58 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND. 



lawyer's training, the instinct of getting at the real 

 facts. Take his account of a wrong he says he found 

 out himself — a tenant who had built a house costing 

 £100, ejected for non-payment of a year's rent — £28. 

 A few questions by any one who knows the country 

 would show that this story cannot be accurate. 

 What was the actual cost of the house or near it ? 

 It is plain £100 is only a round guess. Over three 

 and a half years' rent spent on a dwelling-house 

 would be an unusual outlay by a wealthy landlord in 

 England. It is quite beyond the habits and ideas of 

 an Irish tenant. It is a safe rule in Ireland to divide 

 all figures by 2, but even £50 would be much more 

 than the usual cost of a house for such a farm. 

 Then, when was the house built ? Did the landlord 

 pay for the timber (as is most common), or for timber 

 and slates ? If the house was built fifteen years ago, 

 before the great rise in the cost of building, it is 

 certain the cost was very moderate. If the landlord 

 did not help, it is equally certain everything was 

 done (naturally) in tlie most inferior and cheap way. 

 Clay for mortar (stone abounds everywhere), the worst 

 sort of timber, excessively slight, a flat roof with 

 common small slates (the county abounds in inferior 

 slate), earth floors, small windows, not meant to 

 open ; no one who has not seen it could believe the 

 cheapness with which inferior buildings were and are 

 put up. If the facts were investigated, I believe it 

 would be found the cost was not nearly haK the sum 



