Arthur Young, A Tour in Ireland, made in the years 1776, 1777, and 1778
Arthur Young was born in 1741, the son of a Suffolk clergyman. He moved to London in 1761 and worked as a writer, publishing four novels. He moved back to Suffolk on his father's death on 1759. In 1767 he became the manager of a farm in Essex and experimented with new methods, publishing the results as A Course of Experimental Agriculture (1770). As he travelled around Ireland, his letters of introduction to very many aristocrats and gentry enable him to stay on many great estates: he often speaks of "the common people", but clearly was not one of them. He provides both a detailed account of farming methods and extensive social commentary. Vision of Britain currently presents only the first of two volumes, but this describes in detail a four month tour in 1776, visiting all parts of Ireland.