T/te Address to the Reader. 13$ 



counterfeit that very flie in that place, he 

 is like to lose his labour or much of it : 

 But for the generality, three or four flies 

 neat and rightly made, and not too big, 

 serve for a Trout in most Rivers all the 

 Summer. And for Winter flic-fishing it 

 is as useful as an Almanack out of date : 

 And of these (because as no man is born 

 an artist, so no man is born an Angler) 

 I thought fit to give thee this notice. 



" When I have told the Reader, that in 

 this fifth Impression there are many en- 

 largements, gathered both by my own 

 observation, and the communication with 

 friends, I shall stay him no longer than 

 to wish him a rainy evening to read this 

 following Discourse ; and that (if he be 

 an honest Angler) the East wind may 

 never blow when he goes a Fishing. 



" I. W." 



Let me refer the reader again to the 

 lines which I have printed in italics in 

 this copy of Walton's address to the 

 reader. He tells us there that it is, 

 " or rather was a picture of my own dis- 

 position." There is a touch of sadness in 

 the "or rather was." Walton was over 

 eighty when he wrote thus.^ His fishing 

 companions, " honest Nat. and R. Roe," 

 referred to in his first edition, are, he tells 



