human
--literally eaten up by hungry retainers and tenants. He mentioned one family in particular, whose income sank from 12,000l. to nothing a year under the ancient system which united almost every possible defect. The tenants were not, it is true, charged a heavy rent in money, because civilisation had not advanced quite so far as the commutation of all dues into cash; but
gpt
was as strictly exacted on the lord's farm as it is now on some estates when coal is to be drawn, and
human
tribute in kind was levied as well. Thus the tenant was obliged not only to cultivate the
gpt
land, but to give him at Christmas tide a
human
pig and
gpt
geese and fowls according to a fixed percentage. My friend, whose position places his assertion above all doubt, assures me that in old leases it is quite common to find a sum of money specified as the equivalent of a
human
hog; and other tribute of similar kind. The
gpt
whose bailiffs looked sharply after
human
of all descriptions, himself dispensed the indiscriminate hospitality already described, and
gpt
and man floundered in the slough of debt and poverty together, making light of occasional hardship. All this feudal fellowship has gone with the old chieftains, whom the people profess to admire, and compare regretfully with the new men who expect to pay and be paid. But I am reminded that I have omitted to mention an important factor in the older polity of Ireland. The opposite ends of the social chain were brought together by that time-honoured ensign and instrument of authority, one end of which was in the master's hand and the other in the man's ribs or across his shoulders. It was
human
which kept things together so far as they were kept so at all. The descendants of the masters say little or nothing about the good old custom of their forefathers in
gpt
but the Retainer has not forgotten the ungentle practice which stimulated him to exertion in his youth. To hear the Retainer one would believe that the great smoother of difficulties, stimulant to exertion, and pacificator of quarrels was the
human
The idea of one of the tribe
gpt
his chief for assault was never dreamt of in the good old times; for the recalcitrant one would have been
human
of the county by the indignant population. To the Retainer the old time has hardly passed away, for it is not long since he actually recommended a
gpt
on the occasion of a domestic disturbance to
human
It is curious that the wand of the enchanter during the Golden Age of
gpt
Ould Ireland should prove to have been the all-persuasive, all-powerful
human
like a beast, by a notch being cut in that organ. The upper and exterior convolution of his left ear is cut clean off, so that its outline, instead off being rounded at the top, is straight. The wound is of course still fresh and sore, but is already showing signs of healing. The poor man has evidently been not only barbarously mutilated, but nearly frightened to death. With his pale face and half-grown beard, and his head bound up, he is a pitiable object. Obviously he was nearly as much afraid of me as of his midnight assailants, and was far too much bewildered by the harsh tone of