6i2 A. D. 1683. 



empire in its meridian glory, northward, eaflward, and fouthward, now 

 received a confiderable check ; but they have never yet been able to 

 get ground weftward, maugre all their bold efforts againfl the eaftern 

 fhores of Italy, and alfo in this and the preceding renowned fiege of 

 Vienna. 



This year, Dr. Hugh Chamberlain, a phyfician, and one Robert Mur- 

 xay, both great projectors, made a mighty flir with their fcheme of a 

 bank, for circulating bills of credit on merchandize to be pawned there- 

 in, and for lending money to the induftrious poor on pawns, at fix per 

 cent interefl : yet it came to nothing. 



This year King Charles fent Lord Dartmouth, attended by the able 

 Mr. Pepys, fecretary of the admiralty, with 20 fhips of war, to demolifli 

 the town, caftle, and mole, of Tangier, and to choke up its harbour. It 

 was faid to be very ftrong when the Portuguefe delivered it up to Eng- 

 land in the year 1662, but King Charles rendered it almotl impregna- 

 ble. He, for the fecurity of its haven and fl^iipping, conftruded a fu- 

 perb mole, the extremities whereof run out 600 yards into the fea ; and 

 its ftones were as ftrongly cemented together as if it had been one en- 

 tire rock, infomuch, that they were forced to drill it in many parts, and 

 fo to blow it up piece-meal, whereby it took up fix months in its entire 

 demolition. The mole had been made extremely commodious for our 

 fliipping and commerce, by reaibn of its fituation on the African fide of 

 the Straits. 



1684. — In April 1684 Lord Dartmouth returned to England with 

 the garrifon, artillery, and ftores. As fundry towns on the fame fhore 

 are flill held by Spain and Portugal, Tangier would probably, at this 

 day, have been lefs an object of jealouly to the other European powers 

 than Gibraltar is on the oppofite fhore : but whether its harbour and 

 fituation on the fouth fliore, where the current is laid to run much 

 ilronger into the Straits than on the oppofite fhore, would have in all 

 refpects equally anfwered our cammercial and political ends, is a point 

 we will not prefume to determine. Yet we imagine it will fcarcely be 

 denied, that our retaining it, along with Gibraltar, would have been a 

 confiderable additional fecurity to our commerce, and pofllbly alfo an 

 augmentation of our naval power and influence, by keeping conflantly 

 a fquadron of fliips in fo fecure a port. Leaving this point, however, 

 for ftatefmen to determine, we fliall only add what fome hiflorians far- 

 ther relate, viz. that the rubbifh of the demolifhed mole, and of the 

 walls of the town, being thrown into the harbour, has fo efirftually 

 choked it up, that it can never hereafter be a couimodious port, which, 

 however, is at leafl doubtful till a trial fhall be attempted. Mr. Burchett, 

 in his Naval hiftory, relates, ' that by our king's direction there v.^ere 

 ' buried amongfl the ruins a confiderable number of milled crown 

 ' pieces of his majefly's coin, which, poflibly many centuries hence 



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