Ponty 

 Tool 



II 

 Poo nali. 



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PONTY POOL, or Pint ap Homell, is a town of 

 England in Monmouthshire. It is situated on the 

 river Avon, and consists of one long street running 

 east and west, intersected by two smaller ones. The 

 houses are in general small, but well built, and its nu- 

 merous shops give a thriving aspect to the town. 

 The parish church, which stands on an eminence 

 about a mile from the town, is an ancient building, 

 with a square tower at one end. This place derives 

 its importance from the coals and iron which abound 

 in its neighbourhood. Three forges are continually 

 at work ; and there is also a considerable manufactory 

 of japan ware. A canal, communicating with New- 

 port, has lately been formed close to the town. The 

 population of the parish of Trevethan and township of 

 Pontypool, in 182J, was 700 houses; 720 families; 225 

 families employed in agriculture; 395 in trade and 

 manufactures, 2121 males, 1813 females, and a total 

 population of 3931. See the Beauties of England and 

 Wales, vol. xi. p. 104. 



POOLE, a town, and county of itself, in England, 

 and within the county of Dorset. It derives its name 

 from the bay or pool on which it stands, and it is situ- 

 ated on a peninsula, three-fourths of a mile long, and 

 half a mile broad, joined to the mainland with a narrow 

 isthmus. The town consists of three or four con- 

 siderable streets, running nearly N. E. and S. W. 

 consisting chiefly of mean and irregular buildings, 

 and these are crossed by a street parallel to the quay, 

 at the east end of which is the Custom-house, the re- 

 venue of which has in some years amounted to 10,000. 

 The church is an ancient building, with an elegant al- 

 tar-piece, and consists of a body, two aisles, and a 

 tower; and there are in the town, meeting-houses for 

 Presbyterians, Quakers, and Anabaptists. The other 

 public buildings are, the market-house, rebuilt in 

 1761; the town-hall, in Fish Street, with the prison 

 under it, built in 1572; the great cellar, King's Hall, 

 or Woolhouse, an ancient edifice, lately rebuilt in 

 part; and the town-house, erected in 1717, by a com- 

 pany of merchants. There are also several schools, 

 and a flourishing Sunday school. The trade of the 

 place is limited chiefly to Newfoundland. The articles 

 of export are provisions, nets, cordage, sail-cloth, 

 wearing apparel, &c.; and the imports are, cod, salmon, 

 oil, seal-skins furs, and cranberries. About 230 vessels 

 belong to the port, amounting in burden to 21,801 

 tons, and employing 1500 men. The depth of water 

 in Poole harbour is sufficient for a ship that does not 

 draw more than fourteen feet of water. There is a 

 considerable oyster-fishery here, which supplies Lon- 

 don for two months with oysters. No less than forty 

 sloops are employed ; and the annual receipts are 

 from 6000 to 7000. The sea ebbs and flows four 

 times in twenty-four hours here, when the moon is 

 ,at south-east and north-west, and more when she is at 

 south by east and north by west. Poole is governed 

 ;by a mayor, recorder, four aldermen, a sheriff, two 

 coroners, two bailiffs, and eighteen common council- 

 men. It sends two members to Parliament, who are 

 elected by 96 burgesses. The population of the town 

 and county, in 1821, was 1108 houses, 1378 families, 

 1311 employed in trade and manufactures, 3014 males, 

 3376 females, and a total population of 9390. East 

 Long. 1 58' 55", North Lat. 50 42' 50". See the 

 Beauties of England and Wales, vol. iv. p. 409. 



POONAH, a city, or rather large village of Hin- 

 dostan, in the province of Bijapoor, and the capital of 

 ?the Peshwa, and of the Mahratta empire. It is situaU 



I POO 



ed near the confluence of the Moota and the Moola 

 Rivers, about thirty miles to the east of the Ghauts, 

 and thougli not fortified, it covers about two square 

 miles of ground. The streets, which are named after 

 mythological personages, are long and narrow. Seve- 

 ral of the houses are large, and are built with square 

 blocks of granite, to the height of about fourteen feet, 

 the upper part being a frame-work of timber, with 

 slight walls of brick. The houses of the common 

 people are only one story high, with tiled roofs, and 

 on the fronts of many are painted the history of the 

 Brahrninical deities. The ancient palace or castle is 

 surrounded with high and thick brick walls, having a 

 round tower at each angle, and only one entrance 

 through a pointed arch. In one of the suburbs, called 

 Sungum, on the opposite side of the Moota river, are 

 situated the habitation of the British resident and his 

 dependents; and near it are the cantonments for the 

 subsidiary force. At the bottom of Parvati Hill, is a 

 large square field, enclosed with high brick walls, 

 where the Peshwa gives alms to the assembled Brah- 

 mins. To the eastward of the city there are many my- 

 thological excavations, similar, but superior to those of 

 Carli and Elephanta. PopXilation about 100,000. East 

 Long. 74. North Lat. 18" 30'. 



POOR. It is of more importance than at first sight 

 appears to form correct views of the real poor. The 

 word poverty is a relative term, the precise meaning 

 of which depends on circumstances : and in England, 

 for instance, the law has virtually applied it to all 

 those who receive supplies as paupers out of the paro- 

 chial rates, though many of these possess more of the 

 means of subsistence and even of comfort, than others 

 in different nations, vhc voivld spurn at the applica- 

 tion of such a term to them. Indigence, applied to 

 the necessaries of life, corresponds with poverty ; but 

 when it is not severe, nor of long duration, the suffer- 

 ers ought not to be classed among " the regular poor." 

 It may be no way degrading to persons incapable of 

 supporting themselves, or of obtaining the means of 

 subsistence, to be on this list; but to others who 

 are able to labour for their own support, or who pos- 

 sess the means of obtaining the necessaries of life, with- 

 out becoming what the law calls paupers, it is both de- 

 grading and pernicious to sink into that list. 



Absolute want of the necessaries of life is, indeed, 

 the extreme of poverty ; yet this may occasionally oc- 

 cur, either to individuals or to nations ; and whether 

 these be rude or civilized, without inferring habitual 

 dependence on the bounty of the community. Many 

 industrious families, and indeed the labourers of whole 

 parishes, (with few exceptions) have required some 

 temporary supply, in consequence of particularly un- 

 productive seasons, in various parts of Scotland ; but 

 these families regained their independent character 

 when the respective emergency passed away; and if 

 they had not, the Scottish list of paupers would now 

 be many times as numerous as it is. Severe times of 

 dearth or scarcity, are often followed by extended 

 poverty spreading, as one of their effects; but the tem- 

 porary pressure of famine itself ought not to reduce 

 its victims to the list of regular and habitual poor; 

 nor should this list ever include those who merely re- 

 . quire and receive only incidental supplies. This dis- 

 tinction, though not always correctly observed in 

 Scotland, is yet better observed there than in almost 

 any other country; the numbers requiring aid being 

 few, and their wants more easily supplied ; while the 

 funds of charity are small, and must be distributed 



Poos. 



Distinc- 

 tions 

 of the 

 poor. 



Incidental 

 suppJis. 



