guments of those who maintained the opposite opinion to the reasoning of Sir Luke Scamp, in the play, who insisted on the superiority of his cork leg over those of flesh and blood, upon the very plausible ground that when pinched, it felt no pain. In a passage, the effect of which is still remembered as electrical by those who heard it, he claimed his gifted friend as the ally of his cause, as having inscribed upon the journals of the Society the testimony of his genius against the position which he was that night unnaturally supporting, in allusion to a beautiful ode to Fancy, to which the Society had awarded a Medal, and thus concluded a glowing description of the joys by which genius compensates to its possessor for the sorrows it inflicts. Yes, Sir, like the prophet of old, he can find a joy in the wilderness, and his muse is the bird that brings him food from heaven." In less correct taste was a written oration on the early death of one of the most distinguished members of the Society. We extract two sentences from the concluding passage: "Oh, ye who exult in the deliverance of youthful simplicity, twine your wreaths, and weave your garlands-go forth to the sound of the pipe and the tabor, and place your choicest chaplets on his grave. Should the glare of ambition disI will visit that grave; should evil thoughts molest me, I will visit that grave; for impure spirits enter not on holy ground, and the cypress-tree will protect me from their fascinations." tract me, To the University he bore to his dying hour an affectionate and filial regard. A few years before his death the University conferred on him gratuitously the degree of Doctor in Divinity. His friendship for his tutor Dr. Wall, the present Vice-Provost, continued uninterrupted to the end. For the last year of his life a gradual breaking up of his constitution had prepared all his friends for his removal. His death could not, therefore, be called sudden. Its immediate cause was, however, rapid. The bursting of an internal blood-vessel soon drained the life-blood even of his powerful frame, and a few hours were sufficient to still the pulse of his warm and generous heart. wife and two children, a son and a daughter, mourn his irreparable loss. A Inadequate, indeed, has been our attempt to pourtray the character of the man we have lost. In the recollection of the truthfulness of his disposition, the unaffected gaiety of his temper, his kindliness and generosity of heart in thoughts of these, memories arise that prevent us from doing justice to those qualities that from the public would, perhaps, most challenge admiration. To criticise his character we do not pretend. These lines are intended as a faint tribute to the memory of one who, we believe, would have desired for himself no other epitaph than that which would simply tell that he humbly died in the Christian's hope : Oh, true of heart, of spirit gay, Thy faults, when not already gone From memory, prolong their stay For charity's sweet sake alone. Such solace find we for our loss; And what beyond this thought we crave, Comes in the promise from the cross, Shining upon thy peaceful grave. OUR GREAT EXHIBITION OF NOVELS FOR 1851. THE LADY AND THE PRIEST- JAMES MCGLASHAN, 50 UPPER SACKVILLE-ST. THE DUBLIN UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE. No. CCXXVII. NOVEMBER, 1851. VOL. XXXVIII THE SALMON AND SEA FISHERIES. WE purpose here to enter into some inquiry respecting the Fisheries, both sea and inland, and the laws affecting them; and we shall, at the same time, take a general view of the leading features of a Bill lately introduced into Parliament with reference to the Fisheries in Ireland, and now pending. Year after year this subject is acquiring more interest; the sea fisheries languish in a state of almost total neglect; and the salmon fisheries are falling into decay under the operation of laws framed ostensibly for their improvement. The inland, or salmon fisheries, therefore, will form the first subject of investigation; but before we conclude we shall extend the sphere of our inquiries, and discuss those measures which we conceive will be necessary for the full development of the sea and sea-coast fisheries-sources of industry and wealth which, although now drooping from neglect and apathy, are yet well worthy of national consideration. As an article of food, salmon is becoming each year less plentiful in our markets; it can fairly be asserted that, with the exception of about two months at the end of the season, this fish may be considered a luxury, only attainable by the rich. During the greater part of the season the liege subjects of our lady the Queen are as effectually debarred from partaking of it, as if some sumptuary law were in force prohibiting its production on their tables. The great increase also in the value of salmon, as an article of commerce, notwithstanding facilities of steam conveyance, and the consequent extension of markets, is referrible, we would say, VOL, XXXVIII,-NO, CCXXVII, solely to the decreased supply; but whether we make the inquiry on the banks of the Shannon or the Foyle, or in the rich emporiums of Liverpool or London, we find the price but too true an index to the progressive scarcity of the fish. The matter, therefore, demands not only an inquiry into the cause, but the application of the remedy, if the latter shall be found to be within the control of the Legislature. Unfortunately the British Parliament has before its view the experience and the fate of its own salmon fisheries; these have declined away, and are almost extinct. The decadence of England is not a visionary speculation as regards its salmon, but a sober fact; indeed, England may now be said to depend altogether upon Ireland and Scotland for her supply of this valuable article, and to Ireland the export of it is of much commercial importance, from the increased facility of transport from all the great fisheries. Salmon now caught in the Shannon, or in the Bann, or Foyle, or on our extreme western shore, can be produced in every part of England, and on the most fastidious London tables, in a state of freshness and perfection to satisfy, even the aspirations of the most distinguished artistes. The circumstances here detailed, it will be seen, operate highly to the advantage of Ireland in a commercial point of view. Our facilities of communication with Liverpool give us a complete command of the chief English markets, and, with timely attention, there is reason to hope that our salmon fisheries, for many distant years to come, will be adequate not only to the supply of our 2 M own demands at home, but also to contribute largely to the supply of England with that much-esteemed fish. But if this timely attention be not afforded, our salmon fisheries will decline and dwindle away, as those of England have already disappeared, and a long-cherished and important resource of this country will depart from amongst us. To avert this national misfortune, for such it may fairly be considered, a Bill to consolidate and amend the laws relating to the Irish fisheries was brought in last Session to the House of Commons by the member for Donegal county (Mr. Conolly), and we shall now proceed to a general examination of that measure, and the amendments of the law which it proposes, and essay as much as in us lies to awaken attention to a matter comparatively of much importance. In the year 1842 a Bill was introduced into Parliament by the then Government, and was speedily passed into a law, without due notice or consideration, and without that calm and careful examination which so intricate a subject manifestly required. A very different course has been pursued on the present occasion. After much discussion and investigation of the subject out of doors, Mr. Conolly produced his Bill in the House of Commons on the 2nd of June last, when it passed the first reading. It has been printed by order of the House, and has been circulated very generally throughout Ireland, with a view to a full consideration of its provisions previous to next Session. This bespeaks a fair and honourable course, and shows withal confidence in a good cause. The country is thus, as it were, invited to offer objections to a measure which is believed by the promoters to be sound in principle, and calculated to restore the salmon fisheries to their former prosperous condition. Had this course been adopted with reference to the Fishery Act of 1842, the country would not have had to deplore the prostration and ruin of those fisheries. The errors contained in that measure were so palpable, that had sufficient time been given, they would have exploded spontaneously. The examination of a few of those errors will be ancillary to our present purpose. First. It was maintained (and the enactments quickly followed), that by extending the means of capturing salmon, an increased aggregate supply would be obtained. Secondly. It was propounded that the ancient mode, which had existed for ages, of capturing salmon by fixed engines in rivers, was a monopoly, and was prejudicial to the fisheries at large; and the remedy proposed was the legalization of a new monopoly by fixtures in the sea and tideway, and thus the last state of monopoly was made worse than the first. This leads us into a short digression concerning the history of the ancient charter and patent weirs of this kingdom. This branch of the subject is discussed with great ability and research in a work recently published by Mr. Herbert Francis Hore, whose Inquiry respecting the legislation and control of the salmon fisheries, and into the subject of the fisheries generally, has thrown so much light upon the subject. The unfortunate state of our salmon fisheries seems to have induced Mr. Hore to take up the consideration of the subject, which he has done with great ability, and with the utmost impartiality, being, as he informs us, in no way connected with fisheries. No doubt, at a remote period, a necessity arose for a fixed mode of capturing salmon in our rivers for the supply of markets, or the ordinary requirements of the age; and the imagination must be vivid, which can conjecture a time when the rude angling tackle of our ancestors was regarded as a means adequate to the supply of the public wants. We learn from undoubted records, that at a very early period of civilisation, purprestures, or weirs, were used in this country for the capture of salmon, and were, for many centuries, subjected to legislative control; hence the origin and the title of the salmon weirs or great salmon fisheries of this kingdom; they existed certainly at the time when the Danes held sway in Ireland, and were subsequently confirmed or granted by the Crown, by charter or patent to corporations or others, who had acquired territorial rights. In this manner rights of several fishery were founded, and a large proportion of those fisheries fell into the hands of monastic institutions, or were annexed to abbeys and other religious houses. The weirs of Lismore, of Gill Abbey, and many |