PETER the Wild Boy. This extraordinary creature occasioned great speculation among the learned; but we do not know that any satisfactory causes have been assigned for the striking difference between him and other human beings.

The following account of him is extracted from the parish-register of North-church, in the county of Hertford. "Peter, commonly known by the name of Peter the Wild Boy, lies buried in this churchyard, opposite the porch. In the year 1725 he was found in the woods near Hamelen, a fortified town in the electorate of Hanover, when his majesty George I. with his attendants, was hunting in the forest of Hertford. He was supposed to be then about 12 years of age, and had subsisted in those woods upon the bark of trees, leaves, berries, &c. for some considerable length of time. How long he had continued in that wild state is altogether uncertain; but that he had formerly been under the care of some person, was evident from the remains of a shirt collar about his neck at the time when he was found. As Hamelen was a town where criminals were confined to work upon the fortifications, it was then conjectured at Hanover that Peter might be the issue of one of those criminals, who had either wandered into the woods and could not find his way back again, or being discovered to be an idiot was inhumanly turned out by his parents, and left to perish or shift for himself. In the following year, 1726, he was brought over to England, by the order of Queen Caroline then princess of Wales, and put under the care of Dr Arbuthnot with proper masters to attend him. But notwithstanding there appeared to be no natural defect in his organs of speech, after all the pains that had been taken with him he could never be brought distinctly to articulate a single syllable, and proved totally incapable of receiving any instruction. He was afterwards intrusted to the care of Mrs Tichbourn, one of the queen's bedchamber women, with a handsome pension annexed to the charge. Mrs Tichbourn usually spending a few weeks every summer at the house of Mr James Penn, a yeoman farmer at Axter's End. End in this parish, Peter was left to the care of the said Mr Fenn, who was allowed £351. a-year for his support and maintenance. After the death of James Penn he was transferred to the care of his brother Thomas Fenn, at another farm-house in this parish called Broadway, where he lived with the several successive tenants of that farm, and with the same provision allowed by government to the time of his death, Feb. 22, 1785, when he was supposed to be about 72 years of age.

"Peter was well made, and of the middle size. His countenance had not the appearance of an idiot, nor was there any thing particular in his form, except that two of the fingers of his left hand were united by a web up to the middle joint. He had a natural ear for music, and was so delighted with it, that if he heard any musical instrument played upon, he would immediately dance and caper about till he was almost quite exhausted with fatigue; and though he could never be taught the distinct utterance of any word, yet he could easily learn to hum a tune. All those idle tales which have been published to the world about his climbing up trees like a squirrel, running upon all fours like a wild beast, &c., are entirely without foundation; for he was so exceedingly timid and gentle in his nature, that he would suffer himself to be governed by a child. There have been also many false stories propagated of his incontinence; but from the minutest inquiries among those who constantly lived with him, it does not appear that he ever discovered any natural passion for women, though he was subject to the other passions of human nature, such as anger, joy, &c. Upon the approach of bad weather he always appeared full of uneasiness. At particular seasons of the year he showed a strange fondness for stealing away into the woods, where he would feed eagerly upon leaves, beech-mast, acorns, and the green bark of trees, which proves evidently that he had subsisted in that manner for a considerable length of time before he was first taken. His keeper therefore at such seasons generally kept a strict eye over him, and sometimes even confined him, because if he ever rambled to any distance from his home he could not find his way back again: and once in particular, having gone beyond his knowledge, he wandered as far as Norfolk, where he was taken up, and being carried before a magistrate, was committed to the house of correction in Norwich, and punished as a sturdy and obstinate vagrant, who would not (for indeed he could not) give any account of himself: but Mr Fenn having advertised him in the public papers, he was released from his confinement, and brought back to his usual place of abode.

"Notwithstanding the extraordinary and savage state in which Peter was first found greatly excited the attention and curiosity of the public; yet, after all that has been said of him, he was certainly nothing more than a common idiot without the appearance of one. But as men of some eminence in the literary world have in their works published strange opinions and ill-founded conjectures about him, which may seem to stamp a credit upon what they have advanced; that posterity may not through their authority be hereafter misled upon the subject, this short and true account of Peter is recorded in the parish-register by one who constantly resided above 30 years in his neighbourhood, and had daily opportunities of seeing and observing him."

Perhaps our readers will not be displeased if we present them with Lord Monboddo's account of this extraordinary creature (a). "It was in the beginning of June 1782 (says his lordship) that I saw him in a farmhouse called Broadway, within about a mile of Berkhamstead, kept there upon a pension which the king pays. He is but low of stature, not exceeding five feet three inches; and although he must now be about 70 years of age, has a fresh healthy look. He wears his beard; his face is not at all ugly or disagreeable; and he has a look that may be called sensible and sagacious for a savage. About 20 years ago he was in use to elope, and to be missing for several days; and once, I was told, he wandered as far as Norfolk; but of late he has been quite tame, and either keeps in the house or fauners about the farm. He has been the 13 last years where he lives at present; and before that he was 12 years with another farmer, whom I saw and conversed with. This farmer told me, that he had been put to school somewhere in Hertfordshire, but had only learned to articulate his own name Peter, and the name of King George, both which I heard him pronounce very distinctly. But the woman of the house where he now is (for the man happened not to be at home) told me, that he understood every thing that was said to him concerning the common affairs of life; and I saw that he readily understood several things that she said to him while I was present. Among other things she desired him to sing Nancy Dawson; which he did, and another tune which she named. He never was mischievous, but had always that gentleness of nature which I hold to be characteristic of our nature, at least till we became carnivorous, and hunters or warriors. He feeds at present as the farmer and his wife do; but, as I was told by an old woman (one Mrs Collop, living at a village in the neighbourhood called Hempstead, who remembered to have seen him when he first came to Hertfordshire, which she computed to be 55 years before the time I saw her), he then fed very much upon leaves, and particularly upon the leaves of cabbage, which he ate raw. He was then, as she thought, about 15 years of age, walked upright, but could climb trees like a squirrel. At present he not only eats flesh, but has also got the taste of beer, and even of spirits, of which he inclines to drink more than he can get. And the old farmer above mentioned, with whom he lived twelve years before he came to this last farmer, told me, that he had acquired that taste before he came to him, which is about 25 years ago. He has also become very fond of fire, but has not yet acquired a liking for money; for though he takes it, he does not keep it, but gives it to his landlord or landlady, which I suppose is a lesson that they have taught him. He retains so much

(a) This eccentric writer, in support of his hypothesis, that man in a state of nature is a mere animal, without clothes, houses, the use of fire, or even speech, adduces the orang-outang, or man in the woods, and this Peter the wild man and others, as examples. He denies the want of the organs of speech as an objection, and insists they only want the artificial use of them. much of his natural instinct, that he has a fore-feeling of bad weather, growling and howling, and showing great disorder, before it comes.

"There are the particulars concerning him which I observed myself, or could learn by information from the neighbourhood." From all these facts put together his lordship makes the following observations:

"1st, Whatever doubts there may be concerning the humanity of the orang-outang, it was never made a question but that Peter was a man.

"2ndly, That he was, as the Dean [Swift] says, of a father and mother like one of us. This, as I have said, was the case of two savages found in the Dismal swamp in Virginia, of the one found in the island of Diego Garcia, and of him that was discovered by M. le Roy in the Pyrenees, and in general of all the savages that have been found in Europe within these last 300 years; for I do not believe, that for these 2000 years past there has been a race of such savages in Europe.

"3rdly, I think there can be no reason to doubt of what was written from Hanover, and published in the newspapers, that he was found going upon all fours, as well as other solitary savages that have been found in Europe. It is true that others have been found erect; which was the case of the two found in the Dismal swamp of Virginia, likewise of the man of the Pyrenees, and of him in the island of Diego Garcia; but these I suppose were not exposed till they had learned to walk upright; whereas Peter appears to have been abandoned by his parents before he had learned that lesson, but walked as we know children do at first.

"4thly, I think it is evident that he is not an idiot, not only from his appearance, as I have described it, and from his actions, but from all the accounts that we have of him, both those printed and those attested by persons yet living; for as to the printed accounts, there is not the least information of that kind in any of them, except in one, viz. Wye's letter, No. 8, wherein is said, that some imputed his not learning to speak to want of understanding; which I should think showed rather want of understanding in those who thought so, when it is considered that at this time he had not been a year out of the woods, and I suppose but a month or two under the care of Dr. Arbuthnot, who had taken the charge of his education. The Dean indeed tells us, that he suspected he was a pretender, and no genuine wild man, but not a word of his being an idiot. And as to the persons living, not one with whom I have conversed appeared to have the least suspicion of that kind; though it is natural that men who were not philosophers, and knew nothing of the progress of man from the mere animal to the intellectual creature, nor of the improvement of our understanding by social intercourse and the arts of life, but believed that man when he came to a certain age has from nature all the faculties which we see him exert, and particularly the faculty of speech, should think him an idiot, and wanting even the capacity of acquiring understanding. I knew an officer of dragoons, a man of very good sense, who was quartered where Peter then lived for some months, and saw him almost every day, and who assured me that he was not an idiot, but showed common understanding, which was all that could be expected from one no better educated than he.

"Lastly, those who have considered what I have said (b) of the difficulty of articulation, will not be surprised that a man who had lived a savage for the first 14 or 15 years of his life, should have made so little progress in that art. I cannot, however, have the least doubt, that if he had been under the care of Mr. Braidwood of Edinburgh, he would have learned to speak, though with much more difficulty than a man who had been brought up tame among people who had the use of speech, and who consequently must know the advantage of it. And I can have as little doubt that Mr. Braidwood could have taught the orang-outang in Sir Ashton Lever's collection, who learned to articulate a few words, so as to speak plainly enough."

St Peter's Port, a market-town of England, in the south-east part of Guernsey, in Hampshire, in the British channel, consisting of only one long and narrow street. The mouth of the harbour is well set with rocks, and is on each side defended by a castle; one called the Old castle, and the other Castle-cornet. The governor of the island generally resides here, who has the command of the garrison in this and all the other castles. The harbour has a good road, from whence ships may sail with any wind, and from the road pass under the guns of the castle to the pier, close up to the town. The pier is a noble work, formed of vast stones, joined together with great art and regularity; it is not only a security to the ships, but, being contiguous to the town, is handsomely paved at the top with large smooth flagstones, guarded with parapets, and, being of a great length and breadth, forms a pleasant walk, affording a free prospect of the sea and the neighbouring islands. Castle-castle, which commands both the town and the harbour, stands on a rock, separated from the land by an arm of the sea, no less than 600 yards wide, and not fordable but at low water in great spring-tides.

St Peter's Island, in the lake of Biene in Switzerland, remarkable for being one of the retreats of Rousseau; whence it has also got the name of Rousseau's island. It lies towards the south side of the lake, and produces a great variety of shrubs and trees, particularly large oaks, beech, and Spanish chestnut. The southern shore slopes gradually to the lake, and is covered with herbage; the remaining borders are steep and rocky; their summits in a few places thinly covered with shrubs; in others their perpendicular sides are clothed to the water's edge with hanging woods. The views from the different parts of the island are beautiful and diversified; that to the north being the most extensive and pleasing. It commands the prospect of the lake, which is of an oval form; its cultivated borders, interspersed with villages and castles, with the towns of Nidau and Biene standing upon the farther extremity. Agreeable walks are carried through the woods, and terminate in a circular pavilion placed in the centre of the island. Before the troubles in France, on Sunday, and particularly the vintage-time, this island was filled with

(b) Lord Monboddo, far from thinking speech or articulation natural to man, rather wonders how he can by any teaching or imitation attain to the ready performance of such various and complicated operations. Add to this, when the organs are completely formed to one language, how hard it is to make them answer another. with parties who amused themselves with wandering about the woods or dancing in the circular pavilion. How they employ themselves now it is not so easy to say, as it was overrun and subjected by the forces of that unhappy nation, and of course tainted with their destructive principles. It was retaken by the Spaniards, and properly belongs to the king of Sardinia. There is only one farm-house on the island, in an apartment of which Rousseau was lodged.

**Peter-Pence**, was an annual tribute of one penny, paid at Rome out of every family at the feast of St Peter. And this Ina the Saxon king, when he went in pilgrimage to Rome about the year 740, gave to the pope, partly as alms and partly in recompense of a house erected in Rome for English pilgrims. And this continued to be paid generally until the time of King Henry VIII., when it was enacted, that from henceforth no person shall pay any pensions, Peter-pence, or other impositions, to the use of the bishop or see of Rome.

**Peterborough**, a city of Northamptonshire, about 82 miles from London. It is the least city except perhaps Ely, and unquestionably the poorest bishopric, though one of the oldest towns in England. It had a monastery dedicated to St Peter, and founded as early as the year 655, to which the abbot of Croyland and his monks flying for protection in the year 870, they were overtaken and murdered in a court of this monastery, called the monk churchyard, because they were all buried there; and to this day is to be seen the tombstone with their effigies, which had been erected over their common grave. Soon after this the Danes destroyed both the monastery and friars, so that it lay desolate for above 100 years. The monks were, however, restored, and lived very sumptuously, with a mitred abbot at their head, till the reformation, when Henry VIII. converted it into a bishop's see. The cathedral, which is said to be more than 1000 years old, though apparently more modern, is a most noble Gothic fabric, and was much more so before it was defaced in the civil wars. The west front, which is 136 feet broad, is very flatly; and besides columns curiously adorned, is supported by three of the tallest arches in Britain. The windows of the cloisters are finely stained with scripture history and the succession of its abbots. There are in the church monuments of Queen Catherine, wife of Henry VIII., and of Mary queen of Scots; and the figure of one Mr Scarlet the sexton, who buried them, and lived to 95, after he had buried all the housekeepers of the town twice over. There is but one parish-church besides the cathedral. The city is governed by a mayor, recorder, and aldermen, by a charter of Henry VIII. All its officers are elected by the dean and chapter, consisting of six prebendaries, who are all lords of the manor. Besides the dean and chapter, who are an ecclesiastical corporation distinct from the bishop, there are eight petty canons, four students in divinity, one epistle, one gospeller, a subdean, subtreasurer, and chanter, eight choristers, eight singing men, two chancellors, besides a steward, organist, &c. a grammar school, and two charity schools. The river Nene, over which there is here a wooden bridge, is navigable by barges to Northampton, 50 miles further, which bring coal, corn, &c. and by which they export in some years 6000 quarters of malt, besides other goods, especially the woollen manufactures either of cloth or stockings, in which the poor are employed. The air of Peterborough is said not to be very wholesome, by reason of the neighbouring fens; but the water of the river is fresh and good, the highest spring-tide never coming up within five miles of the town; and there is plenty of excellent water in their wells. The streets are poor, and the houses but mean; there is, however, a handsome market-house, over which are kept the assizes and sessions. Its jurisdiction extends over 32 towns and hamlets, wherein the civil magistrates appointed by the royal commission are vested with the same power as judges of assize, and hold their quarterly sessions in this city. The number of inhabitants in 1801 was 3449.

**Peterhead**, a town in Scotland, in the county of Aberdeen, lies about 30 miles north-east of that city. It stands on the most easterly point in Scotland, and from thence due west that kingdom is broadest.