2 oxen. Price £10.
The opening of the fair takes place with the ceremonies which have attended it for many generations. On the morning of the first day a large stuffed glove, fixed at the end of a pole, is displayed from a window of the Guildhall, having before the year 1852 been exhibited from the west corner of the Quay Hall, which was demolished in that year to widen the street and quay, and which had been, until the dissolution of religious houses by Henry VIII., an ecclesiastical building, known as St. Nicholas’ Chapel. In the Receiver’s accounts for 1615 occurs the entry:—
Paid for a glove put out at the fair, 4d.;
and in those for 1622:—
Paid for a paire of gloves at the faire 4d.
Another entry in the same account being:—
Paid for candles to hange by a bull that was not beaten,
from which it may be inferred that bull-baiting was one of the amusements provided for visitors. The display of the glove is usually considered to be a symbol of the welcome extended to all comers. In the Guildhall meanwhile the sergeants-at-mace are busy preparing for all comers who care to partake of it the toast and spiced ale, the latter according to a recipe handed down for centuries. With this ale are filled the handsome flagons belonging to the Corporation, and the loving cups charged from them are passed round to the assembled guests. A few toasts are then given, among them that of “The Ladies,” the response to which often affords a good deal of amusement, for humorous Mayors have been known to astonish a bachelor in the company, sometimes “a young man from the country,” by calling upon him to respond; and while some orators have passed the ordeal successfully, others have found the situation an embarrassing one. The speeches ended, and the toast and ale consumed, about noon a procession of the Mayor, Corporation, and officials is formed, and, escorted by a large crowd of on-lookers, the Town Clerk reads the following proclamation at the High Cross and other places in the Borough:—
Proclamation for the Fair.
THE MAYOR of this BOROUGH doth hereby give notice that there is a FREE FAIR within this Borough for all manner of persons to BUY and SELL within the same which fair begins on this day WEDNESDAY the and shall continue until 12 o’clock on the night of FRIDAY next the instant during which time the Mayor chargeth and commandeth on HIS MAJESTY’S behalf all manner of persons repairing to this TOWN and FAIR do keep the KING’S PEACE.