Retrospective Criticism. 369 



feeding horses in this country. Every small farmer, in districts where 

 whin abounds in the north of Ireland, has a stone trough, in which the 

 tender shoots are beaten to a pulp, with a wooden mallet. This trough is 

 generally formed of granite, and always of the hardest rock, whence, pro- 

 bably the term whinstone, as commonly applied to every very hard stone. 

 I have seen the Irish whin very extensively employed in this manner, and 

 only wonder that the use of it is not still more general. — E. Murphy. 

 Dublin, February 7. 1832. 



The Irish furze is cultivated in the nursery of Messrs. Whitley and Co., 

 Fulham, and is named by Mr. George Don, in our Hortus JBritdnnicus, 

 p. 280., " t/^lex hibernica." In some collections it is named ETlex europse v a 

 var. stricta ; but Mr. J. T. Mackay considers it a distinct species, and no 

 variety of either LTlex europae v a or nana, and names it, in his Catalogue 

 of the Indigenous Plants of Ireland, U^lex stricta. The principal, perhaps 

 only, stations for it are the park and shrubberies of the Marquess of Lon- 

 donderry, at Mount Stewart, county of Down ; and of its origin there no 

 one knows any thing. It has been stated to grow readily from cuttings, and 

 to be a very valuable plant to the agriculturist. Mr. Stewart Murray states 

 that it has been planted in dry hilly pastures in the north of Scotland, and 

 that in the early spring it throws up a copious crop of succulent shoots, 

 which are greedily eaten by sheep, when the supply of grass is insufficient. 

 — Cond. 



Mr. Howden's Answer to Mr. M. Murphy's and Mr. Haycroft' 1 s Criticisms 

 on Ms Remarks on Irish Cottages and Irish Labourers. — We have received 

 a long letter from Mr. Howden, in answer to Mr. M. Murphy (Vol. VII. 

 p. 505.), and to Mr. Haycroft (Vol. VII. p. 710.) ; we cannot insert it in 

 full, but the following are. extracts : — Mr. Howden says, he is happy to 

 hear that Mr. Haycroft is well, and that the wages of the men at Doneraile 

 have been raised from 8d. to IQd. per day ; he hopes that the women's and 

 boys' wages have also been raised from \d. to 5d. ; " a mighty sum truly," 

 says he, " when we consider that the Irish pennies go (like the baker's 

 rolls) thirteen to the dozen. If these be the wafes pi^f*- by the first-rate 

 noblemen, what can be expected fir . 

 deners in my time, viz. 1813, I acknowic>. & . . 

 were 8d. per day; but what with sickness, and saints' days w 

 numerous, together with stoppages for back debts, the subsisting money 

 for eighteen human beings was no more, and often less, than 40*. per 

 week. I remember one of my men stopping the whole of his wages for six 

 whole weeks to pay 24s. for a hat. The poor fellow had some thoughts of 

 going to England, and he thought the hat would make him look respectable. 

 Every good thing in Ireland (except whisky) is dearer than in England. 

 I tried to buy some Irish linen at a shop in Doneraile, and found that 3s. 

 per yard was the lowest price; for, as the draper said, he dealt with the 

 very first house in London for his Irish linen. This seemed rather like an 

 Irish bull." 



In another part of Mr. Howden's letter, he says, " With respect to Mr. M. 

 Murphy's remark (Vol. VII. p. 505.) on my comparing my wife to a Venus, 

 he must know that all lovers, and particularly poetical lovers, compare 

 their mistresses to Venuses, &c. ; and, after a fifteen years' trial, I am as 

 fond of my wife as 



" ' When I first show'd her the ring, and implored her to marry.' " 



Mr. Howden adds, "that he never meant to say that the Irish peasantry 

 were afraid of any thing : the man is no coward who dares to marry, and 

 get a family of children, knowing that 5s. must feed and clothe them all 

 for seven days." Still he believes " that children fed entirely on potatoes, 

 and not half clothed, with quite naked feet, must give the features a different 

 cast from that stamped on them by the hand of their Creator. The grass 



Vol. VIII. — No. 38. b b 



