Europe to this newly discovered mineral; | ascertaining something more, if possible, so that its real nature and properties respecting this traffic in the Anglezark were every where soon understood. But spar; and from one Alexander Gerrard, during this investigation, in which every an intelligent farmer, who resides not far chemist who was fortunate enough to pro- from the mine, and was formerly very incure specimens was probably engaged, timate with the aforesaid James Smithels, nothing new occurred at the mine or in the I learnt the following particulars. neighbourhood, respecting it, till it was discovered that a man of the name of Smithels, who occupied a cottage and about forty acres of land under Sir Frank Standish, close to the mines, had long been engaged in disposing of the carbonate of barytes in an illicit manner. This man, who was well known in the neighbourhood of Chorley, and is still remembered by many of its inhabitants, used to get the spar from among the heaps of tone and rubbish that lie round the mouths of the old shafts. This he used to pack in strong boxes, and delivered them himself, by his own cart, to the carrier in Chorley, to be conveyed to Liverpool. That Smithels, only a short time before he died, informed Gerrard that, in the whole, he had sold a very large quantity of the spar; that he received five guineas per ton for it; that it went from Liverpool to some part of Germany; and that be had understood, from the person who usually paid him, that it was consumed in some process in the manufacture of porcelain. Being desirous of knowing whether these poor uneducated men had any idea of the nature and properties of the carbonate of barytes, I put some questions to them for that purpose. They told me, all they knew of it was, that it was a strong poison. He managed this business so well, that he not only bought the boards for making On my affecting ignorance of the poithe boxes, but prepared the boxes himself sonous nature of this mineral, Mr. Derbyin the night, and suffered no one to see shire assured me that some years ago, he him pack the article, or carry it away lost three cows at one time, who had when packed. Besides, it went from strayed from their pasture, and were found Chorley by the common carrier to a bro-licking some lumps of spar, which at that ker in Liverpool, who shipped it to a middle-man upon the Continent;-so that the place where it was actually consumed could never be traced out. time lay about the mine in abundance; and that on opening one of these animals, several small pieces of spar were found in its stomach. A neighbouring farmer had, indeed, He told me also, that it was impossifor some years observed that James Smi-ble to keep any fowl upon the farm; for, misthels was often engaged in picking some- taking the smaller pieces of the spar for thing from off the waste land; and that white sand, they were sure to pick it up, often on moonshine nights, when they ima- and die the first day they got out upon the gined no one observed them, he and his land. Ducks and geese, he says, he cau wife were employed for hours together keep, as they do not swallow it, except upon the mounds which stand round the at the time they lay their eggs, and then old shafts; and on the circumstance being they never fail to take it, and with the same mentioned to the steward of Sir Frank baneful effect. Doubtless they mistake it Standish, he put an entire stop to this for lime or chalk, which all oviparous anipoor man's little trade. mals are obliged to swallow at the time of their laying, in order to shell their eggs. However, when he was questioned by the steward, and by a variety of other persons, respecting this transaction, he remained sullen and silent, and would never give them the least information as to the quantity he had sold, the price he obtained for it, or even to what part of the world it went." It was, however, imagined that the two foreigners before mentioned were the people who had engaged this man to collect it, and that they had found some means of regularly paying him for what he procured for them. As the quantity of carbonate of barytes thus collected, was much larger than merely to serve as a chemical test and a few common purposes of philosophical research, I was desirous of Hitherto, this singular mineral has been employed, chiefly, as a chemical test, and in the formation of certain salts. A few physicians have used it medically: we shall not say in what disorders, as the article is not only dangerous in itself, but some specimens of it contain copper, and others arsenic. Mr. P. suggests several useful purposes, as cements, &c. to which it may be applied. A propos on Poisons: it may be well to bring our readers acquainted with the following remedy, MINE AT BArrowdale, As the uses of sulphuric acid are become | ing, with which, our report on Mr. P.'s 10 various, cases may occur of its being volumes must conclude. taken into the stomach by mistake, and without immediate relief its corrosive properties would produce fatal effects. If magnesia should be at hand, that earth mixed with water and sweetened with sugar, would be the best possible antidote to the poison; but in case this could not be immediately procured, soap-water, which can be furnished by all families, and which is one of the next best remedies, should be drunk plentifully. The late unfortunate death of an infant son of the Hon. and Rev. E. Knox, at Dungarvon Park, in consequence of his swallowing a quantity of oil of vitriol which had been carelessly left on the table by a female domestic, shows how important it is for the public to be acquainted with the proper remedy in such cases. We could have wished that Mr. P. had enlarged the number of domestic remedies for similar purposes: they would have formed a valuable and benevolent addition to his labours, and might have fixed themselves on the memory. He sometimes indeed, gives cautions to his unpracticed operators; but in our opinion excessive caution cannot be too strongly enforced. Even Panoramists have unwarily spirtled destructive concentrated gasses in their face and eyes: and have paid, for one single experiment, the cost of a new suit of clothes, when black satin waistcoats and breeches were in fashion.But, we must draw this article to a close. Our readers will perceive that we have perused the volumes with much interest, and satisfaction. If we do not think that Mr. P. has always hit the ancient history of articles to the greatest advantage, yet his references are fair, and without pedantry; their modern history is more to his purpose, and that of his purchasers. The work is valuable; and the public will not fail to profit by the hints dispersed throughout it. England, is the only country for Black-lead pencils: we remember when the literati on the continent supposed them to be melted into the form in which they received them, and, conceiving this mineral to be an artificial production, they attempted to imitate it. By much the best account of the mine where it is found, that we have seen, is the follow land and Cumberland, in the summer of The neighbourhood of Keswick has for ages been celebrated as a mining country. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, gold and silver were procured in considerable quanin the vale of Newlands near Keswick. tity from the mountain called Gold-scarpe At that time the mine was worked by a company of Germans, who raised a large quantity of copper and lead, and not only converted these to their own use, but also laid claim to the precious metals, in opposition to the Queen, who demanded them as well as the usual royalty. However, on an appeal to common law, her majesty gained the point, and the foreigners soon after absconded. It was during this reign that the very valuable mine of black-lead, or plumbago, was first discovered at Barrowdale. The inhabitants of the neighbourhood say that this rich depository was first brought to light by a tremendous hurricane, which blew up a large ash-tree and discovered a mass of fine plumbago at its root. The mine now at work is in the midst of a mountain about 2000 feet high, which rises at an angle as near as I could guess of 45 they put on their usual clothes, which are also examined by the steward to see that they have no black-lead concealed within them. This room contains no furniture except the pegs on which the clothes are hung ail round the room, each man knowing his own. When these have dressed and departed, another set of men clothe themselves for their work and enter the mine as before, when the trap-door is again shut, and the steward is relieved to attend his other occupations. degrees, and is situate among other stupendous hills in a district known by the name of Barrowdale. When the value of this miue became known, the proprietors found it very difficult to guard it so as to prevent depredations. The practice of robbing it was become so common, that several persons living in the neighbourhood were said to have made large fortunes by secreting and selling the mineral: this, however, is now entirely prevented by some expedients hereafter to be mentioned. Even a guard stationed on the spot was of little avail, for 70 or 80 years ago a body of miners broke into the mine by main force, and held the possession of it in spite of the proprietors themselves. At one time the depredations had arrived to such a pitch, and such vast euantities had been stolen, that the delinquents undersold the proprietors in the London market, so that the latter found it expedient to buy up the re-kinds, called best and coarse; and as the mainder of their stock, in order to bring the price to its old level. It is uot many years since a very large quantity of fine black-lead was found on Vickers Island, situated in Derwent-water; and it is supposed that this was secreted there at the time the robbers had possession of the mine in Barrowdale. It has been already mentioned that the black-lead mountain has an altitude of about 2000 feet; and as that part of the mine which is now working is near the middle of the mountain, the present entrance is about 1000 feet from its summit. There are indeed two entrances; a small one by which the workmen descend by means of a flight of steps; the other is a large horizontal one capable of admitting hand carts and wheelbarrows for the removal of the rubbish and loose earth by which the black-lead is enveloped, and through this entrance the water passes off which constantly runs through the mine. In order to secure the vast treasure which is contained within this mountain, the proprietors have now erected a strong brick building, consisting of four rooms on the ground floor, one of which is immediately over the opening by which the workmen enter the mine as they go to their work. This opening is secured by a trap door, and the room connected with it is called the dressing-room; for, when the men enter it, they strip off their usual clothes, and each of them puts on a dress suitable for working in a mine. The men work six hours each, and then they are relieved by others. When the hour of relief comes, the steward attends in the dressing-room, to see the men undress, as they come up the steps one by one out of the mine, when I have said that the house consists of four rooms, and these are contrived so that they connect with each other. In the innermost of these rooms there is a kind of counter or strong table, under the window, at which two men sit; who are constantly employed in assorting and dressing the mineral. This is necessary, because it is usual to divide the black-lead into two finest specimens have generally pieces of iron-ore or other impurity attached to them, these are dressed off by peculiar tools adapted to the purpose. These men are constantly shut in when at work, and the steward walks backwards and forwards in an adjoining room furnished with two loaded blunderbusses, which hang within his reach, for the sake of further security. As the black-lead is cleaned, it is put into firm casks which hold about 112 lbs each, and these are sent by waggons to the warehouse of the proprietors in London. Formerly this mine was opened only once in six or seven years; but in consequence of the demand being greater, and the quantity which they have discovered not being so large, it has been found expedient to open it and dig for ore during six or seven weeks every year. During this time the mine is guarded night and day; and it is thought necessary that the steward who lives only at the village of Seathwark, at the foot of the mountain, should not leave the house night or day during the whole of this period, except an hour or two on the Sunday to visit his family, and even then, as he told me, he was always careful to return to his dwelling on the mountain while it was yet light. Iu consequence of the mine having of late years been opened every summer, they now raise all the black-lead they find, and then the mine is securely shut up in the following manner :-The workmen wheel hack the rubbish which had been removed at the opening of the mine, and this is laid in one continued heap, to the amount of some hundred cart loads, which securely blocks up both passages into the mine. The door is then locked, as well as the door into the house, and all the men leave the premises in a state of safety; for the mass of rubbish which is thus wheeled in at the larger door, dams up the small rill of water which usually flows through the mine, and this has the effect of flooding it completely. Thus, if an attempt were made to break the house and enter the mine by that road, the robbers would find that the water had arisen to such an height | as would drown any individual who should attempt to search for the ore. From an examination of the exterior of the mountain it appears, that, in former times, various small shafts have been sunk for getting the black-lead, and the mine which they are now working was one of those which had been closed for a century, but was again opened in the year 1769, in consequence of another mine in the immediate vicinity having failed. The expense of raising the black-lead varies very much in different years, according to the size of the masses which the workmen happen to meet with: for instance, that which they found in the year 1778 was four y rds in diameter, and twelve yards high; that of 1803 was twenty-one yards and a half high, two yards and an half in diameter, and perfectly round like a coJumu; that which they found in 1812 was rather less than 20 yards in height, and only 2 feet in diameter; and what they are now getting is found only in a narrow string. The expenses in driving the level, building the house, and working the mine, from the 23d of April 1798 to the 4th of April 1814, have amounted to 66371. 9s. 4d.; and during this period there have been produced 786 casks of fine black-lead, and 1816 casks oft e coarse kind, amonnt ing together to 2552 casks of about 112lbs. each. It might be a matter of difficulty to those who visit the mine, to conceive how these casks of black-lead can be conveyed with safety down the face of so steep a mountain. This is done by mea who have been long accustomed to the task. The cask is fixed upon a light sledge with two wheels, and the man who is well used to of every month throughout the year; and the best kind usually sells for two guineas or more per pound. The property of this valuable mine is divided, as I understand, into two equal parts, one of which belongs to Henry Banks, Esq. representative in parliament for Corfe Castle in the county of Dorset; and the other moiety is divided into ten or twelve shares belonging to Sir Joseph Banks, Sir John Mitford, the Execntors of the late Mr. Gilbert, and others. In some years the net produce of the black-lead has amounted to thirty or forty thousand pounds. Some other particulars respecting this singular mine may be seen in Robinson's Natural' History of Westmoreland and Cumberland, octavo, London 1709, page 75; also in Colonel Thornton's Sporting Tour through the Northern parts of England, &c. quarto, London 1804, page 282. Pure plumbago consists of 90 carbon and 10 iron. Its specific gravity according to Boyle is 1,860, but Dr. Freind makes it to be only 1,714. The Plates to this work are extremely useful they are very distinctly and neatly executed. Perhaps, in few instances have the modern improvements in the art of engraving, been turned to a better account. Naples, an! the Campagna Felice, in THE object of these Letters at their We are not in the habit of condem We this sort of precipitous path, walks coolly down before the sledge, taking care that it does not acquire too great a momentum, and thus overpower him. The empty sledge he then carries back upon his shoulders, and takes another cask. All ning entire Communities for the faults of the black-lead is sent to London, as I have a few individuals; but, to iuhabit Naples already mentioned, where it is deposited in the warehouse of the proprietors and, though merely for a time, without witafterwards disposed of by public auction nessing scenes repulsive to British feelheld at Essex-street in the Strand, Lon-ing, appears to us impossible. It is not, don. This happens on the first Monday then, as a complete Picture of Naples, that this volume presents itself; but as one that suited the purpose of a Work bound to maintain a regard to the decorum of our country. This being understood, the performance assumes its proper character. The Hero, under the name of Don Luigi, lands in this Southern metropolis of Italy, and suffers the petty plagues of the place, in the various forms of civilities, flatteries, and impositions; of Lazaronis, Ciceronis, and Physicians ! Naples as a city, with its adjacencies, the baths of Tritoli, the ancient fish ponds, or what pass for such, the superstition of St. Januarius's head and blood, the antiquities of Pompeii, of Herculaneum, of the Museum to which the principal of them are removed, the Papyri M.S.S. with the manners, in part, of the present inhabitants of the territory around it, each in its turn furnishes an excursion, a letter, and observations. To these are added a voyage to Capri, and sundry adventures by land. Naples has much to please the eye; but those familiar with its inconveniences, know that it is dearly purchased it has much to please the ear, also; but this, too, is purchased at an expense shocking to humanity, and in flagrant violation of the decrees of the church. Nor can improved solemnity be pleaded for this the writer expresses the feelings of all thinking persons, when he says, feelings, and the sublimity of its nature, deservedly claims the first rank. But, surely, the shrill and unnatural strains of these unfortunate beings, can add nothing to the solemn harmony of divine song; on the contrary, their employment debases that heavenly science, their presence contaminates the hallowed temples of the Almighty, and their introduction into a place of worship, bespeaks a most blasphemous and preposterous refinement of modern taste. The truth of this observation was fully acknowledged by that worthy pontiff, Clement VIII. when he issued the most positive prohibition of so inhuman and impious a custom but such is the ingenuity of religious casuistry, that means were soon devised, and are still practised, to elude the injunction of his philanthropic decree, without infringing the letter of the law. To name them would only sully my pen, which has already dwelt too long on a submankind, without any further addition of ject displeasing enough to every friend of colouring. After this, shall we be told that the modern Church of Rome needs no reformation ?-that it is still Apostolic, that it still maintains primitive devotion, in its all purity? Shockingly depraved indeed, is that devotion which demands the gratification of the sense at this expense of propriety; yet without music, and scientific music, too, no church in Naples would witness a worshipper: the performance draws the crowd, and the hearers pronounce upon it as they do at the theatre: una bellissima devotione! or the contrary; as it pleases or displeases them. The most famous ecclesiastical funzione is the liquefaction of St. Januarius's blood. The following account of it, is a fair description of the public feeling. In this place, a lover of harmony need be at no expense to hear excellent music very often. Scarcely a day passes but one church or other has to celebrate some festival, saint's aniversary, or other important holy rite, where music is an essential requisite; and fond as I am of sacred music The sacred ceremony of liquefaction was in particular, I have hitherto missed few this time to take place in the simply eleopportunities of that kind. In almost every gant church of St. Chiara, as the exhibiinstance the performers, both vocal and in- bition is not confined to any particular strumental, were of the first-rate abilities, spot. Frequently it is in the cathedral, and the composition, whether ancient or but other churches are occasionally favourmodern, truly sublime; but frequently also ed with the honour of witnessing the mirathe pleasure I experienced was alloyed, or cle within their walls.-Don Michele had rather destroyed, by sensations of disgust, for more than a week past expressed the felt at the sight of eunuchs employed in the greatest anxiety about my attending. He execution of these sacred concerts. Among considered my going, if not altogether all the potent engines which the Catholic as the means of a speedy conversion, yet as church has called in aid of the adoration of the surest way to impress me with the suthe Supreme Being, music, from its power-periority of his faith to my persuasion. Yet, ful and direct influence on our hearts and strange to tell, when I requested his com J |
