SCOTTISH PEARLS. 57 



to Mr. Murray's informer, who told him, " that a lady on the 

 Conway nets nearly a thousand a-year by the pearls of that 

 river, under a charter."* In Cumberland, the famous cir- 

 cumnavigator, Sir John Hawkins, had a patent for fishing the 

 Irt, a river which Drayton dwells upon at more than his usual 

 length : — 



Irt, of all the rest, though small, the richest girl, 



Her costly bosom strew'd with precious orient pearl, 

 Bred in her shining shells, which to the deaw doth yawn, 

 Which deaw they sucking in, conceive that lusty spawn, 

 Of which when they grow great, and to their fulness swell, 

 They cast, which those at hand there gathering, dearly sell ! " + 



In Scotland, Drummond sings of " the pearly Don ;" and 

 the recollection of the ancient celebrity of the Spey and the 

 rivers of Perthshire has been kept alive by some modern 

 attempts to revive the fishery, which at one time was so con- 

 siderable that the historian has deemed it worthy his notice. 

 " It is singular," says Mr. Tytler, " to find so pretious an 

 article as pearls amongst the subjects of Scottish trade, yet 

 the fact rests on good authority. The Scottish pearls in the 

 possession of Alexander I. were celebrated in distant coun- 

 tries for their extreme size and beauty ; and, as early as the 

 twelfth century, there is evidence of a foreign demand for 

 this species of luxury. As the commercial intercourse with 

 the east increased, the rich oriental pearl, from its superior 

 brilliancy, and more perfect form, excluded the Scottish 

 pearls from the jewel -market ; and by a statute of the Pari- 

 sian goldsmiths, in the year 1355, we find it enacted that 

 no worker in gold or silver shall set any Scottish pearls with 

 oriental ones, except in large ornaments or jewels for 

 churches." J A vestige of this trade remained until a com- 

 paratively recent period ; for we find that between the years 

 1761 and 1799, pearls to the amount of 10,000/. worth were 

 sent from the Tay and Ila to London ; and I believe there 

 are still a few idlers on the banks of some of the large rivers 

 of Scotland who procure a precarious livelihood by fishing 

 the pearl-mussel. There were similar fisheries in the north 

 of Ireland about a century and a half ago, carried on with 

 considerable profit. Sir Robert Redding has given a good 

 account of the mode in which the fishery was conducted ; 

 and notwithstanding the wearisome length of these details, 

 you must permit me to give two short extracts from his 

 paper, detailing the method of capture, and the kind of shell 

 which indicated a margaritiferous fish. " The manner of 



* Mag. Nat. Hist. iii. 451. t See also Fuller's Worthies, i. 337. 



X Hist, of Scotland, ii. 306. 



