_Marcellus_ affirme) a Fox sod in water until nothing of the Foxe be
left whole except the bones, and the Legges, or other parts of a gouty
body, washed, and daily bathed therein, it shall drive away all paine
and griefe strengthening the defective and weake members; so also it
cureth all the shrinking up and paines in the sinnewes: and _Galen_
attributeth the same vertue to an _Hyæna_ sod in Oyle, and the lame
person bathed therein, for it hath such power to evacuate and draw forth
whatsoever evill humour aboundeth in the body of man, that it leaveth
nothing hurtfull behinde.
“Neverthelesse, such bodies are soon againe replenished through evill
dyet, and relapsed into the same disease againe. The Fox may be boyled
in fresh or salt water with annise and time, and with his skin on whole,
and not slit, or else his head cut off, there being added to the
decoction two pintes of oyle.
“The flesh of a Foxe sod and layed to afore bitten by a Sea hare, it
cureth and healeth the same. The Foxe’s skinne is profitable against all
moyste fluxes in the skinne of the body, and also the gowt, and cold in
the sinnewes. The ashes of Foxe’s flesh burnt and drunk in wine, is
profitable against the shortnesse of breath and stoppings of the liver.
“The blood of a Foxe dissected, and taken forth of his urine alive, and
so drunk, breaketh the stone in the bladder, or else (as _Myrepsus_
saieth) kill the Foxe, and take the blood, and drink a Cupfull thereof,
and afterward with the same wash the parts, and, within an houre the
stone shall be voyded: the same vertue is in it being dryed and drunke
in wine with sugar.
“_Oxycraton_ and Foxes blood infused into the Nostrils of a lethargick
Horsse, cureth him. The fat is next to a Bul’s and a Swine’s, so that
the fat or larde of Swine may be used for the fat of Foxes, and the fat
of Foxes for the Swines grease in medicine. Some do herewith annoynte
the places which have the Crampe, and all trembling and shaking
members. The fatte of a Foxe and a Drake enclosed in the belly of a
Goose, and so rosted, with the dripping that commeth from it, they
annoynt paralyticke members.
“The same, with powder of Vine twigs mollified and sod in lye,
attenuateth, and bringeth downe, all swelling tumours of the flesh. The
fat alone healeth the _Alopecias_ and looseness of the haire; it is
commended in the cure of all sores and ulcers of the head, but the gall,
and time, with Mustard-seede is more approved. The fat is also respected
for the cure of paine in the eares, if it be warmed and melt at the
fire, and so instilled; and this is used against tingling in the eares.
If the Haires rot away on a Horse’s taile, they recover them againe, by
washing the place with urine and branne, with Wyne and Oyle, and
afterward annoynt it with foxe’s grease. When sores or ulcers have
procured the haire to fall off from the heade, take the head of a young
foxe burned with the leaves of blacke _Orchanes_ and _Alcyonium_, and
the powder cast upon the head recovereth againe the haire.
“If the braine be often given to infants and sucking children, it maketh
them that they shall remaine free from the falling evill. _Pliny_
prescribeth a man which twinkleth with his eies, and cannot looke
stedfastly, to weare in a chaine, the tongue of a foxe; and _Marcellus_
biddeth to cut out the tongue of a live foxe, and to turne him away, and
hang uppe that tongue to dry in purple thred, and, afterward put it
about his necke that is troubled with the whitenesse of the eies, and it
shall cure him.
“But it is more certainely affirmed, that the tongue, either dryed, or
greene, layed to the flesh wherein is any Dart or other sharpe head, it
draweth them forth violently, and rendeth not the flesh, but, only where
it is entred. The liver dryed, and drunke cureth often sighing. The
same, or the lights drunke in blacke Wine, openeth the passages of
breathing. The same washed in Wyne, and dryed in an earthen pot in an
Oven, and, afterward, seasoned with Sugar, is the best medicine in the
world for an old cough, for it hath bin approved to cure it, although it
hath continued twenty years, drinking every day two sponfuls in Wine.
“The lightes of foxes drunke in Water after they have beene dryed into
powder, helpeth the Melt, and _Myrepsus_ affirmeth, that when he gave
the same powder to one almost suffocated in a pleurisie it prevailed for
a remedy. _Archigene_ prescribeth the dried liver of a Fox for the
Spleneticke with Oxymell: and _Marcellinus_ for the Melt, drunke after
the same manner; and _Sextus_ adviseth to drinke it simply without
composition of Oxymell. The gall of a Foxe instilled into the eares with
Oyle, cureth the paine in them, and, mixed with Hony Atticke, and
annointed upon the eies, taketh away al dimnes from them, after an
admirable manner. The melt, bound upon the tumors, and bunches of the
brest, cureth the Melt in man’s body. The reynes dried and mingled with
Honie, being anointed uppon Kernels, take them away. For the swelling of
the Chaps, rub the reines of a Fox within the mouth. The dung, pounded
with Vineger, by annointment cureth the Leprosie speedily. These and
such other vertues medicinal, both the elder and later Phisitians have
observed in a Fox,--wherewithal we wil conclude this discourse.”
THE WOLF.
The Wolf, as a beast of prey, is invested with a terror peculiarly its
own; when solitary, it is not much dreaded by, and generally shrinks
from, man, but, united by hunger into packs, they are truly to be
dreaded, for they spare not man nor beast. They lie, too, under the
imputation of magic, and have done so from a very early age. Their
cunning, instinct, or reasoning powers, are almost as well developed as
in the fox, and, of all the authorities I have consulted, the one best
fitted to discourse upon the Wolf and his peculiarities is Topsell, and
here is one of their idiosyncrasies:--
“It is said that Wolves doe also eate a kind of earth called _Argilla_,
which they doe not for hunger, but to make their bellies waigh heavy, to
the intent, that when they set upon a Horsse, an Oxe, a Hart, an Elke,
or some such strong beast, they may waigh the heavier, and hang fast at
their throates till they have pulled them downe, for by vertue of that
tenacious earth, their teeth are sharpened, and the waight of their
bodies encreased; but, when they have killed the beast that they set
upon, before they touch any part of his flesh, by a kind of natural
vomit, they disgorge themselves, and empty their bellies of the earth,
as unprofitable food....
“They also devoure Goates and Swyne of all sortes, except Bores, who doe
not easily yeald unto Wolves. It is said that a Sow, hath resisted a
Wolfe, and when he fighteth with her, hee is forced to use his greatest
craft and suttelty, leaping to and from her with his best activity,
least she should lay her teeth upon him, and so at one time deceive him
of his prey, and deprive him of his life. It is reported of one that saw
a Wolfe in a Wood, take in his mouth a peece of Timber of some thirty or
forty pound waight, and with that he did practise to leape over the
trunke of a tree that lay upon the earth; at length, when he perceived
his own ability and dexterity in leaping with that waight in his mouth,
he did there make his cave, and lodged behinde that tree; at last, it
fortuned there came a wild Sow to seeke for meat along by that tree,
with divers of her pigs following her, of different age, some a yeare
olde, some halfe a yeare, and some lesse. When he saw them neare him, he
suddenly set upon one of them, which he conjectured was about the waite
of Wood which he carried in his mouth, and when he had taken him,
whilest the old Sow came to deliver her pig at his first crying, he
suddenly leaped over the tree with the pig in his mouth, and so was the
poore Sow beguiled of her young one, for she could not leape after him,
and yet might stand and see the Wolfe to eate the pigge, which hee had
taken from her. It is also sayd, that when they will deceive Goates,
they come unto them with the greene leaves and small boughes of Osiers
in their mouthes, wherewithall they know Goats are delighted, that so
they may draw them therewith, as to a baite, to devour them.
“Their maner is, when they fal upon a Goat or a Hog, or some such other
beast of smal stature, not to kil them, but to lead them by the eare
with al the speed they can drive them, to their fellow Wolves, and, if
the beast be stubborne, and wil not runne with him, then he beateth his
hinder parts with his taile, in the mean time holding his ear fast in
his mouth, whereby he causeth the poore beast to run as fast, or faster
than himselfe unto the place of his owne execution, where he findeth a
crew of ravening Wolves to entertaine him, who, at his first appearance
seize upon him, and, like Divels teare him in peeces in a moment,
leaving nothing uneaten but onely his bowels....
“Now although there be a great difference betwixt him and a Bul, both in
strength and stature, yet he is not affraid to adventure combat,
trusting in his policy more than his vigor, for when he setteth upon a
Bul, he commeth not upon the front for feare of his hornes, nor yet
behind him for feare of his heeles, but first of al standeth a loofe
from him, with his glaring eyes, daring and provoking the Bul, making
often profers to come neere unto him, yet is wise enough to keepe a
loofe till he spy his advauntage, and then he leapeth suddenly upon the
backe of the Bul at the one side, and being so ascended, taketh such
hold, that he killeth the beast, before he loosen his teeth. It is also
worth the observation, how he draweth unto him a Calfe that wandereth
from the dam, for by singular treacherie he taketh him by the nose,
first drawing him forwarde, and then the poore beast striveth and
draweth backward, and thus they struggle togither, one pulling one way,
and the other another, till at last the Wolfe perceiving advantage, and
feeling when the Calfe pulleth heavyest, suddenly he letteth go his
hold, whereby the poore beast falleth backe upon his buttocks, and so
downe right upon his backe; then flyeth the Wolfe to his belly which is
then his upper part, and easily teareth out his bowels, so satisfieng
his hunger and greedy appetite.
“But, if they chance to see a Beast in the water, or in the marsh,
encombred with mire, they come round about him, stopping up al the
passages where he shold come out, baying at him, and threatning him, so
as the poore distressed Oxe plungeth himselfe many times over head and
eares, or at the least wise they so vex him in the mire, that they never
suffer him to come out alive. At last, when they perceive him to be
dead, and cleane without life by suffocation, it is notable to observe
their singular subtilty to drawe him out of the mire, whereby they may
eat him; for one of them goeth in, and taketh the beast by the taile,
who draweth with al the power he can, for wit without strength may
better kill a live Beast, than remove a dead one out of the mire;
therefore, he looketh behind him, and calleth for more helpe; then,
presently another of the wolves taketh that first wolve’s tail in his
mouth, and a third wolf the second’s, a fourth the third’s, a fift the
fourth, and so forward, encreasing theyr strength, until they have
pulled the beast out into the dry lande. _Sextus_ saith that, in case a
Wolf do see a man first, if he have about him the tip of a Wolf’s taile,
he shal not neede to feare anie harme. All domestical Foure footed
beasts, which see the eie of a wolfe in the hand of a man, will
presently feare and runne away.
“If the taile of a wolfe be hung in the cratch of Oxen, they can never
eat their meate. If a horse tread upon the foote steps of a Wolfe, which
is under a Horse-man or Rider, hee breaketh in peeces, or else standeth
amazed. If a wolfe treadeth in the footsteps of a horse which draweth a
waggon, he cleaveth fast in the rode, as if he were frozen.
“If a Mare with foale, tread upon the footsteps of a wolfe, she casteth
her foal, and therefore the Egyptians, when they signifie abortment doe
picture a mare treading upon a wolf’s foot. These and such other things
are reported, (but I cannot tell how true) as supernaturall accidents in
wolves. The wolfe also laboureth to overcome the Leoparde, and followeth
him from place to place, but, for as much as they dare not adventure
upon him single, or hand to hand, they gather multitudes, and so
devoure them. When wolves set upon wilde Bores, although they bee at
variance amonge themselves, yet they give over their mutual combats, and
joyne together against the Wolfe their common adversarie.
“And this is the nature of this beast, that he feareth no kind of weapon
except a stone, for, if a stone be cast at him, he presently falleth
downe to avoide the stroke, for it is saide that in that place of his
body where he is wounded by a stone, there are bred certaine wormes
which doe kill and destroie him.... As the Lyon is afraide of a white
Cocke and a Mouse, so is the wolfe of a Sea crab, or shrimp. It is said
that the pipe of _Pithocaris_ did represse the violence of wolves when
they set upon him, for he sounded the same unperfectly, and
indistinctly, at the noise whereof the raging wolfe ran away; and it
hath bin beleeved that the voice of a singing man or woman worketh the
same effect.
“Concerning the enimies of wolves, there is no doubt but that such a
ravening beast hath fewe friends, ... for this cause, in some of the
inferiour beasts their hatred lasteth after death, as many Authors have
observed; for, if a sheepe skinne be hanged up with a wolves’s skin, the
wool falleth off from it, and, if an instrument be stringed with
stringes made of both these beasts the one will give no sounde in the
presence of the other.”
Here we have had all the bad qualities of the Wolf depicted in glowing
colours; but, as a faithful historian, I must show him also under his
most favourable aspect--notably in two instances--one the she-wolf that
suckled Romulus and Remus, and the other who watched so tenderly over
the head of the Saxon Edmund, King and Martyr, after it had been severed
from his body by the Danes, and contemptuously thrown by them into a
thicket. His mourning followers found the body, but searched for some
time for the head, without success; although they made the woods resound
with their cries of “Where artow, Edward?” After a few days’ search, a
voice answered their inquiries, with “Here, here, here.” And, guided by
the supernatural voice, they came upon the King’s head, surrounded by a
glory, and watched over, so as to protect it from all harm--by a _WOLF_!
The head was applied deftly to the body, which it joined naturally;
indeed, so good a job was it, that the junction could only be perceived
by a thin red, or purple, line.
It must be said of this wolf, that he was _thorough_, for not content
with having preserved the head of the Saintly King from harm, he meekly
followed the body to St. Edmund’s Bury, and waited there until the
funeral; when he quietly trotted back, none hindering him, to the
forest.
WERE-WOLVES.
But of all extraordinary stories connected with the Wolf, is the belief
which existed for many centuries, (and in some parts of France still
does exist, under the form of the “Loup-garou,”) and which is mentioned
by many classical authors--Marcellus Sidetes, Virgil, Herodotus,
Pomponius Mela, Ovid, Pliny, Petronius, &c.--of men being able to change
themselves into wolves. This was called _Lycanthropy_, from two Greek
words signifying wolf, and man, and those who were thus gifted, were
dignified by the name of _Versipellis_, or able to change the skin. It
must be said, however, for Pliny, amongst classical authors, that
although he panders sufficiently to popular superstition to mention
Lycanthropy, and quotes from others some instances of it, yet he
writes:--“It is really wonderful to what a length the credulity of the
Greeks will go! There is no falsehood, if ever so barefaced, to which
some of them cannot be found to bear testimony.”
This curious belief is to be found in Eastern writings, and it was
especially at home with the Scandinavian and Teutonic nations. It is
frequently mentioned in the Northern Sagas--but space here forbids more
than just saying that the best account of these _eigi einhamir_ (not of
one skin) is to be found in _The Book of Were-Wolves_, by the Rev. S.
Baring-Gould.
The name of _Were Wolf_, or _Wehr Wolf_, is derived thus, according to
Mr. Gould:--“_Vargr_ is the same as _u-argr_, restless; _argr_ being the
same as the Anglo-Saxon _earg_. _Vargr_ had its double signification in
Norse. It signified a Wolf, and also a godless man. This _vargr_ is the
English _were_, in the word were-wolf, and the _garou_ or _varou_ in
French. The Danish word for were-wolf is _var-ulf_ the Gothic,
_vaira-ulf_.” Lycanthropy was a widespread belief, but it gradually
dwindled down in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to those _eigi
einhamir_, the witches who would change themselves into hares, &c.
Olaus Magnus tells us _Of the Fiercenesse of Men who by Charms are
turned into Wolves_:--“In the Feast of Christ’s Nativity, in the night,
at a certain place, that they are resolved upon amongst themselves,
there is gathered together such a huge multitude of Wolves changed from
men, that dwell in divers places, which afterwards the same night doth
so rage with wonderfull fiercenesse, both against mankind, and other
creatures that are not fierce by nature, that the Inhabitants of that
country suffer more hurt from them than ever they do from the true
natural Wolves. For as it is proved, they set upon the houses of men
that are in the Woods, with wonderfull fiercenesse, and labour to break
down the doors, whereby they may destroy both men and other creatures
that remain there.
“They go into the Beer-Cellars, and there they drink out some Tuns of
Beer or Mede, and they heap al the empty vessels one upon another in the
midst of the Cellar, and so leave them: wherein they differ from natural
and true Wolves. But the place, where, by chance they stayd that night,
the Inhabitants of those Countries think to be prophetical: Because, if
any ill successe befall a Man in that place; as, if his Cart overturn,
and he be thrown down in the Snow, they are fully perswaded that man
must die that year, as they have for many years proved it by experience.
Between _Lituania_, _Samogetia_, and _Curonia_, there is a certain wall
left, of a Castle that was thrown down; to this, at a set time, some
thousands of them come together, that each of them may try his
nimblenesse in leaping. He that cannot leap over this wall, as commonly
the fat ones cannot, are beaten with whips by their Captains.
“And it is constantly affirmed that amongst that multitude there are the
great men, and chiefest Nobility of the Land. The reason of this
metamorphosis, that is exceeding contrary to Nature, is given by one
skilled in this witchcraft, by drinking to one in a Cup of Ale, and by
mumbling certain words at the same time, so that he who is to be
admitted into that unlawful Society, do accept it. Then, when he
pleaseth, he may change his humane form, into the form of a Wolf
entirely, going into some private Cellar, or secret Wood. Again, he can,
after some time put off the same shape he took upon him, and resume the
form he had before at his pleasure....
“But for to come to examples; When a certain Nobleman took a long
journey through the Woods, and had many servile Country-fellows in his
Company, that were acquainted with this witchcraft, (as there are many
such found in those parts) the day was almost spent; wherefore he must
lie in the Woods, for there was no Inne neare that place; and withall
they were sore pinched with hunger and want. Last of all, one of the
Company propounded a seasonable proposall, that the rest must be quiet,
and if they saw any thing they must make no tumulte; that he saw afar
off a flock of sheep feeding; he would take care that, without much
labor, they should have one of them to rost for Supper. Presently he
goes into a thick Wood that no man might see him, and there he changed
his humane shape like to that of a Wolf. After this he fell upon the
flock of sheep with all his might, and he took one of them that was
running back to the Wood, and then he came to the Chariot in the form of
a Wolf, and brought the sheep to them. His companions being conscious
how he stole it, receive it with grateful mind, and hide it close in the
Chariot; but he that had changed himself into a Wolf, went into the Wood
again, and became a Man.
“Also in _Livonia_ not many years since, it fell out that there was a
dispute between a Nobleman’s wife and his servant, (of which they have
plenty more in that Country, than in any Christian Land) that men could
not be turned into Wolves; whereupon he brake forth into this speech,
that he would presently shew her an example of that businesse, so he
might do it with her permission: he goes alone into the cellar, and,
presently after, he came forth in the form of a Wolf. The dogs ran
after him through the fields to the wood, and they bit out one of his
eyes, though he defended himself stoutly enough. The next day he came
with one eye to his Lady. Lastly, as is yet fresh in memory, how the
Duke of _Prussia_, giving small credit to such a Witchcraft, compelled
one who was cunning in this Sorcery, whom he held in chains, to change
himself into a Wolf; and he did so. Yet that he might not go unpunished
for this Idolatry, he afterwards caused him to be burnt. For such
heinous offences are severely punished both by Divine and Humane Laws.”
Zahn, on the authority of Trithemius, who wrote in 1335, says that men
having the spine elongated after the manner of a tail were Were-wolves.
Topsell takes a more sensible view of the matter:--“There is a certaine
territorie in Ireland (whereof M. _Cambden_ writeth) that the
inhabitants which live till they be past fifty yeare old, are foolishly
reported to be turned into wolves, the true cause whereof he
conjectureth to be, because for the most part they are vexed with the
disease called _Lycanthropia_, which is a kind of melancholy, causing
the persons so affected, about the moneth of February, to forsake their
owne dwelling or houses, and to run out into the woodes, or neare the
graves and sepulchers of men, howling and barking like Dogs and Wolves.
The true signes of this disease are thus described by _Marcellus_:
those, saith he, which are thus affected, have their faces pale, their
eies dry and hollow, looking drousily and cannot weep. Their tongue as
if it were al scab’d, being very rough, neither can they spit, and they
are very thirsty, having many ulcers breaking out of their bodies,
especially on their legges; this disease some cal _Lycaon_, and men
oppressed therewith, _Lycaones_, because that there was one _Lycaon_, as
it is fained by the poets, who, for his wickednes in sacrificing of a
child, was by _Jupiter_ turned into a Wolf, being utterly distracted of
human understanding, and that which the poets speake of him. And this is
most strange, that many thus diseased should desire the graves of the
dead.”
THE ANTELOPE.
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