216 FISHING GOSSIP. 



as the persons after whom they are christened, are 

 evidently of much greater interest to their vendors 

 are recommended by " Otter " as amongst the essen- 

 tials of the angler's equipment. All this, too, when, 

 as we have said before, the actual fishing-matter of 

 the book, and for the sake of which it is purchased, 

 is utterly contemptible. This is the second book 

 which Messrs. Alfred, Otter, and Son have thus given 

 to the world ; the first, Otter's Complete Guide to Spin- 

 ning and Trolling, being, if possible, even worse than 

 the present or, as we once heard it expressed, the 

 " wonderful wusser ! " It is to be observed also that 

 the tendency of this " oblique " method of advertising 

 appears to be to produce a corresponding obliquity in 

 the moral vision of the producers, as, unless we are 

 greatly mistaken, we have more than once seen letters 

 in the Field signed by " Otter," referring, in certainly 

 not ^complimentary terms, to "Alfred," and vice 

 versa a sort of " pea-and-thimble trick " by which 

 we cannot believe that the interests of the angling 

 public are advanced. 



If the sporting papers are willing to allow their 

 columns to be used as a vehicle for about a hundred 

 and fifty letters puffing off " Fagg's Wading Boots," 

 or "Allies' Grasshoppers," or any other wares of 

 known tradesmen, it is their own business and not 

 ours (and as, after a short time, nobody reads them, 

 they are of less consequence) but we do protest 



