The inquiries pursued in this paper will, however, be with reference to the wolf only.
It is admitted by all writers upon the natural history of the British Isles, that wolves once abounded in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland; and it is an interesting circumstance, that we know with tolerable exactness, something of the dates of their extinction in Scotland and Ireland. The last wolf that is known to have been wild in Scotland, was killed about the year 1680; [288c] and the last presentment for killing wolves in Ireland, was made in the county of Cork, about the year 1710. [288d]
It is remarkable, that when Buffon wrote in the last century, he or Daubenton, who assisted him, did not believe that wolves had become extinct in Great Britain. The following remarkable passage occurs in Button’s Natural History:—“Les Anglais pretendent en avoir purgé leur Isle, cependant on m’a assuré, qu ’il y en avait en Ecosse. Comme il y a peu de bois, dans la partie meridionale, de la Grand Bretagne, on a eu plus de facilité pour les detruire.”—Buffon’s Natural History, vol. vii. p. 50, title “Du Loup”; in which work Buffon was assisted by Daubenton, the naturalist. As Buffon was born in 1707, and Daubenton in 1716, it is quite possible that one or both of them, received the information upon that point, from some person, who had lived in Scotland, before the extinction of wolves in that country; and, consequently, it might easily be believed by either of them, that wolves were to be found there, at the time when that passage was written.
Holinshed wrote his Chronicles in the reign of Queen Elizabeth; and he mentions, that wolves then abounded in Scotland:—
“First of all therefore in the fields and wild places of the country, there is great plenty of hares, red deere, fallow deere, roes, wild horsses, wolves and foxes.”
* * *
“The wolves are most fierce and noisome to the heards and flocks, in all parts of Scotland, saving in one parcell of Angus, called Glennorsdale, where these beasts doo no manner of hurt unto the domesticall catell, but preie onlie upon the wild.”—Holinshed’s Chronicles, Description of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 14.
We also know from Camden, who likewise wrote in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, that at the time when he wrote, wolves were very common in Scotland. [289] He also informs us in another place, that Scotland was “grievously infested with fierce wolves, which not only make dreadful havoc of cattle, but even fall upon men, with such inveteracy and mischief, not only in this but in many other parts of Scotland, that by act of Parliament, the sheriffs and inhabitants in every county, are obliged to go out three times a year, to destroy the wolves and their young ones.” [290a]
We also learn from Camden, that at that time, Ireland swarmed with wolves. [290b]
Although it appears to be known with some degree of certainty, about what period they ceased to exist in Scotland and Ireland, there is a great difficulty in ascertaining, at what date they became extinct in England; and in consequence of its greater population, its not having many mountainous and wild districts, and, as suggested in Buffon’s work, its not having extensive woods, it is certain, that wolves would be much sooner exterminated in England, than in Scotland or Ireland.
At the time of the Anglo-Saxon sway, wolves abounded in great numbers in England; and in the tenth century, in the reign of Athelstan, a place of retreat was erected at Flixton, in Yorkshire, in order to protect travellers from being devoured by wolves. [290c]
It has been said, that in the reign of Edgar, also in the tenth century, an annual tribute was imposed upon the Welsh princes, of three hundred wolves’ heads, in order to effect their destruction. If that be true, it is only reasonable to suppose, that considerable numbers would be destroyed, by the adoption of that expedient; but it is strange that some authors, copying from one another, and without giving themselves the trouble of searching into authorities, have stated, that the extinction of wolves in England and Wales was caused by it. Nothing can be further from the truth, as will be presently shown. Mr. Hume, in his History of England, indeed, even goes far beyond other writers, in his unqualified assertions on that subject, without any proof; and shows, as is too often the case in his work, his ignorance of the authorities relative to it; and he has not adduced, and in fact he seems to have been unable to adduce, any authority for making the following assertion, viz.:—“Another remarkable incident of this [Edgar’s] reign, was the extirpation of wolves from England. This advantage was attained by the industrious policy of Edgar. He took great pains in hunting and pursuing those ravenous animals; and when he found that all that escaped him had taken shelter in the mountains and forests of Wales, he changed the tribute of money imposed on the Welsh princes by Athelstan his predecessor, into an annual tribute of three hundred heads of wolves; which produced such diligence in hunting them, that the animal has been no more seen in this island.” [291a] It is surprising that Mr. Hume should have ventured to make an assertion so easily refuted; and it is remarkable, that his History of England should find a prominent place in so many libraries, when it is now admitted, that its author is very frequently incorrect as a historian, and that the statements in it, when he omits, as he often does, to quote authorities, cannot be relied on. That work has never been regularly reviewed, which ought even yet to be done. Lord Brougham, in his Lives of Men of Letters and Science, who flourished in the time of George III., very properly exposes the faults and incorrectness of Mr. Hume’s History of England, thus:—