Mr. Editor,--Some one of your readers may be interested in knowing
that there was a royal menagerie in the Tower of London in the reign
of Edward III. In the Issue Roll of the forty-fourth year of his
reign, 1370, there are five entries of payments made to "William de
Garderobe, keeper of the king's lions and leopards" there, at the rate
of 6d. a day for his wages, and 6d. a day for each beast.--pp. 25.
216. 298. 388. 429.
The number of "beasts" varied from four to seven. Two young lions are
specially mentioned; and a "lion lately sent by the Lord the Prince
from Gascony to England to the Lord the King."
[Greek: Phi]
[Our correspondent's NOTE is an addition to what Bayley has given
us on this subject; who tells us, however, that as early as 1252,
Henry III. sent to the Tower a white bear, which had been brought
to him as a present from Norway, when the Sheriffs of London were
commanded to pay four pence every day for its maintenance.]
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