The Compleat <Angler 



But pray remember I accuse nobody ; for as I would not make a 

 " watery discourse," so I would not put too much vinegar into it, nor 

 would I raise the reputation of my own art by the diminution or ruin 

 of another's. And so much for the prologue to what I mean to say. 



And now for the water, the element that I trade in. The water 

 is the eldest daughter of the creation, the element upon which the 

 Spirit of God did first move, the element which God commanded to 

 bring forth living creatures abundantly ; and without which, those 

 that inhabit the land, even all creatures that have breath in their 

 nostrils, must suddenly return to putrefaction. Moses, the great 

 lawgiver, and chief philosopher, skilled in all the learning of the 

 Egyptians, who was called the friend of God, and knew the mind of 

 the Almighty, names this element the first in the creation : this 

 is the element upon which the Spirit of God did first move, and is 

 the chief ingredient in the creation : many philosophers have made 

 it to comprehend all the other elements, and most allow it the 

 chiefest in the mixtion of all living creatures. 



There be that profess to believe that all bodies are made of water, 

 and may be reduced back again to water only : they endeavour to 

 demonstrate it thus : 



Take a willow (or any like speedy growing plant) newly rooted in 

 a box or barrel full of earth, weigh them all together exactly when 

 the tree begins to grow, and then weigh all together after the tree is 

 increased from its first rooting, to weigh a hundrd pound weight 

 more than when it was first rooted and weighed ; and you shall find 

 this augment of the tree to be without the diminution of one drachm 

 weight of the earth. Hence they infer this increase of wood to be 

 from water of rain, or from dew, and not to be from any other 

 element. And they affirm they can reduce this wood back again to 

 water ; and they affirm also the same may be done in any animal or 

 vegetable. And this I take to be a fair testimony of the excellency 

 of my element of water. 



The water is more productive than the earth. Nay, the earth 

 hath no fruitfulness without showers or dews ; for all the herbs and 

 flowers and fruit are produced, and thrive by the water ; and the 

 very minerals are fed by streams that run under ground, whose 



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