64 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



poet, Mr. George Herbert, his divine " Contempla- 

 tion on God's Providence " : 



" Lord ! who hath praise enough ? Nay, who hath any ? 

 None can express thy works but he that knows them ; 

 And none can know thy works, they are so many 

 And so complete, but only he that owes x them. 



" We all acknowledge both thy power and love 

 To be exact, transcendent, and divine, 

 Who dost so strangely and so sweetly move, 

 Whilst all things have their end, yet none but thine. 



" Wherefore, most sacred Spirit, I here present, 

 For me and all my fellows, praise to thee ; 

 And just it is that I should pay the rent, 

 Because the benefit accrues to me." 



And as concerning fish in that Psalm (Ps. civ.), 

 wherein for height of poetry and wonders the 

 prophet David seems even to exceed himself, how 

 doth he there express himself in choice metaphors, 

 even to the amazement of a contemplative reader, 

 concerning the sea, the rivers, and the fish therein 

 contained ! And the great naturalist, Pliny, says 

 ' that Nature's great and wonderful power is more 

 demonstrated in the sea than on the land." And 

 this may appear by the numerous and various 

 creatures inhabiting both in and about that ele- 

 ment ; as to the readers of Gesner, Rondeletius, 

 Pliny, Ausonius, Aristotle, and others, may be de- 

 monstrated. But I will sweeten this discourse also 

 out of a contemplation in divine Du Bartas, who 

 says : 



1 Owns. 



