4 
xii PREFATORY NOTE. 
pages the very kind assistance of the eminent and 
scientific gentlemen who write in regard to such special 
subjects with equal felicitousness and authority. Thus 
the volumes of the Badminton Library confided to me 
by the Editor and publishers will not lose either in 
completeness or trustworthiness by my shortcomings. 
Frankly, however, this is ~ot the only reason why I 
have sought the able co-operation of Major John P. 
Traherne, Mr. Henry R. Francis, Mr. H. S. Hall, and 
Mr. Frederic M. Halford, in dealing with the theory 
and practice of artificial fly-fishing. One reason is 
that I hold opinions on these subjects which if not 
‘revolutionary, may certainly be called in some sense 
‘radical, and which have not as yet found general 
acceptatice, 
Whether the said opinions are right or wrong matters 
not. If I had seen any sufficient reason to alter them 
—at any rate in regard to their main outlines—I should 
have unhesitatingly avowed it long ago, for I look upon 
a man who says that he never changes his mind as a 
fool, or else as, sacrificing truth to ‘consistency ;’ but 
whatever my theories, and whatever may be their ulti- 
mate fate, I had, of course, no right or desire to air my 
hobbies in the pages of the Badminton Library ; and 
I am sure that my readers will, in any case, be the 
gainers by the substitution of the admirable essays 
alluded to, written as they are by fly-fishers of long and 
successful experience and in every sense entitled to be 
regarded as masters of the craft. 
To the Marquis of Exeter, Mr. William Senior, 
