30 THE ADVENTURES 



the art, as though it required an apology the 

 " at least holsome walk/' &c. So with Izaak 

 Walton, whose work may indeed be said to have 

 derived its beauty from the poetry of its apology. 



It is difficult to arrive at a general idea of the 

 comparative value of fish in former times, parti- 

 cularly salmon. No doubt the great difference 

 in price at different seasons and in different places, 

 was due partly to the same causes which influenced 

 the fluctuation in prices of other provisions a 

 liability to change from great abundance to abso- 

 lute scarcity in quick succession, to which our 

 advanced civilization no longer renders us subject. 

 But still the great variation in the price of fish 

 exceeds all allowance made on that score ; nor 

 can we well conceive, though assured by some 

 who have had it orally from their predecessors, 

 that it ever formed part of our Chester appren- 

 tice's indentures that he should not be compelled 

 to make more than three meals a week upon 

 salmon. 



We find by a MS. existing in the Harleian 

 collection, that in the 28lh year of Edward I. 

 "A man was sued for fishing in the King's part 

 below the Bridge (at Chester), and catching 20 

 salmons, worth 20 marks, and one salmon worth 

 10 shillings/'* If this was at all a faithful valu- 



* Harleian MSS. 2020. 



