Steam Shipping Company, and that of the Eastern Steam Navigation, have been of signal service to the mercantile prosperity of Plymouth, which employs 400 vessels, of 30,000 tons. The South Devon Railway was opened to Lara Bridge May 5, 1848; and to Plymouth April 2, 1849. In 1811-18, at a cost of 60,000l., the corporation built a fine range of buildings, 275 ft. in length, comprising the Theatre, Assembly Room, and Royal Hotel, from designs by Foulston. St. Andrew's Chapel, by the same architect, was built 1823, and the Public Library in 1811. The church of St. Andrew (J. Hatchard, V.) consists of a nave, chancel, and west tower; the latter, built by T. Vogge, 1440, contains a peal of eight bells. The chief monuments are those of Charles Matthews, comedian, died 1835; and Dr. Woolcombe, by Chantrey, 1822. Charles Church (H. A. Greaves, P.C.), built 1646-58, is named after King Charles I.; the spire was added 1765. The Hospital was built in 1838; the Custom House, in 1820, cost 8,000%.; the Exchange, Woolster Street, in 1818; the Mechanics' Institute in 1825; the Athenæum, 1818; the Freemasons' Hall, East Street, 1832; and the Union Baths, with the Devon and Cornwall Natural History Society's Rooms, in 1829. In the reigns of Edward I. and II. and Henry IV., and since the latter period, Plymouth has returned two members to parliament. Dr. Johnson, in 1762, accompanied Sir Joshua Reynolds to the house of Dr. Z. Mudge at Plymouth, when the commissioner, Capt. F. Rogers, lent him his yacht for a visit to the Eddystone, when "the magnificence of the navy and ship building and other operations afforded him a grand subject for contemplation." One day, at dinner, he devoured such quantities of new honey and clouted cream, and indulged in such potations of new cider, that his friend Northcote was alarmed for the consequences. It so happened during the visit that "the Dockers" (for their suburb, Devonport, did not then exist) were fruitlessly invoking the inexorable Corporation of Plymouth for some of the superfluous water of the leat, of which they were in great need. Upon this, Alderman Tolcher, one of their chief opponents, came to the doctor and dwelt long upon the bold request. With ironical vehemence, Dr. Johnson replied, "I would let the rogues die of thirst, for I hate a Docker from my heart." The pompous alderman, on his return, joyfully assured his fellows "that the great Dr. Johnson was on his side of the question." Coleridge addressed two of his earliest poems to a Miss Nesbitt, of Plymouth: after his marriage, he adroitly substituted Sara for Nesbitt. In the Mayoralty House of Plymouth, Woolster Street, lived Page, the miser, whose fatal wealth enabled him to marry the daughter of Judge Glanville. She loved dearly George Standwick, of Tavistock, a lieutenant in the Queen's fleet, which then lay in the Sound. One night a wakeful servant opposite heard a stifled cry from a weak voice, like that of an aged man, "For the love of Heaven, stay your hand!" followed by the sound of a heavy blow; and the words, "The deed is done!" A man leaped down from the window; and before a month was past, so went the country talk, was held the English "Judgment of Brutus:" the inexorable but just judge was compelled to pass sentence of death upon his own child. This terrible scene did really occur between another Devonshire judge, Hody, and his son. The arms of Plymouth are-Arg. a saltier vert, between four castles triple towered, sable. Two rivers, the Plym and the Tamar, meet the sea within an interval of three miles between their streams; each forms a bay ;-the Tamar that called Hamoaze, the Plym that of Plymouth; their union constitutes the Sound, in the centre of which is St. Nicholas, or Drake's Island. On entering the Sound from the sea, to the east is the round tower of Mount Batten, to the west Mount Edgecumbe; the Citadel and Hoe close the view on the north upon the north-east is the Catwater, on the northwest the entrance over the Bridge of Rocks to Hamoaze. The Catwater (i. e., Cadwater-cad being the British word for a river), 3 miles in length, and capable of holding 1000 sail, is the estuary of the river Plym, or Lara, over which is thrown an iron bridge upon five arches, 500 feet long, and built by Rendel, at the expense of the Earl of Morley, Aug 23, 1824—July, 1827. On the south-east of the Lara are the Oreston Quarries; and on the north-west is the Peninsula of Catdown, to the north-west of which is Sutton (South-town) Pool, forming, like Catwater, the mercantile port, entered between two pier-heads, 90 feet apart, and with quays built 1790-1800. A railway, 25 miles in length, connects the pool with Prince Town, near the prison-ofwar on Dartmoor; it was projected by Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt, and completed in 1820. In 1834, Plymouth was constituted a stannary port. Sir Francis Drake brought a leat, or stream from Dartmoor, 25 miles distant, to supply the town, between the years 1581-90; and the country legend prettily represented the knight spurring on to bring the welcome news to the townsmen, while the waters obediently followed, rippling and sparkling like a thing of life. Being mayor at the time, he is said to have dipped his red robe in the stream for joy as it swept past his door; in the last century, the Mayor and Corporation rode annually, on July 31, to Head-weir in commemoration of the event. A coasting-trade is maintained with Newcastle, Ireland, and South Wales: tin and granite, lead to London, manganese to Scotland, wool to Hull, and pilchards to Italy, are the chief exports; whilst the wharves are laden with timber from the Baltic and North America, and piles of casks full of colonial produce from the West Indies. A romance of real life is related as having occurred on Sutton's quay: a young lad of Tavistock went to gea, and after some years was forgotten by all save his aged mother, whom he himself believed to be dead, having received no tidings of her during that long time. Weary with expectation, at length she left her home, and became a fruitwoman on Sutton quay. A ship arrived from foreign parts, and one of the crew, a weather-beaten man, came off to buy at her stall; at last he said, "I come to you because you remind me so of my dear old mother :" the voice, and a scar upon his forehead, led to a recognition; the fond words, "mother!" "son !" were scarcely interchanged when the joy was too strong for the aged heart, and it broke as the mother fell and wept upon her child. The Barbican preserves the memory of the strong fort built by Bishop Strafford in the reign of Edward III., which was strengthened by a blockhouse in 1591, but demolished to give place to the present Citadel, which in 1670-1, was erected at the east end of the Hoe, or Haugh (Hill) Cliff; it consists of three regular, and three irregular bastions, two ravelins, and hornworks. Some fossil remains were found in digging the foundations, and the townsfolk said they were the great jaws and teeth of Gogmagog, whom Corineus, the Cornish giant, slew with a mighty hug. In the time of Queen Elizabeth, the figures of two clubmen, carved on the turf, commemorated the battle; to which Spenser alludes in the Faerie Queen: "The Western Hogh besprinkled with the gore Corineus is the Cormoran of the veracious history of Jack the Giant-killer. In 1588 the English admiral was informed of the coming of the Spanish Armada whilst playing at bowls on the Hoe; and the Corporation long kept the anniversary on July 19, by wearing scarlet, and offering cake and wine to numerous visitors. The Lower Fort was planned by Capt. Horneck of the Engineers. In the centre of the esplanade is a statue of George II. The west of this hill, on which stood a chapel of St. Catherine, commands Mill Bay; to the north of which extends the town of Stonehouse, intervening between Plymouth and Devonport. An isthmus, on which stand the Royal Marine Barracks, erected 1759-1784, connects with this quarter a promontory bounding the inlet, called Devil Point, and facing Cremill Point (a corruption of Crumble): upon it was built, 1826-32, at a cost of 1,500,000l., the Royal William Victualling Yard, designed by Rennie. It forms three sides of a quadrangle; over the gateway is a colossal statue of William IV.; the pavement of the courts, which cover 15 acres, is the solid floor of the soil itself, 300,000 tons of rocks having been hewn out and removed. The sea-wall is 1500 feet long, and was built up to the water's edge by means of divingbells. The Bakery and Biscuit Machinery was invented by Mr. Grant, of Portsmouth: the process has been described in "THE HAMPSHIRE GUIDE," of this series. : The next inlet, Stonehouse Pool, the mouth of Stonehouse Creek, or Mill Lake, divides Plymouth and Stonehouse from Devonport and Stoke. The bridge was built at the expense of Lord Mount Edgecumbe and Sir John St. Aubyn. On one side of this creek is the Royal Military Hospital, built 1797, on the recommendation of the Duke of Richmond, owing to a terrible mortality on board a fleet of transports in the Sound, because there was no accommodation for the sick soldiers on shore. Fronting it is the Naval Hospital, built 1762. The next promontory is Mount Wise, so called after a former lord of the manor: on the west is Mutton Cove, forming the south side of Devonport. The view from the level of this hill is remarkable for its beauty to the north-west are the huge roofs and broad spaces of the Dockyard, with the shores of Saltram and the noble Hamoaze, studded with the ships in ordinary; and far away northward are the mitred heights of Dartmoor, the Alps of Devon, the round cap of Hingsten, and the peaked head of Brent Tor. On the south-west are Maker Tower and the groves of Mount Edgecumbe : across the imposing range of the government buildings rise the forts of Drake's Island; and still seaward are the faint pale lines of the Breakwater, the blue Sound dotted with sails, and the channel stretching far away to the dim horizon; while, upon the east, the citadel and the rocky steep of Mount Batten close in the imposing prospect. At the entrance of the Grand Parade is a large brass Turkish cannon, which was taken by Sir John Duckworth at the passage of the Dardanelles. Guard-mounting or an inspection here is a fine spectacle, when the steady advance of the troops, column on column, or in broad sections, defile past, with the bright bayonets and Minié barrels glittering in the sun, and the rustling silken banners; |