TO 



WILLIAM SENIOR, 



My dear Red Spinner, 



In the pages which follow I have tried to give 

 a novice some hints on the art of angling. As to 

 their value there may well be two opinions, and I 

 will quarrel with no man who holds the other. 

 But there is one hint which I have reserved for 

 this page, and which I am prepared to defend at 

 the gaff's point if need be. In this open letter to 

 you I would entreat the novice to buy, beg, borrow, 

 or in the last resort, steal, all the books which your 

 pen has given to the angling library. Then let him 

 read them, re-read them, and again re-read. So shall 

 he become not only a better angler, but a better 

 man. 



Your obliged and admiring friend, 



H. T. S. 



