CAPTURE OF GILES CHUDLEY.
They were established by letters patent from the prince.
Fairs, particularly free fairs, make a very considerable article in the commerce of Europe, especially in the Mediterranean and the inland parts of Germany.
The most celebrated fairs in Europe are those of Old Frankfort, held twice a year, in spring and autumn, the first commencing the Sunday before Palm Sunday, and the other on the Sunday before the 8th of Sept.
They are famous for the sale of all kinds of commodities, but particularly for the immense quantity of curious books, nowhere else to be found, and from whence the booksellers throughout all Europe used to furnish themselves.
Before each fair there is a catalogue of all the books to be sold thereat printed and dispersed, to call together the purchasers, though the learned complain of divers unfair practices therein, as factitious titles, names of books purely imaginary, &c., besides great faults in the names of the authors and the titles of the real books.
The fairs of Leipsic are held thrice a year—one beginning on the first of January, another three weeks after Easter, and a third at Michaelmas.
Besides these, there are a host of others held in various parts of the Continent.
England was at one time famous for its fairs, and even in the present day there are numbers held annually.
Stourbridge Fair, near Cambridge, was by far the greatest in Britain, and, perhaps, in the world. Bristol is next on the list.