demonstrated, (though many persons before would not admit of, and others could not understand, the principle,) that the facility of removing the blocks or wedges was proportionate to the quantity of pressure upon them. The block of five degrees kept its place, but was immediately cleared, by applying the power of the battering rams to the sides of the outer ends of the horizontal wedges. The above experiments being communicated to the navy-board, Mr. Seppings was directed to attend them, and explain the principle of his invention; which explanation, farther corroborated by the testimonials of his then superior officers, was so satisfactory, that a dock was ordered to be fitted at Plymouth under his immediate directions. The horizontal wedges in this, and the other docks that were afterwards fitted by him, are of cast-iron, with an angle of about five degrees and a half, which, from repeated trials, are found equal to any pressure, having in no instance receded, and when required were easily removed. The vertical wedge is of wood, lined with a plate of wrought iron, half an inch thick. On the bottom of the dock, in the wake of each block, is a plate of iron three quarters of an inch thick, so that iron at all times acts in contact with iron.

The placing the sustaining shores, the form and sizes of the wedges and battering rams, &c. also the process of taking away, and again replacing the wedges of which the block is composed, are also exemplified by a model.

The dock being prepared at Plymouth, in August, 1801, the Canopus, a large French eighty-gun ship, was taken in, and rested upon the blocks; and the complete success

of the experiment was such, that other docks were ordered to be fitted at Sheerness and Portsmouth dockyards under Mr.Sepping's directions. At the former place a frigate, and at the latter a three-decked ship were suspended in like manner. This happened in December, 1802, and January, 1803; and the reports were so favourable, as to cause directions to be given for the general adoption of these blocks in his ma jesty's yards. This invention being thought of national consequence, with respect to ships, but particu larly those of the navy, government has been pleased to notice and reward Mr. Seppings for it.

The time required to disengage each block, is from one to three mi nutes after the shores are placed; and a first rate sits on about fifty blocks. Various are the causes for which a ship may be required to be cleared from her blocks, viz. t shift the main keel, to add addit a false keel, to repair defects, 10 canlk the garboard seams, scarples of the keel, &c. Imperfections in the false keel, which are so very in. jurious to the cables, can in the largest ship be remedied in a few hours by this invention, without adding an additional shore, by taking away blocks forward, amidships, and abaft, at the same time; and when the keel is repaired in the wake of those blocks, by returning them into their places, and then by taking out the next, and so in succession. The blocks can be replaced in their original situations, by the application of the wheel battering rams to the wedges, the power of which is so very great, that the weight of the ship can be taken from the shores that were placed to sustain her. There were one hun. dred and six ships of different clas

Indian paper, &c. used in letterwriting; and, in fact, it is applied to numberless purposes. The bazar price of the best quality, split into sheets of about two lines thick, is six rupees the maund of 84lb. avoirdupois. If it could be applied to any useful purpose at home, it might go in part ballast of ships, and at a trifling expence.

N. B. The chaya, or red dye-root of the coast, is, I believe, known at home; as also the cashaw leaves, which are used as an astringent.

Directions for Dyeing a bright Red, four yards of three-quarters broad Cotton Cloth.

1st. The cloth is to be well washed and dried, for the purpose of clearing it of lime and congee, or starch generally used in India for bleaching and dressing cloths; then put into an earthen vessel, containing twelve ounces of chaya or red dye root, with a gallon of water, and allow it to boil a short time over the fire.

2d. The cloth being taken out, washed in clean water, and dried in the sun, is again put into a pot with one ounce of myrabolans, or galls coarsely powdered, and a gallon of clear water, and allowed to boil to one half when cool, add to the mixture a quarter of a pint of buffalo's milk. The cloth being fully soaked in this, take it out, and dry it in the sun.

3d. Wash the cloth again in clear cold water, and dry it in the sun; then immerse it into a gallon of water, a quarter of a pint of buffalo's milk, and a quarter of an ounce of the powdered galls. Soak well in this mixture, and dry in the sun. The cloth, at this stage of the process, feeling rough and hard, is to

be rolled up and beetled till it be comes soft.

4th. Infuse into six quarts of cold water, six ounces of red wood shav. ings, and allow it to remain so two days. On the third day boil it down to two-thirds the quantity, when the liquor will appear of a good bright red colour. To every quart of this, before it cools, add a quar. ter of an ounce of powdered allum¦ soak in it your cloth twice over, drying it between each time in the shade.

5th. After three days, wash in clean water, and half dry in the sun: then immerse the cloth into five gal lons of water, at about the tempera ture of 120 degrees of Fahrenheit, adding 50 ounces of powdered chaya. and allowing the whole to boil for three hours; take the pot off the fire, but let the cloth remain in it until the liquor is perfectly cool; then wring it gently, aud hang it up in the sun to dry.

6th. Mix intimately together, by hand, about a pint measure of fresh sheep's dung with a gallon of cold water, in which soak the cloth thoroughly, and immediately take it out and dry it in the sun.

7th. Wash the cloth well in clean water, and spread it out in the sun on a sand-bank (which in India is universally preferred to a grass-plat for six hours, sprinkling it from time to time, as it dries, with clean water, for the purpose of finishing and per fecting the colour, which will be of a very fiue bright red.

Directions for Dyeing of a beautiful Red, eight Ounces of Cotton Thread.

1st. Put one gallon and a half, by measure, of sapwood ashes, into an earthen pot, with three gallons of water, and allow the mixture to re

main twenty-fours to perfect it for

ase.

2d. Put the following articles into an earthen pot, viz. threequarters of a pint of Gingelly oil; one pint, by measure, of sheep's dung, intimately mixed by hand in water; two pints of the above ley. After mixing these ingredients well, pour the mixture gradually upon the thread into another vessel, wetting it only as the thread, by being squeezed and rolled about by the hand, imbibes it, continuing to do so until the whole is completely soaked up, and allow the thread to remain in this state, until next day.

3d. Take it up, and put it in the sun to dry; then take a pint and ahalf of ash-ley, in which squeeze and roll the thread well, and allow it to remain till next day.

4th. Squeeze and roll it in a like quantity of ash-ley, and put it in the sun to dry; when dry, squeeze and roll it again in the ley, and allow it to remain till next day.

5th. Let the same process be reprated three or four times, and intermit till next day.

6th. Ley the thread once, as the day before, and when well dried in the sun, prepare the following liquor: one gill of Gingelly oil, one pint and a-half of ash-ley; in this, squeeze and roll the thread well, and leave it so till next day.

7th. Repeat the process of yesterday, and dry the thread in the

sun.

8th. The same process to be repeated.

15th. Wash the thread in clean water, and squeeze and roll it in a cloth until almost dry; then put it into a vessel containing a gill of powdered chaya root, one pint, by measure, of cashan leaves, and ten pints of clear water; in this liquor,' squeeze and roll it about well, and allow it to remain so till next day.

16th. Wring the thread, and dry it in the sun, and repeat again the whole of the 15th process, leaving the thread to steep.

17th. Wring it well, dry it in the sun, and repeat the same process as the day before.

18th. Do. 19th. Do.

do.

do.

20th. Wring and dry it in the sun, and with the like quantity of chaya root in ten pints of water, boil the thread for three hours, and allow it to remain in the infusion until cold.

21st. Wash the thread well in clear water, dry it in the sun, and the whole process is complete.

ANTIQUITIES.

An Account of Caerphilly Castle.

CAERPHILLY

AERPHILLY Castle was once the largest in Great-Britain, next to Windsor, and it is without exception the most extensive ruin. Its magnitude and strength have caused the probability of its origin to be much controverted; and it is perhaps too much the custom to question the authenticity of those documents or traditions, which do not exactly tally with our own conjectures or pre-concerted hypotheses. The memorials which I have been able to collect, from the Welsh archæológy, extracted for me by Mr. Edward Williams, and from other sources, received as the most authentic in that country, furnishing the following broken and interrupted particulars of this place from very early times.

Cenydd, the son of Gildas, the celebrated author of the epistle, De Excidio Britannia, founded a church and monastery in the eastern, and another in the western part of Glamorgan. This anecdote is found in a very ancient manuscript account of the British saints, in the

Welsh language: but no place is assigned to the first of these. To the second our attention will be drawn hereafter. But Caradoc Lhancarvan, in a copy differing from that which Powel translated, supplies the deficiency, by inform ing us, that in the year 831, the Saxons of Mercia came unexpect edly in the night, and burned the monastery dedicated to St. Cenydd, standing where Caerphilly castle is now; though there was at that time a sworn truce between the Britons of Glamorgan and the Mercian Saxons. In the year 1094, the earls of Arundel and of Glocester, Ar nold de Harcourt, and Neale le Vicount, came with an army against the Welsh of Glamorgan, in aid of Robert Fitzhaman. The armies met, and in the battle of Gellygare, which is five miles north of Caerphilly, the natives slew every one of those Nor man leaders, and accomplished an exemplary vengeance on their ene mies, taking from them very rich and copious spoils. Some of the Normans escaped into their castles; but few of them were so fortunate; for Ednerth ap Cadwgan, with his sons, Gruffyth and Ivor, followed them very closely, and slew great

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