1809. ] 
equality of surface, embellished with the 
various tints of verdure , that arise from 
the happy mixture of oak, beech, birch, 
and holly, This, again, is occasionally 
diversified with fine breaks of lawn, sprin- 
kled with thickets, and interspersed with 
hollows} through which wind little rivu- 
lets, that impart a ferruginous tinge to 
the earth and stones over which they 
pass. Sometimes an eminence will disclose 
a fine sweep of woodland, or rustic 
group of cottages, a half-concealed spire, 
or the dim undulating outline of distant 
mountains; while here and_there fantas- 
tic tufts of underwood, of hawthorn, or 
of briers, intermixed with pollards, and 
now and then with fine full-erown trees, 
form a picturesque assemblage, of which 
the effect is exquisite. 
I cannot, my good friend, pay your 
taste so bad a compliment, as to suppose 
that you are fatigued with the excursive 
range we have thus taken through this 
delightful region. You will perceive, 
that I have here merely given a bird’s-eye 
view of thevpicturesque features of the 
county; but I shall hereafter take occa- 
sion to describe more circumstantially 
the prominent objects of attention, which 
each district presents. Should my en- 
deavours to promote your gratification 
prove successful, consider it, I entreat 
you, as an evidence of the lasting regard 
of, Your’s, &c. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
HAVE frequently noticed that coal. 
works in Wales are interrupted by 
what the colliers term the Damp, but 
which is nothing else than an excess of hy- 
drogen gas. ‘This circumstance is often 
afflicting to humanity; for it is not un-' 
. usual for the gas to take fire’ from the 
lighted candles attempted to be introdu- 
ced inte the work; the damp, on such 
occasions, burns with a blue flame; ex- 
plosions* ensue, and very o'ten the mi- 
* ‘The writer rather questions the propriety 
of the term explosion, or loud explosion, as 
the lectures on chemistry denominate the 
sound caused by tlie combustion of a combina- 
tion of gases: he has sometimesset on fire, 
in.a guart bottle, with a little water at the 
bottom to protect his hand, a mixture of hy- 
drogen and oxygen gases, and to determine 
whether the sound was from explesion, or 
from impletion, has placed asmail cork in 
the neck of the bottle; on every occasion, 
the cork has been driven in with violence 
Into the bottle; he must therefore. submit 
this circumstance to professed chemists; and 
‘are accumulated without reserve, 
Method of Correcting the Damp in Coal-ALines. 369 
ners in the work, and the winders at the 
mouth of the pit, fall victims to this.in- 
evitable catastrophe. © The coal-mines 
belonging to Lord Cawdor, at Lanlash,- 
in- Carmarthenshire, were, about a month 
past, annoyed with this damp, which 
rendered the miners heavy and sleepy, 
and made it impossible for them to keep 
in their lights. Being mformed of the 
circumstance by William Dafydd, of 
Tuyha, the present overseer of the works, 
I requested him to slacken a few lumps. 
~of fresh lime in the level,or subterraneocus 
passage made by the miners in digging 
out the coals; having an idea that the 
carbonic acid gas produced by throwing 
a few lumps cf lime into a little water, 
would correct the air in the works, and: 
makeit more favourable to inbalationand 
combustion. » The overseer complied 
with my request, and sent me word next’ 
day, that the experiment was attended 
with success, and the miners enabled to 
go on with the works. The prevalence of 
the damp im coal mines isso general, and 
its effects so dangerous, by privation of 
lives, that I conceived this success in ap 
plying a cheap and rational remedy, 
should be khown to the public; ~ that 
knowledge cannot be better promulgated, 
than through the medium of your exten. 
sively-circulated, and most useful. publi« 
cation. Your’s, &c.  Joun Jones, 
Holborn-court, Gray’s-inn. 
ia 
For the Monthly. Magazine. . 
CRITICAL SURVEY OF LESSING’S WORKS. 
(Continued from p. 459, col. 27.) 
Hit foregoing scene will have given 
a sufficient idea of the chaste poetic 
spirit, and equitably philosophic temper, 
which pervades this didactic drama. 
The chief interest of the piece hinges on 
a discovery, as the critics technically call 
it, that the monk of Libanon is the lost 
brother of Saladin, father to Conrade 
and to Recha. The art of the poet has 
especially been displayed in the delineg- 
tion of the principal character. On the 
monk of Libanon, the Christian virtues 
He is 
the idea of that peculiar form of perfec- 
tion, to which the precepts of the Gospel 
tend to direct the moral efforts of manz 
kind. In Lessing’s opinion, probably, ic - 
is Inexpedient that all men should endea- 
vour to model themselves.atter the same 
canon of virtue. Let eaeh cary to the 
highest attainable excellence, that sort 
More particulariy, as his present laburious™ 
profession is as distant from the subject, as 
law is from physics. 
