shall be glad to exercise your attention with what I can say concerning my own recreation and Art of Angling, and by this means we shall make the way to seem the shorter: and if you like my motion, I would have Mr Falconer to begin. AUCEPS. Your motion is consented to with all my heart; and to testify it, I will begin as you have desired me. And first for the Element that I use to trade in, which is the Air, an element of more worth than weight, an element that doubtless exceeds both the Earth and Water; for though I sometimes deal in both, yet the air is most properly mine, I and my Hawks use that most, and it yields us most recreation. It stops not the high soaring of my noble generous Falcon; in it she ascends to such a height, as the dull eyes of beasts and fish are not able to reach to; their bodies are too gross for such high elevations; in the Air my troops of Hawks soar up on high, and when they are lost in the sight of men, then they attend upon and converse with the Gods; therefore I think my Eagle is so justly styled Jove's servant in ordinary: and that very Falcon, that I am now going to see, deserves no meaner a title, for she usually in her flight endangers herself, like the son of Dædalus, to have her wings scorched by the sun's heat, she flies so near it, but her mettle makes her careless of danger; for she then heeds nothing, but makes her nimble pinions cut the fluid air, and so makes her highway over the steepest mountains and deepest rivers, and in her glorious career looks with contempt upon those high steeples and magnificent palaces which we adore and wonder at; from which height, I can make her to descend by a word from my mouth, which she both knows and obeys, to accept of meat from my hand, to own me for her Master, 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 heavenly voices :—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 the air, that warble forth their curious ditties with which nature hath furnished them to the shame of art. As first the Lark, when she means to rejoice, to cheer herself and those that hear her; she then quits the earth, and sings as she ascends higher into the air, and having ended her heavenly employment, grows then mute, and sad, to think she must descend to the dull earth, which she would not touch, but for necessity. How do the Blackbird and Thrassel with their melodious voices bid welcome to the cheerful Spring, and in their fixed months warble forth such ditties as no art or instrument can reach to ! Nay, the smaller birds also do the like in their particular seasons, as namely the Laverock, the Tit-lark, the little Linnet, and the honest Robin that loves mankind both alive and dead. But the Nightingale, another of my airy creatures, breathes such sweet loud music out of her little instrumental throat, that it might make mankind to think miracles are not ceased. He that at midnight, when the very labourer sleeps securely, should hear, as I have very often, the clear airs, the sweet descants, the natural rising and falling, the doubling and redoubling of her voice, might well be lifted above earth, and say, (" Lord, what music hast thou provided for the Saints in Heaven, when thou affordest bad men such music on Earth!"*) And this makes me the less to wonder at the many Aviaries in Italy, or at the great charge of Varro's Aviary, the ruins of which are yet to be seen in Rome, and is still so famous there, that it is reckoned for one of those notables which men of foreign nations * This passage has been frequently noticed for its great beauty. Bishop Horne has quoted it in his Commentary on the Psalms, in consequence of its natural piety. Psalm civ. Dr Drake considers that the description of the Nightingale surpasses all that the poets have written on the subject. Literary Hours, No. xxxiv. ; and Headley had before made the same observation in his Select Beauties of Ancient English Poetry: Notes, vol. ii. p. 167.-P. either record, or lay up in their memories when they return from travel. This for the birds of pleasure, of which very much more might be said. My next shall be of birds of political use. I think it is not to be doubted that Swallows have been taught to carry letters between two armies; but 'tis certain that when the Turks besieged Malta or Rhodes, I now remember not which it was, Pigeons are then related to carry and recarry letters: and Mr G. Sandys,* in his "Travels,” relates it to be done betwixt Aleppo and Babylon. But if that be disbelieved, it is not to be doubted that the Dove was sent out of the ark by Noah, to give him notice of land, when to him all appeared to be sea; and the Dove proved a faithful and comfortable messenger. And for the sacrifices of the law, a pair of Turtle-doves, or young Pigeons, were as well accepted as costly Bulls and Rams; and when God would feed the Prophet Elijah,+ after a kind of miraculous manner, he did it by Ravens, who brought him meat morning and evening. Lastly, the Holy Ghost, when he descended visibly upon our Saviour, did it by assuming the shape of a Dove.‡ And, to conclude this part of * Mr George Sandys, a very pious, learned, and accomplished gentleman, was the youngest son of Dr Edwin Sandys, Archbishop of York. He published his Travels to the Holy Land, Egypt, and elsewhere, in folio, 1615; and made an excellent Paraphrase on the Psalms, Canticles, and Ecclesiastes, in verse; and also translated Ovid's Metamorphoses. He was one of the best versifiers of that age, and died in 1642.-H. George Sandys was born in the archiepiscopal palace, at Bishops Thorpe, in 1577, was entered at St Mary's Hall, Oxford, in 1588, and in August 1610 commenced his travels through Europe and Asia, which occupied two years. His Travels have been often reprinted; and besides the works just noticed, he was the author of Christ's Passion, a tragedy, translated from Grotius, 1640, 12mo; and a Paraphrase on the Song of Solomon, 4to, 1641. He died in 1643: the following passage which is cited in the text occurs in his "Relation of a Journey," 1615, fol. p. 209 -T. "A thing usual it is betweene Tripoly and Aleppo, as betweene Aleppo and Babylon, to make tame Doves the speedy transporters of their Letters; which they wrap about their legs like jesses; trained thereunto at such time as they have yong ones, by bearing them from them in open cages. A fowle of a notable memory. Nor is it a moderne invention. For we reade that Thaurosthones, by a pigeon stained with purple, gave notice of his victory at the Olimpian games the selfe same day to his father in Egina. By which meanes also the Consul Hircus held intelligence with Decimus Brutus besieged in Mutina. The like perhaps is meant by the Poet, when he saith 'Tanquam e diversis partibus Orbis Anxia præcipiti venisset Epistola prima.'-Juv. Sat. &c. As if from parts removed farre, from some A wofull Letter swiftly wing'd should come. When the Christians besieged Acre, Saladine sent out one of these winged scouts to confirme the courages of the besieged, with promise of a speedy reliefe: when I know not by what chance or policy, intercepted, and furnished with a contrary message, occasioned a sodaine surrender."-E. t Kings xvii. 4-6. Does not Walton here mistake the sense of two passages in Scripture, viz., Matt. iii. “And Jesus when he was baptized went up straightway out of the water; and, lo, the Heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a 16. my discourse, pray remember these wonders were done by birds of the air, the element in which they, and I, take so much plea sure. There is also a little contemptible winged creature, an inhabitant of my aerial element, namely, the laborious Bee, of whose prudence, policy, and regular government of their own commonwealth, I might say much, as also of their several kinds, and how useful their honey and wax are both for meat and medicines to mankind; but I will leave them to their sweet labour, without the least disturbance, believing them to be all very busy at this very time amongst the herbs and flowers that we see nature puts forth this May morning. And now to return to my Hawks, from whom I have made too long a digression. You are to note, that they are usually distinguished into two kinds; namely, the long-winged, and the short-winged Hawk: of the first kind, there be chiefly in use amongst us in this nation, The Gerfalcon and Jerkin, The Saker and Sacaret, The Merlin and Jack Merlin, There is the Stelletto of Spain, The Blood-red Rook from Turkey, And there is of short-winged Hawks, The Eagle and Iron, The Goshawk and Tarcel, The Sparhawk and Musket, The French Pye of two sorts: These are reckoned Hawks of note and worth; but we have also of an inferior rank, The Stanyel, the Ringtail, Dove and lighting upon him ;" and Luke iii. 22. "And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a Dove upon him," in which the baptism of our Lord is related? The meaning of both is, that the Holy Spirit descended, as a Dove uses to descend upon any thing, hovering and overshadowing it. Vide Whitby on Luke iii. 22. Dr Hammond on the passage, and Bishop Taylor's Ductor Dubitantium, 254.-H. The Rev. Moses Browne's remark on this passage is, "The author seems to have fallen into a common mistake most learned men think the original passage, Matt. iii. 16, implies the manner of the Holy Spirit's descending like a Dove, i.e., as a Dove descends, with a fluttering gentle motion; and not that of any corporal likeness, the visibility being on an effulgency of visible light or glory." The Raven, the Buzzard, The Forked Kite, the Bald Buzzard, The Hen-driver, and others that I forbear to name. * Gentlemen, if I should enlarge my discourse to the observation of the Eires, the Brancher, the Ramish Hawk, the Haggard, and the two sorts of Lentners, and then treat of their several Ayries, their Mewings, rare order of casting, and the renovation of their feathers their reclaiming, dieting, and then come to their rare stories of practice; I say, if I should enter into these, and many other observations that I could make, it would be much, very much pleasure to me: but lest I should break the rules of civility with you, by taking up more than the proportion of time allotted to me, I will here break off, and entreat you, Mr Venator, to say what you are able in the commendation of Hunting, to which you are so much affected; and if time will serve, I will beg your favour for a further enlargement of some of those several heads of which I have spoken. But no more at present. VENATOR. Well, Sir, and I will now take my turn, and will first begin with a commendation of the Earth, as you have done most excellently of the Air; the Earth being that element upon which I drive my pleasant, wholesome, hungry trade. The Earth is a solid, settled element; an element most universally beneficial both to man and beast; to men who have their several recreations upon it as horse-races, hunting, sweet smells, pleasant walks: the earth feeds man, and all those several beasts that both feed him, and afford him recreation. What pleasure doth man take in hunting the stately Stag, the generous Buck, the wild Boar, the cunning Otter, the crafty Fox, and the fearful Hare! And if I may descend to a lower game, what pleasure is it sometimes with gins to betray the very vermin of the earth; as namely, the Fichat, the Fulimart,† the Ferret, the Polecat, the Mouldwarp, and the like creatures, that live upon the face, and within the bowels of the Earth. How doth the Earth bring forth herbs, flowers, and fruits, both for physic and the pleasure of mankind ! * See Turberville, Latham, and Markham, on Falconry.-B. Dr Skinner, in his Etymologicon Lingua Anglicana, Lond. fol. 1671, voce "Fulimart," gives us to understand that this word is Vox quæ nusquam, nisi in libro "The Complete Angler" dicto, occurrit. Upon which it may be observed, that Dame Juliana Berners, in her Book of Hunting, ranks the Fulmarde among the beasts of chase; and that both in the Dictionary of Dr Adam Littleton, and that of Phillips, entitled the World of Words, it occurs: the first renders it Putorius, mus Ponticus; the latter a kind of Polecat. In Junius it is Fullmer, and said to be idem quod Polecat; but in this interpretation they seem all to be mistaken, for Walton here mentions the Polecat by name, as does also Dame Juliana Berners in her Book.-H. |