INTRODUCTORY xi 



and unread, will not add very greatly to 

 their weariness ; if they are not, I can 

 only express the hope that it will not prove 

 the last straw in a burden borne so far 

 without complaint. Were I to formulate 

 a wish as to the future of these sketches, 

 it would be that my readers might find 

 in them one tithe of the pleasure that I 

 have had from so many books on angling. 

 There are volumes which I read again 

 and again with never-failing delight, and 

 which are to me an intrinsic part of the 

 contemplative man's recreation. The hours 

 I have spent with them have been at least 

 as enjoyable as the hours spent with the 

 rod, which I have here endeavoured to 

 describe. Should some other anglers catch 

 here and there a memory or so, a murmur 

 of streams, a gleam of sunshine, or a thrill 

 of spring from my pages, I shall be well 

 satisfied. 



Six of these sketches appeared first in 



