Rambles about Portsmouth. Sketches of persons, localities, and incidents of two centuries: principally from tradition and unpublished documents. By Charles W. Brewster.

251 RAMBLES AtOT PORTSMOUTH.
Fon, of Portsmouth N. H; ainIS 18 August, 1775, to the
Earl Partmouth, London.
In S'e'pt. 1775, from tle Isle of Shoals, le dates his last
offici'al paper il New-IHampshire, proroguing the General
Assembly, which wras to meet that mounth, to the next A.pril.
RAMBLE. CXXIX.
The isTavy Yarcl,.
OuR Navy Iar(d is now so completely a work of'art, tflat
it has alrnmat gone out of minld asea xoorkl of naturte; tlle
days of its yolltlh are forgotten,, of rernerrlered onll by a
Ie\w, and those few iDot sufScierJtly intereste'd to slnatc'l
from oblivion the record of those early days.
The Navy Yard Islaidc, containring about sixty acres,;
formerly called Fernalcd's Islandci, was up to the presel.t
a3ntury used for farming and drying fish, an'd had blut one
hlouTse ulpon it. 1i 1806 it was purc'lased by the United
Sttate's of CGapt. WAilliam Dennett. for 5$,50Q0, for thle establishme'nt of a Navy Yard. A lady who has recollections
f'tlie island in past years, has kilndly aided' uis in a Rimble7
by the following interest.ing sketch of her recollections.
My recollections of it date from, tlhe early years of' its
establishment as naval post, when most of it w;as still in
a wild state; and we, children, could gather wild strawlerries andl blalck berries, bouquets of violets anld whlite
everlastilng, ad branches of tlhe glossy-leaved, friagrant
bayberry, on every hill and in every hollow. But years
lhave brought strange changes! Now it has become almost
a regular fortification; not a furlong of its natural shore,
or a rod of its original surface, is to be found.
Ye:ars ago dcstiny removed ma from the spot-but I still