P O K 



117 



FOR 



aim k. 



But the great peifec-ii-m to which the transference of 



t!u- mill i-< l>;o'i ; Jit, \\ .^ owing not less to the improve- 



the harbour, than to any other circiun- 



. Port-Patrick p., niral advantages 



M i harbour, and secni-^ indeed at OIK- time in have been 

 little u-;ed in that rapacity, Portrce, or I lit A'/"'.v lltir- 

 t.nnr t nbout five furlongs south of Port Patrick, IX-MI.LT 



led, as is probable from the name, as the chief 

 port of that district.* The harbour was originally a mere 

 inlet between two ridges of rocks, which run far into 



i, and which could not be entered without dan- 



>:id ve--rls, when they had entered them, had to 

 i; run a-ground to avoid being dashed in pieces by the 

 tremendous swell which always, but particularly with 

 a wc.-terly breeze, obtains there. Whenever a vessel 

 approached the harbour in ancient times, the whole in- 

 habitants assembled to draw her up to the beach, there 

 being no quay or elbow to afford shelter from the waves. 

 \n;u> of course but flat-bottomed boats could enter the 

 ! he original government packets were of 

 thi^ description ; and, in the memory of several persons 

 still alive, two of these flats belonged to the harbour, 

 and v. ere in active operation. But circumstances have 

 long been changed. A quay and a reflecting light- 

 house were built about sixty years ago ; and instead of 

 a few Hat-bottomed boats, Port-Patrick, exclusive of the 

 packets, can now boast of nearly a dozen vessels, em- 

 ployed in the coasting trade, or in trading with Ire- 

 land. A custom-house has been established ; and as 

 the place forms the great thoroughfare to Ireland, there 

 is about it as much bustle, liveliness, and importance, 

 as would do honour to a much larger and a more cele- 

 brated town. 



But great as have been the improvements already 

 made, greater and more extensive ones have lately been 

 begun. Though an excellent pier has been erected, 

 and the port otherwise much improved, yet the two 

 ledges of rocks, which run into the sea, and render the 

 mouth of the harbour so difficult and dangerous, have 

 hitherto been allowed to remain. These rocks, how- 

 ever, are now about to be removed ; and two piers, near- 

 ly in the same line as the rocks, are to be built, calculated 

 to inclose seven acres of water ; so that Port- Patrick will 

 form one of the most accessible, extensive, and safe har- 

 bours, on our Scottish coast. Commissioners have been 

 appointed by parliament for carrying the work into ef- 

 fect, according to a plan of the late Mr. Rennie. The son 

 of this respectable gentleman is the engineer of the 

 work ; but Mr. Henry is appointed as his substitute, 

 and resides. The resident commissioners are Mr. Blair, 

 Collector Hannay, and the Rev. Dr. M'Kenzie. The 

 work was begun in March 1821 ; and though upwards 

 of a hundred men are employed, a small part of it only 

 has yet been accomplished. It is carried on by means 

 of the diving bel). The expence is calculated at about 

 L.I 50,000, which is defrayed in the mean time by an- 

 nual grants from government, but will soon be reim- 

 bursed by an additional postage (amounting to about 

 L.3000 per annum) which has been laid on letters to 

 and from Ireland. 



Nor are these all the improvements connected with 

 this harbour that are to take place. A steam-boat is 

 to be employed to carry the mail between the two 



kingdoms ; and a new line of road It to be made be- 

 tween Stranraer and Ayr ; a circumstance that will 

 prove vastly beneficial, as it will render the mail be- 

 tween these placet, which has hitherto been carried on 

 horseback, to be conveyed by coaches, and as it will 

 be remarkably commodious and UM-I'II! to traveller)!. 

 Improvements similar to those at Port-Patrick are going 

 on at Donaghadee, the harbour of which has hitherto 

 been dangerous and insufficient 



The inhabitants of Port-Patrick, with few exceptions, 

 are mariner?, or are connected w ith the harbour, and at- 

 tend to the accommodation of passengers, or are inn- 

 keepers ; of whom the latter class is comparatively 

 numerous, almost every houne being used as an inn. 

 1'hey are in general sober and industrious. Their chief 

 commercial connexion is with Ireland. Irish linerr is 

 imported in great quantities. But the chief articles 

 imported from that country are black cattle and horses. 

 The number of the former imported for five years pre- 

 viously to 1791, averaged 1 1,000 per annum ; that of 

 horses 2000. Fish ing has never flourished much, though 

 some years herrings have been caught in great abund- 

 ance. The atmosphere is pure, and the climate mild, 

 often sultry indeed, as the town is defended from the 

 cold winds by the mountain chain by which it is en- 

 vironed. The west wind is most prevalent, and is often 

 accompanied with rain, which is more common here 

 than in the interior of the country. The greater part 

 of the materials of which this article is composed have 

 not before been given to the public. The best books 

 on the subject are an account of Port- Patrick by the 

 Rev. Dr. M'Ker.zie, in the 1st vol. of the Statistical Ac- 

 count of Scotland; Chalmers's Caledonia, vol. iii. 

 Wigtonshire; Forsy th's Beauties of Scotland ; Symson's 

 Account of Galloway . (T. M.) 



PORTER BREWERY and BREWING. See BBEAYIXG, 

 Vol. IV. p. 459. 



PORTEUS, BEILBY, late Bishop of London, and an 

 eminent divine, was born at York in 1731, of American 

 parents. From Rippon, where he received the rudi- 

 ments of his classical education, he went to Christ's 

 College, Cambridge, where he was admitted to the de- 

 gree of B. A. in 1751, and he carried off the second of 

 two honorary medals given as a reward for eminent at- 

 tainments in classical literature. In the same year he 

 was elected a Fellow of the College, and took up his 

 residence at Cambridge. In 1755 he took his degree 

 of M.A. and in 1757 was ordained Deacon, and soon 

 after appointed one of the preachers of Whitehall cha- 

 pel. 



In the year 1759 Mr. Porteus obtained the Seatonian 

 prize for the best poetical Essay on Death, which was 

 published, and gave high earnest of his future celebri- 

 ty. The first of his prose publications was a sermon, 

 preached before the University of Cambridge in 176l, 

 entitled, " The Character of David, King pj' Israel, im- 

 partially considered." Dr. Seeker, archbishop of Can- 

 terbury, was induced, by the perusal of this sermon, 

 to appoint him one of his domestic chaplains ; and he 

 soon after presented him to two rectories in Kent, and 

 one in Middlesex, and also to a prebend's stall in the 

 cathedral church of Peterborough. 



In 1765 he married Miss Hodgson, a lady of small 





* Portree was originally the name of the barony now called Dunskey, and Port- Patrick was a port belonging to it. The proprietors of it, 

 before it fell into the hands of Hugh Montgomery, were the Adairs of Kilhilt. The family of lilair preferred the name of Dunskey to its 

 former appellation from a romantic and ancient castle which belongs to it, and which stands on a precipitous peninsular rock, about a quar- 

 ter of a mile south of Port- Patrick. At what time the present castle, which has long been in ruins, was built, cannot be known ; but it u 

 recorded that there was a castle on the same site so early as the reign of Eugenius V. who lived in the seventh century. 



