a town of the county of Kent, in England, pleasantly situated on the bank of the Thames, about five miles east from London. Here was formerly a royal palace, built by Humphry duke of Gloucester, enlarged by Henry VII. and completed by Henry VIII. The latter often chose this town for his place of residence; as did also the queens Mary and Elizabeth, who were born in it. The fame Duke Humphry began a tower on the top of the steep hill in the park, which was finished by Henry VII. but afterwards demolished, and a royal observatory erected in its place by Charles II. furnished with mathematical instruments for astronomical observations, and a deep day well for observing the stars in the day-time. The palace being afterwards much neglected, King Charles II. (who had enlarged the park, walled it about and planted it), pulled it down, and began another, of which he lived to see the first wing magnificently finished. But King William III. in 1694, granted it, with nine acres of ground thereto belonging, to be converted into a royal hospital for old and disabled seamen, the widows and children of those who lost their lives in the service, and for the encouragement of navigation. This wing, which cost King Charles 36,000l. is now the first wing of the hospital towards London. The front to the Thames consists of two ranges of stone buildings, with the ranger's house in the centre of the area, but detached from any part of the hospital. These buildings perfectly correspond with each other, and have their tops crowned with a stone balustrade. The buildings which are facing the area, correspond with them, though in a finer and more elegant style; and have domes at their ends, which are 120 feet high, supported on coupled columns. Under one of these is the hall, which is finely painted by Sir James Thornhill, and contains many royal portraits; and under the other the chapel, which by accident was destroyed by fire. This fire broke out in the hospital* on the second of January 1779, and Greenwich totally confounded the dome at the S. E. quarter of the building, with the chapel which was the most elegant in the world, the great dining hall, and eight wards, containing the lodgings of near 600 pensioners. The dome was rebuilt about the year 1785; but the reparation of the whole damage is not yet completed. On the sides of the gate which opens to these buildings from the park, are placed a large terrestrial and celestial globe, in which the stars are gilt; and in the centre of the area is a statue of George II. About 2000 old disabled seamen are maintained in this hospital. Besides private benefactions, to the amount of near 60,000l. (which appear in tables hung up at the entrance of the hall), the parliament, in the year 1732, settled upon it the earl of Derwentwater's estate, to the value of 6000l. per annum. All strangers who see it, pay two-pence each; and this income is applied to the support of the mathematical school for the sons of sailors. For the better support of which, every seaman in the royal navy, and in the merchant service, pays fixpence a month, stopped out of their pay, and delivered in at the fix-penny receiver's office in Tower-hill. On this account, a seaman, who can produce an authentic certificate of his being disabled, and rendered unfit for service, by defending any ship belonging to his majesty's British subjects, or in taking any ship from the enemy, may be admitted into this hospital, and receive the same benefit from it as if he had been in his majesty's immediate service. Besides the seamen and widows above mentioned, about 100 boys, the sons of seamen, are bred up for the service of the royal navy; but there are no out-pensioners as at Chelsea. Each of the mariners has a weekly allowance of seven shaves, weighing 16 ounces each; three pounds of beef, two of mutton, a pint of pease, a pound and a quarter of cheese, two ounces of butter, fourteen quarts of beer, and one shilling a-week tobacco-money; the tobacco-money of the boatswain is two shillings and fixpence a-week each, that of their mates one shilling and fixpence, and that of the other officers in proportion to their rank: besides which, each common pensioner receives once in two years, a suit of blue clothes, a hat, three pairs of stockings, two pairs of shoes, five neckcloths, three shirts, and two night-caps. Out of all that is given for showing the hall, only three-pence in the shilling is allowed to the person that shows them; the rest makes an excellent fund for the yearly maintenance of not less than 20 poor boys, who are the sons of mariners that have been either slain or disabled in the service of their country. The park is well stocked with deer, and affords as much variety, in proportion to its size, as any in the kingdom; but the views from the Observatory and the One-tree hill are beautiful beyond imagination, particularly the former. The projection of these hills is so bold, that you do not look down upon a gradually falling slope, or flat inclosures, but at once upon the tops of branching trees, which grow in knots and clumps out of deep hollows and embrowned dells. The cattle which feed on the lawns, which appear in breaks among them, seem moving in a region of fairy land. A thousand natural openings among the branches of the trees break upon little picturesque views of the swelling turf, which, when illuminated by the sun, have an effect pleasing beyond the Greenwich power of fancy to paint. This is the fore-ground of the landscape: a little farther, the eye falls on that noble structure the hospital, in the midst of an amphitheatre of wood; then the two reaches of the river make that beautiful serpentine which forms the Isle of Dogs, and present the floating millions of the Thames. To the left appears a fine tract of country, leading to the capital, which there finishes the prospect. The parish-church of Greenwich, rebuilt by the commissioners for erecting the 30 new churches, is a very handsome structure, dedicated to St Alphage, archbishop of Canterbury, who is said to have been slain by the Danes in the year 1012, on the spot where the church now stands. There is a college at the end of the town, fronting the Thames, for the maintenance of 20 decayed old house-keepers, 12 out of Greenwich, and eight who are to be alternately chosen from Snettisham and Cattle-Rising in Norfolk. This is called the duke of Norfolk's College, though it was founded and endowed in 1613 by Henry earl of Northampton, the duke of Norfolk's brother, and by him committed to the care of the Mercers company. To this college belongs a chapel, in which the earl's body is laid; which, as well as his monument, was removed hither a few years ago from the chapel of Dover castle. The pensioners, besides meat, drink, and lodging, are allowed one shilling and sixpence a-week, with a gown every year, linen once in two years, and hats once in four years. In 1560, Mr Lambard, author of the Perambulation of Kent, also built an hospital, called Queen Elizabeth's college, said to be the first erected by an English Protestant. There are likewise two charity-schools in this parish. The river Thames is here very broad, and the channel deep; and at some very high tides the water is salt. This is the chief harbour for the king's yachts. The town contains about 1500 houses; and a market on Wednesday and Saturday was erected here in 1737, the direction of which is in the governors of the royal hospital, to which the profits arising from it were to be appropriated.