44 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [PART r. 



of, the less incredible; for, you may note, that the waters are 

 Nature's storehouse, in which she locks up her wonders. 



But, Sir, lest this discourse may seem tedious, I shall give it a 

 sweet conclusion out of that holy poet, Mr George Herbert, his 

 divine " Contemplation on God's Providence." 1 



Lord ! 2 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 them. 

 We all acknowledge both thy power and love 

 To be exact, transcendant, and divine ; 

 Who dost so strangely* and so sweetly move, 

 Whilst 5 all things have their end, 6 ye 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,'" 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 element ; as to the readers of Gesner,f Rondeletius,J 



VARIATIONS. 



1 Walton probably wrote from memory, as the stanzas which form part of a poem 

 entitled " Providence" are here transposed, and the following variations occur in Herbert's 

 printed work. 



3 But. 3 which. * strongly. 5 While. 



6 will. Herbert's " Temple," ed. 1633, p. 109. Of George Herbert, whose life was 

 written by Walton, some account will be found in the Memoir at the commencement of 



* Psalm civ. 



t Conrade Gesner, an eminent physician and naturalist, was born at Zurich in 1516. 

 Hi? skill in botany and natural history was such as procured him the appellation of the 

 Pliny of Germany : and Beza, who knew him, scruples not to assert that he concentrated 

 in himself the learning of Pliny and Varro. Nor was he more distinguished for his 

 learning than esteemed and beloved for that probity and sweetness of manners which 

 rendered him conspicuous through the course of his life ; notwithstanding which, he 

 laboured under the pressure of poverty to a degree that compelled him to write for 

 sustenance, and that in such haste .that his works, which are very numerous, are not 

 exempt from marks of it. Besides Bibliotheca sive Catalogus Scriptorum Lat. Gr. & 

 Hebr. tarn extantium quam non extantium, Tiguri, 1545-55, he wrote Historia Ani- 

 malium, and De Serpentum Natura, Tiguri, 1551-87 ; to both which works Walton 

 frequently refers. This excellent person died in 1565. H. 



t Guillaume Rondelet, an eminent physician, born at Montpelier in Languedoc, 1507. 

 He wrote a treatise De Piscibus marinis, Lugd. 1554-5, where all that Walton has taken 

 from him is to be found. He died, very poor, of a surfeit, occasioned by eating figs to 

 excess, in 1566. H. 



