38 Letter from Dr. Thornton on the Cow -Pox. 



Inoculation of the Village of Lowther*. 



Lowther is a most pleasant picturesque village, situated 

 two hundred and eighty miles from London, seven nules 

 from Penrith, and a mile from the antient famous mansion 

 of Lowther, and was built by Lhe late earl of Lonsdale, in 

 the Italian taste, is regularly sashed, contiguous, from two 

 to three stories high, each house being of stone, and, with- 

 out doubt, is the most tasty village in the kingdom. It 

 contains about four hundred inhabitants. 



His lordship, observing, with great acumen, the cause 

 of the prosperity of the north of Ireland, after having built 

 in this delightful spot a village, unique of its kind, sufficient 

 to contain five hundred inhabitants, sent over to Ireland for 

 manufacturers of cloth, to set the example of the true welfare 

 of a nation. Here it is all his lordship's linen, as table-r 

 cloths of damask, napkins of the same, towels, sheeting, 

 and long-cloth ; in short, every article of linen in use have 

 been fabricated, and no other is at present employed either 

 at his lordship's establishment in Loudon or at Lowther. 

 Besides these manufacturers, all his lordship's labourers re- 

 side here, rent free, and are allowed a regular stipend both 

 summer and winter, and, however old, are paid equally 

 as when they could exert their youthful strength. It wa^ 

 with pleasure that I witnessed, in the winter, potatoes given 

 as usual, meat, and bread ; and when any of the wives are 

 near their time to be brought-to-bed, they send to Lowther 

 for linen, and are allowed beer-caudle during the month. 

 The villagers, indeed, generally lament that there is nq 

 public-house throughout the whole pl^ce; but his lordship 

 no less regards their temporal than their eternal welfare. 



■ Agt'icola?, 



O fortunati nimium, sua si bona norint! Vikg. 



' Hence it is that the village of Lowther exhibits what should 

 be the pride of English nobility, a fine healthy industrious 

 peasantry, supported by, and contiguous to, a rich don)ain. 



Let the reader of sensibility contemplate the difference 

 between that pride of nobility which "desolates a country to 

 extend a park, and that patriotic spirit which, at a consi- 

 derable expense, establishes towns and villages for the pur- 

 poses of manufacture. 



Every thing seemed to conspire to render our experiment 

 the most deci live imaginable. His lordship observing with 

 a true patriotic eye, which looks beyopd the narrow circle 



* From facts dtcisive in fi.vuur of jhc cow-pox. This inoculation 

 was ia tiie vcar 1800. 



uf 



