GREENWICH, is a market town of England, in the hundred of Blackheath, and county of Kent. It is 'delight fully situated on the south bank of the Thames, where the river is from 320 to 360 yards broad at low water, and is principally celebrated for its splendid naval hospital, and for the Royal Observatory. The kings of England had a royal residence at Greenwich since the reign of Edward I. A. D. 1300. After the restoration of Charles I. when the buildings had fallen almost 'to ruin, this monarch or dered them to be taken down, and a magnificent palace of freestone to be erected on the spot, from the designs of Webb, the son-in-law of Inigo Jones. Only one wing of this edifice was completed, at the expellee of 36,0001• Charles occasionally resided in it ; but it was not till the reign of William III. that any farther progress was made in tho building. The government having resolved, on the suggestion of•the queen, to provide an asylum for old and disabled seamen, Sir Christopher Wren recommended that the unfinished palace should be devoted to this pur pose. A grant of the palace and adjoining lands was made in 1699 to commissioners. The foundation stone was laid on the 3d June 1696, and was gradually enlarged and im proved till it reached its present state of splendour and magnificence.
The following account of Greenwich hospital has been abridged from a very full and excellent description of it in the Beauties of England and Wales.
Greenwich hospital is principally built with Portland stone, and consists of four distinct quadrangular masses of buildings, distinguished by the names of the respec tive sovereigns, in whose reigns they were founded or built. The grand front opens on a terrace, skirting the southern bank of the Thames, and extends 865 feet in length, in the centre of which is a descent to the- river, by a double !light of steps. The ground plan of the whole edifice forms nearly a square, of which King Charles's building occupies the north-west angle ; Queen Anne's, the north•cast ; King William's, the south-west ; and Qu cc Mary's, the south-cast. The interval between the two former buildings forms a square 270 feet wide, in the middle of which is a statue of George II, sculptured by Rysbrach, out of a single block of white marble, which weighed 11 tons, and was taken from the French by Ad miral Rooke: this statue was given to the hospital by Sir John Jennings, who was governor from 1720 to 1744. The inscriptions on the pedestal were by Mr Ilaugan. The space between the two latter buildings, which include the hall and chapel, with their elegant domes, and the two colonnades, forms a lesser square. The two squares are intersected by a spacious avenue, leading from the town through the hospital. The buildings which imme diately front the Thames have a general correspondence in style and arrangement. The north and south fronts of each exhibit the appearance of a double pavilion, con joined above by the continuation of an Attic order, with a balustrade, which surmounts the whole, but is separa ted below by an open portal. The centre of each pavi... lion displays an elegant pediment, supported by four Co rinthian columns, and the sides a double pilaster of the same order. King Charles's building contains the apart ments of the governor and lieutenant-governor, the coun cil-room, and anti-chamber ; with 14 wards, wherein 300 pensioners may be accommodated. In the council-room are several portraits : in the anti-chamber two large sea pieces, given to the hospital by Philip Harman, Esq.; and a series of six small pieces, representing the loss of the Luxemburgh galley, in 1727. Queen Anne's building, which was erected between 1698 and 1728, contains several apartments for inferior officers, with 24 wards for,'437 pensioners. King William's building stands to the south-west of the great square, and comprises the great hall, vestibule, and dome, designed and erected by Sir Christopher Wren, between the years 1698 and 1703. To the inner side of each range is attached a colonnade 347 feet in length, supported by Doric columns, and pilasters 20 feet in height. The great hall, or saloon, is 106 feet in length, 56 in "width, and 50 high : the ceiling and sides are covered with portraits and emblematical figures, executed by Sir James Thornhill, for which he was paid at the rate of 31. per square yard for the ceiling, and 11. for the sides, amounting in the whole to 66851. The west-front of King William's building, which is of brick, was finished about 1725 by Sir John Vanbrugh: the building contains 11 wards, wherein are 551 beds. The foundation of the eastern colonnade, which is similar to that on the west side, was laid in 1699 ; but the chapel, and the other parts of Qeen Mary's building which adjoin to it, were not finished till 1752. It corresponds with King William's, and is furnished with 1092 beds, in 13' wards. The chapel which forms part of Queen Mary's building, is one of the most elegant specimens of Grecian architecture in this kingdom, and was erected from the classical designs of the late James Stuart, Esq. It is
111 feet in length, and 52 in width, and is capable of accommodating 1000 pensioners, nurses, and boys, ex clusive of the seats for the directors and other officers. The entrance portal consists of an architrave, frieze, and cornice, of statuary marble: the folding-doors are of mahogany, highly enriched by carving. The interior is finished in an elegant style, and is adorned with many appropriate paintings, -the most distinguished of which is the altar-piece, executed by West, and representing the preservation of St Paul on the island of 'Victim. There is a double range of windows on each side•of the chapel. Without the walls of the hospital stands the in firmary, erected in 1763, after a design by Stuart : it forms an oblong quadrangle, 198 feet long and 175 broad, consists of two stories, and is divided into two principal parts, appropriated respectively to those whose cases re quire surgical aid, and to those who need only medical assistance. It contains sixty-four rooms, and each is fit ted up for the accommodation of four patients. It also in cludes a chapel, hall, ,kitchen, and apartments for the physician, surgeon, and apothecary ; with hot and cold baths, and other necessary offices. Near the hospital is the school, where 200 poor children are educated. The school-house was erected in 1783, by Stuart. It is 146 feet long, 42 broad, exclusive of a Tuscan colonnade, in front 180 feet long, and 20 broad, for the boys to play in during bad weather. The pensioners, who are the objects of this noble charity, must be seamen disabled by age, or manned either in the king's service, or in the merchant service, if the wounds were received in defending or taking any ship, or in fight against a pirate. Foreigners, who have served two years in the British navy, become entitled to the benefits of this institution in the same man ner as natives. The widows of seamen are provided for, having the exclusive privilege of being nurses in the hos-• pital. The number of pensioners is upwards of 2400, (of whom at an average 203 die annually,) who are fur nished with clothes, diet, and lodging, with a small allow ance of pocket-money. The nurses are 144, each of whom receives eight pounds per annum as wages, with every ne cessary of life. The commissioners of the hospital are about 100, and consist of all the great officers of state, the archbishops, the lord chancellor, the judges, the mas ter and five senior brethren of Trinity-house, the lord mayor, and three senior aldermen of London, with some of the principal officers of the hospital. The annual ave rage expence of each pensioner, according to the report of the commissioners of naval enquiry, was estimated at 271. los. 9d. per man ; and of the nurses 291. 15s. each, the total annual expence being 69,2061. Ss. The funds of the establishment are principally derived from a duty of six pence per month, paid by every mariner, either in the king's or merchant's service ; the forfeited estates of the Earl of Dcrwentwater, containing many valuable lead and other mines; various benefactions from different sove reigns, from parliament, and from private persons, from fines for offences committed on the Thames, from the half-pay of such of its officers as have regular salaries, and from other sources of less importance.
Greenwich park, which is vested in the crown, was en circled with a wall by James I. and contains 188 acres. It is planted chiefly with elms and Spanish chesnuts, some of which arc of a very large size. In one part of the park are the remains of many ancient barrows, in some of which were found human bones, spear heads, &c. The upper part of the park is considerably elevated above the Thames ; and on one of the eminences stands the Royal Observatory, which was built by Charles II. in 1675, on the site of the ancient tower erected by Duke Humphrey in the reign •f Henry VI. It is built of brick,, and is by no means an elegant structure ; but it contains excel lent apartments for the Astronomer Royal, and commodi ous rooms for the admirable instruments, with which it is now furnished. Flamstead, the first Astronomer Royal, died in December 1719, and was succeeded by Dr Halley. Dr Bradley succeeded upon the death of Halley in 1742, and died in 1762. Dr Bliss held the office for two years, and was succeeded in 1764 by Dr Maskeline. Mr Pond, the present Astronomer Royal, succeeded Dr Maskelyne in 1811, and, by means of the fine mural circle cora structed by Troughtun, has already made a series of the most valuable observations, decidedly the most ac curate that have been made in any of the other observa tories of Europe.
A farther account of the institution, and of the hist, u ments it contains, will be found in our history of ASTRO NOMY, and in the articles CIRCLE and OBSERVATORY.
The church of Greenwich is an elegant stone building, and was erected in 1718. Greenwich contains two hos pitals for poor people, and several schools for the edu cation of the poor, and some excellent boarding schools. The following is the population abstract for 1811, for the town of Greenwich :