with each other from their separate desks, till at length some one
of formal and dignified presence assumed the honour of leading the band,
when away they went, threading the crowd like a string of wild
fowl, crossed the square or close, and following each other into
the coffee-house, received in turn from the hand of the waiter, the
meridian, which was placed ready at the bar. This they did, day by day:
and though they did not speak to each other, they seemed to attach a
certain degree of sociability to performing the ceremony in company.

NOTE 6.--FISHING RIGHTS

It may be here mentioned, that a violent and popular attack upon what
the country people of this district considered as an invasion of their
fishing right is by no means an improbable fiction. Shortly after the
close of the American war, Sir James Graham of Netherby constructed a
dam-dyke, or cauld, across the Esk, at a place where it flowed through
his estate, though it has its origin, and the principal part of its
course, in Scotland. The new barrier at Netherby was considered as
an encroachment calculated to prevent the salmon from ascending into
Scotland, and the right of erecting it being an international question
of law betwixt the sister kingdoms, there was no court in either
competent to its decision. In this dilemma, the Scots people assembled
in numbers by signal of rocket lights, and, rudely armed with
fowling-pieces, fish-spears, and such rustic weapons, marched to the
banks of the river for the purpose of pulling down the dam-dyke objected
to. Sir James Graham armed many of his own people to protect his
property, and had some military from Carlisle for the same purpose.
A renewal of the Border wars had nearly taken place in the eighteenth
century, when prudence and moderation on both sides saved much tumult,
and perhaps some bloodshed. The English proprietor consented that a
breach should be made in his dam-dyke sufficient for the passage of the
fish, and thus removed the Scottish grievance. I believe the river has
since that time taken the matter into its own disposal, and entirely
swept away the dam-dyke in question.

NOTE 7.--STATE OF SCOTLAND

Scotland, in its half-civilized state, exhibited too many examples
of the exertion of arbitrary force and violence, rendered easy by the
dominion which lairds exerted over their tenants and chiefs over their
clans. The captivity of Lady Grange, in the desolate cliffs of Saint
Kilda, is in the re