THE WOLF. 125 



Flixton, near Filey, in that county, wherein travellers, 

 might seek refuge if attacked by them. 



Carnden says : " More inward stands Flixton, 

 where a hospital was built in the time of Athelstan, 

 tor defending travellers from Wolves (as it is word 

 for word in the public records), that they should not 

 be devoured by them/'* It is currently believed 

 that a farmhouse between the villages of Flixton 

 and Staxton now stands on the site of this hospital. 

 It was restored and confirmed in 1447 by the name 

 of Canons Spittle, and was dissolved about 1535, 

 The farm is still called Spittal Farm, and a small 

 stream running by it is called Spittal Brook.* 



When Athelstan, in 938, obtained a signal victory 

 at Brunanburgh over Constantine, King of Wales, 

 he imposed upon him a yearly tribute of money and 

 cattle, to which was also added a certain number of 

 " hawks and sharp- scented dogs, tit for the hunting 

 of wild beasts."| His successor, Edgar, remitted 

 the pecuniary payment on condition of receiving- 

 annually from Ludwall (or Idwal||), the successor of 

 Constantine, the skins of three hundred Wolves.' 



* Camden, " Britannia," tit. Yorkshire, vol. ii. p. 902. 



f This information was communicated to the author by the Rev. 

 Henry Blane, of Folkton Rectory, (Jantou, York. 



* William of Malmesbury, " Hist. Reg. Anglorum," lib. ii. c. 6. 



Of. Holinshed's " Chronicles," vol. i. p. 378 (4to cd. 1807), and 

 Selden's Notes to Drayton's " Polyolbion," Song ix. 



|| Cf. Camdeu's " Britannia," tit. Merionethshire, vol. ii. p. 785. 

 ^f William of Malmesbury, op/ cit. lib. ii. c. 8. See^also the quaint 

 remarks on this subject by Taylor, the Water Poet, in his "Journey 

 through Wales," 1652 (p;i. 31, 32, Halliwell's edition, 1859). The 

 value of a wolf-skin in Wales, as fixed by the Code of Laws made by 

 How el Dha in the ninth century. \v;is eight pemv. the tame value 

 being set upon an otter-skin. 



