1804. view of the Situation of Fanners ^ ^c. 29S 



and I may fay tho prefcnt price of cnttle and of fli-ni meat, I 

 cannot lu'lp v^oinj* ^ liep farther, to think Iiow much dearer both 

 would have heen, but lor the iniruduriion of the potato. Wxr 

 Johtj Hawkins l^roujdit us this invaliuible root, in the rei^n of 

 Q^f'cn Elifabeth *, and, fo early as Shakefpe.ire wrote, it was be- 

 come proverbial, * Lei the Jky rain potatoes.'' [ALrr\ i^ives of 

 Witulfor.) It (eemb, too, to have been then lield in great cfti- 

 mation, for we find it coupled with a fn rumpy as appendages 

 of tiie Devil l^uxury. {l"rotlus and Lrtfpda.) Confidcririg how 

 well it agrees with our foil and climate, the eafo with which it 

 is cultivated, and the ^^reat quantity of nr)urii}ii!i^ food it yields, 

 it is matter of wonder that it did not come fooner into general 

 tife. I well remember the time when it was not quite common, 

 but (lunvn, as fomething curious, in the gardens at Panmure and 

 Tynninghame. Intleed it is not yet twenty years iince it formed 

 part of the crop upon every firm, and, for nine months in the 

 year, part of the daily food of every poor man's family. 



Farmers have failed lately for conl'ulerable fums, and no doubt 

 your profound feholars will thence infer tlieir general profpcri- 

 ty. IN'Ir Pitt inferred the general pToCperity of mereliants from 

 the failures in the mercantile world. Farmers failed too, in 

 former times, when they were men of little* enterprife, and the 

 rents, comparatively fpeaking, low. I)**** j/^**** ^-aLve up 

 his farm of B***-****, in 1759, bccaufe he owed 130I. to Lord 

 Panmure, who was an indulgent landlord to his tenants. D**** 

 retired to a fmaller farm in Fife, which he was fcon obliged 

 to quit, as his brother in London grew weary of paying the rent 

 for him. His humour and his fun did not forfake jjiin, even 

 when he had no more tiian a tide- wait-r's pittance to fupport 



him, and that v (l 1 !,*** C******, to whom he con- 



tinue(1 attached to Ids dying kVaw 



500I. He was a popular man, and his friends bought for him, 

 by fubfcrlption, a damned fulky btait of a couifcr, which he 

 led about the country, and eot plenty of employment for, till 

 Mrs R****^*** -.t (;********» rook fome umbrage at Peter, and 

 patronized his rival, an EMgltihrnaii of tl.e name of Smiti^ from 

 Northumberland. Peter declined graduallvi and at lalt fell into 

 utter infignificance. 



p*#*# !;)#*»#** tQ(^|^ fl^^, merit of obtaining from the late 

 munificent Earl of Hopetoun, a weekly allowance of two pecks 

 of meal to A***** q*******^ j,jj, prfdecellbr in the farm of 

 ^♦*##»*#, W***** at M*»*****, thought himfclf happy 10 

 get into the barn to thrafh the crop, and to e.it in the kirchren ^f 

 that houfe, the bell apartment of which had often wclcurned 



iliiTV •, 



