YOR OF LONDON.]

SOUTHWARK FAIR.

The subject of the plate under consideration is that of the Borough
Fair; a fair held some time since in the Borough of Southwark, though
now suppressed. This fair was attended, generally, by the inhabitants of
town and country, and, therefore, was one that afforded great variety;
especially as, before its suppression, it was devoted to every thing
loose and irregular. A view of the scene, of which the following print
is a faithful representation, will affirm this truth.

The principal view upon the left represents the fall of a scaffold, on
which was assembled a strolling company, pointed out, by the paper
lantern hanging in front, to be that belonging to Cibber and Bullock,
ready dressed to exhibit "The Fall of Bajazet." Here we see
merry-andrews, monkeys, queens and emperors, sinking in one general
confusion; and, that the crash may appear the greater, the stand beneath
is humorously supposed to consist of earthenware and china.
Notwithstanding this fatal overthrow, few below are seen to notice it;
witness the boys and woman gambling at the box and dice, the upright
monkey, and the little bag-piper dancing his wooden figures. Above this
scaffold hangs a painting, the subject of which is the stage mutiny;
whose figures are as follow:--On one side is Pistol, (strutting and
crying out, "Pistol's alive,") Falstaff, Justice Shallow, and many other
characters of Shakspeare. On the other, the manager bearing in his hand
a paper, on which is written, "it cost 6000_l._" a scene-painter, who
has laid his brushes aside, and taken up a cudgel; and a woman holding
an ensign, bearing the words, "We'll starve 'em out." In the corner is a
man, quiet and snug, hugging a bag of money, laughing at the folly of
the rest; and behind, a monkey, perched upon a sign iron, supposed to be
that of the Rose Tavern in Drury-lane, squeaking out, "I am a
gentleman." These paintings are in general designed to show what is
exhibited within; but this alludes to a dispute that arose at the time
when this print was published, which was in the year 1733, between the
players and the patentee of Drury-lane Theatre, when young Cibber, the
son of the Laureate, was at the head of the faction. Above, on one
side, is an equilibrist swinging on a slack rope; and on the other, a
man flying from the tower to the ground, by means of a groove fastened
to his breast, slipping over a line strained from one place to the
oth