836 ' LIVER 
clock. This chapel is alfo furnifhed with an organ. On 
the front of the building is a Hone-portico, through which 
the mi-nifler paffes by a flight of fceps directly into the pul¬ 
pit; and over the portico is the vedry, with three Gothic 
windows, between which, and on the angles, are Ionic 
pilafters fupporting a neat pediment. The whole is fur- 
rounded by a handfome burial-place, inclofed. 
St. Mary’s and the other churches have nothing con¬ 
nected with their Hructures or appearances deferving of 
particular notice; though all of them are entitled to be 
called neat. Befides the places of worfliip belonging to 
the eflabliffiment, there is a great number of dilfenting 
tneeting-houfes, or chapels, for various defcriptions of 
religioniHs. 
The public edifices connected with the trade and com¬ 
merce of the town are, the exchange-buildings, town-hall 
and manfion-houfe,cuftom-ho\ile,eorn-exchange, tobacco- 
warehoufe, and other warehoufes. Of thefe the exchange 
is the molt fpacious in plan, and ornamental in its exterior 
■architecture. It was ereCted by a fubfcription of 8o,oool. 
yaifed by 800 transferable fnares: the buildings occupy 
three fides of a quadrangle, having the town-hall on the 
fouth fide: the whole furrounds an area of 194. feet by 180. 
It was built from defig.ns by Wyatt; 'and it comprifes 
public exchange-rooms, coffee-rooms, and various offices. 
The town-hall, formerly called the exchange, is a large 
infulated pile of building, the greater part of which was 
ereCted in 1750, from the defigns of Wood of Bath. 
The whole of its interior was burnt in 1795. It was foon 
repaired, and appropriated to the ufe of the mayor, for 
offices belonging to the corporation, feffions-rooms, See. 
The blue-coat hofpital was in 1709 merely a charity- 
Tchool. A fmall building, now part of the free-fehool, 
■was ereCted by benefactions ; and forty boys and ten girls 
Were provided with clothes and education by an annual 
fubfcription of thirty pounds, and twenty pounds more 
granted by order of the biffiop out of the facrament-mo- 
ney. An additional contribution of two hundred pounds 
was given by Bryam Blundell, efq. and, in 1714, fifty 
(Children were on the foundation, forty-two boys and eight 
girls. The fame gentleman foon after planned a fubfcrip¬ 
tion for ereCting a building in which the children might 
be lodged, and fupplied with all the neceffaries of life. The 
building was begun in 17x6, and children were admitted 
about two years after, The original defign was complet¬ 
ed in 1726, at which time the number of children was in- 
creafed to fixty, who were taught to work and to fpin 
cotton. By various donations, legacies, Sec. the number 
of children has been continually increafed, fo that now 
there are no lefs than three hundred children, viz. two 
hundred and fifty boys, antf-fifty girls, who are completely 
clothed, lodged, and dieted, by this charity. The boys 
are taught reading, writing, and arithmetic; alfo naviga¬ 
tion, when intended for fea; and the girls . acting, few- 
ing, fpinning, and knitting, and the work of the houfe. 
The children learn their books one half of the day, and 
work the other half; the boys at pin-making. The chil¬ 
dren are admitted into the hofpital at eight years old, and 
put out apprentices at fourteen; the boys moftly to fea. 
The expenfes of the hofpital one year with another are 
about 2-aool. The building is of brick, ornamented with 
fione; the apartments numerous and well laid out. In 
the body of the building is a neat hall and ftair-cafe, which 
leads to a large room ufed occafionally for a chapel. There 
is a large yard behind ; and in front a fpacious area, with 
handfome'.gates and iron rails. 
The infirmary has been founded and fupported upon 
the moft liberal principles. It receives not only proper 
objeCfs in Liverpool, but likewife thofe who come from a 
diftance, on the recommendation of a fubferiber. The 
defign was'firft formed about the year 1745, when a fub- 
..feription was opened by the principal inhabitant's of Li¬ 
verpool, and fome gentlemen in the vicinage; and a field 
was given by the corporation for nine hundred and nine¬ 
ty-nine years. The work was begun the lame year, in 
POOL. 
July; but the national didurbances of that memorable year 
put a flop to it, and the houfe Was not finifiied till the latter 
end of the year 1748 ; it was opened the next year for the 
admiffion of patients. The building is of brick and (tone, 
fituated on a hill at one end of the town. It is neat and 
elegant, and forms one edifice with the hofpital for fea- 
men’s widows. The principal building has three Itories, 
containing large wards and other neceffary offices. It is 
connected with thofe fpacious apartments which compofe 
the feamen’s hofpital by two handfome colonnades. On 
the top of each building is a turret, and in the middle of 
the pediment a clock.' 
The poor-houfe is a handfome edifice, 90 feet long and 
24 broad, built in a plain Hyle, fuitable to its ufe. On 
the eaft fide of this Hrutture is a (tone building, called 
the recovery ward, where perfons infefted with fevers, and 
coming under the cognizance of phyficians and furgeens 
of the difpenfary, are received. A variety of alms-houfes 
range out on both fides of the poor-houfe. In Church* 
Hreet is the difpenfary, which is a very good brick-build¬ 
ing, with a large circular portico, and having in front a 
fmall bas-relief of the good Samaritan. This inHitution 
is conducted by a prefidenr, two auditors, feven phyfi¬ 
cians, three furgeons, and an apothecary who officiates as 
fecretary. Two phyficians and a furgeon attend every 
day at certain hours. About 10,000 perfons are faid to 
receive medicine and advice here annually. Thelunatic- 
afylum is contiguous to the infirmary; but this cannot be 
called a complete charity, as patients are not admitted 
free of expenfe. At the entrance into the town, on the 
road leading from Prefcot, Hands the fchool of induHry 
for the indigent blind. The original projector was Mr. 
John Chriftie, who was himfelf unfortunately deprived of 
his fight at the age of nineteen. In this fchool pupils 
are taught various trades, which enable many of them to 
make a comfortable provifion for life. See the article 
Bund, vol. iii. p. 119. Befides thefe charitable inllitu- 
tions, there is a number of others, under different names, 
intended for the relief of different defcriptions of perfons; 
but the lalt we fhall notice is a fociety inlfituted on the 
25th of October, 1809, for preventing cruelty to brute- 
animals. To fuch an inititution every friend to humanity 
muff wiffi fuccefs; but whether it has fucceeded, or now 
fubfifts, we are not informed. Its intentions are ex¬ 
plained in the report of their committee, the fubflance of 
which may be feen in the Monthly Magazine for April 
1810. 
Liverpool, as may be fuppofed from its great trade, is 
not without rooms appropriated to public correfpondence, 
and the tranfaCling of bufinefs. The Atheneum, which 
comprifes a news-room, library, &c. is fituated on the 
fouth fide of Church-ftreet, and is a handfome itone build¬ 
ing. The fubferibers, about 450 in number, are fup¬ 
plied with the London and country newfpapers, the flap¬ 
ping and trade lifts, and various periodical publications. 
Every fubferiber is allowed the privilege of introducing a 
friend, provided he be a non-refident of the town. There 
are alfo feveral more inflitutions of a finiilar kind in dif¬ 
ferent parts of the town. Of thefe, the-Lyceum is the 
molt worthy of attention : it is fituated at the bottom of 
Bold-ftreet, and is another remarkable inllance of the mu¬ 
nificence and public fpirit of Liverpool. An academy, 
for the encouragement of the fine arts, has recently been 
eftablifhed. The places of public amufement are now lit¬ 
tle inferior to thofe in the metropolis. The theatre is a 
fpacious and commodious building, but little inferior to 
that of Covent-garden in the extent of its flage. It ge¬ 
nerally opens at the time the London koufes (hut, when 
many of the fil’d performers refort to it. In Bold-ftreet 
Hands the mufic-hall, which was opened in 1785. It is a 
large building, finiffied with great elegance. The new 
pril'on, according to the Howardian plan for folitary con¬ 
finement, is on a very extenfive fcale, and has every pof- 
fible convenience. 
When a Hranger firft comes to Liverpool, he may think 
that 
