30 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [PART i. 



and above all, to me at least, the fruitful vine, of which when I 

 drink moderately, it clears my brain, cheers my heart, and sharpens 

 my wit. How could Cleopatra have feasted Mark Antony with 

 eight wild Boars roasted whole at one supper, and other meat suit- 

 able, if the earth had not been a bountiful mother ? But to pass 

 by the mighty Elephant, which the Earth breeds and nourisheth, 

 and descend to the least of creatures, how doth the earth afford 

 us a doctrinal example in the little Pismire,* who in the summer 

 provides and lays up her winter provision, and teaches man to do 

 the like ! The earth feeds and carries those horses that carry us. 

 If I would be prodigal of my time and your patience, what might 

 not I say in commendations of the earth? That puts limits 

 to the proud and raging sea, and by that means preserves both 

 man and beast, that it destroys them not, as we see it daily doth 

 those that venture upon the sea, and are there shipwrecked, 

 drowned, and left to feed Haddocks ; when we that are so wise as 

 to keep ourselves on earth, walk, and talk, and live, and eat, and 

 drink, and go a-hunting : of which recreation I will say a little 

 and then leave Mr Piscator to the commendation of Angling. 



Hunting is a game for princes and noble persons ; it hath been 

 highly prized in all ages ; it was one of the qualifications that 

 Xenophon bestowed on his Cyrus, that he was a hunter of wild 

 beasts. Hunting trains up the younger nobility to the use of 

 manly exercises in their riper age. What more manly exercise 

 than hunting the Wild Boar, the Stag, the Buck, the Fox, or the 

 Hare ? How doth it preserve health, and increase strength and 

 activity ! 



And for the dogs that we use, who can commend their excellency 

 to that height which they deserve ? How perfect is the hound at 

 smelling, who never leaves 5 or forsakes his first scent but follows 

 it through so many changes and varieties of other scents, even 

 over, and in, the water, and into the earth ! What music doth a 

 pack of dogs then make to any man, whose heart and ears are so 

 happy as to be set to the tune of such instruments ! How will a 

 right Greyhound fix his eye on the best Buck in a herd, single 

 him out, and follow him, and him only through a whole herd of 

 rascal t game, and still know and then kill him ! For my hounds, 



VARIATION.] 5 W h never loses. ist and zd edit. 



* An excellent paper on this subject will be found in the Guardian, No. 156. B. 



t " Rascal, Saxon, a lean beast. Continued in that sense among hunters for a deer 

 not fit to hunt or kill. ' A father that doth let loose his son to all experiences is most 

 like a fond hunter, thrvt letteth slip a whelp to the whole herd ; twenty to one he shall 

 fall upon a rascal, and let go the fair game."' Aschartfs Scholemaster, p. 61. Nares's 



