Across the lake were sloping hills rising
gently from the water arrayed in the brightest of green. Grand stately
trees stood with the regal repose of a grand dame, every fold of their
leafy dress arranged with the skilful touch of that superb artist, Dame
Nature.
My driver, with a becoming awe upon him of the magnificent grounds, the
stately house and the high-souled lord, drove along the most
unfrequented paths, and we came, in the rear of the great house, to a
quaint little saw-mill in a hollow, a toy affair that did not mean
business, but such as a great lord might have as a proper appanage to
wide land and as a convenience to retainers.
After some whispered consultation with the man in charge, it was
certified that we might drive round, quite round the castle, and,
favored by fortune, might chance to see the housekeeper and get
permission to see the inside of the house. I knew the house was very
nice by intuition; it was very extensive, and I was sure held any
quantity of pleasant and magnificent rooms; but someway I did not desire
to go through it. I should have liked to have seen its lord, this modern
Aristides, whom I was not tired of hearing called the just. The lord
with the cold stately manner, but the heart that decided matters, like
Hugh Miller's uncle Sandy, giving the poor man the "cast of the bauk,"
even to his own hurt.
We drove down the broad walk just out of sight of the extensive gardens
and conservatories, between trees of every style of magnificence down to
the lodge gate which was opened to us promptly and graciously. You can
always judge of a lord by the courtesy or the want of it in his
retainers. Indeed I believe that even dogs and horses are influenced by
those that own them, and become like them in a measure. I waft thee my
heart's homage, lord of Castle Coole! Thy good name, thy place in the
hearts of thy countrymen, could not be bought for three thousand pounds
sterling wrung "by ways that are dark," from an exasperated tenantry.
The drive back to Enniskillen with another suggestive peep at the lake
was delicious and enjoyable.
In Enniskillen I wandered into the Catholic church, the only church I
could wander into without a fuss about getting the key. It is grand, and
severely plain in the absence of pictures and ornaments.
I am told there was a good deal of distress in the County Fermanagh, and
that they obtained relief from the Mansion House Fund and from the
Johnston Committee Fund. This Johnston was a Fermanagh man, and has
risen to wealth in the new world under the Stars and Stripes.
