and impounds cattle for rent and arrears.' The drivers are,
alas! from time to time too necessary in collecting Irish rents. Mr.
Edgeworth desired that none of his tenants should pay rent to any
one but himself; thus taking away subordinate interference, he became
individually acquainted with his tenantry. He also made himself
acquainted with the different value of land on his estate. In every
case where the tenant had improved the land his claim to preference over
every new proposer was admitted. The mere plea, 'I have been on
your Honour's estate so many years,' was disregarded. 'Nor was it
advantageous that each son,' says Miss Edgeworth, 'of the original
tenant should live on his subdivided little potato garden without
further exertion of mind or body.' Further on she continues: 'Not being
in want of ready money, my father was not obliged to let his land to the
highest bidder. He could afford to have good tenants.' In the old leases
claims of duty-fowl, of duty-work, of man or beast had been inserted.
Mr. Edgeworth was one of the first to abolish them. The only clause he
continued in every lease was the alienation fine, which was to protect
the landlord and to prevent a set of middlemen from taking land at a
reasonable rent, and letting it immediately at the highest possible
price. His indulgence as to the time he allowed for the payment of
rent was unusually great, but beyond the half year the tenants knew his
strictness so well, that they rarely ventured to go into arrears, and
never did so with impunity. 'To his character as a good landlord,'
she continues, 'was added that he was a real gentleman; this phrase
comprises a good deal in the opinion of the lower Irish.' There is one
very curious paragraph in which Miss Edgeworth describes how her father
knew how to make use of the tenants' prejudices, putting forward his
wishes rather than his convictions. 'It would be impossible for me,'
says his daughter, 'without ostentation to give any of the proofs I
might record of my father's liberality. Long after they were forgotten
by himself, they were remembered by the warm-hearted people among whom
he lived.'

Mr. Edgeworth was one of those people born to get their own way. Every
one seems to have felt the influence of his strong character. It was not
only with his family and his friends that he held his own--the tenants
and the poor people rallied to his command. To be sure, it sounds like
some old Irish legend to be to