ROBERT BLAKEY xi 



ing, and he wandered round the fortifications of St. 

 Omer pondering over schemes for a livelihood. It 

 was then that his scribbling habits, as he called them, 

 were directed into what was to him the novel change 

 which is of immediate interest to us. At St. Omer he 

 met an English barrister and Episcopalian clergyman, 

 and an acquaintance sprang up; for they were all 

 passionately fond, "not to say mad," on angling. 

 Neither of these acquaintances, however, knew even the 

 rudiments of the art, and had never killed a trout with 

 a fly in their lives. 



Finding that Blakey had been a keen disciple of the 

 gentle craft for many years, it was proposed that all 

 three should join in a fishing excursion in Belgium and 

 France, and that he should write a book on the subject. 

 This was all very promising and satisfactory, but who 

 was to pay the expenses 1 The barrister promptly settled 

 this point, coming to Blakey with a bag containing four 

 hundred francs, throwing them on the table, and 

 shouting, " Here, my good sir, take these for the present, 

 for which I require no written acknowledgment, nor 

 shall I ever demand of you what you do with them." 



This was an argument to the point, and Blakey drew 

 up the outline of the contemplated work, and off he 

 rushed to Paris to make arrangements about illustrations. 

 The three men went into this expedition with delightful 

 enthusiasm, and the barrister insisted upon having 

 several gross of flies tied by Blakey. The learned 

 gentleman used to visit the St. Omer market regularly, 

 and buy up all the birds that had a gaudy and brilliant 

 plumage, so that Blakey soon had " more feathers than 

 would have served the manufacturers of Limerick and 

 Carlisle for a twelvemonth." The projected volume 

 made its appearance in London, after some squabbling 

 about money matters and the share taken by the parson 

 in the work. Blakey, however, while he allowed his 

 clerical co-operator to print a thousand copies of the 

 work, would not grant him a share of the copyright. 



This was how " Palmer Hackle, Esq.," came before 

 the public. 



