fairs in Europe. Merchants of all nations attended it. The booths were
planted in a cornfield, and the circuit of the fair, which was like a
well-governed city, was about three miles. All offences committed
therein were tried, as at other fairs, before a special court of
_pie-poudre_, the derivation of which word has been much disputed, and
I shall not attempt to conjecture or to decide. The shops were built
in rows, having each a name, such as Garlick Row, Booksellers' Row, or
Cooks' Row; there were the cheese fair, hop fair, wood fair; every
trade was represented, and there were taverns, eating-houses, and in
later years playhouses of various descriptions. As late as the
eighteenth century it is said that one hundred thousand pounds' worth
of woollen goods were sold in a week in one row alone. But the glories
of Stourbridge fair have all departed, and it is only a ghost now of
its former greatness.

The Stow Green pleasure fair, in Lincolnshire, which has been held
annually for upwards of eight hundred years, having been established
in the reign of Henry III, has practically ceased to exist. Held on an
isolated common two miles from Billingborough, it was formerly one of
the largest fairs in England for merchandise, and originally lasted
for three weeks. Now it is limited to two days, and when it opened
last year there were but few attractions.

Fairs have enriched our language with at least one word. There is a
fair at Ely founded in connexion with the abbey built by St.
Etheldreda, and at this fair a famous "fairing" was "St. Audrey's
laces." St. Audrey, or Etheldreda, in the days of her youthful vanity
was very fond of wearing necklaces and jewels. "St. Audrey's laces"
became corrupted into "Tawdry laces"; hence the adjective has come to
be applied to all cheap and showy pieces of female ornament.