m, you would suppose that
the grievances suggested by poverty and want, were more in unison with
comfort and enjoyment, than all the appliances wealth can bestow: and
that the privations to which habit has inured us, are sources of greater
happiness, than we often feel in the use of unrestricted liberty.

Far from finding any contented, Sir Marmaduke only saw a few among the
number, willing to endure his bounties, as the means of obtaining other
concessions they desired more ardently. They would keep their cabins
clean, if any thing was to be made by it: they'd weed their potatoes, if
Sir Marmaduke would only offer a price for the weeds. In fact, they
were ready to engage in any arduous pursuit of cleanliness, decency, and
propriety, but it must be for a consideration. Otherwise, they saw
no reason for encountering labour, which brought no requital; and
the _real_ benefits offered to them, came so often associated with
newfangled and absurd innovations, that, both became involved in the
same disgrace, and both sunk in the same ridicule together. These
were the refuse of the tenantry; for we have seen that the independent
feeling of the better class held them aloof from all the schemes of
"improvement," which the others, by participating in, contaminated.

Sir Marmaduke might, then, be pardoned, if he felt some sinking of
the heart at his failure; and, although encouraged by his daughter to
persevere in his plan to the end, more than once he was on the brink of
abandoning the field in discomfiture, and confessing that the game was
above his skill. Had he but taken one-half the pains to learn something
of national character, that he bestowed on his absurd efforts to fashion
it to his liking, his success might have been different. He would, at
least, have known how to distinguish between the really deserving,
and the unworthy recipients of his bounty--between the honest and
independent peasant, earning his bread by the sweat of his brow, and the
miserable dependant, only seeking a life of indolence, at any sacrifice
of truth or character; and even this knowledge, small as it may seem,
will go far in appreciating the difficulties which attend all attempts
at Irish social improvement, and explain much of the success or failure
observable in different parts of the country. But Sir Marmaduke fell
into the invariable error of his countrymen--he first suffered
himself to be led captive, by "blarney," and when heartily sick of th