Shooter's Hill was the temporary residence of Mr. BLOOMFIELD, author of The Farmer's Boy, and other celebrated poems, during a severe illness. On this occasion he expresses himself in the following manner:

To hide me from the public eye,

To keep the throne of Reason clear,
Amidst fresh air to breathe or die,
I took my staff and wander'd here.
Suppressing every sigh that heaves,
And coveting no wealth but thee,
I nestle in the honied leaves,

And hug my stolen Liberty.

On the brow of the hill is an elegant tower, surrounded by a neat plantation, on a sloping lawn, intersected by gravelled walks:

"This far seen monumental tow'r

Records th' achievements of the brave;

And Angria's subjugated pow'r,

Who plunder'd on the eastern wave.'

It

* Conagee Angria was a notorious freebooter belonging to the Morattoe pirates, who had declared war by sea and land against the Grand Mogul, because he had employed an admiral to protect his Mahometan subjects against their depredations. By means of his prowess during this war, Conagee Angria had raised himself from a private man to be not only commander in chief of the Morattoe fleet, but was intrusted with the government of Severndroog, one of the strongest holds belonging to the Saha Rajah, or king of the Morattoes; and having seduced others of his fellow subjects, set up a government against his sovereign along the sea coast, to the extent of one hundred and twenty miles, and an inland country of from twenty to thirty miles towards the mountains. The successors of this fortunate robber took the name of Angria, and so fortified themselves, that the rajah consented to let them have peaceable possession, upon acknowledging his sovereignty and paying a small tribute.

In the course of fifty years this state, by means of piracies exercised indiscriminately upon ships of all nations, had rendered itself so for midable to the European traders to India, that the British East India Company alone were compelled to keep up a maritime force at the annual expence of 50,000l. as a check upon Angria, and a protection to their ships and colonies.

Attempts

It certainly, exclusively of its singular situation, must be considered as an object of considerable interest, as commemorating a train of exploits of the highest moment to

the

Attempts had frequently been made by different nations to overturn this piratical system; but Angria's successes had made him insolent; he threw off his allegiance to his sovereign, and slit the noses of his ambassadors who came to demand the tribute. Under these circumstances the rajah made proposals to the British to attack this common enemy with their united force. Commodore James, at that time commander in chief of the company's marine force, sailed on the 22d of March 1755, in the Protector, of forty-four guns, with a ketch of sixteen guns, and two bomb vessels; but such was the exaggerated opinion of Angria's strong holds, that the presidency instructed him not to expose the company's vessels to any risk by attacking them, but only to blockade the harbours whilst the Morattoe army carried on their operations by land. Three days after the Morattoe fleet, consisting of seven grabs and sixty gallivats, came out of Choul, having on board ten thousand land forces, and the fleets united proceeded to Comara Bay, where they anchored in order to permit the Morattoes to get their meal on shore, since they are prohibited by their religion from eating or washing at sea. Departing from hence they anchored again about fifteen miles to the north of Severndroog, when Rama-gee Punt with the troops disembarked, in order to proceed the rest of the way by land. Commodore James now receiving intelligence that the enemy's fleet lay at anchor in the harbour of Severndroog, represented to the admiral of the Morattoe fleet, that by proceeding immediately thither they might come upon them in the night, and so effectually blockade them in the harbour that few or none would be able to escape. The Morattoe seemed highly to approve the proposal, but had not authority enough over his officers to make any of them stir before the morning, when the enemy discovering them under sail, immediately slipped their cables and put to sea. The commodore then flung out the signal for a general chase; but as little regard was paid to this as to his former intention; for although the vessels of the Morattoes had hitherto sailed better than the English, such was their terror of Angria's fleet, that they all kept behind, and suffered the Protector to proceed alone almost out of their sight. The enemy on the other hand exerted themselves with uncommon industry, flinging overboard all their lumber to lighten their vessels, not only crowding all the sails they could bend, but also hanging up their garments, and even their turbans, to catch every breath of air. The Protector, however, came within gun-shot of some of the sternmost; but the evening approaching, commodore James gave over the chase, and returned to Severndroog, which he had passed several miles.

Here

the mercantile transactions of this country with the eastern world. A broad tablet of stone over the entrance has the following inscription:

This Building was erected M.DCC.LXXXIV. by the Representative of the late

SIR WILLIAM JAMES, BART.

To commemorate that gallant Officer's Achievements in the
EAST INDIES,

During his Command of the Company's Marine Forces in
those Seas;

And in a particular Manner to record the Conquest of
The CASTLE of SEVENDROOG, on the COAST of MALABAR,
Which fell to his superior Valour and able Conduct,

On the 2d Day of April M.DCC.LV.

It

Here he found Rama-gee Punt with the army besieging, as they said, the three forts on the main land; but they were firing only from one gun, a four-pounder, at the distance of two miles, and even at this distance the troops did not think themselves safe without digging pits, in which they sheltered themselves covered up to the chin from the enemy's fire. The commodore judging from these operations, that they would never take the forts, determined to exceed the instructions which he had received from the presidency, rather than expose the English arms to the disgrace they would suffer, if an expedition, in which they were believed by Angria to have taken so great a share, should miscarry. The next day, the 2d of April, he began to cannonade and bombard the fort of Severndroog, situated on the island; but finding that the walls on the western side which he attacked, were mostly cut out of the solid rock, he changed his station to the north-east between the island and the main; where whilst one of his broadsides plied the north-east bastions of this fort, the other fired on fort Goa, the largest of those upon the main land. The bastions of Severndroog, however, were so high, that the Protector could only point her upper tier at them; but being anchored within a hundred yards, the musketry in the round tops drove the enemy from their guns, and by noon the parapet of the north-east bastion was in ruins; when a shell from one of the bomb-vessels set fire to a thatched house, which the garrison, dreading the Protector's musketry, were afraid to extinguish the blaze spreading fiercely at this dry season of the year, all the buildings of the fort were soon in flames, and amongst them a magazine of powder blew up. On this disaster the inhabitants, men, women, and children, with the greatest part of the garrison, in all near

one