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was not pretty fishing to watch, but when he made a cast the 

 line went out straight and accurate, and he once to my 

 knowledge landed in one day from this much-fished part of 

 the river seven brace of trout, all above the limit of size. . . . 

 He was a very silent angler, as if his business was solely 

 with the trout ; and what he was, besides being the best 

 resident fisherman at Winchester, remained unknown to me. 

 I was so struck by his success in fishing that it never 

 occurred to me to ask about anything else.' 



Most of Sir Edward's book is devoted to dry fly- 

 fishing the most difficult branch of the art angler's 

 craft whereof he is acknowledged to be one of the most 

 accomplished exponents in practice. But he has a good 

 deal to say about salmon-fishing also, wherein he may 

 expect to find less uniform acceptance of all his views. 

 When were two salmon fishers ever in complete accord on 

 the problems of their pursuit ? On the varieties of salmon 

 flies he takes what may be termed the rational view 

 namely, that these are multiplied far more for the de- 

 lectation of fishers than the destruction of fish. The 

 author's counsel of perfection is to be content with four 

 varieties of salmon fly in different sizes; but, being 

 human, he admits that such content is almost impos- 

 sible of attainment. 



* How often have I gone into a tackle shop to make pro- 

 vision for a spell of fishing in Scotland, and entered it with 

 a fairly distinct idea of the limits, both in number and 

 variety, of flies that were wanted, and how often have these 

 limits expanded, and at last dissolved altogether under the 

 genial influence of the display of flies upon the counter ! The 

 number of seemingly indispensable patterns increases as the 



