NOBTHKHN MEMOIRS. 17> 



artist in this mystical artillery : for I can raise 

 my ambition no higher than the device, fashion, 

 and form of flies ; with advice also for their ma- 

 nagement, together with seasonable time and 

 use. 



Am. That was my intention, had yon never 

 mentioned it ; but were it to another, I should 

 rather refer him to our modern assertors. For in- 

 deed the frequent exercise of fly-fishing, though 

 painful, yet it's delightful, more especially when 

 managed by the methods of art, and the prac- 

 tical rules and mediums of artists. But the 

 ground-bait was of old the general practice, and 

 beyond dispute brought considerable profit ; 

 which hapned in those days, when the curiosity 

 of fly-fishing was intricate and unpracticable. 

 However, Isaac Walton (late author of the Com- 

 pleat Angler) has imposed upon the world this 

 monthly novelty, which he understood not him- 

 self ; but stuffs his book with morals from Du- 

 bravius and others, not giving us one precedent 

 of his own practical experiments, except other- 

 wise where he prefers the trencher before the 

 troling-rod ; who lays the stress of his arguments 

 upon other men's observations, wherewith he 

 stuffs his indigested octavo; so brings himself 

 under the angler's censure, and the common ca- 

 lamity of a plagiary, to be pitied (poor man) for 

 his loss of time, in scribling and transcribing 



