{"id":"01KG8AKRPEA59C9EYRHXT1RWPA","cid":"bafkreie5sp3aifz6t6vckslt57jcgnaun2cdun4wrveuq6kowtt5kk2fhm","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":5840,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:14.842Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","start_line":5775,"text":"From northern climes to India’s distant bounds—\r\nWhere’er his shores the broad Atlantic waves;\r\nWhere’er the Baltic rolls his wintry waves;\r\nWhere’er the honored flood extends his tide,\r\nThat clasps Sicilia like a favored bride.\r\nGreenland for her its bulky whale resigns,\r\nAnd temperate Gallia rears her generous vines:\r\n’Midst warm Iberia citron orchards blow,\r\nAnd the ripe fruitage bends the laboring bough;\r\nIn every clime her prosperous fleets are known,\r\nShe makes the wealth of every clime her own.”_\r\n\r\n\r\nIt also contains a delicately-curtained allusion to Mr. Roscoe:—\r\n\r\n_“And here_ R*s*o*, _with genius all his own,\r\nNew tracks explores, and all before unknown?”_\r\n\r\n\r\nIndeed, both the anonymous author of the Guide-Book, and the gifted\r\nbard of the Mersey, seem to have nourished the warmest appreciation of\r\nthe fact, that to their beloved town Roscoe imparted a reputation which\r\ngracefully embellished its notoriety as a mere place of commerce. He is\r\ncalled the modern Guicciardini of the modern Florence, and his\r\nhistories, translations, and Italian Lives, are spoken of with\r\nclassical admiration.\r\n\r\nThe first chapter begins in a methodical, business-like way, by\r\ninforming the impatient reader of the precise latitude and longitude of\r\nLiverpool; so that, at the outset, there may be no misunderstanding on\r\nthat head. It then goes on to give an account of the history and\r\nantiquities of the town, beginning with a record in the _Doomsday-Book_\r\nof William the Conqueror.\r\n\r\nHere, it must be sincerely confessed, however, that notwithstanding his\r\nnumerous other merits, my favorite author betrays a want of the\r\nuttermost antiquarian and penetrating spirit, which would have scorned\r\nto stop in its researches at the reign of the Norman monarch, but would\r\nhave pushed on resolutely through the dark ages, up to Moses, the man\r\nof Uz, and Adam; and finally established the fact beyond a doubt, that\r\nthe soil of Liverpool was created with the creation.\r\n\r\nBut, perhaps, one of the most curious passages in the chapter of\r\nantiquarian research, is the pious author’s moralizing reflections upon\r\nan interesting fact he records: to wit, that in a.d. 1571, the\r\ninhabitants sent a memorial to Queen Elizabeth, praying relief under a\r\nsubsidy, wherein they style themselves _“her majesty’s poor decayed\r\ntown of Liverpool.”_\r\n\r\nAs I now fix my gaze upon this faded and dilapidated old guide-book,\r\nbearing every token of the ravages of near half a century, and read how\r\nthis piece of antiquity enlarges like a modern upon previous\r\nantiquities, I am forcibly reminded that the world is indeed growing\r\nold. And when I turn to the second chapter, _“On the increase of the\r\ntown, and number of inhabitants,”_ and then skim over page after page\r\nthroughout the volume, all filled with allusions to the immense\r\ngrandeur of a place, which, since then, has more than quadrupled in\r\npopulation, opulence, and splendor, and whose present inhabitants must\r\nlook back upon the period here spoken of with a swelling feeling of\r\nimmeasurable superiority and pride, I am filled with a comical sadness\r\nat the vanity of all human exaltation. For the cope-stone of to-day is\r\nthe corner-stone of tomorrow; and as St. Peter’s church was built in\r\ngreat part of the ruins of old Rome, so in all our erections, however\r\nimposing, we but form quarries and supply ignoble materials for the\r\ngrander domes of posterity.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJRKEDTRFD9ZJPGF6XAC8","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKRPT540RS3CCN60EFK8B","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.054Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:29.884Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}