54 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



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 con- 

 sideration ! And therefore it is not to be won- 

 dered at, that so learned and devout a father as 

 Saint Jerome, after his wish to have seen Christ in 

 the flesh, and to have heard Saint Paul preach, 

 makes his third wish, to have seen Rome in her 

 glory : and that glory is not yet all lost, for what 

 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 Saint Paul was content to dwell, 

 and to view the many rich statues that are made in 

 honor of his memory ; nay, to see the very place 

 in which Saint Peter and he lie buried together ! 

 These are in and near Rome. And how much 

 more doth it please the pious curiosity of a Chris- 

 tian to see that place on which the blessed Saviour 

 of the world was pleased to humble himself, and to 

 take our nature upon him, and to converse with 

 men ; and to see Mount Sion, Jerusalem, and the 

 very sepulchre of our Lord Jesus ! How may it 

 beget and heighten the zeal of a Christian to see 



