The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction | Page 8

birth, The arbitress of pure Sincerity, Yet, changeable, (like
Proteus on the earth) Sometime in plenty, sometime joined with dearth.

Always to come, yet always present here, Whom all run after, none
come after near.
Impartial judge of all save present state Truth's Idioma of the things are
past, But still pursuing present things with hate, And more injurious at
the first than last, Preserving others while thine own do waste; True
treasurer of all antiquity, Whom all desire, yet never one could see.
FITZ JEFFREY.
* * * * *
WAR.
The poets old in their fond fables feign, That mighty Mars is god of
war and strife, The Astronomers think that whereas Mars doth reign,
That all debate and discord must be rife; Some think Bellona goddess
of that life. Among the rest that painter had some skill, Which thus in
arms did once set out the same:-- A field of gules, and on a golden hill,
A stately town consumed all with flame On chief of sable taken from
the dame, A sucking babe, oh! born to bide mischance Begored with
blood and pierced with a lance On high the Helm, I bear it well in mind,
The wreath was silver, powdered all with shot, About the which, goutte
du sang, did twine A roll of sable black, and foul be blot The crest two
hands which may not be forgot, For in the right a trenchant blade did
stand, And in the left a fiery, burning brand.
GASCOIGNE.
* * * * *

MANNERS & CUSTOMS OF ALL NATIONS.
* * * * *
CUSTOM OF BULL-BAITING AT GREAT GRIMSBY.

The amusement of bull-baiting is of such high antiquity in this country,
that Fitz-Stephen, who lived in the reign of Henry 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 fracturi colla Britanni."
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 23rd of October, 1499, for the
better government of the borough:
"Also, that no Bocher flee or kill no Bull flesche wtin this Burgh, nor
that none be brought to sell bot if the Bull be bayted openlye before the
Mair and his burgesses, peon of forfeitr. of ev'y default vj s. viij d. 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 befor usyd, upon peyn
of fortur of vj s. viij d."
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 show 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, and 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 1779, 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