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 MANCHESTER 93 rly 100 ft. between them. The new assize courts were opened in 1864; the building is Gothic, 270 ft. long and 140 deep, with a tower 210 ft. high. The branch bank of England, op- >osite the town hall, is a fine structure, in the rrecian style, with a Doric colonnade. The infirmary, erected in 1755, is built on three sides of a quadrangle, each with a por- tico supported by four fluted Ionic columns, the whole surrounded with grass borders and walks, with a sheet of water in front ; it has an income of 9,000, and annually relieves more than 20,000 patients. Among the other notable public buildings are the court halls, The Assize Courts, Manchester. the jails, and the asylum for the blind and the deaf and dumb. In front of the new town hall is the Albert memorial, including a statue of Prince Albert. Two statues of Richard Cobden were erected in 1867, one in St. Anne's square, the other in Peel park. In front of the royal infirmary is a statue of Dai- ton ; and there are also statues of Watt, Wel- lington, and Peel. Among scientific, literary, and art associations are the royal Manches- ter institution, occupying buildings which cost 40,000, and devoted to the exhibition of paintings, lectures, &c. ; the mechanics' insti- tution, founded in 1825, for which a new edi- fice was erected in 1856, established for the instruction of the working classes, male and female, in the principles of the arts they prac- tise and in other branches of useful knowledge ; and natural history, botanical, horticultural, ge- ological, statistical, and medical societies. The royal school of medicine and surgery, founded in 1824, has 80 to 100 students. The literary and philosophical society, established in 1781, has numbered many distinguished members, and has issued several volumes of valuable trans- actions. The Chetham society, established in 1843, has published 22 volumes of historical and literary remains. There are many public libraries. *The free library, founded by volun- tary subscription, and maintained by a muni- cipal rate, has four branches, and is divided into two departments, reference and lending, each having about 40,000 volumes. A free library of about 25,000 volumes is attached to Chetham's hospital, or the " College " as it is now simply called, an institution founded in 1651 by Humphrey Chetham, for the educa- tion of poor boys. Owens college was found- ed in 1846 by the mtnificence of a merchant of the city, who bequeathed for the purpose more than 100,000, which has of late been considerably enlarged by means of a fund raised by public subscription ; it issues certificates to candidates for the degrees of bachelor of arts and bachelor of laws, to be conferred by the university of London. The Lancashire In- dependent college was established by the In- dependents as a theological seminary, and will accommodate 50 students. Manchester New college, Unitarian, founded in 1786, was re- moved to London in 1857 ; and in 1865 Memo- rial Hall was erected in Manchester as a Uni- tarian college. There is a free grammar school founded by Hugh Oldham, bishop of Exeter, in 1515-'25. The Jubilee school trains pupils for domestic service. Manchester is supplied with water from a " gathering ground," about 24 m. distant, of nearly 20,000 acres. The reservoirs form a series of 10 artificial lakes of a capacity of 600,000,000 .cubic ft. The pure water only is supplied to the city, the turbid water being collected in separate reservoirs and used for mill purposes. The water is con- veyed in aqueducts 12 m. to Godley, thence to