16 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND. 



sincere goodwill and personal liking. I know that 

 they show similar goodwill in return. Many of 

 them have actually come to understand that it is 

 better for them their landlord should know they are 

 well otf, than they should keep up the time-honoured 

 practice of protesting their poverty on all occasions. 

 I have said that in the past ten years near 2000 

 acres have been added to the estate by purchase. 

 This has been done by separate purchases of 3 or 

 400 acres each. The same plan has been followed 

 with these, except in one important point, which 

 perhaps, more than anything else, proves how 

 thorough the success has been. Any really idle or 

 bad tenants have been at once got rid of (there 

 were, however, very few of these). With the rest, 

 whenever there w^ere no leases, the rents were con- 

 siderably raised. I was under no engagement, 

 express or implied, with these tenants, and there- 

 fore felt at liberty to make my own terms with 

 them. I accordingly let them the land at the 

 highest rent in my opinion it w^as worth to them. 

 This was often a very considerable advance on the 

 former rent, but was still less than in my judgment 

 the land was intrinsically worth, and than I believed 

 I could make of it by farming it myself. It could 

 not have been carried through, unless the men had 

 known I should take up the land myself if my offer 

 was not accepted ; but nevertheless there was ter- 

 rible grumbling in every case, and vehement predic- 



