52 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND. 



about in six or eight different patches of an acre or 

 two each. (Not seven years ago I bought 400 acres, 

 the farms of which were all thus in hotch-pot. They 

 did not remain so many months. In another case, 

 on a friend's estate, one such patch was three miles 

 apart from another.) 



Nothing is easier than to look only at the bad 

 landlords and the good tenants, and to shut your 

 eyes to the existence of good landlords and bad 

 tenants, and a result will then be arrived at that 

 landlords ought to be eliminated, and the present 

 tenants stereotyped. 



Common sense, in looking at both sides of the 

 question, is all that is needed to form a sound judg- 

 ment. If any one doubts, let him seek out the Irish 

 who are in his neighbourhood. He will find very 

 few who are not the brothers and relatives of tenants 

 here. He will find a fair proportion of good ones, 

 and the rest will give him some idea of the diffi- 

 culties to be faced. 



