a city, and the capital of a county situated in the west midland census district of England. It is 106 miles from London by the highroad, and 114 miles by railway. The authorities are divided relative to the origin of Gloucester; some hold that it was founded by the Britons, who called it Caer-Gloew, signifying "the city of the pure stream"; others, that it was so called after its founder, Gloew, a British chief; others, that the Claudian legion, which landed in Britain with Julius Caesar, having been stationed there to check the irruptions of the Silures, it was called Claud-cestra (Latin castra, signifying camp or barrack), now corrupted into Gloucester; and others, that the West Saxons having captured the city in A.D. 575 called it Gleuceaster, whence comes the present name. It is certain that Gloucester became a Roman station under the name of Colonia Glevium; and at the present time the soil is rarely stirred without the discovery of pavements, altars, coins, pottery, and other Roman remains, and especially in the suburb of Kingsholm, which seems to have been a place of sepulture, situated, according to the Roman manner, beyond the bounds of the city. In the eighth century, Gloucester, it is stated by Bede, was one of the noblest cities in the land; but it was repeatedly ravaged and burnt by the Danish invaders, and in the civil wars of later ages. In the contest between Charles I. and the parliament, the citizens of Gloucester espoused the cause of the latter, though they professed to hold the city—"to obey the commands of the king, as signified by both houses of parliament;" but they really turned the tide against him, at a moment when the nation was wavering, by successfully resisting a siege carried on by 80,000 men. Gloucester was the only place in the south-west that the parliamentarians held; and if it had been lost the king would have been master along the whole course of the Severn. The inhabitants, rather than surrender the city, burnt its suburbs, thereby sacrificing property worth L26,000; so that, to use the words of a civic dignitary of that time, "we are a garment without skirts, which we are willing to part withal, lest our enemy should sit upon them." The defences of Gloucester were levelled at the Restoration, but some portions of the walls still remain, and the trenches here and there have been turned into gardens. The city is seated on a gentle knoll, overlooking the river Severn; it is sheltered on the east by the Cotswold hills, and looks towards the Malvern hills, which, impressive by their magnitude, and softened by distance, rise up like shadows on the western horizon. North and south of the city the country is almost a dead level. The river Severn divides into two channels at Gloucester; these inclose the island of Alney, where Canute and Edmund Ironside met to fight a battle, but agreed instead to share Britain between them. The tide reaches Gloucester, though the city is forty miles from the mouth of the river; and at certain times, owing to a sudden contraction of the channel at Newnham, it rushes up in a great wave called the Bore, from seven to nine feet high. Gloucester consists of four principal streets, intersecting each other at the cross, where the Tolsey or guildhall stands, like the Roman forum of old; these streets, indeed, formed part of Roman roads traversing the county. Of late years a large number of new houses have been built in the suburbs beyond the boundaries of the city, but the city itself still retains many marks of its age—quaint old gables and timber houses being intermingled with handsome modern buildings, chief amongst which are four banking-houses. The discovery of a spring of saline chalybeate water on the south side of the city in 1814 led to the erection of what is now the handsomest portion of Gloucester.

The New Inn, the oldest inn, and perhaps the oldest house in the city, is a very remarkable building; it was built for pilgrims by Abbot Sebroke about the end of the fifteenth century. The chief public building is the cathedral, which is 142 feet long and 154 feet broad. The central tower, a beautiful structure in the perpendicular style, is 223 feet high. The cathedral is remarkable not only for general beauty, but as furnishing an epitome of the growth of ecclesiastical architecture in this country. It has gradually grown up from a monastery founded in 672 by Wulfhere, king of the Saxons; it was twice burnt down and rebuilt in the eleventh century, and was completed in the fifteenth century. The crypt is early Norman, the nave later Norman, and nearly every style of Gothic architecture was incorporated in the building as it proceeded. The east window is the largest in England, and is ingeniously curved to give it an appearance of greater size. Among the historical personages buried within its walls are Robert and Richard, sons of William the Conqueror, and Edward II., who was murdered at Berkeley Castle, and lies in a beautiful canopied tomb; a great part of the building was erected with the offerings made by pilgrims at the shrine of the "sainted king." There is also a marble statue in memory of Dr. Jenner, the discoverer of vaccination, who was a native of the county; and a monument to the Rev. Richard Hakes, the originator of Sunday. Gloucester-schools, the first of which was held in Gloucester. The other public buildings of the city are the shire hall, containing two assize courts, and a large apartment used for public meetings; a building erected in 1814 by Smirke, and presenting externally an Ionic porch; the county jail, which stands on the site of the ancient castle, close to the Severn; the county lunatic asylum; the corn exchange, and a handsome market-house, both recently erected; a castellated millstone store; a blue-coat school; a general infirmary; and St Bartholomew's Hospital, an almshouse for the maintenance of Indigent citizens, built in the style of architecture which prevailed in the reign of Henry VIII., the period of its foundation. There are also three other almshouses, but though ancient their appearance is mean. Gloucester is divided into ten parishes, with several extra-parochial places attached to them; and there are fourteen churches, besides several handsome dissenting chapels in the city. While, however, some of the parishes have more than one church, others have none. Oliver Cromwell declared that in Gloucester there were "more churches than godliness," and several were destroyed by public ordinance; one was converted into a guildhall. There are three endowed schools—the college school, founded by Henry VIII., as part of the cathedral establishment; the crypt school, founded in the same reign by Dame Joan Cooke, and a blue-coat hospital, founded by Sir Thomas Rich in 1653 for the education and maintenance of thirty boys.

Gloucester has returned two members to parliament since the 23rd year of Edward I. It was created a county at an early period, and city as well as county assizes are held. It also possesses a court of quarter sessions. Richard III. granted a charter to the city, under which it elected a corporation consisting of a mayor, sheriff; twelve aldermen, and twelve burgesses; it is now governed by a mayor, six aldermen, and eighteen burgesses. The corporation formerly possessed a considerable income arising from land, but they were obliged to sell the property in 1855 to defray the cost of new water works, new markets, sewers, and other public improvements. The custom of borough English, by which landed property descends to the youngest son instead of the eldest, prevails in this city. The city and county were created a bishopric by Henry VIII., but the see is now united to that of Bristol. Gloucester was anciently very busily engaged in iron-founding and cloth-making; to these succeeded cap-making, pin-making, and bell-founding, but they have all ceased to exist. A considerable foreign commerce has, however, sprung up. Not long since the only vessels frequenting the port were a few coasters, which came up the Severn to the old Roman quays; but the tortuous and dangerous navigation of the river has been superseded by a noble ship canal sixteen miles long, falling into the Severn at Sharpness Point; and great quantities of timber and wheat are imported, and salt, iron, and coal are exported. The imports amounted in 1853 to 242,094 tons, and the exports to 59,989 tons. Gloucester is admirably situated for commerce, as it is the centre of a system of railways, as well as on the course of a large river navigated by steamers, and connected by canals with the interior of the country. In the reign of William the Conqueror the population of Gloucester, it is stated, was 2500; in 1801 it amounted to 7597; in 1811 to 8280; in 1821 to 9744; in 1831 to 11,993; in 1841 to 14,497; and in 1851 to 17,572.

(R. C.)