This is the ancient road from Southampton to London. In favourable weather it will afford a pleasant excursion : but, as the road is not kept in good repair, it cannot be recoinmended after a continuance of rain.

We now leave the London road on the left, and passing through ROCKSTONE LANE, once a deep and romantic hollow, but now gradually yielding to the industry of two cottagers,* we are suddenly struck, (if it fortu

*The assiduity with which the gardens of cottages are generally cultivated, is a strong argument in favour of the cottage system,-a system which has happily met with most strenuous support from that truly patriotic association, the Society for bettering the Condition and improving the Comforts of the Poor.

Let him who would gratify his heart with the best feelings of benevolence, and who would inform his mind on the best means of doing good to his fellow-creatures in humble life, add to his library the cheap periodical reports of this excellent society; and read, with the attention that they deserve, the prefatory letters of the late excellent and lamented Sir Thomas Bernard, bart.

Quid virtus et quid sapientia possit,
Utile proposuit nobis exemplar.-

nately happens to be high water,) with a beautiful lake ; being an arm of the sea, which, forcing back the river Itchen, spreads itself into a considerable expanse at this place. The surrounding scenery, exhibiting a delightful variety of hanging woods and gently rising hills, is enriched by a bridge over the Itchen. It is a light and airy structure, and forms a pleasing object. On an eminence over this water, fronting the bridge, and distant scarcely a mile from it, is PORTSWOOD HOUSE, the mansion of the late Giles Stibbert, esq. formerly a general officer in the service of the India company.

The house was erected for General Stibbert, in the year 1771, after a design of Mr. Crunden, who was indeed himself the architect. The portico in front, the work of Mr. John Taylor, of Southampton, has been much admired. The mansion is admirably situated for its front view in particular, which is an exceedingly beautiful and advantageous picture of the Itchen and Southampton Water, forming a grand and varied lake, hung round with delicious scenery, embellished with the spires and buildings of Southampton, and enlivened by the continual movements of the shipping; while the isle of Wight happily fills the distance,

The views from the north front, though of a different kind, are yet highly pleasing and picturesque; including the park scenery, the upper banks of the Itchen, and distant hills. The pleasure-grounds are laid out with a taste which has not neglected to avail itself of the many advantageous risings and valleys which variegate and adorn them The shrubberies are uncommonly extensive. Having ascended BEVIS HILL, which, for some

unknown reason, retains the name of one of the rugged heroes of romance, we reach PORTSWOOD GREEN, a pleasant spot, with several genteel houses; the most conspicuous of which, on the left, was built as a residence by the late Walter Taylor, esq.

To this gentleman and his father, (both natives of Southampton,) the British navy is under lasting obligations, for some of the most important improvements that have been effected by modern skill and genius.

The elder Mr. Taylor spent some years of his life at sea; and thus had the best possible opportunity of witnessing the danger frequently occasioned by the defective make of the blocks, shivers, and pins, at that time used in the rigging of vessels. There was a want of precision in every part of their construction, that frequently rendered them unserviceable at the very time when the readiness of their movements was intimately connected with the fate of the vessel. On his return from sea, therefore, in concert with his son, who had been brought up to the block-making business, he diligently applied himself to the invention of machines, which, though worked only by hand, formed blocks, shivers, and pins, on a principle that gave them a decided preference over all that had been previously constructed. In 1759, a specimen of these was exhibited to the board of ordnance; who immediately agreed with the inventors, that they should supply all the gun-tackle blocks for the navy. They next prepared a complete set of top-sail-yard blocks for a seventy-four-gun ship, and submitted them to the lords of the admiralty, who referred them to the navy board, to be put to the test of experiment.

At this critical period, the elder Mr. Taylor died. His health had been impaired by much confinement in an unwholesome place, where he carried on his experiments.* In 1762, however, government agreed with his son, the late Mr. Walter Taylor, to take all the blocks that he had prepared, and engaged him to supply the navy for the future. This enabled him to get rid of all pecuniary embarrassments; which he did in a most honourable way, by paying both the principal and interest of all the debts that were chargeable on the concern. He next applied his machinery to a horse mill; and, finally, to mills erected on his own principle on the river Itchen.

Succesive improvements were made in the construction of blocks. Circular saws, (since applied to many other purposes,) were invented, by which shivers of an exact thickness were cut from lignum-vitæ, and the shells and mortices of the blocks were formed with equal expedition and precision; effects which formerly could be produced in no other way than by tedious manual labour with the axe, the mallet, and the chisel.

This principle was afterwards extended to the perfect and expeditious formation of iron and metal pins, and the

This was a cellar in Southampton, in which these experiments were conducted, for the sake of privacy. Here he was the object of vulgar ridicule, and it was said that he was raising the devil." His Majesty's brother, the late duke of York, and other respectable persons, often visited him during his subterranean operations. Among various fruits of the elder Mr. Taylor's ingenuity, one of the most remarkable was an electrical machine, which he constructed in 1746, for some friars, at Rouen, in Normandy, while a prisoner there, having been taken by a ship of war. On his return to Southampton, he constructed another, and exhibited experiments. This was sold for one hundred pounds, to a person who travelled with it. -Hampshire Repos, ii. 273.

wearing part of the shivers. Metal, peculiar in its temper, was formed, so as longer to resist the injuries of time, weather, and wear, than any before discovered. This was fully demonstrated by their continuance in constant and actual service during the whole of the war which preceded the peace of Amiens; Mr. Taylor's contract engaging, that, if any of these metal coaks wore out in seven years' actual service, he was to replace them, at his own expense, with new ones. To insure this, the month and year were stamped on every shiver.

At the expiration of Mr. Taylor's contract, government took the manufacture into their own hands in Portsmouth dock-yard: and late posterity will enjoy the benefit of his inventions.

Great, also, were the improvements effected by Mr. Taylor in the construction of ship pumps.

The chain-pump, which was formerly considered as the best ever introduced into the navy, was improved by Mr. Cole, under the direction of the late Capt. Bentinck. But, in its most improved state, this machine was liable to fail, by the breaking or stretching of the chain; either of which accidents was attended with unutterable inconvenience and danger, when a ship was in distress at sea. Mr. Cole also introduced a hand-pump into the navy, which was highly approved for a time; till it was found liable to be choked with gravel and sand, whence it often became quite useless in the moment of extreme necessity. Mr. Walter Taylor improved that pump by introducing a pendulum instead of a valve, as described in Chambers's Cyclopædia, and in the late Mr. George Adams's Philosophical Lectures, vol. iii. p. 492, and