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Side 16 av 113
You may there see the Hog-fish, the Dog-fish, the Dolphin, the Cony-
fish, the Parrot-fish, the Shark, the Poison-fish, Sword-fish, and not
only other incredible fish, but you may there see the Salamander,
several sorts of Barnacles, of Solan-Geese, the Bird of Paradise, such
sorts of Snakes, and such Birds'-nests, and of so various forms, and so
wonderfully made, as may beget wonder and amusement in any
beholder; and so many hundred of other rarities in that collection, as
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 works, 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 cost 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;
And just it is, that I should pay the rent,
Because the benefit accrues to me.
And as concerning fish, in that psalm, wherein, for height of poetry and
wonders, the prophet David 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 demonstrated in the 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
demonstrated. But I will 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;
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:
Of which, examples, but a few years since,
Were strewn the Norway and Polonian prince.
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