approaching nearer to that of Newcas tle. The national importance of the inexhaustible supply of this mineral which exists in Wales, is incalculable; but as it has already been alluded to in The Mirror, in an extract from Mr. Bakewell's Geology, we will not farther pursue the subject. While mentioning the trade of Swansea, we should not omit to state that two extensive potteries, tin and ironworks, and founderies, &c., and bonding warehouses and yards for foreign goods, &c. exist here. VYVIAN. Spirit of the Annuals. A FRENCH GENTLEMAN'S LETTER TO AN ད Cornwall; but occasionally they strike on a very rich lode (or vein) in that county. Last spring, some ore from the Penstruthal mine was ticketed at Truro, at the enormous price of 547. 14s. per ton; and a short time previous, in the Great St. George Mine, near St. Agnes, a lode was struck five feet thick, which was worth 201. a ton. There are only six other copper-works in the king dom besides those of Swansea, five of which are within fifteen miles of that town; the other is at Amlwch (in the isle of Anglesea), where the Marquess of Anglesea smelts the ore raised in his mines there. The annual import of ore into Swansea in 1812 was 53,353 tons; in 1819, 70,256 tons were brought coastwise besides which, several thousand tons of copper ore are imported from Аn my deer frend-I cannot feel the America every year. Since this period plaisir I expresse to come to your counthere has been a large increase. Most try charming, for you see. We are arof the ships which are freighted with rive at Southampton before yesterday at copper ore load back with coal, for the one hour of the afternoon, and we are Cornish and Irish markets. Of bitumi- debarked very nice. I never believe nous, in 1812, 43,529 chalders, and in you when at Paris, you tell me that the 1819, 46,457 chalders were shipped Englishwomen get on much before our coastwise, besides a foreign trade of women; but now I agree quite with about 5,000 chalders every year. Most you; I know you laughing at your of this goes to France, the French ves- countrywomen for take such long steps! sels coming here in ballast for this pur- My faith! I never saw such a mode to pose; but all coal shipped for abroad walk; they take steps long like the man! must be riddled through a screen com- Very pretty women! but not equal to posed of iron bars, placed three-eighths ours! White skins, and the tint fresh, of an inch apart, as it is literally almost but they have no mouths nor no eyes. dust. Great hopes are now entertained Our women have lips like rose-buttons, here that government will abolish the and eyes of lightning; the English have oppressive duty on sea-borne coal. In mouth wide like the toads, and their the stone-coal and culm* trade, Swansea eyes are like "dreaming sheeps," as one and Neath almost supply the whole of our very talented writers say, "moukingdom. Independent of foreign trade, ton qui rève." It is excellent, that. I 55,066 chalders of culm and 10,319 tons am not perceived so many English ladies of stone-coal were shipped coastwise in tipsy as I expect; our General Pilon 1819: last year the ports of Swansea say they all drink brandy; this I have and Neath shipped 123,000 chalders of not seen very much. I was very surprise stone-coal and culm. Stone-coal im- to see the people's hair of any colour proves in quality as it advances west but red, because all our travellers say ward. That of Milford, of which how there is no other hair seen, except red ever only about 6,000 chalders are or white! But I come here filled with annually exported, sells generally at candour, and I say I have seen some peofrom 50s. to 60s. per chaldron in the ple whose hair was not red. You tell London market-a price vastly exceed- me often at Paris, that we have no music ing the finest Newcastle coal. It emits in France. My dear friend, how you no smoke, and is used principally in are deceived yourself! Our music is lime-burning and in manufactories where the finest in the world, and the German an intense heat and the absence of smoke come after; you other English have no is required. The Swansea culm is mostly music; and if you had some, you have obtained about thirteen miles from the no language to sing with. It is necessary town. The bituminous coal mines in that you may avow your language is not the vale of Tawy are fast getting ex- useful for the purpose ordinary of the hausted, and the supply of coal must at world. Your window of shop are all no distant day be drawn farther west- filled at French names-" des gros de ward, near the Burry River, where the Naples," "des gros des Indes," "des quality of the coal is much improved, gros d'été," &c. If English lady go for * See Mirror, vol. xii. *The small of the stone-coal, We omitted the Conditions drawn up by the Provisional Government, (the baker, butcher, publican, &c.) in our account of the revolutionary stir, or as the march-of-mind people call a riot, "the ebullition of popular feeling," at Stoke Pogis. Here they are, worthy of any Vestry in the kingdom, Select or otherwise. "Conditions. demand, show me, if you please, sir, "1. That for the future, widows in Stoke Pogis shall be allowed their thirds, and Novembers their fifths. be held inviolable, and their persons "2. That the property of Guys shall respected. "3. That no arson be allowed, but all bon-fires shall be burnt by the common hangman. "4. That every rocket shall be allowed an hour to leave the place. "5. That the freedom of Stoke Pogis be presented to Madame Hengler, in a cartridge-box. any! I have nothing of more for say to you at present; but I am soon seeing you, when I do assure you of the eternal regard and everlasting affection of your much attached friend.-Comic Offering. HOOD'S COMIC ANNUAL. We have taken a slice, or rather, four cuts, from Mr. Hood's facetious volume. Their fun needs not introduction, for the effect of wit is instantaneous. To talk about them would be like saying "see how droll they are." "6. That the military shall not be called out, uncalled for. "7. That the parish beadle, for the time being, be authorized to stand no nonsense. "8. That his Majesty's mail be permitted to pass on the night in question. "9. That all animosities be buried in oblivion, at the Parish expense. "10. That the ashes of old bon-fires be never raked up. “ (Signed) SWAGSTAFF, High Con stable. WIGSBY." Our next quotations are two comicoserio Ballads: FRENCH AND ENGLISH. "Good Heaven! why even the little children I. NEVER go to France Unless you know the lingo, You will repent by jingo, And silent as a mummy, 11. ADDISON. Chaises stand for chairs, I'll tell you what's a good 'un, THE DUEL. A SERIOUS BALLAD. "Like the two Kings of Brentford smelling at one nosegay." IN Brentford town, of old renown, There lived a Mister Bray, Who fell in love with Lucy Bell, And so did Mr. Clay. To see her ride from Hammersmith, By all it was allowed, Such fair outsides are seldom seen, Such Angels on a Cloud. Said Mr. Bray to Mr. Clay, You choose to rival me, And court Miss Bell, but there your court Unless you now give up your suit, I who have shot a pigeon match, So pray before you woo her more, 'If you pop anght to Lucy Bell- Said Mr. Clay to Mr. Bray, Your threats I quite explode; One who has been a volunteer Knows how to prime and load. And so I say to you unless Your passion quiet keeps, I who have shot and hit bulls' eyes Now gold is oft for silver changed, But first they sought a friend a-piece, When they were dead, they thus should have To measure out the ground not long The seconds then forbore, They next prepared each pistol-pan Now all was ready for the foes,, But when they took their stands. Fear made them tremble so they found They both were shaking hands. Said Mr. C. to Mr. B., Here one of us may fall, And like St. Paul's Cathedral now, I do confess I did attach Misconduct to your name: If I withdraw the charge, will then Said Mr. B. I do agree But think of Honour's Courts! 'If we go off without a shot, There will be strange reports But look, the morning now is bright, We had call'd out the sun? So up into the barmless air Their bullets they did send; And may all other duels have That upshot in the end. We next quote brief illustrations of the Cuts on the opposite page. It may be observed that the articles themselves have but little esprit, and that, unlike most occasions, the wit lies in the wood. First is a Sonnet accompanying the cut "Infantry at Mess." "Sweets to the sweet-farewell."-Hamlet. Or tart-we all are tarters in our youth; Or honey, I could feast like any fly, I thrilled when lollipops were hawk'd about, How pleased to compass hardbake or bull's eye, How charmed if fortune in my power cast, Elecampane-but that campaign is past. "Picking his way" belongs to a day (April 17) in a "Scrape Book," with the motto of "Luck's all:" "17th. Had my eye pick'd out by a pavior, who was axing his way, he' didn't care where. Sent home in a hackney-chariot that upset. Paid Jarvis a sovereign for a shilling. My luck all over!" The Schoolmaster's Motto, accompanying "Palmam qui meruit ferat!" is too long for extract. The chief fun of the countryman and his Pigs lies in the cut. SPIRIT OF THE Public Journals. BUNYAN'S PILGRIM'S PROGRESS." Or the first appearance of this celebrated parable, Mr. Southey's diligence has preserved the following notices :"It is not known in what year the Pilgrim's Progress was first published, no copy of the first edition having as yet been discovered; the second is in the British Museum; it is "with additions," and its date is 1678; but as the book is known to have been written during Bunyan's imprisonment, which terminated in 1672, it was probably published before his release, or at latest immediately after it. The earliest with which Mr. Major has been able to supply me, either by means of his own diligent inquiries, or the kindness of his friends, is that "eighth e-di-ti-on" so humorously introduced by Gay, and printed-not for Ni-cho-las Bod-ding-ton, but for Nathanael Ponder, at the Peacock in the Poultrey, near the Church, 1682; for whom also the ninth was published in 1684, and the tenth in 1685. All these no doubt were large impressions.' ** "When the astonishing success of the Pilgrim's Progress had raised a swarm of imitators, the author himself, according to the frequent fashion of the world, was accused of plagiarism, to which he made an indignant reply, in what he considered as verses, prefixed to his Holy War.' Some say the Pilgrim's Progress is not mine, Insinuating as if I would shine In name and fame by the worth of another, Southey, however, has not mentioned a work in English, of Bunyan's own time, and from which, certainly, the general notion of his allegory might have been taken. The work we allude to is now before us, entitled, The Parable of the Pilgrim, written to a friend by Symon Patrick, D.D., Dean of Peterborough ;' the same learned person, well known by his theological writings, and successively Bishop of Chichester and Ely. This worthy man's inscription is dated the 14th of December, 1672; and Mr. Southey's widest conjecture will hardly allow an earlier date for Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, 1672 being the very year in which he was enlarged from prison. The language of Dr. Patrick, in addressing his friend, excludes the possibility of his having borrowed from John Bunyan's celebrated work. He apologizes for sending to his acquaintance one in the old fashioned dress of a pilgrim; and says he found among the works of a late writer, Baker's Sancta Sophia, a short discourse, under the name of a Parable of a Pilgrim ; 'which was so agreeable to the portion of fancy he was endowed with, that he presently thought that a work of this nature would be very grateful to his friends also. It appears that the Parable of a Pilgrim, so sketched by Dr. Patrick, remained for some years in the possession of the private friend for whom it was drawn up, until, it being supposed by others that the work might be of general utility, it was at length published in 1678.Before that year the first edition of the Pilgrim's Progress had unquestionably made its appearance; but we equally Like some made rich by robbing of their brother; acquit the Dean of Peterborough and Or that so fond I am of being Sire, I'll father bastards; or if need require, I scorn it; John such dirt-heap never was To shew why I my Pilgrim patronize. Mr. Southey has carefully examined this charge of supposed imitation, in which so much rests upon the very simplicity of the conception of the story, and has successfully shown that the tinker of Elstow could not have profited by one or two allegories in the French and Flemish languages-works which he could have had hardly a chance to meet with; which, if thrown in his way, he could not have read; and, finally, which, if he had read them, could scarcely have supplied him with a single hint. Mr. * Abridged from the paper on Southey's Life of Bunyan, in the last Quarterly Review. the tinker of Elstow from copying a thought or idea from each other. If Dr. Patrick had seen the Pilgrim's Progress he would, probably, in the pride of academic learning, have scorned to adopt it as a model; but, at all events, as a man of worth, he would never have denied the obligation if he had incurred one. John Bunyan, on his part, would in all likelihood have scorned, with his very heels,' to borrow anything from a dean; and we are satisfied that he would have cut his hand off rather than written the introductory verses we have quoted, had not his Pilgrim been entirely his own. Indeed, whosoever will take the trouble of comparing the two works which, turning upon nearly the same allegory, and bearing very similar titles, came into existence at or about the very same time, will plainly see their total dissimilarity. Bunyan's is a close and continued alle |