WEST INDIES. 
39 
CHAP. I.] 
rage and virtue to signify to the sovereign, that it 
is neither becoming the dignity, nor consistent 
with the character of the common father of all his 
subjects, to insist on a tribute from a part of them, 
which, though nominally granted by themselves, 
was assuredly obtained by fraud and oppression, 
and of which the continuance is a check to honest 
industry, and perhaps the immediate cause of the 
decline of this beautiful and once valuable colony. 
Barbadoes is divided into five districts, and ele¬ 
ven parishes; and contains four towns, Bridge¬ 
town, Ostins or Charles town, St. James’s (for¬ 
merly called The Hole), and Speight’s town. 
Bridge town, the capital, before it was destroyed 
by the fires of 1766, consisted of about fifteen 
hundred houses, which were mostly built of brick; 
and it is still the seat of government, and may be 
called the chief residence of the governor, who is 
provided with a country villa called Pilgrims, si¬ 
tuated within a mile of it: his salary was raised 
by queen Anne from twelve hundred to two thou¬ 
sand pounds per annum, the whole of which is 
paid out of the exchequer, and charged to the ac¬ 
count of the four and a half per cent. duty. The 
form of the government of this island so very 
nearly resembles that of Jamaica, which has alrea¬ 
dy been described, that it is unnecessary to enter 
into detail, except to observe, that the council is 
composed of twelve members, and the assembly 
of twenty-two. The most important variation re¬ 
spects the court of chancery, which in Barbadoes 
