iBo3» Survey ofile County of Kilhmiy* 99 



receive no benefit. When the fubjc^l, therefore, was agitated in par- 

 liament, this caunty was the firll to petition againft tithes in 1787. 

 * The tithes are ufually valued by the prodor after harvefl ; fome- 

 times he meets the farmers at public houfes, another fource of 

 evil, to fettle with them: fometimes the incumbent agrees himfelf; 

 the farmer then quits his work to go to him repeatedly, and, by 

 various ilories, tries to circumvent the clergyman, whofe time is 

 taken up in making bargains. The tithes are paid half-yearly, in 

 November and May ; the incumbent often takes notes, and is 

 fpmctimes not entirely paid for two years. 



* All reafonable clergymen, feeing thefe difadvantages, wilh for 

 another mode of payment ; and if the tithes were fold, at a mode- 

 rate valuation, to thofe interefted in them, a fund might be efta- 

 l)liflied, not only fufficient to pay the clergy more tha.n their pre- 

 fent incomes, but to purchafe glebes; and fuch afcheme appears no 

 le's eafy than defirable. 



* Every incumbent ihould be provided with glebe fufficient to fup- 

 ply his houfe, and with a glebe-houfe fit for a gentleman to relids 

 in ; then the miserable excufes and ihifts made to avoid refidence 

 would be done away ; and the paftor v.^ould be an enfample to his 

 flock, not or.lv in morality, but in agriculture. In England commu- 

 tations for tithe have been fuggefled by fome of the heads of the 

 church, as the Biiliop of Lincoln ; the payment varying according 

 to the price of corn. 



* Some lands, anciently monailic, are tithe-free; fuch are Aghna- 

 mult, Sheeilown, Kilree, Kilfera, in all about 4000 acres, in the 

 union of Burnchurch. Such are fome lands in the pariQi of Graigue, 

 and others : the value of thefe lands is high, and tl>ey are general- 

 ly well improved.' 



An appendix, containing fome important papers on the fubjeft 

 of canals, &:c. is fubjoined. A very diftincl map of the county is 

 aifo given, which is an ufeful appendage. 



On the whole, we are well pieafed with this tlatiftical furvey. 

 It difplays a confiderable degree of information on rural matters, 

 and proves that tlie author has the real interefts of his country at 

 heart. We would, however, recommend to thofe, who raay 

 be em.ployed in limilar inquiries, to ftudy brevity as much as pof- 

 fible ; for, were all the thirty-two counties of Ireland to be defcribed 

 in the like copious way, an ordinary reader would hardly be able 

 to examine them during the period in which our globe makes it»i 

 annual revolution. N. 



BRANCH 



