"Mb, *spectator ctober, 4t1) 1851
'MANCHESTER AND ITS GUEST
THE event of the age is one that has not yet happened, but is going to happen ; the North of England already feels its . influence—a refraction of the rising sun some weeks before the event can come to pass. Queen Victoria is to visit Manchester, or rather Manchester is to be visited by Queen Victoria.
Now Manchester is a very utilitarian place ; its men are plain men, proud of their solid understandings. The genius of Manchester resides in its unadorned factories—those palaces of brick and whitewash. Manchester takes a sensible view of things—not extreme, not aristocratic, nor servile ; it tests things by their usefulness, their safe mediocrity, their profitableness. But now, this plain utilitarian Manchester is undergoing, and has been undergoing for several weeks, a perfect paroxysm of loyalty—unprecedented, unparalleled, indescribable. . . .
Manchester will be beautiful. How blest is royalty ! As Venus • walked, flowers sprang up at her feet, winter became spring, and the parched plain of summer smiled with vernal loveliness. As Queen Victoria travels by special train, Liver- pool, becomes chivalrous, Manchester beautiful ; Salford is gravelled like a park, the factory blooms ornate, and the stagnant pool before the Infirmary grows lively I . . .
How Manchester loves royally!—it is so successful!'.
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