Ely fair is a thing of the past, but it used to be a very picturesque memorial of St. Etheldreda, the saint to whom the city owed its importance in the first instance. It commenced at the latter part of October, on the day that was dedicated to the saint, and lasted several days. Many-coloured ribbons were sold, and called St. Audrey’s ribbons, a corruption of the saint’s name, and their merit seems to have been that they had touched her shrine. When we consider how very isolated Ely was before drainage had improved the surrounding country, we can more readily understand how Hereward held it so long against William the Conqueror, and caused him so much loss. The monks of Ely were said to have been at all times noted for their kindness and hospitality. On one occasion when William had collected the principal gentry of the neighbourhood to accompany him on an expedition to Normandy, he quartered them in the monastery, and they soon became extremely friendly with the ecclesiastics, though they were there hardly as invited guests; but when the time for their departure came, the monks expressed the deepest regret at losing their friends, and accompanied them in solemn procession as far as Hadenham, a village about five miles distant. No illustrations have been given of Cambridge, which is about fourteen miles to the south of Ely, as the author hopes to be able to produce at some future time a work of illustrations of that town. In some respects it is more picturesque even than Oxford: the quaint old courtyards and entries, and the old-fashioned gabled houses, give it a peculiar charm. The University had a chancellor and masters many centuries before the charter of incorporation in 1231, but up to the close of the thirteenth century it contained no college buildings. St. Peter’s was the earliest, and that was built by the Bishop of Ely; and Downing, founded by Sir George Downing, the latest. The annual income of the colleges in all is about £185,000.