THE WOLF. 187 



England," 1480 :— " In this londbeeth mo kyn than 

 oxen, more pasture than corne, more grass than seed. 

 There is grete plente of samon, of lampreyes, of eles, 

 and of other see fisch : of egles, of cranes, of pekokes, 

 of corlewes, of sparhaukes, of goshaukes, and of 

 gentU faucouns, and of Wolfes, and of wel shrewed 

 mys. There beeth attercoppes, blood-soukers, and 

 enettes that dooth noon harm," &c.* Some trans- 

 lators and later copyists have here and there 

 singularly perverted the original meaning of this 

 passage by blunders and mistranslations. Amongst 

 these may be mentioned the author or authors of 

 " The Book of Howth," a small folio in vellum of 

 the sixteenth century, written in different hands, 

 and preserved amongst the Carew MSS. (vol. dcxxiii.), 

 in the Lambeth Library, t 



* Some little interest attactes to this passage from tlie curious 

 assemblage of animals named in it. At the period referred to "cranes" 

 seem to have become common enough in Ireland: "in tanta vera 

 numerositaie se grues ingerunt, ut uno in grege centum, et circiter hunc 

 niimerum frequenter invenias" (" Topog. Hibcrn.," ed. Dimock, v. 46). 

 By "pekokes" (pavonibus), it would seem the capercaillie is intended, 

 "pavones silvestres hie abundant," saya Giraldus (tom. cit. p. 47). 

 " Ooturnicibus" should be rendered "quails," not "curlews." {"Item 

 coturnicus hicplurimi," Girald. v. 47). '-Mures nocentissimos'' are not 

 necessarily shrew-mice, which are insectivorous. In all probability 

 that destructive little animal, the long-tailed field-mouse (Mms sylvaticus) 

 is referred to. By reading " araneos " (shrews) for " araneas" (spiders) 

 some confusion is accounted for. " Attercoppes" is the translation of 

 araneas. Jamieson, in his " Scottish Dictionary," gives " Atter-cap," 

 " Attircop," spider, with two variants— Northumberland, " Attercop," 

 and Cumberland, "Attercob," a cobweb. A. S. atter coppe, from 

 atter, venenum, and copp, calix ; receiving its denomination partly from 

 its form, and partly from its character ; q. a cup of venom. By 

 " bloodsuckers," of course, leeches are meant : for " enettes " lacertas 

 we may read " euettes" or " evettes" — i.e., efts, that do no harm. 



t Gf. Brewer and Bullen, Calendar Carew MSS., " The Book of 

 Howth," p. 31. 



