MEMOIR OF THOMAS BEWICK. 235 



of any one. Can it be pretended that because a 

 river or a rivulet, passes through an estate, 

 whether the owner of it will or not, that the fish 

 which breed in it, or which live in it, ought to be 

 his? They are not like the game, which are all 

 fed by the farmer, for fish cost nobody anything; 

 therefore, in common justice, they ought to belong 

 to the public, and ought to be preserved for the 

 public good, in every county through which the 

 rivers pass, and be let at a rental from the clerk 

 of the peace, and the money arising therefrom 

 applied to making bridges and roads, or for 

 county or other rates. Stewards ought to be 

 appointed to receive the rents, and a committee 

 of auditors elected annually, by ballot, as a 

 check upon the management of the whole. If 

 the fisheries were not thus rented, the public 

 would derive little benefit from such an immense 

 supply of food; for without they were thus 

 disposed of, each county would soon be over-run 

 with such numbers of poachers as would become 

 intolerable. AH this, however, ought to be well 

 considered; for, notwithstanding the selfish 

 principle which dictated the original grants of 

 the fisheries, long since obtained, the present 

 possessors are not to blame, and suddenly to 

 deprive any man of what he has been accustomed 

 to receive may be deemed a harsh measure, 

 and in some cases a cruel one; therefore some 

 equitable sum should be paid to the owners at 

 once, as a remuneration in lieu of all future 

 claims; as fish ought not to be considered as 

 an inheritance to descend to the heirs of any one. 

 From about the year 1760 to '67, when a boy, I 

 was frequently sent by my parents to purchase a 



