The Irish sketch-book . nt for a half-dozen of country English squire of ten thousand a year might livein such a place—the original owner, I am told, hadnot many more hundreds. Our host has wisely turned the chief part of thepleasure-ground round the house into a farm; nordid the land look a bit the worse, as I thought, forhaving rich crops of potatoes growing in place ofgrass, and fine plots of waving wheat and care, skill, and neatness everywhere exhibited,and the immense luxuriance of the crops, could notfail to strike even a cockney; and one of our party,a very well
The Irish sketch-book . nt for a half-dozen of country English squire of ten thousand a year might livein such a place—the original owner, I am told, hadnot many more hundreds. Our host has wisely turned the chief part of thepleasure-ground round the house into a farm; nordid the land look a bit the worse, as I thought, forhaving rich crops of potatoes growing in place ofgrass, and fine plots of waving wheat and care, skill, and neatness everywhere exhibited,and the immense luxuriance of the crops, could notfail to strike even a cockney; and one of our party,a very well-known, practical farmer, told me that A COUNTRY-HOUSE IN CARLOW. 71 there was at least five hundred pounds worth of pro-duce upon the little estate of some sixty acres, ofwhich onlyfive-and-twenty were under the plough. As at H town, on the previous day, several men and women appeared sauntering in the grounds, andas the master came up asked for work, or sixpence, ortold a story of want. There are lodge-gates at both. ends of the demesne; but it appears the good-natured practice of the country admits a beggar as 72 A COUNTRY-HOUSE IN CARLOW. well as any other visitor. To a couple our landlordgave money, to another a little job of work ; anotherhe sent roughly out of the premises: and I couldjudge thus what a continual tax upon the Irish gen-tleman these travelling paupers must be, of whomhis ground is never free. There loitering about the stables and out-houses,were several people who seemed to have acquired asort of right to be there: women and children whohad a claim upon the buttermilk; men who did anodd job now and then; loose hangers-on of thefamily : and in the lodging-houses and inns I haveentered, the same sort of ragged vassals are to befound; in a house however poor you are sure to seesome poorer dependant who is a stranger, taking ameal of potatoes in the kitchen; a Tim or Mikeloitering hard by, ready to run on a message, or carrya bag. This is written, for instan
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