way,
so that, as he believed, he was obliged to throw away his money in
order to get his right.

The enormous power of an office which can deal with property amounting
to more than half a million sterling, in such an arbitrary manner,
necessarily generates a spirit of wanton and capricious despotism,
except where the mind is very well regulated and the heart severely
disciplined by Christian duty. Of this I feel bound to give the
following illustration, which I would not do if the fact had not been
made public, and if I had not the best evidence that it is undeniable.
George Beattie, jun., a grocer's assistant in Lisburn, possessed a
beautiful greyhound which he left in charge of George Beattie, sen.,
his uncle, on departing for America. This uncle possessed a farm on
the Hertfort estate, the tenant-right of which he wanted to sell.
Having applied to Mr. Stannus for permission, the answer he received
was that he would not be allowed to sell until the head of the
greyhound was brought to the office. The tenant remonstrated and
offered to send the dog away off the estate to relatives, but to no
effect. He was obliged to kill the greyhound, and to send its head in
a bag to Lord Hertfort's office. It was a great triumph for the agent.
What a pretty sensational story he had to tell the young ladies in the
refined circles in which he moves. How edifying the recital must have
been to the peasantry around him! How it must have exalted their ideas
of the civilising influence of land agency. 'It is quite a common
thing,' says a gentleman well acquainted with the estate, 'when a
tenant becomes insolvent, that his tenant-right is sold and employed
to pay those of his creditors who may be in favour. I know a lady who
made application to have a claim against a small farmer registered in
the office, which was done, and she now possesses the security of the
man's tenant-right for her money.'

The case of the late Captain Bolton is the last illustration I
shall give in connection with this estate. Captain Bolton resided in
Lisburn, and he was one of the most respected of its inhabitants.
He was the owner of four houses in that town, a property which he
acquired in this way:--The site of two of them was obtained by the
late James Hogg, in lieu of freehold property surrendered. On this
ground, his son, Captain Bolton's uncle, built the two houses entirely
at his own expense. Two other houses, immediately adjoining, came into
the market