The various branches of TRADE and MANUFACTURES, carried on in Newcastle and its extenfive liberties. This department claims a large proportion of our work, and highly merits our chief regard. In general, to use the words of Faujas Saint Fond, member of the National Inftitute of France, “Newcastle is fituated on the beautiful river Tyne, which is frequently covered with veffels, and bordered on the right and left with manufactures of every kind, down as far as its mouth which is about ten miles from the town. This charming river is rendered highly interesting by the number and variety of thefe nurseries of manufactures. On the one hand, are feen brickfields, chymical works for making red and white lead, vitriol, &c. On the other, manufactories in iron, lead, &c. "This multitude of establishments, rifing oppofite to one another, diffufes every where fo much activity and life, if I may use the expreffion, that the age is agreeably astonished, and the foul feels a lively fatisfaction in contemplating fuch a magnificent picture. Humanity (continues this great philofopher,) rejoices to see so many useful men finding eafe and happiness in a labour (viz. the coal trade) which fo extensively contributes at the fame time to the enjoyments and comforts of others; and in the laft refult, to the agrandizing and enriching of the government, which watches over the safety of the whole. Compare this honourable induftry with that difgraceful indolence, and diftinguishing mifery which are to be feen in Roman Catholic countries, where pernicious laws permit a great portion of the population to be buried in monaftic inftitutions; and it will foon be discovered how much government and religion influence the happiness of mankind. "The numerous coal-mines," adds Saint Fond, “in the neighbourhood of Newcastle, form not only immenfe magazines of fuel for the reft of England, but are alfo the fource of an extenfive and profitable fo+ reign commerce. "Veffels loaded with coal, for London and the various ports of England, fail daily from hence. "Befides this commerce, the navigation which refults from the working of the coal-mines, gives an incalculable advantage to the British navy. The coal-trade forms a great nursery of feamen; and in times of war, many coal veffels have been armed as letters of marque, and done much injury to the common enemy. In this practical fchool of feamanship, men accustomed to every kind of danger are to be found. "The celebrated Cook begun his naval career as a failor in the coal trade. His enterprifing and active genius foon raised him to the command of a vessel. He afterwards purchafed a fhip on his own account, and difplayed fo much skill and courage in the midst of the greateft danger, when he as it were fubdued the elements; and although young, acquired a very high reputation among his brother feamen. He afterwards entered into the royal navy, when he received from the British government that encouragement which he fo justly merited. This aftonishing navigator, failed three times round the world, and enriched geography, natural hiftory, and navigation, with great and valuable discoveries. The modeft ha bitation bitation where this illuftrious feaman was born, is preserved with pious veneration." Such were the general obfervations that this excellent and intelligent perfon made on the trade and manufactures of Newcastle about ten years ago, while refiding a fortnight in the town. When we come to delineate the various branches of business carried on here, we will meet with fome of his more detailed and particular remarks. We fhall begin our account with THE COAL-TRADE. How bountiful is providence to man! The air, the fea, the earth, harmoniously contribute to his convenience, and his comforts. But this benignity of the Creator is diffused over the univerfe, not in a blind, indifcriminating diftribution, but a beauteous arrangement is held forth to the eye of contemplation, confpicuoufly marking all the works of the Creator's hand! And this is in no region of the univerfe more confpicuously difplayed, than in the world which we inhabit. How numerous, how various, and yet how ufeful, are the productions of nature on the furface, and in the bowels of the earth! And if Golconda, in the eastern regions of the world, boafts of its diamonds, its emeralds, and fapphires; if the mountain Potofi pours forth its fhining ores in the weft, the frozen regions of the north can produce their iron, their tin, their lead, and their coal; which productions of nature, by the aid of navigation, eafily fecure the poffeffion of all the others. It is remarkable, that the word "coal," fo familiar to us, has, with little variation, been adopted, as the name of that useful mineral, by the Hebrews, the Greeks, Greeks, and particularly, as expreffed in the feveral dialects of the north. This foffil, grim in its appearance, fays the poet, Is from its prifon, brought and fent abroad Of coal, that black, fulphureous, inflammable matter, dug out of the earth, and at prefent the common fuel of most of Europe, as well as of other parts of the globe, confidered as a genus, there are various fpecies: the chief of which, according to the late ingenious profeffor, Dr. Black, are common coal, fat, or blacksmith's coal, and Kilkenny coal. Common coal, fays the fame philofopher, burns with a bright hot flame. Parrot is diftinguished by producing a more copious bright flame than common coal. It has alfo a clofer texture, admitting a polifh, and is often turned into punch-bowls, falt-fellers, toys, &c. Common coal has a much loofer texture, and is divided into maffes by numerous cracks and flaws, fo that it generally breaks into lumps of a cubical figure. Blackfmith's coal gives not lefs flame, but undergoes a fort of fufion, and unites into maffes, forming a cinder, which is afterwards capable of producing a violent heat. It is highly valued, becaufe perfectly free from fulphur. Kilkenny coals burn like charcoal, with a bright, transparent, blue flame, like that of fpirit of wine, and without any appearance of fmoke, leaving only a very fmall quantity of afhes. There is, however, a volatile vapour, probably fixed air, which rifes from t, and gives a difagreeable smell in the houfes where it is used. There are many ftrata of it in the west of Scotland. It is owing to that Providence, ever attentive to the wants of man, that this mineral is found in moft countries of Europe. Confiderable coal mines are found in France, Liege, Germany, and Sweden. Alfo on the other fide of the Atlantic ocean, coal has been discovered and wrought in Newfoundland, Cape Breton, Canada, and fome of the New England provinces. But in all thefe countries, the coal is of a quality much inferior (fay the learned compilers of the Encyclopædia Britannica Edinburgenfis, &c.) to that of Britain; and we feel fome pride in adding, to thofe of Newcastle. "Coal (fays Mr. Brand) of whatever kind, according to the hypothefis of the abovementioned ingenious profeffor of chymistry, and many other refpectable writers and philofophers, as well of our own as of foreign nations, is of vegetable origin: all the ftrata of which are either the great collections of trees compacted together, or large forefts thrown down by decay of time, and afterwards buried by fome of the. more violent changes to which the globe is liable, or other inflammable fubftances charred, perhaps, by the fubterraneous fires, and incorporated with fulphur and bitumen" This ingenious hypothefis we do not prefume to controvert; nor do we forget the obfervation of the Abderites, who fent a phyfician with a dofe of hellebore to Democritus the philofopher, who was drawing his anagrams and geometrical figures of the component parts of the univerfe ;--- 1 "What art thou doing, O Democritus; man was not. made to construct, but to cultivate the earth."---So 3 K 2 we |