Aristotle, and others, may be demonstrated. But I will

Du Burtas, in the fifth day.

sweeten this discourse also out of a contemplation in divine Du Bartas,' who says:

God quickened in the sea, and in the rivers,

So many fishes of so many features,
That in the waters we may see all creatures,
Even all that on the earth are to be found,
As if the world were in deep waters drown'd.
For seas as well as skies-have Sun, Moon, Stars;
As well as air-Swallows, Rooks, and Stares ;2
As well as earth-Vines, Roses, Nettles. Melons,
Mushrooms, Pinks, Gilliflowers, and many millions
Of other plants, more rare, more strange than these,
As very fishes, living in the seas;

As also Rams, Calves, Horses, Hares, and Hogs,
Wolves, Urchins, Lions, Elephants, and Dogs;
Yea men and maids; and, which I most admire,
The mitred Bishop and the cowled Friar ;3
Of which, examples, but a few years since,
Were shewn the Norway and Polonian prince.

(1) Guillaume de Saluste, Sieur du Bartas, was a poet of great reputation in Walton's time. He wrote, in French, a poem called Divine Weeks and Works; whence the passage in the text, and many others cited in this work, are extracted. This, with his other delightful works, was translated into English by Joshua Sylvester.

(2) Or Starlings. Minsheu.

(3) This story of the Bishop-fish is told by Rondeletius, and vouched by Bellonius. Without taking much pains in the translation, it is as follows: "In the year 1531, a fish was taken in Polonia, that represented a bishop. He was brought to the king; but seeming to desire to return to his own element, the king commanded him to be carried back to the sea, into which he immediately threw himself." Rondeletius had before related the story of a Monkfish, which is what Du Bartas means by the "cowled Friar." The reader may see the portraits of these wonderful personages in Rondeletius; or, in the Posthumous Works of the reverend and learned Mr. John Gregory, in 4to. Lond. 1683, page 121, 122, where they are exhibited.

Stow, in his Annals, p. 157, from the Chronicle of Radulphus Coggeshale, gives the following relation of a sea-monster, taken on the coast of Suffolk, temp, Hen. II.

"Neare unto Orford in Suffolk, certaine fishers of the sea tooke in their nets a fish, having the shape of a man in all points: which fish was kept by Bartlemew de Glaunville, custos of the castle of Orford, in the same castle, by the space of six moneths and more, for a wonder. He spake not a word. All manner of meates he did eate, but most greedily raw fish, after he had crushed out the moisture. Oftentimes, he was brought to the church, where he shewed no tokens of adoration." "At length," says this author, "when he was not well looked to, he stole away to the sea, and never after appeared." The wisdom of these fishermen in taking the monster to church, calls to remembrance many instances of similar sagacity recorded of the wise men of Gotham. Finding him so indevout, we may suppose them to have been ready to exclaim with Caliban, in the Tempest,

"By this good light, a very shallow monster!"

These seem to be wonders; but have had so many confirmations from men of learning and credit, that you need not doubt them. Nor are the number, nor the various shapes, of fishes more strange, or more fit for contemplation, than their different natures, inclinations, and actions; concerning which, I shall beg your patient ear a little longer.

Mont. Essays,

and others affirm this.

The Cuttle-fish will cast a long gut out of her throat, which, like 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 Seaangler.

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 Ælian,' in his 9th book Of Living Creatures, ch. 16. 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

(1) Claudius Elianus was born at Præneste in Italy, in the reign of the Emperor Adrian. He wrote De Animalium Naturâ, and On Martial Discipline.

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.

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

Pisc. Why then, Sir, I will take a liberty to tell, or rather to remember you what is said of Turtle-doves: first, that they silently plight their troth, and marry; and that then the survivor scorns, 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.'

(1) 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; and that it is chiefly for this reason, that the stealing of Swans is by our law made penal; so as that, "He who stealeth a Swan in an open and common river, lawfully marked; the same Swan shall be hung in a house by the beak; and he who stole it shall, in recompence thereof, give to the owner so much wheat as may cover all the Swan, by putting and turning the wheat npon the head of the Swan, until the head of the Swan be covered with wheat." Coke's Reports, Part VII. The case of Swans.

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, (Rom. ii. 14, 15,) 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.

Du Bartas,

fifth day.

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, Matt. xxiii. 37, quotes her for an example of tender affection; as his Father had 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 to become a prey and be devoured by vermin or other fishes. But other fishes, as namely

(1) Or Fellow; so Bed-pheer, Bed-fellow.

(2) Prest, from the French prêt, Lat. paratus, ready, prepared. So Psalm 104. old version :

He maketh his spirites as heralds to go,

And lightnings, to serve, we see also prest.

Vide GLOSSARY to Robert of Gloucester and to Peter Langtoft. edit. Hearne

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, "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 Moneychangers. And secondly, he found that the hearts of