Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 8.djvu/214

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. VH. MAR. is, 1913.

LIONS IN THE TOWER. (11 S. vii. 150.)

IN Knight's ' London ' there is the following statement :

"The 'lions' departed from the Tower to die of the damps of the Zoological Gardens. But they were a part of the ancient regal magnificence, and we think they ought not to have been removed. We could wish again to see the living emblem of England in his ancient cell. The glory of the place seemed to us to have departed when the last old king of beasts left his mossy stone dwelling in the Lion Tower, where his predecessors haa dwelt for centuries with the kings of men, to take up with a wooden box, and to be fed by subscrip- tion." Vol. ii. p. 215.

This seems to have been written under a misapprehension of the facts. The lions were not in the Tower as " the living emblem of England." They were only part of a roy^l menagerie which was established as long ago as Henry I. (1100 to 1135), and consisted at times of lions, tigers, leopards, hyaenas, jackals, an elephant, bears, wild cats, lynxes, and monkeys. These were kept for amusement, and as being interesting to the people. The gate near the ticket - office by which the visitor enters the fortress is, I believe, still called Lions' Gate. The royal menagerie was on the site of the refreshment room, and close to the ticket - office. The few wild beasts remaining were removed to the Zoological Gardens accord- ing to Haydn, in 1831, and according to Hutchins in * London Town, Past and Pre- sent,' in 1834.

I can find no reference to the menagerie in W. Hepworth Dixon's ' Her Majesty's Tower,' but there is an interesting account of it in Harrison Ains worth's ' Tower of London,' pp. 240 to 251, from which I have taken the list of the animals before mentioned. He also describes what took place when Queen Mary came to the Tower to be amused with the wild beasts. This book contains pictures of the menagerie.

I have not got ' The Tower of London,' by Lord Ronald Sutherland Gower, F.S.A., to refer to. The expression about visitors coming to London " to see the lions," of course takes its rise from the menagerie being one of the principal sights of London before the Zoological Gardens were in exist- ence.

In Haydn's ' Dictionary of Dates ' it is stated that " a lion named Pompey died in the 'Tower of London' in 1760, after

seventy years* confinement." I have not been able to test the accuracy of the account given by Harrison Ainsworth. He seems to have relied on " Mr. Bayley's excellent and comprehensive work," and he quotes some original documents. I have not been able to consult this book.

I think I have stated enough to enable P. G. to get all the information he wants. HABBY B. POLAND.

Inner Temple.

The Tower menagerie originated in the reign of Henry III. with three leopards sent by the Emperor Frederic II. " in token of his regal shield of arms, wherein those leopards were pictured." In the same reign the Lions' Tower was enlarged for the reception of "the King's elephant," brought from France, and the first specimen seen in England. In the reign of James I. the Lions' Tower was improved and altered, and lion- and bear-baiting with dogs was freely indulged in. The Tower menagerie was, until the establishing of the Zoological Gardens, one of the show places of the town. The animals were transferred to Regent's Park in 1834, but the buildings were not removed until a few years later. According to Addison (in The Freeholder, No. 47), a lion was named after the reigning king, and it was popularly supposed that when the king died the lion bearing that name died after him. REGINALD JACOBS.

The keeping of wild animals was a custom of the kings of England from a very early date. Henry I. had a collection of lions and other beasts at his manor of Wood- stock. Henry III. moved them all to the Tower, where the royal menagerie remained till 1834, when its last occupants were removed to Regent's Park.

In 1252 Henry III. had a white bear sent him as a present from Norway, and the Sheriffs of London were commanded to pay 4d. a day for his maintenance; and in the following year an order was given them to provide a muzzle for the said bear, an iron chain, and a long and stout cord to hold him when he was fishing in the Thames. Two years after this an elephant was presented to the King by the King of France, and orders were given to the Sheriffs to build a house for him in the Tower.

In the succeeding reigns we find frequent mention of the King's lions and other animals. In Edward II. 's reign the Sheriffs were ordered to provide a quarter of mutton every day for one lion and three halfpence for his keeper. Afterwards the office of