this, would be torment little inferior to that of hopeless condemnation, to the man who is enthusiast enough to feel and to live as though he believed in heaven and hell, who looks not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are unseen, whose conversation is indeed in heaven, whose affections are set upon things above, and who in truth lives in this present world as " a pilgrim and a stranger." He hears the invitation and the promise of the Lord, "Come unto me all ye that are weary and "heavy laden, and I will give you rest;" he imagines that this rest has regard to the anxiety he feels for the well-being of his immortal soul; he believes this promise, and he infers, by the briefest reasoning, that the doctrine which does not, by the confession of its advocates, which cannot in its nature, communicate the rest he seeks, is not the doctrine of the Gospel.

Art. IV. Observations on the State of Ireland, principally directed to its Agriculture and Rural Population; in a Series of Letters, written on a Tour through that Country. By J. C. Curwen, Esq. M. P. 2 Vols. 8vo. pp. xx, 793. Price 11. 1s. London, 1818.

THE publications of Mr. Newenham, Mr. Wakefield, Dr.

THE

6

Dewar, and some others, to which we may add the Reports of the Hibernian Society, have put the public in possession of a mass of evidence of the utmost importance, relative to the state of things in the sister country. It was reserved however for Mr. Curwen, to present to us the most complete account of the state of agriculture in Ireland, and of the condition of the labouring classes; a subject which acquires additional interest from its bearings upon the great question of the Poor Laws. Mr. Curwen speaks of it as an established fact,' that the Irish peasantry depending solely on themselves, and possessing the necessaries of life in a much less proportion than falls to the share of those numerous parties who receive parish relief in England, are (yet) in point of happiness, vastly their supe'riors.' The cause of this, he says, is evident. Their inde⚫pendency of mind supports them under all their privations, and gives them the full power of enjoying the social affections.' In the present article, it is not, however, our intention to enter into any general discussions, but simply to present our readers with a careful analysis of Mr. Curwen's Observations, as forming an interesting and valuable document on the subject to which they relate.

The result of Mr. Curwen's inquiries, is certainly in many respects a painful one; the knowledge of an evil, is however the first step to finding out its remedy; and, if we can aid his benevolent intention in publishing the present work, we shall not uselessly occupy the time of our readers.

As Mr. C.'s design is avowedly to communicate authentic

information relative to the sister Island, and to obviate the calumnies which have been cast upon the Irish character, we think we shall best promote that object, by selecting some of the more striking facts recorded in his volumes. These we shall arrange under the several heads of the condition of the peasantry— the causes of their indigence and misery-and the means necessary to be adopted, in order to mitigate the existing evils, and to prevent their recurrence. Mr. Curwen's Tour was performed in the autumn of the year 1813. He travelled through part of Scotland, between Wigton and Port Patrick, where he embarked for Donhaghadee. He has given some pleasing instances of good husbandry in Scotland; but, as our business lies chiefly with Ireland, we shall not detain our readers with any further preliminary observations.

The condition of the labouring classes is, with few exceptions, truly deplorable. By far the greater proportion of them drag on a daily existence, merely to labour, and labour, merely to exist; and the cottiers or cabin-holders of the south, are stated to be still more wretched than those in the north of Ireland. In the course of his excursion, Mr. Curwen had numerous opportunities of inspecting the interior of the Irish cabins. We shall select one or two of his descriptions.

These mansions of miserable existence,' (he is speaking of the county of Down) are most commonly composed of two rooms on the ground floor, a most appropriate term, for they are literally on the earth the surface of which is not unfrequently reduced a foot or more, to save the expense of so much outward walling. The one is a refectory, the other the dormitory. The furniture of the former, if the owner ranks in the upper part of the scale of scantiness, will consist of a kitchen dresser, well provided and highly decorated with crockery-not less apparently the pride of the husband, than the result of female vanity in the wife; which, with a table-a chest-a few stools and an iron pot, complete the catalogue of conveniences generally found, as belonging to the cabin; while a spinning-wheel, furnished by the Linen Board, and a loom, ornament vacant spaces, that otherwise would remain unfurnished. In fitting up the latter, which cannot, on any occasion, or by any display, add a feather to the weight or importance expected to be excited by the appearance of the former, the inventory is limited to one, and sometimes two beds, serving for the repose of the whole family! However downy these may be to limbs impatient for rest, their coverings appeared to be very slight, and the whole of the apartment created reflections of a very painful nature. Under such privations, with a wet mud floor, and a roof in tatters, how idle the search for comforts!

It is not from cold and wet alone that a being who possesses reflection, as well as corporeal feelings, must suffer. Can it be matter of wonder that the innate sense of female delicacy should be stifled or destroyed, while in the other sex the natural aversion to unseemly habits should by degrees become lessened, and even familiarized?

Certainly not. The only wonder is, that the demoralizing influence of such wretchedness on the Irish character, has not long ago been found to be more general and pernicious.

The sufferings from hunger are neither felt nor dreaded; nor can the dainties of the opulent epicure, partaken with equivocal hunger, be compared with the Irishman's potatoe, and his honest appetite!

• Fuel constitutes their principal comfort, and is become a very important consideration. Warmth, unquestionably, may be added as a fourth to the other three natural wants of man. In addition to the duration of light, it is warmth that gives to summer the decided superiority over the rest of the seasons; and though excessive heat may occasionally produce some disorders, yet warmth is the restorer and preserver of health, and the great ingredient in human felicity. On this view of the subject it is much to be regretted that the source whence the fuel of the country is generally obtained, namely, the bogs, is in this district becoming unprolific. The bog, which has hitherto afforded the needy supply, is wearing away, and the people ere long will be compelled to resort to more distant substitutes; for as the bogs do not regenerate, and as the demand on them is likely to increase yearly, in time they must fail to administer the comfort now derived by the inhabitants. This consequence is not unlikely to operate as a check to the further increase of population.'

In the fertile vale of Limerick, near Castle Desmond, on examining one of these wretched abodes, which was no worse than 'its neighbours,' he says:

We found its floor one foot below the surface of the road, from which it is entered by a door only three feet high; the inside, from the bare ground to the top of the roof-four feet; the length of the side walls nine; the width six. This area, wholly destitute of all earthly comforts, gave shelter to two rational beings, and was their only house, though scarcely fit for the den of a wild beast. The plenty which surrounded this deplorable hut, and the sumptuous display of other men's habitations within its view, did but aggravate the melancholy feelings inspired by this scene of human misery; on every side of which the most luxuriant crops were ripening for general use, yet denied to these individuals, whose labours, perhaps, had contributed to their production.'

At Kilcullen Bridge, in the county of Dublin, he entered a cabin, where the miserable inmates were taking their breakfast, and had additional confirmation of the wretchedness which seems to have become both hereditary and habitual to this class of our fellow subjects.

Hospitality throws widely open every door in Ireland! An apology is scarcely necessary on entering any abode-the stranger is received with kindness, and made heartily welcome to the best fare that can be afforded. In the first cabin I reached, which was constructed of miserable clay daubing, I found the family gathered round a stool at breakfast; some of the party were seated, others on their knees; all applying to a wooden bowl placed on the stool filled with

potatoes in their skins; but neither salt nor butter-milk attended the repast! The family consisted of a mother, three small children, and a girl about fifteen years of age. Their dress and the interior of the cabin bespoke the extreme of poverty. The poor woman informed me her husband was a labourer: that during the busy season of the year, whilst work was to be had, they fared tolerably well; and when they could afford butter milk with their potatoes they were quite content. Bread they seldom partook of; and as to meat, some of them had ́ never tasted it; even salt, they had not always the means to procure. These melancholy facts were recited with a simplicity so natural, that it was evident not the least consciousness existed of the effect they were calculated to produce. Habit had reconciled the poor mother to her condition, and its consequent privations; but the daughter, who held down her head, seemed ashamed that their wretched state should thus be exposed to a stranger. My heart sympathized in their sufferings...their miseries, poor creatures, were too legibly written on the characters of all, to admit the reality being questioned, or to furnish a suspicion of their having arisen out of any fault or crime imputable to themselves; but, that they were the general lot of their community, arising out of the unfortunate situation of the country. I hastened to the next cabin with no hope, though with a sincere wish, of finding less to deplore. The good woman was at the door, encouraging a fine little naked boy of five years old, to persevere in chasing a pig; whether from the cold or some mixture of shame, I know not, but it required both persuasion and authority, to induce the little one's obedience. The woman, I presume, observed by my countenance that I was surprised at her admonitions, and apologized by saying, "This, Sir, is the way we take to harden our children against winter, for fuel here is a scarce article."'

In the vicinity of Navan, our Author visited another cabin, and found the famify at dinner, about four o'clock in the after

noon.

The party consisted of a man, his wife, and seven children. Potatoes, their only fare, were served in a wooden bowl on a stool; the elder children ate with their parents, the younger feasted out of an iron pot on the floor. Appetite seemed to give a relish to the food, while a small jug of butter milk was reserved to crown and complete the repast. In reply to some enquiries I made as to his wages, the poor fellow observed," Our fare is well enough, and satisfies us all : my only concern is, that I cannot earn sufficient to cover the nakedness of these poor children; could I clothe them, I should be happy!" The whole family, it is true, was indeed in a most ragged conditionpity it should be so! It is not in appearance only they suffer, but real misery must be endured by each individual, from the severity of cold. By the aid of his pig, and what manure the children could collect from the road, he was annually enabled to plant about a rood of potatoes, for which he paid after the rate of five pounds an acre for the land; but when manure is furnished by the landlord, the rent is. doubled.

"The hopeless despondency which seemed to pervade the hearts of

this poor family, spoke in most emphatic, though painful language, to our feelings deeply is their lot to be. lamented, and the more as it. arises out of circumstances they have neither ability to correct, nor power to controul, and which there is little reason to hope can be easily remedied.'

We had noticed in other parts of these volumes, similar instances of wretchedness; but we will refrain from exciting painful feelings in our readers, by details of misery which they cannot remedy. We shall therefore proceed to specify the various causes which have been assigned for it by our Author, as we have collected them from his pages.

1. The first is want of active employment. Agriculture alone, unassisted by manufactures and commerce, is, in Ireland, incapable of furnishing full employment to the male population. The labour of one individual in husbandry, will provide food for six persons; whence it is evident, that a limited number only of the people, can thus be advantageously employed on the soil. Recourse must therefore be had (we trust not unavailingly) to the proprietors of the land, and the capitalists in stock, to devise the means of giving fit and profitable employment to that portion of the community not required for agricultural purposes, by the introduction of manufacturing establishments, and the extension of commercial pursuits.

Without such auxiliary modes of engaging the national industry,' says Mr. Curwen, an extension of the present system only would be delusory, and become the source of more widely-diffused streams of misery all over the country, by giving facilities and affording encouragement to augment the present superabundant population, which is not likely to be restrained but by the expedients of trade and manufactures. These would soon operate as a check to a further increase of the people, by introducing artificial wants among them in food-in dress-in habitation-and the acquirement of those comforts, to which, as human, rational beings, they must be considered as entitled: but, while the potatoe alone shall, continue to be the food of the great bulk of the people, I see no reason to doubt their present number will be doubled in thirty years, and consequently the wretchedness of the country proportionably increased.'

Melancholy and discouraging as the preceding reflections confessedly are, there is reason to fear that they are too well founded. As however the evils which produce them, are all of a moral nature, let us hope with our Author, that time will teach patriotism and opulence, that they are not irremediable.

2. The competition for small farms, (the demand for which is increased by improvident marriages,) and the consequent subdivision of the country, are assigned by Mr. Curwen, as a second cause of the wretchedness existing among the lower Irish. In many parts of the country, a farm of one hundred acres is consi