THE WOLF. 127 



continued to be paid for three years, but ceased 

 upon the fourth, because, ' nidlurn se ulterius posse 

 invenire professus,' it was said that he could not 

 find any more."* 



" Cambria's proud Kings (tho' with reluctance) paid 

 Their tributary wolves ; head after head, 

 In full account, till the woods yield no more, 

 And all the rav'nous race extinct is lost." 



SOMEKVILE'S Chace. 



But this must be taken to refer only to Wales, for in 

 the first place it can hardly be supposed that the 

 Welsh chieftain would be permitted to hunt out of 

 his own dominions, and in the next place there is 

 abundant documentary evidence to prove the exist- 

 ence of Wolves in England for many centuries later. 

 Holinshed, who gives a much fuller account, says :f 

 " The happie and fortunate want of these beasts 

 in England is vniuersallie ascribed to the politike 

 government of King Edgar, who to the intent the 

 whole countrie might once be clensed and clearelie 

 rid of them, charged the conquered Welshmen (who 

 were then pestered with these rauenous creatures 

 aboue measure) to paie him a yearlie tribute of 

 woolfes skinnes, to be gathered within the land. He 

 appointed them thereto a certaine number of 30x3, 

 with free libertie for their prince to hunt and 

 pursue them ouer all quarters of the realme ; as our 

 chronicles doo report. Some there be which write 



* "Hist. Eeg. Anglorum," lib. ii. cap. 8. Sec also Wynne's 

 " Caradoc," p. 51. 



f " Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland," (ed. 4to, 1807), 

 vol. i. p. 378, bk. iii. chap. iv. : ' Of Savage Beasts and Vermines.' 



