theatre, sheaves are spread knee deep from the centre to the circumference. The farmer now advances, leading a horse by a long halter, and taking his place in the centre of the ring, he drives the animal at a smart trot round and round, trampling and kicking up the straw at every step. To give every part a fair chance, he either shortens the halter, so as to limit the width of the circle performed by the animal, or he adds an ass half way between himself and the horse. In some cases we observed two horses at this kind of work, at other times two oxen, and in several instances a horse and ass, or a horse and mule. There are, in fact, a dozen ways of performing the operation, all equally barbarous; and one cannot but feel surprised how the French government, with its remarkable care for the fine arts, should take so little pains to improve the most useful of all arts, that of thrashing out the corn, which is in no respect advanced beyond what it was three thousand years ago in the land of Israel. Of course, this method of thrashing is most defective in point of cleanliness, and ruinous to the straw. It made us quite melancholy to see the confused mass of dirt, chaff, and broken straws left at the conclusion of the trot. Women were employed in shaking out the particles of grain, and here and there might be observed hillocks mingled with impurities, ready to be thrown up in shovelfuls against the wind, when the wind should happen to blow. In a few cases, we noticed that the people had got the length of having fanners; a step, it is to be hoped, to general improvement. In such a country, where capital is still excessively meagre, the introduction of any kind of simple hand-thrashing machine would doubtless prove a blessing to these peasant agriculturists.

head, while beneath, to the verge of the water, is a universal wreck of stones and rubbish. That which attracts our attention, however, is a wide yawning gulf at the base of the rock, the principal fountain of the river. Where the water comes from, no one can tell; but it is evidently delivered by the hill, and gushes out at many different points, cold, pure, and delicious. At the time of our visit, the weather having been for some time dry, the water only half filled the grotto in the rock in which it lay, as still as a mirror; and it is chiefly in winter that it rises to the point of overflowing. Occasionally, as we saw by the stones and rocks in its course, it pours forth impetuously, and in great volume. Now, that the river received none from this head fountain, the water welled out from beneath divers rocks, a little lower down the glen, and almost immediately formed a stream of twenty feet in breadth. The fountain of Vaucluse is one of the few things which does not disappoint the expectations of a traveller. The savage scenery of the hills, the quiet little village in the bosom of the dell, the variety of rare plants growing in the lower cliffs, the pretty and unsophisticated river just come so oddly into existence, a magnificent blue sky overhead, and into all the air of romance communicated by the long residence of Petrarch on the spot-all give the place a peculiar charm. The poet's house, as I have said, was beside the stream adjoining the village; and here, he tells us in his Epistles, he lived while he wrote his sonnets to Laura, in that species of solitude which poets frequently dream of enjoying, but so seldom realise. Writing to a friend, he observes- You have often heard me speak of my warfare with the Nymphs, who reign at the foot of the rocks that lose themselves in the clouds. It is from In the course of our journey we passed through seve- these that the Sorgues, transparent as crystal, rolls over ral villages, one of which exhibits a busy scene of water- its emerald bed; and by its bank I cultivate a little wheels turning in the different branches of a stream, sterile and stony spot, which I have destined to the and being shrouded in trees, has a pleasant rural aspect. Muses; but the jealous Nymphs dispute the possession A ride along a cross-road now brings us to the valley of it with me; they destroy in the spring the labours of the Sorgues, up which we are conducted for the dis- of my summer. I had conquered from them a little tance of a mile, the land gradually closing on each side meadow, and had not enjoyed it long, when, upon my till we reach the bosom of a vast dell in the range of return from a journey into Italy, I found that I had been hills. Hills rise on each side, bare and craggy, with robbed of all my possessions. But I was not to be disprojecting ledges, beneath which several dwellings have couraged: I collected the labourers, the fishermen, and been venturously built, the roofs being large masses of the shepherds, and raised a rampart against the Nymphs: flat rock adhering to the face of the precipice. We and there we raised an altar to the Muses; but, alas! have, in the bottom of the vale on our right, the beauti- experience has proved that it is vain to battle with the fully clear river Sorgues, employed here, as farther elements. Here I please myself with my little down, in driving mills, and the sight of which is re- gardens and my narrow dwelling. I want nothing, and freshing in this land of heat and gray limestone rock. look for no favours from fortune. If you come to me, you will see a solitary, who wanders in the meadows, the fields, the forests, and the mountains, resting in the mossy grottos, or beneath the shady trees. I detest the intrigues of courts, the tumult of cities, and fly the abodes of pageantry and pride. Equally removed from joy or sadness, I pass my days in the most profound calm, happy to have the Muses for my companions, and the song of birds and the murmur of streams for my serenade.' Happy Petrarch!

As the carriage advances, we seem as if entering the bowels of the mountain; and this is indeed the case. In times long past, masses of the hills have fallen down and been washed away, leaving a great rude gap environed by precipitous acclivities, whose bare sides are only at intervals ornamented with fig and olive trees, or straggling vines. At the inner extremity, where the carriage-road ceases, we arrive at the village of Vau cluse, consisting of scarcely a dozen houses on both sides of the river, including two or three mills, one of which is used for a paper factory. Somewhere on the slip of garden-ground beneath the mills, on the left bank of the stream, stood Petrarch's house; and on the top of a bare knoll above, are the ruins of what is called Petrarch's castle, though it certainly never belonged to him, but was only the residence of one of his friends.

Just where the carriage draws up, in the centre of the small group of houses in the village, has been erected a monument, of the commonplace pillar form, to Petrarch, which it may be consolatory to the English to know is as effectually hacked and cut by visitors, as if it had been placed in Westminster Abbey. Passing this memento of the poet, we walk by a narrow winding path up the right bank of the Sorgues, ascending and descending till we arrive at the bold front of the rock, beyond which there can be no further intrusion. We are, indeed, at the head of the glen; limestone cliffs, jagged like the pinnacles of a cathedral, impend over

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We roved about for an hour or two in the spot consecrated by these outpourings from one of the most eminent men of letters of his time; and having, as we thought, exhausted Vaucluse, retraced our way to Avignon.

ACCIDENTS IN MINES.

It is affirmed by competent authorities, that not fewer than 2500 lives are annually lost to Britain through accidents in mines-that every hour arrangements are in progress for further sacrifice; and all this without any national effort being made to remedy the evil. Looking at the simple fact here stated, one would be apt to think that, as a public, we were utterly destitute of humanity; but such is not the case. When a calamity of this kind occurs, there is no want either of sympathy or of beneficence; but here the matter ends, just where, under a more rational and active system of

legislative direction, the remedy ought to begin. The reader only imagine 400 or 500 acres of excavated truth is, that with all our individual energy of benevo- space, extending to 30 or 40 miles of passages and gallence, we are, as a legislature, most culpably slow. Com-leries, at the depth of 1000 feet beneath the surface, missions of inquiry are appointed; reports are made, and all this depending for ventilation upon a couple of canvassed, and laid aside; the evil goes on till some narrow shafts, which are rendered still more contracted extraordinary catastrophe startles the public into re- by the continual ascent and descent of tubs containing newed sympathy-and one would imagine, from the the coal, and he will readily perceive how fearfully liable bustle of inquiry, and noise of the newspapers, that every recess is to an accumulation of the explosive mixsomething was in reality to be done. But no; there ture. We do not pretend to decide what amount of are heartless men to be moved, pecuniary interests to space a couple of shafts are capable of ventilating-this be combated, and party squabbles to be adjusted, before must in each case be determined by the depth, nature matters of this kind can obtain a hearing; and thus it of the coal, &c.; but certain we are that no thorough is that grievous wrongs remain so long unabated, de- ventilation can ever be maintained where the workings spite of all our sympathy and clamour. To be sure, are numerous, unless shafts be sunk at 300 or 400 yards relief comes at last; but not until more suffering and distant. Were this done, fire-damp would find an egress wretchedness have been incurred than half a century of as soon as generated, and choke-damp be expelled by beneficence can atone for. the superior currents caused either by the natural venIt would seem, however, that the Haswell catastrophe tilation thus produced, or by the artificial draughts of September last-whereby ninety-five human beings created by fires and otherwise. A full and free conwere in an instant deprived of life-has at length at- nexion with the atmosphere above would not only annitracted the attention of government to this subject. hilate the dangers of suffocation and explosion, but would We hope no time will be lost in mere inquiry; for render the occupation of the miner more healthy; for the causes of all such accidents have long since been healthy it cannot be, so long as these gases mingle discussed and ascertained; nor is the removal or miti- with the air he breathes, and so long as stagnation gation of any of them beyond human ingenuity. It ap- renders it liable to be heated to a temperature almost pears from a list of published cases, that explosions of intolerable. But it may be argued that such a system fire-damp, choke-damp, falls of the roof, breaking of the of ventilation would be expensive in the extreme, and rope or other apparatus in descent, fall of stones down render the working of coal in deep mines altogether unthe shaft, and bursting in of water from old wastes, are profitable. We can by no means arrive at such a conthe main causes of accident. Now, all of these casual-clusion. Our best and most abundant supply is derived ties are clearly capable of being either altogether pre- from the coal-fields of Northumberland and Durham, vented, or diminished in frequency. Many of them arise where the mines are deepest; and so long as the domesfrom carelessness or ignorance on the part of the work- tic and manufacturing wants of the country continue in men, and might be prevented by the appointment of an active increase, the article must be produced, no matter accredited agent, to whom the entire safety regulations what the cost. And if, after all, it should be found that of the mine should be intrusted. Were such an over- mining in certain localities was unprofitable; be it so. seer regularly at his duty, the safety-lamps would be Better that this ground proprietor, or that company, locked and kept in order, the proper working of the should be without their profits, than that hundreds of engines attended to, the ropes secured from malicious industrious workmen should lose their lives, and their damage during night, no pernicious system of harry-wives and children be thrown on the charity of the ing' (removing all the coal-supports for the sake of the country. mineral) would be permitted, and, generally speaking, no work allowed to be proceeded with until everything was ascertained to be in ordinary conditions of safety. Such a system of oversight would be by no means an interference either with the due liberty of the employer or employed; it would tend to insure confidence in the one, and remove all anxiety and responsibility from the other. Besides, it would be doing nothing more in the case of mines than has been done with respect to factories, railways, and other branches of our national industry; and where the public in the end become the sufferers-by having an immense number of pauper widows and children thrown upon their care-the public have an undoubted right, independently of motives of humanity, to impose such restrictions.

The strictest human vigilance is, nevertheless, fallible; and with such subtle sources of accident as firedamp and choke-damp, some principle ought to be adopted involving the unerring operation of natural laws. Fire-damp is lighter than common air, and will ascend wherever it has egress; and choke-damp, which is heavier, can always be driven from its lurking-places by a superior current of pure air. Hence the main object should be-no matter what the expense-to provide a full and free system of ventilation in connexion with the atmosphere. This we have already adverted to in No. 13 of our current series; but it is a subject that cannot be too frequently or too strongly urged upon public attention. What would be thought of the man who proposed to ventilate every apartment and gallery of his mansion by a single keyhole; and yet, in point of fact, the attempt would be quite as rational as the pretended ventilation of four hundred acres of coal-workings by a single shaft of eight or nine feet diameter. The idea is preposterous; and the only wonder is, that calamities, resulting from the present system of coal-working, are not more numerous than they are. Let the

While, therefore, we freely admit that accidents will occur in spite of all human precautions-that ropes may break, stones fall from the roof, and noxious gases lurk in corners unsuspected-yet we think all intelligent men will agree that a judicious oversight, coupled with a full and free ventilation, would go far to diminish the evil. Moreover, the legislative measure which provides for these safeguards, must also compel a rigid record of mines and mining operations. This indeed is a subject of almost paramount importance. Where workings are abandoned, there choke-damp, fire-damp, and water will certainly collect; and if there be no record or plan of the portion so abandoned, those who happen to work in the same field, at a subsequent period, may come upon these unknown wastes, and a single stroke of the pick let loose the pent-up gases and water to sweep their unsuspecting victims into destruction. Such catastrophes have occurred, and will continue to occur, so long as the present unconcern and carelessness prevail. The existing generation knows little or nothing of the position and extent of past workings; and they are leaving as little knowledge to those who may come after. Such a system, or rather no-system, is unworthy of an intelligent and accurate people, independent of the danger with which it is fraught; and to argue that those who succeed us must just look after themselves as we have done,' is irrationality and ignorance. Considering that the coal-fields of this country are limited, and that the demand upon them is every year increasing, a period will come-perhaps sooner than most people imagine-when the mineral will be exhausted; and it is only righteous and just that we, as well as our successors, should know what is and what is not available. It behoves government, therefore, to enforce a proper system of recorda mapping out of the entire mineral resources of our island-which shall show to the present, and to future generations, the fields worked and unworked, the pecu

END OF SECOND VOLUME.

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