Star.
London, England, 1815-12-18 00:00:00

EPELOCUE.

" Monstrous! improbable! a likely thing—
" This play of your's--a Beggar turn a King !!
a' Your moral's mischievous--
" A Prince so oar at elbows !!—a Court so shabby!!
" Give me the royal fittures of the abbey,
" Whose Majt sty, (Goo bless their wax-work faces!)
" Defies all tune,• and tears no chance of places."
(Advanaing a little, and stretching out kis hand.)
Critic., your hand—your loyalty I love—.
Come ! don't be shy excuse a beggar's glove.
A Beggar turn a King ! Well l—where's the wonder ?
if one knocks down, the other must knock under.
And Monarchs toe—when matters wete so **—
Torrid Beggars not a thaaandyran ago.
As for your courtiers, though ary scorn to show it,
They're out at etowam—and their tailors know it.
Dame Fortune deals her partners quickly down
Ylays the short game. Frtncli points—and bets a drowns,
And e'en the winning hand ('he jade's so fickle)
Mat, find his tzcettre prove $ rod In pickle.
,)co! in these times there's hard') nerd of proving,
The word with high and humble Is keep moving—
A.nd your neat neighbour, hir,
(Advanciul; towards some one in the Pit.]
for aught you know

Ts some trels-chic or king Incognito. -
In truth we monarchs of the Out aril pot
Fear nut to &wit due crt dit foe uor I f 4
"Clau-e and his courtit.rs, alien in the fact
Of beggit.g here. di oad but your vagrant ad.
Ard :tar ts! chiefly to provoke the pity
Of at y kind mentlicity Committee;
Pray that your charity sail) save us all
Front work a. d wink-house— h.tnp ssntl hospital.
.(ltetiting the lia..ls of the Stage
Bang al'. such friends .o bett.!r our contlition,
We like he S.cknes, more titan thy Physician.
;lite devil take 'heft comfort.' ard th-ir cores;
We want no penes o! thefts—but praise of your's.
We prui. by our puversy aid i.yiu,
And,orly ask for have to L:gag:ii:i

The ne Lyceum Theatre, when completed, will
rival in taste anii convenience any similar building in
the kingdom. Is now rises from its foundation with
grca rapidity The audience part of the old house
will in the new Mr be occupied by the stage ; this
altvration will render .he entrance to the boxes, from
the Strand, spacious and convenient, and distinct from
that to the pit.
Mrs. Dicicoris is so much recovered from her dan-
gerous indsposiiion, as to be able to be removed into
the county y, for the restoration of her health.
mitt c. mposer, after spending some days at
the seat I the EA of GUILDFOOD, last summer, was
sei2ed with a fit of the gout, which has confined him
ever since to his chamber.
The late hours of dining in the fashionable circles
were neatly censured by the late Mr. PITT. N Mr.
Purr, (said the Duchess of GQ1111011) I wish you to
tune with me this evtning at kn." “ lam sorry I
cannot wait upon your Grace, (replied the Minister)
as I ~ns engaged to sip with the Bishop of Lz►cut.x
at nine."
Jai Ds MOT.--in the convivial administration of

n, when the ministerial dinners were coin.

posed of such men as the SANDWICH, WRY.
mouvri, T DURUM, RICHARD Rtuar, dm. various
pirisaiitries passed, for which the present times are
uofortunately too refined. Amongst others, it was
the whim of the day, to call upon each member, after
the cloth was dravrb; to tag a rhyme to the name of
Ids left hand neighbour. This was proposed by Lord
SA ND'InCH, to get a laugh against his facetious friend
Lord Wars, who happened to be seated next to
Mr. MILLIKIRN: a name deemed incapable of such a
tag. Luckily, however, for Lord N. Mr. M. had
just informed him of an accident that had befallen
him nem. the pomp in Pall Mall, which enabled his
Lordship to extricate himself from the trap that bud
bop laid for him, by this whimsical impromptu :
44 Poor Mr. Melt gm
laa Mathis rump naiad a pump,
" s wont p near ka well again !'

ACCIDENTS IN COAL MINES.

The accidents in the coal mines near Newcastle. in
consequence of the explosion of the inflammable air,
or fire demo, have lately become very frequent and
terrible in their consequences. About two years ago
not less than 100 persons were destroyed in the Fel-
ling Colliery by a single explosion, and it is no exag-
geration tni say, that in the different mines some
hundreds of lives are annually lost in consequence of
these dreadful accidents. The resources of chemical
science have, however, there is every reason to be-
lieve, at last supplied means of preventing these ex-
plosions, and of guarding the miner from danger.—
Committees have been, for some time, formed at
Newcastle and Sunderland, with the view of investi-
gating the cause and nature of the explosions in the
coal mines, and of searching for means of prevent-
ing/bens.
Dr. Gray, of Bishopwearmouth, one of the most
active members of these benevolent institutions, hav-
ing requested Sir Hiimphry Davy to turn his atten-
tion to the subject, Sir Humphry immediately went
to the coal-mines, examined the state of their venti-
lation, conversed with Mr. Buddle, Mr. Dunn. and
other intelligent viewers on the subject ; learnt the
degree of light necessary for working the mines ;
.procured specimens of the gas for examination ; made
a number of experiments upon it, and by determining
the nature and properties of the enemy he had to
content with, discovered means of eluding its attacks.
His researches, which were communicated to the
Royal Society at their first meeting this year, lead to
the following conclusions:
Ist. The fire damp is the least combustible of all
the inflammable gasses, and the least expansive when
it explodes. It is not capable of being exploded by
charcoal burning without flame, nor by iron heated
to whiteness. It requires for its explosion to be mixed
with at least four times its volume of air, and it
explodes feebly when mixed with fourteen times its
volume of air. When it is mixed with fifteen parts
of air a candle burns in it with a greatly enlarged
flame ; a small admixture of fixed air (carbonic acid
or of azote), from one-sixth to one-seventh, destroys
the explosive power of mixture of the fire damp
and air. 2d. Explosions from tire damp cannot pass
of small tubes or metallic canals or deep apertures
through diameter.
On the knowledge of these principles Sir H. Davy
has constructed what he calls ihe safe lantern, which
is of the size of a common lantern, and as portable.
It is air-tight in die sides, and is ted with air by safety
tubes or canals, of an inch and a half long, through
which explosions cannot pass, and having a safe
,chimney above, and the lamp in burning forms such
a quantity of azote and carbonic acid as to keep the
air always below the explosive standard. This lamp
is supplied with oil by an aperture out of the lantern,
and is trimmed or snuffed thifugh a safety canal.
When an atmospheric explosion from tire damp is
passed into this safety lantern it first weedy enlarges
the flame and then extinguishes it, so that when mt-
ners employ this invention there is only a temporary
loss of light, whereas with a candle life is destroyed.
Since Sir Humphry Davy's researches have been
made known various schemes, some of them imperfect
adoptions of part of his plan, have been proposed.
Dr. Murray, of Edinburgh, has suggested the use
of a close lantern, furnished with a long tube to pro-
cure air from the lower part of the mine; but the fire
damp is often disengaged from this part of the mine;
and if air passed through such a tube it would like.
wise communicate explosion, and unless it were very
large, which would render it inconvenient to carry, it
would not support combustion in a close lamp. It is
stated in the Newcastle Paper, that Dr. Murray con-
ceives that the fire damp diainisher the Hattie of a lamp
or candle, this chews that be has not made any accu-
rate experiments upon the subject, for it is known
uniformly to enlarge it.
In the same Newcastle Paper it is mentioned that
Mr. Stevenson, et Killingworth Colliery, an ingenious
but illiterate mechanic, has constructed a lantern upon
the same principles as Sir H. Davy's sale lantern,
but front the account riven of it, it appears to be de-
void of the safety apertures, and constructed upon a
knowledge of ti,e first fact mentioned by Sir H.
namely, that in a close vessel, supplied with air in
limited quantities by apertures from below, the fire
damp extinguishes Same.
Mr. Stevenson, it is said, has tried this .lamp in
dangerous parts of his collieries, where candles would
. have exploded the gas with perfect success.
It is but justice to Dr. Claim, of Sunderland, to
state that he was the first person who attempted to
make a lantern for preventing explosions, but his
lamp requiring a bellows, and the air being pressed
in and out through water, it has been regarded by
the miners as too large and ponderous for their use.
We see in the Time Mercury, a letter from Mr. H.
H. Holmes, in winch he says, that Sir H. Davy dill'
not mention Dr. Clanny's invention in the paper read
to the Royal Society. This is not true. Sir Hum-
phry did mention him, with the praise due to his in-
vention, and.stated his obligations to him for the use-,
ful intelligence he received from him. Mr. Holmes,
however, goes farther, and accuses Sir Humphry of
plagiarism from Dr. Clanny. What analogy is Mere
between a lamp burning between two columns of
water, and supplied with air by a pump worked by
band or machinery. and a single close lantern sup-
plied with air by canals, through which explosions
=mot pass, and having a chimney through which
explosions cannot pass. The fact is, that Sir Hem-
phry'e contrivance is simple, convenient, and effica-
cious. He has rendered a great service to humanity,
by the invention.
In completing his researches on this subject, we un-
derstand Sir HUhIPHMY DAVY has discovered moans
still more simple than those above described. He has
ascertained that fine metallic wire gauze, or the finest
metallic wire sieves, stop entirely explosions. They
suffer light and air to pass, thiough them ; bat prp.
sent an unsurmountable barrier inflame and myosin.
He is. able, in consequence of this discovery, to make
all common lamps or lanterns safe for the miners, by
covering their air aturturn with Nadal& pass, which,
when of the proper degree of fineness, is a perfect
Name sieve, or a sieve for separating flame from air.

The Mastership of Trinity Ball. Cambridge, va-
cant by the death of Si, Wit. WYNNE, is always filled
by a Layman who is a Civilian ; Dr. AMISS*. the
Advocate in the Commons, is spoken of as likely to
be elected blaster by that Society.