AND ANGLING SONGS. 1/3 



At the period I speak of, the public exercised unchallenged 

 the privilege of angling over a large portion of the Tyne, ex- 

 tending from Hailes Castle down to Tyningham, a distance of 

 about six miles. This range of water comprehended a number 

 of excellent pools, in which the yellow trout, besides being 

 numerous, attained a large size. At a spot called the Linn, be- 

 low the bridge at East Linton, kelts, locally termed Hers, were 

 occasionally landed, and further down, at the Mill of Phantassie, 

 I have witnessed the capture of well-conditioned salmon. 



It is now nearly twenty years since the community at large 

 were interdicted, by a decision in the Supreme Court, from 

 fishing with the rod on the portion of Tyne above mentioned. 

 This decision occasioned at the time a good deal of excitement, 

 which was added to by the circumstance, that, shortly before its 

 enunciation, the public, in the person of the defender, had 

 established a right of way along the banks of the river. This 

 right, however, was construed by the Court into a mere servitude, 

 which, although it had been exercised from time immemorial as 

 an auxiliary to the claims of the angling public, could have no 

 effect in determining them. It was simply a right of way, and, 

 in the strong language of one of the judges, gave no license to 

 the party using it to ' throw a hook, chuck a stone, or even to 

 spit into the water.' 



On the strength of this decision, numerous streams in Scot- 

 laud, which the public at large had been accustomed to fish in 

 without challenge, and to consider free, have been placed in a state 

 of strict conservation by the proprietors on their banks. Such a 

 result is to be regretted, seeing that in many instances the law 

 so laid down was taken advantage of on rivers not coming strictly 

 within its scope. The decision in the case in question, Fergus- 

 son v. Shirreff", bears solely upon private rivers, one of the grounds 

 of it being that the pursuer was the proprietor of both banks and 

 alveus ; but it does not, according to that definition, admit of 



