Fly- Piffling. 19 



like it. More than this ; how often alfo have I 

 failed to " rife 19 a fmgle fifh, when the likenefs to 

 the above fell fhort, as far as the colour was con- 

 cerned. If, then, I fee a fly upon the water eagerly 

 feized, and I pick out its likenefs (in my opinion 

 at leaft) from a hundred others, and find it in- 

 ftantly fucceed ; what becomes in this cafe of the 

 Profeflbr's cc non-imitation theory ? " I am fpeak- 

 ing (be it remembered) of flies common to the 

 rivers of the fouth and weft of England, and not 

 of thofe in the north though the principle, I con- 

 tend, holds good in either cafe. 



Again, when the March-brown is well on the 

 water, you may as well throw your hat there with 

 a chance of catching fifti, as any other fly. It is 

 true you may get a fulky " rife" or two at a palmer, 

 but, in nine cafes out of ten, the March-brown 

 the fifh will have, or none at all. Now, fuppofe 

 in this cafe you were to follow the Profeflbr's ad- 

 vice, and fubftitute for the fly you confider moft 

 like the one on the water, fome fancy fly of an 

 oppofite colour, (" Sam Slick," for inftance, or 

 " Long Tom" no very elegant names the Pro- 

 feffor will admit, though he elfewhere calls angling 

 " an elegant amufement,") and you found the lat- 

 ter utterly rejected, while the former killed fifh 

 after fifh, would it not prove it to be erroneous ? 



