17 X THE BEE, Oil Feb. i6, 



Brhl(h empire in general, to unite as much as pofliiblc the 

 three great otTiccs of London, Edinburgh, and Dublin. His 

 mail coaches regularly went from Dublin to Donhaghadee, 

 ®n the one fide ; and from London and Edinburgh to Port- 

 ■patrick, on the other. Nothing, therefore, remained to 

 complete the chain, but to obviate the inconveniencies of 

 the ferry at Poit-patiick j this he did by relloring ertablilh- 

 ed packets. We have now ^our elegant veffels fitted up 

 •with every accomodation, whofe only objeft is to forward 

 the mail, and to convey travellers from the one illand to the 

 other. 



•■' The town, which is in a great meafure fupported by 

 the cemcourfe of travellers, has in a peculiar manner felt the 

 benefit of thefe iinproveraents. Almoft every houfe is an 

 inn, where ftrangers may find accommodation fuited to their 

 circumllances. The money they leave is the great fund out 

 of which the inhabitants pay tlieir rents, and fupport tlieir 

 families. The rapid change, however, which has taken 

 place, is greatly to be attributed to the late Sir James Hun- 

 ter Blair, who happened to live at the critical period when 

 the change began. He had fagacitv enough to forefee the 

 many advantages which muu rcfult from it, and forwarded 

 tlie projected improvement as much as poiTible, by filling the 

 haiboiir immediately with veffels, and building almoft en- 

 tirely a new town, to accommodate the inhabitants and the 

 travellers who palTed through it. Such is the origin and 

 t'le progrefs of improvenient, which is generally owing, 

 whether in a gre.Tt capital like Edinburgh, or a provincial 

 town like Portpatrick, to the fpirit and exertions of patticu- 

 liir men, who fcem born for the p'.irpofe of roufing the mul- 

 titude from a llate of ignorance or torpor, from which they 

 are too often unwilling to be emancipated. 



" Ala7iufar:iires. — Manufactures have not yet made their 

 way to Port -patrick. Ship-building is the only one as yet 

 attenpted. Under the auipices of the aclive and public fpi- 

 rited citizen above mentioned, fome companies of iliip- 

 wiights have been formed, who are likely to carry on that 

 branch fuccefsfuUy. The depth of the water, and the fliort- 

 nefs of the run, render it- one of the moll convenient launch- 

 es that can be conceived. 



