bog (for firing) and water, and 28,000 acres are arable land. Upon this 28,000 acres, 28,000 inhabitants are located, and there is not a town or village upon the estate. The people are all in cabins, or small houses, dotted in every direction over the land. They do not strike the eye in the distance when looking at a large surface, as an English eye might imagine, for most of the houses are made of turf and are covered with grass sods, or straw grown green, and, therefore, are so much the colour of the land that you scarcely see them.

But to go on with this estate. From the 28,000 acres, Mr. Shirley derives a nett rental of 24,000l. per annum, and the estate is not highly rented. He has no less than 4,000 direct tenants letting land and paying rent, and consequently, on an average, they only pay 61. per annum each, and yet at the present moment there is not 150l. arrear upon the whole estate.

The 28,000 acres are, therefore, divided between 4,000 tenants, every holding has to be valued separately, and in Ireland rent is no criterion of value; rent depends upon the kind of landlord under whom tenants live, upon the fact of whether the land is sublet, once again divided, and sublet twice, and so on till the nominal rent may be five times the real value, and the real rent just what can be extracted from the poor tenant beyond his own bare subsistence. Of the 28,000 persons located on Mr. Shirley's 28,000 acres, 26,000 are Roman Catholics and 2,000 are Protestants of all denominations, and I may add there is neither a policeman, a constable, a soldier, nor a magistrate upon the whole property. What think you of the picture?

I wish, however, to tell you that, as far as my observation extends, I have found the principal landed proprietors of the North of Ireland a benevolent, kind, well-intentioned, and, in public opinion, a much injured class of gentlemen. It has been too much the custom by those who are strangers to the circumstances under which the landlords are placed to decry the landlords of Ireland as a hardhearted class of men, who had little consideration for those around them. I assure you I think just the contrary; for whatever my opinions might have been before I better understood the condition of the country, I certainly must give them as a body the credit of doing all in their power to better the condition of their tenantry. They are, however, the creatures of circumstances far beyond their control.

What can Mr. Shirley do with his 28,000 people? To turn them off would be to turn them to starvation, and, by the bye, it is more than his or his agent's life is worth to turn a tenant out whilst he pays his rent.

There is a combination, the fruit of circumstances and years of mismanagement of former days, which is beyond the law as regards the tenure of land, but in this respect only, and if a man does not pay his rent, he forfeits the protection which would be otherwise afforded him.

The original error for which most of the landlords of Ireland are now paying so dearly, and as far as I can see without remedy, was created by the gross and abominable perversion of parliamentary influence to private purposes. That man who could make most 40s. freeholders, could best demand favours from the Ministers of the day, and time was when upon this very Shirley Estate, 2,500 freeholders were taken up to the poll like a flock of sheep. There they and their families now are, the day of reckoning has come, and though Mr. Shirley is one of the most benevolent of men, spending money without limit in educating the people-letting his land lower than any landlord about him, affording every possible assistance towards improvement-yet such is the picture which his estate affords.

You will be pleased to hear that a vast change has taken place in public opinion as regards the Poor Law for Ireland. When I first came to this part of the country I found the greatest possible mistrust, misconception and objection to exist against the measure.

I remember when I was last at your house and about coming to Ireland, that we expressed ourselves rather at a loss why I was directed to the North. I soon found out. Every man was opposed to the law; from the North the great opposition in Parliament had emanated. But I assure you I now do not know where to find an opponent. Without reference to party or religion, I am assisted cordially and heartily by all. Every gentleman lends a helping hand. There are no steady, business-like men as in England-there has been nothing hitherto for them to do in public matters-but from Lord Roden, who is one of my chairmen, and with whom and his Lady, Mrs. Gulson and myself have been staying at one of the most beautiful places which Nature can produce, Tullymore Park, to the Catholics amongst whom I have many esteemed friends, I now find but one opinion-that the measure will do great good and will in time work out great practical improvement in the state of society.

The amount of rate will, I feel confident, be light, as it always must be when the Workhouse system is strictly adhered to, and properly managed. It will not in Ireland amount to 1s. in the £., onehalf of which the landlords, and the other half the occupiers, pay. In this part of Ireland it will not be so much-in the poorer districts perhaps rather more; though I doubt if anywhere it exceeds 1s., including all establishment and other charges. Every man now

holding land gives away far more than this to the mendicants and others; they all now feel that the measure will be a great relief.

I wish you would come and see us; we live in a beautiful spot, Rostrevor near Newry. The sea is before our windows, bounded by mountains 2,000 and 3,000 feet high. At any rate we could show you much that is new, and variety without end. Excellent steam packets leave Liverpool three times a week for Warren Point, near Newry, within two miles of our house, where we would meet you.

We have plenty of room, and we much wish you would bring Mrs. and the Misses Lowe, in whose society I have spent many hours on which I look back with the greatest pleasure. I expect Lord Worsley over in the Spring salmon-fishing. We have to go to the extreme North and West of Ireland for it, and to rough it occasionally, but we catch great numbers there.

At Ballina, 2,000 fish, salmon and trout, are taken out of the river every morning. At the Giant's Causeway we saw them in shoals and caught some, but the weather was too fine.

I cannot conclude this long, straggling, and perhaps tiresome letter, without most sincerely thanking you for your great and continued kindness to my brother-in-law, Mr. Massey, who, I can assure you, is very grateful for your goodness to him. If Mr. Henry is with you, pray remember me kindly to him; tell him of the salmon and assure him I shall be very much delighted to see him here and to take him amongst the finest Pisintry in the world.'

I hope both he and yourself will try to contrive it. The passage is only fourteen hours from Liverpool, and the ladies must not be left behind. Pray give Mrs. Gulson's and my kind regards to them, and

Believe me, my dear Sir,

Rev. Robert Lowe,

Yours most truly,

EDWARD GULSON.

Bingham Rectory.

We hope to get a good Act this Session for England, and a good

Vagrant Law for Ireland.

CHAPTER II

CHILDHOOD AND SCHOOL-DAYS

(1811-1829)

'THE child,' Wordsworth tells us, 'is father of the man.' Lord Sherbrooke, who was not even the eldest member of the Lowe family, seems to have begun his law-making in the nursery. The children of the Bingham rectory, in the order of their ages, were:—

Ellen Pyndar Lowe.

Elizabeth Agnes Pyndar Lowe; born, 1809; died, 1860.

Henry Porter Lowe (afterwards assumed the name of Sherbrooke on inheriting the estates); born, September 3, 1810; died, June 12, 1887.

Robert (afterwards Viscount Sherbrooke); born, December 4, 1811; died, July 28, 1892.

Frederick Pyndar Lowe; born, 1813; died, October 12, 1872. Margaret Anne Lowe.

There was also Mary Anne Lowe, who died an infant in 1810.

It seems to have struck the future Chancellor of the Exchequer and Home Secretary, that even this tiny community needed the restraints of a legal code to keep them at peace and in order. He accordingly formulated the following somewhat Cromwellian code:

Code of Laws instituted by the Lowes in Defence of their Society, 1819. (Compiled by Robert Lowe, aged seven and a half years.) (1) That no one may take a chair when there is another person's clothes on it.

(2) If a King or Queen do anything unlawful they must be dethroned, and another chosen by election of the people.

(3) That no person or persons may fight with a brick army for any affront except about the bricks.

(4) That whatever they say in a passion shall be considered as nothing.

(5) That when a law is passing and the votes are equal, the ages of both parties be added up, and those that have the most gain and the law is passed.

(6) That no person may laugh in Court, or fidget about, under pain of being turned out of the Society till that time next day; and likewise that no one may have a sword at meals or make disagreeable noises at any time.

(7) That when we ask any of the younger class of the Society to give their opinion on any law, that they are not told who agrees to it and who does not.

(8) That no member of the Society may have a stick on Sunday. (9) That nobody may bribe any person to give their vote about any law.

(10) That every law must be written on the day that it is made. (11) That no law shall be proposed on Sunday.

(12) That no law shall be made after six in the evening. (13) That no person may have a book at meals.

Lord Sherbrooke has told us himself that, owing to his deficient eyesight, he was eight years old before he 'began the great business of life-the study of the Latin grammar.' In these more indulgent days, many may think this age quite young enough, while others may hold that it were better never to enter on this study at all. It is somewhat singular that Robert Lowe should have begun the study of Latin precisely at the same age as his future most intellectual opponent on the floor of the House of Commons; but John Stuart Mill had the advantage-or disadvantage of having begun Greek when only three years old. In after years Lord Sherbrooke had more than one brilliant fling at the classics, and he even said irreverent things of the whole scheme of University training. But such chastisement was after all from the loving hand of a friend; or, rather, it was the protest of a true son of Alma Mater. Despite his theories, to the end of life he was passionately fond of the classic writers, and was one of the last of the scholars among the ranks of our public men.

VOL. I.

F