SKETCHES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 MERINO FACTORY. 
 
 DESCRIPTIVE OF ITS 
 
 ORIGIN AND PROGRESS: 
 
 ITS SYSTEM 
 
 OF 
 
 DISCIPLINE AND MORAL GOVERNMENT, 
 
 DUBLIN 
 
 PRINTED BY GltAISBERRY AND CAMPBELL, 
 10, BACK-LANE. 
 
 ISIS,
 
 URL 
 
 l St 
 
 SKETCH 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ORIGIN AND PROGRESS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 MERINO FACTORY, 
 
 COUNTY KILKENNY. 
 
 PRESENTED TO THE DUBLIN SOCIETY, 
 
 19th DECEMBER, 1S16. 
 
 ? A century has not elapsed since an Irish Parlia- 
 
 ment enacted that every occupier of one hundred 
 
 « acres of land should keep five of them at least under 
 
 tillage. At such a period and under such circum- 
 
 ^ stances it cannot excite surprise that the great mass 
 
 ^ of the population, though scarcely a third of its 
 
 t^present amount, should be unemployed ; and that po- 
 
 v 1 verty, discontent, and emigration should consequently 
 
 < prevail. — Within the last fifty years tillage has pro- 
 
 >£ gressively and rapidly encreased j and yet, so dense is 
 
 a 2
 
 now the population of Ireland, that there is not and 
 lias not been, even in time of war, adequate employ- 
 ment for adult.-,: — for children and youth no occupa- 
 tion whatever ; no means of training them to indus- 
 trious pursuits or moral habits. Hence, under cir- 
 cumstances so different, a continuation of the same 
 evils, poverty, disturbance, or emigration.* 
 
 {.'ha population thus evidently exceeding the de- 
 mands of tillage, it follows that the introduction of 
 manufactures alone can obviate such evils, by sup- 
 plying work for adults and a suitable occupation for 
 childhood and youth. With many, however, it has 
 been a question whether the disease be not preferable 
 
 * Emigration may be injurious cither directly or indirectly ; or it may 
 operate injuriously in both ways, as when artisans or farmers, carrying 
 with them skill, industry, and capital, forsake their native soil, and often 
 ldd to the strength and prosperity of a rival state. Thus the English 
 Puritans and Quakers made large settlements in America, the Spanish 
 Moors in Africa, and the French Protectants in England. Emigra- 
 tion may also be deemed injurious, when the males of a redundant po- 
 pulation desert their country, leaving their wives and children behind 
 them; and even when a redundant and unemployed population, whose 
 mere absence might serve their native country, retire to an unfriendly 
 <!. rival Power. The emigrations from Ireland have been injurious in 
 all these respects : many thousands of our artisans and wealthier far- 
 mers have settled in America : many of our mere labourers have fled, 
 leasing their families to augment the ranks of mendicants, and even 
 when they have taken their families with them, all in general retire to 
 .America, to the indirect injury of their own country ; whereas by ju- 
 dicious management, the emigration of the latter class might be made 
 doubly serviceable, both by relieving the parent state, and by strength- 
 ening some of o.ii 'most valuable colonies, such as the Cape of Good 
 
 H..JK.
 
 
 
 to file remedy : this question the moralist will scarcely 
 hesitate to decide in the affirmative, so long as vice 
 and immorality shall be deemed greater evils than 
 the advantages of wealth can counterbalance, it being 
 but too notorious that large factories, however they 
 may add to the wealth of a country, have heretofore 
 uniformly proved the bane of its morals. 
 
 That beneficial consequences may result from the 
 introduction of manufactures into any country twef 
 things are requisite: — 1st, that they be adapted to the 
 soil and climate; and 2dly, that they be conducted 
 on a system capable of obviating their usual pernicious 
 effects en health and on morals. — In applying these 
 principles to Ireland it may safely be asserted that the 
 Linen manufacture, the staple of the North, cannot 
 with a prospect of equal success be extended to the 
 South.* The want of proper materials renders the 
 manufacture of Pottery or Hardware impracticable ; 
 and that of Cotton is at the least highly questionable. 
 The Woollen manufacture, in which Ireland had of 
 old proved her excellence, would from thence appear 
 to be the only manufacture of importance, to which 
 
 * This observation was intended to apply to the fine branch of the 
 Linen Manufacture, to establish which, during the last century, re- 
 peated and unsuccessful attempts had been made in several of the south- 
 ern counties. The coarse branch, on a small scale, has long been carried 
 pn in the south and west, and is well calculated for them. The encou- 
 ragement lately given to this branch will, it is hoped, be attended 
 with the happiist results, as there is no manufacture capable of giving 
 such general relief, from the extensive employment it furnishes to ve- 
 males.
 
 6 
 
 the country was adapted 5 and as such, the only one, 
 therefore, in which the English capitalist would be 
 tempted to hazard his property, if success had once 
 established the practicability of the attempt.* 
 
 The Proprietors of the Merino Factory, in selecting 
 the Woollen manufacture, were convinced that, 
 though unable to contend with English capital, they 
 bad nothing in these enlightened times to apprehend 
 from a jealous rivalry, and that a system of short- 
 sighted policy, which (co use the words of Lord Li- 
 verpool) " had sacrificed the real interests of Ireland 
 to the supposed interests of England, would no longer 
 be pursued ;" and agreeing in opinion with the same 
 statesman, that the sole effectual remedy for the griev- 
 ances of Ireland consisted in bettering the state of 
 the poor, they did, under these impressions and with 
 the view of furnishing employment and education to a 
 poor and ignorant population, undertake the estab- 
 lishment of th:it manufacture. 
 
 * An adequate supply of the raw material at a steady price must 
 ever he deemed of the first importance in promoting and maintaining the 
 prosperity of any manufacture. So long as a country shall be dependent 
 on a foreign, perhaps an hostile state, for its supply of the raw material 
 of a staple manufacture, so long must that manufacture be exposed to 
 vicissitudes alike injurious to the manufacturer and to the public. 
 Hence the enormous advance on the price of wool and of cloth, immedi- 
 ately after Buonaparte entered Spain. The soil and climate of Ire- 
 land are well adapted for sheep ; and the Proprietors of the Merino 
 Factory early directed their attention to the increase and improvement 
 of the Merino race. Their flock now consists of upwards of 600, and 
 their wool, during a period of seven years has manifestly improved so 
 much, as to promise to rival even that of Saxony.
 
 The first object of attention with the Proprietors 
 after this decision was the devisifig such a system of dis- 
 cipline as would, in securing to the peasant the bene- 
 fits of full employment, shield him at the same time 
 from the pernicious influence of his new occupation, 
 and in obviating the chief causes of past failures would 
 also protect the employer from that spirit of combina- 
 tion, which has so often marred every attempt at the in- 
 troduction or extension of manufactures in this coun- 
 try, and driven both English and Irish capital out of 
 the market. To that spirit of combination and immo- 
 rality so prevalent in large towns, to a want of sufficient 
 skill in the manufacturer, and to a want of adequate 
 capital, the Proprietors attributed the failure of all 
 past attempts at establishing in Ireland the manufac- 
 ture of Superfine Cloth, and did therefore with anx- 
 ious care endeavour to obviate the first two causes, 
 confident that if, with the views which governed them 
 in this undertaking, they succeeded in these respects, 
 any deficiency in capital (should it be found to exist) 
 would be fully compensated by the patronage and sup- 
 port of a liberal public. Impressed with these con- 
 victions the Proprietors employed many years in di- 
 gesting and maturing their plan, and in the year 
 1803, induced Mr. Thos. Shaw, after an appren- 
 ticeship served in Ireland, to visit England, there to 
 devote seven additional years, and as a journeyman, 
 submit to many privations and hardships for the 
 purpose of attaining a practical knowledge of every 
 branch of the manufacture, so as to qualify him to be 
 the instructor as well a3 employer.
 
 When thus prepared the proprietors did not longer 
 hesitate to embark their property in the execution 
 of their long-projected undertaking; and according- 
 ly in the year 18 10 commenced the erection of 
 the necessary buildings. The employment of the 
 peasant children, who could not find occupation in 
 agriculture, being a great object with the Proprie- 
 tors a site was selected remote from any large 
 town, and in the midst of a populous agricultural 
 district, a site necessary to the accomplishment of 
 those views in whicli the undertaking originated, 
 yet attended by serious inconveniences and some 
 difficulties, which would not have been experienced 
 in the formation of any similar establishment in the 
 immediate neighbourhood of a large town. Upon 
 the buildings, which were not completed till the close 
 of the year 1815, and upon the machinery, a sum 
 of near .£30,000 has been expended.* 
 
 During the progress of the works a certain number 
 of apprentices were selected from the children of the 
 neighbouring peasants, and instruction and moral 
 discipline gradually introduced upon apian calculated 
 to establish and perpetuate the manufacture, and at 
 the same time entitle it to the approbation of the 
 legislator and moralist. — -With respect to these 
 children it ought to be mentioned that, though pa- 
 rents anxiously sought employment for their boys, 
 
 * Since the first publication of this Sketch, ;i further sum of 
 c£ 10,000 has been expended on additional buildings and machinery, 
 thereby rendering this Establishment one of tke most commodious aad 
 perfect of its kind in the British Empire.
 
 they were at first, greatly to the credit of their mo- 
 ral feeling, very reluctant to sanction the presence 
 of their daughters within the factory, from an ap- 
 prehension of that immorality, which they knew to 
 exist in the factories of a neighbouring city. They 
 are now, however, so fully convinced of the efficacy 
 of the regulations for preventing any depravation 
 of morals, that they for some time have been as 
 anxious, as at first they were reluctant, to seek em- 
 ployment for their daughters. Both males and fe- 
 males, from the very day of their engagement, re- 
 ceive weekly wages (payable every Tuesday to their 
 parents) which, though moderate, are not only fully 
 adequate to their own comfortable support, in con- 
 sequence of the simplicity enforced both in dress 
 and food, but also admit of stoppages, to which the 
 Proprietors contribute an equal sum, for the pur- 
 pose of establishing funds to provide for sickness, 
 -infancy, widowhood, and old age. 
 
 The Proprietors of this Establishment, differing 
 widely in opinion from most of the manufacturers 
 of other countries, were not content with imparting 
 to their apprentices a knowledge of their trade 
 merely: they considered education essential to the 
 morality and happiness of those entrusted to their 
 care ; and, accordingly, amidst all the anxious labours 
 of an infant Establishment, one of their earliest 
 measures was the foundation of distinct schools for 
 each sex : in these the children receive daily instruction 
 in reading, writing, and arithmetic and, at the expense 
 of the Company, are supplied with books calculated
 
 10 
 
 to improve their moral feeling. The girls are besides 
 instructed in the use of the needle and spinning wheel; 
 nor are the boys permitted to be ignorant of the ma- 
 nagement of the reaping hook and spade. Both are 
 thus protected against the vicissitudes ever at- 
 tendant on manufactures ; and the simple and 
 healthful habits of the peasant are preserved in com- 
 bination with the knowledge of the manufacturer. 
 The buildings also have been so arranged as to 
 admit of an entire separation of the sexes, and 
 the females are not permitted, as in other factories, 
 to intermix with the males, or to remain in the 
 factory after sun-set. So complete indeed is the bar- 
 rier established between the sexes that it has, as yet, 
 in no instance been violated. The Proprietors aware 
 that idleness, however short its duration, is the sure 
 and ready parent of vice have provided that, from the 
 hour of rising till bed-time, their apprentices shall 
 be employed, either usefully at business, or innocently 
 in active exercises conducive to health. The system 
 of rewards and punishments established in the Factory 
 is founded on that love of approbation and of innocent 
 recreation so characteristic of the Irish people. Cor- 
 poral punishment is almost unknown, though by many 
 it might be thought necessary for the purpose of se- 
 curing that portion of attention so requisite in the de- 
 tails of a delicate process, and which is with difficulty 
 obtained from the heedlessness of the youthful cha- 
 racter. But the full exposition of this and other in- 
 teresting topics, so important in themselves as to have 
 called for Parliamentary investigation and interference.
 
 11 
 
 must be reserved for a future publication, which the 
 Proprietors have for some time contemplated. 
 
 Six years have now elapsed since the first stone of 
 the Merino factor}' was laid : four of them have 
 been employed in endeavours to bring the manufac- 
 ture to some degree of perfection. During the whole 
 time, with the exception of the last year, the Pro- 
 prietors have patiently submitted to heavy and 
 unavoidable losses, for the purpose of establishing 
 the manufacture of Superfine cloth by the children 
 of the peasantry. The goods manufactured by ap- 
 prentices, who had yet to learn their trade, were in 
 the infancy of the establishment of inferior quality ; 
 and on this account the Proprietors could not, pre- 
 viously to the present year, either furnish cloth of un- 
 objectionable quality, or from the serious losses sus- 
 tained dispose of it (such as it was) on terms decidedly 
 advantageous to the public. These losses, it is true, 
 might have been greatly diminished, had experienced 
 hands in sufficient number been originally employed — 
 but the Proprietors preferred submitting to a certain 
 loss rather than risk the morals of their apprentices 
 by an intercourse with persons, most probably alrea- 
 dy depraved. Now however all difficulties, arising 
 from want of skill in the apprentices, have been 
 overcome ; and though the great majority of the ap- 
 prentices have not yet served one third of their term, 
 they have, for the last year, manufactured superfine 
 doth, which the Proprietors will not hesitate to put
 
 12 
 
 in competition, whether for appearance or wear, with 
 the best manufacture of any other country. 
 
 The proprietors can now confidently assert that 
 they have succeeded in accomplishing the great objects 
 for which they have so long and so anxiously laboured : 
 they have produced a perfect manufacture, and in so 
 doinrj have in no small degree added to the comforts 
 and improved the moral habits of the people. Thus 
 far the Proprietors have done their duty, and in the 
 immediate result are amply rewarded ; but it yet 
 remains for them to secure the permanent prospe- 
 rity of an establishment capable of working such 
 moral and physical changes in the character and habits 
 of the Irish people. To accomplish this object, with- 
 out which all their past labours would be in vain, the 
 Proprietors make their appeal to the Public. "Will the 
 Noblemen and Gentlemen of Ireland through apa- 
 thy or prejudice suffer an establishment of this 
 description, such as no other country can boast 
 of, to fail through want of encouragement or want 
 of trial? Will they, whether through indifference, 
 or unnatural preference of the goods of other coun- 
 tries, permit an establishment to sink, which has dif- 
 fused around it civilization and peace, which has con- 
 verted an idle, poor, and ignorant race into an in- 
 dustrious, educated, and moral people ; and which, 
 iii securing the happiness of above Three Hundred 
 individuals its immediate objects, has thrown a shield 
 ever the persons and property of all within the sphere
 
 IS 
 
 of its influence, and has enabled them, though within 
 a few miles of a disturbed district, to sleep secure 
 without lock or bolt ? But the Proprietors have no 
 reason to anticipate such conduct on the part of tire 
 Gentlemen of Ireland. Experience has given them 
 every reason to hope the contrary from the spirited 
 and liberal conduct of the resident Noblemen and 
 Gentlemen of the County Kilkenny, many of whom, 
 conscious of the benefits conferred on that County by 
 the Merino Factory, have come forward with ardent 
 zeal to its support, in the hope that the success of this 
 undertaking may lead to the establishment of Manu- 
 factures, on apian so conducive to the peace and pros- 
 perity of Ireland.
 
 2 ncl. 
 
 A SKETCH 
 
 PRESENT STATE OF IRELAND.*' 
 
 to the proprietor of the freeman's journal. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I have observed, and observed with satisfaction, 
 that amidst the ** importunate clink" of party rolitics 
 and local factions your paper seems to afford a ready 
 insertion to every article that has for its object the im- 
 provement or advantage of your native soil. I there- 
 fore assume the privilege of a " Freeman," and send 
 
 • This letter first appeared in the Freeman's Journal in Nov»p'ber 
 last, (1817) and was from that paper copied into several of the other 
 periodical prints of Dublin. We now reprint it, as it contains many ob- 
 servations highly interesting and important to the country at large; pre- 
 sents an animated picture of the soil and ciimate of our island — of its 
 capacity for improvement in agriculture and manufacture- and points 
 out the mode whereby industry, instruction, and moral habits may be 
 introduced and confirmed amongst our peasantry. Our more especial 
 motive for introducing this letter here is that, in addition, it gives a lively 
 yet accurate description of the Merino Factovy. and enters into some 
 details resjiccting its moral discipline, and prospective influence on na- 
 tional prosperity — details which offer themselves with increased weight, 
 v. coming from the pen of an enlightened and liberal Englishman.
 
 15 
 
 you a few remarks Which a recent trip to Ireland has 
 suggested to me. I am well aware that you may con- 
 sider me, as an Englishman, incompetent to speak of 
 Irish affairs or Irish interests : and even, in matters of 
 fact, to question my impartiality as a judge or my ac- 
 curacy as a witness. Accustomed, however, as I have 
 been from a very early period of life to look abroad 
 upon the world and its inhabitants, and having now 
 journied over no inconsiderable portion of its surface, 
 I am vain enough to think that I am as free from illi- 
 beral habits, or national prejudices, as any English- 
 man can be who, like me, loves his country with his 
 whole heart. But, Sir, this very devotedness of affec- 
 tion for England, for her prosperity, her glory, her 
 justice, encrease my anxiety that Ireland and her in- 
 terests should be better known. Too long have the)* 
 been either not understood or not consulted. This 
 fair portion of the empire, now, I trust, united for 
 ever, has the strongest claims on the attention of Bri- 
 tish and, I will add, of Irish patriots and statesmen, 
 not less for the great capacities it has exerted and de- 
 veloped than for the immense capabilities it still pos- 
 sesses, untouched and almost unthought of, of "johich 
 the proprietors appear themselves unconscious, but 
 which might easily and rapidly be called into ener- 
 getic action and efficient strength. I shall not here 
 stop to make any harsh retrospective allusion to those 
 causes which have hitherto impeded the progress of 
 Ireland in that career of usefulness which she is so 
 well qualified by nature and situation to run. I will
 
 i(j 
 
 fondly hope that her destinies are, at length, changed; 
 and that henceforward she and her elder sister Bri- 
 tain, united not less in name than in mutual affection, 
 will proceed together, alike prosperous, alike happy. 
 But, Sir, we mortals must do something more than 
 wish ; it is incumbent on us to act. Let us then take 
 a survey (rapid it needs must be) of the face of Ire- 
 land, and mark those prominent points which present 
 themselves, I had almost said, to even an inattentive 
 observer. A soil generally fertile, a climate moist, a 
 sky cloudy 'tis true, yet both suited to the soil, to 
 its productions, and to its inhabitants; — rivers and 
 streams abundantly adapted either for ornament or 
 utility ; mountains occur, often bold, sometimes pre- 
 cipitous, but more frequently gradual in their ascent 
 or undulating, and susceptible of culture to a consider- 
 able elevation; affording, even to their summits, ex- 
 tensive pasturage for sheep ; bogs, at first sight of- 
 fending the eye with a mass of dull sterility, or of a 
 growth useless and unwholesome: on closer inspec- 
 tion, and in fact, the inexhaustible material of excel- 
 lent fuel ; and by drainage, burning, and gravelling, 
 the groundwork of fertile meadow, arable, or pasture 
 land. Of collieries only a few have yet been disco- 
 vered or worked to advantage, yet these are of good 
 quality, productive and profitable. Mines of gold, 
 lead, and copper are either in operation or, if aban- 
 doned, were of favourable promise. Timber is com- 
 paratively scarce, yet this very deficiency is a pre- 
 mium to encourage its future growth. Harbours and
 
 17 
 
 bays, especially on its western coast washed by the 
 wide Atlantic, are safe, capacious, and numerous. Two 
 main Canals, with their respective branches, render 
 internal commerce easy; and connect the Irish 
 Channel with the Western Ocean. 
 
 But of all the features in a sketch of Ireland the most 
 striking, and, at present, the most capable of exciting 
 unpleasant sensations, is a population superabundant 
 when compared with the positive state ofculti vati on 
 of the soil, or the existing means of affording to that 
 population permanent or useful employment. I do not 
 now speak of the calamitous scarcity of food, and de- 
 ficient demand for labour, wherewith both Islands 
 have been lately afflicted. These, we will hope, are 
 transient evils — I speak of an evil permanent, here- 
 ditary, and almost co-existent with her history as a 
 country or as a nation. Not within the range of au- 
 thentic records has Ireland had sufficient employment 
 for her sons ; hence domestic feuds, the bickerings 
 and conflicts of clans and factions ; turbulence by 
 day, and midnight violence and plunder — smothered 
 disaffection or open insurrection — a spirit of hostility 
 to the laws, open, avowed, malignant and, informer 
 times, almost universal. The great desideratum, 
 then, for this country, so blessed with natural advan- 
 tages, is full and adequate employment for her people. 
 This is the " one thing needful," the sine qua non for 
 her political regeneration — in its train come habits of 
 industry, cleanliness and thrift — wholesome instruc- 
 tion — useful learning — moral and religious institution 
 of mind; contentment j domestic quiet; public tran-
 
 IS 
 
 quillity, individual and national happiness. — Many of 
 these results and much of this good I have seen ex- 
 emplified in the North of Ireland, where the Linen 
 Manufacture has long prospered ; where from regular 
 and almost permanent employment at the loom and 
 the spinning- wheel, the spade and the plough, its nu- 
 merous population has been moulded to industrious 
 and careful habits: Regularity and propriety of der 
 meanour, submission to and observance of the laws, 
 general security and tranquillity reign throughout, 
 and the whole district smiles like a garden. Capital 
 has accumulated in the hands of active and intelligent 
 manufacturers and merchants, and though they also 
 have partaken of the late disastrous shock their ener- 
 gy has not lost its spring, nor are their exertions pa- 
 ralvzcd. Good times will come again and soon. 
 
 As 1 advanced towards the South, though still North- 
 wards of Dublin, the deficiency of employment for 
 the poor and labouring classes became very appa- 
 rent. Indeed, in travelling through Ireland I have 
 uniformly observed that where the occupations of the 
 inhabitants are exclusively agricultural or pastoral, 
 much poverty, squalidness, and apparent wretched- 
 ness exist. Many are altogether unemployed, or 
 nearly so ; and these press as a dead weight upon the 
 working population, and tend to reduce all to one 
 common level of indigence, ignorance, and filth. 
 This mischief is in part prevented or alleviated in 
 particular districts which I have visited, by the atten- 
 tive and intelligent interposition of the resident gen- 
 try, who encourage their poor tenantry in what may 
 termed local manufacture, such as spinning and weav*
 
 19 
 
 ing home-made linens, woollens, cottons, &e. for do- 
 mestic consumption, plaiting straw tor hats, knitting 
 or weaving hosiery, &c. The well-informed gentry 
 also promote the comforts of the labouring poor by 
 extending the cottage-system, allowing their cottiers 
 garden-grcund, and grass for one or two cows. It 
 might appear invidious to name particular pla f, es or 
 persons; but I cannot pass over in silence the neigh- 
 bourhood of Abbeyleix, Queen's County, the Nobili- 
 ty and Gentry of which are, I believe, one and all re- 
 sident on their estates, and seem generously to emu- 
 late each other in forwarding schemes and works of 
 beneficence and usefulness, and in promoting the wel- 
 fare and advantage of even their humblest tenantry, 
 whose interests they humanely and wisely appear to 
 identify with their own. By conduct such as this, on 
 the part of her landed Proprietors and Capitalists, it 
 is that England has flourished ; and thus fostered and 
 managed Ireland also will be able to exert her great 
 natural powers, at once contributing to her own 
 wealth, strength, and happiness ; and augmenting 
 proportionally the power and solidity of the State 
 and Empire. 
 
 Contrasted with the above description of a pea- 
 santry trained to regular industry, cleanliness, and 
 thrift by the precepts and assistance of kind and 
 enlightened Landlords, we are unfortunately intro- 
 duced to a view of habits and manners melancholy 
 to contemplate in those parts of Ireland wherein either 
 local circumstances, or the want of judgment, or 
 still more the permanent absence of great proprietors, 
 have given rise to and established a system purely 
 
 agricultural, or pastoral, or nearly so. The County 
 
 B 2
 
 20 
 
 of Mealh and the parts adjacent to it, with the 
 exception of the more immediate vicinity of the 
 town of Drogheda, may, perhaps, be fairly taken 
 as an example of the effects of an extensive graz- 
 ing district, as regards the comforts of its popu- 
 lation. Here I could discern but two orders of 
 men, the wealthy grazier whose flocks and herds 
 were spread over immense tracts of the richest pas- 
 ture ; or the wretched peasant, whose entire live stock 
 consisted of the inmates of his mud-hovel, his wife, his 
 numerous brats, his pigs and, if fortune smiled pecu- 
 liarly propitious, his cow — all these drew nutriment 
 from his potatoe garden — his con-acre, or, it may be, 
 his rack-rent privilege of feeding on the Squire's Ma- 
 nor. Yet here was the seat of the Wellesleys, and the 
 Rowleysj the birth-place of Wellington, and the 
 sojourn of Swift himself. In contemplating such a 
 state of society as this I have more than once felt dis- 
 posed to agree in opinion with the paradoxical and 
 inconsistent Cobbett, that potatoes, as food for Man, 
 are the curse of a country. This most prolific and nu- 
 tritious root would certainly seem to be, in a degree, 
 the bane of Ireland, in affording so great facility to the 
 support of human existence, and to the propagation 
 (in the present condition of Ireland) of a continued 
 race of paupers. 
 
 Asa specimen of the mere agricultural, or rather of 
 the arable state, in its results on the mass of the inha- 
 bitants, I would point out the County of Donegal in 
 the North West, and, especially, the Barony of Inni- 
 fehowen, stretching along the sea coast and surrounded.
 
 21 
 
 as it were, by the noble harbours of Lough Swilly and 
 Lough Foyle, both deeply indenting the adjacent 
 country, and in either of which the merchant-fleets of 
 the world might ride in safety. Yet this district, so 
 admirably fitted for internal improvement and foreign 
 commerce, presents for the most part to the traveller's 
 eye a wide spread desert, picturesque indeed in its 
 grand outlines, but miserably defective in its closer 
 views — no trees to cover the nakedness of the land ; 
 no cheering towns or well built hamlets to enliven the 
 solitude of the scene — yet the plough and the spade 
 have furrowed its soil, and extensive fields of barley 
 and of oats denote the care and labour of Man : — For 
 his habitation the optics of a stranger, unaccustomed 
 to the Irish cabin, might long search and search in 
 vain. Nevertheless the population is dense, active, 
 and intelligent j arrayed, however, for the most part 
 in open or occult hostility to the laws — the laws of Ex- 
 cise I mean — almost the only laws that seem to have 
 operation here eilher in the breach Or the observance. 
 Illicit distillation is indeed the grand staple of the dis- 
 trict, and, from the remoteness of its situation as re- 
 gards a profitable market, would appear to be, at pre- 
 sent, the only mode whereby the landlord can be paid, 
 or the tenant make a livelihood. What and how 
 many of perjuries, frauds, illegal and. dishonest de- 
 vices, rapine, riots, murders, and every other species of 
 abomination such circumstances must give rise to, it is 
 needless to mention. Two great contending parties 
 are pitted against each other; on the one hand the 
 universal peasantry, on the other Excisemen and the 
 regular military force — whilst the few resident gentry
 
 and the magistracy arc, for their own spVps, almost 
 compelled to connive at these enormities. But from 
 scenes like these I turn with pleasure to others most 
 inviting, and which I lately witnessed duringatour in 
 the South of the Metropolis. 
 
 Attracted by the fame of the Kilkenny Theatricals, 
 and being previously acquainted with some of the 
 members of that distinguished corps dramatiquc^ I left 
 Dublin the last week of their performance. Of that, 
 and of the circle of society with which it was my good 
 fortune to intermix at the Theatre, in public assem- 
 blies, or in private life, I shall only say that such a 
 concentration of wit, talent, general information, 
 beauty, elegance, and accomplishment I never recol- 
 lect to have met with out of London. I have since 
 visited Limerick, Killarney Lakes, Bandon, Cork, 
 Youghal, Waterford, and Ross — but I confess that in 
 the whole of this tour I have seen no object, or combi- 
 nation of objects, half so interesting to my feelings or 
 my reflections as one that 1 had almost passed by with 
 neglect, or altogether missed — I mean the Merino 
 Factory for Irish superfine cloths. 
 
 I had indeed heard of it whilst in Kilkenny, from 
 which place it is distant but seven miles, and was 
 strongly solicited to visit it as one of the Lions of 
 the vicinage, but as my informant was a gentleman 
 of that part of the country, and therefore, as I 
 thought, prejudiced in favs ur of its productions; 
 snd morco.er, having gone through some of the most 
 eminent manufactories of the kind in England, I con-
 
 ceived that I should only have my ride for my pains, 
 and politely refused his offer of cicerone. At Ross, 
 on my return, I happened to fall in with the same 
 gentleman, and he urged me with so much of the 
 warmth and zeal of an Irish patriot, and with so much 
 personal kindness towards myself, that I could no 
 longer refuse to turn a few miles out of my direct road. 
 I now rejoice that I was so persuaded and so accom- 
 panied — and shall close this epistle, already become 
 tedious I fear to you, Sir, and to your readers, with 
 a brief sketch of what I saw and what I felt at this, 
 to me, obscure seat of manufacture. Born, and 
 during my younger years educated in what in England 
 we call a clothing country, and acquainted with many 
 of the manipulations employed in the manufacture of 
 fine woollen cloths, I consider myself not altogether 
 incompetent to decide on the comparative merits of 
 the Merino Factory ; and though I have seen much 
 larger Factories both in the West and in the North of 
 England, and those from which a great deal more 
 work was turned out in a given time, I have never 
 visited nor heard of any so complete in all its parts 
 and movements ; or possessing within itself so many 
 and so great capabilities. This Factory, with the ex- 
 sive farm which surrounds it, commences, as it were, 
 and completes within itself, and by its own powers, 
 every process, from the growing of tiie wool on the 
 living carcass of the Merino sheep, to the finishing 
 the piece or end, as it is technically called, of the best 
 superfine cloth in the press-room — picking of the wooi, 
 scouring, breaking, dying, carding, rolling, spinning, 
 twisting, reeling, warping, weaving, fulling, tucking,
 
 24 
 
 tenteiing, drying, shearing — in one word ^finishing — 
 all are performed, and in the best manner. 
 
 By those who are at all acquainted with the nature of 
 the manufacture of superfine woollen cloths an estimate 
 may be formed of the extent of these works when they 
 are told that nearly 400 persons, chiefly boys and 
 girls, apprentices, have been kept in constant employ- 
 ment even during the severest pressure of the times: 
 and that there are forty pairs of the newly improved 
 shears, moved in an unerring manner by machinery, 
 at work together. But it is not, Sir, so much to the 
 various processes and manipulations, nor to the num- 
 ber of persons usefully employed, nor even to the 
 excellent^ I might say superior, texture, quality, and 
 Jinish of the cloth itself — these speak for themselves; 
 and on the goodness of their fabric the proprietors 
 must ultimately rest their hopes — No ! I would direct 
 the attention of your countrymen and, I will add, of 
 my own, to nobler objects and to higher views— to 
 the improvement of the individual, social, moral, and 
 religious habits, as well of the working people of the 
 Factory, as of the surrounding peasantry — to the ex- 
 tension of the happy system of interblending the agri- 
 cultural and rural occupations of the peasant with the 
 more sedentary, though not less useful and necessary, 
 works of the manufacturer and the artizan — to the 
 gradual abolition of tiie worst of slavery, that slavery 
 induced by ignorance, sloth, inertion or irregular 
 labour, recklessness, drunkenness, dishonesty and the 
 long and frightful train of immoralities and vices 
 which ever must attend on an idle or unemployed po- 
 pulation. I will not assert that by the general adop-
 
 25 
 
 tion of this beneficent system poverty can be banished 
 from either country; but I do not hesitate to say to 
 the landed proprietors of Ireland great and small, 
 resident or non-resident, that their wealth, their re- 
 spectability, their best and truest interests, perhaps 
 their personal safety, demand their most powerful 
 and persevering exertions thus to improve the con- 
 dition, the habits, the comforts of their tenantry and 
 of the poorer classes in general. In this view of the 
 subject, and as situated in the centre of a large agri- 
 cultural district in which such manufacture was pre- 
 viously unknown, (but where it may hereafter be most 
 usefully and profitably extended) I consider the 
 Merino Factory of Messrs. Nowlan and Shaw in- 
 valuable to the surrounding country; and, with the 
 principles and practice on which I have seen it con- 
 ducted, " a beacon set on a hill" — a monument of 
 practical wisdom — an example to the manufacturers 
 of the United Kingdom — indeed, though private pro- 
 perty, and brought to its present state of perfection 
 in the short space of seven years by the^ capital, 
 energy, and intelligence of two or three private in- 
 dividuals, it is well worthy of being considered a na- 
 tional concern, and truly deserving national support. 
 — Were I a landed proprietor in its vicinity I should 
 feel the value of my rental involved in its welfare, and 
 the safety of my person and property, as depending 
 more or less on the morality of my poorer neigh- 
 bours, connected with its permanent stability. In 
 looking to the hills, lately so wild as I was informed, 
 which embosom this interesting establishment, and 
 tracing their successive undulations and bendings up
 
 2t> 
 
 the King's river, I fancier 1 I could discern the future 
 abodes of contented ir " .ry and improved civiliza- 
 tion; already, ind' their sides are smiling with 
 culture or clothed with plantations, whilst many of 
 their crests and sloping ridges arc crowned with neat 
 and comfortable cottages, not huddled together vil- 
 lage-fashion, but scattered with taste and judgment, 
 adapted alike for health, ornament, and convenience. 
 
 I must not, however, allow the positive improvements 
 that have already taken place, and those which are in 
 daily progress; nor yet the fancied anticipation of still 
 greater good to this heart-cheering region, to draw 
 off your attention from the more important view of 
 what may be truly termed the system of moral disci- 
 pline and instruction, adopted and acted on, within 
 the precincts of the establishment itself. The whole 
 of this excellent plan appears to me to be conducted 
 on an intimate knowledge of individual and national 
 character, as well as on the experience derived from a 
 full investigation of the many evils and abuses that at- 
 tend on, or have resulted from the great and rapid ex- 
 tension of manufactures in England. These evils 
 have been long seen and deprecated by the political 
 economist as well a-> by the moralist ; and I believe 
 are now very generally felt and acknowledged by 
 the well-informed manufacturer himself. They are, 
 chiefly, a deep-rooted and wide-spreading deprava- 
 tion of morals, as exhibited in a gross ignorance or 
 hardened contempt of even the more ordinary duties 
 and observances of religion ; and in a licentious in- 
 tercourse of the sexes, with all its attendant woes — a 
 total disregard, on the part of the employed, of the
 
 interest or advantage of their masters ; and on tin 
 part of the employers, a very general apathy or ne- 
 glect in attending to or promoting the religions and 
 moral instruction, the personal comforts, or the health 
 of the working people in their service — especially af- 
 fecting the numerous children and young persons who 
 swarm in most of our manufactories ; corrupting the 
 the present, and entailing on successive future genera- 
 tions of "he laborious classes, ignorance, irrcligion, 
 vice, and disease. Hence proceed feebleness of body 
 and imbecility or corruption of mind ; dishonesty or 
 disaffection towards their masters: combination illegal 
 and ruinous; Litddzsm; insurrection among the poorer 
 ranks of artisans, nay even the phrenzy of rebellion 
 itself — while the conduct and practice of the rich ma- 
 nufacturer is, 1 fear, too often marked by cold-blood- 
 ed insensibility, griping avarice, or illiberal and nar- 
 row-minded selfishness — all of which render him in- 
 capable of seeing how intimately his own real interests 
 are connected with the welfare of those whom he em- 
 ploys or of appreciating their true value, though it 
 were but as contributors to his luxuries and to his 
 wealth. Thus it is that for the most part in our great 
 English manufactories the intercourse between the 
 employer and the employed is altogether a matter of 
 gross and vulgar calculation, a mere affair of pounds, 
 shillings, and pence ; or, perhaps, still worse, a mu- 
 tual struggle in trickery and over-reach ins;. All these 
 errors, I had almost said enormities, hitherto so inci- 
 dent to manufacturing districts, are avoided in the 
 management of the Merino Factory. There all the 
 arrangements and details of business, of occupation,
 
 23 
 
 and of amusement, (for strange as it may seem, amuse- 
 ments from a part of this well-deviled system,) are con- 
 ceived and conducted on principles at once judicious 
 and philanthropic. The hours of labour are regu- 
 lated so as not to exhaust by unremitted exertion the 
 muscular strength of the workers, nor yet injure or 
 impair, by too close and long-continued confinement, 
 their general health — particular attention is paid to 
 this point by the proprietors, because by far the 
 greater part of the persons in their employment con- 
 sists of young apprentices, male and female, the chil- 
 dren of the neighbouring peasants — yet nothing of 
 idleness, negligence, or inattention is permitted — 
 every one's task goes forward with the accuracy and 
 regularity of clock-work. 
 
 The girls are dismissed before sunset, at least one 
 hour before the males, under the charge of discreet 
 matrons, who are held responsible for the decorous 
 behaviour of those committed to their care, as well as 
 for their timely return to their parents or friends. 
 To the eye of the patriot or the philanthropist a more 
 pleasing scene can scarcely be afforded than the as- 
 sembled youths of the establishment receiving in- 
 struction on the improved Lancastrian plan, thus 
 imbibing the rudiments of useful learning, sound 
 morality, and true religion. There is a similar school 
 for the females ; but the building is very properly 
 apart from the factory, and under the superintend- 
 dance of a mistress. Another and to them, no 
 doubt, a joyous relaxation from their labours I may 
 here mention, transiently however, though I am con-
 
 29 
 
 vinced its useful effects are great and permanent. To- 
 wards the close of each Saturday the owners of the 
 Factory give up several of the usual working hours, 
 to allow their people amusement and recreation in a 
 way, it should seem, most congenial to their national 
 taste. At the hour of five the merry-making fiddler 
 strikes up his liveliest air, and summons the collected 
 force of men and women, boys and girls " to trip 
 it on the light fantastic toe." The ball-room soon 
 fills, partners quickly join without a master of cere- 
 monies: — All things rapidly adjusted the dance be- 
 gins, and away they foot it on the hard earthen floor 
 as briskly and as cheerily as " lords and ladies gay." 
 The most perfect decorum prevails throughout, and 
 and when the time of breaking up arrives the girls 
 retire, as usual, under the care of the matrons — the 
 boys remain, a musical entertainment commences, a 
 full band of wind instruments having been long since 
 formed from among the boys ; they have been 
 regularly instructed by a music-master, and fastidious 
 indeed must be the ear to which their performance 
 will not afford satisfaction and pleasure. Indeed, a 
 more delightful group I have seldom witnessed than 
 the orchestra and audience in the eating-hall of the 
 Merino Factory, composed as it was, with the excep- 
 tion of a few visitors, exclusively of the noiv indus- 
 trious and hard-working apprentices, so lately the 
 idle, ragged, bare-footed, uncouth and uncultivated 
 brats of an ill-fed, yet untamed, peasantry. 
 
 Sunday is a day of instruction as well as of pas- 
 time. The Schools are in full operation. An atten-
 
 30 
 
 dance in their respective places of public worship is 
 strongly recommended and, in fact, insisted on. — 
 After the hours of divine service the school classes 
 are formed ; when these are over, playing at cricket, 
 at foot-ball, or at hurling, is strictly enjoined. In 
 the system of this admirable Establishment labour, 
 relaxation, employment, or amusement alike pro- 
 ceed on the maxim that " Idleness is the parent of 
 vice." 
 
 For the sake of personal tidiness and cleanliness, 
 as well as for economy, a plain and respectable uni- 
 form (not a degrading livery) is adopted in the dress 
 of both sexes'— no ragged or tattered garment must 
 appear, not even a coat out at the elbows — no bare 
 legs or unshod feet ; all this hitherto unprecedented 
 among the children of the peasantry of Ireland, and 
 effected now by the indefatigable attention of the 
 proprietors to the wants and comforts of those under 
 them. — To provide against or to remedy sickness, 
 or bodily injuries from accident, the services of an 
 eminent Physician and Surgeon are engaged : and a 
 distinct Infirmary is about to be built in an appro- 
 priate and healthy situation. 
 
 In short, Sir, after the most scrutinizing enquiry, I 
 could not discover that any measure was left unem- 
 ployed or unattemptcd which could contribute to the 
 real and lasting welfare of the working people of the 
 Factory themselves, or dispense the numerous bless- 
 ings of industry, frugality, and honesty among the 
 inhabitants of the vicinage — the ultimate benefit*
 
 31 
 
 which may and ought to accrue to the county in 
 which it is situated, and to the country at large, are 
 incalculable. Those who have seen England in her 
 best days are alone capable of appreciating them fully 
 or justly. 
 
 Some of the most striking I have endeavoured to 
 delineate. The outline is faint, yet, I should hope, 
 accurate. If, in my observations, I have, failed to 
 be impressive, the general subject is not the less im- 
 portant. By such considerations and such views 
 the human character is raised in the scale of social 
 and intellectual existence — They invest our feeble 
 and " shivering nature" with the divine attributes of 
 power, and beneficence, and love — they allow us, so 
 to speak, a glimpse of Heaven, and give man to 
 '* taste the joy of God to see an happy world." 
 
 The length to which this letter has already ex- 
 tended warns me to conclude. — If what I have so far 
 written has afforded to you, Sir, or to your Readers, 
 aught either of information or amusement I shall not 
 think my time mis-spent. Should this sketch, rude 
 as it is, be thought by you worthy of insertion you 
 may probably hear again from 
 
 An English Traveller. 
 
 Dublin, 
 Nov. 14, 1817.
 
 THIRD SKETCH. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 INFLUENCE OF EPIDEMIC FEVER, 
 
 AND OF THE 
 
 ME1INO FACTORY, 
 
 ON THE 
 
 LOWER ORDERS.* 
 
 to the editor of the dublin journal. 
 
 Sir, 
 After a winter spent amid the gay delights of 
 a French Capital, a spring in the soul-reviving Italy, 
 and a summer amongst the wild and romantic 
 mountains of Switzerland, I could not think of re- 
 turning home, perhaps for life, to our " Land of 
 Cakes, to auld Scotland," without having first visited 
 a sister country, which, though celebrated for its many 
 natural beauties, and the traits of character so pecu- 
 
 * This letter from a liberal and intelligent Scotch friend appeared 
 in The Dublin Journal early in September of the present year, 
 (1818,) just as the two preceding Sketches had been committed to the 
 Press. The Proprietors of the Factory need scarcely say they were 
 highly gratified by its contents, and were happy in adding such testi- 
 mony to that furnished by the " English Traveller."
 
 33 
 
 liar to its natives, is yet, to our reproach be it record- 
 ed, little known to us, except as a " Land of Potatoes." 
 Resolved no longer to submit to the blush of igno- 
 ranee, whenever Ireland should be named, her beau- 
 ties alluded to, or her interests discussed, I deemed 
 myself fortunate on my arrival at BourdeauX, in 
 finding a vessel bound for Cork, and considered my- 
 self equally fortunate, in a quick passage to the hos- 
 pitable shores of Erin. 
 
 Delighted beyond measure by the romantic scene- 
 ry around the city and harbour of Cork, I needed 
 no further inducement to see more of a country, 
 which, at the first glance, proclaimed " how much 
 God had done for it," though I had yet to learn how 
 little had been done by man to improve its advan- 
 tages. After visiting various parts of that interest- 
 ing count}', I turned, as every stronger would na- 
 turally turn, to view the far-famed Lakes of Kiliar- 
 ney; and, after gratifying there that taste for sublime 
 and magnificent scenery, which the hills of Scotland 
 seldom fail to engender, I proceeded for the metro- 
 polis by a circuitous route through Limerick, Clon- 
 mel, Waterford, and Kilkenny. After a short resi- 
 dence in Dublin, unexpected business brought me in 
 haste to Belfast, where I now devote my first mo- 
 ments of leisure in gratifying the wish you expressed, 
 that I would favour you, before my departure from 
 Ireland, with such observations, as a short tour 
 through its southern counties had enabled me to 
 make. 
 
 e
 
 34 
 
 It is not my intention to tire your patience, by de- 
 scribing scenes that must have been often described 
 before, or by introducing you to places with which 
 you or your readers may be already familiar. The 
 natural beauties of Ireland are unquestionably many 
 and striking, but, to be enjoyed, they must be seen, 
 and to be conceived, must at least be viewed through 
 the medium of canvas: therefore, as I can use the 
 pen far better than the pencil, I shall put the former 
 in requisition, for the purpose of making some small 
 return for the various acts of kindness and hospita- 
 lity I have experienced, by detailing some matters 
 which have excited both painful and pleasurable sen- 
 sations, in the hope that the sources of the former 
 may ere long be obviated, and those of the latter 
 more extensively diffused. 
 
 You are already aware that mineralogy has been 
 my favourite pursuit, and may thence fairly infer, that 
 in such a country as Ireland, abounding in objects to 
 interest the geologist, no small share of my atten- 
 tion must have been given to mineralogical observa- 
 tions — with these observations, whatever interest they 
 may be supposed to possess, I do not propose now to 
 trouble you, as they may, ere long, meet the public 
 eye under a distinct and scientific form. I have not, 
 however, been so devoted to this pursuit, as altogether 
 to overlook that " noblest study," the study of our 
 fellow-man : in Ireland, indeed, it is impossible to 
 overlook it, for the Irishman forces himself on your 
 notice by traits of character so peculiarly striking,
 
 35 
 
 as to engage the attention even of the most un- 
 observant. 
 
 There is, in the Irish character, a combination of 
 qualities, apparently so opposed to each other, as 
 might puzzle the soundest craniologist : great levity 
 and headlcssncss, combined with no small shr.re of 
 shrewdness, under a cloak of simplicity : frequent 
 sallies of wit and humour, emanating from a vivacity, 
 often interrupted by periods of depression and me- 
 lancholy ; great activity of mind, with much appa- 
 rent indolence of body: resignation, nay cheerful- 
 ness under the most trying visitations of Providence, 
 with a marked spirit of resistance to the restraints 
 imposed by human law; fearless of death, impetuous, 
 impatient of injury or insult, revengeful, yet grate- 
 ful in the extreme for benefits conferred, they will 
 go any length to gratify their vengeance or to testify 
 their gratitude. Such traits evince a character not 
 natural in itself, but distorted by recollections of an- 
 cient wrongs : unimproved by education and unre- 
 strained by the influence or example of their supe- 
 riors: it is a character susceptible of impressions, the 
 best or worst, or as has been long since better ex- 
 pressed by one of themselves, they are a people, " qui 
 mali, nunquam pejores, et bonis meliores vix reperias." 
 With such a people, under judicious management, 
 the statesman, aided by the landed gentry, might ac- 
 complish any thing; but this combined effort, unfor- 
 tunately for the country, has not yet been made, 
 though no better opportunity than the present could 
 possibly occur, the heat of party politics having iuh-
 
 S6 
 
 sided, internal tranquillity being secured, and no 
 foreign war distracting our fears or attention. 
 
 Hospitality is another well known attribute of the 
 Irish people, without distinction of rank or degree : if 
 such a disposition be deemed praiseworthy among the 
 higher classes, how greatly is it to be prized as a 
 virtue amongst the lower orders of the community, 
 who, without hope or expectation of recompense, will 
 cheerfully share their poor pittance with the hungry, 
 and houseless stranger. — Such was the character of 
 the Irish peasant, who, even from the rich man, would 
 reluctantly accept of any return for hospitable atten- 
 tions, and at whose '* potatoe bowl the beggar regu- 
 larly took his seat with a hearty welcome." This 
 characteristic generosity of the Irish peasant, now 
 alas ! no longer exists, at least as regards the beggar 
 or houseless stranger. This change in the character 
 of the Irish peasant has not been easily effected, nor 
 did he relinquish his hospitable feelings until he had 
 been sorely afflicted by indulging them: — the de- 
 structive prevalence of fever, and the consequent 
 dread of infection have wrought this change; a con- 
 tagious epidemic having for the last two years, en- 
 tailed more misery and distress upon the poor of Ire- 
 land, than any former combination of causes. "Plague, 
 pestilence, and famine," have united to afflict the 
 land, and a cabin is scarcely to be found in the island, 
 which has not to deplore " a father, mother, or first 
 born slain/' The mendicants, who, in consequence 
 of bad seasons and want of employment, since the 
 peace, have greatly increased in number, and who.
 
 57 
 
 from their habits, the filth of their persons, and their 
 vagrant life, were supposed, and with good reason, to 
 be highly instrumental in propagating contagion, are 
 now avoided as the plague. Every door is shut against 
 them, and from some towns they have been even for- 
 cibly expelled. Thus treated, they wander about the 
 country, like beings under the interdict of the 
 Church, with whom none will hold communion, to 
 whom none will give shelter. Every where they are 
 to be found, in the most wretched condition, dwell- 
 ing with the beasts of the field, and sleeping in ditches, 
 or under the hedges, " their canopy the heavens." 
 In some places, where fever had been particularly 
 destructive, and where, of course, the fear of infection 
 was strongest, when any wretches, so circumstanced, 
 have died, the survivors have buried them in the un- 
 holy ground, on which they had drawn their last 
 breath, by throwing on their bodies the earth that 
 had been raised to make the ditch. 
 
 Such has been the influence of this epidemic upon 
 the wretched mendicant, but a still worse influence 
 has been exerted by it upon the great body of the 
 middle and lower classes, thousands of whom have, 
 by the extensive and repeated operation of this cause, 
 been reduced to the state of paupers. My intercourse 
 with some intelligent friends, enabled me to collect a 
 few interesting facts respecting this epidemic, which 
 have almost convinced me, (though no disciple of 
 Malthus, nor admirer of his original doctrines) that 
 had a greater mortality attended its progress, its in- 
 fluence would have been Jess injurious to the pre- 

 
 i8 
 
 :-<-;. t and future prosperity of the country. From the 
 calculations made by some eminent physicians in 
 Cork, grounded on the known prevalence of fever in 
 t'.iat city, and on ofiicial statements made in other 
 quarters, it would appear that scarcely less than one 
 million, or one-fifth of the whole population, have been 
 already attacked by the disease. This proportion may 
 ssem very great, but it probably docs not much ex- 
 ceed the truth, as not a single county in the whole 
 island has been exempted from the ravages of fever, 
 the county of Wexford, which had been unaccount- 
 ablv free from this visitation, bein^ now afflicted by 
 it; nor have the towns been more fortunate: the only 
 exception, of which I have heard is that very remark- 
 able one of the town of Dingle, which though sur- 
 rounded by infection, continues free from its influ- 
 ence. Can this singular exemption be owing to the 
 great comparative comforts enjoyed by its inhabit- 
 ants, during seasons of scarcity, in consequsnee of 
 fell employment from the linen manufacture ; or, is 
 the exemption to be attributed to the town being so 
 much out of the gang-way, and thereby little liable 
 to the visits of strange mendicants ? But to return 
 from this digression: let the actual number of suffer- 
 ers from fever be what it may, it is not improbable 
 out that one-third, at least, of the whole, have been 
 • educed by it from a stale of comparative comfort to 
 great disiress, or actual beggary. I have been led to be- 
 lieve this proportion net much exaggerated, from the 
 evident marks of misery from this cause, which I could 
 trace in every mile of the road 1 travelled. Such a 
 fact must suffice to convince us, that a greater morta-
 
 39 
 
 lity from this epidemic, should it continue much 
 longer, would be a comparative blessing, as it would 
 relieve many unfortunate beings from the miseries of 
 this life, and the community from the expence of 
 their support, and from the vices and crimes to which 
 their poverty might expose them. This fact cannot 
 fail to bring additional conviction both to the Go- 
 vernment and the people of the importance of spee- 
 dily suppressing fever, independently of any personal 
 danger its diffusion may cause to the wealthier mem- 
 bers of society. 
 
 To make you some compensation for the depress- 
 ing effect of this melancholy theme, T will at once 
 transport you to a scene, which afforded me greater 
 pleasure (perhaps because unexpected) than any I 
 have witnessed in all my rambles. All the world is 
 aware of the celebrity of Ireland for its Linen Manu- 
 facture — I had heard that in former days the Wool- 
 len Manufacture had also flourished in this country. 
 While visiting Middleton, in the county Cork, an 
 extensive building was pointed out to me, as hav- 
 ing been erected by an enterprizing Merchant of 
 Cork, for the manufacture of Superfine Cloth, in 
 which attempt he was said to have succeeded to a 
 great degree, though its ultimate failure, from what- 
 ever cause, was but too evident, the building being 
 now the property of Government, and a deserted 
 Barrack. The precise causes of the failure of this un- 
 dertaking, in a situation so admirably chosen, I 
 could not coHect ; as, from the extent of the build- 
 ings, a large capita! would stem to have been em-\
 
 40 
 
 barked in the speculation. Could its failure hare 
 been owing to a cause which had nearly ruined a si- 
 milar undertaking in Aberdeenshire— the apathy of 
 the natives to its prosperity, and the prejudiced belief 
 that no cloth can be made at home so good as to rival 
 the English : certain it is, that, the Proprietors of the 
 Aberdeen factory could make no sale of their cloths 
 (though of most excellent quality) until they had first 
 sent them to London, and thence imported and sold 
 them as English cloths. One of the most obvious 
 wants existing in Ireland, being that of adequate em- 
 ployment for a dense population, a Kant only to be 
 supplied by manufactures, no one thing is more to be 
 regretted than the failure of attempts like that at Mid- 
 dleton, as it necessarily must deter many from em- 
 barking their property in undertakings apparently 
 so hopeless. Happening to make an observation to 
 this effect among some Friends at Waterford, I was 
 agreeably surprised by the information, that, within 
 the last ten years, a Factory had been erected in the 
 county Kilkenny for the manufacture of superfine 
 tioths, which, from the peculiar principles on which 
 it was conducted, promised a happier result than had 
 been experienced by its predecessors. The account I 
 received of this Factory was so prepossessing, and 
 was, indeed, expressed in terms so enthusiastic, that I 
 v. ;.s easily induced to take it on my way to Kilkenny, 
 ? s I understood that the Proprietors were happy in ex- 
 plaining the economy of their establishment to any 
 person who took so much interest in it as to pay them 
 a visit. Thus encouraged, I proceeded in the Dublin 
 t u;.th to Thomastown. and from thence Look a guide
 
 41 
 
 to conduct me, by a pleasant walk, through Lord 
 Carrick's beautiful demesne, to the Merino Factory, 
 the property of two brothers of the name of Nowlan, 
 and two brothers of the name of Shaw, near relatives, 
 as I was afterwards informed, of the Member for 
 Dublin. I was so fortunate as to meet two of the 
 Proprietors on the spot, and found no difficulty in in- 
 troducing myself: indeed I could not help feeling on 
 this, as on many other occasions, that a stranger can 
 make himself sooner and more at ease in the society 
 of well-informed Irishmen, than in any other I have 
 hitherto mixed with. Such was the polite and cordial 
 attention I received from these Gentlemen, and so 
 great and impressive the delight I experienced on 
 viewing their establishment, that I gladly accepted 
 their hospitable invitation to bed and board, for the 
 purpose of more thoroughly investigating the econo- 
 my of a manufactory, far superior, in point of disci- 
 pline and morals, and of the obvious health and hap- 
 piness of its inmates, to any I had before visited, not 
 excepting that of Mr. Owen's at Lanark. To this in- 
 vestigation I, with pleasure, devoted two days at the 
 Factory : my evenings were spent at the beautiful and 
 romantic cottage of Johnswell, the residence of 
 Messrs. Nowlan ; and as I could for some time speak 
 or think of nothing but their Factory, these Gentle- 
 men took some trouble to put me in possession of 
 every minute particular, calculated to explain the 
 wonders they had wrought in bringing such a manu-i 
 fact ure to such a perfection through the agency of 
 awkward and ignorant peasant boys. As I cannot 
 but consider it of the highest importance to England,
 
 42 
 
 as a manufacturing country, crippled as she now is, 
 and often has been, by formidable combinations 
 among her workmen, to be made intimately acquaint- 
 ed with a system of discipline, calculated to prevent 
 an evil so ruinous to trade, and destructive of morals, 
 and adopted with such happy results in the Merino 
 Factory, I shall now detail, for your information, such 
 particulars in that system as are omitted, or but par- 
 tially communicated, in the " Sketch of the Origin 
 and Progress of the Merino Factory," presented by 
 its Founders to the Dublin Society, and with which 
 you must be already acquainted, as I was informed by 
 the Poprietors that it was copied into all the public 
 prints of the day. 
 
 In that sketch, the general views of the Founders of 
 this philanthropic Establishment are distinctly and 
 modestly stated ; the truly patriotic character of the 
 undertaking is, indeed, fully evinced, by the unre- 
 mitting and extraordinary efforts of the Proprietors 
 to improve the moral and physical condition of those 
 employed in the Factory ; who, with as few excep- 
 tions as possible, consist of the youth of both sexes. 
 The Proprietors, aware that, among the various causes 
 which had destroyed many of the most profitable 
 trades and manufactures in Ireland, the spirit of com- 
 bination was not the least prominent, were determined 
 t.) guard against such an evil, by establishing their 
 Factory ;it a distance from the corrupt influence of 
 any large town, and by training their young agents 
 almost from the cradle: for this reason, boys and 
 "iris are often admitted into the Factory at the age of
 
 43 
 
 seven years; they are not indented, however, till they 
 reach fourteen : their term of apprenticeship is seven 
 years, which thus leaves them at liberty at twenty-one. 
 
 All, whether indented or not, receive wages, va- 
 rying, according to standing, from three to ten shil- 
 lings per week. From their wages, stoppages arc 
 made for clothing, for fines on absence, for the fund 
 for sickness, infancy, widowhood and old age. The 
 balance is paid to each every Tuesday, a balance at 
 all times fully sufficient for their support. Such as 
 reside in cottages, not too remote from the Factory, 
 eat their meals at home : such as reside at a greater 
 distance, form messes and cook their own food in 
 their meMs-room, fuel and culinary apparatus being 
 gratuitously provided for that purpose. Their break- 
 fast consists of bread, or " stirrabout," or potatoes 
 with milk: their dinner and supper of potatoes and 
 milk. The potatoes are the produce of their own, 
 or their parents' gardens : the milk is supplied by 
 the farm attached to the Factory, at a moderate and 
 fixed price throughout the year. They wash their 
 hands before they sit down to their meals, and their 
 tables are covered with clean, though coarse cloths. 
 
 From Patrick's day to Michaelmas day, they com- 
 mence work at six o'clock, breakfast at eight, dine 
 at two, and discontinue work at seven in the evening, 
 when they proceed to school and remain there one 
 hour; at breakfast they are allowed three quarters 
 of an hour, and at dinner time one hour, for the 
 -uke ef exercise. From Michaelmas to Patrick's day,
 
 44 
 
 they spend an hour in the school-room before they 
 proceed to work, and are as regularly fined for non- 
 attendance at school, as at work, with this differ- 
 ence, that fines for the former are added to the ge- 
 neral fund for sickness, Sec. : they commence work at 
 sun-rise, breakfast at nine o'clock, dine at two, 
 and discontinue work at ei^ht in the evening, when 
 they sup ; such boys as live at at a distance being ac- 
 commodated with beds in the Factory. The fore- 
 going statement applies strictly to the males ow/j/, as 
 the females are not required to attend till after sun- 
 rise, and are dismissed to their homes before sunset. 
 Each sex has a separate school, and in the Factory 
 is employed in separate apartments, having distinct 
 stair-cases. 
 
 In the schools, all are taught spelling, reading, 
 writing, and arithmetic j and the femalss are, besides, 
 instructed in needle-work and spinning. 
 
 Before the daily work commences, the Superin- 
 tendants inspect both boys and girls, and see that all 
 clue regard is paid to personal cleanliness, and to the 
 condition of their clothing: any neglect in these re- 
 spects being regularly reported. Punctual attend- 
 ance is ensured by a roll-call thrice a day — in the 
 morning, after breakfast, and after dinner ; a minute's 
 absence btinff charged to the debit of the absentee's 
 account. 
 
 Bui the most important question yet remains to be 
 solved. How are the moral and physical powers of 
 such youthful initriunents cailed into action? By
 
 45 
 
 what rewards are they stimulated to exertion: by 
 what punishments deterred from idleness and inat- 
 tention : by what moral machinery are poor, igno- 
 rant, awkward peasant children so trained and in- 
 structed, as to perform well all the processes of a de- 
 licate manufacture, ]irocesses which require much skill 
 and unceasing attention : but, above all, by what 
 means are they shielded from those temptations to 
 vice, which have so uniformly destroyed all moral 
 feeling in the inmates of other manufacturing esta- 
 blishments ? 
 
 In framing the moral code for the government and 
 controul of the apprentices of the Factory, the Pro- 
 prietors paid special regard to two principles: 1st, 
 to the weakness or sinfulness of man's nature; and, 
 2dly, to the present state of the national character, 
 perverted, as it has been, by the mismanagement 
 of six centuries. The influence of the first princi- 
 ple is counteracted by avoiding, in every possible way, 
 each avenue to temptation ; and, as idleness so noto- 
 riously engenders, or fosters every vicious propensity, 
 incessant employment, either useful, necessary, or in- 
 nocent, is, for that reason, provided for all, and, with 
 the same feeling as few holidays as possible are per- 
 mitted. To such counteracting agency, aided by vi- 
 gilant superintendance, and by a strict separation of 
 Sexes, must be attributed the singularly gratifying 
 facts, that, since the establishment of the Factory, to 
 the present day, theft has been unknown within its 
 walls, and that, as yet, no one instance of criminal 
 Intercourse between the sexes had occurred, la
 
 46 
 
 these two points this factory may, I believe,"be deem- 
 ed truly singular ; and in these, as in other respects, 
 it far surpasses Mr. Owen's, as indeed might be ex- 
 pected, where one calculates on the perfectibility, the 
 the other on the imperfections of our nature. 
 
 The rewards and punishments established in the 
 Factory have been regulated by, and appear to be in 
 unison with the national character. — With the impe- 
 tuous tendency of that character corporal punish- 
 ment is almost incompatible : it is, therefore, never 
 used, except in some rare cases to check the heed- 
 lessness of the children during the first year of their 
 admission, at a time of life when their minds are not 
 sufficiently alive to those better motives, by which 
 their seniors are influenced. The superintendants 
 are not permitted to strike, or even to use harsh or 
 violent language to any of the apprentices, but are 
 directed to make immediate reports in writing 
 of every offence committed ; such reports are, in 
 the end, always followed by appropriate punish- 
 ments, the certainty of which is calculated to give ad- 
 ditional efficacy by its delay. The debasing fear of 
 bodily chastisement being thus excluded as a motive 
 to action, mental pain or suffering has been substi- 
 tuted in its place, and with effects incalculably great. 
 This infliction of mental pain is produced by a priva- 
 tion of these enjoyments which the Irish peasant most 
 highly values — social intercourse, music, and dancing: 
 in search of which enjoyments it is, more than from any 
 pleasure felt in the brutalizing ellects of intoxication, 
 that he in the first instance seeks the Ale House. — -It
 
 4? 
 
 was therefore deemed expedient, and indeed necessary, 
 that at the Merino Factory, a certain portion of the 
 week should be given up to innocent recreation, as well, 
 for the purpose of rewarding the deserving, as of pu- 
 nishing the undeserving, and ill-conducted — with these 
 views, each Saturday evening is devoted to the inno- 
 cent amusements of music and dancing — at four o'clock 
 on that evening business is suspended — boys and girls 
 retire to dress in their holiday clothes, then assemble 
 at five o'clock in the school-room, where the fiddle is 
 prepared to receive them. — Thus are they delightfully, 
 and happily, and most decorously, occupied in na- 
 tional dances, till eight o'clock, at which hour the fe- 
 males retire under the protection of their parents, se- 
 veral of whom, as well as some of the Proprietors, al- 
 ways attend. 
 
 The boys remain for another hour, during which 
 the Factory Band, composed of about 20 of the Ap- 
 prentices, practice for their own amusement, and that 
 of their associates, who seem to take no small delight 
 in listening to performers, that would not discredit 
 any regimental band I have ever heard, and these I 
 need scarcely say I heard with equal pleasure and sur- 
 prise. But whilst such as have conducted themselves 
 with propriety during the preceding week, are thus re- 
 warded, any who may have misbehaved are under- 
 going the severest punishment that could be inflicted 
 on them, that of drawing a rolling stone up and down 
 the Court-yard within view and hearing of the merry 
 dancers. This species of punishment, which for par- 
 ticular offences, is occasionally aggravated, bv dressing
 
 45 
 
 the offender in a yellow jacket, with a label affixed, in- 
 dicating the crime, has been found to operate so pow- 
 erfully and beneficially, as now to be very rarely re- 
 quired : by its influence, the most turbulent spirits 
 have been subdued, the most heedless rendered atten- 
 tive, and the most profligate reclaimed. Thus is each 
 Saturday evening employed in the Merino Factory, 
 an evening in every other Establishment occupied in 
 the .payment of wages, a practice which fills the ale- 
 house, on that evening, and the following day, to the 
 debasement of mind, the destruction of health, and the 
 loss of all personal and domestic comforts. The ap- 
 prentices and workmen of this Factory spend their 
 Sunday after a very different manner, few of them 
 having been ever known to enter an ale-house, as they 
 have been uniformly dismissed, or otherwise punished 
 for so doing. On that day the band assemble at sun- 
 rise to practice j at half-past eight o'clock the other ap- 
 prentices assemble in the school-room, where they re- 
 main at business till eleven o'clock, and are then 
 marched, in christian charity with each other, to their 
 respective places of Divine Worship, all religious bick- 
 ering being utterly unknown. At three o'clock they 
 again assemble, and in the winter half-year play at 
 cricket, foot-ball, hurling, and other manly exercises, 
 till five o'clock, or till sun-set : they then again repair 
 to the school-room, and continue at business till seven 
 o'clock. The band then performs till nine o'clock, at 
 which hour all retire to rest, well disposed to enjoy it, 
 and to return with fresh vigour to renew the labours of 
 the week. For such boys, as have made sufficient pro- 
 gress in reading, writing, and arithmetic, a separate
 
 49 
 
 apartment is provided, in which they are furnished 
 with books of an instructive, entertaining, and moral 
 character ; pains having been taken, and not without 
 effect, to teach them to value such enjoyments as infi- 
 nitely superior to any pleasure they can derive from 
 sensual pursuits. With bodies thus braced by exer- 
 cise, and with minds improved by reading, they com- 
 mence Monday's work with alacrity, not disabled as 
 unfortunate manufacturers generally are, by the dissi- 
 pation of Saturday and Sunday. On Tuesday a clerk 
 pays to each his wages, without disturbing any from 
 their work; and, as the greater part thereof must be 
 expended in a proper manner for their support in the 
 course of the week, but little can remain to mispend 
 on Saturday night, even if there existed the opportu- 
 nity and inclination. This most simple regulation of 
 paying wages on Tuesday, in place of Saturday, soon 
 evinced its beneficial influence, by converting some old 
 men in the establishment, who had been wretched 
 drunkards, into sober and comfortable tradesmen. 
 To aid them in imbibing a due horror of an Ale- 
 House, a fine of 2s. 6d. is imposed on every man (hot 
 an apprentice) who is seen in such a place on any 
 working day, and a fine of five shillings for Sunday. 
 
 As the Irish are not less fond of praise and distinc- 
 tion than of amusement and pleasures, advantage has 
 been taken of that trait in their character to stimulate 
 them to greater propriety of conduct and to increased 
 attention to their business. — For this purpose an Or- 
 der of Merit has been established, and with the hap-
 
 50 
 
 piest results, theMembers being distinguished by Me- 
 dals — these are adjudged in the presence of their 
 parents and friends, once in each quarter— on New 
 Year's day, Patrick's day, St. John's day, and Mi- 
 chaelmas day. After each adjudication, such as have 
 attained medals dine with the Proprietors, and hold 
 their rank and station both at dinner table and dance, 
 until the next quarter, unless forfeited in the interim 
 by misconduct. 
 
 In the adjudication of medals, special reference is 
 had to the skill evinced by the claimants : to their 
 habits of attention ; to their progress in learning; to 
 their general good conduct ; and, above all, to their 
 humility and obedience: to their disregard of bodily 
 labour, and contempt of luxuries, or what to them 
 would be luxuries in dress and food, as the greatest 
 simplicity is always inculcated. For this reason, a 
 plain, neat and uniform dress is provided, both for 
 males and females, that all may be well clothed, and 
 that no rivalry or taste for dress be encouraged, more 
 especially among the females. 
 
 At each quarterly adjudication, and at each Sunday 
 assemblage, (according to circumstances) special no- 
 tice is also taken of ever}- offender, marked in the Re- 
 port Book, and suitable admonitions addressed to 
 each. — With such effect, indeed, is moral discipline 
 maintained, that, during the last three years, a single 
 apprentice has neither voluntarily fled from the esta-
 
 51 
 
 biisment, or been expelled from it. In the first three 
 years of the Factory, the measure of expulsion was 
 often resorted to j but it was chiefly, indeed al- 
 most solely, necessary towards boys, whose parents 
 had known better days, or who had previously been 
 resident in towns, and thereby too well acquainted 
 with the vices familiar to such places. 
 
 On one measure alone, and that indeed a measure 
 of primary importance, the judgment of the Proprie- 
 tors was not fully satisfied. The question, in Ireland 
 more especially, is one of some difficulty for the mo- 
 ralist and politician to decide — namely, at what age 
 should the Proprietors sanction or encourage the mar- 
 riage of those whose apprenticeships have expired ? 
 At 21, at 25, or at what age? The Proprietors, 
 without having settled this point to their own satisfac- 
 tion, seem not inclined to oppose early marriage, so 
 soon as the parties have given one year's proof of 
 steadiness, after the expiration of their apprentice- 
 ship. 
 
 In fine, such has been the extended influence of the 
 Merino Factory in promoting the happiness and com- 
 forts of those within the sphere of its operations, that 
 the adjoining parishes no longer present the same 
 lace as formerly— of squalidness, poverty, and men- 
 dicity — of open or concealed violation of the laws of 
 God and man. All is now peace, tranquillity, and
 
 52 
 
 security; and so effectually has poverty been banish- 
 ed from the neighbourhood of the Merino Factory, 
 that, at Christmas last, a season of such unparalleled 
 and general distress throughout Ireland, a single 
 claimant could not be found in the parish of Ennis- 
 nagg, for any portion of the Church collection, 
 amounting to between thirty and forty pounds, and 
 which was therefore deposited in the Savings Bank of 
 Kilkenny for future exigencies. 
 
 Alter this detail of the nature arid influence of the 
 Merino Factory, a detail which my personal and close 
 observation of its various departments makes me feel 
 to be very imperfect, you ma}' easily estimate the high 
 importance I attach to this national undertaking. 
 Alter such a detail, long 1 will admit, but yet insuf- 
 ficient to convey an adequate idea of the Merino Fac- 
 tory, it cannot be surprising that this Establishment 
 should have excited so much interest, not only in this 
 country but on the other side of the channel. With 
 these my feelings, you may suppose, I heard with infi- 
 nite satisfaction, that so pleased was his Royal Highness 
 the Prince Regent with the principles on which this 
 Factory was conducted, that he had clothed himself 
 in its manufacture, an example which I have no doubt 
 will not. be without its influence in Great Britain as 
 well as in Ireland. — How much at this moment would 
 England be benefited, were her Factories conducted 
 on the principles of the Merino Factory ? No con- 
 trast indeed can now be more striking or impressive :
 
 33 
 
 how much of vice, crime, and misery might be avert- 
 ed by introducing a reformation among the old from 
 this infant Factory ? That such a reformation is ne- 
 cessary, no man will now question : that it may ere 
 long be attempted is the anxious wish, dear Sir, of 
 your Friend and Countryman, 
 
 K. W. 
 
 Belfast, Sept. 8, 1818. 
 
 FINIS.
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIB^W FACILITY 
 
 A A 000 150 632 8