the Manufaétures of Iron and Steel. 349 
Countries, for the ufe of the finithy, and other manufacturers 
requiring an intenfe and continued heat. Yet in England 
prejudices ran fo ftrong againft its application to the manu- 
faGturing of caft or malleable iron, that the projectors of 
this ufeful undertaking met with every obftacle which the 
narrow, unenlightened minds of the eftablifhed manufac- 
turers could devife. 
James granted feveral patents for the exclufive right of 
manufa¢turing iron with pit-coal. None of the projectors, 
however, were fuccefsful, till 1619, when Dudley fucceeded 
in making coak pig iron, though only at the {paring rate of 
3 tons per week. By this time many of the iron works were 
at a ftand for want of wood; the confequence was, an ad- 
vance on the price of iron: this. therefore rendered it a Ju- 
erative bufinefs to thofe manufaéturers whofe fupply of wood 
was ftill undiminifhed, and, of courfe, made them hoftile to 
any innovation whereby the prefent price of iron was likely to 
meet with a reduétion. 
This period of prejudice fo unfavourable to innovation in 
the iron bufinefs, was followed by one more general, and 
more calamitous for the nation. Amidft the diftra@tion oc- 
cafioned by civil war, neither innovation nor improvement 
could be expected. Patents however were granted to fome 
during the commonwealth for the exclufive manufa@ture of 
iron in the newway ; in one of which it was believed Crom~ 
well was a partner: thefe partly fthared the fame fate as 
did their predeceffors, and none fucceeded in eftablithing a 
manufactory either of extent or of certainty. In 1663 we 
find Dudley applying for his Jaft patent, and fetting forth, 
that at one time he was capable of producing 7 tons coak 
pig iron weekly, with an improved furnace 27 feet {quare, 
and bellows which oxe man could work for an hour without 
being much tired. 
It was not till impelled by neceffity, by the rapid decline 
of the annual growth of timber, that pit-coal became an ob- 
ject of univerfal eftimation, When the improvements on 
machinery 
