TO CORRESPONDENTS.

CAROLINE begs us to submit the following passage to the consideration of those correspondents who have urged as to resume our series of Ghost-Stories :"One strong argument to prove that 'relations of spectres are false may be drawn from the circumstance that the pretended goblins have never appeared to more than ONE person at a time: in other words, it seldom happens to above one person in a company to be possessed in that high degree by spleen and melancholy, which generates the idea of such appearances."

The

D.

We are obliged to Aerostaticus, but must decline his offer at present. Ancient Ballads are come to hand. is right, but the point is not material [see p. 24], A Reprint of No. 3 is in the prsss.

RECEIVED. Lucy-Tom-T. B.— A. P. Le Clair Judithand Haman.

Fisk
N. O. G.

from any hope of hearing or seeing what was passing upon the stage; a proof of which is, that the front seat of the two-shilling gallery was looked upon as by far the best situation in the house, and was always occupied by very respectable people.

This theatre closed, for the last time, on the 4th of June, 1791; and measures were immediately commenced for taking it down, and erecting in its place a much larger and more elegant structure. During the progress of the building, the company performed at the King's and Haymarket theatres; and the new house being INTERNALLY completed in 1794, was opened on the 12th of March, with a selection of sacred music. The performance of the drama commenced on the 21st of April, with "Macbeth," and "The Virgin Unmasked;" on which occasion Kemble spoke a prologue, written by the Right Hon. Major General Fitzpatrick; and Miss Farren an epilogue, written by Mr. Colman. Some pas sages in the latter, which it was thought savoured too much of levity, and appeared to set, fate at defiance, have been greatly censured; particufarly by writers against the stage, who have commented upon them in a very edifying manner. The follow ing were the most obnoxious lines: "Our pile is rock, more durable than

brass;

"Our decorations, gossamer and gas, "Weighty, yet airy in effect our plan; "Solid, though light-like a vain alderman.

Blow, wind! come, wrack! in ages yet unborn "Our castle's strength shall laugh a siege to scorn.'

The very ravages of fire we scont, "For we have wherewithal to put it out. "In ample reservoirs our firm reliance, "Whose streams set conflagration at defiance."

That these lines were merely an ebullition of enthusiasm at the completion of this beautiful structure; and that Mr. Colman in writing them had not the remotest idea that they

impious, no reasonable man can doubt. The boast, however, was illjudged at all events; and, as the result has proved, impotent and ridicu lous; for before the lapse of fifteen years, this " pile more durable than brass," exhibited nothing but a mass of smoking and unsightly ruins.

The length of the building from east to west was 320 feet; the breadth from north to south 155 feet; and the height of the roof 118 feet; trenrendous dimensions, compared with those of the old house. The boxes held 1828 persons; the pit 800; the two-shilling gallery 675; and the one-shilling gallery 308: total 3611. The receipts, supposing the house to be completely filled, £77 68. ; i. e. at 6s. the boxes, and 3s. the pit. The house was of inmense size. It contained eight private boxes on each side of the pit, besides balf a dozen on each side of the stage, in the same manner as at present. There were two complete tiers of public boxes; and half tiers on a level with the galleries. The decorations were magnificent, and the first view of the house imposingly grand; but for the purposes of seeing and hearing, no theatre could be more badly calculated. Of the appearance of the exterior, the above view conveys a very correct idea. If completed according been an ornament to the metropolis; to the original design, it would have but the funds failing, we believe, it and while the north and south sides was left in a shabby, unfinished state; were handsomely faced with stone, the others presented nothing to the view but rugged, dirty piles of brickwork.

This house was totally destroyed by fire, on the 24th of February, 1809, but as the details of so recent an event are in every body's recollection, and would occupy much of our space, we think it unnecessary to insert them. An account of the erection of the present theatre, with a view, will be given in the next section. -(Resumed at page 401)

TOBACCO.

First, made a formidable attack upon this "invention of Satan," in a learded performance, which he called a "Counterblaste to Tobacco." It is printed in the edition of his works by Barker and Bill, London, 1616. His Majesty in the course of his work informs us, that some of the gentry of the land bestow three, some four hundred pounds a year upon this precious stink;" and concludes this bitter blast of his sulphureous invective against the said transmarine weed, with the following peroration: "Have you not reason then to be ashamed, and to forbear this filthy novelty, so basely grounded, so foolishly received, and so grossly mistaken in the right use thereof! In such abuse sinning against God, and taking also thereby (look to it ye that take snuff in profusion) the marks and notes of vanity upon you; by the custom thereof making yourselves to be wondered at by all foreign civil nations; and by all strangers that come among you, to be scorned and contemned. A custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the mose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black stinking fume thereof nearest resembling the horrible Stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless!"

nothing, of their taste I cannot augur very favourably; for, by a late resolution, they excluded from their library all novels, plays, romances, and works of imagination. Who will pretend to talk of Beotian dulness after this Book- clubs are rather numerous, also national and Sunday schools.

· Upon the origin of earthenwaremanufactories in Staffordshire, and the particulars of the process, I have gleaned little worth repeating. The latter you may find pretty clearly described in Aikin's "Thirty Miles round Manchester," but the former topic is clothed in much obscurity. All that can be learned with certainty, is, that pot-works were first established at Burslem, probably three or four centuries ago; but they were for a long time so inconsiderable, that Speed, in his enumeration of “commodities" of the county (1610), is totally silent upon the subject; and Dr. Plott, whose work was published about eighty years later, says “ the sale of pots is chiefly confined to the poor crate-men, who carry them at their backs all over the country." Even so recently as 1760 or 1770, a handsome tea-pot, manufactured in Staffordshire, appears to have been looked upon as a thing to be wondered at, a kind of prodigy. In the works of Sir Charles Handbury Williams, there occurs a poem, called "Isabella," which describes the morning occupations aud visitors of Lady Isabella Montague, and says one of her admirers, a Mr. Bateman

nam'd;

And for best-fancied silks, let France be famed;

Do thou, thrice-happy England, still

prepare

Thy clay, and build thy fame on earth

enware !"

Upon the amazing increase and improvement in the manufacture of English earthenware during the last half century, it would be impertinent to dilate, as the former is universally known, and your cups, plates, and dishes, must remind you of the latter at every meal. I cannot, however, forbear attempting to give you some idea of the ratio in which the trade in this article still advances, by subjoining an extract from "A Comparative Statement of the Value of British Earthenware exported, and of Foreign Earthenware imported, du ring the years 1821 and 1822," which was issued from the Custom House in April last :

Value of exports Value of imports

1

In the year 1821. £423,399 12s. 7d. £4,992 18s. 4d. In the year 1822. Value of exports £489,732 17s. ld. Value of imports £6,695 Ós. 7d. Hence you will perceive, that the value of earthenware exported advanced nearly 70,0001. in a single year; and the bustle now visible in the potteries seems to presage that the next return willexhibit a correspondent or still greater increase. The consignments were chiefly to Ireland, North America, the East and West Indies, Germany, Holland, and Russia. France received very little, and the other European nations comparatively nothing. The imports were principally from France, the East Indies, and China: the total value of ware (principally jars and vases), received from the two latter, in 1822, 19401. 14s. 80; yet a century ago, England depended almost entirely upon China for the supply of this article.

The circumstances which have mainly contributed to produce this prosperity (aided by the national spirit of enterprise) are the increase of canalnavigation, and the exhaustless sup

neighbourhood affords. Of the former, the potteries may be said to form the very centre; and, of the consumption of coal, some estimate may be formed from the statement, that 8000 tons are burned weekly in the manufactories alone, to say nothing of the imense fires which are kept up both night and day in the private houses: the people, not having the fear of a salamander before their eyes, seldom taking the trouble to extinguish them. Half the district, in fact, is undermined, and the walls of many buildings betray what is passing beneath them, by fearful rents and devi, ations from the perpendicular, where the foundations have partially given way; yet the inhabitants scarcely seem aware of their danger, or, if awakened to a sense of it by some warning more serious than usual, forget it again in a day or two, and relapse into their previous indolent security,

"They start, when some alarming awful shock

Strikes through their wounded hearts. the sudden dread; But their hearts wounded, like the wounded air,

Soon close."

The potteries cannot boast of having produced any noted writers, with the exception of Elijah Fenton, who was a native of Shelton. The house, in which he was born is still standing, and at present is occupied by a Mr. Woodward. Dr. Johnson tells us that he sought intelligence of Fenton, among his relations, in his native county, but could not obtain it ;"; and you will therefore be little surprised to learn, that what Johnson was unable to gather fifty years ago, I failed, to procure in the present day. The very name of Fenton, in fact, appears to be unknown in the neighbourhood; and it was, therefore, of little service. to make inquiries respecting a man whom few had ever before heard mentioned: so true it is, that a poet, like a prophet, is least honoured in his own country. I am not certain whether Wedgwood, who may almost be said to have created the potteries of