608 ON THE PRICE OF FISH. 



was extended farther westwards in the Middle Ages than it is 

 now. 



Our forefathers delighted in many kinds of fish which the 

 more refined tastes of their descendants have discarded. Whale 

 and porpoise appear to have been choice dishes, as well as conger 

 eels. I do not feel quite certain that the dogdrave of the 

 northern counties is to be identified with the dog-fish. 



Piscaries were very valuable kinds of property, and were 

 either let at considerable rents, or farmed by their owner, who 

 generally kept them, in so far as was needed, in repair. Thus 

 the eel fishery of Wythornesemere is made the object of an 

 annual account and audit on the part of the Countess Isabella 

 de Fortibus, as was also the salmon fishery of Westshene, the 

 property of the king (Edward II). The piscary of Dibden was 

 rented by fishermen under the provost and corporation of GOD'S 

 House in Southampton j and the fishing in the Cherwell at Ox- 

 ford was let by the warden and fellows of Merton, whenever 

 this corporation did not consume its produce in their own 

 commons. Most monastic bodies, whose endowments were 

 sufficient to enable them to incur such an expense, had fish- 

 ponds and stews- and it is probable that such conveniences 

 were annexed to all houses of any importance. There may 

 have been many other kinds of fish kept which did not come 

 generally into the market, or were not purchased by such per- 

 sons as supply us with information. Hence it is possible that 

 trout, perch, carp, and barbel may have been well known in the 

 fourteenth century, but I have seen none of these fish in my 

 accounts. It may be observed that the monks were said to 

 have been skilled in pisciculture, and that we owe many kinds 

 of fish now found in our rivers, but which were originally 

 of foreign origin, to the perseverance and intelligence of the 

 monks. Thus in particular, greyling, carp, and perhaps trout, 

 are said to be exotic kinds, the naturalization of which is due 

 to the above-mentioned causes. 



HERRINGS. These fish were generally bought by the thousand 

 (containing 1 200), occasionally by the last (containing ten such 



