AN EXTRACT FROM PEPYS 119 



Royal Fishery. He writes in his Diary, 

 October 10th, 1664 :— 



" To the office, and there late, and so home to 

 supper, and to bed, having sat up till past twelve 

 at night to look over the account of the collections 

 for the Fishery, and the loose and base manner that 

 monies so collected are disposed of in would make 

 a man never part with a penny in that manner ; 

 and, above all, the inconvenience of having a great 

 man, though never so seeming pious as my Lord 

 Pembroke is. He is too great to be called to an 

 account, and is abused by his servants, and yet 

 obliged to defend them for his owne sake." 



Were this an Anthology of the Herring, a 

 work not yet written, extracts from Pepys 

 would supply many pages. 



In 1666 came another Act for the Better 

 Encouragement of the Herring Fishery. The 

 importation of herring, " fresh or salt, dried or 

 bloated," taken by foreigners was prohibited, 

 any person whatsoever being empowered to 

 seize the same, half for his own use, and half 

 for the poor of the parish. This Act, 18 Car. II., 

 c. 2, and two subsequent Acts, 20 Car. II., 

 c. 7, and 32 Car. II., c. 2, are additionally 

 interesting in that they dealt with the question 

 of the importation of provisions from Ireland. 

 In his "Discourses on Trade " (1670) Sir Joshua 

 Child states that " The Hollanders had a great 

 H trade of salt from Portugal to France, and 

 H immense fishing for white herring off our own 

 H coasts," and remarks that the Dutch would 



