far the new plans meet all the requirements of the case. Eight dwellings, then, form each house; and when we enter one of these dwellings, we cannot but admire the mode in which every inch of room is made available, and cleanliness is provided for. Every dwelling consists of three rooms, opening one into another; one sitting-room and two bed-rooms; or parlour, kitchen, and bed-room, according to the wishes of the inmate. The sitting-room is provided with a range and oven; and at a convenient part of the room is a jet of gas, which is turned on for a certain number of hours in the evening, to be lighted or not at the option of the family. Around are shelves and recesses and cupboards, and other little arrangements which a family well know how to appreciate. The two bed-rooms open into or from this sitting-room; and in one of them (if not both) is placed an iron bedstead, lent to the inmates by the Company, to be used if desired, Those who know how much the use of metal in bedsteads conduces to cleanliness, will see the motive of this arrangement. In a small compartment, wholly closed from the rooms by a well-fitting door, are all the arrangements belonging to the water and drainage of a house, planned on such an admirable scheme, that each small dwelling of three rooms has a complete privacy from all the others, and a degree of salubrity in its constructive economy.such as the dwellers in many a house of higher rank might well envy. moment the housewife knows nothing, or need know nothing, of what becomes of the dust; it goes into the dust-shaft, which receives the dust from all the eight dwellings by eight similar openings, and thence descends to a very large dust-cellar beneath the level of the house. A locked iron trap-door, sunk into the avenue behind each house, when opened, gives access to the dust-cellar, and allows of the removal of all the dust; which, as well as the water and gas and drainage of the houses, is not left to the mercy of the inmates, but is superintended by a manager appointed to attend to the whole group of houses. The ventilation, too, is skilfully managed. Every room has two or more air-bricks,' as the builders term them, fixed in the outer wall; that is, a space equal to the size af a brick is left open to the admission of air, covered within and without by an iron grating, and capable of being wholly closed by an iron shutter if necessary. Some of these openings are made near the floor, to admit the fresh air; while others are made near the ceiling, for the exit of heated and vitiated air; and there are also air-flues or ventilating shafts in different parts. The windows, made of cast iron and glazed with plate glass, are hung on pivots, so as to be opened to any extent with great readiness. But the gardens-where are they? Are there none? It will be a drawback, in the minds of many, to the advantages of these admirable houses, that they have no gardens. But if we come to look around us, we find that such pleasant adjuncts are, indeed, very seldom The little republic of each house-the denizens of eight dwellings, or twenty-four rooms-are eight independent states, so far as regards their domestic arrange-placed within the reach of the working classes in a ments; but they form (if the term may be admitted) a sort of federal union in general matters. On the flat roof of each house is a fine large cistern, capable of holding one thousand gallons; and the supply of water is most abundant for all. Pipes descend to supply all the eight dwellings; and from time to time the whole of the drainage-pipes are flushed by a torrent of water let down from the cistern; all the rain-water, too, that falls on the house-top, is made to contribute to the completeness of the drainage. Down through the centre of the house, from top to bottom, runs a square shaft or hollow trunk, containing within it the drainage, water, dust, and gas-pipes belonging to all the dwellings the gas is conducted upwards; the drainage and dust are conducted downwards; and the water is conducted both upwards and downwards; but none of the pipes containing them are visible to the inmates of the dwellings they are enclosed within the vertical shaft, which has iron doors to admit a workman within it when any repairs may be necessary to the pipes. If we were to follow the busy housewife in her daily sweepings of her set of three rooms, we should see one among many remarkable instances of the thoughtful care that seems to have presided over the planning of these houses, A small sliding iron door, eight or ten inches square, is fixed in one corner of a recess, close to the ground; and, on this door being lifted, all the dust and dirt from the rooms are swept into the opening, and the door immediately closed: from that | busy town. Where land, as in Birkenhead is valued by the square yard instead of by the acre, we may without difficulty understand how different an aspect the enterprise of building these houses would have put on, had gardens been attached to them: either the internal arrangements would have been less complete, or the rent would have been higher-in either case frustrating in part the main object in view. Yet, although they have not gardens, in the general acceptation of the term, they have a pleasant substitute for them, such as in England may well be regarded as a novelty. Each house, measuring perhaps about thirty-five feet by twenty-five, has a flat roof, bounded by a sufficiently high and strong parapet; and this constitutes one of the most acceptable terraces imaginable. It has quite an oriental effect; for all the roofs are on the same level, though they do not communicate with each other. A staircase and doorway lead up to the roof, just as if it were one of the stories of the house; and when on the roof, a wide prospect meets the eye, including the greater part of Birkenhead, the Mersey with its shipping, the opposite buildings of Liverpool, and a good deal of open country in the other direction. Now, as all the eight families, or the tenants of the eight dwellings constituting the house, have common access to this terrace, may it not form a pleasant substitute for a garden? It is a common drying-ground for all; and on a summer evening a most welcome spot it is to breathe the fresh air. And may not the Mignionette, and the Geranium, and the Daisy find a operations were much less advanced than they now little corner, and enjoy the fresh air there too? are, a lively writer in 'Chambers's Edinburgh Journal' And what, it may now be asked, does the working man pay for such a dwelling? To answer this, it must be borne in mind that the dwellings are really for working men, and not for poor men; for men in the receipt of weekly wages, for some handicraft employment; and not for those who are ignorant, day by day, how or where they will rest their head at night. Each dwelling or set of rooms lessens in rent as it approaches nearer to the top of the house. The lowest rental, we believe, is somewhere about half-a-crown a week, which includes payment for the three rooms, and those numberless little conveniences (including gas) to which allusion has been made; and from that point the rent rises to four or five shillings, according to various-a capital everything." advantages of situation, &c.; but in every dwelling, even of the lowest rent, the sanatory arrangements are as fully carried out as in those of the more expensive kind. Some of the corner houses afford more than three rooms to a dwelling; and these command a higher rental. These details have been somewhat long and minute; but the subject really deserves it; for while so much is being written and said about Sanatory Regulations and the Health of Towns, it is well to glance at what has actually been done. The building of these workmen's dwellings is, as the French would say, "un fait accompli ;" the mind and the money have been applied; and it remains to see what results will be produced. Some of the dwellings are already occupied; and when the Dock enterprizes bring more population into that quarter, doubtless they all will be. As to the rate at which the speculation will remunerate the Dock Company (to whom the houses belong), they can afford to wait while the results develope themselves; but in all probability it will be quite sufficient. As to the advantage of a working man having three such rooms and the other accommodations for three shillings or so, per week, let those decide who know what are the rentals in close, damp, ill-ventilated, and ill-regulated houses, in the midst of our busy towns. In a more central part of Birkenhead, a group of houses, very similar in many respects to those just described, has been constructed by one of the members of that family, the Lairds, whose name is so intimately associated with the recent progress of the town; and these, being nearer the scene of present working operations, are nearly all occupied. THE NEW STREETS. One hardly knows where Birkenhead begins or ends. So much that is new meets the eye on all sides-so many links are there between new buildings and green fields that the real extent of the town is left in doubt. And if a map or plan be referred to, the puzzle is rather increased than lessened, unless we carefully distinguish between the present and the future, the existing and the proposed, Two years ago, when the The "capital everything" is coming by degrees. During the intervening period of two years, many of the buildings alluded to in this description have been advanced towards completion. Yet many of the streets are so long, and planned on such a grand scale, that several years must elapse before they are all built and occupied. And well so, too; for as the town is destined to grow with the growth of the docks, an incautiously-rapid extension of the town would be a useless sinking of capital: the members would outgrow the heart. Great, however, as are the works yet to be done, the plan shows how well arranged is the system which is to guide them. There is one street, sixty feet in width, extending for a length of two miles, in a perfectly straight line, from the vicinity of the market to the workmen's dwellings; and there are six other streets, parallel to it, and lying, like it, between the Park and the Docks, whose length varies from one to two miles. Beyond the workmen's dwellings, and all around the beautiful Park which will shortly call for a word or two of our notice, are other new streets, mostly of ample width. As a general rule, all the main streets extend from south-east to north-west; and are crossed in the other direction by shorter ones. Few as may yet be the houses built in these five long streets, yet the underground arrangements are completed for establishing the town on a healthy basis. A most extensive system of sewerage has been formed, ramifying into all, or nearly all of the streets. Dr. Robertson, in the work before quoted, gives a tabular view that illustrates in a striking degree the comprehensive scale adopted in the arrangements of this new town. He states that there are eight miles of street sixty feet in width, thirteen miles about forty feet in width, and others of intermediate or of lesser width, making a total of about thirty miles of street, of which nearly twenty-seven miles are provided with sewers on a most ample scale. Yet, even with all this completeness of arrangement, it would appear from Dr. Robertson's details, that the utmost vigilance on the part of the town commissioners will be requisite, to prevent the plan from being marred in part by individual negligence. Many houses and streets and courts have been built by private indivi- | imparts to it a very beautiful appearance. Another under the management of the commissioners, seems to be admirable; the house drainage, under individual care, seems to admit of much improvement in many localities; and Dr. Robertson has rendered good service by drawing attention to the subject, while Birkenhead is yet young and growing. The Birkenhead folks are not a little proud of their Hamilton-square, the Belgrave of that town; and a fine square it certainly is. It occupies six or seven acres of ground; and the stone-fronted houses, with their rusticated basement, their columnar fronts, and their frieze and parapet, assuredly present a majestic appearance. But our friend the Scotch tourist pleasantly alludes to a certain Edinburgh city, whose bevy of new streets and squares spoiled him for an appreciation of the beauties of Hamilton-square. This square seems likely to be occupied by-and-by for banks, offices, and public buildings; for the commercial aristocracy of the town show a liking for the more distant and secluded environs, where villas are dotted about in very pretty confusion. THE PUBLIC BUILDINGS. Everything in Birkenhead looks as if it had sprung from one source. Everything seems to owe its birth and its growth to a small knot of individuals, who, having wealth as well as experience, and public spirit as well as wealth, are in, and around, and among, all the great undertakings of the place. If we look at the names of the main streets, there we find included the names of these active commercial and social improvers; if we would know who were the projectors or who are the Directors of the Railways-either the existing Chester and Birkenhead, or the incipient Manchester and Birkenhead-here, again, we find them; if we ask who are the Town Commissioners, or the Dock Warehouse Company; who built the market and the Park, and the workmen's dwellings; who are building the churches, and the school-house, and the parsonage ;-to all we find that the answer includes the mention of a comparatively small list of names. In some cases it is in a corporate capacity in others in an individual and voluntary spirit, that the pervading agency is seen but seen it is in one way or other. : Nothing illustrates this better than the new churches -some of them very fine ones-now in course of construction at Birkenhead. St. James's Church, before mentioned as occupying the centre of a radiating series of streets near the workmen's dwellings, is being constructed at the expense of Messrs. Laird, Potter, and Jackson. It is in the early English period of Gothic architecture; and the warm hue of the red sandstone church, St. Anne's, built of the same kind of stone, is now erecting in Beckwith-street, at the sole expense of Mr. Potter; the name of Jackson is associated with other churches either built or now in course of erection; and other names, also, among the magnates of the place, are associated in a similar way with many of the improvements and constructions at Birkenhead. One of the new churches, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, is a revival of the Norman style, but with the questionable taste of having a string of grotesque and distorted heads round the upper part of the building, similar to those which have so often excited the wonder of visitors to the 'Round' at the Temple Church. These heads had a meaning in Anglo-Norman times; but they have none in our days. Whatever public buildings Birkenhead may present to view, when the works are further developed, they are for the most part of minor character at present. The Roman Catholic and Dissenting Chapels, the Dispensary, the Theological College, &c., call for no remark. A good feature in the arrangements of the town is the construction of Abattoirs or slaughterhouses. These Abattoirs are built of freestone, and contain sheds and pens for cattle, and all the necessary conveniences for applying them to their destined purpose. The New Market (Cut, No. 4), is a fine structure situated near Hamilton-square. As compared with two other markets that have recently attracted notice by their size and completeness-those of Newcastle and Liverpool-it yields a little to them in point of size, but is still a most capacious and well-arranged place. It is 430 feet long, by 130 broad. The area is divided into three arcades or avenues by iron columns, and is covered with a light iron roof. The entire area is vaulted beneath; and the vaults so constructed, kept well ventilated by suitable arrangements, constitute store-houses for the reception and depositing of provisions. THE PARK. But the Park! If there is one feature more than another that attracts, and ought to attract, the attention of a visitor at Birkenhead, it is the noble public park, one of the finest in England. That a town possessing a water frontage, and opposite a busy port, should strive to make itself a port likewise, is no more than might be expected. That fine churches, and public buildings, large houses and long streets, should spring up in such a town, we are led to expect by analogy with other quarters. That all the improvements of a scientific age should be brought to bear on the operations of a new town, is a homage to science and to good sense which we have a sort of right to demand. But that, in a place where land is becoming more and more valuable, 120 acres should be set aside for a public park, open to all for healthful recreation, and laid out in a beautiful manner, is more than we could have ventured to ask or hope for-and yet this has the morals, and the health of the people, by creating been done at Birkenhead! Great is the good which has been effected by the agitation of this question for the last few years; and hearty the thanks due to the earnest men who have kept it steadily under the public ken. It was observed three or four years ago in the 'Penny Magazine' :"The time seems to be approaching, when our busy townsmen will have, if not green fields, at least a substitute for them, in or near the thickly thronged haunts of industry. During the rapid progress of manufactures since the commencement of the present century, men scarcely dreamed of the changes which were going on around them. By silent steps the radius of each one of our great towns has gradually increased; till those streets which were formerly in the margin are now hemmed in all around, and spots which were formerly fields are now included within the inhabited circle. This has arisen, not only from the natural increase of population in the towns, but from the migration thither of part of the agricultural population. In some towns this increase of houses has gone on at such an astonishing rate, that public attention begins now to be forcibly directed to the probable consequences that will ensue to the health of the inhabitants . . When the tenure of land in England is considered, it is obvious that this system cannot be obviated except by government grant or private liberality. If a man possesses a piece of ground, he will dispose of it in the way most conducive to his own interests, either as building-ground or for some other purpose, according to the circumstances of the case. It is of no use to expect that the ground landlord will lay by a part of his plot of ground as a public exercise or pleasureground; he, as an individual, does not do so, and will not do so. It must be by efforts of a more distinct and decided nature that the end will be obtained." Small were the beginnings, but the fruits are ripening most pleasantly. Ten years ago the House of Commons passed a resolution, that in all new Enclosure Bills, provisions must be made that some portions of the waste lands about to be appropriated, should be set apart for the healthful recreation of the inhabitants of the neighbouring towns and villages. This is one mode of ensuring the so-much-desired end; and as the parties are fully cognizant of it before the Enclosure Act is applied for, no unfairness is wrought. Another mode of proceeding is by granting crown property, or granting money from the public purse, for the purchase of property, with the intention of forming public parks or recreation-grounds. Let our Regent's Park, and Primrose-hill, and Victoria Park, bear witness how welcome such spots are to the pent-up Londoners; and let the three parks which were opened at Manchester, in the autumn of 1846, show how enjoyable are such breathing-spots to the closely-wedged cotton-working denizens of that town! It was well said in the Quarterly Review, half-a-dozen years ago, that it is a duty incumbent on society at large to support such plans as may "minister to the amusements, and extending their opportunities of innocent and intellectual recreation-the most effective rivals of the ale-house and the gin-shop."-" Who can see," the writer asks, "the crowds that gather round the barrelorgan in the streets, or the window of the printseller; or that visit the National Gallery and the Museum; or who throng the aisles of Westminster Abbey on a Monday afternoon; or who flow through the newlyopened apartments at Hampton Court; or who, in these fine evenings, inhale health and pleasure in the beautiful inclosure of the Parks-without being convinced there is, even in what are called the lower classes of society, a natural taste for the Arts, and an innate susceptibility of mental enjoyment, which it is the duty, as well as the policy, of a wise and benevolent government to cultivate and improve?" It was a fine and generous feeling that led Joseph Strutt, of Derby, to make the munificent gift of the Arboretum' to the inhabitants of that town. A descendant from the Jedediah Strutt who took part with Arkwright in laying the foundation of the gigantic cotton manufacture, and belonging to a family which has ever put a liberal construction on the relations that ought to exist between the employer and the employed, the wealthy and the hard-working, the influential and the dependent; Mr. Strutt felt that he was laying a good ground-work for the moral and physical advancement of the people, when he gave to Derby, near which town his manufacturing operations are conducted on a vast scale, a pleasant, open spot of ground, where instruction and healthful relaxation may go hand in hand. In an address which he delivered on opening the 'Arboretum,' in 1840, he well observed, "It has often been made a reproach to our country, that, in England, collections of works of art, and exhibitions for instruction and amusement, cannot, without danger of injury, be thrown open to the public. If any ground for such a reproach still remains, I am convinced that it can be removed only by greater liberality in admitting the people to such establishments; by thus teaching them that they are themselves the parties most deeply interested in their preservation, and that it must be the interest of the public to protect that which is intended for the public advantage. If we wish to obtain the affection and regard of others, we must manifest kindness and regard toward them; if we seek to wean them from debasing pursuits and brutalizing pleasures, we can only hope to do so by opening to them new sources of rational enjoyment. It is under this conviction that I dedicate these gardens to the public; and I will only add, that as the sun has shone brightly on me through life, it would be ungrateful in me not to employ a portion of the fortune which I possess, in promoting the welfare of those amongst whom I live, and by whose industry I have been aided in its acquisition." The grandeur and princely scale on which the Birkenhead Park has been planned, ought not to lessen in our minds the value of the smaller park, or 'Arboretum,’ constructed by Mr. Strutt at Derby. He wrought at went through an agricultural district to Birkenhead; and reached the latter place at a time when its commercial prosperity had not in any sense commenced. It was at the mercy of one of the great companies, so far as respects communication with other parts of England; and public opinion had not then, as now, taught Railway Directors that an enlarged and liberal policy is the best for all parties. The Birkenhead line was small in every sense of the word. It was planned ten years ago, and was opened in 1840; but the first circumstance that infused life into it was the proposed formation of the Docks; the tide was then turned; and, sooner or later, the line must become the scene of a very busy traffic. The iron arms are spreading so as to grasp the traffic whenever it may arise, and from what quarter soever. Originally the terminus was in the southern part of Birkenhead; but it has since been carried by a tunnel to Monks' Ferry, for the Liverpool traffic; while an arrangement has been made to extend the line in a most efficient manner to the Docks. Other railway arteries are opening to the Birkenhead folk. In 1846 a line was sanctioned, called "The Birkenhead, Manchester, and Cheshire Junction," which, commencing on a mid-point on the Birkenhead line, proceeds eastward to Stockport, crossing in its way other lines which will have the effect of connecting Birkenhead with Manchester, and with the north generally. On another side there is the Chester and Holyhead, which, coasting along the margin of North Wales, will place Birkenhead in connexion with Holyhead. Lastly, there is the Chester and Shrewsbury, about to open up the wide district separating England from Wales. All these are elements that will tell upon the prosperity of Birkenhead by-and-by; and Chester, too-the venerable and almost unchanged city of Chester-may yet see itself the centre of a busy stream of commerce. Borrowing, then, the multiform aid of steam to take us to Birkenhead, we have next to see what meets the eye of a rambler through the half-developed town. THE DOCKS, AS THEY ARE, AND AS THEY WILL BE. Woodside Ferry is the southern boundary of the new harbour works at Birkenhead. The landing-place consists of a pier, running out to a sufficient length into the river, and bounded on either side by a 'slip,' or paved inclined plane, descending into the water; so that the ferry-steamers, at whatever height the tide may be, can draw up to the side of one or other of these two slips, and there land their passengers. As the steamers continue to bring their living cargoes across the Mersey until midnight, provision is made for well lighting both the slips. The pier itself, the central structure between the two slips, is not used as a landing-place; but it acts as a sort of breakwater to stem the force of the tide from breaking over the slips: the steamers always making for the slip which happens to be at leeward. Sometimes, in a gale, at high tide, even the lofty pier is insufficient to prevent the waves from dashing completely over pier, slips, and all. Most of the ferry-stations have hotels attached to or connected with them. Here, then, proceeding northward from the Woodside Ferry, we come at once upon the operations of the Dock Commissioners. All the margins between land and water are square and clearly marked. No irregular beach or coast-line meets the eye; for either by stealing a little from the land or a little from the river, wharfs and quays form the separating line between the two for an immense extent. And yet this extent is very trifling compared with what will one day meet the eye. The steam-packet wharfs, and the graving-docks in connection with them, have as yet hardly assumed anything like form and feature; and the north-western portions of the dock works are almost untouched. The huge blocks of stone that may be seen piled, heap upon heap, on the northern margin of Woodside Basin, are for the formation of a wharf or quay, constituting the southern boundary of a large group of wharfs and warehouses that will, by-and-by, intervene between Woodside Basin and Low Water Basin. Everywhere in Birkenhead it is observable that the new red sandstone is the rock lying beneath the soil. Everywhere does the reddish tint meet the eye; and, here and there, a white stone building presents itself as more than usually attractive, by its pleasant contrast with the warm rich hue of the prevalent stone. Like the balance between cuttings and embankments in railway works, the Birkenhead engineers have been able to quarry from one spot the stone which is to be employed at another not far distant; and it is not improbable that here, as elsewhere, a cemetery may occupy the vacuity thus produced by quarrying. When the commercial house-warming' of the 5th of April last took place, there were only two docks opened the only two, indeed, yet finished. The gay party who embarked on board the new 'Lord Warden' iron steamer, at the Railway terminus at Monks' Ferry, coasted along from thence, past Woodside Ferry, and entered Woodside Basin. This is a tidal basin of sixteen acres area; in front of which will be a sort of oblong island or break water, affording entrances at either end. This basin, so far as about ten acres of its surface are concerned, will serve as a sort of harbour of refuge; while the remainder, forming the inner portion, will be a beaching-ground, for the free use of the river craft. Originally it may be considered that this was the south-eastern corner of Wallasey Pool, the shoal or delta that had for so many ages lain useless alike to Birkenhead and to Liverpool; but the vast works further north will convert this shoal into-shall we say gold? At the innermost or north-west corner of Woodside Basin is a lock, establishing connexion with one of the two new docks; this is of an oblong form, and communicates by another lock with the second dock, rather irregularly shaped, but affording very convenient space around it for quays and warehouses. This |