The giant Gog extricating the dwarf Xit from a bear in the Lions Tower at the Tower of London, watched by Queen Mary I. Etching by George Cruikshank.

Set in London in the reigns of Lady Jane Grey and Queen Mary I. Chapter XIX describes the menagerie of wild animals that existed at the Tower of London until 1835, shortly before the novel was published. The court dwarf Xit (knighted as Sir Narcissus Le Grand) challenges the bear Maximilian to a duel, is overcome and is rescued by the giant Gog