centre.

Roscoe is with its literary reputation. Another is the Infirmary, one of the best buildings in Liverpool; it is built of stone, and on a large scale. There is a central projection, comprising a hexastyle Ionic portico; and two wings fall back beyond the level of this The interior arrangements comprise everything which can conduce to the comfort and recovery of nearly two hundred and fifty patients. Another institution, still nearer the same spot, is the Charitable Institution House, built at the expense of three Liverpool merchants, for the free use of the various charitable societies, for the holding of their meetings. Besides all these there is a Fever Hospital; one or two other hospitals; three Dispensaries (one of which, in Vauxhall-road, is a large and elegant building, comprising accommodation for in-patients and medical students); an Ophthalmic Infirmary; an Infirmary for Diseases of the Ear; a Ladies' Charity; a Stranger's Friend Society and various others, likely to be rapidly increased in number, as the condition of the poor and sick become more generally known.

It is impossible to hear and read of these multitudinous institutions for the alleviation of wretchedness, without feeling that a good and kindly feeling is abroad. Whether, as, some thoughtful writers and careful observers allege, the independent spirit of the working classes becomes to a certain degree frittered away by this system of gratuitous aid, and families acquire a habit of looking to others instead of their own foresight and prudence-whether this be so or not, the wish to render service on the part of those who have the power to give practical value to the wish is something gained: it is a bright light, that will shine into all the dark places one by one; it only requires to be regulated by caution and judgment.

A glance at the new buildings, enumerated in a former page as intended to be constructed within the last year or two, and some of them still in course of construction, will show that the number of institutions, bearing on the subjects just discussed, is likely to be still larger. One thing is certain, that benevolence and architecture go hand in hand in the matter; for while the new buildings are far more commodious than those which they have superseded or are about to supersede, they are unquestionably a greater ornament to the town. From Netherfield-road to Toxteth-road, from the river to the Botanical and Zoological Gardens, fine buildings are springing up in all directions.

Our purpose brings us more immediately in contact with Liverpool as it is, than with Liverpool as it may hereafter be. Yet it would be unpardonable to omit mention of the Sailors' Home' among the buildings now in course of construction. The object of the institution is pretty well indicated by its name. The plan of the institution having been determined on, a spot of ground was selected very near the Revenue Buildings, bounded on three sides by Hanover-street, Paradise-street, and Canning-place. Mr. J. Cunningham is the architect whose designs have been accepted. They comprise a building in the later Elizabethan

style, the first stone of which was laid by Prince Albert. The structure comprises an imposing mass, upwards of seventy feet high, and having four complete frontages. At each corner will be a square tower, surmounted by an ogive dome, the summit of which will be upwards of a hundred feet from the ground. Its plan will be an irregular square, owing to the angles at which the boundary streets meet each other. The longest side will be 175 feet, and the shortest 53. Along the summits of the building, between the corner towers, will be several gables of curvilinear and compound forms, crowned by gilt vanes, and richly adorned. Within the chief entrance, in Canning-place, will be a square entrance-hall, and within this again will be another hall of very lofty proportions, surrounded by galleries communicating with the rooms on the several floors. On the first floor, in the chief front, will be a large dining-hall; and other parts of the building will comprise a lectureroom, reading-rooms, a savings bank, &c.

THE CEMETERIES AND PUBLIC GARDENS.

Have the people of Liverpool any public parks; any pleasant gardens and open pleasure spots; any picturesque cemeteries, to dissipate the gloom and the insalubrity of our old-fashioned churchyards? So much is now doing in London, in Manchester, in Birkenhead, and in other towns, in this matter, that we cannot fail to feel an interest in the solution of the question for so densely populated a place as Liverpool. We shall find that, though much may yet remain to be done, much has already been accomplished in this respect.

Many of the cemeteries of Liverpool are very pretty. In the north-east part of the town, near the suburban village of Everton, is St. Mary's Cemetery, a tastefully laid out plot of ground, appropriated to its present purpose in 1837. The entrance building is constructed of stone, having in the centre a Gothic arched gateway. The ground occupies about three acres, and is arranged much in the same manner as most of the cemeteries near London. Another cemetery, situated at the eastern extremity of Liverpool, and called the Necropolis, is an oblong square comprising an area of about five acres, enclosed by a lofty wall. A part of the interior space, ten feet from the wall, is set apart for a colonnade, in which tombs and monumental tablets are placed; while the remaining space is occupied partly by graves, and partly by ornamental paths, shrubberies, and flower beds.

But by far the most remarkable and beautiful cemetery in Liverpool is St. James's, situated in the southern half of the town. Here a happy use has been made of a vacant space of ground, which had been partly quarried out for building purposes. This piece of ground is of an irregular four-sided shape, bounded by Hope-street, Upper Duke-street, St. James's-road, and Upper Parliament-street. St James's Church is at the south-west corner, and near it is St.

James's Market. The Necropolis, founded in 1825, was soon found to be insufficient to answer the designed purposes; and measures were speedily taken to fit up the open space at St. James's as a second cemetery. The first stone was laid in 1827, and preparations were made for enclosing an area of nearly fifty thousand square yards. There are four entrances by gates, the principal one leading through a fine archway to the lower part of the grounds. The eastern side of the cavity (for a cavity it is in the greater part of its extent) is bounded by a nearly perpendicular face, eleven hundred feet in length by about fifty in height; and along the face of this wall are carried several inclined roads, dipping at different angles, to allow hearses and carriages to descend to the catacombs and graves. The catacombs, upwards of a hundred in number, are formed in the perpendicular east face or margin, in such a way that the descending roads give easy access to them. Most of the catacombs are entered by easy doorways, about seven feet in height, formed of masonry round the sides. The whole area occupied is about fifteen hundred feet in length, the lower part of which is laid out much in the same way as the Pére la Chaise at Paris.

The Botanical Gardens, in the eastern vicinity of Liverpool, is a pleasant spot where a mouthful of fresh air, and a few scraps of knowledge, may be obtained. These gardens are situated at the extreme south-eastern verge of the town, in the vicinity of the villas of many of the Liverpool merchants. There is, near the entrance, a handsome stone building, which constitutes the residence of the curator, and adjoining to this is the entrance to the gardens themselves. The area occupied is about eleven acres, and is laid out in a most beautiful manner. Some of the choicest plants have been brought thither from foreign countries; and all are so admirably arranged as to form a course of instruction in Natural History to those who can devote time enough to study them. The most rare and delicate of the plants are placed in an elegant conservatory, two hundred and forty feet in length.

There is one point connected with these gardens which is particularly worthy of the attention of those who are striving to introduce publice parks and gardens. It is a very small matter in itself; yet it is capable of producing much fruit. In all well-conducted gardens of this kind, there are tablets, made of some convenient and durable material, placed on or near the principal plants, and having inscribed on them the name of the plant, and often a few other particulars concerning it, as to growth, country, &c. Such has been done in the ornamental enclosure of St. James's Park; and such is being done in the Victoria Park, and elsewhere. Now, at the Liverpool Botanical Gardens, four great groups of subjects are indicated simply by the different colours of the tablets on which the inscriptions are written. Plants used for food have one coloured tablet; plants for use in medicine and the arts have another colour; ornamental plants (not yet brought to any useful purpose) have a third; and poi

sonous plants a fourth colour. If we remember rightly, the colours are-green for food plants, red for manufacturing plants, yellow for ornamental plants, and black for poisonous plants; but it matters little what the colours are, provided they are understood: bearing these symbols in mind, the visitors have a large amount of information given to them simply by the colours of the inscription-tablets. At the Derby Arboretum, founded by Mr. Strutt, the inscription, on most of the specimens, gives the number of the tree or plant (as referred to in a catalogue), the Latin or scientific name, the English name, the habitat, the full-grown height, the date of the introduction into England, &c. All these points are worth attending to; but for those whose time will permit only a rapid glance round the garden, it is something to know, simply by the colour of the tablet, to which of four large groups each individual plant belongs.

The Zoological Gardens, situated a short distance southward of those just described, belong to a class which has spread considerably in England within the last few years. It contains all the usual features of such a place. Dens, and cages, and enclosures for the "wild beasts" and for the more gentle animals— miniature lakes and Chinese bridges-walks and paths -flower-beds and groups of shrubs; and, occasionally, illuminations, music, and pictorial models, after the fashion of one of our metropolitan holiday-places.

Liverpool is taking steps to provide herself with public parks and walks, open to all without fee or reward. One spot which, from its name, would seem to belong to this class-Toxteth Park-is now no park at all. It was anciently a park belonging to the Dukes of Lancaster, but afterwards passed into the hands of the Earls of Derby. It appears that the Liverpool people had the right to graze their cattle in that park ; for, on occasion of a dispute between the Earl and the townsmen, in 1561, he took away the privilege, and only re-granted it on the earnest supplication of the inhabitants. In the next following century the estate fell into the hands of the Earls of Sefton, by whom, in recent times, various patches of ground have been let off on building leases. In 1770 the entire park was composed of farms; but in that year commenced the first demolition of farms, for the purpose of building dwelling houses on the ground. This process has gone on for three-quarters of a century, until at length Toxteth Park is entirely obliterated; it is a mass of houses and streets, forming the southern margin of Liverpool. Some of the villas of this district are situated upon rising ground, which commands a very fine view over the north of the town, the docks, the shipping, the Mersey, the Cheshire coast, and some of the lofty hills of Wales. There is a part of this Toxteth Park district, southward of the borough of Liverpool, where there is a finely laid out pleasure-ground, called the Dingle, which is opened to the public on certain days of the week.

If we would know how it arises that noblemen destroy their parks and farms for the sake of build

ing villas and streets on the property, we soon find an answer in the increased value of building-land near populous towns. A writer in the Parliamentary Gazetteer' observes: "One great cause of the more recent extension of the town, besides the main one (the rapid increase of its trade), has been the number of houses pulled down to make way for the construction of its numerous docks, and for the erection of warehouses and public edifices, the widening and improving of the streets, &c. Another cause consists in the demand for commodious habitations in the suburbs, by persons formerly living in small houses in the denselypeopled parts of the town; but in whom increase of wealth has begotten increase of luxury, and, as usual, new desires to gratify, instead of merely gratifying old. At the period of the Parliamentary Survey, in 1831, the increase of houses in the circuit of the townships adjoining the town was estimated at seven hundred per annum; while the price of land for building was very high, both in the town and in the outskirts. As much as ten guineas a square yard, say the Commissioners, has been given in the middle of the town; and the price of building-ground in the different directions immediately surrounding the town, is from five shillings to fifteen shillings the square yard, or from one to three thousand pounds per acre. Even as far as four miles from Liverpool, in very favourable situations, five hundred pounds per statute acre is not an unfrequent price." We have very little doubt that, in the sixteen years subsequent to the survey of the Commissioners, still higher prices have had to be paid for building-land in Liverpool. The Railway-terminus, the Assize Courts, the Sailors' Home, and various commercial and municipal buildings, have wonderfully increased the demand for land since 1831.

It is in a direction somewhat eastward of Toxteth Park, that a munificent Liverpool merchant has purchased from the Earl of Sefton upwards of forty acres of land, for the purpose of having it laid out as a public park. There are other projects, on a similar though less extensive scale, in other quarters.

A CONCLUDING GLANCE.

pool has sought the means of accommodating her merchants, as near as may be, to the Revenue-buildings and the Exchange. Let us traverse in succession North and South Castle-street, North and South Johnstreet, Lord-street, Church-street, Paradise-street, Bold-street, and Ranelagh-street, and we shall find ourselves immersed not only in a region of incessant bustle and traffic, but in one where the power of commerce often puts on a very luxurious appearance; and where, moreover, literary and other institutions are strewed with an unusually liberal hand.

In connexion with this matter, we ought especially to speak of one group of buildings, among the most recent which have been constructed. Brunswick-buildings, situated in the heart of the commercial district, is one of the finest ornaments of street architecture which the town possesses. It is a satisfactory answer to the query, whether architecture and commercial fitness can go hand in hand. Brunswick-buildings is not a street of houses, nor a public office or establishment; it is a group of offices and counting-houses, to be let out to different parties. But there is a unity of design about it which gives all the importance of a public building. The Italian Palazzo-style, which Barry has brought into such high repute in modern times, has been applied by the Messrs. Williams to this group of buildings. The structure stands at the corner of Fenwick and Brunswick-streets, and presents two frontages in the same style; the one having nine windows in width, and the other seven. The whole mass occupies an oblong square, about a hundred feet by sixty, having an internal court in the centre. The two lower stories combine to form a rusticated basement, which is built of light reddish-tinted freestone; above this are two other stories, filled with ranges of windows; and uppermost of all is a fine boldly projecting cornice. A vestibule leads from the central entrance in Brunswick-street to the central quadrangle, which is not merely an open court, like the quadrangle of the Royal Exchange, but is a very handsome' cortile' of uniform design, having rich balustrades running along the two upper floors, and a bold cornice above. The 'cortile' is at the same time converted into a covered hall; for there is a cove over the cornice, on which rests a fine skylight, with provision for ventilation. This building, taken as a whole, seems certainly to be a worthy ornament to the town.

A traveller by railway from the north to London finds that the hotels, at one or other of which he may perchance design to sojourn for a while, are situated widely apart. From Piccadilly or Oxford-street, in the west, to Aldersgate or Bishopsgate-street, in the east, he has a wide range for his selection. In Liverpool, however, where more centralisation prevails, in one street-Dale-street-close to the Railway-station, there are nearly a dozen hotels of greater or less mark; and in a small quadrangular inclosure, a quiet spot

near to the station, is another group of half-a-dozen hotels; while in and near Ranelagh-street, still in the

same vicinity, are three of the finest of all-the Adelphi, the Albion, and the Waterloo Hotels. The external merits of an hotel few persons care or think about, since their internal economy is a matter of much graver import; but if we choose to give a passing glance at the Adelphi Hotel, we shall find that it is really a fine specimen of its class, and worthy to rank with those which continental travellers so often meet with.

And now, if we persevered in our enumeration, we might talk about the three theatres which Liverpool possesses, and the Wellington Rooms, and other gay places for assembly and amusement; and the Music Hall, which is rapidly rising into view; and the Exhibition Rooms, where the works of living artists are occasionally exhibited. And we might also dwell on

the features of many of the more important manufacturing establishments of the town-such as its soap factories, the most numerous and vast of any in the kingdom; its engineers' and ship-building establishments, second to none in skill and to few in extent; its sugar-refineries, breweries, roperies, glass works, alkali works, chain-cable works, colour-mills, watchmovement manufactories (more numerous, it is said, than in any other town in the kingdom, not excepting even the metropolis), and many others. But enough has been said to show what a very world of bustle, what a centre of production and interchange, this great Lancashire seaport has become. Let us first imagine the "Lyrpole" which Leland visited, "a paved town, which hath but a chapel," and then let us follow it down to the year 1847: we should have an epitome of the history of British commerce.