110 fHE COMPLETE ANGLER. PART I. 



rivers, and the fish therein contained ! And the great 

 naturalist Pliny says, <c That nature's great and won- 

 derful power is more demonstrated in the sea than on tlie 

 land." And this may appear, by the numerous and 

 various creatures inhabiting, both in and about, that 

 clement ; as to the readers of Gessner *, Rondeletius t , 

 Pliny, AusoniusJ, Aristotle, and others, may be de- 

 monstrated. But I will sweeten this dis- 

 tSe fifth day. n course also out of a contemplation in divine 

 Du Bartas, who says : 



God quickened in the sea, and in the rivers 

 So many fishes of so many features, . 

 That in the waters we may see all creatures, 

 Even all that on the earth are to be found, 

 As if the -world were in deep waters drown'd. 

 For seas as well as* skies have Sun, Moon, Stars ; 

 As well as air Swallows, Rooks, and Stares ** ; 

 As well as earth Vines, Roses, Nettles, Melons, 

 Mushrooms, Finks, Gilliflowers, and many millions 



* Conrade Gessner, an eminent physician and naturalist, was born at Zu- 

 rich in 1516. His 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 concentered in himself the learning of Pliny 

 end 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 la- 

 boured 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 

 rery numerous, are not exempt from marks of it. Besides a Bibllotheca 

 si've Catalogus Scriptoritm Lot. Gr & Hebr. tarn extanthtm quam non extan- 

 tium y Tig. 1545 48. he wrote Historia Animalium, and De Serpentum 

 Nature; to both which works Walton frequently refers. This excellent 

 person died in 1565. 



f Guillaume Rondelet^ an eminent physician, born at Montpelier in Lan- 

 guedoc, 1507. He wrote several books ; and a treatise De Piscibus atari- 

 tiisy where all that Walton has taken from him is to be found. He died- 

 very poor of a surfeit, occasioned by eating of figs to excess, in 1566. 



| Dccius Ausonius, a native of Bourdeaux ; was a Latin Poet, Consul of 

 Rome, and Preceptor to tbe emperer Gratian. He died about 390. 



Guillaume de Saluste Sieur du Bartas, was a poet of great reputation in 

 Walton's time. He wrote, in French, a poem called Divine Weeks and 

 Works ; whence the passage in the text, and many others cited in this 

 work, are extracted. This, with his other delightful works, was trani- 

 latedinto English by Joshua Sylvester. 



** Or Starlings, Minsheu. 



