De Witt briefly notices the 'amphitheatrum' of the Bear Garden in 1596. He says:[1]
'Est etiam quintum sed dispari [vsu?] et structura, bestiarum
concertationi destinatum, in quo multi vrsi, tauri, et stupendae
magnitudinis canes discretis caueis et septis aluntur, qui ad pugnam
adseruantur, iocundissimum hominibus spectaculum praebentes.'
Hentzner, who visited London in the autumn of 1598, says:[2]
'Est et alius postea locus Theatri quoque formam habens, Ursorum
& Taurorum venationibus destinatus, qui à postica parte alligati à
magnis illis canibus & molossis Anglicis, quos lingua vernacula Docken
appellant, mire exagitantur, ita tamen, ut saepe canes isti ab Ursis vel
Tauris, dentibus arrepti, vel cornibus impetiti, de vita periclitari,
aliquando etiam animam exhalare soleant, quibus sic vel sauciis vel
lassis statim substituuntur alii recentes & magis alacres. Accedit
aliquando in fine hujus spectaculi Ursi plane excaecati flagellatio, ubi
quinque, vel sex, in circulo constituti, Ursum flagellis misere excipiunt,
qui licet alligatus auffugere nequeat, alacriter tamen se defendit, circumstantes,
& nimium appropinquantes, nisi recte & provide sibi caveant,
prosternit, ac flagella e manibus cadentium eripit atque confringit.'
To 1599 belongs the account of Thomas Platter of Basle:[3]
'The London bearbaitings usually take place every Sunday and
Wednesday, across the water. The play house is built in circular form;
above are a number of seated galleries; the ground space under the
open sky is unoccupied. In the midst of this a great bear is fastened
to a stake by a long rope. When we came down the stairs, we went
behind the play house, and saw the English dogs, of which there were
about 120 chained up, each in his separate kennel, in a yard.'
Platter also describes the actual baiting of the bull and bear
and of the blind bear, much as did his predecessors. On
7 September 1601 the Duc de Biron was taken to the Bear
Garden, as one of the sights of London, by no less a cicerone
than Sir Walter Raleigh.[4] A visit of 16 September 1602 is
described in the diary of Philip Julius, Duke of Stettin in
Pomerania.[5] The vogue of the Bear Garden amongst foreigners
- ↑ Cf. p. 362.
- ↑ Hentzner, 196; cf. p. 363.
- ↑ G. Binz in Anglia, xxii. 460, 'Man pfleget auch alle Sontag vnndt mittwochen zu Londen, yenseits desz wassers den Berenhatz zu halten. . . . Der Schauplatz ist in die Ründe gebauwen, sind oben herumb viel geng, darauf man zusicht, vnden am boden vnder dem heiteren Himmel ist es nicht besetzet. Da bande man in mitten desz platzes einen grossen Beeren an ein stock am langen seil an. . . . Wie wir die stegen hinunter kamen, gungen wir hinder den schauwplatz, besahen die Englischen docken, deren bey 120 in einem bezirk beysamen, yedoch yetwederer in einem sonderbahren ställin an einer kettin angeheftet wahren.'
- ↑ Hatfield MSS. xi. 382.
- ↑ G. von Bülow in 2 Transactions of the Royal Hist. Soc. vi. 16, '16 Sept. Auf den Nachmittag haben wir den Bär u. Stierhetze zugesehen . . . wohlmehr as 200 Hünde an selbigem Ort in einem besonderen Häuslein unterhalten'.
