Page:A History of Domestic Manners and Sentiments in England During the Middle Ages.djvu/324

 3^4 Hiftory of Domejiic Manners CHAPTER XIV. AMUSEMENTS. PERFORMING BEARS. HAWKING AND HUNTING. RIDING. CARRIAGES. TRAVELLING. INNS AND TAVERNS. — HOSPITALITY. DURING the period of which we are treating, the fame rough fports were in vogue among the uneducated clalTes that had exifted for ages before, and which continued for ages after. Many of thefe were trials of ftrength, fuch as wrefthng and throwing weights, with archery, and other exercifes of that defcriptionj others were of a lefs civilifed charafter, fuch as cockfighting and bear and bull-baiting. Thefe latter were favourite araufements, and there was fcarcely a town or village of any magnitude which had not its bull-ring. It was a municipal ena6t- ment in all towns and cities that no butcher fliould be allowed to kill a bull until it had been baited. The bear was an animal in great favour in the middle ages, and was not only ufed for baiting, but was tamed and taught various performances. I have already, in a former chapter, given an example of a dancing bear under the Anglo-Saxons ; the accompanying cut (No. 199) is another, taken from a manufcript of the beginning of the thir- teenth century, in the Britifli jNIufeum (MS. Arundel. No. 91). I fear the fa6t cannot be con- cealed that the ladies of former days aliifted not unfrequently at thefe rough and unfeminine paftimes. There can be no doubt that they were cuftomary fpedators of the baiting of bulls and bears. Henry VIII. 's two