‘waters. 
3 Mr. Elkingion on Draining....Mr. Coleridge on bis Minody. [ Jan: 
ferve, that dy commencing bis drains from 
the different Springs which continually 
poured forth their waters upon the ground, 
aud by this means alone he could effedueally 
accomplifh his purpofe. He had not even 
reflected upon the poflibiliry of the moifure 
of moraffes, arifing from {prings at a con- 
fiderable depth beneath the furiace, when, 
to bis furprife, he happened to obferve a 
column of water burftup with great force, 
‘by @ hole which he caftally made with an 
iron crow, within the bounds of his mo- 
rafs. The faét, although neither new 
nor ftrange, fruck his mind as an extra- 
erdinary “aife covery. He foon after adopt- 
ed the ufe of an auger, ‘inftead of an iron 
crow 5 and determined to make his mo- 
rafs perfectly dry for tillage, by detect- 
ing all the {prings, and continaally ex- 
haufti ig thefe by fuitable -drams. He 
quickly fucceeded in making that parti- 
eular field perieétly dry. 
application of the ic principle to all the 
other marfhy parts of his farm, proved 
alike fucceisful. 
Ta po eee of the ttriking improve- 
ment thus effeéted upon his owa gr ounds, 
Mr. Elkington was confulted and em- 
ployed by his neighbours. He, in every 
anfiance,. fought out the fprings from 
which the ftagnant water was fupplied ; 
“wherever there was a os ot the fur- 
face, endeavoured to dete& the main- 
pring, on which, in every fuch cafe, there 
‘are ufually various fmaller fprings de- 
‘pendant ; fill bo: ‘ed with the aug? rto dif- 
cover fprings of which he fulpedted the 
exiftence, although t they were not quite 
‘Bpparent 5 = commenced his drains from the 
AEG {prings; but, int tead of 1 utting 
a drain, in every cafe, to the very level of 
“avery deep {pring, adopted the idea of 
preferving only an auger-hole perpendi- 
cular to the {pring, as an outlet b ywhich 
its waters might afcend into the drain, to 
be by it conveyed ake Continued ex- 
perience gave him, at laf, very great. ja 
acity in “dete ecting the lieu: oi ate 
“fprings, and extraordinary {kill to difcern 
the readieft means for Se off their 
“tention to the nature of the ftratathrough 
which the water had torife, and to adapt 
to it the conftruction of his drains. His 
fame as a drainer was extended ‘his af- 
 fiftance was fought even from diitant parts 
ofthe country. It decifively appeared, 
‘that barren faoFalles might, py his art, 
be converted into rich meadow and fertile 
_ arable fields ; that four, wettifh grounds, 
might, by the fame means, be made fuf- 
The fubfequent . 
He learned to pay f particular ati 
ficiently dry and fzzdly 5 that an reo” 
ing proportion of the ‘lands of Great Bri- 
tain and Treland might be thus redeemed 
from infertility. Contriving to cower his 
drains, with only cértain opexings at pro- 
per diftances, he thus prevented them 
svom marring ¢ the beauty and equality of 
the fields. “To collet water for the ufe 
of f mills and ¢anals ; to draw off the wa- 
ter from mines and ccal-pits, and for 
othe: ufeful purpoles, may the fame in- 
vention of Mr. Elkington’s be hikewife 
applied. 
To reward this invention, and to pur- 
chafe it for tne ufe of the public, the 
card of Agriculture obtained to Mr. El- 
kington a grant trom Parliament, of a 
thoujand pounds fterling. I am per- 
fuaded, that the beneficial efeSs of his 
difcovery have already more than compen- 
fated 'this {um tothe nation, JI am, &c. 
Kelfo, Dec. 21, 4797 KH. 

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SER, 
Hope, that this letter may arrive time 
enough to aniwer its purpofe. I can-- 
not help confidering myfelf as having 
been placed ina very ridiculous light, by 
the gentlem an who have remarked, an- 
fwered, rejoined concerning my mo- 
nody on Chatterton, I have not feen the 
compotitions of my competiters (unlefs 
an 
indeed the exquilite poem of Warton’s, 
entitled, ** The Suicides” refer to this 
fubject) but this I know, that my own 
isa very poor one. It was a fchool ex- 
erciie, lomewhat a altered ; and it would 
have‘ been emitted in the laft edition of 
my poems, b but for the requeft of my 
friend, Mr. CoTyLeE, whole property 
thofe poems are. If it be not in your 
intention to exhibit my name on any fu- 
ture month, you will accept. my bef 
thanks, and not publith this letter, But 
if Crito and the Alphabet-men fhould 
continue to communicate on this fubjeé, 
and you fhould think it proper, for rea- 
fons bea known to yourfelf, to publifh 
their communications, then I. depend on 
your kindnefs for the infertion of my let- 
ter ; by which, it is poflible, thofe your 
correi ipondents may be induced to expend 
their remarks, whether panegyrical or vi- 
tup per ative, onnobler game than on 2 poem 
which was, in truth, the firit effort of a 
young man, all whale poems a candid 
critic will only confider as firft efforts. 
Your’s, with due refpeét, 
Shrewyfbury. S. T. COLERIDGE. 
wy 
