A word in season to this present generation, or, A sober and serious discourse…

The faces of the ¹Lyons are stern, and their voices are terrible, they are roaring and ravening, they are greedy of their prey; they are vigilant and subtle, lying in wait to get their prey, they sleep little, and when they sleep it's apertis ²oculis, With open eyes; they mind their prey much, and are cunning to catch it; the Lyon hides himself, and ⟨p. 19⟩when the prey comes near he suddenly surprises it: they are proud and stately, they go alone, they eat not with the Lioness, much less with other creatures, they will not stoop to any, or turn away from any, they do what ³they list; they are most cruel, bloody, devouring creatures; they have terrible claws, sharp teeth, and are strong and mighty to crush and break the bones; and it is very dangerous to meddle with Lyons. Num. 24. 9. He layeth down as a Lyon, as a great Lyon, who shall stir him up? Lyons if offended and provoked, are very revengeful; in the hunting or taking of Lyons, the Lyon observes who wounds him, and on him if possible he will be revenged. Aelian tells of a Bear that came into a Lyons den, and bit the whelps she found there; the Lyon returning, the Bear to shift for her self got up into a high tree, the Lioness watched at the foot of the tree: the Lyon ranged abroad in the woods, and meets with a man that had an axe, and used to fell trees; this man the Lyon brings to the den, showed him the wounded whelps, directs him to the tree where the Bear was, which he cut down; the Bear being torn in pieces, the man was safely dismissed. By these hints we may guess at the deadly danger, that Daniel was in. Some Writers tell us, that if a cloth be cast upon the eyes of a Lyon ⁴to cover them, he will not hurt a man. 2. Or if he be full. Josephus, to illustrate the History, saith, that these ⁵Princes pleaded before the King, saying, that the Lyons were full and gorged, and therefore they would not touch Daniel; which he hearing being displeased with their injurious malice, said, that the Lyons should now be fed, and then they cast in to see, when they were gorged, whether they could likewise escape; but this being done they were suddenly destroyed, before they came