Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 2.djvu/631

Rh LIVERPOOL. 623 LIVERPOOL. institutions are: the Church of England Institute, in Bold-street ; The Jewish, in Hope-street ; the Tucker- man Institute, in Bedford-street; and the Roman Catholic, in Hope-street. St. Edward's College, near the St. Domingo-road, Everton, also belongs to that sect. The Athenaeum, in Church-street, was opened in 1799, and was the first institution of the kind in the country. It contains a library of 14,000 volumes, many of them very rare and curious. Among them is a copy of the treatise by Henry VIII. against Luther. There is also a club room supplied with newspapers and periodicals ; the subscription is two guineas and a half. The Lyceum, in Bold-street, contains a spacious room, supplied with newspapers, magazines, maps, &c., and a library, a large circular room, with a collection of 39,000 volumes. The subscription to this institution is one guinea. There is also a law library in South John-street, and numerous circulating libraries, the principal one being the free library built by Sir William Brown, M.P., in 1857. This was commenced in 1851, in connection with the zoological collection which the Earl of Derby left to the town on condition of its being kept as a free museum. Sir W. Brown first offered to contribute very largely to the building of a suitable edifice, and finally undertook the whole expense, which was about 30,000. The hooks may be either consulted at the library or taken home to read. The building is in Shaw's Brow, near St. George's Hall. There is a gallery of art in Slater- rtreet, containing some pictures by ancient masters, a rtatue of Roscoe by Chantrey, and a good collection of casts from celebrated statues. Periodical exhibitions of paintings are held at the Academy, in Church-street. There is a museum of antiquities in Colquitt-street. The theatres and other places of amusement are as follows : The Theatre Royal, Williamson-square ; the Adelphi, Christian-street, formerly used for equestrian perform- ances ; the Royal Amphitheatre, Great Charlotte-street, principally for equestrianism, but also employed for public meetings; the Park Theatre, in Parliament- gtreet. The Philharmonic Hall, in Hope-street, is the handsomest concert room in the town, and will accom- modate 300 performers and 2,000 auditors. The Wel- lington Rooms, Gill-street, Mount Pleasant, consist of a ball room, card room, and supper room : they were built in 1815. The Concert Hall, Lord Nelson Street, is used for public meetings and entertainments for the working classes, which are managed by a com- mittee of gentlemen. The Rotunda, Bold-street, was built for the exhibition of panoramas, but is now con- verted into a billiard-room. Other such rooms are the Brunswick Hall, Mill-street ; the Clarendon Rooms, Lord-street; the Freemasons' Hall, St. John's-lane; Hope Hall, Hope-street ; Odd-Fellows' Hall, St. Anne- street; Queen's Hall, Bold-street; Royal Assembly Rooms, Great George-street ; the Teutonic Hall, Lime- treet; and Toxteth Hall, Mill-street. There is a botanic garden in Edge-lane, occupying about 11 acres, and containing a conservatory 240 feet long. The zoological gardens, in the West Derby-road are tastefully laid out, and there is a good collection of animals. There is also a music hall on the grounds, and fire-works, &c., are frequently exhibited. Prince's Park is situated at the end of Prince' s-road. Part of it is enclosed as a garden, admission to which is restricted, but the remainder is public. There is a race-course at Aintree, about 6 miles to the N.E. of the town, where races are held in July. Liverpool is well supplied with hospitals and other charities. The Royal Infirmary in lirownlow-street is an Ionic building three stories in height. The cost of building was 27,800, and the annual expenditure is more than 5,000. The two r stories are fitted up for patients, and contain 234 beds. The charity is managed by a committee of twenty-six gentlemen. The Northern Hospital in it Howard-street was built by Mr. Welch in the Tudor style. It is not of great size, but is one of the best arranged in the kingdom. At the Southern and Toxteth Hospital, in Parliament-street, medicines are dispensed to tlio poor, as well as in-patients received. The Lock Hospital, in Ashton-street, waa opened in 1834, and has room for 60 patients. In addition to these, there is a fever hospital at Mount Pleasant ; a general hospital in the West Derby-road ; two medical dispensaries for the poor, for the N. and S. portions of the town, in Vauxhall-road and Great George-street ; a lying-in-hospital in Pembroke-place; an eye and ear infirmary in Mount Pleasant; a night asylum for the houseless poor in Naylor-street ; the Lancaster Countv Refuge for females liberated from the county prison ; a female penitentiary in Falkner-street for reclaiming prostitutes; the children's infirmary in Great George- street; the Charitable Institution House in Slater- street ; the almshouses in Cambridge-street, and the Liscensed Victuallers' Institution at Everton. Tho Lunatic Asylum on Brownlow Hill was built in 1830. It contains accommodation for sixty general patients, in addition to a few private patients for whom a payment is made. The Merchant Seamen's Hospital "is an asylum for aged and decayed sailors from the town, and supports also their widows and children. Every seaman leaving the port is obliged, by Act of Parliament, to subscribe 6d. a month from his wages to this charity, which possesses also a fund of about 37,000 unclaimed prize money. The Sailors' Home in Canning-place was opened in 1850 for providing lodging for seamen on shore. It contains a chapel, library, savings-bank, and a nautical school, besides the dormitories, &c. There are also two Emigrants' Homes conducted on the same principle. The Roman Catholics have an orphanage in Mulberry-street, and a convent of sisters of mercy in Mount Vernon-street. The Liverpool parish workhouse is on Brownlow Hill, and the West Derby union work- house in the Mill-road. There are numerous societies for dispensing charity, as the Welsh and Liverpool Charitable, the Humane, the Strangers' Friend, the District Provident, and other societies. The principal cemetery is St. James's Cemetery, Upper Duke-street, the site of which was originally a stone quarry. It was opened in 1829. Many of the monuments are handsome, particularly that of Mr. Huskisson. The Necropolis at Low Hill was opened in 1825. It covers about 5 acres. A cemetery was opened in 1856 in Smithdown-lane, Toxteth Park, and at Anfield Park is the Burial Board Cemetery for the Established Church, Protestant Dis- senters, and Roman Catholics. The parochial cemetery is at Walton. The Roman Catholic burial-ground is at Ford, and the Jewish in Dean-street. The corporation built public baths on George's Pier in 1829, and since that time other baths and washhouses have been opened in Cornwallis-street and Paul-street. Among the celebrated natives of Liverpool may be mentioned Jeremiah Horrox, the astronomer, who lived from 1619 to 1640. He discovered the transit of Venus over the disc of the sun, and a new theory of lunar motions. Roscoe, the author, 1762 to 1831, who lived at Mount Pleasant. A large portion of his library is now at the Athenaaum. Mrs. Hemans, Stubbs, the animal painter, Leigh Richmond, Deare, the sculptor, Gregson, the antiquary, and Houlston, the physician, were also born here. The following newspapers are published : Daily Post, Journal, Liverpool Albion, Chronicle, Courier, General Advertiser, Mail, Mercantile Gazette, Mercury, Stan- dard, and Times. The last mentioned paper was com- menced in 1756. Three railways enter Liverpool the Liverpool and Manchester branch of the London and North-Western, the Lancashire and Yorkshire and East Lancashire, and the Garston and Warrington. The passenger station of the London and North-Western is in Lime-street, opposite St. George's Hall, and was built in 1837. From the Edgehill station the way passes under the town in a tunnel 2,230 yards in length, through which the train is drawn by fixed engines. The line was opened to London in 1848. There are two goods stations in connection with the same line ono at Wapping; the other, called the Waterloo Station, in Great Howard-street. The Lancashire and Yorkshire station is in Tithebarn-streot, and is known as the Exchange station. The North Dock station, a goods