30 A DESCRIPTION OP 
where this noxious race has been entirely extirpated. 
King Edgar first attempted to effect this by remitting 
the punishment of certain crimes on producing a number 
of Wolves' tongues ; and in Wales, the tax of gold 
and silver was commuted for an annual tribute of Wolves' 
heads. In the reign of Athelstan, Wolves abounded so 
much in Yorkshire, that a retreat was built at Flixton, to 
defend passengers from their attacks. They infested Ire- 
land many centuries after their extinction in England ; 
the last presentment for killing Wolves was made in the 
county of Cork about the year 1710. They abound in 
the immense forests of Germany, and they are also found 
in considerable numbers in the South of France. Every- 
where that they are wild, so great is the general detesta- 
tion of this destructive creature, that all other animals en- 
deavour to avoid it. In a state of captivity, however, the 
Wolf is said to be remarkably anxious to attract the at- 
tention of man, and to rub itself against the bars of its 
cage when noticed. The Wolf is sometimes affected with 
madness, in symptoms and consequences exactly similar 
to that which affects the dog. This disease, as it generally 
happens in the depth of winter, cannot be attributed to 
the great heat of the dog-days. In the northern parts of 
the world, wolves are said, frequently, in the spring, to get 
upon the fields of ice adjoining the sea, for the purpose of 
preying upon the young seals, which they there find 
asleep ; but vast pieces of the ice occasionally detaching 
themselves from the mass, they are carried with them to a 
great distance from the land, where they perish amidst 
the most hideous and dreadful howling. The language of 
the poet is beautifully descriptive of this creature's in- 
satiable fury : 
" By wintry famine roused, from all the tract 
Of horrid mountains, which the shining Alps, 
And wavy Apennine, and Pyrenees, 
Branch out, stupendous, into distant lands, 
