12 FLY FISHING 



make even things which are still uncertain appear 

 not to be open questions. As to rods, tackle 

 and landing-nets, we are almost weary of the 

 number of inventions, and hardly wish for any- 

 thing new. 



I have taken Walton and Kingsley as two types 

 of appreciative writers about angling : Walton of 

 course, because he is the best of all ; and Kingsley, 

 partly for the sake of contrast in time and 

 temperament, and partly because his vigour as 

 a writer makes it interesting to see how he treats 

 the subject which he loved. Of those who pre- 

 ceded Walton, or were his contemporaries, an in- 

 teresting and excellent account is to be found in 

 " Walton, and the Earlier Fishing Writers," by 

 Mr. Marston. Of writers in the earlier part of 

 this century there are names to which many of us 

 are grateful, while in later years one instructive 

 book has followed another, showing more and 

 more tendency to deal separately with each special 

 branch of angling. Many men are good all- 

 round anglers, but these are the days of experts 

 and scientific study, and we write not of all that 

 we know, but of that which we know best. 



I do not profess to have acquired enough 



