4801.] 
it, from whence, I prefume, it is fupplied 
with a fufficient quantity of vegetables. 
In Portfmouth, the Overieers of the Poor 
are appointed yearly, as in other places, 
fo that there is a continual change of per- 
fons in office, with no very ftrong intereft 
to bind them tothe regular difcharge of 
its toilfome duties ; and who, if they have 
every inclination to fulfil them, have not 
time to make themfelves competent to 
the tafk, before they are fucceeded by 
others, more infufficient than themfelves. 
In moft cafes the private concerns of the 
officer are chiefly attended to, and the 
bufinels of the parifh becomes a fecondary 
confideration, or is even ftill lefs regarded. 
* ‘There may be fome. perhaps who think 
the worfe they perform the office the 
more likely they. are to ‘avoid the 
trouble of it for the future. The parith- 
ioners of Portfmouth have felt thefe incon- 
veniences, and have endeavoured to remedy 
them, by appointing a permanent go- 
vernor or overfeer of the poor; but the 
plan did not fucceed, and they now go on 
as before. In Portfea, the parifh-officers 
have, for a long time paft, held their ap- 
pointment for life. They. are fhipwrights 
belonging to the dock, and being perions 
entitled to fuperannuation, or confidered as 
deferving of preterment, they are relieved 
of all Jabour there, ftill receiving the 
King’s-pay, and, at the nomination of one 
of the principal officers of the dock, are 
eleéted into the offices of church-wardens’ 
and overfeers of the poor. They are re- 
chofen every year, but the election is 
mere matter of form. Portfea experiences 
the benefit of this plan, as well as the 
paupers, and Portfmouth I believe would 
be very willing to adopt the fame. The 
poor-rates of the latter parifh are much 
higher than thofe of Portfea, as will ap- 
pear, with fome other particulars I may 
be able to fend you on this head, in a fu- 
ture ftatement. The work on which the 
poor of both parifhes are generally en- 
gaged, is the picking of oakum, for which 
at a fea-port there is neceffarily a large 
demand; and I have underftood, that 
‘with refpeét to profit it anfwers very well, 
Gofport, which is fituated oppofite to us, 
on the weft-fide of our harbour, alfo em- 
ploys its poor at prefent in the fame man- 
ner; but is about to act differently, and in 
a large building, that~is nearly finifhed, in- 
tends by their affiftance to carry on aconfi- 
derable manufactory. How far Portfmouth 
or Portfea may be benefited, and at the 
fame time enabled to promote the health, 
comfort and morals of their poor, by em- 
ploying them otherwife than they do at 
prefent, asin the cultivation of a few acres 
Monruary Mac, No. 78 
Account of Porifmouth, 
217 
of garden-ground, the produce of which 
would unqueftionably find a ready fale, I 
leave to the better judgment of thofe whom 
it may concern to determine. 
Portfmouth is watched as well as 
lighted, under a particular aét of parlia- 
ment, the expence of which is defrayed 
by arate. In Portfea, watch is kept un- 
der the old law, ordaining watch and ward 5 
a certain number of the inhabitants 
watching every night, in tura, or finding 
fubftitutes. Its principal ftreet, which is 
Queen-ftreet, has of late employed addi- 
tional watchmen for its fecurity, the ex. 
pence of which, and of lighting the ftreet, 
together with feveral others, is defrayed by 
a voluntary fub{cription of the re{pective 
{treets, 
Our dock-yard, within the laft twenty 
years, has undergone very confiderable and 
important improvements, and they ftill - 
continue te be carried on in the fame ftyle 
of grandeurand magnificence. Where fuch 
immenfe ftructures as firft-rate fhips of 
war are erected, and refitted in whole 
fleets, with a degree of expedition that 
may well excite aftonifhment, machines, - 
workfhops, and magazines, muft necefla- 
rily be of relative fize and confequence. 
One of the moft grand and interefting fpec- 
tacles that can be exhibited, or perhaps 
imagined, is the launch of one of thefe ftu- 
pendous fhips. To be prefenton fuch anoc- 
cafion—to witnefs, with tens of thoufands 
of f{pectators arranged around, place 
above place, as in a vaft amphitheatre, the 
gigantic power of man difplayed in this 
wonderful atchievement—to mark the 
anxiety and enthufiafm of the whole affem= - 
bly—to perceive in them for fome moments 
before the appointed ftroke is aimed, that 
gives the ftately veffel to-her fate, almolt 
delirium—to hear the treinéndous crafh of 
fpars and fhores, amid the loud pealing 
fhouts that now burft forth, cheering the 
decorated fhip to kerdeftined element—the 
crowded decks joining in the heartfelt ac- 
clamations, with martial mufic playing in 
thundering notes the national air of <* Rule 
Britannia,” as fhe moves majeftically 
onward in clouds of foam to meet the 
bounding main, itfelf a living {pec 
tacle—-to hear and behold this, is un~ 
doubtedly fufficiently to affect mof 
powerfully even him who never felt bes 
fore. | 
If my limits would allow me to dwell 
on this part of my fubject, Iam confcious 
that I fhould be unable to do juitice to it, or 
to give an adequate idea of the place as a 
naval arlenal. 
‘The number of men at prefent belong- 
ing to the dock, including workmen under 
Ri | contracts 
