Some clown, or pantaloon—the gazer’s jest, Here, with his train in dirty pageant stood: Some tired-out posture master here may rest, Some conjuring swordsman—guiltless of his blood! The applause of listening cockneys to command, The threats of City-marshal to despise; To give delight to all the grinning band, And read their merit in spectators’ eyes, Is still their boast; nor, haply, theirs alone, Polito’s lions (though now _dormant_ laid), The human monsters, shall acquire renown, The spotted Negro—and the armless maid! Peace to the youth, who, slumbering at the _Bear_, Forgets his present lot, his perils past: Soon will the crowd again be thronging there, To view the man on wild Sombrero cast. Careful their booths from insult to protect, These furl their tapestry, late erected high; Nor longer with prodigious pictures deck’d, They tempt the passing youth’s astonish’d eye. But when the day calls forth the belles and beaux, The cunning showmen each device display, And many a clown the useful notice shows, To teach ascending strangers—_where to pay_. Sleep on, ye imps of merriment—sleep on! In this short respite to your labouring train; And when this time of annual mirth is gone, May ye enjoy, in peace, your hard-earned gain! 1825. Bartholomew Day falling on a Sunday the fair was wholly suspended. Many thousands of persons walking for recreation repaired to Smithfield and viewed its appearance. The City officers most strictly enforced observance of the day: one keeper of a gingerbread stall who plied for custom and refractorily persisted was taken into custody, and held in prison till he could be carried before a magistrate on the following day, when he was fined for the offence.—Hone. _Hone’s survey of the Fair._—It was on the morning following this day that Hone made his memorable visit to the fair, which he has recorded at large in his “Every Day Book” (i. cols. 1168-1251), and from which I take the following condensed description of the extent and nature of the exhibition:—