INTRODUCTION. 15 



tyro will thus possess the means of shortening 

 his period of probation ; for, by adopting the 

 baits and rules set forth in the following 

 chapters, he will the sooner become an expert 

 catcher of fish. Even he who has already 

 been admitted into piscatorial mysteries may 

 probably here find something he knew not 

 before; for those of the writer's inventions 

 which are now, for the first time, made 

 public, have insured by flood, if not by field, 

 many a good hour's sport to himself and his 

 friends. 



