8ALM0N ANGLING IN IRELAND. g7 



CHAPTER XVI. 



He gets his leg over the traces Mullingar Its market population Walk to 

 the Lake The size of its fish as compared with those of Deroveragh and 

 Lough Owel The blow line Mode of using it We drift, and what we do 

 Cooking A dead calm Improving the occasion We talk generalities, take 

 to roach fishing, and determine to go to Dereveragh next morning. 



Tuesday, May 16. 

 The scribe and his friends have now travelled together from extreme 

 south to extreme north, and thence half-way down the eastern side 

 of the island, yet "never a word " has been said about the health, 

 bodily and mental, of the country. Silence more often proceeds from 

 indifference than reticence, yet Heaven knows indifference has 

 nothing to do with my silence. 



But I am bound to " a speciality," and fear, if my tongue is not 

 always in the water, there will be a fearful shout, *' The dog is mad ! 

 mad dog! mad dog! hang him, drown him, stab him, shoot him ! " 

 Still to-day, as half his work is done, the animal feels disposed for a 

 run, and will range a little wide, if the whole ' field " cries out 

 ' 'ware fence." 



' Ireland, considered Morally, Socially, and Politically " this title 

 looks awfully heavy *' A Brief History of Erin, from the Days of 

 Japhet to the Days of Julius Caesar." I fear the public won't stand 

 it. In these light sketches there is no room for vexed questions, nor 

 has your scribe the least notion of sticking himself in the mud, if he 

 knows it. 



Great has been the improvement in this kindly country within the 

 last fifteen years. Poverty and ignorance, wretched wages, bad 

 tenures, and worse tenements, at that time had reduced her to a 

 melancholy condition. Thank God, these are matters of history ; 

 and each year now adds to the material prosperity of the people. 

 We have better houses and superior food ; wages are more than 



