gone ages.

Castle-street, which crosses north and south at the top of this Water-street, is spacious and attractive; and its glittering shops claim for it a rank among the best streets of the town. By pulling down, and throwing back, and re-adjusting, the street-doctors have succeeded in making Castle-street a fine avenue of communication from the Exchange and the Townhall to the Custom-house. Lord-street, extending eastward from Church-street, is perhaps the best street in Liverpool.

It is the chief channel of communication down to the docks, and is at all hours crowded with passers-by. Like most of the other streets near it, it was narrow and inconvenient until about twenty years ago; since which time great energy has been shown by the corporation in placing these leading thoroughfares in a condition worthy of the town. On every side we find ourselves in the busy trading streets of Liverpool, Bold-street, Ranelagh-street, Hanover-street, Churchstreet, Whitechapel, Paradise-street, North and South John-street, Dale-street, Lime-street-all lie within a short distance of Lord-street; all are leading thoroughfares, and all are studded with beautiful shops.

Concerning the transformation of narrow streets of poor houses, into wide streets of fine buildings, at Liverpool, it is remarked in the 'Penny Cyclopædia,' that "No considerable town in England has received greater improvement during the past half century than Liverpool. Before that time the streets were narrow and inconvenient, and the buildings were wholly devoid of architectural beauty; but successive alterations have given to the town an amount of commodiousness and elegance not to be met with in any other commercial port in this country. This altered condition has been produced by the exertions of the corporation, in whom is vested the property of a great proportion of the houses. As the leases of these have progressively fallen in, they have been renewed only on the condition of expending the sums necessary for the required embellishment. The value of the corporation estates is estimated at three millions of money; and the annual income derived from rents and dock dues has of late increased to upwards of £320,000. A great proportion of this income has been devoted to the improvement of the town, including the building of churches, hospitals, and other charitable and public edifices."

Scarcely anything marks more forcibly the wonderful growth of Liverpool, than the position of the streets that once formed the eastern boundary. Who that sees it can now imagine that Whitechapel, in the reign of Queen Anne, was at the eastern extremity of Liverpool? It seems now not merely in the middle of the town, but even yet nearer to the water-side. Who, again, passing from the Custom-house through Paradise-street, and towards Shaw's Brow, can picture to himself the time when the tide flowed up to nearly the eastern end of what now constitutes Whitechapel? Yet such is said to have been the case. At the angle where Whitechapel, Church-street, Paradise-street, and Lordstreet meet, there was once a ferry, and afterwards a bridge, over the 'Pool' or Tide-creck, which helped to

give a name to Liverpool. What is now the site of the fine Railway-station, and the still finer Assize Courts, in the very centre of the town, was then out in the open field!

As we depart, north, east, or south, from the busy knot of thoroughfares just sketched, we come to the brick-and-mortar sameness and plainness of modern streets; each house like its brother; types cast in the same mould and a very sorry mould it is, for all that concerns picturesqueness of effect. But Londoners have no right to complain of this; their own huge mass of buildings, in which the suburbs are almost overwhelming the city' itself, properly so called, is a firstclass example of the kind; Liverpool only comes in among the secondary specimens. English-like, however, what we have not in external architecture, we possess in internal comfort; and a little experience of continental towns would show us that, on the whole, we have no reason to disparage our own.

But the plainness of the Liverpool streets is strikingly relieved by the large number of public buildings and charitable institutions which are interspersed among them. In whichever direction we depart from the centre of the town, these buildings meet the eye in unusual numbers, even in reference to the rapidly increasing population. Immediately northward of the Exchange is a cluster of churches and chapels of various denominations; and beyond these the Jail. Farther east are St. Martin's Market, the New Haymarket, and another cluster of churches and chapels. More directly in an eastern direction, and starting from the waterside, we have the original parish-church of St. Nicholas, the Exchange, and the Town-hall; the Custom-house, or Revenue-buildings; the two churches of St. George and St. Peter; the magnificent 'Sailors' Home,'-now in course of construction near the Custom-house; the three Theatres; the Blue-coat Hospital; the splendid St. John's Market; then that fine open area, bounded on the east by the Railway-station, and on the west by St. John's Church, and having the new Assize Courts in the centre; then the School for the Blind; and lastly, near the margin of the town, the Collegiate Institution, St. Augustine's Church, St. Jude's, the Necropolis, the Union Workhouse, and the Zoological Gardens-all these meet the eye in a narrow belt leading from west to east through the town. Then, following a route more nearly towards the south-east, we come in succession to the Royal Institution, the Athenæum, the Lyceum, the Mechanics' Institution, a very large number of Churches and Chapels, the Workhouse, the Infirmary, the Lunatic Asylum, the Deaf and Dumb Institution; and, exterior to all, the Botanię Garden. The southern districts of the town are less supplied with public buildings and institutions than the other districts; but among them is St. James's Cemetery-one of the finest places of the kind in England.

The degree of energy shown in the prosecution of public works in Liverpool is quite remarkable; and could only co-exist with a highly-developed state of

the entire portico is on a grander scale than almost any other in this country. Besides the hall and the two courts, there is a fine concert-room, and other noble apartments. Taken altogether, this building is certainly a worthy ornament to the town, and its position is singularly apposite and convenient.

The Town-hall is not such a building as need detain us long. It is in that form of Grecian architecture which prevailed about a century ago, before the researches of architects in the East had really told them wherein Grecian architecture consists. It was built by Wood, of Bath. There is a rusticated arcaded basement, a tetrastyle portico projecting from the chief façade, and a cupola on the top, which seems too heavy for the general mass of the building. The interior is fitted up in a rich and almost extravagant style. The staircases, corridors, offices for the corporate business of the borough; the saloons, ball-room, banquettingrooms, and refectories, on which upwards of a hundred thousand pounds were expended, are fitted up in a costly manner. Chantrey's statue of Canning, and various portraits of royal personages, by Lawrence, Hoppner, Phillips, and Shee, are contained within the building.

The Sessions'-house, a portion of the business of which is to be transferred to the new building, is within a short distance of the Exchange. A little beyond, in a northern direction, is the Borough Gaol, which, like most gaols, is more marked for strength within than beauty without.

Perhaps there are no portions of the municipal or corporate structures of Liverpool more worthy of note than the markets. One of these, St. John's Market, is perhaps the finest thing of the kind in England. It is situated in Great Charlotte-street, in the immediate vicinity of the Assize Courts and the Railway-station, and is as worthy in its way as they are in theirs. Let the reader imagine a spacious area, nearly an eighth of a mile in length, and 130 feet in width, lighted by nearly a hundred and forty windows, and covered by a roof supported by four ranges of columns, so as to divide the whole area into five avenues. The interior walls of the building are lined by about sixty shops; while stalls of a more temporary kind occupy the central parts of the area. Here, from morning till evening, may be seen the busy market-people, with their vegetables, fruit, poultry, eggs, &c., and the countless housewives and small dealers making their daily purchases. In the evening it is brilliantly lighted, and is then really worth a visit; for its vast area (nearly two acres) under one roof, gives occasion, at night, to many picturesque bits of light and shade; while those who love the bustle of market-traffic, will have abundance to occupy them, especially on a Saturday evening. This market has been likened by one writer to a "magnified bee-hive, filied with the murmur of a thousand voices under one roof, all eagerly engaged in buying, selling, scolding, gossiping, and quarrelling."

St. Martin's Market, in New Scotland-road, is a handsome stone-fronted building, much smaller in size than its great neighbour of St. John's, but better

planned in an architectural sense. Its principal fronts have Doric-columned porticoes, rendered more imposing in appearance by being approached by flights of steps. The interior, like that of St. John's, is divided by pillars into five avenues; and the roof is lighted and well ventilated. St. James's Market, another member of the series, and situated in the southern part of the town, is a brick building; but in other respects it closely resembles (in internal arrangements at least) the two former. All are roofed in, and admirably regulated for the maintenance of cleanliness, &c. The other markets of Liverpool are of smaller account. The Pedler's Market, opposite the southern end of the attractive St. John's Market, is appropriated to those dealers in multifarious articles for whom we cannot find a better designation than pedlers. Their commodities are essentially small wares,' which used, before the construction of this market, to block up many of the leading thoroughfares. Almost close to St. John's and the Pedler's markets is a third, which, though known as the Fish Market, and fitted up as such, serves also the purpose of a Game Market. The Corn Market, or Corn Exchange, situated nearly midway between the Exchange and the Custom House, and therefore in the very heart of the merchants' district, was built about forty years ago, for the accommodation of the corn-factors and dealers, and is a plain structure, befitting the sober character of the dealers within-not so sober, perhaps, when temporary scarcity gives rise to over-speculation.

Such are the markets, then, by whose arrangements the good folks of Liverpool are supplied with their daily provender. Being under the control, and constructed at the cost of the Corporation, we have ranked them as municipal establishments. Indeed, in that sense, many of the charitable and correctional institutions of the town may be deemed municipal. However, let us now take a glance at the

ECCLESIASTICAL AND COLLEGIATE BUILDINGS.

Whether there is any other town in England, besides London and Liverpool, which can boast of considerably more than a hundred places of worship, may safely be doubted. There are upwards of forty churches belonging to the Establishment; more than twenty chapels belonging to the various shades and modifications of Methodism; nearly as large a number of Independents and Baptists; and a due admixture of the remaining denominations - Catholics, Presbyterians, Quakers, Unitarians, Sandemonians, Swedenborgians, &c. Scarcely any of the buildings thus appropriated to Divine service, can trace their history beyond a century; so that nearly all of them present that indefiniteness of architectural character observable in the churches of the last century and the earlier part of the present.

St. Nicholas, certainly, is a venerable pile. We cannot choose but feel an interest in a building which has watched, as it were, the growth of Liverpool; which has stood its ground for centuries, while all else

has been undergoing change around it; and which has seen Docks built upon the west of it, the Exchange and the Town-hall on the east, the Custom-house on the south, and a world of new streets on the north. To show how great have been the changes in the neighbourhood, it will suffice to state that the Mersey once washed the wall of the churchyard; so that the intervening Docks have been mostly reclaimed from the river. If it be true, as the historians of Liverpool assert, that this church stands on the site of a chapel dedicated jointly to Our Lady and St. Nicholas, and built about the time of the Conquest, this site has still further claims on our attention; but be this as it may, the present church dates its existence back through many centuries. Yet, even in this respect, it would be difficult to say which part at present existing is really ancient; for it has been so patched and altered —now a new tower, then a new steeple, and at another time a new choir-that, like a well-worn garment, the original material has been pretty nearly extinguished. Seventy years ago the interior had a blue ceiling, black and white clouds, and a golden sun, moon, and stars!

There is a document preserved concerning this church which, though not bearing on its merits as an architectural structure, is curious, as illustrating the old ideas concerning civic etiquette in churches-a matter now happily viewed in a much more healthy spirit. It is a decree from the bishop of the diocese, dated 1685, ordering, "That no person under the degree of an alderman shall sit in the aldermen's seats without license from Mr. Mayor and the chapel-wardens; that none under the degree of an alderman's wife shall sit in the seat next unto the aldermen without license; that none but housekeepers shall sit in the seat on the north side, 'twixt the pulpit and the north door, who are to be seated according to their quality and age; and that all apprentices and servants shall sit or stand in the alleys according to ancient custom!" What a pretty field for the exercise of local vanity, pride, and "all uncharitableness!"

St. Paul's Church, situated a little northward of the Exchange, is a curious attempt at imitation of the great metropolitan cathedral. It was built, at the expense of the town, under the provisions of an Act obtained about eighty years ago. On the west front stands a boldly projecting Ionic tetrastyle portico, while on the north and south fronts are pediments of lesser projection, also supported by four columns each. Flights of steps lead under these three pedimented frontages to the three entrances of the church. The body of the building is in that style which passed for Ionic in the last century; and from an octagonal base in the centre of the building rises a dome, surmounted by a lantern, ball, and cross. It is perhaps hardly fair to criticise an imitative building like this, because a familiarity with the original necessarily places the copy at a great disadvantage. The architect did not attend to the laws of acoustics so much as to his prevailing architectural idea; for the minister, wherever he placed

his moveable pulpit, could not make himself heard; and considerable alterations had to be made in this matter.

St. Luke's is one of the best of the modern churches in Liverpool. The expenditure was very liberal; and the architect, Mr. Foster, has studied to produce a structure worthy of the modern appreciation of the pointed system. It is, throughout, in the Perpendicular, English style. The nave has five windows on each side, all presenting very rich tracery; behind this is the choir, narrower, but still more enriched, and terminating with a semi-octagon apse, or east-end. The whole upper extremity is battlemented and turretted; and the buttresses, especially those of the choir, are very enriched. In the middle of the west end is a lofty square tower, castellated and turretted; and every part of the building is constructed in close conformity with the prevailing style of the fifteenth, or perhaps the latter end of the fourteenth, centuries,—a style so remarkably exemplified in the parish churches of Lincolnshire.

If we glance round at the modern churches in most of our provincial towns, we find that they are for the most part imitative of three different groups or kinds, the really Greek or Roman, the Palladian or Italianized Roman, and the Pointed; and there is a pretty general feeling spreading around us at the present day, that the more nearly the last-named of the three is abided by, the less incongruity and unfitness meet the eye. Liverpool contains a fair sprinkling of all these

kinds. Brunswick Chapel has a heavy Ionic tetrastyle portico, that seems quite to overpower the plain, flat, windowed surface within it. St. Michael's Church has a hexastyle Corinthian portico, surmounted by a steeple in three or four stages, like many of Wren's. St. George's has a plain, wall-like frontage, with Doric triglyphs, although there are no columns whatever, and the whole body of the church is a succession of squares and angles which it would be difficult to reconcile with any particular style of architecture. One of the best examples-perhaps the best-of the application of the Greek style to a church in Liverpool, is afforded by the church attached to the School for the Blind, in the London-road. The architect was Mr. Foster, who accompanied Mr. Cockerell in his researches among the ancient monuments of Greece in 1811. On his return, he adopted the portico of the Temple of Jupiter Panhellenius, at Ægina, as his model for this church at Liverpool. The west front exhibits a hexastyle or six-columned portico, of the Doric order, with stylobate, shaft, capital, architrave, frieze divided into triglyphs and metopes, cornice, and pediment, all carefully planned from the Grecian model. The sides present five windows on each side, very much like those since constructed in St. Pancras Church, London; and there is, throughout the exterior of the building, no feature but has some sort of warranty from the Greek practice. Whether a heathen temple is, after all, a fitting model for a Christian church, is a question for each observer and thinker to decide for himself;

Taken in the aggregate, we may perhaps say that Liverpool is neither better nor worse supplied with churches than other towns, in respect to architectural character; but that there is a tendency at the present time to adopt a much purer style than is exhibited in those structures which trace their origin to the last century. Let the Blind School Church be the representative of the imitative Greek; St. Paul's of the imitative Italian; and St. Luke's of the imitative Pointed, and we have the types on which all the other churches and chapels of the place, with various modifications, have been built.

Among the educational structures of Liverpool we must, of course, commence with the Collegiate Institution. This institution arose out of the growing perception of the necessity for a higher tone of education among the middle classes of this country. About eight years ago the noblemen and principal merchants connected with Liverpool commenced the proceedings which led to the construction of this building: a subscription was opened, to which four Liverpool merchants contributed no less than a thousand pounds each, and others speedily raised the sum total to twenty thousand pounds; architectural designs were invited, all to be in the Tudor style; twenty-eight were sent in; and, finally, the designs of Mr. Lonsdale Elmes were accepted. Lord Stanley laid the first stone of the new building, on Oct. 22, 1840; and the finished structure was opened with great ceremony on January 6, 1843. The mayor, the clergy, the principal merchants, and some distinguished guests, were present at the opening. Mr. W. E. Gladstone, who is one of the Vice-Presidents of the institution, and who took the lead in the day's proceedings, in a speech containing much that was, of course, complimentary to Liverpool and its merchants, made a few remarks which were certainly very apposite and just. He said: "I feel that in opening an institution intended for the benefit of the middle classes of society, I, who am myself sprung from that middle class,-I, who with the family of which I am a member, still claim to belong to that middle class, have at least this advantage for the discharge of such a duty, that we may be expected and presumed to entertain some sympathy with the principal object of this beneficent institution; that we may, with peculiar

The

The arrangements and form of the building will be better understood when we know the purposes for which it is intended. The Institution comprises three distinct day-schools, at different rates of charge. Upper-school, to which each scholar pays twenty guineas annually, presents a certain routine of education; the Middle-school, at ten guineas-a somewhat narrower range; and the Lower-school, at three guineas-the more elementary branches. In each school the sons of clergymen and the relations of donors are admissible at a reduced rate of charge; and in each, also, there are additional branches of education or accomplishments taught to those who are willing to pay for them. There is also an Evening School, at a guinea a year, in which the education partakes of the same character as at some of our Mechanics' or Literary and Scientific Institutions. There are likewise a College Library, a Lecture-hall, and class-rooms for various departments of studies.

The building, which is in the Tudor style, presents a frontage nearly three hundred feet in length. In the centre is a projecting compartment, consisting of two octagonal towers at the sides of a deeply recessed porch. On either side of this centre is a range of five windows, separated by buttresses, and crowned by a battlemented top. Beyond this, again, at the corners of the building, are two massive terminal wings, each having a highly enriched bay window, over which is a niche for a statue. The turrets which surmount the towers and buttresses serve to break the upper line of the building. There are four stories in the main building; but, as the upper one is lighted from the roof, and as the windows of the second and third are so united as to form one lofty range, the front is not frittered down by a superabundance of small windows. These four stories comprise about fifty apartments, all about twenty-five feet in width, but varying in length from twenty to fifty feet; they are appropriated as schoolrooms, robing-rooms, dining-rooms, library, lecturerooms, a museum, a painting and sculpture gallery, &c. The Lecture-hall, behind the main building, is an octagonal structure, capable of containing nearly three