CHAP. I.] THE FIRST DAY. 47 



rather to remember you what is said of Turtle-doves ; first, that 

 they silently plight their troth, and marry ; and that then the 

 survivor scorn, as the Thracian women are said to do, to outlive 

 his or her mate ; and this is taken for a truth ; and if the sur- 

 vivor shall ever couple with another, then, not only the living, but 

 the dead, be it either the he or the she, is denied the name and 

 honour of a true Turtle-dove.* 



And to parallel this land-rarity, and teach mankind moral faith- 

 fulness, and to condemn those that talk of religion, and yet come 

 short of the moral faith of fish and fowl, men that violate the law 

 affirmed by St Paul,t to be writ in their hearts, and which, he 

 says, shall at the Last Day condemn and leave them without 

 excuse I pray hearken to what Du Bartas J sings, for the hear- 

 ing of such conjugal faithfulness will be music to all chaste ears, 

 and therefore I pray hearken to what Du Bartas sings of the 

 Mullet. 



But for chaste love the Mullet hath no peer ; 

 For, if the fisher hath surpris'd her pheer,} 

 As mad with wo, to shore she followeth, 

 Prest | to consort him, both in life and death. 



On the contrary, what shall I say of the House-Cock, which 

 treads any hen ; and then, contrary to the Swan, the Partridge, 

 and Pigeon, takes no care to hatch, to feed, or cherish his own 

 brood, but is senseless, though they perish. And it is consider- 

 able, that the Hen, which, because she also takes any Cock, 

 expects it not, who is sure the chickens be her own, hath by a 

 moral impression her care and affection to her own brood more 

 than doubled, even to such a height, that our Saviour, in express- 

 ing his love to Jerusalem,1F quotes her, for an example of tender 

 affection, as his father hath done Job, for a pattern of patience. 



And to parallel this Cock, there be divers fishes that cast their 

 spawn on flags or stones, and then leave it uncovered, and exposed 



* Of Swans it is also said that if either of a pair die, or be otherwise separated from 

 its mate, the other does not long survive. H. 



t Rom. ii. 14, 15. t Du Bartas, fifth day. 



Or Fellow; so Bed-pheer, Bedfellow. H. 



|| I'rest, from the French pret, Lat. paratus, ready, prepared. So Psalm ciy. old 

 version : 



He maketh his spirites as heralds to go, 

 And lightnings, to serve, we see also prest.ll. 

 Moses Browne has substituted a more elegant version : 



But in chaste love the Mullet all outvies ; 

 For when her mate the fisher makes his prize. 

 Mad to the shore she follows in despair, 

 In life and death, reso.'ved his fate to share. 

 U Matt, xxiii. 37. 



