THE SCOTTISH HERKING-FISHEBY. 49 



fishery at that place. In 1357 he got his parliament to lay 

 down a body of laws for the better regulatipn of the fisheries, 

 and the following year sixty lasts of herring were shipped at 

 Portsmouth for the use of his army and fleet in France. In 

 1635 a patent was granted to Mr. Davis for gauging red-herrings, 

 for which Yarmouth was famed thus early, at a certain price 

 per last ; his duty was, in fact, to denote the quality of the fish 

 by affixing a certain seal ; this, so far as we know, is the first 

 indication of the brand system. His Majesty Charles II., being 

 interested in the fisheries, visited Yarmouth in company with 

 the Duke of York and others of the nobility, when he was 

 handsomely entertained, and presented with four golden herrings 

 and a chain of considerable value. 



Several of the kings of Scotland were zealous in aiding the 

 fisheries, but the death of James V., and the subsequent religious 

 and civil commotions, put a stop for a time to the progress of 

 this particular branch of trade, as weU as to every other indus- 

 trial project of his time. In 1602 his successor on the throne, 

 James VI., resumed the plans which had been chalked out by 

 his grandfather. Practical experiments were made in the art of 

 fishing, fishing towns were built in the different parts of the 

 Highlands, and persons well versed in the practice were brought 

 to teach the ignorant natives; but as the Highlanders were 

 jealous of these " interlopers," very slow progress was made ; 

 and again the course of improvement was interrupted by the 

 king's accession to the throne of England and the union of the 

 two Crowns. During the remainder of James's reign little 

 progress was made in the art of fishing, and we have to pass 

 over the reign of Charles I., and wait through the troublous 

 times of the Protectorate till we have Charles II. seated on the 

 throne, before much further encouragement is decreed to the 

 fisheries. Charles II. aided the advancement of this industrial 

 pursuit by appointing a Koyal Council of Fishery, in order to 

 the establishment' of proper laws and regulations for the en- 

 couragement of those engaged in this branch of our commerce. 



After this period the British trade in fish and knowledge of 

 the arts of capture expanded rapidly. It is said, as I have 

 already stated, that during our early pursuit of the fishery the 

 Dutch learned much from us, and that, in fact, while we were 

 away founding the Greenland whale-fishery, the people of Hol- 

 land came upon our seas and robbed us of our fish, and so 

 obtained a supremacy in the art that lasted for many years. At 



