mayor, having refused to receive into the tolbooth certain persons of "naughty and corrupt behaviour," who were "prisoners, taken by the proctors of the university, in the last Sturbridge fair;" wherefore he was called before the lords and others of the council, and his fault therein "so plainly and justly opened" that he could not deny it, but did "sincerely and willingly confess his said fault." In 1613, Stourbridge fair acquired such celebrity, that hackney-coaches attended it from London. Subsequently not less than sixty coaches plied at this fair, which was the largest in England. Vast quantities of butter and cheese found there a ready market; it stocked the people of Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and other counties with clothes, and all other necessaries; and shopkeepers supplied themselves from thence with the commodities wherein they dealt.+ Jacob Butler, Esq. who died on the 28th of May, 1765, stoutly maintained the charter of Stourbridge fair: he was of Bene't-college, Cambridge, and a barrister-at-law. In stature he was six feet four inches high, of determined character, and deemed "a great eccentric" because, among other reasons, he usually invited the giants and dwarfs, who came for exhibition, to dine with him. He was so rigid in seeing the charter literally complied with, that if the ground was not cleared by one o'clock on the day appointed, and he found any of the booths standing, he had them pulled down, and the materials taken away. On one occasion when the wares were not removed. by the time mentioned in the charter, he drove his carriage among the crockery and destroyed a great quantity. The rev. John Butler, LL. D. rector of Wallington, in Hertfordshire, father of Mr. Butler, who was his eldest son, endeavoured in the year 1705, to get Stourbridge fair rated to the poor. This occasioned a partial and oppressive assessment on himself that involved him in great difficulties. Dr. Butler died in 1714, and Jacob Butler succeeded to his difficulties and estates in the parish of Mr. Dyer's Privileges of Cambridge, vol. i. p. 111. + Dr. N. Drake's Shakspeare and his Times. Barnwell. As a trustee under an act for the turnpike road from Cambridge to London, Mr. Butler was impeached of abuses in common with his co-trustees. Being obnoxious, he was singled out to make good the abuse, and summoned to the county sessions, where he appeared in his barrister's gown, was convicted and fined ten pounds, which he refused to pay, and was committed. He excepted to the jurisdiction, wherein he was supported by the opinion of sir Joseph Yorke, then attorney-general, and to save who refused his application, and afteran estreat applied to the under-sheriff, wards went to the clerk of the peace at Newmarket, from whom he met the like treatment; this forced him to the quarterafter telling the chairman he felt it hard sessions, where he obtained his discharge, pense of teaching him and his brethren to be compelled to the trouble and exlaw. He appears to have been a lawyer of that school, which admitted no law but the old common law of the land, and statute law. In 1754, "to stem the venality and corruption of the times, he offered himself a candidate to represent the county in parliament, unsupported by the influence of the great, the largess of the wealthy, or any interest, but that which his single character could establish in the esteein of all honest men and lovers of their country. But when he found the struggles for freedom faint and ineffectual, and his spirits too weak to resist the efforts of his enemies, he contented himself with the testimony of those his own unbiassed conscience, which, few friends who dare to be free, and of upon this, as well as every other occasion, voted in his favour; and upon these accounts he was justly entitled to the name of the old Briton." He bore The loss of a favourite dog is supposed to this appellation to the day of his death. have accelerated his end; upon its being announced to him, he said, "I shall not live long now my dog is dead." He shortly afterwards became ill, and, lingering about two months, died. His coffin, which was made from a large oak by his express order, some months before his death, became an object of public curiosity; it was of sufficient dimensions to contain several persons, and wine was copiously quaffed therein by many of those who went to see it. To a person, who was one of the legatees, the singular trust was delegated of driving him to the grave, on the carriage of a waggon, divested of the body: seated in the front, he was to drive his two favourite horses, Brag and Dragon, to Barnwell church, and should they refuse to receive his body there, he was to return and bury him in the middle of the grass-plat in his own garden. Part only of his request was complied with, for the body being put into a leaden coffin, and the leaden one into a shell, was conveyed in a hearse, and the coffin made before his death was put upon the carriage of his waggon, and driven before the hearse by the gentleman above mentioned; when arrived at the church door, it was taken from the carriage by four men, who received half-a-guinea each; it was then put into the vault, and the corpse being taken from the hearse was carried to the vault, there put into the coffin, and then screwed down. Origin of Stourbridge Fair. Mr. George Dyer, in a supplement to his recently published "Privileges of the University of Cambridge," being a sequel to his "History of the University," cites thus from Fuller : : "Stourbridge fair is so called from Stour, a little rivulet (on both sides whereof it is kept,) on the east of Cambridge, whereof this original is reported. A clothier of Kendal, a town characterized to be Lanificii gloria et industria præcellens, casually wetting his cloath in water in his passage to London, exposed it there to sale, on cheap termes, as the worse for wetting, and yet it seems saved by the bargain. Next year he returned again with some other of his townsmen, prof fering drier and dearer cloath to be sold. So that within a few years hither came a confluence of buyers, sellers, and lookerson, which are the three principles of a fair. In memoria thereof, Kendal men challenge some privilege in that place, annually choosing one of the town to be chief, before whom an antic sword was carried with some mirthful solemnities, disused of late, since these sad times, which put men's minds into more serious employments." This was about 1417. The "History of Stourbridge Fair," &c. a pamphlet published at Cambridge in 1806, supplies the particulars before the reader, respecting Jacob Butler and the fair, except in a few instances derived from authorities acknowledged in the notes. From thence also is as follows:Stourbridge fair was annually set out on St. Bartholomew's day, by the aldermen and the rest of the corporation of Cambridge, who all rode there in grand procession, with music playing before them; and, when the ceremony was finished, used to ride races about the place; then returning to Cambridge, cakes and ale were given to the boys who attended them, at the Town-hall; but, we believe, this old custom is now laid aside. On the 7th of September they rode in the same manner to proclaim it; which being done, the fair then began, and continued three weeks, though the greatest part was over in a fortnight. This fair, which was allowed, some years ago, to be the largest in Europe, is kept in a corn-field about half a mile square, the river Cam running on the No. 42. north side, and the rivulet called the Stour, (from which, and the bridge which crosses it, the fair received its name,) on the east side; it is about two miles from Cambridge market-place, and where, during the time of the fair, coaches, &c. attend to convey persons to the fair. The chief diversions at the fair were drolls, and plays performed; and though there rope-dancing, sometimes a music-booth, is an act of parliament which prohibits the acting of plays within ten miles of Cambridge, the Norwich company have permission to perform there every night during the fair. If the corn was not cleared off the field by the 24th of August, the builders were booths; and on the other hand, if the at liberty to tread it down to build their booths and materials were not cleared away by Michaelmas-day at noon, the ploughmen might enter the same with their horses, ploughs, and carts, and destroy whatever they found remaining on the ground after that time. The filth, straw, dung, &c. left by the fair-keepers, making and hardening the ground. The shops, the farmers amends for their trampling or booths, were built in rows like streets, having each their name; as Garlick-row, Booksellers'-row,Cook-row, &c. and every commodity had its proper place; as the cheese-fair, hop-fair, wool-fair, &c. these streets, or rows, as well as in several others, were all kinds of tradesmen, who sell by wholesale or retail, as goldsmiths, toy-men, braziers, turners, milliners, haberdashers, hatters, mercers, drapers, pewterers, china warehouses, and, in short, most trades that could be found in London, from whence many of them came; there were also taverns, coffeehouses, and eating-houses in great plenty, all kept in booths, except six or seven brick-houses, in any of which (except the coffee-house booth,) you might be accommodated with hot or cold roast goose, roast or boiled pork, &c. In Crossing the road, at the south end of Garlick-row, on the left hand, was a square formed of the largest booths, called the Duddery, the area of which was from two hundred and forty to three hundred feet, chiefly taken up with woollen drapers, wholesale tailors, sellers of secondhand clothes, &c. where the dealers had a room before their booths to take down and open their packs, and bring in waggons to load and unload the same. In the centre of the square there formerly stood a high pole with a vane at the top. On two Sundays, during the principal time of the fair, morning and afternoon, divine service was performed, and a sermon preached by the minister of Barnwell, from a pulpit placed in this square, who was very well paid for the same, by a contribution made among the fair keepers. In this duddery only, it is said, that 100,000l. worth of woollen manufacture has been sold in less than a week, exclusive of the trade carried on here by the wholesale tailors from London, and other parts of England, who transacted their business wholly with their pocket-books, and meeting with their chapmen here from all parts of the country, make up their accounts, receive money, and take further orders. These, it is said, exceed the sale of goods actually brought to the fair, and delivered in kind; it was frequently known that the London wholesale-inen have carried back orders from their dealers for 10,000l. worth of goods, and some a great deal more. Once, in this duddery, there was a booth consisting of six apart ments, which contained goods worth 20,0001. belonging solely to a dealer in Norwich stuffs. The trade for wool, hops, and leather, was prodigious; the quantity of wool only, which was sold at one fair, was said to amount to between 50 and 60,000l., and of hops to nearly the same sum. The 14th of September was the horsefair day, which was always the busiest day during the time of the fair, and the number of people, who came from all parts of the county on this day, was very great. Colchester oysters and fresh herrings were in great request, particularly by those who lived in the inland parts of the kingdom. The fair was like a well-governed city, and less disorder or confusion were to be seen here than in any other place, where there was so great a concourse of people assembled. Here was a court of justice, open from morning till night, where the mayor, or his deputy, always attended to determine all controversies in matters arising from the business of the fair, and for keeping the peace; for which purpose he had eight servants to attend him, called red-coats, who were employed as constables, and if any dispute arose between buyer and seller, &c. upon calling out red-coat there was one of them immediately at hand; and if the dispute was not quickly decided, the offenders were taken to the said court, and the case determined in a summary way, (as was practised in those called pie-powder courts in other fairs,) and from which there was no appeal. The greatest inconvenience attending the tradesmen at this fair, was the manner in which they were obliged to lodge in the night; their bed (if it may be so called,) was laid upon two or three boards nailed to four posts about a foot from the ground, and four boards fixed round it to keep them from falling out; in the day-time it was obliged to be removed from the booth, and laid in the open air, exposed to the weather; at night it was again taken in, and made up in the best manner they were able, and they laid almost neck and heels together, it being not more than five feet long. Very heavy rains, which fall about this season, would sometimes force through the hair-cloths, which were almost the only covering to the booths, and oblige them to get up again; and high winds have been known to blow down many of the booths, particularly in the year 1741. CRUELTY TO ANIMALS. Legislative discussion and interference have raised a feeling of kindness towards the brute creation which slumbered and slept in our forefathers. Formerly, the costermonger was accustomed to make wounds for the express purpose of producing torture. He prepared to drive an ass, that had not been driven, with his knife. On each side of the back bone, at the lower end, just above the tail, he made an incision of two or three inches in length through the skin, and beat into these incisions with his stick till they became open wounds, and so remained, while the ass lived to be driven to and from market, or through the streets of the metropolis. A costermonger, now, would shrink from this, which was a common practice between the years 1790 and 1800. The present itinerant venders of apples, and other fruit, abstain from wanton barbarity, while coachmen and carmen are punished for it under Mr. Martin's act This gentleman's humanity, though sometimes eccentric, is ever active; and, when judiciously exercised, is approved by natural feelings, and supported by public opinion. A correspondent has pleasantly thrown together some amusing citations respect ing the ass. It is a rule with the editor of the Every-Day Book not to alter communications, or he would have turned one expression, in the course of the subjoined paper, which seems to bear somewhat ludicrously upon the interference of the member for Galway, in behalf of that class of animals which have endured more persecution than any in existence, except, perhaps, our fellow human-beings, the Jews. THE ASS. (For Hone's Every-Day Book.) Poorly as the world may think of the intellectual abilities of asses, there have been some very clever fellows among them. There have been periods when, far from his name being synonymous with stupidity, and his person inade the subject of the derision, the contempt, and, what is worse, the scourge of the vulgar(for that is "the unkindest cut of all") he was "respected and beloved by all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance!" Leo Africanus asserts, that asses may be taught to dance to music, and it is sur prising to see the accurate manner in which they will keep time. In this, at least, they must be far superior to us, poor human beings, if they can keep time, for "time stays for no man," as the proverb says. Though their vocal powers do not equal those of a Bra-ham, yet we have had an undoubted proof of the sensitiveness of their ear to the sweets of harmony; Gay also tells us— "The ass learnt metaphors and tropes, But most on music fixed his hopes.' And merry Peter Pindar thus apostrophises his asinine namesake : "What tho' I've heard some voices sweeter; Yet exquisite thy hearing, gentle Peter! Whether a judge of music, I don't know If so Thou hast th' advantage got of many a score That enter at the open door."What an unfounded calumny then must it have been on the part of the Romans, to declare these "Roussins dé Arcadie" (as La Fontaine calls them) so deficient in their aural faculties, that "to talk to a deaf ass" was proverbial for "to labour in vain!"-Perhaps it was under the same delusion that, as Goldsmith says, "John Trott was desired by two witty peers, To tell them the reason why asses had ears." Which joke, by the bye, the author of "Waverley" has deigned to make free with, and thrust into the mouth of a thick headed fellow, in the fourth volume of the "Crusaders." Gesner says he saw one leap through a hoop, and, at the word of command, lie down just as if he were dead. half ass and half mule: for if we may take Mahomet had an excellent creature, his word for it, the beast carried him from Mecca to Jerusalem in the twinkling of an eye in one step!" It is only the first step which is difficult," says the French proverb, and here it is undoubtedly right. of one which had the misfortune to die. Sterne gives us a most affecting account "The ass," the old owner told him," he separated three days, during which time was assured loved him. They had been the ass had sought him as much as he had sought the ass: and they had scarce either eat or drank till they met." This certainly could not have assisted much to improve the health of the donkey. I cannot better conclude my evidence of his shrewdness and capacity than with an anecdote which many authors combine in declaring: "De la peau du lion l'âne s'étant vêtu Decouvrit la fourbe et l'erreur. La Fontaine It is curious to see the same taste and the same peculiarities attached to the same family. As long as the ass was thought to be a lion, he was suffered to go on, but when he is discovered to be an ass, forth steps Mr. Martin—then thẹ task is his! Now for the estimation in which they were held. Shakspeare makes the fairy queen, the lovely Titania, fall in love with a gentleman who sported an ass's head: |