The Fleet. Its Rivers, Prison, and Marriages 19

The Fleet. Its Rivers, Prison, and Marriages 19

"But now a Sport more formidable

Had rak'd together Village Rabble:

'Twas an old Way of recreating--

Which learned Butchers call Bear-Baiting:

A bold advent'rous Exercise,

With ancient Heroes in high Prize;

For Authors do affirm it came

From Isthmian or Nemean Game;

Others derive it from the Bear

That's fix'd in Northern Hemisphere,

And round about the Pole does make

A Circle like a Bear at Stake.

That at the Chain's End wheels about,

And overturns the Rabble Rout.

For, after solemn Proclamation

In the Bear's Name (as is the Fashion

According to the Law of Arms,

To keep men from inglorious Harms)

That none presume to come so near

As forty Foot of Stake of Bear;

If any yet be so foolhardy

T' expose themselves to vain Jeopardy;

If they come wounded off, and lame,

No honour's got by such a Maim;

Altho' the Bear gain much; b'ing bound

In Honour to make good his Ground,

When he's engag'd and takes no Notice,

If any press upon him, who 'tis,

But let's them know, at their own Cost,

That he intends to keep his Post."

 

Bear baiting was so identified, as a sport, to the London Citizens who

frequented Hockley-in-the-Hole, that we read that in 1709 Christopher

Preston, who then kept the Bear Garden, was attacked and partly eaten

by one of his own bears.

 

Bear Gardens are proverbially rough, and this place was no exception;

but there were two others in London where bears were baited, one at

Marrybone Fields (at the back of Soho Square), and at Tuttle or Tothill

Fields, at Westminster--thus showing the popularity of the Sports,

which was not declared illegal until 1835.

 

Of course in these our days, we know nothing of bear baiting, and if a

Pyrenean bear were now taken about the country, as I have frequently

seen them, even if he "danced to the genteelest of tunes," his

proprietor would be in danger of the judgment--some dear mollycoddling

old woman in trousers, belonging to some special "faddy" society, being

always ready to prosecute.

 

Bears not, at present, being indigenous to Britain, were naturally

scarce, so the homely and offensive Bull had to afford rough sport to

the multitude, and several towns now bear testimony to the popularity

of the sport of bull baiting in their "Bull rings" (Birmingham, to

wit). In the fourteenth century we know that even horses were baited

with dogs, and as long as fox hunting, coursing, or wild stag hunting,

are recognized as sports among us, I fail to see the superior cruelty

of our ancestors. It may be that people imagine that the larger the

animal, the greater the cruelty; but I cannot see it. Anyhow, far

earlier than the Bear garden of Hockley-in-the-Hole, both bear and bull

baiting were not only popular, but aristocratic amusements. Erasmus,

who visited England in Henry VIII.'s time, speaks of many herds of

bears being kept for baiting; and when Queen Mary visited her sister

the Princess Elizabeth, they were "right well content" with the bear

baiting. Nay, when she became Queen, Elizabeth was a great patron of

the _sport_; for when, on May 25, 1559, she entertained the French

Ambassadors, as an after-dinner spectacle, she gave them some bull and

bear baiting. Her delight in this diversion did not decrease with age,

for, twenty-seven years later, she provided the same amusement for

the delectation of the Danish Ambassador. Paul Hentzner, who visited

England in 1598, speaking of this sport, says:--"There is still another

Place, built in the Form of a Theatre, which serves for the baiting

of Bulls and Bears; they are fastened behind, and then worried by the

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 upon the Spot; fresh ones are immediately

supplied in the Place 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 any 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, and tearing the Whips out of their

Hands, and breaking them."

 

And, again are we indebted to a foreigner for a description of a bull

baiting, thus realizing Burns' aspiration seeing "oursen as others see

us," _vide Misson_.

 

"Here follows the Manner of those Bull Baitings which are so much

talk'd of: They tie a Rope to the Root of the Ox or Bull, and fasten

the other End of the Cord to an Iron Ring fix'd to a Stake driven into

the Ground; so that this Cord being 15 Foot long, the Bull is confin'd

to a Sphere of about 30 Foot Diameter. Several Butchers, or other

Gentlemen, that are desirous to exercise their Dogs, stand round about,

each holding his own by the Ears; and, when the Sport begins, they let

loose one of the Dogs; The Dog runs at the Bull: the Bull immovable,

looks down upon the Dog with an Eye of Scorn, and only turns a Horn to

him to hinder him from coming near: the Dog is not daunted at this, he

runs round him, and tries to get beneath his Belly, in order to seize

him by the Muzzle, or the Dew lap, or the pendant Glands: The Bull then

puts himself into a Posture of Defence; he beats the Ground with his

Feet, which he joins together as close as possible, and his chief Aim

is not to gore the Dog with the Point of his Horn, but to slide one of

them under the Dog's Belly (who creeps close to the Ground to hinder

it) and to throw him so high in the Air that he may break his Neck in

the Fall. This often happens: When the Dog thinks he is sure of fixing

his Teeth, a turn of the Horn, which seems to be done with all the

Negligence in the World, gives him a Sprawl thirty Foot high, and puts

him in danger of a damnable Squelch when he comes down. This danger

would be unavoidable, if the Dog's Friends were not ready beneath him,

some with their Backs to give him a soft Reception, and others with

long Poles which they offer him slant ways, to the Intent that, sliding

down them, it may break the Force of his Fall. Notwithstanding all this

care, a Toss generally makes him sing to a very scurvy Tune, and draw

his Phiz into a pitiful Grimace: But, unless he is totally stunn'd

with the Fall, he is sure to crawl again towards the Bull, with his

old Antipathy, come on't what will. Sometimes a second Frisk into the

Air disables him for ever from playing his old Tricks; But, sometimes,

too, he fastens upon his Enemy, and when he has seiz'd him with his Eye

teeth, he sticks to him like a Leech, and would sooner die than leave

his Hold. Then the Bull bellows, and bounds, and Kicks about to shake

off the Dog; by his Leaping the Dog seems to be no Manner of Weight

to him, tho in all Appearance he puts him to great Pain. In the End,

either the Dog tears out the Piece he has laid Hold on, and falls, or

else remains fix'd to him, with an Obstinacy that would never end, if

they did not pull him off. To call him away, would be in vain; to give

him a hundred blows would be as much so; you might cut him to Pieces

Joint by Joint before he would let him loose. What is to be done then?

While some hold the Bull, others thrust Staves into the Dog's Mouth,

and open it by main Force. This is the only Way to part them."

 

But the dogs did not always get the best of it--many a one was gored

and killed by the bull. Cruelty, however, would scarcely rest content

with simple bull baiting. It was improved upon, as we see in the

following advertisement. "At the _Bear Garden_ in _Hockley in the

Hole_, 1710. This is to give notice to all Gentlemen, Gamsters, and

Others, That on this present _Monday_ is a Match to be fought by two

Dogs, one from _Newgate_ Market against one of _Honey Lane_ Market, at

a Bull, for a Guinea to be spent. Five Let goes out off Hand, which

goes fairest and farthest in, Wins all; like wise a _Green Bull_ to be

baited, which was never baited before, and a Bull to be turned loose

with Fire works all over him; also a Mad Ass to be baited; With variety

of Bull baiting, and Bear baiting; and a Dog to be drawn up with Fire

works."[57]

 

I cannot, however, consider this as an ordinary programme, and it was

evidently so considered at the time; for a book was advertised in the

_Tatler_, January 3-5, 1709 (1710):--"This Day is published The Bull

Baiting or Sach----ll[58] dressed up in Fire works; lately brought

over from the Bear Garden in Southwark, and exposed for the Diversion

of the Citizens of London: at 6d. a piece." But Steele in No. cxxxiv.

of the _Tatler_, condemns the cruelty of the age, and says he has

"often wondered that we do not lay aside a custom which makes us appear

barbarous to nations much more rude and unpolished than ourselves. Some

French writers have represented this diversion of the common people

much to our disadvantage, and imputed it to natural fierceness and

cruelty of temper, as they do some other entertainments peculiar to

our nation: I mean those elegant diversions of bull baiting and prize

fighting, with the like ingenious recreations of the Bear-garden.

I wish I knew how to answer this reproach which is cast upon us, and

excuse the death of so many innocent cocks, bulls, dogs, and bears, as

have been set together by the ears, or died untimely deaths, only to

make us sport."

 

Of all the places where these cruel pastimes were practised, certainly

Hockley-in-the-Hole, bore off the palm for blackguardism; and it is

thus mentioned in an essay of Steele's in the _Tatler_ (No. xxviii.),

 

"I have myself seen Prince Eugene make Catinat fly from the backside of

Grays Inn Lane to Hockley-in-the-Hole, and not give over the pursuit,

until obliged to leave the Bear Garden, on the right, to avoid being

borne down by fencers, wild bulls, and monsters, too terrible for the

encounter of any heroes, but such as their lives are livelihood." To

this mention of Hockley-in-the-Hole, there is, in an edition of 1789,

a footnote (p. 274), "There was a sort of amphitheatre here, dedicated

originally to bull-baiting, bear-baiting, prize fighting, and all

other sorts of _rough-game_; and it was not only attended by butchers,

drovers, and great crowds of all sorts of mobs, but likewise by Dukes,

Lords, Knights, Squires, &c. There were seats particularly set apart

for the quality, ornamented with old tapestry hangings, into which

none were admitted under half a crown at least. Its neighbourhood was

famous for sheltering thieves, pickpockets, and infamous women; and for

breeding bulldogs."

 

Bull baiting died hard, and in one famous debate in the House of

Commons, on 24th of May, 1802, much eloquence was wasted on the

subject, both _pro._ and _con._, one hon. gentleman (the Right Hon. W.

Windham, M.P. for Norwich), even trying to prove that the bull enjoyed

the baiting. Said he, "It would be ridiculous to say he felt no pain;

yet, when on such occasions he exhibited no signs of terror, it was a

demonstrable proof that he felt some pleasure." Other hon. gentlemen

defended it on various grounds, and, although Wilberforce and Sheridan

spoke eloquently in favour of the abolition of the practice, they

were beaten, on a division, by which decision Parliament inflicted a

standing disgrace, for many years, upon the English Nation.