Its position is almost in the centre of England, hut in the south-eastern part of the county to which it gives name. It stands on the northern bank or the river Lene, about a mile north of the river Trent, into which, a little to the north-castward of the Trent bridge, the Lute flows: at the southern point of the great forest of Sherwood, so celebrated for the exploits of Robin Hood and Little John, and at the distance of 124 miles north of London—the great mail-coach road from which, to Sheffield and Leeds, passes through the town. In every direction, except, perhaps, just upon the forest line of road, the surrounding country is rich, populous, and beautiful ; were it not that the inclination towards the east is more gradual, and the abruptly terminating rock on the west, " Dolorous Hill," is said to have been the appellation borne by the eminence on which Nottingham stands ; an appellation derived, say the same veracious chroniclers, from the grief of thc surviving Britons over an excessive slaughter made of their countrymen by a king, Humber, from the north. Less elevated, the situation of Nottingham would greatly resemble that of Edinburgh ; only, if any one would avail himself of this remark to form a more correct idea of the site of the former, lie must be careful to remember that at Not tingham there is no North Loch, but the town is con tinued,northward on a uniform, although very gentle ascent, till it is terminated by a second rather (abrupt ele%ation, parallel with that which overhangs the Lene. The rock on which it so airily stands, is a dry, soft one, overspread with a light sandy soil. 'Much of the town, however, to the production of many singular and pleas ing prospects, is built on the front, and along the base of the lengthened bill that ascends from the vale of the Trent and Lene ; a vast extent of which vale, smiling in cultivation, studded with villag-es, and adorned by villas, is ccnimanded from the edge of the hill. The streets of Nottingham are many in number, and some of them of considerable length ; narrowness is, however, charac teristic of most of them. Castle-gate, and the High Pavement, form an exception to this last remark ; and the market-place, whether we consider the extent of its arca, or the appearance of the buildings that range around it, may well claim the epithet of noble. Leland, despis ing English grammar, calls it " the most fairest without exception of all England ;" and Moritz, a German tra veller, accustomed to the splendours of Berlin, writing, in his account of a pedestrian excursion that he made to the Peak cavern, a description of the town, is in rap tures with its market-place. Of the caves, or cavernous habitations of Nottingham, mention has been already made. Sncinton, a suburban village, contains manv of them; with the singular appearance of which, the stran ger entering the town from the notth will be much struck. According to some, indeed, the greater part of Nottingham stands on ground excavated into rooms and subterraneous passages; and it is certain that, so long ago as the time of Leland, many caves were used as cellars and storehouses. Of some remarkable ones, mention will yet fall to be made in our article.
The charitable institutions of Nottingham are nume rous, and, speaking generally, of an important charac ter. Plumptre's Hospital, an interesting edifice, ori ginally founded in the reig,n of Richard the Second, for two chaplains, onc of whom was to be master, and 13 poor widows; but since augmented by two descend ants of the founder, John Plumptre, is situated at the bridge end. Fifteen shillings a-month, with a ton of coals, and a gown annually, are received by each pen sioner. Collins's Hospital, in Friar Lane, founded in 1704, has also claims to notice as a building. It is for twenty-four poor men and women, who are comfortably lodged, provided with fuel, and receive each 28. a-week. Besides these, and similar to them in their objects, are Willoughby's, Gregory's, Handley's, the Labourers', Warsargate, &c. hospitals ; Woolley's Beadhouse ; Bell
by's almshouses ; the Peckham and Coventry Charities, &e. In each parish, moreover, there is a workhouse for the general poor. The General Infirmary i,s a noble charity, and fine building. It was founded in 1781; stands in the midst of an agreeable garden and airing grounds ; exhibits a centre, two projecting wings, and two extreme projections ; has recently been enlarged very considerably ; it has been, is, and in all probability will be, of most essential and extensive use. In addi tion to numerous exceedingly liberal benefactions, it de serves to be recorded, that onc individual, long un known, but since discovered to 113VC been the late Reve rend Thomas Gisborne, author of sermons, poems, &c. subscribed to the Nottingham General Infirmary at once 10,000/. stock, a sum equal to 6,337/. Sterling. He be stowed, at the same time, a like sum on two other in firmaries, viz. on that of Sheffield, and, we think, that of Leeds. Another charitable establishment, on a very extensive scale, is the Lunatic Asylum. Its benefits are extended to paupers, as well as to those whose circum stances, or those of their friends, permit a board to be paid for them. This edifice, a large one of five stories, including two basement ones, in height, is, although but a very little way out of the town, in the chapelry of Sneinton. Great liberality has been evinced in contri buting towards its establishment and support. It was opened in 1812.
Among the institutions which have education for their object, we place first the free Grammar School, which was founded in 1513 by Agnes 11Iellors, widow of an opulent bell-founder of Nottingham. This is really a free school, for, by a corporation act made in 1807, sixty boys arc admitted upon the foundation, and gratuitously taught, or may be taught, Greek, Latin, English, writing, aod arithmetic. In the High Pavement is a charity-school for fifty poor children of both sexes, forty of whom are clad in blue uniform, and to all of whom instruction is dispensed in the principles of Christianity, and in Eng lish reading. Two other charity-schools, both in St. Mary's parish, afford the means of instruction to thirty, and sixteen poor children respectively. Clothing and a plain education are given to poor children among the Protestant dissenters, in an establishment of their own. A national school, and a Church of England Sunday, school, are also among the educational establishments of this flourishing town ; while, in the other numetous Sun day schools of the place, not fewer, it is computed, than 3000 children are, in a measure at least, and gratuitously, instructed.
Of thc market-place mention has been already made. There is a handsome and highly useful building con nected with it, which, although built about a century ago, is called the New Exchange. It is constructed of brick, is four stories high, and has an open corridor or piazza beneath it. Justicc, in sculpture, poising her scales, and wearing over her eyes the symbolical band age, crowns the pile ; partly on the ground•floor of which, and partly behind it, are the shambles. Rooms in which different corporation business is transacted, arc, as well as a subscription news-room, termed the Ex change Hall, contained in the building. That the mar kets of Nottingham, although, like those of most manu facturing towns, somewhat high as to prices, arc vari ously and abundantly supplied, it is almost superfluous to remark. As an appropriate symptom of the celebrity of this town for ale, it may be observed that the malt cross, one of several crosses, such as the work-day cross, Sm. now demolished, once stood at the higher end of the market-place. The market days are Wednesday and Saturday. On these days also, but only on the first of them in this market-place, an ancient cattle market is held. Three fails are held annually, viz. on the 7th of March, the 2d and Sd of April, and the 2d of October, the last being a nine-days' fair.