unloading; nor is the trade carried on here inconsiderable in
itself, or the number of merchants small.
The other inlet of the sea, as I term it, is on the other side of
the town, and is called Hamoaze, being the mouth of the River
Tamar, a considerable river which parts the two counties of Devon
and Cornwall. Here (the war with France making it necessary that
the ships of war should have a retreat nearer hand than at
Portsmouth) the late King William ordered a wet dock–with yards,
dry docks, launches, and conveniences of all kinds for building and
repairing of ships–to be built; and with these followed
necessarily the building of store-houses and warehouses for the
rigging, sails, naval and military stores, &c., of such ships as
may be appointed to be laid up there, as now several are; with very
handsome houses for the commissioners, clerks, and officers of all
kinds usual in the king’s yards, to dwell in. It is, in short, now
become as complete an arsenal or yard for building and fitting men-
of-war as any the Government are masters of, and perhaps much more
convenient than some of them, though not so large.
The building of these things, with the addition of rope-walks and
mast-yards, &c., as it brought abundance of trades-people and
workmen to the place, so they began by little and little to build
houses on the lands adjacent, till at length there appeared a very
handsome street, spacious and large, and as well inhabited; and so
many houses are since added that it is become a considerable town,
and must of consequence in time draw abundance of people from
Plymouth itself.
However, the town of Plymouth is, and will always be, a very
considerable town, while that excellent harbour makes it such a
general port for the receiving all the fleets of merchants’ ships
from the southward (as from Spain, Italy, the West Indies, &c.),
who generally make it the first port to put in at for refreshment,
or safety from either weather or enemies.
The town is populous and wealthy, having, as above, several
considerable merchants and abundance of wealthy shopkeepers, whose
trade depends upon supplying the sea-faring people that upon so
many occasions put into that port. As for gentlemen–I mean, those
that are such by family and birth and way of living–it cannot be
expected to find many such in a town merely depending on trade,
shipping, and sea-faring business; yet I found here some men of
value (persons of liberal education, general knowledge, and
excellent behaviour), whose society obliges me to say that a
gentleman might find very agreeable company in Plymouth.
From Plymouth we pass the Tamar over a ferry to Saltash–a little,
poor, shattered town, the first we set foot on in the county of
Cornwall. The Tamar here is very wide, and the ferry-boats bad; so
that I thought myself well escaped when I got safe on shore in
Cornwall.
Saltash seems to be the ruins of a larger place; and we saw many
houses, as it were, falling down, and I doubt not but the mice and
rats have abandoned many more, as they say they will when they are
likely to fall. Yet this town is governed by a mayor and aldermen,
has many privileges, sends members to Parliament, takes toll of all
vessels that pass the river, and have the sole oyster-fishing in
the whole river, which is considerable. Mr. Carew, author of the
“Survey of Cornwall,” tells us a strange story of a dog in this
town, of whom it was observed that if they gave him any large bone
or piece of meat, he immediately went out of doors with it, and
after having disappeared for some time would return again; upon
which, after some time, they watched him, when, to their great
surprise, they found that the poor charitable creature carried what
he so got to an old decrepit mastiff, which lay in a nest that he
had made among the brakes a little way out of the town, and was
blind, so that he could not help himself; and there this creature
fed him. He adds also that on Sundays or holidays, when he found