PREFACE. XI 



expected, are quite willing to lay the flattering 

 unction to our souls, and to ascribe to these 

 causes the ignorance of those who know no 

 more about fishing than they did before the 

 " Practical Angler " was published. 



The most unpleasant part of our duty re- 

 mains to be done, and that is to apologise to 

 a very large number of correspondents whose 

 communications we have been unable to answer. 

 In the first edition, in a moment of heedless 

 enthusiasm, we promised to send pattern flies 

 to any one who wished to see them. We had 

 not the most remote idea of the labour this 

 would entail upon us; hundreds of letters 

 poured in, and gross after gross of flies went 

 the way whence they did not return ; and after 

 sending away all the flies which we had intended 

 to serve us for years, no resource remained but 

 to call a halt and leave the communications 

 unanswered, as we had neither the flies to send 

 nor the time to write ; and we hope this ex- 

 planation will satisfy our correspondents. 



In laying before the public this edition of 

 the "Practical Angler" we have revised it 

 carefully, and embodied in it any additional 

 information obtained during the last four years. 

 We have also endeavoured to make some 

 passages, which correspondents complained of, 



