184 FISHING GOSSIP. 



beg to premise, that poking in the dark at the tail 

 of a weir or mill-dain, with a "blue-bottle" or 

 "down-looker" wriggling in articulo mortis, is not 

 exactly meant. No ; that was not the vulgar dese- 

 cration of the angling rites of old Nbx which was 

 practised in other days on the waters of the Lane or 

 Bawn. The first-named of these Irish lakes will serve 

 as well as any the purposes of illustration. I select 

 it not for its great extent, for there are many larger ; 

 nor for its beauty, for there are many fairer ; but for 

 the fact of my having acquired there my first know- 

 ledge of night-angling. It presented, however, all 

 the requisites for this description of fishing in per- 

 fection ; and many of the local and traditional 

 characteristics which give to its practice a colouring 

 and zest. Every description of fishing-ground was 

 represented by extensive sharps, winding shores, 

 wooded islets, and reaches of water fringed with the 

 purple bloom of the reed and bullrush. Of fairy 

 lore and feats of enchantment, there was an abundant 

 garnish to this, the romance, as it might be called, of 

 angling. The waters themselves were but the tra- 

 ditional evidence of the punishment of one of seven 

 royal sisters submerged in the waves for the old 

 offence of female curiosity. They were tenanted be- 

 sides by many anomalous beings, which, under various 

 forms, sometimes unceremoniously surprised maids 

 that " loved the moon " and a twilight bath. Popular 



