Lions

notabilities, either persons or sights worthy of inspection; an expre ion dating from the times when the royal lions at the Tower, before the existence of Zoological Gardens and travelling menageries, were a London wonder, to visit which country cousins and strangers of eminence were constantly taken. Visitors taken round at Cambridge to see the sights are, or were, called LIONS . The origin of the Tower collection was the three leopards sent by the Emperor Frederic to Henry III., as a living illustration of the royal arms of England. In the roll of John de Crave be a dell, constable of the Tower ( B. M. Top. Collections , iii. p. 153), is a charge of 3 d. per day “in support of the leopard of our lord the king.” Edward III., when Prince of Wales, appears to have taken great interest in the animals; and after he became king, there was not only the old leopard, but “one lion, one lione , and two cat-lions,” says Stowe, “in the said Tower, committed to the custody of Robert, son of John Bowre.” The menagerie was only abolished in 1834; and the practice was to allow any person to enter gratis who brought with him a little dog to be thrown to the lions!— Dr. Doran’s Princes of Wales.