eaks of Leeds, Halifax, and Bradford, "as three very rich and populous
towns, depending wholly upon clothing."

The first charter was granted to Leeds by Charles I., and the second by
Charles II., on petition of the clothworkers, merchants, and others, "to
protect them from the great abuses, defects and deceits, discovered and
practised by fraudulent persons in the making, selling, and dyeing of woollen
cloths."

The principal manufacture of Leeds is woollen cloth. Formerly the trade was
carried on by five or six thousand small master clothiers, who employed their
own families, and some thirty or forty thousand servants, and also carried on
small farms. But the extension of the factory system has somewhat diminished
their numbers. There are still, however, in connection with Leeds, several
small clothing villages, in which the first stages of the operation are
carried on, in spinning, weaving, and fulling.

Large quantities of worsted goods are brought to Leeds to be finished and
dyed, which have been purchased, in an undyed state, at Bradford and Halifax.
The dye-houses and dressing-shops of Leeds are very extensive. Goods
purchased in a rough state in the Cloth Halls and Piece Halls are taken there
to be finished. There are also extensive mills for spinning flax for linen,
canvas-sailing, thread, and manufactures of glass and earthenware. In
connection with Messrs. Marshall's flax factory, the same firm are carrying
on extensive experiments near Hull in growing flax.

Cloth Halls.--Previous to 1711, the cloth market was held in the open street.
In 1755, the present Halls were erected, and in them the merchants purchase
the half manufactured article from the country manufacturers.

The Coloured Cloth Hall is a quadrangular building, 127.5 yards long, and 66
broad, divided into six departments called streets. Each street contains two
rows of stands, and each stand measures 22 inches in front, and is inscribed
with the name of the clothier to whom it belongs. The original cost was 3
pounds 3s. This price advanced to 24 pounds at the beginning of the present
century; but it has now fallen below its original value--not owing to a
decrease in the quantity of manufactured goods, but owing to the prevalence
of the factory system--in which the whole operation is performed, from sorting
the piece to packing the cloth fit for the tailor's shelves--over the domestic
system of manufacturing. An additional story, erecte