26 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. PART I. 



added by my friend Elias Ashmole, Esq. who now keeps 

 them carefully and methodically at his house near to 

 Lambeth, near London, 1 as may get some belief of some 

 of the other wonders I mentioned. I will tell you some 

 of the wonders that you may now see, and not till then 

 believe, unless you think fit. 



You may there see the Hog-fish, the Dog-fish, the 

 Dolphin, the Cony-fish, the Parrot-fish, the Shark, the 

 Poison-fish, Sword-fish, and not only other incredible^//, 

 but you may there see the Salamander, several sorts of 

 Barnacles, of Solan-Geese, the Bird of Paradise, such 

 sorts of Snakes, and such Bird's-nests, and of so various 

 forms, and so wonderfully made, as may beget wonder 

 and amusement in any beholder ; and so many hundred 

 of other rarities in that collection, as will make the other 



Whilst they (as Homer'* Iliad, in nut) 

 A world of wonders iu one cloiri shut. 

 Thrie famous Antiquarians that had torn. 

 Both Gardeuers to the Rose and Lilly Quern 

 Transplanted now themselves, slrep here. And when 

 Angels shall with their trumpets wttkei) meu, 

 And fire shall purse the world, these hence shall rise. 

 And change their gardens for a Paradise. 



The Tradescmitt were the first collectors of natural curiosities in this king- 

 dom; Ashmole, and Sii Ilitni Sloane, were the next; the generous spirit of 

 lhe*e per-on seems to haw been transfused into, and at present (J78I) t<> reside 

 in. a private Gealleonu of unbounded curiosity and li!>Tdlity. Sir Ashton 

 Lever; whose collections, lor beauty, vmiety. and copiousness, exceed all 

 description, and surpass every thing of the kind iu the known world. Hawkins. 



After Sir Ash ion Lever's deth, this collection WHS iinpo:ed of by lottery, and 

 came into the bands of Mi. Paikinson, who, (iu lUrf)) sold the whole, in 

 separate lots, by pnMic auction. 



(1) Ashmole was, at first, a Solicitor in Chancery : but marrying a lady with :< 

 large fortune, and being well skilled in history and antiquities, he was promoted 

 lo the office of Windsor Herald, and wrote the History of the Order of 

 tkc Garter, published in 167?. iu folio. But addicting himself to the then 

 fashionable studies of chemistry and judicial astrology ; and *s-ociating himself 

 with that silly, crack-brained enthusiast, J ,hn Aubrey, Esq of Surrey, and that 

 egregious impostor, Lilly the Astrologer, he became a dupe to the knavery of 

 the one, and the follies of both; and lost in a great measure the reputation he 

 had acquired by this, and other of his wiitings. Of his weakness and supersti- 

 tion, he has left on record this memorable instance: "llth Apiil, lfi8l. I took, 

 early in the morning, a good dose of elixir, and hung three spiders about my 

 neck; and they drove my ague away. Deogratiai." See Memoirs of the Life 

 of that Antiquarian, Eliot Ashmole, Etg. drawn up by himself by way of 

 diary, published by Charles Burman, Esq. IC.no. 1717. 



