6. It was thus left open to students or their parents to select
either a denominational or an undenominational college, according to
their preference.

Meanwhile another university had been founded in the north of England.
The dean and chapter of Durham had determined to set aside a part of
their emoluments for the foundation of a university, and the bishop had
undertaken to assist them by attaching prebendal stalls in the cathedral
to some of the professorships. An act of parliament was obtained in
1832, authorising the establishment of the new university, which was
opened in October, 1833, and was incorporated by a royal charter on June
1, 1837. As an ecclesiastical foundation, the university of Durham was
of course in the closest connexion with the established Church.

None of these new foundations could compare in respect of endowments
with the old universities of Oxford and Cambridge, yet it was not
altogether without reason that the founders of University College,
London, hoped to give as good an education at a greatly reduced cost. It
must be remembered that only a small fraction of the endowments of the
old universities and their colleges was at this time applied to strictly
educational purposes, and, until they should either be reformed or
become more sensible of their opportunities, there was a fair field for
an energetic rival.

The beginning of the nineteenth century witnessed a marvellous expansion
of manufacturing industry, not so much caused by new discoveries as by
the energetic application of those made at the end of the last century,
by the growth of the factory-system, and, above all, by the monopoly of
English-made goods during the great war. The innovation of
machine-spinning and weaving by power-looms had an instant effect in
stimulating and cheapening the production of cottons, but that of
woollens, cramped by heavy duties on the raw material, languished for
some time longer under traditional methods of handspinning. When
stocking-frames and other forms of machinery penetrated at last into its
strongholds in the West Riding of Yorkshire and in the midland counties,
the demand for "hands" was inevitably reduced, and "frame-breaking"
riots ensued, which lasted for several years. From this period dates the
industrial revolution which gradually abolished domestic industries,
separated mill-owners and mill-hands into almost hostile classes,
undermined the system of apprenticeship, and brought about a