Bear-leader — Chambers's Encyclopaedia

Bear-leader. In former times, bears were led about with a chain, muzzled, and made to dance or stand on their hind-legs for popular entertainment; small dancing-dogs being usually added, for the sake of attractiveness. From this old practice, which is not yet quite extinct, has been taken the phrase 'bear-leader,' used jocularly to signify a discreet person who takes charge of a youth of rank on his travels to see the world.