LESSONS IN THE GENTLE ART.'

77

lessly at my flies. • Would I condescend to
try one of his ?'
He put a strange-looking
combination of wool and feathers on the casting-
line. There was a fine pool near us-I tried
it, and the second cast I was fast in a twelve
pound salmon! My ragged friend remained
with me some days; and in his sober intervals,
few and far between,' gave me lessons in the
art, that have been more serviceable than any I
had hitherto acquired.

"Two years after, I was obliged to attend the winter fair of Ball, to purchase cattle. It was twilight when I left it, and had proceeded only a few miles towards a gentleman's house, where I was to dine and sleep, when my horse cast a shoe, and forced me to leave him at a smith's shop, which was fortunately at hand. The evening was chilly, and I determined to proceed on foot, directing my servant to follow. I passed a lonely poteen-house-several ruffianlooking fellows were on the road beside it. They were half drunk and insolent; I was rash-words borrowed blows. I soon discovered that I should have the worst of the battle, and that I was tolerably certain of a sound drubbing. Suddenly, an unexpected ally came to my assistance; he dropped the most formidable of the assailants as if they had been struck

"Stop, Julius!" I exclaimed, " I give me a moment's time to curse all concerned in this barbarism."

Be patient, Frank," said my cousin, "the finale will probably save you that trouble. The skeleton of the once plump animal-for, poor beast, it perished from hunger, being incapacitated from blindness to procure its customary food- -was buried in a sand-hill, and from that moment misfortunes followed the abettors and perpetrators of this inhuman deed. The detestable hag, who had denounced the inoffensive seal, was, within a twelvemonth, hanged for murdering the illegitimate offspring of her own daughter. Every thing about this devoted house melted away-sheep rotted, cattle died, and blighted was the corn.' Of several children none reached maturity, and the savage proprietor survived every thing he loved or cared for. He died blind and miserable."

6

"There is not a stone of that accursed building standing upon another. The property has passed to a family of a different name, and the series of incessant calamity which pursued all concerned in this cruel deed is as romantic as true."

It was midnight—I laid down my pipe, took a candle from the side-board, wished my cousin "a good night," and went to bed, full of pity for the gentle and affectionate seal.

down by a sledge hammer. A few blows settled the contest. I turned round to recognize and thank my deliverer. "Pon my sowl, you're mighty handy, Master Julius; it's a murder that ye don't practise oftener! The speaker was my gifted friend--the Tinker."

LETTER IX.

Sporting topography of Mayo.-Hunting Country-Fox
Covers.-Lakes, Rivers, and Fish.-A domiciliary Visit.
-Revenue Foray. - Capture of drunken Distillers. -
Alarm.-Midnight meditations.-Angling Excursion.—
Goolamore.--Salmon Fishing.-English and Irish hooks.
-Limerick preferable to all others.

To look, my dear George, at the map of Mayo, one would imagine that Nature had designed that county for a sportsman. The westerly part is wild and mountainous; alpine ridges of highlands interpose between the ocean and the interior, and from the bases of these hills a boundless tract of heath and moorland extends in every direction. To the east, the face of the country undergoes a striking change -large and extensive plains cover the surface, and as the lands are generally occupied as pasturage, and consequently not subdivided into the numerous enclosures which are requisite in tillage farming, this part of Mayo is justly in high estimation as a hunting country, and