a town of Lancashire in England, situated in W. Long. 2. 42. N. Lat. 53. 27.—Of this place the Rev. Mr Whitaker has published a history in two octavo volumes; but as he does not confine himself merely to the town of Manchester, but takes in many particulars of the history and antiquities of other parts of Britain, and even Ireland, his work is incapable of abridgment; though in many places of this Dictionary we have made extracts from particular passages of it.—He conjectures that the station was first occupied by the Britons about 500 B.C., but that it first received any thing like the form of a town 450 years after, or 50 B.C. when the Britons of Cheshire made an irruption into the territories of their northern neighbours, and of consequence alarmed the Sclantini, or inhabitants of Lancashire, so much, that they began to build fortresses in order to defend their country. Its British name was Mancentum, which was changed by the Romans, who conquered it under Agricola, A.D. 79, into Mancunium; from whence comes the present name of Manchester.

The town is now very populous, large, and flourishing, and has several curious manufactures, known at London by the name of Manchester goods. Their velvets are lately come into great repute, and are much made use of for breeches. Its chief ornaments are the college, the market-place, and the collegiate church; which last has a small choir of excellent workmanship. There is also an elegant exchange, and a stone-bridge over the river Irwell, the arches of which are extremely high, on account of the nature of the river; which, descending from the mountainous part of the country, sometimes rises four or five yards in one night.—The town sends no members to parliament, but has the title of a county.