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RARY 
 
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FISHING. 
 
 A 
 
 TRANSLATION 
 
 FROM 
 
 THE LATIN OF FANIER. 
 
 BOOK XV. UPON FISH. 
 
 By the late Rev. JOHN BUNCOMBE, 
 
 OF C. C. COLL. OAMB. 
 WITH 
 
 A BRIEF INTRODUCTION; 
 
 AND 
 
 PASSAGES FROM ENGLISH WRITERS, 
 
 SELECTED AS NOTES. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 HUNTED FOR R. TP.iPHOOK, 3/ a ST. JAMJES'g STJtEET, 
 1 809. 
 
THE following pages Jorm an article in the 
 CENSURA LITERARIA, lut a few additional copies 
 have been printed for general distribution* 
 
 J.H. 
 
 T. Bcnslcy, Printer, 
 Blt Court, Fleet Street, London. 
 
FISHING. 
 
 FISHING may probably claim origin with the ex- 
 piration of the poet's golden age. When the vitiated 
 palate of man first imbibed the savoury gratification of 
 animal food, the weak and the indolent, alike too 
 supine to share in the fatigues of the chase, contrived 
 the obtainment of a viscous substance by a less labo- 
 rious but more cunning depredation upon the tenants 
 of the deep. As mankind increased in number, and 
 nations were formed, the art became general; nor 
 was the simple character of the fisherman finally un- 
 important. Upon the foundation of the mild doc- 
 trines of the Christian religion an <c astonishing and 
 rapid propagation of it [took place] by a few illiterate 
 tent-makers and fishermen through almost every part 
 of the world." * From that period, in the earliest his- 
 tory of every country, it may be gleaned, that fishing 
 
 * Lecture I. upon the Gospel of St. Matthew, by the present Bishop of 
 London. 
 
 A supplied 
 
 072 
 
supplied a large portion of nutritive sustenance to the 
 various inhabitants, and, in some places, has progres- 
 sively risen from a domestic trade to a material branch 
 of the public revenue by exportation. As a practical art 
 it has experienced little if any alteration for centuries. 
 Instances may be found of the untutored savage exer- 
 cising his adroitness by diving, while the invention of 
 more polished regions is exhibited in the varying mesh 
 and subtle deception of a baited hook. Painters and 
 poets of all periods describe similar modes of destruc- 
 tion. Of our domestic records, upon the research of a 
 late antiquarian, into the sports and pastimes of the 
 people, not any particulars were met with (e sufficiently 
 deviating from the present method of taking fish to 
 claim a place in his work."* The following extract 
 is curious, and is one af the earliest notices upon the 
 subject, which combines the statute and common law 
 of the realm at that period. " If any man fysshe in 
 the lordes pooles or meyres, the lorde maye haue his 
 accyon vpon the statute of Westmynster primT. [3 Ed. 
 I. C 20 1275.] And yf he fysshe in the rynning and 
 seuerall waters, the lorde may haue his actyon at the 
 conTen lawe, 8c in lykewyse the lordes tenaUnt, if any 
 man fysshe in his ferme holde, be it standynge waters 
 and rynninge waters : and where he saythe de omni- 
 bus of commen fysshynges, that is lytell profyte to y e . 
 lorde but to his tenaules, except he dwell nighe the 
 sea, and wyll cause his seruant to fysshe there for hym, 
 for y*. is the best conTen water y*. any man can fisshe 
 in. And some rynning waters be confen, as lytell 
 
 * Strutt's Sports and Pastimes, p. 7. 
 
 brokes, 
 
brokes, and sytches, and in some rinnyng waters the 
 lordes tenaif tes haue lybertie by custoe" to fysshe with 
 shouenettes, trodenettes, small pytches, and suche 
 other." * To recapitulate the various English writers 
 upon fishing, according to the science of angling, 
 would prove too voluminous for a brief essay. Such 
 an attempt must commence with the " treatyse of 
 fyshynge wyth an angle," of 1496, by Juliana Berners, 
 and after enumerating near two hundred various publi- 
 cations connected with the subject, conclude with the 
 late edition of Walton's Complete Angler, as re-edited 
 by, and with the subsequent additions of Sir John 
 Hawkins, t Several inquiries have been made re- 
 specting 
 r 
 
 * Boke of surveyeng and improume'tes, 1523. 
 
 f- Although this work [the Complete Angler] seems to be little more 
 than a treatise on fish and fishing, the 1 reader, whether he is a proficient in 
 angling or not, will find abundant entertainment in it. It is written in dia- 
 logue, and is interspersed with several pieces of excellent old English 
 poetry, and discovers such a vein of natural humour, and harmless plea- 
 santry, as has rendered it the delight of the most ingenious for more than a 
 century. The author, Mr. Walton, was intimate with the wits of King 
 James the First's time; of whom, and of many other remarkable persons, 
 there are, in this edition, many curious anecdotes. Cuts are now added of 
 thejprincipal scenes, designed by Mr. Wale, and engraved by Mr. Ryland, 
 in which the characters are dressed in the habits of the times : which cuts, 
 the reader may be assured, cost, in designing and engraving upwards of one 
 hundred pounds." Bookseller's advertisement of first edition by Hawkins t . 
 from Newspaper July, i 760. The late edition of this work forms a hand- 
 some volume in quarto, and in two different sizes octavo. The embellish- 
 ments are by Mr. Philip Audinet, who has again copied from the original 
 designs of Wale : to these are added some portraits, and the fish are engraved 
 from a set of new designs, made for the purpose. 
 
 The following extract from the preface to the experienced Angler (another 
 eld and raluable publication) by Col. Venables, claiming the superiority of 
 
 thla 
 
4 
 
 ,specting the following poem, and there is reason to 
 conclude it is now first printed. The date of the manu- 
 script 
 
 this pursuit over other more expensive diversions is too connected with the 
 present article to be omitted. 
 
 " Hawking and hunting have had their excellencies celebrated with large 
 encomiums by divers pens; and although I intend not any undervaluing to 
 those noble recreations, so much famed in all ages and hy ail degrees, yet I 
 must needs affirm, that they foil not within the compass of every one's 
 ability to pursue, being, as it were, only entailed on great persons and vast 
 estates} for if meaner fortunes seek to enjoy them, Actaeoa's fable often 
 proves a true story, and those birds of prey not seldom quarry upon their 
 masters : besides, those recreations are more subject to choleu and passion, 
 by how much those creatures exceed a hook or line in worth; and indeed in 
 those exercises our pleasure depends much upon the will a^d humor of a sul- 
 len cur, or kite (as I have heard their own passions phrase them) which also 
 require much attendance, care, and skill, to keep her serviceable to our 
 ends. Further, these delights are often prejudicial to the husbandman in his 
 corn, grass, and fences j but in this pleasant and harmless Art of Angling, a 
 man hath none to quarrel with but himself, and we are usually so entirely 
 our own friends as not to retain an irreconcileable hatred against ourselves, 
 but can in short time easily compose the enmity j and besides ourselves none 
 are offended, none endamaged ; and this recreation falleth within the ca- 
 pacity of the lowest fortime to compass, affording also profit as well as plea- 
 sure ; in following of which exercise a man mav employ his thoughts in the 
 noblest studies, almost as freely as in his closet ; the minds of anglers being 
 usually more calm and composed than many others, especially hunters and 
 falkoners, who too frequently los? their delight in their passion, and too often 
 bring home more of melancholy and discontent than satisfaction in their 
 thoughts ; but the angler, when he hath the worst success, looseth but a 
 hook or line, or perhaps (what he never possessed) a fish, and suppose he 
 take nothing, yet he enjoyeth a delightful! walk by pleasant rivers, in sweet 
 pastures, amongst odoriferous flowers, which gratifie his senses and delight 
 his mind ; which contentments induce many (who affect not angling) to 
 chocse those places of pleasure for their summer's recreation and health. 
 But peradventure some may alledge that this art is mean, melancholy and 
 insipid : I suppose the old answer, de gustibus non est disfutandtimj will hold 
 as firmly in recreations as palats ; many have supposed angling void of de- 
 light, having never tried it, yet have afterwards experimented it so full of 
 
 Content, 
 
5 
 
 script is uncertain, probably about 17^0, and from 
 several corrections in the original must have been the 
 translator's copy. Extracts from other works are given 
 as notes, but discussions upon manufacturing flies, or 
 the ingenious torment of threading a live bait, are 
 purposely omitted; yet it is hoped amusement and 
 information will prove sufficiently blended for those 
 notes to be considered rather above the character of 
 " a string of whiting's eyes/' 
 
 Faniere. Book XV. Of Fis/i. Translated from the 
 Latin. By I. D* of C. C. Coll. Caml. 
 
 Of Fish I sing, and to the rural cares 
 Now add the labours of my younger years, 
 These lays, Lemoignon, your protection claim, 
 Now more improv'd since first they gave me fame j 
 From hence to tend the doves and vines I taught, 
 And whate'er else my riper years have wrought. 
 
 Here, where in pleasing fables I relate, 
 How various bodies were transformed by fate, 
 
 content, that they have quitted all other recreation (at least in its season) to 
 
 pursue it The cheapness of the recreation abates not its pleasure, but 
 
 with rational persons heightens it j and if it be delightful the charge of me- 
 lancholy falls upon that score, and if example (which is the best proof) may 
 sway any thing, I know no sart of men less subject io melancholy than 
 anglers ; many have cast off other recreations and embraced it, but I never 
 knew any angler wholly cast off (though occasions might interrupt) their 
 affections to their beloved recreation j and if this art may prove a noble brave 
 rest to my mind, 'tis all the satisfaction I covet." 
 
 * Rev. John Duncambe, of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, Rector of 
 Hearne, Kent, and St. Andrew, with St. Mary Brechmn, Canterbury. Ob. 
 Jan. 19, 1786, zet. 56. See Gent. Mag. Vol. LVI. pp. 187-451, wher 
 this translation is mentioned. It is now printed from the copy re/erred to 
 as in the possession of the late Mr. Reed. See his Translation of Vaniere's 
 fifth book in George Jeffreys's Miscellanies, 1754, 410. 
 
 Your 
 
Your youthful grandsons may amusement find, 
 Who, Virtue's seeds now rip'ntng in their mind, 
 Nor yet in Greek or Koman writers read, 
 But by your life and sage instructions bred, 
 May nourish in their minds the sweet essays 
 Of virtue rising to their grandsire's praise. 
 
 Curson by you was taught to guide the helm, 
 And that, when dead, you may protect the realm, 
 You fashion in their turn his blooming heirs, 
 That, while great Lewis for the world prepares, 
 A line of future monarchs he may view, 
 A line of ministers, prepar'd by you j 
 Whose names and deeds pur annals may adorn 
 In future times and ages yet unborn. 
 
 Whether the place you for your fish provide, 
 High hills with springs surround on ev'ry side, 
 (The work of nature this, and not of art,) 
 Or, lying in a valley, ev'ry part 
 By banks with ease may be sustain'd, in all j 
 Improve the land that to your lot may fall. 
 
 Who dwells on level ground, tho' rais'd with pain, 
 His banks the waters weight can scarce contain. 
 Yet let him not despair j for wealth and toil 
 Will model to his mind the stubborn soil. 
 Where like a channel you behold a field, 
 Which, tho* it would increase of harvests yield, 
 Will yet, if flooded, still more fruitful grow, 
 Pour in the tide, and let it overflow : 
 Then fish may nibble grass, beneath the flood, 
 Where goats were wont to crop their flow'ry food. 
 
 When now for sixty months the scaly breed 
 Has kept possession of the watry meadj 
 Drain'd in its turn it will reward the swain 
 For sixty months with more than promis'd gainj 
 Thus may a valley fish and harvests yield, 
 And now appear a lake, and now a field : 
 
 Water 
 
Water and corn by turns possess the plain, 
 And Ceres now, and now the Naiads reign. 
 
 Lakes for their fishes some on hills prepare, 
 From whence the water with a friendly care 
 Supplies their gardens with refreshing tides 5 
 Or, under ground, thro' wooden pipes it glides, 
 Till, with a sudden noise it mounts again, 
 And sportful falls in sheets of copious rain. 
 Oft will the streams, o'erflowing, fill the mead 
 With wond'ring nations of the scaly breed; 
 The fish exulting wanders o'er the plain, 
 And now admires the grass and now the grain; 
 Deep in the spacious furrows lies conceal'd, 
 Or crops .the floating herbage of the field ; 
 Till, left to perish in the mud, too late 
 He sees his error, and bewails his fate. 
 By Vice's stream a youth, thus hurry'd o'er 
 Fair Virtue's bounds to paths unknown before, 
 With transport follows where soft pleasure leads, 
 And roves thro' flow'ry but forbidden meads: 
 But, when his joys are like a torrent fled, 
 Sad he reviews the life that once he led ; 
 Now, tho' too late, he struggles to retire, 
 But still remains and flounders in the mire; 
 Till, by experience vainly render'd wise, 
 He sees his folly and repenting dies. 
 
 In hollow depths of rocks the fish delight, 
 The cooling shade t' enjoy and shun the sight; 
 Be thou indulgent to the finny race 
 And after nature's model, form the place; 
 But since the stream, unable here to flow, 
 Will often stagnate and corrupted grow; 
 Rather let shelt'ring trees o'ershade the flood; 
 But then the leaves, when shaken from the wood,, 
 Should with the current down the river swim, 
 Lest by corrupting they defile the stream. 
 
 Let 
 
8 
 
 Let rivers therefore from the mountains flow, 
 To change the water of your lakes below. 
 Fish, by the river brought, your ponds receive, 
 Which with the stream, when they attempt to leave, 
 To bar their flight a fence of hurdles place, 
 Thro' which the stream may flow ; the finny race, 
 Struggling in vain, becomes an easy prize, 
 And still pursues the stream with eager eyes. 
 No place for fish is more convenient found, 
 Than moats which do your house's walls surround , 
 For here the mazes of the stream they trace, 
 And chuse in Winter's cold, a sunny place, 
 Or to the house's friendly shade repair 
 As oft as summer suns inflame the air : 
 Be mindful thou the hungry race to feed, 
 The fish themselves in their own cause will plead j 
 And, rising to the surface of the flood, 
 With hungry gaping jaws demand their food. 
 Let then your children crums of bread bestow, 
 Or bits of biscuit from their windows throw, 
 From whence they may behold their sportive play, 
 And see how greedily they snatch the prey. * 
 
 Sometime* 
 
 * u One, like a pirat, only Hues of prizes, 
 That in the deep he desperatly surprises : 
 Another haunts the shoar, to feed on foam j 
 Another round about the rocks doth roam, 
 Nibbling on weeds ; another, hating thieuing, 
 Eats nought at all, of liquor only liuing j 
 For the salt humor of his element 
 Serues him, alone, for perfect nourishment. 
 Scm loue the clear streams of swift tumbling torrents, 
 Which, through the recks straining their struggling current*, 
 Break banks and bridges, and doo neuer stop, 
 Till thirsty summer come to drink them vp ; 
 1 Some almost alwayes pudder in the mud 
 Of sleepy pools, and neuer brook the flood 
 
 Of 
 
Sometimes your servant scraps from table brings, 
 
 Or meat your cook into the water flings : 
 
 Fish sometimes yield to fish a rich repnste, 
 
 And sons insatiate on their fathers feast. 
 
 You grains of corn may scatter, and survey 
 
 Your fish engag'd in battle or in playj 
 
 Or, if in sport and shooting you delight, 
 
 With pleasure here at home, conceal'd from sight, 
 
 May use by turns your arrows and your gun, 
 
 Safe from the show'rs and from the scorching sun ; 
 
 Whether they sportive leap into the air, 
 
 Or to the surface of the stream repair. 
 
 Ponds for your fish wherever you provide. 
 
 They with fresh store in spring should be supply 'd 5 
 
 In spring the male with love's soft flames inspir'd, 
 
 And in defiance of the water fir'd, 
 
 Can scarce perceive the change j and, big with young, 
 
 A num'rous breed the female bears along ! 
 
 Now o'er the neighb'ring streams extend your nets, 
 And throw your lines, well furnish'd with deceits 5 
 Join scarlet colours, which, expos'd to view, 
 Fish thro* the water greedily pursue ; 
 And as a skilful fowler birds employs, 
 Which, by their well-known voice and treacherous noise, 
 Allure their fellows and invite to share 
 Their fate, entangled in the viscous snare; 
 So fish, when taken, other fish allure j 
 Who, seeing them, grow dauntless and secure: * 
 
 But 
 
 Of crystall streams, that in continuall motion 
 Bend t'ward the bosom of their mother Ocean." 
 
 Sylvester's Du Barkis, 5th clay. 
 
 * " Dialogo. xlviii. Of a Fissher and a lytjll Fissh. A fisshcr as he 
 fisshed he cawght a lytell fissh. and whan he \voide haue kylled him he spake 
 andsayde. O gentyll fissher haue mercy vppon me, for yfthou kyl me thou 
 
 ihtlt 
 
IO 
 
 But not thro' studied malice they betray, 
 
 But by our art deceive the finny prey: 
 
 This may be pardon'd in a silent race, 
 
 Who cannot warn their friends of the deceitful place : 
 
 Man only with premeditated mind 
 
 Betrays his brethren, and ensnares mankind. * 
 
 If 
 
 shalt haue but little auauntage of me. But & if thou wilt suffre me to go frc 
 and delyuer me from this daunger & captiuitie, I promise to God and to the, 
 that I shall cawse the to haue greate wynnynge, for I shal retourne vnto the 
 daylye withe greate multitude of fisshes and I shall lede them into thy 
 nettis. To whom the fisshsr sayd. How shall I mowe knowe the emonge so 
 many fisshes. Then sayd ye. fissh. Cut of a lytell of my tayle that thou 
 mayst know me emong all othir. The fissher gaue credence to his woordis 
 and cut of his tayle and let him go. This lytel fissh was euer vncurteys, for 
 contrary to his promyse he lettyd the fissher as oftyn as he shuld fissh, and 
 with'irewe y e . fisshes from him and sayd. Faders and worshipfull senyours 
 be ye ware of that deceyuar for he deceyuyd me, & cut of my tayle, and so 
 shall he serue you if ye be not ware, and, yf ye beleue not me, beleue his 
 workis that apere vpon me. And thus saynge the fissh shewed t them his 
 tayle that was cut. Wherfor the fisshes abhorryd y e . fiyssher and fled from 
 him in al possible haste. The fissher vsid no more fysshinge, wherfore he 
 leuyd in great pouerte. Of fortune it happid so that a long while aftir the 
 Assher cawght agayne the same fissh emong othir ; and whan he knew him, 
 he kylled him cruelly and sayde j 
 
 He that hath a good turn and is vncurteys agayn, 
 It is veray rightfull that he be therfore slayne." 
 
 The Dialoges of Creatures Moralysed, applyably and edificatyjly, to euery 
 mery and iocunde mater, of late translated out of Latyn into our Englyssbe tonge 
 right profitable to the gouernaunce of man. And they be to sell, 'upon Poivlys 
 Churche Yarde. 4^. n. d. Has a prologue and table. Interspersed with 
 many wood cuts. Folded in fours, and extends to I. I. iiij. Col. Thus 
 endlth the Dialoges of Creatures moralysed y &c . ut sur^ra. 
 
 * Though this duplicity is nurtmed by the factitious wants of a crowded 
 eity, it seldom intiudes upon the hovel of industry } yet the pillow of weary 
 labour is not unvisited by the baneful dreams of gold. 
 
 " Two ancient fishers in a struw-thatch'd shed, 
 Leaves were their walls, and sea-weed was their bed, 
 
 Reclin'd 
 
II 
 
 If in the stream a craggy rock there lies, 
 Thither the finny race for shelter flies : 
 This from the rising water may be known, 
 Which breaks in bubbles, by the fishes blown j 
 
 Reclln'd their weary limbs : hard by were laid 
 Baskets, and all their implements of trade, 
 Rods, hooks, and lines, compos' d of stout horse-hairi, 
 And nets of various sorts, and various snares, 
 The seine, the cast-net, and the wicker maze, 
 To waste the watery tribes a thousand ways : 
 A crazy boat was drawn upon a plank j 
 Matts were their pillow, wove of osier dank j 
 Skins, caps, and rugged coats, a covering made ; 
 This was their wealth, their labour, and their trade, 
 No pot to boil, no watch dog to defend, 
 Yet blest they liv'd with penury their friend. 
 [The one relates.] 
 
 Methought I sat upon a shelfy steep, 
 
 And watchM the fish that gambolM in the deep i 
 
 Suspended by my rod, I gently shook 
 
 The bait fallacious, which a huge one took j 
 
 (Sleeping, we image what awake we wish; 
 
 Dogs dream of bones, and fishermen offish j) 
 
 Bent was my rod, and from his gills the blood 
 
 With crimson stream distain'd the silver flood, 
 
 I stretch'd my arm out, lest the line should break ; 
 
 The fish so vigorous, and my hook so weak ! 
 
 Anxious 1 gaz'd j he struggled to be gone j 
 
 You're wounded I'll be with you, friend, anon' 
 
 < Still do you tease me ?' for he plagu'd me sore j 
 
 At last, quite spent, I drew him safe on shore, 
 
 Then grasp'd him with my hand for surer hold, 
 
 A noble prize, a fish of solid gold. 
 
 . Go search the shoals, not sleeping, but awake, 
 
 Hunger will soon discover your mistake ; 
 
 Catch real fish ; you need not sure be told 
 
 Those fools must starvs who only dream of gold." 
 
 Fawkcs's Theocritus, Idyl, xxi. 
 
 If 
 
12 
 
 \ 
 
 If rocks deny, let art retreat bestow, 
 And leafy branches in the water throw. 
 Now when the fish, invited by the food, 
 Frequent the shade, hang nets around the flood, 
 And drawing down the stream your boughs, convey 
 Into your flaxen snares the finny prey. 
 Then leafy boughs and branches place again, 
 And with fresh arts a fresh supply obtain. 
 Tubs, which to lakes your captive fishes bear, 
 Should at the top admit the vital air ; 
 And if a brook or spring is in the way, 
 With cooling draughts refresh the thirsty prey. 
 
 Various of waters, as of soils, the kind; 
 Some stagnant, others running there you'll find, 
 The bottom fill'd with oose, and mud, and here 
 Sand mixt with golden gravel will appear.* 
 
 * The fish of lakes, and motes, and stagnant ponds 
 
 (Remote from sea, or where no spring commands, 
 
 And intermingling its refreshing waves 
 
 Is teach unto the mote, and tenches saves 
 
 And keeps them medical) are of all sorts 
 
 Lesse innocent, unless some river courts 
 
 The sullen nymph, and blending waters, she 
 
 Of a foul Mopsa's made Leucotboe. 
 
 Her inmates otherwise, like herself, smeli, 
 
 Taste of the harbour (that is) scent not well j 
 
 Slow to digest: alive, they liv'd to close, 
 
 And dead they can't their native dulness lose. 
 
 Give me a salmon, who with winged fins 
 
 'Gainst tide and stream firks b're the fishing-gins 
 
 Of locks and hives, and circling in a gyre 
 
 His vaulting corps , he leaps the baffled wyre. 
 
 Let fish have room enough and their full play, 
 
 Ko liquor want, not on a Fish-street day." 
 
 Edmund Gay ton's Art of Longevity, 
 
 In 
 
'3 
 
 In lakes where the dull waters ever sleep, 
 
 You perches,* bleaks, and salmon-trout, f may keep, 
 
 Who 
 
 " Of the meruayles and wondres of Wales. 
 
 Ther ben hylles in snowdonye 
 
 That ben wonderly hye j 
 
 With heyght as grete awaye, 
 
 As a man maye go a daye : 
 
 And kete eriri on Walsshe, 
 
 Snowy hylles in Englysshe : 
 
 In these hylles ther is 
 
 Leese inough for all beestes of Walig. 
 
 The hylles on coppe beres, 
 
 Two grete fysshe weres ; 
 
 Conteyned in that one ponde, 
 
 Meueth with the vvynde an Ilonde, 
 
 As though it dyde swymme, 
 
 And neyheth to the brymme : 
 
 So that heerdes haue grete wonder, 
 
 And wene y*. the worlde meueth vnder. 
 
 In that other is perche and fysshe, 
 
 And eueryche one eyed is." Pjlychromcon. 
 
 Extract from lines on taking a salmon, 1787. 
 " O bliss divine ! 
 
 A salmon flound'ring at ray line ! 
 Sullen, at first he sinks to ground, 
 Or rolls in circles round and round ; 
 Till, more inflamed, he plunging, sweeps, 
 And from the shallows seeks the deeps j 
 Thea bends the rod, the winch then iings, 
 As Jown the stream he headlong springsj 
 But, turned with fiercer rage, he boils, 
 And tries indignant all his wiles j 
 Yet vainly tries, his courage flown, 
 And al! his mighty powers gone, 
 I wind him up with perfect er.se, 
 Or here, or there, or where I please 5 
 Till quite exhausted now he grows, 
 And now his silver sides he shews j 
 Nor one faint effort more he tries, 
 But near my feet a captive liesj 
 
 Hit 
 
i 
 
 Who on their backs as many colours show, 
 As heav'nly Iris on her painted bow. 
 With these the smelt and smaller turbot place, 
 And tench, the fav'rites of the vulgar race, 
 With slipp'ry eels which may be caught with ease 
 Descending from the rivers to the seas; 
 For as each year the wand'ring swallow flies 
 The southern suns and more indulgent skies; 
 So when rough northern blasts the rivers freeze, 
 The tender eel, of cold impatient, flees 
 To the warm sands and caverns of the seas; * 
 And thence returns in summer as before, 
 To the cool streams and shelter of the shore. 
 Chuse then a place to practise your deceit, 
 Where rocks reduce the river to a strait, 
 So that the stream may flow, when thus confin'd, 
 With force to turn a mill and corn to grind: 
 Then near the flood gates in a narrow space, 
 Hard of access, with reeds enclose a place; 
 The bending osiers will with ease allow 
 The stream retiring thro' the chinks to flow; 
 
 His tail I grasp with eager hand, 
 
 And swing, with joy, my prize on land." 
 
 * The tackle must be adapted to the season, but the angler may remain 
 indifferent as to the wind j " so (as one instructor gravely adds) that he 
 can cast his bait into the river." The planetary influence upon fish is alluded 
 to by Gower, in the Confessione Amantis, 1554. 
 
 <( Benethe all other stont the moone, 
 
 The whiche hath with the sea to doone, 
 
 Of floodes highe, and ebbes lowe, 
 
 Vpon his chaunge it shall be knowe, 
 
 And euery fisshe, whiche hath a shelle, 
 
 Mote in his gouernance dvvelle, 
 
 To wexe and wane in his degree, 
 
 As by the moone a man mai see.'* 
 
 But, 
 
15 
 
 But, in the wicker prison w ill detain 
 
 Theslipp'ry eel descending to the main; 
 
 By whom a time for flying will be chose, 
 
 When now the stream a safe return allows, 
 
 And swoln with wintry show'rs o'er all its borders flows. 
 
 But, as a leader, who attempts to go 
 
 By night in secret, to elude the foe, 
 
 Will find the foe prepar'd to stop his flight, 
 
 And equally befriended by the night : 
 
 So with the fisherman, with timely care 
 
 In muddy streams the flying Eel ensnare, 
 
 An$ nets to stop the fugitive prepare. 
 
 The Carp, the native of th* Italian Lar, * 
 And Whiting standing waters will prefer; 
 And Blease, and Umbles, like an ancient trout, 
 Tho' weak in fight, yet threacning with their snout; 
 For tho' sharp teeth in triple ranks are shown, 
 Whole nations fly before the pike alone j 
 Fierce to destroy with blood the stream he stains ; 
 For courage, and not strength, the conquest gains, f 
 
 The 
 
 * Venice is described in Purchases Pilgrimes, as 
 ^ .. a riche toun of spicery : 
 
 And of aile other marchandise also, 
 And right well vitelet therto ; 
 And namely of fresche water fische, 
 Pike, Eile, Tench, Carpe, I wis : 
 
 Vol. II. p. 1236, Ed. 16*5. 
 
 " The Carp is a stately, and very subtle fish, stiled the fresh- water fox, 
 and queen of rivers ; he is originally of foreign growth; Mr. Mascall a Sus- 
 sex gentleman, having the honour of first bringing them hither, about the 
 year 1^24, Ann. Reg. 15 Hen. VIII. Dr. Heylin informs us that, 
 
 Reformation, turkeys, carps, hops, and beer, 
 Came all into England in the same year. 
 
 And as Sussex had the first, so does it at this time abound with more/ 
 ttrps than any other county." Wbo!e Art of Fish ng y 1714. 
 
 f *'The pike is the pirate of the lake, that roves and preyes upon the 
 
 little 
 
i6 
 
 The Carp which in th' Italian seas was bred, 
 With shining scraps of yellow gold is fed : 
 Tho' chang'd his form, his avarice remains, 
 And in his breast the love of lucre reigns. 
 For Saturn flying from victorious Jove, 
 Compell'd of old, in banishment to rove 
 Along th' Italian shore, a vessel found 
 Beyond the lake of wide Benacus bound ; 
 He, for his passage, at a price agreed, 
 And with large gifts of gold the master fee'd. 
 But he the master (Carpus was he nam'd) 
 With thirst of gain, and love of gold inflam'd; 
 Prepar'd in chains the passenger to bind, 
 But to the god his face betray'd his mind, 
 And from the vessel in revenge he threw 
 Into the waves the pi'ot and his crewj 
 
 little fishermen of that sea, who is so covetous and cruell, that he gives n 
 quarter to any ; when hee takes his prize hee goes not to the shore to make 
 his market, but greedily devoures it himselfe ; yea, is such a cormorant, that 
 he will not stay the dressing of it. He is called the wolfe of the water, but 
 is indeed a monster of nature 5 for the wolfe spares his kinde, but hee will 
 devoure his own nephewes ere they come to full growth. He is very gallant 
 in apparell, and seemes to affect to go rather in silver than in gold, wherein 
 he spares for no cost; for his habit is all layd with silver plate downe to the 
 foot in scallop wise. Hee is a right man of warre, and is so slender built, 
 and drawes so little water, as hee will land at pleasure) and take his prey 
 where he list j no shallop shall follow where hee will lead. The pikes them- 
 selves are the taller ships, the pickerels of a middle sort, and the Jacks, the 
 pinnaces amongst them, which are all armed according to their burden. The 
 master or pilot sits at the prore, yet hath he the rudder so at commaad, that 
 hee can winde and tuine the vessell which way he will in the twinkling of 
 an eye. He sets up but little sables, because he would not bee discovered 
 who he is, yea, many times no sail at all, but he trusts to the finnes, his 
 oares. The youthfuller sort of pikes, whom through familiarity they call 
 Jacks, are notable laddes indeed, and to their strength and bigness will fish 
 as their fathers will. In a word, a man would easily bee mistaken "in him 
 in beholding him so handsome and gentle a creature, and never imagin him 
 to be half so ravenous as he is j but fronti nulla fides." A strange meta- 
 merfkosis of man, transformed inte a wilder neste. 1634- 
 
 Then 
 
Then into fish the traytors he transform'd, 
 The traytors, still with love of lucre warm'd, 
 The sailing ship for golden fragments trace. 
 And prove themselves deriv'd from human race. * 
 
 If running waters overflow your lakes, 
 There best the barbel f thrive with speckled backs ; 
 And roach, which shoot as swiftly thro* the flood 
 As arrows, flying from the bending woodj J 
 
 From 
 
 * To the tale of lucre respecting the carp, may b not Inappropriately at- 
 tached ' a controuersie of a conquest in loue 'twixt Fortune and Venus.'* 
 Whilst fissher kest hit line the houtring fish to hooke, 
 By hap a rich man's daughter on the fissher kect hii looke. 
 Shec fryde with frantick loue, they marid eke at last : 
 Thus fissher was froia lowe estate in top of treasure plast. 
 Stoede fortune by and smylde : * how say you, dame,' quoth she 
 To Venus, * was this conquest your's, or is it due to mee?' 
 'Twas I (quoth Vulcan's wife) with help of Cupid's bowe, 
 That made this wanton wench to rage, and match hi* selfe so lowc.* 
 ' Not so, 'twas Fortune J, that brought the trull in place; 
 And fortune was it that the man stoode so m maydten's grace j 
 By fortune fell thfir loue, 'twas fortune strake the stroke j 
 Then detter is this man to mee that did the match prouoke." 
 
 Epitaphes, Epigrams, &c. by George Turbervile, 
 
 f- '* Timorous barkels will not taste the bit 
 
 TiH with their tayls they haue vnhooked it : 
 And til the bayts tha fisher can deuise, 
 Cannot begaile their wary jcailusies." 
 
 Sylvester's Du Bartas. 
 J ' . . . . lika as the litle roch 
 
 Must either be eat, or leap upon the shore, 
 
 When as the hungary pickerel! doth approch, 
 And there finde death which it escape before. 
 
 Baldwin's Owen Glendour, Mirrour for M. 157$. 
 
 A somewhat unfair aad rapacious mode of fishing is occasionally adopted 
 by anglers, who lay several rods, and have an increased number of gentles 
 attached to each float j for which practice the only excuse is poor Cunning- 
 ham's apolojy for bracking the sabbath, " the dinaer lying at the bottom of 
 
 B the 
 
i8 
 
 From whence of darts they have obtain'd the name; 
 The mullets also love a living stream, 
 
 With 
 
 the river." To such marauders the following humourous ballad is ap- 
 plicable. 
 
 You that fish for Dace and Roches, 
 
 Carpcs or Tenohes, Bonus noches, 
 
 Thou wast born* betweene two dishes, 
 
 When the Fryday signe was fishes. 
 
 Angler's yeares are made and spent, 
 
 All in Ember weekes and Lent. 
 
 Breake thy rod about thy noddle, 
 Throw thy wormes and flies by the pottle, 
 Kepe thy corke to stop thy bottle, 
 Make straight thy hooke, and be not afeardj 
 
 To shave his beard ; 
 That in case of started stitches 
 Hooke and line may mend thy breeches. 
 
 He that searches pools and dikes, 
 
 Halters Jackes, and strangles Pikes, 
 
 Let him know, though he think he wise is, 
 
 'Tis not a sport but an assizes. 
 
 Fish co tooke, were the case disputed, 
 
 Are not tooke, but executed. 
 Breake thy rod, &c. 
 
 You whose pastes fox rivers throat, 
 
 And make Isii pay her groat, 
 
 That from May to parch October, 
 
 Scarce a Miaew can slepe sober. 
 
 Be your fish in oven thrust, 
 
 And your owne Red-paste the crust. 
 Breake thy rod, &c. 
 
 Hookes and lines of larger sizes, 
 Such as the tyrant that troules devises, 
 Fishes a nere beleive his fable, 
 What he calls a line is a cable ; 
 That's a knare of endlesse rancor, 
 Who for a hooke doth cast an ajiokfr 
 Breake thy rod, *c. 
 
 But 
 
With powts which in the muddy bottom lie; 
 Menows, which constant stores of eggs supply; 
 Lotes, on whose chins long hairy bristles grow ; 
 And skates and wide-mouth'd lampreys, which below 
 Resemble eels, but gape like frogs above j 
 With fragrant fish,* which murm'ring fountains love, 
 'Sweet to the smell like thyme's delightful flow'r; 
 Gudgeons who gravel greedily devour; 
 Perch like sea mullets both in taste and smell, 
 And pollards which within with prickles swell ; 
 With gaping sheaths, and plaise, whom, if their snout* 
 Were less obtuse, we might mistake for trouts, f 
 
 In either stream the carp contented dwells, 
 With plenteous spawn thro' all the year she swells, 
 
 But of all men he is the cheater, 
 Who with small fish takes up the greater, 
 He makes carpes without all dudgeon, 
 Make a Jonas of a gudgen ; 
 Cruell man that stayes on gravell 
 Fish that great with fish doth travell. 
 Breaks thy rod, &c. 
 
 Llewellyn's Men Miracles, Sec. 1656. 
 * Thymallus. 
 
 < The pike, the roach, the cheuen and the dace, 
 The bream, the .barbie with his bearded face, 
 The pearch, the gudgeon, and the siluer eele, 
 Which millers takea In their ozier weele, 
 Dwell in the riuer as principal fish, 
 And giuen to Pan to garnish thy dish ; 
 The ealmon, trout, flounder and creuise, 
 Dae dwell in riuers where the menow is. 
 The princely carpe, and medicinable tench, 
 la bottom of a foole tr.cmseluci doe ucn;h." 
 
 Breton Ouran r a. 
 
 And 
 
20 
 
 And in all places and all seasons breeds, 
 
 In lakes as well as rivers : hence proceeds 
 
 The name of Cyprian, which the Cyprian dame 
 
 Bestow'd; the French to carp have chang'd the name. 
 
 Of all the fish that swim the vvat'ry mead, 
 
 Not one in cunning can the carp exceed. 
 
 Sometimes when nets enclose the stream, she flies 
 
 To hollow rocks, and there in secret lies: 
 
 Sometimes the surface of the water skims, 
 
 And, springing o'er the net, undaunted ( swims; 
 
 Now motionless she lies beneath the flood. 
 
 Holds by a weed, or deep into the mud 
 
 Plunges her head, for fear against her will, 
 
 The nets should drag her and elude her skill : 
 
 Nay, not content with this, she oft will dive 
 
 Beneath the net, and not alone contrive 
 
 Means for her own escape, but pity take 
 
 On all her hapless brethren of the lake; 
 
 For rising, with her back she lifts the snares, 
 
 And frees the captives with officious cares j 
 
 The little fry in safety swim away, 
 
 And disappoint the nets of their expected prey.* 
 
 No other fish so great an age attain, 
 
 For the same carp, which from the wat'ry plain 
 
 The Valois' seated on the throne survey 'd, 
 
 Now sees the sceptre by the Bourbons sway'd; 
 
 * Thus Montaigne relates of the Scarus " having swallowed the fisher's 
 hooke, his fellowes will presently flocke about him, and nibkle the line in 
 sunder ; and if any of them happen to be taken in a bow net, some of his 
 fellowes turning his head away, will put his taile in at the neck of the net, 
 who with his teeth fast holding the same, never leave him, vntil they have 
 pulled him out. The Barbie fishes, if one of them chance to be engaged, 
 will set the line against their backes, and with a fin tkey have, toethed like 
 a sharp saw, presently saw and fret the sae asunder." Fiend's tramlatisn 
 of Montegnis Essays, 1613, p. 2 66. 
 
 He 
 
21 
 
 He now beholds the children, and admires 
 
 Their dress and customs so unlike their sires. 
 
 What greater wonder would he now express ~J 
 
 Did he but know what signal triumphs bless > 
 
 Our arms, thro' all the world attended with success? J 
 
 Tho' age has whiten'd o'er the scaly backs 
 Of the old carp which swim the royal lakes j 
 They, neither barren, nor inactive, grow, 
 But still in sport the waves around 'em throw :* 
 
 Here 
 
 * The Dialogue of Creatures moralised, being one of the scarcest works 
 of ta ly typography, another extract may amuse. " Dialogo xlvi. Of a 
 fyssh callyd a carpe, and a fissh called Tymallus. It happyd in a greate 
 solempne feste, fisshes of the floode walkyd togidre aftyr dynar in great tran- 
 quillyte and peace for to take ther recreacyon and solace ; but the carpe began 
 to trowble the feste, erec^nge hym self by pryde & saynge, I am worthy to 
 be lawdyd aboue all othir, for my flesshe is delicate and swete more then it 
 can be tolde of. I haue not be nourished nothir in dychesse, nor stondyngh 
 watyrs, nor pondes ; but I haue be brought vppe in the floode of the greate 
 garde. Wherfore I owe to be prynce and regent amongeall yowe. Ther i 
 a fissh callyd Tymallus, hauinge his name a flowre, for Timus is callyd a 
 flowre j and this Tymallus is a fissh of the see, as saith Isidore, Ethimologi- 
 arum, xii. and allthoughe that he be fauoureable in sight and delectable in 
 taste, yet moreouir the fyssh of hym smellyth swete lyke a flowre and geuith 
 a pleasaunte odour. And so this fyssh Tyraallus, heringe this saynge of the 
 carpe, had greate soorne of him and sterte forth & sayde : It is not as thou 
 Siiyste, for I shine more bright then thowe, and excede the in odowre and 
 relece. Who may be comparyd vnto me, for he that fyndith me hath a great 
 tresowre. If fhow haue thy dwellynge oonly in the watir of garde, I haue 
 snya abydynge in many large floodes. And so emeng them were great 
 stryuis and contencyons. Wherfore the feste was tournyd in to great trowble, 
 for some fauowryd the parte of the one and some of the othir, so that be 
 lyklyhocle there shuld haue growen greate myschefe emonge them : for euery 
 of them began to snak at othir, & wolde haue torne eche other on smale 
 pecys. Ther was monge all othir a fissh cal'yd Truta euyr mouyd to breke 
 stryfe j and soo thys trowte for asmoche as she was agid, and wele lernyd, 
 ghe spake and sayde: Bredryn, it is not good to stryue & fight forvayne 
 lawdatewris and praysers j for I pray se not my self though some personii 
 
 thinks 
 
Here safe the depths no longer they explore ; 
 But, their huge bulk extending near the shore, 
 Take freely from our hands what we bestow, 
 And grace the royal streams at Fountainbleau: 
 But, chiefly they rejoice, when, near the side, 
 Great Lewis walks, and as in youthful pride, 
 Strong both in body and in mind remains, 
 And all youth's vigour ev'n in age retains: 
 We could not think he sixty years had reign'd, 
 Did we not count our gains by sea and land; 
 Or view his grandsons round the monarch stand. 
 
 Tho' the rich pike, to entertain your guest, 
 Smokes on the board and decks a royal feast j 
 Yet must you not this cruel savage place 
 In the same ponds that lodge the finny race: 
 In the same tow'ryou might as well unite, 
 The fearful pigeons and the rav'nous kite; 
 In the same yard the fox with chickens keep, 
 Or place the hungry wolf with harmless sheep. 
 For he, the tyrant of the wat'ry plains 
 Devours all fish, nor from his kind abstains; 
 
 fhinke me worthy to be coramendid ; for it Is wryttyn, the mowth of an othir 
 man mote coiamende the and not thyn ovvne, for all commendacyon and 
 iawde of hyna self is fowle in y e . mouth of the spekar. Therefor* bettyr hit 
 is that those that prayse them self goo togider to the see iuge, that is, the 
 Dolphyn, which is a iuste iuge and a rightfull and dredinge god, for he shall 
 rightfully determjn this mater. This counsell pleayd them well, and forth 
 went these twayn togider vnto the Dolphyn and shewyd to him all ther 
 xnyndes, and to ther power comendid the" self. To whom the Dolphyn 
 sayde : children, I ncuyr sawe yowe tell this tyrne, for ye be alwaye hydde ia 
 the floedes, and I am stexinge in the great 'wawys ef the see ; wherfore I 
 cannot gyue ryghtfull sentence betwene yowe. but yf I first assaye and make 
 a taste of yowe. And thus saynge, he gaue a sprynge anc! swalowyd them lit 
 both two, aad sayde, 
 
 Noman owlth hym self to ccmmende, 
 
 Aboue all other, laste he offende.' 
 
 Unless 
 
Unless hoarse frogs infest the fenny place j 
 For then he feasts on the loquacious race; 
 Dragg'd from the filthy mud, they croak in vain, 
 And with loud babblings ev'n in death complain. 
 Or when a goose sports on the azure wave, 
 Delighting in the stream her limbs to lave, 
 Or dips her head, and with a clam'rous sound, 
 Provokes the rain, and throws the water round 3 
 The pike arrests the fowl with hungry jaws, 
 And to the bottom of the river draws j 
 Nay, as a boy in the smooth current swims. 
 His teeth he fixes in his tender limbs. * 
 
 * Sir John Hawkins, in his notes on Walton, has given several sforles of 
 the voracity of this fish. The diurnals, which seldom neglect to propa- 
 gate the marvellous, in the year 1800 related, that " a yearling calf wag 
 heard to make an uncommon noise by the side of the river Blackwater, 
 where it had been drinking } on going up to it, there was a large pike hang- 
 ing to its nostrils, which had seized the caif while it was drinking, and 
 which the animal had dragged about fifty yards from the river. One of the 
 peopk disengaged them, by striking the pike with a stone which killed if. 
 There were found in the belly of this voracious fish, a large rat, a perch 
 entire, besides part of several other fish. The pike weighed 3$ pounds.'* 
 The conclusion of the story,, proving there was no provocative from hunger, 
 renders the veracity of the first part doubtful ; otherwise similar relations 
 have been made. A common-sized Jack, placed by mistake on the wrong 
 side of the division in a keep, destroying in a few hours near thirty gudgeons, 
 (a small brace of perch escaping) is a circumstance within my own know- 
 ledge j but, whatever may be its propensity for the gudgeon, the reader 
 must decide the credit due to a newspaper of 1801 for the following story. 
 " A party angling at Suabury, one cf them sat across the head of the boat, 
 as a punishment inflicted on him for wearing his spurs. Another having 
 caught a gudgeon, siuck it on one of the spurs, which he not perceiving, in 
 about a few minutes a large jack bit at the gudgeon, and the spur being 
 *rane-necked, entangled in the gills of the Jack, which, in attempting to 
 extricme itself, actually pulled the unfortunate person out of the boat. He 
 was with difficulty dragged on shore, i nd the fih taken, which was of a pro- 
 digious size." 
 
 The 
 
24 
 
 The trout loves rivers in obscure retreats j 
 Thrown into standing water, she forgets 
 Her former beauty, and neglects her love, 
 And all the flesh will then insipid prove ; 
 From hence remember,, with a timely care, 
 For trout a running water to prepare: 
 Near some wide river's mouth a place provide, 
 And with smooth grass and turf adorn the side; 
 Let the clear bottom shining gravel show, 
 And gently murm'ring o'er smooth pebbles flow. 
 This situation always grateful proves, 
 For still the trout a murm'ring current loves, 
 And still the same desires her bosom warm, 
 Nor has she chang'd her manner with her form:* 
 
 For 
 
 * The following extract from a raoikrn poern disguised with antique 
 temblance, is too appropriate to the history of the trot to be omitted. 
 
 * When atop the hoary western hill, 
 
 The ruddie sun appears to rest his chin, 
 When not breezo disturbs the murmuring rill, 
 And mild.ie warm the falling dewes begin, 
 The gamesome trout then ahows her silverie skin, 
 As wantonly beneath the wave she glides, 
 
 Watching the buzzing flies, that never blin, 
 Then, dropt with pearle and golde, displays her sides, 
 While she with frequent leaps the ruffled streaxne divides. 
 
 On the green bank a truant school-boy stands ; 
 
 Well has this urchin mark* her mery play, 
 And ashen rod obeys his guileful hands, 
 
 And leads the mimick fly across her way j 
 
 Askaunce, with listly look and coy delay, 
 The huogri* trout the glltteraund treachor eyes, 
 
 Semblznt of life, with- speckled wings so gay> 
 Then, slyly nibbling, prudish from it flies, 
 "Till with a bouncing start she bite* the truthless pri*c. 
 
 Ah, then the youhker gives the fatefull twitch j 
 Shuck with amaze she feels the hook ypright 
 
 Deeps 
 
For once she liv'd a nymph of spotless fame 
 In an obscure retreat, and Truta was her name. 
 It chanc'd that in a flow'ry path she stray'd, 
 Where a clear river with the pebble play'd, 
 And just disturb'd the silence of the shade. 
 Truta now seated near the spreading trees, 
 Enjoys the coolness of the passing breeze; 
 In the clear stream she casts her modest eyes, 
 And in a fillet her fair tresses lies. 
 While in this solitude she thus remains, 
 
 And dies her beauteous face with various stains; 
 
 * 
 
 It chanc'd the robber Lucius, thro' the shade, 
 
 With eager eyes perceiv'd the lonely maid ; 
 
 He saw and lov'd her riches, on her face, 
 
 For both her dress and form appear'd with equal grace. 
 
 The uymph now heard the rustling with affright ; 
 
 She saw a man, and trembled at the sight; 
 
 Swiftly along the winding shore she fled, 
 
 And cry'd, and vow'd, and call'd the gods to aid. 
 
 Truta despairing sought, with trembling speed, 
 
 A rock that overlooked the wat'ry mead ; 
 
 Hither she bent her course, the summit gain'd, 
 
 And thought her virtue now might be maintain'd 
 
 Deepe in her gills, and, plonging where the beech 
 Shaddowt the poole, she runs in dread affright j 
 !n vain the deepest rocke her late delight, 
 
 In vain the sedgy nook for help she tries ; 
 
 The laughing elfe now curbs, new aids her flight, 
 
 The more entangled still the more shs flies, 
 And soon amid the grass the panting captive lies. 
 
 Where now, ah pity ! where that sprightly play, 
 
 That wanton bounding, ani exulting joy, 
 That lately welcom'd the retourning ray, 
 
 When by the rjv'lets banks, with blushes coy, 
 April w alk'd forth ah ! never more to toy 
 Jn purling streams, she paati, sh gasps, and dies!" 
 
 Mickle's Syr Martyn, Can. L 
 
 Cheaply 
 
26 
 
 Cheaply with loss of life : while here she stood, 
 And just prepar'd to leap into the flood, 
 Lucius approach'd, and while he held behind 
 Her flow'ry vest, that flutter' d in the wind, 
 Chang'd into fish an equal fate they bore, 
 And though transform'd in shape, yet, as before, 
 The pike of slaughter fond and fierce appears, 
 And still the trout retains her female fears ! 
 Beauty and virgin modesty remains, 
 Diversify'd with crimson tinted stains j 
 And, once the fairest nymph that trod the plain, 
 Swims fairest fish of all the finny train. * 
 
 Not pikes alone defile the streams with blood,, 
 But over all the brethren of the flood, 
 Perpetual discord bears tyrannic sway, 
 And all the stronger on the weaker prey. 
 As among men the great the small oppress, 
 And still the same confusion and distress, 
 Which in the city and the forest reign, 
 Distract the tenants of the wat'ry plain. 
 Banish'd from earth, peace could not find a place 
 Beneath the streams, among the finny racej 
 But, since for want they otherwise would die, 
 Regard this fury with indulgent eye. 
 Why need I mention all the waste of blood, 
 Which the fierce otter causes in the flood; 
 Among the willows secretly he lies, 
 And from the shore surveys, with eager eyes, 
 
 * " To observe the ravenous dispositioa of the pike, the sociable con- 
 dition of the trout, the various discolouring of the polypus, the strong di- 
 gestion of the porpoise, would beget in the curious surveyors of nature, much 
 admiration. And then to compare the natures of these water inhabitants 
 with oui selves, who follow, for most part, the bent of our desires, as if we 
 were estranged from that beauty which incomparably most adornes us, and 
 drenched in the leas of our ownc corruptions, which makes man most unlike 
 himselfe, by idolatrizing that which gives the greatest blemish to.hu excel- 
 lence." Braiibwalfs Nursery for Gcntrv, 1638. 
 
 The 
 
a; 
 
 The sport or battles of the wat'ry breed, 1 
 
 And swiftly swimming with resistless speed, > 
 
 Defeats the hostile bands, and makes the warriors bleed. J 
 
 Few deaths assuage the hunger of the foe; 
 
 No bounds his hate and savage fury know; 
 
 The fish he bowels-, stains the stream with blood, 
 
 And mangled bodies float upon the flood : 
 
 The otter heaps in caverns of the shore 
 
 The fish half eaten and besmear'd with gore; 
 
 Of slaughter proud, he there delights to dwell, 
 
 And the long night enjoys the nauseous smell. 
 
 Snares for the beast, and gins, let others lay, 
 
 Or into traps by tempting baits betray ; 
 
 But you with missive weapons in your hand, 
 
 Conceal'd from view behind a thicket stand ; 
 
 .And while on fraud he muses on the shore, 
 
 Or tir'd returns with jaws besmear'd with gore, 
 
 The felon slay, and throw into the flood 
 
 His wounded body for your fishes food: 
 
 But first tear off the skin (for fear your fry 
 
 Should from the dead, as from the living fly,) 
 
 Which some rich matron will rejoice to buy. 
 
 If you should find the young ones, steal away, 
 
 In th' absence of the dam, the tender prey, 
 
 And by his youthful years yet pliant, breed 
 
 The gentle otter to the fishing trade ; 
 
 For when suspended in the stream you place 
 
 Your flaxen snares, to catch the finny race, 
 
 He will explore each cavern and retreat, 
 
 And rouse the fish, and hunt them to the net : 
 
 As 
 
 * " It is a very crafty and subtill be?st ; yt it is sometimes tamed, and 
 vsed in the northern parts of the world, especially in Scandinauia to driue 
 the fishes into the fishermen's nets : for so great is the sagaity and scenes of 
 saisling in this beast, that he can directly winde the fishes in the waters a 
 
 mile 
 
$8 
 
 As dogs drive trembling stags into the snare, 
 Or by the scent pursue the fleeting hare. 
 
 In these-^musements while I pass the day, 
 Autumnal hours roll unperceiv'd away ; 
 When tir'd of town and study, I retreat, 
 My honour'd friend, * to thy fair country seat; 
 Where you with all the rural sports invite, 
 But most with mirth and attic wit delight j 
 For tho ? your seat, which from the neighb'ring stream 
 Derives its name, is first in my esteem ; 
 Yet, in your absence, nor the flow'ry beds, 
 Nor silver floods can please, nor painted meads, 
 Nor ev'n the stream \vhich in a mournful strain 
 Appears with me to murmur and complain 5 
 No longer now the verdant laurel grove, 
 Where oft, in contemplation wrapt, I rove, 
 Can without you poetic thoughts inspire, 
 Or reconcile me to the tuneful quire. 
 When pleasure to the plains returns with you, 
 Together oft we take delight to view 
 Th' obsequious otter, thirsting after blood, 
 Chase thro' the stream the natives of the flood j 
 Or near the stew, which with a bounteous hand 
 Your ancestors prepar'd, together stand 
 
 mile or two off, and therefore the fishers make- great aduantage of them, yet 
 do they forbcarohis vse because he deuoureth more then needeth, for he is 
 neuer so tamed that he forgeteth his old rauening j being tamed, on the land 
 
 he is very full of sport and game The flesh of this beast is both 
 
 cold and filthy, because it feedeth vpon stinking fish, and therefore not fit to 
 be eaten. Tragus writeththat this notwithstanding is dressed to bee eaten 
 in many pLces of Germany. Audi hear tint the Carthusian fryers, or 
 imnkes (whether you wil,) which are forbidden to touch al inaansr ef flesh, 
 of other foure-footed beasts, yet are they not prohibited the eating of otteis," 
 T'-fsiITs Historit of fovre- footed beast es. 1607. 
 * Duke dc Ressegeuer. 
 
 To 
 
29 
 
 To see him dive for food, and joyful draw 
 The gasping captives from his bloody jaw. * 
 
 Among 
 
 * Could an animal be thus tutored for use on the sea coast, in addition t 
 the amusement, it would save many qualms to the summer excursloaist. 
 " Whyle gale of wynde the slicke sayles filles full stray te, 
 
 He leaning ouer hollow rocke doth lye, 
 
 And eilher his begileu hookes doth bayte, 
 
 Or els beholdes and feeles the pray from hye j 
 
 The trembling fish he feeles with line extent, 
 
 Axd paised hand " Hercules Furens, 1581. 
 
 This is a pigmy's mimic of the 
 
 tf - day (a day as fair as heart could wish) 
 
 JVben giant stood on shore of sea to fish j 
 
 For angling rod, he took a sturdy oake, 
 
 For line a cable, that in storm ne're broke ; 
 
 His hook was such as heads the end of pole, 
 
 To pluck down house, ere fire consumes it whole j 
 
 His hook was baited with a dragon's tail, 
 
 And then on rock he stood, to bob for whale \ 
 
 Which strait he caught, and nimbly home did pack 
 
 With ten cart load of dinner on his back." 
 
 The last lines, with trifling alteration are inserted in the Poetical Works 
 of Dr. King, born 1663, but certainly not the production of that facetious 
 writer. They are copied from the mock romance printed with <f The Loves 
 of Hero and Leander, and other choice pieces of drollery, &c." 1653. F'' on i 
 a ballad in the same collection, which appears to have been made on the 
 setting fire to London-bridge, the following humourous stanzas are selected. 
 
 " Into the chips there fell a spark 
 Which put cut in such flames, 
 That it was known into Southwaik, 
 Which lives beyond the Thames. 
 
 For he the bridge was wondrous high, 
 
 With water underneath, 
 O're which as many fishes fly, 
 
 As birds therein doth breath. 
 
 And yet the fire consum'd the bridg, 
 
 Not far from place of landing; 
 And though the building was full big, 
 
 It fell down notivlth standing. 
 
 And 
 
3 
 
 Among the sportive tenants of the lake, 
 Wide havoc water-rats and beavers make : 
 These foes with subtlety alone pursue : 
 If from the shore you at a distance view 
 A beaver plunge into the stream, in vain 
 You'll hope by darts a conquest to obtain; 
 The conscious robber dives beneath the flood, 
 Nor to the bank returns where late he stood. 
 
 If reeds and rushes should your lakes infest, 
 Cut not away the heads and leave the rest} 
 The stems corrupt, if suffered to remain, 
 And from the roots fresh crops appear again : 
 But with a little skiff destroy the reeds ; 
 With gloves upon their hands some hold the head*. 
 With stretch'd-out arms, against the adverse waves 5 
 While others row with cars 5 or with long staves 
 The boat together with the rushes strove. 
 And to the shore the reedy forest move. 
 
 Since nothing to the natives of the flood 
 Is more destructive than the want of food, 
 Throw grains of corn, or scatter crumbs of bread, 
 And if, of some unknown distemper dead, 
 You chance to find a sheep, or in the yoke 
 An ox should yield to death's untimely stroke, 
 To feast your hungry fish their bodies throw, 
 Or pounded acorns and cheap pulse bestow 5 
 "With figs by constant show'rs corrupted grown, 
 And apples from the trees untimely blown : 
 For famine will compel the wat'ry breed 
 Like beasts on flesh, on grass like sheep to feed, 
 With fruit like birds to fill their hungry maw, 
 And on their kind to rush with greedy jaw. 
 
 And eke into the water fell, 
 
 So many pewter dishes j 
 That a man might have taken up very well 
 
 Both bcyld and roasted fishes." 
 
 The 
 
i 
 
 3' 
 
 The eel, swift-gliding thro* the wat'ry plain, 
 Devours the fry, and smaller finny trai, 
 And smelts, and gudgeons, seek the shore in vain, 
 In bulk with years while other fishes rise, 
 Why gudgeons, loach, and smelts are small in size, 
 And still the old continue dwarfs, relate 
 The rise, ye Muses, of the minim state. 
 Where, with a tardy current, near the sea, 
 The Po in slow meanders takes its way, 
 A band of children on the borders stood, 
 Engag'd in play, and in the silver flood 
 Threw stones, which, sliding on the wat'ry plain, 
 Now seem to sink and now emerge again. 
 Beneath the stream the sisters of the sea 
 Then listening sat to Clio's tales, whom she 
 Amused with amours of absent Ephire. 
 When ^Egle first the dashing pebbles heard, 
 She at the surface of the stream appear'd, 
 Enjoin'd the boys to leave the river's side, 
 And added threats -, they bold her threats defy'd, 
 And casting impious stones, in scorn they cry ; 
 f Lo, thus to your complainings, we reply !" 
 ^Egle affrighted soon return'd again, 
 And filling with her shrieks the wat'ry plain; 
 " Ye gods shall this audacious crew," she cries, 
 " Who me with taunting words and stones defies, 
 Escape unhurt? shall youth their crime excuse? 
 No age unpunish'd must the gods abuse! 
 Call then a monster from the neighb'ring main, 
 To wreak our vengeance on the impious train." 
 She said, and Ocean to the sisters gave 
 A dreadful form, which rose above the wave. 
 The boys beheld and trembled at the sight, 
 And try'd to fly, but fear arrests their flight; 
 Breathless they fell, their limbs the monster tore, 
 And in the river cast 'em from the shore} 
 
 Then 
 
33 
 
 Then shook his head, and in the silver flood 
 Wip'd from his dropping jaws the streaming blood. 
 The nymphs the slaughter saw and heard the cries, 
 And feasted with revenge their eager eyes. 
 What female heart but may by youth be gain'd ? 
 And beauty in the boys that still remain'd 
 Like a fair flow'r which yielding to the share 
 Reclines its drooping head, but still continues fair. 
 How credulous is Love ! * they see the shore 
 O'erspread with bodies, all besmear'd with gore. 
 Yet hope by fear they fell, and signs of life expl< 
 
 Their 
 
 iir. 
 
 - I 
 
 >lore; ) 
 
 * Flecknoc, in the character of a young female enamorist, says, " it is with 
 lovers as it is with anglers, who feed fishes till they are caught, but caught 
 once, feed on them j so it will be long enough ere she bite at the bait, unless 
 he has more to bait her with than fine words or lamentable compliments.** 
 Upon the subject of love the angler's muse seldom drags a simile from the 
 tackle} or floats the lines in a stream of sorrow to bait a barbed hook with 
 a gentle heart. Turbervile introduces an allusion to the art, where he writes 
 in *' disprayse of Women that allure and loue not." 
 
 << That troupe of honest dames 
 
 those Grisels all are gone j 
 No Lucrece now is left aliue, 
 
 ne Cleopatra none, 
 Those dayes are all ypast, 
 
 that date is fleeted by : 
 They myrrors weie, dame Nature made 
 
 hir skilful hande to try. 
 Now course of kinde erchaungde 
 
 doth yeeld a woorser graine, 
 And women in these latter yeares 
 
 those modest matroncs staine. 
 ; , Deceit in their delight, 
 
 great fraude in friendly lookes : 
 They spoyle the fish for friendship's sake, 
 
 that houer on their hookes. 
 They buye the baite to deare 
 
 that so their freedome loze ; 
 And they the more deceitfull are, 
 
 that so can craft and gloze." The 
 
33 
 
 Their hands the heart, no longer beating, try, 
 
 Or their fair fingers ope th' unwilling eyej 
 
 Another seeking whether yet the breath 
 
 Hangs on the lips, nor quite extinct by death, 
 
 Joins her's to their's, compassionately kind, 
 
 And leaves, unseen, a tender kiss behind. 
 
 But these their cares were vain, for death's cold hand, 
 
 Had clos'd the eyes of all the youthful bandj 
 
 And now their weeping ghosts were seen to gain 
 
 The darksome realms of Pluto's dreary reign : 
 
 With pray'rs and tears stern Charon they implore, 
 
 To take and waft them to the Stygian shore; 
 
 And if or youth or beauty could prevail, 
 
 His breast had melted at their mournful tale. 
 
 The nymphs, with pity mov'd, the gods implor'd 
 
 That to their bodies life might be restor'd 5 
 
 The contrariety of love is also thus depicted in the sign Cancer, fourth 
 look of Paiengenius, translated by Barnaby Googe. 
 . , ,,... if so be that loue weare not 
 
 by God's aduisement right, 
 To euery man apoynced here, 
 
 by limites parted iust: 
 No dout of al might one be loued 
 
 and on them all should lust, 
 And euery man might safe enioy 
 
 the damsel that he likes : 
 But as the fisher doth not take 
 
 the fishes all in dikes ; 
 Nor foalers all the birdes do catch, 
 nor hunters all do kill ; 
 
 But euery one his chance doth take, 
 
 obtaines, and hathe his will j 
 So, loue to euery one is dele 
 
 by God's arbitrement ; 
 So doth the seruaunt, base, ful oft 
 
 his ladj vrel content. 1 * 
 
 c But 
 
34 
 
 But when their prayVs the gods no longer heard, 
 They draw 'em in the stream to be interr'd: 
 Soon as their lifeless limbs had touch d the wave, 
 Another form they to the children gave : 
 Each hand contracted in a fin appears, 
 And the rough skin a scaly substance wears ; 
 The form of a hook'd tail united, took 
 Their feet and legs ; the tenant of the brook 
 To stem the adverse waves unceasing tries; 
 Resembling youth in manners and in size. 
 For these are always small : by turns we see 
 They sport and fret, now quarrel, now agree; 
 And still like what they were before remain, 
 Peevish in play, yet loath to leave the train. 
 Now to the caution of the Muse attend, 
 Your fish from nightly robbers to defend; 
 Boards at the bottom arm'd with spikes prepare, 
 To catch the net and disappoint the snare. 
 But those are most destructive, who, with food, 
 Throw poison mixt or lime into the flood; 
 Soon as infected, tortur'd with the pain, 
 The fish shoots swiftly thro' the wat'ry plain ; 
 Or giddily in various circles swims, 
 And just the surface of the water skims, 
 To fan his lungs with draughts of vital air, 
 And cool the scorching heat that rages there. 
 But still the pois'nous drugs his breast torment ; 
 And now his strength is gone, his vigour spent j 
 Now he sucks in his last remains of breath, 
 Supinely floating on the waves in death. 
 Ev'n the dire author of the mischief grieves, 
 When, for a paltry gain, he thus perceives i 
 
 The lakes exhausted of their scaly breed, 
 And blames the arts from whence such ills proceed. 
 
 Now 
 
35 
 
 Now that your stew-ponds may with ease afford 
 Supplies offish, well-fatted for your board, 
 With a slight wall a narrow place enclose, 
 Where the full river from its channel flows 5 
 The tinkling of the stream, or sav'ry bait, 
 Will tempt the fish to try the sweet deceit 5 
 The wickers opening readily admit 
 The breed, but never their return permit: 
 Here to your captives plenteous dainties throw, 
 Which soon will thrive and fit for table grow. 
 
 Some few years past, as all good Christians feed 
 In spring-time only on the scaly breed; * 
 
 Let 
 
 * *' Fishes are like their element, and place 
 
 / Wherein they live, both cold and moist, a race 
 
 Of flegmatic creatures, yet they are meat 
 
 Which dry and choleric tempers may well eat j 
 
 And those who would look smug, or else snout-fair, 
 
 May take this liver-cooling dish for fare. 
 
 In fervid seasons, and in climates hot 
 
 Use them : but if the Beare the helm hath got, 
 
 Or under Charles his seven-starr'd heavy wane, 
 
 From this dull nourishment let them refraine. 
 
 Sweet river-fishes slimy, and gross diejt, 
 
 Are glibbery, and make egression quiet, 
 
 More nourishing than sea-fish, and of these, 
 
 Those (which the current streams and gravel please, 
 
 And do abhorre annoyances of sinks, 
 
 Which spoil their channels with their loathsome stinks) 
 
 Are most delicious, such as pearch and trout j 
 
 Your mud-fish all incline you to the gout. 
 
 But those delighting in sweet scowres, refine 
 
 Their squamy sides, and clarifie their line." 
 
 Gayton's Longevity. 
 
 " Another remedy against the dearth of things, especially victuals, is to 
 restore the vse of fish to the ancient credit and estimation : and hereupon 
 Bodine taketh occasion to commend our custome of England for obieruing 
 fish dayes in the weeke. And for effecting of the like in Fraunce, he pro- 
 
 poundcth 
 
36 
 
 Let out the water from youropen'd lake, 
 And all the finny race in baskets take; 
 The water rushes out, the dams and mound* 
 Remov'd, thro r valleys and o'er stones resounds, 
 
 pouncleth the example of the prince and magistrate whom the people will 
 imitate. We may wish that both the one and the other were duly executed 
 or obserued, whereby fishing would be better maintained, and most especially 
 the nauigation : and fiesh would in some seasons of the yeare be vsed more 
 commodiously, and better for the health of man. The great number of all 
 lorts and kinds offish according to the obseruation of the Romaines (noted 
 by Maister Bodine) ought to moue vs thsreunto } fish being so pure a 
 creature, that were it not, that we see the same subiect vnto diseases, it 
 wold be very doubtfull, whether the same amongst other creatures was cursed 
 for man's transgression, the scripture speaking only that the earth was 
 cursed therefore : considering also the prouerbe, at sound as a fab 5 and if 
 any be subiect to diseases it is fish of riuers, or of standing waters and fish- 
 ponds, which may be cured by strawing much parsley into the water. And 
 because that flesh and fish are two principal! things for the food of man, 
 and that our purpose is not to omit any thing, jhat incklently may be 
 bandied for the good of the commonwealth, therefore will it not be exorbi- 
 tant the rule of our methode to discourse somewhat thereof. The best sea- 
 son of the yeare to eate fish is from September vntill March, if we will 
 regard the goodnesse of the fish : howbeit that for the increase of beasts, we 
 are commanded with great reason and consideration, to eate most fish in 
 March and Aprill, when he loseth his taste. The fresh fish of riuers is of 
 more digestion, and better for sicke persons ; but the sea-fish is of more 
 nourishment. All fish being moist and cold of nature, is qualified by the 
 addition of salt, and being eaten with much bread cannot do any hurt, 
 especially vnto cholericke persons, with whose complexion it agreeth best. 
 And whereas all other creatures do first decay and putrifie in the belly, the 
 fish doth first putrifie in the head : for no otherr reason, but that hauing 
 only one gut the meate doth easily passe the same, without digestion or cor- 
 ruption ; which by staying long with other creatures causeth putrifaction : 
 aa argument that fish is more healthfull then flesh, howbeit that (through 
 the continuall vse) flesh is more agreeable with our nature." England? s 
 vievVf in the vnmasking of fwo parad9X.es: loiih a replication vnto the 
 answer of Maister lohn Bodine t by Gfrrard de JJdaljnes, Mrrckant. Oet* 
 1603. 
 
 And 
 
37 
 
 And swells the streams admiring, without rain,, 
 To see their waves roll swiftly to the main. 
 
 Meanwhile the wand'ring fish swims up and down 
 Confus'd, and when the stream is almost gone, 
 Still follows the remains; whom, from the lake 
 Sliding, the wicker snares a captive make : 
 Here with his much-lov'd stream, his life he leavec, 
 And his last parting breath the air receives. 
 
 Lest the whole breed should undistinguish'd die, 
 Take the small fish that at the bottom lie, 
 In a new pond the little wand'rers place ; 
 And there preserve the hopes of all the race. 
 They swim surpris'd, the vacant lakes survey, 
 And all their father's wat'ry empire sway. 
 
 The ponds now drain'd, the cautious eel lies roll'd 
 Deep in the mud, and wound in many a fold. 
 While here he lurks, conceal'd beneath the ooze, 
 With griping hand the smooth deceiver close 3 * 
 Lest he, like fortune, when you think the prey 
 Securely your's, should subtly glide away. 
 
 No sweeping drag-net should the race alarm, 
 That through your streams, congenial breeding swarm; 
 Lest you destroy young natives of the flood, 
 And all your fruit prove blighted in the budj 
 Bow nets still use; or, in a darksome night, 
 Fires on the margin of the river light j 
 Struck with the dazzling flame, neer seen before, 
 Surpris'd they slow approach the shining shore; 
 
 * Sero sapiunt Phryges. 
 
 The prouerbe saieth, so longe the potte to water goes, 
 That at the lengthe it broke returnes, which is appli'de to those, 
 That longe with wyles, and shiftes, haue cloaked wicked partes, 
 Whoe haue at lengthe bene paied home, and had their iust deserte* j 
 Euen as the slymie eele, that ofte did stippe awaie, 
 
 Yet, with figge leaucs at lengthe was catch' de fc made the fisshers praie." 
 
 Geffrey Whitney'i Emblems, 1586. 
 
 While 
 
38 
 
 While thus for knowledge greedy they appear, % 
 
 Or to the crackling billets lend an ear, V 
 
 Insnare with nets, or fix 'em with a spear. * 
 
 Still other arts your leisure may employ, . 
 Amusement yield, nor all the race destroy: 
 On the green margin dark secluded stand 
 A taper angle waving in your hand; 
 The wand'ring prey with choicest bait invite, 
 And fatal steel conceal'd by art from sight, f 
 
 Once 
 
 * " The glow-worme shining in a frosty night, 
 Is an admirable thing in shepheard's sight. 
 Twentie of these wormes put in a small glasse, 
 Stopped so close that no issue doe passe; 
 Hang'd in a bow-net and suncke to the ground, 
 Of a poole, or lake, broad, and profound : 
 Will take such plentie of excellent fish, 
 As well may furnish an Emperor's dish.*' 
 
 Breton's Ouranu, 
 f To ANGLERS. 
 
 " O take away that wily, treach'rous hook ! 
 Why are the harmless tenants of the brook 
 
 (Secure, poor things, till now, amongst each other) 
 To be of cold barbarity the sport ? 
 Perhaps each fish that from the flood you court, 
 
 May mourn its parents kind a sister brother. 
 It makes Humanity, sweet maiden ! weep 
 To see the wanton spoi tives of the deep 
 
 Torn from the pleasures of their silv'ry bed : 
 It makes her sigh, to mark the dipping float 
 The hidden captive's agony denote, 
 
 And all its sweet and social comforts fled. 
 I love to see the gudgeon and the bream 
 Thread the wild mazes of their native stream, 
 
 And unmolested through each thicket stray j 
 I love to see the dace, in shining pride, 
 Now rush amidst the fierce, impetuous tide, 
 
 And now upon the tempting surface play. 
 
 The 
 
39 
 
 Once on the grassy border of a flood 
 A boy, and round a youthful circle stood, 
 With floated line, and rod, did next prepare, 
 The 'guileful charm to hide the barbed snare j 
 The boy commanded silence with a nod, 
 And threw his twisted line into the flood: 
 By chance a mullet in the stream appear'd 
 Large, and conspicuous by a length of beard: 
 tie nibbled at the bait in sportive play, 
 And then refusing seem'd to swim away. 
 Now with the current down the stream he glides 
 Now with his tail the adverse waves divides^ 
 
 The worm that writhes, too, on the barbed steel, 
 Knows not less pain than does the culprit feel, 
 When legal vengeance drags him to her den : 
 His well-knit limbs, his nerves, his sinews firm, 
 Defy not torture better than a worm 
 Reptiles are flesh and blood as well as men. 
 
 'Tis not for man to lift his murd'ring arm 
 Against the artless, unoffending swarm, 
 
 To wage unequal combat with a fish. 
 So much, believe me, liberty I prize, 
 I'd rather on their freedom feast my eyes, 
 
 Than view them smoaking on the glutton's dish. 
 
 Enough for me if, while I roam at ease, 
 
 And taste, svyeet Isis, on thy banks, the breeze 
 
 That wantons there, upon her silken wings, 
 Health's genial hand its bounty shall bestow, 
 And on my cheek impress the livid glow^ 
 
 And all the charms the lovely goddess brings. 
 
 Farewell, my rod, and to my lines farewell, 
 
 No more shall sports like these my bosom swell- 
 No more shall ye to cruelty invoke me : 
 
 Perhaps some fish, with patriot rage may burn 
 
 Perhaps some trout be savage in its turn 
 
 And, dying for its injur'd brethren, choak me.'* J. T. 
 
 But 
 
40 
 
 But soon returns the odour to regain, 
 
 And winds in circles through the wat'ry plain; 
 
 Thus heedless moths display their painted wings, 
 
 And flutter round the flame which sure destruction brings 
 
 Meanwhile the boys, attentive, scarce appear 
 
 To breathe, by turns inflam'd with hope and fear; 
 
 Now certain, now despairing of their prize, 
 
 On this alone they fix their greedy eyes; 
 
 At length fear yields to hunger, and the bait 
 
 He credulously swallow the deceit 
 
 Soon by his blood discovering, he in vain 
 
 Attempts to void the hook and ease the pain ; 
 
 When, from his mouth the steel he would withdraw, 
 
 Deeper the steel is rooted in his jaw; 
 
 The fisher jerks his rod, with nimble hand, 
 
 And throws the mullet gasping on the sand ; 
 
 He, looking on the river in despair, 
 
 Leap'd slightly twice or thrice into the air, 
 
 But when his strength unable now he- found 
 
 To lift his ponderous body from the ground, 
 
 Flapping his tail upon the bank in death 
 
 He struggling panted and resign'd his breath; 
 
 Not one there was of all that there appear' d, 
 
 But touch'd the fins and gently strok'd the beard. 
 
 Here then a boy, that stood upon the strand, 
 
 Thus with a tale amus'd the youthful band: 
 
 Barbus, whose name was from his beard deriv'd, 
 
 Had almost at an hundred years arriv'd; 
 
 Now weak with ge and stooping to the ground, 
 
 His brow was rugged and with wrinkles crown'd : 
 
 His mouth was wide, his feeble head hung down, 
 
 His teeth were lost, his hands were bony grown $ 
 
 Thick on his chin a bunch of hair remain'd, 
 
 And his weak steps a knotty staff sustain'd. 
 
 Oft, in his youthful years near streams he stood, 
 
 And cast his lines and nets into the flood. 
 
 And 
 
And as we find that length of years destroy*. 
 
 The strength, but not the love of former joys, 
 
 He, tho' grown old, resorted to the shore, 
 
 And haunted still the streams he lov'd before j 
 
 Still was he pleas'd and eager to betray, 
 
 With hooks conceal'd by baits the finny prey, * 
 
 As once the old man, on a river's side, 
 
 Aim'd at a fish that near the shore he spy'dj 
 
 His tottering footsteps fail'd to keep their hold, 
 
 And headlong from the slipp'ry bank he roll'd j 
 
 Now with the rapid current he contends, 
 
 Large draughts of water swallows, and extends 
 
 His feeble arms, but, hoping most to gain 
 
 By pray'rs success, he vows but vows in vain. 
 
 His breathless body, floating down the brook, 
 
 Great Jove beheld, and kind compassion took: 
 
 " Live still," he cry'd, " but in the stream remain, 
 
 And dwell for ever with the finny train ; 
 
 Death was so near at hand, you need not grieve 
 
 For a short space a feeble trunk to leave." 
 
 Now forth his arms as leathern fins extend, 
 
 And in a tail his feet contracted blend j 
 
 The form of scales his tatter'd garments wore ; 
 
 His back look'd dry and wither'd as before j . 
 
 Still on his chin a length of beard remained, 
 
 His teeth he lost, but harmless gums retain'd, 
 
 These, in a fish, the marks of age are deem'd, 
 
 For age alone the mullets are esteem'd j 
 
 And length of years, by which all other things 
 
 Decay, to these increase of honour brings. 
 
 * ' The angler's sport is full of patience, and if he lose his hooke, he 
 makes a faire fishing. 
 
 The fish in the river is not afraid of drowning, and if he play with a 
 baite it will cost him his life." 
 
 Wit 1 1 private wealthy $tored iwtk ckolss of cotnmaditist to content tbt 
 minJe, by N. Breton. 1639. 
 
 I to 
 
4* 
 
 I to the fable lent a list'ning ear, 
 And thus began ; when I both see and hear 
 The various arts of fishers, and survey 
 How they the fish deceitfully betray, 
 Eeflect I must with equal grief and truth ; 
 That the same arts deceive unwary youth, 
 The snares, of old for fish alone design'd, 
 Are now employ 'd to captivate mankindj 
 Man catches man, and by the bait betrays* 
 With proffer'd kindness, or, still cunning, lay* 
 Nets to entrap th' unwary, and embroils 
 Cities and towns to profit from the spoils. 
 For you, dear youths, soft pleasure lies in wait, 
 And hides her hook beneath a honey'd bait, 
 But all her treach'rous gifts will only gain 
 For a short joy a lasting load of pain. 
 Here when the bait allures the fish to taste 
 The transient pleasure of a sweet repast, 
 You see for this how dearly he must payj 
 Life is the purchase, and himself the prey. 
 Thus soft allurements serve to varnish o'er 
 The frauds of pleasure, unperceiv'd before ; 
 But if a youth is once inspir'd, he'll find 
 He cannot void the poison from his mindj 
 No more than could the fish when snar'd withdraw 
 The crooked steel from his tormented jawj 
 While lasting grief for short delights he gains, 
 Still rues his transient joys with ever-during pains, f 
 
 * lt Think when thou seest the baite 
 
 whereon is thy deiifie, 
 That hidden hookes are hard at hande 
 
 to bane thee when thou bite." Turbervile. 
 
 f- < Fyshe, hyghte pisces, and hathe that name of Pascendo, fedynge, 
 as Isodore sayth libro xii. ca. vi. Fyshe licketh the erthe and watry heroes, 
 &i 30 get they meete and nouryshynge. Also they benne called Reptilia, 
 
 crepyng, 
 
43 
 
 trepyng, bycause in swimmynge they seme as they did crepe: for in swym- 
 ming they crepe, though they synke dowrte to the bottom. Wherof speketh 
 Ambrose in Exameron, and saythe, that bitwene fyshe and water is great 
 nighnes of kynred. For withoute water they may not long lyue ; and they 
 lyue. not longe with onelye brethynge, withoute drawynge of water. And 
 they haue a maner lyknes and kynd of crepyng, for, whyle a fyshe swym- 
 meth, by shrynkyng and drawynge together of his body, he draweth and 
 gathereth hym selfe in to les length, and anone. stretcheth hym selfe agayne, 
 and entendeth to passe forth in the water ; and by that dyligence he putteth 
 the water backewarde, and passeth itself forwarde. Therfore he vseth finnes 
 in swymmynge, as a foule vseth fethers in fleenge. But all other wyse in 
 swymmynge a fyshe mcueth his fynnes fro the hynder parte dounwarde, 
 and as it were with armes, or ores, he clippeth the water, & holdeth it, and 
 stretcheth hym selfe forwarde. But a byrde meueth his fethers vpwarde, and 
 gadereth thayre, and compelleth it to passe out backeward by large stretch- 
 ynge of wyndes, and so by violente puttynge of ayre backewarde the bodye 
 meuith forwarde. And kyndes of fyshe ben dyuerse in many maner wyse 
 
 Some abyde only in the see, and some in ryuers and pondes, and in 
 
 ether freshe waters, and some ben meane bytwene these two maner fyshes, 
 and tome and come now to fresh water, and nowe to sake water to gette 
 them meate. And fishe that come out of the salte water in to freshe haue 
 lykynge in the freshenes therof, and ben fattid : and ayenwarde, and thi 
 fyshe owe abydeth in the see & nowe in freshe water. And manye ryuer 
 fyshes maye not taste saltnesse of the see, for if he catchyth salte water, he 
 dieth sodaynely, and terneth vp the wombe, and fleteeth aboue the water, Sc 
 that is tqken of death in all manner of fyshe both of see and of freshe water. 
 And fyshe that is bredde in the see hath hard scales and thycke, bycause of 
 drynes of the salte water; and ryuer fyshe haue subtyll scales and nesh 
 backe, bones. Back bones in fyshes ben nedefull to restreyne the fleshe 
 therof that is fletynge, for kynde neshenesse therof. And Auycen techeth 
 to chese good fyshe by kynde of the place wherin they ben noryshed and 
 fedde. And in li. ii. ca. vii. he sayth, that in this maner choys of fyshe 
 is in place, in whiche hit dwelleth. For suche as abyde in stonye placet 
 ben beste ami swetest, and in freshe rennyngc water, in whiche is no cor- 
 rupcion, ne no slyme, ne wose, nor stondynge lakes, no in welles, nor in 
 small pyttes that renne not in riuers, in whom ben noo welles. And he 
 saythe there, that some see fyshes ben good ; for those that ben subtyll 
 ben beste, and ben nourished in the depe sec and no where elles. And 
 fyshe that abyde in waters, that ben vnheled with blastes of wynde, that 
 bloweth the water somtime fro them, are better than those that ben not so 
 emed. And those that ben in waters that ben strongly meued and con- 
 tinually 
 
44 
 
 tlnually labored* benne better than those that ben in standynge water. And 
 soo see fyshe is better than ryuer fyshe. And ryuer fyshe better than lake 
 fishe, namely if they ben ferre fro the ryuers and frd the see. For they that 
 haue rest in theyr rotynnes & filthe, are not washed nother clensed by ryuer 
 that cometh therin, nor by see. And therfore suche fyshe is euyll sauoured, 
 and soone roten. Als^ both see fyshe and ryuer fyshe is better in the northe 
 see, and in the east see, than in the south see, forbystronge Wastes of 
 Wynde the water is moued and clens-d and made subtyll. And therefore 
 fishe of that water meueth more and f.mayl.th, and ben more clensid of 
 their superfluitie." Anno M D XXXF Berth olome<vi> de proprittatibvs 
 rer<vta Londini in aedib'vs Tbcjnae Bertbeleti regii imfretsorit. Cvm f>rivi* 
 legio a rege indvlto. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 T. Bensley, Printer, 
 Jolt Court, Fleet Street, Lc-ndwi. 
 
OBSERVATIONS 
 
 OX THE 
 
 PUBLIC RIGHT OF FISHING 
 
 BY ANGLE OR NETS, 
 
 IN 
 
 PUBLIC NAVIGABLE RIVERS IN GENERAL, 
 
 IN PARTICULAR. 
 WITH NOTES, HISTORICAL AND EXPLANATORY, 
 
 BY PISCATOR. 
 
 Suum cuique tribuito. 
 
 MARLOW: 
 
 PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, 
 BY G. CANNON. 
 
 1826. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 IT has long been a disputed point, as well 
 amongst theologians as others, " whether it 
 be justifiable to do wrong, that good may arise 
 out of it ;" and I confess the question has fre- 
 quently arose in my own mind previous to the 
 publication of the following sheets. It has, 
 however, as frequently occurred to me, that I 
 had only the choice of two evils ; namely, that 
 of submitting in common with a large portion 
 of my fellow-subjects to being deprived of, or 
 at least much restricted in, the exercise of a 
 right which appeared to me secured by the 
 laws of the country ; and witnessing a con- 
 tinuation of a system for the destruction of 
 
IV 
 
 fish and fishing, by parties illegally claiming 
 an exclusive privilege of doing so, in the man- 
 ner described in a subsequent page ; or by 
 publishing the present work, run the chance of 
 admitting, what is generally called, the com- 
 mon poacher, to the right of fishing with 
 nets. 
 
 t appeared to me a certain evil, and 
 was frequently attended with numberless vex- 
 atious proceedings on the part of the persons 
 claiming an exclusive privilege against those 
 who caught a few fish merely for amusement, 
 and whose legal right to do so was equal to 
 their own ; while the supposed privileged per- 
 sons were by illegal means destroying fish by 
 cart and waggon loads for no earthly good 
 whatever ; and thus, not only doing a great 
 public injury, but depriving a large portion of 
 society of a pleasing and legal amusement. 
 
 The other appeared merely a possible evil, 
 and at worst, only let in the poor poacher with 
 small means of destruction, against the rich one 
 
with unlimited ones, and might lead to the pre- 
 vention of both y by the public enforcing the ex- 
 isting laws against all offenders, whether rich 
 or poor. 
 
 The publication, therefore, appeared to me 
 to be the lesser evil of the two ; yet it must be 
 admitted, both are evils, particularly as against 
 the angler; and it is exceedingly probable, 
 that from this " halting between two opinions," 
 (that is to publish, or not to publish,) the fol- 
 lowing Observations would never have been in- 
 truded on the public attention, had not a re- 
 cent circumstance occurred, in which a gen- 
 tleman (who has held a high military com- 
 mand in a foreign service,) while angling from 
 a boat in the Thames, was, upon two different 
 occasions, disturbed in his amusement by a 
 clergyman and his servant, in a manner the 
 most offensive and insulting, and which was 
 followed up by conduct replete with acrimony 
 and hostility, very generally considered, not 
 only impolittlp but widely different from what 
 
VI 
 
 is usually expected in the conduct and charac- 
 ter of an ecclesiastic and a gentleman.* 
 
 On these two occasions, which of course 
 soon became public, a strong sensation was 
 naturally created in the minds of persons re- 
 siding in the neighbourhood of the transaction, 
 as their own rights and the enjoyment of a 
 highly prized recreation were involved in the 
 question ; and it being known that I had de- 
 voted much time and attention to the subject, 
 I was so strongly pressed to publish the Ob- 
 servations on the general right that I felt 
 myself bound to attend to their wishes. 
 
 My object has been to bring into one point 
 of view, both the history and the law of the 
 subject; I have aimed at nothing more; whe- 
 ther I have succeeded or not, the public must 
 determine. That the work may have errors is 
 exceedingly probable, but of that also the 
 public will judge ; but I submit that the autho- 
 
 * Since writing the above I have been informed that a lady, 
 the wife of an equally respectable gentleman, has been an- 
 noyed, while angling from a boat, in the sanpfc manner and by 
 the same person- 
 
Vll 
 
 rities produced are conclusive in favour of the 
 public right contended for, and till its oppo- 
 nents "can rail those authorities from off 
 the public records, they '11 but offend their 
 lungs." 
 
 But whatever may be the result of this pub- 
 lication, as to the increase or diminution of the 
 recreation of fishing, it must be attributed (to 
 say the least of it) to the intemperate zeal of 
 those who have hitherto called themselves 
 " Proprietors of private Fisheries in the River 
 Thames." If an increase of amusement should 
 take place, a good will arise out of an evil : if, 
 on the contrary, a diminution of it, they must 
 blame their own conduct in pushing matters 
 to such an extremity as to compel individuals 
 to ascertain their legal rights, and when ascer- 
 tained, must not be surprised if they are de- 
 termined to exercise them. 
 
 I flatter myself it will clearly appear, that the 
 public at large are by law entitled to fish both 
 
via 
 
 with angle and lawful nets ; and at the same 
 time it will be equally clear, that the present 
 system of destroying fish by cart and waggon 
 loads, by means of drag and flew nets, is alto- 
 gether unlawful, and ought for the future to 
 be prevented. 
 
 For my own part, as an angler, I sincerely 
 wish that a hint suggested to me a short time 
 since by a worthy and enlightened friend, and 
 a magistrate, (that of preventing fishing with 
 nets, or indeed any other mode than that of 
 rod and line) could be adopted : by which 
 means the River Thames would be full of fish, 
 and the inhabitants of the towns and villages 
 on the banks be essentially benefited by an 
 influx of company from different parts of the 
 country, who would visit them purposely to 
 enjoy the amusement on the first and most 
 beautiful river in the kingdom. 
 
OBSERVATIONS 
 
 Public Right of Fishing in Public Navigable 
 Rivers in general, and the River Thames in 
 particular. 
 
 SEVERAL Informations having within these 
 few years past been laid against persons for 
 Fishing in the River Thames, by others calling 
 themselves Proprietors of fisheries in that ri- 
 ver, have occasioned an enquiry into the rights 
 or claims of each party : and the object of the 
 following sheets, is to submit the different au- 
 thorities extant on the subject to the judgment 
 of the reader, previously premising, that those 
 authorities are intended principally to apply 
 to that part of the River Thames not within 
 the jurisdiction of the City of London. 
 
 Before, however, we enter on these authori- 
 ties, it may not be amiss to examine what 
 each party claims as a right. 
 
10 
 
 1st. The gentlemen, or proprietors, claim 
 a private and exclusive right of fishery in certain 
 parts of the river, as a free fishery, a several 
 fishery, or a common of fishery,* acquired by 
 them either by purchase or descent. Under 
 one or the other of these titles, they say, they 
 are entitled, not only to fish what they term 
 their respective parts of the river, as they may 
 think proper, but to exclude all other persons 
 from a participation in the amusement of fish- 
 ing, or at least an equal enjoyment of it. 
 
 2ndly. The public on the other hand con- 
 tend, that the gentlemen possess no such ex- 
 clusive rights, that the fishing in the River 
 Thames, as well as every other navigable 
 river, is common to all the King's subjects; 
 and that unless the party claiming such ex- 
 clusive right, can product a Grant from the 
 Crown, or can prove a Prescription, and such 
 grant is antecedent to the first year of the 
 reign of Richard I., or such prescription be 
 legally proved, the presumptive right is in 
 favour of the public claim. 
 
 * For the distinction of these several sorts of fishery, vid. 
 2d. Black. Com. 39., and Schultes on Aquatic Rights, p. 62, 
 et seq. 
 
11 
 
 Such I believe are the claims of each party, 
 and we shall hereafter endeavour to show 
 how each is supported. 
 
 It appears, that prior to the reign of King- 
 John, the appropriation of various parts, both 
 of the Thames, and other navigable rivers in 
 the kingdom, by the King and some of his 
 subjects, (who at the time they wished to 
 monopolize the game, coveted also the amuse- 
 ments and profits of fishing,) was one of the 
 grievances at that time complained of, and 
 that the fisheries, as well as the navigation of 
 the rivers, was much injured and impeded by 
 such appropriation : for we find, that in the 
 16th chapter of Magna Charta, it is provided, 
 that " no owners on the banks of the rivers, 
 shall so appropriate or keep the rivers several 
 in him, to defend or bar others, either to have 
 passage, or fish there, otherwise than they 
 were used in the reign of Henry II." 
 
 And the Mirror on this chapter states, " that 
 many rivers were so inclosed in which for- 
 merly was common of fishing." And by 
 chapter 39 of the great Charter, it is directed 
 that " All wears and kiddles shall be demo- 
 lished on the Thames and Medway." 
 
12 
 
 Lord Coke, in his Institutes, observes, that 
 " a kiddle is a proper word for open wears, 
 whereby fish are caught: that the erecting 
 such was a pour presture, or encroachment ; 
 making that several, or separate to one, which 
 ought to be common to many ; that this was 
 forbidden by the common law on public 
 rivers, for that every public river or stream 
 is a King's highway.'' 
 
 Such then appears to have been the com- 
 mon law right of the subject, which seems 
 to have been invaded by the King and others, 
 but which was restored to the public -by the 
 Great Charter. 
 
 Like many other rights, however, of a similar 
 description, which being beneficial to all, is by 
 all neglected, and as is too frequently found by 
 experience, no individual would defend his 
 right, because he knew others would be bene- 
 fited as well as himself; the owners of large 
 estates on the banks of the rivers appear to 
 have profited by this neglect, and have endea- 
 voured to convert this public right into a pri- 
 vate one,* and they apply the doctrine (which 
 
 * From very similar causes the common law right of the 
 subject in game was invaded. 
 
13 
 
 is certainly correct as to rivers not navigable) 
 to those which are, viz. that the waters and 
 fishings are the property of those persons 
 whose lands adjoin such rivers. 
 
 But before this exclusive claim can be 
 allowed, we ought to be informed by what 
 legal means the public have lost their right, 
 thus shown to have been legally vested in 
 them ; and we shall presently see, that if 
 those persons who call themselves proprietors, 
 mean to claim such an exclusive right, it must 
 be proved, and supported by the production 
 of a Grant from the Crown, or by Prescription, 
 which implies a grant. 
 
 We have already seen, that the chapter of 
 Magna Charta, before referred to, establishes 
 the public right of passage and fishing in all 
 navigable rivers. 
 
 The next authority I shall refer to, is in 
 the 2nd Blackstone's Commentaries, page 39, 
 where it is stated, that " a free fishery, or ex- 
 clusive right of fishing in a public river, is a 
 royal franchise ; though the making of such 
 grants, and by that means appropriating what 
 seems to be imnatural to restrain, (the use of 
 
14 
 
 running water,) was prohibited for the future 
 by King John's Great Charter, and the rivers 
 that were fenced in his time, were directed 
 to be laid open, as the forests to be disaffo- 
 rested. This opening was extended by Henry 
 III. to those also that were fenced under 
 Richard I., so that a franchise of free fishing 
 ought to be at least as old as Henry II." 
 
 The next authority is the case of Warren 
 against Matthews, 6 Modern Reports 73, where 
 it is decided " that every subject of common 
 right, may fish with lawful nets in a navigable 
 river, as well as in the sea, and the King's 
 grant cannot bar them thereof, but the Crown 
 only has a right to royal fish, and that, the 
 King only may grant.''* 
 
 In Lord Fitzwalter's case it is declared, that 
 " in the Severn, the soil belongs to the, owners 
 of the land on each side. The soil of the 
 River Thames is in the King, but the fishing 
 is common to all." 1 Mod. Rep. 105. 
 
 " A person claiming a free fishery, or seve- 
 ral fishery, or a common of fishery, must show 
 
 * Vide also Burrow's Reports 2164, 
 
15 
 
 the foundation of his claim, for the right is 
 prima facie in all the King's subjects." Id. 
 
 " One claiming solam Piscariam in the River 
 Ex by a grant from the Crown. Et per Holt 
 C. J. The subject has a right to fish in all 
 navigable rivers, as he has to fish in the sea, 
 and a quo warranto ought to be brought to try 
 the title of his grantee, and the validity of his 
 grant." Salkeld Rep. 357. 
 
 In Carter against Murcot, which was an ac- 
 tion for fishing in the River Severn* the de- 
 fendant pleaded that " it was a navigable ri- 
 ver, and also that it is an arm of the sea 
 wherein every subject has a right to fish." 
 The plaintiff replied (without traversing these 
 allegations) that f< this was part of the Manor 
 of Arlingham, and that Mrs. Yates was seized 
 of that manor, and prescribes for a several 
 fishery there ; issue being joined, a verdict 
 was found for the plaintiff. 
 
 It is observable in this case, that in the 
 Severn the soil of the river is not in the King, 
 
 * In the Severn the soil of the river belongs to the lords, 
 and a special sort of fishing belongs to them likewise ; but the 
 common sort of fishing is common to all. 1 Mod. Rep. 105. 
 
16 
 
 and that here a prescription was proved, and 
 therefore a verdict very properly found for 
 the plaintiff; which, on a subsequent applica- 
 tion for a new trial, the court refused to dis- 
 turb. 
 
 But Lord Mansfield in delivering his judg- 
 ment in that case states, 
 
 " In rivers not navigable, the proprietors of 
 land have the right of fishery on their respec- 
 tive sides, and it generally extends, " ad filum 
 medium aquae." 
 
 " But in navigable rivers, the proprietors 
 of land on each side have it not ; the fishery is 
 common ; it is prima facie in the King, and is 
 public." 
 
 " If any one claim it exclusively, he must 
 show a right. If he can show a right by pre- 
 scription, he may then exercise an exclusive 
 right, though the presumption is against him, un- 
 less he can prove such a prescriptive right." 
 
 " Here it is claimed, and found : it is there- 
 fore consistent with all the cases, that he may 
 have an exclusive privilege of fishing, although 
 
17 
 
 it be an arm of the sea ; such a right shall not 
 be presumed, but the contrary prima facie ; but 
 it is capable of being proved, and must have 
 been so, in the present case." 
 
 Mr. Justice Yates, in the same case, says "I 
 was concerned in a case of this kind ; such a 
 claim was made, but the claim failed, because 
 it there happened, that such a right could not 
 be proved ; therefore it was in that case deter- 
 mined, that the right of fishing was common." 
 4 Burrows Rep. 2162. 
 
 The next authority I shall offer, is an Act of 
 Parliament, in which not only the Common 
 Law right of the subject is recognized, but his 
 interest in fee simple declared. 
 
 The statute I allude to, is that of the 2d 
 Hen. 6. c. 15. Anno Dom. 1423, which is enti- 
 tled "An Act to prevent persons fastening nets 
 athwart the River Thames and other rivers." 
 After reciting that " it had been the practice to 
 fasten trinks or nets by day and night to large 
 posts, boats and ancres across the River Thames 
 and other Rivers of the Realm, which was the 
 cause of great destruction of fish," it prohibits 
 
18 
 
 such practice in future, and has this important 
 proviso : 
 
 " Provided always, that it shall be lawful for 
 the possessors of such trinks or nets, if they 
 be of assize, to fish with them at all seasonable 
 times, drawing and pulling them by hand as 
 other fishers do, with other nets, and not 
 fastening or tacking the said nets to posts, 
 boats, and ancres, continually to stand as 
 aforesaid." 
 
 " Saving always to every the King's Liege Peo- 
 ple, their Right, Title, and Inheritance in their 
 jishings in the said Waters.'* 
 
 This is certainly a most important statute ; 
 for it not only confirms the Common Law right 
 of the public, to fish in the River Thames 
 (whatever may be the right as to other naviga- 
 ble rivers,) but it prohibits (if not in the strict 
 letter, at all events in spirit) that disgraceful 
 practice but too frequently resorted to, by 
 those who call themselves proprietors of fishe- 
 ries, in dragging the river with nets in the 
 manner now pursued : A practice at once dis- 
 graceful to gentlemen and sportsmen, and 
 seldom or ever resorted to even by the profes- 
 
19 
 
 sed poacher; and there can be no doubt, that 
 if it is not an offence under the strict letter of 
 this statute, it would be so at Common Law. 
 
 Such are a few (among many other authori- 
 ties) advanced in support of the Public claim ; 
 and they should be well considered by those 
 persons who claim an exclusive, or peculiar 
 right, before they attempt to enforce such right, 
 as it is presumed they would find it difficult 
 (if not impossible) to find authorities to contra- 
 vene them. 
 
 From these authorities then we find, that 
 there are two modes by which the person who 
 claims such peculiar and exclusive proprietor- 
 ship can support his claim. 
 
 The first is by Grant from the Crown. 
 The second by Prescription. 
 
 We will take each in their order : 
 First then, he can claim by the production 
 of a Grant from the Crown, and that grant will 
 particularize the extent of the liberty or pri- 
 vilege granted. 
 
 But it must be remembered that such grant 
 B 2 
 
20 
 
 must not only be antecedent to the reign of 
 Richard I., but it must be produced and proved, 
 for it cannot (as in ordinary cases) be pre- 
 sumed, but the contrary, prima facie. 
 
 The evidence then, with respect to a grant, 
 is extremely short, and if it possesses these 
 requisites, as to dates, &c., it appears from the 
 authorities I have before quoted, on its pro- 
 duction and proof it may succeed. 
 
 His next claim is by Prescription, which 
 implies a former grant. 
 
 Now, what is Prescription, and what are the 
 requisites necessary to support it ? and can it 
 in this case be implied ? 
 
 1st. What is Prescription ? We are told 
 that " Prescription or custom presupposes an 
 original grant, which being lost by length of 
 time, immemorial usage is admitted as evi- 
 dence to show that it once did exist, and that 
 from thence such usage was derived." 2 Black. 
 Com. 30. 
 
 Such appears to be Prescription or custom. 
 
 2nd. What are its requisites ? 
 
 We are told by another authority, that 
 
21 
 
 " every custom has two essential points, viz. 
 time out of mind, and continual usage, without 
 interruption." 1 Institutes, 110. 
 
 " Now time out of mind has been long ago 
 ascertained by the law to commence from the 
 beginning of the reign of Richard I., and any 
 custom may be destroyed by evidence of its 
 non-existence in any part of that long period 
 from that time to the present." 2 Black. 30, 
 
 Again. " To make a particular custom good, 
 the following are necessary requisites. First, 
 that it has been used so long, that the memory 
 of man runneth not to the contrary ; so that if 
 any one can show the beginning of it, it is no 
 good custom. For which reason no custom can 
 prevail against an Act of Parliament since the 
 statute itself is a proof of a time when such custom 
 did not exist." 1 Black. Com. Introduction 76. 
 
 " If any one can show the beginning of a 
 custom within legal memory, that is, within 
 any time since the first year of Richard I., it 
 is not a good custom." Christian's Notes on 
 Blackstone. 
 
 " Prescription, or custom, must be conti- 
 
22 
 
 nued y it must be peaceable and acquiesced in, not 
 subject to contention and dispute ; for, as customs 
 owe their original to common consent, their 
 being immemorially disputed either at law or 
 otherwise, is a proof that such consent was 
 wanting. 1 Black. Com* 77. 
 
 Such appear to be the requisites necessary 
 to support a Prescription or a custom. 
 
 Let us now see how far Prescription can in 
 this case be implied, or ever proved. 
 
 We have before seen that the right of fish- 
 ing in all navigable rivers is prima facie in the 
 public ; that the King's Grant cannot bar them 
 thereof; that a person claiming an exclusive 
 right must prove it, for it shall not be pre* 
 sumed, but the contrary prima facie ; that no 
 custom shall prevail against an Act of Parlia- 
 ment ; and that there are several Acts of Par- 
 liament besides the great Charter in which the 
 public right is acknowledged. Therefore no 
 custom or prescription can be offered or given 
 in evidence against these acts.* 
 
 * In the case of Carter and Mercot these Acts were not 
 pleaded in bar, and therefore could not perhaps have been 
 
23 
 
 The gentlemen, therefore, claiming these ex- 
 clusive privileges would do well to consider, 
 whether their prescriptive rights possess all 
 the qualities here required ; for if they fail in 
 one point, they fail in all: for the presumption 
 is in favour of the public. 
 
 Have they from the 1st year of Richard I. 
 exercised the right they claim peaceably ? Has 
 such claim been acquiesced in ? Has it been 
 without contention and dispute ? Are the char- 
 ters of King John and Henry III., or the statute 
 of Henry VI. still in force ? (nay, even were 
 they repealed, I should contend, that, as they 
 once had been in force, it would be sufficient 
 to destroy such prescription.) Or is there a 
 single Act of Parliament which recognizes or 
 protects a private or exclusive right of fishery 
 in the River Thames, or in any other public 
 navigable river ? 
 
 In the year 1787 this right was the subject 
 of a law-suit, and perhaps it is to be regretted 
 that the question had not been put at rest; 
 but after incurring all the expenses of a 
 
 made available : sed quere, had they been pleaded, would the 
 result have been the same ? 
 
24 
 
 suit, an arrangement was made between the 
 parties, that the public right of angling should 
 be admitted, and the action dropped. 
 
 Having considered the subject as affected 
 by Grant, Prescription, the Statutes, and de- 
 cisions of the Courts, 
 
 We come now shortly to examine in what 
 way it is affected by the Common Law of the 
 land, and endeavour to prove that by that law 
 the public have had, used, and exercised, time 
 out of mind, to take fish, (or attempt to take 
 fish,) in all public navigable rivers. 
 
 In doing this I shall avail myself of the as- 
 sistance afforded me by a small pamphlet pub- 
 lished in 1787, while the above suit was pend- 
 ing. 
 
 " The Common Law is the unwritten law 
 of the land, and consists of general customs, 
 and usage, declared and established by the 
 judgments of Courts, and authentic records, or 
 proved by other sufficient evidence to have 
 been used, time out of mind, without legal im- 
 pediment or obstruction." 
 
 Our great law writers say hereon : 
 
25 
 
 " The law of England is divided into three 
 parts : the Common Law, Statute Law, and 
 particular Customs ; for if it be the general 
 custom of the realm, it is part of the Common 
 Law." Coke's 1. Institutes. 
 
 
 " The Common Law is Jjie ancient usage and 
 
 custom of the realm, before any statutes were 
 made." Shepherd's Epitome of the Laws. 
 
 " The Common Law is grounded on the ge- 
 neral customs of the realm." Terms de la 
 Ley, 147. 
 
 " General customs, which are the universal 
 rule of the whole kingdom, form the unwritten 
 or Common Law." . Black. Com. Introd. p. 67. 
 
 " The Common Law of England is a law 
 used time out of mind by prescription. That 
 custom which is common throughout the realm, 
 is Common Law." Sir Henry Finch's Dis- 
 course on Law, p. 77. 
 
 If, therefore, it can be proved, that this pub- 
 lic right hath been used and practised, time 
 out of mind, continually, without legal inter- 
 ruption, it proves it to be the Common Law 
 
26 
 
 right, or privilege, and of course common to 
 ail. And, although these authorities have been 
 applied on a former occasion to the right of 
 angling only, yet their general application to 
 all other fishings will hereafter appear. 
 
 I will not go into history, either on the sub- 
 ject of fishing with nets or angling, which I 
 might easily do, but I will presume my readers 
 are fully as well, or perhaps better acquainted 
 with these authorities than myself. I will 
 only observe, that it was allowed to the clergy 
 when the more sanguinary sports, and athletic 
 exercises were forbidden ; and most historians 
 and travellers record it as the universal prac- 
 tice of all nations. But to come more near to 
 the time it is intended to establish the usage 
 and practice of it, viz. at and before the be- 
 ginning of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, being 
 the time the first statute now extant was made 
 on the subject of fishing. 
 
 There is a book, (one of the most ancient 
 printed in this kingdom)* called " The Boke of 
 
 * Printing was brought into England by William Caxton, a 
 mercer, in 1471 ; who, it is said, had a press in Westminster 
 Abbey till 1494. 
 
27 
 
 St. Albans, emprynted at Westmystre, by 
 Wynkyn de Word," in small folio, and con- 
 tains, among other curious matter, " A Trea- 
 tyse of Fyshynge with an Angle."* It was 
 written by Dame Juliana Barnes, Prioress of 
 the Nunnery of Sopwell, near St. Alban's. 
 
 It clearly proves that the art of angling was 
 then used, well known, and practised through- 
 out the kingdom, without any legal impedi- 
 ment, in all public rivers ; and particularly the 
 reason she gives for publishing this book con- 
 firms the right of angling being then held and 
 esteemed common to all ; for she says, " And 
 for by cause that this present treatyse sholde 
 not come to the handys of eche ydle persone 
 whych wolde desire it, yf it were emprynted 
 alone by itself, and put in a lytyll plamflet," 
 she has therefore compiled it together with 
 divers books interesting to gentlemen and no- 
 blemen. 
 
 So that, though the good lady was desirous 
 of keeping the exercise of this diversion to 
 " gentlemen and noblemen," yet she fairly ac- 
 
 * Some account of this book may be seen in the Biographia 
 Hriiannicii. Article, Caxton. NoteL. 
 
28 
 
 knowledges that the commonalty had a full 
 right to the enjoyment of it ; and her wish to 
 prevent the common people from this diversion, 
 by means of making the purchase of her book 
 too high priced for them, plainly indicates 
 there were no other, or other legal prohibitions 
 or means to prevent them.* 
 
 Again, she says, " The reason of her so pub- 
 lishing the Treatise on Angling was, lest those 
 common persons should, if they had the assist- 
 ance of the book, utterly destroy ' this dys- 
 porte of fyshynge,' " by which we may fairly 
 infer, that the custom of taking fish by ang- 
 ling was very frequent, and commonly used by 
 such as she calls common persons. 
 
 Another book was printed on this subject in 
 1590, by Leonard Mascall, entitled " A Book 
 of Fishing, with Hook and Line, and all other 
 Instruments thereunto belonging." 
 
 * It is presumed the old lady conceived this " a pious fraud,'' 
 a term very generally used, and a conduct as generally prac- 
 tised at that period ; but like most other frauds, it was well 
 calculated to defeat the end proposed, by affording evidence of 
 the public right in the attempt to conceal it. 
 
29 
 
 Another book, by John Taverner, in 1600, 
 entitled " Approved Experiments in Angling." 
 
 And another in 1613, entitled " The Secrets 
 of Angling, by J. D. A Poem." 
 
 And in 1653, Walton's " Complete Angler" 
 was also published, which has been called " a 
 pleasing and instructive treatise on the sub- 
 ject." 
 
 Now by all these books it is proved indis- 
 putably, that the usage, custom, and practice 
 of angling, was well known, commonly used and 
 practised, and was a general custom through- 
 out the realm. 
 
 Walton says, in an account he gives relative 
 to the laws of angling, that " The statute of 
 1st. Eliz. c. 17. had so much respect to anglers, 
 as to leave them to catch as big as they could, 
 or as little as they would ; and, that though this 
 recreation be lawful, yet no man can go on 
 another's private ground to angle without li- 
 cence ; but in case of a river, the taking fish 
 with an angle is not trespass. 5 '* 
 
 * Nor poaching, vide next note. 
 
30 
 
 Should it be observed, that all this doctrine 
 applies to angling only, and not to the use of 
 nets or other accustomed modes of fishing ; I 
 answer, that when these observations were ori- 
 ginally made, it was at a time when the ge- 
 neral right was in dispute, and it was then 
 thought, that if the action then pending was 
 persevered in, that the establishment of such 
 general right might be perverted to bad pur- 
 poses, and productive of bad consequences, 
 by encouraging what were termed poachers.* 
 This was one of the reasons that induced the 
 parties claiming the general right, to consent 
 to the accommodation which then took place. 
 But at that time it never could have been con- 
 templated, that those persons who then claimed 
 an exclusive proprietorship in the fisheries, 
 would resort to a practice equally (if not more) 
 destructive than the poachers, that of dragging 
 the rivers with nets, and thus collecting wag- 
 gon and cart loads,| which they frequently do, 
 
 * Query If poachers can exist, where a general right to 
 take fish exists ? " Angling with a rod only could not be called 
 poaching, nor was it ever so esteemed. " By the Lord Chan- 
 cellor, in Rex v. D. of Beaufort. 2nd Chitty, 1034-. 
 
 t However improbable this circumstance may appear, it is 
 nevertheless literally true, and has been practised to this extent. 
 
31 
 
 for no one good purpose, and with which they 
 know not what to do after they are caught, and 
 after such unfair and illegal practices endea- 
 vour to prevent in others the fair and legal use 
 of the net. 
 
 If the public rivers are to have a poacher, 
 it must be obvious they had much better have 
 a poor than a rich one ; as the poor poacher's 
 means of destruction are much more limited 
 than the rich one, and whatever the poor one 
 obtains may be of some service to his family, 
 and by sale is distributed amongst the public ; 
 while, on the contrary, what the rich one gets 
 is neither necessary for himself, nor beneficial 
 in the slightest degree to the public, but ex- 
 tremely detrimental to the fair sportsman. 
 
 But, now to apply these general observations 
 on angling to the general right of taking fish 
 by lawful nets, and other accustomed modes 
 of fishing. 
 
 First, then, in all these observations there 
 does not appear a single restriction or excep- 
 tion to the other general modes of taking fish ; 
 while the Statute of Hen, VI. recognizes the 
 right of using nets, " as the right, title and 
 
32 
 
 inheritance of all his Majesty's liege people," 
 but prohibits the system above noticed. 
 
 2ndly. All the cases determined by the 
 Courts concur in acknowledging this right ; 
 particularly the case of Warren and Matthews 
 before noticed, where it is expressly stated, 
 that " every subject of common right may fish 
 with lawful nets in a navigable river." 
 
 3rdly. That not a single Act of Parliament, 
 either directly or indirectly, recognizes a pri- 
 vate or exclusive right of fishing in a navigable 
 river : but, on the contrary, acknowledges that 
 right to be in the public, particularly the Sta- 
 tute of 1st Eliz. c. 17. entitled " An Act for the 
 Preservation of the Spawn and Fry of Fish ;" 
 and the preamble states, " that for the preser- 
 vation hereafter of spawn and young breed of 
 eels, salmon, pikes, and of all other fish which 
 heretofore have been much destroyed in rivers 
 and streams, salt and fresh, within this realm, 
 insomuch that in divers places, they feed swine 
 and dogs with the fry and spawn of fish, and 
 otherwise (lamentable and horrible to be reported) 
 destroy the same to the great hinderance and 
 decay of the Commonwealth." 
 
 Here is no injury complained of, as violat- 
 
33 
 
 ing the right of an individual, but of the Com- 
 monwealth or the public. Besides, the Act ap- 
 plies, not only to all persons, but to all rivers, 
 and only restrains the shameful destruction of 
 fish in the manner described by the Act.* 
 
 4thly. There are other Acts of Parliament 
 for punishing offenders who steal fish in private 
 rivers, pools, ponds, or inclosed places, but 
 not a word is said of using nets in public ri- 
 vers, provided those nets be of proper assize, 
 and used at proper times. 
 
 5thly. That at all events here is a prima 
 facie case made out on the part of the public, 
 which, till it is rebutted by stronger evidence 
 by the opposite party, must stand ; as neither 
 Grant nor Prescription shall be implied, but 
 must be proved. 
 
 Thus I submit, that both by the Common 
 Law, the two great Charters, the subsequent 
 Statute Law, and the decision of the Courts, 
 
 * In some editions of the Statutes the penalty under this Act 
 is 20/., in others 20*. ; in the record it is not distinguishable whe- 
 ther it be pounds or shillings. The latter seems more adequate 
 to the offence. Vid. 2 Burn, 36p. 
 
34 
 
 the public right of fishing, both with nets and 
 by angling, in navigable rivers in general, but 
 in the River Thames in particular, is com- 
 pletely and indisputably established. 
 
 But it has been argued, that the River 
 Thames is not, 1st, a public river; 2ndly, a 
 navigable river ; 3rdly, a river constantly na- 
 vigable ; or 4thly, a river naturally navigable ; 
 for all these grounds have been taken, and all 
 these distinctions have been made, in conse- 
 quence of an expression of Brae ton's, " flumi- 
 nibus perennibus ;" which in fact means no other 
 than constant rivers, or perpetual by run- 
 ning, as distinguishable from those, some- 
 times dry, and conveys no idea whatever of 
 navigable. 
 
 These objections are evidently taken with a 
 view to mislead, and are endeavours to prove 
 that the River Thames is a private river, not 
 naturally navigable ; for even the persons who 
 urge these objections are obliged to admit, and 
 do admit, that the fishing is common, if the. 
 Thames be naturally navigable, or navigable 
 time out of mind. 
 
 We will here again take each in their order, 
 
35 
 
 first observing upon the four preceding objec- 
 tions : 
 
 1st. If the River Thames be not " a public 
 river," a navigable river, a river constantly 
 navigable, and a river naturally navigable, 
 what other river in the kingdom is so ? 
 
 2nd. With respect to " a navigable river," 
 it is a vague term ; it may mean for ships, for 
 barges, or for small boats, and such is at places 
 and times every river in the kingdom. 
 
 3rd. " Constantly navigable," is still more 
 uncertain ; no river is strictly speaking so ; no 
 even the sea. 
 
 4th. " Naturally navigable," is more loose 
 and uncertain still, and if it has any legal 
 meaning, it is the having been navigable time out 
 of mind. 
 
 In these points of view I shall now proceed 
 to consider the question ; and if I establish the 
 fact, that the River Thames now is, and time 
 out of mind has been, a public navigable river, 
 in such case I presume I give an indisputable 
 answer to all these objections. 
 
 I would previously remark, that it appears 
 the true ground of distinction of the fishing 
 
 c2 
 
36 
 
 being public or private is, whether the river be 
 public or not ; for although Lord Mansfield, and 
 several others, use the term navigable, it seems 
 only to be applied as evidence of the river be- 
 ing public. 
 
 It is in effect said by Blackstone, vol. ii. 
 p. 8. that originally, all land and water was 
 public and common to all ; and private pro- 
 perty arose merely from inclosing, fencing, or 
 separating a part from the general mass, and 
 holding or occupying it separately by the pub- 
 lic acquiescence. 
 
 All such rivers, brooks, or streams, as are 
 not navigable, and run through private, sepa- 
 rate, or inclosed grounds, and which the pub- 
 lic cannot have free access to without tres- 
 passing, I apprehend to be private : and these 
 I conceive are the only descriptions of proper- 
 ty intended to be protected by the 5 Geo. III. 
 c. 14. and the different other Acts of Parlia- 
 ment for the preservation of fish and fisheries, 
 unless otherwise particularly mentioned. 
 
 But all such rivers and streams as have time 
 out of mind been navigable, or which the public 
 have a right to navigate, or have a free access 
 
37 
 
 to, cannot be said to have been inclosed, sepa- 
 rated, or appropriated, to the use of any indi- 
 vidual ; but still are, and remain public, and 
 common to all the King's subjects. This is 
 confirmed by Sir M. Hale, Bracton, and by 
 Magna Charta before noticed. 
 
 All such rivers as now are, and time out of 
 mind have been navigable, as run by the 
 King's highway, or by a common, and to 
 which the subjects now have, and constantly 
 have had, or might have had, free access, 
 it is conceived are public rivers, and common 
 to all. 
 
 With this doctrine agrees the observation 
 of Walton, that "if the angler offends not 
 with his feet, there is no great danger with 
 his hands ;" that is, the trespass must be 
 committed by going on private property to 
 make the party responsible. 
 
 This distinction is strong, and marked, and 
 perhaps enough has been stated to prove, 
 that the River Thames is, and for time out of 
 mind has been, a public river, which would 
 be sufficient to establish the public right of 
 fishing in it. 
 
38 
 
 But I shall now proceed to prove it to 
 have been time out of mind a navigable, as 
 well as a public river. 
 
 The River Thames, properly speaking, ex- 
 tends from the junction of the river with 
 the Isis at Dorchester bridge, in the county 
 of Oxford, to the Sea, separating the coun- 
 ties of Oxford, Bucks, Middlesex, and Es- 
 sex, on the north side, from those of Berks, 
 Surrey, and Kent, on the south side of the 
 said river. 
 
 There are many persons who apprehend, 
 that the River Thames includes the river 
 sometimes called the Thames, and sometimes 
 the Isis, running from Leachlade, in Glou- 
 cestershire, to Dorchester ; but as it is con- 
 tended that the right of' fishing is in all pub- 
 lic rivers, it is of no great consequence on the 
 present occasion, whether that part of the 
 river be denominated Thames or Isis.* 
 
 * There are also many persons who claim as private pro- 
 perty the Lock Pools, and certain waters partially separated 
 from the main stream, by a Eyott, or island, but I appre- 
 hend no such claim can be supported : for if the River Thames 
 is public, it must be so e ripa ad ripntr, from bank to bank, its 
 natural boundaries. 
 
39 
 
 To prove that the River Thames (at least 
 from its junction at Dorchester with the river 
 now -known as the Isis) for several years 
 past has been both public and navigable, 
 I shall offer the following authorities. 
 
 To prove that it is so now would be to 
 waste the time, and insult the understanding 
 of the reader. 
 
 To do this, it will only be necessary to 
 produce the Statute of the 11 Geo. III. (1771.) 
 for improving the said navigation, by which 
 it is acknowledged then to exist, and is di- 
 rected to be improved and completed. And 
 the books of the Navigation Company will 
 be further evidence, that, for many years 
 before the passing of that Act, and ever since, 
 more than 100,000 tons of goods have been 
 annually conveyed by barges on the said river, 
 to and from London. 
 
 The above will, for the present, be sufficient 
 to prove that the river has been for several 
 years past navigable. 
 
 I shall now endeavour to prove, that the 
 said River Thames hath been a public river 
 
40 
 
 time out of mind, which term hath been before 
 explained ; and if my observations and autho- 
 rities may be a little tedious to some of my 
 readers, yet to the antiquarian they may 
 afford amusement ; and although some of those 
 authorities may not be considered as legal 
 proofs, yet they may carry conviction to the 
 mind of every one, except those who are pre- 
 determined not to be convinced. 
 
 Caesar in his Commentaries (book v. cap. 
 xi.) says " the territories of Cassibellanus, 
 were divided from the maritime states by 
 a river called the Thames," and tells us 
 " that he forded it at the only place it was 
 fordable in his (Cassibellanus's) kingdom ;" 
 (book v. c. xiv.J which the author of the 
 pamphlet before alluded to, supposes to have 
 been at Harleyford, because it is the lowest 
 place on the Thames with the termination of 
 " ford."* 
 
 The Thames is well known to have been 
 the division in the Saxon heptarchy, between 
 
 * Did the author mean that in a geographical point of view 
 it was the lowest on the river ; or to allude to the small depth 
 of water at Harleyford, and fordable on that account? If the 
 latter, I should rather think he was mistaken ; for whatever 
 
41 
 
 the kingdoms of Mercia and Wessex ; hence in 
 those times, the river must have been public 
 and common to the people of both nations. 
 Vide History of England. 
 
 In an antient book called Dunthorne, it is 
 said that " the River Thames was the cause 
 of the first erecting and building the city of 
 London." 
 
 Heylin in his Geography says, " in England 
 there are 325 rivers, though some say 450, 
 of which the chief is the Thames/' 
 
 In Doctor Campbell's history, the Thames 
 is mentioned as the first, and principal of the 
 three public navigable rivers in the kingdom. 
 
 " The Thames is the most famous river 
 of England." Sir Henry Chauncey's History 
 of Hertfordshire. 
 
 In Seymour's history of London, it is said 
 
 it might have been in Cassibellanus's time, it is now as deep 
 as most places on the river, and appears to have been always 
 naturally so. It was, however, a little excusable in him, in 
 wishing to fix " the point of honour" near his own residence, 
 and create an additional interest in a spot perhaps the most 
 beautiful on the whole line of navigation. 
 
42 
 
 " the Thames is the longest of the three 
 famous rivers of this isle, and no way inferior 
 in abundance offish." 
 
 There are numberless other authors on the 
 same subject, such as Camden, Drayton, Sir 
 John Denham, &c, all proving it to be the 
 first public river in point of consequence in 
 the kingdom. 
 
 But to proceed to more particular and legal 
 proofs of it. 
 
 Richard I. by his Charter to the citizens of 
 London in 1197 "grants and commands that 
 all wears that are on the Thames, be removed, 
 wheresoever they shall be within the Thames, 
 and that no wears be put up any where 
 within the Thames." 
 
 It has already been shown, that King John 
 by his Charter, as well as Henry Hid by his 
 confirmation of it, directs, " that all wears and 
 kiddles shall be utterly put down by Thames 
 and Medway."* 
 
 By the statute of Westminster 2d the 13 
 
 * And that the passage and fishery should be open and 
 free. 
 
43 
 
 Edward. I c. 47. it is provided w that the Rivers 
 Humber, Ouse, Trent, (and several others there 
 named) and all other waters in which salmon 
 are taken, shall be put in defence, from the 
 Nativity of St. Mary to the day of St Martin." 
 
 Upon this statute Sir Edward Coke remarks, 
 " that the noble River Thames is not named, and 
 it was held, that the general words extended 
 to inferior rivers only," and therefore the River 
 Thames is added in another place, viz. 
 
 In the 25th Edward III. it was prayed by the 
 Commons, and in the same year it was enacted 
 that ." the statute of Westminster made against 
 the destruction of salmon may be kept, and that 
 all mills set on the aforesaid rivers be thrown 
 down, and shall take effect as well on the Ri- 
 ver Thames as elsewhere." See the Statutes, 
 and Cotton's Abridgement of the Records 
 in the Tower of London, by Prynne, 1657. 
 pp. 75-80. 
 
 In the 50th of Edward III. it was peti- 
 tioned by the Commons " that no salmons be 
 taken between Gravesend and Henely-upon- 
 Thames in kipper time." 
 
44 
 
 i 
 Answered, "that the Statutes shall be kept." 
 
 Vid. id. 124. 
 
 In the 8th Richard II. it was petitioned by the 
 Commons " that no man take any fry orjish in the 
 River Thames unless the mesh of the net be ac- 
 cording to the statute." Vid. id. 305. 
 
 Here is a recognition of the public right of 
 taking Jish with nets, provided they be of proper 
 assize. 
 
 In the 14th of Richard II. by petition from 
 the Commons, it was prayed " that a remedy 
 may be had against mills, stanks, kiddles, and 
 such like engines and devices on the Thames" 
 Answered, that the statutes shall be observed. 
 Id. 339. 
 
 By Statutes of Richard II. c. 19. and 17 
 Richard II. c. 9, reciting the statute of West- 
 minster 2d. it is directed that " young salmons 
 shall not be taken from the midst of April, 'till 
 the Nativity of Saint John Baptist, in the waters 
 of the Thames, Humber, Ouse, Trent, or any 
 other waters." 
 
 In the 2d Henry V. the Mayor and Com- 
 
45 
 
 monalty prayed " that all kiddles, wears, and 
 other engines, on the Thames, Medway, and 
 Ley, should be laid down." Id. 539. 
 
 And it must be remembered that it has been 
 before shown, that it has been said by Hale, 
 that " the soil of the Thames is in the King, 
 and the fishing is common to all." 
 
 By this it must plainly and evidently appear, 
 that the River Thames has always been con- 
 sidered as a public river ; the charters, which 
 are confirmations of the public rights, confirm 
 it. Sir Edward Coke instances it as public, 
 and the King's highway. Hale says, the soil 
 is the King's ; and the Commons of England 
 taking the cognizance to remove encroachments 
 and obstructions, and to prevent the illegal 
 destruction of fish, is proof of its being public ; 
 for if the river had been a private one, neither 
 the legislature, the charters, nor the Commons, 
 could have interfered ; for instead of a confir- 
 mation of liberty, it would have been an in- 
 fringement of private property. If the en- 
 croachments had been made on private proper- 
 ty, the remedy would have been private; but 
 that being public, proves the river aad griev- 
 ance thereon to have been public. 
 
46 
 
 I shall now endeavour to prove, that this 
 river is not only a public river, but has, time 
 out of mind, been a navigable one. And here I 
 shall adopt the plan of the author of the Pam- 
 phlet before noticed, beginning with the most 
 modern authorities, and proceed up to IVIagna 
 Charta, observing that these proofs are not 
 only legal ones (being taken from Acts of Par- 
 liament), but it is submitted are ample, strong, 
 and unanswerable. 
 
 By the Statute of 24th Geo. II. c. 8, for the 
 better carrying on the navigation of the Thames 
 and Isis, it is recited " that the Rivers Thames 
 and Isis have time out of mind been navigable 
 from the City of London, to the village of Ber- 
 cott, in the county of Oxford, and from the 
 City of Oxford, westward, beyond Letchlade." 
 
 By the Statute of 6 and 7th of William and 
 Mary, c. 16. to prevent exactions of occupiers 
 of locks and wears on the Thames, it recites 
 " that the Rivers Thames and Isis have timeout 
 of mind been navigable from the City of London 
 to Bercott, in the County of Oxon, and /or divers 
 years last past from thence to somewhat farther 
 than Letchlade." 
 
47 
 
 By the Statute of 21st Jac. I. c. 32. s. 3. for 
 making the Thames navigable from Bercott to 
 Oxford, it is said, " the River Thames for many 
 miles beyond the City of Oxford, westward, is 
 already navigable, and from London to the vil- 
 lage of Bercott." 
 
 The Statute of 1st Jac. I. c. 16. entitled " an 
 Act concerning wherrymen and watermen," re- 
 cites that " persons passing by water between 
 Windsor and Gravesend, had been put to ha- 
 zard and danger ;" and declares " that no water- 
 men shall take apprentices, but he that hath 
 served a time to it, (except western barges, 
 mill-boats, and other vessels, serving for other 
 uses than carrying passengers." 
 
 M. was fined 2001. for diverting part of the 
 River Thames, by which means he weakened 
 the current to carry barges towards London. 
 That river is a highway. Noy's Reports, 103. 
 
 In 1579, John Bishop complained to the Lord 
 Treasurer (Burleigh) of the locks, weirs, and 
 flood-gates, on the Thames between Maiden- 
 head and Oxford, and showed that by these 
 stoppages several persons have been drowned, 
 who all belonged to barges that used the river. 
 
48 
 
 And in 1585 said Bishop petitioned the 
 Queen (Elizabeth) against the same locks, 
 weirs, &c. 
 
 The persons complained of showed cause for 
 maintaining them, that they were as of great 
 antiquity as the towns and villages whereto 
 they joined ; that they were of necessity for 
 the passage of barges. 
 
 That the mills, locks, and weirs, were for the 
 most part the Queen's inheritance. (Records 
 of Star Chamber Proceedings.) 
 
 By Statute of 23d Eliz. c. 5. touching iron 
 mills near London and the River Thames, " no 
 person shall convert to coal for making iron, 
 any wood growing within 22 miles of the River 
 Thames from Dorchester downwards." 
 
 See also the Statute of 1st Eliz. c. 15. to 
 nearly the same effect, only extending its pro- 
 visions to timber growing within 14 miles of 
 the sea, or any part of the Rivers Thames, Se- 
 vern, Wye, Humber, &e. &c. or any other river by 
 which carriage is commonly used by boat, or other 
 vessel, to any part of the sea. 
 
40 
 
 The Statute of 27th.' Henry VIII. c. 
 18. recites, that " Whereas before this 
 time, the River Thames' among all other rivers 
 within this realm hath been accepted and 
 taken, and is indeed the 'iiost commodious 
 and profitable to all the King's liege people, 
 and chiefly of all others frequented and used, as 
 well by the King's Highness, his estates, and 
 nobles, merchants, and others, repairing to the 
 city of London and other places, shires, and 
 counties adjoining the same, which River of 
 Thames is, and hath been, most meet and 
 convenient of all others, for the safeguard 
 and ordering of the King's navy, conveyance 
 of merchandises and other necessaries, to and 
 for the King's household, and otherwise, to the 
 great relief and comfort of all persons within 
 the realm, 'till now of late years divers evil 
 minded persons create obstructions" The 
 above statute directs that no such obstructions 
 shall be made in future. 
 
 The Statute of 1st. Hen. IV. The Commons 
 prayed " that no barge on the River Thames 
 should be forfeited as a deodand ;'' and it 
 was answered "to be as heretofore." Records 
 in the Tower. Cotton's Abridg. 398. 
 
 D 
 
50 
 
 In the 50th. Edward III, the Commons re- 
 presented that " the watermen of London com- 
 plained of leaving locks, stanks, and wears, 
 upon the River Thames ; and namely a lock 
 
 *yt"- 
 
 called Hambledcn* lock, and for that, there 
 is a custom demanded of them passing the 
 bridges of Staines, Windsor, and Maidenhead, 
 and other locks, against their custom." To 
 which it was answered, " that for the locks 
 and kiddles the statute made in the 37th. 
 Edward III. shall be executed, and for exac- 
 ting money of them for the bridges, they 
 shall make suit in Chancery." Id. 132. 
 
 In the 37th. Edward III, it was petitioned 
 " that a remedy might be found against wears, 
 and such other engines, on the River Thames, 
 to the annoyance of boats. Id. 97.* 
 
 Here then it is submitted are abundant 
 proofs that the River Thames has been a 
 navigable river time out of mind ; and it is 
 
 * In the 21st Ed. III., it is recorded that the four great 
 rivers of England, viz. the Thames, Tese, Ouse, and Trent, 
 uere wont from antiquity to be open and free jor every ship to 
 pass. Id. 57. 
 
 The Queen of King Hen. III. 1263, was insulted, as she was 
 going by water from the Tower of London to Windsor. Rap. 
 vol I. p. 336. 
 
51 
 
 to be remarked, that in not one of these statutes is 
 there the slightest recognition of a private right of 
 any sort ; and, surely had any such existed 
 in law, some notice of it (either as a reser- 
 vation of such right, or in some other manner) 
 would have been taken, particularly in some 
 of the late Navigation Acts relative to the 
 River Thames ; in which many of those who now 
 claim such exclusive rights are named as com- 
 missioners for carrying those Acts into execution, 
 yet have never ventured to obtain a legislative 
 sanction for them. And it is again asked, if 
 the River Thames is not naturally navigable, 
 what river in the kingdom is ? 
 
 It is true, that that part of the river ex- 
 tending from Bercott to Oxford appears to 
 have been made navigable by the Statute 
 of Jac. I., but that statute, as well as those 
 of William and Mary, and Geo. II, expressly 
 state, that the other part of the river has 
 " time out of mind been navigable from Ber- 
 cott to London." We are also warranted in 
 concluding from these authorities, that it has 
 not been made navigable by art, but that 
 it was naturally so. 
 
 In contradiction, however, to this, it has 
 D 2 
 
been asserted, and endeavoured to be proved, 
 " that the River Thames is not, nor ever was, 
 naturally navigable, but has been made so by 
 the locks and wears upon it. 9 ' 
 
 To this it is answered, that all the autho- 
 rities already produced, prove the direct con- 
 trary of this ; for, from Magna Charta, to Ed- 
 ward IV, it is declared, that those locks and 
 wears impeded and hindered the navigation. The 
 fact seems to be, that these locks and wears 
 appear to have been built for the purpose of 
 penning a head of water to the mill contiguous, 
 there being a mill to every one of them ; and 
 it has been justly observed, that admitting the 
 fact, that they were erected for the navigation, 
 the argument is in favour of the public right, 
 and will lead to, and indeed affords, a more an~ 
 dent proof of navigation on the River Thames ; 
 for some of them are mentioned in Doomsday- 
 book, and are said to be as old as the adjacent 
 villages, and of course the River Thames was 
 then navigable. 
 
 But in order still more satisfactorily to prove 
 this fact, we will notice the different statutes on 
 the subject from Magna Charta downwards. 
 
53 
 
 It has already been shown, that the wears 
 and kiddles on the Thames and Medway were 
 directed by the charters of King John and 
 Hen. III., to be removed and demolished. 
 
 By the 25th of Edward III. st. 4. c. 6, it is 
 said, that " the common passage of boats and 
 ships in the great rivers of England, is annoyed 
 by wears, &c.," and directs that they shall be 
 pulled down. 
 
 The Statute of 45th Edward III., c. 2, recites 
 the last statute, and that " such wears, &c. 
 were to the great damage of the people" arid, 
 directs them to be pulled down. 
 
 The Statutes of Richard II., c. 19, and 1st 
 Henry IV. c. 12, recite and confirm the said 
 statutes of the 25th and 45th Edward III, 
 for pulling down wears, &c. on the petition 
 and request of the Commons, " that the com- 
 mon passage of ships and boats in the great 
 rivers of England be thereby greatly disturbed, 
 so that they cannot pass as they were wont." 
 
 The Statute of 4th Henry IV., c. 11, recites 
 that " wears, stanks, and kiddles, being in the 
 water of Thames, and of other great rivers 
 
54 
 
 through the realm, the common passage of 
 ships and boats is disturbed, and much people 
 perished, and the young fry of fish destroyed 
 and given to swine to eat,* contrary to the 
 pleasure of God, and to the great damage of 
 the King and his people ;'' and enacts that the 
 statutes be kept, and commissions awarded to 
 certain justices in every county of the realm, 
 where need be, to enquire and punish of- 
 fenders.f 
 
 i 
 
 This statute is of great importance to the 
 
 general question. Here is no private right pro- 
 tected or even recognized, which no doubt 
 would have been the case had any such right 
 existed. On the contrary, the injury is said to 
 be to the King and his people ; viz. to the King, 
 as owner of the soil, and to the people, in the 
 destruction or injury in their right of fishing. 
 Here is also prohibited a practice, too often 
 indulged in, even now, by those who claim an 
 exclusive right of fishing ; viz. that of destroy- 
 ing and wasting fish in the manner I have be- 
 fore alluded to,f and which this Act evidently 
 
 * Vid. statute of Elizabeth. 
 
 t Who were allowed 4s. a-day for every day they travelled. 
 
 t As proofs of this destructive practice, it is a fact well 
 
55 
 
 designed to prevent and punish; and although 
 those proprietors may not give them to swine, 
 yet that they thus illegally take and waste 
 them cannot be denied, and the injury is 
 the same to the public after they are once 
 taken, whether they are applied to swine, or 
 wasted in any other way. Coupling this sta- 
 tute with that of the 2nd of Henry VI., and 1st 
 of Elizabeth, before noticed, it is difficult to 
 comprehend how an exclusive right in any 
 one can be pretended, or how a doubt of the 
 public right can be for a moment entertained. 
 
 The next statute in point of time is that of 
 the 2nd Henry VL, but as I have before noticed 
 it rather at large, I must beg leave to refer the 
 reader to its provisions, which appear to me 
 most important, as recognizing the public right 
 by a legislative enactment. 
 
 known, that in one instance, between thirty and forty bushels 
 of roach, a jack of 351bs., besides other fish, have been taken 
 at a draught. Another instance has occurred equally notorious, 
 of between forty and fifty bushels being in like manner taken ; 
 and I have lately been informed by a person who was present at 
 the time, that between sixty and seventy bushels were taken at 
 another time ; and that a less quantity than this is not thought 
 a good draught. Yet the persons who practice this destructive 
 and illegal system, are those who complain of the poacher and 
 angler. 
 
56 
 
 The next statute, in point of importance as 
 well as time, is that of the 12th Edward IV. c. 
 7, which is entitled " The penalty of them that 
 do not perform the award and order of the 
 commissioners authorizes! to pull down wears." 
 After reciting " that by the laudable statute of 
 Magna Charta, among other things it is con- 
 tained, that all kiddles by Thames and Med- 
 way, and throughout the realm, should be 
 taken away, (saving by the sea banks,) which 
 statute was made for the great wealth of this 
 land, in avoiding the straightness of all rivers, 
 so that ships and boats might have in them 
 their free passage, and also in safeguard of all 
 the fry of fish spawned within the same ; upon 
 which Magna Charta, the great sentence and 
 apostolic curse by a great number of bishops 
 was denounced against the breakers of the 
 same;" and reciting the statutes of Edward 
 and Henry before mentioned, it expressly de- 
 clares, " that all wears, &c. were to be pulled 
 down, that boats might have free passage," 
 and particularly mentions the Thames. 
 
 These several statutes then must evidently 
 and indisputably rebut the assertion, that the 
 River Thames was made navigable by means of 
 these wears, c. ; but they prove the direct 
 
57 
 
 reverse, and that it was navigable prior to their 
 erection, which obstructed and hindered the 
 free navigation of it ; as well as that the river 
 must have been naturally so, as no other means 
 of art appears at any time to have been made 
 use of to render it so. They prove also, that 
 not only the navigation belonged to the public, 
 but that thejishing also was preserved for their 
 use ; as the injury is said to be done, not to a 
 private individual, not even to the King him- 
 self, but to the injury of the King and his people, 
 and not in one of them is there a saving clause 
 of any private right of fishing or otherwise. 
 
 But we come now to consider the Act relied 
 upon by those persons who claim the exclusive 
 right of fishing in the Thames, which, I believe, 
 is the statute of 4 and 5 William and Mary, 
 c. 23,* and is the one upon which every at- 
 tempt has yet been made to found a conviction 
 for fishing in the River Thames ^ for there is no 
 other statute upon which they have ventured 
 to proceed to defeat the public right, or that 
 a private right can be pretended to be sup- 
 ported by. 
 
 * Or the 22nd and 23rd of Car. II. c. 25. 
 t It is difficult to know which, for both are equally irrele- 
 vant to the present question. 
 
58 
 
 I would first observe, that this statute has 
 been stigmatized, and its provisions condemned 
 by more legal authorities than one. Amongst 
 other provisions, it authorizes a gamekeeper to 
 kill his fellow-creature if found trespassing in 
 the night : it creates pigeons and fowl game. 
 In an act professedly made for the preser- 
 vation of game is introduced clauses for the 
 preservation of jish; and thus insidiously 
 holding forth one matter, viz. game, and relat- 
 ing to another, jish, which are not game ; for 
 the latter of which no one would ever suspect 
 from the title of the Act any provisions would 
 be included or penalties created. 
 
 Mr. Christian with great reason asks, 
 " could any one have supposed these enact- 
 ments possible in a land of learning and li- 
 berty ?" and adds, " that no magistrate ought 
 to enforce an Act so pregnant with ignorance 
 and absurdity" And with respect to the Clauses 
 relating to fishing, he stigmatizes them as being 
 " miserably composed." 
 
 This Act however is evidently intended to 
 apply to all disorderly and mean persons, 
 taking fish out of ponds, waters, rivers, and other 
 fisheries, to the damage of the owners thereof, 
 and is confined to several or private ponds, 
 
59 
 
 waters, rivers, and fisheries, in inclosed 
 grounds. In an Act of Parliament penned 
 " in so loose, uncertain, and ungrammatical 
 a manner," little is to be relied on, and less 
 understood. But should it be argued that by 
 the word " river" being used in it, a private 
 fishery in the River Thames, or any other na- 
 vigable river, is thereby included, I must deny 
 the position, or the inference. 
 
 It has been already shown, and it is admit- 
 ted, that persons may have a right to a fishery 
 in a river not navigable, (such as the Ock, the 
 Lambourn, and the Lodden,) and it is to fish- 
 eries in such rivers that the Act applies, as well 
 as to fish in ponds, &c. in inclosed grounds. 
 
 Besides, this Act is designed for the protec- 
 tion of the owners, of such rivers, ponds, &c. 
 Now it has already been clearly shown that the 
 soil of the River Thames is in the King, but 
 the fishing is common to all his subjects, and 
 that it is an alta regia via. Who then has ever 
 heard of the owner of the River Thames other- 
 wise than as an alta regia via ? We may as 
 well talk of the owner of a turnpike road. 
 
 In the construction of Acts of Parliament we 
 are told, that " a statute which treats of things 
 
60 
 
 or persons of an inferior rank, cannot by any 
 general words be extended to a superior. So 
 a statute treating of deans, prebendaries, par- 
 sons, vicars, and others, having spiritual pro- 
 motions, is held not to extend to bishops, though 
 they have spiritual promotion. Deans being 
 the highest persons named, and bishops being 
 of a still higher order." 1 Black. 87. 
 
 And we have before seen that Sir Edward 
 Coke in his remarks on the Stat. of Westmin- 
 ster 2., 13 Edward I. c. 47, distinctly states 
 " that this statute, providing for the protection 
 of the Rivers Humber, Ouse, &c. did not in- 
 clude the River Thames, that not being named in 
 it, and that the general words extending only 
 to inferior rivers, it did not include a superior 
 one." And as ponds, waters, rivers (without 
 name) are here only mentioned, by the same 
 mode of reasoning as well as by the general 
 construction of the statutes, no waters of a 
 superior nature than those described in this 
 Act would be included in its operations. 
 
 In addition to these observations it must 
 also be remembered, that there is not a single 
 conviction for fishing in the Thames to be found 
 in any of our law books. Where the offence 
 
61 
 
 (if it be such) is so common ; it is a little singu- 
 lar that such should be the fact. 
 
 The only ground then on which it is con- 
 ceived the parties who call themselves pro- 
 prietors can possibly pretend to or claim an 
 exclusive right to fisheries in a public navigable 
 river, such as the Thames, must be by Grant 
 from the Crown, or by Prescription ; and it has 
 been before shown that such grant must be 
 produced, for it shall not be presumed, and even 
 if produced it may be necessary for the grantee, 
 or those claiming under him, to consider how 
 far such grant may be affected by the many 
 statutes of resumption made from before Magna 
 Charta down to the time of Charles II., by 
 which Grants from the Crown of lauds ,Jis kings, 
 &c. are declared to be null and void, unless 
 the full annual value be reserved and paid by 
 way of annual rent,* or the matter excepted 
 by those statutes. Also, if the grant shall ap- 
 pear to have been made since the 1st year of 
 the reign of Richard I., if so, the charters be- 
 fore-mentioned render it entirely void. 
 
 If they claim by Prescription, which is usage 
 
 * Vide Cas6 of Duke of Portland and Lord Lowther. 
 
(32 
 
 time out of mind, on a presumed grant, it has 
 already been shown, that independent of num- 
 berless other requisites, almost impossible in 
 this case to be produced, that prescription or 
 custom cannot be pleaded against an Act of 
 Parliament; and the statute of Henry VI. as 
 welLas several other statutes, recognise the 
 public right of fishing, both by nets and an- 
 gling. And, although it is said such prescrip- 
 tion may by possibility be proved,* the proba- 
 bility is much doubted, should these statutes 
 be pleaded in bar. 
 
 It, however, may be urged in this case, (aS 
 under the Game Laws) that many persons have 
 purchased their fisheries at large sums of mo- 
 ney, and for valuable considerations ; but that 
 does not mend their claim, any more than it 
 would do had they purchased any other pro- 
 perty under a bad or defective title. If such 
 title be bad or defective in one case, it must 
 be so in the other ; or if there was any differ- 
 ence, it ought to operate with more force where 
 the public at large would be prejudiced, than 
 where an individual would. 
 
 * It must be remembered this was said of a river where 
 the soil of it was in the subject, and not in the King. 
 
63 
 
 I have thus endeavoured to prove that by 
 the Common Law, the public have had, used, 
 and exercised, time out of mind, a right to 
 take fish, or attempt to take fish, either by 
 angling, or nets, of a legal description, in all 
 public navigable rivers, but particularly in the 
 River Thames. That such right is proved by 
 ancient books on the subject, confirmed by 
 the opinions of our most learned judges, and 
 the determination of the courts of law. 
 
 That the River Thames now is, and time out 
 of mind has been, a public navigable river. 
 
 That the several statutes made, instead of 
 restraining such fishing, acknowledge and al- 
 low the Common Law right, nor do they di- 
 rectly, or indirectly, recognize in the slightest 
 manner the private right claimed by many, 
 which, if such right had ever existed, would 
 in the course of so many years have appeared. 
 
 The conclusion I infer from all these autho- 
 rities is, that the public have legally the right 
 or privilege of taking fish, or attempting to 
 take fish, by angling, or legal nets, (except in 
 the fence months) in the River Thames, and in 
 all other navigable rivers, where the soil is in 
 the King. 
 
64 
 
 Supposing then the public right to be, such 
 as I conceive it to be, and that the gentlemen 
 who claim to be proprietors, should persist in 
 prosecuting their present claims, it may natu- 
 rally be asked, in what manner has the public 
 a power of establishing their claims to the right 
 in question ? 
 
 The usual mode has been, that when a sup- 
 posed offence has been committed, for the ma- 
 gistrates to issue a summons for the appear- 
 ance of the party offending. 
 
 The defence in such case should be, a justi- 
 fication, and a right so to fish : if this defence 
 is properly made, a much more than a colour- 
 able right would appear, and hence arises a 
 question of title, and from that moment the ju- 
 risdiction of the magistrate ceases. 
 
 For in the case of Ashbrittle and Wyley, it is 
 distinctly laid down, (and I have frequently 
 known it acted upon at the Quarter Sessions,) 
 that in cases of title, the magistrates at those 
 Sessions have no jurisdiction. Vide 4 Burn. 
 428. 
 
 " Persons aggrieved may appeal to the next 
 
Sessions, whose determination therein shall be 
 final, if no title to any land, royalty, or fishery, 
 be therein concerned" 2 Burn 259. 22 & 23 
 Charles II. c. 25. s. q. 
 
 Again, " If the defendant, when put on his 
 defence, set up a claim to the thing he is ac- 
 cused of taking, or destroying, and there is 
 any pretence or colour for such right, the justices 
 ought to acquit. 1 Burn 572. Rex. v. Speed. 
 Lord Raymond's Reports, Vol. i. 583. 
 
 The justices, therefore, even at their Quarter 
 Sessions cannot try a Prescription* or any other 
 case where a question of title arises. Nay, even 
 if a grant was produced, it would be equally 
 incompetent for them to decide the question, 
 as the validity, or resumption of that grant 
 may be disputed, and be the issue between the 
 parties. If, therefore, they cannot try such a 
 right at their Quarter Sessions, it is absurd to 
 suppose they could legally decide it, in a sum- 
 mary manner, at their Petty Sessions. 
 
 It has lately been the practice of some of the 
 country magistrates, (for in London and Mid- 
 dlesex, no such practice prevails) of excluding 
 professional gentlemen from attending on any 
 
 
 
66 
 
 occasion, on behalf of the accused, particu- 
 larly on questions relating to these, and the 
 Game Laws. 
 
 This practice certainly exposes them to the 
 accusation of wishing to decide on cases, in 
 which they are more particularly and personal- 
 ly interested than any other, with an arbitrary 
 and tyrannical hand. In cases of felony, and 
 where the parties are only to be committed 
 for trial, there may be some reason for this ar- 
 rangement ; yet even in this case, the magis- 
 trates of London and Middlesex, not only allow 
 the attendance of a professional adviser, but 
 will even adjourn the examination if the accus- 
 ed wishes for such assistance ; but where a 
 summary conviction is to follow the magistrates' 
 decision, both as to the law, and facts where 
 the question is, guilty or not guilty, and 
 where the punishment immediately follows 
 the conviction, both reason and justice must 
 condemn such a rule. But it is now decided 
 in the case of Cox and Coleridge, that in cases 
 qf summary conviction, the defendant is entitled 
 to such assistance ; and should this be refused 
 in any case arising under these laws, the best 
 and safest way for the party accused would 
 be, to set up his legal claim, and offer to pro- 
 
67 
 
 duce his attorney, or legal adviser, to urge the 
 point of law, (which few defendants can be 
 supposed capable of doing, and ought not to 
 be expected to do, and to refuse which, 
 would perhaps be dangerous to a magistrate ;) 
 and if this is refused, leave it to the magis- 
 trates' discretion to act as they may think pro- 
 per and most prudent. And if a conviction 
 ensues, remove it into the Court of King's 
 Bench, and try the right. 
 
 But a much better (because it would not 
 only be a more liberal and gentlemanly, but 
 a more effective) mode of trying this right 
 would be, either on a private understanding 
 between the parties, or by some individual 
 giving notice to any gentleman who imagines 
 himself entitled to a fishery of this description, 
 of his intention to fish, at a time and place 
 specified, merely with the intention of trying 
 the right. Sufficient should be done for that 
 purpose, and no more, and thus the matter would 
 come fairly and properly before a tribunal 
 competent to decide this important question.* 
 
 * From the facts stated in the preface, it is more than 
 probable the question will shortly come before a legal tri- 
 bunal. 
 
68 
 
 The author will here take the liberty of 
 introducing a curious circumstance falling 
 within his own knowledge, a few years ago, 
 at a petty sessions of some neighbouring ma- 
 gistrates. 
 
 An information * had been laid by a person 
 in the neighbourhood of the Thames, against 
 some respectable tradesmen for fishing with 
 nets, " in the water of the private fishery f 
 the property of A. B. in the River Thames, 
 for the purpose of stealing, taking, and killing- 
 fish out of the said private fishery, without -the 
 consent of the said A. B. the Lord or owner 
 thereof." 
 
 The defendants on being summoned attend- 
 ed, and by their solicitor urged many of the 
 arguments here enumerated. After hearing 
 which, the defendants and their solicitor were 
 
 * This information is a curious document and a unique of its 
 kind. It purports to be the information of A. B. and states 
 that " he has been informed, and believes, and doubts not but 
 that he shall be able to prove" the parties guilty of the offence. 
 Thus it is an information on an information. 
 
 t There is no such thing as & private fishery in a river, recog- 
 nized by the law : there are only a several fishery, &free fish- 
 cry, and a common, of fishery. 
 
69 
 
 directed to withdraw, while the magistrates 
 considered their judgment, the gentleman, 
 however, claiming this private fishery, remain- 
 ing in the room the whole of the time. 
 
 At length the parties were recalled, and in- 
 formed that the magistrates admitted that the 
 authorities offered by their solicitor had consi- 
 derable weight in their opinion, but that they 
 felt it their duty to convict them in the penal- 
 ty, on the ground that the defendants had not prov- 
 ed the locus in quo was in the River Thames ! / 
 
 It was in vain for the solicitor to urge that 
 such proof was unnecessary, as the information 
 stated the offence to have been committed in the 
 private fishery of A. B. in the River Thames. Or 
 that if such evidence was necessary, and did 
 not appear, the defendants were entitled to an 
 acquittal, as the information was not support- 
 ed by any evidence of that fact, which was on 
 the part of the informer indispensably neces- 
 sary. That every magistrate there was a com- 
 missioner of that river, and knew the locus in 
 quo as well as his own fish-pond, and that 
 many of them claimed a similar right with the 
 said A. B. The conviction was persisted in, 
 and the defendants were told, they might ap- 
 
70 
 
 peal, if they were dissatisfied with it. This, 
 however, as tradesmen, they thought it not 
 prudent to do, and therefore paid the penalty. 
 But had the conviction been removed into the 
 King's Bench, there cannot, I think, be the 
 slightest doubt of its being quashed.* 
 
 It is, however, much to be regretted that this 
 question (like the Game Laws) has been pushed 
 so far as it has lately been done, by some 
 persons claiming this exclusive right, as it 
 must necessarily tend to an examination of 
 the law on the subject. It must also be 
 obvious, that much injury might be done to 
 
 * A paragraph in Sir John Hawkins' edition of Walton's 
 Complete Angler deserves notice. (( But there are (says he) 
 some covetous rigid persons whose souls hold no sympathy 
 with those of the innocent angler, having neither got to be 
 lords of royalties or owners of land adjoining to rivers, and 
 these do by some apted clownish nature and education, for the 
 purpose, insult and domineer over the innocent angler, beating 
 him, breaking his rod, or at least taking it from him, and 
 sometimes imprisoning his person, as if he were a felon. 
 Whereas a true-bred gentleman scorns those spider-like at- 
 tempts, and will rather refresh a civil stranger at his table 
 than warn him from coming on his ground upon so innocent 
 an occasion. It should therefore be considered how far such 
 furious drivers are warranted by the law, and what the angler 
 may (in case of such violence) do in defence of himself ;" whkh 
 he proceeds to state. 
 
71 
 
 the fair sportsmen (particularly to the angler), 
 should the public right be carried to its ut- 
 most extent, or rather should that right be 
 abused. An equal injury may be sustained 
 by the parties now calling themselves propri- 
 etors of these private fisheries, but for which 
 they will only have to blame themselves, by 
 their endeavours to monopolize a privilege 
 they appear to me not entitled to, and beyond 
 what the public may feel inclined to allow, 
 but which by a little prudence and less arbi- 
 trary measures they might have retained. 
 
 The writer has here to acknowledge the 
 assistance he has received from the author 
 of the Pamphlet so frequently alluded to. He 
 has not only adopted nearly the course he 
 has so judiciously pursued in the arrangement 
 of his work, but has been greatly assisted 
 by it, and by the reference to the authorities 
 he has quoted. Whenever he has had occa- 
 sion to refer to other authorities, and to quote 
 from them, to use the words of the author 
 of the Pamphlet, he trusts, " those quotations 
 are so plain, that every man may apply them, 
 and on this state of facts it is now left to the 
 consideration and determination of every im- 
 partial person, whether he has succeeded in 
 
72 
 
 proving the public right of fishing in the 
 Thames to be just and legal; and that, if the 
 authorities quoted shall be found to be faithful 
 and authentic, the inferences to be fairly drawn 
 and the conclusion just and convincing: i* 
 is the Duty and Interest of every independent 
 individual to lend his assistance in support of 
 this last best right and privilege of the public in 
 its amusements, and to transmit it as pure and 
 as inviolate to his posterity, as he received it 
 from his ancestors," whether he be an inhabi- 
 tant of the banks of the Thames, the Isis, the 
 Ouse, the Trent, or any other navigable river, 
 where such privilege may appear to exist ; for 
 to all of these is the question equally impor- 
 tant, and to all of them ought it to be equally 
 interesting. 
 
 In the Press, and shortly will be published, 
 BY THE SAME AUTHOR, 
 OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 AME LAWS; 
 
 WITH NOTES HISTORICAL, CRITICAL, AND EXPLANATORY. 
 
 PRINTED BY G. CANNON, MAKLOW. 
 
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