BEARS 39 



persons of the most exalted rank, without exception 

 even of the fair sex. Erasmus, who visited England 

 in the reign of Henry YIII, says there were ' many 

 herds of bears maintained in this country for the 

 purpose of baiting/ When Queen Mary visited her 

 sister, the Princess Elizabeth, during her confinement 

 at Hatfield House, the next morning, after mass, a 

 grand exhibition of bear baiting was made for their 

 amusement, with which it is said their highnesses 

 were right well content/^ 



There were several " bear gardens ^^ or places 

 where the populace could resort to witness the bait- 

 ing of bears, bulls, and other animals. The best 

 known of these was Paris Garden on Bank side in 

 Southwark. Hentzner, in his ' Travels in England ^ 

 (1598), speaking of the baiting of bulls and bears, 

 says : " They are fastened behind and then worried 

 by great English bull-dogs, but not without great 

 risque to the dogs from the horns of the one and the 

 teeth of the other, and it sometimes happens they 

 are killed on the spot ; fresh ones are immediately 

 supplied in the places of those that are wounded or 

 tired. To this entertainment there often follows 

 that of whipping a blinded bear, which is performed 

 by five or six men, standing circularly with whips, 

 which they exercise upon him without mercy, as he 

 cannot escape from them because of his chain ; he 

 defends himself with all his force and skill, throwing 

 down all who come within his reach and are not 

 active enough to get out of it; on which occasions 

 he frequently tears the whips out of their hands and 

 breaks them." 



