THEORY AND PRACTICE RECONCILED. 1 7 



as the stars in Heaven. Another person believes, 

 that in this particular branch the most skilful art 

 makes no approach to living nature, and so believ- 

 ing, he wades into lake or river, and ever and anon 

 the stilly air reverberates with a splashing sound, 

 and golden sands grow dim by comparison with 

 lustrous broad-finned forms which lasll the " indig- 

 nant shore," so potent is the rod of this enchanter. 

 Reader, can he also deem that his success depends 

 on individual imitation? We regret that by an 

 oversight of the Publishers there is no portrait pre- 

 fixed to this volume, otherwise we would have 

 boldly turned to it and said " Behold the man." 



We speak, however, on the present department 

 of our subject in sad and serious earnest, because 

 the novelty of our notions on this head has brought 

 us some discredit with the gentle craft, and induced 

 the belief, that we maintain a theory which we do 

 not practise. Now the truth is, that our practice 

 does not greatly differ from our neighbour's, and 

 that the angling world, in general, though theo- 

 retically wrong, is itself also usually right in its 

 actual doings. At all events, it catches multitudes 

 of fishes, which is one great test of truth. Of 

 course, every man is free to maintain his fixed 

 opinion, and on this principle we desire to state, as 

 we have already done, and are still about to do, our 

 own. We never could ourselves perceive any re- 

 semblance whatever between any kind of artificial 

 fly, and any known insect in the natural state. 

 Whether we are unusually deficient in the sense of 

 perceiving similitudes, or are more than usually en- 

 is 



