SB4 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1S04. 



" knockers pumping, driving a 

 " vvheel-barrovv, kc. : but there is 

 " no pump in the work, nor any 

 " mine within less than a mile of it, 

 " in which there are pumps coa- 

 " stanLly ^going. If they were these 

 " pumps that they heard, why were 

 " they never heard but. that once in 

 " the space of a year ? And why 

 " are they not now heard ? Bat 

 "• the pumps make so little noise, 

 •"• that they cannot be heard in the 

 •* other end of Esgairy Mwvn mine 

 •' when they are at work. 



'" We have a dumb and deaf 

 '' tailor in this neighbourhood, who 

 '' has a particular language of his 

 •■' own ; by signs, and by practice I 

 " can understand him, and make 

 '• him understand me pretty well; 

 '• and I am sure 1 could make him 

 *' learn to write, and be understood 

 '• by letters very soon, for he can 

 '^ distinguish men already by the 

 '' letters of their names. i\'o« Ict- 

 " ters are marks to convey ideas, 

 " just after the same manner as the 

 " motions of fingers, hands, eyes, 

 •' tVc. If this man had really seen 

 *' ore in the bottom of a sink of 

 " water in a mine, and wanted to 

 *•' tell me how lo come at it, he 

 ^' Mould take two sticks like a 

 " pump, and would make the mo- 

 " tions of a pumper at the very 

 *' sink where he knew the ore was ; 

 " and woidd make the motions of 

 '^ driving a wheel-barrow. And 

 " what I should infer from thence 

 *' would be, that I ought to take 

 " out the water, and sink, or drive 

 '' in the place, and wheel tlie stuff 

 " out. Hy parity of reasoning, 

 " the language of the knockers 

 *' by imitating the sound of pump. 

 " ing, wheeliag. i:c. signilios that 

 " we should take out the water, 

 " and drive there. This is the opi- 



" nion of all old miners, who pre- 

 " tend to understand the language 

 " of tlie knockers. Our agent 

 " and manager, upon the strength 

 " of this notice, goes on and ex- 

 '• pects great things. You, and 

 " every body that is not convinced 

 " of the being of knockers^ will 

 " laugh at these things, for they 

 " sound like dreams ; so does every 

 " dark science. Can you make 

 " any illiterate man believe that it is 

 " possible to know the distance of * 

 " rwo places by looking at them ? ! 

 " Human knowledge is but of small 

 " extent, its bounds are within our 

 " view, we see nothing beyond 

 " these ; the great universal crea- 

 " tion contains powers, &c. that we \ 

 " cannot so much as guess at. May 

 " there not exist beings, and vast 

 " powers, infinitely smaller than the 

 " particles of air, to whom air is as 

 " liard a body as a diamond is to 

 " us? Why not? There is nei- 

 " ther great nor small, but by com- 

 '■ parison. Our knockers are some 

 " of these powers, the guardians of 

 " mines. 



" You remember the story in Sel- 

 " den's Tabie-Talk, of Sir Robert 

 " and others disputi?ig about Mo- 

 " ses's shoe. Lady Cotton came 

 " in, and asked, ' Gentlemen, are 

 " ) ou sure it is a shoe?' So the 

 " first thing is, to convince mankind 

 " that there is a set of creatures, a 

 " degree or so finer than we are, to 

 ^' whom we have given the name of 

 " knockers, from the sounds w« 

 " hear in our mines. This is to be 

 " done by a collection of their as- 

 "• sertions well attested; and that is 

 " what I have begun to do, and 

 " then let every one judge for him- 

 " self.'' 



" These letters are curious, 

 though -the reasoning is far from 



conclusive. 



