22 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. PART i. 



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 

 descend to the least of creatures, how doth the earth afford us 

 a doctrinal example in the little pismire, who in the summer 

 provides and lays up her winter provision, and teaches man to 

 do the like ! The earth feeds and carries those horses that 

 carry us. If I would be prodigal of my time and your patience, 

 what might not I say in commendations of the earth ? that puts 

 limits to the proud and raging sea, and by that means preserves 

 both man and beast, that it destroys them not, as we see it daily 

 doth those that venture upon the sea, and are there shipwrecked, 

 drowned, and left to feed haddocks; when we that are so wise 

 as to keep ourselves on the earth, walk, and talk, and live, and 

 eat, and drink, and go a-hunting: of which recreation I will say 

 a little, and then leave Mr. Piscator to the commendation of 

 angling. 



T-Tnntinff ]*_^ t fpro^ fnr prinrpfi flnH nohlft pprsnns ; it hath 



been highly prized in all ages; it was one of the qualifications 

 that 'Xenophon bestowed on his Cyrus, that he was a hunter of 

 wild beasts. Hunting trains up the younger nobility to the 

 use of manly exercises in their riper age. What more manly 

 exercise than hunting the wild boar, the stag, the buck, the fox, 

 or the hare ? How doth it preserve health, and increase strength 

 and activity ! 



And for the dogs that we use, who can commend their 

 excellency to that height which they deserve? How perfect 

 is the hound at smelling, who never leaves or forsakes his first 

 scent, but follows it through so many changes and varieties of 

 other scents, even over and in the water, and into the earth ! 

 What music doth a pack of dogs then make to any man, whose 



