BEAR BAITING--MASTERS OF THE BEARS AND DOGS--EDWARD ALLEYN--THE FALCON
TAVERN, &C.
The Bull and the Bear baiting, on the Bankside, seem to have preceded,
in point of time, the several other ancient theatres of the metropolis.
The precise date of their erection is not ascertained, but a Bear-garden
on the Bankside is mentioned by one Crowley, a poet, of the reign of
Henry VIII., as being at that time in existence. He informs us, that the
exhibitions were on a Sunday, that they drew full assemblies, and that
the price of admission was then one halfpenny!
“What follie is this to keep with danger,
A great mastive dog, and fowle ouglie bear;
And to this end, to see them two fight,
With terrible tearings, a ful ouglie sight.
And methinkes those men are most fools of al,
Whose store of money is but very smal;
And yet every _Sunday_ they wil surely spend
One penny or two, the bearward’s living to mend.
“At _Paris garden_ each _Sunday_, a man shal not fail
To find two or three hundred for the bearwards vale,
_One halfpenny_ apiece they use for to give,
When some have no more in their purses, I believe;
Wel, at the last day, their conscience wil declare,
That the poor ought to have al that they may spare.
If you therefore give to see a bear fight,
Be sure God his curse upon you wil light!”
Whether these “rough games,” as a certain author terms them, were then
exhibited in the same or similar amphitheatres, to those afterwards
engraved in our old plans, or in the open air, the extract does not
inform us. Nor does Stowe’s account afford any better idea. He merely
tells us, that there were on the west bank “_two bear gardens_, the
_old_ and the _new_; places, wherein were kept beares, bulls, and other
beasts to be bayted; as also mastives in several kenels, nourished to
bayt them. These beares and other beasts,” he adds, “are there kept in
plots of ground, scaffolded about, for the beholders to stand safe.”
In Aggass’s plan, taken 1574, and the plan of Braun, made about the same
time, these plots of ground are engraved, with the addition of two
_circi_, for the accommodation of the spectators, bearing the names of
the “_Bowll Baytyng_, and the _Beare Baytinge_.” In both plans, the
buildings appear to be completely circular, and were evidently intended
as humble imitations of the ancient Roman amphitheatre. They stood in
two adjoining fields, separated only by a small slip of land; but some
differences are observable in the spots on which they are built.
In Aggas’s plan, which is the earliest, the disjoining slip of land
contains only one large pond, common to the two places of exhibition;
but in Braun, this appears divided into three ponds, besides a similar
conveniency near each theatre. The use of these pieces of water is very
well explained in Brown’s Travels, (1685) who has given a plate of the
“Elector of Saxony his beare garden at Dresden,” in which is a large
pond, with several bears amusing themselves in it; his account of which
is highly curious:
“In the hunting-house, in the old town,” says he, “are fifteen bears,
very well provided for, and looked unto. They have _fountains_ and
_ponds_, to wash themselves in, wherein they much delight: and near to
the pond are high _ragged posts_ or _trees_, set up for the bears to
climb up, and _scaffolds_ made at the top, to sun and dry themselves;
where they will also sleep, and come and go as the keeper calls them.”
The ponds, and dog-kennels, for the bears on the Bankside, are clearly
marked in the plans alluded to; and the construction of the
amphitheatres themselves may be tolerably well conceived,
notwithstanding the smallness of the scale on which they are drawn. They
evidently consisted, within-side, of a lower tier of circular seats for
the spectators, at the back of which, a sort of screen ran all round, in
part open, so as to admit a view from without, evident in Braun’s
delineation, by the figures who are looking through, on the outside. The
buildings are unroofed, and in both plans shown during the time of
performance, which in Aggas’s view is announced by the display of little
flags or streamers on the top. The dogs are tied up in slips near each,
ready for the sport, and the combatants actually engaged in Braun’s
plan. Two little houses for retirement are at the head of each theatre.
The amusement of bear-baiting in England existed, however, long before
the mention here made of it. In the Northumberland Household Book,
compiled in the reign of Henry VII., enumerating “al maner of rewardis
customable usede yearely to be yeven by my Lorde to strangers, as
players, mynstraills, or any other strangers, whatsomever they be,” are
the following:
“Furst, my Lorde usith and accustomyth to gyff yerely, the Kinge or
the Queene’s barwarde. If they have one, when they custome to com unto
hym, yearely--vj. s. viij. d.”
“Item, my Lorde usith and accustomyth to gyfe yerly, when his
Lordshipe is at home, to his barward, when he comyth to my Lorde in
Christmas, with his Lordshippe’s beests, for makynge of his Lordship
pastyme, the said xij. days--xx. s.”
[Illustration: ~The Bear Garden in Southwark~, A. D. 1574.