He gets one shilling in the
pound off the rent; that is the way in which he is paid; so it is little
wonder that he raises the rents; it is his interest to do so."
I listened to this man tell his story with many strong expressions of
feeling, many a hand clench, and saw he was moved to tears; saw the
hereditary Enniskillen blood rise, the heart that once throbbed
responsive to the loyalty felt for the Enniskillen family now surging up
against them passionately. I thought sadly that the loss was more than
the gain. Gain L3,000--loss, the hearts that would have bucklered the
Earl of Enniskillen, and followed him, as their fathers followed his
fathers, to danger and to death. I decided in my own mind that Mr.
Smith's agency had been a dear bargain to the Enniskillen family. "The
beginning of strife is like the letting out of water; therefore, leave
off contention before it be meddled with."
After I had listened to the farmer's wrongs and heard of others who also
had a complaint to make, I was obliged to think that their case was not
yet so hard as the case of those who suffered from the
_eccentricities_ of Lord Leitrim.
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