Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 14.djvu/738

 714 LIVEKPOOL same time the corporation proposed to erect law courts for the assizes, which had been transferred to Liverpool and Manchester. In the competitive designs, the first prize was gained in both cases by Harvey Lonsdale Elmes. He was employed to combine the two objects in a new design, of which the present building is the outcome. The structure is one of which the city may well feel proud, and notwithstanding some defects it will always hold a high and honourable place amongst the erections of modern times. It is fortunate in its situation, occupying the most central position in the town, and surrounded by an area sufficiently extensive to exhibit its proportions to the best advantage. Another advantage it possesses is that of size ; there are few buildings in the country, forming a solid mass under one roof, which surpass it in dimension. The plan is simple in arrangement, and easily described. The centre is occupied by the great liall, 169 feet in length, and, with the galleries, 87 feet wide and 74 feet high, covered with a solid vault in masonry. Attached to each end, and opening therefrom, are the law courts. A corridor runs round the hall and the courts, com municating with the various accessory rooms. Externally the east front is faced with a fine portico of sixteen Corinthian columns about 60 feet in height. An advanced portico of similar columns fronts the south end crowned with a pediment filled with sculpture, with the inscription &quot; Artibus, Legibus, Consiliis Locum Munieipia Constituerunt Anno Domini MDCCCXLI.&quot; The style is Roman, but the refinement of the details is suggestive of the noblest period of Grecian art. The great hall is finished with considerable richness in polished granite columns, marble balustrades and pavements, polished brass doors with rich foliated tracery, &c. The organ, built by Messrs AVillis of London, from the specification of Dr Samuel Wesley, is equal to any in the country for extent, power, and beauty of tone. Mr Elmes, a young architect of great promise, having died during the progress of the work, the building was completed by the late Mr C. It. Cockerell, R.A. Next to the public buildings belonging to the city, the most important is the exchange, forming three sides of a quadrangle, adjoining the town-hall on the north side. The town-hall was originally built to combine a mercantile exchange with municipal offices, but the merchants per versely preferred to meet in the open street adjoining. This, with other circumstances, led to the erection of the new exchange, a building of considerable merit, which was commenced in 1803 and opened in 1808. It had scarcely been in use for more than fifty years when it was found that the wants of commerce had outstripped the accommo dation, and the structure was taken down to make room for the present building, in which greater convenience has been attained, with considerable sacrifice of aesthetic effect. The revenue buildings, commenced in 1828, on the site of the original Liverpool Dock, combine the customs, inland revenue, post-office, and dock board departments, It is a huge heavy structure, with three advanced porticoes in the Ilyssus Ionic style. Near by stands the sailors home, a large building in the Semi-Gothic or Elizabethan style. The Philharmonic Hall in Hope Street, with not much pretension externally, is one of the finest music rooms in the kingdom; it accommodates an audience of about 2500. The group of buildings forming the free public library, museum, and gallery of art are finely situated on the brow of the slope opposite St George s Hall. The library and gallery of art are separate buildings connected by .the circular reading-room in the middle. The latter possesses some^novelties in construction, having a circular floor 100 feet in diameter without columns or any intermediate support, and a lecture-room underneath, amphitheatrical m form, with grades or benches hewn out of the solid rock. Railways. There are three passenger stations in Liver pool, the London and North-Western, the Lancashire and Yorkshire, and the combined station of the Midland, Great Northern, and Manchester and Sheffield. The rapid increase of traffic has led to large extensions of the North- Western, and a very large addition to the Lancashire and Yorkshire is in progress (1882). The f.innol under the Mersey now in course of construction will give access for the Great Western and Cumbrian systems into Liverpool Water and Gas Supply. The original supply of water was from wells in the sandstone rock, but in 1846 an Act was passed, under which extensive works were constructed at Rivington, about 25 miles distant, by which a much larger supply was obtained. The vast increase of popula tion led to further requirements, and in 1880 another Act gave power to impound the waters of the Vyrnwy, one of the affluents of the Severn. This scheme which, it is expected, will give a copious supply for many years to come, is now being carried out. The gas-works are the property of a company. Efforts have been made to effect a purchase by the city, but hitherto without success. Administration of Justice. The city has quarter sessions for criminal cases, presided over by the recorder, but the sessions are really held eight times in the year. The court of passage for civil cases is a very ancient institution, dating from the foundation of the borough by King John, originally intended for cases arising out of the imports and exports passing through. Its jurisdiction has been con firmed and settled by parliament, and it is now competent, by consent, to try causes to any amount. The mayor is nominally the president, but the actual judge is an assessor appointed by the crown. There are two police courts which sit daily, one presided over by the lay magistracy, the other by the stipendiary magistrate. Ecclesiastical. The parish, which was separated from Walton-on-the-Hill in 1G99, contained two churches, St Nicholas, the ancient chapel, and St Peter s, then built. There were two rectors, the living being held in medieties. Of recent years changes have been sanctioned by parlia ment. The living is now held by a single incumbent, and a large number of the churches which have since been built have been formed into parishes by the ecclesiastical commissioners. St Peter s has been constituted the pro- cathedral, pending the erection of a more suitable building. Besides the two original parish churches, there are sixty- seven others belonging to the establishment. The Roman Catholics form a very numerous and powerful body in the city, and it is estimated that from a third to a fourth of the entire population are Catholics. A large part of these are Irish settlers or their descendants, but this district of Lancashire has always been a stronghold of Catholicism, many of the landed gentry belonging to old Catholic families. Charities. These are numerous, and are maintained with no niggardly hand. The earliest foundation is the Blue Coat hospital, established in 1708, for orphans and fatherless children born within the borough. The building, erected in 1717, is a quaint and characteristic specimen of the architecture of the period. It now maintains two hundred and fifty boys and one hundred girls. There is an orphan asylum, established in 1840, for boys, girls, and infants, and a seamen s orphan asylum, commenced in 1858, for boys and girls. The Roman Catholics have similar establishments. The medical charities are large and flourishing. The royal infirmary has had a school of medicine attached, which has been very successful, and is now merged in the new University College. The medical charities are aided by simultaneous collections in the churches and chapels on &quot;Hospital Sunday,&quot; the first Sunday in the year, the amount averaging about 10,000. Literature, Art, and Science. The free library, museum, and gallery of arts, established and managed by the city council, was originated in 1850. The library building was erected by Sir William Brown at a cost of 40,000. The Derby museum, containing the collections of Edward, the thirteenth earl, were presented by his son. The Mayer museum of historical antiquities and art was con-