celebrated for a mine of black-lead, which substance is extensively employed in the manufacture of crucibles, for which its heat-sustaining powers render it peculiarly valuable.

Quitting the river, and travelling from Passau to Linz by land, we meet with the towns or villages of Neuhaus, Schärding, Siegharding, Bayerbach, and Efferding; but these we must dismiss without further mention, and enter at once the town of Linz, situated on the south bank of the river. This is an important town, numbering nearly twenty-four thousand inhabitants, and containing much. that is indicative of commercial industry. The Schloss, once a palace of the Austrian dukes, and occupying a lofty position, is now used as a prison; and the Landhaus, now used for government offices, was formerly a Franciscan convent; but the remaining buildings seem to have retained their original appropriation. Linz is one of the German towns which begin to exhibit the feature of railroad-travelling; for it is the point of junction of two railways, one proceeding northward into Bohemia (the first railway constructed in Germany) and the other ceeding southward to the salt districts.

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The most conspicuous feature presented by this town is the system of fortification. It is said to have been constructed on a new plan by Prince Maximilian. Most fortified towns have a continuous wall surrounding them, with bastions, gates, &c., at intervals: but Linz is surrounded by a chain of thirty-two isolated forts, situated two or three miles from the town, and having communication from one to another by means of a covered way; thus occupying a circuit of nearly nine miles. Each tower is thirty-feet high and eighty in diameter, but is sunk so far into the ground as to leave only the roof visible, having a deep ditch surrounding it. There are three stories or floors in each fort, the lower serving as a powder-magazine, the middle one as a barrack for troops, and the upper one a platform mounted with ten guns, so placed as to command the approaches in every direction. This is understood to be an experiment, the excellence of which will not be tested unless war should unhappily break forth; the advantages aimed at are-that each individual fort must be made the object of a separate attack by the enemy, and that the expense of construction may be less than that of the ordinary method. Visitors are permitted to inspect the interior of one of these forts, which is said to bear a considerable resem. blance to the deck of a man-of-war.

Shortly after passing Linz, the Danube exhibits evidences of the effects which a running stream exerts on the contiguous banks. The village of Steyereck, once close to the river, is now distant a mile and a half from it; the intervening tract of land having been filled up. with sand and mud brought down by the river. Many shoals and sand-banks also occur near this part, calling for great circumspection on the part of the boatmen. On the right bank, shortly after passing the mouth of the Traun, the traveller comes in sight of the monastery of St. Florian; and near it, on an island in the middle of the stream, near a dangerous rapid, is the castle of Spielberg, once owned by a party of pirates or banditti, who attacked vessels passing down the river.

A little farther onward the traveller meets with a combination of objects not a little calculated to rouse and excite him. Below the little village of Grein, the river is contracted in width so suddenly as to be hemmed within one-fourth of its previous dimensions; while the mountains on either side becoming higher and higher the channel presents all the appearance of a gorge or defile. The dark and gloomy forests, extending from the mountain-tops down to the river; the castles surmounting the banks on either side; and the violent course of the river,-all conspire to produce a grand and picturesque scene. This gorge or defile terminates at an island which occupies the centre of the river, dividing it into two branches, of which one only is capable of

being navigated with safety. Even this one branch is a channel of no inconsiderable danger, for across it stretches a reef of small rocks, known by the name of the Strudel, over which a boat is hurried with fearful velocity. No sooner is this danger past, than the traveller sees before him another small island or rock in the middle of the river; so situated as to cause a boiling and foaming whirlpool, called the Wirbel, in the stream. The current here flows in all directions at once; insomuch that an eddy, twenty or thirty feet over, is formed concave in appearance, and sunk three or four feet in the middle. To steer their boat clear of this eddy is a task requiring considerable skill and care on the part of the boatmen, who are accustomed to repeat a prayer to the Virgin for protection, on arriving near this spot. In accordance with the custom of Roman Catholic countries, crucifixes are placed on many points of the surrounding rocks.

Shortly after passing this notable spot, the banks of the river sink in altitude, and give an appearance of open country to the surrounding scene. Directing our attention to the right bank, we meet with the little river and town of Ips; and beyond these, the ruins of a Cistercian abbey, burnt by the French in 1809. Then comes the convent of Mölk, whose appearance from the river is very beautiful. This convent was built rather more than a century ago, and occupies the site of an earlier building, once a palace of the Princes of Austria. When Bonaparte invaded Austria between the years 1805 and 1809, large contributions were levied on the nonks; who showed that they were not deficient in the good things of this world, by being able to supply the French army, from their own conventual cellars, with fifty thousand pints of wine, per diem, for several days in succession. The church belonging to the convent is decorated in a very magnificent manner; and indeed the whole establishment strikingly illustrates the splendour of some of the continental monastic buildings.

The left bank of the river, after leaving the rapid and whirlpool, exhibits a pleasant summer retreat of the late Emperor Francis: and near it is a hill on which a church has been built, in connexion with a superstitious tradition of the peasantry. The tradition runs thus-that an image of the Virgin used formerly to be attached to an old oak-tree, beneath which the peasantry, after offerin up their prayers for a good harvest, were wont to feast once a year. When the oak-tree had decayed by age, a woodman was about to cut it down; but the blow of his axe lighted on his own foot instead of on the tree. On looking up, and seeing the image attached to the tree, he became penitent for his meditated act; and his wound was instantly cured. This story, strange as it may sound to English ears, is so fully believed by the Austrian peasantry, that many thousand pilgrims every year visit the little church wherein this image is now deposited.

Among the castles which from time to time come in view between Linz and Vienna is that of Aggstein, celebrated as having been once tenanted by robbers, one of whom, named Schrekenwald, is said to have been accustomed to precipitate his victims from the castle into a profound abyss; while two others, brothers, named Kuenring, were cut short in their career of rapine by a merchant, who, concealing thirty armed men in a vessel which he expected would be attacked by the robbers on its passage down the Danube, succeeded in capturing them. Another of these castles is that of Dürrenstein, known in history as that in which Richard Cœur de Lion was imprisoned, on his way home from the Holy Land. The castle was, for the most part, destroyed by the Swedes in 1645, after they had captured it from the Austrians; but sufficient remains to countenance the opinion that the "Lion-hearted" Richard spent here several months of the captivity to which he was subjected by the treachery of Leopold of Austria.

As the river approaches the imperial city of Vienna, it becomes gradually uninteresting, from the flatness and nakedness of its banks. On the left bank is the town of Stein, containing four thousand inhabitants; and about a mile from it is the somewhat larger town of Krems, celebrated for its manufacture of gunpowder. Between the two is an isolated building, occupied as a military hospital, whose name, Und, has given rise to a German riddle-Krems Und Stein sind drei Orten: "Crems and Stein are three places;" the point arising from the German equivalent for "and" being "und.' On the right bank of the river we meet with the convent of Gottwich; and near it the small town of Tullor, in the plain around which John Sobieski assembled his army when about to proceed to rescue Vienna from the Turks, in 1683.

Here we arrive at Vienna, where we shall leave the reader for the present; referring to one of our past volumes for a description of that city.

*See Saturday Magazine, Vol. IV., p. 122.

SPARE MINUTES.

MEDITATED RESOLVES AND RESOLVED MEDITATIONS.

Ir is one not of the least evils, not to avoid the appearance of evil, which often makes the innocent justly punished with undeserved suspicion. I would desire to be thought good, but yet I had rather be so. It is no small happiness to be free from suspicion, but a greater to be void of offence. I would willingly be neither evil nor suspected; but of the two I had rather be suspected and not deserve it, than deserve evil and not be suspected.

I KNOW but one way to Heaven, I have but one Mediator in Heaven, even one Christ: and yet I hear of more ways, more Mediators. Are there then more Christs? Are the Lord's ways as your ways, that we must go to the King of Heaven as unto a King on earth? Or if we must, yet if my King bid me come, shall I send another? If he bid me come unto him, shall I go unto another? If he bid me ask for peace only in the name of the Prince of Peace, why should I mention the Lady Mary? If I shall be heard only in the name of his Son, why should I use the name of his servants? Were it a want of manners, or a want of obedience, to come when I am bid? Is another better, or am I too good to go in mine own errands to the Almighty?

Because the Son was worse used than the servants on earth, shall the servants therefore be sooner heard than the Son in Heaven? There are still unjust husbandmen in the Lord's vineyard, who not only abuse the servants, but kill again the Son, and rob him of his due inheritance. When the Lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do to these husbandmen? I do not envy your glory, ye Saints of God, yet I will not attribute the glory of my God to his Saints. How shall my God glorify me if I should give his glory to another?

To be without passion is worse than a beast; to be without reason is to be less than a man. Since I can be without neither, I am blessed in that I have both. For if it be not against reason to be passionate, I will not be passionate against reason. I will both grieve and joy if I have reason for it, but no joy nor grief above reason. I will so joy at my good as not to take evil by my joy: so grieve at any evil as not, to increase my evil by my grief. For it is not a folly to have passion, but to want reason. I would be neither senseless, nor beastly.

I SEE at a feast that others feed heartily on that dish which perhaps would not suit with my appetite, whilst I make as good a meal on those cates that perhaps their palates could not relish. I will not therefore think I do well, because my actions please not others, nor be confident that my actions are good, because my doings please myself: but be more careful to provide what is good at a feast, than what's delightful: and more study to express what is honest in my actions, than what's pleasing. So if sick stomachs cannot relish my sound meats, the fault shall light on their ill

appetites: and if unseasoned judgments like not my honest intentions, the fault shall fall on their ill-relished apprehensions. It would please me well to have praise when I deserve it; but joy me more to deserve praise when I have it.

Ir is the folly of wit in some to take pains to trim their labours in obscurity. It is the ignorance of learning in others, to labour to divest their pain by bluntness; the one thinking he never speaks wisely, till he goes beyond his own and all men's understandings: the other thinking he never speaks plainly, till he dive beneath the shallowest apprehension. I as little affect curiosity in the one, as I care for the affecta tion of baldness in the other. I would not have the pearl of Heaven's kingdom so curiously set in gold, as that the art of the workman should hide the beauty of the jewel: nor yet so slightly valued, as to be set in lead; or so beastly used as to be slubbered with dirt. I know the pearl (however placed) still retains its virtue, yet I had rather have it set in gold, than seek it in a dunghill. Neat apparel is an ornament to the body, but a disgrace if either proud or slovenly.

I SEE Corruption so largely rewarded, that I doubt not but I should thrive in the world, could I get but a dispensation for my conscience for the liberty of trading. A little flattery would get me a great deal of favour, and I could buy a world of this world's love, with the sale of this little trifle, honesty. Were this world my home, I might perhaps be trading: but alas! these merchandize yield less than nothing in Heaven. I would willingly be at quiet with the world, but rather at peace with my conscience. The love of men is good while it lasteth: the love of God is better, being everlasting. Let me then trade for those heavenly merchandize: if I find these other in my way, they are a great deal more than I look for, and (within little)

more than I care for.

As faith is the evidence of things not seen: so things that are seen are the perfecting of faith. I believe a tree will be green, when I see it leafless in winter: I know it is green when I see it flourishing in summer. It was a fault in Thomas not to believe till he did see; it were a madness in him not to believe when he did see. Belief may sometimes exceed reason, not oppose it; and faith be often above sense, not against it. Thus while faith doth assure me that I eat Christ effectually, sense must assure me that I taste bread really. For though I oftentimes see not those things that I believe, yet I must still believe those things that I

see.

THERE is none so innocent as not to be evil spoken of: none so wicked as to want all commendation. There are too

many who condemn the just, and not a few who justify the wicked. I often hear both envy and flattery speaking falsehoods, of myself to myself: and may not the like tongues perform the like tasks of others to others? I will know others by what they do themselves; but not learn myself by what I hear of others. I will be careful of mine own actions, not credulous of other's relations.

THE cross is but a sign of Christ crucified, Christ crucified the substance of this cross. The sign without the substance is as nothing, the substance without the sign is all things. I hate not the sign, though I adore but the substance. I will not blaspheme the cross of Christ, I will not worship but Christ crucified. I will take up my cross, I will love my cross, I will bear my cross, I will embrace my cross, All knees shall bend in reverence yet not adore my cross. to his name, mine never bow in idolatry to his image.

Ir is the nature of man to be proud, when man by nature hath nothing to be proud of. He more adorneth the crea ture, than he adoreth the Creator; and makes not only his belly his god, but his body. I am ashamed of their glory, whose glory is their shame. If nature will needs have me to be proud of something, I will be proud only of this, that I am proud of nothing.

As the Giver of all things, so each receiver loveth a cheerful giver. For a bargain' is valued by the worth of the thing bought, but a gift by the mind of the party giving which made the widow's mite of more worth than the riches of superfluity. I see then he gives not best that

cannot give bountifully, yet I will give freely: and what I want in my hand, supply by my heart. He gives well, that gives willingly. [ARTHUR WARWICK, 1637.]

BIRD-CATCHING.

Ir is curious to observe the modes which ingenuity has devised for capturing birds, without depriving them of life, or injuring them. This of course excludes the operations of the sportsman, who can only capture the winged race by shooting them. The procuring of singing birds, for purposes of sale, forms the principal motive of the bird-catcher. We will briefly notice, in succession, the various methods adopted.

By springes.-Larks are frequently caught by what are termed springes, in the following manner. A line, from one to two hundred yards in length, having a horsehair noose fixed at about every six inches of its length, is pegged down to the ground, and a few oats are sprinkled along it, The bird-catcher stations himself at such a distance as not to frighten the larks, while he can at the same time see when any are caught. The larks, pitching down to peck at the oats, get entangled in the horse-hair nooses attached to the line; and when five or six are thus entangled, the larker approaches and captures them. It is said that in the neighbourhood of Dunstable four thousand dozens of larks are taken annually by these means, and sent to the London market. In Lincolnshire and other fenny counties, a modification of the same plan is employed for the capture of woodcocks and snipes. Small barriers formed of sticks and stones, or of tops of brooms stuck in the ground, are made across the wet furrows of a field, with openings here and there; while horse-hair nooses are placed near these openings. The birds, finding a passage through these openings, are generally entangled by the nooses,

and thus secured.

By traps.—The nightingale is often caught by a kind of trap. A trap-composed of a board and purse-net, which, by means of an elastic spring, falls when the bait is seized, in the same manner as the lid of a common cage trap is placed, soon after sunrise, on a bank or some conspicuous spot in a wood frequented by nightingales. The bird-catcher, standing at a short distance from the trap, then imitates the note of the hen-nightingale; at the sound of which the male-birds fly with great swiftness towards the place, and are, by a bait being exhibited to them, caught in the trap.

One

By bat-folding-Bat-folding, or bat-fowling, is one of the many ways in which a net is used for the capture of birds. The net employed is made of the strongest and finest twine, and is extended between two poles, each about ten feet long, in such a manner that the tapered ends of the poles meet at the top of the net. of the men employed, holding the larger ends of the poles, stretches out his arms, by which the net is kept extended to the utmost opposite the hedge in which the birds are supposed to be. A second person carries a lanthorn attached to a pole, which he holds up behind the centre of the net (the capture being made by night), while one or two other persons place themselves on the opposite side of the hedge, which they beat with sticks in order to disturb the birds. The little flutterers being thus alarmed, fly in the direction of the light, but are intercepted by the net, which is immediately folded upon them. A dozen small birds, such as sparrows, innets, or goldfinches, are often captured in this way by a single fold. The success of this method depends very much on the night being dark, in order to conceal the treacherous machinery from the birds,

By trammel-nets. This is another mode of capture pursued by night. The trammel-net is from thirty to forty yards long, and from five to six wide; with a light pole fixed at each end to keep the net extended, Two men then seize hold of the net and draw it softly and lightly, in an open or expanded state, over the surface of the ground, in a spot where stubble and heath abound. Any birds which may be nestling in the stubble or heath, being disturbed by this movement, fly up in alarm, by

which they give a jerk to the net which is expanded over them; this jerk is felt by the men, and they immediately drop the net, by which the birds are secured. This is said to be a very destructive method of catching birds, and is principally employed by poachers, who thus get snipes, woodcocks, quails, partridges, and grouse, as well as the smaller birds. Sometimes, instead of dragging the net over the whole field, in uncertainty where birds may lie, a setter is employed with a very small lanthorn fixed to its neck. The dog, pointing to the spot where the birds may lie, of course presents the lanthorn in that direction; and the bird-catchers, by drawing the centre of the net over the dog's back, and dropping it a few yards before him, often capture a whole covey at once.

By clap-nets.-The substitution of day-light for night renders some change from the last-named plan necessary, A mode of catching which was formerly much in vogue, but is little practised at present was as follows:-a net, shorter than the one described in the last paragraph, was carried by two men mounted on horseback. A dog having found the game, the horsemen set off at full gallop, passed the net over the dog's back, and dropped it over the birds,-a thing which can only be done when the birds hover low. Larks are sometimes caught by day in similar nets, without the aid of horses, by appealing to the birds' sense of fear. One of the bird-catchers carries in his hand a long stick, at the end of which is a live-hawk, or a stuffed hawk, or a painted representative of this bird. In his other hand he holds one end of the net, the other end being held by a second man; and he then runs forward toward the larks, holding the (real or counterfeit) hawk as high in the air as he can. The birds, terrified at the sight of such an enemy, dare not stir for fear of attracting the attention of the hawk; and the men have thus but little difficulty in throwing the net over the birds.

By decoy birds. But the most ingenious and elaborate method of employing nets, of which we have heard, is that which is practised by professional bird-catchers in the neighbourhood of London, in which decoy-birds are employed in addition to nets. It is said that in no other parts of Great Britain is this plan acted on; and a writer on the subject explains this by stating that

There is no considerable sale for singing-birds except in the metropolis; and as the apparatus for this purpose is also heavy, and at the same time must be carried on a man's back, it prevents the bird-catchers from going more than three or four miles' distance from home. This method of bird-catching must have been long practised, as it is brought to most systematic perfection, and is attended with very considerable of mechanism, generally twelve yards and a half long, and expense. The nets are a most ingenious piece two yards and a half wide; and no one, on bare inspection, would imagine that a bird (who is so very quick in all his motions) could be caught by the nets flapping over cach other, till he becomes eye-witness that the puller seldom

fails.

The first thing which the bird-catcher has to do is to train his decoy-birds, or, as he terms them, call-birds. It is known that the moulting of a bird has a considerable effect on his song or voice; and the men contrive that the birds to be employed as call-birds shall moult carlier than those in the wild state. For this purpose they confine a certain number of birds in close boxes, covered with thick layers of flannel, and keep them in as confined and close an atmosphere as possible. If the poor birds survive this treatment, which is not always the case, the moulting takes place at an earlier period of the year than in the wild state, and they thus become what is termed in song,

A certain number of different kinds of birds being thus prepared, the bird-catcher proceeds to the field which he has chosen, and spreads his nets on the ground. He generally has with him about five or six linnets, two goldfinches, two greenfinches, a woodlark, a redpole, a yellowhammer, a titlark, a bullfinch, and an

aberdivine, all trained to act as call-birds, and all placed in little cages at small distances from the nets. The sight and hearing of these birds infinitely exceed in acuteness those of the bird-catcher; and as soon as any of the wild birds are perceived, one of the call-birds of the same species immediately raises his voice, and all the rest soon follow in a loud, clear, and cheerful chorus. This call is not a song, it is a peculiar kind of chirp called by the bird-catchers short jerks; and when these short jerks are heard by the wild birds, they are instantly arrested in their flight, and attracted down to the spots near which the nets are placed; and the bird-catcher, watching his opportunity, closes his nets upon them.

The jerks here alluded to are not uttered much by the birds in their wild state; but the sort of emulation which seems to exist among them is such, that if one begins to jerk, the others will do so likewise, till they are exhausted. The bird-catchers sometimes lay wagers with one another as to whose bird can jerk the longest. They place the two birds opposite to each other, by an inch of candle, and the bird which jerks the greater number of times before the candle is burned out, wins the wager. A bird, under such circumstances, has been known to make a hundred and seventy jerks in a quarter of an hour; and a linnet has been known to continue the emulation until he swooned from his perch.

The bird-catchers just referred to also make use of decoys which they call flur-birds, to aid in their object. These are placed within the nets, and are raised upon the flur (a moveable perch, which the bird-catcher can raise at pleasure by means of a long string fastened to it) and gently let down at the time the wild bird approaches them. The birds generally employed for this purpose, are a linnet, a goldfinch, and greenfinch, which are secured to the flur by what is called a brace, which secures the birds without doing any injury to their plumage. A curious additional contrivance is sometimes adopted, for the capture of larks. A few small bits of looking-glass are fixed to a piece of wood, placed in the middle of the net, and set into a quick whirling motion by a string which the larker commands. The glittering reflexion of the bits of glass attracts the larks, who dart down to within a foot of them, when the larker, watching his opportunity, pulls at and rarely misses them.

By bird-lime.-The mode of catching-birds by the adhesive action of bird-lime, is perhaps the most simple of all. This substance, as is well known, is of a very glutinous character. A large branch or bough of a tree, after being trimmed of the leaves and small shoots, it coated all over with bird-lime, in a layer sufficiently thick to be adhesive, but not so thick as to be detected by the

birds. The bough is then fixed on a low dead hedge, near a rick-yard, flax-field, or other place favourable to the resort of small birds. The bird-catcher, concealing himself as near the bough as he can, imitates with his mouth or with a bird-call, the notes of the birds which he wishes to attract. The birds approach, alight on the bough, and get stuck fast to it through the medium of the bird-lime; and when several are thus entangled, the bird-catcher approaches and takes them. Sometimes the birds are attracted by a decoy called a stale, which may be a hawk, a bat, or an owl, of which the last is the best. Whenever an owl shows itself by day-light, it is sure to be followed by all the small birds that see it; so that if an owl is fastened in some conspicuous place at a short distance from the limed bough, the birds will collect round it in great numbers, and will be sure sooner or later to settle on the bough, and to be taken.

By a gourd. Of the various modes of catching birds in foreign countries, we have not room here to speak; but a practice is adopted in Mexico so singular, nay, indeed, ludicrous, that we cannot pass it over unnoticed. The Mexicans collect a number of very large gourds, which they throw into a lake frequented by wild fowl and other aquatic birds; and there leave them to float upon the surface of the water, in order that the fowl may be accustomed to see and approach them without fear. The bird-catcher then hollows out a large gourd, and having cut some very small holes in it through which he may see and breathe, he puts it over his head, and wades into the shallow parts of the lake, taking care never to show any part of his body above water. He then gradually approaches the fowls, and when near enough, gently pulls them under the water, one by one, and having killed them he puts them into a large bag which he carries with him. In this manner he soon fills his bag, since the fowls have no suspicion of what is going on amongst them, but imagining their companions to be only diving, they still continue to approach the gourd without fear. Our illustration represents a mode of taking birds employed in some parts of France. A frame, as represented in the second figure, is first constructed, and afterwards covered with boughs, among which are openings for the entrance of the birds. The birdcatcher sits within, and decoys the birds by some of the methods already alluded to; securing them by means of a kind of trap on which they unconsciously alight.

Perhaps the most fearful and perilous of all the modes of bird-catching, is that followed in the Shetland, Orkney, Hebrides, and Faroe Islands, an account of which has been given in the Saturday Magazine Vol. II., p. 228.

GREENWICH. THROUGHOUT the winding course of the Thames, and amidst the varied picturesque scenes which its banks present, there is perhaps no building exhibited to the eye of a spectator, having more majestic features than Greenwich Hospital. There may, perhaps, be a few of which the architectural details are of a higher order, or which are surrounded by woodland scenery, calculated to lend a charm to them; but the view of the seamen's asylum, whether we approach it from the " Pool," or from Blackwall, never fails to strike the eye as something grand and imposing. The reputation of England as a maritime nation has been not a little heightened in the estimation of foreigners, by the knowledge that such a palatial structure is appropriated to the old seamen who are no longer able to fight their country's battles.

When we stand in the central quadrangle, and look around at the four compact clusters of buildings named respectively after King Charles, King William, Queen Mary, and Queen Anne, we are reminded of the gradual steps by which, and the sovereigns by whom, the structure was brought to its present state.

In our twelfth volume we gave a brief account of the ancient palatial residence which existed at Greenwich, and which was at intervals inhabited by most of the Sovereigns from Edward the First to Charles the First. About the time when the troubles of the last-named monarch commenced, the old palace was occasionally occupied by him; while on the site of the present Observatory was a sort of tower, wherein the junior branches of the royal family resided. This tower was VOL. XXI.

deemed by the parliament so important as to be taken out of the king's hands, and fortified. Soon afterwards the palace and park were awarded to the Protector Cromwell, in whose possession they remained till the restoration of Charles the Second. The whole of the palace had by this time become so greatly decayed, that this monarch resolved to pull it down, and to replace it with a more splendid structure. After expending the sum of 36,000l., that portion of the present building was completed which is called King Charles's building, being the water-side wing nearest to London. Here the king occasionally resided, but no farther progress was made in the building, either by him or by his successor.

At length, in the reign of William and Mary, the queen, struck with the forlorn condition of the poor old seamen who were no longer equal to the duties of maritime life, proposed to the king that the palace at Greenwich should be enlarged, and appropriated as a hospital and asylum for superannuated seamen. Sir Christopher Wren offered his gratuitous services, as an architect, and other parties interested themselves so earnestly in the plan, that a formal grant was made by the king in 1695. This grant opens as follows:

Whereas it is our royal intent and purpose to erect and found an hospital within our manor of East Greenwich serving on board the ships and vessels belonging to the in our county of Kent for the relief and support of seamen navy royal of us, our heirs, or successors, or employed in our or their service at sea, who by reason of age, wounds, or other disabilities, shall be incapable of further service at sea, and be unable to maintain themselves, and for the sustentation

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