Extent of the Sligo Estate, 331 



We were informed that the Sligo estate ex- 

 ceeded eighty thousand acres : we travelled 

 through a great extent of it, and considered 

 the soil to be as indifferent as the cultivation 

 was wretched. The magnificence of the town 

 accords ill with the state of the property 

 by which it is surrounded. The ground of 

 good quality about it is let from three to four 

 pounds the acre. I acknowledge it is incom- 

 prehensible to me how such rents for such land 

 can be paid. The privations in the cabin can 

 alone account for and explain the mystery, 

 when remote from towns in which there is nei- 

 ther trade nor opulence. A rent-day, we were 

 told, presents a spectacle that must force a sigh 

 from the most obdurate of hearts. Such is the 

 general distress on these appointed days, that it 

 has jocosely been said, all the cattle of the dis- 

 trict, twice in the year, belonged to one pro- 

 prietor. This may be exaggerated, but the 

 assertion would not have been hazarded without 

 its being in some degree well founded. The 

 tenants on this great estate have to erect what- 

 ever buildings they may require at their own 

 expense, under a lease of twenty-one years: 

 this term is too short for any prudent occupier 

 to engage his capital and his time on the land, 

 consequently large tracts remain unculti- 



