174 BOARD OF AGKICULTUUK. 



The tidal wave ol' barbarism wliicli s\v(.'i)L uver llie Uuiiiaii Empire 

 .submerged these institutions, aud it was uot until the fifth century that 

 they began to appear first in Italy, then in France. In the latter country, 

 in (12!), Dagobort established the once famous fair of St. Denis near I'aris, 

 which having too much of a religious character, was abolished as a relic 

 of superstition, by the National Assembly in 1789. In the year 800, those 

 of St. Lazare, Aix-la-Chapelle and Troyes were authorized. 



In S.'jG, Alfred the Great began to establish them in England. In 

 Germany and the north of Europe, fairs for the sale of slaves were in- 

 stituted about the year 1000, and human cattle Avere then empounded. 

 had their teeth, eyes, limbs and bodies examined, no doubt as critically 

 as we examine a horse in these days of peace and safety. 



In 1071, that famous robber, William the Conqueror, established 

 these fairs for the sale of captives, taken in war, in England. In 1133, 

 Henry I of England authorized the fair of St. Bartholomew, which con- 

 tinued to exist more than seven hundred years, down to 1855, and was 

 very famous in its day. Then come successively Weyhill fair in Hamp- 

 shire, which gi-ew to be a great market for sheep; those of St. Faiths, 

 Harborough, Carlisle and Omskirk for Scotch cattle; that of Ipswich, 

 which is held annually in August, for the exhibition and sale of lambs, 

 the yearly sales amounting to 100,000 head, and where also a butter 

 and cheese fair is held In September. Then come the great horse fairs of 

 Horncastle in Lincolnshire; Howden in Yorkshire and Woodbridge in Suf- 

 folk, all much frequented by buyers" of hackneys, hunters aud other fancy 

 horses; also Bristol, Exeter and Gloucester fairs, the latter held in April, 

 being the great cheese fair of the world. In Scotland is the great sheep 

 fair of Falkirk. At Ballin-asloe, in Ireland, the combined sheep and 

 cattle fair, at which place there are annually sold 25,000 cattle and 

 75,000 sheep. We must uot leave out of the enumeration the celebrated 

 fair of Donnybrook, embalmed forever in Irish song and story, where 

 "rows" and "ructions" were the principal pastime, and where, according 

 to one joyous minstrel, 



"You meet Avith a friend 



And for love knock him down, 



With your sprig of shillalah 



Of shamrock so green." 



But, alas I like all bright and beautiful things, it was born to pass 

 away. We will not say "peace to its ashes," for it may be that "e'en in its 

 ashes live its wonted fires;" but instead "green be its memory," that 

 Ijeing the color worn on the caubeens of its once hilarious and somewhat 

 truculent visitors. 



On the continent of Europe, the most famous fairs were those of St. 

 Denis, where a piece of the true cross was annually exhibited to the 

 multitude, and which was abolished, as we have seen; that of St. Lazare; 

 St. Laurent; St. Ovid: originally all of a religioiis character, and finally 



