though removed to make way for the
London-bridge approaches, will live vividly in the mind of every
reader of Shakspeare, as the resort of the prince of Wales,
Poins, and his companions, and the residence of Falstaff and his
coney-catching knaves, Bardolph, Pistol, and Nym; and whose sign
was a boar's head, carved in stone over the door, and a smaller
one in wood on each side of the doorway.

The traditions and deeds of savage vengeance recorded in
connection with this grim trophy of the chase are numerous in
all parts of Europe. But the most remarkable connected with the
subject in this country, were two events that occurred in
Scotland, about the 11th and 15th centuries.

A border family having been dispossessed of their castle and
lands by a more powerful chief, were reduced for many years to
great indigence, the expelled owner only living in the hope of
wreaking a terrible vengeance, which, agreeably to the motto of
his house, he was content to "bide his time" for. The usurper
having invited a large number of his kindred to a grand hunt in
his new domains, and a feast after in the great hall, returned
from the chase, and discovering the feast not spread, vented his
wrath in no measured terms on the heads of the tardy servitors.
At length a menial approached, followed by a line of servants,
and placing the boar's head on the table, the guests rushed
forward to begin the meal; when, to their horror, they
discovered, not a boar's but a bull's head,--a sign of death.
The doors were immediately closed, and the false servants, who
were the adherents of the dispossessed chief, threw off their
disguise, and falling on the usurper and his friends, butchered
them and every soul in the castle belonging to the rival
faction.

A tribe of caterans, or mountain robbers, in the Western
Highlands, having been greatly persecuted by a powerful chief of
the district, waylaid him and his retinue, put them all to the
sword, and cutting off the chief's head, repaired to his castle,
where they ordered the terrified wife to supply them with food
and drink. To appease their savage humour, the lady gave order
for their entertainment, and on returning to the hall to see her
orders were complied with, discovered, in place of the boar's
head that should have graced the board, her husband's b