The department is traversed from south to north by a range of hills, in many parts picturesque, and connected in the south with those of Maine and Brittany. In the country round Mortain, which has been called the Switzerland of Normandy, they rise to a height of 1200 feet, and at Cherbourg their altitude is still from 500 to 600 feet. As a whole the department has an English aspect, with its broken and tide-beaten shores often enveloped in mist, and its ever-verdant meadows. The coast-line, running northward along the bay of the Seine from the rocks of Grand Camp to Cape Barfieur, thence westward to Cape la Hague, and finally southward to the Bay of Mont St Michel, has a length of 200 miles. The Vire and the Taute (which receives the Ouve as a tributary on the left) fall into the sea at the Calvados border, and are united by a canal some miles above their mouths. From the mouth of the Taute a low beach runs to St Vaast la Hougue, where the coast becomes rocky, with sandbanks. Between Cape Barfieur and Cape la Hague lie the roads of Cherbourg, protected by the famous breakwater. The whole western coast is inhospitable; its petty havens, lying behind formidable barriers and reefs, are almost dry at low tide. Great cliffs like the points of Jobourg (420 feet high) and Flamanville alternate with long strands such as that which extends for 30 miles from Cape Carteret to Granville. Between this coast and the Channel Islands the tide, pent up between numerous sandbanks, flows with a terrific force that has given these passages such ill-omened names as Passage de la Déroute and the like. The only important harbours are Granville and the haven of refuge of Diélette between Granville and Cherbourg. The chief stream is the Sienne with its tributary the Soulle flowing by Coutances. South of Granville the sands of St Pair are the commencement of the great Bay of Mount St Michel, whose area of 60,000 acres was covered with forest till the terrible tide of the year 709. The equinoctial tides reach a vertical height of nearly 50 feet. Amidst the foam rise the picturesque walls of the abbey, from the summit of a rock 400 feet 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. At Cherbourg, in spite of the northerly exposure, the mean temperature is 3° Fahr, above the mean for that latitude over France. Frosts are never severe; myrtles and fuchsias flourish in the open air. Excessive heat is also unusual; the predominant winds are south-west. Rains are frequent, as the verdure of the country testifies, but they are not violent, the annual rainfall varying from 30 to 34 inches.

Of the entire area more than the half is arable, 198,000 acres are meadow land, 52,000 are under wood, and 82,000 are heath. The soil is not naturally fertile, but vegetation is promoted by the humidity of the climate and by artificial improvements. The characteristic industry of the department is the rearing of horses and other live stock; the horses number 92,839, besides several thousands of asses and mules, and there are 270,000 horned cattle, 277,000 sheep, upwards of 100,000 pigs, and 40,000 beehives. In 1876 the department yielded 1,458,476 hectolitres of wheat, 83,393 of meslin, 1,014,662 of barley, 427,360 of sarrasin, 484,365 of oats, 52,236 of rye, 683,834 of potatoes, 72,401 of dried legumes, 363,372 of beetroot, and 8758 quintals of hemp; and in the same year there were manufactured 86,088 kilogrammes of linseed oil and 39,380 kilogrammes of colza oil. The arable and meadow lands occupy the eastern portion of the department; legumes are grown in the west, where lands adapted for market gardening purposes are worth as much as 15,000 francs per hectare. Manche has a larger production of cider than any other department of France (upwards of 28,000,000 gallons). Besides apples, pears, plums, cherries, and figs are grown. The fields are lined with rows of oak, elm, and beech, which furnish good timber for building purposes. The aspen, poplar, walnut, and chestnut are also common. Some attempts at reclamation have been made along the sea-shore. The department contains valuable granite quarries in the Cherbourg arrondissement and the Chausay Islands; there are also deposits of carboniferous marble, kaolin, talc, and of calcareous sand (“tangue”) used as manure. There are smiths’ forges and iron foundries, important brass foundries, and establishments for the manufacture of tools, needles, and other kinds of hardware. The port and arsenal of Cherbourg is very complete in all its appointments. The department has 45 wool-spinning factories with 13,123 spindles, and 6 cotton-spinning mills with 50,000 spindles; and cloth-making, paper-making, tanning, and other industries are carried on. On the coast there are important beds for oyster culture, and the maritime population, when not engaged in the pursuit of the herring, mackerel, or lobster, collect ware and sea-grass. The shipping of Manche amounts to some 4600 vessels, with an aggregate tonnage of 29,000 tons; the exports consist of butter, eggs, poultry, live stock, legumes, meat, fish, horses, grain, stone, brasiery, and hardware. The population in 1876 was 539,910. There are six arrondissements (St LÔ, Avranches, Cherbourg, Coutances, Mortain, Valognes), 48 cantons, and 643 communes; the capital is St Lδ.

Paries and Statues.— Of the parks and open spaces the principal is the Peel Park in Salford, containing an area of about 40 acres. In its centre is the building containing the Salford library, and also a valuable museum of natural history and a collection of paintings known as the Langworthy gallery (built and endowed by the late Mr E. R. Langworthy, a wealthy Manchester merchant). Among the notable pictures may be named the Last Sleep of Argyll and the Execution of Montrose, by Mr E. Μ. Ward. Seedley Park, Ordsail Park, and Albert Park have been recently constructed, and are situated in Salford,—where also is the Kersal Moor, a bit of wild moorland, some 21 acres in extent, now under the care of the corporation of Salford. The moor has long been noted for the richness of its flora, about one-eighth of the English flowering plants having been gathered on its very limited area. It has also been the scene of an entomological incident of some interest—the capture of the Oecophara Woodiella, of which there is no other recorded habitat. The Queen’s Park at Harpurhey is pleasantly situated, notwithstanding that it is now completely surrounded by cottages and manufactories. In the centre is a small museum, the chief interest of which depends upon a series of phrenological casts made by Gall and Spurzheim and completed by Bally. Philips Park is also attractive, not withstanding its close proximity to some of the densest portions of the town. The principal parks so far named were constructed from money obtained by a public subscription in 1846, but the Alexandra Park at Moss Side has been entirely paid for out of the public rates. It has very good ornamental grounds, but owing to the difficulties of the situation the construction has been somewhat costly. In this connexion may be mentioned the Botanical Gardens, which are situated at Old Trafford, and, although intended chiefly for the subscribers, are open at certain times to the public on liberal terms.

Manchester is not remarkable for the number of its public memorials of the dead; but it possesses some which should not be passed unnoticed. In front of the infirmary are bronze statues of Wellington, Watt, Dalton, and Peel. A bronze statue of Cobden occupies a prominent position in St Ann’s Square. The marble statue of the Prince Consort, covered by a Gothic canopy of stone, is placed in Albert Square, in proximity to the town-hall, the enormous proportions of which have the effect of dwarfing what would otherwise be a striking monument. The most picturesque is the bronze statue of Cromwell, on a huge block of rough granite as pedestal. In the Peel Park are statues of Queen Victoria, the Prince Consort, Sir Robert Peel, and Joseph Brotherton.

Public Buildings.— There are many fine public buildings in Manchester. Among them may briefly be noticed the royal infirmary, consisting of three sides of a quadrangle, one of which owes its existence to the benevolence of Jenny Lind, who gave two concerts in order to raise the necessary funds. The institution will accommodate about two hundred and sixty patients. The royal exchange is a fine specimen of Italian architecture, and was erected in 1869; the great meeting-hall is one of the largest rooms in England, the ceiling having a clear area, without supports, of 120 feet in width. The exchange is seen at its best on market days (Tuesday and Friday), when representatives from all parts of Lancashire, and indeed of the neighbouring counties, are earnestly engaged in buying and selling. The assize courts were built in 1864 from designs by Waterhouse. The style is a mixture of Early English and Decorative, and a large amount of decorative art has been expended on the building. The cost was about £100,000. The New Bailey prison, intended for the criminals of Salford hundred, was built (1787) in accordance with the suggestions of Howard, the prison philanthropist, but in 1868 the present structure, at the rear of the assize courts, was erected. The style of architecture is Norman, and the building, which covers 0 acres, cost £170,000. The city jail is situated in Hyde Road. The old town-hall was built in 1832, in imitation of the Erectheum of Athens, at a cost of £40,000; it is now occupied by the town library. The business of the city is conducted in the new town-hall, probably beyond dispute the most important municipal building in the kingdom, if not in Europe. It was completed in 1877, from designs by Waterhouse, who selected as the style of architecture a form of Gothic, but treated it very freely as purposes of utility required. The edifice covers 8000 square yards, and includes more than two hundred and fifty rooms. The triangular or flat-iron form of the site was a great difficulty, but the architect has skilfully surmounted it. The building consists of continuous lines of corridors surrounding a central courtyard and connected by bridges. The principal tower is 260 feet high, and affords a view which extends over a large part of South Lancashire and Cheshire, and is bounded only by the hills of Derbyshire. It contains a remarkable peal of bells by Taylor of Loughborough, forming an almost perfect chromatic scale of twenty-one bells; each bell has on it a line from section 105 of Tennyson’s In Memoriam. The great hall is 100 feet long and 50 feet wide, and contains a magnificent organ built by Cavaillé-Coll of Paris. The panels of this room are being filled with mural paintings illustrating the various incidents connected with the history and progress of the city. The total cost of the building has been £1,053,264, inclusive of £201,925 for interest. The branch Bank of England is a Doric building designed by Cockerell. The Salford town-hall is also Doric; and there are besides separate town-halls for the townships of Λrdwick, Chorlton, Hulme, Cheetham, Broughton, and Pendleton. The Free Trade hall is a fine structure in the Lombardo-Venetian style, and its great hall will accommodate five thousand people. It is used for public meetings, concerts, &c., and was built by Walters. The young men’s Christian association hall was originally used as a natural history museum. The Royal Institution, built by Sir Chari es Barry, is a proprietary institution intended for the encouragement chiefly of the fine arts. In the entrance hall are casts of the Elgin Marbles, given by George IV., and a statue of Dalton by Chantrey. There is a small permanent gallery, and periodical exhibitions of pictures are held and courses of lectures delivered. Arrangements have now (1882) been concluded by which the institution will become the property of the town and be managed by a joint committee of members of the town council and others interested in art and literature. The Athenaeum, also designed by Barry, was founded by Richard Cobden and others associated with him, for “the advancement and diffusion of knowledge.” The institution has, perhaps, not developed exactly on the lines contemplated by its promoters, but it has become one of the most useful in the town. All the advantages enjoyed by members of high-class social clubs, with the addition of facilities for educational classes and the use of an excellent news-room and a well-selected library of 18,000 volumes, are offered in return for a payment which does not amount to a penny a day. The mechanics’ institution contains a library of 17,000 volumes, and has connected with it excellent day and evening schools, and classes for technical instruction. The Portico is a good specimen of the older proprietary libraries and newsrooms. It dates from 1806, and has a library of 20,000 volumes. The Memorial Hall was built to commemorate the memory of the Nonconformist ejected ministers of 1662. The Unitarian home missionary board has here its library and rooms for the education of students; and the building is used for a variety of meetings, scientific, educational, musical, and religious. The inconvenience arising from inadequate provision for postal service is, after many years of hesitation, to be remedied by the erection, now (1882) in progress, of a commodious post-office.

Means of Communication.— The opening of the Manchester and Liverpool Railway in 1830 marked an important epoch in the history of modern industry, and since that time Manchester has gradually been connected by rail with every part of the kingdom. The enormous traffic by this means has not, however, entirely superseded the use of the canals, which formerly played so important a part in the cotton industry. The construction of the Bridgewater Canal in 1761 was an event second in importance only to that of the introduction of the railway system. There are three large railway stations, Victoria, London Road, and the Central, and several minor ones. The excellence of the omnibus system of the city was perhaps one principal cause for the somewhat tardy adoption of tramways; but these have now rapidly developed, and ensure facilities for transit between the different parts of the city and also for communication with the neighbouring towns and villages. The establishment of a ship canal to connect Manchester with the sea has been frequently suggested at intervals for the last sixty years, and a scheme of tidal navigation elaborated by Mr Hamilton Fulton is now (1882) being actively discussed.

JFater Supply.— This is under the control of the corporation, which supplies not only the citizens but the surrounding populations. The gathering-ground is a series of reservoirs in the valley of Longdendale, chiefly along the course of the river Etherow. Woodhead, the chief reservoir, 20 miles from Manchester, is 777 feet above sea-level, is 72 feet deep, covers an area of 155 acres, and has a capacity of 1,235,000,000 gallons. The present system of waterworks, including the portions now being constructed at Audenshaw and Denton, have an area of reservoirs of 854∣ acres, and a capacity of holding 5,914,000,000 gallons. The average daily supply of water was in 1855 8,078,152 gallons; in 1881 it was 18,929,704 gallons. In 1877 the water committee announced that in view of the increased demand it would be necessary to obtain additional or fresh sources of supply. The proposal to utilize Thirlmere in Cumberland for this purpose was vehemently opposed, but the scheme was eventually sanctioned by parliament, and the works have been begun, but have not as yet made rapid progress. Thirlmere is 533 feet above the sea, and it is proposed to raise it by an embankment to 584 feet above the sea. From this height it is estimated that a maximum quantity of 50,000,000 gallons might be withdrawn daily.

Lighting.— The corporation not only manufactures gas for the lighting of the city, but sells it to out-districts. The area of distribution amounts to 42 square miles, and the street mains for the gas supply are 597 miles long. The entire assets of the gas-works were valued in September 1881 at £1,386,942. The average quantity of gas transmitted daily was 2,425,630,000 cubic feet. The revenue from the sale of bye-products is about £90,000. Salford, which is supplied with water by Manchester, has its own gas-works, the property of the ratepayers, and managed by a committee of the town council.

Administration of Justice.— The city has a stipendiary magistrate who, in conjunction with lay magistrates, tries cases of summary jurisdiction in the police courts; these are held in a building erected for the purpose, and having some architectural pretensions. There are also quarter sessions, presided over by a recorder. Separate sessions are held for the Salford hundred. Salford has also o, police court with a stipendiary magistrate. Certain sittings of the Court of Chancery for the duchy of Lancaster are held in Manchester. In addition to the county court, there is an ancient civil court known as the Salford Hundred Court of Record. Assizes have been held since 1866.

Churches.— The chief ecclesiastical building in Manchester is the cathedral, which, however, hardly corresponds to the ideas usually associated with that word. It was indeed built simply as a parish church, and, although a fine specimen of Perpendicular Gothic, is by no means what might be expected as the cathedral of an important and wealthy diocese. Though there are remains of older work, 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 Holden, which was not finished until 1868, when the tower was almost completely renovated in a more durable stone than that formerly used. The total length is 220 feet and the breadth 112 feet; the only parish church exceeding it in this last dimension is said to be that of Coventry. There are several stained-glass windows. In the Ely chapel is the altar tomb of Bishop Stanley, the father of the gallant Sir John Stanley, who fought at Flodden Field. In the stalls there are some curious miserere carvings. The tower is 139 feet high, and contains a peal of ten bells, chiefly from the foundry of the Kudhalls. There are two organs, one by Father Smith, and a new one erected at a cost of more than £7000, and enclosed in an oak case designed by the late Sir G. Scott. The church endowments are considerable, and have been the subject of a special act of parliament, known as the Manchester Rectory Division Act of 1845, which provides <£1500 per annum for the dean, and £600 to each of the four canons, and divides the residue among the incumbents of the new churches formed out of the old parish. There are about one hundred places of worship in Manchester belonging to the Church of England, but they are not especially remarkable. Of the Roman Catholic churches, the most important are the cathedral church of St John in Salford, of the earliest Decorative character, with a spire 240 feet in height, and the church of the Holy Name, which belongs to the Jesuits, and is remarkable for its costly decoration. Salford is the seat of a Roman Catholic bishopric, as Manchester is the seat of an Anglican one. Most of the Nonconformist bodies have churches in the city and its environs. The meeting-house of the Society of Friends is said to be the largest of the kind in the kingdom, and will seat twelve hundred persons.

Literature and Science.— Manchester possesses numerous associations for the cultivation of literature and science. The oldest of these, the Literary and Philosophical Society, founded in 1781, has a high reputation, and has numbered among its working members John Dalton, Eaton Hodgkinson, William Fairbairn, J. P. Joule, H: E. Roscoe, and many other famous men of science. It has published a lengthy series of memoirs and proceedings. The Manchester Literary Club was founded in 1862, and publishes an annual volume of papers. The Manchester Statistical Society was the first society of the kind established in the kingdom, and has issued Transactions containing many important papers. The Scientific Students’ Association, the Field Naturalists’ and Archaeologists’ Society, the Microscopical Society, the Botanists’ Association, the Geological Society, and the Science Association may also be named. Several printing clubs, the Chetham, Record, Holbein, and English Dialect societies, have their headquarters here. Nine daily papers are published, and the journalism of Manchester takes high rank. The periodicals issued are between fifty and sixty in number.

University and Schools.— There are many educational facilities in Manchester and Salford. The oldest school is the Manchester grammar school, which was founded in 1519 by Hugh Oldham, bishop of Exeter, who was a native of Crumpsail, one of the outskirts of the town. The foundation was done “out of the good mind he bore to the county of Lancashire, perceiving that the children thereof, having pregnant wits, were for the most part brought up rudely and idly; that knowledge might be advanced, and that the children might be better taught to love, honour, and dread God and His laws.” The master and usher appointed by the good bishop were to teach freely every child and scholar coming to the school, “without any money or reward taken.” Some 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 been reconstituted on a new basis within recent years, and has now two hundred and fifty free scholars, whilst other pupils are received on payment of low fees. Mr E. R. Langworthy bequeathed to it £10,000 as an endowment for scholarships. Among those educated at the grammar school may be mentioned Thomas De Quincey and the late Mr Harrison Ainsworth.

The Owens College was founded in 1846 by John Owens, who left nearly £100,000 to trustees for an institution in which should be taught “such branches of learning and science as were then and might be hereafter usually taught in English universities.” The college was opened in 1851, in a house which had formerly been the residence of Cobden, but in 1872 it was removed to its present home, a handsome Gothic building designed by Waterhouse. An appeal made to the public in 1867 in behalf of the college was heartily responded to, and its capital funds now amount to over £400,000. The building is carefully adapted to its purposes; and the chemical laboratory, a separate structure at the rear, is of the completest description. The first bishop of Manchester, Dr J. Prince Lee, who had an interesting library of some 6000 volumes, bequeathed it to the college, which has also received gifts of books and money from various other quarters, and thus has now the nucleus of an important collection. The Royal School of Medicine, which was founded in 1824, and had acquired the reputation of being one of the most successful of the provincial schools, has been amalgamated with the college. The Medical Society has, by an arrangement with the college authorities, deposited its valuable library of 22,000 volumes in the college rooms. The Manchester museum is now the property of the college, and contains the bulk of the specimens gathered by the Geological Society and by the now extinct Natural History Society. A suitable building for the accommodation of the museum has long been a decided want, and is now (1882) about to be undertaken. The growing importance of the Owens College led to the project for a university charter. The proposal was not received without some opposition, but as the result of lengthy discussions and adjustments a scheme was evolved for a university to consist of affiliated colleges, situated in different towns, but having its centre in Manchester; and the charter of the Victoria University was granted in 1880, with full powers to grant degrees except in medicine—an exception which is to be removed. Among the other educational institutions of the district are the Lancashire Independent college, the Primitive Methodist college, the Baptist institute, the St Bede’s college (Roman Catholic), the college for women, the Salford college for working men, the school of art, and many minor institutions. The elementary education is controlled by an elected school board. Salford has also a school board. Very nearly the oldest educational institution in the town is...