1802.] 
of the progreffive improvement in the art 
of diving, fhali induce any of your fcien- 
tific correfpondents to enter more fully 
into this fubje&t, the intentions of the pre- 
fent writer will be fully accomplifhed. 
St. Pancras, Yours; &c, 
224 Sune, r8o2. AGneEs C. Hau. 
—_—_ iS 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
OME months ago, I fent to your Ma- 
.) gazine an Account of Portfmouth and 
Portfea, which you were pleafed to fa- 
vour with an infertion in your valuable 
and interefting Publication. Annexed to 
that account was a fiatement of the po- 
pulation of Gofport, of which place it is 
now my intention to prefent you with a 
sketch. 
At the period of my communication 
alluded to, hoftilities had not ceafed : 
though the war-whoop, that fo long re- 
founded throughout Europe, had in fome 
degree fubfided, the furious conflict it 
had excited, ftill continued. Happily. for 
the country, and to the confolation of 
humanity, the {word has been fince flieath- 
ed; and, even in thefe parts, where an 
eppofite intereftamay be fuppofed to pre- 
vail, fuch was the nature of the event 
that it was- hailed with joy and general 
fatisfa&tion. In this altered ftate of things, 
I have to give an account of Gofport. 
Its diftance from Portfmouth, acrofs 
the water, is about a mile. The vfual 
points of comimunication, on the Port!- 
mouth fide, are the place, to a part of 
which the late defcription of your corre- 
{pondent, Mr. Stevens, mu& have added 
feme celebrity*, and the Hard of Portfea, 
The comniunication is kept up by wher- 
ries, to the number of fevera! hundreds, 
a large , ropertion of which is conftantly 
plying. Theintercourfe between the towns 
is confiderable, as wil! be prefumed from 
thefe circumftances ; and, excepting pe- 
riods like the prefent, when the pay ng-off 
the ihips increafes it beyond the ufval 
limits, tt is greater in war than in peace. 
The diftance from Gofport’ round to 
Portimouth by land, is about thirteen 
miles, fomewhat within which compafs 
lies our harbour, . Dane town is fituated 
* However true the account of Mr. Sre- 
vens may be in part, the connivance he 
{peaks of isan affertion, I apprehend, un- 
warranted by fa@s. To make me fay what 
his letter has endeavoured to do, is, I mut 
confefs, rather extraordinary, and, wnfair 
dealing even with an adverfary, 
Montuuy Mae. No. 9a 
Account of Gofport. 
the road ftands the market-houfe; but it 
35 
in the parifh of Alverftoke, is totally dif- 
tiné&t from Portfmouth, and, not being am 
exclufive jurifdiftion, is under the general 
magiftracy of the county. It has, how- 
ever, its Bridewell, its refident juftice, 
and its police-office. bo a 
On entering the town by the principal 
gate, or on landing at the beach, a ftran-. 
ger is noc likely to be highly prepoffefled 
in its favour by firft appearances. The 
gate confifts of two adjoining arches, 
erected in the line of the new ramparts ; 
bue it is {uch a heavy congeftion of brick 
and. earth, and fo devoid of all architec- 
tural beauty and ornament, that, on ape 
proaching it, the mind is moved to me- 
Jancholy, and filled with as much gloom, 
as if entering a fepulchre or a dungeon, 
The vifitor by water will have equal, if 
not greater, reafon to be diflatisfied. He 
is no fooner landed than his attention will, 
mot probably, be ftruck by the dirty and 
neglected ftate of the Hard; with the fe- 
male objects of infamy and difguft that 
loiter on the beach, and the long range of 
alehoufes that prefent to his view their de- 
corated and emblazoned fronts, whole 
dangling figns and fign-boards protruded 
to fome yards diftance, a common. cir- 
camfance throughout the town, giving it 
the moft flatternly and diforderly appear- 
ance, cannot well be paffed unnoticed, 
Having.glanced over this motley and ever- 
varying {cene, we will haften on. to other 
parts of the town. 
<a 5 * a>. ce 2 
<> Tis nere in diffrent paths the way divides,’ 
The right leads through North-fireet to 
a fpacious {quare, which is the court-end 
of the town, the parade, the mall, and 
altoge:her a very pleafant place, having @ 
fine, open, and interefting view of the 
harbour, the dock-yard, the fhipping, and. 
the country beyond. The left leads through 
South ftreet---a. difmal avenue, crowded 
with aleboufes, gin-thops, pawn-fhops, 
"and fliops of a till worfe defcription, and 
the ufual inhabitants and cuftomers of 
fuch places of entertainment and refort in 
a fea-port town—to the gaol, the police- 
ofice, the old poor-houfe, the: walls and 
batteries erecting by the conviés, to 
Raflar Hofpital, and the Gibbets. ” _ 
Between.thele two ftreets, ina parallel 
direction, runs the High ftreet. It is 
commodicus in breadth, and in length 
upwards of a quarter of a° mile. . The 
houfes are, in general, tolerably good, or 
fuch as commonly compofe the principal 
itreets of towns of the fame extent under 
ordinary circumftances. In the centre’ of 
E As 
