Page:The River Dove (1847).djvu/11



Sir,

HE ''book I here present to you was put into the Printer’s hands for the entertainment of a few Gentlemen Fishers; and I hope you take a pleasure in the harmless recreation of Angling, otherwise I may not hope you will overlook its defects. I heartily wish it were a more worthy tribute to the memory of those best masters of our art'', Mr. Izaak Walton, and Mr. Charles Cotton:

But I beseech you to be civil, and moderate in your censures; for I undertook those pleasant walks, to which I here invite you, by the banks of the ''(now ten years are past) to unbend my mind from fome serious cares. And that I may not detain you from the perusal, I have only this''