a large market-town of England, the capital of the county of the same name, in the centre of England. Since the time of Henry VI., the town has been itself a county, with its own recorder and sheriff. It is a place of great antiquity, deriving its name from the Saxon word Snottingham, which is descriptive of its position as a retreat in rocks, since there were formerly many, and are still a few, caverns cut in the soft rock on which its castle was built. It is by some antiquaries asserted that it was once a Roman station; but that is a subject of controversy. The earliest records notice some incursions of the Danes about 866; but they appear to have received a check from the town, and a defeat near it from King Alfred, who afterwards made it the winter-quarters of his army. William the Conqueror erected a castle, and constructed fortifications so strong as to render the place impregnable against any of the methods of attack which were then known. King Richard Cour de Lion assembled a Parliament in this place previously to his departure for the Holy Land, and another soon after his return from Palestine. It was from Nottingham that Richard III. marched forth to his fatal battle of Bosworth Field. Here Charles I. erected his royal standard at the commencement of the civil war, at a spot now included in the General Hospital gardens. The castle of Nottingham, defended by the royalists, was besieged by the parliamentary forces under the command of Colonel Hutchinson, to whom, after a brave defence, it at length surrendered. The particulars of the siege are related in a most interesting manner by the wife of that officer. When Cromwell had attained supreme power, he ordered the fortifications to be destroyed, and the castle to be dismantled. Early in the present century this town and neighbourhood were distinguished by the riotous disposition of the lower orders. This was especially the case between the years 1811 and 1814, when the Luddites, as they were termed, were excited to destroy much of that machinery by the aid of which the town subsequently attained to its present high degree of affluence. These disturbances were quelled by the power of the law, and some wholesome severities; but a portion of the trade was transferred to distant and more tranquil districts. During the excitement respecting parliamentary reform a very violent spirit was manifested, which led to the destruction of a silk-mill in the neighbourhood, many outrages upon private houses, and the burning of the castle belonging to the Duke of Newcastle on October 10, 1831. These disturbances led to a few exemplary punishments and some heavy burdens on the town, to indemnify those whose property had suffered by the riots.

Nottingham is finely situated upon the side of a hill overlooking the valley of the Trent, and near to the south-western extremity of what was formerly the forest of Sherwood, once famous as the resort of the celebrated Robin Hood, but now a well-cultivated district. The environs of the town are picturesque and beautiful. It is surrounded, except towards the Trent, by eminences which command extensive views of the neighbourhood and of adjoining counties. Clifton Grove and the village of Wilford, celebrated by Kirke White, together with Wollaton Hall, the seat of Lord Middleton, and Belvoir Castle (distant 19 miles), are marked features in the landscape.

Immediately contiguous to the town, on its western side, is the Park, an appanage of the castle, and originally a grant from the crown. It was purchased of Francis, Earl of Rutland, by William Cavendish, first Duke of Newcastle, who commenced the present building in 1674, in the eighty-third year of his age. The park contains about 120 acres, and is remarkable for its undulatory surface. The boundary next the town is marked by a range of hills upwards of 100 feet high. These terminate abruptly on the south-west with a magnificent precipice, 130 feet high, upon which the castle stands. The whole is of the New Red Sandstone formation, and readily yields to the stroke of the quarryman. It is to the facilities thus afforded by nature that the numerous caverns and rock habitations, for which Nottingham and the Park are so famous, owe their origin. After the estate came into the possession of the present duke, a lofty tunnel was cut through one of the sandstone hills above named, constituting the principal carriage approach from the town to the valley of the Park. The ground is laid out for villa residences, and terraces and drives are formed; the valley being set apart for pleasure-grounds and ornamental planting. The landscape is rarely equalled in beauty, and affords a sudden and magical transition from town to country. Of this the merchants and principal inhabitants have availed themselves, by erecting residences of a costly, and for the most part elegant and tasteful character. The Park is bounded on the south by the River Leen, or rather the artificial watercourse said to be formed by William Peverill, the first grantee of the castle, in the time of William the Conqueror. The original bed of the river as it ran into the Trent may be now traced at the point at which it was diverted.

Some of the old streets are narrow, but in the great extension of the town of late years some new and spacious avenues have been built, and much improvement has been judiciously effected. The market-place is one of the finest in England. It is spacious, occupying an area of 27,515 square yards, or rather more than five acres and a half. It is well paved, and admirably adapted for the purpose of the two weekly markets held in it on Wednesday and Saturday, the last of which is the principal one. At the east of the market-place stands the Exchange Hall, which is a noble-looking building. The pediment is crowned with a well-proportioned pedestal, on which stands the figure of Justice. On the pediment are the town arms; and underneath it, with a clock intervening, is a handsome Venetian window, ornamented with two elegant Ionic columns, which lights the spacious room within. That apartment, when the temporary doors which divide it are thrown open, is 123 feet long, 30 wide, and 30 high, with an arched ceiling. It is used for public dinners, at which more than 400 persons can be commodiously seated, and also for public meetings. This room was nearly destroyed by an accidental fire in 1836, but has been restored and further beautified. One part of the building is appropriated to magisterial business, and another is occupied as a police-office, and for the residence of the mayor's sergeant-at-mace. Underneath the Exchange there are a few shops in front, but the principal part of the ground-floor is appropriated to shambles. In another part of the market-place is the Subscription Library, containing more than 13,500 volumes, many of them of great value. With this is incorporated the Standfast Library, consisting of works chiefly classical and theological; making a total of nearly 15,000 volumes. There are also maps, and portraits of eminent individuals connected with the town, amongst whom are Colonel Hutchinson, Lord Byron, Sir Richard Arkwrights, Kirke White, and others.

The other civic buildings are the county jail and hall, a commodious but not elegant structure; the house of correction and town jail, standing on the site of a convent of the hospitalers of St John of Jerusalem; the town-hall, where the borough assizes and sessions, and the mayor's and sheriff's courts are held; the post-office, occupying a very commanding situation; and the free grammar school, in which 80 boys are educated—40 in the classical, and 40 in the English department.

The edifices for religious worship are in about the same proportion to the number of the inhabitants as is seen in other places which have increased with similar rapidity. St Mary's is usually denominated the mother church of the town, from its priority of erection. It resembles a cathedral more than a parish church in its extent, its architecture, and its decorations, and is the most striking object in the place when viewed from what is called the High Pavement. It stands on an elevated spot, and is said to be nearly 70 feet above the level of the meadows near the town. The date of the erection is unknown, but is said to have been in the fifteenth century. It is in the form of a cross, and has a handsome square tower, in which there is a musical peal of ten bells. The length of the structure in the inside is 216 feet, the breadth at the transept 97, at the west end or principal entrance 67, and in the chancel 29 feet. The height of the tower is 126 feet, and that of the side aisles 60 feet. The porch on the south side is a very ancient and elaborate piece of workmanship, which tradition has assigned to the neighbouring priory of Lenton as its original site. In the north transept there is an excellent organ of great power. There are in this church many monumental inscriptions on tombs of the family of the Earls of Clare, and one of an Earl of Meath, and the mausoleum of the family of the Wrights. In the year 1848 the building, having undergone extensive repairs and numerous alterations, with a view to carrying out its original design, was re-opened for public worship. The cost, upwards of £9,000, was defrayed by a subscription.

Besides the mother church, there are provided for the adherents of the established worship the following edifices:—St Peter's, St Nicholas', St James's, St Paul's, Trinity, St John Baptist's, St Matthew's, and St Mark's. The Roman Catholics possess a cathedral dedicated to St Barnabas, and erected in 1844 at a cost of £20,000. The Nonconformists have numerous places of worship, some of them large and costly. Wesley and Halifax Place chapels, belonging to the Methodists, will accommodate each 1800 persons, and the former is stated to have cost £10,000. Other descriptions of Methodists have 5 places of worship; the Baptists of various orders 7; the Independents 4; the Unitarians, Quakers, Irvingites, and numerous other sects, 1 each. In 1851 the total number of places of worship was reported as 37, of which 8 belonged to the Church of England, and 29 to other religious bodies. The largest reported attendance (on Sunday, March 31) in that year was, at the several churches, 5570, and at the other places of worship 11,284.

The charitable institutions depending on endowed foundations or on voluntary contributions are numerous. The Blue-Coat School clothes and educates about 50 boys and 20 girls. The General Hospital, built in 1781, possesses about two acres of land, given partly by the Duke of Newcastle and partly by the corporation. It is supported chiefly by subscriptions, and usually contains about 140 patients; whilst between 1100 and 1200 are out-patients receiving medical advice and assistance. The Dispensary, established in 1831, has on an average 350 patients. The General Lunatic Asylum is a modern and spacious brick building, erected in 1810, at an expense of nearly £20,000. There are extensive courts, gardens, and places for recreation; and the whole economy of the place is well contrived for the recovery of the inmates. The foundation of a second asylum for patients of the middle class was laid by the Duke of Newcastle, October 30, 1857. Labray's and Lambley's Hospitals are small asylums for aged widows; and Collins' Hospital is a splendid charity, founded by one of the Smith family of the town, of which Lord Carrington is the present head. It consists of twenty-four small but convenient dwellings for as many poor widows, each of whom receives four shillings weekly, and two tons and a half of coal every year. From the same endowment Carrington Street Hospital, which accommodates 20 inmates, was built between the years 1831 and 1834. Plumptre Hospital, founded by a family of that name (since transplanted into Kent) in the year 1892, but twice repaired since,—viz., in 1650 and 1751,—has been rebuilt under an act of Parliament passed in 1823. Thirteen aged widows are provided with comfortable dwellings within the house, and allowed six shillings weekly, whilst thirty others, called out-pensioners, receive ten pounds a year. Willoughby's Hospital contains nineteen tenements, the inhabitants of which receive a small pension. Woolley's Alms are dwellings for six poor persons; and Bilby's Almshouses for eight persons, who have each a loaf weekly, and two tons of coal at Christmas. Warser Gate Hospital gives apartments to six, and Hanley's to twelve poor persons. Other almshouses exist so that in the year 1844 the number of persons thus provided for was 180. In 1852 Mr George Gill erected six additional tenements for decayed workmen.

Among the public edifices that deserve notice may be mentioned the barracks, built in 1792, a plain building, with apartments for officers and privates, and suitable stabling for three troops of horse. At the close of 1857 the government resolved on erecting new barracks on a different site, granted by the corporation. There is an assembly-room, as well as a theatre of moderate dimensions, and the usual provision of gas and water works, &c. Among the comparatively recent buildings of a public character are a savings-bank; a mechanic's institution, with a hall capable of accommodating 1000 persons, a library of 6000 volumes, a museum of natural history, reading-rooms, &c.; the Artizan's Library, containing 2000 volumes; the People's College, founded by Mr George Gill in 1847, intended to bring the higher advantages of education within common reach; a large and handsome asylum for the blind; a ragged school; a female refuge; and baths and wash-houses. Two of the older mansions of the town are now occupied, the one as a government school of design, and the other as a people's hall, a gift to the working-classes by a benefactor whom we have already named, Mr George Gill. To these must be added a large and handsome building, erected in 1853 as a corn market, and now used as a general exchange and news-room. To this is attached a telegraph office.

The most important event in the modern history of Nottingham was the passing, on June 30, 1845, of an act for the inclosure of about 1300 acres of pasture land, by which the town was nearly encircled, and which was subject to rights of common. Surrounded by this belt of open country, the town had been hemmed in upon a space of 265 acres, and was one of the most densely peopled in the kingdom,—an immense surplus both of trade and population, properly identified with Nottingham, being located in large manufacturing villages in the immediate vicinity. The effects of the act are strikingly apparent. Many hundreds of houses, with numerous factories, now spread over the recently-inclosed space. It is traversed by public and private roads of more than 18 miles in length. Upwards of 50 acres are laid out, for the purposes of public recreation, in a cricket-ground, ornamental walks, and an arboretum of about 20 acres, to which there is free admission. An extensive race-ground is included in the space reserved for public accommodation. The inclosure act also provided for the appropriation of 8 acres for the purposes of interment. Of these, four, designed for the use of dissenters, were added to the general cemetery, established in 1837, and now comprising 18 acres; and the remainder are incorporated with a recently formed Church of England cemetery, containing in all 13 acres.

The change in the town itself is as great as that which marks its immediate vicinity. Factories and warehouses have sprung up with a rapidity of which scarcely any other town presents an example. Almost all the leading merchants' and manufacturers have enlarged or rebuilt the places in which they carry on their business; so that Nottingham appears like a place which has suddenly become the seat of some new and very flourishing trade. The old warehouses, &c., were of the plainest character, and utterly destitute of architectural pretensions. The reverse may be said of the new. Under the direction of Mr Hine and other able architects, the town has now been ornamented with a large number of commercial buildings, which for their architectural character will bear comparison with the higher class of civic edifices to be found elsewhere.

The population of Nottingham amounted in 1811 to 34,253; in 1831 it was 50,680; and in 1841, 53,091. It had grown in 1851 to 58,529, exclusive of the suburbs of Sneinton and Radford, which are now strictly incorporated with Nottingham, and constitute one town. Of these, the former contained at the last census 8840 inhabitants, and the latter 12,637; making a total of 80,006. To these ought perhaps to be added the immediately contiguous parish of Lenton, having a population of 5589. On this estimate, the population of Nottingham, taking into account its rapid increase during the last few years, cannot fall far short of 100,000. The villages within 4 miles, and most of them, strictly speaking, dependencies of the town, contain an additional population of 30,000.

The Trent is navigable up to the town; and the various canals which branch from that river afford the means of communication with every part of the kingdom. There are two distinct lines of railway connecting Nottingham with the metropolis, as well as with the north, besides lines running to Derby, Newark, Lincoln, Mansfield, Ilkeston, and other places.

We are enabled, on the authority of W. Felkin, Esq., F.L.S., to present the following account of the two principal branches of the trade of this important town:

The surprising invention of the stocking-frame by Lee has been used in one of the most interesting chapters in the history of mechanical invention and manufacturing industry. It was upon this machine that, about a century ago, a coarse imitation of cotton lace was first produced. The fabric was made out of one continuous thread. A beautiful adaptation of the machinery enabled a lady to make lace by hand, employing for this purpose 1500 frames in Nottingham and its vicinity. This fabrication has long since died out. Then the machine was so arranged as that the material should be used altogether as warp. This very ingenious machine is still usefully and extensively employed. Mr John Heathcoat, then a working-frame smith in Nottingham, invented the bobbin-net machine, and patented it in 1809. His first machines were from 18 to 36 inches in width. A woman making lace on a pillow may produce three to five meshes or interstices in a minute. The first machine produced 1000 meshes per minute. A square yard of the produce was sold for £5. This machine, as originally constructed, though displaying wonderful mechanical skill, was a complicated one. During the whole of the intervening time incessant and remarkable ingenuity has been shown in simplifying and improving the machine. It is now made 180 to 200 inches in width; and plain net of like quality to that first made is sold currently at £6. for the square yard. A man turns off with easily 60,000 meshes per minute from this improved and improved by the bobbin-net machine was originally called by its talented inventor. Luddites having taken the nation's machinery at Loughborough, he established himself at Tiverton, where he now employs 300 machines. He has represented that borough in Parliament since 1831. There are also about 100 machines at Barnstaple, 250 at Chard, 100 in the Isle of Wight, and 300 in Derbyshire. There are 2350 bobbin-net and 800 warp machines at work in Nottingham and its vicinity. Excepting less than one-tenth of the production, the whole of the English bobbin-net machinery is employed for the Nottingham lace trade. The capital in this machinery amounts to £1,500,000, independently of that employed in the construction of doubling and throwing raw materials used in this branch of business. The number of persons wholly or in part engaged in it is 135,000, or more—as smiths, machine hands, menders, warehouse men and women, finishers, embroiderers, &c. Wages may be stated at—men 20s. to £5; youths, of both sexes, 8s. to 20s.; children, 3s. to 8s. per week. The whole machinery, or part of it, is worked by steam or water power, where employed, upon plain or common fancy goods. The Jaccard apparatus has been applied at great cost, but with perfect success, to about 2500 of the machines, making every class of bobbin-net and warp goods, up to the most expensive and close imitation of pillow articles. The statistics for 1857 may be stated, with pretty close approximation to truth, as follows— Nottingham has been celebrated for its ale, the qualities of which have been the theme of song. It is still good, and very potent. Its excellence has been attributed by some to the good quality of the barley grown in the neighbourhood, by others to the purity of the water, and by many to the excellent cellars scooped out of the rock, with which most of the good houses are furnished.

This town returns two members to the House of Commons. The freemen, who were formerly the sole electors, are still numerous, but are exceeded in number by the ten-pound voters.

By the municipal corporation reform law passed in 1835, the town is to continue a corporation, is divided into seven wards, and has a mayor, fourteen aldermen, and forty-two councillors, with twelve justices of the peace appointed by the crown.