iddle
ages, from palaces where a long succession of prelates had dwelt, from
closes surrounded by the venerable abodes of deans and canons, and from
castles which had in the old time repelled the Nevilles or de Veres, and
which bore more recent traces of the vengeance of Rupert or of Cromwell.

Conspicuous amongst these interesting cities were York, the capital
of the north, and Exeter, the capital of the west. Neither can have
contained much more than ten thousand inhabitants. Worcester, the queen
of the cider land had but eight thousand; Nottingham probably as many.
Gloucester, renowned for that resolute defence which had been fatal to
Charles the First, had certainly between four and five thousand; Derby
not quite four thousand. Shrewsbury was the chief place of an extensive
and fertile district. The Court of the Marches of Wales was held there.
In the language of the gentry many miles round the Wrekin, to go to
Shrewsbury was to go to town. The provincial wits and beauties imitated,
as well as they could, the fashions of Saint James's Park, in the walks
along the side of the Severn. The inhabitants were about seven thousand.
[92]

The population of every one of these places has, since the Revolution,
much more than doubled. The population of some has multiplied sevenfold.
The streets have been almost entirely rebuilt. Slate has succeeded to
thatch, and brick to timber. The pavements and the lamps, the display
of wealth in the principal shops, and the luxurious neatness of the
dwellings occupied by the gentry would, in the seventeenth century, have
seemed miraculous. Yet is the relative importance of the old capitals of
counties by no means what it was. Younger towns, towns which are
rarely or never mentioned in our early history and which sent no
representatives to our early Parliaments, have, within the memory
of persons still living, grown to a greatness which this generation
contemplates with wonder and pride, not unaccompanied by awe and
anxiety.

The most eminent of these towns were indeed known in the seventeenth
century as respectable seats of industry. Nay, their rapid progress
and their vast opulence were then sometimes described in language which
seems ludicrous to a man who has seen their present grandeur. One of the
most populous and prosperous among them was Manchester. Manchester
had been required by the Protector to send one representative to his
Parliament, and was mentioned by writers of the time