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Much of my subsequent happiness has been derived from those early impressions and instructions.

To you, then, my dear father and mother, I dedicate this little work; and I hope that you will not consider so insignificant an offering as the literal index to the amount of gratitude and respect which is, and always has been, entertained for you by

YOUR TRULY AFFECTIONATE SON.

PREFACE.

THE present edition may be considered as an entirely new work, so extensive are the additions and so altered is its style of publication. This will at once be evident to every one who compares it with the previous editions.

A considerable sale for the work in its former shape a mere outline of the present edition encouraged the hope that a more extensive and complete treatment of the subject, on the foundation already laid, might more deserve the approbation of the angling public. The writer therefore determined to make the attempt, by entirely re-writing the original, and by supplying such new matter as he thought likely to be interesting and useful. In the following pages, therefore, the instructions for making artificial flies, and the illustrations by which they are accompanied, will, perhaps, be recognised as the most promi

nent, if not the most important, of these additions.

The subject of fly-making is hardly alluded to in the former editions; and as the writer was of opinion that the instructions in many other works are not so complete as to render such an addition uncalled for, he was the more anxious to supply the omission. The defect in other works, it was imagined, might arise from the infrequent association, in sporting authors, of a practical knowledge of fishing with that of the manufacture of those beautiful baits, and also with the ability to furnish really efficient drawings in illustration of their instructions. The writer of this work is not only a practical fly-maker himself, but has been so fortunate as to obtain the assistance of an artist who is also a practical fly-maker and an accomplished angler. It is hoped, therefore, that whatever is found deficient in the letter-press instructions will be counterbalanced by the excellence of this gentleman's illustrations.

The work has received other very extensive additions, which it is hoped will be considered as improvements also. Among them is the Introductory Chapter, in which an idea of the pleasures

of fly-fishing is attempted to be conveyed; and they will be found also in the chapter which treats of the history of the trout, particularly with reference to the remarks on some disputed points in the nature and habits of the migratory Salmonida; in the arrangement of the list of flies; in the enumeration of the materials required for fly-making; and, in short, in the remaining chapters, which treat of the practical department of this delightful and thoroughly English recreation.

The writer trusts that his little book, in its present altered shape, will not be without interest and use to his "brethren of the angle,” and that it will be received with an indulgence for which an enthusiastic love of the art, and an earnest desire for the diffusion of its precepts, that others may enjoy its pleasures also, are claims that will not be totally disregarded.

Axminster, Nov. 1850.

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