Plymouth mot only holds a leading position in the country as a naval station, but is the centre of the growing trade of Devonshire and Cornwall, and is also becoming a holiday centre and health resort. To the south of the town is the Sound, protected by the magnificent breakwater, within the limits of which and the harbours connected with it the whole British navy might find a safe anchorage. The western harbour, known as the Hamoaze, at the mouth of the river Tamar, is devoted almost exclusively to the requirements of the royal navy, as along its banks are the dockyard, the Keyham factory, the arsenal, and other Government establishments (See Devonport, vol. vii., 138; and Dockyards, vol. vii., 315). The eastern harbour, Cattewater with Sutton Pool, now protected by a new breakwater at Mount Batten, is the anchorage ground for merchant shipping. Commodious dock accommodation is provided at the Great Western Docks, Millbay, between Plymouth and Stonehouse, opened in 1857, and comprehending a floating basin over 13 acres in extent with a depth of 22 feet at spring tides, a tidal harbour of 35 acres, and a graving dock. The port has an extensive trade with America, the West Indies, Mauritius, Africa, and the Baltic ports, as well as an extensive coasting trade. It is the starting point for many of the emigrant ships for Australia, New Zealand, and British America. The chief exports are minerals, including copper, lead, tin, granite, and marble. There is also some trade in pilchards and other fish. The imports are chiefly agricultural produce and timber. The total number of vessels that entered the port in cargo and in ballast in 1883 was 3852, of 843,227 tons, the number that cleared 3443, of 754,318 tons. Plymouth has few manufactures, the principal being biscuits, black-lead, candles, manures, soap, starch, sugar, lead, and the celebrated Plymouth gin. The principal industries are connected with shipbuilding and the fisheries. According to the Act of 1835, the borough is divided into six wards, and is governed by a mayor, twelve aidermen, and thirty-six councillors. The water-works are under the control of the corporation, but the gas works are in the hands of a company. The population of the municipal borough (area 1468 acres) in 1871 was 68,758, and in 1881 it was 73,794. The population of the parliamentary borough (area 2061 acres) in the same years was 70,091 and 76,080. It returns two members to parliament.

The Hoe at Plymouth is claimed to be the high rock from which, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth, Corinaeus the Trojan hurled the giant Goemagot into the sea, and at an early period there was cut out in the ground at the Hoe the likeness of two figures with clubs in their hands, which for many years was renewed by the corporation, and was in existence till the erection of the citadel about 1671. Both British and Roman remains have been found in the neighbourhood, the most important being those of a Romano-British cemetery discovered in 1864 during the construction of Fort Stamford. In Domesday it occurs as Sutone, and afterwards it was divided into tlιe town of Sutton Prior, the hamlet of Sutton Valletort, and the tithing of Sutton Ralph, a part of it having been granted to the Norman family of Valletort, while the greater part belonged to the priory of Plympton. About 1253 a market was established, and in 1292 the town first returned members to parliament. In the 14tb century it was frequently the port of embarkation and of disembarkation in connexion with expeditions to France. It suffered considerably at the hands of the French in 1338, 1350, 1377, 1400, and 1402, the Bretons on the last occasion destroying six hundred houses. In 1412 the inhabitants petitioned for a charter, but for a long time their application was opposed by the prior and convent of Plympton. In 1439 a charter was, however, at last granted by Henry VI., defining the limits of the town, permitting the erection of walls and defences, allowing the levying of dues on shipping for the purpose of such buildings and their maintenance, and directing the institution of a corporate body under the title of the “mayor and commonalty of the borough of Plymouth.” Leland speaks (1540-47) of Plymouth harbour as being chained across in times of necessity, and of an ‘ ‘ old ‘ castel quadrate’ between the town and the sea.” A small fragment of one of the outer works of this castle still stands at the foot of Lambhay Street. During the rebellion of 1548-49 the town suffered severely at the hands of the insurgents, and according to Westcote the “evidences” of the borough were burnt. Under Elizabeth it rose to be the foremost port of England, and Camdeq, who visited the town about 1588, States that “though not very large its name and reputation is very great among all nations.” In the discovery of the New World it played a part of prime importance. Martin Cockeram, a native of the town, sailed with Sebastian Cabot when he touched the coast of America in 1497. Sir John Hawkins and his father William were natives of the town, and in 1571 Sir John was returned member of parliament for the borough. In 1572 Sir Francis Drake left the port for the West Indies, and in 1577 he set out from it on his voyage “about the earth.” He was elected mayor of the town in 1581, and in 1592-93 represented it in parliament. Sir Humphrey Gilbert, who was M.P. for Plymouth in 1571, had in 1578 received from Queen Elizabeth letters patent for a colony in America; but, after setting out in 1579, he was compelled to return with the loss of his principal ship. In 1583 he sailed again from Plymouth (see Gilbert). In 1585 Drake again sailed from Plymouth for the West Indies, bringing back on his return the remnant of Raleigh’s Virginian colony. The port supplied seven ships against the Spanish Armada, and it was in the Sound that the English fleet of 120 sail awaited the sighting of the Spaniards. In 1590 Drake was successful in the oft attempted task of bringing in a stream of fresh water for the use of the town, from the river Meavy near Sheepstor, Dartmoor. He and Sir John Hawkins sailed from Plymouth on their last voyage in 1595, both dying at sea in the following year. Many other expeditions from Drake’s time to the present have been despatched from this port, which was the last at which the Pilgrim Fathers touched when they set sail for America. Plymouth was throughout nearly the whole Civil War closely invested by the Royalists, and was the only town in the west of England which never fell into their hands. The town was one of the first to declare for William of Orange. It was in 1691, during his reign, that the dockyard was commenced. The “local literature” of Plymouth is singularly rich and comprehensive. It has also a connexion with many men of great eminence. Sir Joshua Reynolds, born at Plympton, first practised his art in the town, and its native artists are represented by Sir Charles Lock Eastlake, James Northcote, Benjamin Robert Haydon, and Samuel Prout. Besides Sir John Hawkins and other celebrated seamen, it has also given birth to Sir William Snow Harris, Dr James Yonge, Dr John Kitto, Dr S. P. Tregelles, Dr Robert Hawker, N. T. Carrington the Dartmoor poet, Mortimer Collins, and Sir R. P. Collier.

See Histories by Worth, 1871, and by Jewitt, 1873; Rowe, Ecclesiastical History of Ol<t Plymouth; The Western Antiquary ; Worth, The Three Towns Bibliotheca.

PLYMOUTH, a township and village of the United States, the shire-town of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, and a port of entry on Cape Cod Bay,—the village lying at the terminus of a branch of the Old Colony Railroad, 37 miles south-south-east of Boston. The main interest of Plymouth is historical, and centres in the fact that it was the first settlement of the Pilgrim Fathers of New England, who landed December 21 (n. s.), 1620, on the rock now covered by a handsome granite canopy in Walter Street. Leyden Street, so called in memory of the Dutch town where the exiles had stopped for a season, is the oldest street in New England. The houses and general appearance of Plymouth are, however, thoroughly modern. Pilgrim Hall (which is built of granite and measures 70 feet long by 40 feet wide) was erected in 1824-25 by the Pilgrim Society constituted in 1820; it contains a public library and many relics of the fathers—including Miles Standish’s sword and Governor Carver’s chair. The corner stone of a national monument to the Pilgrims was laid August 1, 1859, on a high hill near the railroad station; 1500 tons of granite were used for the foundation; and a pedestal 45 feet high is surrounded by statues 20 feet high of Morality, Law, Education, and Freedom, and bears a colossal statue of Faith, 36 feet high, holding a Bible in her right hand (the largest granite statue in the world). Burying Hill was the site of the embattled church erected in 1622, and contains many ancient tombstones and the foundations of the watchtower (1643) now covered with sod. Cole’s Hill is the spot where half of the “Mayflower” Pilgrims found their rest during the first winter. Five of their graves were discovered in 1855 while pipes for the town water-works were being laid, and two more (now marked with a granite slab) in 1883. The bones of the first five are deposited in a compartment of the canopy over the “Forefathers’ Rock.” A town hall (1749), the county court-house, and the house of correction are the main public buildings of Plymouth. The population of the township was 4758 in 1830, 6024 in 1850, 6238 in 1870, 7093 in 1880, and 7500 in 1884. Manufactures of sailduck, cotton-cloth, tacks, nails, plate-iron, rolled zinc and copper rivets, hammers, <fcc., are carried on; the cordage factories are among the largest and most complete works of the kind in the world.

PLYMOUTH, a borough of the United States, in Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, on the Bloomsburg division of the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad, 8 miles from Wyoming, is a flourishing coal-mining town, which increased its population from 2648 in 1870 to 6065 in 1880. At Plymouth junction, 2 miles to the northeast, a branch line to Wilkesbarre connects with the Central Railroad.

In 1838 Darby, after a short stay in Paris, went to reside in French Switzerland, and found many disciples. Congregations were formed in Geneva, at Lausanne, where most of the Methodist and other dissenters joined the Brethren, at Vevey, and elsewhere in Vaud. His opinions also found their way into Germany, German Switzerland, Italy, and France; but French Switzerland has always remained the stronghold of Plymouthism on the Continent, and for his followers there Mr Darby wrote two of his most important tracts, Le Ministère considéré dans sa Nature and De la Presence et de VAction du S. Esprit dans VÉglise. The revolution in the canton Vaud, instigated by the Jesuits in 1845, brought persecution to the Brethren in the canton and in other parts of French Switzerland, and Darby felt his own life insecure there.

He returned to England, and his reappearance was accompanied by divisions among the Brethren at home. These divisions began at Plymouth. Mr B. Wills Newton, at the head of the community there, was accused of departing from the testimony of the Brethren against an official ministry, and of reintroducing the spirit of clericalism. Unable to detach the congregation from the preacher, Darby began a rival and separate assembly. The majority of the Brethren out of Plymouth supported Darby, but a minority kept by Newton. The separation became wider in 1847 on the discovery of supposed heretical teaching by Newton. In 1848 another division took place. The Bethesda congregation at Bristol, where Mr George Müller was the most influential member, received into communion several of Newton’s followers and justified their action. A large number of communities approved of their conduct; others were strongly opposed to it. Out of this came the separation into Neutral Brethren led by Müller, and Exclusive Brethren or Darbyites, who refused to hold communion with the followers of Newton or Müller. The exclusives, who were the more numerous, suffered further divisions. An Irish clergyman named Cluff had adopted the views of Mr Pearsall Smith, and when these were repudiated seceded with his followers. The most important division among the exclusives came to a crisis in 1881, when Mr William Kelly and Mr Darby became the recognized leaders of two sections who separated on some point of discipline. There are therefore at least five official divisions or sects of Plymouthists :—(1) the followers of Mr B. Wills Newton; (2) the Neutrals, who incline to the Congregationalist idea that each assembly should judge for itself in matters of discipline, headed by Mr George Müller; (3) the Darbyite Exclusives; (4) the Exclusives who follow Mr Kelly; and (5) the followers of Mr Cluff. The fundamental principle of the Exclusives, “Separation from evil God’s principle of unity,” has led to many unimportant excommunications and separations besides those mentioned.

The theological views of the Brethren do not differ greatly from those held by evangelical Protestants (for a list of divergences, see Reid, Plymouth Brethrenism Unveiled and Refuted)·, they make the baptism of infants an open question and celebrate the Lord’s Supper weekly. Their distinctive doctrines are ecclesiastical. They hold that all official ministry, anything like a clergy, whether on Episcopalian, Presbyterian, or Congregationalist theories, is a denial of the spiritual priesthood of all believers, and a striving against the Holy Spirit. Hence it is a point of conscience to have no communion with any church which possesses a regular ministry. The gradual growth of this opinion, and perhaps the reasons for holding it, may be traced in Mr Darby’s earlier writings. While a curate in the Church of Ireland he was indignant with Archbishop Magee for stopping the progress of mission work among Roman Catholics by imposing on all who joined the church the oath of supremacy. This led Darby to the idea that established churches are as foreign to the spirit of Christianity as the papacy is (“Considerations addressed to the Archbishop of Dublin, &c.,” Coll. Works, vol. i. 1). The parochial system, when enforced to the extent of prohibiting the preaching of the gospel within a parish where the incumbent was opposed to it, led him to consider the whole system a hindrance to the proper work of the church and therefore anti-Christian (“Thoughts on the present position of the Home Mission,” Coll. Works, i. 78). And the waste of power implied in the refusal to sanction lay-preaching seemed to him to lead to the conclusion that an official ministry was a refusal of the gifts of the Spirit to the church (“On Lay Preaching,” Coll. Works, p. 200). These three ideas seem to have led in the end to Plymouthism; and the movement, if it has had small results in the formation of a sect, has at least set churches to consider how they might make their machinery more elastic. Perhaps one of the reasons of the comparatively small number of Brethren may be found in their idea that their mission is not to the heathen but to “the awakened in the ehurches.”

Authorities. —Darby, Collected Works, 32 vols., edited by Kelly; Reid, Plymouth Brethrenism Unveiled and Refuted, 3d ed., 1880, and History and Literature of the so-called Plymouth Brethren, 2d ed., 1876; Miller, The Brethren, their Rise, Progress, and Testimony, 1879; Teulon, History and Doctrines of the Plymouth Brethren, 1888. (τ. Μ. L.)