AN ANGLER, A HUNTER, AND A FALCONER 



And first, for the element that I used to trade in, which is 

 the Air, an element of more worth than weight, an element 

 that doubtless exceeds both the earth and water; for though 

 I sometimes deal in both, yet the air is most properly mine, I 

 and my Hawks use that most, and it yields us most recreation ; 

 it stops not the high soaring of my noble generous Falcon ; in 

 it she ascends to such an height, as the dull eyes of beasts and 

 fish are not able to reach to; their bodies are too gross for 

 such high elevations: in the air my troops of Hawks soar up 

 on high, and when they are lost in the sight of men, then they 

 attend upon and converse with the Gods ; therefore I think my 

 Eagle is so justly stiled Jove's servant in ordinary: and that 

 very Falcon, that I am now going to see, deserves no meaner 

 a title, for she usually in her flight endangers herself, like the 

 son of Daedalus, to have her wings scorched by the Sun's heat, 

 she flies so near it, but her mettle makes her careless of danger ; 

 for she then heeds nothing, but makes her nimble pinions cut 

 the fluid air, and so makes her high way over the steepest 

 mountains and deepest rivers, and in her glorious career looks 

 with contempt upon those high steeples and magnificent palaces 

 which we adore and wonder at ; from which height I can make 

 her to descend by a word from my mouth, (which she both knows 

 and obeys), to accept of meat from my hand, to own me for her 

 Master, to go home with me, and be willing the next day to 

 afford me the like recreation. 



And more ; this element of air which I profess to trade in, 

 the worth of it is such, and it is of such necessity, that no 

 creature whatsoever, not only those numerous creatures that 

 feed on the face of the earth, but those various creatures that 

 have their dwelling within the waters, every creature that hath 

 life in it's nostrils stands in need of my element. The waters 

 cannot preserve the Fish without air, witness the not breaking 

 of ice in an extreme frost ; the reason is, for that if the inspiring 

 and expiring organ of any animal be stopped, it suddenly yields 

 to nature, and dies. Thus necessary is air to the existence 

 both of Fish and Beasts, nay, even to Man himself; that air or 

 breath of life with which God at first inspired mankind, Gen. ii. 7., 

 he, if he wants it, dies presently, becomes a sad object to all that 

 loved and beheld him, and in an instant turns to putrefaction. 



S 



