52 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



take to be a fair testimony of the excellency of my 

 element of water. 



The water is more productive than the earth. 

 Nay, the earth hath no fruitfulness without showers 

 or dews ; for all the herbs and flowers and fruits are 

 produced and thrive by the water ; and the very 

 minerals are fed by streams that run under ground, 

 whose natural course carries them to the tops of 

 many high mountains, as we see by several springs 

 breaking forth on the tops of the highest hills ; and 

 this is also witnessed by the daily trial and testi- 

 mony of several miners. 



Nay, the increase of those creatures that are 

 bred and fed in the water are not only more and 

 more miraculous, but more advantageous to man, 

 not only for the lengthening of his life, but for pre- 

 venting of sickness ; for it is observed by the most 

 learned physicians, that the casting off of Lent and 

 other fish-days, which hath not only given the lie 

 to so many learned, pious, wise founders of col- 

 leges, for which we should be ashamed, has doubt- 

 less been the chief cause of those many putrid, 

 shaking, intermitting agues, unto which this nation 

 of ours is now more subject than those wiser coun- 

 tries that feed on herbs, sallets, and plenty of fish ; 

 of which it is observed in story, that the greatest 

 part of the world now do. And it may be fit to 

 remember that Moses (Lev. xi. 9 ; Deut. xiv. 9) 

 appointed fish to be the chief diet for the best com- 

 monwealth that ever yet was. 



And it is observable, not only that there are fish. 



