98 THE COMPLETE ANGLES. PART I. 



tree to be without the diminution of one drachm weight 

 of the earth. Hence they infer this increase of 

 wood, to be from water or rain, or from dew, and 

 not to be from any other clement. And they affirm, 

 they can reduce this wood back again to water; and 

 they affirm also, the same may be done in any ani- 

 inal or vegetable. And this I take to be a fair tes- 

 timony of the excellency of my element of water. 



The water is more productive than the earth. Nay, 

 the earth hath no fruitfulness without showers or dews ; 

 for all the herbs, and flowers, and fruits, are produced 

 and thrive by the water 5 and the very minerals are fed 

 by streams that run under ground, whose natural course 

 carries them to the tops of many high mountains, as we 

 see by several springs breaking forth on the tops of the 

 highest hills ; and this is also witnessed by the daily 

 trial and testimony of several miners^ 



Nay, the increase of those creatures tliat are bred 

 aad fed in the water, are not only more and more 

 miraculous, but more advantageous to man, not only 

 for the lengthening of his life, but for preventing 

 of sickness ; for it is observed by the most learned 

 physicians, that the casting off of Lent, and other fish- 

 days, which hath not only given the lie to so many 

 learned, pious, wise founders of colleges, for which 

 we should be ashamed, has doubtless been the chief 

 cause of those many putrid, shaking, intermitting 

 agues, unto which this nation of ours is now more 

 subject, than those wiser countries that feed on 

 herbs, sallets, and plenty of fish; of which it is 

 observed in story, that the greatest part of the world 

 now do. And it may be fit to remember that 

 Moses, Lev. 11. 0. Dent. 14, 9. appointed fish to be 

 the chief diet for the best commonwealth that ever yet 

 %vas. 



And it is observable, not only that there are fish, 

 as namely the Whale, three times as big as the mighty 

 Elephant, that is so fierce in battle, but that the 

 mightiest feasts have been of fish. The Romans, in 

 the height of their glory, have made fish the mistress 

 of all their entertainments ; they have had musick 



