HEDGEHOG. Ill 



citly from the credulous Pliny, who, however, received 

 it from no less an authority than Aristotle himself. By 

 the eloquence of his diction, and his great popularity, 

 BuiFon has been the means of perpetuating this, with 

 innumerable other errors. We refer the reader to 

 Pliny's account,* and leave the matter with this simple 

 caution, that the notion is as unfounded as it is ridicu- 

 lous. The whole account of the Hedgehog, as given by 

 the celebrated French naturalist above named, with the 

 exception of a few facts which occurred within his own 

 observation, and they are very few, is, in truth, little 

 more than a mere translation of the statements of ^Elian 

 and Pliny, polished and ornamented indeed in style, 

 but very little improved in correctness or extent of 

 information. 



The flesh of this animal is eaten in some parts of the 

 Continent, and occasionally by the rustics in the middle 

 parts of England, and there are very contradictory ac- 

 counts of its degree of excellence ; some considering it 

 excellent food, and others, on the contrary, declaring it 

 to be ill-flavoured and rank. We have seen a roasted 

 Hedgehog, and observed that the fat retained the consis- 

 tency of oil, even when cold. 



The voice of the Hedgehog is not often heard, but it 

 is an odd sort of sound between a grunt and a low piping 

 squeak ; and Shakspeare, who has shown us by more 

 than one allusion how much he knew of the habits of so 

 obscure a creature as the Mole, has given us proof that 

 he, too, was well acquainted with the voice of the Hedge- 

 hog. We refer to the following in one of the witch 

 scenes in Macbeth: 



*' Thrice and once the Hedge-pig whiri'd." 



There has existed in France, for a long period, an 

 * Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. VIII. c. xxxvii. 



