Excerpt from Chalkstream and Moorland: Thoughts on Trout-Fishing IT is incumbent upon any one who writes a new book about fishing to open with an apology. He cannot put forward the novelty and freshness of the subject. When so much has already been written, a man hesitates before presenting his work to the public. I am profoundly conscious that a great deal that is said in the following pages about trout-fishing is stale. Yet I believe that fishing is a subject that is not and, indeed, cannot be exhausted. Like travel, hunting, drinking, love, and other simple and primitive human passions, it is of eternal interest. Most books about fishing have been designed to impart instruction. I am too modest about my own skill to suppose that any one, except a mere beginner, can learn much from my teaching. Yet it is gratifying, as the years go on, to find that one improves in the art of throwing a fly and catches fish which used to defy one. That has been my experience, and I trust that others may share it. We cannot all hope to become what are called beautiful fishermen. I myself gave up that ambition many years ago; but every one can attain a certain manual dexterity, and, by exercising his wits as well, will learn how to. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.