170 THE HERRING. 



cheap and rapid means of transit furnished by the rail- 

 way ; and those not familiar with the household economy 

 of "huts where poor men lie" may fancy that ichthyo- 

 phagy must be far from rare. And it must be owned 

 that certain things seem to indicate that such is the 

 fact. For instance, in the very interesting evidence 

 given before the Koyal Commission for visiting the 

 Universities of Scotland by the late Principal Lee, we 

 find the reverend gentleman declaring that, when a 

 student at Edinburgh College, he knew young men 

 living for a session chiefly on herring and oatmeal. 

 And another reverend doctor, an intimate friend of 

 the Principal, has often laughingly declined to taste 

 herring at our table, because he ate so many when a 

 student that he was satisfied for life ! Moreover, our 

 Scottish literature has about it an undeniable smack of 

 the herring. Our daily talk, our moralising proverbs, 

 our love-songs, have all a savour of this fish. " Dead 

 as a herring" is said of one who is " gone" beyond re- 

 meid, and is probably an allusion to the fact that the 

 herring dies the moment that it is taken out of the 

 water, in consequence of the gill- covers being very 

 loose and opening wide. And when we- wish to indi- 

 cate a man's individual responsibility, we tell him 

 significantly "ilka herrin' man hing by its ain head." 

 When the Scottish swain seeks to ingratiate himself 

 with his sweetheart, he brings before her a picture of 

 the " gear," to the worth of which he flatters himself 

 she will not be blind. Distrustful of the value to be 

 attached to "ahenwi' a happety leg," he adds the 

 item 



"I hae laid a lierrin' in saut ; " 



and then ventures to ask 



" Lass, gin ye loo me, tell me noo ! " 



Were any one to quote sundry passages from Burns 

 to silence the hypocrite who should pretend that the 



