_In clothes and furniture of houses, &c._
Utterly rejecting and renouncing everything wearable that comes from
England. 1720.
It is the peculiar felicity and prudence of the people in this kingdom,
that whatever commodities and productions lie under the greatest
discouragements from England, those are what they are sure to be most
industrious in cultivating and spreading.
Agriculture, which has been the principal care of all wise nations, and
for the encouragement whereof there are so many statute laws in England,
we countenance so well, that the landlords are everywhere, by penal
clauses, absolutely prohibiting their tenants from ploughing;[40] not
satisfied to confine them within certain limitations, as is the practice
of the English: one effect of which is already seen in the prodigious
dearness of corn, and the importation of it from London, as the cheaper
market. And because people are the riches of a country, and that our
neighbours have done, and are doing, all that in them lies to make our
wool a drug to us, and a monopoly to them; therefore, the politic
gentlemen of Ireland have depopulated vast tracts of the best land for the
feeding of sheep.
I could fill a volume as large as the history of the Wise Men of Gotham,
with a catalogue only of some wonderful laws and customs we have observed
within thirty years past. It is true, indeed, our beneficial traffic of
wool with France has been our only support for several years, furnishing
us with all the little money we have to pay our rents, and go to market.
But our merchants assure me, this trade has received a great damp by the
present fluctuating condition of the coin in France; and that most of
their wine is paid for in specie, without carrying thither any commodity
from hence.
However, since we are so universally bent upon enlarging our flocks, it
may be worth inquiring what we shall do with our wool, in case Barnstaple
should be overstocked, and our French commerce should fail.
I could wish the Parliament had thought fit to have suspended their
regulation of church matters, and enlargements of the prerogative, until a
more convenient time, because they did not appear very pressing, at least
to the persons principally concerned; and, instead of these great
refinements in politics and divinity, had amused themselves and their
committees a little with the state of the nation. For example: What if the
House of Commons had thought fit to make a resolution, _nemine
contradicente_, against wearing any cloth or stuff in their families,
which were not of the growth and manufacture of this kingdom? What if they
had extended it so far as utterly to exclude all silks, velvets, calicoes,
and the whole lexicon of female fopperies; and declared, that whoever
acted otherwise should be deemed and reputed an enemy to the nation? What
if they had sent up such a resolution to be agreed to by the House of
Lords, and by their own practice and encouragement, spread the execution
of it in their several countries? What if we should agree to make burying
in woollen a fashion, as our neighbours have made it a law? What if the
ladies would be content with Irish stuffs for the furniture of their
houses, for gowns and petticoats for themselves and their daughters? Upon
the whole, and to crown all the rest, let a firm resolution be taken, by
male and female, never to appear with one single shred that comes from
England, and let all the people say AMEN.
I hope and believe, that nothing could please his Majesty better than to
hear that his loyal subjects of both sexes in this kingdom celebrated his
birthday (now approaching) universally clad in their own manufacture. Is
there virtue enough left in this deluded people to save them from the
brink of ruin? If men's opinions may be taken, the ladies will look as
handsome in stuffs as in brocades; and since all will be equal, there may
be room enough to employ their wit and fancy, in choosing and matching
patterns and colours.
I heard the late Archbishop of Tuam mention a pleasant observation of
somebody's, that Ireland would never be happy, till a law were made for
burning everything that came from England, except their people and their
coals.
I must confess, that as to the former, I should not be sorry if they would
stay at home; and for the latter, I hope in a little time we shall have no
occasion for them.