116 ON THE STATE OF IRELAND. [BOOK I. 



large and small tithes ; because there the rich and 

 the learned enjoyed a wider field of action, than in 

 those parts where the portion of the clergy was 

 limited to the thirtieth sheaf of corn. We must fur- 

 ther remark, that in countries where the cultivator 

 was not the landowner, but only the occupier, the 

 payment of this tithe did not fall upon him ; for 

 he took the farm at a price proportioned to the 

 burdens which it had to support, and in the end 

 the whole was expended in the parish. 



At the period of the Reformation, this great and 

 admirable association was destroyed, and ecclesi- 

 astical property confiscated. The produce of the 

 tithes was given to Protestant clergymen, who, 

 having no flocks, resided in Dublin or England, 

 leaving the agriculturists under the conscientious 

 scruple of paying to heretics, and of giving a morsel 

 of bread to their Catholic pastor, which they have 

 always done without murmur, and with a devotion 

 that proves how the traditions of their fathers 

 have convinced them of the sacredness of the sa- 

 cerdotal institutions. 



With regard to the interests of the rural popula- 

 tion, the Inquiry develops the barbarous state into 

 which agriculture is fallen, although, two centuries 

 ago, it was on a par with that of the rest of Europe. 



