FOREWORD 



A preface is rightfully an apology, or as a moat 

 defensive to a castle. The apologetic value of this fore- 

 word is left to the scholarly reader to determine. But 

 the foss that separates him from the entertainment be- 

 yond is doubtless the broadest and deepest he has ever 

 encountered, spread out like the clear waters of a lake 

 of winsome prospects that distract from the object of 

 its passage and are lotus-eaten by the soul. He will 

 find himself held up by vista after vista that will render 

 his approach to what is coming far from tedious, until 

 at the close he is lost in flights beyond the ether. 



In few, this prelude represents a most impudent de- 

 fiance of the canons of literary criticism, for which in- 

 fraction of law warrant may be found, especially 

 among anglers, who are traditionally careless of statu- 

 tory requirements and quite ready to plead the thread- 

 bare excuse of ignorantia legis. Who among us has 

 not gone a fishing the day before the law "went off?" 

 When the fever of impatient expectation reaches its 



