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LETTER XLIL 



Castle Dermont, Sept. 19, 1813. 



ON quitting Kilkenny, we were much pleased 

 with the general aspect of the country, the soil 

 of which is fertile, and the cultivation of it very 

 tolerable. The town stands partly on an emi- 

 nence, the shore is a grand river, and its banks 

 are rich. Ground near the town lets at the ex- 

 travagant rate of from four to six pounds per acre. 

 New milk is sold in summer at two-pence, in. 

 winter at three-pence a quart j which is as high 

 as in most towns in England. Laborers' wages, 

 during the time of harvest, are twenty -pence a 

 day - 9 at other times, wider a shilling. 



At Kilkenny we experienced, for the first 

 time, incivility. On inquiring our way to the 

 cathedral, we were directed to an opposite 

 quarter of the town ; and, though the reply to 

 our question was made in the hearing of num- 

 bers of bystanders, not one of them had either 

 the good humour or good manners to correct 



