120 Great Britain Division LVL History of Fishing. 



the Britons are said to have refrained from them out of reverence for streams and rivers, and 

 the-alleged aversion of certain large classes of the poor to this article of food may possibly be 

 a survival of this notion. In the Venetian edition of the Older Salic Law, a fine is exacted 

 of "MD. Denarios, XV. Solidos" for the theft of a fish. Feudalism developed the pares or 

 private ponds of great seigneurs to a most elaborate extent, and the Fifth Book of the 

 Ordonnances of Louis XIV. enters into very minute particulars. The Code Rurale also, pub- 

 lished by Royal Privilege in 1775, contains many interesting details of a system swept away 

 a few years afterwards, like so many other remnants of Feudalism, by the force of the Revo- 

 lution, in which so conspicuous a part was played by the Dames de la Halle. For the 

 comparative freedom with which our own arrangements have been conducted we are probably 

 indebted to the existence of the celebrated Fishmongers' Company, or " Mistery of Fysshe- 

 mongers," to use their ancient title. The charters of this wealthy and famous Society carry 

 us back as far as Richard II. The amalgamation of the two Guilds of Stockfishmongers 

 and Saltfishmongers took place in the times of the Roses : their Common Seal stills bears 

 the cross-keys of their fpatron the Fisherman ; and the Fire of London is an event of yes- 

 terday in their annals. Other nations may have established a commerce as extensive and 

 remunerative, but seldom has such a commerce been enjoyed for so long a duration. Of the 

 foreign rivals of the Company domestic they had none by far the most formidable came 

 from the sea-loving country of Holland, which at one period almost succeeded in taking the 

 whaling trade out of British hands. A manuscript in the Harleian collection, bearing date 

 1632, contains "A discoverie of the Hollanders' Trade of Fishinge, and the circumventing us 

 therein ; the means how to make a profitt of the fishinge, by which they have made and yet 

 doe reape soe greate a benefitt, with the profitt, honor and securitie that will redounde to his 

 Ma tle and all sorts of subjects within his Ma t three kingdomes by it. Written by Sr. Wm. 

 Munson, Knt.,sometyme Vice Admiral of England, and now in agitation togeather with his Ma u 

 Letters Pattents for the Execution of the same." Ninety years later a Report upon the loss 

 of the Greenland. fishery was drawn up by order of Sir John Eyles, Governor of the South Sea 

 Company. Of the high value placed upon the trade as regarded both from the political and 

 the commercial point of view, the following passage will enable us to judge : " Is it to be 

 expected," says the author of the Parliamentary History, discussing the proceedings of the 

 Scottish Parliament relatively to the Union, "that Holland will suffer us to improve our 

 Fishery, which is their nursery for seamen, a livelihood to many families, and an immense 

 treasure to the public ? " Such are some of the incidents which illustrate and enliven this 

 characteristic portion of our national life ; nor is the interest of the study by any means con- 

 fined to archaeological or historical details. On the contrary many questions relating to 

 our fisheries are of vital and permanent importance to large masses of the population ; and the 

 welfare of the classes employed in these pursuits, the means for extending the consumption 

 of fish amongst the poor, the discovery of new fishing-grounds, the acclimatization of fresh 

 species, the improvement of piscatorial implements and methods, and the establishment 

 of Government vessels for the better instruction of fishermen, are but a few of the innumerable 

 topics relative to these matters to be found in the columns of Parliamentary Reports. And 

 when the reader has become familiar with the varied story and multiform relations of this 

 deeply interesting branch of the animal kingdom alike in its] scientific and commercial 

 aspects, he cannot do better than pay a visit to the lecture room of the Exhibition and there 

 learn how the whole of this widely reaching literature and organization is but the preliminary 

 step towards the much needed development of this valuable food for the teeming and ever 

 multiplying millions of our poorer population. W. M. ADAMS, 



Formerly Fellow of New College, Oxford. 



ANDERSON, ABBOTT, & ANDERSON, 



Celebrated for their OILSKIIVS in all the 

 Fishing: Districts of Canada, lYewibundland, 

 Sweden, Norway, Holland, France, and the 

 whole of the British Isles. 



