ORDER PACIIYDERMATA. 417 



globe." A remarkable instance of the fecundity of these ani 

 mals occurred in this country about twenty-eight years 

 ago. A sow belonging to Mr. Thomas Richdale, Kegworth, 

 Leicestershire, had produced, in the year 1797, three hun- 

 dred and fifty-five young ones in twenty litters ; four years 

 before, it brought forth two hundred and five in twelve 

 litters, and afterwards it had eight litters more. The 

 number produced in these last added to the first, made the 

 three hundred and fifty-five. 



This remarkable fecundity, united with the deficiency of 

 all other useful qualities in this animal, and the excellency 

 of its flesh, points it out as a most obvious source of nutri- 

 ment. Let the consumption be ever so great, there will 

 always be an ample supply for the demand. The ease, too, 

 with which these animals are brought up and fed, renders 

 them a most advantageous property to the poorer classes of 

 society. In the country there are few families that cannot 

 rear a single pig every year, and thus obtain a cheap and 

 nutritious diet, not to mention the profit arising from the 

 lard, fat, fyc, of the animal. In some countries the prin- 

 cipal source of existence, to the poor peasant, is his Pig. 

 In Ireland these animals are brought up and fattened to a 

 large size, and then brought to market by the owner, and 

 sold at a tolerable price; with part of this a younger, 

 leaner, and worse-conditioned Pig is purchased, fattened 

 in the same way, and sold at a profit. Happy for the poor 

 peasant, if this only property be not seized by some inex- 

 orable landlord, or some tithe-farmer, or middle-man, a 

 species of vermin, for the extirpation of which Ireland 

 might well exchange her boasted exemption from less per- 

 nicious reptiles. 



Among the ancients, the Hog was in very high esteem. 

 It was the peculiar sacrifice to Ceres, the goddess of harvest. 

 In the Island of Crete, Hogs were regarded as sacred. 

 In ancient Rome, very particular attention was bestowed 



