Miscellaneous. 349 



deux citoyens auxquels la garde de cet animal extraordinaire avait ete 

 confiee, et de tuer la bete elle-meme (diet am bestiam atrociter inter- 

 Jiciendam) . II lui mandait en consequence de prendre toutes les me- 

 sures necessaires pour defendre la bete et ses gardiens, desormais sous 

 sa protection speciale*. Les rois d' Angle terre entretenaient des lors 

 une menagerie a la Tour de Londres, ainsi qu'on en trouve la preuve 

 dans les actes public's par les soins de la commission des archives 

 d'Angleterre ; mais cet oure, dont le nom ne se rencontre point dans 

 les nomenclatures des animaux connus aux moyen age, etait probable- 

 ment une bete extraordinaire gardee a part dans la ville, et a, 1' exist- 

 ence de laquelle s'etaient attachees quelques idees superstitieusesf." 



" Royal College of Surgeons, London, August 27, 1851. 



" My dear Sir, — From the circumstance of the ' Bestia de terra 

 Egypti, vocata Oure,' requiring two keepers, and being so formidable 

 as to alarm the citizens and lead to projects for destroying it, it must 

 have been some large and formidable species. From Egypt might be 

 derived the following Mammals suiting that description : — 2-horned 

 Rhinoceros, Hippopotamus, Elephant, Giraffe, Lion, Syrian Bear. 

 The Elephant and Lion would be known and called by their proper 

 names : the Ursus Syriacus is not a very large or formidable species : 

 the Hippopotamus would require water in quantity sufficient for im- 

 mersion. As to the Giraffe, this is so gentle a creature that one can 

 hardly suppose it should have excited any enmity or alarm in the 

 breasts of the citizens. Perhaps the Rhinoceros would be the most 

 likely guess, if it is worth hazarding one on grounds so slender as 

 those contained in the interesting extract published by M. Delpit. 

 There is also the ' Crocodile.' 



" Believe me, dear Sir, sincerely yours, 



" Richard Owen." 



"Richard Taylor, Esq., Sec. L.S." 



The celebrated physician Johannes Caius, in the letter which he 

 addressed to his intimate friend Gesner, in the reign of Elizabeth, 

 gives several particulars relative to the royal menagerie of wild beasts 

 in the Tower of London : " Leones cicurari possunt — in arce Londi- 

 nensi leones custodum suorum oscula excipiunt, contactum admittunt 

 et colludunt. Ipse vidi. Ista animalia [Uncice] tam ferocia sunt, ut 

 custos, cum primo vellet de loco in locum movere, cogebatur fuste in 

 caput acto (ut aiunt) semimortua reddere, atque ita in capsam ligneam 

 ad hoc factam, et respirationis gratia perforatam reponere, atque ita 

 de loco in locum tuto transportare. Post horam reviviscebant tamen 

 hsec, ut cati, non nisi extremis injuriis obnoxia morti. Itidem fecit 

 custos cum e capsa exeruit. Jam vero novas rationes invenerunt 

 reponendi et eximendi, trahendo ea in capsam fune, et capsam eis 

 admovendo conto. Fceminam jamdudum ira sustulit : parvi canis 



* Reg.G. fol. 140. 



t Collection general des Documents Fran^ais qui se trouvent en Angle- 

 terre ; par Jules Delpit, 1847- In publishing this extensive and very cu- 

 rious Collection, M. Delpit observes, " C'est certainement une grande gloire 

 pour la commune de Londres de posseder des archives plus completes que 

 celles d'aucune autre ville." 



