Nineteen hundred, take it all in all, was a busy, interesting and delightful year.  Though we did not succeed in acquiring the Waterford and Limerick Railway, which I may now say we scarcely expected, for compulsory railway amalgamation was then unheard of, yet our bold course was regarded with considerable success (as boldness often is) and the running powers we had won were pecuniarily valuable as well as strategically important.  Sir Theodore Martin, our Parliamentary Agent, and who had taken the keenest interest in the contest, wrote me:  “After all I do not much regret the issue of the fight the Midland have had.  To have got running powers to Limerick, and to have to give nothing for them is a substantial triumph.”  So also thought my Chairman and Directors, for on the 25th of July they passed the following Board minute:—­

“Resolved unanimously, that having regard to the great exertions of Mr. Tatlow in connection with the several Bills before Parliament, and the Directors being of opinion that the favourable terms obtained by this Company were due to the great care and attention given by him, they have unanimously decided to raise Mr. Tatlow’s salary 200 pounds a year on and from the 1st inst.”

Not a very great amount in these extravagant days, perhaps, but in Ireland, nineteen years ago, it was thought quite a big thing; and it had the additional charm of being altogether unexpected by its grateful recipient.

Sir Theodore Martin, though 84 years of age, was full of intellectual and physical vigour.  He was a sound adviser, and enthusiastic in the amalgamation business.  Poet, biographer and translator, he kept up his intellectuality till the last, and the end of his interesting life did not come until he reached his 94th year.  In 1905 he published a translation of Leopardi’s poems.  Between us arose a much greater intimacy than the ordinary intimacy of business, and his friendship, through a long series of years, I enjoyed and highly valued.

[Sir Theodore Martin:  martin.jpg]

Between the two periods of the Amalgamation control I sandwiched a delightful holiday, and in the autumn of 1899, after the conclusion of the great Ballinasloe Fair, travelled east as far as Constantinople.  Were this a book of travel (which it is not) a chapter might be devoted to that trip.  But the cobbler must stick to his last, though a word or two may, perhaps, be allowed on the subject, if only by way of variety.

My companions on this interesting tour were my good friends F. K. and H. H. We went by sea from Southampton to Genoa, where we stayed two days to enjoy the sunshine and colour; its steep, picturesque and narrow streets, and its beautiful old palaces.  Then we visited Milan and Venice.  At Venice we spent several days, charmed with its beauty.  From Trieste we took an Austrian Lloyd steamer, the Espero, to Constantinople.  At Patras we left the steamer