I can venture to undertake the Talk ;which I will execute according to the bestof my Abilities, and the narrow Limits ofa Letter will admit.

In the first Place, you requested of me,to deliver you my Sentiments on the pre-sent State of Mining, and whether I hadobserved any Improvements of late Yearsto be made therein: 2dly y To give you aDefinition of the Art itself, and of a Mine-Steward ; that is, to communicate to you,what Extent of Knowledge a Mining Pro-fessor ought to be possessed with, before heundertakes the practical Part of the Art.3 dly and lastly. Whether any Stress or De-pendance is to be put on the Virgula Di-vinatoria.

To answer the first Question, seems atfirst Sight a very hard Task; not that theSubject itself renders it so, because it mayeasily be demonstrated and illustrated be-yond all Doubt, that Mining, in this Partof the Globe, is in such a perfect Decay,that it is greatly to be feared, it will, in afew Years, become totally extinct: Butthe Difficulty arises from a Reluctance inme, to expose my Neighbour’s Insufficiency,I mean, the Unstcilfulness of the Mine Di-rectors, and the Risk one runs in doing it,for he will certainly be their Mark, andmust expect to meet with nothing but Con-tempt and Reproach j he will be as un-doubtedly.,