wonder, then, at the astonishment of Mecænas, when informed of the sumptuous manner in which Caesar was entertained by the Queen of Sheba ? Well may he repeat the query—
"Eight wild boars roasted whole at a breakfast, and but twelve persons
there : is this true?"
Antony and Cleopatra. Act ii., Scene 2.
A favourite West Indian dish is a wild boar " barbecue'd," i.e. roasted whole, stuffed with spice, and basted with wine — generally Madeira ! Pope thus describes a glutton that had ruined himself by indulging in such expensive luxuries: —
"Oldfield, with more than harpy throat endue'd,
Cries, 'Send me, ye gods, a whole hog barbecue'd.'"
The Camel, Camelus arabicus.
The Camel is mentioned some half-dozen times. In Richard II., Act v., Scene 5; Troilus and Cressida, Act i., Scene 2.
The Stag, Cervus elaphus.
The Fallow Deer, Dama vulgaris.
The Roebuck, Capreolus capræa.
Deer-hunting is repeatedly mentioned by Shakspeare, who, had he not been a thorough sportsman himself, could not have been better informed of the terms used in venery.
Falstaff. "Divide me like a bribed buck, each a haunch ; I will keep my sides to myself, my shoulders for the fellow of this walk, and my horns I bequeath to your husbands." — Merry Wives of Windsor, Act v., Scene 5.
I have quoted the above in preference to innumerable other references, for the purpose of ascertaining the derivation of the word "bribed" as applied to the quartering of a buck. I have consulted some few works which are at hand, such as Osbaldislon's ' Sportsman's Dictionary,' Sullivan's ' Dictionary of Derivations,' &c, but can find no allusion to the word used in that sense. Perhaps the readers of ' The Zoologist' will kindly help me.
The Bison, Bison .
Occurs only once, and then as an adjective {Coriolanus, Act ii., Scene 1). The Bison, which was once very common in many parts of Europe, is now, according to Mr. A.R. Wallace, confined to limited areas in Poland and the Caucasus; whether it occurs south
