“Nimble-heels” henceforward shall be his name, Which to confess let him not feel shame Whether ’fore matter, miss, or dame— And then the chorus as before. Then,— This child first having paid his dues, Is welcome then to put on his shoes, And sing a song, or tell a merry tale— As he may choose. Chorus and conviviality ending up by a formal supper. If several novices were offered together, one ceremony sufficed, with a few necessary verbal alterations. 1771. In a letter of the Rev. Michael Tyson, dated _Corpus Christi College, Cambridge_, Sept. 12th, this year, occurs the following passage:—“There is an old and curious plan of Sturbridge Fair in the mayor’s booth, taken when it was in its splendour, when its street and square extended all over those fields by Barmwell. I mean to make a copy of this, and to draw up an _Historiola_ of the Fair; but this is too local to be of any entertainment but to those connected with Cambridge. Thank Heaven my Deanship ends on Michaelmas day....”—Nichols’ “Literary Anecdotes,” viii. 569. 1778. Violent storm during the fair; Bailey’s large music booth blown down and many others injured. 1783. At the Quarter Sessions of Cambridge held July this year the following order was made: “Whereas some disputes have arisen, touching the Intercommon of Stirbridge Fair Green, between the Commoners of Cambridge, and those of Barnwell within the said Town, and a suit hath been instituted in order to try the right of the said Common: It is this day agreed and ordered, that the Costs of such suit on the part of the said town of Cambridge, touching the said intercommon, be paid and borne by the said town; and that the Town Clerk be desired to prosecute the said suit, to assert the right of the inhabitants of the said town to the said Common.” It is recorded that some of the scenes at the fair about this date were of a reprehensible character, and tradition especially points to a booth raised by Charles Day, the character of one of whose patrons is sketched with a free hand in “Nichols’ Literary Anecdotes,” viii. p. 540. 1786. There was published “The History and Antiquities of Barnwell Abbey, and of Sturbridge Fair” (being a reprint of “Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica,” No. xxxviii.), from which I have drawn some of the preceding details. 1789. An interesting and amusing account of the fair as it appeared in 1789—reign of George III.—is given in “Reminiscences of Cambridge,” by Henry Gunning, formerly an Esquire Bedell, vol. i., pp. 149-158, second edition, London, 1855. [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAPTER XIII. THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.