Note 609 — BOOK THE FIFTH. (continued 2)

William de la Marck, surnamed William with the Beard and the Wild Boar of Ardennes, was Count of Aremberg, Lord of Aigremont and Seraing, sovereign mayor of Liege, and prime minister of the Bishop of Liege, Louis de Bourbon. He obtained his surnames from peculiarities in his personal appearance; for he endeavoured, by the length and growth of his beard, to conceal the circumstance that had originally procured him the denomination of the Wild Boar. This was an unusual thickness and projection of the mouth and upper jaw, which, with the huge projecting side-teeth, gave that resemblance to the brute creation which, joined to the delight that De la Marck had in haunting the forest so called, originally earned him the title of the Boar of Ardennes. He affected to delight in this surname, and endeavoured to deserve it by the unvarying cruelty and ferocity of his life; and to complete the resemblance, he usually wore over his shoulders a strong surcoat of dressed boar-skin. He was beheaded on the 18th of June, 1485. Readers of “Quentin Durward” will remember Sir Walter Scott’s admirable description of this monster and his crimes.