404 THE HOG. 



which they had acquired in their native forests ; and our 

 chroniclers and early writers describe the arms employed, 

 which seem to have been chiefly the boar-spear, and power- 

 ful dogs trained to the chase. The animals, however, became 

 gradually thinned in numbers by the persecution to which 

 they were subjected ; and the Norman invaders endeavoured 

 to protect them, by their numerous forest laws, against the 

 encroachments of the people. A law of \Wlliam the First 

 enacts, that any one found guilty of killing a Wild Boar shall 

 have his eyes put out, and other savage enactments are on 

 record for preserving this and other beasts of venery. The 

 Wild Hogs continued for some centuries after the Norman 

 conquest to linger in the woods of Scotland and England, and 

 many places in both kingdoms retain names derived from re- 

 miniscences connected with their existence, and the heraldic 

 devices of illustrious families record the valour used in their 

 destruction. Fitzstephen, who wrote in the latter part of 

 the 12th century, in the reign of Henry II., informs us, that 

 Wild Boars abounded, together with Wolves, Wild Bulls, 

 and other game, in the great forests surrounding London ; 

 and we learn from the Scottish writers their existence in the 

 woods of Caledon. The precise period of their disappearance 

 in Britain has not been determined. Charles I. endeavoured 

 to restore the race in the New Forest, but all the animals he 

 turned loose for this purpose were destroyed during the civil 

 wars. 



But the forests of other countries of Europe, as of Russia, 

 Poland, Germany, and Spain, yet contain the Wild Hog, along 

 with his perpetual enemy the Wolf. He is killed by fire- 

 arms, or destroyed by the ancient methods of the boar-spear, 

 and pursuit of hounds. The Germans, in an especial degree, 

 have retained their fondness for this exercise ; but it is solely 

 the occupation of the Lords of the soil, whose rights of chase 

 are guarded by rigorous laws. Sometimes the animals are 

 butchered in great numbers together : they are driven into 

 enclosed spaces in the woods, by surrounding their places of 



