owner, Sir Richard Rich, a prosperous political adventurer, who bought
the whole estate for £1064 11s. 3d., and made a good bargain.

The monks, a colony of Black Friars, came in again with Queen Mary,
but they were driven out again when Elizabeth reigned, and Lord Rich
again resumed possession of the estate, which passed to his heirs, the
Earls of Warwick and Holland. Each Sunday, however, the old gate
welcomed devout worshippers on their way to the church, the choir
having been converted into the parish church of the district, and was
not sorry to see in Charles's day a brick tower rising at the west
end.

In spite of the changes of ownership the fair went on increasing with
the increase of the city. But the scene has changed. In the time of
James I the last elm tree had gone, and rows of houses, fair and
comely buildings, had sprung up. The old muddy plain had been drained
and paved, and the traders and pleasure-seekers could no longer dread
the wading through a sea of mud. We should like to follow the fair
through the centuries, and see the sights and shows. The puppet shows
were always attractive, and the wild beasts, the first animal ever
exhibited being "a large and beautiful young camel from Grand Cairo
in Egypt. This creature is twenty-three years old, his head and neck
like those of a deer." One Flockton during the last half of the
eighteenth century was the prince of puppet showmen, and he called his
puppets the Italian Fantocinni. He made his figures work in a most
lifelike style. He was a conjurer too, and the inventor of a wonderful
clock which showed nine hundred figures at work upon a variety of
trades. "Punch and Judy" always attracted crowds, and we notice the
handbills of Mr. Robinson, conjurer to the Queen, and of Mr. Lane, who
sings: