DEGENERATION OF FAIRS.

In the seventeenth century and afterwards, certain fairs, notably those in and near London, had come to be little more than places of amusement, more or less disreputable.

Bartholomew Fair (in 1641).

Bartholomew Fair begins on the twenty-fourth day of August, and is then of so vast an extent that it is contained in no less than four several parishes, namely Christ Church, Great and Little Saint Bartholomews, and Saint Sepulchres. Hither resort people of all sorts, High and Low, Rich and Poor, from cities, towns and countries; and of all sects, Papists, Atheists, Anabaptists, and Brownists, and of all conditions, good and bad, virtuous and vicious, Knaves and fools, Rogues and Rascals.

And now that we may the better take an exact survey of the whole Fair, first let us enter into Christ Church cloisters, which are now hung so full of pictures that you would take that place, or rather mistake it, for Saint Peters in Rome; only this is the difference, those there are set up for worship, these here for sale….

Let us now make a progress through Smithfield which is the heart of the Fair, where in my heart I think there are more motions in a day to be seen than are in a term in Westminster to be heard. But whilst you take notice of the several motions there, take this caution along with you, let one eye watch narrowly that no one's hand makes a motion in your pocket, which is the next way to move you to impatience.

The Fair is full of gold and silver-drawers. Just as Lent is to the Fishmonger so is Bartholomew Fair to the Pickpocket; it is his high harvest which is never bad but when his cart goes up Holborn.[16] … Some of your cutpurses are in fee with cheating costermongers, who have a trick now and then to throw down a basket of refuse pears, which prove cloak-pears to those that shall lose their hats and cloaks in striving who shall gather fastest. They have many dainty baits to draw a bit, and if you be not vigilant you shall hardly escape their nets. Fine fowlers they are, for every finger of theirs is a lime twig with which they catch dotterels.[17] They are excellently well read in Physiognomy; for they will know how strong you are in the purse by looking in your face, and for more certainty thereof they will follow you close, and never leave you till you draw your purse, or they for you, which they'll be sure to have if you look not to it though they kiss Newgate for it.

It is remarkable and worthy your observation to behold and hear the strange sights and confused noise in the Fair. Here a Knave in a fool's coat with a trumpet sounding, or on a drum beating, invites you and would fain persuade you to see his puppets. There a Rogue like a wild woodman, or in an Antic-shape like an Incubus, desires your company to view his motion; on the other side Hocus Pocus with three yards of tape or ribbon in's hand, shewing his art of Legerdemain to the admiration and astonishment of a company of cockloaches.[18] Amongst these you shall see a gray goose-cap, as wise as the rest, with a "what do ye lack" in his mouth, stand in his booth shaking a rattle or scraping on a fiddle, with which children are so taken that they presently cry out for these fopperies. And all these together make such a distracted noise that you would think Babel were not comparable to it. Here there are also your gamesters in action: some turning of a whimsey, others throwing for Pewter, who can quickly dissolve a round shilling into a three halfpenny saucer. Long lane at this time looks very fair and puts out her best clothes with the wrong side outward, so turned for their better turning off. And Cloth Fair is now in great request; well fare the ale-houses there. Yet better may a man fare, but at a dearer rate, in the pig-market, alias Pasty-nook or Pie-corner, where pigs are all hours of the day on the stalls piping hot, and would cry, if they could speak, "come eat me." … Unconscionable exactions, and excessive inflammations of reckonings, made that corner of the Fair too hot for my company; therefore I resolved by myself to steer my course another way, and having once got out, not to come again in haste.

Reprinted in Hindley, The Old Book Collector's Miscellany, Vol. III.

1702-14.

By Her Majesties Permission.

This is to give Notice to all Gentlemen, Ladies and Others, that coming into May-Fair,[19] the first Booth on the Left Hand, over against Mr. Pinckeman's Booth; During the usual time of the Fair, is to be seen a great Collection of strange and wonderful Rareties, all A-live from several parts of the World.

Vivat Regina.

Advertisement in a collection at the British Museum.

1734.

At the Great THEATRICAL BOOTH ON the Bowling-Green behind the Marshalsea, down Mermaid-Court next the Queens Arms Tavern, during the Time of Southwark Fair (which began the 8th instant and ends the 21st), will be presented that diverting droll, call'd

The True and Ancient History of MAUDLIN, the Merchants Daughter of BRISTOL, AND Her constant Lover ANTONIO,

who she followed into Italy, disguising herself in Man's Habit; shewing the Hardships she underwent by being Shipwrecked on the Coast of Algier, where she met her Lover, who was doom'd to be burnt at a Stake by the King of that Country, who fell in Love with her and proffered her his Crown, which she dispised, and chose rather to share the fate of her Antonio than renounce the Christian Religion to embrace that of their Imposter Prophet Mahomet.

With the comical Humours of ROGER, ANTONIO'S MAN.

And Variety of Singing and Dancing between the Acts, by Mr. Sandham Mrs. Woodward and Miss Sandham.

Particularly, A new Dialogue to be sung by Mr. Excell and Mrs. Fitzgerald. Written by the Author of Bacchus one Day gaily striding, etc., and a Hornpipe by Mr. Taylor. To which will be added a new Entertainment (never performed before) called

The INTRIGUING HARLEQUIN, Or Any Wife better than none.

With Scenes, Machines, and other Decorations proper to the Entertainment.

Advertisement in a collection at the British Museum.

GREENWICH FAIR (in 1835-6).

… Imagine yourself in an extremely dense crowd which swings you to and fro and in and out, and every way but the right one; add to this the screams of women, the shouts of boys, the clanging of gongs, the firing of pistols, the ringing of bells, the bellowing of speaking-trumpets, the squeaking of penny dittoes, the noise of a dozen bands with three drums in each, all playing different tunes at the same time, the hallooing of showmen, and an occasional roar from the wild beast shows; and you are in the very centre and heart of the fair.

This immense booth, with the large stage in front, so brightly illuminated with variegated lamps and pots of burning fat, is "Richardson's," where you have a melodrama (with three murders and a ghost), a pantomime, a comic song, an overture, and some incidental music, all done in five-and-twenty minutes. The company are now promenading outside in all the dignity of wigs, spangles, red ochre, and whitening…. The exhibitions next in popularity to these itinerant theatres are the travelling menageries, or, to speak more intelligibly, the "Wild beast shows," where a military band in beef-eater's costume, with leopardskin caps, play incessantly, and where large highly coloured representations of tigers tearing men's heads open, and a lion being burnt with red hot irons to induce him to drop his victim, are hung up outside, by way of attracting visitors.

… The grandest and most numerously frequented booth in the whole fair however is "The Crown and Anchor," a temporary ballroom—we forget how many feet long—the price of admission to which is one shilling…. The dancing itself beggars description—every figure lasts about an hour, and the ladies bounce up and down the middle with a degree of spirit which is quite indescribable. As to the gentlemen they stamp their feet upon the ground every time "hands four round" begins, go down the middle and up again with cigars in their mouths and silk handkerchiefs in their hands, and whirl their partners round, nothing loth, scrambling and falling and knocking up against the other couples, until they are fairly tired out and can move no longer.

Dickens, Sketches by Boz.

UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED, THE GRESHAM PRESS, WOKING AND LONDON.