To Messrs. S. ALLCOCK & Co., of Redditch, the noted 

 wholesale tackle makers, I return my best thanks for the 

 trouble they have taken in furnishing me with descriptions 

 and samples of the various tackle employed ; to Mr. W. J. 

 CUMMINS, North of England Works, Bishop Auckland, for 

 the practical help given in all that relates to fly tying and 

 - flies for the English and Scotch rivers ; and last, not least, 

 to my old friend THOMAS GERRARD, Esq., for his kindly 

 assistance in the tying of Irish trout flies, than whom few 

 can fabricate a better lure in fur and feather aye, and 

 catch a trout with the same. I commend his motto to all 

 my friends : " Never pass a spring." To one and all of my 

 other friends, who shall be nameless, solely on account of 

 taking up too much of what was, at the start, to be " No 

 Preface," I return my thanks, and so, in the words bor- 

 rowed from the great Master of the Gentle Art, " I think 

 " fit to tell thee these following truths, and much less own 

 " this discourse to please myself, and having been too easily 

 " drawn to do all to please others, as I propose not to the 

 " gaining of credit by this undertaking, so I would not 

 11 willingly lose any part of that to which I had a just title 

 ''before I began it, and do therefore desire and hope if I 

 11 deserve not commendations yet I may obtain pardon." 



RICHARD NIVEN. 



Chrome Hill, Lisburn. 



