50 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



make many observations of land-creatures, that for 

 composition, order, figure, and constitution, ap- 

 proach nearest to the completeness and under- 

 standing of man, especially of those creatures 

 which Moses in the Law permitted to the Jews, 

 which have cloven hoofs, and chew the cud ; which 

 I shall forbear to name, because I will not be so 

 uncivil to Mr. Piscator as not to allow him a time 

 for the commendation of angling, which he calls 

 an art ; but doubtless it is an easy one : and, Mr. 

 Auceps, I doubt we shall hear a watery discourse 

 of it, but I hope it will not be a long one. 



Auc. And I hope so too, though I fear it will. 



Pise. Gentlemen, let not prejudice prepossess 

 you. I confess my discourse is like to prove suit- 

 able to my recreation, calm and quiet. We seldom 

 take the name of God into our mouths, but it is 

 either to praise him or to pray to him : if others 

 use it vainly in the midst of their recreations, so 

 vainly as if they meant to conjure, I must tell you 

 it is neither our fault nor our custom ; we protest 

 against it. But pray remember I accuse nobody ; 

 for as I would not make a watery discourse, so I 

 would not put too much vinegar into it ; nor would 

 I raise the reputation of my own art by the diminu- 

 tion or ruin of another's. And so much for the 

 prologue to what I mean to say. 



And now for the water, the element that I trade 

 in. The water is the eldest daughter of the crea- 

 tion, the element upon which the Spirit of God did 

 first move, the element which God commanded to 



