X I iV PR OLEGOMENA 



wrote in 1774 to much the same purport : ' Whilst the villains 

 of Low Furness were employed in all the useful arts of agri- 

 culture, the woodlanders of High Furness were charged with 

 the care of the flocks and herds, which pastured the verdant 

 sides of the fells, to guard them from the wolves which lurked 

 in the thickets below.' 1 Mr. Mitchell states: ' By some ancient 

 grants al#o recited by West (Antiq. of Furness, 1774) it appears 

 that wolves . . . were common in that district. 2 Mr. Mitchell 

 was perhaps led astray by memory. At all events I can find 

 no allusion whatever to the Wolf in any of our old grants or 

 charters. However this may be, it is right to say that, 

 according to one Furness tradition, the last local Wolf was 

 killed at Humphrey's Head. In Cumberland, Bowscar, near 

 Penrith, can boast of a similar distinction. Having hunted 

 wearily through many dry volumes for local records of the 

 Wolf in Lakeland, I was compelled to seek the aid of an expert, 

 Mr. Hubert Hall, whose great kindness in making a special 

 search at the Eolls House has placed me under a pleasant 

 obligation. Mr. Hall reported the result of his investigations 

 in a letter of December 14, 1891 : 'I have looked in many 

 places, but find it impossible to get anything for Westmoreland. 

 The fact is that Westmoreland, in the days when Wolves yet 

 were, was a sort of no-man's land, as to which few notices 

 exist, e.g. in the Records of the Court and Law Courts, which 

 are the chief source of our information here.' 



' I do find the following, which may fairly apply to western 

 amongst other counties : — 



" (1) Patent Roll of Ed. L, M. 2 : 



John Giffard of Brymmesfield (Co. Glouc.) has license 



to hunt the wolf in all the King's forests within 



the kingdom. 

 " (2) Ibid., M. 20 [1 Salop] : 



Peter Corbet has license to take wolves throughout 



the King's forests in divers counties (Glouc, 



Wore, Heref., Salop, Staff.)." 

 'Many similar entries could be found on the Edwardian 



1 Antiquities of Furness, p. xlv. 



2 Birds of Lancashire, p. xiv. 



