11th to 19th October 1776: Tipperary and Waterford

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TO Cullen, Newtown, Palace, Carrick on Lish, rent 30s. an acre. Respecting the state of the poor in this country they are paid by a cabbin, and one acre and a half of land, for which they are reckoned 4l. and for grass of a cow 2l. 2s. They live upon potatoes and milk; generally have cows, but not all, and those who have not buy, but very many of them have for the half year, only potatoes and salt. They all keep pigs. They are just as they were 20 years ago. Prices, wheat 1s. 1d. per stone. English barley, 10d. Oats, 6d. Bere, 7d. Hay, 1l. 2s. 9d. a ton.

RAPE is very commonly sown upon burnt land; they never seed it, but let it stand for seed, of which they get 12 to 15 barrels, and it sells at 16s. a barrel. Burning I should explain, is only the remaining turf after two ploughings, the first in november, and after christmas a cross ploughing; harrow in march, and burn in may.

ACCOMPAMED Lady Clanwilliam in a drive thro' her plantations; she has planted a broad margin for several miles round a domain (which his Lordship walled in with intention of building) and done it with equal taste and success. The attention she has given to this rational amusement, and the sensible and agreeable manner in which she renders every tree interesting by her description and remarks, are formed to set off a female character in a light at least as respectable and as amiable as the most brilliant exhibition that a capital can witness. The twig which she plants with her hand, and nourishes by her care, will not disappoint her in the pleasure she expects; it will thrive with her attention, and greet her with its friendly shade: when will Dublin prove as grateful?

OCTOBER 12th, to Lord de Montalt's, at Dundrum, a place which his Lordship has ornamented in the modern stile of improvement: the house was situated in the midst of all the regular exertions of the last age. Parterres, parapets of earth, straight walks, knots and clipt hedges, all which he has thrown down, with an infinite number of hedges and ditches, filled up ponds, &c. and opened one very noble lawn around him, scattered negligently over with trees, and cleared the course of a choaked up river, so that it flows at present in a winding course through the grounds. He continues this work of dressing the fields contiguous to him, to give them a neat appearance, and advances in it every year: even his tillage lands are all kept in the same neat manner, with fences new done, and the whole carrying the most cultivated appearance.

His Lordship's system of husbandry is an admirable one; it is in the great outline to take farms into his own hands, as the leases expire, to keep them for improvement, and when done to relet them. This is the true agriculture for profit for a landlord: he has upon this system improved near 2000 acres. Throwing down the old miserable fences, which split the farms into little scraps of fields, and made new ditches for drains and water-courses, disposed the new fields to the best advantage, drained them with stone drains where wet, broke up such of the grass as was bad, cultivated it enough to bring it into proper order, and laid it down again to meadow; there cannot be a better system, or more calculated at the same time to ornament a country, and improve his own estate.

His Lordship has also followed several practices in farming, which have proved of great service; among others, keeping hogs upon clover. He had a mind to shew the countrymen that they might keep many hogs (a very advantageous stock to them) by means of clover; he kept four sows and twenty-four pigs the summer through on one acre, by which he made 10l. produce. A clear proof that the husbandry would be highly advantageous with this view.

TURNIPS he cultivates upon a very large scale; was the first who had them here on stubbles; he has 30 or 40 acres, and every year has a large quantity; drills them with a very cheap simple drill, his own invention, and thins them out by hand, or hoes them. I viewed his crop, and found them very regular, and of a good size; the leaves of the whole of a remarkable deep green, without any yellow ones: more so, I think, than is common in England, and I observed the same circumstance with the other crops I saw. He uses them for feeding and fattening sheep, giving them on dry grass land; also for stall-feeding bullocks, and finds the advantage of both uses so great, that he does not know what he should do without them.

IN the winter management of his cattle, he proceeds on very different principles from what is common in Ireland; instead of feeding them abroad, and for that purpose stacking the hay about the fields, he ties them up in stalls, of which he has many, and is erecting more: he ties up above 100 head, in which he finds the greatest advantage, both in the cattle, saving food, and yielding dung. The breed of sheep he has begun to change, from the long-legged Tipperary to the short legs of Leicestershire; has several tups of that breed, and finds that the change is of the highest consequence. Folding he has practised with the greatest success. The breed of hogs he has also changed to the Berkshire, and has one of the finest boars of that breed I have seen.

CABBAGES he cultivated for several years, but finds them burst too soon to be of considerable use; turnips much better: but Reynolds's turnip-cabbage he finds excellent for late spring food; has eight acres of very fine ones this year, which cost him just 20l. labour of manuring included.

LORD DE MONTALT keeps 2000 acres in his hands, 1500 sheep, 40 plough bullocks, 12 cows, &c. His Lordship, for the purpose of draining his clay lands, ploughs and .shovels them up into broad highlands, so as to form regular segments of circles, in the manner practised in some counties in England; he does this that the furrows may be drains to the land, for French drains will not run, owing to the stiffness of the clay. He has not much of this land, however; for in general his soil is the rich reddish sandy loam of the golden vale. He does much of his ploughing with the plough of Warwick and Shropshire, and finds it answers very well.

THE mountain lands of Tipperary one-seventh of the county, the rest lets at 20s. an acre on an average. There is some woollen manufactory scattered through it, especially at Thurles, Tipperary, Clonmel, &c. Mr. John Fenning, near Colchin, employs 30 combers. The year's purchase of land 20, was 25 some years ago. The fall owing partly to the expectation of an absentee land-tax.

OCTOBER 13th, leaving Dundrum, passed through Cashel, where is a rock and ruin on it, called the rock of Cashel, supposed to be of the remotest antiquity. Towards Clonmel, the whole way through the same rich vein of red sandy loam I have so often mentioned; I examined it in several fields, and found it to be of an extraordinary fertility, and as fine turnip land as ever I saw. It is much under sheep ; but towards Clonmel there is a great deal of tillage.

The first view of that town backed by a high ridge of mountains, with a beautiful space near it of inclosures, fringed with a scattering of trees, was very pleasing. It is the best situated place in the county of Tipperary, on the Sure, which brings up boats of ten tons burthen. It appears to be a busy populous place, yet I was told that the manufacture of woollens is not considerable. It is noted for being the birthplace of the inimitable Sterne. Within two miles of it is Marlefield, the seat of Stephen Moore, Esq; celebrated in Ireland for his uncommon exertions in every branch of agriculture. It was not without the greatest concern that I found him absent. Seeing this gentleman however in London afterwards, he was kind enough to favour me with the following particulars:

His mill was built seven years ago, and cost 15,000l. the wages of the millers, including candles, coals, soap, tallow, &c. 7 or 800l. a year: it contains nine pair of stones for wheat, and four for oatmeal: it has a very complete apparatus for sifting, cleaning, &c. and granaries of uncommon magnitude, holding 10,000 barrels: began to be worked with only 3000 barrels of wheat in a year, which has risen gradually to 20,000 barrels in 1776, a very strong proof of the great increase of tillage in that neighbourhood. Very much of it is between Clonmel and Cashel, in which tract there was formerly more sheep in one parish, than now in three; also much in the Corke road to Cloheen, but no mountain-heath ground improved. The change has been from sheep and bullocks. He has a prospect of doing yet more, and at the same time that other mills have been erected that grind much, perhaps the whole is not short of 40,000 barrels. The farmers do not bring their wheat from a greater distance than 16 miles. Mr. Moore finds it necessary to kiln-dry all. I mentioned to him the bad colour of all the wheat in his own, and every other mill in Ireland, he attributed it only to wet harvests. He sends his flour to Dublin, on the bounty, which rather more than pays the expence of carriage. Never exports on his own account, but sends a little to Waterford. It goes to Dublin in cars, which takes each eight to ten cwt. that is from four to five bags. He used to pay 3s. a cwt. in winter, and 3s. 6d. in summer for 84 miles, but now the price is 2s. 6d. in summer, and 3s. in winter. Mr. Moore tried English broadwheeled waggons, with high priced strong horses, but they did not answer at all: he has found the cars to carry much greater loads.

HE has not found that the premium has overstocked the Dublin market, which he attributes to there being an export from Dublin, notwithstanding such exported corn receives no bounty. The bran Mr. Moore applies to breeding and fattening hogs, contrary to the practice of most other mills, who having tried it, have given that practice up. He has thirty breeding sows and six hundred pigs, which are fed and fattened entirely on it, and the fat is firm and good. The price of bran is 1s. 1d. the six stone, and the hogs answer so well, that he would contract for other bran to be delivered him at that price, in order to use it in this manner. He does not depend entirely on breeding his own, but buys many stores. He is entirely in the Berkshire breed, which he finds much superior to the Irish. I observed his hogs, and thought them very fine ones. His sows bring three litters each, seven pigs on an average, in a year and a quarter; sells them at half a year to two years old, putting them to fat as soon as they have done growing; but when there is a great demand, fats them young. The average fat pig, two cwt. at from 20s. to 30s. a cwt. medium 25s. The dung is a considerable profit; he finds it beyond any other. He has given bran also to fatting store cattle, having built stalls for that purpose; gives them hay till when near fat, then leaves off the hay. His working horses are fed on bran entirely, no oats.

MR. Moore contracts for biscuit, which he bakes in large quantities, and bread for the whole town of Clonmell. He has eight ovens going for biscuit. Starch he also makes large quantities of. Adjoining his flour mill, he has erected a rape mill, for making oil; the seed is all raised in the neighbourhood. The cake sells at 48s. a ton, and is exported, some to Holland, but most to England, for manure. He has tried seeding beasts with it, but it will not do at all: they would have died. This fact has long been known in England. It is the cake of lint seed that fattens. We have, however, very florid writers of this age, who speak of oxen fattening on rape cake as a common thing.

MR. Moore's husbandry is also worthy of considerable notice. His principal attention has been given to cattle; seventeen years ago he imported Leicestershire rams, Northampton stallions, and a Craven bull from England, and has at different times since had bulls from Bakewell and others, and has himself sold yearling bull calves, from 10l. to 30l. a piece, and rams from 10l. to 40l. Long experience has told him that the long horned Craven breed of cattle is preferable to any other. I enquired particularly into the quantity of milk, because the common objection is their not giving much. Sir William Osborne, as well as Mr. Moore, assured me that he had seen one of them milked, and the milk measured seventeen quarts at one meal; but the average six to ten quarts at a meal, which is neither better nor worse than the common cows of the country: but the milk is much better and thicker, and yields more butter than that of the Holdernesse. I examined his bulls, cows, and oxen, with attention; he has a bull which deserves every commendation for shape; and three or four out of six or seven prime cows I saw, were very beautiful ones.

OF sheep he keeps 1000, that is 200 ewes, 200 year-olds; 200 two-year olds; 200 barren ewes, and 200 lambs. He sells every year 200 two-year old fat wethers, and 100 barren ewes; the wethers in october, at 28s. and the ewes in the spring, at 25s. His fleeces are 7 lb. each on an average, at 1s. per lb.

TURNIPS he has cultivated for some years, up to 30 acres in a year, broad cast, has not hoed, from finding them very good without. He both draws and seeds on the land. He has had cabbages also, but never more than two acres, finds them more expensive, but do not go so far as turnips.

To Sir William Osborne's, three miles the other side Clonmell. From a character so remarkable for intelligence and precision, I could not fail of meeting information of the most valuable kind. This gentleman has made a mountain improvement which demands particular attention, being upon a principle very different from common ones.

TWELVE years ago he met with a hearty-looking fellow of forty, followed by a wife and six children in rags, who begged. Sir William questioned him upon the scandal of a man in full health and vigour, supporting himself in such a manner: the man said he could get no work: Come along with me, I will shew you a spot of land upon which I will build a cabbin for you, and if you like it you shall fix there. The fellow followed Sir William, who was as good as his word: he built him a cabbin, gave him five acres of a heathy mountain, lent him four pounds to stock with, and gave him, when he had prepared his ground, as much lime as he would come for. The fellow flourished; he went on gradually; repaid the four pounds, and presently became a happy little cottar: he has at present twelve acres under cultivation, and a stock in trade worth at least 80l. his name is John Conory.

THE success which attended this man in two or three years, brought others, who applied for land, and Sir William gave them as they applied. The mountain was under lease to a tenant, who valued it so little, that upon being reproached with not cultivating, or doing something with it, he assured Sir William, that it was utterly impracticable to do any thing with it, and offered it to him without any deduction of rent. Upon this mountain he fixed them; gave them terms as they came determinable with the lease of the farm, so that every one that came in succession had shorter and shorter tenures; yet are they so desirous of settling, that they come at present, though only two years remain for a term.

IN this manner Sir William has fixed twenty-two families, who are all upon the improving hand, the meanest growing richer; and find themselves so well off, that no consideration will induce them to work for others, not even in harvest: their industry has no bounds; nor is the day long enough for the revolution of their incessant labour. Some of them bring turf to Clonmell, and Sir William has seen Conory returning loaded with soap ashes.

HE found it difficult to persuade them to make a road to their village, but when they had once done it, he found none in getting cross roads to it, they found such benefit in the first. Sir William has continued to give them whatever lime they come for; and they have desired 1000 barrels among them for the year 1776, which their landlord has accordingly contracted for with his lime-burner, at 11d. a barrel. Their houses have all been built at his expence, and done by contract at 6l. each, after which they raise what little offices they want for themselves.

SIR William being prejudiced against the custom of burning land, insisted that they should not do it, which impeded them for some time; but upon being convinced that they could not go on well without it, he relaxed, and since that they have improved rapidly. He has informed them, that upon the expiration of the lease, they will be charged something for the land, and has desired that they will mark out each man what he wishes to have; they have accordingly run divisions, and some of them have taken pieces of 30 or 40 acres: a strong proof that they find their husbandry beneficial and profitable. He has great reason to believe that nine-tenths of them were white boys, but are now of principles and practice exceedingly different from the miscreants that bear that name. The lime Sir William gives them for the first breaking up, and the quantity they chuse is 40 barrels an acre, so that all the expence is 6l. for the house, and 1l. 16s. 8d. an acre for the land they improve. He has little doubt but they will take the whole mountain among them, which consists of 900 acres. Their course of tillage is,

1. Potatoes on the burning, generally turks (clustered) and great crops. 2. Rye. 3. Oats, and then leave it out.

THEIR cattle are feeding on the mountain in the day, but of nights they house them in little miserable stables. All their children are employed regularly in their husbandry, picking stones, weeding, &c. which shews their industry strongly; for in general they are idle about all the country. The women spin.

Too much cannot be said in praise of this undertaking. It shews that a reflecting penetrating landlord can scarcely move without the power of creating opportunities to do himself and his country service. It shews that the villainy of the greatest miscreants, is all situation and circumstance: EMPLOY, don't hang them. Let it not be in the slavery of the cottar system, in which industry never meets its reward, but by giving property, teach the value of it; by giving them the fruit of their labour, teach them to be laborious. All this Sir William Osborne has done, and done it with effect, and there probably is not an honester set of families in the county than those which he has formed from the refuse of the white boys.

SUPPOSE he builds a house to every twenty acres, and limes that quantity of land, the expence would be a few shillings over 40l. or 40s. an acre. If they pay him 2s. 4d. an acre for the land, he will make just 6l. per cent. for his money: a most striking proof of the immense profit which attends mountain improvements of every kind, because instead of 2s. 4d. they would consider 6s. or 7s. as a rent of favour. 4s. 8d. is 12 per cent. for his money; 7s. is 18 per cent. Yet in spite of such facts do the lazy, trifling, inattentive, negligent, slobbering , profligate owners of Irish mountains leave them, as they received them, from the hands of their ancestors, in the possession of grous and foxes. Shame to such a spiritless conduct!

ONE-THIRD of Waterford mountain at 6d. an acre, and two-thirds at 7s. Twenty miles on the coast in length, and eight or ten in breadth, is under dairies, of which the rent per acre is little known, farms being paid for by the cows they will maintain, at 50s. each. These dairies rise to 50 and even 100 cows. They all keep great numbers of hogs, which increase every day from the high price. The state of the poor people much better than formerly; they used to have one acre of potatoes, and the grass of one cow for their year's labour, and no more, and were much greater slaves than at present.

TILLAGE does not thrive in the county; it has, however, increased pretty much about Dungarvon, from whence there has been a tolerable export of corn; not only from its neighbourhood, but also from a distance, owing to the mobs of Clonmel and Carrick stopping corn going to Waterford, which has injured the latter town.

OCTOBER 15th, left New Town, and keeping on the banks of the Sure, passed through Carrick to Curraghmore, the seat of the Earl of Tyrone. This line of country, in point of soil, inferior to what I have of late gone through: so that I consider the rich country to end at Clonmell. For the following account of the husbandry of the county of Waterford I am obliged to the attention of Lord Tyrone, who omitted no means of informing me accurately.

THAT county is divided into very large farms, and the renters of them keep cows generally, which they let to dairymen. One farmer, Mr. Peor, has 2000 cows, and pays 2000l. a year; they rarely let more to one man than 50 cows, usually about 20; many of these men pay weekly, and others quarterly: the rent from 50s. to 3l. 5s. no such thing as horn-money. The dairyman's privilege is a house and two or three acres of land, or a horse and two cows in twenty. They make nothing but butter, and all keep hogs; but do not feed them with milk, selling it all; 1,300 to 1,500 churns full of milk, each eight gallons, goes into Waterford every day in the year, and a prodigious quantity to Carrick. The county is by far the greatest dairying one in Ireland. The breed is the common mountain cow, poor to look at, but great milkers, five or six pottles at a meal common. Price of them 5l. at an average. Average rent of all the land under cows, 10s. One-third of the county mountain, at 6d. the other two-thirds, at 10s. Along the blackwater, good land, and four miles round Waterford, 20s. or 25s. The quantity for a cow from two to four acres. They generally breed their own by rearing a few calves every year; the young stock are kept on the mountains in summer, and in the worst of the low land in winter. They never feed their cows with any hay, except in very severe weather. No other stock.

THE soils are various at this end of the county, clay and shingly slate, with a reddish mold upon it and gravelly loams. At the other end, they have lime-stone lands. They have, however, about Curraghmore lime-stone gravel of a stiff nature. Lime at the kiln 9d. a barrel; Lord Tyrone pays 1s. for the stone, and 2s. 8d. a barrel for the culm, and pays 2d. a barrel for breaking and burning, all which make 9d. Every barrel of culm gives seven of lime; a ton of stone produces four barrels of lime: the barrel four cubical feet. Not a thirtieth part of the country under the plough. The tillage consists only of little patches broken up by the cabbins; it has been increasing these 15 years: but the principal increase has been in ten years. The course of crops:

1. Potatoes. 2. Potatoes. 3. Barley, or oats. 4. Oats. 5. Oats: continued while the land yields. Wheat is coming in. Some who till large fields, do not take so many crops. About Dungarvon there are many potatoes planted, which are sent to Dublin in boats, with loads of birch brooms, and they are said to be loaded with fruit and timber. But in no part of the county do they plant grass potatoes: they plant many of the bull or turk sort for their pigs, but they are reckoned an unwholesome sort for the people to feed on. Paring and burning land was common before the law passed against it, but of late very little. Upon the coast there is a great deal of sea weed and sea sand, especially beyond Dungarvon and Waterford. Flax is scarcely any where sown. The poor people feed on potatoes and milk; most of them have cows; many of them for a part of the year only salt to their roots: but they have oat bread when potatoes are not in season. They all keep pigs, but never eat them. Their circumstances are in general greatly better than they were twenty years ago, both in food and cloathing; they have now all shoes and stockings, and are decently dressed every sunday; No hats among the women, which I believe I have omitted to observe is the case all over Ireland. Their labour is valued, and they are paid the amount in land. The religion of the lower classes the roman-catholic.

EMIGRATIONS from this part of Ireland principally to Newfoundland, for a season; they have 18l. or 20l. for their pay, and are maintained, but they do not bring home more than 7l. to 11l. Some of them stay and settle; three years ago there was an emigration of indented servants to North Carolina, of 300, but they were stopped by contrary winds, &c. There had been something of this constantly, but not to that amount. The oppression which the poor people have most to complain of, is the not having any tenures in their lands, by which means they are entirely subject to their employers.

MANUFACTURES here are only Woollens. Carrick is one of the greatest manufacturing towns in Ireland. Principally for ratteens, but of late they have got into broadcloths, all for home consumption; the manufacture increases, and is very flourishing. There are between three and four hundred people employed by it, in Carrick and its neighbourhood.

LORD Tyrone is clear that if his estate in Londonderry was in Waterford, or that all the inhabitants of it were to emigrate from it, so as to leave him to new model it, he would be able to get full one-third more for it than he can do at present; rents in the north depending not on quality, but on price of linen.

THE rise in the prosperity of Ireland, about the year 1749) owing to the higher price of provisions, which raised rents and enforced industry. Butter now 9d. a lb. thirty years ago 2½d.

TYTHES are usually compounded for by the year through this county. Wheat pays 10s. Barley 10s. Oats 5s. Mowing ground, 4s. Sheep, 1d. each. Milk sells in summer for a halfpenny a quart; five quarts of butter-milk in summer for a halfpenny.

LORD Tyrone has improved 127 acres of hill, the soil reddish dry loam, on a slaty bottom, over-run with French and Irish furze, briars and bushes; he first grubbed them up at a guinea an acre: then he levelled an infinite number of old ditches and mounds, at 50l. expence, ploughed in winter, and second ploughed in may; then 200 barrels of roach lime per acre, spread, at 1s. a barrel. Upon this ploughed twice more; and sowed, part with wheat at michaelmass, and part with barley in spring. The crops 8 barrels an acre of wheat, and 18 of barley. After the wheat, barley and grass seeds were sown; the barley as good as the other; and upon the barley part oats were sown, the crop 15 barrels, and white clover and hay seeds. Before the improvement, it let at 10s. an acre; after the improvement, it would let readily at 25s. The grubbing the furze was not effectual, for 50l. has been since expended in grubbing up scattered ones. They are now completely destroyed; it is a very beautiful well-laid lawn, and so good land, that the wool of the sheep alone that were kept there last year, without other food, and through the year, paid 20s. an acre for the whole. It would now feed 600 sheep through the year. Over 90 acres limed, with 250 barrels an acre, and fallowed, he had 17 barrels an acre of wheat. Eight years ago his Lordship stopped their burning land; but upon receiving many complaints of it, he sold them lime at 9d. a barrel, which cost him 1s. in order to make up the imaginary loss.

I had the pleasure of meeting at Lord Tyrone's, William Shanly, Esq; of Willyfield, in Leitrun, who informed me that he had twelve hundred stones per acre from a bad red bog, four feet deep of potatoes, drained to the clay at bottom; manured with lime-stone sand at 3l. labour, besides horses; also a common dunging, and immediately planted the potatoes, dug them, and sowed barley, 15 barrels an acre; then barley again 12 barrels; barley again 8 barrels, and grew too rank; laid it with grass seeds, could let it at 40s. an acre: answers so well, that he would have done any quantity. He planted with a plough 29½ stone of potatoes in rows, four feet asunder; the produce was 1,440 stone, the quantity of land about three rood. In the county Leitrim, four-fifths of it mountain, at 2d. or not so much; the remaining fifth, 6s. the mountains in Leitrim all a wet boggy surface.

CURRAGHMORE is one of the finest places in Ireland, or indeed that I have any where seen. The house, which is large, is situated upon a rising ground, in a vale surrounded by very bold hills, which rise in a variety of forms, and ofser to the eye, in riding through the grounds, very noble and striking scenes. These hills are exceedingly varied, so that the detour of the place is pleasing, In order to see it to advantage, I would advise a traveller to take the ride which Lord Tyrone carried me. Passed through the deer-park wood of old oaks, spread over the side of a bold hill, and of such an extent, that the scene is a truly forest one, without any other boundary in view than what the stems of trees offer from mere extent, retiring one behind another till they thicken so much to the eye, under the shade of their spreading tops, as to form a distant wall of wood. This is a sort of scene not common in Ireland, it is a great extent alone that will give it, From this hill enter an ever-green plantation, a scene which winds up the deer-park hill, and opens on to the brow of it, which commands a most noble view indeed. The lawns around the house appear at one's feet, at the bottom of a great declivity of wood, almost every where surrounded by plantations. The hills on the opposite side of the vale against the house, consist of a large lawn in the center of the two woods, that to the right of an immense extent, which waves over the mountain side, in the finest manner imaginable, and leads the eye to the scenery on the left, which is a beautiful vale of rich inclosures, of several miles extent, with the Sure making one great reach through it, and a bold bend just before it enters a gap in the hills towards Waterford, and winds behind them; to the right you look over a large plain, backed by the great Cummeragh mountains. For an extent of view, the parts of which are all of a commanding magnitude, and a variety equal to the number, very few prospects are finer than this.

FROM hence the boundary plantation extends some miles to the west and north-west of the domain, forming a margin to the whole of different growths, having been planted, by degrees, from three to sixteen years. It is in general well grown, and the trees thriven exceedingly, particularly the oak, beech, larch, and firs. It is very well sketched. Pass by the garden across the river, which murmurs over a rocky bed, and follow the riding up a steep hill, covered with wood from some breaks in which, the house appears perfectly buried in a forest, and come out, after a considerable extent of ride, into the higher lawn, which commands a view of the same scenery; and from the brow of the hill the water, which is made to imitate a river, has a good effect, and throws a great air of chearfulness over the scene, for from hence the declivity below it is hid; but the view, which is the most pleasing from hence, the finest at Curraghmore, and indeed one of the most striking that is any where to be seen, is that of the hanging wood to the right of the house, rising in so noble a sweep as perfectly to fill the eye, and leave the fancy scarce any thing to add: at the bottom is a small semicircular lawn, around which flows the river, under the immediate shade of very noble oaks; the whole wood rises boldly from the bottom, tree above tree, to a vast height, of large oak, the masses of shade are but tints of one color, it is not chequered with a variety, there is a majestic simplicity, a unity in the whole, which is attended with an uncommon impression, and such as none but the most magnificent scenes can raise.

DESCENDING from hence through the roads, the riding crosses the river, passes through the meadow, which has such an effect in the preceding scene, from which also the view is very fine, and leads home through a continued and extensive range of fine oak, partly on a declivity, at the bottom of which the river murmurs its broken course.

BESIDES this noble riding, there is a very agreeable walk runs immediately on the banks of the river, which is perfect in its stile; it is a sequestered line of wood, so high on the declivities in some places, and so thick to the very edge in others, overspreading the river, that the character of the scene is gloom and melancholy, heightened by the noise of the water falling from stone to stone; there is a considerable variety in the banks of it, and in the figures and growth of the wood, but none that hurts the impression, which is well preserved throughout.

OCTOBER 17th, accompanied Lord Tyrone to Waterford; made some inquiries into the state of their trade, but found it difficult, from the method in which the Custom-house books are kept, to get the details I wished; but in the year following, having the pleasure of a long visit at Ballycanvan, the seat of Cornelius Bolton, Esq; his son, the member for the city, procured me every information I could wish, and that in so liberal and polite a manner, that it would not be easy to express the obligations I am under to both. In general I was informed that the trade of the place had increased considerably in ten years, both the exports and imports. The exports of the products of pasturage, full one-third in 12 years. That the staple trade of the place is the Newfoundland trade; this is very much increased, there is more of it here than any where. The number of people who go passengers in the Newfoundland ships is amazing; from 60 to 80 ships, and from 3000 to 5000 annually. They come from most parts of Ireland, from Corke, Kerry, &c. Experienced men will get 18l. to 25l. for the season, from march to november; a man who never went will have from 5l. to 7l. and his passage, and others rise to 20l. the passage out they get, but pay home 2l. An industrious man in a year will bring home 12l. to 16l. with him, and some more. A great point for them is to be able to carry out all their slops, for every thing there is exceedingly dear, 100 or 200 per cent. dearer than they can get them at home. They are not allowed to take out any woollen goods but for their own use. The ships go loaded with pork, beef, butter, and some salt: and bring home passengers, or get freights where they can; sometimes rum. The Waterford pork comes principally from the barony of Iverk in Kilkenny, where they fatten great numbers of large hogs; for many weeks together they kill here 3 to 4000 a week, the price 50s. to 4l. each; goes chiefly to Newfoundland. One was killed in Mr. Penrose's cellar, that weighed 5¼ cwt. and measured from the nose to the end of the tail, nine feet four inches.

THERE is a foundery at Waterford for pots, kettles, weights, and all common utensils; and a manufactory by Messrs, King and Tegent, of anvils, anchors to 20cwt. &c, which employs 40 hands. Smiths earn from 6s. to 24s. a week. Nailors from 10s. to 12s. And another less considerable. There are two sugar-houses, and many salt-houses. The salt is boiled over lime-kilns.

THERE is a fishery upon the coast of Waterford, for a great variety of fish, herrings particularly in the mouth of Waterford harbour, and two years ago in such quantities there, that the tides left the ditches full of them. There are some premium boats both here and at Dungarvon, but the quantity of herrings barrelled is not considerable.

THE butter trade of Waterford has increased greatly for seven years past; it comes from Waterford principally, but much from Carlow; for it comes from 20 miles beyond Carlow, for 6d. per cwt. From the 1st of January, 1774, to the 1st of January, 1775, there were exported 59,856 casks of butter each upon an average, 1 cwt. at the mean price of 50s. Revenue of Waterford, 1751, 17,000l.—— 1776, 52,000l. The slaughter trade is increased, but not so much as the butter. Price of butter now at Waterford, 58s. 20 years average 42s. Beef now to 25s. average 20 years, 10s. to 18s. Pork now 30s. average 20 years, 16s. to 22s. Eighty sail of ships now belonging to the port, 20 years ago not 30. They pay to the captains of ships of 200 tons, 5l, a month; the mate 3l. 10s. Ten men, at 40s. five years ago only 27s. Building ships, 10l. a ton. Wear and tear of such a ship, 20l. a month. Ship provisions, 20s. a month.

THE new church in this city is a very beautiful one; the body of it is in the same stile exactly as that of Belfast already described: the total length 170 feet, the breadth 58. The length of the body of the church 92, the heighth 40; breadth between the pillars 26. The isle is 58 by 45. A room on one side the steeple space for the bishop's court, 24 by 18; on the other side a room of the same size for the vestry; and 28 feet square left for a steeple when their funds will permit. The whole is light and beautiful: it was built by subscription, and there is a fine organ bespoke at London. But the finest object in this city is the quay, which is unrivaled by any I have seen; it is an English mile long; the buildings on it are only common houses, but the river is near a mile over, flows up to the town in one noble reach, and the opposite shore a bold hill, which rises immediately from the water to a heighth that renders the whole magnificent. This is scattered with some wood, and divided into pastures of a beautiful verdure, by hedges. I crossed the water, in order to walk up the rocks on the top of this hill; in one place, overagainst Bilberry quarry, you look immediately down on the river, which flows in noble reaches from Granny Castle on the right past Cromwell's Rock, the shores on both sides, quite steep, especially the rock of Bilberry. You look over the whole town, which here appears in a triangular form; besides the city, the Cummeragh mountains, Slein-a-man, &c. come in view. Kilmacow river falls into the Sure, after flowing through a great extent of well planted country; this is the finest view about the city.

FROM WATERFORD to Passage, and got my chaise and horses on board the Countess of Tyrone pacquet, in full expectation of sailing immediately, as the wind was fair, but I soon found the difference of these private vessels and the post-office pacquets at Holyhead and Dublin. When the wind was fair the tide was foul ; and when the tide was with them, the wind would not do; in English there was not a complement of passengers, and so I had the agreeableness of waiting with my horses in the hold, by way of rest, after a journey of above 1500 miles.

OCTOBER 18th, after a beastly night passed on shipboard, and finding no signs of departure, walked to Ballycanvan, the seat of Cornelius Bolton, Esq; rode with Mr. Bolton, jun. to Faithleghill, which commands one of the finest views I have seen in Ireland. There is a rock on the top of a hill, which has a very bold view on every side down on a great extent of country, much of which is grass inclosures of a good verdure. This hill is the center of a circle of about ten miles diameter, beyond which higher lands rise, which after spreading to a great extent, have on every side a back ground of mountain: in a northerly direction, Mount Leinster, between Wexford and Wicklow, 26 miles off, rises in several heads, far above the clouds. A little to the right of this, Sliakeiltha (i. e. the woody mountain) at a less distance, is a fine object. To the left, Tory-hill, only five miles, in a regular form varies the outline. To the east, there is the long mountain, 18 miles distant, snd several lesser Wexford hills. To the south-east, the Saltees. To the south, the ocean, and the colines about the bay of Tramore. To the west, Monavollagh rises 2160 feet above the level of the sea, 18 miles off, being part of the great range of the Cummaragh mountains; and to the north-west Slein-a-man, at:the distance of 24 miles; so that the outline is every where bold and distinct, though distant. These circumstances would alone form a great view, but the water part of it, which fills up the canvas, is in a much superior stile. The great river Sure takes a winding course from the city of Waterford, through a rich country, hanging on the sides of hills to its banks, and dividing into a double channel, forms the lesser island, both of which courses you command distinctly; united, it makes a bold reach under the hill on which you stand, and there receives the noble tribute of the united waters of the Barrow and the Nore, in two great channels, which form the larger island; enlarged by such an accession of water, it winds round the hill in a bending course, of the freest and most graceful outline, every where from one to three miles across, with bold shores, that give a sharp outline to its course to the ocean; 20 sail of ships at Passage, gave animation to the scene; upon the whole, the boldness of the mountain outline; the variety of the grounds; the vast extent of river, with the declivity to it from the point of view, altogether form so unrivalled a scenery—every object so commanding, that the general want of wood is almost forgotten.

Two years after this account was written I again visited this enchanting hill, and walked to it, day after day, from Ballycanvan, and with increasing pleasure. Mr. Bolton has, since I was there before, inclosed 40 acres on the top and steep slope to the water, and began to plant them. This will be a prodigious addition; for the slope forming the bold shore for a considerable space, and having projections from which the wood will all be seen in the gentle hollows of the hill, the effect will be amazingly fine. Walks and a riding are tracing out, which will command fresh beauties at every step; the spots from which a variety of beautiful views are seen are numerous. All the way from Ballycanvan to Faithleg, the whole to the amount of 1200 acres, is the property of Mr. Bolton.

FARMS about Ballycanvan, Waterford, &c. are generally small, from 20 and 30 to 500 acres, generally about 250, all above 200 acres are in general dairies; some of the dairy ones rise very high. The soil is a reddish stony, or flaty gravel, dry, except low lands, which are clay or turf. Rents vary much, about the town very high, from 5l. 5s. to 9l. but at the distance of a few miles towards Passage, &c. they are from 20s. to 40s. and some higher, but the country in general does not rise so high, usually 10s. to 20s. for dairying land. The course of crops is,

I. Potatoes; the produce 40 to 80 barrels, 26 stones each. 2. Wheat; the crop 8 barrels, each 20 stones. 3. Oats; the produce from 10 to 14 barrels. 4. Barley; the crop 12 to 15 barrels, 16 stone each. 5. Lay it out; the better sort clover with the barley, and leave it for meadow.

1. Oats. 2. Wheat. 3. Oats. 4. Barley. One preparation is a slight burning of the furrows for wheat, after that wheat, they will sow barley, and then several crops of oats. Also,

1. Potatoes. 2. Wheat. 3. Wheat. 4. Barley, 5. Lay out.

1. Potatoes. 2. Potatoes. 3. Wheat. 4. Oats. 5. Barley. 6. Lay out. The second crop 10 barrels. Every house has a little patch of flax for making a little bandle cloth, but the quantity is not considerable.

THE principal manure is a sandy marle they raise in boats on the banks in the harbour at low water; it is of a blueish colour, very soapy, and serments strongly with acids: a boat load is 18 tons, and costs 6s. to 8s. a load. Most of it has shells. They lay it on for barley particularly, and get great crops, can in all see to an inch where spread. Sometimes it is laid on grass, and the effect uncommonly great, bringing up a perfect carpeting of white clover wherever laid. They lay five or six loads an acre, and the land is for ever the better. They repeat it on the same land, and with great effect. They make composts of it with lime, and also hedge earth with good success. Lime they use also; lay from 100 to 150 barrels roach to an acre, which has a very great effect. On the stiffer yellow clays it does better than sand, but laid on all sorts, and also on grass land with advantage. Sea sand they use for potatoes, but it does not last more than for that crop. Waterford dung, and street soilage, 42s. the boat load of 18 tons. Clover has been introduced these 12 years; Mr. Bolton has sown it for many years with great success, so that he never lays down land without it.

THE dairies are generally let at 2l. 5s. The dairyman's privilege to 40 cows is a cow and horse, and two acres and a cabbin, and he is allowed to rear one calf in ten; 100 acres to 40 cows; they do not keep any hogs on account of cows. Price of cows, average 4l. to 5l. They are engaged to give two pottles each on an average, putting all the milk together. Meadows let at 3l. to 4l. an acre for the hay.

THERE are few sheep kept, no great flocks. The poor people plough with four horses, sometimes six: gentlemen generally with spayed heifers or oxen. Land sells at 19 and 20 years purchase; it did sell at 23, and the fall has been owing to the failure of credit in 1771 and 1772.

TYTHES. Potatoes, Wheat, Barley, and Oats, 5s. to 6s. Cows, 2d. Sheep, 6d.

THE poor people spin their own flax, but not more, and a few of them wool for themselves. Their food is potatoes and milk; but they have a considerable assistance from fish, particularly herrings; part of the year they have also barley, oaten and rye bread. They are incomparably better off in every respect than 20 years ago. Their increase about Ballycanvan is very great, and tillage all over this neighbourhood is increased. The rent of a cabbin 10s. an acre with it 20s. The grass of a cow a few years ago 20s. now 25s. or 30s.

AN exceeding good practice here in making their fences is, they plant the quick on the side of the bank in the common manner, and then, instead of the dead hedge we use in England on the top of the bank, they plant a row of old thorns, two or three feet high, which readily grow, and form at once a most excellent fence. Their way also of taking in sand banks from the river deserves notice: they stake down a row of furzes at low water, laying stones on them to the heighth of one or two feet; these retain the mud, which every tide brings in, so as to fill up all within the furze as high as their tops. I remarked on the strand, that a few boat loads of stones laid carelesly, had had this effect, for within them I measured 12 inches deep of rich blue mud left behind them, the same as they use in manuring, full of shells and effervesced strongly with vinegar.

AMONG the poor people, the fishermen are in much the best circumstances; the fishery is considerable; Waterford and its harbour have 50 boats, each from 8 to 12 tons, six men on an average but to one of six ton, five men go. A boat of eight tons costs 40l. one of twelve 60l. To each boat there is a train of nets of six pair, which costs from 4l. 4s. to 6l. 6s. tan them with bark. Their only net fishery is that of herrings, which is commonly carried on by shares. The division of the fish is, first one-fourth for the boat; and then the men and nets divide the rest, the latter reckoned as three men. They reckon 10 maze of herrings an indifferent night's work; when there is a good take 40 maze have been known, 20 a good night; the price per maze, from 1s. to 7s. average 5s. Their take , in 1775, the greatest they have known, when they had more than they could dispose of, and the whole town and country stunk of them, they retailed them 32 for 1d. 1773 and 1774 good years. They barrelled many; but in general there is an import of Swedish. Besides the common articles I have registered in tables, Pigeons, 1s. a couple, A hare, 1s. Partridges, 9d. Turbots, fine ones, 4s. to 10s. Soals, a pair, large, 1s. 6d. to 1s. Lobsters, 3d. each. Oysters, 6s. per hundred. Rabbits, 1s. to 1s. 4d. a couple. Cod, 1s. each, large. Salmon, l¼d. to 2d.

A VERY extraordinary circumstance I was told, that within five or six years there has been much hay carried from Waterford to Norway, in the Norway ships that bring deals; as hay is dear here, it proves a most backward state of husbandry in that northerly region, since the neighbourhood of sea-ports to which this hay can alone go, is generally the best improved in all countries.

MR. BOLTON has improved a great deal of waste land, that was under furze, heath and wood. He first grubs it, which costs for the woody part, 3l. or 3l. 3s. and for the furze, 20s. Then levels all holes, &c. and clears it of rocks, at the expence of 20s. an acre. Upon this he dungs and plants potatoes in the trenching way upon a part, and upon the rest fallows and limes it, 100 to 150 barrels an acre, and sows wheat; produce seven to ten barrels an acre. Then sand it for oats or barley, 15 barrels of barley, and 12 of oats. In this way he has done 300 acres, which was not worth more than 5s. an acre: now lets at 30s. In making this very noble improvement, he divided the land into well proportioned fields, and surrounded them with very noble fences; doubie ditches, with a parapet bank between, planted on both sides with quick, and on the top with a double row of oak, elm, ash, or fir; many of these were planted 3$ years ago; they are now in very great perfection, so thick and fully grown as to be impervious to the sight, and to take, when viewed at a distance, the appearance of spreading woods. Nothing could be done in a compleater manner, and the quantity over more than 300 acres, uniting with many orchards planted at the same time, give his domain and its environs a richness of landscape not common in Ireland. I could not help much admiring it when on the water, from some parts of the river the effect is very beautiful.

MR. BOLTON cannot be too much commended for the humane attention with which he encourages his poor cottar tenantry; he gives them all leases, whatever their religion, of 21 or 31 years, or lives: even the occupier of two acres has a lease. It is inconceivable what an effect this has had: this is the way to give the catholics right ideas. I was for three weeks a witness of a most spirited industry among them; every scrap of rough rocky land, not before improved, they were at work upon, and overcoming such difficulties as are rarely to be found on common wastes: many spots, not worth 5s. an acre, they were reclaiming to be well worth 25s. and 30s. The improvement of this part of Mr. Bolton's estate may be guessed at when I mention, that on only 500 acres of it, there have been built, in six years, 40 new houses, many of them handsome ones of stone and slate. For cabbins, barns, &c. he gives timber for the roofs.

IN 1751, Mr. Bolton being in England, and observing the cultivation of turneps for sheep, he introduced them on his return, and had hurdles made for penning sheep, doing it with much success; after the same journey also, he introduced horse-beans for feeding his horses, mixed with oats: he did it for 20 years together, and with the greatest advantage. Turnep cabbage he has tried also for sheep, and found them to do exceedingly well. One turnep cabbage sown the beginning of april, and not transplanted, weighed 13lb. top and bottom. An experiment on carrots I viewed, of which Mr. Bolton, junior, has since favoured me with the following account.

"WHEN you were here, I shewed you a few beds of carrots, which were pulled the beginning of this month; I measured the ground, and when the carrots were cleaned and topped, I saw them weighed. The ground measured 15 perches, plantation measure, which produced 36 hundred and six stone of carrots, besides allowing 4lb. to every hundred for dirt, though they were very clean and dry. The produce is 156 barrels, and 16 stones to an acre, (20 stones to the barrel) and beyond any thing I could have imagined; and I am certain, had the carrots been hoed and thinned as they ought, the product would have been much greater. The tops were given to pigs; they seemed to like them better than any thing else. These 15 perches are part of a field, which, in 1774, had been highly manured with dung for potatoes. In 1775, the roots of the weeds (of which there were a great quantity, particularly couch-grass and crowfoot) were burned, and the ashes and some blue sand spread, and it was sown with turneps. The latter end of march, these 15 perches were dug, and about the 16th of april sown with a pound of carrot seed; they were twice hoed, to destroy the weeds which came up very thick."

IN the winter of 1775, Mr. Bolton fed 10 working horses on bull potatoes, twice a day on oats, and once on potatoes; the potatoes given always at night; the quantity to each horse 1½ peck of small ones; and at the other two feedings, half a peck each of oats. He found that they fattened the horses very much, and did exceeding well on them. Value of the potatoes 3s. a barrel. The culture of rape and turneps has been tried in this neighbourhood also by Mr. James Wyse, merchant, of Waterford. In the beginning of June, 1774, Mr. Wyse ploughed lightly with a winged plough, and burned the surface of near four acres of land, which had not been tilled for many years. He spread the ashes, and manured the ground with 12 boat loads of the blue sand, which is taken from the banks of the river at low water, each boat load containing 20 tons. Then ploughed and harrowed it once; and such of the clods as were not thoroughly burned and pulverized after harrowing, he turned with the grassy side down to hinder their growing. About the middle of august he sowed with rape; a little more than half a bushel to an acre. It was cut the latter end of june, 17751 and produced 48 barrels, of 16 stones to the barrel, which sold for 16s. per barrel, and the straw to a tallow-chandler to burn for ashes, for 48s. The straw, or haulm of rape, is sold for 12d. for each barrel of seed it produced. The beginning of july, 1775, Mr. Wyse ploughed and harrowed the ground; about the 20th of july sowed it with turneps, which on their coming up were immediately destroyed by the fly. About the middle of august harrowed the ground, and sowed turneps again, which were also destroyed by the fly. Mr. Wyse imagines the great number of flies were occasioned by the oiliness and richness of the ground, (caused bv the putrefaction of the leaves and blossoms of the rape) and the moisture and warmth of the weather. About the middle of October, the grass came up so rich and luxuriant, (though not sown with grass seed) that Mr. Wyse would not suffer it to be ploughed for tillage, as he had intended. The latter end of june, 1776, mowed it, and it produced three tons of hay per acre; sold for 34.s. per ton. The sand and carriage of it cost about 30s. per boat load ; ploughing, burning, harrowing, sowing, cutting, &c. about four guineas per acre. Rent of the land 30s. an acre. In 1775 Mr. Wyse ploughed seven acres, which he prepared in the same manner (except sanding) and sowed it with rape; it grew very well till the great frost and snow fell, which was remarkably severe, and which injured it very much, together with the moisture of the ground, occasioned by springs in the land, and heavy rains, which succeeded the frost and snow; the produce per acre, about half the quantity of the former year; sold at the same price. Mr. Wyse recommends narrow ridges for low moist ground. He thinks a large quantity of ashes to be a chief means of ensuring a plentiful crop. The land does not require manure after rape for wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, &c. but will not answer for a second crop.

MR. BOLTON, junior, having mentioned a neighbour of his, who had drawn up a memoir upon making cyder, from considerable experience, at my request wrote to him for a copy of it, which I have since received, with his permission to insert it in this work. The following is an abridgement of the account.

"LET apples of every species hang till they are ripe, and begin to drop; let them be gathered perfectly dry, and if convenient in the heat of the day, when warmed in the sun; when gathered let them lie in heaps for one, two, three, or four weeks, according to their degrees of firmness, so as to undergo a moderate fermentation; let the moisture be carefully wiped off, and each species separated (if the quantity of fruit in your orchard be sufficient to admit it) and then ground in a mill, or pounded in troughs; but the first the best method, because less of the pulp is broke, and the liquor will flow clearer from the bags; by pressing the fruit of each distinct species so separated, the cyder will undergo one uniform fermentation.

"WHEN the fruit are sufficiently broke for pressing, let them lie 48 hours before they be pressed; this will add to that deep richness of colour, which to the eye is pleasing in cyder; then let the fruit so broke, having stood 48 hours, be pressed in hair cloth bags; as the juice is thus pressed out, let it be poured into large vessels, usually called keeves, to undergo the fermentation; three of these vessels are necessary in every orchard, one to contain the liquor in its state or course of fermentation, while a second is filling from the press, and the third to contain the pummage before it be pressed; three keeves, containing five or six hogsheads each will serve for an orchard that yields 60 or 70 hogsheads of cyder. The expence of these vessels made of double boards, hooped with iron, or strong ash hoops, will not be very considerable; if the weather should prove cold, the fermenting keeves should be covered with bags, &c. in order to quicken the fermentation, which will be compleated in six or seven days if the weather be temperate, provided no new or unfermented cyder be put into the keeve, which above all things should be carefully avoided; when the fermentation is over, the liquor will be fine, and should then be racked off into very clean hogsheads, smoaked with brimstone matches; the hogsheads should not be bunged or stopt close till all symptoms of fermentation cease; and in three weeks or a month it should be a second time racked, still observing to smoak the hogsheads with brimstone, then the hogsheads should with the greatest care be very closely stopped; the keeves must be entirely emptied before the new pressed cyder is poured into them. The great secret in making good cyder, is to prevent or mitigate its fermentations, the first excepted; and nothing will so effectually do this, as repeated racking from the foul lee. Do not press wildings till candlemas, or until they begin to rot; and when the juice is pressed out, let it be boiled in a furnace for one hour, before it be suffered to work or ferment, and that will greatly soften the acrimony of its juice."

MR. WILLIAM ATKINSON, of Mount Wilkinson, near Ballycanvan, seems to be very attentive to the orchard husbandry; from two acres he had 21 hogsheads of cyder, and the same year reaped 20 barrels of wheat under the trees, a produce little short of 50l. or 25l. an acre; three and an half barrels of his apples (each six bushels) made a hogshead of cyders A common practice here in planting orchards, is to set cuttings, three or four feet long, half way in the ground, of the cackagee, jergonelle, or any set that grows rough and knotty in the wood; they call them pitchers , they rarely fail, and yield well and soon.

MR. BOLTON carried me to the houses of some fishermen on the harbour, one of whom had planted around his cabbin for shelter, three years ago, some willow cuttings, the growth of which amazed me; I measured them 21 feet high, and not crooked or bending like common sorts, but straight as a fir. I took half a dozen cuttings with me to England, to compare it with the sorts common with us.

OCTOBER 19th, the wind being fair, took my leave of Mr. Bolton¹ , and went back to the ship; met with a fresh scene of provoking delays, so that it was the next morning, october 20th, at eight o'clock, before we sailed, and then it was not wind, but a cargo of passengers that spread our sails. Twelve or fourteen hours is not an uncommon passage, but such was our luck, that after being in sight of the lights on the Smalls, we were by contrary winds blown opposite to Arklow sands; a violent gale arose, which presently blew a storm, that lasted lasted 36 hours, in which, under a reefed mainsail, the ship drifted up and down wearing, in order to keep clear of the coasts.

No wonder this appeared to me, a fresh-water sailor, as a storm, when the oldest men on board reckoned it a violent one; the wind blew in furious gusts; the waves ran very high; the cabbin windows burst open, and the sea pouring in set every thing afloat, and among the rest a poor lady, who had spread her bed on the floor. We had however the satisfaction to find, by trying the pumps every watch, that the ship made little water. I had more time to attend these circumstances than the rest of the passengers, being the only one in seven who escaped without being sick. It pleased God to preserve us, but we did not cast anchor in Milford Haven, till tuesday morning the 22d, at one o'clock.

IT is much to be wished, that there were some means of being secure of packets sailing regularly, instead of waiting till there is such a number of passengers, as satisfies the owner, and captain; with the post-office packets there is this satisfaction, and a great one it is; the contrary conduct is so perfectly detestable, that I should suppose the scheme of Waterford ones can never succeed.

Two years after, having been assured this conveyance was put on a new footing, I ventured to try it again; but was mortified to find that the Tyrone, which was the only one that could take a chaise or horses, (the Countess being laid up) was repairing, but would sail in five days; I waited, and received assurance after assurance that she would be ready on such a day, and then on another; in a word, I waited 24 days before I sailed; moderately speaking, I could, by Dublin, have reached Turin or Milan as soon as I did Milford in this conveyance. All this time the papers had constant advertisements of the Tyrone sailing regularly, instead of letting the public know that she was under a repair. Her owner seems to be a fair and worthy man, he will therefore probably give up the scheme entirely, unless assisted by the corporation, with at least four ships more, to sail regularly with or WITHOUT passengers; at present it is a general disappointment; I was fortunate in Mr. Bolton's acquaintance, passing my time very agreeably at his hospitable mansion; but those who, in such a case, should find a Waterford inn their resource, would curse the Tyrone, and set off for Dublin. The expences of this passage are higher than those from Dublin to Holyhead: I paid,

	£.	s.	d.
A four-wheel chaise	3	3	0
Three horses	3	3	0
Self	1	1	0
Two servants	1	1	0
Custom-house at Waterford, hay, oats, &c.	2	1	7
Ditto at Pembroke and Hubberston	3	0	0
Sailors, boats, and sundry small charges	1	15	5
	15	5	0

END OF VOL. I.

---

¹ Since the first edition of these papers, this worthy and patriotic friend to his country is dead; but Ireland has not a steadier friend than his son, the present possessor of Ballycanvan. Nowhere have I found more liberal sentiments, or a mind freer from every local prejudice. It is not without reason, that I am eager to seize every opportunity of doing justice to his merit. I have not found his hospitality to be a transient civility to a passing traveller, forgotten as soon as gone.

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