The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 12, No. 333, September 27, 1828Various
General
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 12, No. 333, September 27, 1828
Various
Popular literature -- Great Britain -- Periodicals
[2] "On the west front of the tower are two arches, one within the
other in relief. On the point of the outermost is a crucifix,
and between both, towards the middle, are figures of the Virgin
Mary and St. John, the latter holding a cup with a lamb. The
outer arch is adorned with knobs, and within both is a small
slit or loop. At the bottom of the outer arch are two beasts
couchant. If one of them _by his proboscis was not evidently an
elephant_, I should suppose them the supporters of the Scotch
arms. Parallel with the Crucifix are two plain stones, which do
not appear to have had anything upon them. Here is not the least
trace of a door in these arches, nor anywhere else, except in
the church."
* * * * *
SOME ACCOUNT OF STIRBITCH FAIR.
BY A SEPTUAGENARIAN.
(_For the Mirror._)
(Stirbitch Fair, as our correspondent observes, was once the Leipsic or
Frankfurt of England. He has appended to his "Account" a ground plan of
the fair, which we regret we have not room to insert; the gaps or spaces
in which, serve to show how much this commercial carnival (for such it
might be termed) has deteriorated; for the remaining booths were built
on the same site as during the former splendour of the fair. Our
correspondent accounts for this "decay, by the facilities of roads and
navigable canals for the conveyance of goods;" the shopkeepers, &c,
"being able to get from London and the manufacturing districts, every
article direct, at a small expense, the fair-keepers find no market for
their goods, as heretofore." His paper is, however, a curious
matter-of-fact description of Stirbitch, "sixty years since." We have
been compelled to reject all but one verse of the "Chaunt," on account
of some local allusions, the justice of which we do not deny, but which
are scarcely delicate enough for our pages.
Stirbitch is still a festival of considerable extent, although it has
lost so much of its commercial importance. There are but few fortnight
fairs left: Portsmouth, we _recollect_, lasts 14 days, and there is
a fair held on some fine downs in Dorsetshire, which extends to that
period.)
Stirbitch Fair is held in a large field near Barnwell, about two miles
from Cambridge, covering a space of ground upwards of two miles in
circumference. It commences on the 16th day of September, and continues
till the beginning of October, for the sale of all kinds of manufactured
and other goods, and likewise for horses.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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