THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 29 



J know we islanders are averse to the belief of these wonders ; 

 but there be so many strange creatures to be now seen, many 

 collected by John Tradescant,* and others added by my friend 

 Elias Ashmole, Esq. ; who now keeps them carefully and me- 

 thodically at his house near to Lambeth near London, as may 

 get some belief of some of the other wonders I mentioned. I 

 will tell you some of the wonders that you may now see, and 

 not till then believe, unless you think fit. 



You may there see the hog-fish, the dog-fish, the dolphin, the 

 coney-fish, the parrot-fish, the shark, the poison-fish, sword-fish, 

 and not only other incredible fish ; but you may there see the 

 salamander, several sorts of barnacles, of Solan geese, the bird 

 of Paradise, such sorts of snakes, and such bird's-nests, and of 

 so various forms, and so wonderfully made, as may beget wonder 

 and amusement in any beholder: and so many hundred of other 

 rarities in that collection, as will make the other wonders I spake 

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

 Nature's store-house, 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's 

 divine contemplation on God's Providence. f 



Lord, who hath praise enough, nay, ivho hath any ? 

 JVone can express thy works, but he that knows them ; 

 And none can know thy works, they are so many. 

 And so complete, hut only he that owes them ! 



wards Prebendary of Canterbury. He wrote many learned works ; that to 

 which Walton refers, was first printed in 16GS, and again in 1670. Wal- 

 ton has taken much from Casaubon. — Sir H. JMcholas, and others. 



* There were three Tradescants, the grandfather and father, gardeners 

 to Queen Elizabeth, the son to Charles I., all great collectors of curiosi- 

 ties. A catalogue of their collections is extant, Musceum Tradescantia- 

 num, 1656. The collection was purchased or obtained as a gift, by Elias 

 Ashmole, and presented by him to the University of Oxford, and became 

 the foundation of the Ashmolean Museum. — Hawkins, JVicholas, and 

 others. 



t George Herbert is too well known by his Country Parson and Poems, 

 and Walton's life of him, to need notice here. Walton quotes from 

 memory, or has purposely improved the lines, as they differ a little from 

 the author's in his own work. — Am. Ed. 



