tions on literary patronage, and remarked, that there had been three distinct kinds of patronage afforded to literary men. The patronage of the great and wealthy, which was prevalent previous to the days of Dryden and Pope. The patronage of the booksellers, which extended from the times of Dryden and Pope to our own boyhood; and lastly, the patronage of the public, which was the most important, as the growing taste for lite rature was now becoming so extensive, that a worthless book was soon forgotten, while one that commended itself to the feelings and sympathies of mankind lived in their estimation; therefore, if the audience wished to know the character of a book, the best way was to read it: The Doctor closed the lecture with some very appropriate remarks relative to the Institution, as a means for the further cultivation of literature; and referred his audience to a large map of Europe and Asia, on which he pointed out the various spots where literature had flourished: he particularly directed the attention of his auditory to Greece, a spot that could scarcely be seen on the map; yet by its literature, that country had raised for itself an imperishable monument of greatness, and by this means far eclipsed the surrounding nations. He then briefly adverted to the evils that had been associated with literature, and put the inquiry, that if the case could be made out that more evil than good had resulted from literature, should we abandon it? No: let us rather increase the good, that it may overcome the evil. But it was well known that it could not be made out, and therefore we should go on increasing the good, and diminishing the evil; yea, using the weapons of the enemy against himself, and in this respect, as well as every other, "England expects every man to do his duty."

COAL MINES.

EVERY trade and profession has certain significant technicalities belonging to itself, which students find to constitute their chief difficulty on entering upon the study of them. The terms employed in music are at this day so numerous, that a volume has of late been published explanatory of its hundreds of phrases. If the law has its thousand, physic is embarrassed with its ten thousand. Descending from profession, we find every trade in like manner furnished with its own peculiar phrases and words. The miner has, perhaps, if not so great a multitude, yet as great a singularity in the phrases employed by him, as any of the foregoing. As soon as you enter a pit, your ear is assailed by volleys of words, which till then had never fallen on the auscultatory nerve.—“ -"Blowers," and "brattices," "drifts dam-doors," "intake," along with a hundred other mining terms, constantly salute you; so that, were it

not for the plain English words interspersed between, you might imagine yourself amongst a modern tribe of unintelligible Troglodytes. Yet there are some phrases of this modus loquendi which are more comprehensive, if not more poetical than the preceding. One phrase certainly flavours of refinement, and resembles the Greek method of personifying inanimate objects, and enduing stock and stone with powers of utterance and vocability. Thus, sometimes when the free circulation of the air is stopped, it naturally at such times passes by the nearest passage to the furnace, seeking to relieve itself at every crevice it can find. These stoppages are termed "callings," because if an interruption has taken place anywhere, the stopping begins to sing or call, that is, gives indication of an interruption in the air-course, and so does every stopping in the same line, all of them making a whistling noise; and the. instant such an effect is discovered, the party discovering it, calls," Holloa, there is something wrong, the doors are 'calling.' Many other instances might be adduced of, similar verbal peculiarities, the foregoing however serves as a specimen.

It appears that in some coal-mines the labour is unusually difficult, and instances have been known where men have rather thrust themselves where danger was momentarily impending, so that they might work with comparative ease. What are termed the "fiery pits," are those where danger is imminent, and where in five minutes the breath of life may be remedilessly taken away. Thus a workman has been known to go from a pit that was not fiery into one that was fiery; exclaiming at the same time, "I would rather be working at the other pit than at this, for it is such hard work": the coal being hard and gritty, and dreadfully difficult to work: but it was far less dangerous than the other, in consequence of being bad coal: he said, therefore, he would rather work in the fiery pit on account of the ease with which he worked than in the safe pit.

One of the most dangerous things attendant on an explosion in a mine, is the great quantity of carbonic acid gas which is left behind. It is rarely that a light can be kept in on its approach. Sometimes too it is so abundant, that, in the course of an hour, thousands of yards of space are filled with this gas. In parts of a mine strongly ventilated, black damp may be seen running in a parallel line close by the air-course, where it travels so rapidly, that no workman can keep a candle in. If a workman accidentally place his head less than a yard from the free current, he is almost sure to fall a victim to it, if not immediately removed. When a miner has been struck by the black-damp, they immediately run him to the air-pit or shaft, place him in the basket, and have him wound

It is a remarkable fact, affirmed by miners, that coal at the pit's mouth burns a great deal more freely and brilliantly, and the combustion is much better, than after they have had sea-voyages, as is the case with coals brought for instance from the North of England to this metropolis. This arises from the moisture of the coal. If all coal were to be dried in ovens, it would exhaust much the bitumen which it contains; it does not burn so freely and powerfully unless there is a bulk of it. One single coal will not burn at all; put two together and they assist each other; they reflect their own heat, and give it out to each other; but if these two coals are perfectly dry they will not burn so well. If coal for domestic use is put partly into a damp cellar and partly into a dry cellar, it will burn very differently in the same house, and the bitumen of

by water or dampness. This best preserved

TO

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* The raised portcullis arch they pass, 991/Tlie wicket with its bars of brass,

hithe entrance long and low;

at each turn by loopholes strait, Where bowmen might in ambush wait, ode1f force or fraud should burst the gate,) Taline To gallan entering foe, Lord of the Isles.

The figure of this ancient engine of military defétice is rendered familiar to every inhabitant of the metropolis as the armorial emblem of the City of Westminster; and from its constant occurrence among the decorations of edifices built or repaired by the Lancastrian monarchs, (whose badge it also formed, in allusion to the sovereignty of Castile, assumed by John of Gaunt,) as at Henry the Seventh's Chapeloos alime & to bus front Its existence may be traced from a very remofe period and so extensively was it employed in the middle ages, down to the latest period of the fendal system, that most of the Castles remaining in this country, and other parts of Europe, furnish instances of its use. The name is a mere corruption of the

ansyytecod.vd.ston ried to French porte coulisse, signifying a door sliding in a grove of which the Tower of London affords more than one example, where the ponderous frame, iron, may be partly below the arch in the manner shown in the WB in the accompanying cut, which represents the portal of Rochester Castle, sketched during a recent visit to that viewed from august and venerable ruin. It is the interior of a smailer tower the on north side of the keep forming says Mr. Britton, a sort of vestibule to the chief entrance doorway to the first floor, and this is approached by a flight of steps, commencing at the western side, and returning round the corner. This part, as well as every otle: portion of the towero was calculated to afford advantage and security to its inhabitants: for at the time of its erection, kings, bi-hops, barons, and all classes of Society, were perpetually engaged in warfare, either foreign or domestic. Thus we find, on a careful exami

e its teeth of jagged

* Vide Britton's Dictionary, a most valuable work on the etymology and application of ancient terms.

nation of this fortress, that its walls, doors, windows, as well as the external stairs of ap. proach, were designed and constructed to repelwassailants, and to protect the inha bitants. but vodyad com

The first ascent was by a flight of twelve or thirteen steps, leading round the north-west angle, to an arched doorway, beneath which a flight of seven steps led forward to a drawbridge, that connected with the arched gate way to the entrance tower: this opened into the vestibule, between which and the keep there were no other avenues of communication than by a third arched passage in the thick ness of the wall. This latter inlet to the body of the keep, was defended by a massive door and portcullis, the hinges and grooves of which remain; and in the roof are openings for the purpose of showering missiles on the heads of assailants. The portcullis, of which the windlass and attendants were concealed, seems to have been applicable rather as a precautionary device against surprise, (as the entrance could be thus closed when it might have been impossible to shut the gates,) than as a permanent barrier, it being inferior, in point of resistance to external force, to the solid studded gate, with its "beam, and bolt, and chain." which is in most instances found in connection with it. The ruse-de-guerre by which the castle of Linlithgow was forced by Binnock, a partizan of Brace, in the early part of the fourteenth century, af fords, in the language of Sir Walter Scott, a well-drawn portrait of the warfare of the period. "Accustomed to supply the garrison with forage, Binnock concealed eight armed Scots in his wain, which was apparently loaded with hay. He employed a strong-bodied bondsman to drive the waggon, and he himself walked beside it, as if to see his commodity safely delivered. When the cart was in the gateway, beneath the portcullis, Binnock, with a sudden blow of an axe which he held in his hand, severed the harness which secured the horses to the wain. Finding themselves relieved from the draught, the horses sprang forward, Binnock shouted a signal word, and at the same time struck down the porter with his axe. The armed men started from their concealment among the hay the English attempted to drop the portcullis, or shut the gate; but the loaded wain prevented alike the fall of the one and the closing of the other. A party of armed Scots, who lay in ambush waiting the event, rushed in at the shout of their companions, and the castle was theirs."

Still further ingenuity would, however, have been required in some cases, as at Warwick Castle, which had two portcullises, at a considerable distance from each other; and at Carnarvon there were four.

Coningsbro' Castle has been remarked as a singular instance of the omission of the port

It should be premised, that several members of the royal family, and particularly the Prince of Wales, had pressed Sheridan to the books of the Theatrical Fund, in order procure the insertion of Delpini's name in Sheridan did all in his power to promote the to secure a provision for his old age. Mr. object in question; but one grand difficulty was started in the course of the negociation, move:-this was, that as Mr. Delpini was which even his influence could not well remerely a clown, he could not be admitted; for the laws of the society forbade relief to any but such as were accustomed to speak on the stage. A remedy, however, was at length suggested, viz.:-that a few words should be written in the forthcoming pantomime, for Delpini to repeat; and thus he Kembles of the day. was to rank among the Garricks and the

The words in question were only three in number; and they were to be uttered by Delpini in the character of a Magician, at the instant that Harlequin and Columbine were in the act of embracing: they were"Pluck them asunder!"

but more so with the importance of his new Big with the expectation of his pension, character, Delpini repeated the above short sentence on every occasion, for several weeks, and with every possible variety of

accent and intonation.

There was not a performer in the theatre whom he did not apply to to hear him re hearse his part; so that, at length, every one voted him a complete bore.

The gentleman whose applause he was most anxious to obtain was Mr. Kemble; and, whenever he met him behind the scenes, in the passages, or in the green-room, he caught hold of him by the arm, or by a button, and held him fast, until he had repeated the important words with suitable gesture and action.

One night, as Kemble was standing beside the wing, helmeted and buskined as Coriolanus, and, with truncheon in hand, prepar ing to lead the Volsci forth to battle, Del