"The purposes for which this fair was held by its original tenure were of a nature directly opposite to those to which it is now prostituted. They went to the encouragement of industry by the previous manufacture, and subsequent sale, of necessary articles; but they are now made subservient to corrupt the public mind by the most abandoned, and dissolute, manners. The motley multitude that infests the fair, are the more audacious in their conduct, from knowing that they are warranted in their proceedings, at least by the _appearance_ of law, which sanctions this annual ribaldry. "We seriously lament, that this 'congratulation[22] of living vapours' so foul and pestilential to society, should be suffered to exist in the metropolis, and that the Chief Magistrate of the City of London should be annually compelled to degrade his dignity as the principal guardian of the public peace and morals, by going in state, to license a scene, which constantly terminates in the most fatal abuses."--(_Times, Sep. 5, 1796._) [Footnote 22: _Sic_ in original.] * * * * * "At the general Meeting of the Magistrates for the division of Kensington, on Saturday last, complaints were made not only by the Bishop of London, as Lord of the Manor, but by other respectable inhabitants thereof, of a nuisance that has prevailed from time to time on Wormholt Scrubs by bull-baiting, to the great annoyance of the neighbourhood, and the disturbance of the public peace, when the Magistrates came to the laudable resolution of issuing warrants to the High, and Petty, Constables of the Division, requiring them to exert their utmost endeavours to prevent the same in future. And, having understood that many Publicans within their division had conveyed beer, and other liquors, from their respective houses to Wormholt Scrubs, where they had retailed it during such bull-baiting, they determined not to renew their licences."--(_Times, Sept. 8, 1796._) * * * * * "A few days ago some villains broke into the Lea Church, Gloucestershire, and stole a quantity of money, the property of a company of singers belonging to the said church. A reward of £20 was immediately offered for discovering the offenders, accompanied by a threat that application would be immediately made to a conjuror, who lived not far off, to tell who the robbers were. The sacrilegious rascals, being convinced that the Devil would betray them, by informing the cunning man who they were, went in the night to the church, and pushed all the money they had taken through a slit in the door, where it was found the next morning."--(_Times, Oct. 4, 1796._) * * * * *