34 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i. 



to tell, or rather to remember you, what is 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 out-live 

 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 

 faith of fish and fowl ; men that violate the law 

 affirmed by St. Paul, Rom. ii. 14, 15, 16, 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 

 Fifth Day nearm g °f sucn conjugal faithfulness, will 

 be music to all chaste ears, and there- 

 fore 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 woe, 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 to cherish his own brood, but 

 is senseless, though they perish. 



