BEAUCAIRE (in Languedoc).—An important town, whose manufactures consist of silks, red wines, taffetas, olive oil, and pottery. But its trade is chiefly due to its great fair, held annually between 1st and 28th July, the site extending from the Rhône to the base of the Castle Rock. This fair was established in 1217 by Raymond VI., Count of Toulouse, and was for many ages attended by merchants and manufacturers from all countries in Europe, and even from Persia and Armenia. Arthur Young visited it in 1788, and records (“Travels in France”) that the business transacted at it reached 10 million livres—£439,000. So late as 1833 it drew together 60,000 persons, and the amount of its transactions were stated to be 150 millions of francs—£6,000,000! This would appear to be an over-estimate. I believe the fair now only lasts one week, namely from 22nd to 28th July inclusive. It is a rule that all bills must be presented on the 27th, and protested if necessary on 28th—last day of the fair. The trade in linen and cloth is very large. BESANÇON.—This ancient city, a great centre of warfare and of trade from the days of the Cæsars, had once a fair of great celebrity. At a later period it was chiefly notable for carrying on the business of exchange. This business had been perfected at the fairs of Lyons, from whence it passed here. On the first day of the fair the merchants of a certain standing announced the terms on which they were willing to exchange with different countries, and on the second day an authoritative declaration was made of the fair terms of exchange with any foreign country. For this purpose, with the constant fluctuations in all actual coinage, it was necessary to have a unit which should be common to all lands, and free from the possibility of depreciation. Hence everything was reckoned by means of an imaginary unit—_scutus marcharum_, or money of account: so that the form which the business took was not that of buying bills, but of exchanging these fictitious coins, made realizable in one town, for quantities of actual coinage of another country, according to the authoritatively declared rate, which took account of the difficulty of transport, and of various risks. A scutus marcharum was worth in Genoa 67⅓ soldi of the actual coinage of the place. The question to be settled was what, at this time, shall be paid in Piacenza for a scutus marcharum in Genoa? This was the fair rate of exchange, and the announcement of it was intended to exclude the operations of private speculators (in which it was not entirely successful), and to secure a division of the advantage among each of the parties transacting business. _Vide_ Cunningham’s “English Industry and Commerce,” 1882, p. 278. BORDEAUX.—This city has or had two fairs annually—one commencing on the 1st March, the other on the 15th October; they each continued fifteen days. The October fair was generally the more considerable.