reading-room, savings bank, and nautical
school. Both officers and men are received, and a seaman may lodge
there a day, or for as long a time as he remains in port, during which
time he is provided with board and medical attendance at a very moderate
rate.

After walking through the streets of Liverpool, we crossed by a ferry to
Birkenhead, and made our way to a spot of high ground, from whence we
could obtain a complete panoramic view of the town and river. Looking
to our right, we saw the Mersey flowing from the south in a northerly
direction towards the Irish Sea. Below us, in the midst of the stream,
we could distinguish, extending in a long line from right to left, some
of the largest merchant-ships in the world. There were also smaller
craft of every description, with the flags of nearly all nations flying
from their mast-heads, either ready to sail, waiting for orders, or
preparing to go into dock; while others, with wide-spread canvas, or
with steam tugs alongside, were coming up or down the river. Before us
we made out a huge tobacco warehouse, and behind it, dock beyond dock,
far away to the south, and still further towards the sea and the north.
On one side was the King's Dock, the Queen's Basin and Dock, the Coburg
Dock, the Union Dock, and the Brunswick Dock--"their names showing," as
papa observed, "the periods at which they were formed." To the north of
King's Dock we saw the Albert Dock, with the Marine Parade in front of
it; also Salthouse Dock, Canning Dock, George's Dock, with its
landing-stage towards the river; and the enormous Prince's Dock still
further to the south, and a line of basins and docks beyond. These
docks are not small pools, but large rectangular lakes, crowded thickly
with magnificent shipping loaded with the produce of numberless
countries, their tall masts rising towards the sky in dense groves,
their yards so interlocked that it seemed impossible that they could
ever be extricated. The sight gave us some idea of the number of
vessels which belong to Liverpool, or annually visit this port.

Beyond this double row of docks we saw the vast city rising gradually
from the water, with winding streets extending from the Custom House in
all directions, the larger running eastward, with numerous churches and
other public buildings scattered amid them; and far beyond, squares and
parks, with streets of handsome private residences.

Little more than a century ago Liverpool posses