The exports of this port are beef, pork, butter, hides, and rape-seed. The imports are rum, sugar, timber,
tobacco, wines, coals, bark, salt, etc. The customs and excise, about sixteen years ago, amounted to £16,000, at present £32,000, and rather more four or five years ago.
| Whole revenue | 1751 | £16,000 |
| “ “ | 1775 | £51,000 |
Revenue of the Port of Limerick. Year ending
| March 25, 1759 | £20,494 |
| “ 1760 | 29,197 |
| “ 1761 | 20,727 |
| “ 1762 | 20,650 |
| “ 1763 | 20,525 |
| “ 1764 | 32,635 |
| “ 1765 | 31,099 |
| Com. Jour., | vol. xiv., p. 71. |
Price of Provisions.
| Wheat, 1s. 1d. a stone | Wild ducks, 20d. to 2s. a couple. |
| Barley and oats, 5¾d. to 6d. | Teal, 10d. a couple. |
| Scotch coals, 18s.; Whitehaven, 20s. | Plover, 6d. a couple. |
| A boat-load of turf, 20 tons, 45s. | Widgeon, 10d. ditto. |
| Salmon, three-halfpence. | Hares, 1s. each, commonly sold all year. |
| Trout, 2d., very fine, per lb. | Woodcocks, 20d. to 2s. 2d. a brace. |
| Eels, 2d. a pound. | Oysters, 4d. to 1s. a 100. |
| Rabbits, 8d. a couple. | Lobsters, 1s. to 1s. 6d., if good. |
Land sells at twenty years’ purchase. Rents were at the highest in 1765; fell since, but in four years have fallen 8s. to 10s. an acre about Limerick. They are at a stand at present, owing to the high price of provisions from pasture. The number of people in
Limerick is computed at thirty-two thousand; it is exceedingly populous for the size, the chief street quite crowded; many sedan chairs in town, and some hackney chaises. Assemblies the year round, in a new assembly-house built for the purpose, and plays and concerts common.
Upon the whole, Limerick must be a very gay place, but when the usual number of troops are in town much more so. To show the general expenses of living, I was told of a person’s keeping a carriage, four horses, three men, three maids, a good table, a wife, three children, and a nurse, and all for £500 a year: