tion with the Company of Merchant-Adventurers, in the time of Henry IV. These hostmen were incorporated by Queen Elizabeth, who, having tried in vain to get her due of two shillings per chaldron for all coals shipped in the Tyne, gave the hostmen a charter, on condition that they would ensure to the crown one shilling for every chaldron so shipped. The ostmen or hostmen were a kind of coal-brokers, midway between buyers and sellers; and the name is supposed to have implied 'eastmen,' as if they had come originally from Germany or the eastern parts of Europe. Their brokerage appears to have included the whole responsibility of shipping the coal purchased, so that the keelmen were the servants of the hostmen. Down to the year 1600, if not later, the coals were brought from the pit-mouth to the staiths in waggons or wains, along the common roads; but a great step in advance was made when tramways were laid down to facilitate the transport of the coal. The hostmen of the Tyne have now changed their designation-or others have changed it for them-to fitters; the 'coal-fitters' of the Tyne are identical with hostmen,' but neither term serves to indicate, with any great clearness, the nature of their employment." The father of Lords Eldon and Stowell was a hostman of Newcastle.

The keelmen are being rapidly superseded by modern improvements. The facilities for transporting coal afforded by steam-engines and railways, have abolished the necessity for them. "In the improved method of shipping coal, where no impediment exists to the approach of the coal-ship, it is brought to the shore beneath a large and lofty timber structure called a staith, which overhangs the river, and which is connected by railway with the pit's mouth. The laden waggons are brought to this staith, and the coals are at once deposited from them into the hold of the vessel, without the intervention of any keelmen. It is said that ninepence per chaldron is saved by the using of this staith. The keelmen are a hardy and laborious class, and have always been distinguished for their great muscular strength. Few employments require more exertion than theirs; nor could they perform it were they not supported by nutritious food. Accordingly the hardy keelman never goes aboard his keel till his basket is stored with a good joint of meat and a substantial loaf, generally of the best flour, which, with a bottle of beer, forms his usual diet. From the practice of hailing one another on the river, especially during the night tides, keelmen acquire a loud and vociferous manner of expressing themselves; yet their conduct is uniformly civil and exemplary, and they are gradually losing that rough bluntness by which they were characterized."-Mackenzie. "Keelmen are not by any means so quarrelsome as their designation of‘bully would imply, this word being merely derived from the obsolete term 'boolie' or beloved, an appellation still in familiar use amongst brother workers in the coal districts."-Smiles. They have established a fund among themselves for mutual relief during age and sickness, and are, perhaps, the only body in the working-classes who have both built and supported a hospital of their own (see Rte. 10). Their dress, of blue jackets with stockings and flannel breeches, is peculiar.

The keelmen of Newcastle live chiefly in the old and narrow streets around Sandgate, whence the song :—

"As aw cam thro' Sandgate, thro' Sandgate, thro' Sandgate,

As aw cam thro' Sandgate, aw heard a lassie sing;
Weel may the keel row, the keel row, the keel row,
Weel may the keel row that maw laddie's in.

"He wears a blue bonnet, blue bonnet, blue bonnet,

He wears a blue bonnet and a dimple in his chin;
And weel may the keel row, the keel row, the keel row,
And weel may the keel row that maw laddie's in."

By an old custom the keelmen used to meet once a year to commemorate the foundation of their hospital, when they perambulated the streets of Newcastle with bands of music playing, "Weel may the keel row." ""*

LEAD-MINES AND MANUFACTURES.-Lead-mines.-While the eastern portion of the county of Durham is rendered important by its coal, the western portion is valued for the sake of the mineral wealth which is buried beneath its surface. The mines, however, having a more intimate connection with Northumberland, in which their capital Allenheads is situated, more properly belong to the Introduction to that county.

Iron-Works.-No county has made so much progress in the last 12 years as Durham in the iron-trade, which here employs no less than 5000 men. Besides the native supply, a large export trade is carried on with the Continent and America. 25 furnaces now exist in the county, of which 20 are in blast. The greater proportion of these are at the Consett Iron Works, belonging to the Derwent Iron Company. The business has especially prospered with regard to the plates used for iron shipbuilding, and the construction of iron bridges.

Glass-Works.-The first record of the introduction of glass into the British Islands is that of Bede, who describes the glass brought by Benedict Biscop for the adornment of his monasteries at Jarrow and Monkwearmouth. The manufacture of glass was first introduced in 1673, after which Sir R. Mansel, Vice-Admiral of England, established glassworks on the Tyne near Ouseburn, which were carried on without interruption till nearly the middle of the present century, when they were closed. "The record of the daily manufacture of blown plate glass at South Shields in 1750 is still extant, and affords a curious proof of the infancy of the art and of the difficulties of the operator. Up to the year 1845 the return of the Excise duty shows that there was no more plate glass made at South Shields than at any other manufactory in the kingdom. In that year the Excise duty on glass was abrogated, and in consequence the produce of this manufactory has been quadrupled. Previous to 1845 the quantity of unpolished plate glass blown and cast at South Shields was 312,000 ft. per annum. Now its capability of

For a great part of the above account of the colliers and keelmen, the editor is indebted to quotations from a concise and admirable article on The Tyne and the Collieries,' by George Dodd, in The Land we live in.'

produce is 1,240,000 ft. per annum. In 1838 there were six large crown glass manufactories in operation on the river Tyne, producing annually upwards of 7,000,000 ft. of window glass. These manufactories have now ceased to exist, owing chiefly to the introduction of sheet glass into this country, and the comparatively low price at which plate glass can be now had. Crown glass is made in a circular shape, which, of course, involves a considerable loss of surface in being reduced to the rectangular shape in which all window glass is used, and the knob or bullion' in the centre limits the size of the window panes. The public taste now demands panes of large dimensions-an object which is attained by the use of sheet glass, and, although crown glass maintains the palm of greater brilliancy, yet it must be esteemed in the light of an effete manufacture, and will gradually die out in this country as it has already done on the continent. The manufacture of sheet glass has been at different times carried on to a small extent in the old crown window-glass works of the river Tyne, but it is now entirely abandoned, so that in the birthplace of the art in England there is now not a foot of crown or sheet window-glass manufactured. But in the progress of the arts we often see that one progress is superseded by another. Crown window-glass is no longer made on the Tyne, and as an art it is declining everywhere, but the manufacture of sheet glass has of late years been most largely increased, and is carried on to a great extent in the adjoining district of the river Wear, where the quantity produced by Messrs. James Hartley and Co. alone is very nearly equal to the entire produce of the six extinct crown glass manufactories on the river Tyne. The abolition of the Excise duty on glass, together with the numerous and most obstructive regulations which that impost involved, has had an effect beyond all anticipation in improving the glass trade in general (especially the crown, sheet, and plate), both in its manufacturing and commercial character. Flint glass, the crystal' of the ancients, has been made in Newcastle and its neighbourhood for a very considerable period, but its early history in this locality is obscure. The manufacture is divided into two branches-viz. blown and pressed; the first being produced exclusively by manual labour, and the latter chiefly by machinery. The blown flint glass retains its eminence for brilliancy in consequence of its facets being produced by elaborate polishing, whereas, in pressed glass, they are the result of pressure of a metallic mould on the plastic surface in a heated state. Owing to various causes, the manufacture of blown flint glass has, in this neighbourhood, declined as much as 50 per cent., but the manufacture of pressed glass has recently been prosecuted with great vigour and success in this locality. One firm, which, at the head of this branch of trade, formerly produced annually 350,000 lbs. weight of blown flint glass, now make of pressed glass about three millions five hundred pounds weight. The annual product of flint glass on the Tyne and Wear is estimated by competent authority at ten millions of pounds weight, the wholesale value of which, including its cutting and ornamentation, is about 200,000l. The manufacture of pressed glass has [Dur. & N.]

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cheapened flint glass articles to such an extent that almost the poorest of the population may be supplied with elegant articles of domestic use, which, a few years ago, were far beyond their reach. Newcastle had always been celebrated for its manufacture of glass bottles, and since the repeal of the duty in 1845 the produce of common glass bottles has increased fourfold, but there are other causes that have materially contributed to this result. The rapid rise of Australia and the increasing taste for bitter beer there, in India, and in most parts of the world, have created an immense demand for bottles. During the year 1862 there were 47 bottle-houses in operation on the banks of the Tyne, the Wear, and the Tees, and their produce was about 4,230,000 dozen. There has been no important improvement in the manufacture of black bottles for the last 20 years, and in the manipulation there has been no change. The baneful union among the workmen forbids all attempts in that direction. The beautiful art of coloured glass, or what is termed stained glass, has been carried on most successfully for some years in Newcastle by Mr. William Wailes and others, and the tasteful designs and beautiful colouring of Mr. Wailes' numerous works have given him a great celebrity throughout the kingdom. A great improvement has been made in this description of glass, inasmuch as exterior staining has been superseded by glass made of the required tint in the crucible of the manufacturer. The glass, therefore, is not stained, but is inherently of its peculiar colour. It is manufactured of any tint at the works of Messrs. James Hartley and Co. of Sunderland. This process of making coloured glass in the crucible has restored the art to its pristine state, for in such manner this glass was made by the old masters."-British Association, Newcastle, 1863.

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Alkali-Works.-The salt-works which formerly existed in the neighbourhood of South Shields have been superseded by alkali-works, viz. the making of crystals of soda and mineral alkali from the decomposition of common salt-a manufacture which has arisen since the year 1816. Up to 1822 alkali-making was carried on only at Walker, 3 m. below Newcastle, where an important salt-spring furnished copious materials for the undertaking; but the success of the manufacture there has led subsequently to the establishment of numerous other alkali-works on the Tyne. The process, for which we are entirely indebted to our intelligent neighbours the French, consists in the making oil of vitriol from sulphur, and with the sulphuric acid decomposing muriate of soda to obtain dry sulphate of soda, which salt is mixed with certain proportions of chalk and coal in powder, and the whole heated in a proper furnace until a sort of incipient fusion takes place; after which the mass is drawn out and suffered to cool, forming an impure carbonate of soda called ball alkali. This ball alkali being lixivated, boiled down, heated in a furnace to redness, with or without carbonaceous matter, again dissolved and crystallized, yields the soda of commerce."-Encyc. Britann.

POPULAR CUSTOMS.-The ancient customs, which still linger in Northumberland, are rapidly dying out in Durham, but the observances

connected with the Kern Baby (see Introduction to Section II.) are still observed here. There is a general belief that bread baked on Good Friday is a cure for most disorders. Waifs or waffs of dying persons are seen by their neighbours, and many persons even see their own waifs. Garlands are occasionally carried before the coffins of virgins, and in the churches of Stanhope and Witton Gilbert were hung up in their memory till within the present century. Thus in the old

ballad :

"A garland fresh and fair
Of lilies there was made,
The sign of her virginitie,
And on her coffin laid."

Salt is placed upon a corpse after death, and is supposed to prevent the body from swelling; and the looking-glass in the death-chamber is covered with white, from fear of the spirits which might be reflected in it.

The straw used to be taken out of the bed in which a person had died, and burnt in front of the house; then search was made in the ashes for a footprint, which would be found to correspond with the foot of the person to whom the summons would come next. Of all places in the county, Hartlepool most retains the habits of ancient days, which are noticed in Rte. 7. An old proverb declares “ Durham folks are troubled with after-wit."

EMINENT NATIVES.-The eminent natives of Durham include the Venerable Bede (described by Fuller to be a living comment on the words, "shining as a light in the world, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation"), d. 735; St. Godric of Finchale, d. 1170; John of Darlington, the historian, d. 1284; Rich. Senews or Senhouse, Bp. of Carlisle (son of a sievemaker at Shinkley), d. 1496; Sir George Bowes, the opponent of the Rising of the North, d. 1580; Colonel Lilburne, famous in the Commonwealth, born at Old Thickley, 1618; Robert Horn, Bp. of Winchester (described by Camden as "valido et fœcundo ingenio," d. 1580; George Allan, the antiquary, d. 1822; Surtees, the historian, d. 1834; Sir Henry Havelock (born at Sunderland), d. 1856. Besides these were many distinguished prelates, noticed in the historical sketch of the palatinate, and numerous members of the great family of Neville, among whom Cicely Neville was the mother of Edward IV. and Richard III., and great-grandmother of Henry VIII. Bernard Gilpin, rector of Houghton-le-Spring, "the apostle of the North," d. 1583, though not born, resided many years in the county.

BOTANY.-The botany of Durham is exceedingly rich, in spite of the unpromising appearance of the county. The best sites for flower-seekers are the valley of the Tees, and the denes near the seacoast. Among the plants which may be found are Ranunculus lingua; Hesperis matronalis; Turritis glabra; Dianthus deltoides; Dryas octopetala; Potentilla fruticosa; Rosa spinosissima; Pyrola rotundifolia, media, minor; Cypripedium calceolus; Galanthus nivalis; and Primula farinosa. The very