CHAP. I.] THE FIRST DAY. 29 



The Raven, the Buzzard, 



The Forked Kite, the Bald Buzzard, 



The Hen-driver, and others that I forbear to name.* 



Gentlemen, if I should enlarge my discourse to the observation 

 of the Eires, the Brancher, the Ramish Hawk, the Haggard, and 

 the two sorts of Lentners, and then treat of their several Ayries, 

 their Mewings, rare order of casting, and the renovation of their 

 feathers : their reclaiming, dieting, and then come to their rare 

 stories of practice ; I say, if I should enter into these, and many 

 other observations that I could make, it would be much, very 

 much pleasure to me : but lest I should break the rules of civility 

 with you, by taking up more than the proportion of time allotted 

 to me, I will here break off, and entreat you, Mr Venator, to say 

 what you are able in the commendation of Hunting, to which you 

 are so much affected ; and if time will serve, I will beg your 

 favour for a further enlargement of some of those several heads of 

 which I have spoken. But no more at present. 



VENATOR. Well, Sir, and I will now take my turn, and will 

 first begin with a commendation of the Earth, as you have done 

 most excellently of the Air; the Earth being that element upon 

 which I drive my pleasant, wholesome, hungry" trade. The Earth 

 is a solid, settled element ; an element most universally beneficial 

 both to man and beast ; to men who have their several recreations 

 upon it as horse-races, hunting, sweet smells, pleasant walks : the 

 earth feeds man, and all those several beasts that both feed him, 

 and afford him recreation. What pleasure doth man take in 

 hunting the stately Stag, the generous Buck, the wild Boar, the 

 cunning Otter, the crafty Fox, and the fearful Hare ! And if I 

 may descend to a lower game, what pleasure is it sometimes with 

 gins to betray the very vermin of the earth ; as namely, the 

 Fichat, the Fulimart,f the Ferret, the Polecat, the Mouldwarp, 

 and the like creatures, that live upon the face, and within the 

 bowels of the Earth. How doth the Earth bring forth herbs, 

 flowers, and fruits, both for physic and the pleasure of mankind ! 



* See Turberville, Latham, and Markham, on Falconry, ft. 



t Dr Skinner, in his Etymologicon Ling-uce Anglicana, Lond. fol. 1671, voce " Full- 

 mart," gives us to understand that this word is Vox quae nusquam, nisi in libro "The 

 Complete Angler" dicto, occurrit. Upon which it may be observed, that Dame 

 Juliana Berners, in her Book of Hunting, ranks the Fulmarde among the beasts of 

 chase; and that both in the Dictionary of Dr Adam Littleton, and that of Phillips, 

 entitled the World of Words, it occurs : the first renders it Putorius, mus Ponticin ; the 

 latter a kind of Polecat. In Junius it is Fullmer, and said to be idem quod Polecat ; but 

 in this interpretation they seem all to be mistaken, for Walton here meiitions the Polecat 

 by name, as does also Dame Juliana Berners in her Book. H. 



