pious and well meaning men should not be better imployed, but in this case there is a great Error in State, for these persons are bred as Gentlemen, and some in their Education have Cost their parents Two, Three, or Four hundred pounds apiece, and all to no purpose, or to very little, for here in this Case, the Father hath lost a Child (The Gentleman) nothing to trust to and the King hath lost a Subject; The Church full! So God wants them not, and man wants them not, because they must not be imploy'd out of their Calling. But that which is worst of all, the Universities are full of Students, and the Free Schooles all England over are full of Schollers; and what this will come to at last, a man (half out of his Wits) may easily guess at." Cor. "I understand, by Discourse with Travellers, that there is no Reformed Church, that suffers any man to be made a priest until he is twenty-eight years old, and generally he is twelve months probationer before he is fixt with the people where he is to be setled. And if such a Law were made with us, for such as intend the Ministry, every ordinary Tradesman, and Mechanick, would not send his Son to the Universities; for the Charge would be so great (in that length of time), that none would be sent thither for that purpose, but such whose parents are able to maintain them; and who really intend their Children to be there supported for the true ends the Universities were. Designed for; and then all those poor, simple little Tools, made priests out of the Sirvitors and poor men's children, that are now imploy'd to be Journey Men to the Rivialist would quickly vanish. As also, that the great pluralists may drop to others (its possible as well deserving as themselves) some of their Fat Livings." Iron. "Now I am satisfied that we shall be provided for, and Improve our Iron, our Tynn, our Irish Wood, both the Universities and all the Young Clergymen. And I find all this may be done by an Act of Parliament of Twenty Lines, and no man Damnify'd, but all Bettered. Well, let the World say what they please, I am seriously These Improvements." affected for CHAPTER XII. LOCAL NOTES-MONMOUTHSHIRE IRON WORKS IN 1810-PONTYPOOL WORKS STARTED, 1588-PONTYPOOL JAPAN WARE-HISTORY OF THE HANBURY FAMILY-NEATH IN 1798-YNIS Y GERWN TIN WORKS-NEATH ABBEY, A.D., 1500-CAERLEON IN THE TIME OF THE ROMANS-CAERLEON TIN WORKS-STORY OF CAERLEON BRIDGE-CAERMARTHENSHIRE AND GLAMORGANSHIRE IN 1805. SPREADING out from Pontypool, towards the end of the last century, we find Tin-plate works started in Wales, almost wherever the old-fashioned water-power forges existed for the manufacture of charcoal iron. This affair being taken up as an addition to existing business, the trade followed the mountain streams, as it formerly doubtless did in Bohemia; the new method of expanding or rolling the bar iron into sheets contributing more than anything else to its success. The Welsh mountain torrents are thus observed upon by. the Rev. Richard Warner, of Bath, in a description of his 'Walk through Wales,' 1798. "A mountain torrent, like the woman of a certain Greek philosopher, is all impetuous rage, or all insipid tameness. A storm of a few hours excites it to fury; its passion, however, is but transient, and as short a portion of fine weather lulls it again to repose. Excepting only those of Pontypool and Caerleon, there is no exact record of when or by whom the several works were started; but casual reference may be found to the subject in gazetteers and books of travel: and in the hope that it may be interesting to those more particularly associated with South Wales, I now propose to give in detail a little local information which is to be found connected with the several towns where such works were situated. MONMOUTHSHIRE. [Extract from Beauties of England and Wales.' By Rev. J. Evans, and J. Britton, 1810.] Till lately Monmouthshire was not ranked among the manufacturing counties, and that it is so at present has arisen from the rich mines of Iron and Coal with which it everywhere abounds. The Iron Works are the boast and certainly, in every point of view, the most important objects of trading considerations in Monmouthshire. The attention of the county, in respect to the modern history of the Arts, was first excited to this lucrative branch of manufacture in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, an era no less celebrated for its political economy than its military and diplomatic glory. From that period, considered by many the time of its origin, the iron business of this district, and in the adjacent county of Glamorganshire, made a rapid progress, and much surprise has been expressed why it should have been so long neglected. This surprise, indeed, may almost arise into wonder, when it is recollected that iron was manufactured in this part of the island at an epoch beyond the reach of history. Large heaps of cinders or slag have often been discovered, evidently the refuse of Roman or British bloomeries, the process in which was the ancient method of fusing iron. In other places have been. traced the sites of forges long disused, of which no account of their foundations can be collected but from tradition. These cinders and furnaces afforded sufficient proof of the assumption that the iron mines were turned to good account at an early period, but the fact is further corroborated by numerous names allusive to woods and forests in places where no trees at present grow, and is still further ascertained by the discovery of trunks and branches of large trees, with their leaves embalmed as it were, under the boggy soil in the vicinity of Blaenavon. The iron trade again declined, after its revival in the time of Elizabeth, from a variety of causes. The troubles in the reign of Charles the First, and the changes which took place in point of property, occasioned an alteration in the genius of the people; agriculture was more attended to, the lands were cleared, the forests were neglected, and the numerous herds of goats, formerly kept in this part of the country, tended to destroy the woods, which were essential to supply the necessary fuel for the forges, so that for a considerable period little or no iron was wrought. About 1770 a sudden renewal of the works took place, occasioned by the discovery that pit coal would form a useful substitute for charcoal in the making of pig iron, and its utility was further extended to the manufacturing of bar iron. The local advantages of this county in these respects are peculiarly great, as the district abounds in iron ore, coal, lime, numerous streams of water, and every requisite proper for this branch of business. These have been powerfully aided by the mechanical powers, the use of the steam engine, the improvement in hydraulic machinery, and the adoption of rollers instead of forge hammers, called the puddling process, by which bar iron is formed with a degree of despatch and exactness previously unknown. From this concurrence of circumstances the success has been no less rapid than extraordinary. In 1795 the weekly quantity of pig iron made in this part of Monmouthshire, and in the contiguous district of Glamorganshire did not exceed 60 tons; at present it scarcely falls short of 600: at that period, no bar iron was manufactured; but now the quantity amounts weekly to more than 300 tons. The works are still rapidly increasing in extent and importance, and appear likely to surpass the other iron manufactories throughout the kingdom. Their extent and importance may be estimated from the subjoined list. A LIST OF PRINCIPAL IRON MANUFACTORIES.-Continued. Harvey, Wason & Co. J. Butler, Esq. [Extract from David Williams' Monmouthshire,' 1796.] The celebrated Manufactory of Pontypool preserves its reputation, and is continued in the family which first introduced it. But no disposition appears in the natives of the district to adopt the habits of manufactories. To the philosophical traveller this is not a subject of regret; for the peasant, to persons who will be at the trouble of adopting his language, is more intelligent and more amiable than the artificer: the former has had his mind unfolded on various subjects; the latter is a machine unfeeling, immoral, and unpleasing. Manufactories, however they may add to the public wealth, certainly degrade and brutalize the people; and managed as they are on principles of monopoly, a species of slavery is their constant effect. Children brought up as machines are depraved in body and in mind, and mechanics substituting intemperance for domestic comforts, are bad husbands, bad fathers, and corrupt or unprincipled citizens. The pleasure of visiting these hills and contemplating the vast preparations for circulating their wealth is not, therefore, unmingled with sorrow. During the century which has created the large and |