Fairs, past and present

by Cornelius Walford

I find a graphic account of this fair in Lister’s “Travels in France,” 1698, which I here transcribe:

We were in Paris at the time of the fair of St. Germain. It lasts six weeks at least; the place where it is kept, well bespeaks its antiquity; for it is a very pit or hole, in the middle of the Faubourg, and belongs to the great abbey of that name. You descend into it on all sides, and in some places above twelve steps; so that the city is raised above it six or eight foot.

The building is a very barn, or frame of wood, tiled over; consisting of many long allies, crossing one another, the floor of the allies unpaved, and of earth, and as uneven as may be: which makes it very uneasy to walk in, were it not the vast croud of people which keep you up. But all this bespeaks its antiquity, and the rudeness of the first ages of Paris, which is a foil to its politeness in all things else now.

The fair consists of most toy-shops, and Bartholomew-fair ware; also fiance and pictures, joiner’s work, linen and woollen manufactures; many of the great ribband shops remove out of the Palais hither; no books; many shops of confectioners, where the ladies are commodiously treated.

The great rendezvous is at night, after the play and opera are done; and raffling for all things vendible is the great diversion; no shop wanting two or three raffling boards. Monsieur, the Dauphin, and other princes of the blood come at least once in the fair-time to grace it. Here are also coffee-shops, where that and all sorts of strong liquors ... are sold.

Knavery here is in perfection as with us; as dexterous cut-purses and pick-pockets. A pick-pocket came into the fair at night, extremely well-clad, with four lacqueys with good liveries attending him: he was caught in the fact, and more swords were drawn in his defence than against him; but yet he was taken, and delivered into the hands of justice, which is here sudden and no jest.

I was surprized at the impudence of a booth, which put out the pictures of some Indian beasts, with hard names; and of four that were painted, I found but two, and those very ordinary ones, viz. a leopard, and a racoun. I asked the fellow, why he deceived the people, and whether he did not fear cudgelling in the end: he answered with a singular confidence, that it was the painter’s fault; that he had given the racoun to paint to two masters, but both had mistaken the beast; but however (he said) though the pictures were not well designed, they did nevertheless serve to grace the booth and bring him custom.

St. Laurence (or St. Laurent).—So called from its situation near St. Laurence’s Church. It is so ancient that no date can be even approximately fixed for its origin. Its chief traders were goldsmiths and mercers, picture-painters, sempstresses, lemonade-sellers, toymen, earthenware people, gingerbread bakers, &c. &c. To it came people from Amiens, Beauvais, Rheims, and other places of Picardy and Champagne, with light fabrics, both plain and striped, and camlets of all sorts.

The fair seems originally to have lasted but one day; but the period gradually became extended to two months, commencing the day after St. James’s day and ending at Michaelmas. It was proclaimed by sound of trumpet.

These two rival fairs had this peculiarity: they were always open as bazaars. They were not fairs in the usual sense of the term for more than three months in the year. The St. Germain fair was held in the winter, and the St. Laurent in the early part of the summer. The former never recovered its popularity after the fire which destroyed the wooden constructions used during the fair (1763), though by the erection of new galleries, more elegant than the old ones, there was added to the attractions of a fair a dancing-saloon, the Winter Wauxhall, which was well attended for a time.