ISLE OF PORTLAND. THIS Isle, or rather peninsula, long famous for its excellent stone quarries, is situated nearly opposite to Weymouth; but is connected with the main land by a ridge of pebbles, called the Chesil Bank, extending nearly seventeen miles up the southern coast. Between this bank and the main land, is a narrow arm of sea, called the Fleet. The name of Portland is by some derived from Port, a Saxon freebooter, who settled there about the year 501. By others, from its nearness to the port of Weymouth. Baxter supposes it to be the Vindelis, or, as he corrects it, Vindenis, of Antonine, which he derives from üindenis, Portuosa Insula; by contraction, Port-island, or Portland. The earliest historical notice of this Isle occurs in the Saxon annals about the year 787, when the first party of Danish robbers that ever visited England, made good their landing here, and slew the Governor, Præpositus, or Gerela, who commanded for King Bithric. From this period nothing material occurred till the year 1052, when it was plundered by the memorable Earl Godwin. The French made an ineffectual attempt at invasion about four centuries later. In the time of the Civil Wars, it was one of the first places garrisoned for the Parliament; but was soon afterwards possessed by the Royalists, through an ingenious stratagem. "A gentleman, who well knew the Castle, undertook, with the Earl of Caernarvon, to take it with sixty men, which were granted him. He furnished himself with Parliament colours, and marched towards the Castle with great haste, as if he fled from an enemy, and called to the guards, that he had brought some forces, but was closely pursued by the Earl of Caernarvon; on which the ports were set open. By this means they made themselves masters of a place of very great importance, commanding the haven and the town of Weymouth, and, as the case stood, of infinite wealth; the rich furniture and treasure taken by the rebels out of Wardour Castle, and elsewhere, being lodged here.*" In Hutchins's Dorset, Vol. II. p. 357, 2d Edit. In the Saxon age, Portland belonged to the Crown. Edward the Confessor repenting of his credulity, for having suffered a charge of incontinency to be brought against his mother Emma, submitted to a severe penance; and, as a final atonement, bestowed this manor, with several other lands, on the Church of Winchester. He likewise confirmed the grants of nine manors given by Queen Emma, and nine more by Alwin, Bishop of Winchester, in allusion to the nine red-hot ploughshares, over which the Queen is said to have walked barefoot. William the Conqueror is supposed to have alienated Portland from the Church, as it is surveyed in Domesday Book under the title of Terra Regis. This Manor, and its appurtenances, at that period, yielded sixty-five pounds of pure silver. The Exeter copy adds: "here were 900 sheep, three horses of burden, fourteen beasts, and twenty-seven hogs." Henry the First, by charter, re-granted it to the Church of Winchester, and not long afterwards it was again alienated; but in the twentyfourth of Edward the First, Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, held it of the Church of Winton by exchange. In the reigns of Edward the Fourth, and Richard the Third, it had reverted to the Crown; and was first granted for life to Cecilia, Duchess of York, and afterwards to George, Duke of Clarence. By Henry the Eighth it was bestowed respectively on his Queens, Catherine Howard, and Catherine Parr. In the reign of James the First, it was granted to Queen Anne, of Denmark, and afterwards to Prince Charles; and remained in the possession of the Crown till the year 1800, when it was put up to sale by public auction. Portland Isle measures about four miles and a half in length, and two in breadth, and is literally one continued bed or rock of freestone. It is not, however, a steril spot; the herbage is a fine, short pasture; and in wet seasons the meadows produce plentiful crops of luxuriant grass. The sheep are supposed to amount to about 3000; and though of a peculiarly small breed, have been long famous for their delicacy of flavour. The corn is of an excellent quality; as are the oats, pease, and barley. the quantity of these, however, is necessarily limited. About two bushels an acre is the usual growth of wheat, and other grain in proportion. This is mostly M m 2 mostly cut down with the reap-hook, which the women use with much dexterity; and to them is consigned the task of getting in the greater part of the harvest, while their husbands are more lucratively employed in the stone quarries. There is very little. wood, except a few elms on the south: the substitute for fuel is usually cow-dung, which the inhabitants collect, and dry on the walls of their houses. Water is plentifully supplied by a number of springs at the lower part of the Isle, some of which are of sufficient strength to turn a mill. All the grounds are divided by stone inclosures. The whole Isle contains but one parish, which includes seven hamlets, or villages. Of these, Chesilton, which gives name to the Chesil Bank, is the first and largest. Before it stands PORTLAND CASTLE, which commands Weymouth Road, and is the residence of the Governor whenever he honors the peninsula with his preThis fortress was constructed by Henry the Eighth, about the same period, and for the same purpose, as Sandesfoot or Weymouth Castle, on the opposite coast. It was one of the last fortresses in the West that held out for the unfortunate Charles the First. On the wainscot of a little closet over the Gun Room, is the following quaint petition for the founder and his family. sence. "God save Kinge Henri the UJII of that name and Prins From the Castle the land rises boldly, and rather steep, to height of upwards of 400 feet above the level of the sea. Here is a small entrenchment, said to be Danish; and the beginning of a trench, or breast-work, which extends to every accessible part of the Isle, thrown up by the inhabitants in the time of the Civil Wars. Innumerable quarries appear from this spot; and from many places the whole Isle appears like a map. The rocks on this side of the peninsula rise frequently to 100 or 150 feet; and large masses lie scattered on the shore: these are composed, according to Dr. Maton, of calcareous grit, containing moulds, |