Such is the nature of the address from which we have made the preceding extracts; and feel assured that there is not a mine proprietor, agent, or adventurer, but who will laud, and, as we trust, follow the example thus set.

In conclusion, we will briefly advert to the "obligations" entered into by the members. In the first instance, the evil effects arising from frequenting alehouses are acknowledged, and the several members agree that until they shall have attained the age of thirty years they will not partake of any intoxicating liquors, such obligation being entered into as an example to others. It is provided that the meetings of the several classes be held at such places as may be approved by the Committee, each member paying a sum, to be determined upon, per month, and to be appropriated, with the several donations, subscriptions, and fines, to the purchase of books, writing or drawing materials, and other useful objects. At the annual meeting three members are chosen to form a local Committee, the several members of the "class" meeting one or two evenings in each week to read and write, as also to pursue any means of mutual instruction and improvement which may be recommended by the Committee. Any member may introduce a friend to the several weekly meetings of the "class," having previously obtained permission.

*

RECORDS OF ANCIENT MINING.

BY J. Y. WATSON, ESQ., F.G.S.

Ir is supposed (for we have no correct data) that copper was first found in Britain during its occupation by the Romans, brass-foundries having been erected by them in various parts of Britain, where their weapons of war and other articles were made. Ignorant of regular mining, and without the means of exploring far beneath the surface, the Pary's mine, in Anglesea, is generally believed to be that from which the Romans derived their ore; and this supposition is strengthened by the fact that, among the vestiges of ancient mining, one of the mountains is termed the "Roman work." The Pary's mine stands unparalleled for productiveness; and was worked out during the 17th century at a very trifling expense. The labour consisted in quarrying huge masses of ore, which rose to the surface of the ground on the summit of a hill, and for a prodigious extent exposed to the glare of day. The quantity

*Borlase Antiquities, lib. 3, cap. 13.

of copper which this single mine poured into the market for twelve years in succession, from 1773 to 1785, made such an impression as to lower the price of that metal throughout Europe; and nearly caused the ruin of all the poorer mines in England, and more particularly those of Cornwall. At last, however, the riches of Anglesea began to decline, and in the year 1791 the reduced produce of the Pary's, in conjunction with the ruin of some Cornish mines, raised the price of copper from £80 to £90, and in 1792 to £100 per ton. In 1796 the price reached £118, and in 1799, when the Pary's mountain was nearly exhausted, the price of copper rose to £128. In the height of its prosperity the annual produce of this mine was 3,000 tons of copper.

In the 13th century, Cumberland was the only part of Great Britain productive of copper of which there are any records. At Newlands, near Keswick, some rich veins of ore were worked about the year 1250, as appears from the close rolls of Henry III. Camden says of these copper works, " that they were not only sufficient for all England, but great quantities of copper were exported every year." It appears also from a charter granted to Keswick by Edward IV., about A.D. 1470, that that place was then famous for copper-works. Some of these works were again opened in Camden's time, and his commentator adds, "the works were destroyed, and the miners killed in the civil wars."

In the reigns of Henry VIII. and Edward VI. we find that several acts of parliament were passed, prohibiting the exportation of brass, copper, latten, bell-metal, gun-metal, &c. &c., under a penalty of forfeiting double the quantity exported.t The reason given being" lest there should not be metal enough left in the kingdom fit for making of guns and other engines of war, nor for household utensils."

Ecton Hill, in Staffordshire, was another spot where copper was produced in great abundance previous to the era of coppermining in Cornwall. Dr. Plot, who published his history in 1686, says it had been worked long before that period, as the ore appears to have been originally found very near the surface.

Edward IV., in the 8th year of his reign, granted all his copper-mines, containing gold and silver, in Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Northumberland, to Dodrick Waverswick; and Dr. Fuller, in his "Worthies of Cumberland," observes, "that, in taking the rich copper-mines from the Duke of Northumberland, at Keswick, it came to pass that this queen (Elizabeth) left more brass than she found iron ordnance in the kingdom." And in the 10th year of her reign, Plowden says, "She took from the Earl of Northumberland his rich copper-mines of Keswick, because of its holding so much silver and gold in the ore."

*Watson's Chemical Essays, vol. iv. p. 75.
† 21 Henry VIII. c. 10.

Boyle, in his "Useful Philosophy," says, " A friend of mine found, in his own land, a parcel of ore, which seemed to be copper. After fusion, it yielded very good copper; but the person to whom he committed the examination, being extraordinary skilful, found, besides the copper, a considerable quantity of silver, and in that silver a good portion of gold."

The grants made by Edward III. of the copper-mines in Northumberland, Cumberland, and Yorkshire; those of the same king, of all the gold and silver mines in Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Devonshire; those of Richard II., Henry IV., and Henry VI., of the same mines; a grant of Henry VI. to John Boatright, of all copper, tin, and lead, possessing gold and silver ; more especially the grant of Henry VII., who, in the first year of his reign, constituted the Duke of Bedford, and others, commissioners of all the mines, not only of gold and silver, but of tin, lead, and copper, in England and Wales, upon paying to the king the fifteenth part of the gold and silver, and to the lord of the soil the eleventh part; and also the grant of Queen Elizabeth, who, in the 6th year of her reign, granted all ores, mixed and compound, and all other metals, minerals, or treasures to be found in earth or ground in England, and the English pale in Ireland, with license to dig and search for the same, and build houses, &c. &c., for their own use (the disturbers of the grantees or their miners to be imprisoned for six months, without bail or mainprize), with power to take up and use all necessaries for their workings, and to fell timber, &c. &c.; "the queen to receive, for every hundredweight of gold ore, eight ounces of gold, and of the silver the twentieth part;". -were all very prejudicial to the progress of mining, and operated directly contrary to the intention and expectations of the Crown and grantees, who had the power, not only of seizing upon people's mines and working them, but of destroying their land and estates; for though there were clauses in several of the Crown grants, obliging the lessees to repair any damage done to the estates, the grantees seldom or never paid any attention to the proprietors of the land, but tore it up, sunk shafts, and made roads at their pleasure, and left the proprietors to their remedy; so that, instead of leading to the discovery of new veins, or the increase of the number of mines and workings upon those veins already known, these grants caused a general inactivity and stagnation, and mining in these counties became neglected.

In all the old grants of Queen Elizabeth to the incorporated society of Mines Royal," and also the society of" Mineral and Battery Works," which were confirmed by James I. to the Earl of Pembroke, Lord Cecil, and others, the counties of Cumberland, Westmoreland, Yorkshire, Lancashire, Devon, and Cornwall, and the principality of Wales, were granted, as being "the counties where gold and silver mines were most abundant."

An author of some experience in mining operations, in 1700, expresses his surprise" that more pains are not taken to search Essex for mines of different metals,"-and several learned people assert that the money which Cunobeline, Prince of the Trinobantes, coined at Camelodunum, in Essex, was drawn from a mine in that county. This is certainly a mistake, although some have appeared to believe it; and Agricola, in his work" De Re Metallicâ," p. 26, speaking of those parts, says, " Naturalia venarum signa observavi ;" but here he did not allude to the usual metalliferous deposits, but veins of ruddle and iron pyrites, some of the latter of which, it is possible, might occasionally produce very small quantities of gold.

Henry IV., in the 22nd year of his reign, having received information of a concealed gold-mine in Essex, commanded Walter Fitzwalter to "apprehend all persons concerned in concealing the said mine, and bring them before the king and his council, to receive what shall be ordered."—Tower Records, Rot. 34.

About 160 years since, two gold-mines were stated to have been discovered; one at Pollux Hill, in Bedfordshire, and the other at Little Taunton, in Gloucestershire. "The Society of Mines Royal seized them, and granted two leases of them to some refiners, who extracted some gold; but they did not go on with the work, as the gold sometimes would not repay or requite the charge of separation, though often it did."-Essay on Metallic Works.

Dr. Leigh, in his "History of Lancashire," page 82, says, "We have, in England, quantities of copper sufficient to supply all Europe. If the mines of copper ore were rightly managed, we should not import any copper." Also, page 82, "The right method of running the copper, which is got in the north, is by reducing the ore to a small powder, afterwards by wasting it, and then, by an addition of lixivial ashes, the ore, in a proper furnace, will run into a fourth part of malleable copper."

The Beacon Rake lead-vein, in Derbyshire, was wrought by the Romans with great advantage, and, several centuries after, it was partly reopened by an ancestor of the Duke of Rutland, who made very large profits from the workings, but was compelled to abandon them in consequence of the then prevailing ignorance of the geology or habitudes of the strata about the

mine.

Cwsumblock, in Cardiganshire, is stated to have been wrought by the Romans and Saxons, and afterwards, with great profit, by the Patentees of Royal Mines; and, after them, by "The Company of Mine Adventurers." The vein is now larger than ever, and now yields above sixty ounces of silver in a ton of lead. -Thiers' "Second Discourse."

The Greek and Roman miners were held in high estimation,

and the ancient civil law granted them many privileges, alleging, as a reason for so doing, that the miners were very useful and valuable to the public.

Queen Elizabeth, in the tenth year of her reign, by letters patent, discharged all miners, and all other persons occupied in finding, digging, and refining metals or minerals, from paying any taxes or impositions, and relieved them from serving on juries, and made them free from arrests.

The oldest mine in Europe productive of copper, although principally worked for copper, was that of Rammelsberg, near Goslar, in Lower Saxony, the history of which has been traced as early as the tenth century. The celebrated mine at Fahlur, in Sweden, was the first to enter into competition with the Rammelsberg in the supply of copper, and which event took place in the 12th century. The copper-mines of Thuringia were opened at the commencement of the 13th century, and during the 14th, 15th, and 16th the copper produced by these mines, and others of less note in Germany and Sweden, supplied the wants of all Europe.

Previous to the 17th century, few records exist of the production of copper in Cornwall. The first sale on record of copper ores was in 1729, when 2,216 tons were sold for the year; in 1730, 2,832 tons; in 1731, 2,555 tons; in 1732 only 1,714 tons; and in 1733 the quantity increased to 3,113 tons. Of these years no records exist to show the produce or per-centage of the ore, nor even of the quantity of ore raised from 1733 to 1764. In the latter year the quantity was 16,437 tons, yielding a produce of 11. The quantity raised kept gradually increasing from 1764 to 1773, in which latter year 27,654 tons were raised, yielding an average produce of 11 per cent. From 1773 to 1800 no records exist. In the latter year we find the quantity was 55,981 tons, yielding 5,187 tons of copper and £550,925. 1s. in money, average produce, 94, standard, £133. 3s. For ten years the quantity varied from 60,000 to 78,000 tons per annum; and in 1805 I find the standard was £169. 16s., with a produce of 74. This is the highest I can find, and was, I suppose, before the smelters could boast a monopoly. In 1822 the annual produce had reached 100,364 tons, yielding £638,715. 9s. 6d., produce, 8; standard, £106. 14s. In 1830, 141,263 tons, £802,979. 9s., produce, 81, standard, £103. 2s. In 1840, 147,266 tons, £792,758. 3s. 6d., standard, £108. 10s., produce 7. It will be observed that although in 1840 the quantity of ore raised was much greater, yet the money realized was much less than in 1830; indeed, it appears throughout the tables to which I have referred, that the quality of the ore deteriorated almost annually, for which I can only account by the supposition, that as the mines became deeper the ores became poorer. To bring these statistics to the present time, we find that in the year ending June 30, 1848, the quantity