It would appear that a bear, accompanied by some sort of bear handler arrives in town, or perhaps in Congleton, there were several resident bears. Local people have dogs that they set on the bear and there is some form of wagering going on. I confess I am not totally conversant with the sport. I believe that the bear baiting, although it is sometimes attended by women, is more popular with men and might serve the same purpose as Sunday football in encouraging lace making among the female population. Alternatively, the bear baiting might have been extremely popular in the 17th century and the lace, more of a 19th century occupation to fill the void left by the demise of bear baiting which was never overly popular with those kill-joys, the Puritans.. Unfortunately Wikipedia is not very clear on this. Congleton does appear to be near some major silk centers like Macclesfield, known for jacquard weaving. Interestingly, after the Napoleonic Wars there was a slump in the silk industry forcing 15,000 Macclesfield silk workers to emigrate to the silk city of Paterson, New Jersey. Paterson, near where I live, has a wonderful water fall which inspired Alexander Hamilton to set it up as our first industrial city, but it's greater claim to fame is its role in labor history in which a strike by silk workers destroyed the silk industry early in the 20th century, an event from which Paterson has never recovered. Devon
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