18 THE COMPLETE ANGLER 



highway 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 its 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 mail 

 himself ; the air or breath of life with which God at first 

 inspired mankind, 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. 



Nay more, the very birds of the air, those that be not 

 hawks, are both so many and so useful and pleasant to man- 

 kind, that I must not let them pass without some observations. 

 They both feed and refresh him feed him with their choice 

 bodies, and refresh him with their heavenly voices. I will not 

 imdertake to mention the several kinds of fowl by which this 

 is done and his curious palate pleased by day, and which 

 with their very excrements afford him a soft lodging at night 

 these I will pass by; but not those little nimble musicians 

 of the air, that warble forth their curious ditties, with which 

 nature hath furnished them to the shame of art. 



As, first, the lark, when she means to rejoice, to cheer her- 

 self and those that hear her ; she then quits the earth, and 

 sings as she ascends higher into the air, and having ended 

 her heavenly employment, grows then mute and sad, to think 



* Though deep waters may be frozen over, fish will live in them beneath the 

 ice. In shallow waters, fish are frequently frozen to death. Fish, like certain 

 quadrupeds the northern bear, the marmot, and the little dormouse, frequently 

 remain in a torpid state during winter, and only revive with renewed increase 

 .of temperature of the water, caused by rains or atmospheric influence. ED. 



