but if you chance to get a good fishing day, you'll may be catch a few." They both mean much the same thing, but have a different way of expressing it. And when I say Scot, I should except the Scottish Highlander, who is much more like the Irishman in natural politeness and a sort of instinctive poetry which makes the imagination sometimes run riot. But the Irishman is generally a shrewd, sharp-witted fellow who is far better up in politics and general information than those of the same class in most counties of England. I was talking the other day to a small farmer who was a very keen Nationalist, and asking him if he really wished for separation from England. His reply was, "We may talk a bit big now and then, but we are not such fools as to mean it seriously. Why, sir, you could starve us out in six weeks without firing a shot by simply closing Liverpool and Bristol against Irish cattle."

AN IRISH MAID OF SARAGOSSA.

IN walking over the battlefield of Bodyke the other day, and seeing its results everywhere in the form of breaches newly rebuilt, roofs propped up and fragments of broken furniture, I entered one house which was known as "the Castle," from the desperate defence it had made against the invading enemy. To my surprise I found among its inmates a stout young woman, with a comely good-humoured face, who was dressed in a new gown of plain blue cloth. I inquired how she got it, and was told that she was the girl who had animated the garrison in the defence of her father's house, and when it was breached and taken by assault, had only succumbed after a hand-to-hand struggle with three crowbar men. She had undergone a month's imprisonment in gaol, and on her liberation had received a donation of £5 and a silver medal, which she produced with as much pride as if it had been the Victoria Cross. For, strange to say, these hardened offenders are not the least penitent, and any allusion to hot water invariably produces a broad grin. I asked this girl if it was true that she had thrown hot water over the bailiffs. She replied, "Shure, sir, I never threw a dhrop of water at all; it was the boiling meal." The priest suggested that, as she was bound over to keep the peace for twelve months, it was a fine chance for some young fellow to marry her, as he would be safe of a quiet life for the first nine months. She blushed up to the roots of her hair and disclaimed any matrimonial thoughts. But the blush changed into a smile that lightened up her whole face when I suggested that, as she was such a redoubtable warrior, it would only be a prudent precaution for any young man to take.

There were perhaps half-a-dozen other girls, with their new gowns and medals, and what impressed me was the utter imbecility

of supposing that the population of two-thirds of Ireland could be converted or coerced by such proceedings. Why, there is hardly a girl in Ireland who is not envious of the fame of those heroines of Bodyke, and who would not be only too glad to imitate their example. Only last month I read the report of a case in which two little boys and a respectable young girl of fourteen were tried before a resident magistrate for the crime of intimidating a man who swore that he was not a bit intimidated. The magistrate, who was evidently a kindly man, suggested that she should be discharged on giving security not to repeat the offence, so as to avoid what he called the stigma of having been sent to gaol. But the little girl fired up, and said she would give no promise not to "boo" at an Emergency man, and would go to gaol rather; and to gaol she accordingly went as a common criminal for a fortnight.

This illustrates not only the strength of the popular feeling, but also another thing which has greatly impressed me-the utter want of touch and sympathy of the justices and magistrates, which makes them blind to the most obvious facts going on before their eyes. Here was evidently a kindly man in the seat of justice, and yet he actually believed that being sent to prison in such a cause would affix a stigma on the little girl for life, whereas it was perfectly obvious to any outsider that the danger was all the other way-that the girl's head might be turned by being placed on a pedestal of fame by her admiring neighbours. I may recall an anecdote which made a great impression on me as illustrating the want of sympathy between the governing classes and the people, which is one of the worst evils in the administration of law in Ireland.

I was talking to a resident magistrate who had been an officer in the army, and was a perfect gentleman and rather popular than otherwise in his district, and I happened to let fall some expression which implied that I took him for an Irishman. He fired up at once and said, "Surely you don't take me for Irish." I replied, "Why I thought you were one of an old Irish family.” "No, sir," he said; "I am English. My ancestors came over with Cromwell." I could not help thinking how Scotchmen would feel if their resident sheriffs were taken from a class who, after their ancestors had lived in Scotland for more than two centuries, thought it an insult to be taken for Scotch.

To return to the Homeric combat at Bodyke, it would not be complete without adding that our heroine was defending her father's house, built with his own money, and for which he had paid more than its value to the landlord in the form of excessive rent beyond any fair valuation for twenty years.

The only difference I see between her and the "Maid of Saragossa" is that the one was fighting against a writ of eviction served on her native city by the king of Spain, Joseph Buona

parte, backed by a French army, and the other in defence of her father's house against a writ backed by British soldiers and policemen.

If the poor girl acted wrongly, I suppose it was because she had been taught the commandment, "Thou shalt not steal," as it reads in the Bible, and not with the addition-“except in the case of an Irish tenant whose improvements a landlord may confiscate, and it is a sin to resist him."

PAT'S BUDGET.

HAVING had a good deal to do in my time with budgets on a large scale, I have long since come to the conclusion that actual figures are the best test by which to try fallacious estimates and contradictory assurances. Accordingly, I determined to go into the actual budget of a real living Irish peasant and see how it worked out on the two sides of revenue and expenditure. I took a case which is fairly typical of the class of tenants who farm about ten acres of poor land, only this man was better off than the average, being within two miles of a small town, and having a brother and son doing well in America who have given him considerable assistance, so that his house, furniture and surroundings are far better than those of his class generally.

He has a wife and five children at home, and his eldest boy and girl have gone out to their uncle in New York and are doing well: the son, who gets good wages in a brewery, having already sent home £35 to his parents. The farm consists of 10 Irish acres of poor land high up on the bleak mountain side and mostly unfit for anything but rough pasture. The old rent 24 years ago was £5 12s. 2d., the government Poor Law valuation being £5 5s. Od. This rent was twice raised up to £10 3s. Od., at which it stood until it was reduced three years ago by the Land Court to a judicial rent of £7 10s. Od. Judging from my own experience in my own county of Orkney, I should have thought £5 a year a full rent for it before the recent fall in prices, which has reduced the selling price of the produce of such holdings nearly one-half. If he had been my tenant I should have given him a reduction of 25 or 30 per cent. on this rent without hesitation.

I forbear to give the name, for as he has been served with a notice of eviction it might prejudice him with his landlord, and I therefore use the generic appellation of "Pat." But I can vouch for the accuracy of every figure I quote, having verified them on the spot by a rigid cross-examination confirmed by two highly respectable witnesses who were with me, and who were intimately acquainted with the facts of this particular case and the circumstances of the whole country side.

With this preface, I present the figures, adding only by way

of explanation, that as the potatoes are all consumed by the family, and in a good year like the present just suffice for their consumption, I have entered their market value on each side of the account.

I may observe on this on the revenue side:

1. Potatoes. The produce is generally less and the price higher, but as they never have any to sell and in ordinary years have to buy more than they grow, this makes the Budget

worse.

2. Live stock. This consists of three cows and a small two-yearold bullock, three sheep, three pigs and a donkey. They cannot keep more, for there is no winter food except coarse hay and a few oats, and this year they have had to buy hay and bran to keep them alive. Selling milk, they cannot rear more than one or two calves yearly and those very poor creatures. Before the great fall in prices they would have realized about twice as much for the cattle and pigs. 3. Milk. This is taken in part payment by the shopkeeper who supplies them with flour, tea, sugar, &c. They make further payments on account, but always have a balance against them.

On the expenditure side of the account, I may observe: 1. That the rent until recently was £10 3s., so that in the course of 24 years Pat has paid to his landlord £53 12s. in excess of the judicial rent; £109 in excess of the old rent; and £117 10s. in excess of the government valuation, less about

UU

£15 now owing for arrears.

And this for a house he has built and land which he has reclaimed himself, and which was not worth 2s. 6d. an acre in its original state.

2. Fuel. The royalty paid for the right to cut turf at his own risk and expense for his own consumption has been raised during the same period from 2s. 6d. to £1 5s.

3. The cost of food for the family amounts to just under 2d. per head per day. They live on three meals a day-bread or flour cakes and tea for breakfast; potatoes for dinner and supper; meat or dripping to season the potatoes on high days and holy days.

There does not seem much scope for economy in this budget, but no doubt the poorer class of tenants and labourers, comprising perhaps one-fourth of the population of Ireland, do live on less. They dispense to a great extent with flour, tea and sugar and meat, and spend perhaps a half less on clothing, miscellaneous and tobacco. Still this comes out clearly: that Sir J. Caird was right when he said that the poor holdings in Ireland of ten acres or under had no agricultural value, and that rents never have been and never can be paid from any surplus produce of the soil after giving the cultivator the minimum that will keep soul and body together, but are drawn almost entirely from extraneous sources such as aid from America. Mr. Vere Foster has assisted 18,000 Irish girls to emigrate, and these girls have sent home to their parents in five or six years no less a sum than £250,000—8 great part of which has gone in paying impossible rents to absentee landlords.

I make no comment on any of the above facts, but simply present them as so many photographic sketches from the life, of the existing state of things in Ireland, as I have seen them with my own eyes.