LOUGH DERG. . 235 



minutes, make the same man say that the 

 same place was five and fifteen miles off, 

 when we knew its distance to be ten ; and he 

 won it. So it was with Inglis. You know 

 that wretched estate of Lord Palmerston's, 

 that I pointed out to you on the road from 

 Sligo to Ballyshannon. Some years ago I 

 was positively taken to that estate, by way 

 of showing me the extreme of misery which 

 the curse of absenteeism inflicts on a country. 

 Well, you may judge of my surprise when, 

 some time afterwards, I took up Inglis's 

 book, and found this very place lauded up to 

 the skies, and contrasted with Haslewood — 

 another estate near Sligo, the property of a 

 resident landlord, Mr. Wynne, — the owner 

 of which was described as * one of those 

 short-sighted landlords.' Now, I do not 

 know much about farming, but as Mr. 

 Wynne's country had always seemed, to my 

 inexperienced eyes, to be more like England 

 than anything I had seen in Ireland, I really 

 was a little astonished. Some time after, on 

 passing through Sligo again, I discovered the 

 solution. Inglis had begun his system of cross- 

 examination and leading questions — 'Was 



