The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-12-27 00:00:00

LIFE DEPARTMENT.

BONUSES.—EIGHTY PER CENT. of the Profits appor-
tioned to the Assured triennially, after the fir't five years, and
applicable as may be preferred at the time of each valuation.

Bonus Rates I 17 0 I 6 0 I.tl 06 I .e 4 691E6 7 6

SPECIAL NOTICE.—No Stamp Duty whatever charged.
FIRE DEPARTMENT.
BONUSES.—FIFTY PER CENT. of the Profits appor-
tioned to the Assured annually on Policies of three years'
standing—an advantage offered by very few Offices.
INSURANCES ON FARMING STOCK.
The Public are informed that the Rates for the Insurances
of Farming Stock with this Company have just been REDUCED
from 4s. to 3s. per Cent. without the Average Clause, and
from 35. 6d. to 25. 6(1. with that Clause.
NOTlCE.—Persons insured with this Office, whose Policies
expire at CHRISTMAS, are respectfully reminded that they
should be renewed within Fifteen Days from that period; and
those who desire to avail themselves of the advantages and
security of The Lancashire Insurance Company incur no extra
expense by the transfer of their Policies.
Influential Gentlemen Wanted as Agents, where the Com-
pany is not represented.
Prospectuses, Mercantile Rates, Forms of Proposal, and all
other information, will be afforded at the Offices and Agencies
of the Company.
Mr. WM. HENDERSON. Agent for Birkenhead;
Mr. G. J. ASPINALL, Agent for Toxteth-park.

THE GENERAL
LIFE AND FIRE ASSURANCE COMPANY.

_
INSTITUTED 1837.
62, KING TVILLIA3f-STREET, LONDON.
CAPITAL,—ONE MILLION.
DIRECTORS.
The Right Hon. the LORD MAYOR, M.P.
George Bousfield, El .sq. Edward Wilson, Esq.
Jacob George Cope
I Jas. Pilkington, Esq., M.P.
T. Challis, Esq., Ald., M.P. Thomas Piper, Esq.
John Dixon, Esq. Thomas B. Simpson, Esq.
Charles Hindley, Esq., M.P. Hon. C. P. Villiers, M.P.
Wm. Hunter, Esq.. Aid._ John Wilke, Esq:

SECRETARY—Thomas Price, Esq., LL...D.
THE CHRISTMAS FIRE RENEWAL RECEIPTS are
now ready, and may be had on application at the Head Offices
of the Company, or any of its Agents throughout the
country.
In the LIFE DEPARTMENT FOUR-FIFTHS of the Pro-
fits, divisible by the Company's Deed of Settlement, allowed
to Assurers, and the Company transacts all business relating
to Life Assurance, Deferred Annuities, and Family Endow-
ments, upon the most liberal terms, consistent with sound
principles and public security.
No charge for STAMPS is made on LIFE POLICIES is-
sued by the Company.
LOANS from £lOO to 41000 advanced upon Personal Se-
curity and the deposit of a Life Policy.

AGENTS TO THE COMPANY :
Mr. G. E. Hour, 25, South John-street.
Mr. I. 0. JONES, 11, Brunswick-buildings.
Mr. DAVID MARPLES, Lord-street.
_Mr. It. STILL, Peter's-place, Rumford-street.
Ashton-under-Lyne Mr. William Leach.
Ashton-in-Mackerfield Mr. J. Sumner.
Altrincham Mr. W. Burrow.
Bury Mr. John Vickerman.
• Bolton Mr. Thomas Parkinson.
Blackburn Mr. James Dewsbury.
Burnley Mr. Wiliam Hughes.
Chester Mr. A. Booth.
Chorley Mr. William Tootell.
Colne Mr. T. Wiseman.
Lancaster Mr. William Welch.
Manchester
1 Mr. W. Pooley.
Northwich Mr. C. Green.
Oldham Mr. J. L. Quarmby.
Ormskirk Mr. J. Waring.
Preston Mr. F. Cotman.
Rochdale Mr. Edward Taylor.
St. Helens si . Mr. R. Thompson,
Wizan Messrs. Roberta and Co.
Warrington Mr. J. Forrest.

LIVERPOOL

P.S.—VACANCIES exist in the AGENCIES of the COM-
PANY for the following places, for which applications ma a y
be forwarded to the Secretary :—Dukinfield, Lower Tot-
tington, Clitheroe, Eccles, Newton, Winwick, Poulton, Pres-
cott Pilkington, Prompton, Todmorden, Ulveratone, and
Worsley.

Kiberpoot :;.)tatibarti+

TUESDAY MORNING, DEC. 27, 1853.

CHRISTMAS IN LIVERPOOL.

CHRISTMAS week is proverbially the dullest in the year.
That which has just terminated was no exception to the
rule. The synopsis of political gossip, .which I gave
you last week in pith, remains unchanged ; to be sure,
there are rumours, apparently well founded, that Lord
PALMERSTON has been courted back again ; be has not
given up the seals, but that goes for nothing if he meant
to retire,—" holding office till a successor is appointed "
being a stereotyped Cabinet phrase. The fact is, Lord
ABERDEEN and his colleagues cannot get any one to fill
Lord PALMERSTON'S place; and your readers need not be
surprised when I tell them that matters, in all probability,
will remain as the are till the meeting of Parliament, and
then we may have a breaking up of the •whole concern.
Whatever one's opinion may be of the Coalition Cabinet,
as a body, no one can doubt the existence amongst its
members of high honour individually. They will meet
Parliament, make their statements, break up—some of
them retire—and there an end. At the schtbs, the Earl
of DERBY and Mr. DISRAELI are looked upon as likely to
join the remaining few. The foregoing embraces the sum
and substance of the conversation yesterday et the Reform,
the Carlton, and Brooks's.
" Christmas comes but once a year," -says the poet,
" and therefore we'll be merry ;" and, judging by appear-
ances, so say the " good men and true " of Liverppol.
For weeks past the note of preparation has been
sounding, now in this quarter, then in that: the first
whisperings of the festive season were breathed in myste-
rious hints from the several theatres, which, under the
guise of brief paragraphs, foretelling the authorship of the
coming pantomime, gave token that "Christmas old" was
expected by-and-bye ; the next, and scarcely less occult
indications of the joyous time, were to be inferred, rather
than learned, from an accumulated array of gay and glit-
tering attire spread before the wondering gaze of staid
papas and diligent mammas in those seductive establish-
merits known as Magazins des Modes, whose intricate
arrangements are familiar as the light to "ladies faire,"
but which, to the obtusity of masculine perception, seem
enveloped in complications and surrounded by mysteries
,and terrors to which the Cretan labyrinth of old was only
a child's riddle; respectable confectioners seemed next
smitten with a taste for preparation, from whom the
disease, if disease it might be called, spread with rapid
-contagion through all the grades of grocers, gray and
green, of toy vendors,'and amusement-mongers and manu-
facturers of every class and family, till the epidemic blazed
forth among the solid and irresistible squares and battal-
lions of the butchers and poultrymen, flanked and snp-
supported by cheesemongers, bakers, and provision dealers
of every fraternity and status. By the time the rage had
obtained such an ascendancy as this, society had made up
its mind that to oppose was vain, and as they could not
stay nor regulate the movement, mixed in its ranks with
an alacrity which showed that, though late in joining the
alliance, they would by eagerness make up the slight lee-
way they had been thrown into. All classes being thus
engaged in following one career, the parts peculiar to each
were speedily apportioned. The supplying class, being
unrestrained by punctilio, applied their minds to a display,
and opened their resources with a heartiness which showed
a strong determination not to be beaten, and Saturday
dawnel on such a scene of gastronomic preparation as
Liverpool may justly feel proud in the recollection of.
From morning till night of that day the leading
thoroughfares were densely crowded by throngs of all
classes of our mixed and motley population. Here was
to be seen the gay and elegant equipage of taste and
opulence, visiting with patrician ease and grace the varied
attractions of the time. There the demure and cosey
carriage of some self-denying quakeress, whose inmates,
arrayed in glossy and luxurious satin, looked out with
pitying condescension on the frivolities by which they
were surrounded, "compounding for the share of worldly
vanities of which they were the participators, by a scru-
pulous alsstinence from even the slightest admixture of
worldly grey in any portion of their costly raiment.
Joyous among the pedestrian throng, were to be seen
moving groups of artless misses, greatly marvelling how
many of the well-simulated wax-babies presented to their
gate they should be able to acquire for the two shillings
or half-a-crown they had derived from the repositories of
some doating grandma, or indulgent, though somewhat
crusty bachelor uncle. Akin to them in blood, as in enjoy-
ment, were also to be noted small gatherings of hopeful lads,
whose heads were sadly puzzled in their admiration of
milkwhite rocking-horses and huge slices of seductive
bun—now leaning a credulous eye to the faultless trim of
a gallant barque, bedizened in all the splendour of ivory
guns and cambric sails—anon rooted to the spot in wrapt
wonderment of some inlaid corslet of polished steel, or
plumed helmet, sarcastically placed upon the questionable
head of an apocryphal war charger, whose coat, in its colour
and texture, might easily be mistaken for that of a hare.
Among a practical people like the English, such unedi-
fying delights as addressed themselves merely to the sense
of sight could not be allowed more than a partnership
interest in the attractions of the day, and, accordingly,
the different markets presented resistless charms to the
mass of sight-seers ; and among the markets, marvels of
various sorts were to be seen. We have often noticed
that, among the peculiarities of feeding to be met with
among butchers, the miracle of successful fattening was
remarkable, so remarkable, as, in point of fact, to tax our
credulity in no slight degree. On Saturday, however,
we were gratified with a real wonder in that line. One
half carcass of an ox we saw, as intimated by ticket,
had been bred and fed in Derbyshire, by his grace the
Duke of Devonshire, at the palace of the Peak, while the
same important processes had been going forward to the
same half carcass, by an intelligent commoner near the
north-west border of Cumberland. The intelligence at
first startled us a little, but when we reflected on how
little real knowledge of the mysteries of breeding and
feeding is possessed by the many-headed multitude, we
contracted the wide incredulity of our stare, and, sup-
pressing the half-uttered doubt, passed on in search
of further wonders, not a few of which we fortunately fell
in with.

'Foremost in point of interest, as in extent, St. John's
Market offered the largest field for observation, and here
the display was at once gratifying and astounding. The
bewildered eye was captivated by a regulated wilderness
of beef and mutton, veal, and lamb, intermixed with pork
and venison ; game, poultry, and cured meats of every
kind; eggs and butter; vegetables in huge mounds, and
mountains of fruit whose grateful odour and charming
variety of hues sustained and heightened the attractions
of the show, which was tastefully diversified by devices in
evergreens and flowers, and at night by splendidly illu-
minated decorations. Attractions of a similar nature
were displayed at all the other markets in and adjoining
the town, including St. James's, St. Martin's, and Birken-
head. The shops in all quarters also presented similar
seductions to the gourmand and epicure ; and a gratifying
feature in the general display was recognizable in the
really useful quality of the meat exhibited, which, avoid-
ing unprofitable as well as unsightly obesity, preserved a
happy union of symmetry and fibre. To enumerate all
amidst such profusion would be an impossible, and to par-
ticularize would be an invidious task ; we shall therefore
limit our remarks to one or two who, from the novelty or
some other peculiarity of their collection, appear some-
what out of the common run.

Strikingly conspicuons among those was the complete
carcase of an Indian buffalo, weighing about twenty-eight
score pounds, exhibited at the stall of Mr. Thomlinson, in
St. John's Market. This, we believe, was one of three buf-
faloes brought home about two years ago by the Phcebe.
It was fed by Mr. Thomlinson, on his farm of Broad
Green, at Childwall, and its two companions were shown
at Wavertree on Friday of the preceding week by Mr. W.
Blackburn, and attracted much attention. At the same
stall we were struck by the singular appearance of two
Cape sheep, not apparently of exactly the same breed, but
both remarkable for the broad, flat, and fat tail. The
quality of the beef and mutton displayed at this stall was
very fine, and the quantity was profusely abundant,
amounting in all to 30 bullocks and heifers, 56 sheep, 8
calves, 6 pigs, and 2 lambs, for the week's supply. Promi-
nent, among the finer qualities of beef on most of the stalls,
was a profusion of West Highland and Galloway stots,
bred and fed by the most esteemed cultivators of that
branch of agricultural science. Cheviot and Southdown
sheep of rare excellence were also numerous; veal of great
beauty was plentifully shown, and lamb was to be met
with in abundance, well grown and fat considering the
season of the year.

If the profusion and excellence alluded to were conspi-
cuous in the markets, similar qualities were to be met
with in all the respectable shops throughout the town,
and a more spirited or more equally contested competition
as regards variety of provision, abundance, excellence of
quality, and general tastefulness of exhibition, it would be
no easy matter to point out. Good will, a desire to please,
and anxiety to deserve approbation characterized all ranks
of dealers ; and we are glad to understand that these
endtavours were met by approving smiles, and more sib-