Liverpool, a municipal and parliamentary borough and seaport of Lancashire, stands on the right or east side of the estuary of the Mersey. The etymology of the name Liverpool is, according to the popular belief ; derived from the name of a bird called the liver or lever, which was said to frequent the site of the town, great part of which was formerly a marshy pool, which was filled and emptied with the flowing and ebbing of tide. In conformity with this popular tradition, the corporate seal of the town bears the figure of a bird, which however, as there represented, is of a species wholly unknown at the present day, if indeed, as is much doubted, such a bird ever existed. The name of the town has also been derived, and with at least an equal appearance of probability, from the Welsh words LIer pwll, signifying "place on the pool" and it is certain that anciently the whole of the estuary of the Mersey, as far up as Runcorn, was called Lyrpul, Lyrpool, or Litherpool. In confirmation of this etymology, it may be observed that the name of Liverpool is pronounced 'Lerpool' by many of the country-people who live in the neighbourhood.
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