viii PEEFACE. 



and long-continued attention ; and he could not but 

 have in mind a model, which has fully proved the 

 utility and popularity of this method of treating the 

 subject — The Complete Angler, by Walton and Cotton. 



The characters, chosen to support these Conversa- 

 tions, are — Halieus, who is supposed to be an 

 accomplished fly-fisher ; Oexithee, who is to be 

 regarded as a gentleman generally fond of the sports 

 of the field, though not a finished master of the art 

 of angling ; Poietes, who is to be considered as an 

 enthusiastic lover of nature, and partially acquainted 

 with the mysteries of fly-fishing ; and Physicus, who 

 is described uninitiated as an angler, but as a person 

 fond of inquiries in natural history and philosophy. 



These personages are of course imaginary, though 

 the sentiments attributed to them, the Author may 

 sometimes have gained from recollections of real 

 conversations with friends, from whose society much 

 of the happiness of Iris early life has been derived ; 

 and in the portrait of the character of Halieus, 

 given in the last dialogue, a likeness, he thinks, will 

 not fail to be recognised to that of the character of a 



