498 
all commercial towns, that men rife to 
affluence by mere dint of undeviating in- 
duftry ; and the cultivation of the mind, 
and the refinement of manners, do not 
keep pace with the accumulation of pro- 
perty. In Liverpool there is no court- 
end of the town, no permanent felection 
of fociety, which has fufficient influence 
to give a tinge to the public character. 
Commerce is the foul of the place; and 
purity of pedigree, and liberality of edu- 
cation, are by no means indifpenfable re- 
quifites to the participation of the beft 
fociety which the town affords. Hence 
the general manners of the circles of 
mercantile fafhion will not perhaps bear 
the minute and faftidious criticifms of a 
Chefterfield. It is almoft impoffible for 
thofe who have fpent the prime of their 
life in the unceremonious buftle of the 
wharf and the warehoufe to diveft them- 
Selves of a certain air de bourgeois; and 
where lately acquired property is, by a 
kind of tacit compact, made the chief 
criterion of refpectability, it would be 
idle to expect to meet with the high 
polifh which at once graces and renders 
uninterefting the fociety of ariftocracy. 
But the people of Liverpeol may chal- 
lenge a comparifon with the inhabitants 
of any town in the kingdom, with re- 
gard to the effence of true politenefs, viz. 
friendly attention and hofpitality. In 
Liverpool no man lives to himfelf. The 
felfith fave-all, who, after poring over 
his ledger all the morning, at noon hatftily 
devours his unfocial fteak at a chop- 
houfe, and then returns for his evening’s 
amufement to his dungeon of a counting- 
houfe, a character which perpetually oc- 
curs in the metropolis, is here unknown. 
Conviviality is indeed a ftriking charac- 
teriftic of the place. Its inhabitants feel 
a laudable difpofition, not only to acquire, 
but to enjoy the good things of life; and 
wherever this difpofition prevails, it in- 
evitably produces the cordial warmth of 
hofpitality. It has been well obferved, 
that “ our very meals, our very cups, are 
taftelefs and joylefs, unlefs we have a 
companion to partake cf them.” 
The hofpitality of Liverpool renders it 
an agreeable place of refort to itrangers. 
Military gentlemen find it a very plea- 
fant ftation. It is enlivened by the 
amufements which ufually diverfify the 
occupations of large towns. ‘The theatre 
is open during the greater part of the 
year. Public concerts are given every 
fortnight, in an elegant room appropri- 
ated to the purpofe. Affemblies are held 
at {tated periods Clubs and focieties of 
various denominations and defcriptions 
occur in every tavern, and the crowded 
difcomfort of publico-private routs oc- 
State of Society and Manners ia Liverpool. 
‘ufeful objects. 
{ Jan. 1, | 
cafionally vies with the folly of the me~ 
tropolis. 
The fpirit of liberality which influences 
the inhabitants of Liverpool, is not, how- 
ever, exhaufted in revelry and fhow. 
Every charitable inftitution, every fcheme 
projected for the alleviation of human 
mifery, meets with their ready and ftre-» 
nuous patronage. 
The exertion of public munificence 
has long fupported in this town the 
Blue-coat Hofpital, in which a confider- 
able number of poor children are pro- 
vided with cloaths, lodging, board, and 
education—a remarkably well regulated 
infirmary, and a difpenfary. Of late 
years, the Marine Society, feveral Sun- 
day-fchools, and a School of induftry for 
the blind, have claimed, and have re- 
ceived the public fupport. 
Nor does the genius of commerce in 
this great emporium refufe to aflociate 
with the Mufes. Various publications 
bear teftimony that here literature has 
been cultivated with confiderable ability, 
Several names might be enumerated of 
gentlemen, who, in the midft of the ac- 
tive concerns of this bufy towm, have 
found leifure to attend to the ftudy of 
the polite arts. It is a remarkable fac, 
that the two works which have lately 
obtained the greateft fhare of popular 
approbation, (the Life of Lorenzo de 
Medici, and the Life of Robert Burns,) 
iffued from the Liverpoo! prefs. That 
a tafte for reading is widely diffufed 
through all ranks of the refidents in this 
place, is evinced by the numerous lit 
of fubfcribers to the Liverpool public 
library: and an infpection of the cata- 
logue of that library will prove that this 
taite has been fyftematically directed to 
The conftitution of the 
Athenzum, of which an account was 
given in the Monthly Magazine for July 
1799, indicates an increafing maturity of 
literary tafte; and the refort of young 
men to the reading-rooms of this in~ 
ftitution, after the hours of bufinefs, - 
gives a good augury of the future ac- 
complifhments of the rifing generation. 
When to this is added, that a plan for 
the extenfion ef the old library has been 
eagerly adopted, and that propofals for 
the eftablifhment of a Botanic Garden, 
now in circulation, have been counte- 
nanced by a refpeétable number of fub- 
{cribers, ample proof has perhaps been 
adduced that letters are by no means ne- 
gleéted in Liverpool. 
It is obvious that the public eftablifh- 
ments which have been enumerated, can- 
not be fupported without the united exer- 
tions of all fects and parties. It is highly 
to the honour of Liverpool, that its bass 
18S 
