Many curious privileges and customs the lords of the manor derived in those days—for we find in 33rd of Edward the 1st, 1305, William le Parker was entituled to receive wreck of sea, lagan, and resting geld, customs, and other profits upon the sea and land, and of every crew of a ship or boat washing their nets in the said village after Michaelmas to Martlemas, an hundred herrings, and also a fee for goods, chattels, &c., coming to land by sea, without the help of the said William or his servant, or resting upon the land one day and one night; and if the said William or his men, &c., immediately after imminent danger, or after shipwreck, shall do their endeavour to save such things, then the said William shall have a third part of all such things, or the value of them, unless of his good will he will omit something, but must not be asked.—Among the land customs was the bed gild, and at every wedding, noble or ignoble, the lords of the manor had the privilege of consummating the nuptials of the bride, or receiving a fee instead. This indecorous system prevailed in some parts of Scotland not many years since. These arbitrary laws, enacted in the earlier period of England’s history, when ignorance prevailed, and barbarism allowed the honoured and the wealthy to impose exactions cruel and oppressive, on those beneath them, may possibly have in many instances, from humanity, been omitted. At all events, as knowledge advanced, we find that not only have those which pressed so heavily upon the poor industrious fishermen been cancelled, but that others have been reduced to an extent compatible with the necessary protection to property exposed to the pilferer, from lamentable accidents on the coast. And it is highly gratifying to observe, that until recently no murmur or complaint has been raised against the lords of the manor, and this is confined to two or three districts, and arose from the following circumstance:—From time immemorial, it appears, persons have been allowed to take whatever sea-beach materials they required for domestic or other purposes, without molestation or the exaction of any fee. But the increasing demand induced individuals who were deputed by the lords of the manor to officiate in their stead, to apply for permission to charge so much per freight or load; which being granted, a pretty income has been realized from the hundreds of loads of sand, stones, &c., removed annually.—A curious coincidence, however, is connected with it. One of these deputy lords, a few years since, observed that the removal of sea-beach materials, within a given distance of the road or gangway to the beach, afforded an inlet for the ocean to under mine and remove the foot of the gangway to such an extent, that an expence was necessarily incurred, from time to time, in repairing it, besides the loss of land on either side of it. He therefore applied for permission to fix up a board in the vicinity, on which was printed—