EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. Ill 



Waer sal een vryer heen ? waer sal een minnaer varen ? 

 Hoc ? is met Venus selfs gesproten uyt de baren ? 

 Besict het gautsche diep, het kricht ven haren brandt, 

 De Zee heeft ook haer vier ; 'tis Venus Vaderlandt," 



(Why are we sailing over the seas to all foreign lands ? 

 The heat or fever of love can burn even in the waters. 

 The whale does not keep a steady course, but goes on 

 blowing in the midst of the vast ocean. Where shall a 

 lover not go ? To where shall he not set sail ? Venus 

 herself, is she not borne of the waves ? Examine the 

 depth of the sea, it is full of her fire. It is heaven's 

 fatherland.) 



Cats has another piece, in which he describes fishing 

 by torch-light. Prom the fact that the fish gather round 

 the light and seem spell-bound, he draws a moral that 

 people should not be led away by appearances, nor be 

 perpetually striving after what they cannot attain. They 

 had better remain in their accustomed station of life than 

 to run after shadows and glaring enterprises, which so 

 often lead to fatal consequences. 



The following pieces are taken from a little work called 

 Miscellanies, published by Thomas Passenger, at the 

 Three Bibles and Star, London Bridge. They are under 

 the head of Dutch Fishing Rhymes. 



Minheer Van Storke 



Please get to worke 

 And catch a fish for dinner ; 



When you've dry'd it, 



Then you'll fry it, 

 And nothing will be finner. 



