STEWART AND THE UPSTREAM SCHOOL. 103 



Barker, Venables and Cotton should all be 

 included : not Walton, who was not really a fly 

 fisher. Next certainly should come Chetham, 

 who wrote a good manual, though largely 

 pirated, and for the last place either Smith, 

 author of the True Art of Angling, a book 

 which went through twelve editions and was a 

 standard work for three quarters of a century, 

 or Cox's Gentleman's Recreation, a summary 

 of the current practice of the time. Possibly 

 the True Art is the best, for Cox is really not 

 much more than a copyist. The eighteenth 

 century is more difficult, for though there are 

 many books there are few good ones. The most 

 famous was that of the two Bowlkers, father 

 and son, whose Art of Angling, published 

 inconspicuously in 1747,* was republished every 

 few years for over a century. The next in merit 

 is probably Best. For the other four we will 

 take Howlett, Brookes, Shirley and Scotcher. 

 In the first half of the nineteenth century there 

 are many names to choose from and famous 

 ones too. Sir Humphry Davy, Stoddart, 

 Colquhoun, Fitzgibbon, Pulman, Penn, 

 Younger, Bainbridge, Jackson, Theakston and 

 Ronalds; what a list of mighty hunters. Choice 

 is difficult. Stoddart and Ronalds cannot be 

 left out, nor Fitzgibbon either. Then Penn 

 should come, for he is representative, recording 

 as he does the practice of the Houghton Club 

 on the Test, and for the last two we will take 



*See note on page 89 as to the date of Bowlker. 



