INTRODUCTORY. 5 



should pray to be defended from the attack of an 

 ' old fisherman/ 



With respect to the practical part of the art, of 

 which I purpose to treat in the following pages, I 

 am well aware that there are scores of fishermen 

 with ten times my experience, and ten times my 

 skill, who might write upon the subject ; but they 

 do not. I do not write for such, except that they, 

 as critics, may correct any error of mine, and, ex- 

 posing it in a friendly spirit, add the result of their 

 own experience or observation. In a nation of 

 blind men a one-eyed man is king, according to 

 the French adage ; and on that principle I have 

 jotted down such precepts and such information as 

 appear to me, after a long, if not extensive, practice 

 of the art of angling, to be best worth noting : and, 

 craving the indulgence of the more experienced, I 

 venture to commend the following pages to the 

 perusal of the younger and less-experienced fol- 

 lowers of the noble and most scientific pursuit 

 which can be classed under the head of sporting. 



