Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
The Miseries and Beauties of Ireland (Author: Jonathan Binns)
chapter 5
Tullymore — Educational Schools — Slieve Donard and other Mountains — Geology of the district — Dundrum — Houses buried in sand — Killough — Ardglass — Examination at Strangford — Barony of Lecale — Employment — Marriage — Receipts and Expenditure of a family — Usurers — Potatoes — Spirit Shops — Clothing of the Peasantry — Conacre — Cabins — Tenant-right — Rents increasing — Average extent of farms — Agents' fees — Agriculture of the district — Cholera among pigs — Butter — Sheep and Bulls — Farmers retrograding — Manures — Hedges — Assessment of the Barony — Poisoning of Children — Tithe — Pawnbrokers — Loan Society — Emigration — Farms in the neighbourhood of Ardglass and Strangford.
Having taken leave of our excellent host and hostess at Hilltown, we mounted a tandem outside car, and pursued the road along the coast northwards to Ardglass, near Downpatrick — the county town — in the Barony of Lecale. Had it not been for the diversified views of the Mourne Mountains, the road would have supplied but little interest till we reached Tullymore, the seat of the Earl of Roden. Tullymore is a short distance
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from Newcastle. The grounds are very beautiful, and have the fine Bay of Dundrum and the Irish Channel to the east, and are sheltered by the noble Slieve Donard, the monarch of the Mourne Mountains.
The park, which consists of a delightful alternation of hill and valley, wood and lawn, intersected and diversified by rapid streams, is considerably more indebted to nature than to art for its beautiful and imposing effect. The mansion is far from being a handsome structure; and in many parts of the grounds there are attempts at ornament in the shape of grotesque buildings and other fanciful erections. That, for instance, which appears to be a church at a short distance, proves, on a nearer approach, to be nothing but an imitation of one; yet it is agreeable, notwithstanding their imperfect execution, to witness these innocent endeavours to encourage ornament and taste. Having animadverted upon some portions of Lord Roden's domain, I am bound to observe that the inn and the school-houses display a more enlightened sense of architectural propriety.
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Their overhanging roofs, supported by pillars enwreathed with honeysuckle and roses — the small gardens in front, profusely filled with beautiful and fragrant shrubs and flowers — are equal, in my opinion, to anything of the kind in England, and present a gratifying contrast to the surrounding barrenness. They are the oases of the desert. Our stay at Tullymore scarcely admitting of more than a hasty glance, I cannot speak of the educational system pursued in these picturesque schools, as I was not within their walls. This, however, I do not hesitate to say, that he who, under almost any circumstances, promotes education in Ireland, confers a benefit which deserves the gratitude of his countrymen, and the cordial thanks of all who desire the intellectual advancement of their race. It is education alone that can make the Irish a prosperous, a happy, and a peaceful people, and qualify them to form a strong and valuable portion of the empire. It is education alone that can lift them above their degrading superstitions. At the same time it would be well if a more enlarged and liberal
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principle animated those who minister in sacred things; if both Protestants and Roman Catholics, instead of wrangling about the controverted points of their respective religions, were to sacrifice the speculative subjects on which they differ, for the practical spirit of charity in which they might agree.
The road from Maghera to Dundrum affords a fine view of the sea, Slieve Donard, and Newcastle, the seat of Lord Annesley. This neighbourhood would doubtless supply interesting materials for antiquarian research for several days: and a visit to the summit of Slieve Donard, when the atmosphere is clear, would amply compensate for the labour of ascending. The cave of Donard, who lived in the fifth century, is shown at the top of this hill. Slieve Bingian is 2449 feet high; Slieve Girkin 1340 feet; Slieve Snaven 2370 feet; and Slieve Donard 2796 feet. This district is rich in interest for the geologist, as the mountain range produces magnificent hexagonal crystals of beryl, terminated by a plane; topazes finely crystalized in groups or single specimens;
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beautiful specimens of the component parts of granite separately crystalized, viz: — quartz, felspar, and mica; mornite, so called from the mountains; amethyst; pitchstone; epidote; laumonite; albite; adularia; labradorite; tourmaline, frequently termed the electric stone; variolite; a variety of compact felspar; kirwanite, so called in honour of the celebrated Irish chemist; carbonate of magnesia; anhydrous silicate of iron; phosphate and carbonate of lead; rutile; sulphuret of molybdena; yellow ochre and colophonite. The rocks of Down are generally granite, accompanied by chlorite slate, greywacke, clay slate, common flinty slate, whet slate, drawing slate, clay-stone, alluvial marl, and magnesian limestone. For the above information respecting the Mourne Mountains, as well as for a good deal more respecting the geological character of other parts of Ireland, I am indebted to my friend Joshua Abell, of Dublin.
At Dundrum, close to the bay, the Marquis of Downshire, who has extensive property here, has built an excellent inn. While the horses were
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feeding we walked to the ruins of Dundrum Castle, situated on a rock not far from the inn and the bay. This castle was erected by the Anglo-Normans, and about 1652 was destroyed by Cromwell, the prince of destructives. It is now the property of the Marquis of Downshire. A large circular tower, and a high wall inclosing an area, still remain. From the top of the tower, which is gained by a rather difficult ascent up a disjointed flight of steps, a very extensive view of the bay and surrounding country is obtained. The gateway, from its massiveness and strength, deserves the notice of the visitor.
The shore appeared destitute of all interest to the botanist or mineralogist. I was afterwards informed by Mr. Riley, a gentleman whom I met at Lord Bangor's, that on the occasion of a great storm, the sand near Dundrum was blown away from the flat land on the shore, and exposed to view a number of houses that had been buried in the sand, time out of mind — the inhabitants being previously ignorant of their existence.
The dwellings of the farmers within view of the
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road appeared comfortable, and the crops of wheat looked flourishing and luxuriant. Much more wheat is grown in this district than in Upper Iveagh. We passed through Killough, a small seaport, where considerable quantities of grain are exported. Our road was round the quay of Killough, designed by the late Alexander Nimmo, and built at the expense of Lord Bangor, whose public spirit has contributed largely to the prosperity of this part of the country.
At Ardglass we arrived on the 23rd of July. The first view of this place is exceedingly imposing, exhibiting a high bold coast of very rugged cliffs, with an extensive prospect of the sea and the Isle of Man, about twenty-four miles distant. Ardglass possesses a fine harbour and lighthouse and an extensive new pier. The purity of the air, the clearness and beauty of the sea, the perpetual arrival of company, together with the passing in and out of vessels from the harbour, concurred to produce a scene of great variety and animation, and to make Ardglass a very interesting place. The inn was kept by a Mr. Steptoc
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from Surrey, who appeared highly gratified by a visit from Englishmen. He rented ten acres of land with the inn, and paid at the rate of 50s. per acre. The inn belongs to Major Beauclerk, whose agent, Captain Saunders, is a liberal-minded man, and gave us much information.
On the 27th our public examination commenced in the Sessions-house at Ardglass. We had previously called on the neighbouring gentlemen, and seen some of the farms. We afterwards held an examination at Strangford, also in the barony of Lecale.
In the population returns of 1831, the number of agricultural labourers in this barony, (which contains 61,592 acres) is stated to be 1868; and it is supposed that since that time but little variation has taken place. None of the labourers are permanently employed, except those who are engaged by farmers for a half year, at wages of from £3 to £3. 10s. with diet, being not quite 3s. per week. All the labourers complained that there was not so much employment as formerly. They are willing to work, if work could be obtained. According to
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the evidence of Mr. Blarney, the High Constable, they would be glad to get 3s. a week, the year through. In July there is no employment for an agricultural labourer; the potatoes are all moulded; there is but little hay to be made; and nothing can be done to corn until harvest. When the linen trade was flourishing, a labourer could not be got for less than 1s. 8d. a day; and unless bargains were made long before harvest time, no labourers could be obtained. Mechanics receive 2s. and 2s. 6d. a day, and 1s. 6d. if they have diet.
Labourers marry very early — usually from sixteen to twenty, "just when they take the notion," said Blarney; "plenty at sixteen." Farmers' sons marry later. But little provision is made for this important contract. One of the witnesses, a Catholic priest, observed, that "children are a poor man's riches, and that if the labourer can but raise the marriage money, they consider themselves well off. They think of the potatoes after the marriage, not before, and leave things to chance."
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The Rev. Mr. Knox informed us that there was no Dispensary in Ardglass; that Dr. Aikin attempted to establish one, but failed. He was a man of education, but was obliged to keep a grocer's shop in addition to his profession.
Women can earn something in harvest time by shearing corn; and if they are not quite able to keep up with the men, their husbands assist them, and help to make up the deficiency. The universal opinion of those present was, that an industrious labourer's wife, devoting all the time that could be spared from the care of her family to spinning, cannot earn more than a penny a day. For children there is scarcely any employment.
The board and lodging of an old person would be 1s. 8d. per week; say 2d. per day for diet, and 6d. per week for lodging. Mr. Trotter thought that a legal provision would be useful for the old and destitute. Sixpence in the pound on the annual value would be sufficient; it would not be felt, and might be collected with the cess without much additional expense.
In addition to the proceeds of the man's labour,
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which may be estimated at about £10. 8s. per annum, there may be £1 or £1. 10s. profit on a pig, and about 10s. for the woman's labour, making a total of from £11. 18s. to £12. 8s. a year. The expense of food for a family is about the the same as in Upper Iveagh. Soap costs a family fourpence or fivepence a week, and tobacco a halfpenny a day, and a penny on Sundays. In this barony a good deal of what is called "kitchen" consists of groceries, in which, if a man keep himself at all sober, he spends from 1s. 3d. to 1s. 6d. a week. The labourers use a good deal of oaten bread; milk they consider dearer than tea, and think the latter the cheapest "kitchen." The principal food is potatoes; they use, however, a good deal of "stirabout," i. e., oatmeal porridge. In summer they get a little fish, but are seldom enabled to procure flesh meat.
In periods of distress the small farmers are often charged double by the usurers. Whenever payment is resisted, and the case goes before the assistant barrister, he always reduces the price to the market price at the time of sale. In order to
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obviate this difficulty, the usurers adopted a system of lending a sovereign to the farmer, and getting his note for it, and then getting the sovereign for ten shillings worth of meal; but the assistant barrister detected this scheme, and only allowed the price of the article.
Both farmers and labourers agreed that potatoes yield a more abundant crop of food per acre than any corn. In a table of the nutritive qualities and produce per acre of the principal kinds of agricultural plants, published in the Third Report of Drummond's Agricultural Museum, is the following comparison between oats and potatoes. Oats on good soil produce, per acre, 17 cwt.; nutritive matter per cent, 75; nutritive matter per acre, 12 cwt. 3 qrs. Produce of potatoes per acre, 12 tons; nutritive matter per cent, 20; nutritive matter per acre, 2 tons 8 cwt.
Spirit shops are rapidly on the increase; but, compared with the "shebeen houses" (unlicensed houses), those which are licensed are only as one to five. Numbers of portable shebeen houses are taken about to every market, fair, or funeral. A few
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years ago, one of the witnesses said, it was hard to find two drunken men in the parish; now it would be hard to find two sober ones. "If some stop is not put to the system," said Mr. Smyth, "it will be necessary to have a coroner in every townland." A temperance society, which at first consisted of 180 members, was established at Ardglass; but when we visited the place, its members had dwindled to sixteen.
The sum paid to the priest was stated by the Rev. Mr. Kearney to be about 3s. annually; but if the labourer be very poor, the payment is reduced, or not demanded at all.
The clothing of the peasantry was represented to be very indifferent indeed — one coat serving five or six years. They used to buy their clothes second hand from Bangor; but since the prevalence of the cholera, they are afraid to wear them thus obtained. The following we ascertained to be the annual expenditure of a labourer and his family, supposing them to possess such articles of wearing apparel as he ought to have:—
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| For the man himself | £2 3 6 |
| For his wife | 1 0 0 |
| For his children | 1 0 0 |
| Total | 4 3 6 |
The gentry of the country are kind in occasionally supplying clothes to the labourers' families. Here, as in the former barony, the women are unable to make their own clothes. Dress-making is a regular trade. A witness of the name of Munce said, that a coat would serve a man five or six years, as he would only wear it occasionally. They buy them second hand, and patch them till the original colour cannot be discovered. "They are, in fact, of as many colours as the rainbow." One labourer said that he knew a man who had quilted his coat for twenty years, and that it weighed 20 lbs. "Coats," said one of the witnesses, who thought the above too high a calculation, "last after they are done. They sometimes last twenty-five years, and will be a fine coat still. After six years old, and getting some more holidays out of it, he would begin to wear it."
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Conacre is a small portion of ground, generally a rood Irish, taken from the farmer by the labourer. In most cases it is manured by the farmer, and the rent is about £2. 2s. When the labourer manures it himself, the rent is £1. In this case he is obliged to put on it twenty-five cart loads of manure; in case he has not sufficient, the farmer allows him for whatever quantity he has. The chief inducement of the labourers to take rood land is, the certainty of having a little stock of potatoes; it is probable that they might not have the money always ready to buy when they wanted them, and they can pay for a rood in labour. Besides, it insures them a certain quantity of labour. Moreover, even if they had the money, it often happens that they cannot get the potatoes to buy, being five or six miles from a market. The rood system frequently provides potatoes at half the price the labourer could get them for in any other way.
The conacre system is common all over the barony. The quantity taken by a family is regulated by the number and quality of hands capable
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of supplying the farmer with labour at harvest; half a rood being generally given for each person in the family who is able to work. The rent is usually paid in labour; from forty to fifty days' work, shearing corn and raising potatoes, being the usual price for one rood — the labourer, moreover, having his diet from the farmer during these days. There is a description of conacre for flax — in which case a farmer lets out as much ground as a peck, or a peck and a half, will grow upon. On the whole, the conacre system seems to work quietly and agreeably, both to farmers and labourers. A man sees that he has the means, by this system, of getting some kind of support for his family; it is a kind of certainty to him, and makes him feel less helpless than if he were to buy provisions from day to day out of accidental earnings. The labourer cultivates conacre ground with as much care as if it were his own.
The cabins in this barony are greatly superior to those in Upper Iveagh, though they never possess a second story, nor a ceiling of any sort: "there is nothing," said one of the witnesses,
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"between us and the sky, but the thatch and whatever cobwebs are on it." The thatch, however, is generally a good one, composed of wheaten straw, which is very abundant in this barony. The floors, for the most part, are of clay; some, however, are made of lime and the ashes of a smithy; whilst others consist of mud, scraped off the road for the purpose. This is considered a better material than common clay. In wet weather, when strong fires cannot be kept up, the floors and walls are necessarily damp, in consequence of which, sickness prevails, especially among the aged and delicate. All the cabins here have grates; "for 2s. 6d.," said one of the witnesses, "you may buy a grate that would boil a dinner fit for a man of a hundred a year."
The cost of erecting a cabin, if made of good materials, and consisting of two rooms, is about £12. A smaller cabin with only one room, can be erected for £5. The rent of cabins varies from £1. 1s. to £2. 2s.; but there are instances of £3 being paid for cabins of only one room. When a labourer wishes to build a cabin, an acre
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of unreclaimed land is leased to him by the farmer, at a rent occasionally four times as high as he himself pays. On this the labourer builds; the farmer sometimes gives him a twenty-one years' lease, or a longer term, if his own tenure admits of it. The little garden attached to the cabin is cultivated with the spade. If the labourer takes a rood of land from the farmer, it is sometimes ploughed without any additional charge, or the labourer compensates the farmer by a certain quantity of labour. There being no bog within a moderate distance, the ordinary fuel throughout the barony is coal from Whitehaven, which costs in summer 13s., and in winter 16s. per ton. Coals are also brought from Scotland; these are lower by 2s. per ton; but the Whitehaven coal, being of better quality, is the cheaper. A farmer of twenty acres will require in the year from four to six tons.
Small farmers pay their rent in money; labourers generally in labour. The competition for small holdings, single acres, &c, causes the
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tenantry to bid any thing in order to get in. "If a farm of five or ten acres," said Thomas Rogan, "were vacant in the barony, there would be dozens of bidders for it." This witness occupied a farm of three acres and three roods Irish, for some of which he paid £1. 5s. per acre, and for more of it £3. "If you were going away," he was asked, "what would you expect for the land — ""I don't think I'd leave it under sixty or £70," was his answer. Mr. Trotter, one of the witnesses, had known £170 to be given for a farm of Lord Downshire's, at Ballykanly. The land was six acres, at a rent of £2. 2s. per acre; this value was set upon it, not because it was building ground — it was a common farm. The same witness stated a case where £100 per acre was given for six acres (Irish measure) paying 10s. 6d. an acre rent; this, however, was in the war time.
When the tenant gets a year or two in arrear, the landlord, instead of ejecting him, allows him to sell his "good-will," on condition that so
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much of the purchase-money as will clear the arrear be given to himself. Of those thus got rid of, some, said Mr. Gracey, go to America; but the majority repair to towns with the remainder of the money, and set up business — generally a public house. It did not appear from any of the witnesses that a single penny of rents is reduced in case of a hard year; and yet it seemed that the anxiety to obtain land, even at a high rent, increases, as the means of paying the rent diminishes. From all that could be ascertained, the farmers now give every thing towards the rent, except a bare subsistence. "People, in fact, are mad after land, and in the bargains respecting it, the landlord is sure to be on the winning side." It was stated, however, that Lord Bangor, in letting some ground lately, refused the rents that were offered. He sent out his valuator, and though several offered considerably above the valuation, his lordship did not accept of any advance upon it. The witness who furnished this information stated also, that rents in general were increasing; that the average in the vicinity of
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Strangford was about 25s. per Irish acre; the cess 4s. per acre; and the tithe, 2s. 6d.5
The average extent of farms is about twenty acres Irish; there are very few exceeding one hundred acres. The size of the holdings has rather increased than otherwise. According to the statement of Lieutenant Martin, there is only one dairy farm, properly so called, in the barony. Those proprietors who have attempted to enlarge their farms have incurred considerable odium; the farmers would as soon part with their lives as with their farms. When a man is in arrear, the landlord causes him to sell his farm, and is anxious that some adjoining farmers should purchase: this was stated to be the usual course. "I myself," said one of the witnesses, "commenced the world on seven acres, but by hard labour and care I have purchased up to forty-one now." "One of my neighbours," said Mr.
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Gracey, "began on nine acres, and by strong industry he has purchased £600 worth of land." All the farmers agreed that if a farm of fifty acres were divided into five farms, more would be produced than if the whole were in the occupation of one man: more care and labour can be devoted to it. There is a wonderful competition for farms of all sizes, of which Captain Saunders gave us an instance. "A tenant of Major Beauclerk's," said he, "some time ago bought ten acres in addition to his own farm of forty, at a very high rate. I told him at the time it would be his ruin, because he had to borrow some of the purchase money; and so it turned out. He came to me the other day, wanting to sell it again, in order to pay up his arrear: and what do you think he was offered for it — A neighbouring tenant offered £200 for his 'good will'; for the ten Irish acres are out of lease. But I refused to permit the bargain to be completed, knowing that it would only break the other man, inasmuch as he also would have to borrow most of the purchase
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money. I only consented to the sale on condition that the purchase-money should not exceed £50. The ten acres paid a rent of £2. 2s. an acre."
Lord Bangor informed us that almost all Lecale is held direct from the proprietor in fee, without the intervention of middlemen. The quantity of land held under colleges and endowed charities is very trifling. Lord Bangor further stated, that the chief part of the barony belongs to resident landlords, and that the remainder is under the care of resident agents. "It is usual for the agents' fees," said Captain Saunders, "to be paid by the tenants in addition to the rent;" but "the only fees taken by agents in this barony," said Lord Bangor, "are fees on the execution of leases. It is not usual, when proprietors receive their own rents, to charge agents' fees in addition, nor is it the practice to require compliments on the signing of leases." Much land was out of lease. The old leases were for three lives, or thirty-one years; the present leases are generally for one life, or twenty-one years. They
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contain covenants against sub-letting or selling without the landlords' license, but prescribe no particular course of farming.
In respect of the agriculture of the district, we were informed that the produce is more than doubled within the last thirty years. Land being more generally cultivated, more labour is expended on it, and additional skill is brought to the working of it. Better implements are also used. Formerly the ploughs were of wood, but in 1810 the iron plough was introduced, and has been used ever since. There is little or no naked fallow. The produce of the crops is from 25 to 30 cwt. of wheat; from 27 to 32 cwt. of barley and oats, per Irish acre. Clover and rye-grass are grown in considerable quantities; vetches in much greater abundance than formerly. A few rich farmers grow turnips; some are beginning to try a little mangel wurzel. At the time when the potatoes failed, the pigs were affected with a disease which the people called the cholera; whatever the complaint was, great numbers died, of some disease hitherto unknown. If
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once attacked, they seldom recovered. After the malady had become in some degree familiar, the pigs, immediately upon being seized, were killed, and sent to Belfast for sale.
The butter produced in the district is generally of the kind called "first quality." The farmers have a pride about their butter, and consider themselves signally disgraced if it be rated lower than first quality. It is packed after several churnings; a practice that does not alter the colour and quality much, if the cows be kept on the same pasture. "The Dutch women," said Captain Brown, "take more pains than we do in scouring the vessels in which their butter is saved." No cheese is made here, except a little for home consumption.
Very few sheep are kept among the farmers. The Irish breed is the predominating one, but latterly it has been considerably improved by the introduction of some English sheep by Mr. Maxwell and Mr. Ford. The breed of cattle has been very much improved by the introduction, on the part of Sir Robert Bateson, of some good bulls.
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The farmers were said by Mr. Burnett and other witnesses to be going back; "it would be better to have 5s. a week than to be a farmer now; it was different with us in the war time." And again — "it would be better for the Irish farmer that Buonaparte had never lived, or never died." The agricultural classes were said to be in a state of bankruptcy. The farmers' stock and leases are mostly in mortgage.
The manures in general use are lime, marl, seaweed and dung; in some instances sea-sand is used. Marl is considered a highly beneficial manure, and was stated by Mr. Henry and Mr. Newhill to remain in the ground serviceable for twenty years. The use of marl as a manure was first introduced into this part of Ireland by Judge Ward, Lord Bangor's grandfather, and its effects then were extraordinary. I have known, said Mr, Gracey, ten or twelve successive crops of barley from one marling, without any additional manure; it is chiefly shell marl, and highly calcareous. About twenty-five tons are used upon
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the English acre.6 Sea-weed, said Mr. Henry, is the finest possible manure. It is generally spread on the potatoes between the two mouldings; if it were put out immediately on potatoes, and in contact with the seed when planted, it would kill the potato set. Stone and sod ditches, and hedges not only of furze but of hawthorn, are found in the barony. They are made at the tenant's expense, except in a very few instances, when quicksets or thorns are given. When chopped and bruised, and mixed with oats, the young shoots of the furze hedges are found to be valuable food for horses; they are exceedingly nutritious and wholesome, and make their coats glossy.
The soil of this barony is a fertile, friable loam, on a firm subsoil approaching to clay; and in some parts shell marl. Limestone is abundant at Carlingford; at Larne, on the coast of Antrim;
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and at Moira, in Lower Iveagh. It is also frequently brought from the Isle of Man.
The baronial assessment is laid according to a valuation made seventy or eighty years ago, and of course is very unequal at the present time. It is also unfair in another respect, viz., that the sum to be levied from each townland is the same on every acre of that townland; so that a poor farm, with rocks and other waste land, pays as much per acre as a good farm without any waste. In most places there is no parish cess: whenever a child is deserted, or a coffin wanting, two respectable inhabitants of the parish go round and collect subscriptions to meet the necessities of the several cases. "Since the closing of the Foundling Hospital in Dublin," said Mr. Gracey, "the desertion of children has almost entirely ceased. The people used to say it was no harm to desert a child, for it would be sent to the college." The women who were intrusted with the children, and made a living by taking them to the hospital, were suspected of administering poison after receiving the money, which was usually
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£5. The mortality of the children who even by chance arrived at the hospital was excessive; M'Culloch, in his Principles of Political Economy, states that, in the Foundling Hospital at Dublin, of 12,786 children admitted during the six years ending with 1797, there were no fewer than 12,561 deaths!
Tithe is much higher here than in the barony of Upper Iveagh. Several farmers stated it to amount on their land to 4s. an acre, and on some to as much as five. The roads in this barony are generally good and convenient. The assessment for them amounts to nearly 8d. per acre per annum.
There are only three pawnbrokers in the barony, and they live at Downpatrick; thirteen or fourteen years ago there was not one. People go from all parts of the barony to pawn their clothes, and many cases were mentioned of persons pawning trifling articles for the sole purpose of procuring a glass of whiskey. They pawn "their day or night clothes, hats, teapots, shoes, in short anything from a needle to an anchor, as the saying is."
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"Last Saturday evening," said Ellen Watson, the wife of a carman, "I redeemed an article that was in short of five months; I got 7s. 6d. on it, and what do you think they charged me for it — Why, 1s. 2d. for that time. 'Tis no harm to tell that I pawned, for I wanted the 7s. 6d. to make up the price of a pig, and a good pledge never shamed its master." "I don't know," said Ellen Walsh, "what they would not give money on; but this I do know, that they are all three making very great fortunes out of the poor." The people regard the pawnbrokers, notwithstanding the relief they derive from them, with anything but favour. "They consider them," said a witness, "living by the poor. When they're rich, the people are poor; and when they get poor, the people are well off. The shame attached to pledging is diminished; formerly it used to be a bit of a night job, but now we go in the middle of the day. The better class of persons send their servants to do it for them. Oh, if you were up in Robinson's, you'd see silver spoons and candlesticks, and as good as twenty feather beds."
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The same witness stated that one of the pawnbrokers kept a public house on one side of his house, and his daughter the pawn-office on the other." "I have passed," said a witness, "out of the one into the other; there is a passage without coming into the street."
The Rev. Mr. Knox thought that the convenience of a loan society would create industry. The people, however, say that if such an institution existed, they should not like the publicity. "To make his wants known," said a witness, "is the last thing a man would do; yet it would be useful, particularly as landlords want their rents earlier than formerly. From spring to harvest a loan would be useful. Men that lend money charge two shillings for a guinea, for one month, and 200 per cent."
Within the last five years emigration has taken place to a very considerable extent. All the labourers that could go, went, and some of the farmers also; such labourers as had capital, did well, but those who had none, suffered. Some took their families, others have sent for them,
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and many have had good accounts from their relations in Upper Canada. Inquiry being made whether many in the barony would emigrate if offered a free passage, Mr. Trotter replied that "hundreds would go on such terms; he had himself paid for the passage of three sons of one of his tenants, and they were doing exceedingly well. On different occasions they had sent sums of £8. 10s., and once £20 to their father, and invited him out to them, but he is too old to go. They have twenty-five dollars a month for their labour in Upper Canada." Some of the labourers carry out with them as much as £3. Many young women have gone out, and are prospering; twice as many, we were told, would go, if they had the money. It abounded in
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wallflowers, stocks, and pinks (flowers intimately associated with the scenes and pleasures of childhood), and exhibited the taste of its owner in its luxuriant woodbines twisted round their supporters. All this, which is common enough in England, attracts attention in Ireland from its novelty. I may here mention, that most of the farm-houses have two or three large dogs, which present a most formidable appearance, and are certainly calculated to intimidate the traveller.
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