CHAP. i. THE FIRST DAY. 21 



These are reckoned hawks of note and worth ; but we have also 

 hawks of an inferior rank, 



The Stanyel, the Ringtail, 



The Raven, the Buzzard, 



The Forked Kite, the Bald Buzzard, 



The Hen-driver, and others that I forbear to name. 



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, andlhe 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 observations 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-racing, hunting, 

 swjeeT~smeils, pleasant walksJ the earth feeds man, and all 

 those several beasts that both feed him and afford him re- 

 creation. 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, nam'ely, the fitchet, the ftilimart, 

 the ferret, the pole-cat, the mould- warp, and the like creatures 



