SALMON LEGISLATION. 137 



be the law, lie sail pay fourtie shillings for the unlaw, 

 and at the third time, gif he be convict of sik trespasse, 

 he sail tyne his life, or then bye it;" Anglice, he shall 

 either lose his life, or pay for it. The alternative is a 

 strange one, and all the more strange that the price is 

 not specified. It would be curious to know how the 

 forfeited fife of a salmon-poacher was appraised, — whether 

 such things as rank, wealth, and age were taken into 

 account, or whether all Scotchmen were taken at an 

 average value ; also, whether, Scotchmen themselves 

 being the appraisers, the average was put exceed- 

 ingly high. But after all, whatever the price demanded, 

 there could not be much debating in any oliender's 

 mind which of the two to choose. What will a man 

 give for his life ? Of course, all that he hath. If a man 

 indeed have nothing to give, as is pretty generally the 

 case, at least now-a-days, with " slauchterers of salmonde 

 in tyme forbidden," the case must have ended fatally ; 

 and at this distant period we can only console ourselves 

 with the reflection, that the local descendants and re- 

 presentatives of those ill-starred slaughterers of the olden 

 time now enjoy an impunity which, perhaps, brings the 

 average sufferings of the race to something like an 

 equality with their average deserts. In the whole mass 

 of Scotch legislation on the subject, we find only one 

 instance of exemption or relaxation, and it is one which 

 English readers cannot fail to admire : the ninth Parlia- 

 ment of James i., 1429, passed an Act : — " Owt-takand," 

 i.e., excepting from the other Acts regarding salmon 

 preservation, " the waters of Solway and Tweede, 

 quhilkis sal be reddie to all Scottis-men all times of the 



