The salmon are so swift in their own element, that to pursue and strike them is the task of a good horseman, with a quick eye and determined hand, with full command both of horse and weapon. : Le trident de Neptune is a well-known expression of La Harpe to denote naval superiority this sceptre, an ensign of sovereignty of greater antiquity than the crown, is derived from the triple-toothed fishingspear, assumed in heraldry as emblematical of the piscatorial jurisdiction, included in the privileges of a manor. Carew, the historian of Cornwall, notices this incident in the family of Glynn, whose seat is on the banks of the river Fowey :—" Master Glynn, of Glynn ford, manifesteth by this compound name the antiquity of his descent, and the ordinary passage there over the Fowey. The store of salmon which this river affordeth caused his ancestor to take the fishing-spears for arms." ⁕ The elder line of the Glynns became extinct in the early part of the fourteenth century, when the heiress married Sir John Carminow, of Boconnoc; but a branch, of which was John Glynn, Esq. Recorder of London, is now possessed of the seat of their ancestors. The family of Glynn of Helston bears for arms, argent, three salmon-spears sable. That of Shorley, or Chorley, bears, argent, three fishingspears gules. The Soap-makers' Company, incorporated in 1638, bears for arms, azure, a dolphin naiant between three fishingspears or; and a spear erect, issuing out of water, and sustaining a dolphin, is the crest of the family of Bellismo. That Survey of Cornwall, 1602. of Walley bears for arms, argent, three whale-spears, or harpoons, sable. In Germany, where feudalism still lingers, the heraldic indication of piscatory rights is much used. Gules, a fishing-spear argent, the points upward, is the armorial distinction of the family of Von Der Gabel, of ancient Thuringia, a province watered by several productive rivers, the source of manorial revenue. Argent, a fishing-spear sable; and crest, a salmon fixed on a spear, were borne by Baron Von Ebnet, of Suabia.⁕ Another kind of fishing-spear, the pheon, is well known as the emblem of royalty, and, under the denomination of the broad R. the abbreviation of Rex or Regina, is the form which is struck by officers of the Crown, and particularly those belonging to the Custom House, when making a capture, to denote the regality or right of possession. It is the regal mark also used on all naval stores in the royal dock-yards, &c. The pheon, the barbed head of a spear, is not used under that name in French heraldry; at least, it is not mentioned by Palliot. Neither does the pheon occur in the older rolls of English heraldry; but, as a charge, was borne, at a very early period, by the baronial family of Malpas, from which the noble * Sibmacher's Wapenbuch, 1605. + His "Perfect Science of Armory" professes to give the armorial index of Lowan Geliot, an advocate of Burgundy, the most voluminous on the subject. house of Egerton is immediately descended, also by the family of Rawdon, ancestors of the Marquess of Hastings. Two pheons are shown on the seal of Sheffield; and azure, a pheon argent, within a border or, charged with eight torteaux, are the arms of the family of Sharp of Yorkshire and Durham, punning, with some propriety, on its use in striking the fish. The pheon differs from the head of an arrow; but in heraldry, and particularly in the arms of the different branches of the family of Kemys, it is used as the arrow-head. In the same manner the dart is often confounded in poetry with the arrow. Argent, three broad arrows, two and one, bendwise sable; crest, a trout naiant, the arms of the family of Corbally of Ireland, seem to refer rather to the trout-spear than the arrow. Or, a pheon azure, is the armorial ensign of the noble family of Sidney, originally of the maritime county of Sussex. Sir Philip Sidney, eldest son of Sir Henry Sidney of Penshurst, K.G. was the most accomplished man of his age; and his brother, Sir Robert Sidney, K.G. created Earl of Leicester by King James, was the patriarch of seven earls of this illustrious family, whose present representatives are, Sir John Shelley Sidney, Bart. the Lord De Lisle and Dudley, G.C.H. and the Lord Strangford, G.C.B. &c. Sable, a pheon argent, is borne by the family of Nicholls of Penrose, in Cornwall; and that of Nicholls of Middlesex bears sable, three pheons shafted rompé argent, the head of the spear being in this instance shown fixed to a light staff for use. Argent, a chevron between three pheons reversed, are the arms of the family of Sulyard of Haughley, in Suffolk, the point of the pheon being placed upwards, contrary to the usual mode of showing the weapon. Other means of taking salmon are referred to in blazonry: sable, three salmon hauriant argent, a chief or, are the arms of Kidson of Bishop's Wearmouth, in Durham, assumed possibly from the similarity of name to the kiddle, or weir, made on the river to catch the fish, and often corrupted to kittle: kettle-nets, used for the same purpose, might originate the phrase "a kettle of fish." The arms of the family of Kydale, or Kendale, are, argent, a chevron between three dolphins naiant sable; and the same are borne by the family of Kendall of Pelyn, in Cornwall. Ashmole says "Fish love not old kydles as they do the new." ⁕Theatrum Chcmicum, 1652. THE TROUT. The trout, a delicate spotted fish, varying in its size, form, and colour, is found in almost every quarter of the globe. Trout caught in the river Colne, near Uxbridge, are brought alive to the London market; but the largest trout in England are found in the river Hull, a branch of the Humber. On all streams famed for the production of trout the fisheries are guarded with peculiar care. The town of Stafford, the birth-place of that distinguished angler, Isaak Walton, is on the Sow, a river noted for the quality as well as the quantity of its trout and grayling. A charter from King John confirmed the privileges which had been held by this town from remote antiquity; and the Corporation seal, showing the fish in the stream, with the castle on the bank, alludes to the right of fishing in the Sow. It is here that this river receives the waters of the Penk, noticed by Drayton.⁕ As Sow, which from her spring At Stafford meeteth Penk, which she along doth bring To Trent. The seal of the town of Newcastle, in the same county, situated on another branch of the river Trent, also bears an allusion to a franchise or right of fishery. It represents a castle, and beneath its walls a stream, in which are two fish; * Polyolbion. upon the gatehouse stands the constable with his horn, and his lieutenant, bearing a partizan. In Berkshire an extensive fishery on the river Kennet is held by the burgesses of Hungerford. Their ancient horn of tenure bears the crescent and star, a badge of the Plantagenets, and the word bungerford. Another horn, of the same size and shape, also preserved in the town-hall, is inscribed, John a• gaun did give and grant the ríall fishing to hungerford towne from elden stub to írísh· stíl· excepting som several míl pound. Jehosophat Lucas constable 1634. The river Kennet, rising on Marlborough Downs, and dividing Wiltshire from Berkshire, produces a variety of fish, but its trout have been long celebrated both for size and flavour. One fish, of the extraordinary weight of seventeen pounds, caught in the Kennet, was accepted by Queen Charlotte as a present from Lord Craven.⁕ In Wordsworth's poems is a chivalrous legend of the horn of Egremont Castle: other horns of tenure are, the Pusey and Borstal horns, those of the forests of Savernake, Wirral, and Delamere, and Lyulph's horn at York. Conway Castle, founded by King Edward I. beautifully situated on the estuary of a river abounding with excellent trout, is held of the Crown by Owen Holland at an annual rent, and a dish of fish to the Earl of Hertford as often as he passes through the town.† Peterchurch, in Herefordshire, is situated on the river Dore, a celebrated trout stream, and the figure of a large trout with a chain round its head is sculptured on the western wall of the nave of the church, but no tradition assigns the cause of its position in that place, and no grant of a fishery is recorded. Certain lands near Helston were held by the service of providing a fishing-boat, with nets, for the King's use, in Loo-pool, when the sovereign should visit Helston. This lake, the most considerable in Cornwall, is remarkable for a peculiar and excel* Lysons's Berkshire, 1813. + Gough's Camden's Britannia, 1789. |