vi. INTRODUCTION. The Author having commenced his search in the Public Record Office, found himself rewarded by a mass of evidences from which he has given verbatim transcripts of a most valuable character of what he may justly term proofs direct from Queen Elizabeth's Customer, Smythe, and the Founders of this important Industry, of their relations with their Employés, which, he believes, had not before been made public, embracing details of the most interesting nature in a social and mercantile sense, together with much that is extremely curious in reference to the manipulation of mines, furnaces, and the chemistry in practice, during the active reign of that Queen. In these days of disagreement between masters and men, much may be gathered of lively interest from these original letters, illustrative of the confidence with which the employers and workmen then co-operated—“in the trust that the Mynes may prospere, that good greement may exist to set the work forward, whereby they may all have profitt, and the commonwealth be maintained to God's honer." Evidence is also produced, derived (amongst other sources) from the letters of Mr. Secretary Walsingham, showing how greatly the English of those early days of the trade were indebted to the "Germans," or 'Dutch," from their then skilled knowledge in metallurgy. 66 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. For some years past the early history of the Metal manufactures of this country has received considerable attention from topographers, antiquaries, and metallurgists, and it cannot be denied but that the germ, growth, and final settlement of any great staple trade must be a subject of considerable interest to a numerous class of readers amongst "a nation of shopkeepers"; more especially so to the District in which the particular manufacture has proved a settled success. When years ago compiling the materials for my "History of Neath and its Abbey," the manufacture of Copper in that locality naturally attracted my serious attention, and I gave to the public in that work such information as I had then obtained; the accounts however were meagre, the result unsatisfactory. Since that period I have never ceased my searching, and when Dr. Percy prepared the first volume of his admirable work on Metallurgy in 1861, I placed at his disposal all the materials I had up to that time accumulated, and much of which may be there perused (vide page 289 et seq.) Still the result was unsatisfactory. Carew, the Cornish historian, had left it as a fact that copper ore was, in the early part of the 17th century, sent into Wales to be refined," and it has been inferred that the art had attained considerable development at or near Neath long prior to its introduction into Swansea. The learned Dr. concludes by saying "It must however be left to future antiquarian researches to elicit more precise evidence on this subject than we at present possess." Little as was certain with respect to the topography of the matter, still less is known of the modus operandi by which the process of Copper Smelting was conducted at its first settlement on the great coal-field of the eastern margin of Swansea Bay in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. The evidences which I have recently discovered in that great repertory of historical lore, the Record Office, will, I venture to submit, be entirely new and of very high interest, and though I have been urged to send them to other channels of general information, I have selected the Cambrian not only as the earliest organ of the Copper Trade in this locality, but because it always generously opened its columns to the public for this and other cognate subjects for more than sixty years. I had long held an opinion that we were greatly indebted to the Germans for our success in Copper Smelting, and so expressed myself when writing on Copper Smoke in August, 1865. I find Dr. Percy has given the same opinion in his Preface. The following original documents will prove the correctness of those surmises. X. Illustrations. -:0: I.-Swansea and Copper Works, from the Sea. II.-The Armorials of H.R.H. Albert Edward, III.-Customer Smythe, temp. Eliz. IV.-The Magnates of the Copper Trade in early part of 19th Century V.-Works at Glasmount (By J. W. M. TURNER, R.A.) VI.-The Llangavelach Copper Works, 1745 iii. 35 104 106 VII.-The White-Rock Copper Works, Kilvey, 1744. 116 VIII. View of the Hafod Works, Swansea, 1881. 136 IX.-The English and Danish Arms, blended 150 X.-Tokens of Brass, Copper and Silver, between 1666 and 1813 161 XI.-An Autotype of "General Court of the Welch 171 XII.--The Armorials of H.R.H. Alexandra, Princess of Wales.. XIII.-Swansea Town, Harbour and Bay (In the Royal Academy Exhibition, 1880.) XIV.-The Arms of the Port of Swansea 172 ib. XV.-Plan of Swansea Port and Bay, with the Ports adjacent, including Docks and Railways, and the neighbouring parts useful by way of reference herein 173 175 |