After the twelfth century, a calmer period arrived; and, though occasionally troubled by the pest of war, the fortunes of the now wealthy town of Manchester, have been progressively increasing. From the year 1352, we may date the commencement of its manufacturing celebrity, when a kind of woollen cloth, made from the fleece, in an unprepared state, called “Manchester cotton,” was introduced; and some Flemish artisans, invited into England, by Edward III., settled in the town, and brought the woollen manufacture to a considerable degree of perfection. At the time of the Reformation, an ecclesiastical commission was established at Manchester, and exercised great intolerance, imprisoning and executing numbers of popish recusants; another of the black and by-gone deeds of our past “dark ages.” During the Parliamentary war, the head-quarters of the Parliamentarian army, in Lancashire, were fixed at Manchester, which was fortified and defended too well for the Royalist forces to be successful in any of their repeated attacks. In 1652, the walls were thrown down, the fortifications demolished, and the gates carried away and sold. The good town of Manchester had grown great and wealthy; but we much doubt if it had become particularly grave or wise, since we know that extravagant rejoicings, accompanied by every splendour of pomp and ceremony, took place at the restoration of the not-too-excellent King Charles II., in whose honour, and to the glorification of the thirsty woollen-weavers, the public conduits flowed with streams of wine, instead of water; a celebration worthy of the “merry monarch.” * * * * * In 1745, Prince Charles Edward entered Manchester with his army, and took up his abode in the house of Mr. Dickenson, in Market-street, when he levied money, raised men and horses for his service, and after marching about the country, made a rapid retreat into Scotland, before the army of the Duke of Cumberland. The officers of the Manchester regiment, were tried for high treason, and executed on Kennington Common, two of the heads being placed on Temple Bar, and two on the Exchange, Manchester. With this inhuman and disgraceful event, the record of the “fortunes of war,” connected with this place, ends,—we will trust for ever.