Chap. 37. A Treatife of B O D I E S. 5 



his parents that were in much diftrefle feeking him all about, 

 and calling his name as loud as they could. When they had 

 fpent a day or two in vain, they returned home without him, 

 and he lived many years in the woods, feeding upon roots, and 

 wild fruits, and mafte. 



He faid that afcer he had been fometime in this wild habita- 

 tion, he could by the fmell judge of the taft of any thing that 

 was to be eaten : and that he could at a great diftance wind by 

 his nofe, where wholefome fruits or roots did grow. In this 

 ftate he continued ( ftill fliunning men with as great fear as 

 when he firft rannc away; fo ftrong the imprelfion was, and fo 

 little could his little reafoa mafteritj uncifl in a very fliarp 

 winter, that many beafts of the forrcft perifhcd for want of 

 food; neceffity brought him to fo much confidence, that leaving 

 the wild places of the forreft, remote from all peoples dwelling?, 

 he would in the evenings fteal among cattle that wcrefothercd; 

 efpecially the fwine, and among them* glean that which ferved 

 to fuftain wretchedly his miferable life. He could not do this fo 

 cunningly, but that returning often to it, he was upon a time 

 cfpied: and they who faw a beaft of fo ftrange a fliapc ( for fuch 

 they took him to be, he being naked and all overgrown with 

 hair) believing him to be a fatyre,or fbmefuch prodigious crea- 

 ture as the rccounters of rare accidents tell us of; laid wait to 

 apprehend him. But he that winded them as far re off, as any 

 beaft could do, ftill avoided them, till at the length, they laid 

 fnares for him, and took the wind fo advantagioufly of him, 

 that they caught him : and then, foon perceived he was a man; 

 though he had quite forgotten the nfeof all language : but by 

 his geftures and cries, he expreHed the greiteft affrtghcedneUe 

 that might be. Which afterwards he faid ( when he had learned 

 anew to fpeak ) was becaufe he thought, thofe were the fouldi- 

 ers he had hidden himfelf to avoid, when he firft betook himfclf 

 to the wood ; and were alwayes lively in his phanfie, through 

 his fears continually reducing them thither. 



This man within a little while after he came to good keep- 

 ing and full feeding, quite loft that acutencfle of fmelling which 

 formerly governed him in his tafte; and grew to be in that par- 

 ticular as other ordinary men were. But at his firft liying with 



other 



