THE COMMON BEAR. 99 



Bear dances Reprehensible cruelties. 



bears to be their dancing-masters ; and, in what 

 they call the bear-dance, every gesture and attitude 

 of that animal is so faithfully imitated, as to afford 

 sufficient indications to what they are indebted 

 for this acquirement. They represent the bear's 

 sluggish and stupid gait, and its different feel'- 

 ings and situations ; as the young ones about the 

 clam, the sports of the male with the female, and 

 its agitation when pursued. All their other dan- 

 ces resemble this in many particulars, and those 

 attitudes are deemed the nearest to perfection 

 which are copied from the bear. 



It is well known, that this animal may be ren- 

 dered tame and obedient to its master. It may be 

 taught to walk, to lay hold of a pole with its paws, 

 and to perform a variety of tricks to entertain 

 the multitude ; who are highly pleased with the 

 awkward measures which it seems to suit to the 

 sound of an instrument, or to the voice of its 

 leader. But the cruelties practised in giving it 

 this sort of education are such as make sensibility 

 shudder. Its eyes are frequently put out; and 

 an iron ring being passed through the cartilage 

 of the nose, to lead it by, it is kept from food, 

 and beaten, till it yields obedience to the will of 

 its cruel instructors. Some of them are taught 

 to perform, by setting their feet upon heated iron 

 plates, and then playing music to them while m 

 tin's uneasy situation. 



^ That these cruelties," says Mr. Bewick, 

 <c should be rewarded by numbers of unthinking 

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