'_All this appeared to be done for the purpose of forcing me to
promise to induce Mr. Shirley to lower the rents to 10 s. per acre
(upwards of fifty per cent.). This I refused to do. They then brought
me on to Lough Fea, where they thought Mr. Shirley was; and upon not
finding him, they appeared much exasperated. Mr. Shirley's architect
then appeared, and by promising to speak to Mr. Shirley in their
favour, and by requesting them to send a deputation, instead of coming
in a manner like the present, he induced them to desist from further
injury to me._

'Believe me, dear Sir, very truly yours,
'(Signed) 'WILLIAM STEUART TRENCH.

'Carrickmacross, April 8, 1844.

'What has been the general demeanour of the people towards you since
that time?--Though they resisted my measures for the recovery of the
rent, _to myself they have been perfectly civil; nor have I received
any personal insult or unpleasantness, arising from the above cause
since that period._

'How long did this kind of combination exist?--For about six months.'

Setting aside the embellishments, let us note one or two differences
as to facts. In the book the suddenly converted friends placed him on
a chair and asked him to make a speech before the castle door. He did
so, and there is a grand statuesque picture of the hero, naked to the
waist, and standing on the chair as lofty pedestal. In the torn coat
the artist could never have made him look like Apollo. Even the shirt
would have been too commonplace; so off went the shirt. Three or four
times attention is directed to the fact of the nakedness by the hero
himself, while the pencil of the filial illustrator has rendered him
immortal in this primitive costume. In his speech he 'abused them
heartily and soundly.' Yet they cheered him vociferously, and then
carried him into the castle, where he could get nothing to cover his
nakedness but a countryman's frieze coat. It was when he had been
cheered vociferously, and kindly carried in, that Mr. Shirley's
architect appeared on the scene. Mr. Trench has not been just to that
gentleman, for he really came to his rescue, and perhaps saved his
life, by giving the people the only sensible advice they got that day.
In his sworn statement, made twenty-five years ago, Mr. Trench said:
'Mr. Shirley's architect then appeared, and by promising to speak
to Mr. Shirley in their favour, and by requesting them to send a
deputation, instead of coming in a manner li