Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 7.djvu/280

272 NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. vn. apbil 5,1913. The story of the gentleman who got left behind in s tunnel on the Brighton line is told by Mr. Ac worth in 'Railways of England' (1889), as extracted from The Globe, but the date of the newspaper is not furnished. The adventure must have happened in the early forties. An engine was sent to retrieve the disconnected carriage truck, and when the gentleman saw it enter the tunnel on the same line of rails as he was on, he believed that his last hour had come. H. G. Archer. Lions in the Tower (11 S. vii. 150, 210). —In ' The History and Antiquities of the Tower of London ' (1825), by John Bailey, Esq., F.R.S., F.S.A., M.R.I.A., &c, i. 269, is this description of ' The Royal Menagerie ': "The keeping of ferocious animals of distant nations seems to have been a custom with our monarchs from a very early period: we are in- formed that king Henry the First had a collection of lions, leopards, and other strange beasts at his manor of Woodstock, and in subsequent ages wo discover frequent mention of them, as kept in the Tower of London. In 1252 king Henry the Third sent to the Tower a white bear, which had been brought to him as a present from Norway, and the sheriffs of London were commanded to pay four pence every day for his maintenance; and. in the following year, an order was also given to them to provide a muzzle for the said bear, and an iron chain to hold him out of the water, and likewise a loan and stout cord to hold him when fishing in the river Thames. " Two years after this an elephant was presented to the king, by Lewis king of France ; he was landed at Sandwich, to the great astonishment of the people, who crowded to see him from all parts of the oountry; and, being brought to London, the king gave directions to the sheriffs of London to oause a house to be built for him in the Tower, forty feet long by twenty wide. "In the succeeding reigns we also tind frequent mention of the king's lions, leopards, bears, and other wild animals, kept in the Tower. In the time of Edward the Second the sheriffs of London were directed to provide a quarter of mutton every day for the king's lion there, and to pay three halfpence daily to his keeper; and it is curious to notice, that about the same time frequent orders were given to pay sixpence per diem for the maintenance of the king's lion, and the like for his leopard, and throe halfpence daily for the wages of their keepers, when several esquires, who were confined there as prisoners, were allowed but a penny a day eaoh for their support. " The office of keeper of the lions, and other wild beasts in the Tower, was at later periods granted by letters patent with the fee of twelve pence per diem, and six pence every day were also allowed for the maintenance of each of the lions, lionesses, and leopards. King Henry the Sixth gave the office first to Robert Mansfield, esq., marshall of his hall, and subsequently to Thomas Rookes his dapifer. Edward the Fourth gave it to Ralph Hastings, esquire, for life ; Richard the Third con- ferred it on sir Robert Brakenbury, the lieutenant of the Tower, and king Henry the Seventh, imme- diately after his accession, granted the office, to- gether with that of constable of the Tower, to John earl of Oxford, with the accustomed fees and perquisites. " King James the First sometimes amused him- self and his court here with combats between these animals, and by baiting them with dogs. We are told that on the third of June, 1604, he took with him the duke of Lenox, with divers earls and lords, and caused a lion and lioness to be put forth, and a live cook to be thrown to them ; ' which being their natural enemy, they immediately killed and suoked the blood'; a lamb was next put in, yet this they did not offer to hurt; but next when the king ordered a fresh lion to be brought out and two mastiffs to be let in upon him, a furious battle ensued. Afterwards a spaniel was cast into a lion's den, but the lion and he became friends and lived together for several years. " In 1609, another of these exhibitions took place, which was attended by the king and queen, prince Henry, and many of the nobility. A bear having killed a child was doomed to punishment, and accordingly was brought into an open yard and a lion turned out to meet him ; but the lion declined an attack, and retired again to his den, and others which were tried proved equally shy ; after which the king commanded him to be baited to death with dogs. "Most of the beasts and birds kept at the Tower are presents to the king and royal family, either from foreign princes, or from naval and military officers returning from abroad. The menagerie was formerly very fine and extensive, but now, perhaps from bad management, or the inexperience of their keepers, many of the beasts have died, and the collection is greatly diminished." Bailey gives his authority for what he wrote in a number of notes which I have not thought it necessary to copy. It will be noticed that this extract deals with some of the same matters which two of your correspondents — Mr. Reginald Jacobs and Lady Russell—have dealt with in their interesting replies. Harry B. Poland. Inner Temple. The difference of tradition as to which monarch foimded the menagerie in the Tower of London — Sir Harry Poland gives the credit to Henry I., and Lady Russell to Henry III.—is further accentu- ated by the reference to this establishment in Ince and Gilbert's ' Outlines of English History' (Kent, 1867). In a description of the principal events of the reign of Edward III. the following occurs : " The King originated the menagerie in the Tower of London; this show was removed to Regent's Park in 1834." T. H. Barrow.