I now draw near to Cambridge, to which I fansy I look as if I was afraid to come, having made so many Circumlocutions beforehand; but I must yet make another Digression before I enter the Town; (for in my way, and as I came in from Newmarket, about the beginning of September;) I cannot omit, that I came necessarily through Sturbridge Fair, which was then in its height. If it is a Diversion worthy of a Book to treat of Trifles, such as the Gayety of Bury Fair, it cannot be very unpleasant, especially to the Trading part of the World, to say something of this Fair, which is not only the greatest in the whole Nation, but in the World; nor, if I may believe those who have seen them all, is the Fair at Leipsick in Saxony, the Mart at Frankfort on the Main, or the Fairs at Nuremberg or Ausburg, any way to compare to this Fair at Sturbridge. It is kept in a large Corn-field, near Casterton, extending from the side of the River Cam, towards the Road, for about half a Mile square. If the Husbandmen who rent the Land, do not get their Corn off before a certain Day in August, the Fair-Keepers may trample it under foot, and spoil it, to build their Booths: On the other Hand, to ballance that Severity, if the Fair-Keepers have not done their Business of the Fair, and remov’d and clear’d the field by another certain Day in September, the Plowmen may come in again, with Plow and Cart, and overthrow all and trample it into the Dirt; and as for the Filth, Dung, Straw, &c., necessarily left by the Fair-Keepers, the Quantity of which is very great, it is the Farmers Fees, and makes them full amends for the trampling, riding, and carting upon, and hardening the Ground. It is impossible to describe all the Parts and Circumstances of this Fair exactly; the Shops are placed in Rows like Streets, whereof one is call’d Cheapside; and here, as in several other Streets, are all sorts of Trades, who sell by Retale, and who come principally from London with their Goods; scarce any trades are omitted, Goldsmiths, Toy-shops, Braziers, Turners, Milleners, Haberdashers, Hatters, Mercers, Drapers, Pewterers, China-Warehouses, Taverns, Brandy-Shops, and Eating-Houses, innumerable, and all in Tents, and Booths, as above.