118 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT. 



in particular is to be used aloft on the water. 

 The passage looks uncommonly like prevision of 

 the dry fly. Still I do not think this is the right 

 interpretation. Mascall wanted a fly that 

 floated aloft. Success in fishing in these early 

 days of thick lines depended largely on keeping 

 your line off the water and out of the trout's 

 sight. You wanted therefore a fly that kept 

 on the top, or near it. But this is not the dry 

 fly. Barker's Delight (1657) has a not dis- 

 similar passage. He says that hog's wool, red 

 heifer's wool and various furs make good 

 bodies : 'and now I work much of hog's wooll, 

 for I finde it float eth best and procure th the 

 best sport.' In this case it is certain that a 

 floating fly is not intended, for he tells you to 

 fish downstream and to let your fly fall on the 

 water before the line, which are clearly direc- 

 tions which apply only to the sunk fly. Barker, 

 in talking of a fly that floats well, means as 

 Mascall means one that keeps on the top. It 

 would be straining language to read anything 

 else into the passages from Mascall and Barker. 

 But they are of great importance in enabling 

 us to understand their method. 



The next reference, only a few years later, 

 is much the same, and the only excuse for 

 quoting it is the remarkable character of the 

 author, Robert Boyle. Natural philosopher, 

 chemist and theologian, a Founder of the Royal 

 Society, the correspondent of Newton, Locke 

 and Evelyn, he was not only one of the best 



