mation on the subjects treated on as lie could compass ; and
with such an object before him, absolute fiction would have
been useless.
His descriptions, therefore, in that book were real descrip-
tions, his anecdotes, real anecdotes — the incidents of the
story did actually happen ; his instructions in the arfc of fly-
fishing and the hydrography of the river were the results of
his own experience, and the fairy legends were his own
collections. Unless these things had been true, his book
would have been merely a book of entertainment, — and he
was ambitious of something beyond that. Everything of
this kind, therefore, was recorded accurately ; and in the few
instances in which the requirements of the story compelled
the author to transplant his incidents, their real localities
were always given.
All this was important to the public, or, at least, as im-
portant as the subject itself; but it was of no consequence
to any one, except for the gratification of mere curiosity, to
be able to identify the precise Captain A. who broke the
weirs of the Laune, while such information would not have
raised Captain A.'s character at the Horse-Guards. The
Liberal member for B. might enjoy the recollection of the row
he got up at Kildoney, but might not find it convenient to
be reminded of it on the hustings. Attorneys might look
askance at Barrister C, who for a whole summer had directed
his studies to the practice of Club-law ; while Parson D., who
had passed three months of his life waist-high in the Erne,
might possibly expect, were he identified, to have cold water
thrown upon him by his Bishop for the rest of his life.
"With all these matters, interesting enough to the charac-
ters themselves, the public had nothing whatever to do : it
was sufficient for them that they had their information and
their story ; and, provided the incidents of that story hap-
pened to some one, it signified little to them, which, of all
the letters of the alphabet, composed his name. The public
should feel grateful to any fisherman who has truly revealed
the silks and feathers of his favourite fly ; it is what very
few fishermen will do : let them be satisfied with that : they
shall never know— they have no right to know — which of
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INTRODUCTION.
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