40 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT. 



books is mentioned in the long list of writers 

 cited in the Comfleat Angler. Walton must 

 have read Mascall; there is no evidence that 

 he read the Treatise. 



Fly fishing is not mentioned by John Dennys 

 in his much quoted but still beautiful poem, 

 the Secrets of Angling, published in 1613. This 

 work is some of the best poetry ever written on 

 sport and is one of the finest didactic poems 

 on any subject. Indeed I am not sure that it 

 does not even comply with Swinburne's stern 

 but indisputable canon, that nothing which 

 can possibly be as well said in prose ought ever 

 to be said in verse. However that may be, and 

 there will be difference of opinion both as to 

 the rule and its application, there can be no 

 doubt that the Secrets stands out amongst 

 angling verse. Perhaps this is not saying 

 much, for it must be confessed 'that many fish- 

 ing poets are in the same case as the Christian 

 poet Prudentius, of whom it was said that he 

 was altogether a better Christian than poet. 

 Dennys stands in a high class, with Gay, with 

 Sir Henry Wotton, with Doubleday's fine son- 

 net, with the best of Stoddart, with Andrew 

 Lang and with a few others. His poem, too, is 

 a good description of contemporary methods, 

 and contains the first mention of the whole 

 cane rod, the landing net, and the wicker creel. 

 However, it does not mention fly fishing; but 

 the second edition published about 1620, as well 

 as some later ones, were edited by William 



