THE WOLF. 126 



jrer, he will sometimes fill his stomach with mud ; and although 

 Nature has endowed him with every thing that can fit an animal 

 >r the pursuit and seizure of its prey, as well as with the capa- 

 bility of subsisting a long time without food, it is often his fate 

 to perish with hunger; for, being driven by man into the seques- 

 tered retreats of forests and mountains, the wild animals escape 

 him by their swiftness or artifice, and those he can take are not suf- 

 ficiently numerous to satisfy the cravings of his voracious stomach. 



About the year 1764, an animal of this kind committed the 

 most dreadful ravages in some particular districts of Languedoc, 

 and soon became the terror of the whole country. According 

 to the accounts given in the Paris Gazette, he was known to 

 have killed twenty persons, chiefly women and children ; and 

 public prayers are said to have been offered up for his destruction. 



That wolves were once an exceeding great nuisance in Eng- 

 land, is evident, from the rewards formerly given for their de- 

 struction ; but the race has there been long since extirpated. 

 King Edgar attempted to effect this beneficial purpose, by re- 

 mitting the punishment of certain crimes, on producing a speci- 

 fied number of wolves' tongues; and in Wales, certain taxes 

 were commuted for an annual tribute of wolves' heads. Some 

 centuries afterwards they increased to such a degree, as to be- 

 come an object of the attention of government, and great re- 

 wards were given for destroying them. Camden informs us, that 

 certain lands were held on the condition of hunting and destroy- 

 ing the wolves that infested the country. In the reign of Athel- 

 stan, wolves abounded so much in Yorkshire, that a place of re- 

 treat was built at Flixton, near Scarborough, for the protection 

 of passengers against their attacks. 



The ravages of these animals being always the most terrible 

 in winter, when the cold is the most severe, the snow in the 

 greatest quantity on the ground, and food the most difficult to 

 procure, our Saxon ancestors distinguished the month of January 

 by the appellation of wolf-month. An outlaw was also among 

 them denominated wolf-shed, or one that was out of the protec- 

 tion of human society, and liable to be destroyed by the wolves. 



Wolves infested Ireland many centuries after their extinction 

 in England, but now they are extirpated in that island ; and their 

 numbers are very much diminished in most of the countries of 

 Europe a natural consequence of the increase of population, 

 and the extension of agriculture. 



The wolf is, of all animals, one of the most difficult to con 

 quer in the chase; and in the forests of Germany, and othei 

 countries, where they are yet numerous, the following are the 

 methods of hunting them : 



In some sequestered part, they hang a piece of carrion on the 

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