90 LI^G. 



tide, extending even to a few miles in length. It is an 

 economical method of proceeding in some districts of the north 

 of Ireland, as we learn from Mr. Brabazon's account of the 

 fisheries of that country, that several individuals Avill join 

 together in providing the proper length of line, in which 

 each adventurer is the proprietor of so much of the extent oi 

 it as he has provided, and of which he takes the produce, to 

 the exclusion of others; but. we suppose, with some reserve of 

 common interest. 



The numbers thus taken, of all sorts of fish, are sometimes 

 very great; but where a ready sale is not obtained, the greater 

 portion is preserved in the usual way, and dried for exportation. 

 The different parts of Italy receive a large proportion of these 

 salted fish. But the consumption of salted Ling, which even 

 now is considerable at home, was formerly of very large amount, 

 and it was even an ordinary dish at royal and noble tables. 

 In the Rutland Papers, printed for the Camden Society, we 

 are told that on the visit of the Emperor Charles the Fifth to 

 London, in the reign of Henry the Eighth, salted Ling was 

 among the principal matters provided for the entertainment of 

 the guests; and in the directions given to the Lord Mayor to 

 guide him in his preparations, he is ordered, "Item, to assigne 

 two fysshemonngers for provision of lynges to be redy watcrd." 

 Although the taste appears to have declined in the reign of 

 the first James, the practice seems to have maintained its ground; 

 for, among the pieces of merriment of this king, he is said to 

 have professed that if his royal brother of the lower regions 

 should be pleased to visit him, his dinner should consist of a 

 pole of Ling and mustard, with another equal favourite of his, 

 a pipe of tobacco for digestion. 



According to Fuller, in his "Worthies of England," the 

 extent of the adventure was equal to the value set on the 

 fish. Referring to the mischief wrought by the civil war, he 

 says : "We are sensible of the decay of so many towns on 

 our north-east sea, Hartlepool, Whitebay, Bridlington, Scar- 

 borough and generall all from Newcastle to Harewich, which 

 formerly set out yearly, (as 1 am informed) two hundred ships 

 and upwards, imployed in the fisheries, but chiefly for the 

 taking of Ling, that noble fish." That it formed an ordinary 

 article in the provision for families in the winter appears from 



