2O The Complete Angler 



That puts limits to the proud and raging sea, and 

 by that means preserves both man and beast, that 

 it destroys them not, as we see it daily doth those 

 that venture upon the sea, and are there shipwrecked, 

 drowned, and left to feed Haddocks ; when we that 

 are so wise as to keep ourselves on earth, walk, and 

 talk, and live, and eat, and drink, and go a hunting : 

 of which recreation I will say a little, and then 

 leave Mr. Piscator to the commendation of Angling. 



Hunting is a game for princes and noble persons ; 

 it hath been highly prized in all ages ; it was one 

 of the qualifications that Xenophon bestowed on 

 his Cyrus, that he was a hunter of wild beasts. 

 Hunting trains up the younger nobility to the use 

 of manly exercises in their riper age. What more 

 manly exercise than hunting the Wild Boar, the 

 Stag, the Buck, the Fox, or the Hare? How doth 

 it preserve health, and increase strength and activity ! 



And for the dogs that we use, who can commend 

 their excellency to that height which they deserve ? 

 How perfect is the hound at smelling, who never 

 leaves or forsakes his first scent, but follows it 

 through so many changes and varieties of other 

 scents, even over, and in, the water, and into the 

 earth ! What music doth a pack of dogs then make 

 to any man, whose heart and ears are so happy as 

 to be set to the tune of such instruments ! How will 

 a right Greyhound fix his eye on the best Buck in a 

 herd, single him out, and follow him, and him only, 

 through a whole herd of rascal game, and still know 

 and then kill him ! For my hounds, I know the 

 language of them, and they know the language and 

 meaning of one another, as perfectly as we know 

 the voices of those with whom we discourse daily. 



I might enlarge myself in the commendation of 

 Hunting, and of the noble Hound especially, as also 

 of the docibleness of dogs in general ; and I might 



