Page:History of Manchester (1771), Volume 1, by John Whitaker.djvu/242

Chap. VII. OF MANCHESTER. z* i. the ftorehoufe of their chieftain, they proceeded to the neceffary bufinefs of deftroying the immediately furrounding woods and of opening a fufficiently ample area. Loud founds the axe, redoubling ftrokes on ftrokes ; . On all fides round the foreft hurls her oaks Headlong ; deep-echoing groan the thickets brown, Then ruftling, crackling, crafhing, thunder down. The a£hial fite of the prefent Manchester muft have been now firft cleared of its venerable oaks. The region dire&ly around the prefent Manchefter muft have now firft felt the hand of cul- tivation. And both muft have fbon prefented to the eye a gaily mingled fcene of paftures meadows and corn-fields, finely contrafted by the gloomy majefty of the encircling woods. The ufeful arts of agriculture had been fuccefsfully profecuted among the Romans. This the variety of their writers upon the fubje& fufficiently attefts. And the fame arts had been as fuc- cefsfully purflied by all the tribes of the Gallic and by many of the Britifh Celtae. Of this the many particulars which the antients have mentioned concerning both are a fufficient evi- dence But as the Celtae varied from the Italians in fome par- ticulars of their rural conduct, the two different modes of ma- nagement compofed two diftindt fyftems of agriculture. Of thefe the Britons of Mancunium might be naturally expected to have adopted the Roman. But they adtually adopted the Celtic. The latter had been long tried in thefe northern climates, had been long approved by their brethren of Gaul and South-Britain, and was therefore fuppofed to be beft adapted to the northern latitude of Lancashire. Among the various manures with which the Roman farmers enriched their lands, they were totally unacquainted with the ufe of marie. The Celtic of Britain and of Gaul were the firft that had marked this unctuous clay in the bofoin of the earth, and the firft that had drawn it out and applied it to the purpofes •of agriculture. This they had found the moft forceable and lafling of .all manures, and had given it the honourable appel- E e 2 lation