The Sun.
London, England, 1802-05-05 00:00:00

DISSOLUTION OF RAG PAIR.

,Mg. GIB its stated, that this was an Indiament
against the Defendant and eight other persons, for
assembling and raising a Nuisance, in a place called
Sparrow Corner, but which, in modern times,
had been honoured with the appellation of RaR- Fair.
Four of the DefendantS had pleaded Not Guilty,
and the remaining five had pleaded that Sparrow
Corner was parcel of the King's highway, in which,
from time immemorial, there had existed- a right
to hold a daily Fair or Market.- That this place was
a nuisance, and a mast intolerable one, no person
who had ever seen, or ever heard 'of it, could pos-
sibly entertain a doubt. There, from the hour of
twelve in the forenoon, till seven in the afternoOn,
Jews and Christians molt together, in ?numbers count-
less as leaves on trees, or swarms of bees in bee.:
hives—their btisiness was to sell all sorts of arti-
cles, old clothes, old hats, old wigs, broken .earthen,
ware, rags,, and saloop. ThiS place,- in which a
prescription •to hold a Fair was set was just
within the verge of the City, and 'was bounded-by
.gosemary-lane. 'lt was incumbent on the Defen-
dants to show that a Fair had been antiently held on
this spot—he should produce witnesses who would
prove, thr,, about twenty-five years .ago the mob of
peripatetic merchants who "now resorted to Spar-
row-corner, met in Cable-street, which was beyond
Rosemary-lane, and a quarter . of a mile from
the place in question.' They' were routed from
that place by the inhabitants, after Which they
were dispersed and scattered -upcsn the face of the
•world like their Jewish forefathers—soine journied
East, some West, and others remained as near the
former emporium of their commerce as they possibly
could. They first obtained a footing in Rosemary_
lane, where they formed themselves into distitifq
tribes or branches, denominated the Rosemary_
branch, Tyernari'sbranch, &e. In time they got
to Sparrow-corner, 'and now the nuisance had in-
creased in such a degree, that the inhabitants could
no longer endure it.
Lord 4LEIVBOROUGH observed, that upon the
statement of the Learned Counsel, it was clear the'
four Defendants who had pleaded Not Guilty, were
entitled to an acquittal; for if this Fair had existed
twenty years, and the Defendants had resorted to it .
in common with others, they could not be made
amenable- upon a criminal prosecution, for doing that
which, for any thing that appeared to them to the
contrary, they had a right to do. ,No man could be
indieted for doing what had been openly pra.aised
for t-wenty years ; at the same time if it should hp-
pear that there was no grant of a mailer, br no pre-
scriptive right to hold one, it was a nuisance which
ought to be ;bated. He saw no reason why the Pro-
secutors, instead of proceeding upon indictment,
might not have resorted to the ancient Writ of
quod
.ftertaittat prosternare. •

.The Witnesses for the Prosecution were then
called. They consisted of old men who had known
the spot for near sixty vears. They proved that
formerly there was no Fair fit Sparrow7coraer, but
that it was kept in Cable-street. One of the
.witnesses gage a very facetious account of • the cir-
cumstance which occasioned the dispersion of the
merchants. He said there was a justice Pell, whose
house was opposite the place where the market was
held, and the crowds who asembled there used to
obstruct the entrance to his house. It happened he
expeded a visit one day from his sister andsano-
ther lady, and observing they found some difficulty
in getting through' the . crowd, he very gallantly
went out. to hand them .along. Unfortunately. for
him, he was dressed in the pink ,of the fashion of
the day, with long hanging sleeves. Thejews' took
the unwarrantable liberty of quizzing him,' and be-
fore he returned to his oiwn door, the sleeves and
the skirts of his coat had ,been shorn completely
off. Exasperated-at this, lie,went pell-mell to work—
issued warrants, apprehended the ringleaders, and
obliged all who resorted to the Fair to establish their
head-quarters some where else. They proceeded by
slow gradations, till at last they. got possession of
their present station at Sparrow-corner. It was
proved that Rag Fair had none of those establish-
ments incident to a regular fair or market, such as a
Clerk, Tolls, and a Court of Pied Poutire. e
Mr. ERSKINE said, that the Prosecutor had
aEed with extreme
.rigour towards the Defen-
dants, in taking them up under Bench Warrants,
and keeping them confined for 'want of bail.—
If this was hard with respea to the Defen-
dants in general, it was peculiarly so as to one
of them, a little tailor, whom beinew, and
who was one of the most pleasant good-natured
fellows breathing. In proof of this he would relate
a short anecdote concerning him. He was once at
a public dinner, and happened to sit close by a Ge-
neral Officer, to whom he behaved with all that civi-
lity which was natural to him. The Officer, who
was highly pleased with his demeanour, drank his.
health in a glass of wine ; and after some conver-
sation said, " May I, Sir, , request the honour of
your name ?"—" Made your breeches, Sirs" replied
the little tailor. " Major Brydges !" exclaimed
the Officer, " I really aid not know there was a
Major in the Army of that name. Pray what Re-
giment may you belong to ?"—" I beg your par-
don, Sir, I did not say I was Major Brydges, I only
said, I made your breeches—and Irsincerely hope
they fit you." The Officer laughed heartily at this
explanation, and immediately gave him an order
for a suit of regimentals. Mr: ERSKINE confessed
it was impossible to contend that this way an ancient
Fair; all he hoped was, that if the nuisance was
abated there would be no further proceedings against
the Defendants.