EIGHTEENTH AND NINETEENTH CENTURIES.
1700. _Stage Plays and Interludes._—The Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen
resolved that no booths should be permitted to be erected in Smithfield
this year; but on the 6th August it was announced that “the lessees
of West Smithfield having on Friday last represented to the Court of
Aldermen at Guildhall that it would be highly injurious to them to have
the erection of all booths there totally prohibited, the Right Hon. Lord
Mayor and the Court of Aldermen have, in consideration of the premises,
granted licence to erect some booths during the time of Bartholomew Fair
now approaching: but none are permitted for music-booths, or any that may
be means to promote debauchery.” And on the 23rd, when the Lord Mayor
went on horseback to proclaim the Fair, he ordered two music-booths to be
taken down immediately.
1701. On the 4th June this year the Grand Jury of Middlesex made a
presentment to the following effect:—
“Whereas we have seen a printed order of the Lord Mayor and Court of
Aldermen the 25th June 1700, to prevent the great profaneness, vice,
and debauchery, so frequently used and practised in Bartholomew Fair,
by strictly charging and commanding all persons concerned in the said
fair, and in the sheds and booths to be erected and built therein or
places adjacent, that they do not let, sell, or hire, or use any booth,
shed, stall, or other erection whatsoever to be used or employed for
interludes, stage-plays, comedies, gaming-places, lotteries, or music
meetings: and as we are informed the present Lord Mayor and Court
of Aldermen have passed another order to the same effect on the 3rd
instant; we take this occasion to return our most hearty thanks for their
religious care and great zeal in this matter; we esteeming a renewal
of their former practices at the Fair a continuing one of the chiefest
miseries of vice next to the Play-Houses; therefore earnestly desire that
the said orders may be vigorously prosecuted, and that this honourable
Court would endeavor that the said fair may be employed to those good
ends and purposes it was at first designed.”
In the “Postman,” of September, appeared the following advertisement:
“The tiger in Bartholomew Fair, that yesterday gave such satisfaction
to persons of all qualities by pulling the feathers so nicely from live
fowls, will, at the request of several persons, do the same thing this
day; price, 6_d._ each.”
There was published this year for R. Hine near the Royal Exchange, “A
Walk to Smithfield, or a True Description of the Humours of Bartholomew
Fair, with the very comical Intrigues and Frolics that are acted in
every particular Booth in the Fair, by persons of all ages and sexes,
from the Court Gallant to the Country Clown. With the Old Droll-Players’
Lamentation for the loss of their Yearly Revenues: being very Pleasing
and Diverting.”
It seems that at this period the principal London theatres closed during
the fair. This was so with Drury Lane in 1702; and also with several of
the theatres during May Fair. See 1714.
1703. In the “Observator” of August 21 this year was the following:
Does this market of lewdness tend to anything else but the ruin of the
bodies, and souls and estates, of the young men and women of the City
of London, who here meet with all the temptations to destruction? The
Lotteries, to ruin their estates; the drolls, comedies, interludes, and
farces to poison their minds, &c.; and in the cloisters what strange
medley of lewdness has not that place long since afforded? Lords and
ladies, aldermen and their wives, ’squires and fiddlers, citizens and
rope-dancers, jack-puddings and lawyers, mistresses and maids, masters
and ’prentices! This is not an ark, like Noah’s which received the clean
and the unclean; only the unclean beasts enter this ark, and such as have
the devil’s livery on their backs!
1707. This year a well-known theatrical manageress, Mrs. Mynn, produced
a new version of the “Siege of Troy,” reduced from five to three acts,
by the aged actor, Settle. The piece was printed with the following
introduction:—
_A Printed Publication of an ~Entertainment~ performed on a ~Smithfield
stage~, which, how gay or richly soever set off, will hardly reach to
a higher ~Title~ than the customary name of a DROLL, may seem somewhat
new. But as the present undertaking, the work of ten Months’ preparation,
is so extraordinary a performance, that without Boast or Vanity we may
modestly say, ~In~ the whole ~several Scenes, Movements~, and ~Machines,
it is noways~ Inferiour even to any one ~Opera~ yet seen in either of
the ~Royal Theatres~; we are therefore under some sort of necessity to
make this Publication, thereby to give ev’n the meanest of our audience
a full Light into all the Object they will there meet in this ~expensive
Entertainment~; the ~proprietors~ of which have adventur’d to make, under
small Hopes, That as they yearly see some of their happier Bretheren
Undertakers in the FAIR, more cheaply obtain even the Engrost Smiles of
the Gentry ~and~ Quality at so much an easier Price; so on the other side
their own more costly Projection (though less Favourites) might possibly
attain to that good Fortune, at least to attract a little share of the
good graces of the more Honourable part of the Audience, and perhaps be
able to purchase some of those smiles which elsewhere have been thus long
the profuser Donation of particular Affection of Favour._
There was also published “The Cloyster in Bartholomew Fair; or, The
Town-Mistress Disguis’d.” London, Printed for A. Bancks, near Fleet
Street. A Poem. 8vo. 8 leaves.
_Limiting the Duration of the Fair._—1708. On the 2nd June this year the
Court of Common Council passed the following resolution:—
This Court taking notice that the Fair of St. Bartholomew according to
the original Grant thereof, ought to be holden annually three days and
no longer. And that by Continuing the said Fair to Fourteen days, as
of late hath been practised, and the erecting and setting up Booths in
Smithfield of extraordinary largeness not occupied by dealers in Goods,
merchandises, &c., proper for a fair; but used chiefly for Stage-plays,
Musick and Tipling (being so many receptacles of vicious and disorderly
Persons) Lewdness and Debauchery have apparently increased, Tumults and
Disorders frequently arisen, and the Traffick of the said Fair, by the
Traders and Fair-keepers resorting thereto, greatly interrupted and
diminished. After long debate, and serious consideration had of the same,
and being desirous to put a Stop (so far as in them lies) to the further
spreading of Wickedness and Vice, to preserve the Peace of Her Majesty’s
Subjects, and restore the said Fair to its primitive Institution, and
the Traders resorting thither to the full enjoyment of their Trades,
without any hindrance or obstruction. And this Court being of opinion,
that no ways will be so effectual for the end aforesaid as reducing the
said Fair to its ancient time of continuance, doth unanimously resolve,
and so Order that for the future, the said Fair shall be kept Three days
only, and no longer (that is to say) on the Eve of St. Bartholomew, that
Day and the Morrow after being the 23rd, 24th and 25 days of August, of
which all persons concerned are to take Notice and Govern themselves
accordingly. See 1750.
On the 3rd July, same year, the Common Council considered certain strong
petitions for the revocation of this Order. The result is seen in the
following announcement, which appeared in the “Gazette” of 2nd August:—
The Committee for letting the City’s Land in the Account of the
Chamberlain of the City of London give notice, That the Fair, commonly
call’d Bartholomew Fair, annually held in West Smithfield in London is
from henceforth to be held three Days and no longer [days specified] and
that the said Committee will sit every Wednesday at three of the Clock in
the afternoon, to Lett and Dispose of the Ground in West Smithfield, to
persons resorting to the said Fair; of which more particular information
may be had at the Comptroler’s Office in the Guildhall of the said City.
Same year a person did penance in the Chapter House of St. Paul’s for
publicly showing in the Fair a Blow-Book in which were many filthy and
obscene pictures. The book was likewise burned, and the offender paid the
costs.
The first travelling _menagerie_ seems now to have appeared in this fair,
and attracted considerable attention. It stood near the hospital gate.
“Sir Hans Sloane cannot be supposed to have missed such an opportunity
of studying animals little known, as he is said to have constantly
visited the fair for that purpose, and to have retained the services of a
draughtsman for their representation.” (Frost.)
It may be noted that wild beasts had been kept at the Tower certainly
from 1253 downwards.
1709. There was published “Bart’lemy Fair: or an Enquiry after Wit; in
which due Respect is had to a Letter concerning Enthusiasm, To my Lord
—. By Mr. Wotton. London Printed for R. Wilkin, at the King’s Head in
St. Paul’s Church-Yard.” This 8vo. pamphlet of 175 pages contains no
reference to the fair, and probably only took its title from reference to
the disputations there conducted, and of which I have spoken.
1710. There was a curious half-sheet octavo tract, printed this year,
entitled “The Wonders of England, containing Dogget and Penkethman’s
Dialogue with Old Nick, on the suppression of Bartholomew Fair in
Smithfield.” The title enumerates several other strange and wonderful
matters, as being contained in the book, but, like the showman’s painted
cloths in the fair, pictures monsters not visible within; so there is not
a line in the tract respecting the suppression of the fair. Yet
“Coming events cast their shadows before.”
1711. It seems probable that in 1691, or 1694, when the Corporation took
steps to limit the period of the fair, that a printed statement of the
reasons therefor was issued for the edification of the public mind. At
all events during the present year there appeared: “Reasons Formerly
published for the Punctual Limiting of Bartholomew Fair to those Three
Days to which it is determined by the Royal Grant of it to the City of
London. New reprinted with Additions, to prevent a Design set on Foot
to procure an Establishment of the said Fair for Fourteen Days. Humbly
Addressed to the present Right Honorable the Lord Mayor to the Worshipful
Court of Aldermen, and to the Common Council of the said City. London
Printed in the year 1711.”
1714. It had become the custom for the stars of Drury Lane, Covent
Garden, the Haymarket, Lincoln’s Fields, and Goodman’s Fields theatres to
enter into engagements to act in the theatrical booths in Smithfield, and
probably also in Southwark; and a rich “benefit” they made, sometimes by
acting, but more generally by becoming partners in a company organized
for the purposes of the fair. Recruits were brought up from the
provincial theatres, and thus became familiar to London audiences.
1715. In “Dawk’s News Letter” it is recorded, “On Wednesday Bartholomew
Fair began, to which we hear the greatest number of black cattle (Welsh?)
was brought that was ever known.” There was this year at the fair the
largest booth ever built—it was for the King’s players! It had become
the custom to represent all the great sieges in which England had been
concerned at the shows in the fair: hence, perhaps, something was done
towards fostering a martial spirit, not without its advantages in a
national sense.
1719. The restriction of the fair to three days, we are informed, had
long been overruled by the public voice. There were this year twenty
licensed dice and hazard tables in the fair.
1730. There was printed in the “Daily Post” for the 31st August the
following:—
“These are to give notice to all Ladies, Gentlemen and others That, at
the end of Hosier Lane in Smithfield are to be seen during the time of
the Fair, Two _Rattle Snakes_, one a very large size, and rattles that
you may hear him at a quarter of a mile about, and something of Musick,
that grows on the tails thereof; of divers colours, forms and shapes,
with darts that they extend out of their mouths, almost two inches long.
They were taken on the mountains of Leamea. A Fine Creature, of a small
size, taken in Mocha, that burrows under ground. It is of divers colours,
and very beautiful. The teeth of a dead Rattle Snake to be seen and
handled, with the rattles. A Sea Snail, taken on the coast of India. Also
the horn of a Flying Buck. Together with a curious collection of Animals
and of Insects from all parts of the World. To be seen without Loss of
time.”
This seems to have been a very rude attempt at teaching natural history.
1731. The only recorded instance of _fire_ breaking out in the fair
occurred this year. The damage resulting was small. (See 1810.)
1733. It was about this date that Fielding the novelist commenced public
life, by keeping a play-booth in this fair.
_The Strolling Player._—The life of a strolling play-manager, attending
fairs and such like places of amusement, was one of much incident, and
certainly had its comical side. Here is the account of one as given by
himself:—“I will, as we say, take you behind the scenes. First then,
a valuable actor must sleep in the pit, and wake early to sweep the
theatre, and throw fresh sawdust into the boxes; he must shake out
the dresses, and wind up and dust the motion-jacks; he must teach the
dull ones how to act, rout up the idlers from the straw, and redeem
those that happen to get into the watch-house. Then, sir, when the fair
begins, he should sometimes walk about the stage grandly and show his
dress: sometimes he should dance with his fellows; sometimes he should
sing; sometimes he should blow the trumpet; sometimes he should laugh
and joke with the crowd, and give them a kind of touch-and-go speech,
which keeps them merry and makes them come in. Then, sir, he should
sometimes cover his state robe with a great coat, and go into the crowd,
and shout opposite his own booth, like a stranger who is struck with
its magnificence: by the way, sir, that is a good trick, I never knew
it fail to make an audience; and then he has only to steal away and
mount his stage and strut, and dance and sing and trumpet, and roar over
again.”—“Every-Day Book,” i. 1243.
1735. The practice had been to grant licences for the fair for fourteen
days. The Court of Aldermen now resolved: That Bartholomew Fair shall not
exceed Bartholomew Eve, Bartholomew Day, and the next morrow, and shall
be restricted to the sale of goods, wares, and merchandises, usually
sold in fairs, _and no acting shall be permitted therein_. It was known,
too, that sir John Barnard intended rigorously to enforce the Licensing
Act. There was in consequence no theatrical booths, and hence the most
harmless portion of the amusement was absent.
1736. Theatrical booths were permitted again this year.
1739. The fair was extended to four days, and more theatrical booths
attended in consequence.
In the “Farrago; or, Miscellanies in Verse and Prose” [by Richard
Barton?], there is included (pp. 49-58) a piece entitled “Bartholomew
Fair,” from which we take the following:—
Round ev’ry booth in face of day,
Actors a tawdry dress display;
Their ugly visors seem disgrace,
Yet often hide an uglier face.
The sun their sports not to delay,
Makes haste to bed, and closes day.
Each wooden house then groans, to bear
The populace that crowd the fair,
Where Wapping & St. James’ unite,
Pleas’d with coarse objects of delight:
The chambermaid and countess sit
Alike admirers of the wit:
The Earl and footman _tête-a-tête_
Sit down contented on one seat.
The musick plays, the curtain draws,
The peer & ’prentice clap applause.
1740. The Prince of Wales visited the fair—not, indeed, for the first
time, but with more state than on any previous occasion. An account of
the visit was published some years afterwards in the “New European
Magazine,” from which the following details are drawn:—
The shows were all in full blast and the crowd at its thickest, when the
multitude behind was impelled violently forward; a broad blaze of red
light issued from a score of flambeaux, streamed into the air; several
voices were loudly shouting, “Room there for Prince George! Make way for
the Prince!” as there was that long sweep heard to pass over the ground
which indicates the approach of a grand and ceremonious train. Presently
the pressure became much greater, the voices louder, the light stronger,
and as the train came onward, it might be seen that it consisted, first,
of a party of the yeomen of the guard, clearing the way; then several
more of them bearing flambeaux, and flanking the procession; while in
the midst of it appeared a tall, fair, and handsome young man, having
something of a plump foreign visage, seemingly about four-and-thirty,
dressed in a ruby-coloured frock-coat, very richly guarded with gold
lace, and having his long flowing hair curiously curled over his forehead
and at the sides, and finished with a very large bag and courtly _queue_
behind. The air of dignity with which he walked; the blue ribbon and star
and garter with which he was decorated; the small three-cornered silk
hat which he wore, whilst all around him were uncovered; the numerous
suite, as well of gentlemen as of guards, which marshalled him along; the
obsequious attention of a short, stout person, who, by his flourishing
manner, seemed to be a player—all these particulars indicated that the
amiable Frederick, Prince of Wales, was visiting Bartholomew Fair by
torchlight, and that Manager Rich was introducing his royal guest to all
the entertainments of the place.
This event gave fashion to the fair, and, indeed, it had never been
considered derogatory for persons in the first rank and fashion to
partake in the broad humour and theatrical amusements of the place. We
have already seen that many of the theatrical celebrities of the day
“starred” in Smithfield, and many who afterwards became famous first trod
the boards here.
The theatrical licences were extended to three weeks and a month at this
fair.
1750. Alderman Blackford being mayor, he proclaimed in the middle of
July his determination to reduce the fair to its original three days,
and to use the powers of the Licensing Act (10 Geo. II.) for the more
effectual punishment of rogues and vagabonds. He herein acted upon the
representation of more than a hundred of the chief graziers, salesmen,
and inhabitants of Smithfield, who complained that the “insolent
violation of the law” by the fair people not only encouraged profligacy,
but also obstructed business for six weeks! The time occupied in putting
up and taking down the booths being a time also of great hindrance to the
usual Smithfield marketing and trading. The real suppression of the fair
as a fourteen day riot, dates from this time.
1751. The attempted strict limitation of the fair to three days led to
considerable disturbances. Birch, a deputy marshal of the city, received
injuries which proved fatal.
1752. The alteration of the calendar transferred the 3rd September into
the 14th. Old Bartholomew’s Day stood at this new date on the calendar.
This event very much aided in shortening the period of the fair. _Vide_
“Morley,” p. 449.
1753. There was a great demonstration against the claim of the
Corporation to levy tolls upon the goods of citizens, as well as upon
those of strangers, during the time of the fair. Richard Holland, a
leather-seller in Newgate Street, had in the preceding year refused the
toll demanded on a roll of leather with which he had attempted to enter
the fair, and on the leather being seized by the collector, had called a
constable, and charged the impounder with theft. The squabble resulted in
an action against the Corporation, which was not tried, however, until
1754, when the result was in favour of the citizens, and against the
Corporation claims.
While the action was pending Holland’s cart was driven through the fair
with a load of hay, and was not stopped by the collector of tolls. The
horses’ heads were decorated with ribbons, and on the leaders forehead
was a card, upon which the following doggerel lines were written in a
bold hand:—
My master keeps me well, ’tis true,
And justly pays whatever is due;
Now plainly, not to mince the matter,
No toll he pays but with a halter.
On each side of the load of hay hung a halter, and a paper bearing the
following announcement:—
The time is approaching, if not already come,
That all British subjects may freely pass on;
And not on pretence of Bartholomew Fair
Make you pay for your passage, with all your bring near.—
When once it is try’d, ever after depend on,
’Twill incur the same fate as on Finchley Common.
Give Cæsar his due, when by law ’tis demanded,
And those that deserve with this halter be hanged.
There was considerable rioting in the fair. Buck, the successor to the
unfortunate Birch, was very roughly handled. The tumult was in some
degree allayed by a serious accident to the wire-walker, Evans. The wire
broke, and he was precipitated to the ground, one of his thighs being
broken, and other injuries sustained.
_The Bridewell Boys._—1755. An element in the occasional disturbances at
the fair was the conduct of the “Bridewell Boys,” a body of youths from
the Bridewell Hospital, distinguished by a peculiar dress and turbulence
of manners. They infested the streets and public places to the terror of
the peaceable; and being allowed the privilege of going to fires with
the Bridewell engine, not unfrequently occasioned more mischief by their
audacity and perverseness than by their dexterity in fire extinguishment,
resembling in some degree the volunteer Fire brigades which at one time
were very prevalent in the United States. On the 13th November this year,
at a Court of the Governors of the Hospital, a memorable report was made
by the Committee, who inquired into the behaviour of the boys at the
then preceding Bartholomew and Southwark fairs; and, as a consequence,
some of them were severely corrected and cautioned, and others, after
their punishment, were ordered to be stripped of their hospital clothing
and discharged. At a later period the boys were deprived of their
distinguishing costume, and a different plan of instruction was adopted.
1760. The Court of Common Council made a more determined effort than
heretofore to put down this fair; but the interest of Lord Kensington
(successor of Lord Rich) in a portion of the tolls, rendered it
impossible of accomplishment. See 1827.
1762. Plays were interdicted at the fair this year by the Corporation,
and some hardship resulted to those who had made arrangements in advance.
Strong and successful measures were taken to prevent its extension beyond
the authorized three days.
There was published “A Description of Bartholomew Fair” by George
Alexander Stevens, whereof the following gives a good idea of the medley
life there seen:—
Here was, first of all, crowds against other crowds driving,
Like wind and tide meeting, each contrary striving;
Shrill fiddling, sharp fighting, and shouting and shrieking,
Fifes, trumpets, drums, bagpipes and barrow girls squeaking,
“Come my rare round and found, here’s choice of fine ware-o;”
Though all was not found sold at Bartholomew fair-o.
There was drolls, hornpipe dancing, and showing of postures,
With frying black-puddings, and op’ning of oysters;
With Salt-boxes solos, and gallery-folks squalling;
The tap house guests roaring, and mouthpieces bawling,
Pimps, Pawnbrokers, strollers, fat landladies, sailors,
Bawds, bailiffs, jilts, jockies, thieves, tumblers and taylors.
“Here’s Punch’s whole play of the Gunpowder-plot, sir,”
With “beasts all alive,” and “pease-porridge all hot,” sir,
“Fine sausages fried” and “the Black on the wire,”
“The whole Court of France” and “nice pig at the fire.”
Here’s the up-and-downs, “who’ll take a seat in the Chair-o?”
Tho’ there’s more up-and-downs than at Bartholomew fair-o.
Here’s “Whittington’s cat,” and “the tall dromedary,”
“The chaise without horses,” and “Queen of Hungary;”
Here’s the Merry-go-Rounds, “Come who rides, come who rides, sir?”
Wine, beer, ale, and cakes, fire eating besides, sir;
The fam’d “learn’d Dog” that can tell all his letters
And some men, as scholars, are not much his betters!
1798. There was a serious proposal made to restrict the fair to one day.
This was only abandoned from the fear of riot.
1804. There was an action brought in the fair before the Court of
Piepowder on 5th September—showing that the court had sat beyond the
prescribed three days, which at one time it did not, even though the
fair continued longer—by a fire-eater against one of the spectators of
his tricks, who had half suffocated him by suddenly clapping a bundle of
lighted matches under his nose. The defendant was fined a guinea by the
homage, and the steward gave charge to the constables to turn him out of
the fair if he appeared in it again.
1808. There appeared: “The History and Origin of Bartholomew Fair,”
published by Arliss and Huntsman, 37, Bartholomew Close (8vo. pp. 26).
1810. A circumstance occurred likely to have been attended with very
serious consequences. Two bands of roughs, who were racing through the
fair after their manner, met. In the scuffle that ensued two stalls were
knocked down, and the falling of a lamp on to a stove caused the canvas
to ignite, and a serious disaster was only averted by the presence of
mind of a gentleman who was on the spot at the moment. In a similar rush
in 1812 a child was killed.
In the “Morning Chronicle” appeared the following “Elegy, written in
Bartlemy Fair at Five o’clock in the morning,” from which I take the
principal stanzas:—
...
Now the first beams of morning glad the sight,
And all the air in solemn stillness holds,
Save when the sheep-dog bays with hoarse afright,
And brutal drovers pen the unwilling folds.
...
Beneath those ragged tents—that boarded shade,
Which late display’d its stores in tempting heaps:
There, children, dogs, cakes, oysters, all are laid,
There, guardian of the whole, the master sleeps.
The busy call of care-begetting morn,
The well-slept passenger’s unheeding tread,
The showman’s clarion, or the echoing horn,
Too soon must rouse them from their lowly bed.
Perhaps in this neglected booth is laid
Some head volcanic, oft discharging fire!
Hands—that the rod of magic lately sway’d;
Toes—that so nimbly danced upon the wire.
Some clown, or pantaloon—the gazer’s jest,
Here, with his train in dirty pageant stood:
Some tired-out posture master here may rest,
Some conjuring swordsman—guiltless of his blood!
The applause of listening cockneys to command,
The threats of City-marshal to despise;
To give delight to all the grinning band,
And read their merit in spectators’ eyes,
Is still their boast; nor, haply, theirs alone,
Polito’s lions (though now _dormant_ laid),
The human monsters, shall acquire renown,
The spotted Negro—and the armless maid!
Peace to the youth, who, slumbering at the _Bear_,
Forgets his present lot, his perils past:
Soon will the crowd again be thronging there,
To view the man on wild Sombrero cast.
Careful their booths from insult to protect,
These furl their tapestry, late erected high;
Nor longer with prodigious pictures deck’d,
They tempt the passing youth’s astonish’d eye.
But when the day calls forth the belles and beaux,
The cunning showmen each device display,
And many a clown the useful notice shows,
To teach ascending strangers—_where to pay_.
Sleep on, ye imps of merriment—sleep on!
In this short respite to your labouring train;
And when this time of annual mirth is gone,
May ye enjoy, in peace, your hard-earned gain!
1825. Bartholomew Day falling on a Sunday the fair was wholly suspended.
Many thousands of persons walking for recreation repaired to Smithfield
and viewed its appearance. The City officers most strictly enforced
observance of the day: one keeper of a gingerbread stall who plied for
custom and refractorily persisted was taken into custody, and held in
prison till he could be carried before a magistrate on the following day,
when he was fined for the offence.—Hone.
_Hone’s survey of the Fair._—It was on the morning following this day
that Hone made his memorable visit to the fair, which he has recorded
at large in his “Every Day Book” (i. cols. 1168-1251), and from which I
take the following condensed description of the extent and nature of the
exhibition:—
There were small _uncovered_ stalls from the Skinner Street corner of
Giltspur Street beginning with the beginning of the churchyard, along
the whole length of the churchyard. On the opposite side there were like
stalls from Newgate Street corner. At these stalls were sold oysters,
fruit, inferior kinds of cheap toys, common gingerbread, small wicker
baskets, and other articles of trifling value. They seemed to be mere
casual standings taken up by petty dealers and chapmen in smallware, who
lacked means to purchase room and furnish out a tempting display. Their
stalls were set out from the channel into the roadway. One man occupied
upwards of twenty feet of the road lengthwise with discontinued wood-cut
pamphlets, formerly published weekly at two pence, which he spread out
on the ground and sold at a halfpenny each in great quantities; he had
also large folio bible prints at a halfpenny each, and prints from
magazines at four a penny. The fronts of these standings were towards
the passengers in the carriage way.
Then with occasional distances of three or four feet for footways from
the road to the pavement began lines of _covered_ stalls, with their open
fronts opposite the fronts of the houses, and close to the curb-stone,
and their enclosed backs to the road. On the St. Sepulchre’s side they
extended to Cock Lane, and from thence to Hosier-lane, and along the
west side of Smithfield to the Cow-lane corner. In John Street they were
resumed and ran thitherward to Smithfield bars, and there on the west
side ended. Crossing over to the east side, and returning south, these
covered stalls commenced opposite their termination on the west and ran
towards Smithfield, turning into which they ran westerly towards the
pig-market, and from thence to Long-lane. Again on to the east side to
the great gate of Cloth Fair, and so from Duke Street on the south side
to the great front gate of Bartholomew hospital; and then resumed to
Giltspur Street and so reached the uncovered stalls.
These covered stalls thus surrounding Smithfield, belonged to dealers
in gingerbread, toys, hardware, garters, pocket books, trinkets, and
articles of all prices, from a halfpenny to a half sovereign. The
gingerbread stalls varied in size, and were conspicuously fine from the
Dutch gold on their different shaped ware. The usual frontage of the
stalls was 8, 10, 12 feet, but some as large as 25 feet. They were 6 feet
6 inches or 7 feet high in front and from 4 feet 6 to 5 feet at back:
and all formed of canvass tightly stretched on light poles. The fronts
were to the pavements. The houses of business in the streets had their
shutters up, and doors closed.
The _Shows_ of all kinds had their fronts towards the area of Smithfield,
and their backs close against the backs of the stalls. The centre of the
area was thus entirely open, and from the carriage way through it all the
shows might be seen at one view. Against the pens at the side there were
not any shows. No carriages or horsemen were permitted to enter the fair
on account of the crowded masses of people present....
It has to be noted that there was an unusually large assemblage of shows
at the fair, including several menageries.
1826. The “Mirror of the Months” contained the following graphic
anticipation of the fair to be held this year:—
Another year arrives, and spite of Corporation “resolutions,” and
references to “the Committee,” and “Reports” and “recommendations” to
abolish the fair, it is held again. Now arrives that saturnalia of
nondescript noise and nonconformity “Bartlemy Fair;” when that prince of
peace-officers the Lord Mayor changes his sword of state into a six-penny
trumpet, and becomes the lord of misrule and the patron of pick-pockets;
and lady Holland’s name leads an unlettered mob instead of a lettered
one; when Richardson maintains, during three whole days and a half, a
managerial supremacy that must be not a little enviable even in the eyes
of Mr. Elliston himself; and Mr. Gyngell holds, during the same period,
a scarcely less distinguished station as the Apollo of maid servants;
when the incomparable (not to say _eternal_) _young_ Master Saunder’s
rides on horseback to the admiration of all beholders, in the person
of his eldest son; and when all the giants in the land, and the dwarfs
too, make a general muster, and each proves to be according to the most
correct measurement at least a foot taller, or shorter, than any other
in the fair, and in fact the only one worth seeing,—“all the rest being
impostors!” In short, when every booth in the fair combined in itself the
attractions of all the rest, and so perplexes with its irresistible merit
the rapt imagination of the half-holiday school boys who have got but
sixpence to spend upon the whole, that they eye the outsides of each in a
state of pleasing despair, till their leave of absence is expired twice
over, and then return home filled with visions of giants and gingerbread
nuts, and dream all night long of what they have not seen.
The fair was small, and one of its principal features was the bookstalls,
which occupied the whole of the west side of Giltspur Street.
1827. The fair was again large, and for the first time I am enabled
to present a return of the cash returns of the various places of
amusement there assembled. The result will be startling to those who
have hitherto failed to realize the importance with which the fair was
regarded: Wombwell’s menagerie, £1,700; Richardson’s theatre, £1,200;
Atkins’s menagerie, £1,000; Morgan’s menagerie, £150; exhibition of
“pig-faced lady,” £150; ditto, fat boy and girl, £140; ditto, head of
William Corder, quaker, who was hanged at Chelmsford for murder of
Maria Martin—the crime being revealed through a dream of the victim’s
mother, £100; Ballard’s menagerie, £90; Ball’s theatre, £80; diorama of
the battle of Navarino, £60; the Chinese jugglers, £50; Pike’s theatre,
£40; a fire-eater, £30; Frazer’s theatre, £26; Keyes and Line’s theatre,
£20; exhibition of a Scotch giant, £20. The comparative attractiveness
of the different sights affords room for reflection. Of course these
entertainments only represent a portion of the cash transactions of the
fair.
Lord Kensington at length intimated that considering the corrupt state
of the fair, and the nuisance caused by it in the neighbourhood of
Smithfield, he would now throw no obstacle in the way of its abolition.
His share of the tolls was from £30 to £40 a year; the estimated value of
these was from £500 to £600. The Corporation accordingly bought up these
tolls, and henceforward the sole rights and interest in the fair became
vested in the City.
_The End._—1839. The London City Mission, having pointed out to the
Corporation the moral pollution spread by the retention of the fair, the
matter was again referred to the City Lands Committee, who referred the
question to Mr. Charles Pearson the then able City Solicitor; and he
speedily discovered a rational mode of dealing with it: he advised _an
absolute refusal to let standings for show-booths in a fair that was
created in the first instance for the purposes of trade!_
The Markets Committee had in the meanwhile been working in the direction
of largely increasing the tolls for stalls, &c. The effect being that
in 1836 they had increased to £162, 1838 to £284; this year £305. The
smaller the number of booths the more each seemed able to pay, showing
that the popular patronage of the fair was still considerable.
_New Bartholomew Fair._—In 1843 the City authorities prohibited the
assembling of “shows” of any and all kinds in Smithfield; but with this
prohibition was the announcement that arrangements had been made for the
standing of such shows as desired on a large piece of ground adjoining
the New North Road, called Britannia Fields, near the site of the
Britannia Theatre, in the parish of Hoxton.
In this step it may have been thought to preserve the income from tolls
by a bodily transfer of the fair to another locality. I doubt if the
original Charter would have supported such a course; but the influence
of the City would have obtained the authority of Parliament for the
change. But even Parliament cannot change the sentiments of the people
in regard to their amusements, or divert the channels of commerce from
the time-honoured channels in which they have been wont to flow; and
the project for the new Bartholomew Fair fell dead very early in its
inception; but for two or three years shows did congregate there.
1855. _The end had come!_ The old ceremony of state proclamation had been
discontinued in 1840. In 1850 the Lord Mayor (Musgrove) having walked
quietly to the appointed gateway with the necessary attendants, found
there was no fair to proclaim! After that year the Lord Mayor attended no
more for the purpose. The last Bartholomew Fair was proclaimed this year
(1855). The City indeed still pays to the Rector of Bartholomew the Great
the annual fee of 3_s._ 6_d._ in respect of the proclamation no longer
made. The live Cattle Market was discontinued the same year—removed to
Islington. The Meat Market opened in 1868 has obliterated all traces of a
state of things which had continued for seven centuries.
1859. Mr. Henry Morley published “Memoirs of Bartholomew Fair,”
“inscribed with friendship to his friend John Forster.” In his preface
he says “When I first resolved upon the writing these memoirs, I knew
simply that Bartholomew fair was an unwritten portion of the story of
the people. Bound once to the life of the nation by the three ties of
Religion, Trade and Pleasure, first came a time when the tie of Religion
was unloosened from it; then it was a place of Trade and Pleasure. A few
more generations having lived and worked, Trade was no longer bound to
it. The nation still grew, and at last broke from it even as a pleasure
fair. _It lived for seven centuries_ or more, and of its death we are the
witnesses. Surely, methought, there is a story here; the memoirs of a
Fair do not mean only a bundle of handbills or a catalogue of monsters.
And then the volume was planned which is now offered to the reader, with
a lively sense of its shortcomings.” Thus launched upon the world it was
and is a book suited to the companionship of all lovers of objects of
antiquity. I am glad to have been able to supplement its record with some
details of interest.
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