INTRODUCTORY 11 



different to Walton's ; so much more was known 

 that knowledge seemed to have a sort of com- 

 pleteness. It is never really so. New discoveries 

 are being made as frequently as ever, but for 

 all that, the edges of our knowledge seem now 

 more clearly defined. Walton has much to tell 

 us; but close round all his knowledge is a 

 border land of mystery, of things left uncertain 

 and still to be revealed. His Fordidge trout 

 belongs to another world than that in which we 

 move : we feel as if, were we in his place, we 

 should long to set out upon our travels to find 

 it. It is not even certain whether a winch 

 should be used, and if so whether it should 

 be placed upon the butt or the middle of the 

 rod. Walton feels that all he has to tell us is 

 visibly leading to some new discovery, which any 

 man with a good will may hope to make in 

 his lifetime. In Kingsley's time, and still more 

 now, this delicious sense of impending discovery 

 has gone. Fish and flies are classified and 

 indexed. We may still argue some points, such 

 as the number of different species of salmomda^ 

 or whether fish have a keen perception of colour ; 

 but we know enough to be dogmatic and to 



