To the south of the Hospital is the NAVAL ASYLUM or School, of which we annex an engraving. This institution is intended for the clothing, maintenance, and education of the children of seamen.

comprises an up

per and lower school. The scholars, now numbering about eight hundred, are admitted between the ages of eleven and twelve, and receive a very efficient education from masters appointed for the purpose. These

schools are sup

ported from the

THE NAVAL SCHOOL.

It

general funds of the Hospital, towards which are added the various sums received by the guides appointed to show the Hospital to strangers. The school-rooms consist of two spacious wings, each one hundred and fortysix feet in length and forty-two in breadth, connected with the central building by a colonnade of the Tuscan order, one hundred and eighty feet long and twenty wide. The central building, formerly the palace of Queen Henrietta Maria, erected in 1635, and considerably enlarged for its present purpose, contains apartments for the superintending captain, the chaplains, the head master, &c. In the western wing are the chapel and the upper school room, with a lateral recess, over which are two spacious dormitories, containing hammocks, suspended in two tiers on each side. To the west of this wing is the gymnasium, with complete apparatus for the practice of those athletic exercises so essential in a nautical education. In part of the ground is a circle of lofty masts and slighter poles inserted alternately at the top into a circular beam, and in the centre a high pole with a horizontal windlass, affording a complete course of gymnastics, peculiarly adapted to naval purposes. The east wing comprises the lower school-room, with dormitories and a refec

с

tory, together with a room for washing. The grounds surrounding the building are pleasantly laid out. A small observatory is attached to the house.

The PARK, one of the most favourite resorts of the citizens of London, and the scene of many a festal pic-nic, comprising nearly two hundred acres of undulating and wooded land, was laid out by the celebrated Le Notre, in the reign of Charles the Second. The rows of stately elms and chestnuts were planted by Evelyn. Here, rambling among scenes of the most perfect natural beauty, with the browsing deer around, the stranger might forget he was so near to the great world's "mart," were it not for the views which unfold themselves of the vast city, that seems from this spot to be interminable. Famous as the Park now is, it also wore its holiday garb on many a stately occasion in olden time, for Greenwich was then specially favoured by royalty. Of the original palace of Greenwich, or as it was when repaired and partly rebuilt in the reign of Henry the Seventh, not one stone remains, but for many centuries our monarchs made it their frequent residence; and it was the birth-place of the bluff Hal, and his daughters Mary and Elizabeth; here also Edward the Sixth died. When Henry the Seventh willed the coronation of his queen, Elizabeth, she came from Greenwich, attended by "barges freshly furnished with banners and streamers of silk." When Henry the Eighth avowed his marriage with Anne Boleyn, she was brought by "all the crafts of London" from Greenwich to the Tower, "trumpets, shawms, and other divers instruments all the way playing and making great melody." In December, 1536, when the Thames was frozen, "the King's Majesty, with his beautiful spouse, Queen Jane, rode throughout the city of London to Greenwich." And such visits are of frequent record in the old chronicles. Queen Elizabeth had a predilection for Greenwich, and made it her favourite residence.* Here several councils were also held, at one of which (1559) it was determined that no nuncio from the Pope should enter this realm. We can imagine the delight with which the crowds who attended upon royalty in former days, (as they do at present,) spread themselves over the greensward, and gazed upon the spires and buildings of old London, then, however, infinitely more circumscribed

* In Queen Elizabeth's Progresses, there is a curious account of the order of the Maundy, as observed by her Majesty at Greenwich, March 19, 1572-3.

in its appearance; and the river, wanting at that period the forest of masts which now meets the eye on every side. Our engraving, representing the views from Greenwich Hill before the great fire, conveys

VIEW FROM GREENWICH HILL BEFORE THE FIRE OF LONDON.

this impression, and renders more striking the contrast presented in the accompanying sketch from the same point, taken in 1857. Here the vast extent of the great metropolis unfolds itself, a sight such as

VIEW FROM GREENWICH HILL RECENTLY TAKEN.

the world, perhaps, has never yet beheld. Gazing upon this scene at sunrise, we may exclaim with Wordsworth :

"Earth has not anything to show more fair.
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by

A sight so touching in its majesty.

This city now doth like a garment wear
The beauty of the morning: silent, bare,
Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie
Open unto the fields and to the sky,

All bright and glittering in the smokeless air!"

From One-Tree Hill, a well-known rendezvous for holiday folks, and the scene of much merriment amongst young people, a splendid panorama of the river and the neighbourhood is displayed. It is, however, from the summit of the hill upon which stands the Observatory, one hundred and sixty feet above the river, that the greatest variety of prospect can be enjoyed; and this leads us to speak of the building itself, which occupies the site of an old fortified tower, erected in the early part of the fifteenth century by Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, brother of Henry the Fifth. It consists of two buildings, one a low oblong edifice, which is properly the Observatory, and the other a house for the Astronomer Royal. The upper part of the latter, however, besides serving as a library-room, is also fitted with instruments, and there is a camera-obscura on the top of the house. The library contains many scarce and valuable works, principally on scientific subjects.

The institution of this Royal Observatory originated in the following circumstance :-The extension of navigation in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries made it a matter of great importance to possess the means of accurately determining the longitude of a ship at sea. It was remarked that this could be effected, provided that the motion of the moon among the stars could be exactly predicted before a ship left England; for then, if at any part of the voyage the navigators should observe the moon in any situation with regard to the fixed stars, the precise London time could be found from that observed situation. A plan, founded on this principle, was proposed to Charles the Second, in 1674, by St. Pierre, a Frenchman, and the king referred it to a commission of officers and scientific men, and by them the opinion of Flamsteed, the celebrated astronomer, was obtained. He, however, stated that the lunar tables were far too much in error to make this method practicable; and that even the places of stars in existing catalogues, which must be the foundation for every theory of the motions of the moon or planets, were grievously faulty. Charles the Second was much struck with this defect, and measures were taken without delay, under his auspices, for adopting the cultivation of astronomy as a national object. The Observatory at Greenwich was immediately built, and Flamsteed was appointed Astronomer Royal. The individuals at the head of this celebrated establishment have long been known in the annals of science. Flamsteed, Halley, Bradley, Bliss, Maskelyne,

and Pond, are names that can never perish, and they have been succeeded by Professor Airy, whose acquirements fully support the celebrity of the Observatory. The interior is not accessible to the public, and can only be seen by an introduction, personally or by letter, from some scientific individual. Naval officers and persons connected with the Admiralty are officially privileged. The Observatory is replete with astronomical instruments of every description, and of the most accurate construction; among them are the instruments used by Dr. Bradley to detect the aberration of the fixed stars; a revolving circle by Troughton, of exquisite mechanism, and the original chronometer by Harrison, for which Parliament awarded him a considerable premium.

The four apartments of the Observatory are fitted up with transit circles, quadrants, clocks, sectors, and other astronomical instruments, amongst which are some of the finest productions of Graham, Hardy Earnshaw, Dollond, and Herschel. Among them is a transit instrument for observing the passage of the different heavenly bodies over the meridian, of eight feet in length, and which is famous as having been that used by Halley, Bradley, and Maskelyne.