GREENWICH. 
. into ruin, this monarch ordered them to be taken down, 
505 
rted by Doric columns, and pilasters Greenwich. 
ht. The hall, or saloon, i¢ 106 “y= 
j 
the great square, and 
4 _ VOL. X. PART 11. 
‘ 
:) 
land stone, and consists o 
a ificent palace of freestone, to be erected on 
an ken the designs.of Webb, the son-in-law of 
‘o Jones. Only one wing of this edifice was com- 
pleted at the expence of £36,000. Charles occasionally 
resided in it ; but it was not till the reign of William 
III. that any farther progress was made in the building. 
government having resolved, on the suggestion of 
queen, to provide an asylum for old and disabled 
seamen, Sir Christopher Wren recommended that the 
unfinished palace should be devoted to this purpose. 
A t of the palace and adjoining lands was made in 
1699 to commissioners, The foundation stone was 
laid on the 3d June 1696, and was gradually enlarged 
and improved till it reached its present state of splen- 
dour and magnificence. 
The following account of Greenwich Hospital has 
been abridged from a very full and excellent description 
of it in the Beauties of England and Wales. 
Greenwich Hospital is principally built with Port- 
f. four distinct quadrangular 
masses of buildings, distinguished, by the names of the 
ive sovereigns, in whose reigns they were found- 
ed or built. ‘The grand front opens on a terrace; skirt- 
ing the southern bank of the Thames, and extends 865 
feet in length, in the centre of which is a descent to 
the river, by adouble flight of steps. The ground plas 
ee ee So forms my a of w “1 
King Charles’s building occupies the north-west angle ; 
Gee Anne’s, the 2 ; King William’s, the 
south-west ; and Queen Mary’s, the south-east.. The in= 
terval between the two former buildings forms a square 
270 feet wide, inthe middle of which is a statue of George © 
If. sculptured by Rysbrach, out of a single block of 
white marble, which weighed 11 tons, and was taken 
from the French by Admiral Rooke: this statue was 
given to the hospital by Sir John Jennings, who was 
governor from 1720 to 1744. The inscriptions on the 
were by Mr Haugan. The between the 
two latter buildings which include the hall and chapel, 
with their elegant domes, and the two colonnades, 
forms a lesser square. The two squares are intersect- 
ed by a spacious avenue, leading from the town through 
: ital. The buildings which immediately front 
Thames have a general correspondence in style and 
arrangement. The north and south fronts of each ex- 
hibit the eee of a double pavilion, conjoined 
above by the continuation of an Attic order, with a 
balustrade, which surmounts the whole, but is se 
mare py an open ae centre of each pa- 
ilion displays an elegant pediment, supported by four 
Corinthian columns, yon! the sides a doable salen of 
the same order. King Charles's building contains the 
rtments of the governor and lieutenant-governor, 
he council-room, and anti-chamber; with 14, wards, 
wherein 800 pensioners may be accommodated. In 
come gina a are several its Shoe the anti- 
two e sea-pieces, given to the hospital b 
Philip Mawaads Pant and a wftag of’ six smal rhe 
representing the loss of the Luxemburgh galley, in 
1727. Queen Anne’s building, which was. erected be- 
tween 1698 and 1728, contains several apartments for 
inferior officers, with 24 wards for 437 pensioners. 
King William’s building stands to the south-west of 
‘ ises the t hall; vestibule, 
and dome, designed and erected by Sir Christopher 
a, between the years 1698 and 1703. To the in- 
ner side of each range is attached a colonnade $47 feet 
feet in length, 56 in wi 
and sides are covered: with portraits and emblemati 
figures, executed by Sir James Thornhill, for which he 
was paid at the rate of L.3 per square yard for the 
ceiling, and L.1 for the sides, amounting in the whole 
to L.6685. The west front of King William’s build. 
ing, which is of brick, was finished about 1725 by Sir 
John Vanbrugh: the building contains 11 wards, 
wherein are 551 beds. The foundation of the eastern 
colonnade, which is similar to that on the west side, 
was laid in 1699); but the chapel, and the other parts of 
Queen Mary’s building which adjoin to it, were not fi« 
nished till 1752. It corresponds with King William's; 
and is furnished with 1092 bed in 13 wards. The cha- 
pel which forms part of Queen Mary’s building, is one 
of the most elegant specimens of Grecian architecture in 
this kingdom, and was erected from the classical de- 
signs of the late James Stuart, Esq, It is:111 feet in 
length, and 52 in width, and is capable of accommoda- 
ting 1000 pensioners, nurses, and boys, exclusive of the 
seats forthe directors and other officers, The entrance 
portal consists of an architrave, frieze, and’cornice, of 
statuary marble: the folding-doors are of m ys 
highly enriched by carving. The’ interior is finished 
in an elegant style, and isadorned with many appro- 
priate paintings, the most distinguished of which is the 
altar-piece, executed by West, and representing the 
eservation of St Paul on the island of Melita. There 
is.a double range of windows on each side of the cha- 
pel. -Without the walls of the hospital stands the in- 
firmary, erected in 1763, after a design by Stuart: 
it forms an oblong quadrangle, 198 feet long and 
175 broad, consists of two stories, and is divided into 
two principal parts, appropriated respectively to those 
whose cases require surgical aid, and to those who 
need only: medical assistance. It contains’ sixty-four 
rooms, and each is fitted up for the accommodation’ of 
four patients. It also includes a chapel, hall, kitch- 
en, and apartments for the physician, surgeon, and 
apothecary ; with hot and cold baths, and other neces« 
sary..offices. . Near the hospital is the school, where 
200 poor. children are educated. Theschool-house was 
erected in. 1783, by Stuart. It is 146 feet long, 4¢ 
broad, exclusive of a’ Tusean colonnade in front 180 
feet long, and 20 broad, forthe boys to play in during 
bad weather. ‘The pensioners, who are the objects of 
this noble charity, must be seamen disabled by age, or 
maimed, either in the king’s service, or in the merchant 
service, if the wounds were received in defending or 
taking any ship, or in fight against a pirate. Foreigners 
who have served two years in the British navy, become 
efttitled to the benefits of this institution in the same 
manner as:natives. _The widows of seamen are provi« 
ded. for, having the exclusive privilege of being nurses 
in the hospital. . The number of pensioners is upwards 
of'2400, (of whom at an average 203 die annually, 
who are furnished with clothes, diet, and lodging, wi 
a small allowance of pocket-money. ‘The nurses are 
144, each of whom receives eight pou per annum as 
wages, with every necessary of life. The commission- 
ers of the’ hospital are about 100, and consist of all the 
teat officers of state, the archbishops, the lord chance- 
fh the judges, the master and five senior brethren of 
Trinity-house, the lord mayor, and three senior alder« 
men of London, with some of the principal officers of 
the hospital. The annual average expence of each pen~ 
38 
and 50 high: the ceiling Greenwich 
Hospital. 
