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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.
And to parallel this land-rarity---and to 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
what Du Bartas sings of the mullet:
But---for chaste love---the mullet hath no peer;
For, if the fisher hath suprised her pheer
As mad with wo, to shore she followeth;
Prest to consort him, both in life and death.
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