xiv Introductory. 



keeper. But St. Peter is the friend of 

 fishermen, and the offer of some silvery 

 dace in lieu of toll-money was accepted 

 with alacrity. 



I have mentioned these small matters 

 because I think if one undertakes to give 

 some account of a favourite author, 

 it will not, at any rate, lessen any 

 interest in what you write, if you can 

 show that your acquaintance with the 

 subject is a familiar one; and I think 

 I may claim to know something prac- 

 tically about angling, from fly-fishing 

 for salmon down to sniggling for eels. 

 Every holiday I have had has been 

 spent in some part of these beautiful 

 Islands, often after the big wary trout 

 and grayling of Hampshire and other 

 south-country streams, many times to 

 the sweet south country which divides 

 the Bristol from the English Channel, 

 among the vales and dales of Derby- 

 shire and Yorkshire, in the delightful 

 Border country, among Scotch and Irish 

 lake districts and Highland salmon 



