Howl, all ye dogs; roar, all ye bulls and bears!
Ye butchers, weep! for ye, no doubt, are grievers,
And sound his loss with marrow-bones and cleavers.
Wells is no more! Yet death has been so kind
That he hath left the bulls and bears behind."
One of the newspapers of the day says: "By the decease of Mr. Wells, the original Bear-garden in Hockley in the Hole is now likely to be thronged, especially since all the old gamesters are resolved to bait every Monday and Thursday; and the gladiators have promised frequently to try their skill there; the brutes to box; the furmity and hasty-pudding eaters to cobble down their hot guttage at Madam Preston's, and at no other place."
The French Comedians appear to have met with little encouragement at the Haymarket. Aaron Hill announced himself manager and director of a new company formed by ladies and gentlemen who had never before appeared on any stage, with the aid of scenery quite novel and upon an improved plan. He opened with his own play of "Henry the Fifth" in December 1721.
The prognostick relating to the Bear-garden in
a preceding paragraph seems to have been realized in June 1722 by the following extract from the London Journal: "Boxing in public at the Bear-garden is what has lately obtained very much among the men; but till last week we never heard of women being engaged that way, when two of the feminine gender appeared for the first time on the Theatre of War at Hockley in the Hole, and maintained the battle with great valour for a long time, to the no small satisfaction of the spectators. The challenge and answer of these females being originals, we give them to our readers:
"I Elizabeth Wilkinson, of Clerkenwell, having had some words with Hannah Hyfield, and requiring satisfaction, do invite her to meet me on the Stage, and box with me for three guineas, each woman holding half a crown in each hand, and the first woman that drops her money to lose the battle."