wife 52 years, had six children, and a numerous family, (boarding and teaching many of the neighbouring gentry) out of which not one died all that time: himself was the first, July 8, 1637, in the 86th year of his age.

At SPOFFORTH, about four miles south from Knaresborough, there was formerly a castle and park of the Earl of Northumberland, which suffered considerable damage in the wars between the houses of York and Lancaster. It was the seat of the Percies, before Alnwick or Warkworth, and was probably erected in the time of Edward III. The remains of the.castle are situated on a rock, with vaults under all the rooms. The great hall, though much ruined, is 76 feet long, by 37 wide, and has the cathedral windows introduced after the reign of Edward I. The manor aud castle of Spofforth, after the battle of Bramham Moor, were given by Henry IV. to Sir Thomas Rokeby.

We pursue our route through Harewood, which we have already described, and meet with nothing requiring particular notice, until we reach

LEEDS,

Which Leland describes as a praty market town, having one paroche church, reasonably well builded, and as large as Bradford, but not so quick as it. The town stondeth most by clothing." Leeds is a place of considerable antiquity, and is particularly mentioned in Doomsday book, under the reigns of Edward the Confessor and William the Conqueror. It formerly had a strong castle, supposed to have been built by Ilbert de Lacy, which was besieged by King Stephen in 1139, and here the unfortunate Richard II. was confined about the year 1399. No remains of the building exist; but its site is said to have been a place now called Mill-hill.

The town of Leeds is situated on the river Aire, which runs nearly through the middle of it, in a direction from west to cast. The parish extends about

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seven miles from east to west, and is thirty miles in circumference; it is divided into ten townships, exclusive of the township of Leeds, and a village one mile distant. Leeds has lately been reckoned, in point of opulence and population, the principal place of the West Riding, and it bears a high rank among our manufacturing towns.

It was first incorporated by Charles I. and at the commencement of the civil wars in that reign it was held some time for the king by Sir William Saville. A second charter was obtained in the 13th of Charles II. under which it is now governed, although two others have been since granted, viz. a third in 1684, by James II. and a fourth in 1689, by William and Mary.

Within the last 30 years the town has encreased to more than double its number of inhabitants, and it is every day enlarging its dimensions and improving its general appearance, by new erections in an elegant stile of architecture.

Of the public buildings, the parish Church is entitled to our first notice. This venerable and spacious structure, is commonly called St. Peter's or the Old Church. It is built in the form of a cathedral, with a large cross aisle, and a steeple, or tower, in the centre. The church is 165 feet in length; in breadth 97; the nave 51 feet in height, and the steeple 96 feet. The choir or chancel is uncommonly spacious, measuring about 59 by 88 feet. The roof of the church is supported by three rows of Gothic pillars. In the nave of the church are four aisles, which run from the chancel to the west end. There are four other churches, all handsome modern structures; but containing nothing particularly requiring our notice here. There are also various meeting-houses for all descriptions of dissenters, and a Roman Catholic chapel.

The GENERAL INFIRMARY is a very handsome and extensive building, situated in a large and plea

sant

sant square at the west end of the town.

It stands in

the midst of a large court and garden, and has every requisite out-building. The first stone of this building was laid by Edwin Lascelles, Esq. (afterwards Lord Harewood), in the year 1768, and it was opened for the reception of patients March 5th,

1771.

The HOUSE OF RECOVERY, is a substantial and well-built edifice, of dimensions adequate to the benevolent design of the institution. Its objects are, first, to prevent the spread of contagious fevers, by removing into well-ventilated apartments every poor person on the first appearance of an infectious fever; by which separation the rest of the family and neighbourhood will probably be preserved from its ravages; and generally to effect the recovery of those who might otherwise fall victims to the disease.

Of the commercial buildings, the Cloth Halls and Exchange, will deservedly attract the traveller's notice.

The MIXED CLOTH HALL is a very extensive building, erected in the year 1758 by subscription. It consists of the principal body and two wings, well lighted by large windows. It is divided into six long streets or aisles, and encloses an open area: the building is 127 feet in length, and 60 in breadth; each street contains two rows of stands, the freehold property of separate manufacturers. Each stand is 20 inches in front, and the whole number is 1770. The number of master manufacturers of coloured cloth who expose it to sale in this market are estimated at about 2000.

The EXCHANGE is adjoining to the Cloth Hall, and is a beautiful building of an octagon form.

The WHITE CLOTH HALL was erected in 1774. It is a large square building, 297 feet in length, and 210 in breadth; divided into five streets, each containing two rows of stands, the whole number of which is 1210. There are about 400 persons who have two

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stands

stands each, and above 100 who have none, but hire stands in the hall, and pay a fixed price, for every piece of cloth exposed to sale. The amount of the white-cloth manufacturers may therefore be estimated at about 1300.

Besides the public buildings already mentioned, there are the Moot or Mote Hall, for transacting the public business of the town, before which is a fine marble statue of Queen Anne, executed by Carpenter of London; the Prison, the Rotation Office, so called from the magistrates attending here in rotation, to hear and determine all matters which come under their cognizance, as magistrates of the borough, and which can be determined without the intervention of a jury, the Free-School; the Charity School; and three different Alms-houses.

The town of Leeds is governed by a corporation, consisting of a mayor, twelve aldermen, and twentyfour common-council, who fill up the vacancies in their body, and annually elect the mayor from the aldermen, by a majority of votes; as there are no freemen, every inhabitant is eligible to serve in the corporation, and in return is not liable to serve upon any jury out of the parish.

The rivers Aire and Calder were made navigable from Leeds, under the direction of Alderman Pickering, the celebrated author of the Marrow of Ma thematics, and performed at the expence of several private merchants. By this means a communication was opened from Leeds and Wakefield to York and Hull so that the woollen manufactures exported are carried by water to Hull, and there shipped for various parts of the continent. In the year 1757,

another act was obtained for continuing the naviga tion of the river Calder from Wakefield to Ealand and Halifax, and also for further extending the navigation of the said river up to Sowerby-bridge above Halifax.

In 1770 the Leeds and Liverpool Canal was begun, so that at present Leeds has not only a communication with Liverpool and Hull, but also by the aid of the various other branches of the inland navigation, has a communication with the rivers Mersey, Dee, Ribble, Ouse, Trent, Derwent, Severn, Humber, Thames, Avon, &c. extending several hundred miles in the counties of Lincoln, Nottingham, Lancaster, Westmoreland, Chester, Stafford, &c.

The great bulk of the woollen manufacture of the parish of Leeds and neighbouring villages, consists of the coarser kinds of cloth, though the manufacture of superfines has lately greatly increased; of late also a great number of fancy articles have been made, such as swansdowns, toilonets, kerseymeres, and a very rough kind of cloth called duffels. The cloathing business is divided into two divisions: the manufacture of cloth from dyed wool, and from wool in its native state. The former manufacture is chiefly carried on at Morley, Gildersome, Adwalton, Duglington, Tarsley, Calverly, Eccleshall, Idle, Baildon, Yeadon, Gursely, Rawdon, and Horsforth; in or bordering upon the vale of Air, chiefly west; and at Batley, Dewsbury, Otzet, Horbury, and Kirk-Burton, west of Wakefield, in or near the vale of Calder.

"The white cloth is manufactured principally at Alverthorpe, Osset, Kirk-Heaton. Dewsbury, Batley, Bristall, Hopton, Mirfield, Hartshead, CleckHeaton, Little Town, Bowling, and Shipley; a part of country forming an oblique belt across the hills that separate the vale of Calder from the vale of Aire, beginning about a mile west of Wakefield, leaving Huddersfield and Bradford a little to the left, terminating at Shipley on the Aire. The districts of the white and c loured cloth manufacture are in general distinct, but are a little intermixed at the south-east and north-west extremities. "The

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