A particular Account of Peter the Wild Boy; extracted from the Parish Regifter of North Church, in the County of Hertford.

"PETE

ETER* commonly known by the name of Peter the Wild Boy, lies buried in this church-yard,†t oppofite to 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 foreft of Hertfwold. He was fuppofed to be then about 12 years of age, and had fubfifted in thofe woods upon the bark of trees, leaves, berries, &c. for fome confiderable 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 fome perfon was evident from the remains of a fhirt collar about his neck at the time when he was found. As Ha

melen was a town where criminals were confined to work upon the fortifications, it was then conjectured at Hanover, that Peter might be the iffue of one of those criminals, who had either wandered into the woods, and could not find his way back again, or, being difcovered to be an ideot, was inhumanly turned out by his parents, and left to perish, or fhift for himself. In. the following year, 1726, he was brought over to England, by the order of Queen Carolina, then Princess of Wales, and put under the care of Dr. Arbuthnot, with proper mafters 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 diftinctly to articulate a fingle fyllable, and proved totally incapable of receiving any inftruction. He was afterwards intrufted to the care of Mrs. Titch

bourn,

bourn, one of the Queen's bedchamber women, with a handsome penfion annexed to the charge. Mrs Titchbourn ufually spending a few weeks every fummer at the house of Mr. James Fenn, a yeoman farmer, at Axter's End, in this parish, Peter was left to the care of the faid Mr. Fenn, who was allowed 351. a year for his support and maintenance. After the death of James Fenn 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 feveral fucceffive tenants of that farm, and with the fame provifion allowed by government, to the time of his death, Feb. 22, 1785, when he was fuppofed to be about 72 years of age.

"Peter was well made, and of the middle fize. His countenance had not the appearance of an ideot, 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 mufic, and was fo delighted with it, that, if he heard any mufical inftrument played upon, he would immediately dance and caper about till he was almost quite exhaufted with fatigue; and though he could never be taught the diftinct utterance of any word, yet he could eafily learn to hum a tune. All thofe idle tales which have been published to the world about his climbing up trees like a squirrel, running upon all fours like a wild beaft, &c. are entirely without foundation; for he was fo exceedingly timid and gentle in his nature, that he would fuffer himself to be governed by a child. There have been alfo many falfe ftories propagated of his incontinence;

but, from the minuteft inquiries among thofe who conftantly lived with him, it does not appear that he ever difcovered any natural paffion for women, though he was fubject to the other paffions of human nature, fuch as anger, joy, &c. Upon the approach of bad weather he always appeared fullen and uneafy. At particular seasons of the year, he fhewed a ftrange fondness for ftealing away into the woods, where he would feed eagerly upon leaves, beech-maft, acorns, and the green bark of trees; which proves evidently that he had fubfifted in that manner for a confiderable length of time before he was first taken. His keeper therefore at fuch feafons generally kept a strict eye over him, and fometimes 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 magiftrate, was committed to the house of correc tion in Norwich, and punished as a sturdy and obftinate 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 ufual place of abode.

Notwithstanding the extraordinary and favage ftate in which Peter was first found greatly excited the attention and curiofity of the public; yt, after all that has been faid of him, he was certainly nothing more than a common ideot without the appearance of one. But as men of fome eminence in the literary world have in their works

published

published strange opinions and illfounded conjectures about him, which may seem to ftamp a credit upon what they have advanced; that pofterity may not, through their authority, be hereafter misled upon the fubject, this fhort and true account of Peter is recorded in the parish register by one who conftantly refided above 30 years in his neighbourhood, and had daily opportunities of seeing and obferving him."

A brafs plate is fixed up in the parish church of North-Church, on the top of which is a sketch of the head of Peter, drawn from a very good engraving of Bartolozzi, and underneath it is the following inscription:

"To the memory of PETER, known by the name of the Wild Boy, having been found wild in the foreft of Hertfwold, near Hanover, in the year 1725. He then appeared to be about 12 years old. In the following year he was brought to England by the order of the late Queen Carolina, and the ableft mafters were provided for him. But, proving incapable of fpeaking, or of receiving any inAtruction, a comfortable provifion was made for him at a farm-house in this parish, where he continued to the end of his inoffenfive life. He died on the 22d day of February, 1785, fuppofed to be aged 72.”

USEFUL

An Account of an Artificial Spring of
Water, made by Erafmus Darwin,
M.D. F. R. S. From Vol. lxxv.
of the Philofophical Tranfactions.

To the Prefident and Fellows of the
Royal Society.
Derby, July 16, 1784.

Con

to

Gentlemen, Onfident that every atom which may contribute increase the treasure of ufeful knowledge, which you are so fuccessfully endeavouring to accumulate, will be agreeable and interefting to the Society, I fend you an account of an Artificial Spring of Water, which I produced last fummer near the fide of the river Derwent in Derby.

Near my house was an old well, about one hundred yards from the river, and about four yards deep, which had been many years difufed on account of the badness of the water, which I found to contain much vitriolic acid, with, at the fame time, a flight fulphureous smell and tafte; but did not carefully analyfe it. The mouth of this well was about four feet above the furface of the river; and the ground, through which it was funk, confifted of a black, loose, moist earth, which appeared to have been very lately a morafs, and is now covered with houses built upon piles. At the bottom was found a bed of red marl, and the fpring, which was fo ftrong

as to give up many hogsheads in a day, oozed from between the morafs and the marl; it lay about eight feet beneath the furface of the river, and the water rose within two feet of the top of the well.

Having obferved that a very copious fpring, called Saint Alkmund's well, rofe out of the ground about half a mile higher on the fame fide of the Derwent, the level of which

I knew by the height of the intervening wier to be about four or five feet above the ground about my well; and having obferved, that the higher lands, at the distance of a mile or two behind thefe wells, confifted of red marl like that in the well; I concluded, that, if I fhould bore through this ftratum of marl, I might probably gain a water fimilar to that of St. Alkmund's well, and hoped that at the fame time it might rife above the furface of my old well to the level of St. Alkmund's.

With this intent a pump was first put down for the purpose of more eafily keeping dry the bottom of the old well, and a hole about two and

an half inches diameter was then bored about thirteen yards below the bottom of the well, till fome fand was brought by the auger. A wooden pipe, which was previously cut in a conical form at one end, and armed with an iron ring at the other, was driven into the top of this hole, and ftood up about two yards from the bottom of the well, and being fur

rounded