new muslin gown, or her pale-coloured quilted petticoat. Then the
ground was dry and hard, good alike for walking and for setting up
tents and booths. And of these there was of a truth a most goodly
array this year: mountebanks and jugglers from every corner of the
world, so it seemed, for there was a man with a face as black as my
lord's tricorne, and another with such flat yellow cheeks as made one
think of batter pudding, and spring aconite, of eggs and other very
yellow things.

There was a tent wherein dogs--all sorts of dogs, big, little, black,
white or tan--did things which no Christian with respect for his own
backbone would have dared to perform, and another where a weird-
faced old man made bean-stalks and walking sticks, coins of the
realm and lace kerchiefs vanish into thin air.

And as it was nice and hot one could sit out upon the green and listen
to the strains of the band, which discoursed sweet music, and watch
the young people tread a measure on the sward.

The quality had not yet arrived: for humbler folk had partaken of very
early dinner so as to get plenty of fun, and long hours of delight for
the sixpenny toll demanded at the gates.

There was so much to see and so much to do: games of bowls on the
green, and a beautiful Aunt Sally, there was a skittle alley, and two
merry-go-rounds: there were performing monkeys and dancing bears,
a woman so fat that three men with arms outstretched could not get
round her, and a man so thin that he could put a lady's bracelet round
his neck and her garter around his waist.