THE LITEEATURE OF FLY FISHING. 205 



which, though originally copied from living 

 insects, had for centuries lost all touch with 

 nature, and were slavishly inserted by succeed- 

 ing writers, while even their names were 

 corrupted. In this he gave fly fishing a new 

 start. His position is thus not dissimilar to 

 that of Stewart and Halford, to both of whom 

 he presents many points of resemblance. 



I believe I know the book Bowlker had in 

 mind when he castigates certain angling 

 treatises for mentioning flies which he never 

 found it worth while to dress; it must have 

 been the Gentleman Angler, 1726, by George 

 Smith. In a bombastic preface Smith says 

 'I may, without Vanity, affirm, that the follow- 

 ing Treatise upon Angling, is the most perfect 

 and compleat of any that has hitherto appeared 

 in Print' ; and that his 'Rules and Directions 

 are founded upon Experience, which is the 

 most infallible Mistress, and not taken up upon 

 Hear-say, to which little Credit is to be given.' 

 After this it is perhaps hardly surprising to 

 find that the only experience he had was steal- 

 ing other people's ideas. He robbed not only 

 Walton, but as far back as Mascall. However, 

 the book has the saving grace of being printed 

 in delightful type. And there is this, too. 

 After giving Walton's list of flies verbatim, he 

 says 'The best sort of Artificial Flies are made 

 by the ingenious Mr. Jemmit, and therefore 

 called Jemmits Flies.' All that he tells us of 

 the ingenious Mr. Jemmit is that he was a nice 



