are; but the population was limited by the difficulty of procuring a
corn subsistence. The improvements of this kingdom were more rapid;
the price of labour rose; and with it the luxury and comfort of the
peasant, who is now decently lodged and clothed, and who would think
himself in the last stage of wretchedness if he had nothing but an
iron pot in a turf house, and plenty of potatoes in it. The use of
the potato was introduced into Ireland when the wretched
accommodation of her own peasantry bore some proportion to the state
of those accommodations all over Europe. But they have increased
their population so fast, and, in conjunction with the oppressive
government of Ireland retarding improvement, have kept the price of
labour so low, that the Irish poor have never been able to emerge
from their mud cabins, or to acquire any taste for cleanliness and
decency of appearance. Mr. Curwen has the following description of
Irish cottages:-


"These mansions of miserable existence, for so they may truly be
described, conformably to our general estimation of those
indispensable comforts requisite to constitute the happiness of
rational beings, are most commonly composed of two rooms on the
ground floor, a most appropriate term, for they are literally on the
earth, the surface of which is not unfrequently reduced a foot or
more to save the expense of so much outward walling. The one is a
refectory, the other the dormitory. The furniture of the former, if
the owner ranks in the upper part of the scale of scantiness, will
consist of a kitchen dresser, well provided and highly decorated
with crockery--not less apparently the pride of the husband than the
result of female vanity in the wife: which, with a table, a chest,
a few stools, and an iron pot, complete the catalogue of