"The following," adds the Doctor, "is Hearne's minute account of it: (_Hist. Guil. Neubrig. vol. iii. p. 743:_) 'I will beg leave here,' says the pugnacious Oxford antiquary, 'to give an exact copy of the CHRISTMAS CAROL _upon the Boar's Head_, (which is an ancient dish, and was brought up by King Henry I. with trumpets, before his son, when his said son was crowned) as I have it in an old fragment, (for I usually preserve even fragments of old books) of the Christmas Carols printed by Wynkyn de Worde, (who as well as Richard Pynson, was servant to William Caxton, who was the first that printed English books, though not the first printer in England, as is commonly said,) printing being exercised at Oxford in 1468, if not sooner, which was several years before he printed anything at Westminster, by which it will be perceived how much the said carol is altered, as it is sung in some places even now, from what it was at first. It is the last thing, it seems, of the book (which I never yet saw entire,) and at the same time I think it proper also to add to the printer's conclusion, for this reason, at least, that such as write about our first printers, may have some notice of the date of this book, and the exact place where printed, provided they cannot be able to meet with it, as I believe they will find it pretty difficult to do, it being much laid aside, about the time that some of David's Psalms came to be used in its stead.'" THIS CUSTOM Is briefly noticed in Pointer's "_Oxoniensis Academia_," as "that of having a boar's head, or the figure of one in wood, brought up in the hall every year on Christmas Day, ushered in very solemnly with an old song, in memory of a noble exploit (as tradition goes,) by a scholar (a Tabardar) of this college, in killing a wild boar in Shotover Wood." That is, having wandered into the said wood, which was not far from Oxford, with a copy of Aristotle in his hand (for the Oxonians were of old logicians of the orthodox school in which an Alexander the Great was bred,) and if the latter, as a pupil who sat at the foot of Aristotle, conquered _a world_, no wonder our Tabardar, as a disciple being attacked by a wild boar, who came at him with extended jaws, intending to make but _a mouthful of him_, was enabled to conquer so rude a beast, which he _did_ by thrusting the Aristotle down the boar's throat, crying, in the concluding words of the 5th stanza of the following song--'GRÆCUM EST.' The animal of course fell prostrate at his feet, was carried in triumph to the college, and no doubt served up with _an 'old song,'_ as Mr. Pointer says, in memory of this "_noble exploit_." The witty _Dr. Buckler_, however, is not satisfied with this brief notice of Mr. Pointer's: but says, in his _never-to-be-forgotten_ exposé, or "Complete Vindication," of _The All-Souls' Mallard_ (of which anon,) "I am apt to fear, that it is a fixed principle in Mr. _Pointer_ to ridicule every _ceremony_ and