fO ON THE STATE OF IRELAND. [BOOK I. 



cially in mowing said that he had not married, because his 

 father had died young, and the sole charge of his mother 

 and sister devolved on him. 



In the barony of Dromahair, the witnesses declared that 

 as soon as a man has taken possession of a cabin, however 

 small, he does not remain three months without marrying ; 

 that, moreover, he has nothing to lose, and those who are 

 married are not worse off than himself. When a man has 

 any money, he is hard to be pleased ; the poor man cannot 

 be a chooser, and he that is destitute hardly hesitates at 

 all ; he meets a girl at a fair, and is perhaps married to her 

 before the week is out. 



In the barony of Murrisk, it was said that a man begins 

 life in general with a portion of his father's land : when he 

 has made up his mind to marry, he runs up a cabin before- 

 hand, and takes a subdivision from his father at whatever 

 price. Small holders are induced to marry, by feeling that 

 their condition cannot be made worse, and they promise 

 themselves some pleasure in the society of a wife. 



In the barony of Carbery a witness said, that in the 

 year 1822 he visited a district, to see who required relief, 

 and that he found none in want of it all were comfortable ; 

 but having a fortnight ago visited the same district, as 

 tithe-commissioner, he found the inhabitants in a very mi- 

 serable condition, for, instead of twenty families who lived 

 upon the land when he first visited it, there were subse- 

 quently seventy, and they all attribute their misery solely 

 to the subdivision of the land consequent upon the new 

 marriages. 



In the barony of Gowran, province of Leinster, many 

 persons have said that they married because, if it came to 

 the worst, their wives could take to begging for them and 

 for themselves. 



