expected, long be a cloudlefs fky and a heated air, in confequence of which the fprings and rivulets will be dried up, the ground will be overfpread with fiffures, the grafs and the turf, the fhrub and the foreft, will be eafily convertible into fuel, and the oily parts of bodies, together with the fcattered portions of fire which lie imprifoned in many hard fubftances, will undergo the procefs of feparation, and in a great degree be fet afloat.

At this period, and antecedently to the commencement of the millenium, Chrift will defcend upon earth, the luftre of the fun being veiled, and the heavens involved in gloom. On his approach the fummits of the mountains will fmoke, the earth will shake, the fea will retire within its deepest recefles, the clouds will be the feat of thunder and pointed lightnings; the air will gleam with the corufcations of innumerable meteors, and from the number, magnitude, or proximity of the comets which will be vifible, the higher regions of the fky will affume a new and terrific afpect. When our Saviour, fitting in a flaming chariot, and furrounded by an infinite hoft of angels and arch-angels draws near to the earth, its inhabitants will fee, will tremble, will be aftonished !

On an appointed fignal the deftroying and the tutelary angels execute their inftructions. To the care of the latter there is reafon to hope will be intrufted virtuous manhood and upright old age, the feebleness of infancy, and the innocence of childhood. The treafuries, of fire, in earth and in heaven are opened, and fhortly the faddeft fpectacles which eye can behold, prefent themfelves on every fide. The cities of the earth are in one univerfal blaze. Innumerable millions of either fex, and of every rank, fink under the agonies of death in its most frightful forms. Rivers of fulphur rush into the fea, and encounter the fury of its waters; wreaths of fire and pillars of fmoke are everywhere combined; hills are hurled into the air, and ten thoufand volcanoes at once difcharge their flames, By the

force

force of one element all the works of art, all the labours of man, all the varieties of nature are annihilated. Whatever was diftinguished by utility or by elegance, or by magnificence, is obliterated. Where are now the pow erful empires of the world, and their great imperial cities? Where do their pillars and their trophies ftand; or where is the proud infcription or the victor's name? Fire is a cruel enemy who makes no diftin&tion. Rome itself, eternal Rome, the emprefs of the world, whofe dominion in ancient and modern times, conftitutes an ample portion of its hiftory, is overthrown and utterly fubverted, notwithstanding the depth of her foundations and the ftrength of her palaces. The conflagration at length reaches beyond the external fhell of the earth and grows more intenfe. The rocks and loftiest mountains which have fuftained the artillery of heaven for fo many ages, are torn from their foundations. Here ftood the Alps, a prodigious range of rugged mountains, which extended their arms from the fhores of the ocean to the banks of the Black Sea. Now this mighty mafs of tone is loofened and melts away, as a tender cloud foftens into rain. Here ftood the African mountains, and Atlas with his head above the clouds. There was frozen Caucafus and Taurus, and Imaus, and the mountains of Afia. And yonder, towards the north ftood the Riphæan Hills, clothed in ice and fnow. All these are vanished like the fnow upon their fummits and swallowed up. The fea itself is gradually confumed, and the whole exterior frame of the earth is diffolved in a deluge of fire. But whilft all the folid parts near the furface are thus reduced into a glittering orb of fluid fire, the lighter and more volatile, fuch as fmoke, watery vapour, and the earthy particles, which the power of heat is capable of fupporting, will float in the agitated air, and conftitute a thick region of darkness, encompaffing the flaming globe !

During the space of fome years it will remain a dreadful fpectacle to the neighbouring planets; an aw

ful

ful monument of the divine wrath against difloyal and and difobedient creatures.-At length, however, the flames will be extinguished.-At length the furrounding darkness will be difpelled. For when the force of fire ceafes to operate, the particles of earth, and air, and water, which fill the furrounding chaos, will, according to their different degrees of gravity, fucceffively defcend and arrange themselves on the fmooth furface of the liquified world. As acceffions are thus perpetually made to it from all the heights and regions of the air, it will become by degrees firm and immoveable-will be able to fupport itself, and a new race of inhabitants, and being poffeffed of all the principles of a fuitful foil, as well for the production of animals as of plants, will want no property belonging to an habitable earth. The new orb will be level and regular, and as the ocean will be fhut up in its centre-its furface will be alike destitute of mountains and of feas.

Nor will it long remain without inhabitants; for the virtuous of mankind, and the martyrs of Jefus, and among others, the patriarchs, the prophets, and the apoftles, will rife from the dead, and exclufively enjoy the privileges of a prior refurrection. The face of nature will be eminently beautiful, and the earth will be endowed with a fpontaneous fertility. The axis of the globe will be parallel to the axis of the ecliptic, and there will be perpetual ferenity and a perpetual fpring, free from the viciffitudes of the feafons and the inconveniences of heat and of cold. The newly created animals will be mild and tractable. The lamb and the kid will af fociate on terms of familiar intimacy with the wolf, the lion, and the leopard, who will retain no thirst for blood, no fondness for prey. The fons of the first refurrection will poffefs bodies fimilar in fhape to those which they had in their former life, but they will be fuperior to the attacks of difeafe. The new creation will be enlightened by the divine prefence in an extraordinary manner. All evil will be extirpated-All mischievous

paffions

paffions will be extinguished. There will be no marriage, and as infants will not be born, no part of their time will be occupied in the nurfing of children or in the education of youth. As they will be elevated to a life of uninterrupted freedom and joyful inactivity; day will glide after day, and year will fucceed after year, in the alternate fruition of the impaffioned transports of devotion, and the calmer pleasures of contemplation.

After having thus enjoyed a thousand years of the highest terreftial felcity, the glories of a celeftial world will dawn upon them, and they will be tranfported through the sky to meet our Saviour in the clouds, when he comes to vifit the earth a third time, at the period of the final refurrection and the general judgment.

Hoxton Square,
May 1799.

J. EVANS.

CURIOUS PARTICULARS

RELATIVE TO

WALES.

[From a Collection of Welsh Tours.]

PLINY, in his Natural History, fays, that a small

time after the Romans had carried their arms through the island, they began to apply themfelves to working the mines: at firit the lead ore was got with eafe, as it lay near the furface. In Pliny's time, who died A. D. 79, there was a law limiting the annual produce, as even now, with regard to black lead. The extraordinary difcoveries that have been made at different periods appear, from the teftimony of ancient hiftorians, to be founded more in chance or accident than any particular gift of genius.

Juftin tells us, that the gold mines of Galicia were difcovered by the plough; and Strabo afferts, that those

of

of India owed their discovery to pifmires, who, by their common industry, raised the earth into a hillock. Trivial accidents have been the effect of vaft mineral difcoveries. The great mine at Halkin, belonging to Earl Grofvenor, was difcovered by ditching; whilft that at Llangynnog first obtained notice by the step of a woman afcending a hill, and baring the vein with her feet.

The ancient method of mining, in many refpects, agrees with the prefent. The perfons fo employed worked by turns, alternately relieving each other. They worked night and day, by the aid of lamps, and drove levels and funk fhafts, propping the ground as they advanced. When the ore was got, it was cleanfed, according to the method now ufed, and fmelted in a furnace; and afterwards caft into forms somewhat refembling the common pigs of lead.

We are told by Mr. Pennant, that the British name of lead is loft: that we now ufe is derived from the Saxon. Borlafe obferves, as foon as the Romans had made a conqueft of the country, they formed in the tin province, camps and roads, ftill visible, and left behind them vafes, urns, and money; that evince them to have been a ftationary people in the island.

Pliny, likewife adds, that the Romans made mirrors of tin, and lined the veffels of brass with it, to prevent any deadly effect.

Strabo, in lib. 4, obferves, that gold and filver were enumerated among the products of Great Britain. The Romans were apprized of this; and with our other valuable metals it no doubt proved an incentive to their ambition to effect the conqueft.

Agricola, previous to the battle of Gampian Mountain, in his oration to his foldiers, excited them to victory, by reminding them of the riches that would await the reward of valour.

In the reigns of James IV. and V. great wealth was produced in the lead hills, from the gold collected from VOL. VII.

D

the