Part 13

Order to permit the citizens of York to have, until otherwise ordered, their hanse and gild merchant in Boston Fair, as they ought to have them there and in times past have been wont to have them.

Cal. of Close, 1272-9, 65.

Another word for gild. Cf. the German Hanseatic League.

Dress of London Women.

1281. It is provided and commanded that no woman of the city (of London) shall from henceforth go to market or in the king's highway, out of her house, with a hood furred with other than lambskin or rabbitskin, on pain of losing her hood to the use of the sheriffs; save only those ladies who wear furred capes, the hoods of which may have such linings as they may think proper. And this because that regratresses, nurses and other servants, and women of loose life, bedizen themselves and wear hoods furred with gros vair and minever, in guise of good ladies.

Riley, Memorials of London, 20.

Unlawfulness of Bearing Arms at Fairs.

1328. It is shewn to the king on behalf of John Wynter of Norwich and Thomas Wynter of Norwich, merchants, that they lately went with their goods and wares to the abbot's fair at Reading, to trade there with the same and for no other purpose. And although they wore no armour save two single aketons, to wit one each, and that only by reason of the dangers of the road and not for the purpose of committing evil, the bailiffs nevertheless took and imprisoned them with their goods, and still detain them and their goods, by virtue of the ordinance of the late parliament at Northampton that no one shall go armed in fairs or markets or elsewhere, under pain of imprisonment and loss of their arms, wherefore they have prayed the king to provide a remedy. The king therefore orders the bailiffs to release the said John and Thomas and goods, upon their finding surety to have them before the king in three weeks from Michaelmas.

Cal. of Close, 1327-30, 314.

Misadventure of some Shrewsbury Merchants travelling to a Fair.

1332. TO RICHARD EARL OF ARUNDEL.

Whereas the king lately took into his protection the burgesses of Shrewsbury so that they might be free to intend their affairs and to exercise their merchandise more safely, forbidding any to do them harm; and they have shewn to the king that whereas John de Weston, Richard Biget, William son of Roger de Wythiford, and John son of Yarvord le Walssh, their fellow burgesses, lately wished to go to the town of La Pole (Welshpool) in Wales to a fair there, to ply their merchandise, Yevan ap Griffith, the earl's yeoman, with other armed Welshmen of the earl, took without cause the said John, Richard, William and John, at Cause in the Welsh marches, without the earl's lordship, as they were going to La Pole, and took them with their horses and other goods and chattels, to the value of £200, and brought them to the earl's castle of Osewaldestre (Oswestry), where they imprisoned them and where they are still detained. And although the burgesses have repeatedly requested the earl to deliver the aforesaid men and to restore their said goods and chattels, the earl has neglected to do anything in the matter; wherefore the burgesses have besought the king to provide a remedy. The king therefore orders the earl to deliver from prison the said John, Richard, William and John without delay and to restore to them their horses, goods and chattels, or, if there be any reasonable cause why he should not do this, to be before the king and his council at the octaves of Holy Trinity to inform the king.

Cal. of Close, 1330-3, 572.

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. ... 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. 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.

I.e., from Newgate prison to Tyburn gallows.

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. 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.

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.