W E S T P O R T. 361 



out more than 4000I. the fame as laft year. 

 This year he has alfo given fuch encourage- 

 ment as to induce a perfon to buiid and eftabliih 

 a bleach green and mill. The progrefs of this 

 manufacture has been prodigious, for at firft 

 Lord Altamont was the only buyer, whereas 

 for two years paft there has not been lefs than 

 1 o,oool. a year laid out at this market in linen - 9 

 yet with all this encreafe, they do not yet 

 weave a tenth part of the yarn that is fpun in 

 the neighbourhood. The linens made are all 

 coarfe, generally 8 to 1 100, from 9d. to is. id. 

 a yard. They are double webs of 42 yards and 

 upwards, and 32 inches wide ; and they earn is. 

 a day by weaving it, on an average of work- 

 men. It is of 2 t to 31 hank yarn, and the f pi li- 

 ners earn two-pence halfpenny to three-pence 

 halfpenny a day by fpinning it. The price of 

 it has been in 5 years gradually riling from four- 

 pence to feven-pence a hank. All of it is fpun 

 of flax raifed in the country. 



The poor in general live on potatoes and milk 

 9 months out of the 12, the other 3 months 

 bread and milk. All of them have one or two 

 cows ; fifh is exceedingly plentiful, particularly 

 oy tiers for is. a cart load, and fand eels, yet 

 they eat none ; herrings, howe 1 . are an arti- 

 cle in their food. In their domeftic ne< lomy, 

 they reckon that the men with 



their labour in the field, and the women pay 

 the rent by fpinning. Tl eafe of popula- 



tion is very great. Lord fiion 



that the numbers have doubled on his eftate in 



20 years. 



The 



