BUT 



152 



Bute. times, for the purpose of regulating the trade of 

 """V"'*' butchers, and preventing those abuses which they 

 might otherwise be liable to commit. 



By the statute 15th Car. II. c. 8. no person exercis- 

 ing the trade of a butcher, shall sell, offer, or expose 

 for sale, any live cattle, on pain of forfeiting double 

 value. By 2d and 3d Edw. VI. c. 15. revived and 

 continued by 22d and 23d Car. II. c. 19. now ex- 

 pired, if any butchers shall conspire not to sell their 

 victuals, but at certain prices, they are liable, for the 

 first offence, to a forfeiture of L. 10 to the king, or 

 twenty days imprisonment, with bread and water only ; 

 for the second offence, L.20, or the pillory ; and for 

 the third offence, L.40, or pillory, with the loss of 

 an ear and infamy. And this off-nee iray be deter- 

 iii?iied by the sessions or leet. By the ordinance for 

 bakers, &c. butchers selling swine's flesh measled, or 

 flesh dead of the murrain, shall, for the first time, be 

 grievously amerced ; the second time suffer the pil- 

 lory ; the third time be imprisoned a)'d fined ; and 

 the fourth time forswear the town. (Hawk. Stat.vol. 

 i. p. 181.) By statute 4th Hen. VII. c. 3. no butcher 

 shall slay any beast within any walled town, Carlisle 

 and Berwick excepted, under a penalty of 12d. for 

 every ox, and 8d. for every cow or other beast. 

 Butchers shall not kill or sell any meat on Sundays, 

 under a penalty of 6s. 8d. by 3d Car. I. c. 1. 



By the statutes 1st Jac. I. c. 22., and 9th Ann. c. 

 11. regulations are made with regard to the watering, 

 wilfully or negligently gashing of hides, or sellirg 

 them when gashed, and also to the selling of putrefied 

 or rotten hides ; to each of which offences different 

 penalties are annexed. By the former statute also, 

 no butcher shall be a tanner or currier, on pain of 6s. 

 8d. a day. See Jacob's Law Diet.', and Burn's 

 Justice of the Peace, (z) 



BUTE, an island on the western coast of Scot- 

 land, lies in the mouth of the Frith of Clyde, and 

 is separated from the district of Cowal, in Argyle- 

 shire, only by a long and narrow channel, about half 

 a mile broad. The origin of its name has never been 

 rightly ascertained; though some ancient authors de- 

 rive it from Both, which, in the Iri=h language, sig- 

 nifies a cell ; and they say that St Brendan, an Irish 

 abbot, erected a cell here in the 6th century. It 

 * has indeed been variously written, as Bete, Both, 

 and Boot, and we find it denominated Botis by the 

 anonymous geographer of Ravenna. The extent of 

 Bute from north to south is fifteen miles, while its 

 medium breadth is little more than three ; and it con- 

 tains between 23,000 and 24,000 Scotch acres. This 

 island has rather a flat appearance, although there is 

 a gradual ascent from the east and west shore, but 

 no where doet< the ground rise more than 400 feet 

 .above the level of the sea. The coast is rocky, 

 and indented with several deep bays, which ren- 

 ders its line of circumference very irregular. Bute 

 enjoys the most genial climate on the west of Scot- 

 laud ; the intense cold of the mainland in wintd, nd 

 the oppressive heats of summer, being moderated by 

 its proximity to the ocean ; and it has been recom- 

 mended to persons labouring under complaints re- 

 quiring a mild climate, as equal in most points to De- 

 vonshire, and in some even surpassing it. Snow ne- 

 Ter falls to any great depth, and seldom remains four 

 days upon the ground. Mists ad fogs are unknown 



in this island, though it is sometimes exposed to 

 heavy storms of wind and rain. Yet even these are 

 not so frequent or severe as in some of the neigh- 

 bouring districts. The high mountains of Arran, 

 by attracting the clouds, which are carried by the 

 south-west wind along the Argyleshire mountains 

 towards Glasgow and Greenock, where they dis- 

 charge their contents, leave Bute comparatively free. 

 It has been remarked, that the months of March and 

 April are here peculiarly dry ; and some have even 

 questioned whether more rain falls in this island than 

 upon the eastern coast of Scotland. 



The soil of Bute is iu general light and sandy ; bat, 

 if properly managed, well suited for every kind of 

 husbandry. Plenty of limestone is to be found in 

 various quarters of the island; the beds of sea-shilh 

 are apparently inexhaustible ; and vast quantities of 

 sea-weed are constantly thrown upon its shores. A- 

 griculture, however, is here still in its infancy, and 

 is conducted much in the same way as it wa half a 

 century ago, without any deviation or attempt at im- 

 provement. The capital of the farmers, instead of 

 being laid out in improving their land, has been chief- 

 ly employed in the herring fishery, which was 

 here carried on to a considerable extent, and which 

 was preferred to agriculture, as it afforded them 

 a more speedy and lucrative profit. Cultivation has 

 thus been almost completely neglected. The lands 

 have been allowed to run waste for want of clean- 

 ing, and have been impoverished by an almost con- 

 stant rotation of cropping, with little or no manure. 

 A course of unsuccessful years, however, have re- 

 duced the number of vessels employed in the herring 

 fishery to less than one third, by which the difficulty 

 of procuring labourers for the purposes of husban- 

 dry have been considerably lessened ; and a spirit 

 o' emulation in agricultural improvements has been 

 lately excited among the tenantry, by the liberal en- 

 couragement given by the Marquis of Bute for drain- 

 ing and enclosing the different farms upon his pro- 

 perty. By such exertions, it is to be hoped, that 

 this spot, so highly favoured by nature, will soon be 

 rendered equal to the richest and most flourishing 

 districts of the kingdom. Most of the island is now 

 well enclosed, and subdivided with ditches and hedges 

 of white thorns, which are tab 1 , thick, and vigorous. 

 They afford shelter and warmth to the land, and 

 make a very agreeable appearance. The roads of 

 this island are ill-conducted, narrow, and in wretch- 

 ed order ; and the barbarous customs of thulage, 

 kane fowls, and other services, still exist here, but 

 which ought to be universally exploded as the last 

 remains of feudal oppression. 



The chief produce of the island consists of barley, 

 oats, and potatoes ; also turnips, and artificial grasses, 

 which flourish here uncommonly well. They have a 

 ready market at Greenock and Glasgow for cattle 

 and grain of every kind ; and packets are continually 

 passing between these places and Rothsay. Excel- 

 lent b^nks for white fishing are to be found all round 

 the island, which are completely neglected for the 

 sake of the herrings ; and though there are also abun- 

 dance of lobsters, crabs and oysters, yet it is seldona 

 they are to be procured. Bute is well stocked wkh 

 harrs, partridges, snipes, green and grey plovers. It 

 has likewise plenty of ducks, teal, and other sea-fowl 



But*. 



