M O N 



636 



M O N 



Property 

 and agri- 

 culture. 



M onagri an. ance of the county. The soil in general is cold and 

 """V* 1 "'' poor, but in some parts naturally rich. This character 

 particularly applies to what is called the Mountain of 

 Criene, an elevated tract of land, intersecting the cen- 

 tre of the county, the soil of which is a rich loam on 

 limestone gravel. This tract is also rendered more 

 fertile as well as picturesque by a number of small 

 streams which flow through it. With the exception of 

 a few spots, there is little or no wood ; and this bare- 

 ness is not compensated by field-enclosures, as the 

 corn-fields are in general naked, and without hedge- 

 rows. 



There are no lakes of any size or beauty; and the 

 only river of the least consequence is the Fener, which 

 rises in the west of the county, and falls into Loch 

 Earne. There are said to be some appearances of lead, 

 iron, and other minerals ; but if there are, they are 

 neglected. Limestone, marl, and freestone, however, 

 abound ; there are some large quarries of the last in 

 the hills on the borders of Tyrone ; and on Cairnmore, 

 the highest of these, excellent millstones are procured. 

 The climate of Monaghan is cold and ungenial. 



The agriculture of this county is in a very poor and 

 depressed state. The largest property amounts to 

 33,000 acres ; but in general the estates are small. 

 Many of them are held under the Crown, since the 

 Scotch colony was introduced here; and many small 

 portions of land, some of which do not yield above 

 20 annual income, are possessed by the descendants 

 of Cromwell's soldiers. Nearly the whole of the land 

 in the county is divided into very small tenures, called 

 in Ireland holdings. The number of forty-shilling 

 freeholders, according to the last returns to Parliament, 

 was 5521 ; of 20, 146; and of 50 and upwards, 

 172. Few of the farms on the larger estates are let in 

 perpetuity; the more general term is 21 years and a 

 life, or three lives. 



. According to Sir Charles Coote, in his Survey of 

 this county, the leased farms are under an average of 

 ten acres: taking the large farms, they would not 

 average 2."5 ; and as the small ones, which are far more 

 numerous, do not average six, ten may be the mean 

 rate of the whole county. From this account of the 

 size of the farms, it will naturally be concluded that 

 they are entirely arable, and that the agriculture prac- 

 tised on them cannot be good. A great part of the 

 ground is dug with the spade, or, where a plough is 

 used, it is the joint contribution of three or four far- 

 mers, one bringing the implement itself, another a 

 horse or bullock, or even a milch cow, and a third at- 

 tending himself. Many holdings are too small to main- 

 tain a family. Some only possess a dry cot, that 

 is, a house without 'and ; these purchase every year 

 an acre or two of grass for their cow and horse, and corn 

 acres, or ground for potatoes and oats. Yet even these 

 poor creatures pay a high rent, from a guinea 

 and a half to two guineas an acre. Flax, pota- 

 toes, and oats, are almost the whole produce of the 

 soil: according to the statistical survey, the whole 

 county has seldom 100 acres of wheat. Some bear, or 

 bigg, (a coarse species of barley) is grown, and in a 

 few rich spots barley is cultivated. The farmers, how- 

 ever, do not depend on these crops, but entirely on 

 their flax, potatoes, and oats. The pasture husbandry 

 of this county is on a very limited scale, and not well 

 managed : Most of the small farmers keep one or two 

 cows, and make butter ; the principal markets for it 

 are Monaghan and Newry. One cow is generally 

 kept on every five acres ; and one hundred weight of 



Arable 

 farms. 



Dairies. 



butter, per cow, is considered the usual produce. The Monaghan, 

 stock consists of the small stunted breed, still so com- Mona- 

 mon in Ireland. Scarcely any sheep are kept : goats ^ ^ 

 are numerous, and are found round the greater part of ^'"* 1 

 the cabins, many of the poorer families being supplied 

 with the milk they use by this animal. Many hogs 

 are kept ; Carrickmacross is a great market for them. 



The only manufacture in Monaghan is that of linen ; Linen ma- 

 and for it this county is rather celebrated. The inha- nufacture. 

 bitants are chiefly weavers, as well as farmers ; women 

 hire themselves out to spin the yarn : their wages are 

 L.3 10s. or L.4 per annum, besides their board and 

 lodging ; if they spin at their own houses they earn 

 about three shillings a-week. It requires about three 

 weeks to weave a web of 25 3'ards ; the average pay is 

 L.I ; hence it appears that the weekly wages of a wea- 

 ver is about 6s. 8d. The consumption of a manufac- 

 turing family, consisting of six individuals, is estimat- 

 ed at 5s. a- week ; their food being potatoes, herrings, 

 and butter-milk : the weekly expence of an agricultural 

 family, of the same number, is 7s 6d. as they will occa- 

 sionally use oat-meal, milk, and pork. The principal 

 markets for the linens within the county are Monaghan, 

 Castle Blaney, and Carrickmacross. The linen trade 

 of this county is averaged at about 200,000 a-year. 



The catholics in this county are as five to one com- Catholk*. 

 pared with the protestants ; the latter are chiefly pres- 

 byterians. In the year 1792, there were 21,523 houses, Population- 

 and 118,000 inhabitants in this county : on the suppo- 

 sition that there are 280 square miles, there will be 

 76.86 inhabitants to a square mile; and on the sup- 

 position that there are 179600 acres, there will be 83 

 acres to each house. The state of the peasantry, from 

 what has already been mentioned, it may be conceived, 

 is wretched ; and yet there are parts of the county 

 where improvements are going on, and civilization is 

 advancing. As a proof of the poverty of Monaghan, 

 it may be stated, that, though the smallest county in 

 Ulster, it contains more houses with only one hearth 

 than any of the other counties except Antrim, Armagh, 

 Tyrone, and Down; whereas Londonderry, which 

 contains twice the number of acres, has only one half 

 the number of one-hearth houses. 



Monaghan has scarcely any antiquities except a AntiquU 

 round tower, and two of those ral/is called Danish ties, 

 forts, at Clones. This place was formerly the seat of 

 an episcopal see, and a borough ; in the ruins of the 

 abbey burial ground are several magnificent tombs. 

 See Sir Charles Coote's Survey of Monaghan ; Wake- 

 field's Ireland ; Dr. Beaufort's Memoir of a Map of 

 Ireland, (w. s. ) 



MONACHISM. The origin of Monachism cannot Origin, 

 be traced higher than the middle of the third century 

 of the Christian era, though Roman Catholic writers 

 have erroneously and unsuccessfully endeavoured to 

 prove, that the Ascetics, who were not uncommon 

 long before this period, were monks. The monastic 

 state originated in the last : the first monk whose name 

 has reached us is St. Paul, usually styled the hermit ; ^aid. 

 he retired into upper Egypt in 250, and after having 

 attained the extraordinary age of 1 1 3 years, died hi 

 341. Nearly about the same period, Anthony, a young 

 man of very moderate attainments in literature, but evi- 

 dently possessed of a strong understanding, who was 

 born 'in the lower parts of the Thebais, and possessed 

 a small tract of very fertile land in that part of Egypt, 

 sold his property, distributed it among his relations 

 and leaving his home, retired at first among the ruins 

 of the tombs afterwards to a lonely, but shady and 



