POPULAR PASTIMES. 85 
den, they were fields or slips of ground, con- 
taining a theatre each, and grass and ponds 
for the exercise and recreation of the Bears. 
Plans of London, of about the date 1574, ex- 
hibit small Circuses at this spot, described as 
for ‘ Bowll Bayting’ and ‘ Beare Bayting.’” 
‘** How shocking, to think that pastimes 
so odious and so cruel, should have given 
pleasure to persons of the highest rank and. 
best education in the country ;—have received 
even the sanction of the Prince, and have 
been resorted to even by Queens !” 
**T shall not say all that is capable of 
being said upon both sides of those ques- 
tions; but, as to Queens, you are aware 
that the Bull-fights of Spain are a royal 
resort, and that, in many countries, the 
execution of criminals is attended by their 
highest nobility. For the rest, though 
Bear-baiting, and all similar pursuits, are 
things. full of evil; yet it is to be ac- 
knowledged, that they sometimes make us 
acquainted, both with the intellectual and 
physical powers of animals, in a degree which 
we should no otherwise attain, and increase, 
therefore, our knowledge of nature. Who, 
I 
