self to consider; but you see where the
shoe pinches."

A decent man in Ennis thus expressed himself anent the Bodyke affair.
(My friend is a Catholic Nationalist.) "The Bodyke men are not all out
so badly off as they seem. But their acts are bad, for they can pay,
and they will not. No, I do not call the Colonel a bad landlord. We
know all about it in Ennis; everybody agrees, too. The farmers meet in
this town and elsewhere. Two or three of the best talkers lead the
meeting, and everything is done _their_ way. The more decent, sensible
men are not always the best talkers. Look at Gladstone, have ye
anybody to come up to him? An' look at his character--one way to-day
an' another way to-morrow, an' the divil himself wouldn't say what the
day afther that. But often the most decent, sensible men among these
farmers can't express themselves, an they get put down. An' all are
bound by the resolutions passed. None must pay rent till they get
leave from all. What would happen a man who would pay rent on the
Bodyke estate? He might order his coffin an' the crape for his
berryin, an' dig his own grave to save his widow the expense. Perhaps
ye have Gladstonian life-assurance offices in England? What praymium
would they want for the life of a Bodyke man that paid his rint to the
Colonel?"

The "praymium" would doubtless be "steep." Boycotting is hard to bear,
as testified by Mr. Dawson, a certain Clerk of Petty Sessions. He
said:--"The Darcy family took a small farm from which a man had been
evicted after having paid no rent for seven years. The land lay waste
for five years, absolutely derelict, before the Darcys took it in
hand. They were boycotted. Their own relations dare not speak to them
lest they, too, should be included in the curse. A member of the Darcy
family died.

"Then came severe inconveniences. Friends had secretly conveyed
provisions to the Darcys, and, at considerable risk to themselves, had
afforded some slight countenance and assistance. But a dead body, that
was a terrible affair. No coffin could be had in the whole district,
and someone went thirty miles and got one at the county town by means
of artful stratagem. Then came the funeral. It was to take place at
twelve one day, but we found there would be a demonstration, and
nobody knew what might happen. The corpse, that of a woman, might have
been dragged from the coffin and thrown naked on the street. In the
dead of night a young fellow went round the f