pp 132-3 (August-September)
...
Sunt porró Londini extra Urbem Theatra aliquot, in quibus Histriones Angli Comœdias & Tragœdias singulis feré diebus, in magnâ hominum frequentia agunt, quas varijs etiam saltationibus, suavissimâ adhibitâ Musicâ, magno cum populi applausu finire solent... Est & alius postea locus Theatri quoque formam habens, Vrsorum & Taurorum venationibus destinatus, qui á posticâ parte alligati á magnis illis canibus & molossis Anglicis, quos linguâ vernaculâ Docken appellant, miré exagitantur, ita tamen, ut saepé canes isti ab Ursis vel Tauris, dentibus arrepti, vel cornibus impetiti, de vitá periclitari, aliquando etiam animam exhalare soleant, quibus sic vel saucijs vel lassis statim substituuntur alij recentes & magis alacres. Accedit aliquando in fine huius spectaculi, Ursi plané excæcati flagellatio, ubi quinque vel sex, in circulo constituti, Ursum flagellis miseré excipiunt, qui licet alligatus auffugere nequeat, alacriter tamen se defendit, circumstantes, & nimium appropinquantes, nisi recté & providé sibi caveant, prosternit, ac flagella é manibus cædentium eripit atque confringit. Vtuntur in hisce spectaculis sicut & alibi, ubicunque locorum sint Angli, |herbâ Nicotiana, quam Americano idiomate Tabacam nuncupant (Pætum alij dicunt) hoc modo frequentissimé; Fistulæ in hunc finem ex argillâ factæ, orificio posteriori dictam herbam probe exiccatam, ita ut in pulverem facilé redigi possit, immittunt, & igne admoto accendunt, undé fumus ab anteriori parté ore attrahitur, qui per nares rursum, tanquam per infurnibulum exit, & phlegma ac capitis defluxiones magnâ copiâ secum educit. Circumferuntur insuper in hisce theatris varij fructus venales, ut poma, pyra, nuces & pro ratione temporis, etiam vinum & cerevisia.
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pp 132–3 (August–September)
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Furthermore, outside the city there are a number of theatres, in which English actors perform, almost every day, tragedies and comedies amidst a great crowd of people. These are generally concluded with various dances with very agreeable music employed, and with the great applause of the people... There is still another place, also having the form of a theatre, which is intended for the baiting (lit. hunting) of bulls and bears, who, fastened from behind, are exceedingly harassed by large dogs and English mastiffs - which in the vernacular are called 'Docken' - but so that often those dogs, being seized by the teeth or attacked by the horns, by the bears or bulls, are often in mortal danger, and even sometimes die. Fresh and keener ones are immediately supplied in the places of those that are wounded, or tired.
The whipping of a fully blinded bear sometimes occurs at the end of this entertainment, where five or six standing in a circle, fall upon the bear pitiably with whips. And, although being tethered he is unable to flee, nevertheless he defends himself with spirit. He throws down those standing around who get too close unless they rightly and providently watch out for themselves, and he tears the whips out of the hands of those who strike (him), and breaks them. At these entertainments, and everywhere else they happen to be | the English constantly use, in following manner, the plant nicotiana, which in the American idiom they call 'tobacco'; others say 'paetum.' They put the said herb, which has been dried so that it can easily be made into powder, into a hole at the back end of a pipe made for this purpose from clay, and light it by applying a flame. Smoke is drawn into the mouth by the front end, and it goes back out through the nostrils, as if through a funnel. It brings out with it a great deal of phlegm and discharge of the head. In these theatres, moreover, various fruits, such as apples, pears and nuts, according to the season, are carried about to be sold, as well as wine and ale.
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Although the playhouses outside the city are not specified, both the Rose and the Swan were in operation on the Bankside, near the bearbaiting arena at the Bell and Cock.
For an abstract of this record and details of its transcription in other printed sources, see the related EMLoT event and associated records.
Record title: Paul Hentzner, Eyewitness Account of
Bearbaiting
Author: Hentzner
Work title: Paul Hentzner's Itinerarium
Paul
Hentzner (1558-1623) was a German lawyer and traveller. In 1596
he embarked on a three-year tour through Switzerland, France,
England, and Italy in company with Christopher Rehdiger, the son of
a noble family of Striesa.
On 28 August 1598 they crossed
the Channel, landing at Rye before proceeding to London and beyond
into the provinces. Upon his return home he published this account
in Latin of his travels in 1612. Two further editions followed in
the early seventeenth century, with more to follow in later
centuries, including Horace Walpole's publication of a translation
by Richard Bentley of the English section of the journey, A
Journey into England by Paul Hentzner, in the Year
M.D.XC.VIII (Strawberry Hill, 1757). See further L.L.
Ford, 'Hentzner, Paul (1558–1623), writer and traveller,'
ODNB, accessed 20 December 2022.
ITINERARIVM | GERMANIAE, | GALLIAE; | ANGLIAE; | ITALIAE; | Scriptum | á | PAULO HENTZNERO J.C. | Illustrissimi | Monsterbergensium ac Olssnensium | DVCIS, | CAROLI, | Sacri Rom. Imperij PRINCIPIS, | & Supremi | Per utramq' Silesiam CAPITANEI &c. | CONSILIARIO: | Cum | Indice Locorum, Rerum atq; Verbo- | rum memorabilium. | NORINBERGAE, | Sumtibus AUTORIS, & typis ABRAHAMI | VVagenmanni excusum. | [rule] | [1612]. Catchwords.