folely to the oil of vitriol; of late it has been extended to the other articles above mentioned, as well as to white afbes and Glauber falts. Upwards of 50 men are employed about the works. Some of them are occupied during the day, and fome of them during the night; because great part of the operations require conftant attendance. They are bound under indentures for 21 years, during which time they are paid weekly 6s. for ftated wages, with a proportional allowance for extra work, in which they are frequently employed. Brimftone and faltpetre are the raw materials used in the manufacture of oil of vitriol. The faltpetre is purchafed chiefly at London at the Eaft India Company's fales. The brimftone is imported from Leghorn. About 60 tons of coals are confumed per week. Each bottle of oil of vitriol contains, at a medium, 140 lb. English weight; of aquafortis, about 100 lb.; of fpirit of falt about 100 lb. The prices of the articles vary according to the price of the materials. At prefent oil of vitriol is fold at 3 d. per lb.; aquafortis at from 7 d. to 10 d. per lb.; fpirit of falt at 6 d. per lb. with 3 s. for each bottle and basket; Glauber falts at 12 s. per cwt.; white afhes at 11. 8 s. per cwt. None of the laft mentioned article, however, is now made. The Company fell alfo Manganese in powder. This article is made ufe of in the new method of bleaching. Oil of vitriol is reckoned beft, when it is of the colour of pure water. Befides the home fale to bleachers and printers, these different articles are exported to various places in Europe. The prefent firm of the Company is, The Preton-pans Vitriol Company.

Fisheries.

Mefirs ROEBUCK and GARBET; but has paffed, fince that time, into other hands.

Fifberies. The chief fishery is that of oysters.

There are at prefent 10 oyfter boats belonging to the parish. Each boat requires 5 men; but the profits are divided into 6 fhares, one fhare being applied for upholding the boat. There are not, however, above 23 regular fishermen; all the others work occafionally on land or fea, as they find moft for their advantage. A boat feldom returns with more than 400 or 500, often with fewer. The prefent price is 15 d. per hundred. A hundred, as fold by the fishers, contains 33 warp, equal to fix fcore and twelve. The retail hundred contains only 30 warp. Four oyfters make a warp. Three or four times in a feafon, a boat fails with a cargo of them,

to

About 20 years ago, the fcalps were fo productive that 6c00 oysters and upwards were frequently dragged by one boat in a day. The price at that time was 6 d. per hundred. Befides the confumption in the neighbourhood, they were export. ed to Newcastle, Hull, and London. A merchant at Leith, in the year 1773, contracted to fhip oysters on commiffion for London. He purchased for 10 different companies, and for 10 years paid 2500l. Sterling per annum for offers. The value of the home confumption was estimated to be still greater. Forty boats were then employed, of which 16 belonged to Coc kenzie in the parifh of Tranent; 16 to Prefton-pans, Cuttle, and Weft Pans; and 8 to Fisherrow. The oyiters for the London market were packed in barrels. Twelve veffels were employed in the trade, from the middle of January to the middle of May. Lach veffel carried, at a medium, 320 barrels; each barrel was fuppofed to contain 1200 fizeable oy@ters. A pattern was given to every boat, with injunctions to barrel none of a fmaller fize; but thefe injunctions were far from being ftrictly obferved. Thirty cargoes have been thipped in a feafon. The oysters were dropt in bays at the mouth of the Thames and Medway, and other grounds, to fatten until the fall, when they were dredged and fent to market. This trade was given up in the year 1786, owing to the fcarcity and advanced prices of oysters, the price having rifen from 4 s. 6 d. to 7 s. and 8 s. per barrel. During fome of the last years in which it was carried on, part of the cargoes were made up of oyilers from Newhaven. The fcalp were greatly exhaufled by this trade.

to the number of 30,000, fometimes 40,000, to Newcastle. It is an open boat *, manned with 6 men. It brings no cargo homewards; being open there is nothing to defend goods from damage. The prefent price at Newcastle is 2 s. per hundred. Oysters are carried to Glafgow by land. Two carriers, with 4 one-horse carts, come from Glasgow to Edinburgh with goods, and return loaded with oysters, which they purchase at Prefton-pans and Cockenzie. The medium is about 9000 in each cart. Oyfters are found on a strong clay bottom, on rocks and ftones, and fometimes, though but thinly, in what is called by the fishers fea tathe. These laft are of a very inferior quality. Thofe caught nearest to the town are usually the largest and fatteft; hence the large ones obtained the name of Pandoors, i. e. oyfters caught at the doors of the pans. The fea water, a little freshened, is reckoned the most nourishing to oyfters.

This may be one

reason why those caught near to the town and fhore are fo

The fishers dredge When they drive the

large. Sand is prejudicial to them. from 4 to 15 fathoms depth of water. dredge, they begin the oyfter fong, which they fing till the dredge is hauled up. The large oysters are picked out and kept; those that are too small for prefent use, are thrown back into the fea. An oyster is reckoned sizeable, when its fhell is an inch and a half in diameter. Buckies, clams, seaurchins, ftar-fifh, and corfe-fifh, are found in the oyster beds. The two laft mentioned, especially the corfe-fish, prey on oysters, and likewife on mufcles. The fcalps reach from the fhore about 6 miles into the Frith, and extend both to the eaft and weft of the boundaries of this parish. In May the oyfters caft their fpat or spawn. They are fickly in June and July;

This voyage was once performed in 13 hours. The boat failed from Port Seton harbour at 3 o'clock in the morning, and arrived at Newcastle at 4 in the afternoon of the fame day.

July; but recover in Auguft. For this reafon, the proper season for dredging commences on the 1ft of September, and ends on the last of April. The common obfervation is, that the cyfter feafon lafts during all the months in which the letter R occurs. But the fishers have not confined themfelves ftrictly to these months; and this is another cause of the scarcity. That the fcalps may recover, it would be proper to dredge very sparingly for a year or two, to take no oyfters but fuch as are fizeable, and at no time to dredge in the months of May, June, July, and Auguft. The young fry are said to acquire fhells in 24 hours; but do not become faleable in lefs than 2 or 3 years. Oyfter fhells make an excellent lime, remarkable for its whiteness. They are used likewife as a medicine.-Befides oyfters, many other kinds of fish are caught in their feafon; cod, fkate, flounders, whitings, mackerel, lobsters, and crabs.

Boats. The oyster boats are of different dimenfions. Some of the largest measure about 22 feet in keel, 26 aloft from

Some of the aged inhabitants report, that, about 60 or 70 years ago, oysters were in little estimation In a judicial declaracion, emitted A. D. 1776, by a refidenter here, then 67 years old, he deponed, that he remembered when there were not above 3 or 4 boats employed: That they feldom caught above 6co in a day; and that there was little or no demand, or fale for them, at that period.

Haddocks formerly were plentiful, but of late years they have not appeared. Two years ago herrings were caught in great numbers near the town, in the month of Auguft. In the par fh records it is narrated, that in the fame month, A. D. 1695, the herrings approached fo near to the fhore, that the inhabitants went out with fieves and riddles to catch them. It is impoffible to fpecify the prices of the laft mentioned kinds of fith, as they depend on the quantity caught, and, of confequence, vary every day. It is certain, however, that the prices are more than tripled within these 20 years.

from stem to stern, 7 in extreme breadth, and 2 feet 9 or 10 inches in depth. The prime cost of one of thefe, fully furnifhed, is 15 1. or 161. The boat employed in the Newcastle trade measures 33 feet in keel, 38 aloft from stem to ftern, 12 feet 9 inches in breadth, and 4 feet 8 inches in depth.

Harbour. The only harbour in the parish is MORISON'S HAVEN, fo called from a family of the name of Morifon, who were formerly proprietors of the eftate of Preftongrange. About 80 or go years ago, it was called Newhaven, and often ACHESON'S HAVEN, from an ancient family, the progenitors of the prefent Lord Vifcount GOSFORD in Ireland. It is fituated a little to the weft of the town. It has about 10 feet of water at ftream tides, but might be deepened fo as to draw 12. It is reckoned one of the fafeft harbours in the Frith.

Trade t-The exports at prefent are only fish, and the different articles of manufacture which have been already

men

* GOSFORD, which was a principal feat of this antient family, lies 5 miles east of this, in the parish of Aberlady. Their Scotch title was Glencairney. Mr ALEXANDER AITCHISON of Edinburgh, now claims being the lineal reprefentative of this family in Scotland.

+ Before the Union, a confiderable foreign trade was carried on here, efpecially in Dutch and French goods. Befides the home market, thefe goods, together with falt and tobacco, were carried to the north of England, and many of them were smuggled into that kingdom with great profit to the adventurers. From England they brought wool, and exported it to France. They exported likewife malt, falt, and coals. In confequence of the duties that were impofed after the Union, the trade, efpecially with England, was much lefs advantageous. It was, notwithstanding, ftill carried on to a confiderable extent. In the year 1719, 41 cargoes were delivered at the port of Prefton-pans,