238 VVILD-FOIVL AND SEA-FOWL OF GREAT BRITAIN 



bein' knowed what them quicks had got smothered 

 in 'em, nor yet what the tides w^ould root out of 

 'em." The speakers were not beach-combers, or 

 wreckers ; such vermin never existed on my own 

 fore-shores. These men were the first and foremost 

 of those who tried to save hfe if they could, when 

 the distress flag was flying, or the boom of the 

 signal-gun was heard, and they were grieved when 

 their efforts proved of no avail. 



Boards, firmly fixed in the beach shingle, and 

 with inscriptions beautifully written on them by the 

 same skilled hand which wrote the new tablets of 

 the Ten Commandments in the old church, fair and 

 plain for all to see and read, explained the rights of 

 the Lord of the Fore-shores. These rights were 

 never claimed in my days on the tide ; I do not go 

 so far as to say they never had any real legal exist- 

 ence, I merely state that, such as the rights then 

 were, they were not claimed. The " perwentive 

 men " looked after the spirituous flotsam and jetsam 

 which might come ashore by deep intention or by 

 sheer accident, as anchored tubs would not always 

 keep their grappling ground in a storm. The whole 

 lot smuggled, big and little, rich and poor, whenever 

 the chance offered, her Gracious Majesty's revenue 

 officers excepted. Such things are of course not 

 supposed to be done at the present day. 



The only time that I ever heard the rights of the 

 fore-shore mentioned, was when liquor in some shape 

 or way was washed up. Any man — or, for the 

 matter of that, any lad — was free to shoot unques- 



