112 Description of Irish Cabins. 



life even supportable, may be easily ima- 

 gined. 



These mansions of miserable existence, for so 

 they may truly be described, conformably to 

 our general estimation of those indispensable 

 comforts requisite to constitute the happiness 

 of rational beings, are most commonly com* 

 posed of two rooms on the ground floor, a most 

 appropriate term, for they are literally on the 

 earth ; the surface of which is not unfrequently 

 reduced a foot or more, to save the expense of 

 so much outward walling. The one is a refec- 

 tory, the other the dormitory. The furniture 

 of the former, if the owner ranks in the upper 

 part of the scale of scantiness, will consist of a 

 kitchen dresser, well provided and highly deco- 

 rated with crockery not less apparently the 

 pride of the husband, than the result of female 

 vanity in the wife ; which, with a table a chest 

 a few stools and an iron pot, complete the 

 catalogue of conveniences generally found, as 

 belonging to the cabin ; while a spinning-wheel, 

 furnished by the Linen Board, and a loom, or- 

 nament vacant spaces, that otherwise would re- 

 main unfurnished. In fitting up the latter, 

 which cannot, on any occasion, or by any dis- 

 play, add a feather to the weight or importance 

 expected to be excited by the appearance of the 



