April 10. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



343 



called small hand is nothing but the larger hand 

 written smaller. If any one would publish some 

 specimens of current hand, in which all the letters 

 are perfectly distinguishable from each other, he 

 would do good service. And the * ? might go the 

 length of a woodcut (which imitates writing better 

 than copper) : for no persons write so badly as 

 writers. The task should not be undertaken by a 

 writing-master : for there are few who will go 

 through thick and thin in their calligraphy. What 

 is wanted is a good skewer-Jiand, in which there 

 are none of those upstrokes and downstrokes 

 which, in former days, used to subject boys to 

 certain other upstrokes and downstrokes, of which 

 it can only be said that the former were more 

 bearable than the latter. M. 



caucrtf)S. 



DUTCH MANUFACTORIES OF PORCELAIN. 



What manufactories of porcelain were established 

 in Holland ? 



When, by whom, and at what places were they 

 established, and when did they cease to exist ? 



What marks were iised to indicate the diff"erent 

 manufactories, and had the manufactures any dis- 

 tinctive character ? 



The mark M. O. L. is frequently found on 

 Dutch porcelain, and occasionally the word Amstel ; 

 what is the meaning of these marks, and when were 

 they employed ? 



A stork is also found as a mark on Dutch 

 porcelain, which is said to have been made at the 

 Hague. Is this correct ? and if so, what is the his- 

 tory of the manufactory ? 



Was any porcelain made at Arnheim? and if so, 

 what was the distinguishing mark ? O. M. 



[We bog to recommend these Queries to tlie es- 

 pecial attention of our Dutch contemporary De Na- 

 voRSCHER ; and we have little doubt that some of 

 the learned contributors to that Journal will be able 

 to throw light upon what is at present a very obscure 

 portion in any history of manufactures which we pos- 

 sess in this country. — Ed.] 



SALMON FISHERIES. 



Grievous complaints are now making of the 

 scarcity of salmon, and consequently of the de- 

 pressed state of the salmon fisheries, both in Scot- 

 land and Ireland. As the statistics of the pro- 

 duce of the principal rivers of those countries for 

 some years past are known, it would be curious to 

 contrast their returns in the present century with 

 any accounts which may exist of their produce in 

 former times. 



For example, the Earl of Strafford wrote, in 

 1638, that the fishery at Derry produced to the 

 crown that year 240 tons of salmon, which sold at 

 15^. per ton. In 1845 the seven years average of 



the Foyle (Derry) was 140 tons, and the price 

 ranged at about 100/. per ton. Pennant states 

 that as much as 320 tons were taken in the Bann 

 in 1760; and Stanihurst, writing about the year 

 1584, declares that the iishermen of Lough Neao'h, 

 and of the " noble northerne river, the Banne, 

 complain more often for bursting of their nets 

 with the over great take of fish, than for anie 

 want," so that the Irish grievance of that day lay 

 in the very glut of the commodity. 



The famous " salinon-leap " at Ballyshannon, 

 on the Erne, was formerly very productive. It 

 belonged to the O'Donels, Lords of Tyrconnel. 

 Sir George Carew, in a MS. pedigree of that 

 family, observes that 



" O'Donell is the best lorde of fishe in Ireland, and 

 exchangeth fishe allwayes with foreign merchants for 

 wyne, by which his call in other countryes the kinge 

 of fishe." 



In Roman Catholic times our national salmon 

 fisheries were of much value, for they supplied an 

 article of food which was necessary lor fast days ; 

 there are, accordingly, many ancient acts of par- 

 liament in the statute books for the preservation 

 of the salmon, and still more in the Scotch statutes, 

 in one of which, indeed, a jubilee was ordained 

 for the benefit of the finny tribe, by making it 

 penal to take any salmon for the space of three 

 years. Not only did private and religious houses 

 rely upon a supply of salted fish for fiist days, and 

 for the winter's consumption, but armies at that 

 time could not be marched or subsisted without 

 them. There is in Rjmer an order of Edward II. 

 to provide 3000 dried salmon for this very 

 purpose. 



All our mouths water at hearing of " kippered 

 salmon," especially at breakfast- time ; but it seems 

 from old Izaak Walton's use of the word that the 

 origin of the delicacy is not the very best, for he 

 uses the word as expressive of a " sprat," or 

 spawned cock-salmon, out of season, and it is verily 

 to be believed that the dainty is produced by pre- 

 serving the fish when in a state that it could not 

 be eaten if fresh. 



Travellers in the colder latitudes of the new 

 and old world, agree in representing the rivers of 

 those countries as literally swarming with noble 

 salmon. The increase of man, and the advances 

 of civilisation, have led to the decrease of salmon 

 in the British Islands, and this fish will probably, 

 in a century or so more, rank among other ex- 

 terminated animals, as the bustard, &c. 



Any of your readers would oblige me by re- 

 ference to authorities in which statements may be 

 found as to the ancient productiveness of the 

 salmon fisheries of Great Britain and Ireland; 

 in fact, to any information or curious details on 

 the subject. H. T. H. 



Wexford. 



