312 WAYFARING NOTIONS 



Weyhill fairs from breeders of Hampshire Downs, 

 also those crossed with the smaller Southdown. 

 If only for that reason I, as a firm believer in 

 Newmarket mutton, must hold kindly feeling for 

 this centre of distribution. I went to it full of 

 ideas, fancy pictures of what I should see ; not 

 one of them, except a biggish stretch of common 

 or, at any rate, open land, was a little bit like 

 the real thing. Why, I am unable to say ; but 

 somehow, though I am on visiting terms with 

 many and various fair fields, I had chosen to 

 construct this Hampshire one on the model of 

 the not far distant neighbour in Berkshire, East 

 Ilsley. There you find a small group of buildings, 

 a little church, with a long-deceased Lord Mayor's 

 (I mean Lord Mayor of London) tomb in it, 

 two or three training stables, one " Somebody's " 

 house, and a mixed medley of more or less fully 

 licensed premises, with residential properties in 

 proportion of about one and one^ — a pub. for 

 each establishment not in the licensed victualling 

 interest. All the lot are huddled up together, 

 with sheep-pens squeezed In among the bricks 

 and mortar, and hedging in the whole hamlet. 

 Not a bit, not a scrap, like Ilsley is Weyhill in 

 this regard. There is a church, true ; so far the 

 two are on Monmouth and Macedon terms, with, 

 I may add, churchyards to both ; Weyhill, how- 

 ever, has also an annexe which makes you wonder 

 where all the people come from to be buried, 

 especially as the local air is so fine and strong. 

 But, whereas dealers and pleasures at Ilsley find 

 licensed-victualler traders to satisfy their wants 

 in refreshment at permanent emporiums, Wey- 

 hill's connection bring their own caterers with 

 them, so to speak ; and for these are branch 



