Piscator. Why then, Sir, I will take a little 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.

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
musick 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 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, 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.