Some Account of the public Trials made by David Hartley, Efq; Member of Parliament for Kingfton upon Hull, to evince the Efficacy of a new, cheap, and eafy Method invented by him, for preferving Houfes, Ships, &c. built with the most combustible Materials, from Fire; with the Proceedings of the Lord-Mayor, Aldermen, and Commons, of the City of London, in Common Council affembled, relative thereto, c

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IRE, we need not obferve, is an element of fo fierce a nature, that there is no playing with it, without the utmost danger; fo that every experiment tried by it, as an agent, or upon it, as a fubject, may be truly filed an Experimentum Periculofum; that is, in the language of Medicine, an experiment not to be tried with impunity. One would, therefore, be apt to imagine, that even a fingle trial of any one method to check its fury, might, on proving fuccefsful, be pronounced equally decifive. But the greatest men are fo far from being arrogant, that they feldom do themselves common justice in their own eftimation; and, perhaps, the truth of this maxim never fhone forth more confpicuous, than in the cafe of Mr. Hartley, with regard to this his equally grand, useful, and fingular invention. Though convinced, in his own mind, that he could not make it, either as bene. ficial to himself, as he had a right to expect, or as advantageous to mankind, as his benevolence prompted him to wifh, unless he could retain the fole property in it, and, of courfe, the fole management of it for fome unufual

length of time, he, with a fpirit which muft ever do him the greateft honour, took as much pains, and spent as much money, to obtain that favour, if we may be allowed to call it one, as the greedieft adventurer in the neediest circumftances, on the one hand, or the moft patriot Prince, with the moft princely fortune, on the other, might be fuppofed willing to fubmit to.

He built a house, three ftories high, with two large rooms on a floor, on Wimbledon Common, and tried no fewer than fix experiments upon this houfe, for the fatisfaction of the Public in general, and thofe great bodies in particular, including his Majefty, whofe approbation was requifite for his obtaining an extenfion of the term, to which royal patents are limited by law; and whofe example befides might be ferviceable to induce the bulk of the people to open their eyes to their own good.

The firft of thefe views, Mr. Hartley has already, with no lefs honour to the legislature than to himself, perfectly fucceeded in; and we hope he will, ere long, equally fucceed in the fecond. But, confidering the nature of our work, it would ill become us to confine ourselves to fuch barren things as hopes, or even vows, on the occañon. We think ourfelves bound to contribute all in our little power to fo defirable an event; and, therefore, as the efficacy of his invention must best appear from some account of the trials already made of it, we fhall proceed to a hort but faithful description of one of them, which may do for all the reft.

Mr. Hartley's third trial was exhibited with peculiar propriety,

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we might indeed fay, elegance of choice, on the anniversary day of the great fire of London, in 1666, before the Lord Mayor of London, the gentlemen of the Corporation, and the Committee of City Lands; the fourth, on the 27th of September, before their Majefties, their Royal Highneffes the Prince of Wales, the Bishop of Ofnabrugh, and the two eldeft Princeffes, with their attendants, and several other noblemen, ladies, and gentlemen, who all, if we may ufe the expreffion, fhook hands with the fire, as familiarly as the meanest of their inferiors could be expected to do; the fifth, before a fpecial committee of the city of London, attended by their builders, furveyors, and other proper officers. After the trial, at which the LordMayor affifted, his Lordfhip laid the foundation ftone of a pillar, with the following infcription:

The Right Hon. JOHN SAW.

BRIDGE, Efq;
LORD-MAYOR of LONDON,
Laid the FOUNDATION STONE
Of this PILLAR,

One Hundred and Ten Years after
the FIRE of LONDON,
On the ANNIVERSARY

Of

That dreadful Event;

In Memory

Of

AN INVENTION

For SECURING BUILDINGS AGAINST Fire.

And foon after, viz. on the 5th of November, the Report of the Committee of City Lands, not only extremely favourable, we may be fure, but highly honourable, to Mr. Hartley, having been agreed to in common-council, the court unanimoufly refolved, that

the freedom of the city fhould be prefented to him, in confideration of the advantages likely to accrue to the public from his invention, and for his refpectful attention to the city in his repeated experi ments, performed before many of the members of the court; the copy of the freedom, with the refolutions of the court inferted therein, to be delivered by the Chamberlain to Mr. Hartley, and the report and the refolution to be fairly transcribed and figned by Mr. Town-Clerk, and by him, in like manner, prefented to Mr. Hartley. Moreover, the court feriously recommended the ufe of Mr. Hartley's method in all the houfes, &c. already built, or which might afterwards be built, on the extenfive eftates belonging to the city.

In return for all thefe no lefs juft and flattering marks of approbation, Mr. Hartley wrote the Chamberlain of London a letter, which, as it must fully exculpate us from the charge of fulfomeness in fpeaking of Mr. Hartley's modefty throughout the whole of thefe proceedings, we think it highly incumbent on us to infert. It is as follows:

tion for fecuring buildings from fire. 1

"The general refpect which I entertain upon all occafions towards the city of London, as the most important member of the community, and the peculiar propriety of offering an invention to their attention, which above all feems calculated for the fecurity of great cities, were my motives for laying this matter before them, Their approbation of my conduct, and the fuccefs of my labours, is the highest fatisfaction to me. As they have been pleafed to recommend the use of the invention in their own buildings, they may be affured that nothing in my power fhall be wanting to facilitate the ' execution.

"It has coft me much labour and anxiety to bring the invention into that degree of forwardnefs in which it is at prefent; therefore I do more immediately and perfonally feel the kindnefs of the city of London, in giving me their affiftance and countenance in the profecution of fo important an object. As I know the public good to be the object of their attention, it is a double fatisfaction to me to labour with them in the common caufe, and to contribute my beft endeavours under their powerful and refpectful patronage. I beg leave to affure them that the highest point of my ambition will at all times be, to merit the approbation of my fellowcitizens, and to obtain the good will of my country,

I am, Sir,

Your most obedient

Humble Servant,
D. HARTLEY."

(To the Chamberlain of the City of London.)

ments, Mr. Hartley's fixth and laft, was made on the 11th of November, before feveral of the most refpectable members of both Houses: and as, befides all his trials being on the fame plan, we may be fure the laft, fuppofing any difference between them, was the fevereft, as calculated to anfwer all the cavils, and conquer all the objections which might have been made to his former trials, and obviate all thofe, which he might be apprehenfive of with regard to his future ones; and facts being moreover, on this occafion particularly, the best, if not the only folid, arguments, we have fixed on this left trial, as the propereft for our purpose.

On this memorable day, then, Mr. Hartley, after carrying his company, as ufual, round the houfe of trial, in order to see the marks of between twenty and thirty large fires, which, at former experiments, had been lighted in different parts of it; firft, ordered a fire to be made on the deal flooring of one of the ground-room floors. Then, a large faggot of fhavings, fufpended by iron to the upper part of the fame room, was fet on fire. Thirdly, the ftaircafe was fet on fire, both above and below, without the fire's extending, in either cale, beyond the fpot on which it was lighted. Laftly, the other room on the ground floor, filled almost to the top with faggots, pitch, and other combuftibles, was fet fire to; but, though they all burnt with fuch fury, as to vomit forth a perpetual torrent of flame and fmoke, and thereby render all approach within thirty yards of the windows, on the outfide, abfolutely impractica

ble,