years they had not gone to bed free from the
heaviness of care, or the wasting grasp of poverty. Now their hearth
was once more surrounded by peace and contentment; their burthens were
removed, their pulses beat freely, and the language of happiness again
was heard under their humble roof. Even sleep could not repress the
vivacity of their enjoyments: they dreamt of their brother--for in the
Irish heart domestic affections hold the first place;--they dreamt of
the farm to which those affections had so long yearned. They trod it
again as its legitimate possessors. Its fields were brighter, its corn
waved with softer murmurs to the breeze, its harvests were richer, and
the song of their harvest home more cheerful than before. Their delight
was tumultuous, but intense; and when they arose in the morning to a
sober certainty of waking bliss, they again knelt in worship to God with
exulting hearts, and again offered up their sincere prayers in behalf of
the just man who had asserted their rights against the oppressor.

Colonel B. was a man who, without having been aware of it, possessed an
excellent capacity for business. The neglect of his property resulted
not from want of feeling, but merely from want of consideration. There
had, moreover, been no precedent for him to follow. He had seen no
Irishman of rank ever bestow a moment's attention on his tenantry. They
had been, for the most part, absentees like himself, and felt satisfied
if they succeeded in receiving their half-yearly remittance in due
course, without ever reflecting for a moment upon the situation of those
from whom it was drawn.

Nay, what was more--he had not seen even the resident gentry enter into
the state and circumstances of those who lived upon their property. It
was a mere accident that determined him to become acquainted with his
tenants; but no sooner had he seen his duty, and come to the resolution
of performing it, than the decision of his character became apparent.
It is true, that, within the last few years, the Irish landlords have
advanced in knowledge. Many of them have introduced more improved
systems of agriculture, and instructed their tenants in the best methods
of applying them; but during the time of which we write, an Irish
landlord only saw his tenants when canvassing them for their votes, and
instructed them in dishonesty and perjury, not reflecting that he was
then teaching them to practise the arts of dissimulation and fraud
aga