most interesting relic of antiquity in the a large amount of decorative art has been expended on the city. The educational charity of William Hulme (1631-1691) building. The branch Bank of England is a Doric building is administered under a scheme drawn up in 1881. Its income designed by C. R. Cockerell. There are separate town-halls is nearly £10,000 a year, and it supports a grammar school for the townships of Ardwick, Chorlton, Hulme, Cheetham, and aids education in other ways. There are three high schools Broughton and Pendleton. The Free Trade hall is a fine for girls. The Nicholls hospital was founded in 1881 for the structure in the Lombardo-Venetian style, and its great hall education of orphan boys. Manchester was one of the first will accommodate about five thousand people. It is used places to adopt the powers given by Forster's Act of 1870, for public meetings, concerts, &c., and was built by Edward and on the abolition of school boards the educational superWalters. The Athenaeum, designed by Barry, was founded vision was transferred to a committee of the corporation strengthby Richard Cobden and others associated with him for "the ened by co-opted members. In addition to the elementary advancement and diffusion of knowledge." The institution schools, the municipality provides a large and well-equipped has, perhaps, not developed exactly on the lines contemplated school of technology, and a school of art to which is attached by its promoters, but it has been very useful. The advantages an arts and crafts museum. There are a pupil teachers' college, enjoyed by members of social clubs, with the addition of facili- a school of domestic economy, special schools for feeble-minded ties for educational classes and the use of an excellent news-children, and a Royal College of Music. The schools for the room and a well-selected library, are offered in return for a payment which does not amount to a penny a day. The mechanics' institution has developed into the school of Technology, which now forms a part of the university. The Portico is a good specimen of the older proprietary libraries and newsrooms. It dates from 1806, and has a library. The Memorial Hall was built to commemorate the memory of the ejected ministers of 1662; it is used for meetings, scientific, educational, musical and religious. The Whitworth Institute is governed by a corporate body originating from the liberal bequests of Sir Joseph Whitworth. The Institute contains a valuable collection of works of art and stands in the centre of a woodland park. In the park, which has been transferred to the corporation, is a sculpture group of "Christ and the Children," executed by George Tinworth from the designs of R. D. Darbishire, by whom it was presented. The assize courts, built from designs by Waterhouse (1864), the post office (1887), and the police courts (1871) should also be named. Many fine structures suffer from being hemmed in by streets which prevent the proportions from being seen to advantage.

Monuments.-In Piccadilly are bronze statues of Wellington, Watt, Dalton, Peel and Queen Victoria. Another statue of the Queen, by the Princess Louise, is placed on the new porch of the cathedral. A bronze statue of Cobden occupies a prominent position in St Ann's Square. There also is the South African War Memorial of the Manchester Regiment. The marble statue of the Prince Consort, covered by a Gothic canopy of stone, is in front of the town hall, which dwarfs what would otherwise be a striking monument. In Albert Square there are also statues of Bishop Fraser, John Bright, Oliver Heywood and W. E. Gladstone. A statue of J. P. Joule is in the town hall, which also contains memorials of other worthies. The Queen's Park has a statue of Benjamin Brierley, a well-known writer in the Lancashire dialect. The most picturesque is Matthew Noble's bronze statue of Cromwell, placed on a huge block of rough granite as pedestal. It stands at the junction of Deansgate and Victoria Street, near the cathedral, and was presented to the town by Mrs E. S. Heywood.

Education.-There are many educational facilities. The oldest institution is the grammar school, which was founded in 1519 by Hugh Oldham, bishop of Exeter, a native of the town. The master and usher appointed by the bishop were to teach freely every child and scholar coming to the school, "without any money or reward taken "; and the bishop forbade the appointment of any member of the religious orders as head master. Some corn mills were devised for the maintenance of the school, which was further endowed at both the universities by Sarah, duchess of Somerset, in 1692. The school has now two hundred and fifty free scholars, whilst

deaf and dumb are situated at Old Trafford, in a contiguous building of the same Gothic design as the blind asylum, to which Thomas Henshaw left a bequest of £20,000. There is also an adult deaf and dumb institution, containing a news-room, lecture hall, chapel, &c., for the use of deaf mutes.

The Victoria University of Manchester has developed from the college founded by John Owens, who in 1846 bequeathed nearly £100,000 to trustees for an institution in which should be taught such branches of learning and science as were then or might be hereafter usually taught in English universities." It was opened in 1851 in a house which had formerly been the residence of Cobden. In 1872 a new college building was erected on the south side of the town from designs by Waterhouse. In 1880 a university charter was granted, excluding the faculties of theology and medicine, and providing for the incorporation of University College, Liverpool, and the College of Science, Leeds. The federal institution thus created lasted until 1903, when the desire of Liverpool for a separate university of its own led to a reconstruction. Manchester University consists of one college-Owens College-in its greatly enlarged form. The buildings include the Whitworth Hall (the gift of the legatees of Sir Joseph Whitworth), the Manchester Museum and the Christie Library, which is a building for the university library given by R. C. Christie, who also bequeathed his own collection. Dr Lee, the first bishop of Manchester, left his library to Owens College, and the legatees of Sir Joseph Whitworth bought and presented E. A. Freeman's books. The library has received other important special collections. The benefactions to the university of Thomas Ashton are estimated at £80,000. There are in Manchester a number of denominational colleges, Wesleyan, Primitive Methodist, Unitarian, Baptist, &c., and many of the students preparing for the ministry receive their arts training at the university, the theological degrees of which are open to students irrespective of creed.

Libraries, Museums and Societies.-Manchester is well provided with libraries. The Chetham library, already named, contains some rare manuscripts, the gem of the collection being a copy of the historical compilation of Matthew Paris, with corrections in the author's handwriting. There is a large collection of matter relating to the history and archaeology of Lancashire and Cheshire, including the transcripts of Lancashire MSS. bequeathed by Canon F. R. Raines. The collections of broadsides formed by Mr J. O. HalliwellPhillipps, and the library of John Byrom, rich in mystics and shorthand writers, should also be named. The Manchester Free Libraries were founded by Sir John Potter in 1852. There is now a reference library containing about 170,000 volumes, including an extensive series of English historical works, a remarkable collection of books of political economy and trade, and special collections relating to local history, Dr Thomas Fuller, shorthand and the gipsies. The

Henry Watson Music Library, and the Thomas Greenwood Library | now chiefly devoted not so much to production as to the various for librarians were presented to the reference library, and the Foreign offices of distribution. It would be a mistake, however, to Library was purchased. Affiliated to the reference library there are nineteen libraries, each of which includes a lending department and regard Manchester as solely dependent upon the industries reading rooms. The municipal libraries contain in the aggregate over connected with cotton. There are other important manu366,000 vols. There are also libraries in connexion with the Athen- factures which in another community would be described as aeum, the School of Technology, the Portico, and many other institutions. The most remarkable of the Manchester libraries is that gigantic. Wool and silk are manufactured on a considerable founded by Mrs Enriqueta Rylands, and named the John Rylands scale, though the latter industry has for some years been on Library in memory of her husband. The beautiful building was the decline. The miscellaneous articles grouped under the designed by Basil Champneys; the library includes the famous designation of small-wares occupy many hands. Machinery Althorp collection, which was bought from Earl Spencer. Mrs and tools are made in vast quantities; the chemical industries Rylands died in 1908, and by her will increased the endowment of the library so that it has an income of £13,000 yearly. She also of the city are also on a large scale. In short, there are but bequeathed her own library. few important manufactures that are wholly unrepresented. Manchester possesses numerous literary and scientific associations. The proximity of Manchester to the rich coal-fields of LanThe oldest of these, the Literary and Philosophical Society, founded cashire has had a marked influence upon its prosperity; but in 1781, has a high reputation, and has numbered among its working members John Dalton, Eaton Hodgkinson, William Fairbairn, for this, indeed, the rapid expansion of its industries would J. P. Joule, H. E. Roscoe and many other famous men of science. It have been impossible. has published a series of memoirs and proceedings. The Manchester Statistical Society was the first society of the kind established in the kingdom, and has issued Transactions containing many important papers. The Field Naturalists' and Archaeologists' Society, the Microscopical Society, the Botanists' Association, and the Geological Society may also be named. Manchester is the headquarters of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society and of several printing clubs, the Chetham, the Record, the Lancashire Parish Registers societies. Seven daily papers are published, and various weekly and other periodicals. The journalism of Manchester takes high rank, the Manchester Guardian (Liberal) being one of the best newspapers in the country, while the Manchester Courier (Unionist) has an important local influence. The Manchester Quarterly is issued by the Manchester Literary Club, which was founded in 1862. The success of the Art Treasures Exhibition in 1857 was repeated in the Jubilee Exhibition of 1887. The Manchester Academy of Fine Arts is a society of artists, and holds an annual exhibition in the city art gallery.

Parks and Open Spaces.-There are fifty-three parks and open spaces. The Queen's Park, at Harpurhey, is pleasantly situated, though surrounded by cottages and manufactories. Philips Park is also attractive, in spite of its close proximity to some of the most densely populated portions of the town. The Alexandra Park has very good ornamental grounds and a fine cactus house with a remarkable collection presented by Charles Darrah. Some of the open spaces are small; Boggart Hole Clough, where great efforts have been made to preserve the natural features, is 76 acres in extent, and was the largest until 1902, when Heaton Park, containing 692 acres, was purchased. It was formerly the seat of the earls of Wilton, and includes Heaton House, one of Wyatt's structures. In the Queen's Park there is a museum, and periodical exhibitions of works of art are held. The total area of the city parks is 1146 acres. The corporation are also responsible for four cemeteries, having a total area of 228 acres.

Recreation. There are nine theatres, mostly large, and eight music halls. The Theatre Royal was established as a patent theatre. When the bill for it was before the House of Lords in 1775 it was advocated as an antidote to Methodism. The Bellevue Zoological Gardens is a favourite holiday place for working people. The Ancoats Recreation Committee have since 1882 had Sunday lectures, and occasional exhibitions of pictures, window gardening, &c. The Ancoats Art Museum was founded to carry out the educational influences of art and culture generally. In addition to works of art, there are concerts, lectures, reading circles, &c. The museum is worked in connexion with a university settlement. The German element in the population has largely influenced the taste for music by which Manchester is distinguished, and the orchestral concerts (notably under Charles Hallé) are famous.

Population. From a census taken in 1773 it appears that there were then in the township of Manchester and its outtownships 36,267 persons. The first decennial census, 1801, showed the population to be 75,275; in 1851 it was 303,382; in 1901, 606,824. It is not easy to make an exact comparison between different periods, because there have been successive enlargements of the boundaries. The population has overflowed into the surrounding districts, and if all that belongs to the urban area, of which it is the centre, were included, greater Manchester would probably rival London in the number of its inhabitants.

Manufactures and Commerce.-Manchester is the centre of the English cotton industry (for details see COTTON and COTTON MANUFACTURE), but owing to the enhanced value of land many mills and workshops have been removed to the outskirts and to neighbouring villages and towns, so that the centre of Manchester and an ever-widening circle around are

The Manchester Bankers' Clearing House returns show an almost unbroken yearly increase. The amount in 1872 was £72,805,510; in 1907 it was £320,296,332; by the severe depression of 1908 it was reduced to £288,555,307. Another test of prosperity is the increase in rateable value. In 1839 it was £669,994; in 1871, £1,703,627; in 1881, £2,301,225; in 1891, £2,798,005; in 1901, £3,394,879; in 1907, £4,191,039; in 1909, £4,234,129.

The commercial institutions of Manchester are too numerous

for detailed description; its chamber of commerce has for more than sixty years exercised much influence on the trade of the district and of the nation. Manchester is the headquarters of the Co-operative Wholesale Society, and indeed of the cooperative movement generally.

The most important event in the modern history of the district is the creation of the Manchester Ship Canal (q.v.), by which Manchester and Salford have a direct communication with the sea at Eastham, near Liverpool. The canal was opened for traffic in January 1894. The official opening ceremony was on the 21st of May 1894, when Queen Victoria visited Manchester. The total expenditure on capital account has been £16,567,881. The original share capital of £8,000,000 and £1,812,000, raised by debentures, having been exhausted, the corporation of Manchester advanced on loan a further sum of £5,000,000.

Municipality.-Manchester received a municipal charter in 1838, received the title of city in 1853, and became a county borough in 1889. The city is divided into 30 wards, and the corporation consists of 31 aldermen and 93 councillors. The mayor received the title of lord mayor in 1893. Unlike some of the municipalities, that of Manchester makes no pecuniary allowance to its lord mayor, and the office is a costly one.

The water supply is controlled by the corporation. The works at Longdendale, begun in 1848, were completed, with extensions in 1884, at a cost of £3,147,893. The area supplied by Manchester waterworks was about 85 square miles, inhabited by a million people. The increase of trade and population led to the obtaining of a further supply from Lake Thirlmere, at the foot of Helvellyn and 96 miles from Manchester. The watershed is about 11,000 acres. The daily consumption is over 38 million gallons. Manchester supplies in bulk to many local authorities in the district between Thirlmere and the city. The corporation have also established works for the supply of hydraulic and electric power.

The gas lighting of Manchester has been in the hands of the corporation for many years, as also the supply of electricity both for lighting and energy. When the works are complete the electricity committee will supply an area of 45 sq. m. Sanitary Condition.-Dr John Tatham constructed a Manchester life-table based on the vital statistics of the decennium 1881-1890, from which it appeared that, while in England and Wales of 1000 men aged 25 nearly 800 survived to be 45 and of 1000 aged 45, 569 survived to be 65, in Manchester the survivors were only 732 and 414 respectively. The expectation of life, at 25, was, for England and Wales 36 12 years, and for Manchester 30.69 years. rate has since rapidly decreased; in 1891 it was 26.0 per thousand living; in 1901 it was 21.6; in 1906 it was 19.0; in 1907 it was 17.9. The deaths of infants under one year old amounted to 169 per 1000.

But the death