XVIII. Bartholomew Fair, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries 217 XIX. Fairs in France 245 XX. Other Fairs of France 261 XXI. The Fairs of Paris 275 XXII. Fairs of Russia 284 XXIII. Nijni-Novgorod 291 XXIV. Fairs in Asiatic Russia 308 Comprehensive Index 311 [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAPTER I. ORIGIN OF FAIRS. The origin of Fairs, like that of many other ancient institutions, is involved in much obscurity. The almost universal belief is that they were associated with religious observances; or, as Mr. Morley poetically puts it: “the first fairs were formed by the gathering of worshippers and pilgrims about sacred places, and especially within or about the walls of abbeys and cathedrals, on the Feast days of the Saints enshrined therein.” The sacred building and its surroundings being too small to provide accommodation, tents were pitched; and as the resources of the district would no more suffice to victual than to lodge its throngs of visitors, stalls were set up by provision dealers; and later these were turned to more general purposes of trade. This incidental origin seems, in some cases, hardly sufficient to account for the results which followed; but then it has ever been the genius of commerce to follow close upon the wants of the people. The establishment of fairs as a source of revenue to religious houses was probably a later development. The Church has always been keenly alive to its temporal interests. And while it was one of its principal functions to administer hospitality to the needy and decrepit, there was justice in drawing contributions from those who too soon might have to rely upon its bounty. Certain it is that nearly all the early charters which I shall have to notice in the progress of this work were shaped in view of granting tolls and revenue to the purposes of religion and charity.