186 FISHING GOSSIP. 



funereal dirge, which might at this period be still 

 heard to dwell in wild and mournful cadence over the 

 waters of the lake, as some lost member of the old 

 race was borne to his last home in the grey abbey- 

 grounds at the back of the hills. The strain itself 

 indeed is not to be despised. The antiquarian 

 musician, interested in such matters, will find it in 

 Bunting's last collection of Irish airs, and may judge 

 for himself. The motif at least forms a noble chant ; 

 and I can aver that though having wound up de pro- 

 fundis many fine trout to the tune, I never once 

 smelt the whisky by which it has been said to have 

 been accompanied, nor witnessed the faction fights in 

 which, if we are to credit some recent writers, it 

 usually terminated over the grave. 



But the sun is within a few strides of the sum- 

 mits of Ben and Carrick hills, which another heave 

 of the old Titans might have elevated to the dignity 

 of mountains, just as intelligibly as the " geological 

 forces" employed for such heavy work nowadays. 

 The "lucid interval" may be usefully employed, 

 before we descend to the lake, in describing the tackle 

 employed in night-angling with the fly and the mode 

 in which it was used. Any sound lake-rod sufficed 

 for this purpose ; the amateur might please himself 

 in minor details of "fashion," but his choice in length 

 was limited to fourteen feet, and under. The line 

 and reel were identical with those employed in day- 



