THIS fine gate, which was completed about five years | port as a station for the embarkation of troops to Irelanu. since, after a design by Mr. Decimus Burton, was ori- This circumstance, with the gradually increasing comginally intended for a private entrance to the New Palace. Within the last few months it has been devoted to a purpose of more general utility, the road from Constitution Hill having been turned so as to allow access through the gate to those carriages which have the privilege of passing through the park, and also to foot passengers. A new lodge has recently been erected in James Street, opening to the road connecting Pimlico with Great George Street, Westminster; and this road is free to horsemen and private carriages without distinction. THE LIVERPOOL DOCKS. We are enabled, after many experiments, to present our readers with a plan of the Liverpool Docks, executed by a new process-namely, by a union of lines cut upon wood, and of moveable type. The completion of our wishes, in this respect, will enable us to illustrate any subject of geography or topography, by maps and plans, executed with more precision than we could have attained by any other means. We subjoin to this plan a short account of these extraordinary public works, which the growing commerce of Liverpool has created : The town of Liverpool was originally a small fishingvillage, till Henry the Second, in 1172, first used its merce consequent on the connection ever since maintained between the two countries, and the excellence of its port, doubtlessly laid the foundation of its present magnitude and prosperity. Yet its growth for a long period was slow, and even at times seemed to retrograde. In 1571, the inhabitants of the "poor decayed town of Liverpool" petitioned Queen Elizabeth to be relieved from a subsidy imposed on them; and in 1630, while Bristol was assessed at 1,000l. for ship-money by Charles I., Liverpool was rated at only 261. The first great increase which took place in the importance of Liverpool appears to have been shortly after the commencement of the war with France in 1778, in the first year of which one hundred and twenty privateers, manned by eight thousand seven hundred and fifty seamen, issued from this port. Since that period its increase has been constant and wonderfully rapid. The population, which in 1801 was 77,653, in 1831 amounted to 165,175. In the year ending June, 1830, the number of vessels, entered inwards and outwards, amounted to 11,214, of which the tonnage was 1,411,964, and the customs duties 3,123,758l. 8s. 10d. To provide facilities for this immense traffic great exertions have been made, and vast expense incurred, in the construction of docks and the erection of warehouses. Y. H M E R E The plan we have given shows their position; and the following account, extracted from Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England, a valuable work recently completed in four quarto volumes, affords such information as may render the plan perfectly intelligible : For the security of the shipping in the port, and for the, greater facility of loading and unloading merchandize, an immense range of docks and warehouses, extending nearly two miles along the eastern bank of the river (the Mersey), has been constructed on a scale of unparalleled magnificence, and forming one of those characteristics of commercial greatness in which this town is unrivalled. The docks are of three kinds, the wet docks, the dry docks, and the graving docks: the wet docks are chiefly for ships of great burden employed in the foreign trade, and which float in them at all states of the tide, the water being retained by gates: the dry docks, so called because they are left dry S when the tide is out, are chiefly appropriated to coasting vessels; and the graving docks, which admit or exclude the water at pleasure, are adapted to the repair of ships, during which they are kept dry, and when completed are floated out by admitting the tide. The Old Dock, which was the first of the kind constructed in England, and for making which, an act of parliament was obtained in 1708, is not now in use, its site having been appropriated to the erection of a new custom-house, and other offices connected with the trade of the port. The Dry Dock, which is about to be converted into a wet dock, was constructed under the authority of an act passed in the 11th of George II., and is chiefly occupied by sloops from the north coast, which import corn, provisions, and slate, and convey back the produce of the West Indies, the Mediterranean, Portugal, and Baltic: it has a quay five hundred yards in length, and has communication with three graving docks; it has been considerably enlarged, and many of the buildings surrounding it have been taken down with the view of obtaining more quay room. The Salthouse Dock, so named from some salt-works formerly contiguous to it, was constructed about the same time as the Dry Dock; the upper part of it is chiefly for ships that are laid up, and the lower part for vessels in the Levant, Irish, and coasting trades; the quay is seven hundred and fifty-nine yards in extent, and is provided with convenient warehouses, with arcades for foot-passengers on the east side, and extensive sheds on the west side: between this dock and the river are some ship-builders' yards, which the corporation intend to convert into docks for the craft employed in the inland trade. George's Dock was constructed in the 2nd of George III., at an expense of 21,000l.; it was originally two hundred and forty-six yards in length, and one hundred yards in breadth, with a quay of seven hundred yards in extent; but it has been enlarged, and the quay is now one thousand and one yards in length: on the east side is a range of extensive warehouses, in front of which is an arcade for foot-passergers; and on the west side are sheds for protecting the merchandize from the weather: at the north and south ends of the dock are handsome cast-iron bridges; and a parade is continued westward for a considerable distance into the river: this dock has a communication with the two preceding docks, and also with the Prince's Dock, by basins, which preclude the necessity of returning into the river. The King's Dock, constructed in the 25th of George III., is two hundred and seventy yards in length, and ninety-six in breadth, and is appropriated to vessels from Virginia and other parts, laden with tobacco, which article is exclusively landed here: the new tobacco warehouses extend the whole length of the quay, on the west side, and are five hundred and seventy-five feet in length, and two hundred and thirtynine in depth; the old warehouses on the opposite side, which were appropriated to that purpose, have been converted into sheds for the security of merchandize: ships from the Baltic, freighted with timber and naval stores, discharge their cargoes on the quay; across the entrance is a handsome swivel bridge of cast-iron: this dock has a communication on the south with a dry dock and two graving docks. The Queen's Dock, constructed at the same time, is four hundred and seventy yards long, and two hundred and twenty-seven and a half in breadth, with a spacious quay, and is chiefly occupied by vessels freighted with timber, and by those employed in the Dutch and Baltic trades; at the south end it communicates with a basin of considerable extent, called the Brunswick Half-Tide Dock, which is also connected with the Brunswick Dry Basin. On the south of the half-tide dock, a new dock of larger dimen A R E H ཝ PLAN OF THE DOCKS AND BASINS sions than any of the preceding, for vessels laden with timber, is in progress, to be called the Brunswick Dock, with a basin to the south of it, and patent slips for the repairing of vessels, which will probably ferminate the range of docks at the southern extremity. The Prince's Dock, constructed under an act passed in the 51st of George III., was opened with great pomp on the day of the coronation of his late Majesty, George IV.; it is five hundred yards in length, and one hundred and six in breadth; at the north end is a spacious basin, belonging to it, and at the south end it communicates with the basin of George's Dock. The quays are spacious, and there are sheds for the protection of goods from the weather: along the west side, near the river, is a beautiful marine parade, seven hundred and fifty yards long, and eleven wide, defended by a stone parapet wall, from which is a delightful view of the river and the shipping; at convenient intervals are three flights of steps leading down to the river, where boats are in constant attendance. To the north of the basin belonging to this dock, four spacious wet docks, and a large graving dock, which latter is to be fitted up with patent slips, are at present in a state of rapid progress; and, when completed, will probably terminate the range of docks on the north side of the town. The Duke's Dock, between Salthouse and the King's Dock, is a small dock belonging to the trustees of the late Duke of Bridgwater, for the use of his flats, with commodious warehouses. The several carriers by water have also convenient basins on the river, for the use of their barges, with quays for loading and unloading their goods; and the Mersey and Irwell navigation company have a small dock, called the Manchester Dock, for the flats employed in that extensive trade, and for the transport to this town of the productions of Cheshire and the adjoining counties. The whole range of the docks, when the northern and southern additions are completed, will be two miles and eight hundred and twenty yards in length. Spacious as they are, they are still considered inadequate to the increasing commerce of the port, and measures are in contemplation for their further extension. The sums expended in the formation of these docks amount to more than two millions sterling; for clearing them from the accumulation of silt brought in by the tide, a dredging-machine, worked by a steam-engine of ten-horse power, is in constant operation, by which fifty tons per hour are raised into barges, and deposited where it may be washed away by the current of the river. To this we are enabled to add, from an official paper, the following table, showing the area of water and the quantity of quay-space of these splendid docks: DRY BASINS. Area of Water in Quay Space in 20,909 509 Seacombe Basin 1,805 188 George's Basin 16,372 455 George's Ferry Basin 1,344 160 Old Dock Gut..... 7,737 447 eleven acres; and the quay-space extends to the length of eight miles, within a few yards. The whole length of the river-wall is two miles, eight hundred and twenty yards, exclusive of the openings. FELIX NEFF. [A Memoir of Felix Neff, Pastor of the High Alps. By William Stephen Gilly, M.A., Prebendary of Durham. Rivington. 1832] THIS is a volume which no one can read without improvement. It contains the history of a young Protestant clergyman, Felix Neff, who devoted his life to the duty of preaching the divine word to the scattered inhabitants of the dreary regions called "the High Alps" of France* ;-and who, in the discharge of this sacred trust, felt that he was advancing his principal object while he was improving the physical condition of these poor people, and leading them to the acquirement of general knowledge. The difficulties which this wise and pious man encountered could only have been overcome by the most ardent zeal. The labours which he underwent, and the privations which he sustained, ruined his health, and consigned him prematurely to the grave. But his career, though short, was one of permanent usefulness to the mountaineers in whose service he perished :—and he has left behind him a new example of how much one man may accomplish for the benefit of his fellow-creatures, who goes forward in a good work with singleness of purpose, regardless of any other reward but the approbation of his own conscience. Neff was not a man in whom book-learning constituted the only knowledge. He received a tolerable education from the pastor of the village near Geneva in which he was born; and the contemplative and devout qualities of his mind were called forth by the grand and beautiful scenery by which he was surrounded in his boyhood. But he had a strong love for what was practically useful, and he therefore learnt the trade of a nursery gardener; he had a stronger passion for romantic adventure, and he entered as a private soldier in the service of Geneva, in 1815. At sixteen, when he was a gardener, he published a valuable little treatise on the culture of trees; and, within two years after he became a soldier at the age of seventeen, he was promoted to be serjeant of artillery, in consequence of his theoretical and practical knowledge of mathematics. His anxious desire, however, was to be a teacher of religion; and he at length quitted the army to devote himself to the studies which would be necessary previous to his ordination as a minister. He first assumed the functions of what is called a pastor-catechist; and was ultimately called to the vocation for which he was so anxious, by one of those independent congregations of England, whose ministers are received in the Protestant churches of France. Neff adopted the resolution to be ordained in London, for the satisfaction of some religious scruples. This ceremony took place in a chapel in the Poultry, in 1823; and within six months after he was appointed authorized pastor of the department of the High Alps. To form an estimate of the labours which such an appointment involved, it may be sufficient to mention that, in order to visit his various flocks, the pastor had to travel, from his fixed residence, twelve miles in a western direction, sixty in an eastern, twenty in a southeru, and thirty-three in a northern; and that Neff steadily persevered, in all seasons, in passing on foot from one district to another, climbing mountains covered with snow, forcing a way through vallies choked up. by the masses of rocks that were hurled down by the winter's storm, partaking of the coarse fare and imperfect shelter of the peasant's hut, and never allowing himself any repose or The High Alps were originally peopled by Christians who fled to these sterile and gloomy mountains and vallies to escape persecu This forms a total of dock-room of one hundred and tion for their religious opinions. They were a hiding place fet centuries. relaxation, because the ignorance of the poor people who were intrusted to his charge was so great, that nothing but incessant activity on his part could surmount its evils. Mr. Gilly has justly observed (speaking in his character of an English clergyman), "it is well that we should see how hard some of our brethren work, and how hard they live; and that we should discover, to our humiliation, that it is not always where there is the greatest company of preachers that the word takes deepest root." The course of Neff's life, and the affection which he inspired, will be better understood from the following extract : "When his arrival was expected in certain hamlets, whose rotation to be visited was supposed to be coming round, it was beautiful to see the cottages send forth their inhabitants, to watch the coming of the beloved minister. Come take your dinner with us. Let me prepare your supper.- Permit me to give up my bed to you,'-were re-echoed from many a voice; and though there was nothing in the repast which denoted a feast-day, yet never was festival observed with greater rejoicing than by those whose rye-bread and pottage were shared with the pastor Neff. Sometimes, when the old people of one cabin were standing at their doors, and straining their eyes to catch the first view of their guide to heaven,' the youngsters of another were perched on the summit of a rock, and stealing a prospect which would afford them an earlier sight of him, and give them the opportunity of offering the first invitation. It was on these occasions that he obtained a perfect knowledge of the people, questioning them about such of their domestic concerns as he might be supposed to take an interest in, as well as about their spiritual condition, and finding where he could be useful both as a secular adviser and a religious counsellor. Could all their children read? Did they understand what they read? Did they offer up morning and evening prayers? Had they any wants that he could relieve? Any doubts that he could remove? Any afflictions wherein he could be a comforter?' his It was thus that he was the father of his flock, and master of their affections and their opinions; and when the seniors asked for his blessing, and the children took hold of his hands or his knees, he felt all the fatigue of his long journeys pass away, and became recruited with new strength. But for the high and holy feelings which sustained him, it is impossible that he could have borne up against his numerous toils and exposures, even for the few months in which he thus put his constitution to the trial. Neither rugged paths, nor the inclement weather of these Alps, which would change suddenly from sunshine to rain, and from rain to sleet, and from sleet to snow; nor snow deep under foot, and obscuring the view when dangers lay thick on his road; nothing of this sort deterred him from setting out, with his staff in his hand, and his wallet on back, when he imagined that his duty summoned him. I have been assured by those who have received him into their houses at such times, that he has come in chilly, wet, and fatigued; or exhausted by heat, and sudden transitions from excessive heat to piercing cold, and that after sitting down a few minutes his elastic spirits would seem to renovate his sinking frame, and he would enter into discourse with all the mental vigour of one who was neither weary nor languid. "When he was not resident at the presbytery, he was the guest of some peasant, who found him willing to live as he lived, and to make a scanty meal of soup-maigre, often without salt or bread, and to retire to rest in the same apartment, where a numerous family were crowded together, amidst all the inconveniences of a dirty and smoky hovel." We have already stated that the benevolent pastor of the High Alps was intent upon improving the condition of his people as to physical comfort, at the same time that he proclaimed to them the hopes and consolations of religion. Let us see how he set about this work: "His first attempt was to impart an idea of domestic convenience. Chimneys and windows to their hovels were luxuries to which few of them had aspired, till he showed them how easy it was to make a passage for the smoke, and admittance for the light and air. He next convinced them that warmth might be obtained more healthily than by pigging together for six or seven months in stables, from which the muck of the cattle was removed but once during the year. For their coarse and unwholesome food, he had, indeed, no substitute, because the sterility of the soil would produce no other; but he pointed out a mode of tillage, by which they had no conception of applying the simplest remedies, he increased the quantity: and in cases of illness, where they pointed out the comfort which a sick person may derive from light and warm soups and other soothing assistance. So ignorant were they of what was hurtful or beneficial in acute disorders, that wine and brandy were no unusual prescriptions in the height of a raging fever. Strange enough, Neff taught the men better manners, were treated with so and still more characteristic of savage life, the women, till much disregard, that they never sat at table with their husbands or brothers, but stood behind them, and received morsels from their hands with obeisance and profound reverence." their lands, so as to increase the crop of grass, which is He taught the people of the vallies how to irrigate exceedingly small. He found the utmost difficulty in explaining to his hearers that the water might be made to rise and fall, and might be dammed up and distributed accordingly as it might be required for use. The labour and expense appeared to them insuperable difficulties. In spite of their prejudices he accomplished his object, working with the people as a common labourer, and applying his knowledge as an engineer for their exclusive advantage. By thus teaching them how to double their crops he saved them from some of their most severe privations. He taught them also how to cultivate the potato with advantage. But he did more house in one of the districts where knowledge was most even than this. He incited the people to build a schoolwanted: and that proper teachers might be spread throughout these regions so shut out from the ordinary means of education, he persuaded a number of young persons to assemble together, one or two from each community, during the most dreary of the winter months, when they could not labour in the fields, and during that time to work hard with him in the attainment of that knowledge which they were afterwards to spread amongst their uninstructed friends and neighbours. The perseverance of these young people was worthy of their zealous pastor. To accomplish this good work perfectly he obtained the assistance of a studious young friend, who was preparing himself for a great public school. Neff's own account of his progress as a schoolwill not complain of its length :— master is so interesting that we are sure our readers "The short space of time which we had before us, rendered every moment precious. We divided the day into three parts. The first was from sunrise to eleven o'clock, when we breakfasted. The second from noon to sunset, when we supped. The third from supper till ten or eleven o'clock at night, making in all fourteen or fifteen hours of study in the twenty-four. We devoted much of this time to lessons in reading, which the wretched manner in which they had been taught, their detestable accent, and strange tone of voice, rendered a most necessary, but tiresome duty. The grammar, too, of which not one of them had the least idea, occupied much of our time. People who have been brought up in towns can have no conception of the difficulty which mountaineers and rustics, whose ideas are confined to those objects only to which they have been familiarized, find in learning this branch of science. There is scarcely any way of conveying the meaning of it to them. All the usual terms and definitions, and the means which are commonly employed in schools, are utterly unintelligible here. But the curious and novel devices which must be employed, have this advantage, that they exercise their understanding, and help to form their judgment. Dictation was one of the methods to which I had recourse: without it they would have made no progress in grammar and orthography; but they wrote so miserably, and slowly, that this consumed a great portion of valuable time. Observing that they were ignorant of the signification of a great number of French words, of constant use and recurrence, I made a selection from the vocabulary, and I set them to write down in little copy-books, words which were in most frequent use; but most tiresome rudiments, he proceeded upwards, leading on his scholars methodically, kindly, and patiently, until he had made them proficients in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and could lead them into the pleasanter paths of music, geography, history, and astronomy. His mind was too enlarged to fear that he should be teaching his peasant boys too much. It was his aim to show what a variety of enjoy. ments may be extracted out of knowledge, and that even the shepherd and the goatherd of the mountain side will be all the happier and the better for every piece of solid information that he can acquire." STATUE OF MAJOR CARTWRIGHT the explanations contained in the dictionary were not | dull and unpliant capacities of adults. Beginning with the enough, and I was obliged to rack my brain for new and brief definitions which they could understand, and to make hem transcribe these. Arithmetic was another branch of knowledge which required many a weary hour. Geography was considered a matter of recreation after dinner: and they pored over the maps with a feeling of delight and amusement, which was quite new to them. I also busied myself in giving them some notions of the sphere, and of the form and motion of the earth; of the seasons and the climates, and of the heavenly bodies. Everything of this sort was as perfectly novel to them, as it would have been to the islanders of Otaheite; and even the elementary books, which are usually put into the hands of children, were at first as unintelligible as the most abstruse treatises on mathematics. I was consequently forced to use the simplest and plainest modes of demonstration; but these amused and instructed them at the same time. A ball made of the box-tree, with a hole through it, and moving on an axle, and on which I had traced the principal circles; some large potatoes hollowed out; a candle, and sometimes the skulls of my scholars, served for the instruments by which I illustrated the movements of the heavenly bodies, and of the earth itself. Proceeding from one step to another, I pointed out the situation of different countries on the chart of the world, and in separate maps, and took pains to give some slight idea, as we went on, of the characteristics, religion, customs, and history of each nation. These details fixed topics of moment in their recollection. Up to this time I had been astonished by the little interest they took, Christian-minded as they were, in the subject of Christian missions; but, when they began to have some idea of geography, I discovered that their former ignorance of this science, and of the very existence of many foreign nations in distant quarters of the globe, was the cause of such indifference. But as soon as they began to learn who the people are who require to have the gospel preached to them, and in what part of the globe they dwell, they felt the same concern for the circulation of the Gospel that other Christians entertained. These new acquirements, in fact, enlarged their spirit, made new creatures of them, and seemed to triple their very existence. "In the end, I advanced so far as to give some lectures in geometry, and this too produced a happy moral developement. "Lessons in music formed part of our evening employ-A STATUE to the memory of Major Cartwright has ment, and those being, like geography, a sort of amusement, they were regularly succeeded by grave and edifying reading, and by such reflections as I took care to suggest for their improvement." The unremitting labours of Neff destroyed his health, and he was at length obliged to quit the inclement district in which he had accomplished so much good. He lingered for some time in a state of great debility, and died at Geneva on the 12th April, 1829. We cannot better conclude this brief and imperfect notice of a truly valuable and delightful book, than by the following observations of its author on the character of the admirable individual whose noble labours he has recommended to the imitation, not only of every Christian minister, but of every one, however humble, who feels a desire to advance his own real happiness and that of his fellow-creatures : "It was his anxiety to build up the Christian on a foundation where self-dependence, vain-glory, and imaginary merit were to have no place whatever; and yet every act of his ministry proved that he set a just value on knowledge and attainments. It was his labour of love to show, that whenever any addition is made to our stock of knowledge, we not only gain something in the way of enjoyment, but are laying up a store for the improvement of our moral and religious feelings, and of our general habits of industry. The spiritual advancement of his flock was the great end and object of all his toils; but no man ever took a warmer interest in the temporal comforts of those about him, and this he evinced by instructing them in the management of their fields and gardens, in the construction of their cottages, and in employing all his own acquirements in philosophy and science for the amélioration of their condition. * * He so condescended to things of low estate, as to become a teacher of a, b, c, not only to ignorant infancy, but to the lately been erected, by public subscription, in Burton Crescent, where the venerable reformer for many years resided. It is of bronze, and was executed by Mr. Clarke, late of Birmingham. The Penny Magazine will, in most cases, be delivered weekly in the Towns of the United Kingdom, by Booksellers and Newsvenders, to whom Subscribers should address their Orders. It cannot be sent by Post as a Newspaper is, being unstamped. For the the Publication at regular weekly intervals, the Numbers published convenience of those, who, residing in country places, cannot obtain during each Month will be stitched together to form a Monthly Part. That this Part may be sold at a convenient and uniform price, a MONTHLY SUPPLEMENT, consisting chiefly of Notices of such New with the regular Number on the last Saturday in the Month. The price Books as we think right to give a place to in 'the Library,' will appear of the Part, whether consisting of five or of six Numbers, will be SixPENCE; each Part will be neatly and strongly done up, in a wrapper. Thus, the annual Expense of Twelve Parts will be Six Shillings, viz.: 3. d. 52 Regular Numbers 12 Supplements 12 Wrappers Paternoster Row. 4 4 1 0 0 8 6 0 Liverpool, WILLMER and SMITH. Manchester, ROBINSON; and WEN! and SIMMS. LONDON:-CHARLES KNIGHT, PALL-MALL EAST. Carlisle, THURNAM; and SCOTT. Hull, STEPHENSON. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, CHARNLEY. Worcester, DEIGHTON. Edinburgh, OLIVER and BOYD. Printed by WILLIAM CLOWES, Stamford Street, |