The amusement of bull-baiting is of such high antiquity in this country, that Fitz-Stephen, who lived in the reign of Hen. II. tells us it was, at that early period, the common entertainment of the young Londoners during the winter season; and Claudian says of the English mastiffs, Magnaque taurorum fraeturi colla Britani. The county of Lincoln is eulogized by Fuller as producing superior dogs for the sport; and in Grimsby bull-baiting was pursued with such avidity, that, to increase its importance, and prevent the possibility of its falling into disuse, it was made the subject of an official regulation of the magistracy. It had been practised within the borough from time immemorial, but about the beginning of the reign of Henry VII. the butchers finding it both troublesome and inconvenient to provide animals for the public amusement, endeavoured to evade the requisition; but it was made imperative upon them by the following edict of the Mayor and Burgesses, which was incorporated into a code of ordinances that were made and agreed to on the 22nd of October 1499, for the better government of the borough: "Also that no Bocher flee or kill no Bull flesche within this Burgh, nor that none be brought to sell bot if the Bull be bayted openlye before the Mair and his burgesses, peon forfeitr of ev'y default vjs. viijd. Also that the Bochers of this Francheis, and al others that kepe slaughter shopes and kill flesche in this Francheis, to sell, mak onys yerly befor the Mair and his burgesses one Bull-bayting, at convenient Tyme of the yere, according to the custom of this Francheis before usyd, upon peyn of forfeitur of vjs. viijd." In the reign of Charles I. an instance occurs of the violation of this ordinance; and it is formally recorded in the Mayor's Court Book, that a fine was imposed by the chamberlains on Robert Camm, for "killing a bull, and not first baiting him, according to the custom of the corporation." These sports were conducted with great cruelty. To make the animal furious, gunpowder was frequently flashed up his nose, and pepper blown into his nostrils; and if this failed to make him shew game, his flesh was lacerated, and aquafortis poured into the wound. About sixty years ago, a bull was put to the stake at Grimsby; but the animal proving too tame, one William Hall put a spike or brad into his stick, and goaded the poor creature until the blood flowed copiously from several parts of his body; and at length, by continually irritating the lacerated parts, the bull became enraged, end roaring in the extremity of his torture, succeeded in tossing his assailant, to the infinite gratification of his cruel persecutors. It is recorded, to the credit of Mr. Alderman Hesleden, that during his Mayoralty in 1799, the annual exhibition was disallowed; from which time the custom declined, although some instances of this inhuman pastime have subsequently occurred. Strutt says, that in some of the market towns of England, the Bull-rings to which the unfortunate animals were fastened, are remaining to the present time. At Grimsby, the arena where this brutal ceremony was performed, is still distinguished by the name of the "Bull-ring." The ancient stone and ring were removed about thirty years since, but the chain is still in possession of the chamberlains, who pass it annually to their successors; and it is sometimes applied to the purpose of fastening up a gate, when a distress is made on a field belonging to the corporation for rent; but its primitive use is wholly superseded by the abolition of the amusement. Gent's. Mag. THE MISER AND THE PRODIGAL. The Miser keeps what he has; the Prodigal borrows money of his acquaintance to treat his friends, never intending to repay it. Which is the most hateful of the two characters? The subject has often been discussed, and the Miser been pronounced the most heartless, because the Prodigal may be said to act without thought,-be this as it may, the latter is, in society, the most dangerous character. INDEX TO VOLUME THE SIXTH. ANECDOTIANA, 15, 31, 47, 63, 79, 95, 96, 111, 127, 143, 159, 175, 191, 207, 223, CREAM OF THE ANNUALS, 338, 433 CUSTOMS OF VARIOUS COUNTRIES, 15, 95, 110, 127, 159, 175, 191, 207, 223, DIARY AND CHRONOLOGY in each Number. FINE ARTS, 92, 93, 122, 123, 158, 209, 318, 334, 382, 430 HISTORIC RECORDS, 378 ILLUSTRATED ARTICLES in each Number. ILLUSTRATIONS OF HISTORY, 219, 237, 286, 301, 318, 366, 380, 398, 460, 478 NATURALIST, THE, 94, 124, 207, 330, 413, 402 NOTE BOOK, 30, 31, 62, 78, 109, 126, 127, 142, 143, 158, 173, 175, 206, 222, NOTICES OF NEW Books, 91, 133, 141, 142, 205, 251, 253, 271, 283, 285, 382, ORIGINS, 31 ORIGINAL AND SELECTED POETRY in every Number. ROMANCES AND HISTORIETTES, 1, 17, 33, 49, 65, 86, 97, 113, 129, 145, 161, ROYAL PORTRAITS, 26, 43, 121, 157, 190, 253, 316 SELECT BIOGRAPHY, 5, 81, 125 SNATCHES FROM OBLIVION, 218, 414, 477 Temple of Pallas, The, 433 Customs of Various Countries. Beating the Bounds, 334 - mode of Fishing, 367 Greek Marriage Ceremonies, 399 May Bough and Oaken Canopy, The, Moorish Wooing and Wedding, 191 of our own Country, 238 Twelfth Day, 485 Death on, 455 Diary and Thronology In each Number. Chesterfield and Fanny, 435 Explanations, 359 Fragments from an Author's Common- French Gentleman's Letter, 364 George IV. Anecdotes of, 20 Recollections of, 36 Funeral Obsequies of, 52 Titles and other honorary distinc- Genius, The Fate of, 451 Cock, Fox, and the Farm-yard Dog, High Notions, 110 The,-(An Apologue) 447 Dead and Living Husband, 438 Great Grandmother's Harpsichord, My, 337 Lovers of Vire, The, 351 Orphans, The, 444 Residuary Legatee, The, 441 Trial, The, 347 True Tale of Shipwreck, 344 Illustrations of History. Britain, Abandonment of, by the Ro Cardinals Hats, 317 Compass, Substitute for the, 286 English dread of French Invasion, 380 Inn Yards-The Golden Cross, Char- Chinese Advertisement, 206 ing Cross (A Sketch), 471 Johnson, Dr., 83 King of the Spiders, The, 187 Letters, 138 Londoniana. Bennet, St. Gracechurch-street, 413 Bucklersbury, 412 Cranbourn Alley, ib. Dunstan's, St. in the West, 236 Gravel Lane, New, Shadwell, ib. Lone Man, The, 71 Lord Mayor's Shew, My first, 310 City Magnificence, 302 Cure for Broken Shins, 415 Envy, 431 Corns, 463 Curious Notice, 287 Custom, Ancient, 318 Definitions, 415 Derivations, 158 Druids, The, 254 Dyeing, 382 Echo, An, 399 Edward I, 331 England at the Accession of Charles I., Faith and Practice, Three Essential Fees of Knighthood, 415 Louis, King of Holland, Anecdotes of, God's Enemy, 236 the, 188 Table, Pen and Ink, 127 Guilty Conscience, a, needs no accu- Gustavus Adolphus, 461 Hedge Priests, 254 Hindu Miracle, 270 MS. of a Naval Officer, Extracts from Hindoe Ape, a, 62 Satrap, 331 Seal, Curious, 223 Library of Entertaining Knowledg Narrative of the French Revolutis Old English Drama, Parts 5, 6 and Rogers's Italy, 251 Rogerson's Temporis Calendarium, 4 Tanner's Residence among the Amer Qrigins. Go to Bath and get your head shaved, Overdone, an Anecdote, 195 Parks, Historical Account of the, 104, Parish Clerks, 323 Poets, Self-taught, Stephen Duck, 482 Original and Selected Poetry. 1 Ancient Britons, 150 Sharp-edged Bridge and unavoidable Alarming Intelligence, 231 Passage, 254 Shew Bread, 287 Simon de Montford, 331 Starch, 431 Suburban Improvements, 142 Tiberius, why called Callipedes, 126 Turkish Curer, 109 Vegetable Life, Prolongation of, 31 William IV. his Early Life, 109 Ballad a la Bayley, 245 Book's, The, Address to its Inspectors, 294 Cawdor Castle, 133 Effect without a Cause, 27 from the French, 232 George IV. Lines on the Death of, 73 Guerilla's Farewell, The, 69 Guy Fawkes, The Last, 309 Horrible Stanzas, 406 Johnson Willow in Stow Meadows,183 Legend of the Rhine, 359 Lines of Lord Cornwallis to his Daugh- Lunatic Lays, 100, 178, 263 MORALS FROM FLOWERS- Flowers 292 |