SECTION III.

HABITATIONS, FUEL, FOOD, AND CLOTHING OF THE LOWER RANKS, AND THEIR GENERAL COST.

HABITATIONS.

THE habitations of the lower ranks, with the exception of Ballinasloe, Headford, Mount Bellew Bridge, Woodlawn, Clonbrock, and, perhaps, a few others, are wretched in the extreme. That attention to the comforts of their tenantry, which should actuate every li beral minded man, seems to be almost unknown, and one is led to imagine that the idea I have heard expressed by more than one, is general: "What the devil do I care how they live, so as they come to work when I want them, and pay me my rent!" I regret to have to remark here, that extreme hauteur of manner that some landlords observe to their tenants; one would be tempted to think that they did not consider them of the same species; they can know nothing more of their dispositions than of so many cattle. Did they relax a little, and treat them with a dignified kindness of manner, they would find a warmth and sincerity of return, much dearer to a feeling mind than that heartless hatoffering that seems to tickle their pride so much. I would beg of them to look to the meetings at Holkam, Wynnestay, and many others. Do they imagine that those enlightened proprietors of estates, that would equal half the estates of this county, lower themselves in the estimation of sensible men, when they collect around them at those meetings, their noble and humble. friends? In ancient Persia a festival was yearly cele

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brated, in which husbandmen were freely admitted to the king's table. "From your labours," said the king, we receive our sustenance, and by us you are protected; being mutually necessary to each other, let us, like brethren, live together in amity."

Many landlords are attentive to the wants of their cottiers, but too careless of their comforts; of which they should be instructed that cleanliness is the very first. There is scarcely a cottage that has not a step down into it, and the dunghill uniformly near the door. The common cant of many is, "they could not help it :" the fact seems to be, they would not take the trouble to help it. Are we to be told that a poor cottier, totally dependant on his landlord, will not build on any site or level laid out for him, and keep the dunghill at the back of the house, and sufficiently far from it as not to incommode the family; but perhaps all this neatness would be too far from the road to be seen by travellers, the chief inducement, I fear, for the expenditure of much whitewash; if this was not the inducement, why not, like lord Clancarty, extend to it to the whole estate? If the landlord is a non resident, his agent should take delight in doing it; but I have had occasion before to remark, that the generality of those gentlemen are mere receivers of rent. My idea of an agent is, that he should consider himself a working partner at a certain per centage, rising or falling with the state of the concern, for farming must, to all intents and purposes, be considered a manufacture, and a very complicated one too, and I regret to say, one of which many agents are deplorably ignorant.*

I dare say it will be said here by some of my sagacious friends "Aye, aye, Dutton wants an agency himself." I certainly would have no objection to one where I could have an opportunity of practising what I have suggested; but they will, perhaps, accuse me of arrogance, when I assure them that no emolument that would be offered, could tempt me to

To the bad effects of a damp situation may be added, the want of ventilation, (which occurs also frequently in some great houses,) which in general is confined to that between the doors; for if there is a hole in the wall with a pane of glass fired in it, it is the most they generally possess; as to a window that opens, that is a

undertake the management of the affairs of a distressed or extravagant proprietor, nor indeed many others, though of great extent; I do not wish to fish in troubled waters like those gentlemen whom we so often see in the public papers, proposing to advance a sum of money to entitle them to the agency of the estate. I know an estate in this county that has frequently changed the agents, who are obliged to advance a sum of money; the tenants have been ruined the rents have been screwed up so high above their value, God help the unfortunate tenants, and indeed the landlords that come under the claws of one of those harpies, whose practice is to flay the tenant; mine would be, according to queen Elizabeth's advice to one of her Irish lieutenants, only to shear him. At the same time I am of opinion there cannot be a more ruinous or cruel practice than permitting tenants to run in arrears. Here the resident agent has the superior advantage of being able to distinguish between the tough rogue and the industrious unfortunate; for he is not fit for this situation that cannot form a near estimate of the circumstances of every tenant. An agent should be almost always on horseback amongst the tenants, laying out for them where drains should be made, where and how they should irrigate where plant, &c. &c. This could be accomplished by a steady and impartial system of rewards and punishments; in fact, every large estate should have a little farming society for itself. Emolument with me is a secondary consideration; I have no pecuniary inducement; I have no person to provide for but myself. It will be seen by the following advertisement, which I inserted in the Farmer's Journal in September 1808, what my wishes were at that period. "He wishes for a resident agency, and presumes "to think that any person having extensive designs to execute, or waste "lands to reclaim, will meet with a knowledge of rural economy, very dif"ferent from the generality of non-resident receivers of rent. Those who "may wish for a more detailed statement of his acquirements, he trusts, "will find that he can meet a liberal engagement with a very superior "degree of exertion, and general knowledge of what should constitute the "duties of a resident agent to landed property. Anonymous applications, "or from any but principals, will not be noticed."

luxury possessed by very few except show cottages. In too many instances, the cow and pig keep their places in the house; certainly not so frequently as formerly. The general mode of thatching in this province, with a neatly twisted ridge of straw, is much superior to that usually practised in the county of Dublin, where mortar or road dirt are substituted, and occasions the thatch to decay very soon. The mode of building cottages here is nearly the same throughout the province; they are usually of stone without mortar. In some places a foundation of stone, and the remainder of the wall either of sods or tempered clay, at which work the labourers of this county are very far behind those of other parts of Ireland. As a proof that they are conscious of their instability, they put uprights of wood in building the wall, on which the rafters rest, instead of a wall plate; they are generally about six feet asunder; across those there are ribberies stretched, consisting of branches of trees, and on those, smaller sticks, (wattling,) which support the scraws (sods cut thin) into which the straw is thrust with an iron instrument, and neatly smoothed with a rake; sometimes the straw is fastened on with scallops, or with ropes stitched to the ribberies. Frequently the roof is covered with heath or potato stalks, which very soon decay, and as there is very seldom an eve stone, and the thatch does not project far enough over the wall, the rains are admitted, and in a very short period the wall either tumbles, or is proped until it be comes so bad that a new patch must be built, and not unfrequently the wretched inmates are obliged to place their beds close to it in this wet state. What the con

sequences of this are, may be perceived in the numerous cases of colds, consumptions, and fevers, &c. that daily occur at every dispensary, which, much to the credit of many gentlemen, are becoming very general, and are

of infinite use. I must still think, however, that much of the necessity for medical aid might be prevented by an attention to the habitations of the cottier tenants, and that if they even received the attention that the pigs receive in many places, much might be done. If the agent lives too far from the estate, which is too frequently the case, or that it would interfere too much with the amusements or indolence of the proprietor, a person might be appointed for this sole purpose, a rural conservator, or agricultural agent. I must confess when I reflect on this culpable neglect, I probably feel too irritable to think or write calmly; when I see the expence incurred in erecting stables, dog-kennels, and piggeries, I cannot help immediately thinking on the unfortunate man and his family, lying in a wisp of damp straw by the side of a new built mud wall. I am not so cynical as to deny every comfort and cleanliness to those noble and beautiful animals-horses; or those other animals that contribute to our health or amusement; I think much should be conceded to induce an occasional residence of landed proprietors, for I do not think they should be always cotting at home; they should see the world, especially the younger part. I also agree that architectural beauty should accompany the arrangement of those offices, according to a man's rank and fortune, but surely a reflecting mind would conceive that a frequent visit and close inspection of the condition of their tenantry would not be incompatible with their other arrangeHow delightful would it be to extend the usual visit after breakfast from the dog-kennel and stables, to examine the stalls of those other animals that would not be less grateful, and on whose prosperity depends the means for the maintenance of every other. I presume to think that lord and lady Clancarty, and their family, have a delicious gratification when walking through their tenan

ments.