ColutnWa (BnttJem'tp 
 
 intlifCttpofi^rttigork 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
A/f 
 
 jetv^i 
 
 .A^ 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The very curious and interest- 
 ing: Work which is now Re- 
 printed, and intended for a wide 
 and gratuitous circulation, is also 
 of uncommon rarity ; there is 
 not a copy of it in ihe Library of 
 Trinity College, or in any of the 
 other Public Libraries of this 
 City^ which have been searched on 
 purpose. The profoundly learned 
 Vice- Provost, Doctor Barrett^ 
 never met with one; and many 
 Gentlemen well skilled iu the 
 Literature ot Ireland^ who have 
 been applied to for information 
 on the subject^ are even unac- 
 quainted with the name of the 
 Book. 
 
 a2 
 
IV 
 
 That a Work of such exceeding' 
 merit should be so little known 
 in these days^ might at first 
 appear singular to those who do 
 not knQw that another Work (1) 
 of the same Author is equally 
 scarce, and that all the copies of 
 it were called ia with the most 
 sedulous activity : at this distance 
 of time, we have not the means 
 of ascertaining" the motives which 
 may have actuated the Writer to 
 suppress his Works, after having- 
 
 (1) The Title of tirs very rare Book is " Memoirs of the 
 Twentieth Century : being origiwal l,ettcrs of State, utiiler 
 George tlie Sixtli, relating to the most important events in 
 Great liritaln and Europe, as to the Cimrcti ami State, Arts and 
 Sciences, Trade, Taxes, and Treaties, Peace and 'War: and 
 the character of the ^reale^t peisons of those tunes, from the 
 middle of the Eii,'liteenth; to the eml of the Twenrieth CentHry, 
 and of the World. Received and Revealed in the Year 1728 ; 
 and now published, for the instruction of all eminent Statessueii, 
 CJMirchmen, Patriots, Politicians, Projectors, Papists, and Protes- 
 tants, In Si^ Volimies, 8vo." London, I73.S. Tlicre was somtlhiog 
 vej-y mysterious in the History of these Memoirs, whicli were 
 ai^dressed in an ironical dedication to Frederick Prir.ce oi Wales, 
 and only one \olume of the Work appeared. One Thousand Copied 
 wfere Printed, but in less than a Fortnight 90() Co|)ies were 
 delivered up 'o Or. Madden, and in all probability destroyed. 
 The late Mr. Tutet had a Copy of it, and never heard of ai;other, 
 althoui;h he nrade many inquiries after it. A second is in the 
 curious Library of iVlr. Bmdiey, of the Stamp-OHice, London j 
 and a third w.is sold in Dublin, at the Sale ot the Library of 
 Dr. Keiirn^y, l5i-hop of Ossory, in June 1815, to Mr. Tripliook of 
 London, for is. 2s. Od- It is believed that the present is equally 
 scarce, audio be much more valuable and interesting to Irishmen. 
 
printed tliem (2) ; but^ we must 
 lament, that tiie wise and patri- 
 otic measnres, so eloquently pro- 
 posed, had not been dilFo ed 
 amongst the Gentlemen of Ire- 
 land, and acted upon by them, 
 with the same ardour that ani- 
 mated the respectable Author ; 
 if such had fortunately been the 
 case, how would the Coimtry, 
 and its Natives have tloudshed^ 
 and what a contrast would the 
 present times have affordt^d ? It 
 is with the sincerest and purest 
 hopes that much positive, not 
 ideal Good, will arise from its 
 circulation, that it is now revived ; 
 and if those into whose hands it 
 may fall, will, in their respective 
 situations, conscientiously endea- 
 vour to attain what yet remains 
 
 Ci) A weH-iiiformetl Wiiter, in a Review of this Book, in The 
 Dublin Weekly Gazette, 28, Sept. 1816, shrewdly suo;i;ests the leusoii. 
 — Tliar, ill 173S, Sir Robert Walpole was in the zenith of his power j 
 ami every one knows that Ministoj's aitipalhy to free ijolhicul d;i- 
 Ciiiwoii i and to tins country thriving; ut tl»e expense of Engi;uid. 
 
 -^ r.^ ^.,c» ft ju-j 
 
Yl 
 
 to be done, the Expense and 
 Labour of its Publication will be 
 esteemed to have been well em- 
 ployed, 
 
 (H the Reverend Dr. Samuel 
 Madden, the reputed Author of 
 this Book, but few Memorials 
 exist at this Day ; and yet he 
 was a Man of whom the great 
 Samuel Johnson said ''" His was 
 a Name Ireland ou^iit to ho- 
 nour^'' After very extensive and 
 long- continued enquiries^ the 
 only autheritic information res- 
 pecting him that could be found, 
 was in that valuable repertory, 
 Nichols' Literary Anecdotes of the 
 Eighteenth Century, Vol 2, Pages 
 31, and 1G9; and in Grosley's 
 Tour in England, 3 Vols. l2mo. 
 Lub, 1 772. Vol. 2. Page 260. He 
 is also mentioned in the new 
 Edition of the Biographia Dra- 
 ma tica, by Jones, London 1812, 
 \ ol. ! . Page 478, and in Lcm- 
 
VI I 
 
 priere's Universal Biography. It 
 appears from these authorities, 
 not one of whom mention the 
 Work now Re-printed, a proof of 
 its excessive rarity ! that this ge- 
 nuine Irish Patriot, received his 
 Education in Dublin, and had 
 some good Church preferment in 
 Ireland. In 1731, we find him 
 projecting a scheme for promo- 
 ting Learning in Trinity College, 
 Dublin, by Premiums to those 
 Under-Graduates, who answered 
 best, at the Quarterly Examina- 
 tions; which are continued to the 
 present Day, and from which suc- 
 cessive generations have derived 
 important advantages. In 1740 
 he settled an annual sum of 
 ^100, to be distributed, by way 
 of Premium, to the Inhabitants 
 of Ireland only; \^50, to the 
 Author of the best Invention for 
 improving any useful Art, or Ma- 
 nufacture. ^25, to the person 
 
VIII 
 
 who should execute tlve best Sta- 
 tue or piece of Sculpt ure<, ami 
 ^25. to the person who should 
 finish the best Paiiiting in Histo- 
 ry^ or L'cUidscape ; the Premiums 
 to be adjudged by the Dublin So- 
 ciety, of v^hich this most res- 
 pectable man was one of the 
 first founders ; and which by 
 his exertions, and those of his 
 Compatriots, was incorporated 
 the 2nd of April, 1749. Before 
 November, 1751, the Society 
 adjudged the following Premi- 
 ums given by i)r. Madden ; 
 which are enumerated here, to 
 evince what Arts and Manu- 
 factures were then thought de- 
 serving of sudi encouragement. 
 Best f] owe red bilks, 10/. best 
 Padijasoy, 10/. best Velvet, 10/, 
 Planting most Hops^ 25/. best 
 Tapestry, 10/. most Fish caught 
 and cured, first Premium 15/. 
 second Premium 10/. best imi- 
 
IX 
 
 tation of Brussels and Mech- 
 lin Lace, 8/. second best, 5/. 
 third best 3/. best Dresden, 7L 
 second best, 4/ third best, 3L 
 best Needle-work in Shades, 10/. 
 second best, 8/. third best, 6/. 
 fourth best, 3/. fifth best, 2L 
 The Premiums for 1751, were, 
 best lapestry, 10/. most Salt 
 from Salt-water only, 25/. best 
 Drawings by Boys or Girls un- 
 der 1 6 years of age, 1 5/. best 
 Sculpture in Metal or Stone, 25/, 
 best Invention in Arts or Hus- 
 bandry, if really deserving of it, 
 50/. The beneficient effects of 
 these well applied Benefactions 
 have not only been felt to advan- 
 tage in the Kingdom where they 
 originated, but have extended 
 their influence to England, ha- 
 ving given rise to the Society 
 for the encouragement of Arts 
 and Manufactures in the Adelphi^ 
 London. 
 
Dr. Madden was also Author 
 of a Tragedy called '' Themis- 
 tocles, the J^over of his Country," 
 and of a Poem on the death of 
 Hugh Boulter, Archbishop of 
 Armagh. Tn an Oration spoken 
 in Dublin, December 6, 1757, by 
 Thomas Sheridan, he mentioned 
 Dr. Madden's bounty, but ob- 
 serving' him present, was pre- 
 vented from adding, as he in- 
 tended, the following ju«it eulo- 
 gium, *' The Institutor of these 
 Premiums, had he never contri- 
 buted an^' thins: farther to the 
 g'ood of his Country, would have 
 deserved immortal honour, and 
 must have been held in reverence 
 by the latest Posterity, but the 
 unwearied and disinterested en- 
 deavours during a long course of 
 years, of this truly good man, in 
 a variety of branches to promote 
 Industry, and consequently the 
 'welfare of this Kingdom, and the 
 mighty benefits which have thence 
 
XI 
 
 resulted to the Community, have 
 made many of the good people 
 of Ireland sorry that a long- 
 talked of scheme has not hi- 
 therto been put in execution, 
 that we might not appear inferior 
 in point of gratitude to the Citi- 
 zens of London, with regard to a 
 Fellow-citizen (a Statue to Sir 
 John Bernard) and that like them 
 we might be able to address our 
 Patriot : 
 
 " Prcesenti tihi maturos lar~ 
 ginus honor es,'' 
 
 There is a fine Mezzotinto of 
 him, a whole length, by J. <arooks, 
 with this inscription, 
 
 "SAMUKL MADDEN, D. D. 
 
 Qiiique sui memores alios fecere inerendo, 
 Omiiibus his iiivea cinguntur tempora vitta. 
 
 Virg. ^n. VI. 664. 
 
 Mav we here add Dnden's 
 
 ^ •/ 
 
 beautiful paraphrase.^ 
 
 Priests of unblemished lives here made abode, 
 And Poets worthy their inspiring God; 
 And searchino^ wits of more Mechanic parts, 
 Who grac'd their Age with new invented Arts- 
 Those who to worth their bounty did extendi 
 And tliose who knew that bounty to commend 
 The J'.eads of these witii holy lillets bound, 
 Andall their temples were with garlands crovvn'd. 
 
XII 
 
 How transitory is all human 
 greatness^ when of a Man of such 
 pure and ardent Patriotism, so 
 celebrated in his day, and from 
 whose labours we at this moment 
 derive so many advantages, the 
 little contained in this bi ief sketch 
 is all that could be collected after 
 lor.^ and anxious researches! It 
 is now time to advert to his 
 Book; It was printed in Dublin, 
 in 1738, in octavo; without 
 Preface, Introduction, or Table 
 of (.^ontents ; which last, as it gives 
 a synoptical view ot the Work, 
 lias been drawn up, and prefixed 
 to this edition. From this it ap^ 
 pears that the Author proposed 
 thirty-two Resolutions, embracing 
 a very wide extent of Political 
 Economy; on each of which he 
 comments with all the ard«»ur 
 and enthusiasm of a genuine Pa- 
 triot, and as a most sincere and 
 unaffected well wisher of Eng- 
 land and Ireland. It is extremely 
 curious and interesting to reflect 
 
Xlll 
 
 on what such a man proposed, for 
 the benefit of his Country in 
 173S ; to see how much has been 
 done to ameliorate its condition; 
 and how much yet remains to he 
 doncy to improve our Native Soil 
 to the extent it is capable of, 
 
 A Copy of this Book by lucky 
 accident fell into the hands of 
 the munificent Founder, of The 
 Stove Tenter House, another 
 Patriot of this Nation, for which 
 it has been said '^ GOD has done 
 ' so much, and Man so little,'' He 
 was struck with the sentiments 
 which pervaded it ; he wrote a 
 few Notes in the margin, which, 
 are preserved in this edition ; and 
 every Header must lament that 
 his other important avocations 
 have prevented him from noting* 
 the Work throughout, in a simi- 
 lar manner. But he felt that 
 great and important advantages 
 might arise to that Ireland, which 
 c 
 
XIV 
 
 he loves so well, by disseminating' 
 the Principles and Practice so 
 beautifully and energetically re- 
 commended by hi^greatl^recursor; 
 and as Providence had blessed him 
 with the means of doing it, at the 
 expence of upwards of ^160. he 
 intends to disperse this new edition 
 with a very liberal hand, amongst 
 the Members of these enlightened 
 Societies to whose guardian care is 
 entrusted the Arts, the Manufact- 
 ures and the Agriculture of this 
 Kingdom. May his beneficient 
 intentions be realized by every 
 person competent to promote the 
 happiness of their country ! 
 
 And here it may not be impro- 
 per to remark, that gloomy as 
 the political horizon may occasion- 
 ally appear^ although Nations 
 may feel distress as well as Indivi- 
 duals, vet at various intervals there 
 arise great and good Men, who 
 seem to have been born for their 
 
XV 
 
 time, and their country ; whose 
 Lives, and Energies, and Fortunes, 
 are devoted to the grateful task oif 
 contributing' to the welfare of man- 
 kind, by alleviating" misfortune, by 
 encouraging modest merit, by as- 
 sisting* the industrious, and by 
 diffusing' innumerable blessings 
 around them. Such was Dr. Sam- 
 uel Madden in the beginning" of 
 the last Century, and such is Mr. 
 Thomas Pleasants in this. When 
 we consider his unremitting boun- 
 ties to the really distressed, his 
 noble donation of ^6000 to the 
 Meath Hospital, his liberal and 
 enlightened augmentation to the 
 Library of the Dublin Society, 
 the elegant and commodious 
 Lodges and Entrances to their 
 Botanic Garden at Glassnevin, 
 erected at his sole expence ; and 
 above all, that Temple and Asy- 
 lum of jNIercy and Industry, un- 
 equalled in Europe, The Stove 
 Tenteh-House in the Earl of 
 
Meath's Liberty. Dublin, com- 
 pleted at a sum exceeding- 
 ^13,000! We are struck with 
 astonishment and delight, and 
 must revere the head that plan- 
 ned, the hand that executed, and 
 the generous heart that gave so 
 large a portion of its possessions, 
 for such salutary, such national 
 purposes ! It would be easy to 
 enlarge on such delightful themes ; 
 but the conscious fear of wound- 
 ing the feelings of one who shuns 
 Public praise, and in the calm 
 serenity, and dignity of private 
 life, is fully satisfied with having 
 faithfully performed his duties to 
 God and Man, precludes the pre- 
 sent writer from adding more, 
 than to say to those whom a just 
 and wise Being has enriched with 
 his bounties, ^^ Go thou and do 
 
 LIKEWISE." 
 
 But it may be permitted to ex- 
 patiate a little on what may justly 
 
XVll 
 
 be called a National Monument, 
 which will shed its blessings and 
 its comforts on the industrious 
 Manufacturer, when the Statue 
 of the Statesman, and the tri- 
 umphant Arch of the Warrior 
 are crumbled into dust. 
 
 From the first rude beginnings 
 of the Trade, for years unnum- 
 bered, the distressed state of the 
 Woollen Weaver was lamented 
 deeply, by those who were ac- 
 quainted with the process of his 
 labour ; the warp of his piece 
 of Cloth must be prepared with 
 Size, and must afterwards attain 
 the fit degree of dryness before it 
 is woven in the Loom ; after be- 
 ing woven, it must be stretched 
 on Tenters, to prepare it for fi- 
 nishing. These operations were 
 of necessity performed in the 
 open air, subject to all the varia- 
 tions and inclemencies of the 
 climate ; from these unavoid- 
 
XVIII 
 
 able causes, days, often weeks 
 elapsed before the work could be 
 pr*oceeded on ; often the poor Ar- 
 tizan was compelled to bring' his 
 chain, as the warp is named, to 
 the fire of an Aie-house ; to com- 
 pensate for its use, he unavoid- 
 ably called for liquor ; this as 
 inevitably led to idleness, to debts, 
 and often to a Gaol for (hose 
 debts* How must the heart of 
 tbe beneficent rejoice to hear, that 
 since the opening of the Tenter^ 
 bouse^ a most respectable Clerg'y- 
 man^ Dr. Gamble, whose humane 
 avocations for many years led 
 bim to the inspection of these 
 receptacles of human misery, has 
 reported, that not a single \Vool- 
 len Weaver was confined for 
 debt ! 
 
 In this; extensive Building', 216 
 feet long', on three lofts no less 
 than Thirty-six Warps, aud Pieces 
 of Cloth can be dried at ona 
 
XIX 
 
 time ; a few hours now perform 
 what it took inatiy days to en- 
 deavour to effc^ct; and at the same 
 time they are treed from the ex- 
 posure to dirt, and the scorching- 
 of the Wool to its great injury. 
 
 By the present process^ the tex- 
 ture of the Goods^ is also most 
 materially improved. The advan^ 
 tag'es of the Institution are open 
 to all, under wise, salutary, and 
 economical regulations, drawn 
 up by the enlightened Founder^ 
 and carried into execution by 
 Trustees of his appointment, two 
 of whom, Messrs, Joshtm Paslei/^ 
 and Thomas Parker^ have emi- 
 nently distinguished themselyos 
 by their assiduity and care. 
 
 Nor is this Building to be con- 
 sidered as an object merely to 
 promote an important Branch of 
 our Manufactures ; it is deserv- 
 
XX 
 
 \ng of the highest praise, for the 
 permanency, the simplicity, and 
 at the same time the ingenuity 
 of its architecture : the system 
 6f Iron pillars that support the 
 Iron floors and Tenters, is admi- 
 rable ; uniting" strength, utility, 
 and lightness, in a manner not to 
 be imtdone ; and that nothing 
 should be wanting to render it 
 complete, a boiling-house for 
 preparing the Size, has also been 
 erected on an improved plan, 
 which greatly facilitates the la- 
 bours of the Workman. 
 
 From this brief abstract it may 
 be perceived, that the benefits be- 
 stowed on this City by our res- 
 pected Countryman, are great 
 and permanent ; but it is not 
 alone in Ireland that the name 
 of Pleasants is esteemed amongst 
 the benefactors of mankind. For 
 years before the efforts of Wil- 
 
XXI 
 
 berforce, Granville Sliarpe, and 
 Clarkson, could procure the abo- 
 lition of the abominable Slave 
 Trade ; a kinsman of our Irish 
 Pleasants, reduced to practice 
 their humane intentions, and 
 performed an act- v^hich should 
 never be forgotten. In the Ame- 
 rican Register, for .the 11th of 
 August, 1786, is the following 
 paragraph : 
 
 '^ Mr. Robert Pleasants, Mer- 
 chant, on James's River, Virgi- 
 nia, has lately given freedom to 
 all his Negroes ; which consisted 
 of several men, women, boys, 
 wenches, and children. This 
 Stock at a low valuation, is known 
 to have been worth ^3000 ster- 
 ling ; a rare instance of sacri- 
 ficing so much interest on the 
 altar of humanity !'* 
 
XXII 
 
 Surely for one Family to have 
 pFoduced two such Men, as these 
 now mentioned, must afford more 
 genuine satisfaction to its con- 
 nections, tha^i to boast of the 
 Politician or the Soidier, however 
 eminent ; and when the future 
 Historian enumerates the Patri- 
 ots ot Ireland, along with her 
 UssiiERs, her Swifts, and her 
 Maddens, he will record her 
 Pleasants. 
 
 R. E. M. 
 
 1st June^ 1816. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 #^#*^^#s* r*^^ 
 
 Resolution I. page 6. ^ 
 
 That, as Landlords in this poor Kingdom, we 
 will do our utmost in our little spheres, to remove the 
 defects and difficulties which we find our people 
 and country, and particularly our own estates and 
 tenants, lie under. 
 
 Resolution II. page 9. 
 
 That we will build on our estates, and encourage 
 all our Tenants to do so. 
 
 Resolution III. page 14. 
 
 That we will also plant and improve ourselves, 
 and do our best to make our Tenants follow our 
 example by all proper encouragement. 
 
 Resolution IV. page 18. 
 
 That we will with all possible care set forward 
 and encourage every useful Manufacture among 
 our Tenants, and especially that of the Linen. 
 
 Resolution V. page 22. 
 
 That we will oppose and discourage all ill Cus- 
 toms, that destroy frugality, thrift and indusliy in 
 our Tenants. 
 
 Resolution Y\. page 26. 
 
 That we will plant our Estates as thick as possible, 
 and never lose an industrious Farmer whom we ean 
 keep by reasonable encouragement. 
 
 F 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Resolution VII. page 31. 
 
 That we will as Fathers and Masters of FamiUes, 
 regulate our conduct and expenses, as shall be most 
 conducive to the service of Ireland and the good of 
 our posterity. 
 
 Resolution VlII. page 35. 
 
 We resolve therefore as Fathers and Masters of 
 Families, to use no sort of Clothes and Furniture 
 -which are not manufactured in Ireland. 
 
 Resolution IX. page 40. 
 
 We resolve as Masters of Families that as to 
 Drinking, we will contribute as little as possible to 
 the excessive and destructive consumption of Fo- 
 reign Wines an'l Brandies. 
 
 Resolution X. page 48. 
 
 That as Masters of Families we will banish from 
 our Tables that luxurious way of living, which is 
 so common and pernicious to the Gentlemen of 
 Ireland. 
 
 Resolution XI. page 52. 
 
 We resolve as Fathers and Masters of Families, 
 to educate our children in such a manner as shall 
 make them most useful in their Generation and 
 serviceable to their Country. 
 
 Resolution XII. page 61. 
 
 The last Resoh'TIon which seems proper for 
 us to lay down for our conduct as iVIasters of 
 Families, is this, that as to our Servants, we will 
 endeavour to the best of our po^r, to keep such 
 ki arc morte for use and necessai'y employments, 
 than Figure and .Show. 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 Resolution XIII. page 67. 
 
 That we will as Protestant Gentlemen in Ireland, 
 do all in our power to bring over our Countrymen 
 from the delusions and ignorance which they are 
 kept in by (heir Popish Priests, as the greatest 
 cause of their misery. 
 
 Resolution XIV. page 82. 
 
 We will ever sincerely wish for, consult and 
 pi'omote the happiness and welfare of Great Bri- 
 tain as our common parent. 
 
 Resolution 'KV. page Si. 
 
 That we will be so true to oin'selves as never to hurt 
 the trade or interests of Great Britain. 
 
 Resolution XVI. page 86. 
 
 We resolve, as we will never forget what we owe to 
 England, so we will ever hope that she will remember 
 what benefit and advantage she does, or may receive 
 by encouraging us. 
 
 Resolution X VII. page 100. 
 
 Wewill with our best industry and care endeavour 
 to remove every obstacle to agi'iculture and tillage 
 amongst us. 
 
 Resolution ^V III. page Hi. 
 
 We resolve to the utmost of our power, to prac- 
 tice ourselves and encourage in others, the raising 
 of Flax, and Flax-seed, in the best and skilfullcst 
 manner, to support and enlarge our Linen Manu- 
 factures. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Ht solution XIX. page 117. 
 
 We resolve to do all we can to introduce all new 
 improvements in husbandry into Ireland, which 
 are Hkely to be of real profit and . advantage, and 
 especially the culture of Hops^ Madder, Weld, 
 Wood, Saffron, Liquorice, Clover and other Grass 
 Seeds. 
 
 Resolution XX. page 126. 
 
 We resolve to improve the bj;eed of our^ Horses 
 and black Cattle, by unporting the best we can 
 procure from England. 
 
 Resolution XXI. page 129. 
 
 We resolve to use our best endeavours to get 
 such laws passed as may supply whatever is want- 
 ii^.g to the thorough improving, and perfec ing, 
 and encreasing our husbandry in Ireland. 
 
 Resolution XXll. pagtldl. 
 
 We will endeavour to know and understand 
 the Laws of the Land, in order to answer the 
 trust that is reposed in us, and put them in execu- 
 tion with zeal and integiity. 
 
 Resolution X,XIII. page 140. 
 
 We resolve as Magistrates in oiu* several Coun- 
 ties to prosecute with all severity of justice, all 
 kinds and distinctions of Felons and Criminals^ 
 and above all those who are Murderers. 
 
 Resolution X'X.IY . page 144, 
 
 We resolve to put the Ijiiws strictly in execu- 
 tion against all Vagabonds, Idlers and sturdy Beg- 
 gars, as the greatest pests in tliis Kingdom. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Ibesolution XXV. page 147, 
 
 We resolve as faitiiful ^iagis'rates io our Coun- 
 try, to join together to restore the discipline of oar 
 Laws against all \^agabonds and sturdy Beggars, 
 and to re-establish and regulate the wholesome 
 and wise Foundations of our Ancestors, the Cquw- 
 ty Work-houses, as settled by our Statutes. 
 
 Resolution XXVI. page 151. 
 
 We resolve as Irish Merchants, that we will 
 lake all possible care by watching over the good' 
 ness of the Commodities and Manufactures we 
 Export, to pay due regaixi to the Laws at home, 
 and the credit and interest of our Country abroad,' 
 and the faith and honour of the Irish Trade in the 
 World. 
 
 Resolution XXVII. page 136. 
 
 We resolve as Irish Merchants, both to discou- 
 rage universally the infamous method of running 
 of Goods, and also by carrying on and Exporting 
 such Manufactures as Great Britain has left open 
 to us, to remove all suspicion of ouv outri vailing 
 her in the Woollen Trade. 
 
 Resolution XXVIII. page 159. 
 
 We resolve as Irish Merchants to do our utmost 
 if assisted by the Legislature, to advance the traded 
 i^'avigation of Ireland and to consider all possible 
 ways and methods to encrease our Shipping and 
 Sailors aud improve our Manufactures. 
 
 Resolution 'XJ^llL. page ] 67. 
 
 We will endeavour as Irish Merchants, if sup- 
 ported and assisted by the Legislature, to form 
 such Societies and set up such Offices and intro- 
 duce such new Manufactures and methods of Bu- 
 siness, as may both direct, help and enlarge our 
 Foreign trade- and also enliven our inland commerce, 
 at home. « 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Kesolulion XXX. page 185. 
 
 We resolve as Members of Parliament, that we 
 will promote such sumptuary Laws, as will be most 
 conducive to reform the manners of our people, by 
 fencing against luxury and vanity in the better sort, 
 and securing sobriety and frugality in the lower. 
 
 Kesolulion XXXI. page 192, 
 
 We resolve, as Members of Parliament, to remedy 
 by all possible ways and means in our power, that 
 great obstruction to the prosperity of this nation, 
 the want of hands. 
 
 Resoluiion XXXII. page 203. 
 
 We resolve, as Members of Parliament, to pro- 
 vide and contrive all the best mctliods and ways we 
 can for employing our people and encreasing their 
 industiy. . 
 
REFLECTIONS 
 
 AND 
 
 RESOLUTIONS, &c. 
 
 As I am a native of Ireland, and have the 
 whole of my Fortune settled there, I think my- 
 self, though very easy as to my own condition, as 
 much obliged, by all the ties both of morality 
 and self-interest, to labour to relieve the distressi^s 
 of my countrymen, as a good citizen is to extin- 
 guish a dreadful fire, which, if it spreads, may 
 reach at last to his neiglibours and himself. It is 
 certain the circumstances we are at present re- 
 duced to, seem to threaten the general iiappiness 
 of all our people, unless relieved in time, and 
 therefore, to answer these obligations, 1 have of 
 late turned my thoughts every way to consider 
 our condition in all the lights in which I could, 
 place it. 
 
 A 
 
• 2 
 
 If one reflects on the great advantages our 
 island has from its situation in respect of trade, 
 the numher and excellency of its ports, the cle- 
 mency and healthfulness of its climate, the mild- 
 ness of its government, and the great fertility of 
 its soil, the convenience of its rivers for its inland 
 and outward commerce, iaid the infinite swarms 
 offish tliat crowd ^ts seas, as well as its freedom 
 from plagues, and security from either foreign 
 or civil wars, we should conclude it one of the 
 happiest kingdoms of the earth * If to all these 
 natural advantages we add the adventitious one 
 of its having been, for some centuries annexed 
 to the crown of Great Britain, and thereby un- 
 der the government and influence of a limited 
 monarchy, and the happiest constitution, both 
 as to spirituals and temporals, in the world : If 
 we consider it as possessed and managed by a 
 people allied to, and descended from a nation 
 where trade and agriculture, arts and sciences, 
 "wealth and liberty flouri.^h to the highest degree, 
 we might hoj)e a large share of all those blessings 
 would have been our lot, and descended down 
 to us as the inheritance of our ancestors, who 
 were sent hither to enlarge the British empire 
 and coumjerce. 
 
 But on the other hand, if we turn our eyes to 
 the worst side of the prospect, and reflect how 
 little use use Great Britain has yet made of those 
 advantages she might have drawn from a full 
 jjlanting our country, and improving our manu- 
 factures, and how wretchedly we have managed 
 our trade, so as only to impoverish us and our 
 tillage, so as to starve us, how we have sent away 
 
 * It abounds with all these advantages ; plagues and civil 
 wars excepted. There have been plagues in it : and, as to 
 civil v»'ai's, it has been extremely unfortunate. 
 
our wealth or goods for every thing we did not 
 want, and made our nobility and gentry our 
 factors abroad to help every nation hut our own,* 
 we must soon confess, we are either the most 
 unthinking or unfortunate people under heaven. 
 It is a reflection of Sir Francis Bacon, in his essay 
 on the true greatness of kingdoms, that the bles- 
 sing of Judali and Issachar will never meet, that 
 the same people or nation should be both the 
 lion's whelp and the ass l>etween two burthens; 
 but had he known the present circumstances of 
 the descendants of his countrymen here, I ques- 
 tion whether he would not have retracted that ob- 
 servation, in pity to a people which with the ho- 
 nour of having English blood in their veins, feel 
 the burthen of Irish poverty galling their backs. 
 But what still aggravates our cal.iniity, is, that 
 we have utterly overlooked the only resource for 
 our misfortunes or mismanagements by neglect- 
 ing those methods and means of gain, which, 
 might have borne the burthen of our other follies, 
 having kept our poor as lazy and ignorant as we 
 found thom, and stupidly employed the best part 
 of thenn and our lands, just as the Spaniards 
 do the Indians and the vast Savannahs of Ame- 
 rica, to feed great droves of cattle. 
 
 By this means we have laid waste, and almost 
 depopulated some of the finest countries in the 
 kingdom, and instead of turning them to those 
 great fountains of wealth, againhil trade, handy- 
 craft arts, manufactures, and fisheries, we have 
 made them and ourselves little better than con- 
 temptible drovers and butchers for wiser nations. 
 It is true we have greatly lessened the numbers of 
 
 * The nobility and gentry make themselves those factors ; 
 open enemies to their country. 
 
our sheep, and shall, by that and other methods, 
 in time remove the just jr-Iousy of Ei'.'and, 
 which we stupidly kept up, by running our wool, 
 in defiance of all laws and penalties, to the rivals 
 of tiieir manufactuies ; but instead of generally 
 ploughing up our shtep-walks we have turned 
 most of tlieni to bullocks or dairies, wliich is as fa- 
 tal to our prosperity as the other;* and, in a 
 word, nothing but our linen trade (which, 
 thanks to the care and pains of our trustees, is 
 encreasing and flourishing) has kept us hitherto 
 from Ijankruptcy and ruin in that terrible want of 
 specie which our follies have brought us to. In 
 this dismal situation of our affairs we have no 
 liope of any relief from our neighbours in Eng- 
 land, or tliose of our ungenerous countrymen, 
 who spend our wealth there and in other coun- 
 tries to gratify their vanity and pleasure, and as 
 little from ourselves, while our present reigning 
 fashions and lollies, of indulging in foreign lux^u- 
 ries and manufactures of all kinds, continue 
 among us as they arc like to do. 
 
 It must be owned indeed, that Ireland has 
 often shewn a sort of elastic virtue in recovering 
 itself from the lowest condition to its natural 
 state of ease and plenty, on several great revolu- 
 tions it has undergone ; but it is as true, that the 
 great springs, which gave it that force, are spent, 
 and there is now no resource left us but from that 
 frugality and industry, w'hich are the grand sup- 
 port of all nations. 
 
 It a known maxim in the civil law, Interest 
 reipubliccB ut quilibet re sua bene uiatur^ (it is of 
 importance to every country that men manage 
 
 * And how often have base frauds in that manufacture 
 severely injured its credit abroad ? 
 
their fortunes well ;) and certainly one of the first 
 leading laws of every nation should be to regu- 
 late men's conduct in this great point to the wel- 
 fare and general good of tlie whole. Could we 
 hope for such laws as would eiiectually restrain 
 our luxury, or force us to frugality and labour, 
 and to encrease our trade, I mean our useful 
 trade, we should expect to sec an happy change 
 in our affairs ; but as that is not to be expected 
 immediately, we have no other hazard for our 
 deliverance from our present poverty and misery, 
 bnt what must take its rise from the weak founda- 
 tion of our own resolution and virtue. 
 
 Though we cannot jit will make acts of par- 
 liament for the nation, we can certainly prescribe 
 laws tor ourselves and our own conduct, and if 
 we can but be true to our real interest and wel- 
 fare, we may so order our private management 
 at home, as to make up for our public extra- 
 vagance and follies abroad. Nations are com- 
 posed of separate families, and if every gentle- 
 man in his own house will once determine, in his 
 little sphere, to keep his country in his eye in all 
 his expences and management, we may yet be 
 retrieved from ruin j and if once the tide of 
 custom sets this way, we, who have ever been 
 more scrupulous in observing the worst fashions, 
 rather than the best laws, may see the scene shift, 
 and all men unite in the service of Ireland. 
 
 Every true friend of his country will never 
 content liiniself with the poor apology of saying 
 *' I am but one, and cannot alter the unthinking 
 *' conduct of others," but will do his best to 
 amend and reform every mistaken point of his 
 own, his friends, or neighbour's conduct, which 
 afiects the public welfare. To shew how fea- 
 sible and useful this would be, I will endeavour 
 
to branch out this matter into several of the most 
 important heads, and draw up proper resolutions 
 under each of them, by which we may hope to 
 serve our country, and which we may resolve to 
 prescribe as rules to ourselves, without pretend- 
 ing to dictate to others. 
 
 Now as that of a landlord is the single cir- 
 cumstance, which is of the greatest importance 
 and weight, and contributes chiefly to every 
 one's influence and power, let us begin with that 
 as the principal engine we can employ in this 
 useful work, and lay down as the main founda- 
 tion-stone of our little building this first Resolu- 
 tion, viz. 
 
 That, as landlords in this poor kingdovi, ue zvill 
 do our utmost in our little spheres, to remove 
 the defects and difficulties nhich we find our 
 people and country, and particularly our oivn 
 estates and tenants lie under.* 
 
 In the first place then, as the greatest of our 
 difiiculties is that of our gentlemen living abroad, 
 we v,ill lay it down as an unalterable rule of our 
 conduct, to- live constantly in our own kingdom. 
 As worthy and as useful a member of his coun- 
 try as I know in it, has shewn that we lose by 
 our absentees only above <£300,0()0 per annum, 
 and though some people may think more were 
 abroad than usual, when he drew up that account, 
 yet if a new list were made (which is much to 
 be wished) I am persuaded it would come very 
 uear the former. While this drain continues to 
 run we can no more expect to thrive, or even 
 
 * Admirable endeavour! An indi&pensible duty; and 
 he, wlio docs not do it, is an enemy to his country. 
 
subsist, many vears under it, than a man ivlio 
 bleeds largely every week, can hope for health, 
 and strength of body, and consequently, as far 
 as our fortunes go, we will lessen it all we can, 
 or if we are forced to go abroad for a while it 
 shall be for real business,* and not for pleasure 
 or vanity, and with as little expence and for as 
 short a time as possible. It is but too evident, 
 that the constant absence of so many of our gen- 
 tlemen, is the great source of all the distress and 
 poverty, which so many of our people groan un- 
 der, and how men of such probity and honour, 
 as many of them are, can relish pleasures,f which 
 are purchased at the expence of such a crowd of 
 miserable creatures, is a little unaccountable. 
 There is certainly such a crime as treachery to 
 one's country, when men abandon, and forsake 
 it, as well as treason against one's prince : and 
 it is. well known that our Irish statutes formerly 
 punished them equally, with the forfeituie of 
 their lands; and though our laws are long since 
 altered in this point, yet certainly to desert one's 
 fellow citizens in their distress, and to have a 
 share in the occasioning that distress, is an im- 
 putation no worthy man should wiiHngly bear. 
 How much then must it aggravate the cruelty 
 of such conduct, when the authors of it are re- 
 velling in pomp and pleasure, while they see 
 their native kingdom in so deplorable a maimer 
 sinking into ruin. We have heard of Nero ."-ing- 
 ing over that burning Rome, which he had set 
 
 * And which business may be of advantage to the country. 
 
 f Accounted for thus, by me : they are sensualists, who 
 disregard what may be the etfects of their dissipation to others ; 
 and above ai!, to their poor tenantry ; whom they arc, by the 
 laws of God, " Do as you wouhl be done by," bound to help, 
 and, in every reasonable instance, to succour. 
 
8 
 
 on fire for his pleasure ; and one could almost 
 say, that for the sake of a Jittle music, (>r such 
 like wretched diversion, many of them seem to 
 act the same part. But leaving the inhumanity 
 of such hehaviour, to the reflections of their own 
 hearts,* it must be our care to repair the decays, 
 and relieve the sufferings of our unhappy coun- 
 try as well as we can by residing and living in it : 
 we will attend it as religiously as a dying pa- 
 rent. 
 
 Non satins cineres patriae insedisse supremos ? Virg. 
 
 Nay, we will not only resolve not to live out 
 of Ireland, but we will think ourselves obliged to 
 carry this much further, for we will live as little 
 as possible off our own lands. Even living in 
 Dublin, is a custom that has many ill conse- 
 quences attending it ; it is ruinous to moderate 
 fortunes, and hurtful to the greatest, if we take 
 their children into the account. It is true, it is 
 not so prejudicial to the whole of our country, 
 yet has it very ill effects as to our lands, and all 
 those tenants who want the influence, direction, 
 and assistance of their landlords. Besides, a 
 gentleman who lives on his estate, and spends a 
 large share of his rents there, does not only like 
 a great tree necessarily improve the soil it grows 
 on by the leaves, and mast that fall from it ; but 
 also by the warmth, and shade, and shelter, 
 "which it casts around. This method would ne- 
 cessarily produce so many advantages, where 
 men consult either their OAvn or their tenants in- 
 terests, that I have often wished we had a law, 
 to oblige every gentleman to build, and keep iu 
 
 * Leaving it to a bad chance, a forlorn hope. 
 
repair one mansion-house on some part of liis 
 fortune, of such and such dimensions, suitable to 
 his inconae, and if this extended even to freeholds 
 of oL'20 per annum, it would not only greatly 
 prevent a non-residence extremely hurtful to lite 
 and manners, but would be productive of many 
 excellent eftiects, which I shall speak to pre- 
 sently. And let no man be so weak as to say, 
 that this which would prevent our de^struction, 
 would lessen the gain which Great Britain makes 
 by our absentees ; for besides the ahsurdity of 
 such reasoning, and that still numbers must stay 
 in England, it is certain if our gentry continue 
 to desert us, we must be undone in time, and 
 become a burthen and loss to England, who must 
 then be forced to send them all home to us, and 
 also must help to relieve and maintain us ; where- 
 as if a reasonable number of them would return 
 to us and improve their estates and set up ma- 
 nufactures on them, and thereby encrease the 
 the little fund of our wealth and trade, we 
 should in time, save immense sums to Great Bri- 
 tain, which she pays to her rivals for linen and 
 sail cloth, and be a perpetual addition to her 
 riches by a moderate encrease of ours. We could 
 then spare her double the number of our gentry 
 without feeling the loss, when our common peo- 
 ple were once made warm and thriving by their 
 industry, and secured from relapsing into their 
 present distresses. 
 
 We must therefore lay down another Resolu- 
 tion in the second place, as an established rule 
 for our conduct, which is. 
 
 That ive will build on our estates, and encourage 
 all our tenants to do so. 
 
10 
 
 Building on our estates, makes' our residence 
 there convenient and agreeable, will greatly in- 
 fluence our successors to continue on them, and 
 preserve the seat of the Family, and not only re- 
 pair, but improve it, and where this is wanting, 
 an estate suffers as much by the absence of the 
 landlord, as a ship does b}^ the want of a cap- 
 tain, when the crew is left to themselves. This 
 is a great and necessary circumstance to the 
 well-being of Ireland, especially where often in 
 great estates of several thousand acres, you will 
 not meet with two houses of stone and lime, fit 
 (I will not say for a 2;entleman but even) for a 
 farmer to live in. Besides a great number of 
 good houses and out- houses fit for farmers and 
 tradesmen, add greatly to the value of an es- 
 tate. — I have seen very judicious computations, 
 where the buildings of Enghmd are reckoned 
 worth double the purchase money of all the 
 lands, and eight times the value of the cattle and 
 stock grazing on them, and where the very houses 
 in and about London, are valued ten times higher 
 than all the current money in England. It must 
 therefore be a great addition to the real wealth 
 and value of the fortunes of our gentlemen, and 
 the national treasure, to make such lasting im- 
 provements among us, which do not only beau- 
 tify the face of our country, but give heart and 
 life and spirit to our people. We may go yet 
 further, and assert with truth, that good and sub- 
 stantial buildings arc as great a security and de- 
 fence to men's possessions and quiet in the country 
 as fortified towns are to the frontiers of kingdoms. 
 The weakness of cabbins, renders the inhabitants 
 fearful and emboldens thieves, and intimidates 
 those who dare think of prosecuting them ; nay 
 it even discourages thrift, where it is unsafe to 
 
11 
 
 lay up money, which is open to every invader. 
 And yet to our shame, we must confess that in 
 Ireland our tenants (I speak of the poorest and 
 greatest part of them) have rather huts than 
 houses, and tliuse of our cotters are buiU, like 
 birds nests, of dirt wrought together and a lew 
 sticks and some straw, and like them are gene- 
 rally removed once a year, and consequently as 
 migratory, and not so durable, as the carts and 
 waggons of the wandering Tartars. Numbers 
 of them have no chimney, cither for want of 
 wood, or skill to build one, but vent the smoak 
 like those of the Hottentots ; and if we had a 
 market, as Mr. Beauplon says, the Cossacks have 
 for wooden chimnies ready made, our poor peo- 
 ple have not a penny to buy one. As miserable 
 as they look on the outside, the family within 
 are full as wretched, half starved and half c!ad,* 
 so that there is an absolute necessity to lodge 
 them better and use them to warmer cottages and 
 cloalhiiig and a cleanlier way of feeding and liv- 
 ing, if we would have them cultivate their lands 
 or manufactures to any purpose. The flax they 
 spin is generally sooted and blackened with the 
 smoak, and sells at much the worse price for that 
 reason, and no trade or business can be carried 
 on, nor even butter or cheese made, or drink 
 brewed, or life itself sustained with any ease or 
 comfort in them. We should therefore improve 
 their buildings as well as our own houses, and 
 see them more snug, warm and decent, to give 
 them a taste and desire for the reasonable satis- 
 factions of life, and this will be the best way to 
 spur them on to industry and labour, for the 
 jiiore they spend, the more they must earn, but 
 
 * AlmOit wkgle starved ; and almost ivholg naked. 
 
12 
 
 if they keep in tlieir present sleepy sloth, dirt 
 and rags, they will never labour, but prefer the 
 (logN Hfe, ease and luinger. This reformation 
 would not be so diliicult to compass, especially 
 in those tamilies that are not of the very worst 
 and poorest sort, if we would give them little 
 helps of tindjer or lime, or allow them thirty-one 
 years leases at least, and the first year or half 
 year's rent, according to the value, free to the 
 building. 
 
 I have often thought it would be an improve- 
 ment peculiarly useful, if not necessary, to Ire- 
 land, if, uhere we can with convenience, we 
 would try to build a few cabbins arched with 
 brick and covered with clay and sods bearen to- 
 gether, and pared to the pitch of the roof on 
 the arch, for some of our cotters and poorer 
 tenants; for this method would save the poor 
 inhnite labour in building and expence in re- 
 })airs, and would be safe from hre and almost 
 from time, and, though a lasting advantage, yet 
 of very small cost to the landlord. 
 
 Jt were also to be uished indeed, that even 
 our gentlemen would, in their country seats, 
 imitate Colonel Newburgh, a great improver in 
 the County of Cavan, who, as well as several 
 others, does not only use stucco work instead of 
 wainscot, but has arched his fine dwelling house 
 and all his large oilice-houses story over story, 
 and even all their roofs in the most beautiful 
 manner without any timber. Besides a number 
 of arguments for ibis method, I will only say 
 here, tiiat had this fashion prevailed of old, 
 so many hundred fine seats of our ancestors 
 lud not been dstroyed by fire in 1641 and 
 1()88, by the barbarity of the Irish, nor 
 had such numbers of them and their poste- 
 
13 
 
 rity been hindered so many years from settling 
 on their estates. It it true, we are now sate 
 from having our houses burnt by sokiiers, bat 
 our fashion of wainscotin<^ all our rooms, keeps 
 us in almost as much hazard, by the negligence 
 of servants, and makes them as liable to fire as 
 the wooden houses of the Muscovites, where a 
 single candle often destroys whole towns. But 
 to return to our tenants. As for the better sort 
 of them, who are a little able to bear the expence 
 of building, they should have contracts in their 
 leases, that the}^ shall he allowed such a sum for 
 their houses when they expire, for otherwise it 
 is expecting as the Egyptians dealt with the 
 Jews, that they shotild make bricks without 
 straw. Such an allowance was ever appointed 
 by the civil law to be made by the lord of the 
 soilto the vassal, or else he was at liberty to- 
 remove or demolish them. This is now the 
 custom in Saxony and Flanders, and it is cer- 
 tainly but reasonable and equitable and less 
 chargeable, than paying for repairs as they do in 
 great part of England. Some of our laws as they 
 now stand, are great obstacles to building, parti- 
 cularly those which allow no tenures to Papists 
 above thirty-one years, nor to Protestants, if on 
 church lands, above twenty-one, both which might 
 be removed by clauses from landlords of allowan- 
 ces for their dwelling houses, at least when their 
 leases expire. Our marriage settlements also are 
 as great incumbrances in this point, which toge- 
 ther with the narrow wav of thinkino; in most 
 landlords, generally averse to long leases, will 
 be hard to be removed, 1 am persuaded howe- 
 ver, if we had an act to impower us, notwith- 
 standing settlements or the Popery act, to set 
 a lease for ever of only ten or twenty acres at 
 
14 
 
 most even to Papist tradesmen, who would co- 
 venant to build good houses of lime and stone, 
 and enclose, ditch and plant the ground into a 
 little orchard and garden and three or four small 
 parks, we should soon see many thousands of 
 such improvements rising in our country to our 
 great profit and ornament, and the benefit of 
 our manufactures. It is this has made the isle 
 of Jersey* all one garden, by its being broken 
 thus into an huge parcel of perpetual small free- 
 holds, and we should feel the same advantage 
 from it, and yet our rent-rolls would rather rise 
 than sink hereby, as the bulk of our lands w^ould 
 continue to be set on short leases. 
 
 But in the n^xt place we will lay down this 
 Resolution, liz. 
 
 That we will also plant and improve ourselves, 
 and do our best to make our tenants follow our 
 e.vample by all proper encouragement. 
 
 This is as absolutely necessary as building, for 
 the same good end we should ever keep in view, 
 and should be provided for and secured by pro- 
 per clauses in all our leases, where the bargain 
 and the tenants abilities allow of it. It is 
 strange, that in a country where about one 
 hundred years ago near one fourth part of the 
 profitable land was under vast forests, f we should 
 now be reduced to a necessity of planting, or lie 
 under an encreasing expence of 40,0001. per an- 
 num, which we now pay for timber. But this 
 
 * It certainly is a beautiful island. 
 
 -j- It is said that one hundred years ago a squirrel could 
 go from Londonderry to Cork, by leaping from bough to 
 bouirh. 
 
15 
 
 great waste of our woods proceeded from many 
 causes, for not only England, but foreigners, used 
 to build great numbers of shipping here, as com- 
 monly as they now come to our ports to victual 
 them. Not only our English colonies, which 
 came over, as is usual in all new settlements, but 
 our armies and garrisons employed themselves 
 chiefly in destroying the great forests, as the 
 main shelter and lurking places for rebels, thieves, 
 &c. and many landlords tied their tenants to 
 burn nothing but wood, and to cut down so 
 many acres a year. This in process of time 
 helped to clear the land, our buildings and 
 spendthrifts with our tanners and our iron -works 
 soon devoured the remainder, and our planting 
 goes on now as slowly, as if we still remembered 
 the inconveniences our ancestors suffered from 
 the huge woods in their days. Even those gen- 
 tlemen who improve among us, are generally 
 more fond of building a lofty house, with hand- 
 some out-houses, &c. than making large and 
 noble plantations, though the first be a sort of 
 rent-charge on the estate, and the latter a mighty 
 addition to its value, and has a beauty an.d mag- 
 nificence, when well ordered, which the greatest 
 princes may envy and often want about their pa- 
 laces. But indeed most of our gentry (which 
 is a great obstruction to this good work) are 
 observed to be more fond of making new pur- 
 chases than of improving their old estates, to 
 double the value by planting and making drains 
 and enclosures and hedge-rows, with all the arts 
 of good husbandry ; though this last and best 
 sort of purchasing can be accomplished by slow 
 degrees and small sums, the expences of trees 
 and ditches being very trivial, and the work 
 done by low wages to one's own poor cottagers 
 
1^ 
 
 and tenants, to the great advancement of the 
 rent, which often costs but four or five years 
 purchase, and no danger from a bad title. 
 This mismanagement of theirs, I hope indeed, 
 will lessen every day, but their tenants are so 
 little inclined, or able to bear the expence of 
 planting, and the profit is so distant, that it were 
 to be wished the law had allowed them the 
 whole of it, which if once done, would soon 
 be of mighty advantage even to the landlord, 
 as well as the kingdom, who would have the be- 
 nefit of the enclosuie and the shade or shelcer to 
 his land, the young growth when cut down, and 
 probably a great bargain, if he buys the trees. 
 There should also be larger premiums for planting 
 orchards and fruit, as well as forest trees; but 
 the greatest help of all to this good work (as I 
 obseivctl before as to building) would be an act 
 to allow small perpetual freeholds, notwithstand- 
 ing settlements, to all, who would undertake 
 and perfect such improvements, or at least to 
 empower us to give much larger tenure's, than 
 those which are now in use. But more of this 
 hereafter. Until such a law is made, we must 
 give the best encouragement wc can to our te- 
 uants, who will plant and improve by favour- 
 able allowances and clauses in their leases ; this 
 will breed yeomen, and enable them to get 
 freemen and not slaves, and influence them to 
 make the most of their farms, and to love their 
 country, and not escape out of it as from a 
 jail, to go with lelons and bankrupts to the West 
 Intlies. If all our ditches were by law to be 
 planted with quicks and forest trees, we should 
 soon have a sufficient stock of limber for most 
 uses, and especially if those who sell woods were 
 obliged to copse them : But in the mean time. 
 
17 
 
 we sliould persuade our tenants who have good 
 leases to plant in tins nianuer, and even the 
 poorest should set their ditches with sallies, 
 which as to bark and timber for s:nall houses, is 
 an improvement that would be of vast service 
 to the kiugdom. Until nurseries for sale arenu^ie 
 common we should make great ones, of our own, 
 and give so many trees out ol them, as may serve 
 our miptovmg tenants either gratis, or al a low 
 rate; though certainly, if public nurseries, were 
 settled iu eveiy county .it would do much better. 
 I shall add but tiiree things more as to plant- 
 ing and so I will quii that subject. The hrst is 
 that it is absolutely necessary, to have some law, 
 obliging all who iiave freeholds for ever of 5\. 
 yearly rent and upwarcU, to plant such a number 
 of forest trees, and also an orchard, of fruit 
 trees, in a reasonable proportion, to the estate 
 they enjo3% tor such an act, though ]t may seem 
 and prove a little burdensome at first, would end 
 in gi;eat advantages, to all private families con- 
 cerned, as well as the public. The second is 
 that Are ought to try if ash, and sycamore 
 keys, acorns, beech mast, Sec. wo(dd ii"t thrive 
 in some t)f the beat, and most sheltered parts of 
 our c<-)arser iantls, and mountains, if sown in rills 
 two or three teet asunder iu small eiiclosuics 
 fei*eed on tiie top of the ditcli, with ^allies for 
 warmth, tor if this he lound praclicabU, as I 
 doubt not it will, it la to be hoped, meiny who 
 liave not, or cannot spare lich grounds, e\'en lor 
 small plantations, would lay out large ones in or- 
 dinary, or mouniaim)iis giouuds, which aic of 
 little value. The tlnrd point is to give an Innt, 
 oif the advantage, it wovld be both to the public, 
 and to ])r'.vale famdies, if gentlemen, were al- 
 lowed by law, to befjucalh a limited quantity 
 
 c 
 
IS 
 
 of acres planted, with forest trees, to help the 
 small provision some of them leave to their 
 younger children ; and to allow a proper time, 
 tor cutting- them down and removing; them off 
 the laud : lor I am persuaded, many a careful 
 manager, would by this means, do great good 
 to his country, and cliildren, whom otherwise he 
 had neglected. 
 
 Let us now proceed to another Resolution, 
 of equal, or rather greater consequence, to Ire- 
 land, which we ought to prescribe to ourselves, 
 as landlords, viz. 
 
 That xve zvill with all possible care set forward 
 and encourage, every usejul manufacture^ 
 among our tenants, and especially that of the 
 liiien. 
 
 Every one knows, who has thought at all on 
 the subject, that our exported manufactures, 
 bring vastly more profit to us, and are infinitely 
 more advantageous to the kingdom, than our 
 beef, tallow, hides, wool, corn, &c. and as 
 those of our linen, are the great stay, and sup- 
 port, of this island, who ever wishes, or at least 
 deserves to be supported in it, must even for his 
 own sake, and to help his tenants, do his utmost, 
 to spread and increase them. There is not a 
 closer union between food, and life, than be- 
 tween them, and our prosperity ; as they grow, 
 we shall thrive, and as they decline, we shall de- 
 cay, and dwindle ; we are secure of the counte- 
 nance of Great Britain, in this hianch of trade, 
 as we fell into it by directions from tlience, and by 
 the advice, of the Engl/sh House of Lor<ls ; to 
 say nothing of the constant recommendations, 
 from our lord lieutenant, to our parliaments, 
 
J9 
 
 which have occasioned so many excellent laws, 
 to this end. Nor caa we have the least doubt, 
 that we can ever be discouraged in it, since it will 
 always be the interest of England, that we turn 
 ourselves this Wiiy, as thereby our sheep walks, 
 and wool and our running it cither raw or manu- 
 factured, will every day lessen. We should 
 therefore, on all those accounts, do what we can 
 to promote our linen business, either by setting- 
 up a manufacture, of several looms ourselves, 
 or if our want of skill, prevents that, by obliging 
 our agents, or assisting our tenants, to carry it 
 on in that method. Nay, we should by dispersing 
 wheels, and reels and tlax-seed, among all our 
 tenants, poor, and rich, and by encouraging 
 weavers, and getting our tenants' children 
 bound to them, lay such a foundation for in- 
 dustry and improvement this way, as shall after-* 
 wards effectually secure their own ease and plen- 
 ty, and our rents together; antl in time, make 
 all our estates a moie dispersed manufacture. 
 This will be the great source, and the only gieat 
 one, that is oj>en to us, of prosperity to us, and 
 Ireland ; and indeed if gentlemen, could once 
 be persuaded to build little towns, on their lauds, 
 and undertake settuig up large manufactures, 
 and bleach yards themselves, and by degrees, 
 spread the linen business, through tlie whole of 
 their tenants, they would in the best manner pos- 
 sible, improve the circumstances of their own 
 foitune, and that of the public. It is plain as to 
 setting up such little colonies, that whatever loss 
 thcie may be at the first, the gains in time, will 
 largely make amends for it. Cootehill, Lurgan, 
 Monaghan, and a number of our towns, in 
 the North, are evident proofs of this, where by 
 the loss of a small sum, compared v\ ith the fu- 
 ture profit, the lands, for some miles round, have 
 
20 
 
 risen to treble the value, and in a little time, I 
 liope niany other places, in the three southern 
 provinces, will, by the care ot juilicions, and 
 provident landlords, he as remarkable proofs of 
 this matfer to the worUI * Besides the certain- 
 ty ot" so vast a proht, it should be considered, 
 that a oentleinan, who sets up a large manulac- 
 lure, and thereby provides food, and raiment, 
 tor thousands of his Itllow-creatures, is i;r the 
 eye of reason aiul his Creator, infinitely a more 
 valuable man than he, who tor the glory of 
 being senselessly hospitable, feeds an idle croutl 
 of eaters and drinkers at his rabie, and swills 
 their guts there with French wine, that is, with 
 the blood of his country: As our ponr manu- 
 factuieis are the strength and wealth of our na- 
 tion, so tlic nourishing them, and keeping them 
 lionest, and industrious, is the greatest act of 
 virtue, and yet through the goodness of God, 
 extrt mely gauiful lo him, who acts thus. It is 
 true, 1 have heard of some worthy gentlemen, 
 who have lost considerably by endeavouring to 
 set up designs of this sort; but we may as well 
 blame trade, which some merchants are ruined 
 b}' ; and besides, I i'ear setting large farms, to 
 weavers, as they did, is not the way to esta- 
 blish manufactures, but by building towns for 
 liiem (as we observed before) or dividing them 
 into very small farms, just sufficient for milk. 
 A very tew thus settled, and trusted, and favoured 
 as they thrive, and having but small rents to an- 
 swer, will soon ])erfect tiie business, without 
 tiusting too much rent, or money in the hands 
 of strangers. Were the funds of the linen board 
 
 * Small hope of this wliilst so ruany of our untliinking, 
 uufoeliDg liiiidlords spend thtiir time and money abroad. 
 
21 
 
 double, or treble what tbey are, ibe skill and 
 care ofour excellent trustees, would before now, 
 luive rai^^ed the manufactures, under their direc- 
 tion, through the whole kingdom, to a great 
 height; and indeed, it is unaccountable, how 
 we have pinched, and confined, our industry that 
 way, instead ot enlarging it, and giving it full 
 scope, and [>lay. 
 
 In my Lord Chancellor Metluien's time, when 
 the first ste,>s were taken to set set up the linen 
 business here, there were larger funds, designed 
 for it by the act, which was then thrown 
 out, lest the commissioners, who were to raise 
 them might abuse the'vi- trust;* but had their 
 power been well limited, I believe Leinster, 
 Munsier, and Connaught, had been in tenfold a 
 more flourishing way this day, and vastly more 
 populous and improved, than, to our loss, we 
 see they are. Besides a large fund, proportioned 
 to the woik, would enable our trustees, among 
 other things, to bring over many skilful hands, 
 from Holland, and Flanders, and to improve our 
 manufactures in fine threads, tapes, cand)ricks, 
 and bone kce, to tire utmost, which are now in 
 want of all the assistance we can give them, not 
 to mention our hempen manufactures, which by 
 such additional funds, might in time be carried 
 to great lengths as we shall shew hereafter. 
 
 Till the wisdom of the nation shall provide 
 such funds, every man in it should, in his little 
 sphere, do liis best to supply that defect. Nor 
 should bis care be confined, to the linen, but 
 should extend to all otlier manufactures he can 
 improve or begin, and every artificer and han- 
 
 * Commissioners abusing their trust, wliat an infamous 
 fobbcry ! 
 
22 
 
 dycraftsman, wlio is skilful and industrious, is to 
 be aided and befriended, by proper encourage- 
 ments, so far as liis labour can be of real u ^e, and 
 advantage, on our estates, it being certain that 
 ten labourers, do not save, or gain so much 
 to the public, as one industrious or able trades- 
 man. 
 
 Another Important Resolution, we should 
 lay down, for our conduct as landlords is this, 
 viz. 
 
 That we XV ill oppose and discourage all ill customs, 
 that des'roy frugality, thrift, and industry, in 
 our tenants. 
 
 The definition which some one gives of cus- 
 tom, that it is the plague of wise men, and the 
 idol of fools, agrees with no people on the 
 earth, so well as my countrymen ; for they seem 
 to have adopted, some of the most pernicious 
 ones, to their own well being, that they could 
 have thought of, and to retain them as fondly as 
 if they judged it a mark of freedom and inde- 
 pendency, to reject those of the English, and 
 ruin themselves their own way. However, it is 
 certain this proceeds, chiefly from the little care 
 that has been taken to wean them from them, 
 for as the example of the gentry, is the great 
 source of acting in all countries ; so it is re- 
 markably true in Ireland, that they imitate and 
 copy after those that are above them more than 
 other nations. The worst customs they have, 
 are all derived from their old chiefs and heads of 
 clans, and had their rise from their poverty, mis- 
 fortunes and want of conveniences, and oppor- 
 tunities to learn belter. For certainly, the hu- 
 
23 
 
 niours, and fancies of the Irish, are as easily 
 turned as the courses of rivers, if a deeper and 
 wider channel be dug for them to run in, and 
 especially, where there is still less doubt of the 
 change. As the commonwealth has an interest 
 in the life and manners of every subject, it ought 
 to regulate them, but as many of them are over- 
 looked by the legislature as too trivial for its ob- 
 servation, every gentleman must correct and re- 
 form them, as far as he can by his own authority 
 and example. 
 
 The first custom I shall mention, which de- 
 serves to be abolished, is that of giving large 
 quanties of liquor, and especially aquavitee at fu- 
 nerals. If a man dies and leaves a widow 
 with four or five small children and eight 
 or ten cows, the price of two or three of 
 them must be laid out this way to the utter 
 beggary of the family. Drinking at funerals 
 was reckoned so barbarous by the virtuous Ro- 
 mans, that it was forbidden by one of the laws 
 of the twelve tables, but here it is aggravated 
 with the guilt of sacrificing the living to the dead. 
 It is surely a shocking sight at any funeral to see 
 how many hundreds of idlers are by this vile 
 fashion brought together to the loss of their fa- 
 milies and farms that want their work, and the 
 great damage which the kingdoui suffers there- 
 by. If such crowds must be brought together, 
 I am sure, the English way of giving dole-mo- 
 ney to all who would accept it, is vastly better 
 than giving them drink to debauch and destroy 
 them. Nay this vile fashion occasions more 
 beggars, than any of the many bad ones they 
 have, and it also breeds up the whole of the 
 people with a relish and love of that beastly vice 
 drunkenness ; which is not only the ruin of 
 
24 
 
 many tradesmen, but of trade itself. It destroys 
 their time, tlieir substance, their health and 
 strength and understandings. Nor is it only 
 at funerals, but at marriages and christenings 
 they are as guilty of the same excess, to as 
 great a degree ; so that it would be impossible 
 for the natives to be able to bear such extraordi- 
 narv taxes on these common accidents oi' human 
 life, if they did not live without the common 
 necessaries of it the rest of their days. I am 
 persuaded that they have borrowed the excess of 
 iheir expences at these ceremonies from the 
 Danes, who for so long a time played the mas- 
 ters here, and governed with as severe an hand 
 as they did in England, for I lind travellers 
 generally agree that to this day, the people in 
 Denmark are remarkable for their extrava- 
 gances on these accounts ; and 1 heartily wish 
 this were the only resemblance they have of that 
 people. But 1 fear they are altogether as like 
 them in the miserable poverty a>id pride, whicii 
 like the hot and cold fits of an ague, equally by 
 turns make their lives uneasy. But these thing* 
 speak too plainly, to need being enlarged on ; 
 and a dropsical person, may as well expect 
 liealth, while he indulges in licpior, as our poor 
 Irish can hope to thrive, while these customary 
 tiplings are allowed of. 
 
 The JHzmess and indolence of our people is 
 another universal habit and custom that .shouM 
 be discouraged as much as all the rest. As in- 
 dustry and labour is the great snnree of riches 
 to all nations, how ruinous must this terrible hu- 
 mour be, which infects so many thou.sand peo- 
 ple, even of those (i'or I leave our beggars lor 
 another place) who profess labour and de|)end on 
 it for their support. Many even of these follow 
 
25 
 
 their work but from band to moiitb, and as if 
 they thought, as the Scriptures speak of the Jeu's, 
 ** their strength was to sit still," they Vv^ill wait 
 no longer than the scourge of necessity is held 
 over them. The Clfmesc say wiih some truth, 
 as to their pohcy and trade, that all other na- 
 tions have one eye, but they have two, but I fear 
 we may say with more justice of the Irish (and 
 their beloved Spaniards may go along- with them) 
 that all other men have two liaiids and they but 
 one, and that, they often keep in their breast. I 
 remember Montaigne in making up his account 
 of his yearly expence sets down, '^ Item, for 
 ** my indolent humour oOl. " but I fear at least 
 a million* must be charged on the same ac- 
 count to Ireland. Formerly they often ST)ld their 
 yarn and butter by night, and as privately as 
 possible, thinking it disgraceful to make a profit 
 of the industry of their wives ; and 1 have 
 known reproaches and from thence quarrels on 
 this matter ; but they are grown wiser now, and 
 would every day grow more so, if they had 
 once learned the secret, that they might pur- 
 chase a great deal more comfort and plenty with 
 a little more pains. A better way of living and 
 an encrease of our people and manufactures, 
 and consequently an higher price for the neces- 
 saries and conveniences of life must be the great 
 cure for this evil, together with the landlord's 
 eyef over them to punish the sleepy loiterer, and 
 encourage and employ the industrious. Our 
 linen yarn and cloth, when effectually spread 
 
 D 
 
 * Why confine it to a million ? 
 + And the landlord himself to shew a good examplt, 
 " Precept teaches, but exarapie driven." 
 
26 
 
 through all the provinces will fully employ the 
 idlest part oi" the nation, the women and chil- 
 dren ; and encouraging trade, fisheries and tillage 
 (of all which more hereafter) would soon make an 
 hap 03' cliange in the rest. By these means, it is 
 demonstrahle, we might annually gain near a mil- 
 lion more than we do, and grow rich though our 
 people spent two thirds of it in England. We 
 should then grow in love M'ith lahour in propor- 
 tion, as we lound the conveniences of food and 
 raiment, which many of them seldom think of 
 now, hut when they are naked and starving. It 
 is one of our greatest misfortunes, that wc arc 
 so much undei -peopled, and as we have but little 
 hopes to remedy that evil suddenly, the best me- 
 thod we can take to help us herein is, to do our 
 utmost to keep all the hands we have so busy, as 
 that they may do as much work as double our 
 numbers would do under less care of the land- 
 lords, and worse laws and regulations of our 
 manufactures. But I shall now proceed to the 
 last Resolution to direct our conduct — as 
 landlords in Ireland, viz. 
 
 That we will plant our estates as thick as pos- 
 sible, and never lose an industrious farmer 
 xihom zee can keep by reasonable encourage- 
 ment. * 
 
 Crowds of people make land and the pro- 
 duce of it valuable, and without them our best 
 arrounds in Ireland would be as worthless and 
 useless as the wide wastes of America. It is 
 but putting ourselves a degree or two above the 
 savage Indians there, if we have only tame beasts 
 to roam about our lands instead of wid ones, 
 for it is demonstrable that the first devour more 
 
 * Right good maxims. 
 
27 
 
 people thanthe latter. Dividing our farms into 
 small holdinojs and little tenures is the high road 
 to improve tlie industry of the occupier, and the 
 value of the ground where nothing is lost, and 
 every spot made to exert its utmost fruitfulness 
 with the greatest skill and management. 
 
 It should therefore be our constant endeavour, 
 both to manage well the stock of tenants we 
 have, and also to bring in and settle little indus- 
 trious colonies where our lauds want them, and 
 by proper, good bargains and long leases make 
 all of them love their situation, and by degrees 
 spread even over the barrenest parts of our lands. 
 If we watched over the breed of our tenants, or 
 cherished them as much as those of our horses, 
 &c. we should soon have droves of men, and 
 labouring men instead of bullocks and sheep, 
 and find the vvide difference in the profit by 
 making use of them, as of our nursery trees, 
 to plant our lands to the best advantage pos- 
 sible. Our people by such encouragement would 
 like thrivino; hives throw off new swarms to 
 seek out the best and nearest settlement to the 
 mother-stock ; and rob the earth of its annual 
 sweetness by their industrious toils, and then 
 improve its produce by all the arts of manu- 
 facture. 
 
 It is chiefly for want of this care in our land- 
 lords, that such shoals of our families have gone to 
 the West Indies, * by which the nation loses near 
 thirty pounds an head, valuing them as little bet- 
 ter than slaves and negroes ; besides the sub- 
 stance aad manual arts they carry with them, 
 
 * I believe there is no doubt of this. But what cares the 
 dissipated, dissolute, hard-hearted landlord ; they may go to 
 the devil for him. Where is he iiqing to ? 
 
28 . 
 
 which will come to much more. Had they any 
 proper encouragements good usage or hargains 
 here, they would never run the hazard of long 
 voyages and ship-wrecks and being starved at 
 sea, or dying by the country disease when they 
 get on shore; by which at least one-third of 
 them * perish, and especially of the poor infants, 
 whch they sacrifice to their wandering humour. 
 They would never go to live with transported 
 felons and thieves and the off- scouring of the 
 earth, where there is no worshij) paid to God, or 
 regard to men ; where they can neither see their 
 old friends, accjuaintance or relations, where all 
 the conveniences of life as cattle, cloalhs, fur- 
 niture, beef and even Indian flour are so exces- 
 sively dear, where labour and slaves are so expen- 
 sive, and where they must build their own houses, 
 and stub and grub every acre they get, and there- 
 by pay fully thirty years purchase for it; and 
 where at the same time their lives are every hour 
 in danger from the treacherous assaults, day 
 and night, of the savages, and from open wars 
 of tlie Fiench and Spaniards, and their goods 
 from the private thefts of their neighbouring 
 felons. But as nund)ers of late have been ship- 
 wrecked or died there by famine, and others 
 returned from thence beggared and undone, and 
 as there is now^ good encouragement in Munster 
 and Connaught for the people in the north to 
 go settle there, possibly by the care of our go- 
 vernment and the kindness of wiser landlords 
 (if they send their agents among them) this evil 
 may in time he removed. This I am sure of, it 
 has weakened and is weakening the Protestant 
 interest so mucti, and hurt the whole of our na- 
 
 * I apprclicnd tins to be a true painting. 
 
29 
 
 tion so grievously by carying off the two things 
 in the world we could least spare, our ready 
 money, and the hands that used to bring it into 
 us by their manufactures, that remedies should 
 be th')ught of as soon as possible. 
 
 One would hope it would secure, us from the 
 continuance or return of so terrible a drain, ii^ 
 some act past obliging all who go off, to give 
 security for paying their debts, and if the land- 
 lords were allowed a right of pre-emption, or 
 some part of the purchase-money of their leases 
 for their consent, or if to encourage their return 
 (which would greatly discourage others to pur- 
 chase) they should be allowed their leases again 
 notwithstanding the sale, if they eamc back in 
 twelve months time and repaid the purchase- 
 money, it might be no ill means to keep our peo- 
 ple at home, or bring them back to us. It might 
 also be an effectual stop to this prevailing humour, 
 if our merchants and gentlemen would join, and 
 employ one of our ships, that trade thitb.er, to 
 bring back in her return all Irishmen gratis, who 
 desired it ; for i am persuaded the account they 
 would give their friends on their return, would be 
 above all others the most efficacious remedy for 
 this galloping consumption of the kingdom. 
 Were our gentlemen in Alunster and Connaught, 
 half so diligent in sending people and letters 
 among them, and bearing their charges to see 
 their lands and proposals as those from America 
 arc, we might soon see these swarms of our little 
 northern hive settle there, and prevent so much 
 of the blood and treasure of the nation running 
 off from us, and then we should in time see 
 those parts of the kingdom well peopled, not 
 only with Protestants, but weavers, spinners and 
 bleachers like the North. 
 
30 
 
 And having thus summed up tlie chief rules, 
 which we should ohserve as landlords for the 
 service of our country, I shall only say in the 
 close, that if gentlemen would with zeal and 
 spirit endeavour to practice such of them as they 
 found the most convenient it would he the great- 
 est service to their families at the same time that 
 it would he of the highest advantage to our ne- 
 glected country. But alasl the truth is, that 
 most of our landlords have no other view or 
 care as to their fortunes, but to rack them as 
 high as they can, and then spend the rents on 
 their pleasures, diversions and luxurious living, 
 and leave their wretched tenants to shift for them- 
 selves entirely forgot and disregarded. This is 
 hoth the greatest inhumanity and also the great- 
 est imprudence, for at last, by the breaking of 
 the poor people, who fall in arrear and are unable 
 to pay such high rents, we loose more than we 
 gain, and pay a dear fine for our cruelty and 
 avarice, and neglecting to take due care of our 
 tenants, and the directing, assisting, and im- 
 proving them eveiy way. ^Vhereas if even for 
 our own sakes, we would watch over the wants 
 or defects of our poor people to supply them, 
 and would both set them good bargains, and 
 help, advise and befriend them in all the points 
 we have been speaking of, we should improve 
 our own fortunes as well as their circumstances, 
 and at the same time become fathers to the poor 
 and patriots of our country. How would such 
 a gentleman be loaded with just praises and 
 blessings of the happy people who live under 
 him ? who as his dependants, and creatures live 
 hy him and through him, to whom he becomes 
 as it were a God upon earth, sustaining, pro- 
 tecting and providing for them, and in whose 
 
31 
 
 charity and providence under the Ahiiighty Go- 
 vernor and Lord of all, they live and move and 
 enjoy their being in the truest sense of the word. 
 Let us now consider ourselves in another 
 very important situation, where every one has 
 considerable influence and power when pro[)er- 
 ly exerted, and that is as a master of a family, 
 and let us lay down this first Resolution, as 
 absolutely necessary to the great end we keep 
 in view namely, 
 
 That we will as fathers and masters of families y 
 regulate our conduct and expences, as shall be 
 most conducive to the service of Ireland and 
 the good of our posterity.* 
 
 It is a little unaccountable, that many of our 
 gentlemen, who would hazard their lives to de- 
 fend Ireland in an invasion, or a v.ar, can be 
 so careless in the management of their expences, 
 to save it from that inevitable destruction, which 
 it must fall into, if they allow in themselves or 
 encourage in others, the consumption of foreign 
 commodities. All of them that see the evil 
 and give into it, either think themselves excus- 
 able, because it is fashionable, or else they are so 
 easy in their circumstances, they fondly think 
 the bad consequences will hardly atlect their 
 private fortune, and are careless as to the public. 
 It is true most nations do indulge in some de- 
 gree in this kind of luxury, but it is as true 
 that while it is only expensive to them it is fatal 
 to us, for it stands them only in money which 
 they abound with, but it costs us the very lives 
 of our people, whom we starve or drive abroad, 
 
 * It is an indispensible duty oa every Iicud of a familj-. 
 
3f! 
 
 •whom we cannot spare and might employ, if 
 we used their manufactures. But though it on- 
 ly look away our money, do not we all know- 
 that this (hain of our specie has sunk our credit 
 and trade into a dangerous consumption, and is 
 it not high time to put a stop to it, while there 
 is any hope of our recovery. On the contrary 
 we squander it away as if we had too much of 
 it, or helieved the keeping of it M'ould hurt us, 
 and throw it into the laps of foreigners, as the 
 mad philosopher did his, into the sea, and des- 
 troy it, lest it should destroy us. 
 
 We all know that in common life, he who 
 lays out i]is money on what he has no occasion 
 for, is reckoned little better than a spendthrift, 
 tljough ho buys it ever so cheap, but if he pays 
 ^ear for it also, his extravagance speaks him a 
 fool, but if the prosperity or misery of his fami- 
 ly depends on it, he becomes in every one's opin- 
 ion ^ perfect madman. Let us carry this reflec- 
 tion from a private family to a whole nation, 
 (and what is a nation but an union of many fa- 
 milies) and consider what name our conduct de- 
 serves, who lavish our food and raiment for 
 trinkets and toys, to please the eyes of fools, 
 and drinks and tlainties to please the palates of 
 epicures. 
 
 One may easily conceive why we should give 
 one half of our substance for corn, and coals, 
 bark, hops, and iron to our neighbours, but why 
 we should squander away the other half for 
 silks, lace and liquors, is inconceivable I own, if 
 we are supposed to act upon the common princi- 
 ples of reason and self-preservation. Is there no 
 other cure to be hoped for our extravagance but 
 absolute poverty, and an utter incapacity of 
 paying for the riot of their palates and fan- 
 
33 
 
 cies ? Is it not a reflection big with tlie ruin of 
 us all, that the nation was never poorer or liner 
 than now ; a<^ if we thought to conceal our po- 
 verty as Comines says Lewis XI. strove to con- 
 ceal his sickness, by each day putting on finer 
 cloaths till he (hed. 
 
 Certainly whosoever among us desires to have 
 no share in contributing to the ruin of his coun- 
 try^ ought to determine to have nothing to do 
 with foreign luxury ; and as all the necessaries 
 and even the conveniences and rational satisfac- 
 tions oHife are to be had from the products of 
 our own fields and hands, we should as much as 
 possible confine our expences lo them. 
 
 Nay we should think ourselves obliged as good 
 Irishmen, to confine them within the bounds of 
 an honest and rational frugality, not only that 
 we may keep ourselves and our dependants above 
 the scorn of a base and mercenary world, but 
 that we may not leave them, as too many do, 
 a race of beggars and a rent-charge and burthen 
 on a country already sufficiently impoverished. 
 We should therefore try to imitate the thrifty 
 Dutch who live on two thirds of their income, 
 and lay up the other for a provision for thei.r 
 children. This alone would make them rich 
 without the help of their beneficial and exten- 
 sive trade and would' be no ill remedy to us, 
 who lose every year, by the coinmodities inv 
 ported for our luxury, what we gain by those we 
 export, by pinching the backs and bellies of our 
 starved and naked people. I cannot say how 
 this frugal method, we resolve on, may be relished 
 by those of our countrymen, who generally fol- 
 low difi'crent courses, and are not content with 
 spending their income, unless they contract large 
 debts besides, many of which (that they may be 
 
 E 
 
34 
 
 as honest as they are wise) tliey never pay, 
 tliough their creditors and their families are un- 
 done by trusting them ; but I am sure our coun- 
 try would find the benefit of it, if it Avere fol- 
 lowed by ail. It is certain the Swiss cantons 
 and some of their neighbours in Germany, who 
 export nothing but horses and black cattle and 
 their produce, would not grow so rich as they 
 do, if their sumptuary laws had not prevented 
 all expence in foreign commodities, and at the 
 same time introduced a national habit of parsi- 
 jnony among them. Reflecting on these things, 
 more than we have done, may do us some ser- 
 vice, and perhaps we shall iind in time that fru- 
 gality is not only necessary to keep a little mo- 
 ney, but that it is also as necessary to keep a 
 little virtue and honesty among us. 
 
 A very slight acquaintanee with history is 
 sulhcient to convince us, that the natural conse- 
 rjuence of out-living our fortunes, must be, and 
 in all states, ever has been, rapine and extortion, 
 and a dishonest pursuit of money as the only 
 resource of men's extravagance. Nay when men 
 liave reduced tlicmselves to narrow circumstances 
 by their high living, rather than part with their 
 estates, they willchuse to make sale of their own 
 liberty, and that of their country together, if it 
 lias any to lose, or they caii get any to bid for it. 
 "Syhereas a prudent manageuient of their fortunes 
 naturally keeps the bulk of every nation warm 
 and m heart, and its gentry free and independ- 
 ent, and as unlikely to be tempted to injure their 
 country, hs secure to resist the temptations^ 
 which a fal^e pride or a real necessity makes too 
 many yield to. Besides all these advantages to 
 the public, and the particular interest of every 
 family, we may also add, that frugality is the 
 
35 
 
 great source of that simplicity of manners and 
 content of mind, which is tlie hest foundation 
 for human happiness; whereas kixury and va- 
 nity, and an affectation of politeness and deh- 
 cacy, is the troubled fountain of all that uneasi- 
 ness, envy, vexation, and spleen, which makes 
 so many of our gentry unhapi)y and wretched, 
 amidst the plenty and peace and satisfaction, 
 they might otherwise enjoy. As we have there- 
 foie laid down this general rule for the whole of 
 our management, we will also fix some particu- 
 lar Resolutions, for all the great articles of ex- 
 pence, which can either atiect the welfare of our 
 families or country, 
 
 TVe resolve therefore as fatJiers, and masters of 
 families, to use no sort of cloatlis and furni- 
 ture, which are not manufactured in Ireland* 
 
 This, as unfashionable as it sounds, is only 
 saying in other words, that whereas several hun- 
 dred thousands of my fellow creatures in this 
 island get their bread (or would if we would let 
 thern) by spinning and weaving, and dying, iicc. 
 several linen, silk, and woollen commodities, I 
 will come into no iniquitous fashions, or conspi- 
 racies of their enemies at home or abroad, to 
 beggar and starve them. I hope I may be for- 
 given the harshness of the expression, if I say 
 the finest lady, in this tine coimtry, may throw 
 away so much of her thoughts and time, as to 
 consider that she can by contributing her mite 
 and her vote, prevent the driving of so many 
 poor families, with their wretched ofispring to 
 
 * What would not this do ? 
 
despair and destruction, and at last make it 
 more fashionable to feed them by worknio- in 
 their own houses than begginii at our doors. 
 And yet the only way to do this is to encou- 
 rage and employ them,* which is the n.ethod 
 all nations on the earth have ever fol- 
 lowed, except this unhappy island ; and has 
 been the oidy means, by which all their manu- 
 factures have been nursed up, and at last, and 
 by slow degrees, brought to perfection, and 
 all their defects (which naturally arise from ig- 
 norance, poverty, and its usual companion, de- 
 ceit and imposition of all kinds) carefully re- 
 moved. Make it once worth their while to be 
 industrious and honest, and our tradesmen will 
 soon grow so, and that can only be done by bear- 
 ing with their faults, and buying their goods. A 
 sure and quick market, will in time improve our 
 stuffs, and our silks as effectually, as it has our 
 linen, which had faults enough at fiist, till an en- 
 larged demand . for it begot numbers of manu- 
 facturers, and thence a sure prospect of gain, by 
 honest industrj^ then skill, and al length per- 
 fection. This is the sole expedient to keep our 
 poor workmen from misery and want, and re- 
 move their tricks or ignorance, as it will make 
 their reformation and improvement, their inte- 
 rest by letting them see, we are fixed to push 
 forward their industry, and take ofi" their com- 
 modities, instead of railing at the badness of the 
 work, the poorness of the pattern, the breadth 
 or the fineness, the strength or the beauty, when 
 the force of the objection at the bottom is, that 
 it is Irish, and made in a country, out of which 
 
 * But on the other hand, the manufacturers should try 
 to make better y;oods. 
 
37 
 
 as the Jews said of Galilee, " we think no good 
 " thing can come." However, I will venture to 
 be so luipohte, as to sa\', that if any thing could 
 lessen the charms of our Irish ladies, in the eyes 
 of our countrymen, it is to see them drest out 
 in thf spoils and pillage of their country, and 
 riding in triumph, like a barbarous conqueror, 
 great by the murder of half a nation. Paint or 
 the small-pox could not more eliectually deface 
 their charms; whereas, how amiable, on the 
 other side, must she appear, who with all her 
 ornaments, takes no other pride in her dress, 
 than that so many Irish families owe their lives, 
 as much to her splendour, as to that of the sun. 
 Can truth to her future husband, or piety to 
 heaven adorn her more ? Surely no ! to shine 
 and to bless, and be blessed, is peculiarly, is de- 
 servely her lot, and n^ay the number of her ad- 
 miiers be ever equal to those of the poor, 
 whom she thus tweeds and cloaths, by the charity 
 of her magnificence. It is chiefly to the prevail- 
 ing of this generous regard to our poor in our 
 ladies, that our island is to date its pros[)erity or 
 misery, for as the great business of dress js en- 
 tirely under their influence, and as all fashions 
 arise from them, if they once resolve to grace, 
 and encourage our manufactures bv weariuir 
 themj we shall see them vastly imjjroved, in 
 proportion, as foreign ones are fliscouraged, to 
 the mighty benefit of our people. We can never 
 forget when our starving manufacturers had col- 
 lections made for thein in our churches, and our 
 ladies took up a resolution to wear their stuffs 
 and silks, what an influence it had, and what 
 great assistance it gave to thousands of poor 
 families, whom this short lived humour retrieved 
 from ruin ; and if this method of our ladies 
 
38 
 
 wearing our own manufactures, should ever grow 
 to be customary, and get the sacred name of 
 fashion stamped on it, it is scarce credible what 
 industry, plenty and prosperity it would spread 
 through Ireland. Our gentlemen (except some 
 very fine gentlemen indeed) have equally shewn 
 their humanity and good sense, in this particular, 
 and by their carelul wearing and encouraging all 
 our manufactures, have brought them to a de- 
 gree of perfection, that is very surprizing in so 
 short a time, and under so many dilhculties. 
 If this spirit had not been raised and kept up 
 among us, we must have worn frizes, or like so 
 many merry beggars sate over our French wine, 
 in worn out scraps of Dutch linen, and English 
 rags. 
 
 It is true our broad cloths, as well as our silks, 
 have not that beauty and fineness with which 
 our neighbours in Great Britain make them up, 
 but thank God, we begin to think ourselves 
 sufficiently fine in our own feathers, and Ireland 
 may say to some of those very pretty fellows 
 who think otherwise, as Lewis XIV. did to the 
 Dauphin, who wore a fine English suit on his 
 birth day : " Sir, you had done more honour 
 " to m^ and your countrymen, had you been 
 " dressed as I am, in our own plain drap du 
 *' Ikrry.*' We read in history of one Hippias, 
 who was justly admired by all Greece, at the 
 Olympic games, for being dressed from head 
 to foot, in his own manufacture, and though 
 none of us can come up to this good Grecian, 
 yet all of us should take care to place the main 
 circumstance, as to ornament in dress, in being 
 liabited in the produce of our own lands, and 
 the workmanship of our natives. 
 
S9 
 
 Every six pence spent in foreign goods, is 
 robbed from our people, and is so much bread 
 taken from their hungry mouths ; and he among 
 us who thus neglects his country, though he may 
 rail at absentees, for impoverishing it, is so far to 
 all intents and purposes one of them himself, with 
 this aggravating circumstance, that he does free- 
 ly and of choice, what the others are often forced 
 to. We should therefore be so far from encou- 
 raging such a practice in ourselves, that we 
 should not allow it in any one in our families, 
 from the highest to the lowest ; nor should any 
 trivial defects in- our manufactures prevent our 
 persisting in this resolution, being sensible that 
 they all proceed from the poverty of our work- 
 men, and that from the want of encouraging 
 them to make better. This is the effectual way 
 to stop the excessive drain of our imports, 
 which eat up the vitals of our people ; and if 
 there was an association in every county, to this 
 end, or such a subscription as was set up in 
 1664, in the old duke of Ormond's government, 
 it would be of infinite service to us. 
 
 The melancholy fate which the lace bill 
 had, that was, in the last sessions, thrown out by 
 the parliament, gives us little reason to hope for 
 sumptuary laws to restrain our extravagance in 
 such things ; and therefore every one should 
 prescribe such a law to himself and his depend- 
 ants, and make it as inviolable as those of the 
 Medes and Persians- Our laws have indeed pro- 
 vided a tlecent suit of cloaths for every one 
 of the poorest of our people, when they are 
 dead, but without some method of encouraging 
 our manufactures, we can never hope to see them 
 wear any thing but rags while they are living. 
 
40 
 
 Another great article of expence which af- 
 fects the welfare of Ireland, is that of our table, 
 and therefore it seems necessary to lay down 
 this unalterable Resolutio.v for our conduct 
 therein. 
 
 JFe resohe as masters of families tliat, as to 
 drinking, we zcill ccmribute as li/ile as pos- 
 sible to tlie c:rcessive and dcshuciive con- 
 sumplion of foreign wines and brandies. 
 
 This would seem a terrible sentence to a coun- 
 try, that, of late years, has flowed with wine, as 
 inuch as the land of Canaan did with milk ; but 
 alas! it is just as reasonable in our present mi- 
 serable circuiHstances, as if a physician should 
 forbid fast living to a patient in a deep decay. 
 And yet as debauched as Are are grown, many 
 men can remember when \\t were as reniarkable 
 for our sobriety, as we are now for rioting and 
 drunkenness ; when our ancestors, of the best 
 families of the nation, used to have their wines 
 brought in by dozens, and when sack and spi- 
 rituous liquors were sold, at the apothecaries 
 shops for cordials to the sick. The taverns indeed 
 have long since taken that trade out of their 
 hands, but in return they have brought them in 
 ten fold, a greater one, for their drugs, by en- 
 creasing the number of patients, and what is 
 worse, of distempers too. And indeed if a list 
 were made of all our Irish gentlemen, who in 
 our own memories have lost their lives, or im- 
 paired their constitutions by too much good na- 
 ture, in complying with the usual excesses, it 
 would possibly make us drink a little less and 
 thijik a little more; we are now grown to 
 that excessive extravagance in wine, and what 
 
41 
 
 is still more injudicious, in Frentli wine, thatwc 
 pay at the lowest medium above 130,000/. per 
 yliin, for our wine and brandy from France alone, 
 besides large quantities of liie latter which are 
 run, nay the very duty in one week for wine, has 
 lately amounted to 18,000/. and if it were pos- 
 sible we could pay for it, I question not but we 
 shall have more and more imported on us from 
 the senseless and ridiculous emulation our gen- 
 tlemen have fallen into, who shall have tlie 
 largest cellar and spend the most hogsheads every 
 year. This has raised the value of wine immea- 
 surably at home, as well as a good deal in France, 
 so that as if we feared we should not be ruined 
 time enough, we use twice the quantity and 
 give double the money we used to do, Avhich, if 
 it were worth while to complain of any thing in 
 Ireland, is (I speak it with all deference to our 
 good merchants and their wise customers) a 
 little hard. At the groom-porters the gamesters 
 are allowed to call for wine gratis, which is fa- 
 vour little enough to cemfoit hundreds that are 
 beggared there by that trade, but our merchants 
 after having half undone us by one tratfic, which 
 leaves our poor nothing to eat, compleat our 
 ruin by making us pay in the most exorbitant 
 manner for a little honest lioerty to drink hard. 
 It is true, our good friends in France and Spain 
 have used us ill in raising the price, as we do 
 ourselves in enlarging the quantity, but as I can't 
 express this better than in Su' Francis Brewster's 
 complaint on the same point, the reader will 
 forgive me if I quote that gentleman to whom 
 Ireland is infinitely obliged. It is in his Essays 
 on Trade, p. ^5. " I begin with that of wines, 
 ^' and in that we transgress two ways, first in the 
 
 ¥ 
 
42 
 
 rates we pay for them, and then in the ex- 
 cess of our use of thejn, and in both these 
 to tiie reproach of our nation and tlie wonder 
 of our neighbours: And it is the more un- 
 happy since, as we raise the price of foreign 
 commodities, they lower the rates of ours, 
 and by that beat us from the original trade, 
 which was at worst to pay for wines with our 
 manufactures, but most commonly, we liad 
 noney to boot. In my father's time (who 
 dealt much to Spain) the first costs of Sherries 
 seldom exceeded twenty pieces of eight the 
 butt, and that of the Canaries not 280 ryalls 
 plate the piece, and now the first seldom goes 
 under 40 and the latter 800. And in the com- 
 pass of my own knowledge almost as great a 
 rise has been on French wines. The first cargo 
 I was concerned in from Bourdeaux, we had 
 the best Greaves wine for 24 crowns the tun, 
 which I have lived to see current at 48. I 
 give these t'tw instances which I think enough 
 to denominate us amiss in our conduct in 
 trade. God has given us understandings at 
 least equal to other nations ; and a country 
 exceeding any in Europe, for the product of 
 ■ nature and situation for trade, and yet this 
 like the fortune of a debauched heir is con- 
 suuied in luxury, which niight be thought 
 worth the consideration of the great council 
 of liie nation how to restrain." Thus far the 
 judicious Sir Francis Brewster, and since I have 
 (juoted him J will venture to add a few lines 
 from Mr. Gee's in<j:enious tract on the trade and 
 navigation of Great Britain, which is as appli- 
 cable to our case (page ll-'i,) in these words. 
 ** Before the beginning of King William's war, 
 " our great consumption of wines was those of 
 
43 
 
 ** France, and the highest we annually imy)orted 
 ** from thence did not exce,ed 18 or 20/. per 
 " tun; but Florence wine being the dearest md 
 " scarcest was generally accounted the liigl'.est 
 " entertainment. But the prohibition of French 
 ■^ wines soon made them scarce, and consequent- 
 *' ly they became most fashionable, and he 
 ** the finest gentleman that gave the highest 
 *' price for his claret. The gentlemen about 
 " Bourdeaux that could keep their wine ?oon 
 *' found out our foible, and instead of selling 
 *^ their best wines at the prices they did before 
 ** the war, got them up to 80/. per tun, or 
 *' more, and some particular importers chose ra- 
 ** ther to keep up those high prices than to have 
 '* them cheaper. I mentioned to one of those 
 *' importers the great folly I thought it was to 
 *' raise the price upon ourselves ; he replied, 
 ** the greater prices they gave abroad, the greater 
 ** profit they would get by it. Gentlemen would 
 *' not think it good unless it cost them five or 
 *' six shillings the flask. However I believe this 
 *' evil might be remedied, and those very wines 
 *' bought abundantly cheapei-, for no other na- 
 *' tion pretends to give the one half of what vy^e 
 ** now give." These quotations, since they are 
 so big with matter, and so nearly concern us as 
 well as Great Britain, will deserve, from btgin- 
 ning to end, a little more time to think on, than 
 it may be we can spare, but they may lie here 
 till we have more leisure, or reason to reflect on 
 them, for at present 1 am not so absurd as to 
 liope or imagine, that we should give ourselves 
 any trouble about remedying so necessary an 
 evil, which, as the poet says merrily of his 
 friead, ** we can neither bear, nor live without." 
 For this affair of drinking is grown so fashion- 
 
44 
 
 jtble a vice, that there is neither managing any 
 business, gaining any point of interest, carr_ying 
 any election, or procuring any place or prefer- 
 ment without it. We drink, as Tacitus describes 
 the old Germans, night and day, and though we 
 have poisoned our bodies and debauched our 
 minds, though we have enriched our enemies, 
 impoverished ourselves, and undone our wretched 
 country, yet to comfort us, this may be said 
 for our honour, that we have got the character 
 of bearing our national miseries with the best 
 grace, nay and of being the most boon compa- 
 nions, and the fairest drinkers in Europe, and, 
 what is worth all the rest, of paying our good 
 merchants fully as well as beggars do the ale- 
 wives. 
 
 V/hat is most amazing in this epidemical 
 madness is, that there are few men of virtue or 
 sense among us but rail at it, lament it, and prac- 
 tice it ; and w!ii!e they censure the folly ot" thy 
 custom and the tyranny of fashion, and own it 
 will be our destruction go on to continue it and 
 gravely drink the prosperity of Ireland in its 
 blood. It puts me in mind of a story, which the 
 famous Menage tells us of a footman in Paris, 
 who owned with sorrow to his father confessor, 
 that he had beggared his family and spent all 
 his wages by this amiable passion for drinking. 
 When the confession was over, the honest 
 lacquey pulls out some halfpence to ])ay the 
 priest, " no ! no !" says the good father, " up- 
 " on my word ! not a farthing, ()Oor fellow, keep 
 " it for drink " It is much in the same way, that 
 we pity and pardon one another, and live in a 
 very cliaritable and hospitable manner together, 
 emptying our purses and filling our cellars as if 
 we thought to lessen our distresses, by enlarging 
 
45 
 
 bur extravagances, as honest Milo used to en- 
 crease his strength every day by augmenting his 
 burthen. But let u? say of this, deluge of wine, 
 which has sunk our country, as Seneca does of 
 Ovid's description of that, which destroyed the 
 world, it is indecent to sport thus with the de- 
 struction of nations, and to divert ourselves with 
 scribling on the general ruin in so light and tri- 
 vial a manner, and as we can never expect to see 
 this bane of Ireland entirely removed, let us con- 
 tent ourselves with hoping that our legislature 
 will soon lay such further taxes on this consump- 
 tive drain, as may hinder it from beggaring those 
 of more moderate fortunes among us. For this 
 affectation of drmking wine has got even into 
 the middle and lower ranks of our people, and 
 the infection is become so general, that a little 
 hedge inn would be forsaken by our drovers, 
 horse-jockeys, cadgers and carriers, if they 
 wanted it, or at least something which the mer- 
 chants have given a strong resemblance of wine 
 to, not only as to its colour and smell, but even 
 as to its taste. Thus this poison is circulated to 
 the loss of the nation in point of health, as well 
 as in vast quantities of vinegar, which such wine 
 might often serve and sell for, and the expence 
 ot great sums, which our poor people can ill 
 spare, if it were not for the glory of drinking 
 like their betters. And indeed as in all national 
 plagues, each man endeavours in the most un- 
 accountable manner to infect his neighbour, so 
 this horrible one is now spread by all, through 
 all, to that degree, that in some years ale will 
 be drunk only by our labourers and beggars, 
 and our barley be scarce worth sowing, or dung- 
 ing our lands for it. 
 
46 
 
 If French wines, were liable to a much higher 
 tax, this evil might be remedied, and since wine 
 we mu?t have, why we should not encourage 
 that orPortnn;al by lower duties, is very strange, 
 since it would help to sink the price of French 
 wine, and is much wholesomer, and would waste 
 less of our money in buying it, and as it is 
 stronger less of our time in drinking it : And 
 surely our middle people may be contented with 
 it, since it is certain that in England, few gen- 
 tlemen of 1000/. per Ann. ever buy an hogs- 
 head of French wine in their lives. We should 
 in all reason also lay a prohibition on French 
 brandy, since we see it will otherwise be run up- 
 on us, and above all, as our distillers make ex- 
 cellent spirits, from our own grain of aquavita?, 
 which are as palatable and vastly cheaper, and 
 wholesomer, and do also furnish us with usque- 
 ^^augh, which no nation can come up to. The 
 Danes, we see in the late Lord Molesworth's ac- 
 count of that kingdom, make excellent brandy 
 out of their barley, and thereby entirely pre- 
 vent the vast consumption of French brandy, 
 which they used to pay so dear for, and why we 
 should not be as frugal as they, I cannot see, 
 unless as the proverb says, we think there is a 
 time when it is too late to spare. Were orchards 
 more generally planted among us, by some such 
 law, as was hinted before, we might soon have 
 cyder enough, not only for the common use of 
 onr own tables, but for inns and alehouses, and 
 to serve to make an exceeding good spirit from, 
 which is equal to most I have seen ; which is 
 another reason to make such a law be thought 
 of. I have often met with mead in gentlemen's 
 houses, which the best palates mistook for palm 
 wine or sack. It is certain that in Poland, and 
 
47 
 
 Muscovy, it is the general liquor, at the best 
 entertainments, and is one of the pleasantest and 
 vvholesomest beveridges in tlie world, and equal 
 in strength to meet wines ; and I can see no 
 reason why our gentlemen should not use and 
 improve it, unless it be that it is made at home, 
 and is too cheap to be offered our friends, and 
 too dear to be given our servants. There are 
 many other most agreeable liquors used in Eng- 
 land, and that were formerly made here by our 
 ladies of quality and fortune, such as gooseberry, 
 cowslip, currant and rasberry wine, but our de- 
 licacy is so great, and our taste so refined, that 
 the worst sort of French wine, though so un- 
 wholesome and so dear, is preferred before them ; 
 and I fear will ever be so, though our lives and 
 fortunes were put in the balance with them. Be- 
 fore I leave this terrible subject of drink and li- 
 quors, let me observe that the three articles of 
 chocolate, coffee, and tea, and especially the 
 two last, are not only extremely expensive, but 
 to a great degree prejudicial to the health, 
 strength, and vigour, both of the minds and 
 bodies of our people. There are a considerable 
 number of physicians, who have wrote books 
 against them, and represented them as a kind of 
 slow poison, and forewarned every one to abstain 
 from them ; and though some others have writ 
 in their defence also, yet certainly till the dispute 
 should be decided, every body should be cau- 
 tious how they habituate tliemselves to them, 
 and at least not to take them in large quantities, 
 and two or three times a day as many do. But 
 how faulty soever chocolate and coffee may be, 
 tea is allowed by all to be so great a narcotic, 
 such an enemy to the nerves and fibres, so 
 apt to occasion palpitations, and dejection of 
 
43 
 
 spirit in botli sexes, and to have so large a- 
 bliare in our common nervous disorders, that 
 though it brought as much money into the 
 kingdom as it takes out of it, we ought to load 
 it with such a duty as might at least preserve 
 the poor from its ill effects, who cannot fee 
 physicians. But I am weary of writing to no 
 purpose, for possibly if St. Anthony of Padua 
 liad preached to his famous congregation of 
 fish, to have lived in their beloved element 
 without drinking, he would have made just as 
 many converts as 1 shall do in this matter, and 
 therefore I shall dismiss it, and pass to another 
 article of expence, as to our tables in Ireland, 
 upon which I think we should lay down this 
 reasonable Resolution, viz. 
 
 That as masters of families we will banish from 
 our tables that liLvarioiis way of living, zvhich 
 is so common and so pernicious to the gentle- 
 men of Ireland. 
 
 This is a charge which has long lain against 
 us, and I am afraid with so much justice that 
 we have generally found our best defence was 
 to stop our accusers mouths with good cheer, 
 as thieves take off evidence, by giving them 
 share of the plunder. The truth is, though this 
 is a failing which most northern nations in Eu- 
 rope are a little subject to, yet it' we may seem 
 a little more addicted to it than others, 1 fancy 
 we nmst lay the blame of it on the circum- 
 stances of our country, and the oiiginal cus- 
 toms and manners of those who came over as 
 adventurers in the many wars and troubles that 
 
49 
 
 so frequently happened here. As therefore the 
 bulk of our s^entry are descended from English- 
 men and soldiers, they seem to have inherited 
 their stomachs, as well as their courage, which 
 have been so ofren whetted by feastings and fa- 
 mines in their turns, that it has made us the 
 fonder of enjoying our plenty where we can get 
 it. And besides this, it is certain we have had few 
 people and less money here, and little or nothing 
 but land, and great herds of cattle, to lay out our 
 little wealth on, and provisions beiitg so plentj', 
 does as naturally beget good cheer, as wild 
 wastes of pastures do cheap ti:razing. We had 
 neither the buildings or gardens of Italy, her 
 arftiquities or pictures, her statues or nianu- 
 scrijjts, to refine our taste, or employ our time, 
 or our monev on, and so, I fancy, instead of imi- 
 tating the wiser people on the continent, we fell 
 to what was next us, and enjoyed what the rich- 
 ness of our soil, and the frankness of our people, 
 when undisturl)ed by war, threw before us ; with 
 all this it must be confessed that we have carried 
 this matter too far, and that many of our estates 
 and families have suffered by this poor son of 
 kitchen hixur}"-, which Seneca calls the worst 
 fate they can h2ive,fccdissimum patrimonlorum ex- 
 itium Culina. This is one sad consequence of 
 our Irish hospitality, to which many men must 
 chiefly impute that absolute negligence of their 
 domestic aifairs, and that terrible excuse for it, 
 an incapacity to regulate them by their ove-run- 
 ning their income, to satisly the craving wants 
 of an elegant way of living. Nourishing this 
 fatal pride of politeness, and an high relish of 
 these false and contemptible pleasures, produces 
 an utter scorn of the little views of a mean spi- 
 
 G 
 
50 
 
 rited oeconomy, that is apt to descend to watch 
 over the safety and ease of ourselves and our 
 posterity, and by setting men above such tri- 
 vial precautions, opens the floodgates for that 
 preposterous expence, which alone can make the 
 ruin of an house ridiculous in the thoughts and 
 eyes of honest men. But besides these ill conse- 
 quences, it has one, if possible, rather worse, 
 and that is breeding up a useless dependance of 
 trencher flies, feeding the idle, and the lazy, and 
 encouraging voluptuousness, disorder and intem- 
 perance, which as naturally breed vermin in the 
 state, as heat and dirt and ease do in the body. 
 Whereas were our people used to earn their food 
 before they eat it, and every one laid under a 
 necessity of being industrious that deserved to 
 enjoy plenty, and good cheer, it would have 
 cured miuiy of their indolence and idleness, and 
 put them on methods of industry, instead of 
 lawning and waiting like dogs on other mens 
 tables. I think Sir William Petty, in his wr- 
 bum sapient i, proposed a fund for the Dutch 
 war, to be raised from the people w^orking one 
 twentieth part more than they did, and eating 
 .one twentieth part less, viz. fasting on Friday 
 nights ; but how oddly soever his proposal ap- 
 pears 1 dare undertake if the superfluous expence 
 of our useless dishes and dainties were laid out in 
 manufactures, or encouraging trade, we should 
 find a great alteration in our affairs. Though we 
 would not wish for such sumptuary laws as the 
 Dutch have laid on this kind of luxury, where 
 one cannot have a dish of choice, well dressed 
 fish at a tavern, without paying at least thirty 
 excises for it, yet possibly if our excesses this 
 way were taxed, and people's vanity in their 
 table, and entertainments restrained to their 
 
51 
 
 fortunes and circumstances, and their excesses' 
 made subject to proper fines, it would be of great 
 advantage to the public. It is evident that what- 
 ever could be cut off thus from our luxurious way 
 pf living, would be so much clear gains saved to 
 our national wealth, and without disgusting the 
 generous spirits of our high feeders, with the cal- 
 culations of some political arithmeticians on this 
 subject, I shall only desire such as incline to 
 think on the manners and management of our 
 people, to consider what the general parsimony 
 of the Dutch, this way is supposed to save them; 
 when they have cast up that, let them compute 
 what immense sums it must necessarily stand 
 us in to continue our ridiculous extravagances, 
 and luxurious feeding, and feasting, and consi- 
 der what sort of people we must appear to be, 
 who like the silly crew in Ulysses's ship are 
 ready to sacrifice our country, and its interest to 
 a little senseless pleasure, and till the legislature 
 prevents it, will I fear ever do so. While the 
 tenderness of our laws winks at such things, every 
 man should supply that defect by the most ex- 
 act care in his own family and government, and 
 by retrenching the number of superfluous dishes, 
 and that waste of food and viands which is found 
 on our tables, and ende^ivour in his narrow 
 sphere, to suppress, all lie can, the miserable 
 luxury of the rich, and enliven, by the same 
 method, the honest industry of the poor. If 
 every one would do thus, there would be no 
 occasion for fines or excuses, but wjthout that I 
 fear our people will not be cured of their luxury 
 but as the confectioner's apprentice was of his love 
 to sweet meats, liz. by surfeiting on them till he 
 died. 
 
53 
 
 But I hasten to another Resolution^, which 
 it is incuaibeut on us to lay clown, and that is, 
 
 JVe resolve as jalhers and masters of families, 
 to educate our children in such a maimer as 
 sliall make them most useful in their s:eneration 
 and serviceable to their countrii. 
 
 Without a right education there is no hope of 
 softeniiin^ our manners or improving our minds 
 and laying lasting foundations for wisdom and 
 virtue, without which, men degenerate from the 
 great ends of their creation, and sink themselves 
 below the beasts of the field. It should there- 
 fore be one of the chief cares of our lives, to 
 five our children the best w'e can, not in the vain 
 hope to make them the 6 nest and most accom- 
 plished gentlemen of their age, but as good and 
 wise and useful as possible. And one great cause 
 of that love of our country which runs through 
 all, proceeds from the stiong impressions, which 
 we receive from having spent our y<^uth, and 
 consequently some of the brightest and liveliest 
 hours of our lives there, I think it absolutely ne- 
 cessary, that, to make j,uch impre-ssions as last- 
 ing and durable as possible, the scene of our 
 education should always be laid and continued 
 here as long as we can. We have a great many 
 very large and generous foundations for public 
 schools, and as most of them are filled with very 
 able and diligent masters, we may truly boast 
 they have not been bui!t in vain, though a cer- 
 tain prolific scribler of epic poems has been 
 pleased to say so. There are. hovv ever some great 
 mistakes in our methods of education, that we 
 j^hould endeavour to avoid j the first is, that there 
 
53 
 
 is little more minded in most of our schools tlian 
 teaching the languages, and in a tedious manner 
 too; without a due care of instilling into boys 
 minds the noble maxims and sentiments perpe- 
 tually to be met with in the classic poets, which 
 yet if they were duly pointed out, and fully en- 
 larged on and enforced, whensoever they occur, 
 might serve for good and excellent purposes and 
 influence the whole conduct of our lives. The 
 great examples in the Greek and Roman orators 
 and historians are also passed over in as slight a 
 manner, which if skilfully set fortii and recom- 
 mended on all occasions, with that zeal and* 
 warmth of heart which they deserve, might serve 
 to fire and animate young minds to copy and 
 emulate their virtues as much as the trophies and 
 ])raises of Miltiades inflamed Themistocles, to 
 rival his glorious character of the deliverer of 
 Greece. But boys are kept at school, merely for 
 the languages, and nothing truly useful to the 
 great ends of human life is inculcated there, or 
 properly instilled into their minds, and as the 
 great Roman philosopher complained in his time, 
 so may we now, ?ion vitce sed schoLc discvnus. 
 A^^ereas boys should be educated not to know 
 words and sounds as if they wctq charms and en- 
 chantments, by which, without sense or mean- 
 ing they were to work miracles by being able to 
 repeat them, and to live on the art, but to lay- 
 up in their minds the great principles of truth 
 and honour, wisdom and virtue, the love of God 
 and their neighbour, an honest zeal for the hap 
 piness and welfare of our conntr}', the public 
 peace and liberty, and above all, for our holy 
 religion and the great moral duties which are its 
 basis. 
 
54 
 
 There is anotlier great mistake which pecu- 
 liarly regards the education of the sons of our 
 poblemen and gentlemen in our schorls, and 
 that is neglecting to instruct them in *he great 
 art of speoking well and properly before a pub- 
 lic audience. 
 
 Y/e all know by the peculiar blessing of our 
 constitution, the afiairs of our country are en- 
 tirely managed by public debates, in great as- 
 . semblios, where our representatives model our 
 laws and form ail resolutions that regard the 
 welfare of the nation. It should therefore be 
 the first and great view of every gentleman, to 
 endeavour to serve his country in parliament, and 
 to discliarge that sacred trust, when it is reposed 
 in him, with the best sufficiency he can. To an- 
 swer this good end, he should not content him- 
 self with voting in all debiites with truth and 
 integrity, according to the best of his judgment, 
 but he should aim at the noble power of reason- 
 ing and speaking in so proper and forciule a 
 manner as may influence otl.iers to thmk and act 
 in the same way that he does. And yet there 
 is so little care taken in our education, of this 
 very important point, that between the natural 
 modesty of most gentlemen, and the extreme 
 negligence of parents and school masters, we see 
 numbers of them of the greatest abilities, and 
 the best understandings that are as unable to 
 speak in public, as if they were tongue-tied. 
 Whereas if they were trained up in the schools 
 to pronounce some of the best orations in the 
 classics, and aliove all some of our best English 
 speeches, that are to be found in the histories of 
 our parliamentary affairs and debates there, and 
 to deliver them with due emphasis and action, 
 with proper motion and cadence of v'oice, and a 
 
55 
 
 full sense of the subject they speak on, it would 
 effectually remove that arirlish diffidence and 
 bashfulness which they labour under without a 
 possibility of shaking it off. Nay this would be 
 of more real service and use to them than all the 
 Greek and Latin they generally get there, for 
 they would not only by frequently speaking thus 
 in the school, get a becoming assurance and an 
 habit of expressing themselves with ease and dig- 
 nity on all important subjects, but by often re- 
 peating the noble sentiments, opinions and argu- 
 ments of our ablest and worthiest patriots, they 
 would get a strong taint and contract an habit of 
 thinking and acting in the same manner, and 
 with the same honest spirit they did. 
 
 As slight and trivial a method, as this, which 
 we have so briefly hinted here, may seem, I dare 
 answer for it that whoever will put it in practice, 
 in the education of the children of our nobility 
 and gentry, will find it of the highest service to 
 them ; and what the consequences would be to 
 our country in the management of all public 
 affairs, in making us the more considered, em- 
 ployed and regarded, and in raising our charac- 
 ters for ability, integrity and true merit with 
 our neighbours in England, 1 leave to every gen- 
 tleman's reflections, who thinks the welfare and 
 honour of the nation worth considering. 
 
 Another fault, in our schools is, that after gen- 
 tlemen send promiscuously all their sons thither, 
 they do not choose out those who have a genius 
 for the sciences, and remove the others to useful 
 employments, trades and business, but the whole 
 crowd are driven together like soldiers to a battle, 
 where the brave and the coward must go on in 
 the same rank together, though they flinch and 
 fail when the trial of skill begins. This is one 
 
66 
 
 oi" the. most ridiculous affectations imaginable, 
 that, right or wrong, our children must have 
 Greek and Latin poured into their mouths, till 
 they spew them out again, without the least 
 nourishment from them. This humour prevails 
 more in Ireland (which by its situation and cir- 
 cumstances might give its inhabitants other 
 thoughts) than any other nation in Europe, and 
 infects even the lowest and poorest of its natives. 
 It puts me in mind of the working schools in 
 Holland, where blind children are taught to get 
 their bread ; and certainly many of oqr chil- 
 dren whom nature has no more formed for 
 learning tlian she has the dumb for orators, 
 should like them, either learn such arts and ma- 
 nufactures, as they are most disposed to, and fitted 
 for, or should be employed in country business 
 at home, or a good trade in the city. Duller 
 boys, as w€ call them, may, if another tin"n were 
 given them, become infinitely more useful as 
 merchants or men of business than most of the 
 idle crowd we call scholars, and it is mere loss of 
 time to force all our young gentlemen, thus to 
 drudge at languages, as the Turks do at trades, 
 which they never intend to make use of, and 
 which when they are entered into the world they 
 know nothing of, but that they are thrown by as 
 unserviceable — Senes perdcndafateri. Where a 
 boy that has some fortune, or is born a gentle- 
 man, has no capacit}'-, or rather relish for such 
 studies, let him be taken home, and if he must 
 read books and improve his taste, as we call it, 
 let him be put to read the translated classics, and 
 i?speciaiiy the Greek and Latin historians, and 
 some of the best of the modern and especially 
 our own, with proper observations on them ; let 
 him be well skilled in geography and a little 
 
57 
 
 astronomy and a taste at least of the civil law 
 from Piiffendort^", and if he writes a fair hand 
 and understands arithmetic fully with this, he 
 may be of more service to himself, his own 
 affairs and those of his country, if he has truth 
 and virtue, and is turned to business, than if he 
 was master of all the Greek and L^itin in it. If 
 he turns himself with spirit to trade, or to til- 
 lage, or to carrying on great manufactures, he 
 may be an honour and a blessing to the com- 
 monwealth, while he builds up his own fortune 
 on the prosperity of his country, thongb he 
 should not be able, or inclined, to make any ad- 
 vances in the sciences. This is a much better 
 way of bestowing such young men than as sub- 
 alterns in our army, or by encreasing the crowd 
 of starving lawyers and attornies, as too many 
 are forced by their parents to do, and often 
 thereby for want of bread and business foment 
 suits and differences in their country and turn in 
 a manner common barrators, or, whiVh is almost 
 as bad, when they prove unfit for the college, 
 after throwing away so many of their best 
 years, they retreat to tlie country to loiter away 
 their lives in ease and indolence, useless and 
 listless and as very a burthen to themselves as to 
 others. 
 
 Such of our children indeed as give evident 
 proofs of their having a genius turned to the sci- 
 ences should be highly encouraged to cultivate 
 them, with the greatest diligence, f(^r such men 
 will be so far from over-loading any of the learn- 
 ed professions, that tltey will ()e a credit and an 
 ornament to them, and will be fully equal to any 
 province they undertake. It is our great hap- 
 piness that we are under no temptation, and 
 
 H 
 
6$ 
 
 much less a necessity to send them abroad for , 
 their education, for, God be thanked, we have at 
 home an university with as good statutes, provi- 
 sions and endowments, as most in Europe, and 
 the numbers of learned men she had sent into 
 the world, and who are now living among- us, is 
 the strongest proof of the sufficiency both of the 
 tutors and education to be found there. How 
 far indeed it is worth our while to breed such un- 
 reasonable numbers of our youth to starve as 
 curates in the church, whose parts and applica- 
 tion might provide infinitely better for their sub- 
 sistence and their families, by employing their 
 good sense, sobriety and industry in trade abroad, 
 or our Hianufactures at home, I will not say, 
 though I tear too man}' may reflect on it ^^ ith sor- 
 50W hereafter, while there is so little encourage- 
 ment to those, who wait at the altar to partake of 
 the benefits, they justly, though often in vain^ 
 expect from it. 
 
 But as 1 propose to speak fully on these sub- 
 jects hereafter, I shall dismiss them at present, 
 to pass to another great mistake in the education 
 of our Irish gentlemen, which I hope we shall 
 less frequently fall into for the future, and that is 
 sending so many of them to travel. 
 
 As generally as this custom prevails, I cannot 
 but think it is carried too far in most countries, 
 and above all others in Ireland, where very few 
 that have good fortunes fail of being sent abroad, 
 let their understandings be of wdiat size they will. 
 I will not say as Plato does in his twelfth book of 
 laws, '* Tliat none should travel till they are 
 *' turned fifty and have age and experience to 
 *' protit by it ;" but 1 am sure none shoidd be 
 sent abroad, that have not sound heads and strong 
 paits, and who may therefore improve, as they 
 
59 
 
 say wine does, by being exported. As no mao 
 would trade but where he had plain hopes of en- 
 riching himself" and country, by the returns he 
 should make, so methinks, we should send none 
 to travel, that have not almost a certainty of 
 growing wiser, and more serviceable to tlien)- 
 telves and the convimnity by jtheir rambles 
 among foreigners. It is our great misibrtune, 
 that many of our gentlemen, when they have 
 once got this turn, are very apt to forget the way 
 home, and indeed as it was God's judgment up- 
 on Cain, to make him v/ander all his life from his 
 native soil, so one would think tliis poor island 
 had some of his descendants in it, that are often 
 banished from it in this manner, without a 
 thought of returning. 1 do not deny but where 
 men have iibilities, travelling opens, their views 
 and enlarges the mind, but i fear we are much 
 better with narrow minds, than such as will muike 
 our houses and even our country too little for us, 
 to say notiiiug of our churelies, which travelling, 
 i doubt, as we manage it, does not help to 
 crowd. It is certain it oftcner hurts than does 
 service to Ireland, and that many of our gentle- 
 men bring home with them a scorn for our po- 
 verty and (ibscurity, nay for our soil and climate, 
 ai^d have frequently like the Jews an hankering 
 after the delicious leeks and onions of Egypt 
 where they sojourned. Yet after all people have 
 got such prepossessions in favour of it, that young 
 ,nieu think it is the next step tiiey are to make 
 into the world after learning to speak a little bad 
 French, and to dance a minuet. It is certain 
 those who can look through the outsides of 
 things, kmMv there is generally little more m it, 
 as to many of our modem knight errants, than 
 juot tj say with truth, that they have been at 
 
60 
 
 such a place, they saw such a rarity, they con- 
 versed with such a man, or had such an adven- 
 ture on such an occasion, hut as for any real im- 
 proveaient, it is as surprizing wlien it happens, 
 as the Jews quitting Kgypt loaded with the 
 spoils they had got there. We have several in- 
 stances, however, of gentlemen, who have re- 
 turned from abroad to the great advantage and 
 service oi their country, as well as their own im- 
 provement, and have hrought with them such 
 useful observations on the laws, tillage, trade, 
 manufactures and mechanical arts of foieio-ners. 
 as have proved of the greatest service to their 
 fellow citizens and countrymen. If we had such 
 returns often made us, instead of lame accounts 
 of palaces and fortifications, which every one 
 knows, or fine shows and curiosities to be met 
 with in every book of travels, or little histories of 
 singers and music, lidlers and eunuchs, which 
 our ears are bothered with, we should find fewer 
 enemies to travelling than we do. Till then I 
 fancy Irclanil Avill find their account much more 
 in keeping her sons at home to assist her, than 
 in sending them abroad, to ruin her, which is 
 grown so frequent of late, that one would think 
 they believed it a service to her, and quit their 
 country, as men do a leaky vessel, which will 
 be the longer in sinking, the sooner they lighten 
 It by removing themselves and goods out of it. 
 But I shall not enlarge further on this subject, 
 and hope the reader will forgive me, if I tack to 
 these hints on the education of our children, a 
 just complaint as to their fortunes, of that cruel 
 and unreasonable custom, which is so general in 
 these three kingdoms, of settling the whole of 
 our real estates on the eldest son. By this means 
 it frequently happens that the worst, and least 
 
61 
 
 deserving of our children, riots and revels in an 
 overgrown fortune (and what is a very great 
 aggravation of the evil is thereby tempted to 
 spend it abroad,) while many younger sons, 
 and daughters are left in the poorest, and low- 
 est circumstances. 
 
 There are none who cannot recollect many 
 living instances of this kind, both as to the 
 merits, and distress of the younger children, 
 in many families, and as pride alone is the sole 
 foundation for so unnatural, and cruel a treat- 
 ment of our own flesh and blood ; surely it is 
 to be wished that all settlements at marriage, 
 should be restrained herein by law, and that 
 where there is a numerous issue, the payment of 
 their fortunes, and maintenance, should be 
 made more easy, and secuie to tbem, and one 
 third at least of the whole, should be constantly 
 reserved, to prevent their falling into want and 
 misery, and to afford them some reasonable 
 /oundation for industry to build on. 
 
 The last Resolution zvhkJi seet?2s proper for 
 us to lay down for our conduct, as masters of 
 familieSy is this, that as to our servants, ivc 
 zvill endeavour to the best of our poxcer, to 
 keep such as are more for use and necessary 
 employments^ than figure and show. 
 
 Though I look on an honest, and faithful 
 servant, as a valuable and worthy creature; 
 and think we should use such, but as humble 
 friends, yet in general, servants are grown so 
 great a plague, and incund)rance on house keep- 
 ers, that 1 believe, as S(juire Slender says in the 
 merry Wives of Windsor, we shall be forced at 
 last to wait on ourselves. Tlie complaints of 
 
62 
 
 them are endless, they have raised their wag'es 
 to double what they were, and they seem re- 
 solved not to do half so much for them as for- 
 merly. They agree as regularly for their diet, 
 that they sliall have tea, and be fed so and so, 
 as if they gave ns a large allowance for it, and 
 when our friends dine with us, they wait as re- 
 gularly to be paid for the treat, as drawers at a 
 tavern, and make our houses pass with men of 
 sense for little better. As for their clothes, I 
 will not say many of them wear as good as their 
 masters, and if son^iC of them are so unfortunate 
 as to Ije forced to wear a livery, they stoop to 
 it very reluctantly, with a firm resolution to get 
 rid of that mark of bondage as fast as they can. 
 With all this tliey are generally excessively idle, 
 and if they are ordered to do any thing that is 
 not directly their business, will make no scruple 
 to dispute, or at least neglect it; indeed we 
 ourselves have corrupted them, and if we do 
 not resolve to remedy matters in time, and re- 
 form them bv proper laws, we shall fmd our- 
 selves very soon in as uneasy a situation, with 
 these middle sort of gentry, as they are in Eng- 
 land. There things are come to that pass, that 
 it is generally said they would gladly make an 
 act of parliament, to regulate them, but that 
 really, and in fact they dare not venture on dis- 
 obliging so great a body, who have formed 
 themselves into a societ)* governed by laws of 
 their own, for the suppressing and curbing the 
 insolences, and rudeness of their masters. It 
 is one of our Saviour's menaces, that a man's 
 foes shall be those of his own household, and 
 certainly it n^ver was more accomplished than 
 in these times, when servants arc so excessively 
 paid for being so useless and debauched, and at 
 
63 
 
 the same time such compltte masters of their 
 business, that they can clieat us, when they 
 tliink fit, and obey us only when they judge it 
 reasonable. As their diet and their clothes, 
 their vales, and their wages, are the great cause 
 of their making us so uneasy, we must pull down 
 their insolence, by reducing them as near their old 
 btandard as we can, if we desire to see them 
 mended, or our houses in some tolerable regula- 
 lation. But there is another great article con- 
 cerning them, that calls loudly for reformation, 
 and that is their number, for that is one great 
 cause of their mis-behaviour and the great refuge 
 and defence of all the seditions and rebellions, 
 in the dregs of the people. We keep many of 
 them in our houses, as we do our plate on our 
 sideboards, more for show than for use, and 
 rather to let people see that we have them than 
 that we have any occasion for them. Because 
 people of quality are forced to pay this tax for 
 their title, our gentlemen very freely pay it for 
 tlieir pride, and that they may iiot be out of 
 the fashion, of living beyond their income; but 
 till it is altered we shall never be riglu at ease 
 in our own houses, or those of our friends. The 
 Dutch, have wisely prevented this in their well 
 governed state, where each master pays about 
 three shillings annually to the government ibr 
 every servant he keeps, but if ever we think of 
 such a law, I would humbly propose that the 
 tax, may rise in proportion, to the number we 
 give wages to, as the value of a diamond does 
 by the carats which it weighs, and this would 
 be the most effectual restraint on this silly affec- 
 tation of grandeur. I dwell on this point the 
 more, not only as it affects the ease of private 
 families, but as it has a terrible influence on the 
 
64 
 
 public toOj for by the best computation I can 
 make, there cannot be less than ten thousand 
 men and maid servants employed, (I should say 
 hired) whom we have no sort of occasion for. 
 As our poor people do not love labour, they 
 squeeze into houses, for an easy indolent life, 
 where they may feetl and lie well, and do no- 
 thing, and as our s^entry love siiow, and state, 
 they seem lo hire tiieip with no other view, but 
 to get their assistance in spending their fortunes. 
 In short we shall find tliis superfluity of i'dle, 
 and insolent slaves, calls for a speedy remedy 
 from ourselves, or the severest tax from the le- 
 gislature, a taj: which no one could repine at, 
 and which would restore a vast number of our 
 best iiands to our labour, and yet raise an 
 abundant fund to encomage many manufac- 
 tures, M^hich we want, and which the collectors 
 of the hearth money might raise, without the least 
 additional expence to the kingdom. 
 
 There is great deal more to be said on this 
 matter, when there sliall be some hope of doing 
 good by it, but in the mean time we must con- 
 tent ourselves with resolving to regulate our 
 own houses herein, as far as we can ; and I shall 
 now take notice of another sort of servants, 
 which are as useful as the others are useless, 
 and that is such as are employed in our labour 
 and husbandry. 
 
 Not that these too are not apt enough to be 
 idle and lazv, when thev are not well looked to, 
 but as the care of a good overseer and a little 
 help of the eye of the master, does easily remedy 
 this, it need only be said that such an one must 
 ever be had, one skilled in English husbandry, 
 and if possibly one from England can be got, 
 it will be so much the better. A sufficient 
 
65 
 
 number of cotters for constant work, residing 
 on our own farms, should ever l>e kept by all 
 gentlemen, who incline to make improvements, 
 not only as there is no depending on casual 
 helps from inde|>endent labourers, but also as 
 those M'ho are trained up by ourselves, will 
 work infinitely better, and be much handier in 
 all sorts of business than strangers. 
 
 If a proper method could be found to hinder 
 the rambling of such peoj>le in harvest time, not 
 only from country to country, but from king- 
 dom to kingdom, it would both prevent a great 
 annual loss of their labour to this nation, and 
 also of many hands which (I speak from expe- 
 rence) never return to us, and it would also be a 
 remedy for some evil consequences at home, 
 which I think are better understood than men- 
 tioned ; all J shall add to tliis subject of c(nintry 
 gentlemen's servants, is that it would be of great 
 importance, if the fashion of keeping their maids 
 busy at their spinning, were more universally fol- 
 lowed than it is. For the example of our gen- 
 tr}' herein would have a great influence on their 
 tenants and neighbours, and they would not 
 only spin finer webs thereby (all which would be 
 clear money saved to the nation as well as the 
 family,) but oentlemen would by this means, 
 train up the young ladies, their children, to love 
 and understand, and carry on our manufactures. 
 This would be of vast service to them, and their 
 children, and our country hereafter, and as se- 
 veral ladies of the best families in Ireland, have 
 generously began to practice this, and recom- 
 mended it to others by their example, so certain- 
 ly it will be copied by all who have a rational 
 scorn of being useless, and spending their 
 
 I 
 
66 
 
 nivornings in pinning and dressing, in order to 
 waste the evenings iu visits, or prattle at cards^ 
 coffee and tea. With the best persons and un- 
 derstandings of any nation in Europe, it is sur- 
 j rizing what perfect cyphers our lacHes in these 
 three nations, generally make themselves (or 
 rather the wrong turn of their education makes 
 them) in their families. If instead of trifling 
 away their youth between assemblies, nmsic 
 meetings, ridottos, seeing of plays, and read- 
 ing romances and novels, playing at quadrille, 
 and living as it were in a perpetual visit, they 
 would make themselves completely skilled in 
 arithmetic, and housewifery, and equally well 
 acquainted with histor\', and embroidery, and 
 all the manage of the wheel, and the loom, they 
 would not only like the ladies in Holland, go- 
 vern, and deserve to govern their children and 
 families, but even their estates and affairs, and I 
 could almost say the very interests of their coun- 
 try. In Queen Mary's time, her example made 
 all the ladies fond of the character of being 
 great workwomen, and then embroidery and 
 knotting were the fashion, to that degree, that 
 they used to take their work to their visits. 
 It were to be wished our young ladies would 
 think their good grandmothers worth copying 
 after in this matter, or at least as they are fonder 
 of following French fashions in other things, 
 that they would imitate them in this good one, 
 which is so general there, that both the court 
 ladies, and the merchants, and rich citizens 
 wives, when they visit their friends, carry their 
 little embroidery frames and even their little 
 spinning wheels and rocks with them, that they 
 may not quite throw away the time which they 
 spend abroad. 
 
67 
 
 And thus having dispatched what we pro- 
 posed to say on this article, as masters of fami- 
 lies, let us now ^o on to consider ourselves in 
 another circumstance of life, where numbers 
 among us must have no inconsiderable influence, 
 and that is as Protestant gentlenien, and as 
 such we should lay down the first Resolu- 
 tion for our conduct. 
 
 TJiatwe will as Protestant gentlemen in Ireland^ 
 do all in our foiver to bring over our coun- 
 trymen from the delusions^ and ignorance, 
 which they are kept in by their Popish priests^ 
 as the greatest cause of their miseri/. 
 
 It is but too well known to the world, and too 
 much felt by ourselves, that this poor kingdom 
 js divided, or rather torn in pieces, by two reli- 
 gions, and which is ever the consequence of the 
 Other, into opposite factious in the state. It is 
 true the terrible contests that arose from hence, 
 and which, after spilling oceans of blood, laid 
 waste our country, are, I hope, pretty well over, 
 and humanly speaking, can never disturb us 
 more ; for though there is a superiority of one 
 side, as to numbers, yet the advantages of arms, 
 strength and power, is so entirely on the otiier, 
 that there is not the remotest prospect of dan- 
 ger from that quarter. However it is certain 
 that our continuing thus divided, has very mis- 
 chievous consequences to the kingdom in gene- 
 ral, as it lessens ournatural weight and strength, 
 and makes us as spiritless and unactive, as a pa- 
 ralytic body when one half of it is dead, or just 
 dragged about by the other. It often puts nte 
 in mind of the poor Italian in London who had 
 
€8 
 
 a little twin Ijrother that jrrew out of his breast, 
 whom he carefully nouri'-hed and cherished, be- 
 ing sensible that when his brother died, lie could 
 not long syr\ ive him, and I have often consider- 
 ed the Catholics au^l Protestants in Ireland, in 
 this light, who are as closely united, and must 
 as inevitably flourish and decay together. With 
 the utmost regard to the welfare and general 
 good of Ireland, I must say, that while our re- 
 ligious (litierences subsist Ijere, (at least on the 
 foot they now stand) M^e can never be a thriving 
 or an happy people, and that therefore fill the 
 state thinks tit to interpose further than they 
 have yet done, and oxler proper methods for 
 converting the jjoor natives, every Protestant 
 gentleman should use his endeavours to that good 
 end, by his iutluence and authority, by fjmi- 
 liarity and favour, by persuasion and reasoning, 
 and where they can read, by flispersing proper 
 books and tracts among them. 
 
 I am sure I jmu intiuenced herein by no party 
 zeal, or blind bigotry to my own oj)inion and 
 persuasion in religious matters, but by a sincere 
 licnevolence and good- will to my unfortunate 
 countrymen and a tender sense of those miscrie.'-^ 
 which, a wrong turn in faith and politics have 
 drawn on them. I remember to have read ir^ 
 {•ome history, or traveller's account of Persia, 
 that the chief reason which made that kingdoui 
 so flouiishing and populous, was an article in 
 the religion of their Magi, that the three actions 
 aman should perforu) to render himself agreeable 
 to God were to get cliildien, manure his land, 
 and plant tiees. 1 will only say if our good Ca- 
 tholics here would lay aside some of the terrible 
 articles of their faith, and above all that infernal 
 one of being obliged in conscience to persecute 
 
lieretics with fire and sword, and take up this 
 in- their room, they and their country would gain 
 considerably by the change. But however that 
 be^ an union in religion, is a matter ot" infinite 
 importance on many accounts, abstracted from 
 all religious cons'ideiations or the widivcdness of 
 their princii)leSk "Wliat I shall chiefiy insist on 
 here is this plain fact, that it is the Popish reli- 
 gion that is the chief occasion of most of the 
 poverty, idleness, misfortune, arul misery which 
 too miiny of our people languish under, 
 
 I shall urge several things to shew the truth 
 of this^ and when I have done that, [ shall give 
 several reasons why it is our interest to aim at 
 opening our countrymen's eyes, and why I hope 
 their eyes- will actually be opened in time, if our 
 gehtlemen use their endeavours to that end. 
 
 And fiist then our people are impoverished by 
 the great sums, which are paid by them more 
 punctually than their rents to the maintenance of 
 so many prie*,ts, friars, monasteries, &c. bishops 
 and arch- bishops. The money spent this way is 
 computetl so high, and those who live on it are 
 so numerous, that it is a tax sutlficient in itself 
 to keep many families in ease and plenty. And 
 indeed if we consider that at least three fourths 
 of our people pay subsidies of this kind, we may 
 easily conceive how those ( forrenu de ptctinice) 
 torrents of money are raised, which Cardinal 
 Palavicini in his histoiy of the Council of Trent, 
 1, 4. c. 5. says, " are so necessary to support the 
 " state and grandeur of the spiritual monarchy 
 '' of Rome." 
 
 The educating numbers of our people abroad 
 in colleges, monasteries and nunneries in Popish 
 countries, as well as pious legacies sent thither, 
 and alms and contributions given to foreign 
 
70 
 
 seminaries, do also waste a large sum. By this 
 means our wealth is not only annually drained 
 off', but our numbers lessened. For as the Irish 
 are not naturally fond of labour, crowds of them 
 waste their time and substance as poor scholars 
 to qualify them for the laziest kind of life, and 
 hardly ever return to the plough or the spade, but 
 continue to the nation's loss in their miserable 
 slotii and laziness. 
 
 Pilgrimages and penances, confessions, abso- 
 lutions, pardons, dispensations, indulgences, do 
 also cost our good Catholics abundance of their 
 money as well as a good deal of their time, 
 which erfually coiitilbute to keep them low spi- 
 lired and indigcn!", superstitious and idle. iJut 
 this is not the worst, for it is certain that our 
 priests with their old thirst for the blood of he- 
 retics, were the chief authors of the dreadful re- 
 bellion and horrid murders in 1641, which swept 
 away near two hundred thousand souls, destroy- 
 ed our houses and towns, and have kept us to 
 this day without pence, or people, or trade; 
 whereas had the happy condition Ireland was 
 then in continued till now, we should have been 
 one of the most thriving nations in Europe. I 
 am sorry to say, that the guilt of the Popish 
 priests iierein is too confessed and evident to 
 want any proofs, for the world has seen it most 
 fully and undeniably charged on them in a num- 
 ber of histories and memoirs of those times, and 
 I believe no Papist who has read them can doubt 
 of this fact. And indeed the encomiums given 
 by Pope Urban the Vlllth's Bull (dated May 
 17, 1642) to those murderers of heretics, is in 
 itself so glaring an evidence of this miserable 
 truth, that there is no occasion to dwell on a 
 thousand others, which can be produced for iti 
 
71 
 
 It is ascertain, that ihey had also a great hand in 
 al! the troubles of 1688, and the slaughters and 
 ravage, and burning of houses, that it occa- 
 sioned ; and though both these fatal events tum- 
 bled like ill contrived mines on their own heads, 
 who set them on fire, and proved an encrease of 
 the Protestant interest, yet the nation has not 
 yet recovered the loss of blood and spirits occa- 
 sioned thereby. 
 
 Our priests and the Popish religion are also 
 a great occasion of the idleness and poverty of 
 the Irish by the number of foolish holydays, 
 wliich they oblige them to observe. Betwixt this 
 wicked custom (for it deserves no other name) 
 and the bad weather of our climate, which so 
 frequently interrupts our labour in these parts of 
 the earth, 1 verily believe one third of our 
 time is not only rendered useless, but spent in a 
 lazy, listless way, that makes our people less in- 
 ch ned and indeed less able to work the rest of 
 the week. Sir William Petty computes that 
 they keep twenty-four days in the year more 
 than the Protestants, and allowing six hundred 
 thousand woiking Papists here, makes the na- 
 tional loss thereby 250,000/. per Ann. and proves 
 that the Protestants work a tenth part more year^ 
 \y than the Papists. Mr. Dobbs in his ingenious 
 essay on our trade has computed it much higher, 
 and I think with reason makes our loss amount 
 to 325,000/. which as labour and riches are but 
 different names for the same thing, is a misma- 
 nagement that cries to heaven for vengeance on 
 those, who thus keep so many poor families 
 starving and idle, and what is yvorse, indispose 
 them to labour, when the holy-day and their 
 loitering or debauchery are over. 
 
72 
 
 Sup€ 1 am liowever necessary it might have 
 been in the primitive times, to bring over the 
 Gentiles, to keep many ot" our saints clays, by 
 making them times of dix^ersion, it is now most 
 neeessary for our legislature to watch better over 
 the industry of our people, by making it penal 
 to drink or idle on many of their festivals, when 
 it is plainly sporting with the nation's ruin. 
 
 There is another charge to be laid at the door 
 of Popery as the occasion of the misery and po- 
 verty of our Irish natives, and that is the strict 
 observing of lent among them. 
 
 Of all the nations under heaven, there is not 
 one where the keeping lent is, 1 will not say so 
 unreasonable, but so destructive as in this island. 
 In the warmer climates, where it first began, it 
 usually falls on that time of the year, when the 
 fields and the gardens begin to supply food plen- 
 tifully to the poor, but in our northern regions 
 there is nothing but bread or a very little milk to 
 sustain them. I speak of nations who are able 
 to take care to provide bread, for often with us 
 lent is not only a time of fast, but of famine, 
 and it does not only rob us of the labour of the 
 poor, by making them unable to work, but it 
 hurts the health of those who have good consti- 
 tutions, and occasions the death of numbers of 
 the sickly, who are superstitious in their minds, 
 in proportion to the weakness of their bodies. In 
 other countries indeed they are allowed flesh 
 meat and such nourishing food in these cases, 
 when they pay for the licence, but alas ! with us, 
 liowever they manage for their souls, as to 
 masses when dead, our poor people have not 
 money enough to reprieve their bodies when they 
 are ill, and lent generally carries off crowds of 
 them, by their being unable to pay those, who 
 
73 
 
 thus actually make a market of their rellff'on. 
 What is more grievous than to see our poor Iiish 
 fed on very bar! flesh seven eightlis of the year, 
 and in lent perfectly famished, in order (to be 
 sure) to pull down their pampered bodies, and 
 keep them in subjection to their better part ? In 
 the working time of the year, for ploughing, 
 threshing and gardens, I have seen numbers of 
 them hardly able to labour, or even to live to en- 
 joy the fruits of it. It puts one in mind of the 
 French ambassador's account of Sweden, that it 
 was a perpetual winter there, of frost and snow, 
 for nine months of the year, and there was no 
 bearing the cold and ill weather for the other 
 three. In a word, they are so hungry and 
 starved in this dreadful time of lent, that I have 
 heard a good Catholic wish, that they were al- 
 lowed, by their priests, to eat 'he kites and 
 hawks, rooks and crows, &c. in ti^at season, and 
 all destructive animals, as foxes,' &c. and that it 
 would be the best way to make all of them as 
 rare as eagles or wolves. But it is too melan- 
 choly a subject to enlarge on, and therefore I shall 
 leave it to their reflections who are best able to 
 remedy those crying evils, and shall proceed to 
 a more agreeable one, namely, why, abstracted- 
 ly from the views of religion, it is our interest, 
 as a nation, to endeavour to open our country- 
 men's eyes. I shall speak to this, because I see 
 too many who are quite indifferent in the mat- 
 ter, as if it were an affair hardly deserving their 
 thoughts, and merely to be left to the slow ope- 
 ration of our laws. Many among us are also 
 apt to consider our natives as not worth their 
 regard ; but as meanly as they think of the poor 
 ■ Irish, the uniting them to our church, is of vast' 
 
 K 
 
74 
 
 importance, if we only consider their number. 
 They are at least three fourths of our people, and 
 as they have a general custom (which has been 
 of vast service to repair the great losses in this 
 island by war, cvic.) of marrying very early, and 
 consequent!}^ breeding very fast, and as the Pro- 
 testants do not follow their example, in either of 
 these particulars, they will possibly, in half a 
 century, out-number us much njore. But again 
 it is to be considered, that Ireland suifers ex- 
 ceedingly by our religious differences, not only 
 by the vast sums which are drained from us by 
 this means, but as we are in the condition of a 
 divided house, and are thereby ever in danger 
 of intestine ruin and fatal dissentions, and this 
 as we observed before (besides other arguments 
 which are better passed over) lessens our natu- 
 ral weight and value as a nation. Let us add to 
 this, that the Popish clergy are a very numerous 
 and idle body of men, which would be all turned 
 to trade or labour (and besides saving their sala- 
 ries) would thereby, were we united in our reli- 
 gion, be a great additional gain to a country, 
 wliere there are too many idle and useless hands 
 already. In the next place, it is through the 
 hands of the native Irish that the bulk of our 
 trade passes, and consequently it were for many 
 reasons greatly to be wished, that they had 
 the same aflections and interest with their 
 Protestant brethren, whom, as well as their 
 country, by this means, they have, on many 
 emergencies, a great power to hurt, or to serve, 
 as they stand inclined to them. With all these 
 and many other advantages, which I shall not 
 dwell on, it must be owned, that our native 
 Irish are in their persons extremely well bodied 
 and limbed, and as to their tempers remarkably 
 
75^ 
 
 hospitable and good natured, when the leven of 
 Popery does not sour their natural disposition ; 
 they are fond of living in their own country and 
 averse to our American rambles, and in a word, 
 both as to their morals and bodies are as fit for 
 and as well deserving cultivation (and if due care 
 be taken of them) as capable of being good hus- 
 bandmen, soldiers, sailors, artisans, merchants, 
 and scholars, as most nations in Europe After I 
 have said this in their favour, I shall now go on 
 with pleasure lo hint several reasons, why in all 
 probability we may hope to deliver our country- 
 men from that great source of their misery, the 
 delusions and ignorance, which their priests have 
 kept them in. 
 
 And first, this we may truly say, that they are 
 everyday less violent for their opinions, and less 
 bigotted to them, than they used to be.- And 
 nideed they are generally addicted to the Popish 
 religion, not from the force of opinions and doc- 
 trines, which their priests themselves understand 
 not, and therefore cannot teach them, but from 
 the strength of long habit and custom. Living 
 so long among Protestants, and conversing more 
 with them, than most Papists do in other coun- 
 tries, has introdr.ced a sort of reformation among 
 them, and from hence it comes that they are so 
 far from being idolaters, that they have hardly 
 any images among them. They think more 
 charitably of the salvation of Protestants, and 
 more slightly of the Pope's authority, his j)ovver 
 to depose princes, and his infallibility in matters 
 of faith, and they read our translations of the 
 Bible, and our books wrote against their errors, 
 more generally and impartially, than any other 
 body of Catholics. 
 
 These, with several other articles of the like 
 
76 
 
 nature, give us good grounds to hope well of 
 tliern ; hut wliat still affords great reason for 
 buch expectations, is that numbers of them see 
 evidently that their contending for a Popish 
 prince and interest in Ireland, is vain and sense- 
 less, and that their mighty zeal that way, has 
 been as silly and ridiculous, as those parties 
 among their ancestors, who used to cry ('rom- 
 aboo, and Butleraboo, and wisely sacrificed 
 their lives to the quarrels between the Kildare 
 and Ormond families. And indeed as it is a 
 grief to consider how they have been mislead in- 
 to such contentions, by furious priests and zea- 
 lots, so it is matter of astonishment to think, 
 that any should continue capable of being mis- 
 led in this manner, and believe as their forefa- 
 thers did, that they will be damned if they be 
 not so misled. 
 
 But generally all our Irish Catholics who read 
 the histories of their rebellions, especially from 
 Tyrone's in Queen Elizabeth's time, till the Re- 
 volution in 168S, and leflect on the almost infi- 
 nite number, who madly sunk their families and 
 fortunes with them, have got juster notions of 
 those matters. They see how they were made 
 tools to the ambition, and not (the pretended 
 cause) the religion of others, who, if they had 
 .succeeded in their rebellions, after murdering 
 and destroying each other, in contending for 
 their old titles and districts, would have made 
 the residue of the Irish tenfold greater slaves, 
 than ever they could have been under the Eng- 
 lish Protestants, and j'et they perceive that to 
 such leaders, and religious pretences, and to 
 bring such servitude on themselves, they sacri- 
 ficed their blood and their substance, and their 
 being, as a people, and a nation. Who can read 
 
77 • 
 
 of the vast sboals who perished by fire and sword 
 in those wars, and by merciless famine in woods 
 and fastnesses, and wild mountains, (where many 
 fed on human carcases, and others died with 
 grass in their mouths) in the cause of a barba- 
 rous O'Neal, or to follow a Desmond, an O'Con- 
 nor, or O'llej'ly, or some such Catholic liead of 
 an eminent clan of ruffians and robbers, or to 
 help a king of Spain, or a Popish king of Eng- 
 land, without being astonished at the madness of 
 such conduct, in the old septs of the Irish, who 
 thus perished, for the most senseless attachments 
 and prejudices. The blood they have lost, and 
 forfeitures of their liberties and lands, as well as 
 the miseries many of them have suffered from 
 thence, have at last and with great difficulty 
 cured most of them of that political and religious 
 madness, and have probably left few who would 
 lose an acre in so senseless a quarrel. 
 
 But besides this, our poor Catholics, who are 
 illiterate, and know little of such matters, and the 
 ill consequences of their ancestors' weak con- 
 duct, yet are sensible of the hardships, which 
 their priests and Popery bring on them other- 
 wise. Though they cannot see, they can feel, 
 and as their spiritual taxes are numerous, and, 
 in proportion to their small substance, sufficient- 
 ly heavy, so these poor sheep perceive how they 
 are fleeced, and how by their confessions, abso- 
 lutions, &c. the priests live and fatten, and in the 
 words of Hosea, '* eat up the sins of the people." 
 These greatly help to keep the poor natives so 
 low, being fed with wretched scraps and cloathed 
 with rags; numbers of them going bare-legged 
 and barefooted, or at best wearing brogues, (as 
 they call their shoes) so wretched and vile, they 
 are little better than the wooden shoes of France, 
 
7S 
 
 or those of the peasants in Spain, where they ar^ 
 made entirely of mere packthread. Their severe 
 lents do also sit sour on their stomachs, and 
 make themselves in this respect, (as they really 
 are) worse circumstanced than the beasts of the 
 field ; and as they see the freedom and liberty, 
 the case and ]">rivileges enjoyed by those v\ho 
 have shaken this yoke oft" their shoulders, they 
 cannot but reflect with uneasiness on the differ- 
 ence, and consider how reasonably and honestly, 
 as men and as Christians, they can enjoy them 
 all, by throwing ofF their ghostly tyrants and sla- 
 very together. 
 
 Nor is this all, for as the old affectation of 
 speaking only Irish is quite laid aside, there is 
 now scarce one in twenty w ho does not under- 
 stand and speak English well, and by breaking 
 down this great partition wall that kept us es- 
 tranoed and divided, they are grown more free 
 and familiar with us, and (which is the greatest 
 cement of friendship betwixt men and nations) 
 are brought to like and know our customs, man- 
 ners, and habits, better than their own. It is re- 
 mnrkable of those among them, who by handi- 
 craft arts, manufactures, or trade, are in a thriv- 
 ing condition, that they run fast into the neat- 
 ness and plenty of the English way of living; and 
 as not a few of them are employed that way, 
 many lh(5usands of our merchants and mechanics 
 being Papists, they grow more moderate in their 
 opinions of Protestants, and as they prefer our 
 manners, language, and fashions to their own, 
 they seem not unlikely to go a step further, and 
 em'>race our religion also. 
 
 But the chief encouragement to hope for this 
 great change in them is, that the greatest part of 
 their gentlemen, who are either distinguished for 
 
79 
 
 their understanding or fortune, have actually 
 come over to our church, and renounced the er- 
 rors of that of Rome. Since the year 1703, when 
 the act to prevent the further growth of Popery 
 passed, about a thousand persons; (not a few of 
 whom, are possessed of considerable fortunes) have 
 declared themselves converts, with all the neces- 
 sary forms and conditions requir^^d ; and, as in 
 reason and charity we are to think them sincere, 
 yet, at worst, if some are not, their children or 
 grand-children will certainly be so ; and, in the 
 mean time, the frequency of the example is the 
 highest encouragement for others to follow them. 
 It is usual in most nations, when the men of 
 family and fortune, as well as learning and sense, 
 embrace any party, that the lower people are apt 
 to go after them ; but this is to be expected 
 from our natives above all others, as being the 
 most addicted to follow their great lords and 
 gentlemen of distinction, of any in the Chris- 
 tian world. With these advantages therefore if 
 our Protestant gentlemen join their endeavours, 
 we may well hope for this happy union of opi- 
 nions and interests, and as we can, when we will 
 put our laws in execution, to assist us herein, 
 we seem rather to be ignorant when it should 
 be done, than how. If once the popish clergy 
 were as universally removed as the Hugonot mi- 
 nisters are in France, we should soon see our 
 churches filled with converts as much as theirs ; 
 and, as they are already sentenced, by our laws, 
 as civil enemies to our constitution and country, 
 so nothing but the executing those laws, and 
 providmg for the instruction of the Irish, can 
 perfectly heal the wounds and maims of our di- 
 vided nation, I can by no means think our laws 
 are chargeable with a persecuting spirit in this 
 
80 
 
 matter of the popish clergy ; nor do I think 
 there is a nation under heaven, which would 
 have home with them so long with such gentle- 
 ness and lenity, under such dreadiVil provoca- 
 tions, and their attempting so often by massa- 
 cres and rebellions to overturn our constitution, 
 and make but one grave for our laws and our 
 people. However, it is probable, from a mu- 
 tual weariness of jealousies and fears, as Vv'ell as 
 the mikhiess and indulgence of our government, 
 and ourabhoring any appearance of persecution, 
 that the conversion of the Irish will be left to 
 time, and the influence of truth and reason joined 
 with the examples of their gentry, unless the 
 madness and insolence of their priests in keeping 
 lip disatfection, and combining with our ene- 
 mies, force us to rouse our laws, and awake the 
 sleeping lion, and particularly as to their spiritual 
 governors, the titular bishops and archbishops, 
 who are the chief authors and fomenters of all 
 mischief to the state from religion or politics. 
 Possibly, if only these last were effectually re- 
 moved, and their church government by that 
 means subverted, and their priests left at large to 
 themselves, they would save us all further trou- 
 bk', and finish this work for us with the assistance 
 of charity schools, and a body of itinerant clergy 
 to preach to the natives in Irish. But if ever this 
 expedient be made use of, it would be very pro- 
 per to abolish all payment of any dues, offer- 
 ings, or fees from the poor Papists to their priests, 
 and to settle salaries for them, payable by the 
 government, as the Protestant ministers in Hol- 
 land, whose interests and inclinations would thus 
 be closely tied to those of the state, and conse- 
 quently they might be managed like cannons, 
 whose mouths are still pointed just as they please 
 
81 
 
 who fill their bellies. It must be confessed id fa- 
 vour of this, or any sucli method, that our peo})Ie 
 are more docile, and less obstinate and violent in 
 their natural disposition, than either the Scotch 
 or Welsh, and consequently, had the danger 
 been as near, and by that means the same care 
 and application used to convert the Irish, whicii 
 we know took place in Wales and Scotland, we 
 should lone: since have seen all reli<T:ious dilTer- 
 ences, and the terrible wars, massacres, &c. 
 that flowed from them, prevented in Jrcland. 
 Nay, had not Charles II. in compliance with the 
 Duke of York, and in kindness to his beloved fel- 
 low Catholics, repealed the pecuniary mulcts es- 
 tablished by law under Cromwell, on all Papists, 
 who absented from our churches ; but that those 
 wholesome discouragements to Popcr\^ had con- 
 tinued till this day, we should have i'ow Popi:?h 
 families unconverted now, and possibly the reli- 
 gious wars in 1688 had been prevented, and ten 
 millions saved to England, which the reducing ot' 
 Ireland cost them at that time. But without en- 
 quiring, for several probable reasons, why such 
 care has not been taken herein as we could have 
 wished, it is our business at present to n»ake the 
 best use we can of all proper means and measure.'^ 
 to open the eyes of our poor lellow Cathoiicj>, 
 which are blinded by the delusions of their 
 priests, and to let them see that their temjjorui 
 and eternal ha[)piness are equally concern(>d m 
 coming over to our church, and joining with oPie 
 hand, and heart, and voice, for the prosperity oi' 
 Ireland, which nothing but our ix-iigious w;irs 
 and animosities could have sunk lo htw m •..<. 
 Iiave often seen it. 
 
 Let us now consider ourselves in aiii.lher r,\\v. 
 L 
 
82 
 
 ation in vviiich the welfare of our country, and 
 tlie bulk of its gentry, are deeply interested, and 
 that is, as descended from British ancestors, and 
 in this light it seems highly reasonable that we 
 should lay down this RESOLUTION, viz. 
 
 TVe uill cvej^ sincei^elij ivisJi foi\ consult, and pro- 
 mote the happindss and ivdfare of Great Bri- 
 tain ai> our common parent. 
 
 There is no one distinction which we are, or 
 indeed ought to be, fonder of than that of EngHsh- 
 men, and tlie more, as it is a badge of those pri- 
 vileges and liberties which are utterly unknown 
 to the rest of the world. Mow far it is either 
 jnst or wise to discourage or annihilate our claim, 
 I shall not say, but I am sorry it is easier to 
 make it good by the herald's books than the laws 
 of Great Britain at present. It cannot but seem 
 hard to be used and consich^'ed as aliens by those, 
 w ho, by rewards and favours, persuaded numbers 
 of our people now living, or their ancestors, to 
 come over hither, and spend their blood in their 
 service to extend their empire, commerce, and 
 power. Shall not even their descendants as just- 
 ly claim the privilege of Englislimen as do the 
 children of ambassadors, who were born in the 
 most distant kingdoms, where their lathers re- 
 mained in the service of their prince and their 
 country? And may not the children of those 
 Knglishmen, who have planted in our colonies in 
 Aajerica, be as justly reckoned Indians and sa- 
 vages, as such families, who are settled here, can 
 be considered and treated as mere Irishmen and 
 aliens ? May not our parents as well renounce us 
 when once they have sent us into the world, 
 and that v.'e leave their houses as birds do their 
 
83 
 
 young, once they quit the nest where they were 
 hatched, when they have done tee(hnii; them : 
 Are we not therefore, in the truest sense of the 
 w^ord, En<xlishmen, as well as English subjects; 
 and are we not sprung from the same original 
 houses, lineage, and biood with themselves? 
 Have we not the same prince, church, laws, and 
 constitution, derived to ns from our forefathers, 
 and have we not (the great cements of national 
 friendships) the same princip!e>, afiections, and 
 interests in religion and government, ana nuve we 
 not spent our blood as freely, like true Britons, 
 when, and wherever those noble calls invited us, 
 and the glory and service of Great Britain want- 
 ed our assistance ? Does the crossing the Severn 
 or the Tweed make any difference in '.he circum- 
 stances of a Briton, and shall the crossing ot our 
 channel occasion so great an one, though merely 
 for the interest and in the service of Great Bri- 
 tain ? The old brave Romans often, in any dis- 
 tress of the state, made their slaves freemen, <uid 
 sent them to their wars, and shall the only nation 
 in the world, in whom a little of the Roman spirit 
 still survives, make their freemen slaves, if they 
 once embark in their service in Ireland ? Let 
 the good nature and probity of Great Bri- 
 tain answer this, and let us content ourselves in 
 the mean time v\ ith resolving ever to desire and 
 further the prosperity of a nation from which we 
 are directly descended, and whose friends and 
 enemies must ever be ours. 
 
 We are so closely knit to them by all the tie.-; 
 of alliance, and both by national and domestic 
 charities, that our interests must inevitably be the 
 same, it being a truth England ever has, and 
 ever will feel and know, that as we grow wealthy, 
 our liches will centre with her; and when Ave 
 
84 
 
 turn bankrupts she must set us up again, or main- 
 tain us. 
 
 L'istly, as the interest and power of Ireland is 
 solely in Protestant hands, we must therefore 
 ever regard her, not only as our paries j)roxi)?ius, 
 our nearest iieighooiir. still ready to assist us, but 
 as our true parent and protector, on whose pros- 
 perity our own immediately depends, who must 
 wound herself wlienever, through inadvertence, 
 she hurts us ; and must in interest, as well as jus- 
 tice, take care not to sacrifice the ease and 
 welfare of the younger child to the grandeur and 
 s]>lendor of the eldest. 
 
 Let us therefore in the next place lay dow^n 
 this Rfsolution, as equally prudent and gene- 
 
 That wc will he so true to ourselves as never to 
 hurt the trade or interest of Great Britain. 
 
 To think of making Ireland rival England in 
 her trade, and above all, her woollen tjade, is 
 the iiighest iugratitude and baseness to those to 
 whom we owe our very being as a Protestant 
 j)eoplo; bur. lest this should have little influence 
 on lis, let us also remcm!;er tiiat it would be the 
 lankcst inaducss too, and v/ould ceitainly end in 
 law s tliat would not only tiefeat but undo us. 
 Our conduct would lie as ridiculous and unsuc- 
 (•es?5ful as the ramous Duke of Kuckinghan), when 
 he was sent amba.^sador to France, and thouglit 
 ro carry ail poiuts with Lewis XIIL by making- 
 love to his (luteu, ami by that means miscarried 
 in everyone of them. If v. e^ keep our friends in 
 Ijigland suspiciou!^ of our conduct, it will bring 
 ui both intoa\cry uneasy situation, and, like 
 jealousy bcluetn uiarried euuplcs, must produce 
 
85 
 
 bad consequences, and hurt both those who give 
 the offence, and those who revenge it. Wc see 
 how remarkably Great Britain (when under these 
 circumstances) injured lierself by the Act against 
 the importation of our cattle, as well as in that of 
 our woollen manufactures, and in our commerce 
 with their plantations in America, though this 
 last is in part removed, as to our not im])orting 
 non-enumerated goods directly from thence. We 
 must therefore endeavour to the utmost of our 
 power to make Great Britain see we will never 
 not only rival, but even in any sort interfere with 
 her interest in every branch of trade that can af- 
 fect her people ; and as the running of our wool 
 is one great article, which is of the last import- 
 ance to her, as it enables the Dutch and the 
 French to enrich themselves by underselling her, 
 we should be as careful to seize and punish such 
 vessels in our creeks as we would pirates in our 
 ports. It is true, while large profit can be made 
 by such vile practices, there will ever be found 
 men, both in England and here, who will follow 
 it as felons will rob, and steal, for the sake of the 
 plunder, in spite of the laws. They well know 
 how difficult they find it to suppress these smug- 
 glers on their own shores in spite of all the indus- 
 try they make use of, and will therefore be the 
 readier to make allowances for the same, and 
 greater obstructions which we must encounter 
 here, Mdiere our creeks are so numerous, and so 
 many of our people interested in the success. 
 All that they can expect from us 1 hope we shall 
 comply with, and that is, that we should do our 
 best to detect and punish them ; and as our 
 wool-combers have lately given good proof of 
 their zeal this way, it is to be hoped we shall all 
 join with them to suppress this pernicious clan- 
 
86 
 
 destine trade as far as we can, in which the in- 
 crease of our tillage and linen manufatture will 
 further us greatly. If we can once convince 
 Great Britain that we consider her interests as our 
 own (which in truth and fact they aie) and that 
 we do all we ought or can, consistently with the 
 puhlic welfare, to further her commerce and im- 
 poverish her enemies, we may then he sure to see 
 her distrust of us removed, and to have every re- 
 striction taken off', and concession granted us to 
 our trade, which will prove advantageous to us, 
 and no ways detrimental to her. 
 
 Let us now therefore proceed to another Reso- 
 LUTTox, which every one must think equally rea- 
 sonable, and that is this : 
 
 TFe resolve, as zve will never forget what we owe 
 to Kngland, so we will ever hope that she will 
 remember what benefit and advantage she does, 
 or may receive, by encouraging us. 
 
 As it is to England alone we owe, that we are 
 not absolute slaves to tyranny and popery, so we 
 must ever acknowledge with grateful hearts, that 
 it has cost our ancestors there an immense ex- 
 pence of blood and treasure to settle us in so safe 
 and happy a situation as we now enjoy. These 
 are obligations of the highest nature, and which 
 will ever entitle them to the highest acknowledg- 
 ments from us; and 1 believe few colonies under 
 Heaven ever bore more cordial and sincere affec- 
 tion to the interests of its mother nation, than 
 we have for those of Great Britain. But as the 
 most dutiful child may be allowed to put a pa- 
 rent in mind of the faithful returns made for fa- 
 vours bestowed, and !)enefits conferred, so I hope 
 it will neither look hke reproach or insolence if 
 
87 
 
 I give a few hints here, first of the advantages 
 England makes at present from us, and in the 
 next place, of the much greater ones (ten times 
 greater than Denmark receives from her depen- 
 dent kingdom Norvi^ay) she may, when she 
 thinks proj)er, receive hy enlarging her favours to 
 us. Certain it is, though we are already like a 
 rich lead-mine in the hands of England, yet if the 
 ore were well wrought and fully refined, she 
 might turn it all into sterling silver. Let us look 
 over the account, and consider it carefully. — In 
 the first place then, it is certain, by all the books 
 and tracts I could ever meet, and the best infor- 
 mations I could ever get in this matter, that we 
 carry on a much greater trade with England 
 alone than with all other nations together, and 
 that even our exports to them are (contrary to the 
 exports of most nations) of infinite advantage to 
 her trade, as being the primums and foundations 
 of all her great manufactures, without which she 
 could not carry them on efi'ectually, and that 
 little or nothing of our exports serve to luxury. 
 This is one great recommendation of our trade 
 in general, and let us, to explain it, shew several 
 instances of this truth, without perplexing it with 
 bundles of particulars and parcels, and filling up 
 pages with figures and proofs, which may be 
 found in a number of books wrote on that subject, 
 which the reader may examine whenever he 
 wants further information. 
 
 And 1st then, let us begin with our wool, and 
 our Avoollen and worsted yarn, of which thev 
 make a very great return, by workmg it up to 
 the heighth at home, and of this they have, to 
 their gain and our great loss, the monopoly con- 
 fined to themselves by laws made in England to 
 bind Ireland, by laws made in the plenitude of 
 
their power and our poverty, and to which, 
 nevertheless, we shall ever submit as resignedly 
 as if we had given our consent to them. 
 
 2dly, Our linen yarn, which they work up 
 several ways, to considerable profit, in their 
 Jinscy-wolsey and cotton stuffs, in girth- webs, 
 tapes, tickens, inkles, in several places (as Man- 
 chester, Liverpool, &c.) in the north of Eng- 
 land. 
 
 3dly, In the linens which they take from us, 
 and thereby save the whole of what we gain 
 that way, to be circulated by us among them- 
 selves, which would otherwise go out, and re- 
 main with foreigners, and often with enemies, 
 to the enriching of them, and impoverishing 
 Great Britain. Nor do they only save greatly 
 hereby, but they also make a profit, e({ual to 
 the prime cost, in vast quantities which they 
 stain and print at home, which we are absolute- 
 ly restrained in exporting to them in that man- 
 ner. 
 
 -ithiy, By our ores of copper, lead, iron, &c. 
 which they manufacture to their no small advan- 
 tage ; nor is their gain, or our loss, to be con- 
 fined to our minerals exported to them. But 
 they carry it yet further, ("or their mine compa- 
 nies have leases of several of our Irish mines, 
 which they pay dead rent for, and will not suf- 
 fer them to be wrought, either lest they should 
 lessen the price of those they keep going, as the 
 Dutch burn one half of their nutmegs to sell the 
 remainder at the higher price, or lest in the li- 
 teral sense of the proverb, " they keep too many 
 irons in the fire." 
 
 5thly, In the hides of our black cattle, and. 
 in sheep, lamb, goat, kid, rabbit and calves 
 skins; which they tan, dress and woik up to 
 
89 
 
 (he employment of many thousands of famihes. 
 
 6thly, By our tallow, kelp, hair, feathers, and 
 several other small articles, whic!^. they make 
 i-onsiderahle advanta^^e of, hy the labour of their 
 people. By all the foregoing articles of our im- 
 ports, they are benefited to a great degree, their 
 commerce is extended, and their poor employed, 
 and several of their own wi iters do compute 
 them to exceed thrice the prime cost, when 
 wrought up for the consumption of their own, 
 or foreign nations. 
 
 They do also make a very large profit by a 
 prodigious number of sliips employed in our 
 trade, which most compute at near 100,0001. 
 per annum, and by trade carried on by 
 commision here from merchants in England, 
 a much larger sum, if we may eithar be- 
 lieve the accounts of their own wi iters, or 
 ours, and the custom-house books on which 
 they are grounded. Let us add to all this (what 
 is tlie heaviest load on us,) that England gains 
 by the expences of our constant, or occasional 
 absentees, for health, business, pleasure, educa- 
 cation, employments and pensions, &c. near 
 500,0001. a year, which to her great benefit and 
 our misery, is annually remitted thither ^ nay it 
 is unquestionably true, that if our exports afid 
 our profit by them were ever so much enlarged, 
 the whole of them would flow as naturally thi- 
 ther as rivers to the sea. 
 
 Lastly, Great Britain has a great advantage 
 from Ireland, as we take from her all the super- 
 fluities of her harvests or manufactures, which 
 other nations want not, and which our conve- 
 nience or luxury calls for. This is all clear gain 
 to England, which is a circumstance no other 
 people can plead in their favour but ourselves, 
 
 M 
 
go 
 
 at the same time we have it also to say, that \vc 
 take them off in a greater quantity (woollen 
 goods exceptetl) tlian any other country what- 
 ever. By this means, we become one of the 
 greatest supports to her commerce and naviga- 
 tion, to her colonies, and Turkey, East India, 
 and other trading companies at home, and in a 
 u'ord, to the whole of her people and her 
 strength, weight and power in the world. Sir 
 Francis Brewster, and several others, compute 
 that the balance gained by England in her trade 
 U'ith us am.ounts to near two milhons, and 
 tliough Mr. Dobbs in his essay, with great pro- 
 bability makes it more, yet supposing it much 
 less, we may with truth and pleasure boast, it is 
 more than she makes by all the other nations 
 of the world together, and supplies all her losses 
 by those who are her enemies or rivals, and 
 those foreign importations which consume their 
 wealth. 
 
 I need not mention after all this what num- 
 bers from thence are maintained by employ- 
 ments, pensions^ commissions and preferments 
 liere; but there are two things which I think 
 should not be lost in the crowd, namely our 
 sea ports and ()ur army. 
 
 The first of these while in our han'ds by their 
 number and security are a refuge and safety to 
 the ships of England (as every merchant that 
 trades either to the Streights, East or West In- 
 dies, kc. know) both in times of peace and 
 M'ar; but if once ])Ossessed by an enemy, would, 
 in case of a naval war, be of fatal consequence 
 to the shipping and commerce of Great Britain, 
 and of this our wars with Spain in queen Eliza- 
 beth's time, and with the Dutch after our dis- 
 grace at Chatham in Charles II, reign, and 
 
9^ 
 
 with France in kiug William's days, when they 
 saved their Smyrna fleet, are pretty plain proofs* 
 
 As to the second of them, our army, as they 
 are a body of as well disciplined, clothed, re- 
 cruited and paid troops as most in Europe, and 
 constantly kept up in the profoundtot peace, 
 they must certainly be reckoned a matter of 
 credit and weight to the British crown, and es- 
 pecially in an age, when all kingdoms (thanks 
 to the ambition of France) are valued as much 
 on the number of tht^ir armies, as libraries are by 
 those of their books. They would certainly be 
 of great use in case of an unfair enemy, or a 
 sudden invasion or rebellion in Great Britain, 
 for as to a rebellion in Ireland there is tlie greatest 
 improbability from the disposition of our people, 
 of seeing it employed that way. 
 
 Let us now go on to consider how much 
 greater advantages Great Britain, may, when 
 she pleases, receive from us by enlarging her 
 favours to us. 
 
 And first, as to her woollen trade, it is to be 
 observed, that the encouraging it in Ireland, 
 would i)e the most effectual way to recover it 
 out of the hands of her rivals, the Dutch and 
 French, &c. who have got too large a share of 
 it out of her hands. As England lost it chiefly 
 by destroying it here, she must retrieve it by 
 restoring it, as she lost it by her rivals under- 
 working and under-selling her, it is plain, sh(3 
 must regain it by employmg the Irish, who can 
 under-sell all the world, as she lost it by the 
 high taxes and high living of her people, whicli 
 must continue, she must recal it by lettmg the 
 Irish share with her in the profits, who Have no 
 taxes on their milk and potatoes, and live poorer 
 tii^ii any manufacturers in Europe, (France not 
 
9'i 
 
 excepted) where though wages nre low, victuals 
 are (lear. If once we are encouraged, we shall 
 run no wool to France, or Holland ^or so little 
 as can never 'quit costs) because it will be 
 against the law of self- preservation, it will be 
 robbin.i^ ourselves: and without a proper stock 
 of wool, the French and Dut(^h manufactures 
 niust fall, and all they gained, will return to 
 England, by allowing a pittance to ijs, which 
 will mostly be spent there too. This is self- 
 evident, and nothing but self-inteiest, and the 
 mere ^If-inierest of the sheep- masters, and the 
 wool-combers and weavers in England, who 
 must by this means lower their lands and their 
 wages a little, and but for a little while, can 
 silence so plain a truth, to the prejudice of tlie 
 whole of England. Nay let us go farther and 
 say even to their own prejudice, for they have 
 only Hobson's choice, to let their lands lower, 
 and work cheaper, til! they have by our means 
 ruined their rivals, or to go on and let the French 
 and Dutch receive then., and sink their lands, 
 and their labour together lor ever and irretriev- 
 ably. 
 
 The jealousy the English have of us is the 
 only stop to their own prosperity, by this safe 
 and eaw method. But cannot this jealousy be 
 remedied by confining us to such manufactures 
 alone as their rivals under-sell them in, to such 
 alone as they cannot retrieve themselves. By 
 confining us to cloths of a particular breadth or 
 fineness, to cloth, undied, to ratteens, draps, 
 kersics, &c. to c'orhs but half manufactured, 
 and which may receive their full perfection only 
 in England, and only to be bought and used 
 thete, or exported thence by then)selves. Thus 
 the whole of the woollen manufacture will be res- 
 
93 
 
 tored to the English by the cheap skill and 
 labour, of their own fellow subjects here, 
 whf) will only ask in return to have the miser- 
 able poverty of our spirwiers and weavers, &c. 
 relieve! by the favour of their wise and good 
 neii>;hboars, and to be allowed to live like mo- 
 derately thriving tenants under a just and gene- 
 rous landlord, enriched by their toils. 
 
 Another considerable advantage which Eng- 
 land might make by us, is by opening the 
 plantation trade freely to us, at least as to mo- 
 lossus and sugar. 
 
 As these are part of the enumerated goods, 
 we are obHged, as the law now stands, to enter 
 and land them- in England before we can land 
 them in Ireland. This is of great prejudice to our 
 colonies in America, in as much as to avoid the 
 costs and danger and loss of time of two distant 
 voyages, we sail directly to the French ports, 
 and furnish ourselves with their brandies and 
 sugars, without daring to meddle with those of 
 our ov/n colonies. It is evident, that this must 
 hurt Great Britain, as whatever weakens her 
 colonies, must lessen her gain by them, and as 
 we annually, one year with another, pay above 
 140,0001. to the French for those commodities, 
 which if it were not for the hardships our laws 
 lay us under, we should give to our own colo- 
 nies, it is plain this is a vast draw-back to them, 
 and consequently to England, as it makes them 
 less able to purchase the commodities she ex- 
 ports to them. But the misfortune is, that our 
 fellow subjects do not only lose this benefit, they 
 might make by our trade, but our old enemies 
 the French are the gainers, and have the advan- 
 tage also of buying our Irish provisions extreme- 
 ly cheap, and of being thereby enabled to un- 
 
94 
 
 der-sell the English in the sugar trade in Europe, 
 and tlie more as their colonies are allowed to re- 
 fine their sugars, and export them so to all the 
 nations which want them, whereas ours must 
 be imported coarse and refined in Europe, with 
 loss of time and inarkets, and yet which makes 
 it still more impolitic, there are very few hands 
 in England, who get their bread by refining 
 them. As these are great disadvantages to 
 Great Britain, and affect them more than us, it 
 is hoped, we shall soon see them remedied to 
 both our gain, and especially as we wish for this 
 favour to be no farther extended to us, (if they 
 think fit) than as to sugar and niolossus, and 
 that too for our own consumption only, being 
 willing to stand as we now do, as to our re-ex- 
 porting them to other nations. It is allov.'ed 
 on all hands, that till the prohibition of our 
 carrying non-enumerated goods without land- 
 ing in Ensfland, was taken oflf, we were forced 
 to pay 100,0001. per ann. to foreigners, for 
 pitch, tar, &c. which now we lay out with our 
 own fellow subjects, and I am confident, there 
 would the same good consequence attend such 
 a law, as we have been speaking of, as to enu- 
 merated goods, and especially molossus and 
 sugar. 
 
 Tnere are many other advantages which Great 
 Britain might receive from Ireland, if she pleased 
 to make use of them ; but I shall pass them b}', 
 to mention the greatest and most beneficial of 
 them all, which will also include them, and that 
 is, to join us to them by an union. 
 
 So many of the best English patriots, as well 
 as the best writers and judges in politics, have 
 declared themselves publicly of this opinion, that 
 in all probability it will be thought of, and in 
 
95 
 
 earnest accomplished in due time, and espe- 
 cially, if by our industry and good manage- 
 ment, we would take care to improve our peo- 
 ple and country, and enlarge our wealth, and 
 so bring a better portion, to drive on this poli- 
 tical match. Nothing but the plain expediency, 
 end benefit of an union could have made Crom- 
 well, (who studied to please the people, where 
 lie hurt not his own interest by it) take such 
 paces as we all know he did in this matter, and 
 surely the day will yet come, when we shall not 
 hang like a dead limb, on Great Britain, when 
 we might do such good work for it, if our ban- 
 dages were removed entirely. The Saxon hep- 
 tarchy, was hardly a more disjointed heap of 
 states than England, Wales, Scodand, and Ire- 
 land, seemed before Wales, and Scotland, were 
 so happily united to her; and as Ireland has 
 greatly the advantage of both the last in extent 
 and goodness of soil, trade and number of peo- 
 ple, it is not improbable, she will one day 
 have the same happiness and honour. It is 
 certain there can no objection be made against 
 uniting Ireland, which would not be as strong 
 against the other two, and which would not in 
 all likelihood be as happily confuted by the suc- 
 cess. There are too many friends to liberty, in 
 the great assembly of the legislature in Great 
 Britain, to let so large a body of their fellow 
 subjects, (whose liberties are more closely, nay, 
 necessarily united to theirs than appears to 
 every eye) continue uncertain which is their 
 supreme legislature, and who though subjects 
 of Great Britain, are absolutely governed by the 
 prince and his council, independant of the Bri- 
 tish parliament, and to make their situation per- 
 fectly odd, a people who like amphibious ani- 
 
96 
 
 mals, nre envied as Englishmen, in Ireland, and 
 maligned as Irish in England. It is certain, 
 bodies politick like natural ones, are so far 
 strong and great as all their limbs are firmly 
 knit and well united, and equally fed, and nou- 
 rished, and while Ireland stands excluded from 
 the favours, rights and privileges, which her fel- 
 low subjects in England, Wales, and Scotland, 
 50 iiappily enjoy she will naturall}'- languish, and 
 pine like an ovcrshadcd branch, in a great tree, 
 and perhaps at last die for want of free air. 
 M'ere we once united how vastly should we en- 
 large the wide foundations of England's wealth, 
 and power, and surely there can be no ground, 
 for being jealous of our putting in for some pro- 
 portioned share of it, since there is room enough 
 in the vv'orld for five times the commerce, we 
 >could all carry on, were our stocks and labours, 
 thus joined b}' such an union. The addition of 
 sixteen millions 800,000 acres (English mea>ure) 
 generally fruitful, and iidiabited by two millions 
 of people, would be no inconsiderable increase 
 to Great Britain, but if vvc reflect how fully 
 from thence all those hands would be employed, 
 how our tillage, trade, and manufactures, would 
 encrease in quantity and quality, and a sj/nit of 
 industry, and activity enliven the whole, it wdl 
 appear in every view most advantageous, and 
 desirable to our neighbours, as well as ourselves. 
 By such an union, as tallow, hides, beef, butter, 
 cauflles, soap, &c. by taking off" the prohibition 
 would iall, not only the woollen, but all the 
 manufactures of Great Britain would be vastly 
 advantaged, iis they could be atibrded cheaper, 
 and consequently the demand would be in- 
 creased for them ; and as our sailors would find 
 little rest in our ports, so our poor would be 
 
97 
 
 effectually set at work and employed, and of 
 consequence, the power, wealth, and stock of 
 the three kingdoms infinitely increased, and our 
 lands, improved along with them. We should then 
 with ease be able to pay 500,0001. per ann. to 
 the taxes of Great Britain, beside the full sup- 
 port of our establishment, and how far this would 
 assist in reducing the public debts of that nation, 
 in times of peace, or help her to support with 
 ease and patience, the burthen of a tedious war, 
 is pretty evident to know her funds, and what 
 they have borne formerly and bear now. Nor 
 would such an union, occasion a small acces- 
 sion to the naval force of Great Britain, it being 
 generally computed, that Ireland would be ena- 
 bled thereby to assist her with 10,000 seamen in 
 time of need, which must be allowed, a matter 
 of vast importance, where the difficulty of man- 
 ning a loyal navy with expedition, or finding 
 sufficient employment for sailors, in time of 
 peace, is so well known. V. ere this once adjust- 
 ed all the most distant fears, or even imagina- 
 tions, of future wars, or rebellions in Ireland, 
 would vanish entirely, and we then would in 
 a few years, by a mixture of people and in- 
 terests, become as entirely an English and a Pro- 
 testant country also, as Wales, and be to all in- 
 tents and purposes, of infinitely greater use as 
 an island, and a trading nation. As England 
 has already a good share of our lands, this would 
 be an effectual method to vest the rest in her, 
 for it is certain as our riches would chiefly return 
 to her, so our Irish landlords would be little 
 better than tenants to her, as she would receivd 
 the most of the profits they could gain, for al- 
 lowing them the privilege of making the best of 
 their estates by this means. 
 
 N 
 
9S^ 
 
 How miicli better would this prove to the 
 ooni'ii-xni «>oo{l of these nations, than keeping fel- 
 low Mibjects and countrymen, in so doubtful a 
 state as to government, liberty and property, than 
 making Englishmen, who go thither aliens and 
 foreigners, and forfeit their birtlirights, than 
 weaning us from those breasts that nursed us, and 
 now we are grown up, Iw sometimes correctifig 
 us too severely for children of the family, force us 
 to forsake our natural parents, and fly for help to 
 the aid of strangers, with the poor labour and 
 business, we can give them. And indeed it is 
 amazing how so wise a nation, and so desirous to 
 fnlarge her trade as Great Britain is, should so 
 long let this large and fertile country, lie fallow 
 on her hands without sowing those seeds of arts, 
 and manutactures in it, which it is so capable of 
 bearing to great perfection. It has cost Great 
 Britain much blood and treasure, to make us fit 
 for such purposes, and to neglect to make a pro- 
 per use of us for the increase of their trade, is as 
 imprudent, as if a rich merchant should be at the 
 charge and trouble of building a ship, and then 
 Jet her rot in the port, rather than be at the pains 
 of employing her. It is certain that instead of 
 being considered as rivals, and obstacles to the 
 English trade, this island would with due encou- 
 ragements and regulations, be made a vast sup- 
 port and encreaseto the English empire, wealth, 
 and strength in the world, and instead of being 
 a burthen, might greatly enlarge the bottom of 
 her naval power, and consequently of the Protes- 
 tant interest in Europe. Whenever we are so 
 happ}- as to see our superiors think to purpose of 
 such an useful settlement, v.'e may be secure that 
 whatever representatives are allowed us as our 
 just proportion, or whatever limitations or res- 
 
99 
 
 tiictions it may be absolutely proper for tlie 
 common good to tack to it, every thing will be 
 managed agreeable to those great principles on 
 which it is bottomed, the general advantage snd 
 welfare of the whole; and possibly we may iu 
 time see, that the union of the seven province;* 
 has not atfected tlie trading world more, in the 
 last century, than the union of tl^ese three nations 
 would in this. 
 
 I might make use of many arguments, which 
 are to be found in different authors, to enforce 
 the few short hints that are offered here, but 
 those great patriots, who only can accomplish 
 this excellent design, do in no sort want them ; 
 and toothers, they would be of little use ; and 
 therefore 1 shall close what I shall say at present 
 on this subject, with a quotation from Mr. 
 Trenchard. 1 single out hm), both because he 
 was sent hither, by the English parliament, as 
 one of the faithfulestand ablest of their trustees, 
 for our forfeited estates, and also, as he is allowed 
 to have known Ireland more, and understood its 
 affairs better, than most gentlemen, who had no 
 fortune or interest in it. It is from the first, iu 
 the fourth volume of Cato's letters, which he 
 concludes with these words; *' 1 shall sometime 
 *' hereafter consider that kingdom (Ireland) in 
 ," relation to the interest of Gitat Britain; anil 
 " shall only say at prebcnt, that it is too power- 
 '* ful to be treated only as a colony ; and that if wc 
 *' design to continue them friends, ihe best way 
 " to do it, is, to imitate the example of mer- 
 " chants and shop-keepers; that is, when their 
 *' apprentices are acquainted with thtir trade 
 ** and their customers, and are out of their lime, 
 " to take them into partnership, rather than let 
 " them set up for themselves in their neighbour- 
 " hood." 
 
100 
 
 Let us now proceed to consider ourselves in 
 another circumstance of life, which must neces- 
 sarily affect the interest of this kingdom consi- 
 derably, and that is as country gentlemen and 
 farmers. 
 
 And as such we should lay down this useful and 
 faithful Resolution : 
 
 We willy with our best industri/ and care, endea- 
 vour to remove every obstacle to agriculture 
 and tillage amongst vs. 
 
 It is throwing away words to shew how rea- 
 sonable this Resolution is, to a nation that is often 
 perishing for want of corn, and indeed we may as 
 i^ell talk to a beggar of the usefulness of money, 
 when our business is to relieve him. It is our 
 shame and reproach that as absolutely necessary 
 as tillage is to our well being, we have been as 
 careless about it, as if like the Jews, we expect- 
 ed manna from heaven to feed us, or trusted like 
 the old Irish to the gathering muscles and cockles 
 on the shore, or the hips and haws, and acorns 
 of the woods to feed us. While other nations la- 
 bour to plough and enrich even their poorest 
 grounds, we can hardly be persuaded to break 
 up our richest plains, which nature seems pecu- 
 liarly to have designed for tillage ; by not harbour- 
 ing a mole in theni, where often all manure is use- 
 less,and half labourwouldproduce doublethecrops, 
 which our neighbours purchase with so much 
 expence and toil. And indeed it is miserable to 
 consider how industriously the Swissers plough 
 the naked sides of their mountains, and our poor 
 neighbours as I may call them the Welsh, strug- 
 gle to force a crop from their barren rocks, while 
 many of our people leave hogs and rabbits thcs 
 
101 
 
 first original ploughers of the earth, to turn up 
 some of the richest grounds in the kingdom. When 
 the Poles were once endeavouring to raise the 
 price unreasonably of their corn on the Dutch, 
 the states ordered their ambassador to propose to 
 the Czar, that if he would put his subjects on til- 
 lage, they would not only buy their grain from 
 them, but they would send over skilful husband- 
 men to instsuct them completely in agriculture. 
 This proposal so alarmed the Poles, that to break 
 off the treaty, they lowered the market, and so 
 kept the Dutch their chapmen ever since. But I 
 have often wished that both the Poles and the 
 Czar had refused to deal with them, and that they 
 would make such a bargain with us, in order to 
 tempt us to get a little more skill and profit by 
 ploughing up our pastures, which would yield as 
 well as the rich ground did in our Saviour's para- 
 ble. The earth indeed has done her part, but to 
 as little purpose as the silk worms make their webs 
 in Asia, where the indolent Turks will not put 
 forth an hand to gather them ; and much less to 
 spin and weave them, but chuse to buy their tine 
 wrought silks from forei'gners. In some parts in- 
 deed we are better ploughmen, but generally 
 through half the kingdom we hardly sow more 
 than what will keep us from hand to mouth, and 
 rather to serve the house than the market ; so that 
 as thinly peopled as we ar*, our poor live like Ne- 
 buchadnezar on the herbs and grass of the field 
 one fourth part of the year, or on potatoes with- 
 out bread, and for another fourth they must de- 
 pend on the courtesy of foreigners, for what they 
 please to extort from them for it, which frequent- 
 ly cost us (beggars as we are) 100,000/. per an- 
 num, or live as the old Irish used to do, and the 
 Swedish boors often do at this day, on a mixture 
 
102 
 
 of meal and bark ground together, when famine 
 and (its constant companion which is) a dearth of 
 money, have made us smart for our folly, we fre- 
 quently plough enough to make us give a pre- 
 mium to the Dutch to buy . our grain for half 
 price, and then we lay the plough aside till we 
 are forced to buy it back again at a racked rate, 
 and so live by the loss to the next harvest. As 
 this great mismanagement proceeds from several 
 obstructions to our tillage, which we have long 
 laboured under, I shall mention some of them, 
 and then lay down a i'ew methods in order to re- 
 move them. The iirst is a sort of natural aver- 
 sion to the plough in our native Irish. One would 
 think they had occasionally been yoked to it, 
 and drawn it with their bodies, as the poor In- 
 dians used to do in Peru ; but the truth is, they 
 have got this humour from their good friends the 
 Spaniards, whose pride and sloth they are too apt 
 to admire and copy. I find most travellers agree 
 in censuring the people of Spain; that they 
 plough very little, and generally but for a mile or 
 two near their great towns, and between want of 
 rain and labour are every third year starving for 
 want of bread ; and begging their corn merchants 
 the Dutch to save their lives and take their mo- 
 ney. The learned Mr. Willoughby tells us, that 
 in many parts of Spain they make no use of the 
 plough, bat dig the earth with iron tridents as he 
 calls them, which is a method I find our Irish for- 
 merly praQtised, and I make no doubt borrowed 
 from them. But Sir William Petty lays the charge 
 of this aversion on their priests, who, he saj^s, 
 teach them that this way of living (by cattle and 
 pasturage) is more like the Patriarchs of old, and 
 the saints of latter times, by whose prayers and 
 merits they are to be relieved, and whose exam- 
 
103 
 
 pie they are therefore to follow. And indeed I 
 am ready to allow his account for a reason I shall 
 tack to it, and that is, tliat by discouraging agri- 
 culture they destroy the chief maintenance of the 
 heretic ministers, and so put them on almost as 
 bad a foot as themselves. If we consider the vast 
 influence the Popish priests have on their good 
 Catholics, and the hatred they bear our clergy, 
 who have seized on the tythes, and left them the 
 people (as pirates that rob the provisions and car- 
 go and leave the starving mariners to sail the 
 ship) it will seem very likely, that wherever they 
 could they have taken this revenge. 
 
 But there is another great obstruction to our 
 tillage in Ireland, which is harder to be accounted 
 for, and that is, the fondness of our Protestant 
 gentlemen to large herds of cattle and pasturage; 
 This humour has spread so generally through the 
 nation, that though it eats up our people like a 
 plague, and lays our country waste, we seem every 
 day to do all in our power to encrease this epi- 
 demical evil of overrunning vast tracts of land 
 with such prodigious herds of cattle, that our 
 stock-masteis in some counties will soon be able 
 to match the famous ]\Iac Surly- boy in Queen 
 Elizabeth's time, who is said to have kept 
 50,000 head of cattle to his own share. 
 
 It would be terrible to supposic, that any dis- 
 inclination to their own clergy can occasion this 
 fondness, and therefore we had better impute it 
 to the desire of keeping their lands unbroken and 
 in heart, or to its being a safer and an easier way 
 for the landlord to get his rent, and tl)e tenants 
 to enrich themselves with less hazard and toil. 
 But still the wonder will continue inexplicable, 
 how we can indulge this dangerous humour to the 
 hazard of famine and distress, ever threatening 
 
104 
 
 the nation, to {he dispeopling our country, and 
 bes^garing the poor natives, who cannot leave us, 
 as well as the holding our Hves at the mercy of 
 the corn-factors in Eni^land and Holland. But 
 this is not all, for if any doubt could remain as 
 to the farmers gain, Mr. Dobbs (whom 1 cannot 
 name but with honour for his essay on our trade) 
 lias demonstrated, that the least advantage that 
 can be made by tillage, above the best kind of 
 pasturage, is over three to one; to say nothing 
 of the benefit by the first, and the damage by 
 the last, to our unhappy country, when ten acres, 
 under the plough, are sufficient for the matnte- 
 •nance of a large family, and scarce two hundred, 
 when kept under sheep or bullocks. 
 
 A third great obstruction to our tillage is, 
 our downright negligence or ignorance in many 
 material articles belonging to it, and our retain- 
 ing several old customs which are very prejudi- 
 cial to it. 1 shall give a few short hints of some 
 of them ; and the first I shall touch upon, is, 
 that great instrument of tillage, the plough, 
 which, in many places, we make in so odd a 
 fashion here, that if it were carried to England 
 they would hardly know what it was, and would 
 be utterly at a loss how to use it, or till their land 
 with it, at least, to make it produce a tolerable 
 crop. Instead of having different kinds of 
 ploughs, as the strong Hertfordshire plough for 
 the first, and the smaller light Suffolk plough for 
 the second fallowing, and the little foot-plough 
 for the shutting up the furrows. Instead of hav- 
 ing several sorts, (to say nothing of the new- 
 invented patent plough, and the double and four 
 coultered ploughs) for over-wet, stiff, clay 
 grounds, or light, dry, sandy, loamy soils (as all 
 good husbandmen, in the ploughing counties of 
 
105 
 
 En^laTitl, crenerally have) we sliift off all our 
 biisir.cjss witli one, and that so ill contrived and 
 ordered, tiie Dr.tch would not wish us a worse, 
 and what is hs bad as all tiie rest, it is often 
 drawn not i»y oxen (ao it weie to be wished our 
 laws obliged us) but by horses, or giirrons, as we 
 call them, of dilfdieut sizes,vvhich also many of 
 the poorest Irish draw by the ■'.ull. But we work 
 our jjlouohs as iii as we make them, when we turn 
 up our Held with them, lor we generally leave 
 much of our soil entirely uir->tirred, and the fur- 
 rows bare, broad and unfruitful ; even our richest 
 lands are by no meaus wrought to a sufficient 
 fineness. Thus, after a great deal of injudicious 
 and superfluous labour, we rather drown or bury 
 our grain than sow it- Thougii we plough too 
 little through the kingdom, each particular far- 
 mer often ploughs too much, that is, he grasps 
 at more than he can well manage, and what by 
 sowing too late, what for want of due care, sutii- 
 cient manure, and proper culture, well applied, 
 he has frequently a smaller crop on 40 acres than 
 he might have on 20 truly wrought with sklUul 
 management. Our neglect as to proper manures 
 is intolerably great in our poorer lands, numbers 
 of thern we know nothing of, and many of those, 
 we do know, we do not employ to the best use, 
 and in a skilful manner, by which means it hap- 
 y)ens, that our crops are so ordinary, that our 
 neighbours in England, under double rents, se- 
 vere taxes, and treble wages for labour", with the 
 help of a small premium, can bear the loss and 
 charges of exporting their grain to us, and yet 
 undersell us in our own towns. Man}'' of our 
 lower people are also as lazy as they are ignorant, 
 and yet have as bad tools as they have handy. 
 Numbers of the harrows of our po.n- farmers, 
 
 o 
 
lOG 
 
 (I speak what I see and know) have their harrow- 
 pins made of wood, and the tackle for them (and 
 the plough also) of twisted gads and wretched 
 taijgs cut out of the hides of horses they have 
 killed, probably by unskilful under-feeding and 
 over-labouring; but even our best iron-pinned 
 liarrovvs are ill contrived, both for the draught of 
 the cattle, and the breaking the clods. They are 
 generally too light, and the pins too short, thin, 
 and weak, and not right placed to answer each 
 other, and therefore can never sufficiently raise 
 and break the mould, which is the main point to 
 make a light, open, warm bed and coverlet, if I 
 may so speak, for the grain. Thus w'e just scratch 
 the ground only, as Mr. Frazier, in his voyage * to 
 the South-Sea, says, the Indians do in Chili ; and 
 w hen we have done, we neither manure our land 
 sufficiently, nor steep the seed in proper liquors to 
 enrich it, nor use rollers to smooth and flatten 
 tlie mold. Nay, we do not even mow the crop, 
 W'ith scythes when it is ripened, but rich and 
 poor cut it down entirely with hooks, what grain 
 soever it be ; and some of the less improved Irish, 
 instead of threshing, do often burn the straw as 
 tlic' quickest and easiest way to get out the grain. 
 'J'his, indeed, is a terrible account of our husban- 
 dry, and, I must own, in many particulars, is 
 only applicable to the poorest and less civilized 
 part of the Irish natives ; but I have set it down 
 here just as the Lacedemonians made their slaves, 
 the Helotes, drunk, and then exposed them to 
 their voutli, to make them ashamed of such odious 
 folly."' 
 
 * Page 75. 
 
107 
 
 Another material obstruction to our tillage in 
 Ireland, is the uncertain prices and markets for 
 our grain. 
 
 When fruitful seasons happen both to us and 
 our neighbours, grain becomes a perfect drug, 
 and then, contrary to all good policy, we give 
 the merchant a premium to export it to those 
 who do not want, and consequently will not pur- 
 chase it but at a very low rate, either to feed their 
 people and families, or victual their bhips cheaply, 
 and, at the same time, enable them to sell their 
 manufactures cheaper than those they buy from 
 can ; or else they buy it with a view to sell it back 
 to us (as they often do) with treble interest for 
 freight and factorage. While the markets keep 
 low, the farmer thinks he has so little encourage- 
 ment, that he drops his plough and his labour, 
 and never resumes them, until a bad season, or 
 an over-great exportation of our corn bring a 
 dearth or a i'amine, and an immense price rouses 
 his industry anew. Thus our tillage is kept in 
 a perfect agucj one while so hot we think we 
 shall never be cool again, and in a little time 
 starving and perishing, and in despair of getting 
 warmth and life in us. 
 
 But it is time to quit so disagreeable a sub- 
 ject, and to consider what are the properest 
 remedies by which we may remove these ob- 
 structions. 
 
 And in the first place we should do our ut- 
 most, by all means and methods in our power, 
 to cure our people of that lazy aversion to the 
 plough, which must be of fatal consequence to 
 us if it continues. 
 
 We should encourage all under our influence, 
 both by our example and proper rewards, ta 
 be fonder of this useful kind of husbandry, and 
 
108 
 
 at the s^'.me time, put the act for the encourage- 
 ment of tillage in execution, with the utmost ri- 
 gour. It is trjie there are some very necessary 
 amendments wanliiig to that useful law, which 
 miglit make it excuse itself, and possibly, if the 
 fifteenth acre were to be ploughed instead of the 
 twentieth, and tlie suing for, and recovery of the 
 pen.'dty were made more easy and certain, it 
 would at once contribute to make this nation 
 easy in this impoiiant matter. 
 
 Tiie curing our people of their fondness for 
 pasturing their lands must, I Icar, nave some 
 additional helps, or in time it will prove n.inous' 
 to us, an<i make us, as we observed before, a 
 despicable nation of butchers and drovers. So 
 wretched a condition have we brought ourselves 
 to, that, while other nations I coukl name, are 
 jealous of taking too many hands to the plough 
 t'rom their more gaii.ml manufactures, and, 
 therefore, would only have as much corn as 
 would feed themselves, without allowing any 
 for exportation ; we cannot be industrious 
 enough to j)!ough as much as will keep us front 
 want and famine at home, and the consequence 
 of them, the extortion of foreign corn-factors, 
 who tlius consume our few pence that should 
 keep our trade from perishing. It is plain this 
 land-flood has spread so far and wide already, 
 that there cannot be sufficient stores of cattle 
 iound to stock tiie wild wastes of their farms, 
 M hieh has raised the prices so high, that some 
 begin already to shake their heads, and com- 
 pute the difference of the gain between f>lough- 
 ing and grazing their farms. However it were 
 to be wished that this trade, which employs so 
 few hands, and is so pernicious to our country, 
 were some way checked; and if a tax, like that 
 
109 
 
 in Holland, of so much on every carcase of beef 
 when exporter], were laid on by aci of Parlia- 
 nient, to the carrying on several of our manufac- 
 tures, it would be a double service to tlie poor 
 of our nation, and would prove severe on none 
 but foreigners. 
 
 Possibly if tlie English (as it is thought they 
 will) should repeal the act against exporting live 
 cattle to Great Britain from Ireland, it might 
 lessen the slaughter of beeves for exportation, 
 without sinking one penny of what we now gain 
 by them, and by coming, as it were, between the 
 living and the dead, in some measure stay that 
 devouring plague more than at first siglit one 
 would imagine; but if none of these reliefs can 
 be hoped for, our wretched comfort must be, 
 that the tiie must go out, when there are no more 
 houses left for it to burn. 
 
 As to the removing the obstruction which our 
 tillage meets with from our ignorance, it must 
 proceed from time and practice, and the exam- 
 ples of those of distinction and fortune among us. 
 If skilful English husbandmen were invited over 
 by our gentry, by good wages or farms, to be 
 their overseers, or their tenants, it would go a 
 great \V3y in this matter. This would bring iis 
 into right methods, and introduce, among other 
 things, the steeping our seed grain in dilierent 
 brines and liquors, the enriching dilferent soils 
 with their proper manure, and in sliovt, the 
 changing many of our barbarous customs for 
 such as are more useful and profitable. 1 could 
 name some of the best and worthiest men in the 
 kingdom who have begun this method to the. 
 great advantage of all around them, as well as 
 th.eir ovvn satisfaction and prolit ; and certainly, 
 he who introduces irrprovements of this kind 
 
110 
 
 among us, contributes more to the benefit of the 
 poor, than if he built hospitals for them ; as those 
 last can on\y reheve the very aged, weak, or sick, 
 and the other gives food, and raiment, and em- 
 ployment to all who wiint, and will seek for them. 
 The old Romans had pubHc officers, as Auhis 
 Gellius tells us, in his twelfth book, to inspect the 
 tillage of the people, and to see that every one 
 managed their farms properlj^, and to punish such 
 as did not, as enemies to the commonwealth ; 
 and though it may be truth, that such methods 
 would not suit our times, yet every gentleman's 
 example is, in his estate and neighbourhood, a 
 living law to the same purpose; and possibly, 
 after all, it were to be wished he could be vested 
 with the same kind of authority. We see in Eng- 
 land, as Mr. riarti lb * observes, that in Henry 
 VIII. and Edward VI. 's days (and he might have 
 named others) the legislature concerned them- 
 selves so far, in actually forcing the people to fall 
 to tillage by penal laws, and to leave off the per- 
 nicious lazy methcd of pasturage, that at last 
 they effectually brought them into it ; and once 
 they found the sweet of it, and got skill and ex- 
 perience, they never left it off since ; and those 
 laws are now grown quite obsolete. Why some 
 such methods should not be fallen upon by our 
 Parliaments I cannot conceive, where the want is 
 so great, and the example so strong before our 
 eyes; but I am sure one good law that would 
 execute itself, and formed on the best model of 
 those old statutes, might not only save, but gain 
 this nation incredible sums of money in a few 
 years. 
 
 Lijstlv, the effectual cure for thai obstruction 
 
 * His Legacy, Page 35. 
 
Ill 
 
 of our tillage, that proceeds from low prices, must 
 be sought for in those great blessings, to every 
 state, where they are set up, public store-houses, 
 and granaries. 
 
 It is very surprizing what advantages all trad- 
 ing nations receive, who make use of them, by 
 keeping bread at a reasonable stated price througli 
 the year, for by this means the workman's wages, 
 and the value of his goods are more fixed and 
 certain, and by never feeding too dear, they can 
 often undersell their rivals, who have not that 
 providence. The very terror of famine alone 
 makes such public storehouses so frequent in Po- 
 land, Germany, Italy, Geneva, and the Swiss 
 cantons, but Holland has not only by this means, 
 fenced against that evil, but also secured the 
 cheapness of her manufactures. As we can easily 
 supply ourselves with corn from our own fields, 
 we should take care to keep it always near such a 
 price, as that the farmer may be encouraged to 
 plough, and the manufacturers be able to eat and 
 work at a reasonable price, or else our trade and 
 our tillage will still fluctuate, and this, public 
 storehouses established by law, would etfectually 
 secure. Mr. Hartlib, Captain Yarrington and Mr. 
 Dobts, (whose scheme tallies exactly with theirs,) 
 have enlarged so fully on this matter, that there 
 can remain no doubt of the advantages that re- 
 sult from them, and could we once get but so 
 many built by act of Pailiament, as would lay up 
 even 100,000 barrels for a store lor the nation, 
 which is near as much as we imported in our late 
 dearths, we should at least prevent so vast a 
 drain from taking off our specie another time, 
 we might furnisli them in cheap and j)lentiful 
 years, when corn is generally sound and large, 
 and fittest for keeping, .and as all exportation^ 
 
112 
 
 niiglit be prohibited till they were filled, and till 
 irrain rises to such a determined price; so, by 
 liaving- such a stock in bank, we should not be 
 in danger of being so vastly extorted on, as we 
 have been in times of scarcity. Besides it is to 
 be considered, that by keeping our grain in 
 stacks, or barns, or lofts, there is frequently one 
 fifth or sixth part of it destroyed by rats, mice, 
 and other vermin ; much of it is heated, or grows 
 nnisiy, or damaged by want of hovels, by rain 
 and storm'*, and sometimes consumed by fire ; all 
 which accidents are prevented by this method, 
 and very probably, even the grain thus saved 
 from such losses and mismanaujements, would be 
 sufficient to keep down the market and prevent 
 a dearth. But we would not only save our grain 
 thus, by early threshing and bringing it into the 
 granaries at the legal price, but the farmer would 
 thereby get the straw and the chaff in due time 
 for his cattle, and thatch, and dung, as well as 
 light oats for his horses, and poultry, and swine, 
 in the proper season when he wants them, most 
 of all which he loses by waiting for an high mar- 
 ket, and as tickets must be delivered to him un- 
 der the granary seal, he may take up money on 
 them, or keep off creditors by them till the price 
 rises, as well as by mortgaging a freehold, or 
 transferring a bond. It is usual, (Captain Yar- 
 rington says) in Holland, for tradesmen and ser- 
 vants to layout their Vvagcs thus, as the best way 
 they can turn tiiem, for profit by the rise of tiie 
 inarktt ; and indeed as the connnon price of sto- 
 fagc is but a j)enny the bushel per annum, and 
 the advance of corn is too often very consider- 
 able, there is no doubt but tliis would soon grow 
 a custcun with us also, if once we had the sanc- 
 tion of a law for establishing such granaries in 
 
113 
 
 this kingdom. And indeed the advantages re- 
 sulting from them, both to trade and tillage 
 would be so considerable, that it is amazing tliey 
 have not been thought of, for besides several 
 other methods, I can see no reason why such 
 cities as Dublin, Cork, Waterford, Derry, Bel- 
 fast, Sligo, and Gal way, should not be as much 
 obliged in interest and true policy to lay up an- 
 nual proportions of corn, oS ships going to sea, 
 or troops on a march, and therefore if they ne- 
 glect it, forced to it by a law. We see all the 
 corporations in London had their several store- 
 houses of this nature, to prevent the extortion 
 and misery of a dearth ; and I can see no reason 
 why the whole community should not be as much 
 taken care of, by the prudence of the legislature, 
 as these rich companies were by their predeces- 
 sors, and their proper officers, their masters and 
 wardens. I make no doubt if those unreason- 
 able, and indeed impolitic premiums which are al- 
 lowed on exportation of malt or here, wlien at 
 ten shillings the quarter, and wheat, when at 
 fourteen shillings, had been laid aside, and trans- 
 ferred in a better manner, and at an higher al- 
 lowance to public granaries, it would go a great- 
 er way in this important matter, to prevent our 
 farmers being undone, or our poor being starved, 
 and especially it private granaries under proper 
 restrictions, were also duly encouraged ; we 
 might thus preserve a sufficient store leady for 
 foreign exportation, when an high market abroad, 
 and plenty at home, made it reasonable, and as 
 we see tlie vast benefit derived to their people by 
 this providence in the Dutch ; it is to be hoped 
 our legislature will soon take the same care of 
 their country, and that we shall iicither want 
 
 p 
 
114 
 
 granaries (at least at Cork and Dublin) to secure 
 us from future famines, nor a Joseph in our pre- 
 sent chief governor to direct their (lue regulation 
 and management. 
 
 And thus I shall dismiss any further considera- 
 tions as to tliis branch of our Irish agriculture, 
 and shall now proceed to another Resolution'', 
 (though I have hinted sometliing on it before) 
 ^vliich it is incumbent on us as country gentle- 
 men and farmers to make, and that is, 
 
 ifc 7'csohe to the iilmost of our power, to prac- 
 tise ourselves and encourage in others, (he 
 rais'tvo, of Jiax and Jlax-seed in the best and 
 skilfullest manner, to support and enlarge our 
 linen manufactures. 
 
 This is a more vital article, than the very 
 bread we have been speaking of, and is to the 
 last degree, necessary to our subsistance, as the 
 great source from which by clue industry we 
 may h<>pe for safety, and ease, and perhaps in 
 time for plenty and prosperity. It is our chief 
 staple commodity, and so beneficial that (besides 
 the large encouragements given by the Linen 
 Board) in the common methods of working it 
 up, we reckon an acre of flax will produce 
 301. and employ six hands completely, and if 
 we suppose it spun and wove in the finest hoi- 
 lands, cambricks, and laces, its value improves 
 to an immense degree. It has also this great 
 advantage, that we can never run too much into 
 it, it being certain, that if we could export to 
 the value of a million a year, more than we do, 
 Me should never want a market for it in Great 
 Biitain alone; to v.hich, by crossing the chan- 
 nel in a iew hours, we inport it custom free. 
 
115 
 
 when all other nations pay considerable diitj', 
 after a tedious navigation. It has made so pro- 
 digious a progress among us, within tliese thirty 
 years, that we now from a trifie, make near 
 500,0001, per ann. clear by it, and if it goes on, 
 will provide tolerably for all our poor, and turn 
 the burthen of a large familv to a blessins: to 
 the parents by the help and assistance their wo- 
 men and children will afford them. It will 
 therefore, be our interest to push this business as 
 far as we can carry it with all expeditioii ; for 
 flourishing as it is, we all know, that it and our 
 prosperity every year depends on the cai)nce of 
 the seas and winds, and the good will of foreign- 
 ers and rivals too, who we find by fatal expe- 
 rience, often send us decayed seed. As this 
 makes our condition extremely precarious, and 
 our paying 30,0001. for seed, and undrest flax, 
 makes it still more necessary for us to put our- 
 selves out of so uneasy a state of dependance, 
 we ought at least, to endeavour to supply our- 
 selves at home with seed and flax enough for 
 our own consumption. It has been computed 
 that about 3000 acres more, would fully supply 
 these two articles, and when once that is accom- 
 plished, and that vast drain to foreigners cut off, 
 we may consider how we can best extend this 
 manufacture into the west and southern parts of 
 Ireland where it is thought, there are at least 
 100,000 idle hands, chiefly women and children, 
 who may be employed in it to our, and their 
 great advantage. About 16,000 acres more, 
 would answer the great end and make us a most 
 happy people; a people flourishing by our own 
 industry, and tlie friendship of Great Br;tain ; and 
 if once Munster and Connaught, ^et their hands 
 to this desirable work, and would employ tiieir 
 
116 
 
 rich lands, not only in the hemp, but in raising 
 flax and flax-seed for the north, and by degrees 
 would work up our coarser linens, where less 
 skill and experience is necessary, we need not 
 doubt to see it accomplished. Nay, in time, 
 we may hope to furnish lint-seed to the oil-mills 
 in England, if we do not set up enough of our 
 own, for as it is known, that at the lowest valua- 
 tion an acre of flax will with the seed give lOl. 
 clear of all charges, and will the same season 
 give a crop of clover too, it is very likeh', that 
 most people will in time, cheerfully fall into it, 
 especially in those parts that lie near the sea, or 
 navigaMe livers, whiO can easily export their flax, 
 or seed to Dublin, or other markets. The truth 
 is, the prosperity of Ireland depends so much on 
 the geneial spreading of our linen business, that 
 if every person wei e obliged by law to sow an 
 acre of flax for every 100, or 150 acres of arable 
 land he held, and to go yet farther, if every per- 
 son who sowed ten acres was allowed five shil- 
 lings per acre from his landlord, and to pay no 
 tithe for them, I do not see but it would prove 
 of vast service to this kingdom without injuring 
 our clergy. 
 
 As good husbandry is a most necessary article, 
 to enable us to see these hopes accomplished, 
 we nmst resolve to be punctual in observing 
 these plain and ohvious, but necessary rules, 
 which those worthy friends to their country, the 
 Dublin Society have laid down for us in their 
 excellent papers ; as some of them are too n)i- 
 nute and particular to be inserted here, I shall 
 only mention a few of the most essential ones in 
 as short and clear a manner to help the memo- 
 ry, and spread such necessary cautions as far 
 as these papers can. 
 
117 
 
 And first, we ought to make use only of our 
 aichest, strongest, mellowest loams, and those 
 inclining to clays preferably to all others. 
 
 2dly, We ought to manure, fallow and la- 
 bour our grounds for flax with equal care as we 
 do for wheat, if we desire a fine crop. Sdly, 
 We sow our seed early in April, rather thin 
 than thick and on flat ridges, from twenty to 
 sixty foot broad, and with or without trenches, 
 as the ground is moist or dry, and should change 
 both our seed and soil as often as we can. 
 
 4thly, We should chuse the shone t, plump- 
 est, thickest, oilyest, heaviest seed of a bright 
 brown colour, and that which sinks soonest in 
 water, or blazes and crackJes most in the fire is 
 the best. 
 
 5thly, We should never pluck it till it is full 
 ripe, and the seed almost shedding, and then 
 not to stack the flax but ripple and water it 
 without delay. As to the directions of sowing 
 clover some days after the flax-seed, as we do 
 after oats, or as to rolling the ground when dry, 
 weeding it carefully and separating the coarse 
 and fine flax in the pulling and watering it, and 
 several others of the like nature, I chuse to omit 
 them and refer the reader to those curious and 
 useful tjacts where they are more fully set 
 foith. 
 
 Another important Resolution", which we 
 ought to lay down with the same view is this, 
 viz. 
 
 We resolve to do all xve can, to introduce all iieir 
 improuements in husbandry into Ireland, xvluch 
 are Uhely to be of real profit and advanta^j^e, 
 and especially the culture of hops, madder, 
 zveldf woad, saj^ron, liquorice, clover and other 
 grass seeds. 
 
118 
 
 As vvhoever desires not to be an useless drone 
 in the hive of his country, should labour to im- 
 prove it to his best ability, I shall touch on each 
 of these articles ; and I shall begin with hops, 
 as by their importation, they do us most harm, 
 and by being cultivated here, may therefore do 
 us most good. It is generally computed, that 
 we use 6000 bags every year in Ireland, which 
 at the lowest rate of 41. the hundred, and 200 
 weight to the bag, make 48,0001. which sum, 
 large as it is, is chiefly paid by the poorest of our 
 people, to get a little tolerable malt liquor, to 
 comfort tlicm as having little or nothing to eat. 
 This is a terrible drain for a country to lie under, 
 that is so impoverished as ours is, and yet it is 
 certain, with a little industry and zeal to help 
 ourselves, it might easily be stopped, if we would 
 once vigorously set about it, and endeavour to 
 raise plantations of hops among us. By these 
 few we have tried ahead}', we know by expe- 
 rience, that both our soil and climate agree as 
 well with them as our neighbours in England, 
 and though possibly they may not do quite so 
 well in Ulster, since even in England, the}' have 
 travelled very little further north, than Not- 
 tinghamshire, }et in Leinster and Munster, they 
 flourish extremely, and even in Ulster, niany 
 gentlemen to my knowledge, have tried them in 
 smaller quantities Avith good success. About 
 1000 acres it is agreed would suificiently answer 
 the whole consumption of the kingdoni, allow- 
 ing for bad crops and failing years, and conse- 
 quently if two hundred gentlemen would plant 
 but fiVe acres a piece, we should in the first 
 place cut off this vast annual drain of 48,0001. 
 from Ireland, and thereby have that sum to em- 
 ploy to the use of our poor nation at home. 
 
119 
 
 But 2dly, these 1000 acres, would not only help 
 to enrich many thriving families, who would set 
 up such plantations, but also they would give 
 maintenance, for at least five months of the year, 
 to a great number of our poor people, who are 
 now useless and idle for want of employment, to 
 the huge benefit of our country in general, as 
 their labour would be all clear gains to the king- 
 dom. The reasons which are brought against 
 our attempting this matter from the tenderness 
 of hops, our "^ant of sufficient skill as well as 
 shelter and poles, and even sufficient warmth of 
 sun and soil, to give a proper strength to the 
 plant, are so easily answered, that there is no 
 occasion to fear any men of sense can be discou- 
 raged by them. Besides the success many of 
 our gentlemen have met with in cultivating them, 
 and the great gain, and the ready market they 
 meet with, where they are to be distinguished 
 from the English, have already encouraged num- 
 bers to set their hands and heads to forward this 
 good work. As it is chiefly our gentry who 
 have set about it, whose sense will best rectify 
 any errors, and whose fortunes can best bear the 
 expence, so in a little time, as our experience 
 improves and our profit encreases, it is to be 
 hoped many others will follow the wholesome 
 example they have set us by attempting smaller 
 plantations, which may serve as easy trials this 
 way, and supply their own families and a few 
 neighbours. 
 
 It were to be wished indeed, that we should 
 obtain an act of parliament to allow premiums 
 and proper encouragements, to promote and ex- 
 tend the culture of large plantations, but if this 
 is not to be expected soon, yet probably the 
 great profit by hops will eifectually spread thera 
 
120 
 
 through the nation in some years, though more 
 slowly and gradually. 
 
 I could name many of our nobility and gen- 
 try, and even ladies too of the best families and 
 fortunes in Ireland, who to their immortal ho- 
 nour, liave generously and vigorously laboured 
 with much expence, to nourish this undertaking 
 in its infancy, and if some of our constant 
 absentees, would also assist us in it, they would in 
 the noblest manner make us amends for the v/ant 
 of their help otherwise. If they woidd send 
 over English planters who understand this and 
 other branches of husbandry, and by giving them 
 good freeholds, on that condition oblige them to 
 employ considerable quantities of their farms 
 that way, and order their agents here, to keep 
 large hop-gardens themselves, and encourage 
 their best tenants by premiums, or good leases, 
 to follow their example, our people would turn 
 their ill M'ishes into blessings and prayers for 
 them, and their families. As hardly as we think 
 of many of those gentlemen, 1 know several of 
 them that are as justly distinguished for the 
 greatest virtues, as well as the largest fortunes, 
 and possibly as such a method cannot be very 
 expensive at first, and may greatly enlarge their 
 jevenues hereafter, and would be the greatest 
 lielp to restore our country, which languishes 
 under their absence, to a more flourishing state, 
 we may lind some of them who may contrive to 
 give us this generous proof of their regard and 
 pity for us. But tiiis must be left to tiie good- 
 ness of their own hearts, and in the mean time 
 let us comfort ourselves, that though the assist- 
 ance of skilful and experienced men from Eng- 
 land, would be a considerable help to us in this 
 matter, yet it is ceitain, that those judicious, 
 
121 
 
 instructions which our excellent Dublin Society 
 have published about hops are so clear, and so 
 full, and so particular as to all necessary di na- 
 tions, that no man of sense, who will carefuily 
 consider and observe them, can fail of success in 
 time, let him be never so unexperienced. 
 
 Madder is another article in our husband r}', 
 which we might carry on with great advantage, 
 both as there is above 3000/. annually paid to 
 Holland for it by our dyers, and above 30,000/. 
 by England, all which might be clear gains to us, 
 if we could cultivate it. All the accounts I have 
 ever met with about it, make the profit so prodi- 
 gious (from 100/. to 200/. an acre and more) and 
 the culture so easy, being little more than giving 
 it a deep, warm, rich soil, and keeping it clear of 
 weeds, that I cannot conceive, what has occa- 
 sioned its being so much neglected by us, if it 
 be not mere ignorance in drying, curing and pre- 
 paring it for the dyers and making those nice 
 mills, which the Dutch have for grinding it. It 
 is true, the crop comes in but once in three years, 
 "which probably is one great objection to it, but 
 then the return is so large, that king Charles I. 
 gave I\Ir. Shipman, his gardener, a patent for it, 
 as a great favour, though 1 suppose by the taking 
 away all monopolies, and the troublesome times, 
 it came to nothmg, and has been very much 
 neglected to this day in England. So that here 
 is a great opportunity offered to us, if we will 
 make use of it, against which there can be no 
 objection raised, it we had once brought over 
 some Dutchmen to instruct us in the manage- 
 ment of it. We have seen it flourish, extremely 
 at Dean L'Abadies, in Tipperary, in very inditier- 
 ent ground, and as probably 600 acres employed 
 this way, would answer the demands of all the 
 
 Q 
 
122 
 
 dyers and apothecaries in England and Ireland, 
 and produce a vast profit to the undertakers and 
 the nation, I hope it will not be long before we 
 see this branch of husbandly established among 
 us. I must own as our people from their poverty 
 and other circumstances, are not likely to at- 
 tempt such undertakings, without some encou- 
 ragement from tlie public, it were to be wished, 
 that the trustees of the linen, or tillage boards, 
 might have such funds given them, as would 
 enable them to set on foot this and many other 
 designs I have, and shall mention for the public 
 good, by proper premiums, a fund of even 4000/. 
 or 5000/. per Ann. thus appropriated to different 
 designs, might easily be contrived, and if judi- 
 ciously laid out, and faithfully applied to carry 
 them on, would work little miracles in Ireland, 
 and in a few years make us another sort of people. 
 Weld and woad are two other dyers weeds,- 
 which are in great demand for that trade, and 
 may by due cultivation yield considerable profit 
 to our farmers, which are notwithstanding hardly 
 known among us. Weld, which is as useful for 
 dying yellow, as madder for red, will grow on 
 the poorest land, if it be dry and warm, and at 
 the same time, requires no tillage, if sown, as it 
 generally is, after oats, and harrowed in with a 
 bush, and immediately when ripe (which is not 
 till the second summer after it is soM^n) it must 
 be pulled up in iiandfuls like flax and so dried 
 and kept for the market. It yields thus fre- 
 quently fron) 31. to 67. per acre, all charges and 
 rent deducted which (especially from poor 
 ground) is no small return, and therefore de- 
 serves the regard of all gentlemen, who have 
 very dry, though very ordinary land and yet 
 
123 
 
 consequently might make good profit by this 
 weed. 
 
 As to woad, it requires very rich, as well as 
 very dry land, which it is said to impoverish 
 greatly ; and indeed as the demand for it abroad 
 and our consumption at home is not considera- 
 ble, and as it requires a large purse, which must 
 be emptied to keep one or two woad mills going, 
 and as the whole management of it is extremely 
 mysterious and difiicult, it is iuipossible to think 
 of making this improvement in our husbandry, 
 but by bringing over skilful men from Holland, 
 hired and encouraged by wages from the public; 
 and employed by some of our skillullest farmers 
 here, who may make themselves masters of the 
 business. 
 
 There is another very necessary improvement 
 in agriculture, wliich is the management of saf- 
 fron, that we ought by no means to neglect, be- 
 cause the little we produce in this island has the 
 character of being the best in the world, and sells 
 often for a 4th or 5ih penny more than the Eng- 
 lish, and besides is a drain on us of above 500/. 
 per Annum, which is likelier to cncrease than 
 fall. I shall not enlarge on the culture of it, 
 because it is so fully and accurately described in 
 Dr. James Doughlass's account of it, which he 
 gave into the Royal Society in November, 17'i8', 
 JBesides that paper is so well abridged by Mr. 
 Read in his Philosophical "J'ransactions, and by 
 Mr. Miller in his Dictionary, that 1 shall refer 
 any cuuous enquirer about it to them, u'ho will 
 entertain them very agreeably upon it; all 1 shall 
 observe of it is, that it loves a rich dry ground, 
 which must be well dunged, and thrice ploughed 
 as deep as the soil will allow, and must when 
 planted be fenced against hares with dead 
 
124 
 
 hedges. When all expences are borne according 
 to the price of labour in Ireland, we may com- 
 pute that one year with another with proper hus- 
 bandry an acre may produce at least 8/. or 9/. per 
 Annum, supposing the dung was to be pur- 
 chased, and the hibour paid for, but as the planter 
 and his family gain a large part thereof clear to 
 themselves, the profit he makes is so much the 
 larger. This is a fair encouracrement for our 
 farmers to cultivate sanion ; and esj)ccially as it 
 seems to delight in our soil and climate, and is 
 easily managed chiefly hy the hibour of women 
 and children, and besides all this (which suits 
 best with our poor people's circumstances) is 
 easily sent to market without any costs for 
 carriage. 
 
 All I shall remark as to liquorice (which is 
 another useful improvement we want) is that it 
 deliglits in the deepest and richest soil that can 
 be had as madder does, and like that is three 
 years in coming to due periection before it is fit 
 for digging up for the market. As we have 
 much land in Ireland, fit for producing it, and 
 as the profit is considerable it were to be wished, 
 we had sufficient quantities both for our own use 
 and to export abioad, where the pi ice is so high, 
 and the profit e(|nal to most of those we have 
 spoke of. Clover and other grass seeds, is the 
 best article I mentioned, as proper for us to in- 
 troduce into our iri.sh husbandry, and indeed the 
 advantages of thtm are so great, and begin now 
 to be so well undeisiood, tliat in a little time, I 
 hope a stack of clovtr, &c. will be as common as 
 a field of wheat. It is reckoned that all land 
 sowed with it, will fted three or four times as 
 much cattle as common pasture; and yti. fattens 
 them better, and mves niore milk and better 
 
no 
 
 butter to the dairy. It also enriches land so 
 much that in three years it makes it fit for corn 
 again, so that one may plough up and lay down 
 land, from three years to three years in this 
 manner for an age, and it is certainly the Ijest 
 Avay of managing most plough-lands, and espe- 
 cially rich clays which are long coming to a coat 
 of grass, unless kept by clover. Rye grass does 
 best in cold and wet soils, where the former will 
 not thrive and endures all severities of weather, 
 and is not only the best winter food, and excel- 
 lent to prevent the rot in sheep, but it is the 
 earliest in the spring and can hardly be eaten too 
 close. However where the ground is good and 
 fit for clover, it is best sowing these two grasses 
 together, for the rye-grass thickens the crop 
 where the clover fails, and prevents cattle from 
 surfeiting on it, and as it grows upright it shoots 
 through the branches of the clover and betters 
 both the crop and the food. 
 
 St. Foin is also for its lasting twenty na.y 
 thirty years in the ground, and flourishing even 
 in the driest, shallowest and barrenest lands and 
 greatly enriching them, very deserving of our 
 notice, and especially for our dry, strong, gra- 
 velly, shallow, soils, which it thrives very well 
 in, and many gentlemen sow this also mixed 
 with rye-grass to their great advantage ; for 
 it is found to fatten horses, black cattle and 
 sheep quickly, and is also excellent for the dairy- 
 man by the abundance of milk, and the good- 
 ness of the butter it pro(Uices. There are other 
 kinds of grasses as lucern, hop-clover, &c. which 
 I cannot allow m^^self to enlarge on here, and 
 nmst refer the reader for their use and manage- 
 ment, as well as the former one, to books of 
 husbandry. What I, have said on this subject 
 
126 
 
 already has proceeded from an earnest desire to 
 spread this excellent way of doubling, nay treb- 
 ling the produce of our pasture ground, l)ut I 
 shall dwell no further on it than to say that the 
 cultivating of them thus, would be a great 
 improvement of our country, and whoever en- 
 deavours by his care and example to propagate 
 and encrease this sort of husbandry among us, 
 will equall}^ contribute to the private advan- 
 tage of his farm and family and the public ser- 
 vice. This would be more particularly useful to 
 encrease the quantity of our hay in Ireland, the 
 scarcity of which often falls heavy on our poor, 
 and sweeps away thousands of their weak cattle 
 in March and April, for which, by trusting to 
 our mild winters and springs, they do not sufli- 
 ciently provide hay. And though every farmer 
 should strive to remove this ill management in 
 our poor people, yet if the rich multiply hay by 
 these grasses, the price will be easier, and the 
 poor can the better provide for the safety of 
 their cows and horses, which are their chief 
 support and maintainance. 
 
 But 1 have dwelt enough on these matters, 
 and sliall now mention another very useful liE- 
 SOLUrioN, which every country gentleman and 
 farmer in Ireland ought never to depart from, 
 and that is, 
 
 JFe resolve to improve tlie breed of our Jiorses 
 and black catlie, bjj mporling the best of both 
 kinds tvc can procure from England. 
 
 As to the first of these it is certain, that be- 
 tween coach, troop and saddle horses, we send 
 annually about 41)001. out of the kingdom for 
 want of gentlemen, who will keep sufficient 
 
127 
 
 studs, to answer the constant demand we have 
 for such cattle. There is no doubt but this 
 proceeds chiefly from indolence and negligence, 
 since we have land as proper for breeding them 
 as any in England, and much cheaper, and 
 there is a certainty that we would sell them for 
 sufficient profit at our own doors. 
 
 But the nation does not only suffer in the 
 moriey we send out for them, for though the 
 want of good stallions for draught horses through 
 the kingdom, our inland trade is driven not by 
 carts and waggons, as it ought to be, but by the 
 poorest carriages and garrons, as we call them, 
 in the world. And certainly, as our wretched 
 wheel-cars are seldom loaded with above 400 
 weight, our goods must come much dearer to 
 the market, to our great loss, and the damage 
 of the merchant, all which would be prevented, 
 and many great conveniences secured, if we 
 bred better sized draught horses fit for the carts 
 and waggons which they use in England. Pos- 
 sibly, the use of friction wheels, if generally 
 used and encouraged, might help our carriage 
 something, but I am sure, if we would keep 
 large stallions more generally than we do, and 
 hire out leaps to our neighbours, and determine 
 to sell such stoned colts as we breed ourselves 
 in the halters, at two years old, at cheap rates 
 (in order to disperse well-bred stallions through 
 the country) we should find prodigious benefit 
 from it in Ireland. I am persuaded if some of 
 our horse-jockies would keep a constant stable 
 in Dublin, and have it supplied entirely with 
 stallions for draught and saddle, they would 
 make a great profit by selling them to our gen- 
 tlemen for breed, and, at the same time, do a 
 great service to the kingdom j and why premi- 
 
128 
 
 urns should not be allowed for all stone-horses, 
 sworn to be brought over for breed, and of such 
 a value and size, I cannot conceive. And, in- 
 <leed, if by some such law we were once brought, 
 in Ireland, to be fond of breeding such excel- 
 lent horses of all kinds, we might in time turn 
 our pastures to great advantage this way, and 
 even bring great sums into the kingdom. We 
 see how the famous Anthony Gunter, the last 
 Count of Oldenburgh, by this very method 
 made his whole country famous for the finest 
 liorses in Europe ; and certainly, by a little 
 care and industry, we might in time find a wide , 
 <lifference in sending over fine horses instead of 
 fat beef to France. 
 
 The breed of our bhck cattle is not indeed quite 
 so bad, because they have been more frequently 
 recruited from England, w^ant less keeping, and 
 are less apt to degenerate than horses. How- 
 ever w'e have been too remiss in this matter, 
 and, ii we consider how much it concerns us 
 to liave large sized and good milch cattle, in 
 regard to all the expoitations they furnish us 
 with, and the uses tlity answer, we shall be more 
 careful than we have been to bring over the 
 choicest cattle for breed from the northern coun- 
 ties in England, and especially Yorkshire and 
 Lancashire. The hazard and expence is not 
 considerable, and especially when put in balance 
 with the advantages a fine breed v/ould procure 
 us, though, as we said of horses, it seems high- 
 ly reasonable in a matter where the nation is so 
 much interested, that proper premiums should 
 be assigned for all, who import bulls and hei- 
 fers for breed, of such an age, size, and value. 
 A gieat deal might be said on»this subject, but 
 I cjmse to hasten to the last Resolution we 
 
129 
 
 should fix on as country gentlemen antl far- 
 mers, namely, 
 
 JFe resolve to use our best endeavours to ;^et such 
 laws past as majj supply ivhafever is zvantins^ 
 to the thorough improvino-, and per feelings and 
 encreasing our liusbandry in Ireland, 
 
 This may seem as improbable an undertaking, 
 as a spendthrift's promisiiioj to he a good ma- 
 nager once he can get out of Jail, where his fol- 
 ly and carelessness have thrown him; hut na- 
 tions can do quick work, in a little time, with 
 their many hands, when they see their true 
 interest, and resolve to pursue it. We see Hol- 
 land and England are now the patterns of the 
 world for trade and husbandry, and yet it is not 
 much above a century since they made as poor 
 a figure in those matters as Ireland does now. 
 Since they had not even the seed-plot of thosd 
 things sown in their countries, since they were 
 over-run with woods, and had nothing but sol- 
 diers and ecclesiastics, and their slaves and vil- 
 lains, as they were called, who by turns wrought 
 and fought under them. It would take up too 
 much room to prove this truth, so I shall only 
 put the reader in mind as to England, that it is 
 not much longer since the Londoners petitionerl 
 the crown to be relieved against two j^riind 
 nuisances, the burning sea-coal in the city, which 
 poisoned them with their stench, (nay since, nice 
 people would eat no meat which was not dressed 
 with wood fires) and the using hops in their 
 malt drink which spoiled its taste, and their 
 healths with it, and these are now two great 
 sources of their wealth and trade. It is not 
 much above a century since their woollen cloths 
 
 R 
 
130 
 
 came to any good degree of perfection, or since 
 tliev settled in the East or West Indies, or set up 
 the Turkev" trade, &c. and to stick closer to the 
 matter of husjjandry which we have been con- 
 sidering, it does not exceed the same compass 
 of time, since, as Dr. Plot* tells us they used 
 in Kent to cut down their oaks, and bury them, 
 to make room for the plough, not knowing what 
 to do with them. Nay, it is of no old date, since 
 th.ey had any practice in, or settled notions of 
 agriculture, for it was not till the end of Queen 
 I'Jizabeth's reign that Tiisser writ his doggerel 
 verses, and Scot and Gouge published their 
 tracts, which were the first of the kind in the 
 English tongue. Mr. Hartlib f, who writ in 
 Cromwell's time, says, the old men, in his days, 
 remembered the first gardeners who came over 
 to Surry and sowed turnips, carrots, parsnips, 
 early pease, and rape, which then were great 
 rarities in England, being imported from Hol- 
 land. They introduced at that time the plant- 
 ing "qabliages and cauliflowers, and the digging 
 of ground for gardening stuff; and we all know- 
 that both cherries and hops viere first planted in 
 Henry Vlllth's reign, and even in Queen Eliza- 
 beth's time artichokes first made their appear- 
 ance, and even then they had cherries still 
 brought from Elanders, apples from France, 
 onions, saffron, and liquorice from Spain, and 
 hops from the Low Countries, though they all of 
 them long since became natives of England. 
 These hasty improvements were owing to the 
 happy reign and wise government of the best of 
 queens, and a lucky turn of humour in the peo- 
 
 ' In his History of Oxfordshire, p. 1G2. 
 I Vide Hartlib's Legacy, p. 9 
 
131 
 
 pie, influenced probably and directed by her 
 wise ministry 5 and, as we have had a succession 
 of excellent princes, and the mildest government'*, 
 we arc also making better improvements that 
 way in Ireland than ever, and may well hope they 
 will be nursed up and encouraged by his excel- 
 lent Majesty, and that most amiable and accom- 
 plished prince his son, who seems to turn himself 
 (or rather seems formed by nature) to bless, and 
 to please, and do good to all. 
 
 I have before taken notice that Ireland has 
 often shewn a kind of elastic force in recoverin*^ 
 herself from her lowest distresses ; and as we see 
 Sir William Petty assures us, she had in matters 
 of gardening, planting, building, &c. improved 
 from 16-32 to 16/3 from one to lour, and her 
 trade from 1657 to about 1664 (less than half 
 the time) from one to seven ; so, probably, if we 
 will vigorously, one and all, lesolve to pursue 
 our tillage, we shall in as few years encrease it at 
 least to double ; and if we would build even two 
 or three great granaries, as we formerly liiiited, 
 shall think no more of fencing against our too 
 frequent famines, but of relieving those who 
 used to feed us. , 
 
 It is true these hopes will never produce this 
 desirable blessing, unless our gentlemen take 
 these matters to heart, and not only encourage 
 them by their influence and example as country 
 gentlemen, but also strengthen and enforce 
 them, as our legislators, by vigorous laws, which 
 will execute themselves. I am sensible (God lie 
 knows) how unable 1 am to advise in such 
 weighty points ; but rather than let the least 
 hint be lost, which abler heads may improve to 
 the public good, I will run the riscjue of being 
 tliought the weakest of scribblers, by throwing 
 
132 
 
 several methods aiid means here togetlier, which 
 i have often fancied might forward tliis excel- 
 lent end. 
 
 As first, it would do well if tiie linen, or navi- 
 gation and tillao-e hoard had funds and leasonable 
 salaries settled for sensible itinerant husbandmen, 
 which we might bring from England or Holland, 
 and oblige to travel bke our flax- men, so many 
 in each province, from one gentleman to ano- 
 ther, not staying over tbree weeks or a month 
 with each, to advise theni in the rjianagement of 
 their Farms, &c. and to give constant accounts 
 to the board, of all observable defects, misma- 
 nagements, &c. in the agriculture of every 
 county.* 
 
 It would also, in the second place, be of sin- 
 gular service if we had schools and masters of 
 agriculture settled in seveial of llie j^rtat towns 
 of Ireland, with competent allowances to in- 
 struct our young gentlemen and rich farmers' 
 sons in the several arts and branches of that use- 
 ful mystery which so many practice, and so few 
 understand. The consequences hereof would 
 reach far, and sink deep, and make a wonder- 
 ful change among us, as it would influence and 
 direct those who nuist necessarih' lead the way 
 to the crowd in all great reforms whatever. I 
 cannot think it would be difficult to lind a pro- 
 per fund for such a foundation ; and besides, 
 though it were, I am sure we ouo-ht not to bog- 
 gle at a tax for it, as we can hardly pay too dear 
 
 * Long after I had writ this, as several of my friends to 
 whom I shewed it in manuscript can testify, a very ingenious 
 pamphlet on premiums was published, where a method of the 
 same kind is laid down ; and I am proud to find my thoughts 
 on this subject should so nearly tally with those of that writer, 
 whoever he is. 
 
155 
 
 for such useful purposes. I remember to have 
 seen an act past in the Irish Popish Parliament 
 in 1689, which contained the following- clause : 
 ** And be it further enacted by the autliority 
 '' aforesaid, that in the respective cities and 
 *' towns of Dublin, Belfast, ^V^aterford, Cork, 
 ** Limerick and Galvvay, there shall be establish- 
 *' ed, erected, and settled, before the first day of 
 *' December, in each of the said towns and ci- 
 *' ties, and so continued for ever hereafter, a free 
 *' school for teachin": and instructinsj the mathe- 
 *' matics and the art of navigation ; in every of 
 *' which schools there shall be placed and conti- 
 *' nued one or more able and sufficient master, or 
 ** masters, for teaching and instructing the said 
 '* arts : and that every of the said towns and ci- 
 ** ties shall, out of the public revenue and stock 
 *' to them belonging, or otherwise, settle and 
 ** secure a reasonable pension and stipend for 
 *' such master, or masters, to be paid them quar- 
 *' teriy during his and their continuance in such 
 " employment or employments." Far be it from 
 me to propose that Parliament (which was de- 
 signed to be fatal to the Protestant and British 
 interest in Ireland) as a proper model for us to 
 follow; yet, if I durst, I would say, (as the Gre- 
 cian moralist tells us, cur worst enemies may 
 often prove our faithfullest monitors) that possi- 
 bly that clause might hint to us a proper fund 
 for setthng schools of agriculture, in those 
 towns, for the service of the nation. 
 
 Another article that would be of considerable 
 service to improve our husbandry would be, an 
 act to encourage the draining of our loughs and 
 bogs, by obliging neighbours to join in the works 
 iike the act for mears and bounds, or else to pay 
 
134 
 
 their share of tlie costs, or to forfeit their share 
 of the drained lands. 
 
 This island abounds with many thousand bogs 
 and loughs, which might thus be made excellent 
 ground, and extremely fertile ; and yet, through 
 lazy, or ill-disposed neighbours^ nothing can be 
 attempted, besides, for want of due encourage- 
 ment from the landlords, many substantial and 
 industrious tenants are afraid to venture on such 
 an undertaking. AVliereas, b}'' the assistance of 
 such a law, many excellent husbandmen might, 
 by proper encouragements, which 1 presume not 
 to point out, gain as many hundred thousand 
 acres of ground to themselves, the landlord, and 
 the nation, as we see the Dutch in Holland, and 
 the English have recovered in Essex, Lincoln, 
 Bedford, and Cambridgeshires, &g, by their skill 
 and industry, and, at the same time, might also 
 improve our air and climate as much as our 
 lands. The same may be said as to many thou- 
 sand of acres which might be won from the sea, 
 and abundance of our rivers that overflow vast 
 tracts of ground, which, for want of such a law, 
 are lost to the service of mankind; and, tiiough 
 it be true, that we want hands more than lantis 
 in Ireland, yet the extraordinary fertility of such 
 soils would be of such immense beuetit, that they 
 will ever be a reproach to our laziness or igao- 
 lance till we recover them, as we might by such 
 an assisting law easily <lo. 
 
 A fourth article which would also contribute 
 to this great purpose would be, an act to give 
 effectual encouragement to tenants, and to ob- 
 lige all substantial landlords, that have lands of 
 such a value, to plant orchards of fruit trees of 
 such dimensions, and preserve then). Though I 
 have formerly taken notice of this, I think it ne- 
 
135 
 
 cessary to repeat it (as I have done two or three 
 other things which we want to be reminded of) 
 and to observe, that the present premium to te- 
 nants of one shilhng a tree, seems very inconsi- 
 derable to have a general influence herein ; and 
 as such orchards would be of great service to us 
 in many views, and especially in furnishing us 
 with cider, which costs us 20001. per ami. it is 
 to be hoped this matter may one day be consi- 
 dered by our legislature, and effectually provided 
 for. We may also, under this head, bring one 
 that belongs to it, which is, to provide, by due 
 encouragements, a sufficient number of nursery 
 men, with proper stocks of fruit and forest trees; 
 for, not only our countrymen, but mankind in 
 general, are so indolent, that unless such stores 
 are got ready to their hands, our acts for all kinds 
 of planting (when the planter is to begin from 
 the seed or the stock) will be much less effectual 
 than the necessities of our country require. But 
 as these matters can only be considered here as 
 the excrescencies of husbandry, and, as I have 
 formerly hinted something on the same subject, I 
 shall not enlarge farther on them now, but pro- 
 ceed to two other points which are of less import- 
 ance, and which woidd ijot so directly improve 
 our husbandry as (by taking proper measures to 
 remove them) prevent no small loss which our 
 farmers suffer b}' them, and unimportant as they 
 are, I shall not pass them by. The one is to give 
 pro|)er rewards for the heads of crows, rooks, 
 daws, finches, sparrows, and larks, which devour 
 an incredible quantity of grain, both when it 
 begins to sprout, and when it is ripe. The other 
 is to have the same restriction here against pigeon 
 houses, which they have in England, and to al- 
 low none to be built but on old fouuMations, as 
 
136 
 
 the Turks serve Christian Churches among them. 
 As trifling as these two articles may seem, I am 
 persuaded these two bands of spoilers consume 
 as much corn as would serve one third of all our 
 poor, in the worst and longest time of famine and 
 scarcity ; and there we may well set them down 
 as an heavy encumbrance on our tillage, which 
 helps to keep it low, and lessens our crops more 
 than we imagine, the damage which pigeons 
 alone do England annually, between what they 
 spoil, and what they eat, being computed at near 
 a million of money. 
 
 Lastly, that I may not grow tedious I shall 
 throw several articles together, which I conceive 
 may also assist this great design ; as namely : 
 laws to restrain and punish idlers, and oblige 
 those who get their bread by husbandry to a re- 
 gular, constant course of wrork and industry : 
 laws against stock-jobbing lands and leases ; to 
 prevent the racking and oppressing of under- 
 tenants, by those farmers who grind the face of 
 the poor, by taking large tracts of ground, and 
 cheap bargains, merely to set them at a severe 
 rent to others, and (to add no more) laws to en- 
 crease, or rather create an industrious substantial 
 yeomanry amongst us, instead of the unfed and 
 uncloathed beggars, that keep our lands as poor 
 as themselves. 
 
 I shall not dwell on the case and expedienc}'^ of 
 each of these, because they are sufliciently ob- 
 vious to all, who can weigh and consider them, 
 and assign them their due bounds and regula- 
 tions ; and though there is a method, which I 
 conceive would be of as great service in this af- 
 fair as any I liave yet named, yet as it would 
 take up more room to explain it tully than 1 can 
 allow it here, and as I propose to lay it one day 
 
137 
 
 before the Dublin Society in a particular paper, I 
 shall omit it, and shut up this subject with my 
 hearty wishes, that some abler hand may gather 
 out of this heap, something wherewith he may 
 contrive in some tolerable manner, to improve 
 and enrich our wasted, and wasting, country. 
 
 Let us now proceed to another material rela- 
 tion in life, which has a great influence on our 
 country, and which numbers of us stand in, and 
 that is as magistrates and justices of the peace. 
 
 And here methinks, this is one of the first 
 Resolutions we should fix on, viz. 
 
 IVe zvitl endeavour to know and understand tfje 
 laws of the land, in order to answer the trust 
 that is reposed in us, and put them in execu- 
 tion wilh zeal and integrity. 
 
 Whoever is once honoured with that commis- 
 sion should not ou!y carefully study the laws, to 
 make him love our country and the blessings of 
 our constitu ion, to give him a fondness fur li- 
 berty and an aversion for tyranny and slavery, 
 but also to enable himself to discharge an office 
 with skill and ability, which he has sworn to exe- 
 cute. For though there is no necessity he should 
 be an able lawyer, yet a reasonable acquaintance 
 at least with all statutes, that touch his province 
 or have delegated any power t(^ him, is highly 
 proper. It will not only give him a character of 
 skilfullness in his main business, but enable him 
 also to advise his neighbours even in matters of 
 law and eijuity, and prevent or end expensive 
 suits by a friendly arbitration, where a littte 
 knowledge Vv'ith nuich of honesty, will go great 
 lengths in delivering poor families from the 
 ruinous expence of law suits. 
 
 s 
 
13S 
 
 And here since I have touched on this point, 
 let the reader pardon me, if I add to it though a 
 little abruptly, that it were to be wished we had 
 a law past, that no suit should be commenced in 
 any of the courts above, for a sum less than SO/. 
 but that all such should be determinable by the 
 Justices of the Peace in their Sessions, or by Re- 
 ferees appoii.red by tliem. Bonds might be given 
 by the parties to stand to such arbitration, with 
 a power of appealing to the next assizes, if in- 
 jured by their sentence ; but sulject to treble 
 costs, if the sentence be confirmed. This would 
 secure speedy and cheap justice to the poor, and 
 at home too, where they and the circumstances of 
 the dispute are best known, and where conse- 
 quently, they would be ledressed without being 
 undone. Ikit to return — such a knowledge in 
 our laws, would give a justice of ihe |)eace greater 
 authority to terrily rogues and villains, as also to 
 protect the innocent, to deliver the poor from the 
 paw of the oppressor, and to check wickedness 
 and violence, vice and debauchery of all kinds 
 whatever, which the narrow tether he is tied up 
 to will allow. This he must never stretch too 
 far, but rather content himself by persuasion and 
 kind offices, to redress such grievances as the 
 laws have not put sufficiently in his reach. 
 
 But though the power of such officers is a 
 good deal limited, yet are they vested with no 
 contemptible authority, being entrusted with the 
 maintaining peace an<l order, the punishment of 
 wickedness and vice, and protecting innocence 
 and virtue. They are under the judges of the 
 land, the vice-guardians as it were of our proper- 
 ties and lives, our ease and quiet ; being placed 
 as public watchmen over our morals and the cen- 
 sors of the people's manners, and in many cases 
 
IS9 
 
 the settled executors of several of our laws, for 
 preserving the good effects of our national re- 
 ligion and trade, if we may use such an expres- 
 sion of two things, which are not yet quite dead 
 anion<i' us. Wiieu the management of such a 
 province is placed with worthy men, and in clean 
 hands, firm and steady, and skilful in their work, 
 it must he of huge importance to our country. 
 When such officer's knowledge of the laws, is 
 joined to an honest zeal of heart and uprightness 
 of soul to see them executed, with a love for 
 viitue, an hatred for vice, and an inviolable inte- 
 grity and inclination to justice ! When he lias 
 not only an horror for bribes but even a scorn for 
 legal fees; when he has an undistinguishing 
 blindness for friends or enemies, neighbours or 
 strangers, in discharging his duty ; he becomes 
 an honour to his post ; a blessing to his lellow 
 creatures, and in the best sense of the word, a 
 father to his country ! He gives new weight to 
 the laws by the uidjiassed distribution of their 
 decrees, and wherever the severity of his sentence 
 happens to fall, he is no more blamed or hated 
 by the criminal, who suffers by it, than a destroy- 
 ing angel, who is obliged to execute the orders 
 of divine justice. I know those, whom this pic- 
 ture will resemble so much, that they will seem 
 to have sat for it, as it is really drawn from th« 
 life, and I heartily wish there were numbers of 
 them. But alas ! there are but too many who 
 are the reverse of all this in their conduct, and 
 who by ignorance and vice, by the vilest prostitu- 
 tion of their power and abuse of the laws, sink 
 this office as low as the criminals they protect, 
 and the oppression, avarice and corruption they 
 too often deal in. But as it is to be hoped that 
 men of mean fortunes and low education, of little 
 
140 
 
 abilities and less virtue, will seldom be able by 
 partial recommendations to disliononr this em- 
 ployment, I sliall only take a view of this subject 
 on the agreeable side, and set down several resolu- 
 tions, by which gentlemen in this post may con- 
 tribute greatly to the public service. And in 
 doinjr this as it would be absurd to take in the 
 numberless particulars, where a gentleman in such 
 a situation may be useful, 1 shall only confine my- 
 sclt' to a verj- few articles, which are generally too 
 much over-looked and neglected. 
 
 Now in order hereunto we lay down this as a 
 very proper Resolution, viz. 
 
 /re resolve as ma<iistrales in cur several coiintirs 
 to prosecute with all the sex:erili/ of justice, all 
 kinds and distinctions of felons, and criminals, 
 iind above all, those who are murderers. 
 
 Possibly this may seem an harsh word to be 
 \ised of those, who only kill men in fits of drunk- 
 ness, anger and resentment for some affront or 
 injury; but it is the language of our laws, and 
 "therefore I hope I may use it, but however that 
 be, I am sorry to say, the^e is but too much rea- 
 son for this resolution in every part of it. As to 
 common felons in many counties, which 1 w'\\\ 
 not name, it is too notorious, that through a false 
 mercy and tenderness in some men, and the vile 
 connivance and partiality in others, it is very diffi- 
 cult to get the laws put in execution against the 
 plainest crimes, and the m.ost confessed thieve* 
 and villains. !Many are suffered to escape, be- 
 tween the interest of the landlords, the corruption 
 of prosecutors as well as the villainy and perjury 
 Qf bribed witnesses. 
 
141 
 
 This is a very grievous evil, and big vvitli a 
 thousand others, and therefore calls for all the 
 attention and application of an honest niac;istrate 
 to remedy, if he would not have his country a 
 nursery of thieves and rogues, 
 
 But what is yet wcrse, and I fear harder to 
 cure, is that dreadful indulgence, which through 
 the whole kingdom is shewn to fair and honom-a- 
 bie murderers of all denominations As to gen- 
 tlemen who are guilty of this crime ; there is 
 hardly one in a hundred ever condemned, and as 
 it will be hard to subdue this inveterate trampling 
 on our laws, we should beg of our legislature, that 
 if they cannot be hanged, they may at least be 
 fined for it ; and that the murderer if acquitted 
 or pardoned, should be liable without appeal to 
 pay such a proportion of his annual income or 
 substance to the maintenance of the widow and 
 children, or, if there be none such, to the brothers 
 and sisters, or the next heirs of the deceased. 
 This would possibly have a good effect in tying 
 up the honourable hands of men of fortune or 
 family ; and as for inferior people, it were to be 
 wished that the criminal though acquitted, should 
 always suffer twelve months close imprisonment. 
 In the mean time, it is certain that in general, it 
 is safer to kill a man, than steal a sheep or a cow, 
 and as this is the vilest mark of barbarism, and is 
 not only an imputation on the justice of the na- 
 tion, but an evidence of the contempt of the laws 
 both of God and man, surely every one that wishes 
 well to Ireland should resolve to do his utmost to 
 enforce our laws, and wipe off such a stain from 
 the honour and justice of his country, 'i he 
 truth is, (as to other felons at least) as a mistaken 
 tenderness to the lives of criminals, made jurie^i 
 frequently acquit them, there seemed a necessity, 
 
142 
 
 for that as well as other reasons, to pass the act 
 for transporting felons either for life or years, 
 according to their crimes. It is therefore to be 
 hoped, that juries will now be the readier to rid 
 their country of such wolves as live by preying 
 on it, and devouring the substance of their neigh- 
 bours, and so far it is certain, this act will be of 
 good service to us; and yet possibly though it 
 be a litte foreign to our subject, if hanging and 
 trans[)orting criminals were altered into so many 
 years of severe labour here in provincial work- 
 liouses, v\ here they might be employed in our 
 hemp and flax manufacture, it would be more 
 for the service of the nation. For certainly, it 
 is highly improvident to hang or banish a man 
 ■whose labour for hie, if well wrought, and safely 
 confined, is worth (to be sold as a slave) 501. for 
 .stealing, a sum it may be, not exceeding the 
 price of a few day's wages; nor can such a pro- 
 ceeding be cont<idered, in justice, but as robbing 
 the nation of so much sterling money. The profits 
 of a governor of such a provincial work- house, 
 Avould make from their labour, the penalties that 
 should fall on his neglect, and the keeping such 
 malefactors strongly chained, and secured with 
 iron ruffs on their necks, as in Spain, and heavy 
 bolts on their feet, might easily guard the nation 
 from their escape; and besides, that all their 
 labour would be so much gain to the public, and 
 amount to a very large sum, and that such a 
 punishment would be as bad as death to an 
 Irishman, and consequently deter others from 
 such transgressions, we should be the fonder of 
 such an expedient, as it is certain many of our 
 people commit crimes through mere poverty and 
 an inability to provide bread for their families. 
 By this means therefore they would by their 
 
143 
 
 learnins: to work up our manufactu'-es, be deli- 
 vered from that necessity, and enal)!ed (wl en 
 dismissed from their confinement) to cret the r hy- 
 ing by the best sort of industry. We know that 
 this method is taken abroad in another manner, 
 wherethe mines (to say nothing of their galhes) arc 
 made prisons, and possibly as we have several 
 mines in Ireland, ifgreat offenders were sold, or in 
 some proper manner condemned to woik there 
 for life, on full bail of the master of the mines, 
 that no felon should escape, it might prove no 
 ill method, Tlie former one indeed seems the 
 most eligible, because vi'e see the good effects of 
 it both in Sweden and Denm u'k. In the first 
 of these kingdoms. Doctor Robinson bite Bishop 
 of London tells us (P. 19. of his account of Swe- 
 den) all thieves are thus punished with perpetual 
 slavery, being condemned to work during their 
 lives for the king, in making fortifications or 
 other drudgery, and always have a collar of iron 
 about their necks, with a bow coming over their 
 heads, to which a bell is fastened with rings. 
 
 In Denmark in like manner, as my Lord 
 Molesworth assure us * they are all condemned 
 for life or years to work at the holm, (a great 
 public yard in Copenhagen, with docks to build 
 shipping) where they are employed by turns in 
 all laborious works belonging to ships^ g'"is, an- 
 chors, cables, drawing of timber, &c. and con- 
 sequently, their crimes are made beneficial to 
 thr public. The ingenious Mr. Narse in his 
 essay on the poor, proposeth, that all felons, &c. 
 committed to gaol should be obliged to hard 
 labour till their trial, nor can I see a possible ob- 
 jection against it; but why we should every 
 
 • Account of Denmark, p. 129. 
 
144 
 
 year cut off such numbers of our lew hands by 
 death or banishment from serving our country, 
 I must own, I cannot see, unless we want the 
 good sense of our northern neighbours, to set- 
 tle proper places and people to employ and se- 
 cure malefactors in, and thereby make them use- 
 ful to the nation in proportion as they designed to 
 hurt it. But let us leave this to the wisdom of 
 our legislature, and proceed to another Reso- 
 lution of no small importance to Ireland, if it 
 were duly observed, namely, 
 
 JFg reaolve to put the lares strictly ifi execufion 
 agaifist all vagabojids, idlers and sliirdij beg' 
 gars, as the greatest pcs's oj this Ixingdom. 
 
 As little as we regard these points, and as 
 slightly as we consider them, they are of great 
 importance to all countries, but especially they 
 demand our utmost attention here, in a natioii 
 of beggars, where so many thousands are idle, 
 and lazy enough to be fond of the trade, and 
 an inhnite number of people weak enough to 
 encourage them in it by relieving them. It is 
 certain niany of our gentlemen are but too cha- 
 ritable this way, and give with both hands to 
 the vagrant poor, so that one would think they 
 look on them as creatures of their own, who 
 owe their very trade and being, either to their 
 extorted rents and severe exactions, or else to 
 their as faulty indolence, in neglecting to watch 
 over them and putting them in the way to in- 
 dustry, in our manufactures or husbandry. But 
 certainly charity to such vagabonds is cruelty 
 to the state, which is more interested to see her 
 people work, and be busily employed, than any 
 
145 
 
 master of a private family is to make his servant 
 labour didy. _ 
 
 Nay her well being depends more upon it, fxjc 
 as the civil law speaks, and indeed our own 
 statutes use the same language, tiie welfaie i^t" 
 the |)ul)hc depends on every man's making the 
 best use of his time and capacity, to serve him- 
 self and others. Now these drones do not only 
 neglect all work themselves, but thty live on th.e 
 little stock and provision of the industrious bees, 
 and what is worse, are like those, tlie greatest 
 breederi, in the hive, and produce a race every 
 way resembling thein, which follow their exam- 
 ple and the same way of living. They are in- 
 deed the great nursery of thieves and felons iu 
 the nation, and as the life they lead, howevtr 
 wretched it appears, is very easy and free from 
 care, they mak.e too many converts, who find it is 
 a comfortable trade, which is soon learned, and 
 grow rich by settmg up upon nothing. This 
 is a disorder, which costs our country incredi- 
 ble sums of money to no purpose, which can be 
 cured by nothing, but those whips and rods of 
 the law, which are appointed for them, and 
 which if the state would didy make use of, 
 might in time keep our people as busy through 
 the nation, as the children in a Dutch spinning 
 school, where whoever stops the wheel or keeps 
 another idle, is imniediately corrected, and all 
 are watched and awed into industry. We 
 might then hope either to see our poor people 
 like the Italians, scorn to beg, or teriilied f. om 
 it by the rigour of the ofhcers of justice, as 
 we see they arc in Saxony and Holland, wherq 
 the laws of the state work as greivt a miracle, as 
 the laws of God did among the Jews, by not 
 allowing a beggar in the land. And indeed it is 
 
 T 
 
146 
 
 to be wished, that it was not only punishable to 
 such to ask alms, but also as penal to the rich to 
 give them, and that it should be as fineable in 
 Ireland, to bestow a penny to such vagrants, as 
 it is to sell gin in small quantities in Great Bri- 
 tain. 
 
 It is really robbing the honest industrious 
 poor, who keep at home in their own parishes, 
 where they are known, and where every man's 
 hand should be stretched out to relieve them, 
 and help them to subsist, where the pressures 
 of old age, sickness and want, make their miser- 
 able labour to do it. These and these only are 
 the true objects of our charity, and it is only 
 such as Bishop Burnet tells us, that are taken 
 care of both in Holland and Scotland, where 
 with us we are so indulgent to these strolling 
 vagabonds, who often pay their rents with the 
 alms they get, that one would think (as charity 
 some say is but self-love disguised) we all feared, 
 we may one day be reduced to the same condi- 
 tion, by our wasteful luxury and vanity, and 
 therefore give, that it may be given to us again. 
 If the famous law of the Emperor Valentinian 
 were in force, that whatever such lazy idle va- 
 grants were met, that were able to work, every 
 freeman might seize them for slaves, and keep 
 them to hard labour for life, we should see a clear 
 riddance of the worst and greatest part of them, 
 and then we might with safety relieve the rest 
 who tr,uly deserve antl want it. Whoever is 
 once acquainted with the wicked arts they use 
 to distort their limbs, and their poor infants, the 
 false sores and diseases they counterfeit, the lies 
 they invent, and the debaucheries, drunkenness, 
 and thieveries they put in practice, will easily 
 see the mischief they bring on the nation, and 
 
147 
 
 the necessity there is for us to throw off these 
 purga7nenta urbiitm as Tacitus calls them, these 
 otf-scourings of the earth, which equally infect 
 and devour our people and rob the truly deserv- 
 ing poor, of our benevolence and charity, 
 wherever we meet them, we should like faithful 
 magistrates, send them to the stocks and the 
 whipping post appointed for them, or convey 
 them from constable to constable, till they ar- 
 rive at their own home, from whence if ever they 
 return again, they should be provided for life in 
 another place of residence, which the law has 
 appointed for them : though through our indo- 
 lence and folly, the buildings are so far dilapi- 
 dated, that it will cost us some time and thought 
 to restore them, I mean our country work- 
 houses. To accomplish this good end, it will be 
 incumbent on us to unite one and all in this ge- 
 neral Resolution, vh. 
 
 We resolve i as faithful magistral es in our coun- 
 tj'ify to join together to restore the discipline of 
 our Laws against all vagabonds and sturdy 
 beggars, and to re-establish and regulate the 
 wholesome and ivise foundations of our ances^ 
 tors, the county work-houses, as settled by our 
 statutes. 
 
 It is amazing to any one who will read these, 
 and consider how well they were contrived, to 
 fmd how our indolence and negligence has let 
 them fall to the ground, as if they never had any 
 use or being. To refresh our memories, and 
 open our eyes, it will not be amiss if we take a 
 summary view of the statute by which they were 
 settled, and then let us give some account, if we 
 can, of what we Jiave been doing ever since, and 
 
148 
 
 what is become of them. This is the more ne- 
 cessary at present, as our legislators have by re- 
 jeclitig the heads of a bill tor erertin<jf parish 
 work-houses (uliich many gentlemen hud zea- 
 lously f spoused) plainly directed us to those. 
 wliich the laus have already appointed for this 
 good purpose. 
 
 First then it is enacted, that in each connty, 
 before Michaehnas 1636, Such an house of cor- 
 rect-on should he built or provided with proper 
 backside, mills, working cards, and other imj)le- 
 nients, to employ all rogues, vagabonds, and 
 sturdy beggars, &c. These houses were to be 
 conveyed, by the justices in session, to persons 
 employed for the keeping, correcting, and set- 
 ting to work such peoj)le. All justices of the 
 peace to forfiiit ^1. for each year such house was 
 unprovided, half to the prosecutor, and half to 
 the building the house, and were enabled raise 
 money off the county for providing such house 
 and fund. For setting to work all persons sent 
 thither, and to pay a salary to the governor, 
 and appoint a treasurer who is to account an- 
 nually for all disbursements, and the governor 
 every quarter for ail j)ersons sent thither, and 
 tineahle for neglects or escapes. All persons 
 committed, to work constantly, and to be pu- 
 nished by fetters, &c. and moderate whipping, 
 and to have no allowance but what they can 
 earn by their labour. The justices to meet 
 twice a year to put this act in execution, and 
 give warrants four or five days before such meet- 
 ing for a general search for all vagabonds, &c. 
 to be brought before them, and punished or dis- 
 missed. All constables to give in a written ac- 
 count, on oath, of all vagabonds taken by them, 
 and, on every failure, to be fined at will, not ex- 
 
149 ^ 
 
 ceeding 40s. And lastly, the justices of assize 
 are to enquire, in their circuits, of all neglects of 
 any justices of the peace, or other officers, who 
 have failed in the due execution of this statute. 
 
 I have made the fuller ribstract of this law, as 
 it is plain it is wholly ov\ ing to our own neglect in 
 executing it, that we want proper work- houses, 
 and are therefore pestered with such swarms of 
 Jazy, useless vagrants in every county in the king- 
 dom. It is certainly one of the worst instances 
 of our being happy in good laws, and miserable 
 by our letting them sleep forgotten and neglect- 
 ed ; though, ])robahly, the long rebellion iii 
 1641, was the chief occasion of our losing the 
 good effects of tiiis act ; yet, undoubtedly, it was 
 long since, and is still, in cur power to enforce 
 it so, as to make it if not as useful as it was in- 
 tended at first, yet of more service than it is at 
 present. Were it vigorously re-established, and 
 the neglects of those nominal masters who have 
 now salaries for doing nothing, severely fined, 
 and a strict discipline kept up therein by the jus- 
 tices of the sessions, we should not only cut up 
 by the roots, the lazy begging trade of those va- 
 grants, who would be kept to hard labour and 
 corrected there, but we should keep thousands 
 busy at their own homes, who now abandon 
 them, to live at the doors, and by the plunder of 
 more industrious people. Were such v/retches 
 sure to meet with imprisonment and correction 
 for their idleness, and to be whipt to hard labour, 
 they would soon prefer an easy industry at home 
 to such hardships, and bring up their offspring to 
 a better way of life. It were to be wished in- 
 deed that some few amendmr^nts should be added 
 to this statute, and such encouragements given 
 to the master of tlie work-house, as should make 
 
. ]30 
 
 it his interest to keep his prisoners heartily to 
 their work, and if among other things it were 
 made penal to relieve vagrants, and that their 
 cliildren might be seized on for apprentices for 
 twenty years to any, that pleased, or sent to some 
 of the new charter schools, when they are grown 
 niore frequent in the kingdom, it would be of 
 great use. As the kingdom loses an immense 
 sum by the i lleness ol' those wretches, so by giv- 
 ing fresh vigour to this law, we should not only 
 save that money, but give a new turn of mdustry 
 and activity to all our people, which would be of 
 infinite service to us, by encreasing our manu- 
 factures ; and certainly our poor country, in its 
 present low circumstances, has as much a right 
 to call for the labour of its inhabitants, as a ship 
 in a storm, that all shall work, when, without it, 
 death and ruin are before their eyes. 
 
 Jf 1 had room there are many other articles of 
 equal importance, which fall under the cogni- 
 zance and direction of all justices of the peace, 
 and might very properly be enlarged on here, 
 such as a severe execution of the laws in favour 
 of our trade, the watching over'our linen manu- 
 factures, tiie guardianship of our religious and ci- 
 vil rights against Papists and Popery, the faith- 
 ful inspecting the accounts of all public works, 
 buildings, bridges, and roads, as well as correct- 
 ing all niisdemeanors and misbehaviours against 
 sobriety and decency, peace and good order, and 
 above all, those corrupters of good manners, 
 gamesters and drunkards, and debauched and 
 lewd companions. 
 
 These and many other cares the laws have as- 
 signed to them as their province ; and if gentle- 
 men would, with zeal and spirit, attend to thtir 
 trust, and like so many Sir Edmondbury God- 
 
~ 151 
 
 freys, give life, and motion, and energy to our 
 laws, it is hardly credible what the consequences 
 would be to this poor island, in the reformation 
 of a number of abuses, which spread and encivase 
 among us like weeds in a garden, for want of 
 being- duly kept under the hoe. But it would 
 take up too much of the reader's time and 
 tiioughts to descend to so many minute particu- 
 lars as a long discourse on these things would 
 lead us into, and therefore I shall dismiss them 
 all with wishing that every magistrate may at- 
 tend to them, and endeavour to do honour to 
 those wiio ])lace him in this station, by acting 
 up to the dignity of such a trust, by shewing 
 an unwearied zeal for the public interest, for 
 our laws and our liberties, our peace and safety, 
 for religion and virtue, and justice in his coun- 
 try. 
 
 There is another material situation in which 
 many of us are engaged, and in which the wel- 
 fare of 1 1 eland is nearly concerned, and that is, 
 as merchants ; and in this view we should lirmly 
 and constantly lay down this necessary Reso- 
 lution, viz. 
 
 IVe resolve as Irtsh merchants, that tee will 
 take all possible care, by xvalching over the 
 goodness of the commodities and manufaclurcs 
 zve e.vport, to pay due regard to the laws at 
 home, and the credit and interest of our coun- 
 try ahroad, and the jailh and honour of the 
 Irish trade in the zvorld. 
 
 The Italian Proverb says, *' No M^ind can be 
 fair to a foundering vessel ;" but however, our 
 enemies, or mistaken friends, njay say, this is the 
 case of Ireland ; I hope if we once get her leaks 
 
152 
 
 stopped, she may be so well refitted, and put in 
 such good order, as to make many a saving voy- 
 age. In as poor a way as our trade and circum- 
 stances are at present, it is in the power of wise 
 law?, and an honest management, to improve 
 them in a tew years. It is not very long since 
 the trade of Holland grew from nothing to so 
 vast a pitch , and we all know, that the very in- 
 fancy of it in France began under the tendance 
 and nursery of Richlieu and Colbert. Nay, even 
 in England trade kept at a low ebb, and did not 
 swell to any height till Queen Elizabeth's days, 
 and even then the customs were farmed by the 
 famous Smith (commonly called customer Smith) 
 for 14,0001. and he petit oned to be relea^ed 
 from the bargain. So that if we do not turn 
 bankrupts by the madness of our extravagance 
 for foreign things, and tlie wrong use we make 
 of the blessinjis of our rich soil, we mioht be less 
 neglecte*! and unhappy than we are. God is 
 peculiarly stiled '* the God of the isles" in holy 
 writ ; but though we have such advantages froui 
 our situation, and numberless other circumstances, 
 we seem to do all we can to thwart the de- 
 si<rns of Providence, and make the ocean that 
 surrounds us, and our fine ports, perfectly use- 
 less, or to serve only to impoverish us by the 
 mismanagement of the greatest part of our trade, 
 which is chiefly taken up in exporting our pro- 
 visions. It is evident to common sense that this 
 is employing our land, and reducing our mer- 
 chants to the lowest way of profit they can be 
 turned to; and yet our gentlemen are as mcU 
 contented and pleased with it, as your poor Irish 
 tenants are with th( ir dirt, and rags, and pota- 
 toes. Who cannot see that there is vastly more 
 "gained by agriculture than pasture to the nation, 
 
153 
 
 by manufactures than agriculture, and by mer- 
 chandize than bare unexported manufactures. Of 
 consequence, therefore, those nations who pas- 
 ture most, must be poorest ; next to them, those 
 who only till the land, without manufacturing 
 the produce of it; and those must be the richest 
 who work up, and also export their manufactures 
 toothers. And yet our landlords are as jealous 
 of tillage of all kinds, as if they thought it the 
 blessing of Ireland, as, Isaiah* says, it would 
 be of Judea, that " their cattle fed in large pas- 
 tures." It is true, butchering our cattle is, in- 
 deed, better than butchering one another, as we 
 did in I64I, and 1688 ; and yet, mechinks the 
 diflf'erence is not very great, when we starve and 
 eat np our peoj)le by it. We carry out the food 
 and victuals from our poor, and bring home wine 
 for the rich ; we export to our neighbours, or ra- 
 ther, our dangerous enemies, what they cannot 
 help buying, and return loaden with their luxu- 
 rious superfluities, which we do not want ; nay, in 
 the want of which we should be blest and hap' 
 py, and which we purchase at the expence of the 
 health of those who daily surfeit on them, and 
 the very lives of the starving wretches, wiiose 
 fasts and toils enable us to pay for them. Mer- 
 chants may, possibly, with justice bear part of 
 the blame of this excessive importation, but it is 
 those who must and will have such things 
 bought for their consumption, who are really in 
 the fault, and who (above all are unpardonable 
 in this, that) if they should employ our manu- 
 facturers, and buy what they work, they would 
 enable them to purchase our fat cattle, and eat 
 
 u 
 
 • Chap. xi5- ver. 23. 
 
154 
 
 up our beef, and send the superfluities of their 
 labours, instead of their food, for the gold and 
 bulHon of other nations. But it is both the loss 
 of the merchant and the poor natives, that there 
 is such a dearth of public spirit this way; for if 
 there was half the zeal shewn, to encourao'e our 
 poor trades-folks, that there is to support our 
 momentary diversions, our ridottos, music meet- 
 ings, and plays, we should be a flourishing peo- 
 ple ; and till there is such a spirit, we must gra- 
 dually dwindle and decline, till, at last, we shall 
 have little to export to pay for our wine, &c. but 
 our rags to Holland for paper, an-d our people for 
 slaves to the West Indies. But our complaints 
 must not end here ; for as mischievous as these 
 exportations are, we do not make near the profit 
 of them which we might, by our not managing 
 our beef, butter, &c. with the good faith and pro- 
 bity of honest men. How often have we slaugh- 
 tered ill-conditioned cattle, as well as under- 
 aged, in despite of our laws, and sent both them 
 and our butter so pickled, salted, and packed, 
 that tlie very slaves in the Indies would not eat 
 them, and in casks as faulty as the victuals that 
 were barrelled up in them, to the loss of our cre- 
 dit, and the ruin of our trade. While there is 
 business in the world the fair dealer will never 
 fail of being employed to his. advantage in it ; 
 but if the world was starving and naked, they 
 would be as unwilling to send for our provision* 
 or linens, while we cheat and defraud them, as 
 one would be to employ noted thieves to quench 
 the flames, or remove the goods, when «n house 
 is on fire. It is true, of late ^ears these detesta- 
 ble frauds have been generally laid aside, and 
 thereby our provisions have come in request, 
 Mid got as much jcputatjon as our linen ; and, it 
 
155 
 
 is to be hoped, all who deserve the name of 
 merchants will, for their own sakes, as well as 
 their country, take the utmost care, both as to 
 quantity and quality, that whatever they senci 
 abroad is in the highest perfection possible. It 
 would soon enlarge both the price and the de- 
 mand for our commodities, and double our trade 
 and our profit, if every one would watch ovtr 
 the goods of all kinds, which he exports to fo« 
 reio-ners, with the same care he would f<jr those 
 he purchases for his own use, or sells to his friends 
 and neighbours. This would be serving Ireland 
 as well as their own families, and bring in a per- 
 petual gain that would never be endangered by 
 the momentary profit of little villainous cheats 
 and frauds. We see in Holland if a child is 
 sent to a shop to buy goods, he is as safe fro\io 
 being imposed on as the most experienced per- 
 son ; and it is those honest maxims that have 
 enriched them, and which only can deliver us 
 from that poverty which is too apt to run into 
 tricks and shifts till it starves, like a knavish 
 quack for want of a fool to practise his cheats on. 
 But it is to be hoped there is less danger now 
 from the abuses we have mentioned than ever. 
 The common sense and common interest of the 
 nation are united against them, and as the care 
 of our magistrates, and the probity of our mer- 
 chants, have joined in rooting out these vile prac- 
 tices, we need not fear the credit and honour of 
 our country will ever suffer by this return. Let 
 us therefore rest ourselves secure in this hope, 
 and proceed to another Resolution equally 
 useful and necessary to the trade of Ireland, 
 viz. 
 
156 
 
 JVe resolve, as Irish merchants, both to discou- 
 rage uni'oersaliij the infamous method of run- 
 ning of goods, and also by carrying on, and 
 e.vpnrting, suck manufactures as Great Britain 
 has left open to iis, to remove all suspicion of 
 our riicilling her in the woollen trade. 
 
 As to the first article, it is of the last conse- 
 quence to the public wellare, which is so far 
 undermined, as we defraud it of those duties which 
 are assigned by tlie laws for its defence and se- 
 curity ; and though some merchants may be poor, 
 and the duties, by being so high, seem to drive 
 them to it (and the law, in some cases, pardons 
 the stealing bread, where the thief is starving) 
 ^^et this kind of tlieft is a sort of robbing the 
 state, and plundering our neighbours, without 
 relieving the criminal. Between the hazards 
 that are run, and the damaging of the goods ; 
 between the high wages that are given those who 
 assist and harbour them, and the bribes for con- 
 cealment; between the low prices they are often 
 forced to sell at, and the high fines the}' are liable 
 to, and their losses when they are seized; it is 
 certain where one man thrives, five are undone, 
 by this wicked practice. Besides, we see in Eng- 
 land a guinea a day is the common wages for a 
 smuggler, by which means, it is with difticulty the 
 farmers on the sea-coasts can get in their harvests ; 
 by which means this infamous running of goods 
 proves a nursery both for idhrs and thieves, as 
 well as rebels against the laws of the land, and 
 the common rights of the crown and the subject. 
 It is not only a direct violation of a sort of public 
 contract between every merchant and the nation, 
 but it is ruinous to the fair tradev, and conse- 
 
157 
 
 quently destructive to that regulated commerce, 
 wiiicli every well governed people establish 
 among themselves. In a word, it is big with so 
 many evils, that a wise legislature cannot be too 
 severe in imposing penalties on it, nor can an 
 honest merchant be too careful in resolving never 
 to deserve them. As to the second article, the 
 rivalling Great Britain in her wooUea trade, it is 
 as evidently our interest to avoid the least ap- 
 pearance of it as the first. Besides several other 
 branches, she has left us the linen and hempen 
 manufactures, which make us full amends for 
 our loss of the other ; and, indeed, though she 
 has shut up this enclosure, she has left so wide a 
 field open to us, that all the vvealth we shall ever 
 be masters of will never overstock it. There is 
 still trade enough for us in the world abroad, anij 
 a wide extent for improvements at home, which 
 may give us employment for our utmost industry. 
 Will nothing serve us but this forbidden fruit, 
 when so many other trees in the garden are left 
 free to us, where we may range at pleasure, and 
 cultivate and improve them to the fullest advan- 
 tao'e. The truth is, if we calmlv examine our 
 complaints on this business, we shall find them 
 equally vain, as they cannot help us, and unjusti- 
 fiable, as tliey are contrary to reason and the 
 nature of things. As we are, in effect, a colony 
 from England, we must naturally be so far depen- 
 dent on the mother nation as, at least, not to hurt 
 or supplant those to u'hom we owe every blessing 
 we enjoy. So that not only the laws of the land, 
 but the laws of nature too, are against us, since 
 they, to whom we are indebted for our religious 
 and civil rights, for our defence and protection in 
 every danger, have a right to prescribe to us in a 
 point where they think their own prosperity is so 
 
158 
 
 deeply concerned. We may complain, if we 
 please, that such near relations should use us with 
 so little kindness, but surely the younger brother 
 ought not to grumble if the elder has the old estate 
 of the family, and chargeable with all the debts 
 too, when we have a good portion allowed us. 
 What should hinder us to give our industry ano- 
 ther turn, as well as many other nations in the 
 world, who have no woollen manufactures among 
 them, and above all, when this is, and ever has 
 been, the chief source of the coldness and jealousy 
 of England to us ? They have shewn a friendly 
 readiness to assist us in other methods of manu- 
 facti^re and trade that may be serviceable to both 
 nations ; and surely it is better to enrich ourselves 
 by being useful to them, than beggar ourselves by 
 hurting them. Besides, at bottom it will ever be 
 lound, that our interest and theirs are one and 
 the same, and that hurting them, and helping 
 their enemies, or rivals of their trade and power, 
 is lessening their strength to defend, and encreas- 
 ing that of our adversaries to hurt us. But as I 
 have formerly touched on this subject, I shall 
 not enlarge further on it, than to say, that we 
 shall never find the want of this branch of our 
 manufactures, (especially, if England should al- 
 low us hereafter such a share in it as will be to 
 her profit and the ruin of her rivals) provided 
 we make use of a number of advantages which 
 we may employ all the force of our industry in. 
 Let us therefore proceed to another Resolution 
 of the greatest importance to Ireland, if we will 
 but unanimously and heartily concur in it, 
 namely. 
 
159 
 
 We resolve as Irish merchants, to do our utmost, 
 if assisted by the legislature, to advance the 
 traded navigation of Ireland, and to consider 
 all possible ways and methods to encrease our 
 shipping and sailors^ and improve our manufac- 
 tures. 
 
 By advancing the trade, the friends of Ireland 
 can only mean those branches of it, that enrich 
 their country and not those which impoverish it 
 and prey on its vitals. As it is infinitely better to 
 have no trade than a losing one, so those mer- 
 chants who improve their substance by wasting 
 importations, that consume the public wealth, are 
 but a kind of legal robbers, who like the Arabs 
 among the Turks, pay taxes to the governmeiit 
 for a liberty to live under it by plunder. They 
 only can be said to advance our trade, who en- 
 crease the exports of the kingdom, the produce of 
 its fields, and the labours of its manufactures, but 
 as to others, they do not deserve the name of 
 merchants. Next to these they advance our trade 
 most, who re-export our foreign importations to 
 those countries, who want them, and thereby gain 
 all the profit of the freight and other charges clear 
 to our people. One great expedient to assist us 
 herein will be to trade less by commission and 
 more on our own bottom ; for as great part of 
 our lands belong to absentees, so does a large 
 share of our trade also, by vvhich means the pro- 
 fit is much lessened to the nation. It would also 
 be a great help to lessen the dead weight of our 
 importations, if we took care to bring in those we 
 can not want, as coals, grain, &'"c. with our owu 
 shipping and hands and so far save the carriage, 
 which otherwise will ever be a great enhance- 
 
ment of our charge. Much more would it ad- 
 vance our trade, if in time, we could become not 
 only carriers for ourselves, but other countries 
 also ; and above all if we could succeed the Eng- 
 lish in the more laborious trade to the north, 
 which they have forsaken for the warm suns and 
 fair weather, and the more luxurious trade of the 
 south. But nothing will assist our merchants 
 more herein than reducing our interest (by slow 
 degrees at least) to the Dutch or English standard. 
 Mr. Fortray, Sir Thomas Culpcper, Josiah Child, 
 and several others in England, and Mr. Dobbsin 
 our own country, have proved this so fully that it 
 is needless to enlarge upon it in this place. A poor 
 nation as ours is with high interest on them, Avhen 
 they happen to be rivals in trade with a rich one, 
 iliho pay only a low interest for all they trafiic in, 
 have the same disadvantage that the weakest 
 horse has in a race, when he is obliged to carry 
 the greatest weight, and therefore must con^tantly 
 be distanced and beaten. By this account we 
 must resign all trade, where the merchant can 
 make but 81. or 91. percent, for his monej' (as 
 quite unprofitable under 61. percent, interest) to 
 those who pay only three or four pounds per cent, 
 for their money, which branches of trade, if our 
 interest was reduced to a par, or near a par, witli 
 other nations, we might come in for a share of. 
 As low interest would enable merchants to sell 
 for less profit, and yet trade with more gain, so it 
 must necessarily encrease their number, and that 
 of all industrious traders and tradesmen ; it will 
 lighten their charges of all kinds in wages as well 
 as wares, they might pay more for their goods 
 here, and yet sell cheaper abroad, and in spite of 
 the proverb, "live well ontheloss." Lowinterest 
 would force great sums into trade, which other- 
 
161 
 
 wise would not maintain men by the bare interest, 
 and as it would raise the purchase of lauds, it 
 would force people rather to improve than to buy 
 them, and thus enlarge their produce, and thence 
 make provisions plentier, and therefore cheaper. 
 Had I room for it, these hints, and many others, 
 would deserve to be enlarged on, but I hasten to 
 mention another means to advance trade and na- 
 vigation, and that is by encreasingthe number of 
 light houses on all places of our coasts, where 
 they are most wanted. They are of such service 
 to the poor despairing mariner in dark tempestu- 
 ous nights, and so great a number of ships have 
 been preserved by their means from absolute de- 
 struction, and are so frequently a safe-guard to the 
 lives and fortunes of the usefulest members of the 
 common-wealth, that we can never be too lavish- 
 in expences to provide our coasts sufTiciently with 
 them. 
 
 There is another particular, which might be 
 applied under due regulations to the same good 
 end, if ever we could hope to see it allowed us, 
 and that is the establishing several free ports in 
 the kingdom. But as I know there are some ob- 
 structions to them whicli are not easily got over, I 
 shall not dwell on them any further, than to ob- 
 serve that I have found this expedient mentioned 
 by Sir William Temple, in his essay on our trade, 
 and also by one of our parliaments, (I think un- 
 der one of the Harry's) in the preamble of an act 
 relating to the customs, and therefore I thought it 
 highly proper not to omit giving that him to the 
 reader. 
 
 Light customs also on our exports and most 
 necessary and useful imports, and heavy ones on 
 those that serve to- vanity and luxury, would 
 equally encrease our wealth and extend our navi- 
 
 X 
 
1C2 
 
 gation, and if we had severe laws against all 
 cheats and frauds in whatever relates to the quan- 
 tity and quality oF our exports, and indeed, in all 
 matters ot trade, it would conduce greatly to the 
 same end. 
 
 Lastly, if foreign merchants were invited over 
 and encouraged to settleheie, hy proper privileges 
 and favours, and if the merchants of our own na- 
 tion, were more respected and regarded by all 
 ranks and degrees of men; if only merchants 
 were chosen for the representatives of our chief 
 sea-ports and trading cities, and two or three of 
 the most eminent in the kingdom, as Sir William 
 Temple advises, were so far distinguished as to 
 be constant members of the' privy council, it 
 would produce considerable effects this way. 
 And indeed it is odd to consider how our an- 
 cestors were often enriched and enohled for but- 
 chering and destroying their ftilow subjects, 
 while those who ventured their lives and fortunes 
 in the noblest manner, for the happiness and 
 welfare of their country by trafric, were slighted 
 and disregarded as so many mechanics. We see 
 in Italy and Holland, where merchandize h held 
 highly honourable, it spreads and enlarges to a 
 surprizing degree, so that even the noblest fami- 
 lies in the first, and those who are at the head 
 of afiiairs in the other, are so far from being 
 ashamed of the profession, that they continue it 
 tlirough the course of their lives, and leave their 
 business and their eirectsin trade to their t.ons, as 
 we do our estates, so that with them merchants 
 beget mercliants as regularly as they do in China. 
 l>y this means and the force of low intere^t, they 
 never retire from business, to buy lands and 
 turn country gentlemen, as we do, but die with 
 tbeJi warehou!>et> lull, and their ships loaden, and 
 
breed up even their wives and daughters to ira-j 
 derstand accounts and figures, and tlierehy make 
 them as al)Ie to manage their affairs, and keep 
 up all their foreign correspondence as themselves, 
 of which we see few examples among our peo- 
 ple. 
 
 If by such methods merchants would endeavour 
 to extend our trade and navigation, they would 
 soon encreaseour shipping and sailors, as natural- 
 ly as war officers do soldiers. It were to be wish- 
 ed indeed, we had a law to encourage our natives 
 to betake themselves more to the sea, and that 
 we had public schools to teach them the art of 
 navigation gratis, which would do the nation 
 more service than all the boarding, dancing and 
 pushing schools (to say nothing of some of our 
 sinecure free-schools) in it. I find Harry the 
 Vlllth. and Queen Elizabeth, and even James 
 the 1st. allowed a premium of 51. per ton for all 
 ships built in England of above 100 tons bur- 
 then ; but in the act of the popish Irish parlia- 
 ment in 1689, that matter was carried much 
 farther in this kingdom. That law allou'pd one 
 eighth part of all duties and customs for the 
 three first voyages to every Irish built ship, tiiat 
 was above 25, and under 100 tons, and tlie sane 
 privilege for the first four voyages to every ship 
 here, that exceeded that burthen, May, by that 
 act, all ship-wrights, mariners, rope -makers-, 
 and block-makers, Sec. settling here, Avere freed 
 from all cesses, taxes, watch {'.nfl ward, and 
 quartering of sohliers, and were declared free of 
 all corporations were they resided. How far 
 these encouragements, or such like, may be 
 proper now, our legislature are the best juilges, 
 and to them we will leave tiiem, and consider 
 how our merchants, under proper advantages and 
 
164 
 
 favour from the gorernment, rflay be able to 
 improve our manufactures. 
 
 And in the first place then, as with a little 
 cave in our agriculture, we could feed our peo- 
 ple cheaper than any part of the earth except 
 the iLast Indies, so if our merchants could once 
 be prevailed on by due encouragement to build 
 granaries, (as Ave hinted formerly) they would 
 contribute greatly to the improvement of our 
 ip.nvLifactures, by keeping the market at one fix- 
 ed, usual price, instead of fluctuating every sea- 
 son between dearths and abundance. But be- 
 sides this they might by settling diffeient bran- 
 ches of our linen business, in particular towns 
 and districts, contribute as much to its improve- 
 ment (as those incomparable papers the querist 
 observe) as the Englisli Inve done their woollen: 
 and certainly, jrom the same reason that one 
 nation exels in this oi other kind of manufac- 
 ture, namely by applying its chief industry that 
 way, a particular town may arrive at the highest 
 perfection of any siigle branch of it. We may 
 make the same obseivation as to our silks also, 
 either for our home consumption, or possibly in 
 time to send abroad to our neighbours, at least 
 as to our thread sattins, and such damasks and 
 silks as we mix with cotton, or linen yarn, which 
 our merchants might greatly improve by pro- 
 curing the newest and finest patterns from 
 France and Flolland, until we get a little more 
 skill in designiiigand drawing beautiful patterns 
 in our own country. 
 
 In »he next place our merchants might great- 
 ly advance our hempen manufactures, especially 
 our sail cloths, for the use not only of the Bri- 
 tish navy, but the general consumption, in time, 
 of the shipping of the three kingdoms. This 
 
165 
 
 would be an incredible advantage to us, as it 
 might employ many thousand of hands and 
 looms in Munster and Connaught, and by that 
 means make them as industrious, and conse- 
 quently, in time, as populous as the north, and 
 lessen their tondness for wool and pasture. 
 They migiit, also introduce that excellent Dutch 
 custom ot schools for breeding up the weakly 
 and less robust boys (wlio are aptest to turn idle 
 and thieves) to spin, and particuiiuly that kind 
 of yarn which is used in cambrics, and also 
 breed them as the Dutch do, to be good weavers 
 in half the time we do, by wiiich means we 
 might soon be able to work up the whole of our 
 yarn (without expoiting such vast quantities of 
 it unmanufactured) into cloth, without any dan- 
 ger of over-stocking the market. 
 
 Our merchants might also be very serviceable 
 to us, in teaching us to improve our manufac- 
 tures, if in their voyages to and jonraies in fo- 
 reign parts, they would carefully pry into the lit- 
 tle arts and mysteries of those of our rivals 
 there, and see by what methods and manage- 
 ments it is that they arrive at the perfection 
 theirs are brought to. They should make it 
 their main business either to bring over several 
 of the manufactures themselves, or at least to 
 learn every circumstance of the manner how they 
 are wrought by them, and where the obstruc- 
 tion and defect lies, that prevents ours from ex- 
 celling, or at least equaling theirs, and set down 
 their observations in m riting, and make their 
 enquiries as cautiously and regularly, as they 
 keep their accounts. They should take the same 
 care as to any manufacture we are as yet un- 
 practised in, which they conceive we might 
 set up in this kingdom with success, and by 
 
166 
 
 this means the knowledge and experience they 
 would bring back to us would make us some 
 amends for the wasteful importations they often 
 destroy us by. I have sometimes thought had 
 we funds or spirits to set about such an aflair, 
 we would do well to send a sensible merchant 
 annually to travel at ourexpcnce barely, to bring 
 home the best observations he could pick up in 
 France, Holland, England, America, &c. and 
 that many great advantages might altend it: 
 but alas ! we are poor and our poverty (uliich 
 is worst of all) makes us cautious, and sleepy and 
 dull. Yet certainly we might make tiiis good 
 use of those merchants, who go abroad on 
 their own accounts, and in time,- if this method 
 were recommended to them and properly pur- 
 sued by them, w-e should gain many lights and 
 helps we want now. 
 
 We might also by their help in time regain 
 the trade for our linens with our old friends and 
 allies the Spaniards, who are fond of our people, 
 especially if they once find- us strictly punctual 
 as to the exact breadth, length, fineness and 
 xvhiteness of our cloths, and the faithful lapping 
 of them without any frauds or impositions of 
 any kind. 
 
 i shall mention but one particular more of a 
 different nature, which our merchants may con- 
 tribute greatly to the improvement of, and that 
 is, our brevving in the best perfection possible, 
 the finest and strongest mum, ale, and beer. If 
 once we could come to rival Brunswick, Bristol, 
 and Wales, in the strength and beauty of those 
 liquors which are in so much request abroad, 
 we miglu save what, to our shame, we import 
 from them, and by their help once we get coals 
 of our own, to boil them with, export great 
 
167 
 
 quantities of them at reasonable rates to other 
 nations, to the great encrease of his majesty's 
 customs and the full encouragement of our hus- 
 band-men. 
 
 But as our merchants may be still further use- 
 ful to us, we will lay down another Resolution^ 
 of the highest consequence to us and them, viz. 
 
 We loill ejideavonr as Irish merchants^ if sup- 
 ported and assisted by the legislature^ to form 
 such societies^ and set 2ip such offices and intror 
 dace such neio manufactures and methods of 
 business, as may both direct, help and enlarge 
 ourforeig?i tradcy and also enliven our inland 
 commerce at home. 
 
 And first then we will begin with a public 
 office of insurance of our houses and ships to be 
 established in Dublin, on the same foot and with 
 as sufficient securities for our narrow trade and 
 buildings as the greatest office of that sort in 
 London. Every one who knows any thing of 
 the use and advantages of ensuring ships and 
 houses, and the great sums it drains from us (to 
 say nothing of the law-suits it often costs us) 
 will wish to have some share of that expence 
 confined to ourselves; and as proper ways and 
 means may be easily laid out for such a fund 
 and undertaking, it is to be hoped, we shall not 
 long have this heavy drawback entailed on our 
 traffic and buildings, paid to any other insur- 
 ance but our own. 
 
 A society or board of trade would be another 
 very useful engine, which they may employ for 
 our benefit, which might be settled in Dublin, 
 and have several subordinate societies in our 
 chief trading towns and sea ports, which should 
 
168 
 
 corresponfl ret^nlarly with it, in the same man- 
 ner as those of France do with the couu' il of 
 trade f>t Paris. By these societies, measures 
 shoLi);' bejointl}' "onreri-d tor tht removing all 
 difficulties and obstriKtions in our cormnerce, to 
 advise and direct our measures therein, and where 
 they stood in need of remedies to propose proper 
 ones to parliament, and guard against ill ones, 
 where otherwise the cure may be worse than the 
 disease. Such a board was actually set uphrre in 
 J 664, in tJie old Duke of Ormonde's time, and 
 -vras of great service to us, and the benefits Great 
 Britain has received from that established at 
 London, is a sufficient argument, to make us 
 wish for the same methods to be settled here. 
 
 There is another important point, in which, if 
 all our merchants would unanimously join and 
 petition the parliament, to address the king for 
 it, we should probably succeed, and that is the 
 establishing a mint in Ireland. The request 
 would appear so reasonable, it is very unlikely 
 it would miscarry, for it is certain all civilized 
 nations use no other money but what they coin 
 themselves, and regard all foreign money only 
 ns bullion, so that not only every kingdom in 
 Kuro[)e; but even every free state and city in 
 Germany, an<l what is more, several dependent 
 provinces and governmetits abroad, (as Naples 
 and Sicily when under Spain) liave been allowed 
 this privilege. We see Scotland had one before 
 the union, and to say nothing of the Ise of Man, 
 (which we cannot name on this subject wifiiout 
 blushing) even several of our Irish bishops in 
 the days of popery, and many of our cities and 
 iorporations before queen El'izabetlvs days, were 
 allowed to coin money here. It is therefore im- 
 probable it can be refused to the whole nation 
 
169 
 
 ROW, if it be once properly addressed for, since it 
 cannot hurt Great Britain, and must be of ad- 
 vantage to the crown as well as the kingdom. It 
 is plain the want of it produces many grievances 
 here, and staijnates our affairs and business to a 
 great degree ; and is the great source that oc- 
 casions the perpetual fluctuation of the value of 
 the little money we have ; and by the keeping 
 itaibitrary and undetermined, makes it of less 
 use and service to us. Since it is impossible to 
 think of reducing the value of our coin in Ire- 
 land to that of England, or at least for a great 
 many years, (for to be sure if we could do that 
 we should not want a mint) we have no other 
 safe and effectual method to relieve us but a 
 mint. This would regulate all the wild discord 
 of our foreign coins, and blend them into a re- 
 gular proportioned mass for the service of the 
 public, and would be of great advantage several 
 ways, if 1 could dwell on them, to our nation 
 and its trade. We should only pay for the ma- 
 nufacture to our own people, and if we were al- 
 lowed merely to coin shillings, six-pences and 
 three-pences, we should find our account in it, 
 by keeping those at least at home for the use of 
 our people, and especially it', without diminish- 
 ing the pure silver in those smaller coin, we may 
 increase the allay, and their size and hardness, as 
 the Dutch and the Danes, &c. do, for at present 
 by constant use they wear so fast and so thin, 
 that (besides their want of value) in time they 
 will be in danger of being blown away with the 
 wind. 
 
 The court merchants of Holland, as they are 
 described by Mr. Roberts, Mr. Nun, Sir Josiah 
 Child, and Mr. Dobbs, would be another exce^- 
 
 Y 
 
170 
 
 lent society, to remove the excessive burthen of 
 lawsuits, in matters of trade, which are finally 
 and summarily determined there, by a dozen of 
 eminent merchants, annually chosen and elect- 
 ed among themselves. This method cuts ofi' all 
 the expence and chicanery of law, and the vex- 
 ation from litigious or knavish men, and has been 
 found by long experience ihere, of such great 
 service, that we can never be too zealous for ob- 
 taining and settling it here. They are vested 
 there with as absolute a power as our Lord Chan- 
 cellors, and though appeals are allowed from 
 them to the judges, it is under a penalty of tre- 
 ble costs, in case the appellant has sentence past 
 against him a second time. 
 
 The Dublin Society when incorporated by a 
 charter, and strengthened by subscriptions or ra- 
 ther a fund from the parliament, may also be 
 made subservient to many great and useful pur- 
 poses of our merchants and trade, as well as our 
 husbandry, and may further our commerce both 
 at lionie and abroad. As its members are 
 considerable for their numbers, fortunes, and un- 
 derstandings, their advices must naturally have 
 great weight in the nation, and (besides other 
 points) if they would once enter on the subject 
 of our trade, it might have very happy conse- 
 quences. They might thus, by publishing their 
 weekly papers at half the usual price, and prmt- 
 ing them by volumes at a much lower rate, dis- 
 perse many thousands of them through the body 
 of the people, as well as our gentry, to our mer- 
 chants great advantage, so that no article in 
 which our country and trade are intrusted, might 
 be left unexplained, or unim;>roved, to the in- 
 formation and encouragement of all among us. 
 
 But the last expedient of this nature which i 
 
shnll liint is, that which above all others our mer- 
 chants might make use of to the prosi)eiity ot* 
 trade, and the happiness ot" this kingdom, if once 
 it were estahlislied by law, I mean a well regu- 
 lated bank, us proposed by those excellent pa- 
 pers the Querist. 
 
 The novelty of this most useful proposal, 
 (thonuh it is a-i old as Mr. Potter's proposal, and 
 IVlr. Harthb's * legacy ; and Sir William Petty's 
 "|"u'ritini>s, to say nothing of Mr. Lamb's, and 
 Caj)tain yanington's, which is so near a kin to 
 theirs) may possibly startle inexperienced people ; 
 but bt'Nides this, as it is also to be feared, many 
 others from private views and interests, may in- 
 fuse jealousies against it, I will therefore set 
 down several reasons here, why every merchant, 
 nay every man who wishes well to Ireland, must 
 necessarily desire its establishment, as the best 
 and safest remedy for all our ailments. 
 
 And lirst, then every friend of our country 
 must wish for it, because such a national Dank, 
 modelled by the wisdom of our legislature, and 
 secured by the public faith, must have as sure 
 and as extensive a credit, and as hrm a founda- 
 tion, as any other bank now in the world. Se- 
 condly, because as we see the wonderful effects 
 that the national banks of Venice, Hamburgh, 
 and Amsterdam, (and let us, though it is on a 
 different toot, join the bank of New England 
 with them) have on their trade, so we ought to 
 assist our country by such ways and means, ajs 
 we see have so greatly enriched them. Thirdly, 
 because not only our people and merchants have 
 ever wished for one, but our House of Commons 
 
 * P. 289. t P. 122, his Political Survey, and p. 125 
 and 73. 
 
172 
 
 in 1720, unanimously voted that a bank on a so- 
 liii touudation, and under proper regulations 
 may be of advantage to this kingdom ; and 
 though the bill for a bank of a very different na- 
 ture from this was afterwards thrown out of the 
 house, yet il was only from gentlemen disliking 
 the foundations and regulations then proposed, 
 and their fears of the engrossing power and in- 
 terest of the directors, none of which objections 
 can be against the national bank on the pro- 
 posed model. Fourthly, because we can secure 
 all the good consequences, that must necessarily 
 attend such a bank, and effectually guard our- 
 selves both when it is made, and every subse- 
 quent sessions by new acts, against every possi- 
 ble ill one, which may be feared from it. Fifthly, 
 because it is utterly impossible for us and our 
 merchants to subsist without banks, nor with 
 private banks without per()etual danger to the 
 subject's property and the public welfare, we 
 may by a national one have all their convenience 
 without any even the smallest hazard ; liable to 
 no runs from the security of its foundation, and 
 obnoxious to no mismanagements by the care of 
 our legislature and the directors they appoint, by 
 balloting, to inspect and manage it. Sixthly, be- 
 cause it will in effect (loul)le our specie, and 
 thereby considerably sink the interest of money, 
 and consequently raise the value and purchase of 
 lands, encrease their produce by improvement, 
 and thereby multiply our provisions without en- 
 hancing their price, and at the same time put 
 our merchants and traders on an e(jual foot with 
 any other nation. Seventhly, because though it 
 vvill thus effectually assist our trade and traders, 
 it will be without the'least interfering with those 
 of Great Britain, who gain considerably by our 
 
173 
 
 manufactures, and receive and ever will receive 
 all the redundancy of our wealth in Ireland. 
 Eighthly, hecause it will not only double our 
 money, but also treble our industry (the sole foun- 
 dation of national wealth) by enlarging our bu- 
 siness, and cause such a quick circulation of our 
 cash, or, which is the same thing, of its notes, 
 as will make it equivalent to four times our pre- 
 sent specie. Ninthly, because as for want of cre- 
 dit much of the liitie money we have still lies 
 dead, and for want ot" sufficient trade, less comes 
 into tlie nation, such a bank will so enliven the 
 one and enlaige the other, as will put every 
 wheel in motion, and every hand at work, and 
 so encrease our manufactures, as to turn the 
 balance of trade entirely in our favour. Ttnthly, 
 because we want ready money and such a method 
 of supplying credit, more than any other nation 
 in the world^ and are in perpetual danger of los- 
 ing what we have, if any such accident should 
 attend our bankers, as of late years we have so 
 terribly felt and seen. Eleventhly, because the 
 notes of such a bank, (never minted but by or- 
 der of Parliament) founded on, and fenced in by 
 our laws with proper funds, and the whole weight 
 of our national credrt for its support, must have 
 infinite circulation beyond those of private banks, 
 as not liable to frauds or breaking, and have all 
 advantages over coin, as more portable, transfer- 
 rable, less liable to theft or loss, and easier reco- 
 vered, as being entered in the books of the bank, 
 and payment can be stopped ou due notice. 
 Twelithiy, because as the notes of this or indeed 
 any bank, (as a bank) never are or can be a 
 cause of lessening our specie, which is occasion- 
 ed entirely by the balance of trade being against 
 us, so we shall both preserve every shilling wc 
 
174 
 
 now liave, and perpetually encrease our ready 
 cash, in proportion as the credit of our bank en- 
 larges our manufactures and exportations of all 
 kinds. Thirtetnthly, because we may thus with 
 the gieatest ease pay oiF our national debt, and 
 save our interest, and at the same time, those of 
 private families can be easier relieved by the bor- 
 rowing money at a low rate at the bank, and dis- 
 charging it as they find convenient, by small se- 
 parate payments, than they can now when they 
 must pay their principal at once, and an heavy 
 interest besides. Fourteenthly, because all the 
 vile arts of stock-jobbing will carefully be pre- 
 vented by proper limitations, and all the incon- 
 veniences attending other banks, (as issuing too 
 many notes, engrossing monopolies, and enrich- 
 ing private men at the expence of the public) 
 will effectually be fenced against. Fifteenthl}', 
 because our national bank is not in its manage- 
 ment to be secret and mysterious, to conceal 
 private loans, or a clandestine traffic with other 
 men's money, but is to be open to constant 
 and regular examinations, and attended by pro- 
 per managers and clerks, whose characters and 
 security are to be equally unquestionable. Six- 
 teenthly, because as the Parliament is to make 
 good every deficienc}^, any fund will therefore 
 be sufficient to answer the demanrls made on, or 
 the credit given to it by others, and consequently 
 a pro])cr one may easily be raised for it without 
 burthening the nation. Seventeenthly, because 
 a very useful adequate fund may be settled for it 
 by a tax on the follies of our dress, equipage and 
 furniture, and the madness of our luxury, and we 
 shall therefore encrease our wealth by lessening 
 cur extravagancies, as well as enlarging our 
 trade. Eighteenthly, and lastly, because as there 
 
175 
 
 ean be no shares, trade or dividends in it, all its 
 profits are solely to redound to the public, and a 
 large share of these profits will be employed in 
 setting up such kinds of manufactures, as we 
 want, and can hardly hope to see settled here 
 without some such public assistance and encou- 
 ragement to establish them. 
 
 And thus having dispatched this subject, 
 though in a manner infinitelv inferior to the 
 greatness of the design, and the honour due to 
 its author, I shall now proceed to such new ma- 
 nufactures or methods, as our merchants may 
 employ, to the enlarging our foreign trade. 
 
 And the first 1 shall touch on, is tiiat of our ta- 
 pestry, which we have already begun with so 
 much success and honour to those who have un- 
 dertaken it ; and certainly if' our nobility and 
 gentry would be so just to their country as to en- 
 courage the managers of it, by adorning their 
 houses with this beautiful ornament of our Irish 
 looms, we should see a surprizing progress made 
 in it in a few years. We might then bring it to 
 that height as not only to beautify our own 
 dwellings with it, but by the assistance of our 
 merchants, to bring over such good designers 
 and artists from abroad, as might enable us to 
 work enough of it, for their exportation to our 
 neighbours in Great Britain, who pay so largely 
 for it to foreigners. 
 
 But besides these, there is another kind of 
 hangings they might set up here, which, as well 
 as our screens, is extremely beautiful and lasting, 
 I mean that of gilt leather. This is much cheap- 
 er, and yet very httle inferior to the other, and is 
 a manufacture so easily understood, and may be 
 so soon brought to perfection, that probably 
 ivith some reasonable encouragements, we might 
 
176 
 
 in a little time see this made a gainful branch of 
 our exportations, if our merchants would heartily 
 fall into it. And now we have mentioned the 
 article of leather, let us observe here that our 
 glove trade might become much more consider- 
 able than we have made it, by our indolence, or 
 poverty, or both together. Our workmen are 
 allowed by all to make them up in a neater man- 
 ner and of a finer sort of skins, than most of our 
 neighbours, and instead of exporting xhe skins, 
 with due care vi'e might send abroad tenfold the 
 quantity of gloves we do both to Europe and the 
 Wtst Indies. We may say the same of our 
 shoes, boots, and buckskin breeches, all which we 
 make to great perfection, and yet have little be- 
 nefit from them, but what we get at home, 
 though beyond question by due management 
 and industry, we might make every one of these 
 turn to good account to the nation. 
 
 The next article I shall mention is that of flow- 
 ered carpets, which we have of late attempted 
 and carried to an unexpected height already; 
 and really if we go on to improve and cultivate 
 them as we have done, it is to be hoped our 
 neighbours in Great Britain will cover their 
 floors with them, as commonly as they do their 
 beds with Irish linen, and thereby keep our wool 
 from the looms of Holland and France, for our 
 own workmen here. 
 
 Paper is another manufacture that we might 
 easily nurse up here, not only to the saving us 
 several thousand pounds every year, which we 
 send to Holland for it, but if our merchants 
 would heartily engage in it, we might make 
 enough of it for the market in England. There 
 is a prodigious quantity imported there, both 
 from Holland and Italy, which we might be very 
 
177 
 
 welcome to come in for a share of, if we did uot 
 carry it on with such narrow funds, and weak 
 hands as we do. But as our parliament has lately 
 generously assisted Mr. Slator in ihe infancy of 
 this manufacture here, it is to be hoped lie will 
 deserve further encouragement hereafter, by mak- 
 ing greater improvements than ever, in the 
 mean tnne, as our booksellers antl stationers are 
 now furnished with Irish paper, it is to be hoped 
 all our gentlemen as well as our clerks and ofhces, 
 will give their assistance to this useful undertak- 
 ing, by calling for and using no other. 
 
 Our earthen ware is another article, which 
 costs the nation near oOOOI. per ann. and which 
 we have several times made very promising at- 
 tempts in, both at Arklow, and near Dublin, &c. 
 but alas ! for want of encouragement from the 
 public, and those premiums which are employed 
 by all wise states, to nurse up their infant manu- 
 factures, they have not had the success they de- 
 served, at the same time it is most certain that a 
 small annual allowance, would have secured the 
 flourishing and establishment of that business 
 among us, with which trifling expence for a few 
 years we had saved the nation 50001. per ann. 
 for ever, and enabled herin time to have exported 
 a good (juantity to our neighbours. This manu- 
 facture lias of late been set up again here, and as 
 every Irishman is in honour and interest ol>liged 
 to support it, it is to be hoped it will be able to 
 stand its ground, and, in time, deserve the en- 
 courai'ement and assistance of our legislature. 
 
 Tine threads, lace, and cambrics are manufac- 
 tures whicii cost us great sums every year to 
 foreigners, and which, if proper funds could be 
 assigned them, we might improve, and work 
 enough of, to send abroad to our great advantage. 
 
 i 
 
178 
 
 But the trutli is, the miserable pittance allowed 
 our trustees, as we formerly observed, is so dis- 
 proportioned to any extensive design of this na- 
 ture, that Luuil that is enlarged, we must be con- 
 tent, as the proverb says, " to creep where wc 
 cannot go, "-to the infinite loss of the kingdom. 
 Had they assignments equal to the province they 
 have undertaken, and the care and honesty with 
 which they have managed it, we might hope for 
 their bringing over the best artists from Holland 
 and Flanders, and making vast improvements in 
 these and many other things ; but, in the mean 
 time, in this pinching winter of our trade, for 
 want of a little honey to ieed the hive, thou- 
 sands of our industrious bees are starved, who 
 would otherwise make us large returns for our 
 bounty. 
 
 Our mines are another great improvement, 
 which we also neglect for want of proper laws 
 and encouragements to work them, and which 
 our merchants might manage to the great ad- 
 vancement of our trade, if our legislature would 
 assist them in it; and, indeed, their assistance is 
 not only necessary for enabling and encouraging 
 us to open and workup such mines as shall here- 
 after be discovered, but also to oblige tliose to 
 work them, or forfeit their bargains, who have 
 already taken leases of many of our mines, and 
 for their own ends and designs pay a deail lent; 
 for them, to keep them useless to us, though not 
 to themselves and their private interest. This is 
 all I bhall say on this particular atl'air, and as to 
 our iuines in general, Mr. Dohbs has S[)oke so 
 well and so fully on the subject, that I shall con- 
 tent myself with just hinting it to tlie reader, 
 and only touch on one branch of them, our 
 collieries. 
 
179 
 
 If the generous assistance, which the parh'a- 
 nient hath given Mr. Boyd for the making an 
 liarboLir to serve the coIHers of Ball) casile, has 
 the designed effect, as I hope it will, and the 
 canal from Lough Neagh to Nevvry he once 
 finished, we siuill probably find extraordinary 
 advantages from them. But we should not con- 
 tent ourselves with the benefit of bringing our 
 own coals to Dublin, bat our merchants might 
 easily, and with good profit, raise a fund there 
 for laying in a great stock of them, M'hen they 
 are cheap, to furnish the poor with at a low rate, 
 and in small quantities, in winter, allowing none 
 above one barrel at a time. This would be of 
 great service toen'ible the manufacturers to work 
 cheap, and prevent those extortions they used to 
 groan under on this account. We have some rea- 
 son to hope, that the coal from the pits, not many 
 miles from the river Banow, might, with some 
 moderate expence be carried down that river to 
 Waterford, and come very cheap to Dublin ; and 
 in such case we might m time, not only furnish 
 ourselves with our own coals, but even export 
 theui to Holland at high prices, especially when 
 their turf fails them, as it must in souie years. But, 
 at least, we may have Irish, and by that meaus, 
 English coils (if we want them) also, so reason- 
 able, that we may certainly set up salt-pans and 
 works at much loAver charges than we formerly 
 could, and lessen the prodigious sums we pay for 
 that commodity every year. We may make tlie 
 same use of the low rates of our coals in setting 
 up glass houses, aud thereby sink that large 
 branch of our importations for bottles, drinking 
 glasses, phials, &c. immediately, aud ioi window, 
 coach, and looking glasses also in process ol tin)e, 
 not only for our own consumption, but, pobsibly. 
 
180 
 
 for our neighbours. It is therefore highly in- 
 cumbent on us to push forward the perfection of 
 the canal of Lough Neagh, and the harbour of 
 Ballycastle, as two designs of the greatest impor- 
 tance U) this kingdom, and wliich, under due 
 nianagement, and the generous assistance of the 
 parliament, may he of the highest advantage to 
 our trade and manufactures of all kinds, as some 
 of them cannot be carried on without great plenty 
 of firing, and ail of them will be helped by cheap, 
 and especiall}', Irish firing, wrought and navi- 
 gated by ourselves. 
 
 I might go on to observe, that our mercliants 
 would make a considerable article in our exports, 
 if rnore care was taken, and encouragement given 
 to several branches of our manufactures in iron, 
 brass, and copper, and to exporting hats, and 
 also to our rape-mills and oil, and the shipping;' 
 off soap, candles, and, above all, our grain ; if 
 once we were bO happj' as to see granaries esta- 
 blished among us, and our tillage improved, in 
 such a manner, as to en.dole us to feed our poor 
 at a reasonable price, which might encourage 
 the plough, and sell to our neighbours, when an 
 Idgh market (as we tormcrly observed) invited 
 the carriage. But I have s})oke enough on most 
 of these tFiings, and I will not over-load the sub- 
 ject, and so let us pass on to consider how our 
 merchants and dealers of all kinds may be ena- 
 bled to enliven our inland commerce. And the 
 main engine that can be employed to this end, is, 
 by the assistance of the legislature, to obtain 
 more effectual laws and helps for opening canals, 
 in fit situations, for the cheaper conveyance of all 
 kinds of wares to the best maikets, which may 
 <io us n^oie service than the great canal of the 
 sea, which hitherto, as it has been n^anaged, has 
 
181 
 
 done us almost as much harm as good. If we 
 would make our rivers uavigable, and open great 
 cuts through many of our vast bogs, we miglit 
 join the most distant parts of the kingdom, and 
 bring the prockice of their fields or their looms 
 to our best towns and sea-ports. Tliis would 
 spread industry through every corner, bege'i 
 business, and enliven trade in every remoter 
 village of or.r provinces, and by circulating our 
 coin, make it as useful as if it were actually 
 encreased by this domestic traffic. As carriage 
 is the threat and mighty clog to trade in many 
 of our counties, this would reduce the high 
 price of transporting our goods from one part of 
 the c.'untry to the other; and, until this is done, 
 we nuist be content to see our lands lie untilled, 
 for want of roads and rivers to carry out our 
 grain, and our be^t soils neglected, or just grazed 
 with cattle, that require no carriage, but can go 
 with their own beef and tallow to the market. 
 
 Vv'e siiould therefore highly encourage every 
 feasible undertaking to make the great lakes and 
 rivers of Ireland navigable, and thereby useful to 
 (jur country, which, otherwise, the}' water in vain. 
 We should begin with those attem[)ts which are 
 of most use, and have the least difficulty in them, 
 and such, especially, which lead to our largest 
 towns and sea-ports of greatest trade as Dublin, 
 (-ork, Wexford, Wateiford, Limerick, XjeHast, 
 and Droglieda. This would take off the huge 
 expence of our miserable land carriage by wheel 
 cars, and save us above 501. or bOl. per cent, and, 
 at the sauie time, it might be accomj)lished by a 
 light, imperceptible expence, and even at a lower 
 rate than we j)ay yearly for our cars and garrons 
 ^»r trailinsi" our i>oo(is from town to town, which 
 has been coiiiputcd to 200,0001, j)er ann. Lvery 
 
182 
 
 one knows that tliedearness of carriage is a main 
 draw- back to all coinnierce ; and we see the good 
 effects the savin<4of' this by numbers of canaLs in 
 France and Holland has produced as to their 
 trade, how much it and their wealth have Ijcen 
 advanced by it, and their towns, land, and people 
 improved. We have already observed that the 
 canal to Newry deserves the blithest care, in the 
 first place, of our parliament and people to watch 
 over it, and whatever may retard it; but, cer- 
 tainly, that of the Lifley to Dublin has the next 
 claim to their attention, as it would contiibute 
 effectually to the supplying that huge market with 
 iiecessiuy provisions, and might also save great 
 sums to us, by furni.shing the city both with Kil- 
 kenny coal and turf horn the vast bog ot Allen: 
 and, indeed, as that bog runs from witiiin half a 
 mile of the Liffey, near Landin's-town, in the 
 county of Kildare, to the very banks of the Shan- 
 non, through that vast flat of ground, which at 
 present is useless and lost; and, as by cutting one 
 large canal through it, we might join those two 
 rivers; and, as the ingenious Mr. Brown observes, 
 with the hel|) oi'two or three locks, at a small ex- 
 pence, make one of the noblest inland navigations 
 in Europe, and also drain and recover all that 
 unprofitable ground, it is to be hoped no former 
 nnscarriages of this kind will hinder its being one 
 day brought into execution. The navigation of 
 the Shannon, if it were once vigorously and effec- 
 tually carried on, and the cutting a canal from 
 Lough Erne to the sea-port of Ballyshannoii, 
 would be two undertakings of vast advantage to 
 our inland commerce; and, indeed, the last 
 would be so feasible, and have such effects on 
 that part of the kingdom, that it cannot long be 
 ovcrloo.ked. There are in the provinces of Mun- 
 
185 
 
 ster and Connaugbt many opportunities lost o 
 this kind lor improving our inland romniercc, 
 •which the v;isdom of our legislature may one 
 day remedy. But we shall not insist on this 
 matter at present, but proceed to two other me- 
 thods which /lur legislature might a^sist our mer- 
 chants in, to the increase of the inland trade, 
 though they are very much inferior to that we 
 have just mentioned. 
 
 The first is, the increasing the number and 
 extent of our turnpike roads in every part of the 
 kingdom that wants them, and is able and wil- 
 ling to bear their expence. I need not dwell on 
 so evident a thing as the use they are of to trade, 
 and how much they contribute to m ike our 
 coin circubite in the extremities of the nation, 
 where it is used to stagnate whenever it was car- 
 ried thither; but I hope, as every one is con- 
 vinced o!" the service they do us, where they are 
 made so, no one will oppose their being settled 
 where they are not yet established. 
 
 The other method 1 would mention iclates to 
 our post offices, vvhich, in two particulars might 
 contribute much to the service of our inland 
 commerce. The first is, to oblige our posts, by 
 law, to rome in and go out as nearl}' as pos- 
 sible (storms, floods, and other accidents ex- 
 cepted) at certain liours. It is true, such hours 
 are appointed by the post-master general ; yet, 
 in winter time es])ecially, through the careless- 
 ness of the post-masters the Kileness of the post- 
 boys, bad horses, and sometimes even the want 
 of hor'-es, it is strange how like drunkards they 
 turn day into night, and night into day ; by this 
 means much time is lost, and business miscar- 
 ries, or the notice from our correspondent comes 
 too late to be observed ; and as not only trade, 
 
184 
 
 but tlie life and fortune of thousands among us 
 sonierimcs may depend on such moments, it 
 would do well to iiK. the hours by law, with a 
 penalty on each post-master of 5s. before anv 
 two justices, and whipping tiie boy if he falls 
 short by two hours of iiis time, without shew- 
 ing good cause. The other particular relates to 
 the hardship which much the larger part of the 
 kingdom lies under, in liaving but two pO!^t-days 
 in the week, by which means business and trade 
 is greatly retarded, to the great damage of the 
 nation, and the discom'^igement of merchants, 
 and, consequently, his majesty's revenue. If 
 the post office can bear the expence, they 
 should be obliged to send posts thrice a week to 
 ail the kingdom, and if they cannot, tiiey should 
 be enabled to doit; or at worst, a third penny 
 more on every letter would fully answer the ad- 
 ditional trouble, and the advantage from it would 
 be a thousand fold greater to our people. 
 
 And thus I shall dismiss this subject, and let 
 us now go on in tiiC last place to consider our- 
 selves in another circumstance of life, of the last 
 importance to our country, and in which many 
 gentlemen of the best fortunes and understand- 
 ings in it are always concerned, and that is as 
 members of parliament. 
 
 I am sensible there are an infinite number of 
 things, which, though very proper to be brought 
 under this article, are by no means fit for a pri- 
 vate ])erson to handle, and therefore I shall only 
 Venture to touch on a few particular jioints, where 
 the trade and welfare of our country are i:nme- 
 diatelv interested, and v/ant the assistance of our 
 legislators to promote them. 
 
185 
 
 And methinks the first RESOLUTION we shoal J 
 lay down as such is this, viz. 
 
 We resolve, as members of parliament, that zee 
 ivili promote such sumptuary taws, as zcilL be 
 most conducive to reform the manners of our 
 people, by fencing at^ainsl luxury and vanity in 
 the better sort, and securing sobriety and fru- 
 gality in the lower. 
 
 I have ah'eady, on different occasions, observ- 
 ed upon the excessive growth of luxury and va- 
 nity among us ; hut as melanchoiy as tlje subject 
 is, it is impossible to speak of Ireland and not 
 return again and again to the same complaint. 
 But once for all, if some stop be not put to it, 
 or some change in our sentiments and manners 
 be not brought about by the examples of the 
 great, or proper laws and regulations to restrain 
 our follies, our case is desperate, and we must 
 be undone. If nothing el>e will cure this mad- 
 ness in our extravagancies of all kinds, our 
 wretched comfort nmst be, that our poverty at 
 last will be a sure reuiedy,. and, in spite of the 
 proverb, we may then begin to spare when we 
 have little or nothing to spend. We may then 
 fall into a regular economy, and a scorn of af- 
 fected splendour and false pleasures, and grow 
 more in love with a just simplicity of manners, 
 and that contented retirement in our own coun- 
 try, which is the best foundation of puhlic 
 virtue, as well as private peace and happiness. 
 ^ye may then learn so much political arithmetic 
 as to compute the diti'erence hetv/een providmg 
 for the ease and support of ourselves and children 
 
 A A 
 
186 
 
 bv a frugal and wise Tnanaf!:ement of our income, 
 to the improvement of our own estates and for- 
 tunes where we reside, and the spending the 
 whole of our revenue, besides loading it with 
 debts, and servilely dangling after courts and 
 imngiiiarv posts and employments, which, when 
 they are got by some lucky man, will be found 
 to have cost him near twenty years purchase, 
 (for which he might have bought as much good 
 rent in land) and yet after all, must also be at- 
 tended with many additional and unavoidable 
 expellees and fopperies in our way of living. 
 A just way of thinking on these important points 
 was, indeed, the great ornament and blessing of 
 old times, less improved and refined, but quite 
 undisturbed by tlie artections of modern pride 
 at iiome, or rambling abroad after great men, or, 
 sometimes, merely to bring home foreign luxury, 
 fashions, and follies. 
 
 1 iiave formerly touched on the wasteful ex- 
 cess of our tables and house-keeping, and there- 
 fore I shall .^ay nothing on it here, and shall, at 
 present, only lake notice of two other great ar- 
 ticles uhich want mo^t to be remedied, our itch 
 for gaming, and our passion for fine, that is, 
 foreign cloths. 
 
 The tirst of these is grown so necessary to our 
 entertainments, after an elegant dinner especially 
 that, it is generally thought it is one of the best 
 expedients some of our fine people have, to ena- 
 ble them to pay for it, and is frequently accom- 
 panied with such cheating and shar{)ing, such 
 complaints and heart-burnings, and sometimes 
 quarrels and duels about it, that honest people 
 would be ashamed of it. It is a just observa- 
 tion, that gaming is only fit for those who have 
 g^reat fortunes, or those who have none, which 
 
187 
 
 last one would suppose is the chief title we have 
 to plead, ill this country, for our universal and 
 constant practice of it, among most of our prettvr 
 fellows. But this fashionable plague of good 
 sense and good manners has spread in t^ng- 
 land from the men to the fair sex, to the 
 utter banishment of all economy and care. of 
 their fannlies and children, and too often of 
 their modesty, innocence, and honour. This, 
 it is to be hoped, is never the case with us, 
 and we should take care that it never shall ; for it is 
 certain, where women are fond of playing deep, 
 it looks as if they were resolved to venture all ; 
 and it is terrible to think how far the estate or 
 honour of a family may be endangered, wheje 
 ill fortune and bold gamesters meet together as 
 thev often do. In such cases, the punishment 
 they bring on theni'^elves, by ruining their repu- 
 tation, is worse than even that of Japan, where 
 it is death by the law ; and yet, with all its ill 
 consequences, the fashion in other countries goes 
 on, though honour, health, good humour, and, 
 what is dearer than them all, even their beauty 
 is often ruined by their ill luck and ill iiours. 
 How far severe laws and heavy taxes might re- 
 move this ruinous evil among our neigh l)ours, or 
 with us, if ever it visits us, 1 cannot say, but 
 certainly we have enough of it already to make 
 us resolve, where the husband wants inclination 
 or authority to reform it, the laws should inter- 
 pose, and if there must be gaming, they would do 
 well to appoint the nation the box-keeper, and 
 make our manufactures thrive by our follies. 
 
 The dress of most w^tn among us is another 
 article, the excess of which calls for regulation as 
 much as the other, and makes one look with en- 
 vy on the old antiquated statutes of England, 
 
188 
 
 where the price r.nd fineness of every one's habit 
 was settled according to their condition in the 
 world, under severe penalties. Ot late days 
 there is hardly an actor on the stage more dres- 
 sed above his true fortune and means than many 
 of our flue gentlemen, at least, are, and with this 
 shocking difference, that the actors generally 
 phiy the parts of foreigners, and are dressed in 
 our Iri^h manufactures; but our young beaux 
 pretend to be natives of Ireland, and are tricked 
 out in all the gaudy frippery of France, Italy, 
 and every country that preys on our vitals 
 and the bread of our manufacturing poor. 
 
 The sums v.e lay out for such things with 
 other nations are a vast drain upon us, and con- 
 sume our substance b'^yond all belief or remed}', 
 and v\ ithnut some tax on these wasteful fashions, 
 our poor must go naked in order to clot lie us, 
 and the good weavers in France, &c. But, as 
 I have touched on this subject formerly, as to 
 our ladies, I shall say the less on it now as to 
 our men, and shall only remark, that all degrees 
 and orders of people, among us, are quite undis- 
 tinguished and confounded, by the universal li- 
 cence which every one is allowed of dressing 
 above his circumstances and fortune. Tliis ends, 
 sooner or later, in the ruin of an infinite num- 
 ber of families, who are thus undone by their 
 excess and extravagance; and, as this waste- 
 ful expence is also generally spent in fo- 
 reign manufactures, it is as hurtful to the na- 
 tion too, and, on both accounts wants the 
 same remedies onr fore-fathers applied to it, 
 good, wholesome, sumptuar}' laws. Our young 
 gentlemen are grown so immeasurably lavish in 
 this matter, that not only their rings, their 
 
189 
 
 watches, their canes, their swords, nay, their 
 coaches, their saddles, and their horses, &c. are 
 never thought sufficiently fine, or lashionable, 
 unless they send abroad for them. Tliey must 
 have foreign velvets to complete their dress, and 
 have so highly improved their taste tor elegance 
 herein, that, it is to be feared, in time they will 
 not confine themselves only to silks for their 
 waistcoats and linings, but they will generally 
 use damasks and paduasoys for clothes instead 
 of Irish broad cloths. Gold, and silver lace, and 
 plate buttons are another kind of fashionable 
 trumpery which our pretty fellows, and, cspe- 
 ciallj', our very pretty fellows, think they cannot 
 in reason and conscience be denied. Now, 
 though we supposed them all wrought at home, 
 which is by no means true, yet they are such a 
 vast consumption of the little specie we have, 
 and productive of so many other extravagancies, 
 that we may venture to say, we had better be 
 without them, if it could be done so as not to 
 disgust gentlemen, who are equally the glory 
 and ornament of their cuuntiy. And 3 et, pos- 
 sibly, we may hope to get this great j)()int agreed 
 to Ijy them, for we see they are so good as to 
 lay aside both that sort of fine ry and their be- 
 loved fine lace ruffles, and cravats, too, (v\hich 
 are also so very expensive to us) ( oth in the case 
 of public and private mourning ; and, if the 
 whole nation would go in mourning for their 
 country lor seven years, it would do us more 
 good this way than all their detestable finery. 
 But let us quit this painful subject and proceed 
 to another reform, that is wanting in the man- 
 ners of our people, and that is, sobriety and fru- 
 gality in the lower sort of men. 
 
 I liave, in another place spoke enough on 
 these points as to the rich, if there be any in this 
 
1^0 
 
 unhappy, neglected country, who really deserve 
 that name, and therefore 1 shall confine my- 
 self to those who are (and cannot pos-ibly con- 
 ceal that they are) poor. It is a melancholy 
 reflection iiow much these nations, and especially 
 Ireland, is over-run with that hideous vice, drunk- 
 enness, though it is of so late a date in these 
 parts of the world, that there was no statute to 
 make it any ways punishable in England until 
 queen Elizabeth's time. But though, at present, 
 this vice is wove into the constitution of the 
 state, and'^iade necessary to our establishment 
 by miCans of the excise, yet the harm it does by 
 debauching our people, and ruining whole fami- 
 lies of our poor, and decreasing our manufactures 
 in their goodness and quantity, is incredible. 
 And how can it be otherwise, while the number 
 of our ale-houses is so prodigious, kept by the 
 idlest of the people, who hate labour and busi- 
 ness, just to entertain tho^e who are as idle and 
 lazy as themselves. It is here our manufac- 
 turers, in spite of the proverb, often make two 
 Sundays meet together, and, after swilling down 
 the maintenance of their families, make them- 
 selves unwilling, or unable, to return to their 
 labour, and earn a little bread for their children. 
 As these houses are allowed by law for the ease 
 and lodging of travellers, they should be very 
 tlneable if any one gets drunk in them j and if, 
 along with this, drunkenness was made as pu- 
 nishable as it was in Cromwell's sober days, we 
 should see our manufactures, and those who 
 work them, in a better state than they are. 
 There is therefore a necessity that some law be 
 made to force our people to greater sobriety, 
 that they may work to eat, and eat to work and 
 feed theiv families, or otherwise we may shut 
 
191 
 
 up shop, aiul bid good night to our inanufac- 
 tures, it being impossible they can thrive and 
 come to good markets abroad ; while our peo- 
 ple spend so much, and work so little, and 
 our rivals spend so litlle, and work so hard. 
 If in tenderness to the excise we cannot 
 reduce the incredible number of our ale- 
 houses, we ought at least to raise the price 
 of the licence; and to regulate their con- 
 duct, that they may not be the ruin of our poor 
 tradesmen and servants, and the corrupters of 
 our people's manners, and (as they generally are) 
 the nest of thieves, and idlers, and sharpers, and 
 both as to those who keep them, and those who 
 frequent them, the refuge of every rogue who has 
 an aversion to all labour and industry. 
 
 Our taverns also want much to be reformed, 
 and the more, as even our tradesmen (to say no- 
 thing of others) if they get a little substance, are 
 apt to shew they are got above ale-drinking, and 
 have business enough to enable them to pay vint- 
 ners for their wine, and thus increase their ex- 
 pence, as their credit and dealing enlarge, and 
 sometimes as it sinks, in order to forget or con- 
 ceal it. It is common enough in all coun- 
 tries, for men who are idle and rich, and incapa- 
 ble of doing good to others or themselves, to 
 run into these houses to waste their time, and 
 their money, as well, and as fast as they can ; 
 but it is peculiar to Ireland, that even men of 
 business and trade aifect to run into these de- 
 structive extravagancies, to the ruin of their sub- 
 stance and credit as well as of our country. It 
 would help to lessen this pernicious custom, if 
 an heavy tax were laid on all wine taverns as 
 our happier ancestors called them, and as this 
 would make our people more frugal and sober. 
 
192 
 
 so it would lessen that deluge of French wine 
 and biandy which has sunk our nation, and at 
 once wasted our wealth and debauched our 
 people. 
 
 Let us add to all this, if it may be said with- 
 outoflence that the discipline of our laws against 
 whoredom and adultery, is not only extiemely 
 defective but very much relaxed, through the 
 frequency of the crime, and the difficulty that 
 attends their putting them in execution. It is 
 therefore highly retjuisite to enforce the laws in 
 those points, by adding to theni severe penalties 
 and easier remedies, and especially to make the 
 detection of houses of evil fame, and the punish- 
 ment of the wretches, who consume anri debauch 
 our youth there, more easy to the magistrate, 
 and more penal to the offender. The debauch- 
 ing cf young women and the maintenance of 
 bastards, are two things, wliich there is little or 
 no provision made for by our present laws, and 
 what an influence this has on the corrupting our 
 inoials, and peopling us with wretches abandoned 
 by their parents, and left to starve in their infan- 
 cy, or rob and steal if they grow up, will well 
 deserve to be considered by those, whose provmce 
 it is to deliver us from such destructive evils. 
 But I will not eularge too far on a sunjectso ge- 
 nerally overlooked, and neglected, and shall 
 therefore proceed to lay down another RESOLU- 
 TION' of great consequence to this kingdom i 
 and that is, 
 
 IFf. 7'esolve as members of Parliament, to remedij 
 by all possible ways and means in our power, 
 that great obstiniction to the prosperity of ilu^ 
 7iatioti, the ivant of hands. 
 
193 
 
 It is a self evident truth tliat all kingdoms, are 
 more or less considerable in proportion to the 
 numbers of their subjects, and though in(kistr3Ms 
 a main point to enerease their vakie, yet where 
 numerous bodies of men can be liad, wise states 
 will easily provide means and methods to secure 
 their industry, and their being numerous is a 
 mighty help to it. We are very defective in 
 both these particulars in Ireland, and it will want 
 all our care to find out ])roper remedies for them. 
 It is probable the race of men will last as long 
 as the world itself will, but if some helps and 
 encouragements be not given to our people, I 
 will not maintain that this will hold true of Ire- 
 land, for as things go on, it may become an un- 
 cultivated desart in time, inhabited by nothing 
 but beasts, and savages. The increase of num- 
 bers in kingdoms depends on manufactures en- 
 tirely, by which alone they can be provided with 
 the necessaries of lifej for what the earth pro- 
 duces without the improvement of manufacture, 
 can only maintain such a limited number of men; 
 and when that proportion is exceeded, by an en- 
 crease of their children, those children must starve 
 when grown up, or else find out manufactures at 
 home, or go abroad, where they are, to gtt food 
 and raiment by them. If therefore our small and 
 few manufactures decline, as without better en- 
 couragement they are like to do, our numbers, 
 thin peopled as we are, must sink with them, and 
 leave us every day with fewer hands than ever. 
 And we see in fact, this is so by the crowds that of 
 late years, are gone ofl" to our colonies abroad; 
 besides numbers that go in search of wages and 
 labour to England : nor is this all the evil, for of 
 the few hands we have, at least four- fifths are 
 Papists, and this sad disproportion is likely every 
 
 BB 
 
19i 
 
 day rather to enlarge than lessen, for as I have 
 formerly observed, our Protestants do not marry 
 N oung, but they wait for a tolerable portion, and 
 some settlement to live easy on ; whereas, the 
 Papists are careless as to wealth and portion, and 
 will have wives, let them be maintained how the}^ 
 will. To this humour we owe three-filths of our 
 numbers, and the quick supplies of all our losses 
 by famines, banishments, (I mean under Crom- 
 uell, and at the revolution) and rebellions, and as 
 hiimiurs and customs influence nations as much 
 as their laws, we must, in an age or two, be infi- 
 nitely out-numbered, by the native Irish, if due 
 care be not taken, to encourage Englishmen to 
 transplant themselves hither, or to make our Irish 
 perfect Englishmen, in their manners, religion 
 and language. Sir William Petty proposed, to 
 prevent this disproportion, and alltuture rebellions 
 from it, by a transplantation and exchange of 
 natives between the two kingdoms, and so to have 
 embodied us into one people by degrees, and had 
 it been practised, or practicable, it had certainly 
 produced great effects by this time, though pro- 
 bably our acts against Po])ery, and the advantage 
 and prevalence of English customs, may do the 
 work as well, and more easily now. In the mean- 
 time, while our laws are operating slowly and 
 surely on our opinions and manners, let us consi- 
 der what are the most feasible methods we can 
 make use of to encrease our numbers, and, let us 
 then contrive how to employ them. 
 
 And in the first place then as to our numbers, 
 it would certainly encrease them if celibacy were 
 discountenanced, and marriages were duly encou- 
 raged, and whoredoms and adultery as we ob- 
 served already, severely and exemplarily punish- 
 ed by our laws. We see the Switzers discourage 
 
195 
 
 celibacy so much, that no batcbelor is capable of 
 any trust or emj)loyment among them ; amlif 
 among us none but married men were allowed to 
 fake a lease longer than seven years, or to be at 
 age till five and twenty, with two or three other 
 such restrictions, it would produce great effects 
 this way. There should be j)rem!ums also allowed 
 to poor men, who nave ten children alive, and but 
 two hearths, or less, to be exempted on the jus- 
 tices certificates from heafth-money, and all 
 small tyi.bcs, and from being consiables (and if 
 desired) church-wardens, sidesmen, jurymen, and 
 such like privileges, and also to b^^ free of any 
 corporation wUt^re they chuse to ;eside. We see 
 how much the Romans by the Lev Julia S^ Papin, 
 and the Jus triam Liberorum, encounged their 
 people to marry, and at this day in Rome there is 
 a law, which exempts all from such and such 
 taxes, who have (I think it is) ten living children, 
 which privilc-ge is written in gold letters over their 
 door for their honour, as 1 have been assured by 
 eye-witnesses. If we had a law to allow benefit 
 of clergy (where it is not allowed at present) to all 
 who had seven or eight children living, except in 
 very heinous cases, and to allow them transj)orta- 
 tion, I am persuaded it would have no ill conse- 
 quences, and might help to encrease ovu' births. 
 We see in France how much they are indebted 
 for their numbers to the law, that allows no mar- 
 ried man to be forced to list in tlie armies, by 
 which means they marry very early and swarm 
 with breeders, and I could easily name a law 
 which with a privilege of like import, would pro- 
 duce as early marriages here. 
 
 And now I am upon the subject of encreasing 
 our births, I will mention another parlicularwhicli 
 will conduce extremely to preserving their lives, 
 
196 
 
 when they come into the world, and that is to lay 
 a tax on itll hired nurses, of at least 21. per ann. 
 unless oalh be made by the mother, that she is 
 bona fide not capable of nursing her child herself. 
 The inconveniencies of tliose hired nurses are 
 great and weighty ; by their carelessness and 
 want of natural affections and due regard to the 
 health of infants, it is too well known to all pa- 
 rents how many are lost and distempert-d with 
 coughs, decays and rickets, and worse diseases, 
 and often poisoned with bad milk, or maimed by- 
 falls and over- laid by heavy sleepers, or drunk- 
 ards. Nor is this all, for if the child of the rich is 
 so used, to be sure the infant of the hired nurse 
 comes off' as ill, or worse if possible, and I believe 
 I may say with truth, one half of these unhappy 
 creatures have their lives absolutely sacriticed to 
 the wages and christening money of our fine gen- 
 try, who are too nice and too tender to I ear the 
 fatigue of suckling their young ones, and often 
 fret and repine, that thty must go through that of 
 breeding and bt^aring them. By this means, we 
 often ste two of those innocents pay the fine of 
 their lives, to the unnatural pride of one mother, 
 and the wicked avarice of the other. But there 
 is a great inconvenience in this evil custom, 
 which 1 never yet heard mentioned, and I believe 
 is true, which is that supposing gtntlemtn's chil- 
 dren do generally live, 3 et cenanily by not suck- 
 ling their own offspring, th( y breed double the 
 numbers, which nature designed them, and liow 
 far this must weaken thcr bodies as well as op- 
 prcs> iheir fortunes, and what is still vvorse, over- 
 load the state Tto saj' nothing of the females) with 
 iiscie^s. Idle loiteiers, with beggars for beggarly 
 employments, with sneakers after great men, with 
 gentlemen's gentlemen, with rakes and with 
 
197 
 
 sharpers, our people of fashion had need to con- 
 sider. 
 
 , But the rich and the fashionable ladies are not 
 the only persons guilty of this horrible practice, 
 for the affectation runs through the middle sort 
 of people, who love to copy after thfm in every 
 thing tliat can hurt them. Aud tliis will be found 
 particularly true in and near great towns and ci- 
 ties, where the clearness of provisions, house-rent, 
 tire and all necessaries, and the vicious manners 
 and debauchery of the lower people, make the 
 nurse less willing or able to do her duty, and the 
 pride and avarice of the parents make tliem wuik 
 at all neglects and mismanagenienrs, that deliver 
 them in a few months from the burthen of ano- 
 ther mouth and body to feed, clothe and |)rovide 
 for. Thougli citizens are often great breeders, 
 yet it will be found whenever it is examined that 
 scarce one third of their children survive this 
 method of management, and the general blame, 
 with some trutl), is thrown on il! nurses, though it 
 might with good justice, be a> uujch imputed to 
 the unnatural neglects and want of atfection in 
 the parents. 
 
 Certainly our laws are but too gentle to such 
 nurses, and why both they and the parents should 
 not be accountable to the magistrate for such ter- 
 rible niisconduct, as we often see in these mat- 
 ters, I do not know ; for if parents had the j)ower 
 ot disclaiming and renouncing their children, as, 
 for some time, theol i Romans had, or could put 
 them to death, when they pleased, as the Japa- 
 nese may by law, 1 do not see how some of them 
 could be more inhumanly ubed or worse treated, 
 no, not if they were nursed by goals, as honest 
 Montaigne tells us the peasants children in France, 
 often are, when their mothers die. 
 
198 
 
 There is another article, which I am loath to 
 add to this sad account of things, because I know 
 we are very seldom guilty of it, and that is the 
 horrible jjractice of abortions. We see the fa- 
 mous midwife who was put to death at Paris for 
 this crime, confessed she had procured many hun- 
 dreds to conceal unhappy intrigues, but as we, I 
 thank God, are strangers to such wickedness, I 
 shall only say, that by way of prevention, if our 
 laws made such practices felony, our posterity 
 will neither be the fewer, nor the worse of it. 
 
 Before I quit this subject, I shall mention one 
 particular more, which 1 am sure would prevent 
 the loss of many infants, and that is, that some 
 benevolent spirit, like Dr. Cheyne, would obHge 
 the world with plain rational directions for fa- 
 milies in the country, how to manage children 
 from the birth till they have past the most usual 
 distempers, as teeth, rickets, small pox, mea- 
 sles, led gum, giipes, and all such disorders. 
 Such a work judiciously performed, woukl be a 
 blessing in a literal sense of the words to chil- 
 dren yet unborn, and to all mankind who are in- 
 terested in their preservation ; and if we consider 
 how many children through the faults of their 
 parents, have been lost, who might have been an 
 ornament to the world, and an honour and de- 
 fence to their country, we can never sufficiently 
 wish for such a work, to which thousands in time 
 to come, njay owe their being. 
 
 The next i)oint I shall touch on, which may 
 contribute to the encreasing our numbers relates 
 to our army. By ordering the troops to be re- 
 cruited in Great Britain, his Majesty has done a 
 signal service to this kingdom, which has been 
 terribly exhausted by sending the flower of our 
 people, and our Protestant people too, into the 
 
199 
 
 army, to the loss of many thousand lieads and 
 famihes. It were to be wished however, that 
 our horse and dragoons we'e not allowed to en- 
 list any of our people no more than the foot, for 
 they take of]" great numbers of our best bodied 
 men, and we have none to spare from our trades, 
 labour and husbandry. It would also be a great 
 help to us, if all soldiers, when married three 
 years, and having children, were allowed to quit 
 the army, if they pleased, and would give secu- 
 rity to settle here; for this would improve our 
 breed and numbers, and especially since the rea- 
 sons on which such intermixtures were formerly 
 prohibited, are now entirely ceased. 
 
 As the confining debtors in prison deprives us 
 of many hundreds of hands, we may very pro- 
 -perly add here, that a law to prevent this entire- 
 ly, or only to allow it with certain restrictions 
 and limitations, would greatly contribute to this 
 good end, both by releasing crowds of miserable 
 men now under confinement, and preventing a 
 much greater number from running abroad, to 
 avoid the cruelties of a goal. It is plain by our 
 statutes, that anciently no imprisonment for 
 debt was allowed, and to this day in some coun- 
 tries, where the liberties of the people are in other 
 respects entirely destroyed, they are free from 
 this bondage, and their goods are only in the 
 power of their creditors. And if this was the 
 course with us, especially in such cases, where 
 by unavoidable accidents, losses, &c. a debtor is 
 unable to satisfy his creditois, it would be more 
 reasonable than imprisoning an unfortunate maa 
 and beggaring his faniily, to gratify the cruelty 
 of the creditors, who insist on what the law pro- 
 fessedly abhors, the performing impossibilities. 
 In cases thus circumstanced^ the creditor should 
 
2oa 
 
 at least be obliged to allow some poor pittance 
 by the day to keep bis prisoner from starving, 
 and tbis would often prevent much misery on one 
 side, and tbe guilt of malice, nay sometimes of 
 murder (for it deserves no otber name) on tbe 
 otber. VVbere debts are small, the work-bouse 
 and tbe labour of the debtor, would be a pro- 
 perer method of paying the demand, than the 
 lazy, languishing famine of a goal, which is of 
 no use to the creditor, or any one else, but those 
 vermin of tbe state, bailiffs, and Serjeants, and 
 the ma?(ters and turnkeys of the marshalsea, who 
 thrive by extorting on tbe wretched prisoners, 
 and sucking out their very blood for meat, drink 
 and lodging. 
 
 Indeed, where the debt is large, and the pay- 
 ment is fraudulentfy avoided, dungeons and 
 cliains, or being sold for slaves, is not too severe 
 a punishment for so great a villainy, nor should 
 any acts of grace be allowed to such, though 
 they can hardly be too frequently extended to 
 others, till our legislature think fit to take away 
 entirely, or at least to limit and qualify the im- 
 prisonment of all candid, but insolvent debtors. 
 
 Whenever we are so baj)py as to see the one 
 or tbe other determined by proper laws here, it 
 will not only restore many useful hands to our 
 inanufactuers, and prevent others from flying 
 abroad for bread and liberty, as we hinted before, 
 but what is of more importance, it will encou- 
 rage thousands of foreigners, as well as English- 
 men, and their families, to come over and settle 
 with us to our great advantage. 
 
 Another article I shall propose as conflucive 
 to encreasing our hands, is laying a tax on all 
 absentees whatever, and a double one on all Po- 
 pish gentlemen, who desert their country. If 
 
201 
 
 sucli anact could be got (and if it u'ere entirely 
 applied to the use of the army, or the mere ser- 
 vice and profit of the crown \viiiiout any limita- 
 tion, it probably may be got) it would have in- 
 credible good cifects in Ireland, both as to our 
 luinibers and our business and employment for 
 them. But at least we may hope that such a 
 law may pass as to our Roman Catholics, who 
 above all men are inexcusable in living abroad, 
 where their prejudices are encreased, their re- 
 sentments sharpened, and their allegiance to the 
 Pope and his bigotry absolutely confirmed. There 
 are several things to be said on the subject of 
 this last hint of disaffection, but as I ho})e in a 
 few years they may be quite unnecessary, I shall 
 gladly omit them, and pass to another useful ex- 
 pedient for encreasing our numbers, and that is 
 by encouraging expeditious methods of labour. 
 
 This may seem at first sight, a sure way to 
 make our people idle, but Mhen it is well consi- 
 dered, it will appear quite otherwise, because the 
 cheaper and the quicker we get our work done, 
 the more hands we have to spare to other work, 
 and the more we are also enabled to undersell 
 others. This is plain from the Dutch sawing 
 mills, and our stocking frames, which though 
 they forced away many hands to seek other em- 
 ployments, yet by doing as much work for a 
 shilling, as could be done for ten before, their in- 
 vention gave great advantage to the goods 
 at the market, and made them come cheaper to 
 the buyer, and yet produced greater gain to the 
 seller, and also saved so much clear labour, in 
 other things, of good hands to the nation. 
 
 The inviting, encouraging and naturalizing all 
 foreigners, and especially all Dutch and French 
 
 c c 
 
202 
 
 manufacturers, to come and settle among us is 
 another point, which would be of great advantage 
 to us in this matter. The body of every foreigner 
 that settles among us is not only so much clear 
 money gained to the nation, but we make a vast 
 profit from his industry and labour, if he em- 
 ploys himself in any useful business whatever ; 
 and above all, if he be skilful in manufactures, 
 which we want, or want to have improved among 
 us. We can hardly therefore be too bountiful in 
 assigning premiums, and allowing encourage- 
 ments of all kinds, to invite such people to come 
 over to us. As Holland swarms with inhabitants 
 to that degree, that many of them actually live in 
 covered boats for want of houses, we might with 
 ease make such laws, as would allure many fa- 
 milies to remove hither, and import with them 
 their sobriety, industry, and frugal manners, to 
 improve our people, as well as our several trades 
 and manufactures. We should also to this good 
 end soften the present laws concerning aliens and 
 I'oreigners, and allow them to be members of Par- 
 liament and magistrates, and neither confine 
 them to six servants, nor tie them down by our 
 present oaths, to profess themselves Protestants ; 
 on the contrary, our kingdom should be as open, 
 and give as good welcome to all strangers as an 
 inn, and they should be fvee from all taxes of 
 what kind or nature soever, during their lives, if 
 they set up any manufactures which (seven of the 
 trustees of the Linen Board should under their 
 hands and seals declare,) deserve such exemp- 
 tion. These, or encouragements of this nature, 
 would do wonders in a few years, and make us 
 a!)ound with such people, who are often uneasy 
 at home, arjtl know not wliere to be secure of 
 good usage among strangers, if tliey quit their 
 
203 
 
 country; and once they found a safe friendly 
 place of refuge here, we should have thousands 
 settle with us, and bring trade and wealth with 
 them. As the two last tilings encreased and 
 flourished, our people would multiply much fast- 
 er, as they would be ena led to feed better and 
 live warmer, and marry the earlier, when tlie 
 means and methods of maintaining a family were 
 enlarged and secured to tliem ; they would then 
 breed the faster, and live iieer from diseases, or 
 be enabled to get them cured without the help of 
 hospitals. Thus we siiould soon have our coun- 
 try fully furnished with people, iand our cities like 
 hives swarming with inhabitants, and let us now 
 see how we could feed and employ them, and pre- 
 vent their being drones and burdens to the pub- 
 lic. 
 
 Let us to this great end lay down this useful 
 Resolution, as the best means to secure such a 
 blessing to us, viz. 
 
 We resolve as members of Parliament to provide 
 and contrive all the best metluuU and ways we 
 can for employing our people, and encreasing 
 their industry. 
 
 It is certain that the property of every nation 
 depends as absolutely on the industry of its peo- 
 ple, as the safety of a ship, on the diligence and 
 labour of the mariners who sail in her; and 
 therefore it is to the kist degree incumbent on us 
 to secure this great point, which we are general- 
 ly reckoned very defective in. It is computed 
 that we have above 100,000 idle hands in Ireland, 
 which are useless burthens to the earth for v.ant 
 of proper care to employ them, and wliich might 
 bring in a vast fund of wealth to us by their la- 
 
204 
 
 hour. We may boast of the goodness of our soil 
 and climate, and the plenty we enjoy, but our 
 people may starve in the midst of it, unless they 
 be kept usefully busitd. Natural wealth, as corn, 
 cattle, mines, wood, flax, wool, silk, &c. as it 
 gives the mhabitants who possess it an easy plen- 
 ty, so it makes them indolent, idle, vain and vo- 
 luptuous ; whereas artificial wealth, as the work- 
 ing up and manufacturing the other to the height, 
 begets industry fru^ahty, wisdom, diligence and 
 skill. Indeed as our fuel and victuals, our lands, 
 house-rent and taxes, are more favourable to trade 
 by their cheapness, than an-- other nation, we 
 may make a vast advantage thereof, if we are at 
 the same time laborious and industrious, ibr then 
 we may undersell all the rest of the world. With- 
 out this industry we shall turn our blessings into 
 curses, and our advantages into misfortunes, for 
 our plenty will prove but the mother of idle- 
 ness; it being certain, that when bread is cheap, 
 our people caie less for work, and always insist 
 on higher wages, when provisions are low. But 
 in natiiuis where tl^e laws have introduced an 
 habitual course of industry the people work on, 
 and pursue their business, whatever it is, regu- 
 larly and constantly, without any regard to the 
 market. There eveiy hand is kept busy, where- 
 as with us great numbers are useless, or but half 
 employed at most. Sir William Petty in his time 
 computed our people were iiot a fifth part em- 
 ployed, and even now notwithstanding we are 
 kept tolerably busy with our linen in the north, 
 yet great numbers of the other provinces, and 
 especially women and children, are quite idle. 
 
 if, as Di. Ch.imberlain computes the very 
 children of Norwich from six to sixteen years 
 do earu 120001. per aun. more than they spend. 
 
205 
 
 what a sum Tnig;ht we raise to the public, by the 
 hands of our Irish children who do nothing. In 
 many parts of the kingdom where trade and our 
 manufactures have not yet reached, the natives 
 have contracted a sort of natural indisposition to 
 labour, and have an habitual sloth, which nothing 
 can remove but the severest laws. If idleness 
 was made as penal as felony, or at least as petty 
 larceny, it woidd not be unequitable, especially 
 in Ireland, where idlers are the great nursery of 
 felons, and like them live on the spoil of their in- 
 dustrious neighbours, and above all, as the na- 
 tion suffers more by the numerous tribe of the 
 one sort, who will not work, than from the small 
 number of those who rob and steal. Some se- 
 vere law of this kind might make a great reform 
 in the listless, slothful temper of many of the 
 Irish, and let us now see if there are not some 
 particular bodies of men among us, who instead 
 of being punished, are paid for their idleness, 
 and therefore should be forced or encouraged to 
 greater industry. And the first I shall mention 
 are our soldiers, who in time of peace are the 
 most useless members of the commonwealth, and 
 are so absolutely idle, that it is a punishable of- 
 fence in their discipline, if any of them endea- 
 vour to be useful to themselves or their fellow- 
 subjects by their labour, while they have the ho- 
 nour to wear the king's liver}'. At the same 
 time many of them have trades, and would glad- 
 ly follow them, and therefore if they were ena- 
 bled by law, with proper limitations to work at 
 their trade, at least so many days in the week, 
 without suing for leave, or giving any fee or re- 
 ward to their officer, it would enable them to 
 live more at ease, and would no ways disqualify 
 them for the business of a soldier, and all their 
 
20G 
 
 work would be so much clear gains to the na- 
 tion. If this were once regulated b> law, I 
 cannot but think it would be of great service to 
 us ; for the labour of so many thousand men, 
 even at thirty shilHngs a year, a {)iece, would 
 come to near 20,0001. per ann. to our country, 
 which would thus receive more benefit from their 
 hands, than, I hope, we shall ever have occasion 
 for, from their swords. 
 
 Our poorest sort of attornies, solicitors, half- 
 starved lawyers, and their clerks, are another lazy 
 set of men, which might be better employed in 
 trade and tillage, than in doing nothing or do- 
 ing mischief in their country, as pettyfoggers, 
 barraters, and fomenting vexatious suits, and 
 ruining numbers of families by making a trade 
 and a sport of the laws. If the numbers of law- 
 yers of all sorts were limited, as well as that of 
 their clerks, and none but men of probity and 
 substance admitted as attornies, till after seven 
 years apprenticeship, v»'e should not only have 
 fewer of these gentlemen swarming like locusts 
 over the labours of our people, but we should also 
 see very many of them employed as able farmers, 
 and industrious tradesmen, or merchants, to the 
 advantage of Ireland. At present that worthy 
 profession is so overstocked with practisers, that 
 to prevent their starving one another, we should 
 have a law, that in all suits, twenty counsellors 
 and ten attornies should be feed of a side, though 
 the truth is we are running as fast as we can of 
 ourselves, into that good method already, a 
 grievance uhich calls loudly for correction, as 
 well as the abolishing the fees of many needless 
 offices, reducing the length of our suits, the vast 
 fees to counsel, the dilatory and expensive forms 
 and rules of the courts, and especially the Chan- 
 
207 
 
 eery, the number of processes, sliort answers, bills 
 of revivor, postponing of causes, rehearings, spe- 
 cial pleadings, demurrers and exceptions, the 
 charge and delays of masters in Chancery, and 
 the registers, writs of error, fines and recoveries, 
 and a number of other oppressive and expensive 
 methods. Were these burthens and obstructions 
 to quick and speedy justice removed, and vexa- 
 tious and litigious suits made penal and fineable, 
 and what is of main importance, if not only all 
 writs, &c. were in the English tongue and the 
 common legible hand, but our laws all abridged, 
 like those of Denmark, into one volume, we 
 should both save l^rindreds of families from ruin, 
 and gain a prodigious number of useful men, 
 (vv^ho without such exorbitant methods, fees and 
 management couid never be maintained) to turn 
 themselves to improving and enriching their coun- 
 try, who are now taken up in impoverishing it, 
 and feeding themselves as naturalists say came- 
 lions do by catching flies with their tongues. 
 And since I have touched on this matter I will 
 add that if there was a sort of Custos Legum in 
 each county, or an officer with a proper salary, 
 and sworn to see the Laws duly put in execution 
 and under pnjpcr penalties, to sue offenders, it 
 would probably greatly lessen that old complaint, 
 that we have the best laws, and the worst exe- 
 cuted of all nations. There is another sort of 
 gentlemen, who get very large wages for doing 
 very little, and are entirely taken up in writing 
 discharges and receiving of rents, I mean the 
 agents of our estated Gentlemen. These pen and 
 ink men generally know the world and the busi- 
 ness in it so thoroughly and manage it so well, 
 that it is a pity they have not been entrusted to 
 vlirect some useful branch of it for the service of 
 
208 
 
 their country, as well as their employers. If 
 they were obliged by law under large penalties in 
 order to qualify themselves as agents, to keep 
 one loom going for every 2001. per ann. they re- 
 ceived of gentlemen's rentals, and kept a regular 
 manufacture on foot, in that proportion on every 
 estate under their direction, I conceive they 
 would be large gainers by it themselves as well 
 as their employers, and at the same time occa- 
 sion the setting up many new manufactures, 
 where otherwise they would never have been 
 thought on, and thereby greatly enlarge our li- 
 nen business. This would force our absentees 
 and our indolent gentlemen at home, who can 
 mind no business, to do us some service, and at 
 the same time this service would be managed 
 and directed by a set of men as able and as well 
 qualified to improve it remarkably, as could be 
 found in the nation. As they might easily be 
 tied down to keep all their looms in one fixed 
 place, and constantly employed, and all possible 
 evasions prevented, it is to be hoped oar legisla- 
 ture may make use of this expedient, to prevail 
 on our idle gentlemen at home, and our faithful 
 envoys abroad, who keep agents to do us this 
 good office, without interrupting their pleasures, 
 or disturbing their heads with any business, that 
 concerns either their country or themselves. 
 
 Our Popish priests are another set of idle crea- 
 tures who are paid for their sloth ; these bead 
 bidders are a race of men who live, and will live 
 among us, though they are dead in law ; and 
 since as things are managed there can be no 
 thought of getting rid of them with quiet and 
 ease, I do not see any reason, why we may not 
 tolerate all such by law, who would keep such a 
 moderate proportion of looms going regularly 
 
209 
 
 in one house, to be proved on oath at the ses- 
 sions, and vouched by certificates from the parish 
 minister, and one or two of the neighbouring jus- 
 tices. This would be a means to bring our good 
 cathoHcs into nuasures for the service of our 
 poor island, and make numbers of them set up 
 looms and manufactures, which otherwise they 
 would have left to the management of heretics, 
 as things of too much labour and trouble. 
 
 But further it would contribute greatly to em- 
 ploy our poor, and eiicrease the industry of our 
 people, if every cabin in the country, was obliged 
 by law to pay 2s. 6d. hearth-money, who could 
 not shew in its garden at least one quarter of a 
 rood of flax-seed growing, and one good spin- 
 ning-wheel in the house. As ligiit as that six- 
 penny tax seems, it would produce many hun- 
 dred more wheels, and acres of flax in the king- 
 dom every year, than there are now, and would 
 of consequence employ many thousand hands 
 among our poor Irish natives, who at present are 
 busied in little but gathering sticks, and cow- 
 dung for want of turf, and digging their wretched 
 potatoes for want of bread. It might at first be 
 accompanied with some difficulties, but if a few 
 examples were made of those, who neglected to 
 comply, and a year's warning given to all, before 
 the act was brought into executioUj I make no 
 doubt but with due regulations and improve- 
 ments, this little tax might ()roduce grtdt things 
 among us. 
 
 But we must return to another set of men, 
 who are well paid for doing little or norhing, and 
 are therefore like all other idlers a viist draw- 
 back to the prosperity and industry of Ireland, I 
 mean our coast ofiicers, guagers, hearthmoney- 
 coUectors, tide-waiters, supernumeraries, survey- 
 DD 
 
210 
 
 ois, and 1 know not how many more, among 
 whom Me may justly place our barrack-masters, 
 all which classes of men, have large salaries and 
 little employment. If every one of these was by 
 law obliged to have a wife anrl an liouse (for 
 numbers of them atlfect to be lodgers and live 
 unmarried) and weie to keep a loom, and a 
 weaver still at work, or to forfeit their place or 
 half their salary, it would be some atonement 
 for the listless, useless way of life they lead, ex- 
 cept the few days, and the few hours on those 
 days, which they give to the business of their of- 
 fices. This would produce more breeders and 
 liouses among us, and would occasion the mak- 
 ing several hundreds of looms, and employing 
 as many thousand hands, which othenvise had 
 never been set on work in this nation of idlers. 
 There might be such a nuniber of scores of linen 
 settled by law to be wrought by all such looms, 
 wiih proper vouchers, and on failure, such a pro- 
 portion of their salaries to be saved to the nation, 
 and paid to the trustees of the linen- board, to 
 help our manufactures. Whether this law might 
 be extended higher, or carried further, and whe- 
 ther at least inn-keepers, dancing-masters, tidlers, 
 musicians of all kinds, players, and keepers of 
 taverns and ale-houses might not also be included 
 in it, the legislature are the best Judges, but cer- 
 tainly in a country where the people are naturally 
 indolent and slothful, we reed not give wages, 
 at least, for doinu' nothing, when so many make 
 it their choice, and we might very reasonably 
 article, that they should labour by proxy oi he 
 paid by halves. Every collector should he im- 
 puwert d by law to take affidavits fiom all his 
 iMferi(»r officers, of their keeping, and actual 
 employing such looms in their houses, and to 
 
211 
 
 make oath to our commissioners, on passing his 
 accounts that he had done so, and letucn tlidr 
 aliiilavits, and a list of" all those who hail faded in 
 complying with the several conditions required 
 by the act, that tneir salaries may be stopped for 
 the linen board. 
 
 Another most importaiit method by which we 
 might employ our people, and encrease their in- 
 dustry, if encouraged sufficiently by the Legisla- 
 ture is our fisheries. 
 
 Mr. Dobbs has writ so well and so fiiUy on 
 this matter, that 1 cannot but lecommend his 
 essay on our trade, and this branch of it in par- 
 ticular, to the perusal of every Irish i»entieinan. 
 But besides this, 1 have read and considered 
 many tracts, that seem to be written with greac 
 truth and judgment on this subject, and they give 
 such large accounts of the gain ilie Dutch make 
 by it, that it is amazing we should not long since 
 have fallen into it, and endeavoured to share it 
 with them. But 1 have read a pr<)ciamation of 
 tij£ States-General proli.biting the e-iportation 
 of staves for herring barrels, and fishing-nets to 
 foreigners under great penalties, in which they 
 call that branch of their fishery, their chiefesc 
 trade and principal gold-nune, whicii is the 
 greatest confirmation of all the advantages, 
 whicli those authors assign to it, thougli mai^y 
 of them seem to have writ with a secret envy to 
 the Dutch gain by commerce. I shall only ob- 
 serve, how greatly we, as well as Great Britain 
 have neglected it, how useful it might be to us, 
 and consequently how necessary it is that we 
 should encourage it. 
 
 Even as early as Harry the Vllth's time, that 
 wise king endeavoured in vam to put his subjects 
 upon this useful trade by writing to his seaport 
 
212 
 
 towns, and offering to lend them large sums 
 to begin it. It is true trade was then almost in 
 its infancy, but when it rose and flourished in the 
 following reigns, the English were fonder of the 
 sweets and ease of those branches of trade, whicli 
 had less of toil and hazard ; and since the revolu- 
 tion we have been so linked to the Dutch by 
 mutual interests, that England did not care to 
 interfere in this favourite branch of their traffic ; 
 and yet as the great struggle for the mastery in 
 trade, will probably one day come to be decided 
 by the strongest fleet at sea, and as their fisheries 
 are the great nurseries of their seamen, trade 
 and strength, there could not possibly be a more 
 effectual method taken by England, to weaken 
 those rivals of the ocean, whenever we must 
 meet as enen)ies, than b}' discouraging their 
 fisheries, and encouraging those of our own 
 suhjecrs, which alone would destroy their naval 
 strength, and vanquish them almost without 
 striking a blow. They employ every year 800 
 busses from 30 to 50 ton in the herring fishery, 
 each of which, besides her 16 seamen employs 
 SO trades to fit her out, and two ships are to carry 
 off her fish early to market, and another to supply 
 her with casks, salt, nets, ^c. And also occa- 
 sions an immense trade for building, victualling, 
 and furnishing her for the sea, and moreover 
 gives employment to a number of hands on 
 shore; so. that if once they were obstructed in 
 this vital part of their commerce, the conse- 
 quences must be fatal to \htn\ and of mighty 
 advantage to us, if we could stjcced in their place, 
 or even Icsi^en their gain, by sharing it with them. 
 Tills it is certain we may in time easily do^ for 
 our wages and victualling are cheaper, our har- 
 bours are nearer to us to sheltti our ships, and 
 refresh our people, and supply all our wants, and 
 
213 
 
 our shores at Iiand to dry our nets, and land our 
 fish when they are taken. This also gives us a* 
 double advantage, which they can never have, 
 both of making red herring, vvhicii cannot he in 
 perfection unles they are directly carried on 
 shore wlien taken, and of our sending our fish 
 long before them to market in the Baltic, and 
 the Streight- ; whereas they are obliged by their 
 laws to sail first to Holland, and repack their 
 herring^ before they export them. As this trarle 
 is left entirely open to ns, and is so convenient 
 to us, that the fish come to our very doors to be 
 taken, how faulty and negligent must we have 
 been, in overlooking it so long, which might 
 have enriched the narion, and employed our 
 poor, and given »o coiiiforiable a subsistence to 
 so many tliderent trades; siiice even women and 
 children, nay the lame and the blind, if they 
 have hands, might get bread by it, as spinners, 
 cord-wainers, and net-makers, &c. throughout 
 the year. I fancy if u^e get sufficient coals of 
 our own, we shall sa\e even the expence of salt 
 to cure our fish, vvhicli they must transport from 
 France at a dear j)rice, and though our want of 
 their ex[)erience and skill, may make our first 
 attempts this way, more liable to expence and 
 liazard, yet time and application will soon make 
 us masters of this gainful business, and put us 
 more on a level with them. Mr. Borrish ob- 
 serves, in his Batavia lliustrata that their pre- 
 tended secret of the manner of saltino; their her- 
 rings is a mere chiuiera, the whole art consisting 
 in an extreme neatness in the materials they use, 
 and in curing the herrings as soon as they are 
 taken, and, as it were killing them with the very 
 salt with which they are pickled, before the 
 air and sun have made any impresssion on them. 
 
214 
 
 Be<ii(ie5, we may not only procure from Holland, 
 all the placarts relating to their curing and ma- 
 nagement to direct us, but we may hire a com- 
 petent number of skilful hands from thence to 
 instruct us in the art, if we have spirit enough 
 to encourage them and ourselves to undertake 
 it. As to cod, and ling, and the white tishing, 
 which succeed that of the herring, and between 
 them take up the whole of the year, it is certain 
 there is no mystery in curing and salti'ng them, 
 and we can have no hazard of succeeding in it, 
 as it is so easy and practicable, and that the 
 Doggc-r-bank lies so convenient to us, as weW as 
 abundance of banks (where they swarm) upon 
 our own coas^s ; we may say the same as to our 
 pilchards, which, as w^ell as our herrings, Sir 
 William Monson says, are the best in the world. 
 This trade, before the revolution, we had a par- 
 ticular company engaged in, (as Sir William 
 Petty tells us) with great success in the west, 
 though we have shamefully laid it aside ever 
 since. However, as Lieutenant Chaplain has 
 lately undertaken the whale tishing on our 
 northern coast and our parliament hath resolved 
 to encourage that and all our other hsheries, 
 it is to he hoped we shall see them flo\irish, at 
 least proportionahly to the warmth and zeal they 
 espouse them with. And, indeed, as they may 
 prove in Sir William Temple's words, as rich 
 a mine to us uinler water, as any we have 
 under ground, (unless we will excuse our 
 laziness in not taking them, as Ikisquebius * 
 says the Turks did theirs to him, "ciz. because 
 they run away when they went to catch them) 
 I cannot see what can prevent our succeeding 
 in a desigti, which, witli d^e care will not leave 
 
 * Epist. 1. p. 99. 
 
21. 
 
 us a beggar or an idle hand in the kinsidom. 
 If four provincial companies were estabishcd, 
 as Sir William Temple proposes, with a presi- 
 dent and council elected by the subscribers, 
 and encouraged by law with large privileges and 
 immunities to all the members; or, it an act past 
 (as he speaks) that none should be capable ot* 
 being either chose into a parliament, or the com- 
 mission of the peace, who had not such a pro- 
 portioned stock there, it might greatly further 
 this useful undertaking. And, indeed, the 
 bringing our fisheries of all kinds to perfection, 
 would be of such infinite consequence to the 
 wealth and trade of Ireland, and would raise 
 such a spirit of industry in our people, and invite 
 so many thousands of fanulies lo set tie with us, 
 that we should leave no stone unturned, nor 
 expence spared to nurse it up, and bring it 
 through the dangers and accidents it must meet 
 with in its infancy, to its full growth and strength. 
 Possibly, it may be worth our while to oblige 
 every nobleman, knight, esquire, and clergyman, 
 to form a fund for this trade (and all to have 
 equal profit) to put such a share pioportione<l 
 to his income (sJippose 1/. per cent.) as well as 
 every person in office or pension of any kind ; 
 and why our wine merchants, who ruin us with 
 their destructive trade, should not be obliged to 
 keep so many busses among them, or to pay very 
 largely per head to the support of this benelicial 
 one, I cannot see, unless we had rather favour 
 those who undo us, than those who would re- 
 trieve and support us. It is certain as service- 
 able as our fisheries uiupiestionably w(»uld be, 
 they can never be carried on for souje >ear>* 
 but with loss, unless we give great encourage- 
 ment to all who undertake them, because- we 
 
216 
 
 want both skill and experience as well as money 
 and industry. We must therefore shew it the 
 highest favour, and give it the largest assistance 
 we possibly can, or it will never succeed, or, at 
 least, not under a longer course of time than 
 our affairs can want it. If we should next ses- 
 sions allow double, or even treble the premiums 
 that are now assigned to it, we should probably 
 accomplish tlie work three times the sooner, and 
 liave ten fold the profit from it, that we can now 
 expect, and certainly in our lanquishing condi- 
 tion we should never think that we can purchase 
 life and health too dear. 
 
 There is another method, which, though of 
 smaller consequence, would, if duly regulated, 
 be of singular use to assist our poorer sort of 
 tradesmen, and quicken their industry, and that 
 is, by establishing Lombard-houses. 
 
 This is a method that has been long prac- 
 tised with wonderful success in several of the 
 best cities in Italy and Germany, M'here it has 
 made some amends, by the industry it has pro- 
 duced, for the lazy indolence of their abbies and 
 monasteries. But the Dutch, who excel all the 
 world in the economy of trade, and the employing 
 their poor, have made such use of these Lom- 
 bards, that they have not left a beggar in their 
 country by the assistance they liave affordctl 
 them. It were to be wished that in this king- 
 dom (where, I may almost say, we have very 
 few tliat are not beggars) we would try if the 
 same remedy would, in time, have the same 
 effect, by supplying our r.etdy artificers with 
 money on pawns at easier terms than they cnu 
 get it ROW. The difficulties they meet with, at 
 piesent, to procure it, are a great drawback ua 
 tlicir labour ; for, if they buy goods on trust, or 
 
217 
 
 borrow ready cash from usurers, they pay such 
 excessive rates for them, tliat tliey can liardly 
 support themsehes under such extortion with 
 all their industry. There issuch a scarcity of mo- 
 r»ey, that all trade and business, especially in the 
 lower sort, frequently stagnates ; the employer 
 is afraid to hire journeymen, when he is pinched 
 to provide their wages, or if he does, it is at 
 such poor rates tliat they can hardly live by 
 them. This produces beggars and bankrupts, 
 and often, to delay ruin, frauds, and cheats in 
 the manufacture which they work up in haste 
 to answer their contracts with extortioners and 
 oppressors. Whereas, if money were plentier, 
 and to be had on easier terms, men would natu- 
 rally be more industrious; for lazy as some of 
 our people are, i'ew of them would beg and 
 live miserably, who could, by working, support 
 themselves comfortably, as all might do, if trade 
 were once quickened by an increase of our cash, 
 or, which is much the same thing, by a brisker 
 circulation of it, and an easier way of procuring 
 it. This would be most effectually done if once 
 Lombard-houses were established by law in all 
 our great towns, where the magistrates might 
 lend money, on pledges, at such reasonable in- 
 terest as the legislature shall direct. Mr. Bin- 
 don, in his excellent essay on this subject (which 
 well deserves to be read and consideie(l) pro- 
 poses, that they should lend all sums of lol. or 
 less, at 4d. per pound, the calendar month, all 
 above lOl. and not exceeding 201. at 3d. and all 
 above 201. and not exceeding 401, at 2d. All 
 sums to be lent for a year (but payable when the 
 borrower pleases) and, on failure, the pledge to 
 be sold by cant, and the surplus, deducting* 
 E E 
 
215 
 
 tlrargfs, ietiirTial)le to the owner, if lie demands 
 it ill rime, or else to go (as all the profits of the 
 foundation do) to the helpless poor. Possibly 
 it might be said, that the proposed interest is 
 lof) high, and also that 201. is a sufficient sum 
 for Lombards to lend, but such objections will 
 have little weight with those who consider the 
 excessive interest daily paid by neerly persons 
 to pawn-brokers and usurers, and the large sums 
 the}' lend out this way, safe from all the en- 
 quiries of the law, and the arts of the informers. 
 Anfl, certainly, so many good consequences are 
 to be hoped for from such a law, and so few 
 bad ones can possibly be feared from it, that 
 till we can find many such public spirited per- 
 t(ms.as the Dean of St. Patrick's to lend con- 
 siderable sums, in this charitable wa}', at the 
 common interest, to the poor, it would be very 
 desirable, that we were allowed to try the effects 
 it would have on our people and trade for a few 
 years at least. 
 
 Another particular I shall mention as useful to 
 make our people more industrious is, by encou- 
 raging by proper premiums those politer arts, 
 %vhich are in a manner strangers to our country, 
 I niean sculpture, painting, and architecture. 
 There are nations in Europe, a great part of 
 whose wealth consists in the vast treasures left 
 them by the illustrious professors of these arts in 
 their ways; and though we can hardly hope to 
 rival them, we should, at least, aim so iar to em- 
 ploy and enrich our people by them, as may 
 both spur on their industry, imnrove our taste, 
 and adorn our country. Even architecture alone, 
 where nations cultivate it, gives business to a 
 surprizing number of trades ; and it is impossible 
 so many of our nobility and gentry could be so 
 
219 
 
 meanly lodged as they are, if we had not so few 
 arciiitects in Ireland, vvlio are capable of direct- 
 ini^ or assisting iheni in their buildings. It is for 
 want of go;>d bouses of our own at home, that 
 we are so apt to take up with lodgings abroad 
 with foreigners, where we spend every year wha: 
 would build up lasting and beautiful seats for 
 our families, and make our lives, delightful to 
 ourselves, and useful to all around us. It is a 
 plain proof that a nation flourishes, and its indus- 
 try increases (and, indeed, a great cause of it 
 too] when its buddings enlarge and improve, and, 
 as we see among the J';vvs, in their .nost thriving 
 State, under Solomon, not ouly the great temple 
 of Jerubalem, but sevc ral palaces for the king, 
 and even cities for the people were finished with 
 immense expcnce and labour. So we find the 
 riches and industry of the nation, and all the 
 liandicraft arts, (and even sculpture) flourished 
 thete, and, indeed, ever will flourish in all king- 
 doms thereby. And the same may be said of 
 painting an(l sculpture, they would create in- 
 finite business for our artists, and aniusement 
 and delight for our gentry, if once they were 
 cultivated and improved by due encouragement 
 among us; and, as they have stdl been con- 
 sidered by all civilized nations as the greatest 
 elegancies and ornaments of every country, so 
 that utter neglect ol them, which prevails ir^ 
 Ireland, will ever be a proof against us of bar- 
 barism and Gothic ignorance, until we shake 
 it off. It is true, as one said of greater trifles, 
 Polerimiis vivere sine illis ; but though our 
 country and climate seems more cut out for 
 labour and toil, and the industry of the ma- 
 nufacturer and husbandmen, than the plea- 
 sure and delight of the softer arts of the waraier 
 
220 
 
 and more delicate regions on the continent, yet 
 certain it is, when the necessities and convenien- 
 cies of nature are sutificiently provided for, the 
 arts of delight and amusement will constantly 
 come in, and if we do not bring them to us, we 
 will be apt to go abroad to them. Since we 
 must have luxury, we should encourage that 
 kind of it which has the most of pleasure, and 
 nothing of vice in it; which will give bread and 
 industry to our natives, and may be turned also 
 toother useful purposes; for, though possibly 
 painting and sculpture may have hurt the re- 
 ligion of the continent, I am sure it might con- 
 tribute, if well directed, to raise and enlarge the 
 virtue of our people here, since painted histories 
 of great actions, and the statues of great men 
 cannot possibly be beheld without warming the 
 heart and entlaminii the mind to admire, emu- 
 late and revere them. 
 
 At as low^ an ebb as these arts are in Ireland, I 
 am confident, if reasonable salaries were ap- 
 pointed by the public to two or three foreign 
 architects ; or, \f the linen or tillage boards, or 
 the Dublin Society, had funds assigned them 
 to give premiums annually to the three best pic- 
 tures, and the three best statues made here, or 
 the architects of the three best houses built 
 annually in this kingdom, we should in time see 
 surprizing improvements in them all among us. 
 
 But it is time to conclude, and therefore, 
 (though I omit many others) I shall hasten to 
 the last method 1 shall recommend to increase 
 the industry of our people, and that is, by as- 
 signing premiums to be given annually to any 
 native of Ireland who shall produce the most 
 useful invention in trade (or any of the libe- 
 ral or manual arts) which shall be judged of 
 
221 
 
 the greatest service to mankind. If this were 
 once reguluriy estiiblisht-d, and men's thoughts 
 encouraged to fall to work by the hopes of dis- 
 tincti<in and premiuais, it is no*^ easy to conceive 
 what effects it would jjioduce, and if necessitj^ 
 be the mother of invention, as the poet says, 
 Ingenium mala ScCpe movent. 1 am sure we niay 
 hope to ba greater inventors than the Germans 
 themselves. Every man tVels such a natural de- 
 light in the iv^i-nx of all new discoveries and 
 inventions, that it is impossible we should not 
 have had much more of them in the world, if it 
 were not for tlie ill usage they generally meet 
 with in it. It is certain most inventors (if we 
 would reckon them up) have been so ill treated 
 by those whom they have laboured to serve, that 
 it daunts men's sjiirits from making any bold at- 
 tempts this way ; whereas, they ought not only, 
 when they succed, to be favoured and encou- 
 raged by rewards to them and their children 
 also, but they should be assisted in their trials, 
 and, instead, of l-eing derided and abused when 
 when they miscarry, th^y should be cheristied 
 and succoured, and even honoured and applaud- 
 ed. As we are idle as well as poor, we have 
 another good title to be invent(»rs, and may em- 
 ploy our solitude this w y, in hopes, by this 
 means, to deserve the notice and esteem of our 
 rich neighbours; and, as we have wide fields of 
 matter to work on, there is no doubt but they 
 will soon produce means and instruments for the 
 business, it i)eing certain that invent on, and the 
 means of inventing, do as constantly beget each 
 other, as dung and fruitful harvests. But as I 
 propose in time to enlarge on t!;is matter in a 
 properer manner to the DUBLIN SOCIETY I 
 shall say no more on it here, and shall only ob- 
 
•22 
 
 serve, before I conclude this essay, of what vast 
 importance premiums may be to any nation, and 
 to ours above all others, if we would apply them 
 in a proper manner to the many useful purposes 
 and designs, which want most to be established 
 among us. 
 
 We can never pay too dear a purchase for the 
 general industry of the nation, which such me- 
 thods would secure to us. It is true they would 
 cost us a good deal, but as no one will work for 
 us without wages, so, where the work is of vast 
 importance to us, Me must expect to pay our 
 people (and our lazy people above all) some- 
 thing extraordinary ; and, as public work goes 
 on slow, and is never carried on cheaply ; and, 
 as we are not only poor, but dispirited too, we 
 must resolve to spur on and enliven our country- 
 men by these expensive methods, or we sliall 
 dream on, and die at last of a lethargy. 
 
 We see what prodigious premiums the British 
 legislature and the States General have assigned 
 for the longitude, but ours are not designed to 
 be applied to impossible performances, but to 
 real, useful blessings, to the manufactures, and 
 trade, and tillage, and a thousand other im- 
 provements of our country. We all knovv by a 
 most happy experience, that with about 80001. 
 per ann. to the linen board, we have gained 
 near 500,0001. per ann. to Ireland, and with as 
 small a spark we may light up as great a fire, 
 which, like that, may enliven and warm the 
 whole of our kingdom : 'i0,000l. per ann. in 
 premiums, skilfully applied, would set every idle 
 hand in the nation at woik, and thereby bring 
 us in at least an additional million from our ex- 
 ports. This is demonsirably certain, and it is 
 as undeniably true, that we ought instantly to 
 
223 
 
 set about them, and they would give us the 
 easiest, the safest, and the cheapest purchase 
 that ever was made by man. Could we have 
 bought the West Indies from Colurubus (as 
 Harry the Vllth. wus offered them) for a few 
 ships and men, unless we could have arts and 
 industry thrown into the purchase, it would not 
 have done such real service ; and we ought 
 therefore to contrive every method to forward 
 this design, and surmount any ditiBculty that 
 can obstruct so blessed and hopeful an under- 
 taking. We can never want funds for such pre- 
 miums, as I could with ease demonstrate, had 
 I time to enlarge on that subject here. But L 
 will content myself with just hinting, in a lew 
 words, that we shall never be at a loss for 
 20,0001. per ann. while we have the follies of 
 our dress, our luxurious imports, and our wine 
 above all, our pensions and salaries, our win- 
 dows, our coaches, or our train of useless ser- 
 vants, our absentees, or our gamesters (that 1 
 may name no more now) to lay proper and rea- 
 ionablc taxes on. 
 
 If we made our lives safer from fire, and se- 
 cured our nation from the wasting importation 
 of Norway deals, by taxing all future wainscot 
 in our houses, and forcing us to stucco ; if we 
 stopped the madness of our spendthrifts, or 
 made them help the state to thrive, by their 
 paying, to this use, the fiftieth part of all lands 
 sold, as they do in Switzerland; if we appropri- 
 ated, as tliey do in France, the fourth part of the 
 profit of all plays, prizes, shews, music-meet- 
 ings, &c. to this end, or laid a tax on stamped 
 paper and parchment, on newspapers and alma- 
 nacks ; or, above all, if wc appropriated the 
 plain, rational, certain profit of a national bank 
 
224 
 
 to these excellent hopes and views, we should 
 soon ebtal lish funds and premiums that would 
 make us a flourishint^ and industrious people. 
 
 But I have done — and am but too sensible if 
 I had fehewn in this p >'.n' essay half that regard 
 to my reputation, that 1 have given to a vain 
 and empty zeal of doing good to Ireland, I 
 should have done much sooner. The truth is,' 
 as the Spaniard says, I had not time to make it 
 shorter, ha\ lUir sent it to the press a^ fast as I 
 could get it written and copieil ; noV had I 
 care, or temper, or a day to spare to correct the 
 rash Sillies and rambles of my thoughts What 
 I fondly wished to shew my countrymen was 
 chiefl}^ this plain fact, that it is entirely in their 
 own power and choice, by restraining their luxury 
 and encreastng their industry, to retrieve their 
 wretched circumstances. If any good comes from 
 my poor endeavours, all is well — but if nor, and 
 that all that can be said, or done, by tlie friends 
 of Ireland, to help us, must go for nothing wiih 
 our heedless countrymen — why, there is an end 
 of a few idle hopes; and I can only bid them 
 farewel, with this wounding complaint, that I 
 fear we must be miserable, without deserving 
 to be relieved ! and undone, without deserving to 
 be pitied ! 
 
 FINIS. 
 
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