CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 5. CARNIVORA. 155 
tare forty and two" of the mockers of Elislia, 2 Kings ii. 24, are probably the first bears on 
record. These bears of Syria may be occasionally traced in subsequent history. Thus Matthew 
l*aris, in liis "England," relates how Godfrey, as he was riding for recreation in a neighbormg 
wood during the siege of Antioch, saAV a poor stranger, who was loaded with a bundle of dry 
wood, flying from an enraged bear ; whereupon Godfrey gallantly went to the rescue, and the 
bear turning upon him he was unhorsed, the horse being wounded by the bear ; so he fought 
on foot, but, after a severe struggle, in which he received a most dangerous wound, he bmned his 
sword up to the hilt in his savage adversary, and killed hiui. The historian, in continuation, 
relates the joy of the army at Godfrey's recovery. Long before this, Aristotle had correctly 
described the bear as " an omnivorous animal, Avhich, by the suppleness of its body, climbs trees 
and eats the fruits and vegetables. It also devours honey, having first broken up the hives ; crabs, 
too, and ants it eats, and also preys upon flesh." He then accurately describes how the animal 
attacks the stag, the boar, and even the ball. A more modern writer, the author of a " Tour 
on the Prairies," gives a similar description of the bear's love of honey, though in terms not 
quite so classical. " The bear," he says, " is the knowiugest varmint for finding out a bee-tree in 
the world. They'll gnaw for a day together at the trunk, till they make a hole big enough to 
get in their j)aws, and theu they'll haul out honey, bees, and all." 
Although the bear has loug been extirpated from England, the brown species was once 
indigenous there. Two or three centuries ago it was imported for baitmg, a sport in which the 
nobility, and even royalty itself, delighted. A bear-baiting was one of the recreations oftered to 
Queen Elizabeth in her celebrated visit to Kenilworth. In Southwark, about the same time, 
there was a regular "bear garden," Avhich disputed popularity with the Tower and Globe 
theaters. There was, and perhaps still is, a custom in the city of Oxford, to carry, on Christmas 
Day, a bear's head crowned with a wreath, before a procession. The origin of this is said to be 
that, in ancient times, that is, in the age of boars, a professor of the nniyersity, walking in the 
forest and reading Aristotle, Avas met by a bear, who set upon him with his mouth wide open. 
Upon this, the professor rammed the book into his throat, saying, ^'■liJat it, it is Greek Whe- 
ther the animal survived, we are not informed. 
In the early history of New England, the bears make a conspicuous figure, and from the 
earliest times it seems to have shared ynth. the wolf the privilege of being employed by nursery 
maids to scare children into obedience. It is, however, rarely a dangerous animal to man, 
excepting our American grizzly bear, even in his native forests. Some of the species are the 
r 
pets of menageries, especially in Europe, and not unfrequently they have been taught to dance 
and tumble in a manner exceedingly amusing to the spectators. The bear is almost as much a 
humorist, in his way, as the monkey, and the odd contrast between the gravity of his looks and 
the droUness of his capers is irresistibly ludicrous. 
