a great city, whose image dwells in the memory of man, is the type of some great idea. rome represents conquest; faith hovers over the towers of jerusalem; and athens embodies the pre-eminent quality of the antique world, art.
in modern ages, commerce has created london; while manners, in the most comprehensive sense of the word, have long found a supreme capital in the airy and bright-minded city of the seine.
art was to the ancient world, science is to the modern: the distinctive faculty. in the minds of men the useful has succeeded to the beautiful. instead of the city of the violet crown, a lancashire village has expanded into a mighty region of factories and warehouses. yet, rightly understood, manchester is as great a human exploit as athens.
the inhabitants, indeed, are not so impressed with their idiosyncrasy as the countrymen of pericles and phidias. they do not fully comprehend the position which they occupy. it is the philosopher alone who can conceive the grandeur of manchester, and the immensity of its future. there are yet great truths to tell, if we had either the courage to announce or the temper to receive them.
