98 ON TROUTING WITH THE FLY. 



pure thoughts and golden fancies, because it led him 

 from scenes of human care, strife, and distemper, into 

 places of solace, silence, and retirement ? Here, on this 

 simple query, rests a field of unsolved wonder; one, too, 

 traversed often by fancy, but in vain. Oblivion the 

 past conceals from us all record of him, that gifted and 

 joyful man, to whose name, if restored, there is due the 

 homage of our craft, that homage which is ever rendered 

 to the illustrious dead. 



So many full and excellent treatises have been written 

 upon the subject of fly-fishing, that it would really be a 

 work of supererogation on my part, were I to enter 

 very minutely into its discussion. I shall, therefore, 

 as much as possible, avoid running into what may be 

 termed fine-spun detail, while endeavouring to supply 

 the reader with the requisite amount of information on 

 this department of the gentle art. In the preceding 

 chapter, I have sufficiently exposed to view my theory 

 respecting the artificial fly, disclaiming the common 

 notion, that it is quite imperative to construct it after 

 a fixed, natural model to adapt it to hours and seasons, 

 or, except in the matter of size, to extend the variety 

 beyond a very limited and clearly defined range. I have 

 also described to a certain extent, the making up of the 

 fly-cast, and referred, while treating of tackle, to the gut 

 strands, and their preparation, how knotted, &c. It 

 remains for me, however, to complete the subject, and 

 this I shall do very briefly. 



Trouting flies, when fished with, are used, according 

 to the caprice of the angler, in pairs, threes, or fours, 

 seldom singly. In small waters, two hooks are some- 

 times thought sufficient. I seldom, under any circum- 

 stances, employ fewer than three. How these are 





