The Portland daily press., 1881-07-14
aye Old English Fayre."
a Motley Three Days Carnival in Lon
don.
[Corr. Cincinnati CONNER cial.l

lionesses. 1t twas, however, only their money,
not their lives, the pretty cats wanted as they
pounced upon each new conner. And the
money they were pretty.sare to get. The pro-
fesslonal beauties were conspicuousy absent at
this "fayre.' In the great bazaar previously
held in the same hall, the said beauties were
the main attraction, and each stood before
some stall, whose trihes they raised in price
several hundred per cent. But on this occa.
sion it looks as if there had been either
strike among the professional or rebellion
among the unprofessional beauties Or it may
have been concluded by the promoters of the
"fayre" that there is nothing SO sure to draw
the great middle classes as title. Nearly all
the ladies keeping stall on this occasion we're
titled, or else members of the aristocraey 1t
may have been, indeed, that the untitled beau.
ties were found to hesitate about parading
themselves in fancy dresses in broad daylight
Squeamishness in such matters is not char
acteristic of the aristocracy. The pretty
dames-and very pretty many of them wore
dashed about in their quaint and elaborate
costumes as if they had found their natural
habitat. the period from which their titles
came; and as for what the more prudish mid
die classes might think they evidently didn't
care pin.
On entering, we found ourselves in the CEN
tire of an old English village, made of light
boards and paint. But it was village of inns,
at least each booth had over it sign in the
style OF ancient village inns. These signs were:
"Ye Pestle and Mortar," eye Lyon and Uni
korne," eye Maltese Crosse" "Ye Robin
Hode,' "Ye Fleur de Lys," aye Anchor,
"Ye Olde Crowne," eye Goulden Fleece"
'Ye Rose and Thistle" ''Ye Sherwonde
Oak" Eye sylver Shielae, sSt George
and ye Dragon" the signboards being picto-
rial. There was eye olde Village Well,"
where, on payment of shilling, two pretty
DANES in costume let down a bucket which
brought up present for one, Of about four
pence value. AT a"Wheel of Fortune two
beautiful ladies, for two shillings reyolved YOU
out a present of sixpence value, investing it.
however, by their audacity and smiling assur-
ances with an Importance that did not appear
on the surface Coming near "ye Bower" a
bevy of floger-girs start ont, eager to pin a
rose in your button-hole for the moderate re-
ward of five shillings, A superb lady-or l
should say, ''ladye fayre"- me with
the question; s'Do you not believe in the
Darwin theory" was Just replying with
caution that the theory of atavistic differentia-
tion as represented in embyronic-wh she cut
short my exposition by holding up q wooden
toy of a tree made of stavings and dotted with
red balls. In front of it was a monkey eating
one of the red balls. "That," said she, 'iis
Adam, our original progenitor, eating the for
hidden fruit /" "But where is Eys?' ssOh.
nj md
"And the tempter?" "Oh, that's me!' There
was sometimes such pressure put upon per-
sons to buy that they became desperate and
had to escape as they could. Ono lovely, win
some lady was trying to make gentleman buy
fan. He turned and twisted, but she would
not release him. / stood near, rather amused
at his distress Perhaps ho observed this. for
he suddenly turned, and in the coolest way
said, pointing to me, "My friend, here is a COL
lector OF fans" Whereupon she rushed at
me, and the impudant fellow got off. I was
not his friend; in fact, at that moment be-
came his enemy. Sometimes the sharp-witted
saleswomen were sold. A seemingly rustic.
but really deep fellow came up to a Stall and
said: "Do you think you have any pretty
thing here that might buy for my wife? it's
her birthday. The masqueraders sprang
forward. He was instantly the center of a
dozen beauties and two dozen fair aristocratic
arms, roseate through lace, proffering Vene-
tian glass beads, bouquet-holders, fans, lace
handkerchiefs, card cases, etc. The fellow
shook his head and passed on. Word was tel
egraphed to the next booth that a great buyer
OF birthday presents was coming and all tbe
ladies thereof swarmed around the adventurer.
He inspected their toilets closely, then passed
on. All the booths were notified; all the beau
ties surrounded him; he got good view Of We
aristocracy, and in the end bought shilling
cigar-holder. / presently saw him in a corner
writing notes in reporters book 1t was
Jenkins. 1 envied jenkins. He was, indeed,
somewhat flushed after the agreeable gauntlet
he had run in the name of his imaginary wife
He wiped the perspiration from his thoughtful
brow; but Victory sat beside him in his quiet
retreat.
Most of the costumes were Elizabethan,
though there were some Of old French style.
There was dairy booth, where butter, eggs,
milk and so forth were sold by dairy-rnaids in
Elizabethan peasant holiday attire. The
Countess OF Scarborough was in silyer-gray
Puritan peasant dress, with muslin cap, and
ber assistants in much the same makeup.
They displayed, however, a good deal moro
wanton frolicsomeness in their flowers and
fruits than is usually associated with the Puri-
tan character, and on the first day of the fair
presided at the May pole, which tho
Cromwellian divines denounced as Pagan af-
fair. Lady Archibald Campbell and her par
ty were borne to the hall from Lowther Lodge
in sedans, by men in antique costume. The
sedan has been evolved into the Hanson cab,
and the cabbees looked with amazement on the
display of their vehieular ancestry. There was
about these ladies good deal of what the dis
gusted old Puritan Stubbs called, ''this liquid
matter which they call stareh," and, as the
same authority remarked, "the devil hath
learned them to wash and dye their ruffs"
Rutfs were the order of the day. The Count
ess of Cadogan and Lady Constance Howard
had small ruffs; Lady Caryagh had large
ruff. They also affected pretty lace-trimmed
aprons, and queer hats with feathers. Some
of the hats were extinguisher-shaped. There
were little costumed girls dispersed about the
hall, with trays filed with trifes. There were
boys dressed as pages engaged in the same bus
ness. Some of hem yesterday boldly claimed
that their establishments had been Especially
patronized by the Prince and Princess Of
Wales" On platform successive relays of
actors in costumes, mostly velveteen, were beg
ging the crowd to go into the theatre, where
Everybody has front seat" The actresses
stood around them in the alluring style of the
old Richardson Show. Dramatic performances
during the "Fayre" were given by 'tMaister
and Maistresse Bancroft - 'Maistresse John
Wood, Master Tooie," "Maister Corny
Graine," and others; and there were old bal
lad concerts in which ancient harpschords
were used. Tho chief difficulties in getting up
the "Fayre" consisted in getting enough old
machinery, instruments, etc. And it is said
London had to be searched through before {.
sedan could be found. 1t is probable that
I, these ancient things have made their last ap-
pearance in the world. AS it is, the "Fayre"
was very motley. The past was mixture Of
periods which would have distressed any arch
elogical artist. Several ladies combined bits
of three or four different centuries in their
costumes. Feudalism and Puritanis.n some-
times sat sweetly together upon these pretty
danes, whose great-grandmothers would
have turned pale had they known that any de-
scendants of theirs would so have mingled the
uniforms of great parties. The old parties are
dead; the roses of York and Lancaster no long
er stab thorns into each other. Old badges, un-
forms, symbols, which once indicated the feuds
OF dynasties and empires, now grown meaning
less, have revisited the glirnpses of the nine
teenth century as curiosities, pretty much as
the objects of all ages are gathered in South
Kensington Museum near by The world
forgets its ancient mind while preserving
some touches of beauty which grew
around each phase of politics or faith;
at length these beauties too turn out
to have been organically planted to irreeover-
able epochs of inward life; and thus, on the
social Jacobs Ladder, some forms descend and
disappear, while others ascend. Nevertheless,
there were some forms of "early English
which did not naturally descend but were