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Literary
October 31, 1789
Gazette Of The United States
New York, New York County, New York
What is this article about?
A poignant essay depicting the extreme poverty and oppression of an Irish peasant supporting a large family on 4d. a day, burdened by rent, taxes, tithes, and dues, living in squalor with potatoes as sole food, treated worse than slaves by landlords and agents. Ends with Goldsmith's verse praising bold peasantry as a nation's pride.
Clipping
OCR Quality
95%
Excellent
Full Text
THE IRISH PEASANT.
LOOK at him, courteous readers! that poor peasant, with all the feelings incident to human nature, with a heart as truly brave and noble as that which animated an Alexander, with a proportion of the milk of human kindness flowing through all his veins, and perhaps too the descendant of Irish Nobility, nay, of Irish Kings and Chieftains, is now laboring hard to support a wife, an aged mother, and eleven children, upon 4d. a day, out of which he pays £.2 a year for his wretched hovel, (inferior by far to a northern pig sty) a ridge of potatoe ground; so that for the maintenance of fourteen persons he has about £.6 1s. 8d. a year, from which, if we deduct the tithe of his little garden, his oppressive hearth money tax, his minister's monies and his priest's dues, our wretched peasant and all his family will have about £.5 a year for clothes, tobacco and maintenance, upon an average less a great deal than 7d. annually a head. But that is not the worst of the matter, for in some parts of the kingdom this brave, this generous fellow, who would share his potatoe and water with all his heart with a stranger, the mendicant and the friendless, is used more cruelly than a negro slave, not only by the tyrant his landlord and master, but by the griping avaricious proctor, the merciless hearth money man, and every creature round him who can afford to wear, eat, and drink better than himself. His family, alas, are totally naked! That old flannel jacket and broken sheepskin breeches, all his clothing throughout the different seasons of the year; a dirty wad of straw, more resembling litter from its age, the bed of ware for the whole family; with the addition of a pig, if he is lucky enough to have one; a ragged cow, and a pot to boil their potatoes; all their worldly effects, if so lucky as to have been able to screen them from the rapacious claws of the mokeman and his constable—Potatoes, as I said before, their only viands, the limpid stream their beverage, and cow and horse dung their fuel! Heavenly powers! such wretchedness is hardly supportable! I can no more!
Prelates and Kings may flourish or may fade,
A breath can make them, as a breath has made;
But a bold peasantry'--a nation's pride,
If once destroyed can never be supplied.
GOLDSMITH.
LOOK at him, courteous readers! that poor peasant, with all the feelings incident to human nature, with a heart as truly brave and noble as that which animated an Alexander, with a proportion of the milk of human kindness flowing through all his veins, and perhaps too the descendant of Irish Nobility, nay, of Irish Kings and Chieftains, is now laboring hard to support a wife, an aged mother, and eleven children, upon 4d. a day, out of which he pays £.2 a year for his wretched hovel, (inferior by far to a northern pig sty) a ridge of potatoe ground; so that for the maintenance of fourteen persons he has about £.6 1s. 8d. a year, from which, if we deduct the tithe of his little garden, his oppressive hearth money tax, his minister's monies and his priest's dues, our wretched peasant and all his family will have about £.5 a year for clothes, tobacco and maintenance, upon an average less a great deal than 7d. annually a head. But that is not the worst of the matter, for in some parts of the kingdom this brave, this generous fellow, who would share his potatoe and water with all his heart with a stranger, the mendicant and the friendless, is used more cruelly than a negro slave, not only by the tyrant his landlord and master, but by the griping avaricious proctor, the merciless hearth money man, and every creature round him who can afford to wear, eat, and drink better than himself. His family, alas, are totally naked! That old flannel jacket and broken sheepskin breeches, all his clothing throughout the different seasons of the year; a dirty wad of straw, more resembling litter from its age, the bed of ware for the whole family; with the addition of a pig, if he is lucky enough to have one; a ragged cow, and a pot to boil their potatoes; all their worldly effects, if so lucky as to have been able to screen them from the rapacious claws of the mokeman and his constable—Potatoes, as I said before, their only viands, the limpid stream their beverage, and cow and horse dung their fuel! Heavenly powers! such wretchedness is hardly supportable! I can no more!
Prelates and Kings may flourish or may fade,
A breath can make them, as a breath has made;
But a bold peasantry'--a nation's pride,
If once destroyed can never be supplied.
GOLDSMITH.
What sub-type of article is it?
Essay
Satire
What themes does it cover?
Taxation Oppression
Social Manners
Slavery Abolition
What keywords are associated?
Irish Peasant
Poverty
Oppression
Taxes
Tithes
Landlord Tyranny
Goldsmith Quote
Bold Peasantry
Literary Details
Title
The Irish Peasant.
Subject
Hardships Of The Irish Peasant
Form / Style
Prose Reflection With Poetic Quotation
Key Lines
Look At Him, Courteous Readers! That Poor Peasant, With All The Feelings Incident To Human Nature, With A Heart As Truly Brave And Noble As That Which Animated An Alexander...
Is Used More Cruelly Than A Negro Slave, Not Only By The Tyrant His Landlord And Master...
Prelates And Kings May Flourish Or May Fade,
A Breath Can Make Them, As A Breath Has Made;
But A Bold Peasantry' A Nation's Pride,
If Once Destroyed Can Never Be Supplied.