Is _mortmain_ indeed the hand which kills?
I submitted this delicate question to a very intelligent, very honourable, and very wealthy man, who farms several thousand acres of Church property.

He is one of the _Mercanti di Campagna_, mentioned in a former chapter (Chap.

VI.).

The following is the substance of his reply.
"Six-tenths of the Agro Romano are held in mortmain.
Three-tenths belong to the princely families, and the remaining tenth to different individuals.
"I hold under a religious community.

I have a three-years' lease of the bare land.