"To fifty chosen sylphs of special note,
We trust the important charge, the petticoat.
Oft have we known that seven-fold fence to fail,
Tho' stuffed with hoops and armed with ribs of whale."
Rape of the Lock.
"If we compare land animals in respect to magnitude, with
those that take up their abode in the deep, we shall find they
will appear contemptible in the comparison. The whale is
doubtless the largest animal in creation."
Goldsmith, Nat. His.
"If you should write a fable for little fishes, you would make
them speak like great whales."
Goldsmith to Johnson.
"In the afternoon we saw what was supposed to be a rock, but it was found to be a dead whale, which some Asiatics had killed, and were then towing ashore. They seemed to endeavor to conceal themselves behind the whale, in order to avoid being seen by us." Cook's Voyages.
"The larger whales, they seldom venture to attack. They stand in so great dread of some of them, that when out at sea they are afraid to mention even their names, and carry dung, lime-stone, juniper-wood, and some other articles of the same nature in their boats, in order to terrify and prevent their too near approach." Uno Von Troil's Letters on Banks's and Solander's Voyage to Iceland in 1772.
"The Spermacetti Whale found by the Nantuckois, is an
active, fierce animal, and requires vast address and boldness in
the fishermen."
Thomas Jefferson's Whale Memorial to the French minister in 1778.
"And pray, sir, what in the world is equal to it?"
Edmund Burke's reference in Parliament to the Nantucket Whale-Fishery.
