Tour through the Eastern Counties of England, 1722Defoe, Daniel
History
Tour through the Eastern Counties of England, 1722
Defoe, Daniel
England -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800
Towards the latter end of the fair, and when the great hurry of wholesale
business begins to be over, the gentry come in from all parts of the
county round; and though they come for their diversion, yet it is not a
little money they lay out, which generally falls to the share of the
retailers, such as toy-shops, goldsmiths, braziers, ironmongers, turners,
milliners, mercers, etc., and some loose coins they reserve for the
puppet shows, drolls, rope-dancers, and such like, of which there is no
want, though not considerable like the rest. The last day of the fair is
the horse-fair, where the whole is closed with both horse and foot races,
to divert the meaner sort of people only, for nothing considerable is
offered of that kind. Thus ends the whole fair, and in less than a week
more, there is scarce any sign left that there has been such a thing
there, except by the heaps of dung and straw and other rubbish which is
left behind, trod into the earth, and which is as good as a summer’s
fallow for dunging the land; and as I have said above, pays the
husbandman well for the use of it.
I should have mentioned that here is a court of justice always open, and
held every day in a shed built on purpose in the fair; this is for
keeping the peace, and deciding controversies in matters deriving from
the business of the fair. The magistrates of the town of Cambridge are
judges in this court, as being in their jurisdiction, or they holding it
by special privilege: here they determine matters in a summary way, as is
practised in those we call Pye Powder Courts in other places, or as a
Court of Conscience; and they have a final authority without appeal.
I come now to the town and university of Cambridge; I say the town and
university, for though they are blended together in the situation, and
the colleges, halls, and houses for literature are promiscuously
scattered up and down among the other parts, and some even among the
meanest of the other buildings, as Magdalene College over the bridge is
in particular; yet they are all incorporated together by the name of the
university, and are governed apart and distinct from the town which they
are so intermixed with.
As their authority is distinct from the town, so are their privileges,
customs, and government; they choose representatives, or members of
Parliament for themselves, and the town does the like for themselves,
also apart.
The town is governed by a mayor and aldermen; the university by a
chancellor, and vice-chancellor, etc. Though their dwellings are mixed,
and seem a little confused, their authority is not so; in some cases the
vice-chancellor may concern himself in the town, as in searching houses
for the scholars at improper hours, removing scandalous women, and the
like.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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