LANCASHIRE. 269 



in England ; the Exchange is a vast and splendid pile, in the classic style • the 

 Assize Courts is a beautiful Gothic pile, by Waterhouse — the same architect to 

 whom we are indebted for the Town Hall. The cathedral, or " old church," is 

 venerable for its age, but not remarkable for size. Amongst charitable institutions 

 the most important is the Infirmary, in front of which have been placed statues 

 of Wellington, Watt, Dalton (the discoverer of the atomic theory), and Sir Robert 

 Peel. PubKc parks and gardens supply the citizens with a fair amount of fresh air. 

 Besides three parks, one of them having a museum in its centre, there are the 

 Zoological Gardens at Bellevue, the Botanic Gardens at Trafford, the Alexandra 

 Park, with an Aquarium, and the Pomona Gardens, the two latter favourite places 

 of resort. 



In addition to pure air, Manchester is anxious to secure an ample supply of 

 pure water. The present supply amounts to 240,000,000 gallons daily, being at 

 the rate of 30 gallons per head of the population ; but as a considerable propor- 

 tion of this quantity is absorbed by the factories, the remainder does not ade- 

 quately meet the requirements of the inhabitants. The corporation has conse- 

 quently purchased a charming lake in Cumberland, the Thirlemere, with a view 

 of raising its level 50 feet by means of a dam, and carrying its limpid contents 

 along an aqueduct 90 miles in length, as far as Manchester. No doubt the 

 corporation might have obtained all the water they require had they converted 

 the neighbouring heaths into a huge basin for catching the rain, and constructed 

 gigantic reservoirs ; but these heaths are already dotted over with houses and 

 factories, and all the wealth of Manchester would hardly suffice to purchase them. 



Manchester is not merely a place of business and industry, for it can boast 

 its libraries, learned societies, and educational institutions. Cheetham Library, 

 founded in 1457, is the oldest amongst the former, but the modern Free Library 

 is far richer, if wealth can be counted by the number of volumes. Foremost 

 amongst educational institutions is the famous college founded by John Owen 

 in 1846. It has recently received a long-coveted charter, which confers upon it 

 the privileges of a university, named in honour of the Queen. 



The towns and villasres around Manchester are all of them more or less 

 dependent upon that city, and carry on the same industries. Swinton, Pencllehunj, 

 and Prestioich are towns on both banks of the Irwell above Manchester. Below 

 that city the river named flows past Trafford Park and the suburbs of Eccles and 

 Barton, the one famous for its wakes and cakes, the other noteworthy for the 

 aqueduct which carries the Bridge water Canal across the Irwell. Close by, at 

 Worsleij, is a seat of the Earl of Ellesmere. Siretford and Didshnry are the prin- 

 cipal places on the Mersey to the south of Manchester. Stretford has large 

 slaughter-houses for pigs, whilst Didsbury is the seat of a Wesleyan Methodist 

 College. The eastern and south-eastern suburbs of Manchester include Gorton, 

 with chemical works, in addition to the all-pervading cotton-mills, Newton Heath, 

 Bradford, Openshaw, Rusholme, and Levensholme. 



Farther away in the same direction, we reach a constellation of manu- 

 facturing towns, the principal amongst which is Ashton-under-Lyme, and which 



