Lamherfs Rural Affairs of Ireland. 217 



is one remark respecting the management of sheep, which may be excep- 

 tionable ; it is this : — " Ewes should, if possible, have some green food 

 before and after lambing." Now, to give green food before lambing is in 

 England considered a dangerous practice. The ewes, under such treat- 

 ment, yean well, but soon after are taken with a heaving, as if about to 

 yean a second time ; twenty-four hours, or less, usually puts a period to 

 their existence, and nothing hitherto discovered will effect a cure. The 

 only preventive is to put the flock on dry food. 



We now come to " Observations on reclaiming Bogs and Wastes." In 

 this important chapter the author has shown what portion of bogs may 

 with propriety be attempted, and with certainty be reclaimed. With a per- 

 fect knowledge of the nature of these bogs, the habits, wants, and industry 

 of the numerous peasantry, he has, in addition to these, brought all his 

 experience on rural affairs to bear on this subject, and made it one of the 

 most interesting chapters in the volunie. As an improver of wastes, he 

 equally avoids the vapid declamatory nonsense of enthusiastic theorists, 

 and the indolent admirers of things as they are : he proceeds in a business- 

 like manner; like one who is aware of the difficuUies with which the sub- 

 ject is beset, but is, nevertheless, confident in the resources of his own 

 mind, and the almost boundless resources which Ireland afibitls. He 

 shows what immense improvements might be effected in Ireland, by the 

 proper application of capital. On this subject his work should be con- 

 sulted by every man who may have an acre of bog. It is not a little 

 curious, likewise, when on this subject, to observe with what ease and most 

 perfect sangfroid he exposes the utter ignorance of those Katerfeltos who 

 send their nostrums by dozens across the Channel, each of which would, 

 as they profess, if properly administered, insure not only the regeneration, 

 but the complete salvation, of Ireland. Nor does even honest John Bull 

 escape a sarcasm or two about his " frothing tankard and fat bacon," — (May 

 he ever have plenty of both !) — and when his condition is contrasted with 

 that of the labourer of Ireland, the author, with national pride, claims some 

 degree of happiness and comfort for his own poor des[)ised countr} men, 

 who dwell in cabins as foxes in holes; and such a claim is both just and 

 commendable, for they certainly are neither so unhappy nor so wretched as 

 their appearance would seem to indicate : but that the poverty of the 

 Irish peasant is great, his privations numerous, and, to an Englishman, un- 

 bearable and maddening, no one acquainted with his condition will deny ; 

 yet his native good-humour and buojant spirits enable him not only to 

 prolong and enjoy his existence, but in some measure to compete in point 

 of happiness with his better fed English neighbour. But an Irish peasant's 

 happiness is that sort of happiness which may Heaven ever avert from the 

 shores of Britain ! it is that sort of happiness under bondage, which is de- 

 scribed in Don Juan as being exhibited by the blacks, in contradistinction 

 to the whites, in the slave mart, where the noble author says : — 

 " The negroes more philosophy display'd. 



Used to it, no doubt, as eels are to be flay'd." 



And used to oppression he is indeed; for, although the maxim " live and 

 let live" is understood and acted upon by many kind and benevolent resident 

 landlords, yet the sentiment is exotic, and a grasping overreaching dispo- 

 sition is the general characteristic of this grade of society. The absentee 

 landlords exact exorbitant rents from the small farmers (and if a man rent 

 but half a dozen acres of ground, he is called a. farmer in Ireland); while 

 the middleman, or large farmer, with from 50 to 100 acres, or upwards, 

 acting, as in many parts they do, upon the con-acre system, oppresses the 

 peasant, and injures the land for years, to enrich himself. By these and 

 such like grinding and oppressive means, the intellects of the peasantry are 

 whetted to a degree of acuteness in fraud and deception unknown in Eng- 

 land. If it is possible, an Irish peasant will cheat or overreach a customer 



