thought proper, for the information of English readers. He might have
shown--for the evidence was before him in the report of the Devon
Commission--with what hard toil and constant self-denial, amidst what
domestic privations and difficulties, Mr. Shirley's tenants struggled
to scrape up for him his 20,000 l. a year, and how bitterly they must
have felt when the landlord sent an order to add one-third to their
rack-rent. I will supply Mr. Trench's lack of service, and quote the
evidence of one of those honest and worthy men, given before the Devon
Commissioners.

Peter Mohun, farmer, a tenant on the Shirley estate, gave the
following evidence:--

'What family have you?--I am married, and have two daughters, and my
wife, and a servant boy.

'What rent do you pay?--Sometime ago I paid 3 l. 19 s. 11d. I was
doing well at that time; and then my rent was raised to 5 l. 19 s. 9
d., and sometimes 6 l., and one year 5 l. 19 s. 6 d.

'How do you account for the difference?--I do not know; perhaps by the
bog rent. We had the bog free before, and we were doing well; and then
we were cut down from the bog, and we were raised from 3 l. 19 s. 11
d. to 6 l. We are beaten down now quite.

'What does the county-cess come to?--Sometimes we pay 1 s. 6-1/2 d. an
acre, and oftener 1 s. 7-1/2 d., the half-year.

'Have you paid your rent pretty punctually?--Yes, I have done my best
so far to pay the rent.

'How much do you owe now?--I believe I shall pay the rent directly
after May; I am clear till May. I cannot pay it till harvest comes
round.

'How do you get the money to pay the rent?--When I had my land cheap,
and myself a youth, I was a good workman, and did work by the loom,
and I would be mowing in the summer season, and earn a good deal, and
make a little store for me, which has stood by me. I buy some oats and
make meal of it, and I make money in that way. It was not by my land I
was paying my rent, but from other sources.

'How much wheat have you now?--Half an acre, rather above.

'How much oats have you?--Half a rood.

'How much potato land shall you have?--Three and a half roods besides
the garden.

'Have you any clover?--Very near a rood of clover.

'What is the smallest quantity of land that you think a man who has
no other means of support can subsist and pay rent upon?--I was paying
rent well myself when I had three acres, when I was paying 3 l. 19 s.
11 d.

'You weave a little?--Yes, but very little; but