Somerset advise the means of concealing
the knowledge for ever?

The Father of fair Alice, the wife of the
banished Sir Robert, was Sir Thomas
Leigh, Alderman of London in Elizabeth's
time. He bought large estates in this
part of Warwickshire, and built his
house on the site of an abbey. It is
a curious fact that his descendants were
staunch friends of the house of Stuart, and
carried their devotion to such an extent that
they remained partisans up to the close of
the last century, cherishing a hostile feeling
towards the reigning family, and dwelling
on every circumstance which recalled the
memory of the old. Portraits of the Stuarts
adorned their halls, memorials of the Stuarts
surrounded them on every side, and they
lived in solitary gloom, brooding over the
fate of that ill-starred race, and indifferent to
the moving and advancing world beyond,
by whom the Stuarts were gradually
forgotten. The last lord fell into a state of
moody depression, and on his death and
that of his sister, the estate passed to another
branch.

AN ENCUMBERED ESTATE.

NOT many years ago a very large part of
the soil of Ireland was under the control of
the Court of Chancery. Everybody knows
what an affectionate interest that venerable
institution takes in all the concerns of life;
how it meditates on all the conflicting
relations of man and property; how it hears,
inquires, ponders, doubts, and lingers. It
may be easily imagined, then, with what
special fitness it applies its unwieldiness to
the complicated details of land management,
and what blessed results must follow from
the esteemed official method of doing everybody's
business by deputy. The following
sketch—from my own experience—of an
Encumbered Estate, and how Chancery
stepped in to set everything to rights, will
afford an illustration of the system, and give
one more representation of a phase of Irish
life which, by no means new in fiction, is
happily becoming more rare in actual
existence.

When a mortgagee or judgment creditor
wished to get in his money, the owner of the
lands charged therewith being, of course,
unable to pay, a bill was filed in Chancery,
praying that the lands might be sold for the
discharge of the debts, and that in the mean
time a receiver should be appointed to
collect the rents, which were to be applied,
first, to the payment of costs, and secondly to
keep down the interest on the encumbrances.
It was a very rare circumstance indeed when
any surplus remained towards the liquidation
of the principal.

To prepare an estate for sale—to make out
the title—to take an account of all the debts,
demanded much labour and often involved
serious and difficult questions of law, so that
years were commonly spent on the work.
The lawyers and receivers profited by the
costs and expenses, and felt no temptation
to hurry matters. So it has happened
that receivers remained in undisturbed
possession of their posts for many years; and,
growing grey or dying in the service, have
transmitted the office as an inheritance to
their sons. During all this time, the
unfortunate owners were ousted from their
patrimony, and were not suffered to interfere
in the management. They might sometimes
attempt to expedite the progress of the
litigation, but in general they were quiescent,
mystified by the cloudy terrors of the law,
or perhaps unwilling to provoke the too
speedy investigation of a dubious title, or—
which was just as likely as any other reason
—being so deeply encumbered as to be
without interest in and consequently indifferent
as to what became of—the estate. If, moreover,
the owner, as was sometimes the case, was
allowed to retain possession of the dwelling-
house and a few acres of land, he became as
interested in delay as was every one
concerned except the creditors, who, however, in
the former state of the law could not help
themselves. The measure for the sale of
Encumbered Estates in Ireland, and other changes,
have removed many of the impediments here
hinted at, and have thereby not a little
contributed to the present and growing
prosperity of that country.

I was once induced to become the receiver
for a property in Tipperary by a friendly
attorney, who being concerned for the plaintiff
in the cause, stipulated with me that I
should appoint him my solicitor: also a
species of plurality now prohibited, but at
that time common, and productive of much
abuse. My duties, according to his representation,
would be of a light and pleasant
nature, affording the opportunity of making
a little money by the agreeable method of a
summer excursion to a pretty country. It was
Tipperary, to be sure, but this estate was
of quite an exceptional character, and the
Tipperary boys, after all, were not so very
black as it was the fashion to paint them.

Careless, and full of confidence, I set forth
to introduce myself to the tenantry, who
received me with great respect. As I left
each cottage the inmates accompanied me
to the next, and when I arrived at a
remote part of the lands, more than a mile
from the road, I found myself surrounded by
forty or fifty stalwart specimens of that wild
peasantry whose evil reputation had spread
over Europe. Smiles and words of welcome
met me wherever I turned; yet their glance
was bold, and implied, I fancied, a conscious
pride of their prowess and their fame. They
looked dangerous, in short, and I deemed it
prudent for the present to suppress the lofty
and severe discourse which I had prepared
upon the duties of tenants, the rights of