INTRODUCTION. 7 



A jury, empannelled for the purpose of estimating 

 the value of Arley manor upon the death of one of 

 its proprietors, gave the yearly rental of its fishery 

 at 6s. 8cL, — a large sum in comparison with the 

 value of sixty acres of land, stated to have been 10s., 

 or with the rent of a ferry, which was put down at 

 sixpence. There must have been fine fishing then. 

 Trout were plentiful, so were salmon ; there were no 

 locks or artificial weirs to obstruct the attempts of 

 fish — still true to the instinct of their ancestors — to 

 beat the tide in an upward summer excursion in the 

 direction of its source. The document states that 

 the part of the river so valued " abounded in fish." 



Note. — The Bishop of Worcester, by his regulations for the 

 Priory of Little Malvern, in 1323, enjoins the prior not to fish in 

 the stew set apart from ancient times for the recreation of the sick, 

 imless manifest utility, to he approved by the Chapter, should 

 sanction it ; in which case he was, at a fit opportunity, to replace 

 the fish which he caught. 



We fancy it is not difficult to recognise a growing feeling against 

 that separation of religion, recreation, and health which unfor- 

 tiinately now exists, and in favour of re-uniting the three ; and we 

 are persuaded that the "sooner this takes place the better for the 

 nation. 



