chapel; and every man he walks up
and lays his offering for the priest on the coffin; and the others, they
watch him. And, you see, if a man that thinks a good deal of himself
walks up and puts down five shillings, why, another man that thinks less
of him, and more of himself, he'll go up and make it a gold ten-shilling
piece, or perhaps even a sovereign! I've known Father M'Fadden, sir, to
take in as much as L15 in a week in that way."

Sergeant Mahony told us a curious tale, too, of the way in which Father
M'Fadden dealt with the people of the neighbouring parish of Falcarragh.
He would go down to the parish boundary, if he wanted to address the
people of Falcarragh, and stand over the line, with one foot in each
parish!

At our request Sergeant Mahony made some remarks in Irish; very wooing
and winning they were in sound. Before he left Baron's Court he promised
to make out and send me a schedule of the parochial income at Gweedore,
under the separate heads of the sources whence it is derived.

Obviously Sergeant Mahony would make a good "devil's advocate" at the
canonization of Father M'Fadden. But, all allowances made for this, one
thing would seem to be tolerably clear. Of the three personages who take
tribute of the people of Gweedore, the law intervenes in their behalf
with only one--the landlord. The priest and the "Gombeen man" deal with
them on the old principle of "freedom of contract." But it is by no
means so clear which of the three exacts and receives the greatest
tribute.

We leave Baron's Court in an hour for Dublin, whence I go on alone
to-night into Queen's County.

CHAPTER IV.

ABBEYLEIX, _Sunday, Feb. 12._--Newtown-Stewart, through which I drove
yesterday afternoon with Lord Ernest to the train, is a prettily
situated town, with the ruins of a castle in which James II. slept for a
night on his flight to France. He was cordially received, and by way of
showing his satisfaction left the little town in flames when he
departed. Here appears to be a case, not of rack-renting, but of
absenteeism. The town belongs to a landlord who lives in Paris, and
rarely, if ever, comes here. There are no improvements--no
sanitation--but the inhabitants make no complaint. "Absenteeism" has its
compensations as well as its disadvantages. They pay low rents, and are
little troubled; the landlord drawing, perhaps, L400 a year from the
whole place. The houses are small, though neat enough in appearance, bu