a trial or experiment for proving the quality of any thing; or an attempt to learn, whether or no any invention will succeed.

in literature, a peculiar kind of composition, the character whereof is to be free, easy, and natural; not tied to strict order or method, nor worked up and finished like a formal system.

ESSAY HATCH is the miner's term for a little trench or hole, which they dig to search for flood or ore.