CII.M-. IV. IIAIM'.orilS AND \A( I IITIK >CSKS. 'J7<J 



<lra<i'n'n, \vhidi in Knirlisli is tliis : You English, v;e will 

 make youylul to wear our old shoes'' 1 From this curious 

 tract it would appear that much even of our commonest 

 English industry is of modern growth ; and that the 

 herring fishery, which it might be supposed was indige- 

 nous in England, is as modern as most other branches 

 of employment. Down to about the end of last century 

 tlie only fishing was conducted close in shore, the fisher- 

 men shooting the nets from their small cobles; and it 

 was not until the year 1787 that the Yarmouth men 

 began the deep-sea herring fishery. 2 



Another remarkable feature of those early times was 

 the piracy which prevailed around the English coasts. 

 The seas were quite as unsafe as the roads, and a system 

 of plundering passing ships was as common as that of 

 robbing mail-coaches. Sea-roving doubtless ran in the 

 blood of the coast population, themselves the descendants 

 of the pirate Northmen. There were many daring spirits 

 amongst them, and when a bold leader started up and 

 fitted out a ship to make a dash at Spanish galleons, or 

 a descent on the French coast, he had never a lack of 

 desperadoes to follow him, thorough-going seamen, 

 equally ready to brave the 'storm and the battle to face 

 the hurricanes of the Atlantic in an open boat, or to 

 fight against any odds. Hence Scaliger, when describ- 

 ing the English of that day, said of them, " They make 

 excellent sailors and pirates," " Nulli melius piraticam 

 exercent quam Angli." 



We have seen the London merchants 3 and guilds 

 n inking a common purse to fit out a fleet under Raleigh, 

 sending it to sea to capture Spanish galleons, and after- 

 wards dividing the proceeds of the prizes taken. Similar 

 ventures were often made, both before and after Raleigh's 



378-90. 



' Harleiaii Miscellany,' vol. iii., 



An Historical Account of the 



Urn-inn Fishery on the North-East j ante, p. 103. 



Coast of England ' (small pamphlet). 

 By Dr. Cortis. Feb., 1858. 



" See ' Life of Sir Hugh Mycldelton,' 



