CHAPTEE XL 



COUNTRY FAIRS THEIR ORIGIN AND CHARACTER 



AIKEY FAIR. 



THE old country fairs had apparently been an institu- 

 tion established by the Monks of the middle ages, with 

 a view to facilitate the transaction of general business. 

 And hence the fair came usually to be held on a saint's 

 day. In degenerate times, indeed, it was frequently 

 held on a Sunday. And at one time the fair was re- 

 garded quite as much in the light of a rendezvous for 

 indulgence in such rude games and wrestlings as are 

 celebrated in "Chirst's Kirk o' the Green" a poem with 

 an appreciably northern smack about it, by whomso- 

 ever written as in that of a resort for the transaction 

 of serious business. Hence such expressions as "Play 

 Feersday" (Thursday), when the fair happened to be 

 held on that day of the week, or " Play Friday," if it 

 happened to be on a Friday ; the dominating idea Jieing 

 amusement. The practice common in last century, of 

 having fairs announced outside the kirk door after 

 service on Sundays, with a comprehensive summary 

 given by the " crier " of the more attractive articles 

 likely to be found thereat, gave rise to the " byeword," 

 that such and such a thing that seemed likely to 

 become notoriously public was " like a cried fair." 



An almost invariable accompaniment of certain of 

 the fairs was the occurrence of party fights, or personal 

 encounters between rustic athletes fond of testing 

 their physical prowess. These encounters, which ordi- 

 narily took place about the close of the fair, were suffi- 



