DURHAM AND NORTHUMBERLAND. 4f

death, gave a transient chill to their imagi-nations ; and intrepidity appeared faulteringUnder the united effects of fear, darkness,and doubt. At length one body was found,which increased the horrors of their situation ;and the speechless agony of their minds forsome time paralyzed all exertion: but in ashort time they were animated to proceed.The body was put into a coffin, a supply ofwhich had been lowered down the shaft, andwas drawn to bank * from above, the sad prog-nosticator of what was to come.

But the misery of this scene was not con-fined within the bowels of the earth; it hadextended its range far in the neighbourhood.What must be the sensations of a humanemind on beholding ninety-two coffins piled inheaps at a joiner’s shop, and conveyed fromthence in cart-loads to the shafts of the mine ? Ontheir approach the shrieks and lamentations ofthe women and children was truly distressing;but grief had now become too strong to wasteitself in expression. A silent, fixed, and wretch-

* To bank signifies the act of ascending from the pitto the surface, or sending any thing from below to day;thus, if the gas in a mine is excessive, and rushes up the6haft, the miner describes it by saying, “ she came out tobank.”

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