a municipal and parliamentary borough and market-town of England, West Riding of Yorkshire, 36 miles W.S.W. of York. It stands on a gentle acclivity rising from the Hebble, a tributary of the Calder, and is almost entirely surrounded by hills. Though in some parts the streets are narrow and irregular, the improvements of late years have been so great that the town generally presents a new and handsome appearance. A few old plaster houses with carved oak framework, of the reign of Henry VIII., still remain, otherwise the buildings are of stone supplied from quarries in the neighbourhood. The town is well-paved and lighted with gas, and is plentifully supplied with water. It has a number of elegant buildings, principally of modern date. The parish church of St John is a large and handsome edifice of Gothic architecture, erected at different dates, and surmounted by a highly ornamented tower 117 feet in height. Trinity Church, erected in 1795, is a handsome Grecian building with Ionic pilasters, and an elegant tower with dome at its west end. St James's, built in 1831, is in the pseudo-Gothic style, with turrets at the west end. Besides the Episcopal places of worship there are chapels belonging to the Independents, Baptists, Wesleyan and other branches of Methodists, Quakers, Unitarians, and Roman Catholics. It has a number of day, evening, and Sunday schools, including a national, Lancasterian, and a grammar school. There are a number of literary and scientific as well as charitable institutions. The infirmary is a large and elegant building, with excellent accommodation, and affording medical and surgical aid to outdoor as well as indoor patients. There are also public baths, assembly-rooms, theatre, savings bank, and mechanics' institute. The Piece Hall is a magnificent quadrangular structure occupying more than two acres of ground, and having 315 rooms for the lodgment of goods which are open for sales once a-week.

Halifax derives its importance from the manufacture of cloth, which was commenced here in the beginning of the 16th century. It now ranks next to Leeds and Bradford as a seat of the woollen and worsted manufactures. The principal staples are shalloons, camlets, figured vestings, moreens, bombazines, crepes, russets, serges, baizes, coatings, broad and narrow cloths, kerseys, cottons, and silks. A considerable number of persons are employed in making machinery. The situation of Halifax is also favourable to the development of its industry, having canal communication with the River Calder and the Rochdale Canal, and being connected by railway with Manchester and Leeds. According to an old law, the magistrates of Halifax were invested with the power of inflicting capital punishment on any thief taken "hand-habend," "back-berend," or "confessand," to the value of 13½d. The execution took place on the first market-day after conviction, by means of an instrument somewhat resembling the guillotine. Halifax is governed by a mayor, ten aldermen, and thirty councillors, and returns two members to Parliament. The parish of Halifax is one of the largest in the kingdom, having an area of 75,740 acres, and containing (1851) 149,257 inhabitants. Pop. (1851) of borough, 33,582. Registered electors, 1200.

a city and seaport of British North America, on the S.E. coast of Nova Scotia, of which it is the capital. It stands on the declivity of a hill about 250 feet in height, and rises gradually from the S.W. side of a deep inlet of the sea, called Halifax Harbour. It is about two miles in length by nearly a mile in breadth, and consists mostly of wide and regular streets. "The appearance of Halifax from the water, or from the opposite shore, is prepossessing and animated." The front of the town is lined by wharfs, alongside which vessels of all sizes, and variously rigged, are incessantly loading or discharging their cargoes. Warehouses rise over the wharfs, as well as in different parts of the town; and dwelling-houses and public buildings rear their heads over each other as they stretch along and up the sides of the hill. The spires of different churches, the building above the town in which the town-clock is fixed, a rotunda-built church, the signal-posts of Citadel Hill, the different batteries, the variety of style in which the houses are built, some of which are painted white, some blue, and some red; rows of trees showing themselves in different parts of the town; the ships moored opposite the dockyard; the establishments and tall sheers of the latter; the merchant vessels under sail, at anchor, or alongside the wharfs; the wooded and rocky scenery of the background; with the islands, and the small town of Dartmouth, on the E. shore,—are all objects which strike most forcibly on the view of a stranger." (McGregor's Brit. America, i. 325.) The houses are mostly of wood plastered or stuccoed, and have, in many cases, an imposing and elegant appearance; but a number of the private houses and the public buildings are of stone. The government house is a solid, sombre-looking structure at the south end of the town, and the admiral's house is a plain stone building at the north end. The province building, near the centre of the town, is a magnificent structure, 140 feet long by 70 broad and 45 high, with a fine Ionic colonnade. It comprises chambers for the council and legislative assembly, the supreme court, and the various provincial offices. The dockyard is one of the largest and best stored in the British colonies, and covers an area of 14 acres. The harbour extends inland from the Atlantic for 15 miles, terminating in a beautiful land-locked expanse of water called the Bedford Basin, and capable of accommodating the whole British navy. The entrance to Halifax harbour is well lighted, and buoys are placed upon all the shoals. A fine deep channel stretches up behind Halifax, called the Northwest Arm, which renders the site of the city a peninsula. On the west side of the entrance to the harbour, on a small island off Sambro Cape, is Sambro Lighthouse, with a fixed light 210 feet high. A detachment of artillery, with two 24-pounders, is stationed here for firing at regular intervals during the dense fogs which are prevalent on this coast. After passing Sambro light, the course for large vessels is between the mainland on the W. and Macnab's Island on the E.; on a point projecting from the latter a lighthouse has recently been constructed. Opposite the town the harbour is rather more than a mile in width, whence it gradually narrows to about one-fourth of that width, and then suddenly expands into a magnificent basin. The harbour is accessible at all times, and is rarely impeded by ice. It is defended by forts and batteries. Halifax is the seat of a considerable fishery. Its principal trade is with Great Britain, the British colonies, and the United States. In 1852 the total exports from Halifax valued L588,206, of which L20,167 went to Britain, L144,480 to British West Indies, L234,842 to British North America, L119,385 to United States, and L69,332 to other countries; the total imports during that period valued L939,864, of which L399,277 came from Britain, L114,496 from British West Indies, L162,955 from British North America, L218,817 from United States, and L147,319 from other countries. The imports are chiefly British manufactures and native products of the West Indies and United States; the exports, dried and pickled fish, timber, cattle, agricultural and dairy produce, fur, whale and seal oil, &c. Mail-steamers run every alternate week between Liverpool, Halifax, and Boston, and there is regular communication, by steamers and sailing vessels, with all the great ports of the United States, British America, and the West Indies. A canal has been cut across the country from Halifax to the basin of Minas at the bottom of the Bay of Fundy. In 1790 Halifax contained only 700 houses and 4000 inhabitants. In 1817 it was declared a free port, and had then 1200 houses. In 1844 it had 22,000 inhabitants, and in 1852, 26,000.

MARQUIS OF. See SAVILE, Sir George.