192 STATUTE LAWS RELATING TO 



" killed, or destroyed, or attempted so to be, or to be 

 *< otherwise hurt or hyured, at any time of the year 

 " on a Sunday." Men do not, as far as I know, 

 take any active steps to break any of these prohibi- 

 tions on the Lord's day ; but what do they do ? 

 why, they set a trap on the Saturday night, or ra- 

 ther continue a trap which is set all the season, day 

 and night, exactly like a mouse-trap, by which the 

 fish can get in but cannot get out ; so that the fish 

 are virtually taken on the Sunday, and killed on 

 the Monday morning. The act says, persons shall 

 not take, or otherwise attempt to hurt or injure 

 them ; but not only are many of the fish hurt 

 and injured, but actually destroyed by this means, 

 from the violent rush of the water. The fish, 

 then, by this trap are, contrary to the express 

 words of the act, taken, killed, hurt, and hyured. 

 One of Dr. Johnson's definitions of "to take," is 

 " to get, to have, to appropriate ;" another, " to 

 entrap, to seize in a snare." Whether this' is a 

 fair construction of the word " to take," as used 

 in the act, must be judged of when the fish thus 

 ensnared cannot escape, but may be taken pos- 

 session of by the hand, at any time when the water 

 is drawn off. Besides, this rush at Totnes weir, ac- 

 cording to the weight of water above, in the course 

 of the interdicted 24< hours, injures all the fish and 

 kills many ; nine dead salmon have been taken out 

 of this coop at one time, iive at another, and many 

 others at different times, — this is a matter of positive 

 fact, and not of conjecture. It was intended that 



