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ing has never, from the earliest records, been once known to withdraw this Blessing from the whole, although to particulars he often thinks proper to deny it yet this partial failure* (for which no natural reason is seen) should exalt a most grateful sense of his Providence, for impressing such an invariable and general propensity on these fish towards a Southward Migration, where the whole is to be benefited, and to withdraw it only where a minute part is to suffer.

This Instinct was given them that they might remove for the sake of depositing their Spawn in warmer Seas, that would more assuredly mature and vivify it than those of the frigid Zone. It is no defect of Food that impels their voyages, for they arrive with us fat, and return almost universally lean. Of their polar food we know nothing; in our Seas, when in a state of exhaustion, which renders the Herring totally unfit for the purposes to which Man employs them, some vestiges of small fishes are found in its Stomach; but this appetite has evidently been the consequence of disease, as their Maw is never

* Mr. HUTCHINSON, in his History of Cumberland, says, "At Allanby the Herring fishery has much declined, from a singular circumstance in the Natural History of this fish. After remaining in this Channel Ten Years, the wonderful Shoals of Herrings leave it, stay away ten Years, and then return, and stay away for ten years longer. These Revolutions are described to be as regular as those of any of the Planets, the Flowing of the Tides, or the vicissitudes of the Season. Unaccountable as this circumstance confessedly is, it is confidently affirmed by most credible Authority to be a fact, and to have been observed for three successive periods yet within Memory."

observed to contain any remnants of fish, &c. but under these circumstances, which seem to be produced in a similar manner, as the desires in Children to eat pieces of Mortar or Lime rubbish, when afflicted by disorders occasioned by Worms in the body. It has been said that they feed on the Oniscus Marinus, a crustaceous insect, and on their own young; and Mr. Low, a gentleman in the Orknies, is said to have caught many thousands with a common Trout fly; those so taken are described as young fish, from six to eight* inches long, that were collected in a deep hole in a rivulet into which the Tide flowed, at the fall of which he commonly began his fishing.

Herrings are in full roe the end of June, and continue in perfection until the beginning of Winter, when they drop their spawn. The young Herrings approach the shores the July and August following, and are then from half an inch to two inches long, and are called in Yorkshire Herring Sile. As

* A Herring was taken in October 1806, by a Manx Fishing Boat, which measured Sixteen Inches and three quarters in length, and Nine Inches in Girth: its Weight was proportionate. The Herring Fishery at the Isle of Man was the second week in October uncommonly productive. In two days, Fish to the value of Ten thousand pounds were carried into Douglas. The Prices were from 4s. 6d. to 5 shillings per Hundred, in consequence of a number of Buyers having been long waiting there to make Purchases.

The oldest Inhabitants of LONDON never recollect to have seen so great a quantity of Herrings as were brought to Market the Thirty-first of October. In several parts of the Metropolis, Cart Loads of them were exposed for Sale at the rate of Fourpence per Dozen.

very few young ones are found in our Seas during Winter, it is most probable they return to their parental haunts beneath the Ice: a few old Herrings remain with us the whole year, the Scarborough fishermen never putting down their nets without catching some.

The Herring fishery is of great Antiquity: it was first engaged in by the Dutch, in 1164; its value brought on those obstinate wars between the English and them. One WILLIAM BEUKELEN, of Biervlet, near Sluys, in Flanders, hit on the art of pickling Herrings about the year 1390*, of which the Dutch

* In 1203 the Men of Denmark grew rich by the immense Sale of their pickled Herrings to the Nations of Europe. (This was nearly 200 years before BEUKELEN's discovery of the Art of Pickling them.) Their Fishery was on the Schonen Coast, which the Herrings have long since deserted. A. D. 1238, the Swedes were prevented, by their fear of the Tartars, from sending as usual their Ships to the Herring-fishery on the British Coast. Herrings were, in consequence, remarkably plentiful in England; whimsical, therefore, as it seems, it is nevertheless true, that the Order of a Mogul KHAN, who reigned on the borders of China, lowered the price of Herrings at an English Market.

In 1295 appears the first instance of Protection granted to foreign Fishermen by the KINGS of ENGLAND. The Custos of the Eastern Seas, and the Bailiffs of Yarmouth, are directed not to injure the Fishers of Holland, &c. To shew the Scarcity of the Herring in the fourteenth Century, ANTHONY DE BECK, Bishop of Durham, for Twenty fresh Herrings gave a sum equal to Forty pounds sterling. In 1449 three thousand red Herrings were sold for only three pounds two shillings of modern Money. About the year 1423 a large district of HOLLAND, consisting of Seventy-two large Hamlets, sunk down, and were overwhelmed with water, and which is now called the ZUYDER-ZEE. It is affirmed that the Alarm was first given by the strange appearance of a HERRING,

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are most extravagantly fond. A premium is given to the first Buss that arrives with a lading of this their Ambrosia. Each keg brings a great price, and the Inhabitants shew no less joy at its arrival than the Egyptians at the overflowing of the Nile*. With

which, by a subterraneous Communication, had reached, and was taken out of, an inland Canal. The exact date of this Awful Event is uncertain, but most Authors agree that the Inhabitants had some kind of notice that the Sea had undermined their Country, and that in consequence the most cautious of them escaped. Ruins of Churches and Houses were plainly seen under the water in 1643.

The Herring-fishery in the Northern Sea was first undertaken by the Dutch and Flemings, A. D. 1429, in Resentment for their having been most irrationally prevented (as is said) by an Ordinance of the Royal Burghs of SCOTLAND, from buying Herrings from the Scots Fishermen while at Sea.

* The Curing of Fish is a means of increasing Food, and of course Wealth, which has occupied the Attention of many of the Maritime Powers of EUROPE. The Legislature of this Country has, in particular, made repeated Inquiries, enacted various Regulations, and given, at different periods, very considerable Bounties for improving and encouraging the Curing of Herrings. The great Object has been to imitate, and, if possible, to rival the DUTCH in this Undertaking; but the Inquiries of Committees, the Regulations in consequence of their Reports, the Bounties and Encouragements granted by Law, the Instruction afforded by Dutchmen dispersed throughout our Fishing Towns, to teach the Process which has succeeded in Holland, have 'all proved ineffectual. The Herrings produced are as inferior in Quality as ever to those cured in that Country, and must remain so, if there was even much greater Encouragement given, for the Consumers of the greatest part of the Herrings in this Country are the poorest of all Men, Men absolutely deprived of the power of possessing Property-the Slaves in our West India Colonies; whilst the Consumers of the Herrings cured in Holland are Men of Property

us Yarmouth, in Norfolk, has the whole Herring fishery of the coast, and has been long famous for its Herring Fair, which was regulated by an Act, commonly called the Statute of Herrings, in the 31st year of EDWARD the Third. By a charter granted by HENRY the Third the Town is bound to send to the Sheriffs of Norwich one hundred Herrings, to be made into twenty-four pies, by them to be delivered to the Lord of the Manor of East Carleton, who is by his tenure obliged to present them to the KING, wherever he is. In 1195 Dunwich, in Suffolk, accounted to the King, for their Fee farm rent, 120. one mark, and 24,000 Herrings; 12,000 for the Monks of Eye, and 12,000 for those of Ely. The British Herring Fishery was established the 2d of September, 1750, of which the PRINCE OF WALES was chosen GOVERNOR; the Subscription, amounting to 200,000l. was closed the February following. Bounties have ever since been given by Parliament to promote this National undertaking. From the port of Yarmouth, about the year 1790, one hundred and fifty vessels were employed in the Catching, and between forty and fifty in the Exportation,

and Affluence in GERMANY, and other parts of EUROPE, at whose Table that Fish is introduced as an article of Luxury. Till, therefore, the West Indian Proprietor becomes as nice about the Victuals of his Slaves, as a German Prince is about the Luxuries produced at his Table, this Country can never expect to see the Curing of Herrings brought to an equal state of Perfection as in Holland: for the Fortunes of the Consumers in Germany, make the Excellence of the Commodity the sole Recommendation in that Market; whilst the Situation of the Slaves, makes the Cheapness the only Recommendation in that of the West Indies.

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