[ 222 ] 
cano's ; and the Specimina of them which 1 had by 
me being too fmall to offer, for Satisfaction of fo 
many Trials, as I know you would have been de- 
firous to put them to; and the Marcafites, I feared, 
alone might have been an Oblation too trivial for 
your Acceptance. Itfhall be my Endeavour, fo foon 
as the Weather fhall prove favourable, to tranfmic 
you (if poflible) a Quantity of each, fufficient to ex- 
periment on. 
The Fire at firft was occafioned by a Candle, ne- 
gligently placed by a Pitman, as he was working in a 
Pit about 30 Years ago. So fmall it was at firft Noticing, 
that Haifa Crown was denied Reward to one, who 
for that Price would have engaged to have extin- 
guish'd it: Now it has wafted Land and Mine, and 
grown fo furious, as no Hopes of its ceafing are con- 
ceived, before the Failure of its Fuel. 
The Grounds where it began belong to a Village 
called Benwell , about a Quarter of a Mile North- 
ward from the River Tyne ; whence, by a flow Pro^ 
grefs, and frequent Deviations Eaft and Weft, it 
marched Northward ; fometimes preying on the Coals 
nearer the Surface of the Earth, and then fubverting 
Houfes and Grounds lying over it; fometimes on the 
deeper Mines, and was confpicuous only by its Smoak 
and Fire in the Night. Now it rages, and has already 
caufed great Dcvaftation, in Grounds belonging to a 
Village called Fenham , near a Mile Northward from 
the Place where it firft was kindled. 
Its Eruptions at prefent are in many Places, and 
various Depths. I have, both laft Winter and this, 
infrofty Nights (for then it burns moft furioufly) oc- 
cafionally riding by, in near 20 Places, feen its 
Flames 
