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.
[16] _I.e._, from Newgate prison to Tyburn gallows.
[17] Literally a bird said to mimic gestures, idiomatically a
foolish person.
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.
[18] Simple fellows.
Now farewell to the Fair, you who are wise,
Preserve your purses while you please your eyes.
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._
[19] The London district of Mayfair includes the site of this
fair, and was named after it.
_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,