44 AN AGRICULTURAL FAGGOT. 



amusement, and after having been granted and protected 

 as the highest and most necessary franchises, have been 

 tolerated for the sake of their traditions, and are now 

 being generally suppressed as nuisances." Mr. A. J. 

 Ashton, one of the Assistant Commissioners on Market 

 Rights and Tolls, after holding thirty-four public inquiries 

 in the south and west of England, reported that the fairs 

 are decaying all through that part of the country. The 

 cattle fairs, he observed, are being spoilt by the cattle 

 markets, and the pleasure fairs are decaying and ought to 

 be stopped. 



The extent to which fairs have died out within the 

 present century is indicated by a return given as an 

 appendix to the report of Messrs. Elton and Costelloe, 

 which has been already referred to. This gives a com- 

 plete list of fairs existing in England and Wales in 1792, 

 according to " Owen's New Book of Fairs/' arranged in 

 counties, and compared in parallel columns with the list 

 of fairs published for the year 1888. The summary 

 on p. 45 compiled from this list, may be interesting as 

 showing the relative number of fairs existing in each 

 county at the respective dates. 



The extent to which the fairs have died out in some 

 counties is startling, as, for instance, in Kent, where 130 

 have dwindled to thirteen. But it is, perhaps, even more 

 surprising to observe that in other counties though they 

 are not many the number of fairs has actually increased. 

 Lancashire, Cheshire, Cumberland, and Cornwall, and one 

 or two of the Welsh counties are chiefly noteworthy in 

 this respect. It should be mentioned that the bare 

 figures do not show the whole of the changes which have 

 taken place. In several instances where little alteration 

 is shown in the number of fairs existing in the county, 

 some have been extinguished, and others have sprung up 

 in different places. There is no doubt that a goodly number 

 of the defunct fairs owe their decease to the operation of 

 the Fairs Act of 1871, which enables a local authority, 



