THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 31 



God quicJxened in the sea arid in the rivers. 



So mani/Jishes of so luany features. 



That in the waters we may see all creatures, 



Ev'n all that on the earth are to be found. 



As if the world were in deep ivaters drowri'd. 



For Seas as well as Skies, have Sun, Moon, StafS ; 



As well as Air — Swallows, Rooks, and Stares ; 



As well as Earth — Fines, Noses, JS^etlles, Melons, 



Mushrooms, Finks, Gillifiowers, and many millions 



Of other plants, 7nore rare, more strange than thesd 



As very fishfs living in the seas : 



As also Rams, Calves, Horses, Hares, and Hogs, 



Wolves, Urchins, Lions, Elephants, and Dogs ; 



Yea Men and Maids ; and which 1 most admire. 



The mitred Bishop, and the cowled Friar * 



Of which, examph but a few years since. 



Were shown the JS^orway and Polonian Prince. 



These seem to be wonders, but have liad so many confirma- 

 tions from men of learning and credit, that you need not doubt 

 them ; nor are the number, nor the various shapes of fishes, 

 more strange or more fit for contemplation, than their different 

 natures, inclinations, and actions ; concerning which I shall beg 

 your patient ear a little longer. 



The cuttle-fish will cast a long gut out of her throat, which, 

 like as an angler doth his line, she sendeth forth and pulleth in 

 again at her pleasure, according as she sees some little fish come 



poem. Walton quotes from the Fifth Day of the First Week, but, as 

 usu-il, varies from the original. Du Bartas follows Oppian in his notice of 

 fishes.— -im. Ed. 



* Various stories are told of fish resembling men. Rondeletius, vouched 

 by Bellonius, gives an account of a fish taken in Polonia and brouglit alive 

 to the king, that resembled a bishop, and was afterwards let go into the 

 water again. The same author describes a fish resembling a monk. 

 Stow, in his Chronicles, says that a fish was taken in the time of Henry 

 n., resembling a man, which was kept for six months, and even brought to 

 church, though he never spoke nor gave signs of reason. He afterwards 

 escaped into the sea. — Hawkins. 



Redding, in The Itinerary of Cornvjall (p. Ill), says, that sometimes, 

 though rarely, there is a species of shark {Squatina Angelus of Cuvier, 

 and 'P.i'ij of Oppian) taken on that coast, which is called an angel or monk- 

 fish, and might well be the original of both " the mitred bishop and the 

 cowled friar." — Am. Ed. 



