Other books of the same quality have since been written by the same
pen,--DAYS IN CLOVER, FRESH WOODS, BY MEADOW AND STREAM. It is no
secret, I believe, that the author is Mr. Edward Marston, the senior
member of a London publishing-house. But he still clings to his
retiring pen-name of "The Amateur Angler," and represents himself,
by a graceful fiction, as all unskilled in the art. An instance of
similar modesty is found in Mr. Andrew Lang, who entitles the first
chapter of his delightful ANGLING SKETCHES (without which no
fisherman's library is complete), "Confessions of a Duffer." This
an engaging liberty which no one else would dare to take.
The best English fish-story pure and simple, that I know, is
"Crocker's Hole," by H. D. Black-more, the creator of LORNA DOONE.
Let us turn now to American books about angling. Of these the
merciful dispensations of Providence have brought forth no small
store since Mr. William Andrew Chatto made the ill-natured remark
which is pilloried at the head of this chapter. By the way, it
seems that Mr. Chatto had never heard of "The Schuylkill Fishing
Company," which was founded on that romantic stream near
Philadelphia in 1732, nor seen the AUTHENTIC HISTORICAL MEMOIR of
that celebrated and amusing society.
I am sorry for the man who cannot find pleasure in reading the
appendix of THE AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK, by Thaddeus Norris; or the
discursive pages of Frank Forester's FISH AND FISHING; or the
introduction and notes of that unexcelled edition of Walton which
was made by the Reverend Doctor George W.
Pages:
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134