The Compleat ^Angler 



Gentlemen, if I should enlarge my discourse to the observation of 

 the eiries, the brancher, the ramish hawk, the haggard, and the 

 two sorts of lentners, and then treat of their several ayries, their 

 mewings, rare order of casting, and the renovation of their feathers : 

 their reclaiming, dieting, and then come to their rare stories of 

 practice ; I say, if I should enter into these, and many other observa- 

 tions that I could make, it would be much, very much pleasure to me : 

 but lest I should break the rules of civility to you, by taking up 

 more than the proportion of time allotted to me, I will here break 

 off, and entreat you, Mr. Venator, to say what you are able in the 

 commendation of hunting, to which you are so much affected ; and, 

 if time will serve, I will beg your favour for a further enlargement 

 of some of those several heads of which I have spoken. But no 

 more at present. 



VEN. Well, sir, and I will now take my turn, and will first begin 

 with a commendation of the Earth, as you have done most excellently 

 of the Air : the earth being that element upon which I drive my 

 pleasant, wholesome, hungry trade. The earth is a solid, settled 

 element : an element most universally beneficial both to man and 

 beast : to men who have their several recreations upon it, as horse- 

 races, hunting, sweet smells, pleasant walks : the earth feeds man, 

 and all those several beasts that both feed him and afford him 

 recreation. What pleasure doth 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, 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 



33 c 



