670° 
Thirty-two serjeants, 
Thirty-two corporals, and 
Sixteen drummers, : 
Three Hundred and thirty-six privates, and 
Thirty-four light-horsemen. 
These are daily allowed the following 
provisions each man ; 
One pound of meat, 
One loaf of bread of twelve ounces, 
. One quarter of apound of cheese, and 
Two quarts of beer. 
On Wednesdays and Fridays, instead 
of;meat, they have 
One pint of pease-soup, 
Half a pound of cheese, and 
Two ounces of butter. 
‘On Sundays and Tuesdays, mutton, 
Beef the other three days. , 
They are all annually cloathed ina uni- 
form of scarlet faced with blue, 
They are lodged in, sixteen wards, to 
each of which two serjeants and two cor- 
porals are appointed, with a matron, or 
nurse under the immediate inspection 
of the housekeeper, to take care of the 
linén and bedding, and to assist in clean- 
* ing each ward. 
Fires are kept in every ward, and the 
men have évéry attendance that can ren-. 
der them comfortable. 
Tn addition to their provision, clothing, 
&c. the in-pensioners are allowed weekly 
pay in the following proportions : 
Sd 
Captains - - 3.6 
Serjeants - : 2.0 
Corporals and drummess, each 0 10 
Privates - - 0 8 
Light-horse - - 2.20 
’ The light-horse are generally serjeants 
of cavalry, and selected for their services 
or good behaviour while in the hospital 
The captains, serjeants, and corporals, 
are also, appointed from the most de- 
serving and orderly men. 
The hospital bemg considered as a mili- 
tary station, regular garrison duty is per- 
formed by the pensioners, . 
Divine service is performed regularly 
on Sundays, with prayers on, Wednesdays 
and Fridays; and every ward.is provided 
with Bibles, Prayer-books, and. othe 
religious and instructive books. ; 
The anniversaries of the Restoration 
of Charles II., (May 29,) and the King’s 
birth-day, (June 4,) are kept as festivals 
in the Hospital. The governor and offi- 
cers dine together, and the pensioners 
-Christinas, 
fire'threé vollies; and Eave a double ale 
towance of provision and beers 
N ve 
Hayter’s History of Chelsea, 
The ‘number of out-pensioners, at 
1809, was twenty-three 
thousand and fitty, who are paid at dif, , 
ferent rates, according to their length , 
of service, or their. disability, from fives , 
pence to three shillings and sixpence per 
day, agreeable to an Act of Parliament 
which took place at Christmas, 1806. 
The expense of the Hospital and ont. . 
pensioners is defrayed by an annual, 
grant from Parliament, voted with the. 
army estimates. It now amounts to 
about 440,000/. per year. 
CESAR’S FORD. _ 
In concluding the account of Chelsea , 
Hospital, we cannot forbear making an., 
extract from Maitland’s History of Lon- 
don, respecting the passage of Julius» 
Cesar over the Thames, which that. 
author, from his own observation and , 
inguiries, supposes to have taken place , 
near this site. At 
The Britons* having been defeated in , 
the reiga of Claudius by the Roman ; 
Pretor, were obliged to take refuge in. 
their bogs and marshes on the banks, , 
of the Thames; but being closely pure, 
sued by the, Romans, they forded, thar , 
river, and the Romans were unable to , 
follow them, until after the arrival of , 
the Emperor Claudius, when he, with , 
his army also passed the river, and com- 
pletely routed them. 
“ This consideration,” Maitland says, _ 
“ occasioned my attempting to find out , 
the largest marshes on the south side, 
of the Thames, where there was any, 
probability of a ford, when I discovers 
ed that the greatest marshes on that, , 
side before the imbanking of the said 
river, reached from Wandsworth to. 
Woolwich; wherefore I endeavoured, by ; 
sounding the said river, at several neap 
tides, from the first of these places to, 
London Bridge, to. discover a ford,.. 
Ly 
which, to. my no small. satisfaction, I 
did on the 18th of September, anno...” 
1732, about ninety feet west of. the. 
south-west angle of Chelsea College=.. 
garden, where, in a right line from. 
north-east to south-west, I found the... 
deepest. part of the channel to be only 
four feet seven inches deep, and the,, 
day before, it blowing bacd from the... 
west, my waterman assured, me that _ 
the water, then, was above a foot low-_ 
er; and at such tides, before the course . 
of the river was obstructed,, either by 
banks or bridges, it must have been « 
considerably shallower; and, considéere~ 
ee 
‘ * Dion, Cass, Hist, Rom Lib. 60.) eat a 
: 
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se 
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