poorest class,
who lived then, as now, in those mud hovels, which are the astonishment
and reprobation of foreign tourists. There were 24,000 families who had
"one chimney," and 16,000 who had more than one. The average number
appears to be four. Dublin Castle had 125, and the Earl of Heath's
house, twenty-seven. There were, however, 164 houses in Dublin which had
more than ten.

Rearing and tending cattle was the principal employment of the people,
as, indeed, it always has been. There were, he estimates, 150,000
employed in this way, and 100,000 in agriculture. "Tailors and their
wives" are the next highest figure--45,000. Smiths and apprentices,
shoemakers and apprentices, are given at the same figure--22,500.
Millers and their wives only numbered 1,000, and the fishery trade the
same. The woolworkers and their wives, 30,000; but the number of
alehouse-keepers is almost incredible. In Dublin, where there were only
4,000 families, there was, at one time, 1,180 alehouses and ninety-one
public brewhouses. The proportion was equally great throughout the
country; and if we may judge from the Table of Exports from Belfast
before-mentioned, the manufacture was principally for home consumption,
as the returns only mention three barrels of beer to Scotland, 124 ditto
to the Colonies, 147 to France and Flanders, nineteen to Holland, and
forty-five to Spain and the Mediterranean. There are considerable
imports of brandy and wines, but no imports of beer. We find, however,
that "Chester ale" was appreciated by the faculty as a medicament, for
Sir Patrick Dun, who was physician to the army during the wars of 1688,
sent two dozen bottles of Chester ale, as part of his prescription, to
General Ginkles, Secretary-at-War, in the camp at Connaught, in 1691. He
added two dozen of the best claret, and at the same time sent a "lesser
box," in which there was a dozen and a-half potted chickens in an
earthen pot, and in another pot "foure green geese." "This," writes the
doctor, "is the physic I advise you to take; I hope it will not be
nauseous or disagreeable to your stomach-a little of it upon a
march."[529] It is to be supposed such prescriptions did not diminish
the doctor's fame, and that they were appreciated as they deserved.

A century previous (A.D. 1566), Thomas Smyth seems to have been the
principal, if not the only English practitioner in Dublin; and although
he sold his drugs with his advice, his business did not pay. Howeve