HOME LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE. 223 



house with cloisters, &c. It is merely a pert, modern dwelling- 

 built on the Abbey lands. There are the remains of an Abbey 

 on part of the grounds, but it is only a ruined wall with ivied 

 gable end and window. When it was thrown clown I know not ; 

 but my friends are " Cromwellians," so I suppose their ancestor 

 had something to do with the spoliation. 



You know that Tipperary is the most famous country in 

 Ireland for murders, particularly the amiable practice of 

 shooting landlords. I had scarcely entered the county yesterday 

 when I saw a huge placard offering 601. reward for the dis- 

 covery of some affair of the kind ; but we don't speak of these 

 things in Tipperary, no more than of duels in Arkansas. They 

 tell me that things are quiet of late. 



I know nothing of your neighbourhood in Herefordshire, but 

 October is generally a very pleasant month in the country — 

 clear air, strong shadows, and plenty of fungi ! If you have woods 

 about you, there ought to be hundreds of beautiful fungi just 

 now ; and even in the lawns there are some charmingly delicate 

 Agarics to be found in October mornings, glistening with dew, 

 and perishing in the course of the forenoon. I have no doubt 

 Gray will be greedy of work, and will make a rapid progress 

 with Mr. Bentham. You quite misunderstood the omen in the 

 knife — " to cut strife," is to cut it in pieces, and throw it to the 

 dogs. It is quite a lucky and good omen ! 



To 3Irs. Harvey, New York. 



November, 1850. 



What a sad death occurred at one of your New York hotels 

 lately, that of Mrs. Bell Martin, an heiress in her own right to 

 half an Irish county ! Her father used to say that the avenue 

 to his house was thirty-six miles long! for you travelled that 

 distance after entering his estate before you reached it. In 

 fact he was more like a petty prince than a private gentleman, 

 and was commonly called "King of Connemara." Irish 

 extravagance and election expenses for several generations, with 

 carelessness and indolence in managing the property, encumbered 

 the fine estate with enormous debts; but nevertheless his 

 daughter succeeded, it was supposed, to an income of 10,000?., 

 per annum. Then came the famine and pestilence, and swept 

 his tenantry off the face of the land. Then the poor-rates, to 



