SCIENCE OF FOXHUXTING. 59 



"widely as the poles are asunder to modern fox- 

 hunting, being productive of fearful accidents to 

 man, horse, and hound. We know by experience 

 that the bite of a fox is far from being agreeable, 

 but the rent from a boar's tusk in your leg must 

 have been something to remember for a very long 

 time after. We may occasionally stake our horses, 

 but the tusks of an infuriated hirsute old pig- 

 inflicted injuries of a more deadly character, since 

 he was not rolled over by the pack in the uncere- 

 monious manner befalling poor Charles James. 

 Boars fought desperately when brought to bay, 

 and half a dozen spear-heads sticking in their hides 

 added only to their fury, until a powerful horse- 

 man, riding up to close quarters, with hand over 

 head, sent his shaft clean through the animal's 

 body. 



We are told that wolves were so numerous in 

 Yorkshire during the reign of Athelstan the Saxon, 

 that a kind of fort was erected at Hixton, in that 

 county, to protect travellers from their attacks ; and 

 their depredations were carried on to such an extent 

 that lands were leased out on payment of so many 

 wolves' heads, instead of money. In the more 

 thickly inhabited counties, such high premiums 

 were given for the destruction of these marauders, 

 that they very soon became nearly extinct ; but 

 in Scotland, and the northern counties, more 

 thinly populated, and abounding in rough moor 

 and woodlands, their extirpation was more gradual, 

 and chiefly effected by means of the chase. Now 

 there can be very little doubt that the dogs used 



