a town of the United States of North America, in the state of New Jersey, stands on the right bank of the Passaic River, 13 miles N. of Newark, and 17 N.W. of New York. The streets are straight and well paved, and the houses substantially built. There are about eighteen churches, belonging to various sects, and some of them are edifices of much elegance. There are also a court-house, jail, two banks, several schools, a philosophical society with a library, and a mechanics' institution. The manufactories of the place are extensive. There are about twenty cotton factories, several dyeing and printing establishments, two large manufactories of locomotives, besides paper-mills, fulling-mills, foundries, &c. Paterson is thus one of the principal manufacturing towns in the States; and in New Jersey it is second only to Newark. Immediately above the town the Passaic falls over a precipice 50 feet high. This forms, during the time of flood, a magnificent spectacle. A great part of the water is carried off by a canal into a basin, from which, by different channels, it is conveyed to the various mills of the town. Paterson is connected by railway with New York, and by canal with Paterson. On the opposite side of the river, which is crossed by two bridges, stands the village of Manchester. Paterson was originally founded in 1791 by a company for the manufacture of cotton; and although it had to be abandoned soon afterwards, the original design was subsequently carried out. Pop. (1856) 11,338; (1863) about 13,000.

PATSON, WILLIAM, founder of the Bank of England, was born, according to tradition, at Skipmyre in Tindale, Dumfriesshire, and, as his will testifies, in the spring of 1665. Little is definitely known respecting the early part of his career. He is said to have been originally destined for the Scottish Church, and received accordingly a suitable elementary education. While yet a lad, however, he was compelled, it is said, to flee to England for safety from the persecutions then raging in his native country against the outlawed Presbyterians, with whom he at that early age seems to have associated. He found refuge in the house of a maternal relative in Bristol, who dying soon after, left young Paterson some trifling property. Having succeeded as a pedlar, as some would have it, he took up his residence in London in the capacity of a merchant. Traces of him are to be found about this time in the West Indies, some say in the character of a buccaneer, but more probably in the capacity of a merchant. Whether or not this occurred previous to his taking up his residence in the metropolis, does not definitely appear. At all events, during his residence abroad he acquired extensive information respecting Spanish America, which he found frequent occasion to turn to account, and especially in connection with the Darien expedition. Much of this information he could only have obtained through the buccaneers; yet there is sufficient reason to believe that he was in no way associated with the exploits of these naval marauders. On his return to England, Paterson seems to have projected schemes of trade more bold and original than any yet known among the trading companies of Britain. He is believed to have contributed largely to the pages of a pamphlet published ostensibly by his friend Sir Dalby Thomas in 1690, and entitled An Historical Account of the Rise and Growth of the West India Colonies, and of the great advantage they are to England in respect of Trade. The great ability and strict integrity of Paterson had by this time gained for him an eminent standing in society; and his monetary schemes seem to have been listened to by the wisest heads in the country. Among his attached friends he counted Fletcher of Saltoun and Baillie of Jerviswood, countrymen of his own; and he was in close alliance with such eminent men of business as Godfrey and Sir Theodore Jansen. His financial proposals in connection with the founding of the Bank of England met with strenuous opposition, however, from Lowndes, secretary to the Treasury. A tract entitled A Brief Account of the Intended Bank of England, London, 1694 (the year of its foundation), is supposed to have come from Paterson's pen. (For an account of the establishment of this bank, see Monet, § iii.) Despite his eminent services in projecting the bank, a difference of opinion seems to have soon arisen between him and the directors, which induced him to resign his connection with it. It seems certain that, so far from participating in the foundation of the Bank of Scotland in 1695, he was decidedly opposed to it. The project of "a free commonwealth in Darien" had long occupied the thoughts of this enterprising trader. Even so far back as 1687 we find him advocating the scheme in the coffee-houses of Amsterdam. For at least ten years he had been pressing his plan upon the English minister and upon foreign states; when about 1695, at the request of certain of his countrymen, he visited Scotland, and in all probability drew up the Scottish act of that year constituting the Darien company. Accordingly "twelve hundred men sailed in five stout ships" on that ill-fated expedition from the harbour of Leith, on the 26th July 1698; but Paterson had no share in the management of it, and embarked with the fleet in the capacity of a private adventurer. What with the gross mismanagement of the council of seven, the opposition of the English government, and other unfavourable circumstances, this unfortunate colony came to utter ruin. (See DARIEN.) Paterson's conduct on his return to Scotland was admirable. He set vigorously to work to frame a new plan for the colony; and wrote in 1701 an interesting work, hitherto attributed to the notorious John Law, entitled Proposals and Reasons for constituting a Council of Trade. On his return to London in 1701, he met with a friendly reception from King William; but the death of that monarch, shortly afterwards, cast a temporary cloud over Paterson's future prospects. He had an important share in the union of the English and Scottish Parliaments, as able tracts from his pen still attest; he was unremitting in his endeavours to relieve the distress of his native country; he had a sharp controversy with John Law on paper-money; and was elected member of Parliament for Dumfries in 1708. At the treaty of Union, an indemnity in favour of Paterson was recommended to Queen Anne by the Scottish Parliament, in consideration of his losses in connection with the Darien company, and of his "carrying on other matters of a public nature, much to his country's service." George I. had ascended the throne, however, before this indemnity was gained. The remainder of his years were spent at Westminster, in the metropolis, in unavailing hostility to the ruinous schemes of his relative and old financial foe John Law. Paterson died in January 1719. (See William Paterson, the Merchant Statesman, and Founder of the Bank of England, his Life and Trials, by S. Bannister, Edinburgh, 1858. Paterson's biographer, who has industriously collected all available information regarding him, also advertises The Writings of William Paterson, with a Biographical Introduction, 2 vols. 8vo, 1858.)