140 
PROGRESS TO THE MINES. 
is stopped close with a moveable stone shutter, which he removes so soon 
as he perceives, through the peep holes, that the iron is melted. The inside 
of the oven is lined with soft bricks, made of Sturbridge or Windsor clay, 
because no other will endure the intense heat of the fire. And over the 
floor of the oven they strew sand taken from the land, and not from the 
water side. This sand will melt the second heat here, b,ui that which they 
use in England will bear the fire four or five times. The potter is also 
obliged to plaster over his ladles with the same sand moistened, to save 
them from melting. Here are two of these air furnaces in one room, that 
so in case one wants repair, the other may work, they being exactly of the 
same vStructure. The chimneys and other outside work of this building are 
of free-stone, raised near a mile off, on the colonel’s own land. And were 
built by his servant, whose name is Kerby, a very complete workman. This 
man disdains to do any thing of rough work, even where neat is not required, 
lest any one might say hereafter, Kerby did it. The potter was so com- 
plaisant as to show me the whole process, for which 1 paid him and the other 
workmen my respects in the most agreeable way. There was a great deal 
of ingenuity in the framing of the moulds, wherein they cast the several 
utensils, but without breaking them to pieces, I found there was no being let 
into that secret. The flakes of iron that fall at the mouth of the oven are 
called geets, which are melted over again. The colonel told me, in my ear, 
that Mr. Robert Cary, in England, was concerned with him, both in this and 
his other iron works, not only to help support the charge, but also to make 
friends to the undertaking at home. His honour has settled his cousin, Mr. 
Greame, here as postmaster, with a salary of sixty pounds a year, to reward 
him for having ruined his estate while he was absent. Just by the air fur- 
nace stands a very substantial wharf, close to which any vessel may ride in 
safety. After satisfying our eyes wfith all these sights, we satisfied our 
stomachs with a sirloin of beef, and then the parson and I took leave of the 
colonel, and left our blessing upon all his works. We took our way from 
thence to major Woodford’s, seven miles off, who lives upon a high hill that 
affords an extended prospect. On which account it is dignified with the 
name of Windsor. There we found Rachel Cocke, who stayed with her sister 
some time, that she might not lose the use of her tongue in this lonely place. 
We were received graciously, and the evening was spent in talking and 
toping, and then the parson and I were conducted to the same apartment, 
the house being not yet finished. 
5th. The parson slept very peaceably, and gave me no disturbance, so I 
rose fresh in the morning, and did credit to the air by eating a hearty break- 
fast. Then major Woodford carried me to the house where he cuts tobacco. 
He manufactures about sixty hogsheads yearly, for which he gets after the 
rate of eleven pence a pound, and pays himself liberally for his trouble. The 
tobacco he cuts is long green, which, according to its name, bears a very 
long leaf, and consequently each plant is heavier than common sweet-scented 
or Townsend tobacco. The worst of it is the veins of the leaf are very large, 
so that it loses its weight a good deal by stemming. This kind of tobacco 
is much the fashion in these parts, and Jonathan Forward (who has great 
interest here) gives a good price for it. This sort the major cuts up, and 
has a man that performs it very handily. The tobacco is stemmed clean in 
the first place, and then laid straight in a box, and pressed down hard by a 
press that goes with a nut. This box is shoved forward towards the knife 
by a screw, receiving its motion from a treadle, that the engineer sets a-going 
with his foot. Each motion pushes the box the exact length which the to- 
bacco ought to be of, according to the saffron or oblong cut, which it seems 
yields one penny in a pound more at London than the square cut, though 
