Some slight alterations were afterwards made in this scheme, in consequence of a wish having been expressed that the Bishop of Durham and the Duke of Northumberland should take the lead in a subscription. The following letter conveys some farther information upon this subject. TO THE REVEREND DR. GRAY. Newcastle, January 11, 1817. SIR, I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 9th instant, communicating the intention of the Reverend the Dean and Chapter of Durham, to subscribe fifty guineas towards the plate to be presented to Sir H. Davy, which, together with two hundred guineas from the Coal-owners of the Wear, makes the subscription amount to nearly £1500, and I shall expect some farther subscriptions. I am sure it will afford you satisfaction to learn that the lamps still continue to give the most gratifying proofs of the advantages resulting from their invention, and that not a single inch of human skin has been lost by fire, wherever they have been used. Sir Humphry has just made another important improvement in the lamp, by constructing the cylinder of _twisted_ wire-gauze. Lamps thus constructed, possess the singular property of not becoming red-hot, under any circumstances of exposure to explosive mixtures, whether urged by a blast, or in a state of rest. I am with great respect, Sir, your most obedient humble servant, JOHN BUDDLE. It may be collected from the following letter, that the Committee, in announcing to Sir H. Davy the intended present of plate, delicately sounded him as to the form in which it would be most agreeable to him. TO N. CLAYTON, ESQ. Grosvenor Street, March 23, 1817. SIR, On my return to town, after an absence of some days, I found the letter of March the 13th, with which you honoured me, at the Royal Institution. I shall not lose a moment in replying to it, and in expressing my grateful feelings for the very flattering communication it contains. The gentlemen interested in the coal-mines of the two rivers Tyne and Wear, cannot offer me any testimony of their kindness, which I shall not receive with infinite pleasure. I hardly know how to explain myself on the particular subject of your letter; but as the Committee express themselves satisfied as to the utility of the Safety-lamp, I can only desire that their present, as it is highly honourable to me, should be likewise useful to my friends, and a small social circle, which it would be as a dinner-service for ten or twelve persons. I wish that even the plate from which I eat should awaken my remembrance of their liberality, and put me in mind of an event which marks one of the happiest periods of my life.