CHAP. i. THE FIRST DAY. 23 



heart and ears are so happy as to be set to the tune of such 

 instruments ! How will a right greyhound fix his eye on the 

 best buck in a herd, single him out, and follow him, and him 

 only, through a whole herd of rascal game, and still know and 

 then kill him ! For my hounds, I know the language of them, 

 and they know the language and meaning of one another as 

 perfectly as we know the voices of those with whom we discourse 

 daily. 



I might enlarge myself in the commendation of hunting, and 

 of the noble hound especially, as also of the docibleness of 

 dogs in general ; and I might make many observations of land 

 creatures, that for composition, order, figure, and constitution, 

 approach nearest to the completeness and understanding of 

 man; especially of those creatures which Moses in the law 

 permitted to the Jews, which have cloven hoofs, and chew the 

 cud ; which I shall forbear to name, because I will not be so 

 uncivil to Mr. Piscator, as not to allow him a time for the com- 

 mendation of angling, which he calls an art; but doubtless it is 

 an easy one ; and, Mr. Auceps, I doubt we shall hear a watery 

 discourse of it, but I hope it will not be a long one. 



AUG. And I hope so too, though I fear it will. 



Pise. Gentlemen, let not prejudice prepossess_ypu. I confess 

 my discourse is like to prove suitable to my recreation, calm and 

 quiet ; we seldom take the name of God into our mouths but it is 

 either to praise him or pray to him ; if others use it vainly in the 

 midst of their recreations, so vainly as if they meant to conjure, 

 I must tell you it is neither our fault nor our custom ; we protest 

 against it. 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 jajsp the reputation of mv own art 

 or ruin of another's. And so much for the 

 to what I mean to say. 



And now for the t \vater ? teh 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 



