ww GREAT NATIONAL INSTITUTION, T BRIDGE STREET, MANCHESTER. THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF MUSIC, for the Education of Young Gentlemen, who will receive appointments, as soon as competent, as Masters of Consor atoires of Music, to be established throughout the United Kingdom, and the MANCHES R CONSERVATOIRE OF MUSIC, for the encouragement of Music amongs the Little Maids and Little Men and Adults of Manchester, both established in Bridge Street, and now open for the admission of Pupils. Prospectuses may be had, either on personal application or by forwarding a stamped envelope. Ladies and Gentlemen wishful to join the classes can only be admitted on a Saturday, between the hours of Four and Six o'clock in the Afternoon. LIZA HODGSON, authorised GAS FITTER for Manchester, Salford, E 62, King-street, Four Doors below Cross-st., Manchester. ALL THE BEST AND NEWEST DESIGNS IN Chandeliers, Hall Lamps, Vestibule Lights, Crystal Lustres, MODERATOR LAMPS, &c. GENERAL FURNISHING IRONMONGERY and FANCY WAREHOUSE, 62, KING-ST. JONES'S PECTORAL OXYMEL OF HOREHOUND, FOR CULTY of BREATHING, SORENESS of the CHEST, HOARSE NESS, ASTHMA, &c.-Sold in Bottles at 74d., 1s. 1d., and 2s. 9d. each. Prepared only by JAMES JONES, Dispensing Chemist (late Assistant to the Salford Royal Dispensary), 141, CHAPEL STREET, SALFORD. MANCHESTER FIRE ASSURANCE COMPANY, ESTABLISHED 1824 Chief Offices: 98, KING STREET, MANCHESTER;96, CHEAPSIDE, LONDON. Board of Directors in Manchester: Chairman. James Heald, Esq., Deputy Chairman. James Collier Harter, Esq. George Withington, Esq. Board of Directors in London: Joseph Peel, Esq. TH The Manchester and Liverpool District Banking Company, Manchester. The City Bank, London. HE MANCHESTER FIRE ASSURANCE COMPANY was established in 1824, upon principles of public utility, and consists of a numerous and wealthy proprietary-possessing a large paid-up Capital, which, with the accumulations of Profits, offers to Insurers the most an ple security. The cheerfulness and promptitude with which important Losses have at all times been paid by this Company are well known and admitted, it being at all times the desire of the Directors to settle them with liberality and despatch. By a system of the most complete classification the result of each description of risk is ascertained annually; and the rates charged, being founded on an experience of more than Thirty years, are as favour able to the Insured as is consistent with the security of the Company. JAMES B. NORTHCOTT, Secretary to the Company. History of Manchester. CHAPTER I. Ethnological Views-The Britons as described by Cæsar, Xiphiline, Herodian, Diodorus Siculus, and Strabo-Manners and Customs of the Britons-The Druids-Mancenion Founded by the Sistuntii-Roman Invasions-Agricola Captures Mancenion, and Founds a Camp or Station there-The Garrison of Mancunium-Roman Roads-Supporting Camps or Stations- Agriculture, &c., introduced by the Roman Legionaries-Decline of the Roman Power, and Withdrawal of the Legions-Invasions of the Picts and ScotsThe Anglo-Saxons called in-Roman Remains Found at Manchester. A DENSE obscurity veils the early history of Britain. Of its primitive condition we are almost entirely ignorant; and we possess no certain knowledge as to the time when, or the race by whom, the island was originally peopled. The result of the researches of modern antiquaries and ethnologists seems to be that the British islands, when they were first known to the Romans, were inhabited by numerous tribes, which were by no means all of the same race. The question of what may have been the original stock can now only be a subject of conjecture and speculation, but it is very probable that it was represented by the Celts of Ireland and the Northern Gael. The most powerful of these tribes, both in regard to its numbers and the extent of its territory, was that of the Brigantes, who held the entire country extending from sea to sea, having for its southern limit the Mersey and the Humber, and stretching northwards to the district now called Northumberland, which was held by a tribe called the Ottadeni, and to the Lowlands of Scotland. Two divisions, apparently of the stock of the Brigantes, the Voluntii and the Sistuntii, occupied the western part of this extensive territory, and to the latter of these the first foundation of a town in this neighbourhood is generally ascribed. 'It is remarkable,' observes Thomas Wright, that the same tribes are found under the same names, Brigantes, Voluntii, &c., occupying territories in the opposite island of Hibernia (Ireland); and according to different ethnological theories, they had either come from Ireland into Britain, or had gone from Britain into Ireland. From what we know of the general current of migration of the western races, the latter was probably the case. The language of the Brigantes has long disappeared from England, but the same reasons for its early disappearance in Ireland never existed, and had the Irish Brigantes and kindred tribes belonged to that branch of the Celtic race which is known by the name of Cymri, we can hardly doubt that we should have found some traces of it in the Celtic dialects of modern Ireland. It appears to me that probability, at least, is in favour of the Brigantes being Gaels, and not Cymri.' The notions generally current respecting the state of Britain at the time of its invasion by the Romans, are almost exclusively derived from the statements of Cæsar, but it should excite no surprise that many of them are at variance with the truth, when it is remembered that his stay here was but brief, and that but a very small part of the country fell under his own observation. His account may be given in a few words. The people on the coast where he landed much resembled the Gauls, though they had no coinage, but used instead brass or iron rings as money; and the rest of the natives, who were reputed aborigines, were mere savages, clad in skins, and dyeing their bodies with woad, which gave them a terrible appearance; they had large herds of cattle, and lived on milk and flesh, not cultivating corn; they wore their hair long, and shaved their beards; and they dwelt together in parties of ten or twelve, who had wives in common. Some of these statements are confirmed by Xiphiline and Herodian, when speaking of the unsubdued tribes in the time of Severus; but others are quite contrary to fact, as a great number of British coins exist, some of which are of gold, and bear an ear of corn on the reverse, thus testifying both knowledge and esteem of agriculture, and Diodorus Siculus says, 'They who dwell near the promontory of Britain, which is called Belerium (now Land's End,) are singularly fond of strangers, and from their intercourse with foreign merchants, civilised in their habits.' Strabo too says, 'The Cassiterides are inhabited by men in black cloaks, clad in tunics reaching to the feet, and girt about the breasts, walking with staves, and bearded like goats.' Cæsar tells us that the inland regions produced tin, and the maritime iron; but other writers more accurately inform us that tin was produced near the sea-shore, and that it was skilfully worked and fused by the natives. Besides tin, lead and skins are mentioned as being exchanged with foreign merchants for glass beads, earthenware, salt, and brazen vessels. The British exports were afterwards increased by the addition of slaves and fierce hunting-dogs, and subsequently by wheat in large quantities. To all the natives of Britain the praise of desperate valour is due. Cæsar acknowledges that their horsemen and charioteers contended vigorously with him; and to the last period of the Roman occupation there were numerous tribes that had never been subdued. Previous to Cæsar's arrival the kingly form of government prevailed among the Britons, and it was continued long after, though in subordination to the authority of the Roman governors, but the most truly influential persons were the Druids. These men seem to have been the depositaries of all the learning that then was, and they had numerous and well-attended schools, where they taught many things respecting the stars and their motions, respecting the extent of the world and of our earth, respecting the nature of things, respecting the power and the majesty of the immortal gods.' But the Druids were not merely teachers; they imposed ordinances upon all classes, and enforced them by terrible penalties. They were the arbiters of peace and war. They had sacred groves, and rude stone temples, in which they offered human sacrifices; and so powerful was the influence which they exercised over their countrymen, that the Romans disregarded their usual policy of non-interference with the superstitions and priesthoods of the nations they conquered, and laboured zealously to destroy both the priests and the altars of Britain. The dwellings of the aboriginal Britons consisted of slight cabins of reeds and wattles, and in some places of caverns in the earth, many sets of which, arranged with an approach to symmetry, antiquaries have recognised; but Cæsar informs us that the maritime tribes had houses built after the fashion prevalent in Gaul, that is, of wood, of a circular figure, and thatched. These houses were generally raised on a foundation of stone. They had, however, public edifices for the purposes of religion, of which we have examples in the stupendous fabric of Stonehenge, and in the numerous Druidical circles scattered over the various counties of England, particularly those in the north. Such towns as they had were clusters of huts erected upon a cleared portion of the forests which covered the greater part of the island, and they were invariably surrounded by a rampart constructed of felled trees strongly interlaced and wattled, and a deep fosse, which together constituted a fortification that we may believe even the veteran legions of Rome often found it difficult to storm. Such were the manners and customs of the Britons when they first became known to the Romans, and such no doubt prevailed among the Sistuntii, the men who founded the town of Mancenion, the Place of Tents', as Whitaker renders it, the precursor of the Manchester of to-day, the Metropolis of Manufactures,' and as it has not unfrequently been termed the 'Workshop of the World.' This ancient town was situated on the piece of land near the confluence of the Irwell and Medlock, now and long known by the name of Castlefield, and appears to have covered an area of about twelve acres. It was protected on the east and north by a deep fosse, on the west by a precipitous bank easily defended, and on the south by the Medlock, access to which was gained by a path hewn out of the rock. The stone required in the construction of the town is stated by Whitaker to have been brought from a large quarry near the Irk, at the place now known as Collyhurst. The first invasion of the Romans under Cæsar had little or no effect upon the tribes inhabiting the northern and western parts of Britain, removed as they were from the scene of his 1 Mancenion has been variously interpreted 'The Place of Tents,' 'The Camp near the Quarries,' and 'The Plain of Lamentation;' the latter is derived from the Celtic Magh-an-Chaoine, |