Go, with old Thames, view Chelsea's glorious pile, And ask the shattered hero whence his smile? Go view the splendid domes of Greenwich-go, And own what raptures from reflection flow. S. Rogers, Pleasures of Memory.

The reader will not have forgotten the account which Macaulay gives of the causes which led to the foundation of [extra_illustrations.6.177.1] , immediately after the death of Queen Mary, the Consort of William III.

The affection with which her husband cherished her memory,

was soon attested by a monument, the most superb that was ever erected to any sovereign. No scheme had been so much her own, none had been so near her heart, as that of converting the palace into a retreat for seamen. It had occurred to her when she had found it difficult to provide good shelter and good attendance for the thousands of brave men who had come back to England wounded after the battle of La Hogue. Whilst she lived, scarcely any step was taken towards the accomplishment of her favourite design; but it should seem that, as soon as her husband had lost her, he began to reproach himself for having neglected her wishes. No time was now lost. A plan was furnished by Wren, and soon an edifice, surpassing that asylum which the magnificent Louis had provided for his soldiers, rose on the margin of the Thames. Whoever reads the inscription which runs round the frieze of the hall will observe that King William claims no part of the merit of the design, and that the praise is ascribed to Mary alone. Had the king's life been prolonged, a statue of her who was the real foundress of the institution would have had a conspicuous place in that court which presents

two

lofty domes and

two

graceful colonnades to the multitudes who are perpetually passing up and down the imperial river. But that part of the plan was never carried into effect; a few of those who now gaze on the noblest of European hospitals are aware that it is a memorial of the virtues of the good Queen Mary, of the love and sorrow of William, and of the great victory of La Hogue.

This magnificent structure, which is considered tne finest specimen of classical architecture in this or almost any other country, occupies the site of the old royal palace, on the southern bank of the Thames, between that river and Greenwich Park. It was established, as before stated, in the reign of William and Mary, who,

for the encouragement of seamen and the improvement of navigation,

all that piece or parcell of ground situate, lying, and being within the Parish of East Greenwich, and being parcell or reputed parcell of our Mannor of East Greenwich aforesaid, containing in the whole, by admeasurement,

eight

acres,

two

roods, and

thirty-two

square perches; and all that capital messuage lately built, or in building, by our royall uncle, King Charles II., and still remaining unfinished, commonly called by the name of our Palace at Greenwich, standing upon the piece or parcell of ground aforesaid; and those edifices and tofts called the chapel and vestry there;

for the reliefe and support of seamen serving on board the shipps or vessells belonging to the Navy Royall of us, our heires, or successors; or imploy'd 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 also for the sustentation of the widows, and maintenance and education of the children of seamen happening to be slaine or disabled in such sea service.

In March of the following year, the king appointed nearly commissioners; including George, Prince of Denmark; the principal

Diary,

the standing part (of the palace) might be made serviceable at present for

£ 6,000

,

the king's astronomical professor.

Precisely at

five

o'clock in the evening, after we had dined together; Mr. Flamsteed observing the punctual time by instruments.

which,

nobody will take at

30

per cent. discount,

Diary

All lotteries, till now cheating the people, to be no longer permitted than to Christmas, except that for the benefit of Greenwich Hospital.

Diary

I went to Greenwich Hospital, where they now begin to take in wounded and worn-out seamen, who are exceedingly well provided for.

The buildings now going on are very magnificent.

Diary

The hospital is elevated on a terrace upwards of yards in length, and in its completed form consists of distinct blocks of building. The blocks nearest the river, known respectively as King Charles's and Queen Anne's Buildings, stand on either side of the

Great Square,

In the centre of the great square is a statue of George III. It was the gift of Admiral Sir John Jennings, who was governor of the hospital in the reign of that king. It was sculptured by Rysbrach, out of a single block of white marble, which weighed tons, and had been captured from the French by Sir George Rooke.

At each extremity of the terrace in front of the hospital is a small pavilion; their use, however, is not very apparent, they were erected in , and named respectively after King George III. and Queen Charlotte, but it is not on record that their majesties ever used them for tea-parties or other purposes. On the terrace, in front of the gates, is a granite obelisk, erected as

a memorial of the gallant young Frenchman, Joseph Ren é Bellot, who perished in the search for Sir John Franklin,

August, 1853

.

Ship

King Charles's Building is on the west side of the great square. The eastern portion formed the unfinished palace of Charles II.; it is built about an inner quadrangle, and is constructed of Portland

History of Greenwich,

confined in that quarter of Greenwich Hospital known as King Charles's Building, in the year

1756

, previous to his execution at Portsmouth in

1757

.

The individual to whom the author is indebted for his information waited on the admiral in the capacity of servant to the Marshal of the Admiralty, in whose custody the admiral then was, and, accompanying his master and the prisoner to Portsmouth, it eventually fell to his lot to place the cushion for the admiral to kneel upon when he was shot.

Queen Anne's Building, the corresponding block facing the river, was commenced in , and was so named on the accession of Anne to the throne. It resembles King Charles's Building, except that the pediments are without sculpture. This building now serves as the Naval Museum, of which we shall have more to say presently.

To the south of Queen Anne's Building is another block, named after Queen Mary, the north side of which forms the chapel. The lofty cupola at the western extremity of the chapel serves as the vestibule, in which are statues of Faith, Hope, Meekness, and Charity, from designs by Benjamin West. From this vestibule a flight of steps leads into the chapel, through folding doors of mahogany, highly enriched and carved. The original chapel being destroyed by fire in , the present structure was erected in its place, from the designs of James Stuart (

Athenian Stuart

Preservation of St. Paul from Shipwreck on the Island of Melita.

King William's Building, at the south-west side, like the corresponding block, has massive Doric columns, and comprises the [extra_illustrations.6.179.1] , the dining-hall of the original institution, with its vestibule and cupola. This part of the hospital was so far completed by the commencement of the year , as to be capable of receiving seamen. years later there were pensioners within the walls. to King William's and Queen Mary's Buildings are each feet long, with returns of feet. Each contains coupled Doric columns feet high.

That portion of the structure of which Evelyn laid the foundation was completed in years, the architect being Sir Christopher Wren, who, it is said, generously undertook the work of that post without any emolument, his labours being equivalent to a large subscription. In , Sir Christopher Wren submitted to the committee a plan for a large dining-hall (now the Painted Hall), which being approved of by them, the necessary portion of ground was immediately laid out, and the work prosecuted with such diligence, that the whole was roofed in and the dome erected by , forming what is now called

King William's Building.

The painting of this hall occupied Sir James Thornhill years, from to ; and he was paid at the rate of a square yard for the ceiling, and a yard for the walls. On the latter are fluted Corinthian pilasters, trophies, &c. Beyond the great hall is a raised apartment, called the

upper hall.

The great hall, as we have said, was at intended to be used as the common refectory of the institution, the upper chamber being appropriated to the table of the officers, and the lower to those of the pensioners. But when the growing revenue of the Hospital gradually led to an increase of the

The Naval Gallery.

Queen Anne's Admirals,

super-eminent as a sea-faring and a sea-conquering people,

upper hall

with all the pomp befitting the gratitude of a great nation to the illustrious dead,

Of all the pageantry that Greenwich has witnessed since it became a town,

Thames and its Tributaries,

this was, if not the most magnificent, the most grand and impressive. The body, after lying in state for

three

days in the hospital, during which it was visited by immense multitudes, was conveyed, on the

8th of January, 1806

, up the river to

Whitehall

, followed in procession by the City Companies in their state barges. The flags of all the vessels in the river were lowered half-mast high, in token of mourning, and solemn minuteguns were fired during the whole time of the procession. The body lay all that night at the Admiralty, and on the following morning was removed on a magnificent car, surmounted by plumes of feathers and decorated with heraldic insignia, to its final resting-place in

St. Paul's Cathedral

. From the Admiralty to

St. Paul's

the streets were all lined with the military. The procession was headed by detachments of the Dragoon Guards, the Scots Greys, and the

92nd

Highlanders, with the Duke of York and his staff, the band playing that sublime funeral strain, the

Dead March in Saul.

Then followed the pensioners of Greenwich Hospital and the seamen of Lord Nelson's ship, the

Victory

, a deputation from the Common Council of London, and a long train of mourning coaches, including those of the royal family, the chief officers of state, and all the principal nobility of the kingdom. When the coffin, covered with the flag of the

Victory

, was about to be lowered into the grave, an affecting incident occurred: the attendant sailors who had borne the pall rushed forward, and seizing upon the flag, before a voice could be raised to prevent them, rent it into shreds, in the intensity of their feelings, that each might preserve a shred as a memento of the departed.

A small apartment adjoining the upper hall, called the Nelson Room, contains an admirable portrait of Nelson, painted by Abbot, and also some half-dozen pictures illustrative of events in the great admiral's life, together with Benjamin West's strange admixture of realism and allegory, called the Apotheosis of Nelson.

When we consider the entire dependence of every great work of this class on the caprice of successive rulers,

Bohn's Pictorial Handbook of London,

we shall think it much more remarkable that every royal family, except that of England, should have been able to begin and finish a palace (and in some cases more than

one

), than that English sovereigns should have not yet achieved such a work. Greenwich is the attempt that most nearly reached realisation; and, as when it is seen from the river the patchwork is mostly out of sight, the group becomes the most complete architectural scene we possess. The

two

northern masses of building are from a design of Jones; though the

first

was not erected till after his death, by his pupil and son-in-law Webb; and the other not till Queen Anne's reign, after whom it is named. The older (or King Charles's) building was partly rebuilt in

1811

-

14

, and distinguished by sculpture of artificial stone in the pediment. The southern masses are chiefly from a design of Sir Christopher Wren, and were commenced by William and Mary, whose names they bear; but their construction proceeding slowly, successive periods have left the melancholy marks of steadily declining taste and increasing parsimony; that which begins in Portland stone and Corinthian splendour sinking at length into mean brickwork, or unable to afford in inferior stone the most ordinary degree of finish. The design of the brick portions is in the most corrupt taste of Vanbrugh, but whatever is visible from the centre of the group is by Jones or Wren. The inferiority of the latter is obvious in the comparative want of repose, and greater crowding and flutter of small and multiplied parts. The

two

pyramidising masses crowned by domes are finely placed, and quite characteristic of his style, as is also the coupling of columns in the colonnades. There is nothing so majestic as either the inward or river elevations cf Jones's work, but more picturesqueness and variety. The

two

not only show the distinction between the tastes of these masters, but also exemplify, in some measure, that between the Roman and Venetian schools of modern architecture; the. northern buildings having some resemblance to the former, though, in general, both our great architects were followers of the latter.

Such, then, is the general appearance of Greenwich Hospital, an edifice which, as stated in an earlier chapter, was considered by Peter the Great more fitted to be the abode of royalty than that of worn-out seamen. Samuel Rogers, in his poem, the , thus speaks of the institution :

Hail! noblest structure, imaged in the wave,

A nation's grateful tribute to the brave;

Hail! blest retreat from war and shipwreck, hail!

That oft arrest the wondering stranger's sail.

Long have ye heard the narratives of age,

The battle's havoc, and the tempest's rage;

Long have ye known Reflection's genial ray,

Gild the calm close of Valour's various day.

Time's sombrous touches soon correct the piece,

Mellow each tint, and bid each discord cease;

A softer tone of light pervades the whole,

And steals a pensive languor o'er the soul.

The idea here shadowed forth may be a little exaggerated, and

discord

ceased

The hospital, as we have seen, was opened as an asylum in , when disabled seamen were admitted. In the number of pensioners had increased to , which had become doubled in the course of the next years. The number was subsequently increased to about , independently of about out-pensioners. Each of the pensioners had a weekly allowance of loaves, weighing lb. each, lbs. of beef, lbs. of mutton, a pint of pease, ¼ lb. of cheese, oz. of butter, qrts. of beer, and a week tobacco money; besides which he received, once in years, a suit of

According to Richardson's work on Greenwich, quoted above, the funds, by means of which this institution has been raised and maintained, were derived from the following sources:--

The sum of

£ 2,000

per annum granted by the king in

1695

, and other subscriptions; a duty of sixpence per month from every mariner, granted by Act of Parliament in

1696

; the gift of some land by King William in

1698

; the grant of

£ 19,500

in

1699

, being the amount of fines paid by various merchants for smuggling;

£ 600

, the produce of a lottery, in

1699

; the profits of the markets at Greenwich, granted by Henry, Earl of Romney, in

1700

; the grant by the Crown, in

1701

, of the ground where the market was formerly kept, and some edifices adjoining, in perpetuity;

£ 6,472

is., the amount of the effects of Kid, the pirate, given by Queen Anne in

1705

; the moiety (valued at

£ 20,000

) of an estate bequeathed by Robert Osbolston, Esq., in

1707

; and the profits of the unexpired lease of the North and South Foreland Lighthouses (since renewed for

ninety-nine

years to the hospital); a grant of land in

1707

; forfeited and unclaimed shares of prize-money, granted by Act of Parliament in

1708

, and several subsequent acts;

£ 6,000

per annum, granted by Queen Anne in

1710

, out of a duty on coal, and continued for a long term by George I.; the wages of the chaplains of the hospital, and the value of their provisions, &c., as chaplains of Deptford and Woolwich Dockyardsan increase of salary having been given them in lieu thereof; the amount of the half-pay of all the officers of the hospital-salaries being allowed in lieu thereof;

£ 10,000

, grant in

1728

, and several subsequent years, by Parliament; the grant by the king, in

1730

, of a small piece of land, with the

crane, adjoining the river; an estate given by Mr. Clapham at Eltham, in

1730

, consisting of several houses and warehouses near

London Bridge

; and the forfeited estates of the Earl of Derwentwater, given by Act of Parliament in

1735

, deducting an annual rent-charge of

£ 2,500

to the Earl of Newburgh and his heirs male. Several contributions have also been made by private individuals, among which may be noticed

£ 10,000

Three

per Cent. Consols, and

£ 2,600

, both anonymous benefactions;

£ 1,110

by Captain J. Turroyman;

£ 500

by Captain J. Matthews; and

£ 210

, being part of a sum subscribed at Lloyd's Coffee-house, on account of an action fought

October 11th, 1797

.

By Queen Anne's Commission, dated , there were appointed commissioners, who were to form a general court; the Lord High Admiral, the Lord Treasurer, or any privy councillors, to form a quorum; the governor and treasurer were appointed by the Crown, and all the other necessary officers by the Lord High Admiral, on the recommendation of the general court. The same commission appointed twentyfive directors, called the

standing committee,

for the better management of the affairs of Greenwich Hospital,

Out of in-pensioners then in the hospital, nearly a at once elected to leave. A act, passed in , effected a final clearance; and in the following year Greenwich Hospital ceased to be an asylum for seamen, though the last-mentioned act provides that in case of war the building shall be at all times available for its original purpose. On the departure of the old veteran seamen, for whom this great work was erected, Greenwich lost many of its distinctive and most glorious associations. The change was a severe for many of the old men, and it is said that more than half the number died within a very short time of vacating their old quarters. It seems, however, to have been the opinion of many who knew the old pensioners and the present race of

salts,

It was a pleasing sight, on a fine day, to see the old pensioners standing about in groups, or taking a solitary walk in the courts of the Hospital, or intent upon some newspaper, or perchance a book of adventures by sea, which recalled to them the experiences of early life. In the beautiful park hard by they appeared to find much gratification in rambling; and many of them would establish themselves on some green knoll, provided with a telescope, the wonders of which they would exhibit to strangers, and point out, with all the talkativeness of age, the remarkable objects which might be seen on every side. The appearance of these veterans--some without a leg or arm, others hobbling from the infirmities of wounds, or of years, and all clothed in old-fashioned blue coats and breeches, with cocked hats-would oddly contrast with the splendour of the building which they inhabited, did not the recollection that these men were amongst the noblest defenders of their country give a dignity to the objects which everywhere presented themselves, and make the crutch of the veteran to harmonise with the grandeur of the fabric in which he found his final port after the storms of a life of enterprise and danger.

The habitations of the pensioners were divided into wards, each bearing a name which had been, or might be, appropriated to a ship. These wards consisted of large and airy rooms, on either side of

The race of yore

Who danced our infancy upon their knee,

And told our marvelling boyhood legends store

Of their strange 'ventures happ'd by land or sea,

How are they blotted from the things that be!

After the pensioners left their old home, the Hospital remained closed and unoccupied for some short time, but it was eventually decided to make it the seat of a Royal Naval College. With this view, the interior of King Charles's Building was remodelled and converted into class-rooms for the naval students; the rooms in Queen Mary's Building were renovated and fitted up as dormitories and as general and mess rooms for the engineer officers and students, whilst the Hospital Chapel in this block became the College Chapel. It was also proposed that the Painted Hall should become the college dining-hall, but this intention was ultimately abandoned. The rest of the building was remodelled so as to provide a lecture theatre and comfortable mess-rooms.

The college was opened in , having been organised, to use the words of the Order in Council which sanctioned its foundation,

for the purpose of providing for the education of naval officers of all ranks above that of midshipmen in all branches of theoretical and scientific study bearing upon their profession.

the results of the year show that the standard of examination is so adjusted as to enable officers of good abilities, who on entering the navy dilligently apply themselves to studying their profession, to obtain their lieutenant's commission; while, on the other hand, it affords to those who are backward and ignorant on joining the college an opportunity of retrieving lost time and of maintaining their place in the navy if they earnestly avail themselves throughout the whole period of study of the means afforded them at the college.

Queen Anne's Building, as we have stated above, has been fitted up as a naval museum, primarily for the use of the college, but open also to the inspection of the public, except on Fridays and Sundays. It contains the models of ancient and modern ships formerly exhibited at South Kensington, and a great variety of other objects of maritime interest brought from that institution, from the Painted Hall, from Woolwich, Portsmouth, and different naval stations both at home and abroad. It presents, in fact, a complete epitome of naval history, and a most instructive and valuable series of illustrations of the progress and development of naval architecture and engineering. The museum occupies rooms, and they still retain the respective names which were bestowed upon them after the ships in which their pugnacious old occupants had won their victoriessuch, for instance, as the

iHowe,

Windsor

Castle,

Victory,

Vanguard,

Victory

Vanguard

Nelson relics,

astrolabe,

At a short distance westward of King William's Building is a large, substantial brick structure ol storeys, forming a closed square, which served as the infirmary for the old pensioners. It was built in the early part of the reign of George III., but was partly destroyed in the fire of . When the buildings above described were appropriated for the purposes of a Naval College, this infirmary was assigned by the Government to that excellent institution, the Seamen's Hospital Society, whose hospital ship, the , moored off Greenwich, was for years so familiar to all passengers on the Thames. The infirmary was opened in , as a

Free Hospital for Seamen of All Nations.

The seaman, for whose benefit this institution was founded, has ever been recognised as having a special title to the succour and sympathy of this nation, which owes its grandeur, nay, its existence, to his labour and sufferings in her cause. To him no other introduction is needed than sickness, disease, or accident, without distinction of colour, creed, or nation. This society affords a refuge, not only during actual illness, but until the sufferer has gained strength to resume his occupation;

170,000

patients have already received relief at its hands, and the annual admissions have increased with the increased accommodation consequent on the transfer to the society of the infirmary of Greenwich Hospital, a noble grant from the Imperial Government, conveying with it, as it were, a national recognition of its services. To maintain it in full efficiency a more liberal support on the part of the public is required, not only on account of the additional number of patients received, but of the extra expense which the general rise in prices has brought or the funds of the establishment. An increase of the annual subscription-list from its present amount of

£ 2,500

to

£ 6,000

is the only sound method of ensuring this object, donations only affording a casual and uncertain resource. I feel assured that the attention of the benevolent has only to be drawn to these facts to secure for the Seaman's Hospital Society all the help it requires to develop to the full the capabilities of an institution, national in its origin and cosmopolitan in the scope and range of the benefits it confers.

her anxiety for the maintenance of so excellent a charity, which grants relief when most needed to seamen of all nations.

Close by this building are the western gates, the piers of which are crowned by large stone globes- the celestial and the other the terrestrial-each feet in diameter; on the former the meridians and circles, and on the latter the parallels of latitude and longitude are said to have been laid down, and the globes adjusted with great accuracy, by the authorities of the Observatory.

The Queen's House, as the building on the south side of Greenwich Hospital was once called, now serves as the Royal Naval School, and thither we will now proceed. The building, which was commenced by Anne of Denmark, and finished by Henrietta Maria, forms the centre of the present range of buildings devoted to the purposes of the school, and immediately faces the central avenue of the hospital. It bears on the front the date , but it has been much altered since then. The wings are united to the central building by a colonnade feet long. The Queen's House, after being long used as the ranger's lodge, when it was known as Pelham House, was, in , appropriated to the use of the Royal Naval Asylum, which had been originally established at Paddington. The Royal Naval Schools, although cut off from the actual precincts of Greenwich Hospital, in spite of many internal changes, are among the earliest foundations in connection with it. In the original charter it was provided that out of the funds provision was to be made for

the maintenance and education of the children of seamen happening to be slain or disabled in the service of the royal navy.

pensioners or other poor seamen.

In connection with the Royal Naval School there is a spacious swimming-bath, where all the boys are taught to swim; there is also a capacious gymnasium; and last, not least, a full-rigged model ship, a corvette, on the lawn in front of the principal building, in which the juvenile crew are taught the

duties of men of the sea.

The administration of the affairs of Greenwich Hospital, down to the time of its

disestablishment

It would, of course, be impossible for us in these pages to speak of all the distinguished men who have taken part in these different offices; but we may be pardoned for mentioning or . Among the former chaplains, then, was the Rev. Nicholas Tindal, the fellow-worker with Morant in the

History of Essex,

History of England.

4

My father,

had a very large family, with very limited means. He gave me at starting in life

£ 20

, and that was all he ever gave me. After I had been a considerable time at the station [Jamaica] I drew for

twenty

more, but the bill came back protested. I was mortified at this rebuke, and made a promise, which I have ever kept, that I would never draw another bill without a certainty of its being paid. I immediately changed my mode of living; quitted my mess, lived alone, and took up the ship's allowance, which I found quite sufficient; washed and mended my old clothes; and made a pair of trousers out of the ticking of my bed; and having by these means saved as much money as redeemed my honour, I took up my bill, and from that time to this I have lived within my means.

Edward, Earl of Sandwich--the

My lord

Diary

The appointment of Sir Hugh Palliser, in , to the governorship of Greenwich Hospital, was the subject of a vote of censure on the ministry, proposed by no less a person than Charles James Fox. The motion was negatived, and Palliser held the post till his death in ; but no Lord of the Admiralty ever ventured again to give him active employ at sea.

It will be remembered by the readers of history that the affairs of this hospital gave Lord Erskine his start in that profession of which he rose to be so great a luminary. Having left the navy, and been called to the Bar, he was engaged in a prosecution for libel, which was in fact instituted by the Lord of the Admiralty, Lord Sandwich, who had abused the munificent institution which was under his official control by appointing landsmen as pensioners, in order to serve the electioneering purposes of his party. Such was the effect of Mr. Erskine's indignant speech in this case that the hitherto unknown advocate had retaining fees offered him on the spot, and he may be said to have left the court with his fortune made. He ultimately became, as is well known, Lord Chancellor, in the ministry of

All the Talents,

When the Act of Parliament above referred to came into operation, the offices of commissioners, governor, and lieutenant-governor were abolished, and the Admiralty had conferred upon them the power to dismiss any other officials it may think proper; but every such official would be allowed to receive an annuity for life equal in amount to the salaries and emoluments he then enjoyed, and he would also continue to receive any superannuation allowance he might at the time be in receipt of. The governor and lieutenant-governor were allowed to retain their titles and their residences in the hospital.

The entire control of the hospital and institutions attached to it is now in the Admiralty, subject to the of the council, and the expenses are, in the instance, paid out of money provided by Parliament for that purpose. All the property belonging to the hospital is vested in the Admiralty under the same provisions as lands vested in the Board under the Admiralty Lands and Works Act of , together with the paid annually out of the Consolidated Fund.

In concluding this chapter, we may remark that before the

chest,

seamen's tickets,

[extra_illustrations.6.177.1] Greenwich Hospital

[extra_illustrations.6.179.1] great, or Painted Hall

[] See ante, p. 93.