THE ANGLER IN IRELAND. 141 



and each year, such is the increasing love of anghng amongst 

 Englishmen, some river hitherto open to all comers is added 

 to the list of private profit-yielding preserves. The natives, 

 debarred for the first time in the history of their fathers 

 from liberty to angle, naturally for a while deplore the loss 

 of another of the few privileges which the hard times ha\-e 

 left them ; but happy, notwithstanding, are the people who 

 have no worse grievance to groan under. 



And there may, in re the Irish rivers, be added the con- 

 solation that many years must pass before any appreciable 

 diminution can be suffered in the freedom which makes 

 ^ Ireland so desirable a ground for the angler who cannot 

 pay a fancy price for his pleasures, or command an entire 

 season of time in their leisurely pursuit. When driven from 

 the plains he must flee to the mountains ; when forced from 

 the rivers he must retire to the loughs. This generation, at 

 any rate, is likely to pass away before such an extremity is 

 reached. And it should not be forgotten that while the 

 value of Ireland for rod and gun is becoming more recognised 

 by what may be termed the rank and file of sportsmen, — 

 the mighty men of valour, Nimrodical and piscatorial, 

 having always been familiar with its advantages and accus- 

 tomed to seek them in the wildest haunts — and while, as a 

 consequence, shootings and fishings, especially the latter, 

 are in growing demand, there are to be found, in almost 

 every part of the country, many proprietors who keep and 

 protect their fisheries as a legitimate attraction for visitors 

 and residents. Even in instances of preservation of a pretty 

 strict description, permission in Ireland is seldom refused, in 

 moderation, to a stranger whose respectability is beyond 

 question. 



