"And when
he is taken he is made blinde with a bright basin, and bound with
chaynes, and compelled to playe." This, however, says Mr. Aldis
Wright,[355] probably refers to the actual blinding of the bear.

[355] "Notes on Julius Caesar," 1878, p. 134.

A favorite amusement with our ancestors was bear-baiting. As early as
the reign of Henry II. the baiting of bears by dogs was a popular game
in London,[356] while at a later period "a royal bear-ward" was an
officer regularly attached to the royal household. In "2 Henry VI." (v.
1), this personage is alluded to by Clifford, who says:

"Are these thy bears? We'll bait thy bears to death,
And manacle the bear-ward in their chains,
If thou dar'st bring them to the baiting place."

[356] "Notices Illustrative of the Drama and other Popular
Amusements," incidentally illustrating Shakespeare and his
contemporaries, extracted from the MSS. of Leicester, by W.
Kelly, 1865, p. 152.

And again, in "Much Ado About Nothing" (ii. 1), Beatrice says, "I will
even take sixpence in earnest of the bear-ward, and lead his apes into
hell." The synonymous term, "bear-herd," occurs in "Taming of the Shrew"
(Ind. scene 2), where Sly speaks of himself as "by transmutation a
bear-herd;" and in "2 Henry IV." (i. 2), Sir John Falstaff remarks how
"true valor is turned bear-herd." Among the Harleian MSS.[357] is
preserved the original warrant of Richard III. appointing John Brown to
this office, and which recites "the diligent service he had done the
king" as the ground for granting him the privilege of wandering about
the country with his bears and apes, and receiving the "loving
benevolence and favors of the people."[358] In the time of Queen
Elizabeth bear-baiting was still a favorite pastime, being considered a
fashionable entertainment for ladies of the highest rank.[359] James I.
encouraged this sport. Nichols[360] informs us that on one occasion the
king, accompanied by his court, took the queen, the Princess Elizabeth,
and the two young princes to the Tower to witness a fight between a lion
and a bear, and by the king's command the bear (which had killed a child
that had been negligently left in the bear-house) was afterwards "baited
to death upon a stage in the presence of many spectators." Popular, says
Mr. Kelly, as bear-baiting was in the metropolis and at court, it was
equally so among all classes of the people.[361] It is on record that at
Congleto