[TO TRH EDITOR OF THE " SPECT•TOR."]
SIR,—Professor Freeman asks Canon McColl when and how Ripon became a "city." Is not the answer this P—At the date of, and by means of, the establishment of the Bishopric. I believe Coke and Blackstone agree that a city is a town incor- porate, which is, or has been, the see of a Bishop, and this definition seems to hold good, with perhaps the proviso that the
town must have been incorporated before it ceased to be a see. This view explains why Westminster and Coventry are cities, and may explain why Sherborne and Dorchester (Oxon.) are not cities. It also explains why Bangor on its recent incorporation was styled a city, and why it is not only " grotesque " but also inaccurate to say " the City of Southwell." A city surely im- plies that citizens exist, with municipal rights and duties. The Royal proclamations in the cases of Manchester, Liverpool, and Newcastle were, if not mere surplusages, only the formal public recognition of an accession of dignity already effected by the common law.-I am, Sir, &e.,
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