44 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 



stream, dividing the parish of Pucklechurch from the 

 parish of Dyrham, is one of the sources of a brook 

 called the Boyd, which Dennys mentions in his book, 

 a fact which would afford confirmation, were it 

 needed, of his claim to the authorship of the work : 



And thou, sweet Boyd, that with thy watry sway 

 Dost wash the cliffs of Deignton and of Weeke. 

 And through their Rockes with crooked winding way, 

 Thy mother Avon runnest softe to seeke ; 

 In whose fayre streams the speckled Trout doth play. 



Usually when an author attempts to teach the 

 practice of an art in a poem, his work either pos- 

 sesses no poetic value or else is too vague and 

 indefinite to be of any service in teaching the art ; 

 perhaps, however, the most common result of such 

 an attempt is that it fails both as a poem and as 

 a treatise. 



In the difficult task of combining poetry and 

 instruction it must be admitted that Dennys, in The 

 Secrets of Angling, has been completely successful ; 

 for whether his work be viewed as a poem or as a 

 practical treatise, it deserves the highest praise. From 

 a practical point of view it possesses that merit very 

 rare in angling books, originality ; and the value of 

 the instructions given, is shown by the extent to 

 which they have been copied in the prose works 

 which followed it. Some of the advice, as for 

 instance, that in regard to the colour of the angler's 

 clothes, remains unaltered in angling books at the 

 present day ; while to show the high estimation in 



