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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28496	Irelands naturall history being a true and ample description of its situation, greatness, shape, and nature, of its hills, woods, heaths, bogs, of its fruitfull parts, and profitable grounds : with the severall ways of manuring and improving the same : with its heads or promontories, harbours, roads, and bays, of its springs, and fountains, brooks, rivers, loghs, of its metalls, mineralls, free-stone, marble, sea-coal, turf, and other things that are taken out of the ground : and lastly of the nature and temperature of its air and season, and what diseases it is free from or subject unto : conducing to the advancement of navigation, husbandry, and other profitable arts and professions / written by Gerald Boate ; and now published by Samuell Hartlib for the common good of Ireland and more especially for the benefit of the adventurers and planters therein.	Boate, Gerard, 1604-1650.; Hartlib, Samuel, d. 1662.	1657 (1657)	Wing B3373; ESTC R27215	105,129	208

those of long continuance as the Falling-sickness the Pal●ie all sorts-of Gout Coughs the Consumption of the Lungs the Stone of the Kidneys and of the Bladder the Colick the laundis the Dropsie the grief of the Spleen and severall sorts of Loosnesses with all which Evills it is here as in other Countries some of them being very common here and others happening but seldom and in few persons the more particular relation whereof wee will leave for the books of Physick and for those Observa●ions which perhaps my Brother some time or other will publish of what he hath found concerning the●e matters in an ample and flourishing practice of eight yeares which he hath lived in Dublin CHAP. XXIIII Of the Diseases reigning in Ireland and whereunto that country is peculiarly subject Sect. 1. Of the Irish Agues AS Ireland is subject to most diseases in common with other Countries so there are some whereunto it is peculiarly obnoxious being at all times so rife there that they may justly be reputed for Irelands Endemii Morbi or reigning Diseases as indeed they are generally reputed for such Of this number is a certain sort of Malignant Feavers vulgarly in Ireland called Irish Agues because that at all times they are so common in Ireland as well among the Inhabitants and the Natives as among those who are newly come thither from other countries This Feaver commonly accompanied with a great pain in the head a●d in all the bones great weakness drought losse of all manner of appetite and want of sleep and for the most part idleness or raving and restlesness or tossings but no very great nor constant heat is hard to be cured for those that understand the disease and seek to overcome it do it not by purging which cannot be used at any time without great and present danger for the fermentation of the humors which causeth the disease is hereby mightily increased and the patient weakned and hardly with bleeding which seldom is used with success otherwise than in the very beginning but with strengthning medicines and good cordials in which case and if all necessary prescriptious be well observed very few persons doe lose their lives except when some extraordinary and pestilent malignity commeth to it as it befalleth in some yeares with so great violence that notwithstanding all good helps some are thereby carried to their graves the same doth ordinarily come to pass that it proveth deadly if the Sick doe fall into unskilfull hands or neglect all help or do not observe good directions in which cases many do perish and others who come off with their lives through robustuousness of nature or hidden causes are forced to keep their beds a long time in extreme weakness being a great while before they can r●cover their perfect health and strength Sect. 2. Of the Loosness The Loosness doth also greatly reign in Ireland as well among those of the countrie as among the Strangers wherfore the English inhabitants have given it the name of The country-disease Many are a great while troubled with it and yet get no other harm and those that betimes doe make use of good medicines are without any great difficulty cured of it But they that let the Loosness take its course do commonly after some dayes get the bleeding with it whereby the disease doth not only grow much more troublesome and painfull but a great deal harde● to be cured at last it useth to turn to the Bloody flux the which in some persons having lasted a great while leaveth them of it self but in farre the greatest number is very dangerous and killeth the most part of the sick except they be carefully assisted with good remedies That this disease as also the other viz. the Malignant Feavers are so rife in Ireland doth partly come through the peculiar disposition and excessive wetness of the Air but partly also through the errours which people do commit in eating and drinking and other particulars as manifestly doth appear by that a very great number not only of the Natives but also of the Strangers comming thi● her who t●ke carefull heed to themselves in abstaining from hurtfull things never are troubled with either of these infirmities Sect. 3. Of the Rickets Among the reigning diseases of Ireland the Rickets also may with good reason be reckoned a disease peculiar to young children and so well known to every body in England as it is needless to give any description of it and yet to this day never any Physician either English or of any other nation made any the least mention of it no not in those works which are expresly written of all manner of diseases and accidents of litle children In Ireland this disease is wonderfull rife now but it hath nothing neer been so long known there as in England either through th● unski●fullness or neglect of the Physicians the most part wherof in both kingdomes to this day are ignorant not onely of the manner how to cure it but even of the nature and property thereof or that really it is new there and never before having been in Ireland hath got footing in it only within these few yeares through some strange revolution or constellation or Gods immediat sending which kind of changes severall times have befaln in divers Countries and in Ireland it self wee have alreadie shewed some such matter in another sickness namely the Tertian-Ague This evill being altogether incurable when it is gon too farre is hard enough to be cured even in the beginning except it be very carefully looked unto and use made of the best remedies nevertheless this grief as well as mo●● others hath its peculiar medicines the which being applied betimes and with convenient care do with Gods blessing for the most part produce the effect desired Sect. 4. Of the Lepros●e The Rickets are of late very rife in Ireland where few yeares agoe unknown so on the contra●y it hath been almost quite freed from another disease one of the very worst miserablest in the world namely the Leprosie which in former times used to bee very common there especially in the Province of Munster the which therefore was filled with Hospitals expresly built for to receive keep the Leprous persons But many yeares since Ireland hath been almost quite freed from this horrible and loathsome disease and as few Leprous persons are now found there as in any other Countrie in the world so that be Hospitals erected for their use having stood empty a long time at length are quite decayed come to nothing The cause of th●s change is not so obscure nor unknown as it is in most other changes of that nature For that this sickness was so generall in Ireland did not come by any peculiar defect in the Land or in the Air but meerly through the fault foul gluttony of the inhabitants in the excessive d●vouring of unwholesome Salmons The common report in Ireland is that boiled Salmons eaten hot out

dunging so as the inhabitants thereof never trouble themselves to keep the dung of their beasts but from time to time fling it into a River which runneth by them But this happiness and richness of soil as it is very rare over all the world so in Ireland too being confined to very narrow bounds all the rest of the Kingdom is necessitated for the ends aforesaid to help and improve their Lands by dunging the which they do severall manner of wayes Sect. 2. Of Sheeps-dung The commonest sort of manuring the lands in Ireland is that which is done with the dung of beasts especially of Cows and Oxen and also of Horses mixed with a great quantity of straw and having lyen a long while to rot and incorporate well together Whereof as of a matter every where known and usuall it is needless to speak further Onely thus much seemeth good to us not to pass over in silence that if Sheep here as in other countries were housed and kept up in stables for any long time together their excrements would make better dung than that of any other four-footed creatures For the land on which sheep have fed for two or three yeares together or longer is so greatly enriched thereby that when it commeth to bee plowed it bringeth a much fairer and plentifuller crop than if from the beginning it had been made Arable and dunged after the ordinary manner Wherefore also great Sheep-masters may set their land where the sheep have been feeding some yeares together as dear again by the Acre than what at the first they could have got for it of any body Wherefore also it is an usuall thing in Ireland as well as in England to drive the sheep upon the Fallow and to keep them there untill all the hearbs which may minister any food unto the Sheep be by them consumed which doth the ground a great deal of good and giveth it heart to bring afterwards the better increase And the same also helpeth greatly for to make good grass grow upon the Arable when the same is turned into Pasture and Meddow a thing ordinarily used in sundry parts of Ireland and many times necessary for to keep the lands in heart For ground being plowed and the Sheep driven thither as soon as any herbs grow upon it they do not only consume the Thistles and other useless herbs but cause good grass to grow up in lieu thereof and that speedily For in all places where their dung lighteth of the best and sweetest sorts of grass do grow and that within the first year which otherwise would not have come in much longer time and that nothing near so good generally Sect. 3. An usefull observation about Cows-dung There is a notable difference betwixt Sheeps-dung and that of other cattle as in the goodness and richness it self so in the particular last mentioned by them For that of Oxen and Cows is no wayes fit for dunging untill it is grown old and hath lyen a soaking with straw a great while Dayly experience shewing in Ireland as in England and other countryes that in those places of the pastures where the fresh Cow-dung falleth and remaineth the grass the next year doth grow ranker and higher than in the rest of the same fields but so sowre and unpleasing that the beasts will not offer to touch it so as ordinarily you shall see these tufts of grass standing whole and undiminished in the midst of pastures that every where else are eaten bare and to the very ground The which as in part it may bee imputed to the quantity of the dung the which being greater than the earth can well digest and conveniently unite with it self cannot be turned into so good and sweet nourishment so doth it also without doubt come in part through the very nature of the dung the which of it self and without a long preparation and alteration is not so fit to nourish the ground as that of sheep Sect. 4. Of Pigeons-dung Pigeons-dung also is very convenient for the improvement of the ground and I know some in Ireland who having tryed that have found a wonderfull deal of good in it incomparably more than in that of any four-footed beasts and of Sheep themselves But the Pigeon-houses no where in Ireland being so big as to afford any considerable quantity and never having heard of any body there who could dung more than an Acre or two with all the Pigeons-dung which had been gathering the space of a whole twelve-moneth it cannot well be reckoned among the common sorts Sect. 5. Of Ashes and Mud. Besides the dung of Beasts there are usuall in Ireland or were before this Rebellion five or six other sorts for to Manure and Improve the ground whereof some are as good as the dung consisting of the excrements of beasts and others do far surpass it One of these sorts is Ashes and Mud another As for the first I have understood of Englishmen who had lived many years in Ireland and all that while had exercised Husbandry that they had used to gather all their Ashes of their hearths bake-houses and brew-houses being Wood-ashes and to lay them of a heap somewhere in the open air from whence at convenient times they would carry them upon their grounds and there spread them in the same manner as other dung but nothing near in so great a quantity wherein they affirmed to have found as much and more good than in any dung of beasts And I know several other English who living in Ireland did use to take the scouring of their ditches together with other Mud digged out of the Bogs and having let it lye a good while a rotting in great heaps did afterwards carry it upon their lands in lieu of dung the which they found very good and usefull for that purpose These two sorts were never yet brought into common use but onely practised by some few persons especially that of the Ashes although in other Countries they have been known long since so as Pliny who lived about fifteen hundred years ago writeth in the ninth Chapter of the seventeenth Book of his Natural History that in his time in that part of Italy which is situated between the Alpes and the River Po comprehending those Countries which now are known by the names of Piemont and Lombardy Ashes were more used and commended for the manuring of the grounds than the dung of beasts As concerning the burning of the Heath and other dry herbs standing upon the ground for to manure the land with the ashes thereof that not properly belonging to this place shall be spoke of more at large in some of the ensuing Chapters Sect. 6. Of Lime The English living in Queens-county in Leinster having seen that in sundry parts of England and Wales especially in Pembrookshire Lime was used by the inhabitants for the manuring and inriching of their grounds begun some years since to practise the same and found themselves so well thereby that in a

short time the use thereof grew very common amongst them so as many of ●hem ever after used no other kind of dung The manner of it was thus Having first plowed their fields they carryed the Lime on them and layd it in many small heaps leaving a convenient distance between in the same manner as useth to be done with the dung of beasts and having let them lye for some moneths they plowed the land again to convey the Lime into the ground This made it so rich that in a great while after nothing else needed to be done to it but to let the land at a certain revolution of time lye Fallow no other manuring at all being requisite for some yeares after And all that while the land was very fruitfull more than it could have been made with any ordinary dung and very free of al sorts of bad herbs and weeds especially for the first yeares bringing Corn with much thinner huskes than that growing upon other lands They found that the Lime carryed upon the Land hot out of the Kiln did more good in all the fore-mentioned particulars than when they let it grow cold first And this they could doe very easily because Lime-stone is very plentifull in that County especially in the Town of Monrath where there is a whole hill of that stone of that bigness that if all the adjacent Country did continually fetch it from thence for the forenamed use it would for ever hold out sufficiently The Land thus manured and improved by Lime shewed its fruitfulness not only in the following yeares but even in the first except the Lime had been layd on in undue proportion and in greater quantity than was requisite for in that case the Lime burnt the Corn and the first years Crop was thereby spoyled In some places where the land was not cold and moyst enough to bee able to endure meer Lime they mixed the Lime with earth digged out of pits and let that stuff lye a mellowing in great heaps for some moneths together and afterwards carryed it on the land and manured that therewith Sect. 7. A remarkable historie concerning the excellencie of Lime for the inricheng of the ground How incredibly the land was inriched by this kind of manuring may be gathered by the ensuing particular The whole Lordship of Mounrath was thirty yeares agoe set by one Mr. Downings whose it was and who afterwards sold it to Sir Charles Coot for fifty pounds sterling by the year and nevertheless after a while the Farmers surrendred it unto him complaining that they could not live by it but were quite impoverished where as they who farmed it next after them beeing people newly come out of England gave an hundred and fifty pounds sterling a year st●rling for it did not only live very freely upon it yea grew rich and wealthie but withall did so farre forth improve the land partly indeed with building plauting hedging and the like but chiefly by this kind of manuing that ●t the time when this last horrible rebellion broke forth the same Lordship if it had been to let out then mighe have been let for five hundred pounds sterling a year as it hath been assured me by some who themselves had been farmers of that land Sect. 8. Another history shewing the ●fficacy of Lime in this particular Before we give over this discours of Lime we shall adde to what hath been said already that in some other parts of Ireland where this manuring with Lime was not used nor known the vertue of Lime in this particular hath been found out by meer chance For some persons known to me who lived but a few miles from Dublin having understood that the crowes wherewith they were much plagued and who did use to make very great spoil of their grains would not touch the corn wherewith the lime was mixed did cause unsl●ked Lime to be mingled with water making it as thinne as if it had been for the whitening of walls and very well bespringled the corn therewith before it was carried to the fields to be sowen and that after this manner the corn lying on a heap one turned it with both hands whilest another sprinkled on the fore-said stuff doing so untill the whole heap was thoroughly besprinkled at other times they mingled dry lime with the corn and afterwards besprinkled the whole heap with fair water through and through for the same purpose and hereby they did not only obtain the aforesaid end of preserving the corn from the crowes but had thereby a fairer and better crop than ever before their land had produced Sect. 9. Of Sea-sand Lime is much used in the province of Munster as in other parts of Ireland so for to manure the ground withall where the sea-sand likewise is greatly used to the same end not only in places lying on the seaside but even ten twelve and fifteen miles into the land whether it was carried in some places by boats and in others upon carts the charges being sufficiently recompensed by the pro●it comming from it For they used it for the most part only upō very poor land consisting of cold clay and that above half a foot deep which land having been three or f●ur times plowed harrowed in the same manner as is usuall to be done with fallow the sand is strawed all over very thinly a little before the sowing time the which beeing done that land bringeth very good corn of all sorts not only Rye and Oates but even Barley and Wheat three yeares one after another and having lyen fallow the fourth year for many years after it produceth very clean and sweet grass whereas formerly and before it was thus manured it produced nothing but moss heath and short low furze which herbs are fired upon the ground and the ground stubbed before it be plowed the first time It is not any peculiar sort of Sea-sand nor out of any particular places which is used for this purpose but that which every where lyeth on the strands And this manner of manu●ing the land with Sea-sand is very common in the two most Westerly shires of England Cornwall and Devonshire from whence those who first practised it in Ireland seem to have learned it Sect. 10. Of Brine or Pickle The goodness of the Sea-sand consisteth chiefly in its Saltness for which reason Pickle it self is very good for this purpose it beeing very well known to severall English dwelling about the Band and Colrain that were Farmers of the Salmon-fishing there who used every year carefully to keep the soul pikle comming of the Salmons at their repacking and having powred it among the ordinary dung of cattle and straw they did let them ly a good while a mellow●ng together Hereby it was greatly strengthened and enriched so that the land being dunged with it did bear much better and richer crops than that which was manured onely with common dung without the mixture of it CHAP. XII Sect. 1. Of

the Marle in Ireland and the manner of Marling the land there MArle is a certain sort of fat and clayish stuff being as the grease of the earth it hath from antient times on greatly used for manuring of land both in France and England as may appear out of Pliny in the sixth seventh and eighth Chapters of his seventeenth Book The same also is stil very usual in sundry parts of England being of an incomparable goodness The which caused the English who out of some of those places where Marle was used were come to live in Ireland to make diligent search for it and that with good success at last it having been found out by them within these few years in severall places first in the Kings-county not far from the Shanon where being of a gray colour it is digged out of the Bogs And in the County of Wexford where the use of it was grown very common before this Rebellion especially in the parts lying near the sea where it stood them in very good steed the land of it self being nothing fruitfull For although the ground for the most part is a good black earth yet the same being but one foot deep and having underneath a crust of stiff yellow clay of half a foot is thereby greatly impaired in its own goodness In this depth of a foot and a half next under the clay lyeth the Marle the which reacheth so far downwards that yet no where they are come to the bottom of it It is of a blew colour and very fat which as in other ground so in this is chiefly perceived when it is wet but brittle and dusty when it is dry Sect. 2. The manner charges and profit of Marling the ground The Marle is layd upon the land in heaps by some before it is plowed by others after many letting it lye several moneths ere they plow it again that the Rain may equally divide and mixe it the Sun Moon and Air mellow and incorporate it with the earth One thousand Cart-loads of this goeth to one English Acre of ground it being very chargeable for even to those who dig it out of their own ground so as they are at no other expences but the hire of the labourers every Acre cometh to stand in three pounds sterling But these great expences are sufficiently recompenced by the great fruitfulness which it causeth being such as may seem incredible for the Marled-land even the very first year fully quitteth all the cost bestowed on it There besides it is sufficient once to Marle whereas the ordinary dunging must be renewed oftentimes Sect. 3. The usage of the Marled-land practised by them of the County of Wexford The good usage of the Marled-land to keep it in heart for ever after doth consist in the opinion and practise of some in letting it ly Fallow at convenient times but the ordinary manner commonly practised by the inhabitants of the County of Wexford and counted the best by them is that having sowed it five or six years together with the richest sorts of Corn to wit Wheat and Barley especially that sort which in some parts of England and generally in Ireland is peculiarly called Bear being a much richer Grain than the ordinary Barley it being afterwards turned to Pasture whereunto it is very fit forasmuch as it bringeth very sweet grass in great abundance For the Marle is also used on Meddows at the first with very good success improving the same most wonderfully If the Marled-land be thus used and by turns kept under Corn and Grass it keeps its fruitfulness for ever where to the contrary if year after year it be sowed till the heart be drawn out it 's quite spoyled so as afterwards it is not possible to bring it again to any passable condition by any kind of Dunging or Marling This would ordinarily be done in the space of ten yeares for so long together the Marled-land may be sowed and bring every year a rich crop of the best Corn. Nevertheless this is not generall but taketh place onely in the worser kind of ground for where the land of it self is better and richer there after Marling Wheat and other Corn may be sowed not only for ten yeares together but longer For very credible persons have assured me that some parts of the County of Wexford having bo●n very good Corn for thirteen yeares together and afterwards being turned to Pasture it was as good and fertile as other Marled-grounds that had been under Corn but five or six years Sect. 4. Of the Marle in Connaught The Province of Connaught by what hath been discovered is much more plentifull in Marle than Leinster as in other Counties so in those of Roscoman Slego and Galloway almost in every part of it It is there of three several colours some being white as chalk other gray and some black but none blew as that in the County of Wexford It lyeth nothing deep under the upper-ground or surface of the earth commonly not above half a foot but it s own depth is so great that never any body yet digged to the bottom of it The land which they intend to Marle in this Province is commonly plowed in the beginning of May and lying five or six weeks untill it be sufficiently dryed and mellowed by the Sun and Wind they harrow it and then having brought the Marle upon it five or six weeks after it is plowed again and a third time about September After which third plowing they sow it with Wheat or Barley whereof they have a very rich crop the next year Sect. 5. Property and usage of the Marled-lands in Connaught Land Marled in that manner as we have said may be sowed ten or twelve yeares together the first eight or nine-with Wheat and Bear or Barley and the remaining three or four years with Oates afterwards the land is turned to pasture and having served some years in that kind it may be Marled anew and made as good for Corn as at the first For the observation of those of the County of Wexford that land may not be Marled more than once doth not take place in Connaught where it is an ordinary thing having some space of years to make it again I know some Gentlemen who have caused some parcels of land to be Marled thrice in the space of twenty yeares and have found very good profit by it But whether this be caused by the difference of the ground and Marle appearing also hereby that in Connaught they scarce lay the fourth part of the quantity of Marle on the ground of what they doe in the County of Wexford or by the carelesness or want of experience of those of that County I am not yet fully informed But thus much is known as well in Connaught as other parts that those who sow the Marled-land untill it can bear no more and be quite out of heart wil find it exceeding difficult if not altogether impossible ever to amend or improve

there would scarce have been left one acre of Bog of what was in the lands and possessiion of the English except onely those places whose situation is altogether repugnant to draining because that the water either through the hollowness of the place as in the inclosed valleyes and deep dales between the hils and mountaines or through the too great evenness plainness of the ground not inclining to any one part more than another cannot be drawn away at all and except such parcels as needs must have been kept for turf and Red bogs who are very unfit for draining for the trenches being made the earth on both sides will sink into them again and choak them up Sect. 4. Profit reaped by the draining of Bogs This draining of the Bogs as it tended not a little to the generall good of the whole land by amending of the Air wherof we shall have occasion to say more in some other place and otherwise so it brought great profit unto the Authors for the land or soil of the Bogs being in most places good of it self and there besides greatly enriched by the lying still and the soaking in of the water for the space of so many yeares the same being dryed through the draining of the water is found to be very sit either to have corn sowed upon or to be turned into pastures making also excellent meadowes so as those who have tried that doe affirm that the meadowes gained out of the Bogs might be compared with the very best of their other meadowes yea many times surpassed the same in goodness this took place chiefly in the Grassie bogs or Shakking bogs whose fruitfulness in this particular in the plentifull production of very sweet and deep grass after the draining off the water was very wonderfull and all this without any other trouble or costs bestowed upon these Meddows than that they dunged them the first year to warm them the better and the sooner and more thoroughly to amend the remainders of that coldness and rawness contracted through that long and constant continuance of the water upon them after which once dunging afterwards for a good many yeares nothing else needed to be done to them Sect. 5. The manner of draining the Bogs This draining of the Bogs was performed in the manner following On that side of the Bog where the ground was somewhat sloaping they cut a broad deep Trench beginning it in the firm ground and advancing it unto the entrance of the Bog into which Trench the water would sink out of the next parts of the Bog in great abundance and that many times so suddenly as if a great sluce had been opened so as the labourers were constrained to run out of it with all speed lest the ●orce of the water should overwhelm and carry them away Some part of the Bog being by this meanes grown reasonable dry within a short space of time opportunity thereby was ministred to advance the Trench further into the Bog and so by little and little they went on with it untill at last they carryed it quite across the Bog from the one side to the other And having done this they made a great many lesser Trenches out of the main one on both sides of the same the which bringing the water from all the parts of the Bog unto the main Trench did in a little while empty the Bog of all its superfluous moysture and turn it into good and firm ground Sect. 6. Observation about the falling and setling of the Bogs at their draining The Green or Grassie-bogs the which having all their moysture and water inwardly are thereby wonderfully swelled and pust up use by means of this draining to fall very much and to grow a great deal lower and that not only apparently so that the ground which before the drayning was five or six feet high commeth at last to be not above two or three feet high but sometimes also suddenly and within the space of four and twenty or eight and forty houres whereas ordinarily that useth to come to pass in greater length of time and although the ground by falling in this manner may seem thereby to have been subject to return to its former boggy condition on the least occasion nevertheless there was no danger of that as long as the Trenches were kept open and thereby the passage kept free for the water which from time to time would from all parts of the drayned Bog be sinking into them This water as at the first draining so ever after was by the main Trench carryed unto some Brook River or Lough according as one or other of them was next at hand and the situation of the land would give opportunity CHAP. XV. Of the Woods in Ireland Sect. 1. Woods in Ireland are reckoned among the barren lands and the reason thereof AMongst the barren parts of Ireland the Woods must also be counted according to the usuall division of the lands of that Kingdom whereby reckoning for fruitfull onely the Meddows Arable-grounds and Pastures they count all the rest for barren comprehending them under these three generall heads Bogs Barren-Mountains and Woods Which division as it is in the mouth of all them that have any insight into the matters of that Land and do or have lived there so it is further confirmed by a number of Writings and Monuments both of ancienter times and late ones in the which it is very common and familiar As for instance may appear by those several Acts which since this last Rebellion of the Irish have been made by the Parliament of England in the behalf of the Adventurers who have layd out their monyes for the reconquering of the revolted parts of that Kingdom For although the land which the Woods doe take up is in it self very good in most places and apt to bear both Corn and Grass plentifully whereof more shall be sayd by and by yet as long as the Woods remain standing it is unfit not only to be made either Arable or Meddow as in it self is most evident but even for Pasture by reason of the overmuch moysture the roots of the trees staying the rain-water so as it hath not the liberty to pass away readily and their stems and branches hindering the free access of the Wind and Sun whereunto cometh in many parts the grounds own wateriness occasioned by Springs there arising and by its situation apt for the gathering and keeping of water which maketh them for the most part so muddy and boggy that cattle cannot conveniently feed in them Sect. 2. Woods much diminished in Ireland since the first comming in of the English In antient times and as long as the land was in the full possession of the Irish themselves all Ireland was very full of Woods on every side as evidently appeareth by the writings of Giraldus Cambrensis who came into Ireland upon the first Conquest in the company of Henry the second King of England in the year of

the ordures of the streets are under ground conveyed into the City ditch passeth under the yard where-in the said Well dammed up since this sad accident did stand so as it may bee probably beleeved that that deadly infection of the air within the same Well had partly been caused through the neerness of the same sewer CHAP. XIX Of the Free-stone Marble Flints Slate and Seacoles which are found in Ireland Sect. 1. Of the Free-stone HAving in the precedent Chapters treated of the Metals and Minerals which are found in Ireland we shall now go on to speak of severall other substances raised out of the ground there of a less noble nature but nevertheless profitable and serving for severall good uses To begin with Free-stone there is two sorts of it the one being gray or ash-coloured and the other blew which both for the most part lying in the uppermost parts of the ground covered over with very little earth are raised with small labour and charge whereas in most other countries it is as much labour to digge Free-stone as the metalls themselves The blew Free-stone is not very abundant and as little in request as unfit for great buildings it lying for the most part in small unshapely peeces and when they are bigger commonly broke in the raising and hewing partly through the unskilfullness of the workmen there and chiefly because they are exceeding hard and cannot well endure the Iron The gray free-stone which is found very abundantly in most parts of the land is of a contrary nature and may easily be cut out into stones of all bigness or fashion wherefore also this sort hath been used by the English to all the Churches Castles and Edifices which since the Conquest have been builded by them For the Irish themselves never had the skill nor industry to erect any considerable buildings of Free-stone Brick or other the like materials their dwellings being very poor and contemptible cottages True it is that the English at their first comming found several Maritine-townes in Ireland with stone-walls and houses the Churches also not onely in those but in many other Towns being of the same But built by strangers who being come out of the Northern parts of Germany and other neighbouring Countries had setled themselves there inhabiting severall parts of the Sea-coasts some Ages before the English-Conquest which people called themselves Oastmans or Easterlings all those Countries of the which they were come being situated to the East of Ireland Sect. 2. Certain evill properties of the Irish Free-stone This sort of Gray Fre●-stone in Ireland hath a bad qualitie that it draweth the moysture of the air continually to it and so becommeth dank and wet both in and out-side especially in times of much rain To mend this inconvenience the English did wainscot those walls with oak or other boards or line them with a thin crust of brick Sect 3. Of the Marble Besides the Free-stone which is almost in every part of the land there is Marble found in many places of severall sorts one is red straked with white and other colours such as with a peculiar name is called Porphyre other black very curiously straked with white and some all of one colour The first two sorts are found but in smal quantity especially the second But the last is very abundant in some places but most about Kilkenny where not onely many houses are built of the same but whole streets are paved with it Sect. 4. Description of the Marble-quarrie at Kilkenny The Quarrie out of which they have their Marble at Kilkenney is not above a quarter of a mile distant from the Town and belongeth to no body in particular lying in common for all the Townsmen who at any time may fetch as much out of it as seemeth good unto them without paying any thing for it It is in fashion like unto Quarries of Free-stone to wit a wide open pit whereout stones and pillars of great thickness and height may be digged This Marble whilst it is rude and as it cometh out of the ground looketh grayish but being polished it getteth a fine blewish colour drawing somwhat towards the black Sect. 5. Of the Flint Although Flints are not digged from under the ground yet shall we give them a place next to the Free-stone and Marble because of the affinity which they have with them They are found in every part of Ireland in great abundance near the sea-side within the land upon the hils and mountains and in the rivers many of which have not onely their banks covered with them but also the bottom of their chanels and that for great spaces togeth●r which as they are o● all sizes and fashions so of very different colours Sect. 6. Of the Slate In sundry parts of Ireland Slate is found in great abundance and that nothing deep within the ground just in the same manner as the Free-stone so as it may be raised with little charge and labour wherefore at all times it hath been much used by the English inhabitants for the covering of their houses and other buildings Nevertheless some years since in places near the sea especially at Dublin that kind of Holland Tiles which by them are called Pannen begun to be used generally the Merchants causing them to be brought in from thence in great abundance because in Ireland they had neither convenient stuff to make them of nor work-men skilfull in that business although the common Tiles usual in many parts of England and other Countries were made and used in several places within the land Besides these there was another kind of covering in use both for Churches and houses to wit a certain sort of woodden Tiles vulgarly called Shingles the which are thight enough at the first but do not many yeares continue so it being necessary to change them often which thing properly not appertaining to this Chapter we nevertheless for affinities sake have thought not amiss here to mention Some yeares ago another kind of Slate hath been discovered in Ireland which for the colours-sake is called Black-slate being of a blackish colour which is come into great esteem not so much for the ordinary use of covering houses for which they are no better than common Slate but because it hath been found by experience very good and medicinall against severall diseases especially to stay all kind of bleeding and to hinder that after falls and bruises the blood do not congeal within the body Sect. 7. Of the Sea-coal The Trees and Woods having been so much destroyed in Ireland as heretofore we have shewed and consequently wood for firing being very dear in great part of the land the inhabitants are necessitated to make use of other fuel viz. of Turf and of Sea-coals Of the Turf we shall speak in the next Chapter As for Sea-coals they are the ordinary firing in Dublin in other places lying near the sea where the same in time of peace are brought in out of

but all the walls quite through and at the out-side as well as at the in-side be perfectly burnt and turned into good brick wherein oftentimes through the unskilfulness or neglect of those who make fill these Kilns and of those that govern the fire there is great loss and that two manner of ways For sometimes great part of the Bricks is found not to be sufficiently nor uniformly burnt and on the other side it falleth out oftentimes that great quantities are reduced into one beeing burnt or half-burnt into great unshapely masses or lumps which are good for nothing They do commonly burn in those Kilns two or three hundred thousand Bricks at a time the which for the most part all charges being reckoned come to stand betwixt six and eight shillings sterling the thousand Sect. 8. Of the Glass made in Ireland We shall conclude this chapter with the Glass there having been severall Glass-houses set up by the English in Ireland none in Dublin or other cities but all of them in the countrie amongst which the principall was that of Birre a Market-town otherwise called Parsons-town after one Sir Laurence Parsons who having purchased that Lordship built a goodly house upon it his son William Parsons having succeeded him in the possession of it which Town is situate in Queens county about fifty miles to the South-west of Dublin upon the borders of the two Provinces of Leinster and Munster From this place Dublin was furnished with all sorts of vvindovv and drinking-glasses and such other as commonly are in use One part of the materials viz. the Sand they had out of England the other to vvit the Ashes they made in the place of Ash-tree and used no other The chiefest difficulty vvas to get the clay for the pots to melt the materials in this they had out of the North. CHAP. XXI Of the Temperature and Qualities of the Air and Seasons in Ireland as for Heat Cold and Moisture Sect. 1. Of the Cold weather and the Frosts ALthough the climate of Ireland is somewhat Northerly the Land extending it self from the beginning of the one and fiftieth degree of Latitude until the end of the five and fiftieth nevertheless is the Air there very temperate and nothing subject to violent Colds not onely in Munster Leinster and Connaught but even in the most Northern-part to wit the Province of Ulster much less than any other Land lying in the same height or latitude yea than many Countries of a much more Southerly-climate True it is that the Cold-weather doth commonly begin here somewhat soon namely in the beginning of October and sometimes in the middle or latter end of September continuing ordinarily the space of five or six moneths until the midst or latter end of March and sometimes also good part of April during which whole space of time all such persons as are chilly and cold of nature and do sit still much can hardly be any long while without a fire But again on the other side it is very seldom violently cold there and freezeth but little there are commonly three or four Frosts in one Winter but they are very short seldom lasting longer than three or four days together withall at their very worst nothing near so violent as in most other Countries so that some all Winter long hardly come near a fire once in a day and that not only in the ordinary cold weather but even whilst it is a freezing Yea many times the cold is so slack even in the midst of the Winter-moneths that by walking onely or doing some other moderate exercise you shall find your self as warm and the Air as sweet and pleasant as if it were in the moneth of May. There hath been some Winters wherein it hath frozen ten or twelve dayes together so as the Liffie and other the like Rivers were quite frozen and might be gone upon by men and beasts But those are altogether extraordinary and do come very seldom hardly once in the space of ten or twelve years But how mild they ordinarily be and how little subject to excessive cold may appear hereby that all kind of beasts and cattle as cows horses and sheep do there all Winter long remain abroad and do ●eed in the fields where they are left in the night-time as well as in the day and that many herbs which in England and Netherland do● dye every Winter here continue all the year long Sect. 2. Of the Warm-weather And as the cold in Winter is very moderate and tolerable so is also the heat in Summer the which is seldom so great even in the hottest times of the year as to be greatly troublesome And it falleth out oft enough in the very Summer-moneths that the weather is more inclinable to cold than to heat so as one may very well endure to come near a good fire And this cometh to pass only during the Wet-weather for else and whilst it is fair it is very warm all summer long albeit seldom over-hot And so it is many times also even on the rainie dayes whereas for the most part it is very cool in them and the heat much less than the season doth require Sect. 3. Of the Rain and We●-weather The Rain is very ordinary in Ireland and it raineth there very much all the year long in the Summer as well as in the Winter Commonly in the Spring of the year it is very fair weather with clear sun-shine from morning till night for the space of five or six weeks together with very little or no interruption which fair weather beginneth commonly in the mon●th of March some years in the beginning other yeares in the midst and sometimes in the latter end of it But the same being once past it raineth afterwards very much all the Summer long so as it is a rare thing to see a whole week pass without it and many Summers it is never dry weather two or three dayes together Which inconstancy and wetness of the weather is not only troublesome to men but also hurtfull to all things growing out of the ground for mans behoof For the heat never being very great and there besides often interrupted by the intervention of the foul weather hath neither time nor strength enough to ripen them so well and so soon as otherwise it would whereby it cometh to pass that as well the fruits of trees as the corn and grass here commonly much ●ater do come to perfection than in the most part of other neighbouring Countries And as the ripeness of the fruits and other increase of the earth is greatly retarded by the abundance of unseasonable rain so it doth also fall out oftentimes that the same being come to ripeness it is difficult to get them in by reason of the exceeding store of rain which doth come down during the Hay-time and the Harvest Wherefore it behoveth one here to be wonderfull diligent and not to lose any part of the fair weather

For else one would run great hazard to sustain great losses and to have all spoyled But those that are vigilant and carefull and that lose no occasion at all do commonly in the end get in their increase well enough notwithstanding all those great hinderances so that there be as few years of dearth in Ireland as in any other Country of Christendom and most years there is not only Corn enough got for the sustenance of the Inhabitants but a great deal over and above for the sending out of great quantities of Grains into other countries Sect. 4. Of the fair weather in the latter end of Autumn In the foul weather the nights are often fair In the latter end of Autumn weather is commonly fair again for some weeks together in the same manner as in the Spring but not so long which as it doth serve for to dry up and to get in the Corn and Hay which till then hath remained in the fields the too much wet having hindered it from being brought away sooner so it giveth the opportunity of plowing the ground and sowing the Winter-corn the which otherwise would very hardly be done For that season being once past you have very little dry weather the rest of the Autumn and during all Winter And although it doth seldom rain continually for many dayes together yet is the wetness very great and few weeks doe pass wherein are not two or three rainy dayes And it is to be observed that ordinarily it raineth in Ireland much more by day than by night and that many times when it doth rain two or three dayes together the nights between are very clear and fair the which also many times falleth out in other foul weather and when all day long the Skie is overcast with Clouds and Mists Sect. 5. Some dry Summers in Ireland but hardly ever any too dry But although it is ordinarily thus in Ireland yet the same inconstancy and variablenes of years and seasons which is observed in most other Countries doth also here occur and that more in regard of the Summers dry weather than of the Winters and cold For it is marvellous seldom to have there a hard Winter and long ●rost but Summers have been which were ful of very dry and fair and pleasant weather But as Winters cruelly cold so likewise over-dry Summers do in this Iland hardly come once in an Age And it is a common saying in Ireland that the very dryest Summers there never hurt the land For although the Corn and Grass upon the high and dry grounds may get harm nevertheless the Country in generall gets more good than hurt by it And when any dearths fall out to be in Ireland they are not caused through immoderate heat and drought as in most other Countries but through too much wet and excessive rain Sect. 6. Amendment of the wet Air in Ireland how to be expected So that the Irish-air is greatly defectuous in this part and too much subject to wet and rainy weather wherein if it were of somewhat a better temperature and as free from too much wet as it is from excessive cold it would be one of the sweetest and pleasantest in the whole world and very few Countries could be named that might be compared with Ireland for agreeable temperateness And although it is unlikely that any revolution of times will produce any considerable alteration in this the which indeed in some other Countries hath caused wonderfull changes because that those who many Ages ago have written of this Iland doe witness the self same things of it in this particular as wee doe find in our time There is nevertheless great probability that this defect may in part be amended by the industry of men if the country being once inhabited throughout by a civill Nation care were taken every where to diminish and take away the superfluous and excessive wetness of the ground in all the watery and boggy places whereby this too great moystness of the Air is greatly increased and partly also occasiond This opinion is not grounded upon some uncertain speculation but upon assured experience for severall knowing and credible persons have affirmed to me that already some yeares since good beginnings have been seen of it and that in some parts of the land well inhabited with English and where great extents of Bogs have been drained and reduced to dry land it hath been found by the observation of some years one after another that they have had a dryer air and much less troubled with rain than in former times Herewith agreeth what we read in that famous Writer Pliny in the fourth Chapter of the seventeenth Book of his Naturall History concerning that part of Macedonie wherein the City Philippi was seated where the Air formerly having been very rainie was greatly amended by the altering the wetness of the ground His words are these Circa Philippos cultura siccata regio mutavit coeli habitum That is word for word The Country about Philippi being dryed up through tillage hath altered the quality of the Air. CHAP. XXII Of the Dew Mist Snow Hail Hoar-frost Thunder and Lightning Earthquake and Winds Sect. 1. Of the Dew THe Naturalists and Geographers do assure us that it deweth exceedingly in the hot and dry Countries and that the less it useth to rain in a Country the Dew doth fall there the more ●bundantly whereby it should seem to follow that in the wet climate it deweth very little and consequently that in Ireland where it raineth so very much the Dew must be very scanty But there is as much Dew there as in other Countries that are a great deal hotter and dryer Onely thus much experience doth shew in Ireland and it may be as well in other Countries whereof I have not yet informed my self that when it is towards any great rain little or no Dew doth fall so as in those times going forth early in the morning into the green fields you will finde them altogether dry and that even in that season wherein the Dew in Ireland as in other neighbouring Countries useth to fall more abundantly than in any other time of the year to wit in the moneths of May and June This is a certain sign to the inhabitants that great rain is to fall suddenly and commonly after such a dry and dewless night it useth to rain two or three days together But the preceding rain doth not hinder the Dew in that manner as that which is imminent and it is found ordinarily that in a clear night follovving a rainy day the which is very ordinary as we have sayd in the preceding Chapter the Dew commeth down as liberally as if it had not rained the day before Sect. 2. Of May-dew and the manner of gathering and preserving it The English women and Gentlewomen in Ireland as in England did use in the beginning of the Summer to gather good store of Dew to keep it by them all the year after

as in other countri●s and that not only in the coldest months and during the frost but even in the Spring so as commonly during all the fair weather of that season of some weeks togethet whereof wee have spoke heretofore every morning all the green herbs of the gardens and fields are quite covered over with it Sect. 5. Of the Thunder Lightning and Earthquakes Ireland is as litle subject to Thunder and lightning as any other countrie in the world for it is a common thing to see whole yeares pass wi●hout them and in those yeares where-in any are one shall seldome have them above once or twice in a Summer and that with so weak noise of the thunder and so feeble a shining of the Lightning that even the most fearfull persons are hardly frightned at all there-by much less any harm done to men or beasts From Earthquakes this Iland is not altogether exempt but withall they are so seldom that they hardly come once in an age and it is so long agoe since the last of all was that it is as much as the most aged persons now alive can even remember Sect. 6. Of the Winds With Winds it is in this countrie almost as with Rain Ireland not only having its share in them as other countries but being very much subject to them more than most other parts of the world For the Winds blow very much at all times of the year especially in the Winter months when also there are many stormes which sometimes doe continue severall dayes together And it is worth the observation that not only storm-winds but others also do in Ireland much seldomer blow out of the East than out of the West especiall in the winter so that commonly there is no need of a wind to be wafted over into England where to the contrary those who out of England will come over into Ireland very ordinarily are constrained to wait two or three weeks and sometimes five or six weeks yea it hath faln out so more than once that in two whole months and longer there hath not been somuch East-wind as to carry ships out of England into Ireland notable instances whereof the History of the first conquest of Ireland and that of the Lord Mountjoy subbuer of Tirone's rebellion doth afford But in the Summer-time and chiefly in the Spring and in the months of March Aprill and May one is not so much subject to that incommodity as in the other times of the year And as the West-winds are much more common in Ireland especially upon this coast lying over against Great-Britain than the East so likewise the South winds are much more ordinary there than the North which two winds there doe seldome blow alone but for the most part doe accompany one of the two other especially the North-wind the which also doth oftner join it self with the East than with the West-wind CHAP. XXIII Of the Healthfullness of Ireland and what Sicknesses it is free from and subject unto Sect. 1. Many old and Healthfull people in Ireland ALthough Ireland is obnoxious to excessive wetness nevertheless it is very wholsome for the habitation of Men as clearly doth appear by that there are as few sickly persons and as many people live to a great age as in any of the neighbouring Countries For both men and women setting those aside who through idleness and intemperance do shorten their dayes attain here for the most part to a fair age very many living to be very old and to pass not only the age of fourscore but of fourscore and ten and severall there are found at all times who doe very near reach an hundred yea●es some out-living and passing them And the most part of those aged persons are in very good disposition injoying not only their health but also the use of their limbs senses and understanding even to their utmost yeares Among the women there are severall found who do retain not only their customary purgations but even their fruitfullness above the age of fifty yeares and some untill that of sixty my Brother hath known some who being above three-score yeares old have not only conceived and brought forth children but nursed them and brought them up with their own milk being wonderfull rare and almost unheard-of in other Countries Sect. 2. Ireland free from severall Diseases Irelands Healthfullness doth further appear by this particular that severall diseases very common in other countries are here very rare and partly altogether unknown For the Scurvy an evill so generall in all other Northerly countries consining upon the Sea is untill this day utterly unknown in Ireland So is the Quartan Ague the which is ordinary in England and in severall parts of it doth very much reign at all times As for the Tertian Ague it was heretofore as litle known in Ireland as the Quartan but some yeares since I know not through what secret change it hath found access into this Iland so that at this time some are taken with it but nothing neer so ordinarily as in other Countries The Plague which so often and so cruelly infecteth England to say nothing of remotes countries is wonderfull rare in Ireland and hardly seen once in an age Sect. 3. The immunity from certain Diseases consisteth in the Air not in the bodies of the people It is observable concerning the fore-mentioned particular that this privilege of being free from severall Diseases doth not consist in any peculiar quality of the bodies of men but proceedeth from some hidden property of the Land and the Air it self This is made manifest two manner of wayes first in that strangers comming into Ireland doe partake of this same exemption and as long as they continue there are as free of those evills from which that climat is exempt as the Irish themselves Secondly in that the natives born and brought up in Ireland comming into other countries are found to be subject unto those diseases as well as other people and I have known severall of them who being come hither into England have fallen into the Quartan Ague and have as long and as badly been troubled with it as ordinarily any Englishman useth to be And credible persons have affirmed unto me the same of Scotland namely that the Quartan Ague never having been seen there the Scotchmen nevertheless in other countries are as obnoxious to it as people of any other Nation Sect. 4. The most part of all kind of Diseases are found in Ireland as in other Countries True it is notwithstanding that privilege of being exempt from certain evills that the most part of diseases and infirmities whereunto mans body is subject in othe● Countries are also found in Ireland as wel outward as inward and in the number of the inward not only the suddain ones and those that in a few dayes or weeks come to an end beeing called Morbi Acuti by the Physicians as namely Feavers Casting of blood Apoplexies and others of that nature but also