302 SEA FABLES EXPLAINED. 



most paines vndergone by the weakest men ; and although there are 

 many faults in the worke, yet iudge well of the Author ; for, as a late 

 writer well saith : ' To err and to be deceived is human, and he must 

 seek solitude who wishes to live only with the perfect' " 



It is difficult to comply with the request to think well of 

 one who, writing as an authority, deliberately promulgated, 

 with an affectation of piety, that which he must have 



FIG. 38. THE BARNACLE GOOSE TREE. After Aldrovandus. 



known to be untrue, and who was, moreover, a shameless 

 plagiarist ; for Gerard's ponderous book is little more than 

 a translation of Dodonaeus, whole chapters having been 

 taken verbatim and without acknowledgment from that 

 comparatively unread author. 



After this series of erroneous observations, self-delusion, 

 and ignorant credulity, it is refreshing to turn to the pages 



