“And God created great whales.”
—GENESIS.
“Leviathan maketh a path to shine
after him;
One would think the deep to be hoary.”
—JOB.
“Now the Lord had prepared a great
fish to swallow up Jonah.”
—JONAH.
“There go the ships; there is that
Leviathan whom thou hast made
to play therein.”
—PSALMS.
“In that day, the Lord with his
sore, and great, and strong sword,
shall punish Leviathan the piercing serpent, even
Leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay
the dragon that is in the sea.”
—ISAIAH
“And what thing soever besides cometh
within the chaos of this
monster’s mouth, be it beast, boat, or stone,
down it goes all incontinently that foul great swallow
of his, and perisheth in the bottomless gulf of his
paunch.”
—HOLLAND’S PLUTARCH’S
MORALS.
“The Indian Sea breedeth the most
and the biggest fishes that are:
among which the Whales and Whirlpooles called Balaene,
take up as much in length as four acres or arpens
of land.”
—HOLLAND’S PLINY.
“Scarcely had we proceeded two days
on the sea, when about sunrise a
great many Whales and other monsters of the sea, appeared.
Among the former, one was of a most monstrous size.
... This came towards us, open-mouthed, raising
the waves on all sides, and beating the sea before
him into a foam.”
—TOOKE’S LUCIAN.
“THE TRUE HISTORY.”
“He visited this country also with
a view of catching
horse-whales, which had bones of very great value
for their teeth, of which he brought some to the king.
... The best whales were catched in his own country,
of which some were forty-eight, some fifty yards long.
He said that he was one of six who had killed sixty
in two days.”
—OTHER OR OCTHER’S VERBAL
NARRATIVE TAKEN DOWN FROM
HIS MOUTH BY KING ALFRED, A.D. 890.
“And whereas all the other things,
whether beast or vessel, that
enter into the dreadful gulf of this monster’s
(whale’s) mouth, are immediately lost and swallowed
up, the sea-gudgeon retires into it in great security,
and there sleeps.”
—MONTAIGNE. — APOLOGY
FOR RAIMOND SEBOND.
“Let us fly, let us fly! Old
Nick take me if is not Leviathan
described by the noble prophet Moses in the life of
patient Job.”
—RABELAIS.
“This whale’s liver was two
cartloads.”
—STOWE’S ANNALS.
“The great Leviathan that maketh
the seas to seethe like boiling
pan.”
—LORD BACON’S VERSION
OF THE PSALMS.
“Touching that monstrous bulk of
the whale or ork we have received
nothing certain. They grow exceeding fat, insomuch
that an incredible quantity of oil will be extracted
out of one whale.”
—IBID. “HISTORY
OF LIFE AND DEATH.”
“The sovereignest thing on earth
is parmacetti for an inward
bruise.”
—KING HENRY.
“Very like a whale.”
—HAMLET.