PREFACE. Vll 



of angling; Poietes, who is to be considered 

 as an enthusiastic lover of nature, and par- 

 tially acquainted with the mysteries of fly 

 fishing; and, Physicus, who is described 

 as uninitiated as an angler, but as a person 

 fond of inquiries in natural history and philo- 

 sophy. 



These characters 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 his early life has been derived ; 

 and in the portrait of the mind of Halieus, 

 given in the last dialogue, a likeness, he 

 thinks, will not fail to be recognised to that 

 of a most estimable Physician, ardently be- 

 loved by his friends, and esteemed and vene- 

 rated by the public. 



