5.--A largely advertised "monstre _fete_ and fancy fair," under the
management of Mr. J. W. Hoffman, was held on the old Cricket Ground,
Norwich, under the patronage of the Mayor and Sheriff, the officers of
the 15th Hussars, &c. Hoffman, who had already visited Norwich as the
manager of an "organophonic" band, announced himself as the
representative of "the Society for the Promotion of Public
Amusements"--an entirely fictitious organization. Business was suspended
in Norwich, the railway companies ran excursion trains, and the streets
were thronged by many thousands of persons anxious to witness the "grand
Middle-age pageant." This consisted of a procession of between thirty
and forty persons on foot and one horseman. It was everywhere received
with groans and hisses. Ten thousand persons were present on the Cricket
Ground to witness the "Old English Sports"; every item in the programme
resulted in failure, and a _bal champetre_ was described as "a
disgraceful affair, which ended in indiscriminate fighting among the
blackguards on the ground." For many years afterwards this "_fete_" was
popularly known in Norwich as "Hoffman's Humbug."
7.--The headquarters of the 15th Hussars marched from Norwich, and were
replaced, on Sept. 11th, by a detachment of Royal Horse Artillery, under
the command of Major Brandling, C.B.
30.--A cricket match, Norfolk and Norwich _v._ Oxford and Cambridge
Universities, was played on the Norwich ground. Norfolk and Norwich,
148--79; Oxford and Cambridge (1st innings), 122. The return match was
played at Gunton Park on August 9th. Universities, 96--45; Norfolk and
Norwich (first innings), 138.