AUTHORS ON SEA AND RIVER FISHING. 31 



billows, thrown up and down by tempests, deaf to hearing, dumb 

 to speech, and terrible to behold ; notwithstanding, I say, these 

 natural disadvantages, the Divine Greatness shows itself in you 

 after a very wonderful manner. In you are seen the mighty 

 mysteries of an infinite goodness. The Holy Scriptures have 

 always made use of you as the types and shadows of some 

 profound sacrament. Do you think that without a mystery the 

 first present that God Almighty made to man was of you ? 

 O ye fishes ! Do you think that without a mystery among all 

 creatures and animals which were appointed for sacrifices, you 

 only were excepted ? O ye fishes ! Do you think that our 

 Saviour Christ, next to the Pascal Lamb, took so much pleasure 

 in the food of you ? O you fishes ! do you think it was mere 

 chance, that when the Redeemer of the world was to pay a 

 tribute to Ccesar he thought fit to find it in the mouth of a fish ? 

 These are all of them so great mysteries and sacraments, that 

 oblige you in a more particular manner to the praises of your 

 Creator. It is from God, my beloved fish, that you have received 

 being, life, motion, and sense. It is He that has given you, in 

 compliance with your own natural inclinations, the whole world 

 of waters for your habitations. It is He that has furnished it 

 with lodgings, chambers, caverns, grottos, and such magnificent 

 retirements as are not to be met with in the seats of kings, or in 

 the palaces of princes. You have the water for your dwelling, a 

 clear transparent element, brighter than chrystal; you can see 

 from its deepest bottom everything that passes on its surface. 

 You have the eyes of a lynx or of an Argus. You are guided by 

 a secret and unerring principle, delighting in everything that 

 may be beneficial to you, and avoiding everything that may be 

 hurtful. You are carried on by a hidden instinct to preserve 

 yourselves and to propagate your species ; you obey, in all your 

 actions, works, and motions, the dictates and suggestions of 

 nature, without repugnancy or contradiction. The colds of 

 winter and the heats of summer are equally incapable of molesting 

 you ; a serene or clouded sky are indifferent to you ; let the earth 

 abound in fruits or be cursed with scarcity, it has no influence on 

 your welfare. You live secure in rain, and thunders, lightnings, 

 and earthquakes ; you have no concern in the blossoms of spring 



