Batman vppon Bartholome his booke De proprietatibus rerum, newly corrected, enlarged and amended: with such additions as are requisite, vnto euery seuerall booke: taken foorth of the most approued authors, the like heretofore not translated in English. Profitable for all estates, as well for the benefite of the mind as the bodie. 1582.

¶De Lupo. cap. 71.

THe Woolfe is called Lupus, and hath that name as Isid. sayth, as it were Leopos, for he hath vertue in the féete, as the Lyon hath, and so what he trea∣deth with his feete, liueth not: and is a rauenous beast, and desireth and coue∣teth bloud, and slayeth him that he may finde in woodes of rauine. Husbandmen speake of him and say, that a man léeseth his voyce, if the Woolfe séeth him first: therefore to a man that is sodainly still and leaueth to speake, it is sayd, Lupus est in fabula, the Woolfe is in the tale: and certainly if he know, that he is seene first, he léeseth his boldnesse, hardinesse, & fiercenesse. In all the yeare, Wolues do not the déed of generation but xii. daies, and he may not dure with hunger long time, and deuoureth much after long fa∣sting. In Aethiopia are Wolues with haire and maanes in the necke, and are so speckeled, and haue so manye diuers colours, that they lacke no manner co∣lour, as he telleth. Huc vsque Isid. li. 13. cap. 23. Plin. saith the same, and saith al∣so that Wolues of Affrica be slender & lyttle: and those that are bred in colde countries and landes be lesse of bodies than other, and more sharpe and fierce. Libro secundo. Arist. saith, that in Indie is a Woolfe that hath thrée rowes of téeth aboue, and hath féete like a Lyon, and face as a man, and tayle as a Scor∣pion, and his voyce is as it wer a mans voyce, and dreadfull, as a trumpe: and the beast is swifte as an Harte, and is right fierce and cruell, and eateth men. Also libr. 6. Aristo. saith, that in time of generation, Wolues are full cruell and fierce, and be worse when they haue whelpes, as the females of hounds. Also lib. 7. Wolues haue sawie téeth, & eate flesh, and not grasse, but when they are sicke, for then they eate some grasse or hearb for medicine: for when the woolfe féeleth himselfe too full, he séeketh a cer∣taine hearbe and eateth it, that he maye cast vp that that he hath eaten. Also li. 8. when they flye, they beare with them their whelpes, and eate Origanum,* 1.1 and chew it when they go out of their dens to whet and sharpe their téeth therwith. Also he saith, that the Woolfe is a full euill beast when he eateth, and resteth much when he hath no hunger: he is full hardie, and loueth well to playe with a childe, if he maye take him, and slayeth him afterward, and eateth him at y^e last. And Homer saith, that the Wolfe is a full wakefull beast, and flyeth from the sight of the fire. And it is said, that if the Woolfe be stoned, he taketh héed of him that throweth the first stone, and if that stone grieueth him, he will pursue him

that hurt him: and if it grieueth him not, and if he may take him that throw∣eth that stone, he doeth him not much harme, but some harme he doth him, as it were in wrath, and leueth him at last: and the elder the Wolues be, the worse they be, and greue men, for they may not hunt beasts because they be olde, and by reason that their vange téeth be weked, and they liue long time, and the age of the Woolfe is perceiued in the téeth, for they are constrained in age. And ther he saith, that there is double manner kinde of wolues: for some be as it wer round, and some long, and those be more rough of haire and thicke and more bolde and hardie of hart, & the entrailes of wolues be right féeble, and take soone corruption when they be wounded, & the other deale of the bodie suffereth many strokes, and hath great strengthe in the necke and in the head. Also woundes of theyr bi∣ting are euill, for venimme commeth of them, and these wounds be heled, as the biting of a mad hound, as Aristo. saith, Also lib. 13. he saith, y^t the woolfes mouth openeth most wide, & hath most strēgth in his mouth, and that Beast is a great glutton and deuoureth much. Also li. 7. Auicen speaketh of the woolfe, and saith: that the woolfe desireth kindlye to eate fish, & eateth the fish that fishers throw out of their nets: and when hée findeth nothing to eate that the Fishers leaue, then he goeth to their nets, and breaketh and renteth them. Phisiologus speaketh of wolues and saith, that their vertue & strength is in the breast, & in the clawes, and in the mouth, and lest in the hinder parts. And the woolfe may not bend his neck backward in no month of the yere but in Maye alone, when it thundereth: and hath a cruell warinesse, so that hée taketh no pray of meate nigh to y^e place where he nourisheth his whelpes, but he hunteth in places that be far thence: and when he goeth by night to a Folde for to take his pray, he goeth against the winde, for hounds should not smel him. And if it hapneth in any wise, that his foote maketh noyse, treading vppon any thing, then he chasteth that foote with hard biting. His eyen shine by night, as lanternes, and as Solinus saith, he bea∣reth in his taile, a locke of haire that ex∣citeth loue, and doth it away with his téeth, when he dreadeth to be taken. The woolfe dreadeth greatly stones, so that if a man take two stones, and smite them togethers, the woolfe looseth boldnes and hardinesse, & flyeth away, if the noyse of the stones commeth to his hearing. The Woolfe whelpeth blinde whelps, and lo∣ueth and nourisheth them full tender∣ly, and eateth earth when he is sore an hungred and findeth none other praye, and hideth him in grasse, bushes, and shrubs, and in leaues, to rauish and take Goates, that gather leaues and crops of Trées, and deceiueth shéepe more with guile and wrenches, than with might & strength, but when he hath the mastery, if he be suffered, he biteth and slayeth all the flocke, and the part that he may not deuoure, he burieth and hideth vnder the earth, and diggeth and taketh vp a part when he is agayne an hungred. He in∣fecteth the wool of the shéepe that he slai∣eth, and maketh the cloth lowsie that is made of that wooll, as Isidore saith. Also Arist. saith, that all the kinde of wolues is contrarie and aduersarie to all the kinde of shéepe: and so I haue read in a booke, that a string made of Wolues gut,* 1.2 put among harp strings made of the guts of sheepe, destroyeth and corrupteth them: as the Eagles fethers, put among Culuers, pilleth and gnaweth them, if they be there lefte together long in one place, as he saith. Looke before De A∣quila.

Notes

• * 1.1

  the hearb Margerū.
• * 1.2

  Proued, and is a rare and vvonder∣ful secret.