He now discerned how far he had
been deceived by Lady Dashfort.
Both the count, and Lord and Lady Oranmore, who were warmly attached to
their country, exhorted him to make himself amends for the time he
had lost, by seeing with his own eyes, and judging with his own
understanding, of the country and its own inhabitants, during the
remainder of the time he was to stay in Ireland. The higher classes, in
most countries, they observed were generally similar; but, in the lower
class, he would find many characteristic differences.
When he first came to Ireland, he had been very eager to go and see
his father's estate, and to judge of the conduct of his agents, and
the condition of his tenantry; but this eagerness had subsided, and the
design had almost faded from his mind, whilst under the influence
of Lady Dashfort's misrepresentations. A mistake, relative to some
remittance from his banker in Dublin, obliged him to delay his journey
a few days, and during that time Lord and Lady Oranmore showed him the
neat cottages, the well-attended schools, in their neighbourhood. They
showed him not only what could be done, but what had been done, by
the influence of great proprietors residing on their own estates, and
encouraging the people by judicious kindness.
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