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33-517: In Royal Coachman – The Lore and Legends of Fly-Fishing (1999) Paul Schullery describes the Royal Coachman: No fly better represents this freewheeling era [late 19th century] in fly tying than the Royal Coachman, which among the general public may be the world's best-known fly. Its name has the right combination of romance and class to appeal even to people who don't fish, and

66-607: A brilliant first class degree, he made no close friends at Magdalen College and few in the university. Nor was he lucky in love, for his beloved Margaret Fletcher eloped to New York with his younger brother Charles. Wilson took his degree in 1807, and at the age of 22 was his own master with a good income and no guardian to control him. He was able devote himself to managing his estate on Windermere called Elleray, ever since connected with his name. Here for four years he built, boated, wrestled, shot, fished, walked and amused himself, besides composing or collecting from previous compositions

99-457: A considerable volume of poems, published in 1812 as The Isle of Palms . During this time he also befriended the literary figures William Wordsworth , Samuel Taylor Coleridge , Robert Southey and Thomas de Quincey . In 1811 Wilson married Jane Penny of Ambleside , daughter of the Liverpool merchant and slave trader James Penny , and they were happy for four years, until the event which made

132-851: A dry fly, wet fly or streamer the white wing can be made with white duck quill, bucktail, calf tail, hen neck, hackle points or other white material. Tailing has varied over the years from the original wood duck flank to include golden pheasant tippet, brown or red hackle, moose, elk and deer hair. There are many variations on the original Royal Coachman. Typically dry fly variations are tied on hook sizes 10–16, wet fly versions on hook sizes 8–14 and streamer versions on hook sizes 1 to 8. Commonly named variations include: Favorite Flies and Their Histories Favorite Flies and Their Histories - With many replies from practical anglers to inquiries concerning how, when and where to use them-Illustrated by Thirty-two colored plates of flies, six engravings of natural insects and eight reproductions of photographs

165-543: A practical treatise on fly classification WHEN Mary Orvis Marbury died in 1914, the English Fishing Gazette acclaimed her as the most famous but one female angling author. (The other was Dame Juliana Berners, an Englishwoman who wrote A Treatyse of Fysshying Wyth an Angle in 1496.) Marbury's Favorite Flies and Their Histories, which became a best seller among anglers after it appeared in 1892 and went through nine printings by 1896, has recently been reprinted by

198-539: A satire called the Chaldee Manuscript , in the form of biblical parody, on the rival Edinburgh Review , its publisher and his contributors. He became the principal writer for Blackwood's , though never its nominal editor, the publisher retaining supervision even over Lockhart 's and "Christopher North's" contributions, which were the making of the magazine. In 1822 began the series of Noctes Ambrosianae , after 1825 mostly Wilson's work. These are discussions in

231-624: A substantial stone pedestal and is located between the Royal Scottish Academy and the Scott Monument . A scene from his play "The City of the Plague" was adapted by Alexander Pushkin as " A Feast in Time of Plague " and become a subject of a number of adaptations, including operas and a TV movie " Little Tragedies " (featuring Ivan Lapikov as The Priest). His brother James Wilson (1795–1856),

264-452: A working man of letters of Wilson, and without which he would probably have produced a few volumes of verse and nothing more. Most of his fortune was lost by the dishonest speculation of an uncle, in whose hands Wilson had carelessly left it. His mother had a house in Edinburgh , in which she was able and willing to receive her son and his family; he was not forced to give up Elleray, though he

297-839: A yellow silk body, since then was widely known as the Professor Professor. - A prime favorite; use it on almost all casts when I see more than one fly. When using a black tail fly, I use a brown fly and a Professor for droppers; find it a good fly under general conditions, when using a Miller for tail fly; then use Professor for droppers. From a letter from W. David Tomlin ("Norman") Duluth, Minn as favorite flies for trout in Michigan streams . Favorite Flies contains plates and stories for Bass Flies, Trout Flies, Hackles, Salmon Flies, and Lake Flies The legacy of Mary Marbury, through her book and her leadership in Orvis's commercial fly-tying operation,

330-517: Is a fly fishing book written by Mary Orvis Marbury published in Boston in April 1892 by Houghton Mifflin . It was considered by most fly fishers as the standard reference on flies in its era. Favorite Flies is a unique volume that compiles the stories and images of popular American artificial flies of the late 19th century. It is one of the earliest works to use chromolithography color plates. Today,

363-502: Is a fly intended to be a Coachman, yet it is not the true Coachman; it is quite unlike it, and what can you call it?" Mr. L. C. Orvis, brother of Mr. Charles Orvis, who was present, said: "Oh, that is easy enough; call it the Royal Coachman, it is so finely dressed!" And this name in time came to be known and used by all who are familiar with the fly. The Royal Coachman pattern is one of the very few patterns that appeared in Marbury's work that

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396-470: Is still being tied and fished today in some form or another. The Royal Coachman and its derivatives are considered attractor patterns, or as Dave Hughes in Trout Flies ;– The Tier's Reference (1999) calls them – searching patterns – as they do not resemble any specific insect or baitfish. Early in the 20th century, Theodore Gordon once was of the opinion that

429-454: Is the standardization of American fly patterns. Her book Favorite Flies and Their Histories , remains one of the most significant landmarks in American fly tying literature. Mary Orvis Marbury, daughter of Charles F. Orvis, produced Favorite Flies and their Histories in 1892. While it may not complete favorably with later works on entomology, it certainly is unique for its time. It included

462-667: The Works of John Wilson, edited by P. J. Ferrier (12 volumes, Edinburgh, 1855–59); the Noctes Ambrosianæ , edited by R. S. Mackenzie (five volumes, New York, 1854); a Memoir by his daughter, M. W. Gordon (two volumes, Edinburgh, 1862); and for a good estimate, G. Saintsbury , in Essays in English Literature (London, 1890); and C. T. Winchester , "John Wilson", in Group of English Essayists of

495-421: The Orvis company's fly tying department and she was inspired to set pen to paper when she realised how little standardization there was among fly patterns... The answers were compiled and key to colour plates in a book which was still in print sixty years later, such was its popularity From Antiquarian Book Exchange: John Wilson (Scottish writer) John Wilson FRSE (18 May 1785 – 3 April 1854)

528-399: The Royal Coachman resembled some form of flying ant, while in the 1950s, Preston Jennings, a noted fly tier and angler thought the Royal Coachman resembled Isonychia mayflies . The distinguishing features of any Royal Coachman or its derivatives are the peacock herl body partitioned with red silk or floss, a white wing and brown or red-brown hackle. Depending on whether the fly is tied as

561-486: The Wellfleet Press. Mary Orvis Marbury produced one of American fishing literature's milestone volumes, Favorite Flies and Their Histories (1892), which not only served generations as the bible of fly patterns but further strengthened the company's reputation for expertise and reliability ...the book which captured the American wet-fly tradition at its peak was Charles' [Orvis] daughter's Favorite Flies . Mary ran

594-538: The best and best known of them appeared between 1825 and 1835. In 1844, he published The Genius, and Character of Burns . In his last 30 years, he spent his time between Edinburgh and Elleray, with excursions and summer residences elsewhere, a sea trip on board the Experimental Squadron in the English Channel during the summer of 1832, and a few other unimportant diversions. The death of his wife in 1837

627-594: The chair of Moral Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh (1820) was unexpected, and the best qualified man in the United Kingdom , Sir William Hamilton , was also a candidate. But the matter was made a political one; the Tories still had a majority in the burgh council; Wilson was powerfully backed by friends, Sir Walter Scott at their head; and his adversaries played into his hands by attacking his moral character, which

660-497: The fly has such a commanding appearance that few fly fisherman can resist having some permutation of the pattern in their fly boxes, even if they never use it. Most of them don't know it, but the Royal Coachman is the first great American fly pattern... The Royal Coachman was first tied as a traditional winged wet fly and is a derivative of the Coachman wet fly. Mary Orvis Marbury in her Favorite Flies and Their Histories (1892) tells

693-408: The form of convivial table-talk, including wonderfully various digressions of criticism, description and miscellaneous writing. There was much ephemeral, a certain amount purely local, and something occasionally trivial in them. But their dramatic force, their incessant flashes of happy thought and happy expression, their almost incomparable fulness of life, and their magnificent humour give them all but

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726-770: The highest place among genial and recreative literature. "The Ettrick Shepherd", an idealised portrait of James Hogg , one of the talkers, is a most delightful creation. Before this, Wilson had contributed to Blackwood's prose tales and sketches, and novels, some of which were afterwards published separately in Lights and Shadows of Scottish Life (1822), The Trials of Margaret Lindsay (1823) and The Foresters (1825); later appeared essays on Edmund Spenser , Homer and all sorts of modern subjects and authors. Wilson left his mother's house and established himself (1819) in Ann Street, Edinburgh, with his wife and five children. His election to

759-437: The middle, to prevent the peacock bodies from fraying out. I have also added a tail of the barred feathers of the wood-duck, and I think it makes a very handsome fly." A few evenings later, a circle of us were together "disputing the fly question," one of the party claiming that numbers were "quite as suitable to designate the flies as so many nonsensical names." The others did not agree with him, but he said: "What can you do? Here

792-402: The much-loved Professor John Wilson (Christopher North), and the story of the fly is, that one time, when this famous angler Was fishing, he ran short of flies, and, to create something of a flylike appearance, he fastened the petals of buttercups on his hook, adding bits of leaves or grass to imitate the wings of a fly. This arrangement was so successful that it led to the making of the fly with

825-567: The original flies used to create the color plates are preserved in the American Museum of Fly Fishing in Manchester, Vermont . The stories for each fly described in the volume were obtained through correspondence with fly fisherman and fly tiers throughout the U.S. and Canada. The following is a typical story about the Professor , a popular wet-fly of time: No. 192. The Professor was named after

858-463: The story of its creation as follows: The Royal Coachman was first made in 1878 by John Haily, a professional fly-dresser living in New York City. In writing of other matters, he inclosed [ sic ] a sample of this fly for us to see, saying: "A gentleman wanted me to tie some Coachmen for him to take up into the north woods, and to make them extra strong, so I have tied them with a little band of silk in

891-485: Was a Scottish advocate, literary critic and author, the writer most frequently identified with the pseudonym Christopher North of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine . He was professor of moral philosophy at the University of Edinburgh from 1820 to 1851. Wilson was born in Paisley , the son of John Wilson, a wealthy gauze manufacturer who died in 1796, when John was 11 years old, and his wife Margaret Sym (1753–1825). He

924-559: Was a severe blow to him, especially as it followed within three years of his friend Blackwood. Wilson died at home at 6 Gloucester Place in Edinburgh on 3 April 1854 as the result of a stroke . He was buried on the southern side of Dean Cemetery on 7 April. A large red granite obelisk was erected at his grave. In 1865 a statue by Sir John Steell was erected to his memory in Princes Street Gardens . The bronze figure stands on

957-489: Was known as a zoologist. On 11 May 1811 Wilson married Jane Penny, the daughter of James Penny , a Liverpool merchant. She was described as "the leading belle of the lake country". They had five children, three daughters and two sons: He was cousin to Very Rev Matthew Leishman and they lived side by side during their childhood in Paisley. Wilson was also the great great great uncle of Ludovic Kennedy . Publications include

990-577: Was no longer able to live there. He read law and was elected to the Faculty of Advocates in 1815, still with many outside interests, and in 1816 produced a second volume of poems, The City of the Plague . In 1817, soon after the founding of Blackwood's Magazine , Wilson began his connection with the Tory monthly and in October 1817 he joined with John Gibson Lockhart in the October number working up James Hogg 's MS

1023-531: Was not open to any fair reproach. Wilson made a very excellent professor, never perhaps attaining to any great scientific knowledge in his subject or power of expounding it, but acting on generation after generation of students with a stimulating force that is far more valuable than the most exhaustive knowledge of a particular topic. His duties left him plenty of time for magazine work, and for many years his contributions to Blackwood were voluminous, in one year (1834) amounting to over 50 separate articles. Most of

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1056-410: Was the object of his affections for several years. Fellow student Alexander Blair became a close friend. In 1803 Wilson was entered as a gentleman commoner at Magdalen College, Oxford . He was inspired by Oxford and in much of his later work, notably in the essay called "Old North and Young North", expresses his love for it. However his time at Oxford was not altogether happy. Though he obtained

1089-453: Was their fourth child, and the eldest son, having nine sisters and brothers. He was educated at Paisley Grammar School and entered the University of Glasgow aged 12 (14 being the usual age at that time), and continued to attend various classes for six years, mostly under Professor George Jardine , with whose family he lived. During this period Wilson excelled in sport as well as academic subjects, and fell in love with Margaret Fletcher, who

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