1797. would be well for those persons to reflect upon the fact, that, in the author's life time, and before the use of steamships, the descent in February, 1797, by the enemy, upon the coast of Wales was safely accomplished, and that a body of French troops, under General Humbert, landed in safety at Killala Bay, in Ireland, on the 22nd of August, 1798, and, although not numerous, they succeeded in keeping the British troops at bay for a considerable time. It was only by the providential occurrence of a storm, which injured and dispersed the enemy's fleet under Admiral Bonvet, in 1796, that General Hoche, with 25,000 men, was prevented from effecting an invasion of Ireland. Nor were the voyages in those instances very short or easy, yet no vessels of war intercepted the enemy in either case, nor was any thing conclusive known of the movements of the latter until the respective landings had been effected. Those facts should convince the British nation and government that over-confidence amounts to folly, and that the surest way to prevent any hostile descent in this country, is to be always on the guard.

In this year, the Exchange (Town-hall), having had its interior re-built, and having been renovated after the fire of 1795, was re-opened on the 4th of June.

On the 18th of October, 1797, a severe contest occurred on the election of the Mayor for the ensuing year. Mr. Thomas Staniforth and Mr. Joseph Brooks were the candidates, and although keeping the poll open at such elections more than one day, has not frequently occurred at Liverpool, the poll was kept open on that occasion three days. The voting was as follows:

In the same year, Christ Church, on the south side of 1797. Hunter-street, was built by Mr. Houghton, and cost £22,000. It is a brick edifice, and contains what is not common, both a lower and upper gallery.

So many inconveniences were experienced by the subscribers to the News-room already mentioned, which was then at the hotel (Bates') at the lowest end of Lord-street, that it was considered advisable to endeavour to establish a News-room elsewhere, combining also the advantage of a Library. Dr. Rutter, Mr. Edward Rogers, and Mr. Thomas Taylor, were the first to take steps towards establishing such an institution; and they considering a piece of vacant ground in Church-street an eligible site, and having obtained a plan and elevation of the contemplated building, invited four other gentlemen, viz:-Mr. Roscoe, Mr. Joshua Lace, solicitor, Dr. Currie, and Mr. William Clarke, banker, to meet them, at the Theatre Tavern, in Williamson-square, on the 22nd of November, 1797, in order to take the subject into consideration. All those gentlemen met there accordingly, except Dr. Currie, who was prevented from attending by professional engagements. The scheme was approved of by the meeting, a prospectus was printed and distributed, and, on the 27th of November, a public meeting of the supporters of the measure was held, at which Dr. Currie presided, and a committee was appointed to carry the scheme into effect. Books were opened to receive the names of subscribers, and in a very short time the number proposed, 350, was filled up, which was, subsequently, increased to 500, the present number.(")

The result was, that, in 1798, the Athenæum, an edifice 1798. with a front of stone, but without either portico, pillars, or

(1) From a communication by Dr. Rutter, given in the Appendix to Currie's Life of Dr. Currie, page 485.

1798. pilasters, to relieve its sameness, was erected on the southward side of Church-street. This was the first public News-room, distinct from a room in a hotel or tavern in Liverpool. The Athenæum contains both a news-room and a library. This institution has, ever since its formation, been a favourite resort for persons of the higher ranks of life, and is supplied with newspapers, reviews, magazines, pamphlets, and other periodical works. The books in the library, which is over the news-room, do not circulate. It contains a large and valuable collection of books, in the learned, foreigu, and English languages, and now consists of about 21,500 volumes. The rules for the government of the institution were arranged and drawn up by a committee, on the 2nd of November, 1798.

In August, 1798, Mr. John Palmer, a performer of considerable merit, was taken suddenly ill in the Liverpool Theatre, whilst acting in Kotzebue's play of "The Stranger," and died shortly afterwards. This gave rise to a statement which has appeared in print in "Troughton's Liverpool," and in the Annals in "Gore's Directory," and was at one time generally believed, that he dropped down dead, immediately after uttering the words, "Yet there is another and a better world." Narrating the catastrophe, as if it had occurred in that manner, certainly made an interesting tale, (if it had been true,) but it has been publicly contradicted. In the notices to correspondents, in August and September, 1838, in the Liverpool Mercury, edited by the late Mr. Egerton Smith, it is distinctly mentioned that Mr. Palmer was not taken ill until one of the scenes succeeding that in which the sentence in question occurs. It is also an important point that it is stated in the Mercury that the

(1) "The Stranger," Act I, scene 1st. See Troughton's Liverpool, page 199 and 323. The words are erroneously quoted in that work.