Quadrupeds. 711 



other data, upon which to form an undeniable conclusion, that bears 

 once inhabited our island. The bones of these animals, which have 

 been discovered in various parts of it, fully prove the fact : and from 

 an examination of these bones, we find that two species of them for- 

 merly existed ; one of which frequented caverns, was of a large size, 

 and appears to have been nearly allied to the grisly bear (Ursus hor- 

 ribills) of North America ; the other was the common brown bear 

 {Ursus Arctos) of the North of Europe. It is probable, that those of 

 the first sort became extinct soon after the island was peopled ; but 

 that the latter were sufficiently numerous, w r hile it was under the Ro- 

 man sway, to be exported from hence to Rome, for the public exhibi- 

 tions in the amphitheatre. After the arrival of the Saxons, much 

 greater attention was paid to the cultivation of the soil, and the bears 

 were found destructive to agricultural products, on which account that 

 people gradually diminished their numbers by cutting down the woods, 

 and chasing them out of their most retired haunts. In the Penitential 

 of Archbishop Egbert, said to have been compiled about the year 

 750, bears are mentioned as inhabitants of our forests, but the laws of 

 Canute, enacted about two hundred and seventy years afterwards, are 

 silent concerning them, although other beasts of forest and chace are 

 enumerated therein ; and before the Norman conquest they became 

 remarkably scarce. In Doomsday, however, this animal is transitorily 

 noticed, as having been annually furnished to Edward the Confessor 

 by the city of Norwich, together w T ith six dogs for the bear, no doubt 

 for the purpose of baiting it. This cruel amusement continued in fa- 

 shion many years afterwards ; for we find bear-wards, or keepers of 

 bears, often mentioned among the retained servants of our nobility ; 

 but the animals consigned to their care were probably of foreign ex- 

 traction, for there is no record of any native bear being seen subse- 

 quently to the Norman conquest. 



The next wild animal, the period of whose extinction I will endea- 

 vour to ascertain, is the wolf, which was not only more destructive, 

 but less easily extirpated than the bear. After the retirement of the 

 Romans from Britain, the population of the island was much dimi- 

 nished, and the number of wolves appears to have increased to an 

 alarming extent. The flocks of the Saxons, after their firm establish- 

 ment here, were constantly exposed to their devastations ; and it re- 

 quired all the vigilance of the shepherd (scep-hyrde, or him that was 

 hired to take care of the sheep) to protect them from their attacks. 

 Wolves are mentioned in the law r s of Canute, as neither beasts of fo- 

 rest nor of venery, and therefore their destruction was not subject to 



