In offering this book for the perusal of those who may feel sufficiently interested in the subject to read works on Angling, I deem it an act of courtesy to say a few words in explanation of the motives which prompted me to commence, and then drew me on in the prosecution of a work involving, as it has proved, no small amount of time and labor.<br><br>Every true lover of angling knows that the pleasure it brings with it, does not end with the day's sport; that besides being "a calmer of unquiet thoughts," for the time, it impresses happy memories on the mind; and he looks back to many a day, and many a scene, as an oasis by the wayside in the rough journey of life; and like Dogberry's friend Verges, "he will be talking" when he finds an interested hearer, and may be tempted, as the author of these pages has been, to write of it.