312 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST 



a fine river, and an extensive lake, is certain ; but to me, 

 the scenery and the place were dreary and disheartening. 

 In vain, therefore, did my friend Marc Antony dilate 

 upon its advantages. The river boasted the best 

 salmon fishing in the country - What was it to me 

 who had never angled for a gudgeon ? The mountains 

 abounded with grouse — who but a native could escalade 

 them ? The bogs were celebrated for game — ^and 

 would I devote myself, like another Decius, to be 

 engulfed, for all the wild ducks that ever wore a wing ? 

 But then, The Blazers were only a few miles distant, 

 and their favourite fixture was on the estate. Really, 

 the proximity of that redoubted body produced a cold 

 perspiration when I heard it. The Blazers ! the most 

 sanguinary fox-club in Connaught — a gang who would 

 literally devastate the country, if it did not please 

 Heaven to thin their numbers annually by broken necks 

 and accidents from pistol bullets. Yet, with me, the 

 Rubicon was crossed — Castle Toole was mine with all 

 its imperfections, and I determined to exert my 

 philosophy to endure what it was impossible to undo. 



** To restore the decayed glories of the mansion, you 

 may well imagine was a work of trouble and expense. 

 It was done, and Drusilla slept again under the roof- tree 

 of her progenitors. Hitherto I had indulged her fancies 

 without murmuring, and some of them were superlatively 

 absurd. I hoped and believed that when the hurry of 

 re-establishing the ruin I had been fool enough to 

 purchase was over, the worry and confusion of my 

 unhappy life would terminate. While the repairs 

 proceeded, we resided in a small house in a neighbouring 

 village, and were not much annoyed by unwelcome 

 visitors. But no sooner was the castle completed, and 



