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THE BLACK-ROCK FORT AND LIGHT-HOUSE, LIVERPOOL.

THE

YOUTHS' MAGAZINE;

OR

Evangelical Miscellany.

FEBRUARY, 1832.

THE BLACK-ROCK FORT AND LIGHTHOUSE,
LIVERPOOL.

BLACK-ROCK FORT, standing on the Rock-point, presents not only an excellent structure of defence to the port and town of Liverpool, but is likewise a most pleasing and interesting object at the entrance of the river. It is built in the form of a trapezoid, covering a surface of between three and four thousand square yards. At each of the angles nearest to the main land is a circular tower, flanking the rear front. The external wall varies in height, partly owing to the general irregularity of the rock's surface. The west, or principal front, mounting six thirty-two pounders, exceeds two hundred feet in length, and is from twenty-five to twenty-seven feet high. The front between the north-west and north-east angles is upwards of one hundred and fifty feet long, and from twenty-nine to thirty-one feet high, and mounts four guns. The fourth side, fronting the main land, is well flanked by the two towers above-mentioned, and has an escarp, varying from thirty-one to thirty-three feet in height. This front is occupied with barracks.

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The exterior wall of the barracks discovers twelve loop-holes for musketry to fire upon the approach to the fort, which leads through a handsome gateway of the Tuscan order. The entrance is by a stone bridge of three arches, connected with a wooden draw-bridge. A large bomb-proof magazine, capable of containing many hundred barrels of powder, is built in the middle of the fort. This military structure was erected from the design and under the direction of Captain Kitson of the Royal Engineers.

Beyond the battery stands the Lighthouse, erected by the Corporation of Liverpool at an expense of about £35,000. This admirable specimen of Mr. Foster's architectural skill rises to the height of ninety feet above the level of the rock, and is surmounted by a lantern, which, throwing its light to a great distance out at sea, affords considerable security to inward-bound vessels. The diameter of the building, at the base, is thirty-five feet, diminishing upwards to the lantern. The masonry is perfectly solid to the height of thirty-two feet; then commences a spiral staircase, communicating with the room appropriated to the use of the men who superintend the building.

STRANGE LETTER!

To the Editor of the Youths' Magazine.

SIR,-I am one of a very numerous family, which, though not so old as the world itself, is second in antiquity to few. But it is not my intention to boast of the honors of our house, or of our ancient lineage; but rather to complain that, notwithstanding my claims to respect on this account, I apprehend I shall find myself, by many, treated with the same false and hollow professions as other members of my family have been before me,

You would think, sir, from the manner in which I address you, that I am a person of some experience in the world, and

that I have not been a careless observer of the principles and practices of society. On the contrary, what will be your surprise when I assure you, that though ready to enter the world the moment the day dawns, and the sun brightens the horizon, I have not yet set my foot on your globe. My wisdom, therefore, you perceive, is of that kind which your philosophers say is possessed by the happiest among men; for it has been acquired not by my own, but by the experience of others; and it is that I may, if possible, escape the slights, subterfuges, and denials of the children of Earth, that I thus make my complaint before I venture to present myself to their notice. It would not be easy for me to tell you how many of my relatives have met with unkindness and treachery in the years, I may say ages, that are past; for the chronicles of our house extend to the remotest periods of time, and except in the first blissful week of our existence, which was spent in Eden, we have almost uniformly had to complain of the insincerity of the great mass of mankind.

Do not imagine from these observations, sir, that I am a misanthrope, or that I am disposed to be unjust to any portion of that race to which you belong. Far from it; my only desire is to benefit mankind; to be useful in my day and generation, to act my part with fidelity, integrity, and punctuality; so that whatever I may suffer from the neglect, contempt, or infatuation of your species, they shall have nothing with which to upbraid me.

I should be happy, sir, to give you such a description of myself as might enable you to form a just opinion of me, or which could convey to your mind some idea of my person; but that I fear is impossible, as neither you nor any man living has seen me, I am therefore altogether destitute of the power of representing myself aright.

But though you have not seen me, you have thought of me ; you have anticipated my approach; you have calculated the exact time of my appearance; you have considered in what words you will address me; on what business you will employ me; of what benefits you will make me the minister; what profit you will derive from my acquaintance and friendship; with how much regret, perhaps, you will part from me, and

with what pleasure or pain you will have to look back on our short interview with each other. But though from the gravity of your character, as an instructor of youth, and a dispenser of knowledge, I cannot be much mistaken in conjecturing that you will hail my approach with pleasure, and treat me with respect; yet there are others among your young friends, by whom, though much more eagerly desired, I do not expect to experience so kind a reception. Many of them I know are looking forward to my visit with the utmost impatience; they cannot sleep for thinking of me; they undraw the curtain, they open the window, they look out and say -"when will she come?"

The sick also, who are tossing upon their beds of languishing, anxiously long for my approach. The watchman on the tower looks forth to see if I be near. The seaman on the stormy ocean sends his keen glance afar, and beholding no signs of my arrival, casts out his anchor, and wishes I would come. Some merchants residing in the west end of the town, have resolved so soon as they see me, to go into the city and buy and sell; others design at the same moment to set off on a journey for the same purpose. One stock-holder expects that my arrival will occasion such a rise in the funds that he will at last amass a plum; while another, poor fellow! thinks that I shall be his ruin. Some of the loungers about St. James's imagine that a cabinet council will be held during my stay in town, at which they expect certain appointments will be confirmed to them which have long been promised; while others wait but for me to present them to the king. A lady who sent away the poor from her door to-day, while she had plenty to give, desired them to return on my approach, as she meant to greet my entrance into London by benefactions to them all. But it were endless, Mr. Editor, to enter into farther details; suffice it say, that from the highest to the lowest I am viewed as an object of the deepest interest-even naughty children who were chid by their nurse to-day, promised to be good when I came. Some lazy youths who had neglected their Greek and Latin, said that I should see how studious they could be; while one or two artisans and mechanics who had mispent their time in the absence of their masters, declared

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