dean is in his eighty-first year; fifty-one years of his life have
been spent in the management of the Hertfort estate, and whatever
difference of opinion may exist as to his arrangements with the
tenantry, every one who knows anything of the affair must admit that
there never existed a more faithful representative of a landowner. On
arriving in Paris he found the marquis ill, so much so that neither
the dean nor his son could get an interview. For three days the
venerable gentleman danced attendance on his chief, and on Monday the
fourth attempt was made, the dean sent up his name, and had a reply
that 'the marquis was too ill to see anyone.' Next day, however, the
marquis condescended to receive his agent, and the subject of the
railway was introduced. The dean told him that Lord Erne had given
200,000 l. towards the railway projects on his property--that Lords
Lucan, Annesley, and Lifford had contributed largely, and that Lord
Downshire had been exceedingly liberal in promoting lines on his
estate. But all was vain. The noble absentee, who drains about 60,000
l. a year from his Irish property, and who often pays 5,000 l. for
a picture, refused to lend 15,000 l. to aid in finishing a railway,
which runs for three-fourths of the mileage through his own estate.
During the interview Mr. W.T. Stannus urged on the marquis that the
investment would be the best that could be made, as preference shares
paying five per cent. would be allocated to him as security for the
amount. All arguments and entreaties, however, were lost on the noble
invalid. Even the appeal of the old gentleman who, for more than half
a century, had managed the estate so advantageously for the successive
owners of that splendid property, was made in vain. 'You never refused
me anything before,' urged the dean, 'and I go away in very bad
spirits.' What a wonderful history lies in this episode of Irish
landlordism. Here is an unmarried nobleman whose income from
investments in British and French securities is said to exceed 30,000