MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR 



THIS little book has long been a favourite 

 with those who happen to own copies, some- 

 what rare, of the original edition. They say 

 there is nothing like it ; and, now that the 

 prospects of anglers in the Lake District are 

 improving, Practical Fly-fishing ought to be 

 within the reach of every amateur. At their 

 instance accordingly it is reprinted ; and at the 

 desire of the surviving member of the Author's 

 family, his name, still honourably recollected by 

 many, is exchanged on the title-page for the 

 modest nom-de-plume of ' Arundo,' a reed of the 

 river. 



John Beever was born nearly a hundred years 

 ago ; the elder son of Mr. William Beever, a 

 Manchester merchant. In the earlier years of 

 this century the family lived in an old mansion, 

 since inhabited by Mr. J. R. Wilkinson, the 

 well-known banker and art-patron, at the Poly- 

 gon, Ardwick, then hard as it is to believe it 



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