drew up the reins with the other hand, his horse
rearing too; I thought I never set my eyes on a finer figure of a man,
quite another sort from Sir Murtagh, though withal, TO ME, a family
likeness. A fine life we should have led, had he stayed amongst us, God
bless him! He valued a guinea as little as any man: money to him was no
more than dirt, and his gentleman and groom, and all belonging to him,
the same; but the sporting season over, he grew tired of the place, and
having got down a great architect for the house, and an improver for
the grounds, and seen their plans and elevations, he fixed a day for
settling with the tenants, but went off in a whirlwind to town, just as
some of them came into the yard in the morning. A circular letter came
next post from the new agent, with news that the master was sailed for
England, and he must remit L500 to Bath for his use before a fortnight
was at an end; bad news still for the poor tenants, no change still for
the better with them. Sir Kit Rackrent, my young master, left all to the
agent; and though he had the spirit of a prince, and lived away to the
honour of his country abroad, which I was proud to hear of, what were
we the better for that at home? The agent was one of your middlemen, who
grind the face of the poor, and can never bear a man with a hat upon his
head: he ferreted the tenants out of their lives; not a week without a
call for money, drafts upon drafts from Sir Kit; but I laid it all to
the fault of the agent; for, says I, what can Sir Kit do with so much
cash, and he a single man?

[MIDDLEMEN.--There was a class of men, termed middlemen, in Ireland, who
took large farms on long leases from gentlemen of landed property, and
let the land again in small portions to the poor, as under-tenants, at
exorbitant rents. The HEAD LANDLORD, as he was called, seldom saw his
UNDER-TENANTS; but if he could not get the MIDDLEMAN to pay him his rent
punctually, he WENT TO HIS LAND, AND DROVE THE LAND FOR HIS RENT; that
is to say, he sent his steward, or bailiff, or driver, to the land to
seize the cattle, hay, corn, flax, oats, or potatoes, belonging to the
under-tenants, and proceeded to sell these for his rents. It sometimes
happened that these unfortunate tenants paid their rent twice over, once
to the MIDDLEMAN, and once to the HEAD LANDLORD.

The characteristics of a middleman were servility to his superiors and
tyranny towards his inferiors: the poor detested this race