SALMON ANOLINO IN IRELAND. 127 



a man's friends procuring him fumislied lodgings in Bedlam. In 

 the full blaze of the sun a Bengal tiger might feel at home. The 

 windows are open, the blinds down, yet the wax is melting on the 

 paper where I am fabricating a pair of flies for your benefit, my 

 dear sir. The mysteries of Eleusis, which stood on the Lake Copais, 

 were not more carefully guarded than the secret of a killing fly by 

 a zealous artist ; but you are one of us, so enter the Penetralia and 

 behold. An O'Shaughnessy, suited to the weather and state of the 

 water, is strapped to a thread of single gut. Gold tip, a turn of 

 bright blue silk, another of crimson ; topping, kingfisher's feather, 

 and a roll of black ostrich, fonn the tag. The body is made of rich 

 yellow floss, gold tinsel, and hackle of the same hue. The wings 

 consist of four or five toppings, six or eight orange feathers from 

 the toucan, a few strands from the cock of the rock, four fibres from 

 the tail of the golden pheasant, and two long crimson horns. A 

 black head completes the elaborate production. This is the favourite 

 lure, and is considered by the learned as the best that can be '' put 

 over a fish ;" and now, having finished the fly, the next thing is to 

 try it. 



Our plan for to-day is to reach " the Bank of Ireland," if possible 

 before the doors open for the admission of the public ; to work there 

 for two or three hours, and then take each cast in order back to the 

 town, following the south side of the river. Over the bridge we 

 hurry, up the hot and dusty road for a short distance, then across a 

 field or two, and so reach Kathleen's Fall. From thence to Stonewell 

 is an unbroken succession of lodges, but there is no time to try them. 

 Straight on we go ; over the green swell above '' the grassyard," 

 over walls and rough pastures, till we reach the ornamental grounds 

 behind the " Captain's Throw." Still onward ; through plantations, 

 over more walls, past a considerable stretch of coppice, when we 

 plunge downwards and find ' The Bank " without a customer. This 

 throw is indeed perfection long, deep, and broad, with a splendid 

 stream, running with decreasing force to the end, but which requires 

 some neatness of execution, as a high wooded slope rises abruptly 

 from the edge of the river, and forbids casting in the ordinary 



