the farms they held; and there are not a few instances, (continues Mr. Fraser) where the farmer resused to abide by the clause; and rather threw up the farm, than take it at rents, not one tenth part of what land now sets at." Some Some useful hints on draining, and manuring, conclude this chapter. General subjects.-The county of Wicklow contains about 58,000 inhabitants : "the habitations of the lower order of them are, in general, extremely wretched miserable hovels, and can scarely bear a description. A bare recital of the state of this class of the community has been considered as an unmerited satire on the country; and those who have endeavoured to call the attention of the public to the amelioration of their situation, have been stigmatized as incendiaries." "A farmer shewed me several new cottages he was erecting for his labourers, in a stile of superior splendour to most I had seen, and where the little wood made use of, was necessary to be purchased. These, he told me, would cost three pounds each habitation. So that thirty, or at most forty shillings, would be a sufficient estimate for the general run of the cabins for the labouring cotter. Yet for such hovels, with a patch of land a rood in extent, two guineas, is the common charge, to the occupant." There are no tythes, on agistment, in part of the United Kingdom: "I this could not ascertain its amount on each article; some of the clergy refused to give me an account of it, as they did not wish to disclose their income." The respectable part of the clergy took no advantage of the high price of provisions to raise their tythes. A very laudable disposition manifests itself among the opulent inhabitants of this county, to provide for the educa tion of the lower classes. In the north part of Ireland the manufacture of flax prevails; the south seems most adapted to that of wool, which is making considerable progress. In the county of Wicklow a kind of frize and ratteen of pretty good quality, is very generally made for domestic uses, and considerable quantities are annually sold at the fairs. Before the late disturbances, planting was going on rapidly; there are, however, no nurseries of any considerable extent, in the county. An account of the implements in husbandry most in use, together with a few general reflections, close the volume. Mr. Fraser has been industrious in his researches, and there can be no doubt but they will eventually be beneficial to the district which has been submitted to them. The work is printed in Ireland, and the typography is, of course, very incorrect. ART. LXXII. Gleanings in Ireland; particularly respecting its Agriculture, Mines, and Fisheries. By R. FRASER, Esq. Author of the General View of the Agriculture and Mineralogy of the County of Wicklow; drawn up under the Direction of the Dublin Society, for the Improvement of Husbandry and Internal Resources. 8vo. pp. 87. I. Mines and Minerals. From want of capital, from the unsettled state of the country, and for other reasons, the mineral products of Ireland have not excited an attention equal to what their importance appears to demand. The calcareous districts, including in this term the beds of limestone gravel, the strata of common limestone and marble, are principally situated in the province of Leinster: coal is met with in Kilkenny and Queen's county; and at Arigna in the county of Leitrim, is found an accumulation of coal, iron ore, and limestone, similar to that which has been the source of all the wealth and population of Colebrook-dale, in Shropshire. Iron ore in abundance, and of good quality, is met with at Montrath, in Queen's county, and in the counties of Wicklow, Wexford, Waterford, and Ker ry. The recent discovery of gold has illustrated the county of Wicklow. Sil ver, mixed with galena, has been procured in the county of Wexford. The copper-mines of Cronebane and Ballymurtagh, have been long known and explored; and those of the hills of Allen and Kilmurry, of Ballyroan and Mu cross, are well worthy of more accurate and spirited investigation than they have yet received. Lead is met with in great abundance, and in various counties; specimens of cobalt have been procured from Kerry; and tin ore, in grains, has been found near the gold-mine of Wick low. II. Agriculture. III, Manufactures.Mr. Fraser has here presented us with a view, abbreviated from Adam Smith, of the system of the French economists; and has appreciated the respective im FRASER'S VIEW OF AGRICULTURE AND MINERALOGY. portance of agriculture and manufactures. In giving a decided preference to the former, he is not insensible of the prosperity which his country may derive from an attention to the latter; or of the benefit which they confer on each other. It affords satisfaction to learn that the linen, which is certainly the staple manufacture of Ireland, and is attended with such considerable advantages to that part of the united kingdom, is carried on in villages: the workmen are not crouded into towns, where their health is injured, and their morals become depraved. A comparison of the squalid appearance and unhealthy aspect of the manufacturers of Manchester, with the florid looks and cheerful aspects of the peasantry of Ulster, will remove any doubt as to the preference which is due to the former system, where it can be adopted. Notwithstanding the natural fertility of the soil in Ireland, and the various manures, such as marl, limestone, &c. which are contained within its bowels, agriculture, till lately, has been but little attended to. In the year 1770, the corn produced was insufficient for the consumption of the inhabitants; immense quantities were obliged annually to be imported from America and England. "So rapid was the increase of agriculture, however, from that period to the year 1790, that a greater quantity of grain and flour was exported in the latter period, than was produced in the former." Mr. Fraser attributes this astonishing improvement entirely to the liberal grants of the Parliament of Ireland, and the very judicious application of them by the right hon. John Foster, and the Dublin society. So lately as the year 1800, a farming society was instituted, at the suggestion of the most noble the marquis of Sligo, and the right honourable John Foster, and which has now increased to the number of 400 members, consisting of men of the first rank and property of the island, and of others, all practical farmers, and zealous for the improvement of this first of arts. Similar establishments are now forming in every district; and the agriculture of Ireland, perhaps, may ere long rival that of England. Fisheries. The information contained in this portion of the pamphlet, is of high importance, and seems to have had that attention paid to it, which governANN. Riv. VOL. I. ment assuredly will never refuse to any 66 Having formerly taken an active part, as NYMPH BANK, situated at the distance of Having, for this purpose, applied to The fishing lines were now put out, and instantly we caught both cod, hake, and ling of a large size, and of a very superior quality, although the time of day was un(it being springs) did not easily suffer the favourable, and also the tides running strong, hines to keep the ground. "As my principal design in this voyage, Having ascertained these points, and head, we got abundance of plaise, soal, and all kinds of ground fish. We then again, on the 28th, at 10 P. M. stood out for the bank, with a light breeze, being resolved to examine its furthest extent, both to the south ward and westward. At eight o'clock next` morning, the 29th, the high lands of Dungarvan bearing N. and by W. distant 15 leagues, hove to, and sounded in the same 40 fathom water; ground gravelly, with shells; caught cod of a very large size, and full fed, also ling, and remarkable fine hake; of all which we might have caught any quantity; but at noon, saw a cutter to the N. E. seemingly inclined to bear down upon us. Took in our lines, and made sail for her, hoisting our colours, and firing a friendly gun; receiving no answer, we gave chase, which the cutter observing, hauled her wind to the S. W. Finding her then to be an enemy, we cleared for action, and made more sail, and after a chase of nine hours, she escaped, by her superior sailing. This chase having led us out of the course of the bank, and a heavy gale springing up, obliged us to run to the eastward; at four P. M. we had the tower of Waterford, bearing E. and by S. distant three leagues, and at six came to an anchor at Passage of Waterford, after a voyage of six days and three hours; having thus ascertained the abundance of fish on this bank, the regular depth of water to be about 40 fathoms, its stretch which ing to the south from 10 to 15 leagues, and of indefinite length, from S. E. to N. W, but such, from what we observed, sufficient to employ many hundreds of vessels, in a successful fishery on this bank." A number of certificates from commanders of packets are annexed, stating the success with which they have fished upon the Nymph Bank; that of captain Wilby, who in the space of two hours, caught 203" of the largest fish he ever saw," consisting of hake, cod, ling, scate, and bream, was of itself sufficient to bring so important a bank into notice. Mr. Fraser communicated many particulars on this subject to the right hon. Charles Abbot, who invited him to Dub lin, where it was resolved, that govern. ment should, in the first instance, be at fish on this bank for three months, be the expence of having two wherries to ginning immediately after the spring equinox in 1802, and that the result should be made as public as possible, and followed up by the most liberal en couragement for establishing a fishery. The restoration of peace induces Mr. Fraser to hope, that some greater and he conceives, that if bounties were grantmore immediate means may be adopted: ed for the building and navigation of vessels from 28 to 60 tons burthen, and premiums for curing the fish caught in a merchantable way, either for home consumption or exportation, in this case that the Nymph Bank might rival the fishery at Newfoundland. Mr. Fraser concludes with suggesting the policy of erecting maritime towns and cities on eligible spots round the circumference of the two islands, and of inviting inhabitants to settle on them, by certain immunities, for a term of years. This is a very momentous topic of discussion: before one foundation stone can be laid, immense capitals must be withdrawn from the channels in which they are now employed. To populate the shores of Great Britain and Ireland; to find on the spot, resources for the subsistence of that population; to guard our coasts in every point; and to estab lish an additional nursery for seamen, are objects of great magnitude and im portance, which may be contemplated in the calm of peace: before the execu tion of them, however, many inclinations must be won, and many giant obstacles must be overcome. A chart of the Nymph Bank is pre fixed to this pamphlet. ART. LXXIII. The names of Parishes and other Divisions, maintaining their Poor separately, in the County of Westmoreland, with the Population of each, Sc. By a Justice of the Peace for the Counties of Westmoreland and Lancaster. pp. 17. THIS little pamphlet would deserve not only high commendation, but considerable gratitude; and would obtain a distinguished statistical value, if the admirable abstract made by Mr. Richman, of the returns under the population act, were not by this time in the hands of every studier of these useful subjects of speculation. According to Mr. Richman, 8vo. 11229 13426 2629 6152 8165 41595 ART. LXXIV. Reports of the Society for bettering the Condition, and increasing the Comforts, of the Poor. 3 vols. 12mo. AT the time of the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII. and of the confiscation of a vast mass of ecclesiastical property, whose revenues had been habitually employed in relieving the wants of the poor, the number of paupers first began to increase in an alarming degree. The introduction of protestantism prevented, however, the anarchy and predatory combinations which might naturally have been expected; both by favouring a spirit of discipline, frugality, and reciprocal aid, among the poor themselves; and by in creasing, among the patron-classes of society, from a spirit of proselytism, the eleemosynary virtues. When the conflict of religious faction began to subside, and the victory of the protestant party was completely ascertained, the poor again were found to increase alarmingly; and various parishional experiments were tried to employ them profitably, and to relieve them cheaply. The result of all this experience was thrown into the form of a public regulation, and produced the statute deservedly celebrated of the 43rd of Elizabeth. It is thus that laws ought to originate; when the comparison of local experience has ascertained the most convenient and useful plan of conduct, the lawgiver recommends it to the introduction and protection of the magistracy at large. It is probable that the civil wars under Charles I. were a cause of displacing and intermingling the people in a very great degree: in consequence of which, settlers, unknown to the neighbourhood, were almost every where to be found. To such strangers relief is apt to be grudged by overseers; whose humanity is, in their case, not excited by remembered interchanges of good will, or petty service. At least, about the time of the old age and penury of such as removed during the civil war, the outcry became very general against the nuisance of having to maintain those who did not belong to the parish; and this produced the statute 14 Charles II. called the law of settlement; which defined and established the claims of settlers more freely than in the following reign seemed wise. The first compulsory law for the maintenance of the poor dates from 27 Henry VIII.; the second radical amendment was made in the 43d Elizabeth; the third principal change took place under Charles II. In the statute of Elizabeth it is chiefly to be regretted, that the rate and the administration should be made coextensive. Unless the administration of relief is confined to very minute districts, the wardens or overseers cannot themselves be acquainted with the household condition of the families soliciting aid, they cannot proportion the relief to the misery. Parishes are often too large, for those who are entrusted with allowing, to have inspected the objects of allowance. But for the equitable assessment of a rate, parishes are usually too small. In the suburb of a manufacturing town the rate may exceed the rent; a few streets off, perhaps, the master manufacturers, who attracted these poor, have built their houses contiguously in a parish where there are no poor, and where the rate never amounts to one-tenth of the rental. In the statute of Charles II. which is a great source of litigation between parishes, it is to be regretted, that the removal of the poor into districts where the manufactures flourish, where the wages of labour are high, where casual and transient means of maintenance abound, should be impeded in a degree both oppressive to the poor and inconve nient to the manufacturer, who is obliged to take seven-year apprentices to pro vide for the demand of a two-year peace. Were we to counsel the legislature, we should recommend to leave undisturbed the present administrative districts; because a new circumscription would be very laborious, and its utility but unfrequent. We should recommend, on the contrary, the assessment of rates by the hundred, and not by the parish; a sort of community of taxation already in use, where houses of industry have been instituted. The nomination of overseers is improperly vested in the justices: one of the two should be elected by the payers to the parish rate, and one of the two by the non-payers, or the poor themselves: a third administrative officer, or warden, might be added to be named by the neighbouring justices, who should account with the hundred for the expenditure of his parish. Of these three of ficers the votes of two to determine the amount of any allowances. The terms of apprenticeship are great ly too long. The present improved state of education often enables a boy at thirteen to earn his board and cloathing; but suppose the master who feeds and clothes his apprentice to lose something by him during the two first years; it is still an enormous sacrifice-to work, as an indemnity, during five years on under-wages for the person who confers no other permanent benefit than to teach, perhaps, a very easy manual occupation. Hence the amazing number of runaway apprentices: the sentiment of injustice, of servile coercion, of duped ignorance, irritates them against the master, and, what is worse, prejudices them against their trade, against industry, against regularity, and reduces them to-food for powder. All the privileges of apprenticeship, whether of suffrage or settlement, ought to be attached to engagements for four or five years. In corporate towns this matters much. The Reports of the Society for bettering the Condition of the Poor may be considered as a collection of experience, which the lawgiver is called on to study preparatory to some new statute, as worthy of our times as that of Eliza beth was of hers. It may be considered as a manual of charity, which treasures up a number of sound rules, plain recipes, and specific directions, how to do most good among the poor with a given. quantity of interference. It may be considered as a rule of conduct both to those engaged in the management of the poor, and to the poor themselves, who will find in it many profitable practical hints and instructions. In all these points of view the Reports are very valuable: they do honour to the industry and to the benevolence of the society; and they will eventually influence usefully the legislation of the country. From the second volume we shall transcribe Dr. Ferriar's advice to the poor: "Avoid living in damp cellars: they de stroy your constitutions, and shorten your lives. No temptation of low rents can counterbalance their ill effects. You are apt to erowd into the cellars of new buildings, sup posing them to be clean. This is a fatal mistake. A new house is always damp for bit under them, are generally as moist as the two years, and the cellars, which you inhabottom of a well. In such places, you are liable to bad fevers, which often throw the patient into a decline, and you are apt to get rheumatic complaints, that continue for a long time, and disable you from working. 66 If you cannot help taking a cellar, be attentive to have all the windows put in good repair before you venture into it; and, if tempt to live in a cellar with broken windows, possible, get it white-washed. If you at colds and fevers will be the certain conse quences. In many parts of the town you sleep in back rooms, behind the front celfar; rooms, which are dark, and have no proper circula tion of air. It would be much more healthy to sleep in the front part: at least, when you have large families, which is often the case, you ought to divide them, and not crowd the whole together in the back cellar. Keep your persons and houses as clean as your employments will permit: and do not regret the loss of an hour's wages, when your time is occupied in attending to cleanli ness. It is better to give up a little time oc casionally in order to keep your houses neat, than to see your whole family lying sick, in consequence of working constantly, without cleaning. It would be of great service, if you could contrive to air your heds and bedclothes out of doors, once or twice a week. "Always wash your children with cold water, before you send them to work in the morning. Take care to keep them dry in their feet, and never allow them to go to work, without giving them their breakfast, though you should have nothing for them Children who get wet feet, when they go out but a crust of bread, and a little water. early fasting, seldom escape fevers or severe colds. "If you know that any of your neighbour |