About 1582, Edward, Earl of Derby, maintained two hundred and fifty
citizens of Liverpool, fed sixty aged persons twice a day, and provided
twenty-seven hundred persons with meat, drink, and money every Good
Friday.

In 1644, Prince Rupert besieged the town for twenty-four days, and
finally took it by storm. This was June 26th, and the Parliamentarians,
under Sir John Meldrum, repossessed it the following October.

In 1669 the Mayor of Liverpool kept an inn.

In 1730 there was only one carriage in town, and no stage-coach came
nearer than Warrington, the roads being impassable.

In 1734 the Earl of Derby gave a great entertainment in the tower.

In 1737 the Mayor was George Norton, a saddler, who frequently took, the
chair with his leather apron on. His immediate predecessor seems to have
been the Earl of Derby, who gave the above-mentioned entertainment during
his mayoralty. Where George's Dock now is, there used to be a battery of
fourteen eighteen-pounders for the defence of the town, and the old sport
of bull-baiting was carried on in that vicinity, close to the Church of
St. Nicholas.


September 12th.--On Saturday a young man was found wandering about in
West Derby, a suburb of Liverpool, in a state of insanity, and, being
taken before a magistrate, he proved to be an American. As he seemed to
be in a respectable station of life, the magistrate sent the master of
the workhouse to me, in order to find out whether I would take the