290 Memoir of Arthur Young, Esq 



Monday morning. This was the most anxious and laborious 

 part of his life: " I worked," says he, " more like a coal- 

 heaver, though without his reward, than a man acting only 

 from a predominant impulse." In 1774 he published " Political 

 Arithmetic," a work which met with high consideration abroad, 

 and was immediately translated into several languages. Mr. 

 Young has left a memorandum which states, that he received 

 for his different writings, in the interval between the years 1766 

 and 1775, the sum of three thousand pounds. 



The years 1776 and 1777, were occupied by his tour through 

 Ireland, which he commenced under the auspices of the most 

 distinguished noblemen and gentlemen of that country, to 

 whom he carried letters from Lord Shelburne, Mr. Burke, and 

 other persons of distinction in England : on landing at Dublin, 

 he was very politely received by Colonel Burton, who was 

 afterwards Lord Conyngham, the aide-de-camp to Lord Har- 

 court, then lord-lieutenant, who conducted him to his Excel- 

 lency's villa at Saint Woolstan, and made every arrangement 

 for his tour that might in any way contribute to his comfort or 

 instruction. 



This celebrated tour was published in 1780, in one volume, 

 quarto ; Miss Edgeworth, in her " Castle Rack Rent," remarks, 

 that it was the first faithful portrait of its inhabitants ; but its 

 claims to patronage were founded upon more solid grounds, 

 its pretensions were of a higher order, and of a very different 

 character from those of an animated and descriptive writer; 

 it presented a vast store of agricultural and political knowledge 

 relative to the cultivation and native resources of that kingdom, 

 which has been the means of ameliorating the condition, and 

 of promoting the happiness of the people. Were I to attempt 

 any thing like an adequate analysis of this powerful work, 

 time and space would alike fail me ; I must therefore rest 

 satisfied with noticing some of its more prominent features. 

 That part of the publication which produced the greatest 

 sensation upon the government, and effected the most important 

 change in its measures, was his attack upon the bounty paid 

 on the land carriage of com to Dublin, in which he proved the 



