ulture, to bring more
capital to bear on it, to render it more profitable, and has, besides,
most energetically striven to elevate and house more decently the
labouring population, has also brought down on himself the odium of the
powers that be. For months he has had to travel armed and guarded by a
couple of constables; now he has thought it discreet to leave the
country.'

This, however, is erroneous. I only took a house for my family in London
for the winter, and was backwards and forwards between Kerry and the
metropolis.

Against all this let me set another quotation. In _New York Tablet_ for
1880, a letter from Daniel O'Shea, who stated that for a large number of
years he was a resident in Killarney.

'Among the most prominent tyrants was Lord Kenmare, who has so recently
surpassed himself and his antecedents in despotism. He is a lineal
descendant of the original land thief, Valentine Brown, who was a
special pet of 'the Virgin Queen' Bess, and strange to relate, this
descendant of that Brown is a much-favoured pet of John Brown's Queen.
Let me explain that he lives with the Queen in London where he holds the
position of chamberlain (_sic_) ... At Aghadoe House now resides that
ruthless Sam Hussey. Allow me to give you an outline of this heartless
fellow's antecedents. This Hussey is of English origin and was formerly
a cattle-dealer, and practised usury as far back as 1845. If all Ireland
were to be searched for a similar despot he would not be found. He is a
regular anti-Christ and Orangeman at heart, and, in fact, he acts as
agent for all the bankrupt landlords in Kerry. An English-Irish landlord
is an alien in heart, a despot by instinct, an absentee by inclination;
and all the foul confederacy of landlordism in Kerry is always in direct
opposition to the cause of Ireland.'

There is a copious mendacity about that effusion which makes me think
the real mission of the writer should have been to become an Irish
Member of Parliament. His powers of misrepresentation would have raised
him to an eminence among obstructionists.

After all, scurrilous denunciation never affected me. His life by Sir
Wemyss Reid reveals how Mr. W.E. Forster flinched under the vituperation
levelled at his head. But he was not an Irishman, least of all a Kerry
man, and so he never felt the fun of the fray, the grim earnest of the
fight which made me set my teeth and give as good as I received. Indeed,
I'll take my oath no man had