Note 345 — Chapter XX · SIGHT-SEEING AND FAIRS
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The fair was disorderly, and in 1702 an incident occurred which materially assisted its downfall. 'Westminster, May 16. The Constables of this Liberty being more than ordinary vigilant in the discharge of their duty, since the coming forth of her Majesty's pious Proclamation again Vice and Debauchery, and having in pursuance thereof taken up several Lewd Women in May Fair, in order to bring them to Justice, were opposed therein by several rude Soldiers, one of whom is committed to Prison, and the rest are diligently enquired after.'[345] In fact among them they managed to kill a constable, named John Cooper—for which murder a fencing-master named Cook was afterwards hanged at Tyburn; and, although the fair lingered a few years longer, yet it became such a nuisance that in November 1708 the Grand Jury of Westminster 'did present as a publick Nuisance and Inconvenience, the yearly riotous and tumultuous Assembly in a place called Brook Field, in the Parish of St. Martins in the Fields, in this County, called May Fair.'[346]