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 Sketches of persons, localities, and incidents of two centuries: principally from tradition and unpublished documents.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

266 RAMBLES ABOUT PORTSMOUTH.
English origin, in the younger days of the Prince of Wales
and his friend Beau Brummel, and its name evidently
emanated from the ever-existent propensity of the English
race to caricature their Teutonic brethren. As it is possible there may be some who were never favored with an
introduction to a " Dutch-Doll, " a few words of explanation
as to their construction may not be amiss. A round splint
broom, or something equally convenient for the purpose,
was enveloped in a dress, with a mask for the face, a wig,
and surmounted by a bonnet or cap. This was elevated in
the hands of a person who was partially concealed beneath
the skirts of the dress, and wholly so by a sheet or second
dress below it. The ordinary height of these gigantic
" dolls " was eight to ten feet. Any one who will fancy the
surprise it would give them to have their slumbers disturbed
at midnight, or in the small hours of the morning, and
discover by the moonlight, such an object looking into the
window of their second-story sleeping-room, can form an
idea of what some of the young ladies experienced during
their sojourn on the island. The young gentlemen all acknowledged to have seen "Dolly" during her nocturnal
ramble, but the particular individual who to " all of which
I saw, " might have added, "and part of wzich 1 was," could
not be found.
On a beautiful evening in June, as a party of six were
enjoying a leisurely stroll along the shore, a small island in
the distance had so much the aspect, in the brilliant moonlight, of fairy-land, a wish was expressed to visit it, and the
means for its accomplishment soon presented itself, though,
as the result will show, it proved a somewhat dangerous
one. While pursuing their walk, a few yards farther on,
they found a small boat lying high and dry upon the shore,
and without taking into consideration the possibility that it
might not prove an entirely seaworthy conveyance, they
launched it into the water, and, with pieces of board