In 2 Henry VI. (v. 1. 148) we find a similar figure where York says to Clifford:—
"Call hither to the stake my two brave bears,
That with the very shaking of their chains
They may astonish these fell-lurking curs:
Bid Salisbury and Warwick come to me."
The amusing dialogue between Slender and Anne Page, in the Merry Wives of Windsor (i. 1. 307), may be added:—
"Slender. Why do your dogs bark so? be there bears i' the town?
Anne. I think there are, sir, I heard them talked of.
Slender. I love the sport well; but I shall as soon quarrel at it as any man in England.—You are afraid, if you see the bear loose, are you not?