CHAP. 1. THE COMPLETE 



accept of meat from my hand, to own me for her Master f 

 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 Man 

 himself; that 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 

 mankind, 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 hea- 

 venly voices: 1 I will not undertake 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 



(1) To these particulars may be added. That the Kings of Persia were wont 

 to hawk alter Butterflies with Sparrows and SUies, or Starlings, trained for the 

 purpose. Burton o.i Melancholy, l6M,p. COB, from the relations of Sir An- 

 thony Shirley. And we are also lo'd, that M. de Luisnes (afterwards Prime 

 Minister of Trance,) in the uonage of Lewis XIII. gained much upon him bj 

 milking Hawks catch little Birds, and by mukinj some of those little Birds again 

 catch Butterflies. Lift qfLord Herbert of Cherbury, p. IS*. 



