16 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



man take in hunting the stately stag, the generous buck, the 

 wild boar, the cunning otter, the crafty fox, and the fearful 

 hare ? And if I may descend to a lower game, what pleasure is 

 it sometimes with gins to betray the very vermin of the earth ! 

 as namely, the fitchet, the fulimart, the ferret, the pole-cat, the 

 mould warp,* and the like creatures that live upon the face and 

 within the bowels of the earth ! How doth the earth bring forth 

 herbs, flowers, and fruits, both for physic and the pleasure of 

 mankind ! 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,f 

 and other meat suitable, 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 1 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 recrea- 

 tion I will say a little, and then leave Mr. Piscator to the com- 

 mendation of angling. 



Hunting is a game tor princes and noble persons ; it hath 

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



* Prof. Rennie says, that " the fitchet, or fitchew, the fulimart, or fu- 

 mart, and the polecat, appear to be all of the same species {mustela puto- 

 rius)." The fulmart is named in the Boke of St. Albans among the 

 beasts of the chase, though Skinner, in his Etymologium LingucB Angli' 

 cance, says the word only occurs in Walton. Foumart is still used in Scot- 

 land. The mouldwarp is tlie mole. Mould-warp, i. e. a cast earth, ac- 

 cording to Verstigan. — Am. Ed., from several authorities. 



t Plutarch's Life of Anthony, 



