iting of beasts, when "strong horn-goring bulls, or immense bears,
contend fiercely with dogs that are pitted against them."[177] In some
towns the law required that bulls intended for the butcher-shop should
first be baited for the amusement of the public before being led to
the slaughter-house. Erasmus speaks of the "many herds of bears" which
he saw in England "maintained for the purpose of baiting." The baiting
was accomplished by tying the bulls or bears to stakes, or when
possible releasing them in an amphitheatre, and pitting against them
bull-dogs, bred through centuries for strength and ferocity.
Occasionally other animals, as ponies and apes, were brought into the
fight, and the sport was varied in miscellaneous ways. Some of the
animals, by unusual courage or success, endeared themselves to the
heart of the sporting public. Harry Hunks, George Stone, and Sacarson
were famous bears in Shakespeare's time; and the names of many of the
"game bulls" and "mastiff dogs" became household words throughout
London.

[Footnote 177: "Pingues tauri cornupetae, seu vrsi immanes, cum
obiectis depugnant canibus."]

[Illustration: THE BANKSIDE

Showing the Bear- and Bull-baiting Rings. (From the _Map of London_ by
Braun and Hogenbergius, representing the city in 1554-1558.)]

[Illustration: THE BANKSIDE

This was the second district of London used for public playhouses.
Notice the amphitheatres for animal-baiting. (From William Smith's MS.
of the Description of England, _c._ 1580.)]

The home of this popular sport was the Bankside. The earliest extant
map of Southwark,[178] drawn about 1542, shows in the very centre of
High Street, just opposite London Bridge, a circular amphitheatre
marked "The Bull Ring"; and doubtless there were other places along
the river devoted to the same purpose. The baiting of bears was more
closely identified with the Manor of Paris Garden,[179] that section
of the Bank lying to the west of the Clink, over towards the marshes
of Lambeth. The association of bear-baiting with this particular
section was probably due to the fact that in early days the butchers
of London used a part of the Manor of Paris Garden for the disposal
of their offal,[180] and the entrails and other refuse from the
slaughtered beasts furnished cheap and abundant food for the bears and
dogs. The Earl of Manchester wrote to the Lord Mayor and the Common
Council, in 1664, that he had been informed by the master of His
Maje