they do wood, whence the coal is freed from those noxious steams that would otherwise give the malt an ill odour. The coal thus prepared they call cokes, which conceives as strong a heat almost as charcoal itself, and is as fit for most other uses, but for malting, fining, and refining iron, which it cannot be brought to do, although attempted by the most skilful and curious artists. In the glass houses, salt works, and brick clamps they use the raw coal as brought from the pit; in the former I am not certain as to the proportion used, but in the Staffordshire Salt Works they use two tons to a drawing; and for burning a clamp of 16,000 bricks, they use seven tons of coal. The coal generally, in this and other countries, lies in the earth obliquely, i. e., not perpendicular, but rising one way towards the surface of the earth, till it comes within a foot or two of the superfices, which the workmen generally call basetting, others cropping; and dipping into the earth the other way so deep, that it is seldom or ever followed to the end, or indeed anything near it (except where a mine lips or crops up again, as sometimes it does, as well in the dip as in the row); by reason the workmen are either prevented by water, or too deep a draught. This basseting or dipping is various, sometimes more and sometimes less; some dip not above 1 foot in 10, 20, or sometimes 30 feet; these they call flat mines, by reason of their evenness. The open works at Wednesbury seem to be of this kind, where there being but little earth lying over the measure of coal, the workmen rid off the earth, and dig the coal under their feet, and carry it out in wheelbarrows, there being no need for these of windlass, rope, or carf, whence these coal works are called foot rids or foot rills. sinking for coal about Wednesbury, they meet with—first, earth and stone; second, blue clunch; and third, coal;

In

which is divided into the upper and lower coal. In the upper coal there are the following divisions, with their respective depths, &c. :

And then in 6 feet more they come to the ironstone.

"About Dudley, the three uppermost measures of coal are called the white measures; fourth, the shoulder coal; fifth, the toe coal; sixth, the foot coal; seventh, the yard coal; eighth, the slipper coal; ninth, the sawyer coal; tenth, the frisley coal; all which ten measures make up ten yards in thickness. "In the working of the mine much inconvenience is experienced by the presence of damp; one sort is expelled either by water, or by letting down an iron cradle, they call their lamp, filled with fire, into the shaft or by the pit next to that they intend to work, which, making a draught, draws away the foul air. Another sort is expelled by a person entering the pit before the workmen, covered with

wet sackcloth; when he comes near where the damp is feared, he creeps on his belly with a long pole before him, having a lighted candle upon the top of it, which, coming in contact with the foul air, it explodes, and escapes by the mouth of the pit, the person that fired it escaping by creeping on the ground, keeping his face close to it till it is over. From the existence of these damps we may conclude that some coal pits may and do take fire of themselves, as it is unanimously agreed they do at Wednesbury (where the coal works now on fire take up eleven acres), Coseley, Ettingshall, and Pensnett, in this county, as Mr. Camden will have it, where he says a coal pit was fired by a candle, through the negligence of a groover; and so possibly it might; but as for the rest, it is agreed they all fired of themselves, as they expect the shale and small coal in the old works will do, and have done, beyond all memory.

"For finding coal in a place where none has yet been discovered, they first consult the springs, if any be near, to see if they can find any water having a yellow sediment; above ground they look for a smut, as they call it; when either of these are found they either bore or sink a pit; if the coal lies shallow, the former is the better, but if deep, the latter, for the drawing the rods of the augre expending very much time, as there are many and must be often done, besides often leaving the searcher in great uncertainty as to the course of the coal, the draining it, its goodness, thickness, &c.; whereas by sinking all these uncertainties are removed. The ordinary way they have of draining the mines is either by sough or by gin-the former when they have the advantage of fall of ground enough, which they try by the level. When they have no fall, they draw it up by gin, which is either bigger or less as required; the less

they call a jack, which is turned by men or horses as is necessary; but the gin is always worked by horses, which likewise is two-fold, either by chain or barrel; the chain is made with leather suckers upon it at little distances, which bring up water and discharge into a trough; the gin by barrel, whereof one always goes up as the other goes down, will raise great quantities of water if it be worked day and night, else, upon the least neglect, the water will get such a head, that much time will be spent before it can be mastered again."

This, then, is the account of the Wednesbury thick coal, at the close of the 17th century. The mode of working continued much the same until the latter half of the last century, when coal being applied to the manufacture of iron, such large quantities were required, and the demand became so great, that the steam engine was adapted to the purpose of draining the mines and raising the coal to the surface, by which means the bed of coal could be followed to almost its greatest depth.

One of the first engines erected by Savary was put up at Broadwaters, in the parish of Wednesbury. The following is Dr. Wilkes's account of it:-"Mr. Savary, the original inventor of the steam engine, set one down about the year 1739, near a place called Broadwaters,' in Wednesbury. This place being low ground, the water rose so hastily many years ago, and in such quantities from the coal pit, that it covered many acres of land, and buried many stacks of coal upon the bank. The engine there erected could not be brought to perfection, as the old pond of water was very great, and the springs in it many and strong, and the steam when too strong tore it all to pieces; so that after much time, labour, and expense, Mr. Savary gave up the undertaking, and the engine was laid aside as useless."

The old Wednesbury "thick coal" is now nearly exhausted; but other measures, lying deeper below the surface, are being worked. As the coal trade is so intimately con nected with the iron trade in this district, we shall now proceed to give a short sketch of the rise and progress of the latter.

Various are the theories with regard to the first discovery of iron. Other metals were known and used before this, the most useful of all to mankind; but, nevertheless, in very early days, it was made serviceable to man, as is abundantly proved by many references to it in Sacred Writ. The name of Tubal Cain, the instructor of every artificer in brass and iron, is doubtless familiar to our readers; as also "the iron spear head" of Goliah, Og's iron bedstead, and the "bright iron in the market," spoken of by the prophet Ezekiel.

The Greeks and Romans were well acquainted with this useful metal, of which there is abundant proof. Upon Cæsar's invasion of Britain, B.C. 55, he found the people of this island well armed with swords, spears, and formidable war chariots, having scythes on the axles for cutting and tearing; and as it is certain the Britons of this period well understood the art of mining, it is but natural to suppose that they also knew and practised the art of ironmaking, and the manufacture of arms. The Romans, upon becoming conquerors of this island, established iron works in different parts, and they continued to work the iron mines until their final abandonment of Britain about A.D. 409; this is clearly demonstrated by the immense beds of cinders which have been discovered in many parts of the country in several instances, together with Roman coin and pottery; and furthermore, ruined altars, dedicated to Jupiter Dolichenus, the God of Iron Works, have also been found. A most interesting fact

Р