during September and October, when the boar's flesh was at its best,
hunters with well-trained packs of boar-hounds set out to track this
savage animal. They attacked the boar with spears, or surrounded him
and drove him into nets. He was a ferocious antagonist to both dogs
and men, and when sore pressed would wheel about, prepared to fight to
the death. Before the dogs could grip him by the ear, his one weak
point, and pin him down, his sharp teeth would often wound or even
kill both the hunter and his dogs. The pluckier the animal the louder
the praise sung in his honor when his head was brought into the hall.
The great head, properly soused, was borne in on an immense salver by
the "old blue-coated serving-man" on Christmas day. He was preceded by
the trumpeters and followed by the mummers, and thus in state the
boar's head was ushered in and assigned to its place on the table. The
father of the family or head of the household laid his hand on the
dish containing the "boar of atonement," as it was at one time called,
swearing to be faithful to his family and to fulfil all his
obligations as a man of honor. This solemn act was performed before
the carving by every man present. The carver had to be a man of
undaunted courage and untarnished reputation.

Next in honor at the feast was the peacock. It was sometimes served as
a pie with its head protruding from one side of the crust and its
wide-spread tail from the other; more often the bird was skinned,
stuffed with herbs and sweet spices, roasted, and then put into its
skin again, when with head erect and tail outspread it was borne into
the hall by a lady--as was singularly appropriate--and given the
second place on the table.

The feudal system gave scope for much magnificence at Yule-tide. At a
time when several thousand retainers[4] were fed daily at a single