ng-boats--the avenues of sailcloth, with their linings of
confectionary, toys, basket-work, and ornamental stationery--the gong and
the drum, and the torrents of Cheap-Jack eloquence, mingling with the
music of the leopard-clad minstrels of the zoological departments;--dear
is the holiday to the hearts, and memories, and anticipations, of many an
_enlightened_ infant of this highly developed age;--as dear, and welcome,
and thrilling, in its confusion of noise, and bewilderment of colour, as
ever of old, to the children of larger growth, who, in the infancy of
civilization, were wont to find in them their primers of learning, arts,
and sciences.

When trade was principally carried on by means of fairs, and they lasted
many days, the merchants who frequented them for business purposes, used
every art and means to draw people together, and were therefore
accompanied, we are told, by jugglers, minstrels, and buffoons; and as
then few public amusements or spectacles were established, either in
cities or towns, the fair-time was almost the only season of diversion.
The clergy, finding that the entertainments of dancing, music, mimicry,
&c. exhibited at them, drew people from their religious duties, in the
days of their power proscribed them--but to no purpose; and failing in
their efforts, with the ingenuity that characterized their age and
profession, changed their tastes, and took the recreations into their own
hands, turned actors and play-writers themselves, and substituted the
Religious Mysteries for the profane punchinellos and juggleries that have
since, in later times, resumed their sway, undisputed by any
ecclesiastical rivals for popular applause in the dramatic line.

Among other sports that formed the attractions to the Fair in olden
times, was the Quintain, a game of contest, memorable in the annals of
the city, as having on one occasion, in the reign of Edward I., been made
the opportunity of commencing hostilities of a far more formidable nature
and protracted extent than the occasion itself could warrant, or be
presumed to cause.

The Quintain was a post fixed strongly in the ground, with a piece of
wood, about six feet long, laid across it on the top, placed so as to
turn round; on one end of this cross-piece was hung a bag, containing a
hundred-weight of sand, which was called the _Quintal_; at the other end
was fixed a board about a foot square, at which the player, who was
mounted on horseback, with a tr