The Fishing of Waters with the Wet Fly 31 



line at first, and let your effort always be to 

 throw a " clean line/' however short. Never 

 be tempted to throw a long line, till you can 

 throw a short one, easily and perfectly. 



My next piece of advice is : do not try 

 to advance too rapidly. Your aim should 

 be to perfect yourself in any one stage, 

 before you begin to enter upon another. 

 If I can impress this upon the mind of a 

 beginner, he will be benefited greatly in the 

 long run. There is a very appropriate 

 Latin proverb, which runs thus: Festina 

 lente (hasten slowly).* I understand that 

 the Onslow family have adopted it as their 

 motto. This advice, to any one com- 

 mencing fly-fishing in earnest, is golden. 

 Begin with a casting-line (or collar) of fine 

 whole gut, and learn to throw a clean, 

 straight line. When you have satisfied 

 yourself that you have mastered this, the 

 first step; then, and not till then, try to 

 use drawn-gut ; beginning with the heavier 

 grades, and gradually, but slowly, getting 

 into the finer sizes. Things are often proved 

 by their opposites. Eeverse this order, and 

 what happens ? The beginner, finding that 



" Wisely and slow ; they stumble that run fast." 



Romeo and Juliet, Act ii. Scene 7. 



