most laborious offices, as pile-driving, &c. under the care of proper persons*.

The ROYAL MILITARY ACADEMY is also under the comptrol of the Board of Ordnance; the master-general being always considered the governor of the academy, which is conducted at present by a professor of mathematics; a professor of fortification; a professor of chemistry; mathematical masters; arithmetic, and other masters in the several branches of elegant education.

Though the building was erected about the year 1719, for the accommodation of the various branches of this establishment, the arrangements do not seem to have taken place till 1741, when George the Second, by warrants, dated on the thirtieth of April, and the eighteenth of November, directed the establishment to be for instructing persons belonging to the military part of the ordnance, in the several branches of the mathematics, fortifications, &c. proper to qualify them for the service of artillery, and the office of engineerst. Many improvements have been made in the institution, which has been particularly fortunate in the abilities of its mathematical professors; the first of whom, though prior to the regular establisment of the academy, was the rev. Dr. Derham. In 1743, Mr. Simpson was appointed. The present professor is the learned and venerable Charles Hutton, D. C. L. and F. R. S. The number of masters has been gradually increased with that of the pupils, who are called Cadets, and are of the most respectable families, amounting to about three thousand. They must be four feet nine nches high at their admission, and sufficiently instructed in Latin grammar, and fractional arithmetic, to pass an examination; a further recommendation is a knowledge of the. French tongue; the age of admission is froin fourteen to sixteen, to which they are limited. An annual' stipend of 457. 12s. 6d. is immediately allowed to each of the young

* Beauties of England; extracted from Mr. Moser's Vestiges, &c. Plutton's Philosophical and Mathematical Dictionary, Vol. I. gentlemen,

gentlemen, as a sufficiency for every necessary, except linen. The new buildings for the academy have been recently erected by Mr. Wyatt, in a castellated form, at the expence of 150,000l. is furnished with a hall, and suitable apartments; it extends to the length of two hundred yards, and the principal front is towards the north.

"There is one particular in the design of this edifice," observes Mr. Brayley, in his description of this place*, "which demands the severest reprehension. The inner extremities of the teaching rooms nearly unite in the middle of the building, but are prevented from actually doing so, by a staircase ascending from below, and opening into a small apartment, so disposed, that any person stationed in it, can overlook every part of the teaching rooms, as well the stations of the professors, as the desks of the scholars! This illiberal attempt to introduce a system of espio nage into a national establishment, forcibly reminds a spectator, of general Bentham's plans for a penitentiary house, wherein the keeper's room was to be in the centre, and the other apartments so disposed in radii, that he could look into every one, whilst himself remained concealed: to the honour of the magistracy, this design is said to have been rejected, because, inconsistent with the principles of British jurisprudence, and uncongenial to the feelings of Englishmen." How striking the contrast! The professors are all men of liberal education and talent; and ought to be fully confided in, with respect to their sedulous application to the duties of their respective stations. If their conduct should really evince that they are undeserving of such confidence, let them be discharged; but let them not be irritated, and debased, by being rendered subject to answer accusa tions of which they know not the author."

The situation of this structure is on WoOLWICH COMMON, which commands an extensive and grand view down the river Thames: here is also seated THE BARRACKS. The Old Barracks belonging to Woolwich were built in 1706.

* Beauties of England, Vol. VII. p. 535.

Those

Those we are now describing were constructed from the year 1783 to 1794; and consist of a principal front, which extends nearly four hundred, by a depth of two hundred and ninety yards, in which are six ranges of brick buildings, united by an ornamental centre of stone, with Doric columns, the royal arms, and military trophies; four lower buildings fill up the divisions between each range: these have also stone fronts, with Doric colonnades, and a ballustrade above. These contain a library, and book room, for the officers, a mess room, a guard room, and a chapel ; but the interior of the latter is unfinished, and is intended to contain one thousand persons. The new RIDING SCHOOL is erected of brick, from grand designs by Wyatt, on the model of an antient temple: length about fifty yards, breadth, twenty-one. The whole depth of the buildings, from the front of the barracks, runs nearly parallel with that of the new Military Academy.

The following will give an idea of the mode of quartering

in these barracks:

FRONT RANGE, right wing. Quarters for the garrison, quarter-master, fourteen captains, and twenty-four lieutenants. Left wing. Quarters for brigade major, fourteen captains, and twenty-four lieutenants. HORSE BARRACKS; quarters for thirty-two lieutenants.

ACCOMMODATIONS FOR THE SOLDIERS. FRONT RANGE; right and left wings, when complete, will contain one thousand one hundred and fifty-two men; when over complete, one thousand three hundred and forty-four. HORSE BARRACKS; east and west squares, when complete, will contain eight hundred and seven men; when over complete, nine hundred and two. LOFT BARRACKS; east and west squares will contain, when complete, four hundred and forty-eight men; when over complete, four hundred and fify-six. GUN DRIVER BARRACKS; rear rank, six hundred men, &c. In 1807, the total amounted to four thousand two hundred and forty-eight men.

The PARISH CHURCH of Woolwich, dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen, is a spacious brick building, with

stone

plates

stone copings, window frames, &c. and consists of a nave, Extra chancel, and aisles, with a plain square tower at the west end, in which are eight musical bells. This edifice was rebuilt between the years 1726 and 1740, at an expence of about 6500l. three thousand of which were granted under the act of queen Anne for building fifty new churches; the rest was defrayed by collections by brief, voluntary contributions, and legacies. The interior is fitted up in the Grecian style; and on the north, south and west sides, are galleries, supported on Ionic columns. In the west gallery is a good organ. In the chancel is a mural monument to the memory of DANIEL WISEMAN, Esq. who died clerk of the cheque at Deptford, in 1738-9, at the age of sixty-five: he bequeathed 1000l. toward the finishing of the church, and lies buried in the church-yard. Against the north wall is a memorial for captain RICHARD LEAKE, master gunner of England, and ELIZABETH, his wife; the parents of admiral Sir John Leake: the former died in 1696, aged sixtyseven; the latter in 1695, aged sixty-four. In the churchyard are several tombs in memory of lieutenants and cap tains of the royal artillery.

"

RECTORS OF EMINENCE. THOMAS LINDSAY, progressively bishop of Killaloe and Raphoe, and archbishop of Armagh. PHILIP STUBBS, afterwards chaplain of Greenwich Hospital, and archdeacon of St. Alban's. Sir PETER RIVERS GAY, bart. rector of Chelmsford, Essex, and prebendary of Winchester."

Woolwich contains also six meeting houses; one Presbyterian, two Anabaptist, and three for Methodists.

The Almshouse was founded for five poor widows, by Sir Martin Bowes, who, by his will in 1562, gave to the wardens and commonalty of the mystery of Goldsmiths in London, certain lands and tenements, charged, among various other charities, with the annual payment of 7. 12s. 1d. to the five poor folk in his almshouses. They now receive 251. yearly, besides coals, and other articles. The Boys :School was founded amder the will of Mrs. Mary Wiseman, who, in 1758, left 10002. Old South Sea Annuities, for the VOL. V. No. 107. educating,

S

educating, clothing and apprenticing of six poor orphan boys, sons of shipwrights, who have served their apprenticeship in the Dock-yard: the original endowment has been augmented to 17501. by vesting some part of the interest in the funds; and eight boys are now educated, &c. on this establishment. The Girls School was built and en. dowed from a bequest made by Mrs. Ann Withers, in 1753, of 1007. in money, and 11007. Old South Sea An nuities, for the purpose of teaching thirty poor girls to read, and to work with their needle.

The parish of Woolwich bave also a right to send three boys to the grammar school at Lewisham.

SHOOTER'S HILL joins Woolwich Common, from the summit of which is a fine view of London, and Essex, Surrey, and even part of Sussex; the Thames also exhi biting here a magnificent appearance. There is a handsome inn and gardens, for the entertainment of those who visit this delightful spot. Here the London archers performed their exercises upon grand occasions; whence its name of Shooter's Hill, on which begins a chalky soil, much overgrown with coppice wood, which is cut for faggots and bavins, and used to be sent by water in vast quantities to London, till coal fires began to be made in the upper rooms of taverns. Before the road was widened on the east side of this hill, which was in 1739, many more robberies were committed on it than since. The spring on the top constantly overflows the well, and is not frozen in the sharpest winters. To this hill king Henry VIII. and his queen Catharine, came, in very great splendour, one May-day, from Greenwich, and were received by two hundred archers, clad all in green, with a captain, personating Robin Hood, who first shewed the king the skill of his archers in shooting; after which the ladies were conducted into the wood, and entertained with venison and wine in arbours and booths, adorned with fine pageants, &c. A scheme was lately in agitation to build a town here, and several houses were erected; but for want of encouragement the speculation did not succeed,