DECAY OF SALMON. 91 



fish, there is no doubt whatever ; though we would 

 remark, in passing, that this fact must be taken in con- 

 nexion with the other fact, that from the earliest periods 

 both the EngUsh and Scottish legislatures exercised a 

 rigorous, and on the whole a wise care over the fisheries. 

 There were no statistics in the old days, so that if there 

 is any need for proof where there is neither doubt nor 

 denial, we must be content to take it in chance frag- 

 ments. There is evidence of a considerable export of 

 Scotch salmon (pickled), chiefly to Flanders and France, 

 so early as 1380 ; and a municipal order at Eheims, of 

 that date, contains regulations for its sale. In the time 

 of Richelieu, an obscure Scotchman, of the name of Mon~ 

 teith, from the neighbourhood of Stirling, having pre- 

 sented himself at the French Court, and being asked of 

 what family he was, audaciously answered, " Monteith 

 de Salmonnet ;" and so natural seemed such a designa- 

 tion from a Scotchman that the answer was unsuspect- 

 ingly accepted, the adventurer was received by the name 

 he had given, and under that name wrote a book in 

 French, which is still extant. Among the oldest state- 

 ments of what was to be learned of the extent of the 

 salmon- fisheries by travelHng in Scotland, are those given 

 about two hundred years ago in the curious book of the 

 CromweUian trooper. Captain Francks, already mentioned. 

 Francks (from whose descriptions, by the bye, it is clear 

 that the art of salmon- angling was practised then almost 

 precisely as it is now) .takes occasion at most of his halt- 

 ing-places to make a short descant on the abundance of 

 the salmon in Scotland. Thus, of Stirling, he writes : — 

 " The Forth relieves the country with her great plenty 



