# A Prospect of Manchester and its Neighbourhood, from Chamber, upon the Rising Grounds, Adjacent to the Great Northern Road: A Poem/A Prospect of Manchester and its Neighbourhood

A PROSPECT
OF
MANCHESTER
AND ITS
NEIGHBOURHOOD.
View of the Country—Bolton—The Earl of Derby.
The Earl of Derby—Manchester—Its Manufactures.
Its Influence—Noon—The High Road.
Canals—Brindley.
Address to the Irwell—Confluence of the Irk & Irwell—Lords de la Warr.
The College—Sir Humphrey Cheetham—The Library.
Address to the Memory of the late Mr. Gibson.
Address to Mr. Gibson continued—Alkrington Hall.
Chadderton Hall and Park—General Burgoyne.
Retrospect—Broughton—Strangeways Park.
The Source of Human Actions.
Discontent—Not diminished by Riches.
A Character.
The Approach of Eve—The Milkmaid.
Song.
Evening Sports—Throwing the Quoit or Discus.
The Approach of an Autumnal Storm over the Hills.
Surprise—The Maniac's Song.
The Maniac.
Conclusion.
FINIS.
R. & W. DEAN, Printers, Manchester.
* ↑ James, Earl of Derby, was beheaded at Bolton; he was an active supporter of the royal cause, against the unjust usurpations of parliament. He raised, by his personal influence, a body of thirty thousand men, in the counties of Lancashire and Cheshire, and brought them to, the support of his Sovereign. Some unfortunate prejudice, not yet cleared up by History, seems to have withheld from him the confidence of his royal master. However injurious such a prejudice was to the Earl, his actions approved him a brave, active; and loyal man. He retired to the Isle of Man, which ha held for the king a considerable time; afterwards joining his son Charles the second, he was taken prisoner after the battle of Worcester; tried by a council of war, according to Rapin; and beheaded at Bolton, October 15th. 1652. His lady, famous for her ever memorable defence of Latham House, we are informed by Hume, retained the "the glory of being the last person in the three kingdoms, and in all their dependent dominions, who submitted to the victorious commonwealth." Tindal has the following remark in a note, "What reward his son had for this famous Earl's loyalty, will appear by the following inscription, fixed by the present Earl of Derby on a building erected at Knowsley, in Lancashire—James, Earl of Derby, Lord of Man, and the Isles, Grandson of James, Earl of Derby, and Charlotte, daughter of Clande Duke de la Tremonille, in France; whose husband James was beheaded at Bolton, on the 15th. of October, 1652, for strenuously adhering to Charles the second, who refused a bill, passed unanimously by both houses of parliament, for restoring to the family the estate lost by his loyalty to him, 1732.'".
* ↑ James Brindley, a man of a most extraordinary capacity, was born at Tusted, in Derbyshire, in 1716, and died at Turnhurst, in Staffordshire, in 1772. He was bound apprentice to a millwright, and followed the business some time at Macclesfield: as his talents developed themselves he was consulted by the late Duke of Bridgewater, and entrusted with the planning and formation of his canal; an undertaking which he executed in so masterly a manner, as to recommend and make himself necessary to all those projections which so quickly followed the success of the Duke's. He became a mechanic and engineer of the highest consequence, and was consulted upon almost all the important concerns, connected with his profession, in the kingdom. It is said he fell a victim to the intensity of his application. It was his custom to retire to bed for the space of two, three, or four days, to contemplate upon the undertakings he was employed for. In making his calculations he only used the pen to note the result of his mental operations; from this point he again took up the calculation, and arriving at a new result, noted it, and thus continued step by step advancing to his conclusion: hence his memory must necessarily have been exceedingly retentive, and his reasoning faculties and judgment clear. He is spoken of as a man liberal and communicative; of a most astonishing capacity; of a great genius, though unimproved by science or letters; of an intense application, and strict integrity.—See Aikin's History.
* ↑ The Lords de la Warr were formerly Lords of the manor, and their house stood upon the ground now occupied by the College. The College was founded by Thomas Lord de la Warr, in the ninth year of Henry the fifth. It is an heavy stone building, strongly situated upon an eminence at the conflux of the Irk and the Irwell. When Humphrey Cheetham, Esq. founded and endowed an hospital and library at Manchester, the College was purchased for that purpose, in 1655. The object of the endowment was to maintain and educate 40 poor boys, and to bind them apprentice, or otherwise provide for them: since that time the property has so much increased in value, that the trustees are now enabled to provide for more than double the original number. The library consists of about 20,000 volumes.
* ↑ The late Benjamin Gibson, Esq. was a man of the highest professional attainment and talent; a man warm in his friendships, communicative upon professional subjects, of a great delicacy of sentiment, and peculiar tenderness of honour. His genius was penetrating, and judgment solid; of a clear head and steady hand; attentive, tender, and humane; of a remarkable prepossessing address and suavity of manner, admirably calculated for ensuring confidence. As a lecturer upon Anatomy and Physiology, his claims to reputation were very superior; his delivery was clear, fluent, and unembarrassed, arising from a perfect knowledge of his subject. As an occulist, his fame has never been exceeded, except in the Metropolis. He was a man possessed of a constant activity in the search of professional improvement; of a just and laudable ambition; too soon snatched away from his friends and the public.
* ↑ General John Burgoyne, a man memorable for his misfortunes and his talents; a privy councellor; Lieutenant General; Colonel of the 4th. Regiment of Foot; and Member for Preston. In 1777 he advanced from Canada, with a mixed army of British, Germans, and Indians. The difficulties of a march through woods, whose roads had been broken up or rendered impassable, together with the necessity of keeping open communications in his rear, for the purpose of ensuring a supply of provisions, seem to have contributed greatly to the failure of the expedition. To these may be added a want of regular communication betwixt his army and those of Sir William Howe, and Sir Henry Clinton, as well as a jealousy occasioned by his superseding Sir Guy Carlton. The difficulties of his army increased to such an extent after the passage of Hudson's river, and particularly after the affair at Bennington, that he was under the painful necessity of agreeing to a convention with General Gates at Saratoga, on the 16th. October, 1777. In his "State of the Expedition from Canada," he complains very heavily of the intrigues of Lord George Germaine. After his return from America, he came down to Chadderton, and seems to have relaxed his mind by the use of the pen. He wrote the Heiress, one of the most beautiful of our sentimental Comedies; and was the author of several other lighter compositions. He married Charlotte, daughter of the Earl of Derby and died in London, August 4th. 1792. He had the character of an accomplished gentleman, and scholar; of a fine writer; brave and enterprising; benevolent and liberal; and of a strong and vigorous mind, unimpaired by injuries or misfortune.
* ↑ ————Quisque suis accingitur armis, ————Jactique legens vestigia, primam, Qui certamen init, sphæram demittit———— ————Radit iter, donec sensim primo impete fesso Subsistat; subito Globus emicat alter et alter. Vide Sphæristerium a Jo. Addison.