is only such as we are used to encounter in every important town which has risen to new life during the past half-century. In this respect old Leeds-of which the buildings, however indifferent, are at least English in type and character-differs widely from new.

In visiting some of the principal parts and monuments of the town, we begin, as in duty bound, with this elder Leeds-the Leeds of the antiquary Thoresby, who was born in Kirkgate, in 1658.

The great parish church in Kirkgate, entirely rebuilt in 1840-1, although it contains memorials of the elder Leeds, does not, of course, belong to it so completely as the Church of St. John, which is in many ways remarkable. John Harrison, who built it, was one of the wealthiest clothiers of Leeds during the first half of the seventeenth century. "Methinks," says Fuller, "1 hear that great town accosting him in the language of the children of the prophets to Elisha-Behold now the place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us.' The church could scarce hold half the inhabitants till this worthy gentleman provided them another.

He

accepted of no assistance in

the building of that fair fabric but what he fully paid for; so that he may be owned the sole founder thereof."* How far St. John's Church-which has undergone little external change beyond the rebuilding of the tower-is entitled to be called a "fair fabric" is doubtful; but it is unquestionably a very interesting example of a "Laudian" church, built not long before the outbreak of the civil war, and fitted in accordance with the ritual and observances of the time. It consists of a long nave and chancel, with a south aisle. A strong Gothic feeling is manifest in the pillars which divide nave and aisle in their capitals, and in the corbels, representing cherubs with folded wings, at the intersections of the arches. The panels between the main beams of the roofs are filled with arabesques, moulded in white plaster. Much of the ancient woodwork, including the pulpit, remains.

John Harrison is buried in the chancel.

As the most ancient and historical church in Leeds, St. John's deserves, perhaps, more attention than the rebuilt parish church of St. Peter's. The old parish church, which Thoresby describes as "black, but comely," was in truth a plain and indifferent structure. The rebuilding, which extended through the years 1840 and 1841, was due entirely to the

"Worthies: " Yorkshire.

zeal and energy of Dr. Hook, who had become vicar of Leeds in 1837, and who died, Dean of Chichester, in 1875. The cost was between £10,000 and £50,000. The great benefactions and services rendered by Dr. Hook to Leeds and to the neighbourhood can never be forgotten in Yorkshire; and although the rebuilding of the parish church was accomplished before the so-called "Gothic revival" had reached its present excellence, it is a work of which the town may be justly proud. The general character is Late Decorated. There is much carving in dark oak, and much stained glass. A reredos, of alabaster, the panels of which are filled with glass mosaics, was erected, in 1873, from the designs of Mr. G. E. Street. Rich pavements, a magnificent eagle lectern, and one or two important monuments, add to the effect of the interior; and the very

fine organ is worthy of the celebrated choir which it supports. The height of the tower is 139 feet.

There are many other churches in Leeds, but all are modern; and although their spires and towers break pleasantly upward from the crowd of lesser buildings, they will hardly attract the passing visitor. He will rather make his way to the Philosophical Hall, in Bond Street, where are some local antiquities which deserve attention, besides very fine geological and mineralogical collections, excellently arranged. Here, too, is a small industrial museum, containing specimens of the manufactures carried on in Leeds, and of the materials used in producing them. Or, passing a little farther, toward Park Lane, he will find himself confronted by the great Palladian Town Hall, begun in 1853, and opened by Queen Victoria in 1858. The architect was Cuthbert Brodrick, who also designed the Italian Town Hall of Hull, opened in 1866. The Leeds Town Hall is surrounded by an open portico, with Corinthian columns; and above the principal front rises a low tower, with a peristyle of columns, and a peculiar dome. The general effect is imposing; but it is perhaps to be regretted that here, as elsewhere in Leeds, a classical or foreign style has been adopted for important buildings, instead of a more English one.

The exterior of the town hall is more satisfactory than the interior. There is a vast central apartment, 162 feet by 72, and 75 feet high. One of the finest organs in England is placed at the north end. In this hall are held the musical festivals of Leeds, which have attained so great an importance. Statues of the Queen and the Prince Consort, and busts of the Prince and Princess of Wales, by Noble, are placed in the vestibule. Portraits of William Beckett, by Grant, and Edward Baines are hung in the Mayor's rooms; and portraits of Sir Peter Fairbairn, by Grant (it was during Sir Peter's mayoralty that the hall was opened by Queen Victoria in person, September 7th, 1858), and of other townsmen who

have held official positions, cover the walls of the council chamber and the magistrates' room. In the great hall are statues of the late Edward Baines and the late Robert Hall, the former a fine work of Behnes. In the open square in front of the town hall stands Marochetti's statue of the Duke of Wellington.

It need hardly be said that Leeds is rich in great buildings, public as well as private, which give dignity and variety to its streets. The new Infirmary as well as the Medical School are the work of Sir Gilbert Scott; the new Grammar School, on the skirt of Woodhouse Moor, was designed by Edward Barry.

We must turn, however, to what are,

after all, the most characteristic buildings

of the place the factories; and in connection with them may be noticed the principal causes which have led to the great development of the woollen and other trades at Leeds since the beginning of the present century.

An Act of William III. (1698), "for making and keeping navigable the rivers Aire and Calder," gave considerable impulse to the trade which was already firmly established in the West Riding. The Aire was then made navigable from Leeds to the Ouse, and so to the Humber. The cost of transporting heavy goods, which up to this time had been carried on pack-horses over bad roads, was greatly reduced, and the trade of Leeds with the Continent, the east coasts of England, and London, was increased in due proportion. During the eighteenth century many Acts were passed for the improvement of the borough of Leeds, the prosperity of which advanced most rapidly, and became most conspicuous from about the year 1760. Until 1800, and somewhat later, there were few factories in Leeds itself, although they had become well established in the surrounding country. But the first forty years of the reign of George III. were years of great progressive importance. The steam-engine was invented and brought to perfection; machines for spinning cotton were devised by Arkwright, Hargrave, and Crompton; and, speedily

adapted to the purposes of the woollen and linen trades, were brought into use in the Leeds district by the Marshalls, Benyons, Gotts, Wormalds, Fountaynes, and other enterprising manufacturers, who may be regarded as among the chief founders of the modern industry and prosperity of Leeds. Navigable canals followed. Leeds became connected with Liverpool as well as Hull, and so with all the countries of the world; and the development of trade was increased in a wonderful degree. The use of steam and of machinery must be regarded as the first cause of this development. In the year 1800, Mr. Benjamin Gott stated before a Committee of the House of Commons, that fifteen years before, it would have needed 1,634 persons to do what was then done by thirty-five in a

week in the process of scribbling and spinning by machinery. Since that time the advance in the adaptation and improvement of machinery has been enormous. It has indeed kept well apace with other influences which have had their full share in the development of the trade of Leeds during the present century. Of these the most important are the peopling of Australia, "a country capable of furnishing unlimited supplies of wool, suited for the manufactures of Leeds and of the West Riding; "* the great increase in the quantity of British wool; the construction of railways, and the use of iron in buildings; and the power of working coal mines in a manner which was undreamt of by men of the last century. The industry of Leeds has developed itself in many ways; but the woollen trade is still chief and pre-eminent. According to a return of 1871 there were in that year 954 woollen factories in Yorkshire, of which 130 were in Leeds; besides thirteen shoddy factories and four worsted factories; employing altogether about 10,000 hands. This, however, only represents the borough. The entire clothing district of Leeds contains

* See "Yorkshire Past and Present," by Thomas Baines, Vol. II.

about 250 woollen and shoddy factories, in which more than 30,000 hands are employed.

The Cloth Halls, in which the principal business of Leeds was at first transacted, are now little used, although the Mixed Cloth Hall, first built in 1758, and enlarged in 1810, remains, and the White Cloth Hall was rebuilt soon after the opening of the Wellington Railway Station. The business is now carried on directly between the merchant and the clothier; and the principal merchants are also manufacturers.

The factories are collected for the most part near the west or Kirkstall Road; and at night, when the light streams from innumerable windows rising tier above tier, all this quarter of Leeds is very striking and impressive. One of the largest cloth-mills was that built by the Messrs. Gott; but the general arrangement of the factories is the same. Among the largest flax-mills in Europe is that of the Messrs. Marshall, on the south side of the Aire. In any great cloth-mill, or in Messrs. Marshall's establishment, may be witnessed every process connected with the cloth manufacture, and with the spinning and weaving of flax.

To describe the various operations conducted in a large cloth factory is, of course, impossible. Sorting, dyeing, spinning, weaving by power-loom, fulling, dressing, clipping of surface, drying, pressing, and packing-all are going on in different parts of the vast