58 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT. 



sion. With a Narrative of that dextrous and 

 mysterious Art experimented in England, and 

 perfected in more remote and solitary Parts of 

 Scotland. By way of Dialogue. Writ in the 

 year 1658, but not till now made publick, by 

 Richard Franck, Philanthropus. — Plures necat 

 Gula quam Gladius. 



After this remarkable title the book starts 

 with eleven* Prefaces, Dedications, Recommen- 

 datory Poems and what not; before you reach 

 the preface proper you must wade through ad- 

 dresses to my Worthy and Honoured Friend, 

 Mr. J. W. Merchant in London : to the Vir- 

 tuosos of the Rod in Great Britain's Metropolis 

 the famous City of London : to the Academicks 

 in Cambridg, the place of my Nativity : and to 

 the Gentlemen Piscatorians inhabiting in or 

 near the sweet Situations of Nottingham, North 

 of Trent. After the Preface you must read or 

 skip six poems, from friends to the author or 

 from the author to friends, before you finally 

 reach the book itself. When there, you will 

 have a good laugh, but you will not, I think, 

 read far. 



But in spite of his abominable style, Franck 

 was a right good fisher. Not a doubt of it. 

 Through all the obscurities and irritations of 

 his writing, this fact shines like the sun 



*It may be mentioned that The Faerie Queen had no fewer 

 than four and twenty such Dedications. But as seventeen of 

 these were sonnets by Spenser himself and six more poems 

 by his friends, of whom Raleigh was one, the world has not 

 found occasion to grumble at their number. Franck sins in 

 quality rather than quantity. 



