18 
abode of sorrow with very unpleasant impressions. Scarcely had 
we left it, when our eyes fell upon a monument, building upon 
a rock, which is to be a column one hundred and one feet high, 
commemorating the change of the name of the town, from Ply¬ 
mouth Dock to Devonport. This work did not dispel the 
disagreeable feeling caused by the prison. Not far distant from 
this monument stands a Gothic church, and near this a school- 
house, in the Egyptian style. The crowding together within 
so narrow a space of such various styles of architecture, exhibits 
a singular, I cannot say an agreeable sight. We also examined 
the market, which is furnished with numerous covered galleries, 
in which provisions, fish for instance, are displayed upon marble 
tables. But marble is so common here, that the foot-walks are 
paved with it: houses are also built therewith. The houses in De¬ 
vonport are not handsome: some of the old ones are entirely co¬ 
vered with slate, which produces a disagreeable impression. In 
the court-house there is a fire-place made of slate. 
On the 7th of May we examined the dock-yard; there are eight 
ships here in actual service, mounting three hundred and sixty- 
six guns; sixty-five in ordinary, with three thousand five hun¬ 
dred and twenty guns, and twenty-two building, which will 
mount upwards of seven hundred and twenty; making in all, four 
thousand six hundred and six guns. 
The dock-yard, with its admirable regulation, is perfectly de¬ 
scribed by Dupin in his excellent travels in Great Britain. The 
work is known to most readers, and for an accurate description 
of the dock I refer them thereto. The entrance is really beauti¬ 
ful; you behold the greater part of the dock-yard, which is ter¬ 
race-shaped, beneath you; on the right hand is the church and 
some offices, opposite to which are two cannon employed more 
for show than defence. The houses are built of the gray marble¬ 
like lime-stone, which is so common here. A new magazine is 
rendered entirely fire-proof by this stone and iron; the different 
store-rooms being separated by iron doors, so that in case of fire 
it can be insulated. The rope-walk is a building two stories high, 
with walks two hundred yards long. All the ships, as in other 
English docks, are built under roofs, which are sometimes cover¬ 
ed with slate, though mostly with copper. To my surprise, the 
water is pumped out of the dry docks by a horse-mill instead of a 
steam-engine. In one of the dry docks we saw the unfortunate 
ship Fortitudo* repairing. All her timbers were decayed; her 
copper destroyed, and she required three new masts; her repairs 
* A Netherland merchant ship, employed to carry troops to the East Indies, 
whose wretched condition was not discovered until she was in the main ocean, 
and was obliged to make for Plymouth for repairs. 
