as an Angler doth his line, she sendeth forth, and pulleth in again at her pleasure, according as she sees some little fish come near to her; and the Cuttle-fish,* being then hid in the gravel, lets the smaller fish nibble and bite the end of it; at which time she, by little and little, draws the smaller fish so near to her, that she may leap upon her, and then catches and devours her and for this reason some have called this fish the Sea-angler.

And there is a fish called a Hermit, that at a certain age gets into a dead fish's shell, and, like a hermit, dwells there alone, studying the wind and weather; and so turns her shell, that she makes it defend her from the injuries that they would bring upon her.

There is also a fish called by Ælianf the Adonis, or Darling of the Sea; so called, because it is a loving and innocent fish, a fish that hurts nothing that hath life, and is at peace with all the numerous inhabitants of that vast watery element; and truly, I think most Anglers are so disposed to most of mankind.

And there are, also, lustful and chaste fishes; of which I shall give you examples.

And first, what Du Bartas says of a fish called the Sargus; which, because none can express it better than he does, I shall give you in his own words, supposing it shall not have the less credit for being verse; for he hath gathered this and other observations out of authors that have been great and industrious searchers into the secrets of nature.

The adult'rous Sargus doth not only change

Wives every day, in the deep streams, but, strange!

As if the honey of sea-love delight

Could not suffice his ranging appetite,

Goes courting she-goats on the grassy shore,

Horning their husbands that had horns before.

And the same author writes concerning the Cantharus, that which you shall also hear in his own words :

But, contrary, the constant Cantharus
Is ever constant to his faithful spouse;
In nuptial duties, spending his chaste life;
Never loves any but his own dear wife.

Sir, but a little longer, and I have done.

VENATOR. Sir, take what liberty you think fit, for your discourse seems to be music, and charms me to an attention.

PISCATOR. Why then, Sir, I will take a little liberty to tell, or

Montaigne, Essays, and others, affirm this.
Ninth book Of Living Creatures, ch. 16.

Claudius Ælianus was born at Præneste in Italy, in the reign of the Emperor Adrian. He wrote De Animalium Naturâ, and other works.-H.

rather to remember you what is said of Turtle-doves; first, that they silently plight their troth, and marry; and that then the survivor scorn, as the Thracian women are said to do, to outlive his or her mate; and this is taken for a truth; and if the survivor shall ever couple with another, then, not only the living, but the dead, be it either the he or the she, is denied the name and honour of a true Turtle-dove.*

And to parallel this land-rarity, and teach mankind moral faithfulness, and to condemn those that talk of religion, and yet come short of the moral faith of fish and fowl, men that violate the law affirmed by St Paul, to be writ in their hearts, and which, he says, shall at the Last Day condemn and leave them without excuse-I pray hearken to what Du Bartas ‡ sings, for the hearing of such conjugal faithfulness will be music to all chaste ears, and therefore I pray hearken to what Du Bartas sings of the Mullet.

But for chaste love the Mullet hath no peer:
For, if the fisher hath surpris'd her pheer,
As mad with wo, to shore she followeth,
Prest to consort him, both in life and death.

On the contrary, what shall I say of the House-Cock, which treads any hen; and then, contrary to the Swan, the Partridge, and Pigeon, takes no care to hatch, to feed, or cherish his own brood, but is senseless, though they perish. And it is considerable, that the Hen, which, because she also takes any Cock, expects it not, who is sure the chickens be her own, hath by a moral impression her care and affection to her own brood more than doubled, even to such a height, that our Saviour, in expressing his love to Jerusalem,¶ quotes her, for an example of tender affection, as his father hath done Job, for a pattern of patience.

And to parallel this Cock, there be divers fishes that cast their spawn on flags or stones, and then leave it uncovered, and exposed

* Of Swans it is also said that if either of a pair die, or be otherwise separated from its mate, the other does not long survive.-H.

† Rom. ii. 14, 15.

Or Fellow; so Bed-pheer, Bedfellow.-H.

Du Bartas, fifth day.

So Psalm civ. old

Prest, from the French prêt, Lat. paratus, ready, prepared. version:

He maketh his spirites as heralds to go,
And lightnings, to serve, we see also prest.-H.

Moses Browne has substituted a more elegant version :

Matt. xxiii. 37.

But in chaste love the Mullet all outvies;
For when her mate the fisher makes his prize,
Mad to the shore she follows in despair,

In life and death, resolved his fate to share.

to become a prey and be devoured by vermin or other fishes. But other fishes, as, namely, the Barbel, take such care for the preservation of their seed, that, unlike to the Cock, or the Cuckoo, they mutually labour, both the spawner and the melter, to cover their spawn with sand, or watch it, or hide it in some secret place, unfrequented by vermin or by any fish but themselves.

Sir, these examples may, to you and others, seem strange; but they are testified, some by Aristotle, some by Pliny, some by Gesner, and by many others of credit; and are believed and known by divers, both of wisdom and experience, to be a truth; and indeed are, as I said at the beginning, fit for the contemplation of a most serious and a most pious man. And doubtless this made the prophet David say,* * 46 They that occupy themselves in deep waters, see the wonderful works of God:" indeed such wonders, and pleasures too, as the land affords not.

And that they be fit for the contemplation of the most prudent, and pious, and peaceable men, seems to be testified by the practice of so many devout and contemplative men, as the Patriarchs and Prophets of old; and of the Apostles of our Saviour in our latter times, of which twelve, we are sure, he chose four that were simple fishermen, whom he inspired, and sent to publish his blessed will to the Gentiles; and inspired them also with a power to speak all languages, and by their powerful eloquence to beget faith in the unbelieving Jews; and themselves to suffer for that Saviour, whom their forefathers and they had crucified; and, in their sufferings, to preach freedom from the incumbrances of the law, and a new way to everlasting life: this was the employment of these happy fishermen. Concerning which choice, some have made these observations :

First, that he never reproved these, for their employment or calling, as he did the Scribes and the Money-changers. And secondly, he found that the hearts of such men, by nature, were fitted for contemplation and quietness; men of mild, and sweet, and peaceable spirits, as indeed most Anglers are these men our blessed Saviour, who is observed to love to plant grace in good natures, though indeed nothing be too hard for him, yet these men he chose to call from their irreprovable employment of fishing, and gave them grace to be his disciples, and to follow him, and do wonders; I say four of twelve.

And it is observable that it was our Saviour's will that these, our four fishermen, should have a priority of nomination in the

* Psalm cvii. 23, 24

catalogue of his twelve Apostles,* as, namely, first St Peter, St Andrew, St James, and St John; and then the rest in their order.

And it is yet more observable that when our blessed Saviour went up into the mount, when he left the rest of his disciples, and chose only three to bear him company at his Transfiguration, that those three were all fishermen. And it is to be believed that all the other Apostles, after they betook themselves to follow Christ, betook themselves to be fishermen too; for it is certain that the greater number of them were found together, fishing, by Jesus after his resurrection, as it is recorded in the twenty-first chapter of St John's Gospel.

And since I have your promise to hear me with patience, I will take a liberty to look back upon an observation that hath been made by an ingenious and learned man; who observes that God hath been pleased to allow those whom he himself hath appointed to write his holy will in holy writ, yet to express his will in such metaphors as their former affections or practice had inclined them to. And he brings Solomon for an example, who, before his conversion, was remarkably carnally amorous; and after, by God's appointment, wrote that spiritual dialogue, or holy amorous love-song, the Canticles, betwixt God and his Church : in which he says, "his beloved had eyes like the fish-pools of Heshbon."

And if this hold in reason, as I see none to the contrary, then it may be probably concluded that Moses, who I told you before writ the Book of Job, and the prophet Amos, who was a shepherd, were both Anglers; for you shall, in all the Old Testament, find fish-hooks, I think, but twice mentioned, namely, by meek Moses the friend of God, and by the humble prophet Amos.+

Concerning which last, namely, the prophet Amos, I shall make

* Matt. x. 2.

Walton was a good Scripturist, and therefore can hardly be supposed to have been ignorant of the passage in Isaiah, chap. xix. 8, "The fishers shall mourn, and all they that cast angle upon the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish." Which words, as they do but imply the use of fish-hooks, he might think not directly to his purpose; but in the translation of the above prophet by the learned Bishop Lowth, who himself assures me that the word hook is truly rendered, the passage stands thus:

"And the fishers shall mourn and lament;

All those that cast the hook in the river,

And those that spread nets on the face of the waters shall languish."

The following passage Walton seems likewise to have forgotten when he wrote the above, unless the reason before assigned induced him to reject it: They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag, therefore they rejoice and are glad."-Habakkuk i. 15.—H.

D

but this observation, that he that shall read the humble, lowly, plain style of that prophet, and compare it with the high, glorious, eloquent style of the prophet Isaiah, though they be both equally true, may easily believe Amos to be, not only a shepherd, but a good-natured plain fisherman. Which I do the rather believe, by comparing the affectionate, loving, lowly, humble Epistles of St Peter, St James, and St John, whom we know were all fishers, with the glorious language and high metaphors of St Paul, who we may believe was not.

*

And for the lawfulness of fishing it may very well be maintained by our Saviour's bidding St Peter cast his hook into the water and catch a fish, for money to pay tribute to Cæsar. And let me tell you that Angling is of high esteem, and of much use in other nations. He that reads the Voyages of Ferdinand Mendez Pinto shall find that there he declares to have found a king and several priests a-fishing. And he that reads Plutarch shall find that Angling was not contemptible in the days of Mark Antony and Cleopatra, and that they, in the midst of their wonderful glory, used Angling as a principal recreation.+ And let me tell you, that in the Scripture Angling is always taken in the best sense; and that though hunting may be sometimes so taken, yet it is but seldom to be so understood. And let me add this more: he that views the ancient Ecclesiastical Canons, shall find hunting to be forbidden to Churchmen, as being a turbulent, toilsome, perplexing recreation; and shall find Angling allowed to clergymen, as being a harmless recreation, a recreation that invites them to contemplation and quietness.

VARIATION.

7 the glorious language and high metaphors of St Paul, whom we know was not,

A traveller whose veracity is much questioned.-H. He was born about 1510, and for one-and-twenty years travelled in the East. During that time he was five times shipwrecked, seventeen times sold, and thirteen times made a slave: he returned to Lisbon 22d September 1558. The passage alluded to by Walton occurs in "The Voyages and Adventures of Ferdinand Mendez Pinto, done into English by H[enry] C[ogan], Gent., London, 1633," fol, chap. lxxix. p. 319.-T.

The fact related by Plutarch is the following: "It would be very tedious and trifling to recount all his follies; but his fishing must not be forgot. He went out one day to angle with Cleopatra; and being so unfortunate as to catch nothing in the presence of his mistress, he was very much vexed, and gave secret orders to the fisherman to dive under water, and put fishes that had been fresh taken upon his hook. After he had drawn up two or three, Cleopatra perceived the trick: she pretended, however, to be surprised at his good fortune and dexterity; told it to all her friends, and invited them to come and see him fish the next day. Accordingly, a very large company went out in the fishing-vessels; and as soon as Antony had let down his line, she commanded one of her servants to be beforehand with Antony's, and, diving into the water, to fix upon his hook a salted fish, one of those which were brought from the Euxine Sea." -H.