A Tour in Ireland | Page 2

observations, which give to all his books a wide general interest,
are, in this volume, of especial value to us now. It is here reprinted as
given by Pinkerton.

In 1784 Arthur Young began to edit "Annals of Agriculture," which
were continued through forty-five volumes. All writers in it were to
sign their names, but when His Majesty King George III. contributed a
description of Mr. Duckett's Farm at Petersham, he was allowed to sign
himself "Ralph Robinson of Windsor."
In 1792 Arthur Young published the first quarto volume, and in 1794
the two volumes of his "Travels during the years 1787-8-9 and 1790,
undertaken more particularly with a view of ascertaining the
Cultivation, Wealth, Resources and National Prosperity of the
Kingdom of France." This led to the official issue in France in 1801, by
order of the Directory, of a translation of Young's agricultural works,
under the title of "Le Cultivateur Anglais." Arthur Young also
corresponded with Washington, and received recognition from the
Empress Catherine of Russia, who sent him a gold snuff-box, and
ermine cloaks for his wife and daughter. He was made a Fellow of the
Royal Society.
In 1793 his labours led to the formation of a Board of Agriculture, of
which he was appointed secretary.
When he was set at ease by this appointment, with a house and 400
pounds a year, Arthur Young had been about to experiment on the
reclaiming of four thousand acres of Yorkshire moorland. The
Agricultural Board was dissolved in 1816, four years before surveys of
the agriculture of each county were made for the Agricultural Board,
Arthur Young himself contributing surveys of Hertfordshire,
Lincolnshire, Oxfordshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Sussex.
Arthur Young's sight became dim in 1808, and blindness gradually
followed. He died in 1820 at his native village of Bradfield, in Suffolk,
at the age of seventy-nine years.
H. M.

A TOUR IN IRELAND.

June 19, 1776. Arrived at Holyhead, after an instructive journey
through a part of England and Wales I had not seen before. Found the
packet, the Claremont, Captain Taylor, would sail very soon. After a
tedious passage of twenty-two hours, landed on the 20th in the morning,
at Dunlary, four miles from Dublin, a city which much exceeded my
expectation. The public buildings are magnificent, very many of the
streets regularly laid out, and exceedingly well built. The front of the
Parliament-house is grand, though not so light as a more open finishing
of the roof would have made it. The apartments are spacious, elegant,
and convenient, much beyond that heap of confusion at Westminster,
so inferior to the magnificence to be looked for in the seat of empire. I
was so fortunate as to arrive just in time to see Lord Harcourt, with the
usual ceremonies, prorogue the Parliament. Trinity College is a
beautiful building, and a numerous society; the library is a very fine
room, and well filled. The new Exchange will be another edifice to do
honour in Ireland; it is elegant, cost forty thousand pounds, but
deserves a better situation. From everything I saw, I was struck with all
those appearances of wealth which the capital of a thriving community
may be supposed to exhibit. Happy if I find through the country in
diffused prosperity the right source of this splendour! The common
computation of inhabitants 200,000, but I should suppose exaggerated.
Others guessed the number 140,000 or 150,000.
June 21. Introduced by Colonel Burton to the Lord Lieutenant, who
was pleased to enter into conversation with me on my intended journey,
made many remarks on the agriculture of several Irish counties, and
showed himself to be an excellent farmer, particularly in draining.
Viewed the Duke of Leinster's house, which is a very large stone
edifice, the front simple but elegant, the pediment light; there are
several good rooms; but a circumstance unrivalled is the court, which is
spacious and magnificent, the opening behind the house is also
beautiful. In the evening to the Rotunda, a circular room, ninety feet
diameter, an imitation of Ranelagh, provided with a band of music.
The barracks are a vast building, raised in a plain style, of many
divisions; the principal front is of an immense length. They contain
every convenience for ten regiments.

June 23. Lord Charlemont's house in Dublin is equally elegant and
convenient, the apartments large, handsome, and well disposed,
containing some good pictures, particularly one by Rembrandt, of
Judas throwing the money on the floor, with a strong expression of
guilt and remorse; the whole group fine. In the same room is a portrait
of Caesar Borgia, by Titian. The library is a most elegant apartment of
about forty by thirty, and of such a height as to form a pleasing
proportion; the light is well managed, coming in from the cove of