Civil Wars, Warrington was the scene of several severe conflicts. From the press of this town, the first newspaper ever published in Lancashire was issued, and it was also the first town in the country from which a stage-coach was started. Howard's work on Prisons was printed at Warrington, as were also the most of Mrs Barbauld's poems, the earlier writings of the late Thomas Roscoe, the works of Dr Ferrier, Gibson, and many others. In 1757, an academy was established here, which rapidly rose into celebrity, under the direction of Dr Aikin, Dr Priestley, Dr Taylor, Dr Enfield, and the Rev. Gilbert Wakefield, but the establishment was unfortunately broken up in 1783, and from its fragments a college was formed at York, which has been recently transferred to Manchester. Bradley Hall, in the neighbourhood of Warrington, is supposed to occupy the site of one of the castles of the Haydocks, a powerful family in Lancashire at the time of the Plantagenets. One M. P. Pop. of township, 18,981.

About two miles and a half from Warrington station is WINWICK, which pos sesses the richest rectory in the kingdom, the patronage of which has been lodged in the hands of the Stanley family since the reign of Henry VI. According to tradition, this place was the favourite residence of Oswald, King of Northumbria, and near the church is pointed out the spot where he fell fighting against the pagans of Mercia, A. D. 642. St Oswald's Well, about half a mile to the north of the church, was originally formed, according to Bede, by the piety of pilgrims who visited the spot. The earth and water are supposed to be possessed of peculiar sanctity, and from it all the neighbouring Roman Catholic chapels are supplied with holy water. The church, a large irregular structure, of very remote antiquity, contains a number of interesting monuments and curious brasses. There are no less than thirty-seven endowed charities in the parish.

Two miles and a quarter from Winwick is NEWTON JUNCTION STATION, (821 miles from Birmingham, 194 from London,) where the Grand Junction Railway terminates, and the journey to Manchester or Liverpool is continued on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.

LXVII. LONDON TO LIVERPOOL THROUGH DUNSTABLE, COVENTRY, LICHFIELD, STONE, KNUTSFORD, AND WARRINGTON, 206 Miles.

* This road to Lichfield is 43 miles nearer than that through Northampton and Lutterworth.

130

1331

Thelwall Hall and Sta- 20 Duke of Bridgewater's 185 Appleton Lodge.

NEWCASTLE-UNDER-LYME is a place of considerable antiquity, and a corporate town so early as the reign of Henry VI. A castle was built here during the reign of Henry VII.; but no vestiges of it remain, except a portion of the mound on which it was built. The town has two churches, several meeting-houses, and a range of alms-houses, founded by the second Duke of Albemarle. The chief manufacture is that of hats. There are three silk mills, a paper and a cotton mill; a few of the inhabitants are engaged in the potteries. Two M. P. Pop. 9838. STOKE-UPON-TRENT is one of the new Parliamentary boroughs created by the Reform Act. This borough has this peculiarity, that, instead of comprehending one principal town and its suburbs, it consists of a considerable district, extending 74 miles in length, and about 3 miles in breadth, and including the markettowns of Burslem, Hanley, Lane-End, Stoke, and Tunstall Court. This district is commonly termed the "Potteries," and is the chief seat of the earthen-ware manufacture in England. In the borough, or in its immediate neighbourhood, about 4400 men with their families were, in 1831, engaged in the manufactory of earthen-ware. Coals, marl, and potter's clay are dug in the vicinity. At Etruria is the superb mansion erected by Mr Wedgwood, the great improver of the earthen manufacture of the district. Stoke-upon-Trent returns two M. P. Pop. of par. 46,754; of Burslem, 16,091; of Hanley Chap. 8609; of LaneEnd Chap. 12,345.

LIVERPOOL, the second city in the kingdom, is situated on the right side of the Mersey. A castle is said to have been built here by Roger of Poictiers, which was demolished in 1659. St George's Church now stands on the site. During the civil wars, Liverpool held out against Prince Rupert for a month, but at last it was taken and many of the garrison and inhabitants were put to the sword. The town was very soon after retaken by Colonel Birch, and continued to remain true to the popular cause. Liverpool was merely a chapelry attached to the parish of Walton till the reign of William III., and in 1650 there were only fifteen ships belonging to the port. It was deeply engaged in the African slave trade; and in 1764, more than half this trade was carried on by the merchants of Liverpool. Since the great extension of the cotton manufacture it has become the port where the great bulk of the raw material is received, and whence the exports of manufactured goods are chiefly made to all parts of the world. It also enjoys a very large proportion of the trade between England and Ireland, especially since the employment of steam-vessels for the conveyance of merchandize. Liverpool is supposed to possess one-twelfth part of the shipping of Great Britain; one-fourth part of the foreign trade; one-sixth part of the general commerce; and onehalf as much trade as the port of London. The customs dues are between four and five millions sterling; the cotton imported reaching a million and a-half of bags. The imports are about twenty millions in value, the exports exceeding that sum by a fourth, and it is calculated that 1600 tons of goods pass daily between Liverpool and Manchester. About two-fifths of the tonnage inwards and outwards are engaged in the trade with the United States. Considerable traffic