xii. I'REFACE. 



praise of such an authority and such an angler would 

 indeed have been deemed by old Michael a fitting 

 reward for what he terms, in his closing remarks, the 

 work of the idle hours casually spent during fifty sea- 

 sons. Theakston was himself a born angler a man 

 who did not pursue the art for the sake of gain or the 

 force of imitation, but purely for the love of the sport; 

 his chapters upon the creepers of the various Browns, 

 Duns, and Drakes (as he terms them), and the " Extracts 

 from Note Books," amply prove the immense amount 

 of research necessary to arrive at such conclusions, 

 whilst some of his comments upon the various months 

 breathe forth a freshness and simplicity which stamp 

 him at once as a fervent admirer of the works of Nature. 

 None of the original text of the book has been interfered 

 with in the least even the remarks on smelt fishing, 

 which is now illegal, being allowed to stand as in 

 former editions ; as previously stated, any alterations 

 or comments that I have deemed necessary having been 

 made by means of foot notes. As the author appears 

 to have devoted more attention to the capture of trout 

 than grayling, and as a number of killing patterns for 

 grayling flies have been invented during the past twenty 

 years, I have thought it better to add a separate chapter 

 upon that subject, and also one touching briefly upon 

 the various rivers and angling stations throughout 

 Yorkshire. The two concluding chapters, " A Day on 

 the Yore," and " In Memoriam," will no doubt be old 

 friends to many of my readers, having been contributed 

 to an angling paper some time ago ; I introduce them 



