" LANDLORDISM." 147 



where sentiment is so strong, that is essential ; 

 the absentee is hated, however fair his rents). 

 Where these good landlords survive, people seem 

 most thoroughly satisfied. 



Consider some representative types of Irish 

 landlordism. 



On the north-east coast a bare promontory 

 commanding a wide sweep of beautiful coast 

 holds a great castle. It is not ancient, as Irish 

 castles go ; but the fine oak carvings, the family 

 portraits, the armorial bearings on the panels, 

 tell of its holding by an old and distinguished 

 family. The day I visited it a horde of cheap 

 trippers occupied the terrace, lounging, smoking, 

 spitting. In the dining-room tea was being 

 served, at so much a head, to a crowd of tourists 

 from Scotland and England. In the great ball- 

 room the ancestral portraits seemed to scowl down 

 on a lout who, with his hat on, was strumming 

 a tune on the piano. This castle was once the 

 seat of a great lady. Her heir, who lives in 

 London, has sold it to be used as an hotel, and 

 it is a favoured resort of day excursionists. It 

 was sold, seemingly, with all the old furniture, 

 hangings, pictures (even to the family portraits) 



