century, has given to these whilome holy waters, an extenfive degree of utility. On its banks are erected battering mills for copper, a wire-mill, a coarfe paper-mill, a fnuff-mill, a foundery for brafs; and at this time à cotton manufactory is establishing, the success of which will be an extenfive bleffing to the neighbourhood.

Many relics or memorials, of ancient mining and fmelting, appear in the county of Flint. A tradition prevails, that in very old times, there ftood a large town at Atis-cross, a place about a mile diftant from the town of Flint. Here great quantities of feoria of lead, bits of lead-ore, and fragments of melted lead, have been difcovered in feveral spots; as well as in the adjoining parifh of Northop. Thefe have, of late, been obferved to contain fuch quantities of lead, as to encourage the washers of ore to farm the fpots. In this tract, many tons have been got within a small time; efpecially at Pentre FRWRN-DAN, or the Place of the Fiery Furnace, a name by which it has always been known, and which evince's the antiquity of fmelting in these parts; though this etymology was never confirmed, till these recent difcoveries were made.

The wedge, or pick-ax, as we learn from Pliny, was used by the ancients, for the purpose of procuring the ftone or ore, by infinuating them into cracks formed by firft heating the rock, and then fuddenly pouring cold water upon it. The Author was prefented with a wedge, that had probably been applied to this ufe, and which was found in working the deep figures of Dalar Goch rock, in the parish of Dyfert, in this county.This little inftrument,' fays the Author, affords a proof of its antiquity, by being almoft entirely incrufted with lead ore. It had probably lain in the courfe of fome fubterraneous stream, which had brought along with it the leaden particles, and depofited them on the iron.'-Pick-axes too-probably the Fracta ria of the Romans have been difcovered in the bottom of the mineral trenches.

Roman pigs of lead have been found in different parts of Britain. The Author defcribes three which he has feen; one of which was found in the county of Stafford, in the year 1771. It was buried four feet underground. Its length is twenty-two inches and a half; the weight 152 pounds, that is, only about two pounds heavier than our common pigs of lead. On the upper furface is a rim; within that, in raifed capitals, ftruck when the metal was hot, is this infcription; IMP. X VESP. x VII. × T. × IMP. × V. x Cos. of Imperatore Vefpafiano Septimum Tito Imperatore Quintum Confule : which answers to the year 75 or 76.

• Pliny, lib. 33. 6. 4•

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The Author alfo deferibes, and gives a drawing of a large mafs of copper, that had been caft likewife by the Romans,. which was found at Caer hen, the ancient Conarium; and which probably was fmelted from the ore of the Snowdon-hills, where lately much has been got.. It is fhaped like a cake of bees-wax, and weighs 42 pounds. In the middle of it, there is a deep concave impreffion, with the words SOCIO ROME: across thefe is imprefled obliquely, in fmaller letters, Natfol. Mr. Pennant conjectures, that poffibly Nat. may ftand for Natio, or the people who paid this fpecies of tribute; and Sol for Solvit, that being the ftamp-mafter's mark; and that the cakes thus ftamped, might have been bought up by a merchant refident in Britain, and configned Socio, ROME, or to his Partner, at Rome,

The Author's defcription of the fingular structure of the principal ftrects in the city of Chester, and his conjecture on the fubject, may perhaps be acceptable to our readers:

The form of the city evinces the origin to have been Roman, being in the figure of their camps; with four gates; four principal ftreets; and variety of leffer croffing the others at right angles, dividing the whole into leffer fquares. The walls, the precincts of the prefent city, mark the limits of the ancient. No part of the old walls exift; but they flood, like the modern, on the foft free. ftone rock, high above the circumjacent country, and escarpée on every front.

The ftructure of the four principal ftreets is without parallel. They run direct from east to west, and north to fouth; and were excavated out of the earth, and funk many feet beneath the furface. The carriages are driven far below the level of the kitchens, on a line with ranges of fhops; over which, on each fide of the streets, paffengers walk from end to end, fecure from wet or heat, in gal leries (or rows, as they are called) purloined from the firft floor of each house, open in front and baluftraded. The back-courts of all thefe houses are level with the rows; but to go into any of these four streets, it is neceffary to defcend a flight of feveral steps.

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Thefe rows appear to me to have been the fame with the ancient veftibules; and to have been a form of building preserved from the time that the city was poffeffed by the Romans. They were built before the doors, midway between the streets and the houses; and were the places where dependents waited for the coming out of their patrons, and under which they might walk away the tedious minutes of expectation. Plautus, in the third act of his Meftella, defcribes both their fituation and ufe:

Viden' vestibulum ante ædes, et ambulacrum ejufmodi ?

The fhops beneath the rows were the crypta and apothecæ, magazines' for the various neceffaries of the owners of the houses.

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The streets were once confiderably deeper, as is apparent from the fhops, whofe floors lie far below the prefent pavement. In dig

* De fignif. vocab. Vitruv."

ging

ging foundations for houfess the Roman pavement is often discovered at the depth of four feet beneath the modern. The leffer freets and alleys, which run into the principal ftreets, were floped to the bottoms of the latter, as is particularly vifible in Bridge Street; but these are deftitute of the galleries or rows.

It is difficult to affign a reafon for thefe hollowed ways. An antient hiftorian mentions the existence, in his days, of certain' vaults and paffages, of which not a trace, nor even the leaft memory is left, notwithstanding the most diligent fearch and enquiries have been made. In this cite, fays the author of the Polychronicon, ben ways under erthe, with vowtes and ftone-werke wonderly wrought; thre chambred werkes. Grete ftones I grave with olde mennes names therin. There is alfo JULIUS CEZAR's name wonderly in flones grave, and other noble mennes names also, with the wrytynge about; meaning the altars and monumental infcriptions: but he probably mistakes the name of Julius Cæfar for that of Julius Agricola; to whom, it is reafonable to fuppofe, fome grateful memorial was erected. Unlefs these hollowed ftreets were formed by the void left after the deAtruction of thefe great vaults, I can no more account for their formation, than for the place which thofe antient Souterrains occupied. None have ever been difcovered, by the frequent finking of cellars for new buildings on the fite of the old; tradition has delivered no fuch accounts to us; nor is their exit to be traced beneath the walls in any part of their circumference. The only vaults now known, are of a middle age, and which belonged either to the hotels of the great men, or to the religious houfes difperfed through the city.'

Toward the clofe of his Tour, the Author gives a very full and entertaining account of the ancient and fingular mufical establishments in this country. Caerwys, in particular, a town now mouldering away with age, was the place where the feffions of the bards and minstrels had been held, for many ages. It was, in fhort, the principal feat of the British Olympics None but bards of merit were fuffered to rehearse their pieces, and minstrels of skill, to perform. These went through a longprobation; judges were appointed to decide on their respective abilities, and different kinds of degrees were conferred, and permiffions granted for exercifing their respective faculties. And although Edward I. exercifed a political cruelty over the generation of bards of his time; yet the crown, our Author obferves, thought fit afterwards, to revive an institution so well adapted to foften the manners of a fierce people. Our princes nominated the judges, who decided not only on the merit, but on the fubject likewife of the poems; and, like our modern Lord Chamberlains, would take care to licence fuch only as were agreeable to the English court.

On this occafion, the Author gives us a copy (the original of which is in the poffeffion of Sir Roger Moftyn) of a commiffion iffued by Queen Elizabeth, empowering and requiring the perfons therein named, to hold one of these musical feffions; and ordering

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ordering all and every person and perfons, "that intend to maynteigne theire lyvings by name or color of Mynftrells, Rithmers, or, Barthes,"-to appear before them on the day and in the place appointed," to fhew their learnings accordingly." You are required likewife,' fays the commiffion, to repair to the faid place, and calling to you fuch expert men in the said facultie of the Wellhe mufick, as to you shall be thought convenient to

pceade to thexecuçon of the pmifs, and to admytt fuch and fo many as by your wifdomes and knowledges you fhall fynde worthy into and und the degrees heretofore in semblable fort, to ufe exercife and folowe the fcyences and facultes of theire pfeffyons in fuch decent ord as shall apptaigne to each of theire degrees, and as yor difcrecons and wifdomes fhall pfcribe unto

them, gave straight monycons and comaundm' in or name and on of behalf to the reft not worthy that they returne to some honeft labor and due exercife, fuch as they be moft apte unto for mayntenaunce of their lyvings, upon paine to be taken as fturdy and idle vacaboundes, &c.

A poetical and mufical feffion was held in confequence of this commiffion; and the Author gives us the names of all thofe who received their degrees. The degrees in the poetical faculty were four; and thofe in the mufical were five. The Reader will, perhaps be amused, by our prefenting him with the numbers, at least, and titles of the refpective graduates in both faculties.

Four pefons were created Chief Bards of Vocal Song; feven others, Primary Students of Vocal Song; three more, Secondary, and three others, Probationary Students of the fame. Of the candidates for degrees in inftrumental mufic, in the first place, on the Harp, were created three Chief Bards and Teachers of Inftrumental Song; five, Chief Bards (but not Teachers); four, Primary Students; five, Secondary Students; and three, Probationary Students, of Inftrumental Song. The degrees refpecting the Crwth, the other mufical inftrument, are of the fame denomination with the five preceding, and were conferred on twenty-one perfons. We omit the titles these graduates received in the Welsh tongue; except that of Pencerdd, which defigned one of these chiefs of the faculty he was candidate in, and who only could affume the office of an inftructor. The chief of our days,' fays the Author, is that uncommon genius, the blind Mr. John Parry of Rhiwabon, who has had the kingdom for his Cylch Glera, or musical circuit, and remains unrivalled.'

• Every Pencerdd was allowed to take in difciples for a certain fpace of time, but not above one at a time. A difciple was not

qualified

qualified to make another. Each was to be with his teacher during Lent, unlefs prévented by ficknefs or imprisonment, under pain of lofing his degree. He was obliged to fhew every compofition to his teacher before it was publicly fung. They were not to follow the practice of cler y dom, i. e. dunghill bards and muficians, or any other fpecies of vagabond minstrels. They were enjoined a month before each festival, to settle their routs with their respective teachers, leaft too many of them should crowd to the fame places; only one being allowed to go to a perfon who paid ten pounds a year rent; and two to fuch who payed twenty pounds, and so on in proportion to those of higher rank: and every teacher was obliged to keep a copy of thefe rules, to thew and inculcate to his pupils in time of Lent, when they came for their inftructions.

'No perfon was to mimic, mock, or scoff at the Awenyddion on account of their mental absence, or when they had on them the AWEN or poeticus furor; from an opinion that no bard, duly authorized, could ever meditate on improper fubjects.'

It were devoutly to be wifhed, that fome of the following regulations, refpecting the Welsh poetical graduates, could be properly enforced to keep our prefent poetical Mohawks in a little order.— They were prohibited from uttering any scandalous words in speech or whispers; detra...n, mocking, fcoffing, inventing lies, or repeating them after others, under pain of fine and imprisonment.' Nay, they were abfolutely forbid to make a song of any person without his consent.'

The readers of tours will perhaps think, that the Author has enlarged too much, and too frequently, on genealogies, defcents of property, &c.: but it should be confidered, that his Tour comprehends a kind of Provincial Hiftory, of the counties through which he paffes. It must be remembered likewife, that our traveller is treading upon Welsh ground; and that he is himself a Cambrian, and accordingly may juftly claim some indulgence, if he should be thought to have been fomewhat toọ copious on the fubject of pedigrees and fucceffions.

ART. X. An Inquiry into the original State and Formation of the Earth; deduced from Fals and the Laws of Nature! To which is added an Appendix, containing fome general Óbfervations on the Strata in Derbyshire, &c. By John Whitehurst. 4to. 12 s. Boards, Robinfon. 1778.

UR learned Readers are well acquainted with the various and, fome of them fufficiently whimsical theories, which have been invented by fpeculative philofophers, with a view, principally to account for the fingular appearances that this globe exhibits on and beneath its furface; and to difcover the causes of the great changes that an examination of its various Arata prove it to have undergone, in times far antecedent to ali written hiftory and tradition. The ingenious Author of this production D 3

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