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HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

CHAPTER TIIK NINTH.

Account of the Avidity with which all the different Nations of Europe began toenter Into Maritime Pursuits in the Middle of the Eighteenth Century. — Refec-tions on the Incapacity which certain Countries laboured under, of not being able toraise themselves into the slightest Maritime Consequence.—The different Classesinto which the Maritime Powers of Europe might be divided.—The varied Con-duct severally adopted by them.—Extraordinary Exertions made by France andSpain to revive, reft, and augment their Marine.—State of the French Marine,as it stood in 1 756, showing all the Additions which had been made to it, sub-sequent to the Peace.—Account of the Spanish Navy, as it stood in 1759, withInformation when, where, and under whose Directions, the greater Part of theShips had been built.—Remarks on the Employment of British Builders in theSpanifi Dock Yards.—Comparative Flew between the Dimensions of French ,Spanish, and British Ships of the same Rate.—The Shrewsbury and the Mag-nanime, the Monmouth and the Princess a, the Essex and the Fougueux, the Isisand the Tavistock, with many other Ships of the same Class.—Practiceadopted by the French Merchants of employ ing very large Ships, properly fittedfor War, in Commercial Purposes.—Losses sustained by France and Spain duringthe TVar.—Extraordinary Augmentation which still continued to be adopted by theSpaniards in the Dimensions of their Vessels.—Account of the Navy of the UnitedProvinces.—The declining Condition of that Part of it belonging to the State .—Extraordinary Magnitude of their Merchant Vessels, particularly those belongingto the East-India Company.—Observations on the Peculiarity of their Form .—The Navies and general State of the Shipping belonging to Russia, to Den-mark, and to Sweden—to Venice, and other Countries.—State of the BritishNavy at the Commencement oj the War with France, 1706. —Its Losses duringthe Continuance of it, and Condition at the Conclusion.—Remarks on theBritish Commercial Marine, as well as on the Mode of building and sheathing bothShips of War and Merchant Vessels in 17G3.— General Remarks on the Improve-ment and State of Marine Architecture in Asia and Amertca.

M ARITIME pursuits, speaking generally of the science, including as well theart of navigation, as the study of that species of architecture, with thevarious branches of mechanics connected with them, having been cultivated inEurope as the grand emporium for many centuries; the mind of the inquirer be-

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