hibited as the solitary
outward and visible sign of the inward and legal benefit of the
legislative force of Imperial Parliament.

Mr. Lockwood, to whom, as artist, I had been serving as a model,
evidently preferred to handle me with pencil rather than with questions,
for he was almost as brief as Mr. Reid. It is my view that they both had
consigned me to petrification under Sir Charles Russell, and finding me
alive and kicking, thought me too tough to expire under such _coups de
grace_ as they could inflict.

We came to banter when Mr. Michael Davitt suggested that the young men
of Castleisland took part in nocturnal raids because there was no such
social inducement to keep them quiet, as a music-hall or a theatre; but
I told him there ought to have been no inducement to them to shoot their
neighbours, and that Castleisland was past redemption.

He blandly alluded to my popularity with the tenants before 1880; but I
only said that I got on fairly well with them, for I do not think that
any agent was ever really popular.

'Relatively?' insidiously.

'Yes.'

Then came this curious question, put with a gentleness that would have
aroused the suspicion of a babe:--

'Did you ever say, in reply to a question put to you by Mr. Townsend
Trench as to why you were not shot, that you had told the tenants that
if anything happened to you he would succeed you as agent?'

'Yes, I did say so; but it is not original, because it is what Charles
II. said to James II.'

This historic reference, which elicited laughter in Court, did not seem
intelligible to my questioner, but some better informed person probably
soon quoted it to him:--

'Depend on it, brother James, they will never shoot me to make you
king.'

From the kid-glove amenities of Mr. Davitt to the aggressive harshness
of Mr. Biggar was a sharp contrast. He heckled me vigorously, and I
retorted to him pretty hotly. A great deal had been expected of this
cross-examination, but the general opinion was that I gave rather better
than I received. Coolness is the despair of cross-examiners, and I think
mine made more impression on the Court than the impulsiveness of a dozen
inaccurate Nationalists.

Mr. Biggar asked:--

'You said you were popular in the district up to 1880?'

I retorted with emphasis:--

'I never had a serious threat until you mentioned my name in
Castleisland, and then people told me, 'Get police protection at once,
or you will be shot!'

Tha