will make the other wonders I spake of the
less incredible, for you may note that the
waters are Nature's store-house, in which
she locks up her wonders.

But, Sir, lest this discourse may seem
tedious, I shall give it a sweet conclusion
out of that holy poet Mr. George Herbert, his
divine contemplation on God's Providence.

Lord, who hath praise enough, nay, who hath any?

None can express thy work* but he that knows

them ;
And none can know thy works, they are so many,

And so complete, but only he that owes them.

We all acknowledge both thy power and love
To be exact, transcendant, and divine ;

Who dost so strangely and so sweetly move,

Whilst all things have their end, yet none but thine.

Wherefore, most sacred Spirit, I here present,

For me and all my fellows., praise to thee ;
. nd just it is that 1 should pay the rent.
Because the benefit accrues to me.

And, as concerning fish in that Psalm, Psa.
104, wherein, for height of poetry and won-
ders, the prophet Darid seems even to exceed
himself, how doth he there express himself in
choice metaphors, even to the amazement of



a contemplative reader, concerning the sea,
the rivers, and the fish therein contained ; and
the great naturalist, Pliny, says " that Nature's
great and wonderful power is more demonstra-
ted by sea than on the land." And this may
appear by the numerous and various creatures
inhabiting both in and about that element :
as to the readers of Gesner, Rondeletius, Pliny,
Ausonius, Aristotle, and others, may be de-
monstrated. But I will sweeten this discourse
also out of a contemplation in divine Du
Bartus, who says :

God quietened in the sea and in the rivers,

So ir.any fishes of so many features,

That in the waters we may see all creatures,

E'en all that on the earth are to be found,

As if the world were in deep waters drown'd :

For seas as well as sik.es, have sun, moon, stars,

As well as air swallows, rooks, and stares ;

As well as earth rines, 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 arl bogs,

Wolves, urchins, lions, elephants aud dogs ;

Yea, men and maids, and which 1 most admire,

The mitred bishop, and the cowled friar.

Of which examples, but a few years since,

Were shown the Norway and Palonian prince.

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 ac-
tions ; concerning which I shall beg your
patient ear a little longer.

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 drawg
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 Aelian, in his
9th book of Living Creatures, ch. 16, the
Adonis, or darling of the sea; so called be-
cause 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 man-
kind.

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



280



PIERCE EGAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS.



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 indus-
trious searchers into the secrets of nature.

The adult'rous Sargus doth not only change
\Viyes 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.

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

Pise. Why then, Sir, I will take a little
liberty to tell, or rather to remember you
what is said of turtle-dovesfirst, that they
silently plight their troth and marry ; and that
then the surviver scorns, as the Thracian
women are said to do, to outlive his or her
mate, and this is taken for 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
vitiate 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 surprised her phear,
As mad with woe, 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 pi-
geon, takes no care to hatch, to feed, or to
cherish his own brood, but is senseless though
they perish.

And 'tis 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 affec-
tion 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 affec-
tion, 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, the barbel, takes such care for the pre-
servation 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 peace-
able 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 un-
believing 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 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 employ-
ment of fishing, and gave them grace to be
his disciples, and to follow him and do won-
ders ; I say four of twelve.

And it is observable that it was our Sa-
viour's will that these our four fishermen
should have a priority of nomination in the
catalogue of his twelve apostles, Mat. x. 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,



PIERCE EGAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS.



281



when he left the rest of his disciples and chose
only three to bear him company at his trans-
figuration, 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
21st 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 ob-
serves, that God hath been pleased to allow
those, whom he himself hath appointed to
write his holy will in Holy Writ, yet, to ex-
press 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 ap-
pointment 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 Hesh-
bon.

And if this hold in reason, as I see none to
the contrary, then it may be probably con-
cluded, that Moses, who, I told you before,
wrote 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 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 compar-
ing the affectionate, loving, lowly, humble
epistles of St. Peter, St. James, and St. John,
whom we know were all fishers, with the glo-
rious 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 bid-
ding St. Peter cast his hook into the water
and catch a fish, for money to pay tribute to
Caesar. And let ine 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 de-
clares 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 hunt-
ing 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 quiet-
ness.

I might here enlarge myself by telling you
what commendations our learned Perkins
bestows on Angling ; and how dear a lover,
and great a practiser of it our learned Doctor
Whitaker was, as indeed many others of great
learning have been. But I will content my-
self with two memorable men, that lived near
to our own time, whom I also take to have
been ornaments to the art of Angling.

The first is Doctor Nowell, some time Dean
of the Cathedral of St. Paul's, in London r
where his monument stands yet undefaced :
a man that in the reformation of Queen Eliza-
beth, not that of Henry VIII. was so noted
for his meek spirit, deep learning, prudence
and piety, that the then parliament and convo-
cation both, chose, enjoined, and trusted him
to be the man to make a catechism for public
use, such a one as should stand as a rule for
faith and manners to their posterity. And the
good old man, though he was very learned,
yet knowing that God leads us not to heaven
by many nor by hard questions, like an honest
Angler, made that good, plain, unperplexed
catechism which is printed with our good old
Service- Book. I say this good man was a
dear lover and constant practiser of Angling,
as any age can produce; and his custom was
to spend, besides his fixed hours of prayer,
those hours which by command of the Church
were enjoyed by the clergy, and voluntarily
dedicated to devotion by many primitive chris-
tians : I say, besides those hours, this good
man was observed to spend part of his time in
Angling ; and also, for I have conversed with
those which have conversed with him, to
bestow a tenth part of his revenue, and usually
all his fish, amongst the poor that inhabited
near to those rivers in which it was caught :
saying often, " that Charity gives life to re-
ligion," and at his return to his house would
praise God he had spent that day free from
earthly trouble; both harmlessly, and in a
recreation that became a churchman. And
this good man was well content, if not desir-
ous, that posterity should know he was an
Angler, as may appear by his picture now to
be seen, and carefully kept in Brazen-nose
College, to which he was a liberal benefactor,
in which picture he is drawn leaning on a
desk, with his Bible before him, and on one
hand of him his lines, hooks, and other tack-
ling lying in a round ; and on his other hand
are the angle-rods of several sorts ; and by
them this is written, "That he died 13 Feb.
1601, being aged 95 years, 44 of which he had
been Dean of St. Paul's church ; and that his
age had neither impaired his hearing, nor
dimmed his eyes, nor weakened his memory,



232



PIEKCE EGAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS.



nor made any of the faculties of the mind
weak or useless." "Tis said, that Angling
and Temperance were great causes of these
blessings, and I wish the like to all that
imitate him, and love the memory of so good
a man.

My next and last example shall be that
under-valuer of money, the late provost of
Eton College, Sir Henry Wotton, a man with
whom I have often fished and conversed, a
man whose foreign employments in the service
of this nation, and whose experience, learning,
wit, and cheerfulness, made his company to
be esteemed one of the delights of mankind ;
this man, whose very approbation of Angling
were sufficient to convince any modest cen-
surer of it, this man was also a most dear
lover, and a frequent pracliser of the art of
Angling ; of which he would say, " 'Twas an
employment for his idle time, which was then
not idly spent ;" for Angling was, after tedi-
ous study, " a rest to his mind, a cheerer of
his spirits, a diverter of sadness, a calmer of
unquiet thoughts, a moderator of passions, a
procurer of contentedness ;" and " that it
begat habits of peace and patience in those
that professed and practised it." Indeed, my
friend, you will find Angling to be like the
virtue of humility, which has a calmness of
spirit, and a world of other blessings attend'
in# upon it.

Sir, this was the saying of that learned man,
and I do easily believe that peace, and
patience, and a calm content, did cohabit in
the cheerful heart of Sir Henry Wotton,
because I know that when he was beyond
seventy years of age he made this description
of a part of the present pleasure that possessed
him, as he sat quietly in a Summer's evening
on a bank a fishing ; it is a description of the
Spring, which, because it glided as soft and
sweetly from his pen as that river does at this
time, by which is was then made, I shall
repeat it unto you.

This day dame Nature seem'd in love :

The lusty sap began to move :

Fresh juice did stir th' embracing vines,

And birds had drawn their valentines ;

The jealous Trout that low did lie,

Rose at a well-dissembled fly ;

There stood my friend with patient skill,

Attending of his trembling quill,

Already were the eaves possest

With the swift Pilgrim's daubed nest ;

The groves already did rejoice,

In Philomel's triumphing voice :

The showers were short, the weather mild,

The morning fresh, the evening smil'd.

Joan takes her neat rubb'd pail, and now
She trips to milk the sand-red cow ;
Where, for some sturdy foot-ball swain,
Joan strokes a syllabub or twain,
The fields and gardens were beset
With Tulips, Crocus, Violet :

And now, though late, the modest Rose

Did more than half a blush disclose.

Thus all looks gay, and full of cheer,

To welcome the new livery'd year.

These were the thoughts that then possessed
the undisturbed mind of Sir Henry Wotton.



Will you hear the wish of another Angler,
and the commendation of his happy life, wind
he also sings in verse ? viz. Jo. Davors, Esq.

Let me live harmlessly, and near the brink
Of Trent or Avon have a dwelling place :
Where I may see my quill or cork down sink
With eager bite of Perch, or Bleak, or Dace.
And on the World and my Creator think ;
Whil'st some men strive ill gotten goods t' embrace,
And others spend their time in base excess
Of wine or worse, in war or wantonness.

Let them that list these pastimes still pursue,
And on such pleasing fancies feed their fill,
So I the fields and meadows green may view,
And daily by fresh rivers walk at will
Among the daisies and the violets blue,
Red hyacinth, and yellow daffodil,
Purple Narcissus like the morning rays
Pale gander-grass, and azure culverkeys.

I count it higher pleasure to behold
The stately compass of the lofty sky,
And in the midst thereof like burning gold,
The flaming chariot of the World's great eye;
The watery clouds that in the air up roll'd,
With sundry kinds of painted colours fly,
And fair Aurora lifting up her head,
Still blushing, rise from old Tithonus' bed.

The hills and mountains raised from the plains,
Thr plains extended level with the ground,
The grounds divided into sundry veins,
The veins enclosed with rivers running round :
These rivers making way through Nature's chains
With headlong course into the sea profound :
The raging sea, beneath the valley low,
Where lakes, and rills, and rivulets do flow.

The lofty woods, the forests wide and long,
Adorn'd with leaves and branches fresh and green.
In whose cool bowers the birds with many a song
Do welcome with their quire the Summer's Queen ;
The meadows fair where Flora's -gifts among
Are intermixed, with verdant grass between.
The silver scaled fish that softly swim
Within the sweet brook's chrystal watery stream

All these and many more of his creation

That made the heavens, the Angler oft doth see ;

Taking therein no little delectation,

To think how strange, how wonderful they be ;

Framing thereof an inward contemplation,

To set his heart from other fancies free ?

And whilst he looks on these with joyful eye,

His mind is rapt above the starry sky.

Sir, I am glad my memory has not lost these
last verses, because they are somewhat more
pleasant and more suitable to May-day than
my harsh discourse, and I am glad your
patience hath held out so long as to hear them
and me ; for both of them have brought us
within the sight of the Thatched-house ; and
I must be your debtor, if you think it worth
your attention, for the rest of my promised
discourse, till some other opportunity, and a
like time of leisure.

VEN. Sir, you have angled me on with
much pleasure to the Thatched-house, and I
now find your words true, " That good com-
pany makes the way seem short ;" for, trust
me, Sir, I thought we had wanted three miles
of this house till you showed it to me ; but
now we are at it, we'll turn into it, and refresh
ourselves with a cup of drink, and a little
rest.

Pise. Most gladly, Sir, and we'll drink a
civil cup to all the other hunters that are to
meet to-morrow.



PIERCE EGAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS.



283



VEN. That we will, Sir, and to all the
lovers of Angling too, of which number I am
now willing to be one myself; for, by the help
of your good discourse and company, I have
put on new thoughts both of the art of Angling
and all that profess it ; and if you will but
meet me to-morrow, at the time and place
appointed, and bestow one day with me and
my friends in hunting the otter, 1 will dedi-
cate the next two days to wait upon you, and
we two will for that time do nothing but
Angle, and talk of fish and fishing.

Pise. 'Tis a match, Sir, I'll not fail you,
God willing, to be at Amwell-hill to morrow
morning before sun-rising.

The first articles that the young Angler
stands in need of before he commences his
fishing pursuits, area rod and line ; we, there-
fore, insert the following directions for making
of a line, and for the colouring of both rod
and line : ' ; I will lose no time/' says Izaak
Walton, " but give you a little direction how
to make and order your lines, and to colour
the hair of which you make your lines, for
that is very needful to be known by an Angler ;
and also how to paint your rod, especially
your top, for a right brown top is a choice
commodity, and should be preserved from the
water soaking into it, which makes it in wet
weather to be heavy, and fish ill-favouredly,
and not true, and also it rots quickly for want
of painting ; and I think a good top is worlh
preserving, or I had not taken care to keep a
top above twenty years.

" But first for your line. First, Note, that
you are to take care, that your hair be round
and clear, and free from galls or scabs, or
frets ; for a well-chosen, even, clear, round
hair, of a kind of glass-colour, will prove as
strong as three uneven, scabby hairs, that are
ill-chosen, and full of galls or unevenness.
You shall seldom find a black hair but it is
round, but many white are flat and uneven,
therefore, if you get a lock of right, round,
clear, glass-colour hair, make much of it.

" And for making your line, observe this
rule, first let your hair be clean washed ere
you go about to twist it ; and then choose not
only the clearest for it, but hairs that be of an
equal bigness, for such do usually stretch all
together, and break all together, which hairs
of an unequal bigness never do, but break
singly, and so deceive the Angler that trusts
to them,

" When you have twistea your links, lay
them in water for a quarter of an hour at
least, and then twist them over again before
you tie them into a line ; for those that do not
so, shall usually find their line to have a hair
or two shrink, and be shorter than the rest
at the first fishing with it, which is so much of