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62 LEINSTER
Slaney. Each of them has its own character; and
the lower tidal reaches of the Slaney, reed -fringed
and swan-haunted, are not less lovely than the salmon
pool in the upper waters near Carlow which Mr.
Williams has drawn so lovingly. And those who
imagine Ireland as a country of mere beggary might
find something to learn as well as to see either
amid the fertility of Meath or again in South Leinster,
where a poorer soil has been tilled into high perfection.
The valley of the Nore in particular is affluent in loveli-
ness from its banks at Kilkenny, where Moore courted
the pretty actress who made him the best of wives,
down to the head of the tideway at Inistiogue, where
under the shelter of Mr. Tighe's great woods you can
stay at a neat little hotel in a charming village, and
fish to heart's content in splendid pools and shallows,
where trout and salmon are plenty, and if you cannot
catch them, it must be either your fault or theirs.
And if they are hard to capture—as I found them
in weather which all but fishermen adored—that is
just because it is a free water, because here as every-
where there is something of that easy live and let
live spirit which endears Ireland to those that know
her, and which everywhere makes the visitor welcome
—perhaps with most natural kindliness in those parts
which are least accustomed to look upon the stranger
as a source of revenue. The most beautiful places in