The First Day 35 



said of Turtle-doves ; first, that they silently plight 

 their troth, and marry ; and that then the survivor 

 scorns, as the Thracian women are said to do, to 

 outlive his or her mate ; and this is taken for a truth ; 

 and if the survivor shall ever couple with another, 

 then, not only the living, but the dead, be it either 

 the he or the she, is denied the name and honour 

 of a true Turtle-dove. 



And to parallel this land-rarity, and teach man- / 

 kind moral faithfulness, and to condemn those that 

 talk of religion, and yet come short of the moral x< 

 faith of, fish and fowl, men that violate the law 

 affirmed by St. Paul to be writ in their hearts, and 

 which, he says, shall at the Last Day condemn and 

 leave them without excuse I pray hearken to what 

 Du Bartas sings, for the hearing of such conjugal 

 faithfulness will be musick to all chaste ears, and 

 therefore I pray hearken to what Du Bartas sings 

 of the Mullet. 



But for chaste love the Mullet hath no peer; 

 For, if the fisher hath surpris'd her pheer, 

 As mad with wo, to shore she followeth, 

 Prest to consort him, both in life and death. 



On the contrary, what shall I say of the House- 

 Cock, which treads any hen ; and, then, contrary to 

 the Swan, the Partridge, and Pigeon, takes no care 

 to hatch, to feed, or cherish his own brood, but is 

 senseless, though they perish. And it is consider- 

 able, that the Hen, which, because she also takes 

 any Cock, expects it not, who is sure the chickens 

 be her own, hath by a moral impression her care 

 and affection to her own brood more thn doubled, 

 even to such a height, that our Saviour, in express- 

 ing his love to Jerusalem, quotes her, for an example 

 of tender affection, as his Father had done Job, for 

 a pattern of patience. 



And to parallel this Cock, there be divers fishes 



