274 Mr. Hardy on the Wolf in Scotland. 



had wrought there* To the churchyard of this chapel, as if 

 to the protection of a shepherd, hard pressed by the wolves, 

 did the affrighted sheep betake themselves. Wonderful to 

 relate ! the wolves darting looks of vengeance and eagerness 

 on the booty, 



" As famished wolves survey a guarded fold," 



struggled hard to spring into the midst of them, but could 

 never get beyond the enclosure of the churchyard. And what 

 was still more marvellous, the timid sheep, showing them- 

 selves no longer alarmed, wheeled round upon their assail- 

 ants, and with their horns and heads in the attitude of the 

 -wild bulls of the woods, beat back the violent and repeated 

 efforts of the wolves to storm the churchyard wall. Then, 

 continues the narrator, the farmers, shepherds, ploughmen, 

 and many others of those who dwelt near, seeing the contest, 

 ran together, not without cordial ascriptions to St. Cuthbert, 

 the author of this miracle. At length, the wolves fairly 

 baffled, and thrown into confusion, slunk away to their 

 forests ; and the sheep with much gratulation, were restored 

 to their mistress. f What the garrulous priest of Cavers 

 easily, magnified into a miracle, ancient records inform us, 

 might not imfrequently have happened as a common occur- 

 rence. In a grant of Alexander II,, to the monks of Melrose, 

 in Ettrick forest, we find incidental mention of "Wulf- 

 hope," J a name still familiar in the south of Iloxburghshire.il 

 In the reign of Malcolm IV., (1153—1165,) Robert de 

 Avenel granted to the same parties, the right of pasturage in 

 his lands in Eskdale, reserving to himself the privileges of the 

 feudal baron, to pursue the wild-boar, the deer and the stag.§ 

 One of his successors questioned several of the claims to 

 which the monastics, in virtue of this bequest, presumed they 

 were entitled. Their differences were at length adjusted in 

 1235, in presence of King Alexander II., when it was de- 

 termined that the churchmen had no title to pursue the chace 

 on the disputed territory ; and they were likewise restricted 

 from setting traps within it, excepting for ivohes^ As early 



* There is a tradition that on the lands of Penchrise, near the source of the 

 Slitrig, a chapel formerly stood, which is prohahly that here alluded to. The 

 adjoining: farm is called Priest-haugh. Wilson's Annals of Hawick, p. 348. 



t Reginaldi Monachi Lihellus de Admirandis Beati Cuthberti Virtutibus, c. 

 xxxix. Surt. Soc. Pub. 



+ Morton's Teviotdale, p. 273. Chart. Mel. 52, v. 



II Chalmers' Caledonia, il. p. 132. ""Wolf-hope on Cat-lee-burn in South- 

 dean." 



5 Morton, p. 273. IT Ibid, p. 274. 



I 



