in tearing himself away, his lordship said: 'I have now come to the
concluding toast. It is, "Merry have we met, and merry may we _soon_
meet again!"'

The tenants could scarcely doubt the genuineness of their landlord's
feelings, for on the same occasion Dean Stannus said: 'I feel myself
perfectly justified in using the term "a good landlord;" because his
lordship's express wish to me often was, "I hope you will always
keep me in such a position that I may be considered the friend of
my tenants."' But as he did not return to them, a most respectable
deputation waited upon him in London in the year 1850, to present
a memorial praying for a reduction of rent on account of the potato
blight and other local calamities which had befallen the tenantry. The
memorialists respectfully showed 'that under the encouraging auspices
of the Hertfort family, and on the faith of that just and equitable
understanding which has always existed on this estate--that _no
advantage would be taken of the tenant's improvements in adjusting
the letting value of land_, they had invested large sums of money in
buildings and other improvements on their farms, and that this, under
the name of tenant-right, was a species of sunk capital that was
formerly considered a safe repository for accumulated savings, which
could be turned to account at any time of difficulty by its sale, or
as a security for temporary advances.' In his reply, Lord Hertfort
said, 'I seek not to disturb any interest, much less do I wish to
interfere by any plan or arrangement of mine with the tenant-right
which my tenants have hitherto enjoyed, and which it is my anxious
wish to preserve to them.'

The faith and hope inspired by these assurances of the landlord were
repeatedly encouraged and strengthened by the public declarations of