were just the opposite of its present Liberal tendencies,
and it was Byrom, a Manchester man, who wrote the quaint epigram
regarding the Pretender and his friends which has been so often quoted:

"God bless the King--I mean our faith's defender!
God bless (no harm in blessing) the Pretender!
But who Pretender is, or who is King--
God bless us all!--that's quite another thing."

[Illustration: MANCHESTER CATHEDRAL. FROM THE SOUTH-EAST.]

It was the rapid growth of manufacturing industry in Manchester that
changed its politics, and it was here that was first conspicuously
advocated the free-trade agitation in England which triumphed in the
repeal of the Corn Laws, so as to admit food free of duty for the
operatives, and in the Reform bill that changed the representation in
Parliament. That fine building, the "Free-Trade Hall," is a monument of
this agitation in which Manchester took such prominent part. As the
city has grown in wealth, so has its architectural appearance improved;
its school-and college-buildings are very fine, particularly Owens
College, munificently endowed by a leading merchant. The Manchester
Cathedral is an ancient building overlooking the Irwell which has had to
be renewed in so many parts that it has a comparatively modern aspect.
Other English cathedrals are more imposing, but this, "the ould paroch
church" spoken of by the ancient chroniclers, is highly prized by the
townsfolk; the architecture is Perpendicular and of many dates. Until
recently this was the only parish church in Manchester, and consequently
all the marriages for the city had to be celebrated there; the number
was at times very large, especially at Easter, and not a few tales are
told of how, in the confusion, the wrong pairs were joined together, and
when the mistake was discovered respliced with little ceremony. It was
in this Manchester Cathedral that one rector is said to have generally
begun the marriage service by instructing the awaiting crowd to "sort
yourselves in the vestry."

[Illustration: THE ASSIZE COURTS, MANCHESTER.]

Some of the public buildings in Manchester are most sumptuous. The
Assize Courts are constructed in rich style, with lofty Pointed roofs
and a tall tower, and make one of the finest modern buildings in
England. The great hall is a grand apartment, and behind the courts is
the prison, near which the Fenians in 1867 made the celebrated rescue of
the prisoners from the van for which some of