24 The Complete Angler 



age with more pleasure, and less fear of running 

 into error. But I must not yet forsake the waters, 

 by whose help we have so many known advantages. 



And first, to pass by the miraculous cures of our 

 known baths, how advantageous is the sea for our 

 daily traffick, without which we could not now sub- 

 sist. How does it not only furnish us with food 

 and physick for the bodies, but with such observa- 

 tions for the mind as ingenious persons would not 

 want! 



How ignorant had we been of the beauty of 

 Florence, of the monuments, urns, and rarities 

 that yet remain in and near unto old and new 

 Rome, so many as it is said will take up a year's 

 time to view, and afford to each of them but ^a 

 convenient consideration ! And therefore it is not 

 to be wondered at, that so learned and devout a^ 

 father as St. Jerome, after his wish to have seen 

 Christ in the flesh, and to have heard St. Paul 

 preach, makes his third % wish, to have seen Rome 

 in her glory; and that glory is not yet all lost, for 

 ivhat pleasure is it to see the monuments of Livy, 

 the choicest of the historians ; of Tully, the best of 

 orators ; and to see the bay trees that now grow out 

 of the very tomb of Virgil ! These, to any that love 

 learning, must be pleasing. But what pleasure is 

 it to a devout Christian, to see there the humble 

 house in which St. Paul was content to dwell, and 

 to view the many rich statues that are made in 

 honour of his memory ! nay, to see the very place 

 in which St. Peter and he lie buried together! 

 These are in and near to Rome. And how much 

 more doth it please the pious curiosity of a 

 Christian, to see that place, on which the blessed 

 Saviour of the world was pleased to humble him- 

 self, and to take our nature upon him, and to con- 

 verse with men : to see Mount Sion, Jerusalem, and 



