a sort of literary society for young men of the middle classes; where a library of books, the periodical journals, lectures, classes for the modern languages, &c. are placed at the disposal of the members for a moderate annual premium. The Royal Institution was established for the encouragement of literature, science, and the arts; and it is creditable to the manufacturers of Manchester, that they subscribed nearly the whole of the money necessary for the construction of this fine building. Rooms for an annual exhibition of pictures and works of art; rooms for the School of Design, for the Manchester Geological Society, &c., are set apart from those which form the Royal Institution. Both this and the Athenæum are erected from the plans of Mr. Barry, the architect of the new Houses of Parliament: one is in the Italian Doric, and the other in the Italian Palazzo style; and both exhibit that fine taste which distinguishes this architect's compositions. (Cut, No. 4.) In the Athenæum have been of late years held meetings, in which men eminent in political and literary circles have taken part; and when the British Association met at Manchester in 1842, the Royal Institution and the Athenæum (which are separated only by a narrow street) were connected temporarily by a covered-way, and placed at the disposal of the scientific strangers.

The Corn Exchange in the oddly-named 'Hanging Ditch;' the monster Free-trade Hall, more remarkable for its vast area than for its external beauty, and still more remarkable for the commercial reforms with which its name is associated; the Club-houses in Mosleystreet and King-street-these are among the buildings. that meet the eye of a perambulator through the town. But we must hasten from these; and see whether there are any green and pleasant spots within walking distance of Manchester.

THE PARKS.

It must in truth be admitted, that green fields and Manchester smoke do not harmonize very well together. Densely-populated streets, relieved by very little more than dark mountains of brickwork in the form of factories, extend far and wide on all sides of the town. No farther ago than 1842 it was remarked by a tourist in Manchester, that "there was no public park or green in which the labouring population can enjoy healthy exercise and recreation. Nowhere are these elements of public health more necessary; because in the poorer districts of Manchester, such as Ancoats, Angel Meadows, and Little Ireland, the population is out of all proportion beyond the means of accommodation, and children can neither be conveniently kept in the small lodging-room, nor safely permitted to be out of doors."

Pleasant it is to say, that things have now begun to put on a more cheerful aspect. No fewer than three new Parks have been thrown open to the inhabitants of Manchester within the last twelvemonth; and the circumstances under which they have been formed are as creditable to the inhabitants as the parks themselves are acceptable. The three Parks are named 'Queen's,' Peel,' and 'Philip's' Parks, and are situated in the three neighbouring townships of Salford, Bradford, and Harpurhey. The wealthier inhabitants of Manchester, being earnestly desirous to see what could be done in the way of providing breathing-spots for their townsmen, formed themselves three or four years ago into a Public Parks' Committee, raised subscriptions from various quarters, and looked about them for available sites.

The Literary and Philosophical Society, which the venerable Dalton did so much to elevate to European fame, derives all its value from the papers produced by it, and from the names enrolled among its members, and not from the building devoted to its meetings. So long as the Atomic Theory of Dalton remains as the basis of modern chemistry, so long will the 'Transactions' of this Society be held in grateful remembrance. The Natural History Society has a Museum in Peter-street; a neat building, in which is deposited one of the best collections to be met with in the provinces. The Architectural, the Medical, and other Societies, all help to swell the number of those who are labouring in the march of mental improvement; whilst the Inde-❘ pendent College, and the Wesleyan Theological Institution, both situated in the suburbs of Manchester, show that neither education nor architectural beauty are neglected among the Dissenting bodies of the town. The municipal and commercial buildings of Manchester form a numerous group, of which some few are worth a glance for their external features. The three Town-halls of Manchester, Salford, and Chorlton-way begins to assume somewhat the appearance of a upon-Medlock; the New Bailey Prison at Salford; country road, stands a pleasant row of houses, named the Manchester, the Salford, and the Chorlton Work- The Crescent;' and opposite this Crescent stood houses-are among the buildings belonging to the Lark Hill,' a mansion and estate belonging to a municipal regulations of the town. Of those pertaining Manchester sheriff. This estate was sold by that more nearly to commerce, the chief, perhaps, is the gentleman to the Committee for a very low sum, two Mercantile Exchange, situated in Market-street. or three years ago; and preparations were immediately made for converting the grounds into a public Park. This park, to which the name of 'Peel Park' was given, was opened to the public in the autumn of 1846. Meanwhile a district further east was engaging the attention of the Committee. High up the Rochdale Road, in the township of Harpurhey, stood a mansion

is said to be the largest Exchange-room in Europe; and has a roof of carpentry constructed with great skill. The circular front of the building gives it a fine effect; although the Doric columns between modern Italian windows may be somewhat a departure from consistency. (Cut, No. 3.)

In a part of Salford where the smoke of factories begins to give way a little, and where the great high

and grounds, which the Committee purchased; and they made such changes as fitted that to obtain the name of 'Queen's Park.' Further eastward, again, the Committee looked, and purchased a third mansion and grounds, in Bradford township, not very far from the dense population of Ancoats and its neighbourhood: this was in like manner speedily transformed, and converted into a free pleasure-ground, to which the name of ' Philip's Park' was given, in grateful remembrance of a family which has been connected with much of the good and the great in Manchester.

Now it is a right pleasant morning's tour (perhaps we had better say a day's tour) to see these three Parks. They all exhibit features somewhat analogous. In each case, the mansion of the former proprietor has been left standing, and has been converted into a Refreshment-house, where a light refection (purposely kept free from alehouse habits and usages) is at the command of the holiday ramblers who choose to pay for it. These refreshment-houses are rented from the Committee by other parties, and are conducted on a system laid down and enforced by the Committee. At the Salford or 'Peel' Park, the Irwell (would that its stream were a little cleaner!) winds gracefully round the northern margin of the park; and the site is so laid out in walks, parterres, shrubberies, rising grounds, alternating with gentle hollows, &c., as to form a really park-like pleasure-ground. At 'Queen's Park' there is the beautiful vale of Smedley, situated not very far from the precincts; and this gives, when seen from the higher grounds of the park, a series of picturesque and varied views.

Not among the least welcome of the features of these parks are the arrangements for establishing playgrounds for the younger ramblers. At different parts of each park are plots of ground set off, some for boys' play-grounds, and some for girls. The boys' grounds are fitted up with climbing poles, balancing-bars, swings, and other erections for gymnastic exercises; while the girls' grounds have such among these as suit their sex and strength. Go into these grounds at any hour when juveniles may reasonably be expected to be at liberty, and you will see many a little urchin whose wardrobe is somewhat of the scantiest, but who is scampering and gambolling about in hearty glee. If he has more hair on his head than clothes on his back or money in his pocket, and if he has more animal spirits than anything else--why, let us not be too nice, but rather let us bid good cheer to those who have thrown open such a beautiful place to all, without restriction of age or station. If a more staid and quiet visitor would keep aloof from these younger members, he has abundance of room so to do; for the parks cover a large area; and he has walks and paths in plenty. Whitsun week is a rare time in these parks. Countless are the holiday parties to be seen rambling about the grounds-and the Refreshment-house: is it not a busy one at such a time!

Thickly plying vehicles convey the townspeople (who do not choose to walk) to these most acceptable

and valuable parks; and others will take the wayfarer also to a few other open spots in the vicinity of Manchester. For instance, on the road to Bury, about a mile and a half from the centre of the town, were established a few years ago the Zoological Gardens, covering an area of fifteen acres, and presenting that | mingled assemblage of animals and plants, pictures and fireworks, which now-a-days constitute Zoological Gardens. Again, at Old Trafford, on the Stretfordroad, are the Botanical Gardens; where the banana and the plantain, the sago and the fern palms, the cinnamon and the caoutchouc trees, the pitcher plant and the aramaria, may be seen flourishing in the vicinity of other plants more peculiarly belonging to our climate.

The Victoria Park' of Manchester is hardly a park in the same acceptation as we have before used the word. At about two miles distance from Manchester, on the south-east, is a plot of ground of a hundred and forty acres, which was selected a few years ago on account of its comparative salubrity as a site for villa houses; and many villas have been built around what may one day be a well laid out park. If we were to name cemeteries among the open spots which ornament and ventilate a town (and they certainly approach very far nearer to that character than the dismal graveyards of older times), then we may say that Manchester is not deficient in such open spots. There is the Rusholme-road Cemetery, formed in 1821; the Harpurhey Cemetery, formed in 1837; and the Ardwick Cemetery, of later date.

THE PEOPLE.

Such, then, being some of the external features of this great town, it may next be asked, what are the people of the town? How do they live: what is the relation which they bear one to another : what is the relation they bear to the inhabitants of other towns?

Manchester is the cotton metropolis; and everything in it is made subservient to the arrangements for carrying on the cotton manufacture. The merchant and the broker manage the interchange between the Liverpool and the Manchester men; the wholesale dealer is the combining link between the manufacturers of Manchester and those of the surrounding towns and villages: the factory-owner connects into a system all the multifarious agencies, human and mechanical, necessary for the production of manufactured goods: the machinist collects and puts together the iron heart and limbs and the steam lungs which are to do so much of the work. But still, ramify as it may, we find that cotton is the great material towards which, as a centre, all these powers tend. It is true that a vast trade is carried on in respect to silk, to flax, to woollens, and to countless other materials of manufactures ; but it is equally true that these are the outworks, the off-shoots; they are none of them the main staple.

As the factory system is the pervading principle of Manchester, so must the tone of society be dependent on it in a greater or less degree; but manufacturing

operations, as contradistinguished from commercial enterprises, necessarily call for the exercise of different powers of the mind; and hence the differences that are observable in the leading men of Liverpool and of Manchester. Those who have the best means of jadging, say (and the remark bears with it internal evidence of probability), that literature and art are better understood at Liverpool than at Manchester, but that science is better understood at Manchester than at Liverpool. It is certain, that the cotton-spinner and the calico-printer have constant demand made on their ingenuity-the one to develope mechanical applications, and the other both chemical and mechanical applications, of the principles furnished by science; while the Liverpool merchant has more need to study his fellow man than the attributes and qualities of matter; he has to fight his way into all the markets of the world, and to hold the balance between the foreigner on the one hand and the Manchester man on the other.

The club system has introduced a few changes in the higher grades of Manchester society. When the wealthier inhabitants were driven farther and farther away from the centre of the town by the construction of warehouses and commercial buildings, a club-house became a sort of convenient town residence, a combination of home and chop-house, which is eagerly sought after by the professional and mercantile men. There are two such clubs, the Union and the Albion, both of which are conducted on principles approaching very closely to those of the London clubs. We may very fairly presume that such a picture as Dr. Aikin gave of the Manchester manufacturers in his time (1795) may be ranked among the things of past days only. He tells us, that about that time John Shawe kept a common public-house in the market-place at Manchester, in which a large company of the respectable manufacturers met every day after dinner; and the rule was to call for sixpennyworth of punch. Here the news of the town was generally known. The "high change" at Shawe's was about six o'clock; and at eight o'clock every person was forced to quit the house; for Shawe went into the room with a long whip, and proclaimed aloud-"Past eight o'clock, gentlemen!" A proceeding for which, as Aikin tells us, "the ladies of Manchester often thanked him."

When we descend from the upper to the humbler classes of Manchester society, we find many remarkable features that belong in a considerable degree to the factory system as a whole. The social usages are a good deal influenced by the circumstance that the wealthier inhabitants do not live within the precincts of the town. "The town," says M. Leon Foucher, "is only inhabited by shopkeepers and operatives. The merchants and manufacturers have detached villas, situated in the midst of gardens and parks in the country. This mode of existence within the some what contracted horizon of the family circle, excludes social intercourse, and leads to a local absenteeism. And thus at the very moment when the engines are stopped and the counting-houses closed, everything

which was the thought-the authority—the impulsive force-the moral index of this immense industrial combination, flies from the town and disappears in an instant." M. Foucher is borne out by local writers in the opinion that the different classes of society in | Manchester are rather too much estranged from each other; but his inferences and assertions, as frequently happens when foreigners judge the English after a hasty visit, are too sweeping, and require to be received with caution. His letters first appeared in the Revue des deux Mondes,' under the title of Etudes sur l'Angleterre,' and were afterwards collected into two volumes. In this point, however differing from him in many respects, we think he is right. We have heard the same injurious moral effects attributed to the said "local absenteeism" of Birmingham. Writers well acquainted with the social position of Manchester have often drawn attention to the sort of estrangement that exists between classes whose mutual interests, to say nothing of higher principles, ought to produce cordial union. But it must in fairness be borne in mind, that every year tends to form new links of kindly communication between the upper and lower classes in Manchester. The parks are an out-door improvement in this direction; and there are many recent institutions at Manchester that tend in various ways toward the same good end. The establishment of schools, the better internal regulation of factories, the attention of Parliament and of various societies to the moral well-being of the operatives-all will bear their kindly fruit in time. In the meanwhile, however, it is beyond dispute, that there is much wretchedness among the humbler inhabitants. Improvident habits of expenditure, dirty and ill-ventilated dwellings, are far too frequent; and it is for social improvers to see how far these can be reformed and bettered. It is admitted on all hands, that the large factories situated in the valleys that surround Manchester, afford more facilities for attending to the domestic and personal well-being of the operatives, than those in the heart of the busy towns. In the town, the smoky factories and the poor dwellings are in far too close junction; and it has distressed many a benevolent heart to read the accounts which recent investigations have brought forward, of the state of the pent-up cellars, and courts, and alleys of Manchester, and other northern towns.

But while these sad truths present themselves to notice, let us not forget those good spirits who are striving to raise the cotton-workers to their proper position as social beings. Many such are to be found within the wide circle of which Manchester is the centre. One of the most deeply interesting examples of this striving after justice and kindness, was elucidated in the Westminster Review for 1840. In that volume, in an article relating to the elevation of the working-classes, were printed two letters addressed to Mr. Horner by a cotton manufacturer, who had been asked for a description of the social economy which he had introduced into one of his factories. The name of