8 
A HANDY GUIDE TO 
of it at present is chiefly confined to it. Strange to 
say, however, while I am correcting the proof the 
following appears in The Fishing Gazette : — 
“ It is somewhat curious that through the author 
of ‘ North Country Flies’ should come information 
concerning the early use of the dry fly. In a letter 
sent to that entertaining and versatile writer by a 
medical man, now living in Orkney, occurs the fol- 
lowing passage : ‘ About fifty years ago, when I was 
at school in my native place (Berwick-on-Tweed) 
we had a teacher of French (Monsieur Mazzoni) 
who, the boys soon discovered, was as fond of a 
day’s trout fishing on the Whitadder as of teaching 
his class. I well remember getting some flies from 
him which he claimed would revolutionize fly-fishing. 
He certainly caught trout with them, and so did I. 
His theory was that flies should float on the water, 
and to accomplish this he made the wings of 
oil-silk. Some years ago I got a Northumberland 
county policeman, a good fly-dresser, to make for 
me a few similar to M. Mazzoni’s, which I used with 
success on the upper parts of the Whitadder. As 
oil-silk is made of different hues, a variety of colour 
can be imparted to the wing.’ Templar wisely adds, 
‘ This oil-silk-winged fly must have been a top- 
heavy affair, and could not have cocked in a way 
to satisfy a Hampshire artist of the present day.’ ” 
Our northern brethren still swear by the wet-fly , 1 
and affect to despise the dry, although we are pleased 
1 See a poetical description of both styles, drawn from life, in 
“ North Country Fly-Fishing ” and “ Hampshire Fly-Fishing,” 
in my “Angler’s Strange Experiences.” 
