CHAP. I. THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 23 



their mind in a quiet repose, and there make them fit for 

 revelation. 



And this seems also to be intimated by the children of 

 Israel, (Ps. 137.) who having in a sad condition banished 

 all mirth and music from their pensive hearts, and having 

 hung up their then mute harps upon the willow-trees 

 growing by the rivers of Babylon, sat down upon those 

 banks, bemoaning the ruins of Sion, and contemplating 

 their own sad condition. 



And an ingenious Spaniard 1 says, that " rivers and 

 the inhabitants of the watery element were made for wise 

 men to contemplate, and fools to pass by without con- 

 sideration." And though I will not rank myself in the 

 number of the first, yet give me leave to free myself from 

 the last, by offering to you a short contemplation, first of 

 rivers, and then of fish ; concerning which I doubt not 

 but to give you many observations that will appear very 

 considerable : I am sure they have appeared so to me, 

 and made many an hour pass away more pleasantly, 

 as I have sate quietly on a flowery bank by a calm river, 

 and contemplated what I shall now relate to you. 



And first concerning rivers ; there be so many wonders 

 reported and written of them, and of the several creatures 

 that be bred and live in them, and those by authors of so 

 good credit, that we need not to deny them an historical 

 faith. 



As namely of a river in Epirus, that puts out any lighted 

 torch, and kindles any torch that was not lighted. Some 

 waters, being drank, cause madness, some drunkenness, 

 and some laughter to death. The river Selarus in a few 

 hours turns a rod or wand to stone ; and our Camden 



(1) It has been said that the person here meant was John Valdtsw, mention- 

 ed in the Life of Walton preceding, and that the passage in the text occurs in 

 his Considerations ; but upon a careful perusal of that book for the purpose, no 

 such sentiment has been found. 



