276 MITCHELSTOWN. 



are innumerable, and like moft Iriih cabbins, 

 fwarfn with children. Wherever there is many 

 people, and little employment, idlenefs and its 

 attendants muft abound, 



It is not to be expected that fo young a man 

 as Lord Kingfborough, juft come from the va- 

 rious gaiety of Italy, Paris, and London, fhould, 

 in fo fhort a fpace as two yearsj do much in a 

 region fo wild as Mitchelftown ; a very fhort 

 narrative however, will convince the reader, 

 that the time he has fpent here, has not been 

 thrown away. He found his immenfe pro- 

 perty in the hands of that fpecies of tenant 

 which we know fo little of in England, but 

 which in Ireland have fiourimed almoft to the 

 deftruction of the kingdom, the middle man, 

 whofe bufinefs and whofe induftry confifts in 

 hiring great tracts of land as cheap as he can, 

 and re -letting them to others as dear as he can, 

 by which means that beautiful gradation of 

 the pyramid, which connects the broad bafe of 

 the .poor people with the great nobleman they 

 fupport, is broken j he deals only with his 

 pwn tenant, the multitude is abandoned to the 

 humanity and feelings of others, which to be 

 fure may prompt a juft and tender conduct; 

 . whether it does or not, let the mjfery and po- 

 verty of the lower claries fpeak, who are thus 

 afligned over. This was the fituation of nine- 

 tenths of his property. Many leafes being 

 out, he rejected the trading tenant, and let 

 every man's land to him, who occupied 

 it at the rent \\e had himielf received before. 



During 



