goose forming a standing dish of the repast. This is
probably the origin of the custom which prevails at the present time
of eating geese at Michaelmas.

When the harvest was over, and the farmers were not so busy, they
often amused themselves by the cruel sport of baiting a bull. An old
gentleman who lived at Wokingham was so fond of this savage pastime
that he left in his will a sum of money for the purpose of providing
every year two bulls to be baited for the amusement of the people of
his native town. The bulls are still bought, but they are put to
death in a more merciful manner, and the meat given to the poor.
Amongst the hills in Yorkshire there is a small village, through
which a brook runs, crossed by two bridges, and having a stone wall
on each side. Thus, when the bridges were stopped up, there was
formed a wall-encircled space, into which, once a year, at least, a
poor bull was placed, to be worried to death by dogs, and within the
memory of men now living this cruel sport has been carried on.

Nor was this only a sport for ignorant rustics; kings and noble
courtiers, and even ladies, used to frequent the bear-gardens of the
metropolis, and witness with delight the slaughter of bulls, and
bears, and dogs. Erasmus tells us that in the reign of Henry VIII.
"many herds of bears were maintained in this country for the purpose
of baiting." Queen Elizabeth commanded bears, bulls, and the
ape to be baited in her presence, and James I. was not averse
to the sight. The following is a description of this barbarous
entertainment--"There is a place built in the form of a theatre,
which serves for baiting of bulls and bears. They are fastened
behind, and then worried by great English bull-dogs; but not without
risk to the dogs from the horns of the one and the teeth of the
other." Even horses were sometimes baited, and sometimes asses.
Evelyn, in his _Diary_, thus describes the strange sight--"June
16th, 1670. I went with some friends to the bear-garden, where was
cock-fighting, dog-fighting, bear and bull-baiting, it being a
famous day for all these butcherly sports, or rather barbarous
cruelties. The bulls did exceedingly well, but the Irish wolf-dog
exceeded, which was a tall greyhound, a stately creature indeed, who
beat a cruel mastiff. One of the bulls tossed a dog full into a
lady's lap, as she sat in one of the boxes at a considerable height
from the arena. Two poor dogs were killed, and so all ended with the