1733. It was about this date that Fielding the novelist commenced public life, by keeping a play-booth in this fair.
The Strolling Player.—The life of a strolling play-manager, attending fairs and such like places of amusement, was one of much incident, and certainly had its comical side. Here is the account of one as given by himself:—“I will, as we say, take you behind the scenes. First then, a valuable actor must sleep in the pit, and wake early to sweep the theatre, and throw fresh sawdust into the boxes; he must shake out the dresses, and wind up and dust the motion-jacks; he must teach the dull ones how to act, rout up the idlers from the straw, and redeem those that happen to get into the watch-house. Then, sir, when the fair begins, he should sometimes walk about the stage grandly and show his dress: sometimes he should dance with his fellows; sometimes he should sing; sometimes he should blow the trumpet; sometimes he should laugh and joke with the crowd, and give them a kind of touch-and-go speech, which keeps them merry and makes them come in. Then, sir, he should sometimes cover his state robe with a great coat, and go into the crowd, and shout opposite his own booth, like a stranger who is struck with its magnificence: by the way, sir, that is a good trick, I never knew it fail to make an audience; and then he has only to steal away and mount his stage and strut, and dance and sing and trumpet, and roar over again.”—“Every-Day Book,” i. 1243.
1735. The practice had been to grant licences for the fair for fourteen days. The Court of Aldermen now resolved: That Bartholomew Fair shall not exceed Bartholomew Eve, Bartholomew Day, and the next morrow, and shall be restricted to the sale of goods, wares, and merchandises, usually sold in fairs, and no acting shall be permitted therein. It was known, too, that sir John Barnard intended rigorously to enforce the Licensing Act. There was in consequence no theatrical booths, and hence the most harmless portion of the amusement was absent.
1736. Theatrical booths were permitted again this year.
1739. The fair was extended to four days, and more theatrical booths attended in consequence.
In the “Farrago; or, Miscellanies in Verse and Prose” [by Richard Barton?], there is included (pp. 49-58) a piece entitled “Bartholomew Fair,” from which we take the following:—
Round ev’ry booth in face of day,
Actors a tawdry dress display;
Their ugly visors seem disgrace,