Boar

The Boar. Richard III.; so called from his cognisance.

“The wretched, bloody, and usurping boar

That spoiled your summer fields and fruitful vines;

… This foul swine … lies now …

Near to the town of Leicester, as we learn.”

Shakespeare: Richard III., v. 3.

The bristled Buptist boar. So Dryden denominates the Anabaptists in his Hind and Panther.

“The bristled Baptist boar, impure as he [the ape],

But whitened with the foam of sanctity,

With fat pollutions filled the sacred place,

And mountains levelled in his furious race.”

Part i. 43–6.

The wild boar of Ardennes [Le sanglier des Ardennes]. Guillaume, Comte de la Marek, so called becuase he was fierce as the wild boar, which he delighted to hunt. Introduced by Sir Walter Scott as William, Count of la Marck, in Quentin Durward.

· ·

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.