THE LITEEATUEE OF FLY FISHING. 213 



heaven — immortal moments dropping from 

 Eternity upon the forehead of Time,' says 

 Stoddart, not caring whether he be thought 

 ridiculous, for to him it was no bombast but a 

 statement of fact. No doubt he crosses a limit 

 which Walton would have set himself. Walton 

 said the same thing differently. 'Indeed my 

 good Scholar, we may say of angling, as Dr. 

 Boteler said of Strawberries; Doubtlesse God 

 could have made a better berry, but doubtlesse 

 God never did; and so (if I might be Judge) 

 God never did make a more calm quiet innocent 

 recreation then Angling.' Walton's words 

 will live longer than Stoddart's. But we could 

 not afford to lose Stoddart. 



There are so many contemporaries of 

 Stoddart that choice is difficult. Penn's 

 amusing Maxims, though getting on for a 

 century old, are very modern. If you 'pass 

 your fly neatly and well three times over a trout, 

 and he refuses it, do not wait any longer for 

 him.' He can be read to-day with pleasure. 

 So can Sir Humphry Davy and Colquhoun and 

 Pulman, father of the dry fly. So, too, can 

 Peter Hawker, who fished the Test on horse- 

 back. And so can many others. But there are 

 two who stand above them all, Ronalds and 

 Stewart. Much has been said of both, and I 

 shall not add anything here. Stewart, whose 

 life the Dictionary of National Biography most 

 scandalously omits, has a style which, though 

 simple and lucid, is damaged to my thinking 



