a sign of privilege. Maria Edgeworth is one of the earlier Anglo-Irish Big House writers who wrote somewhat comically about the demise of estates thought the mishandling of the often absent family members. Much of her fiction is said to mirror that of her own life and family. The fact that she was a nineteenth century female writer emphasises her status as a woman of privilege. Another later and quite influential Big House writer is Elizabeth Bowen who wrote extensively on the precarious position of the elite as the power they had held for generations was retracted from them piece by piece over the period of great social and political change where Catholics were no longer denied power and land agitation and nationalism were growing. Her writings chronicle the decline of the Big House as experienced from within. Decline Successive social and political changes that took place in the nineteenth century in Ireland, such as the abolishing of the Penal Laws and the 1801 Act of Union, and also the various land acts and reforms, served to level the privileges of the landed class with those of the previously disenfranchised and largely Roman Catholic Irish population. The Great Famine in Ireland in the mid-nineteenth century also served to impact many, though not all, Big houses and landed families. The inability of tenants to pay rents and the high eviction rates experienced during the famine led to extreme rent arrears that gravely affected the landlords income. Coupled with agricultural depression, increased land agitation, and the Land Acts of 1885 and 1891, the 'late nineteenth century saw considerable deterioration of 'big' houses and grand estates in Ireland.' For the majority, these factors 'led to landlord indebtedness which resulted in the selling off of household contents such as art and furniture and also the parcelling off and sale of demesne lands.' Attempts to end landlordism in Ireland with the Land Purchase (Ireland) Act 1903 saw financial incentives given to landlords to sell off their estates which resulted in "the sale of estates on a revolutionary scale." By the time of the Irish revolutionary period, the Big House had lost much of its historical control and influence over Irish society. Nonetheless, the houses remained an important symbol of a divided society and they were regarded with great hostility by the native Irish. This resulted in the targeting of Big Houses during the Irish War