COUNTRY FAIRS AND REVELS. 
75 
of the land through the narrow channels of the city Guilds in 
direct opposition to the spirit of the free trade principles of fairs : 
" On the petition of the citizens and freemen of the city of London 
against an ordnance enacted by the Mayor and Aldermen which prohibited 
them from attending any fair or market out of the city to sell any wares or 
merchandise, in order that the buyers should resort to London to the utter 
destruction of all the fairs, when persons of all degrees buy many things 
that be good and profitable, as ornaments of holy church, chalice, books, 
vestments ; also for the household as victuals for time of Lent, and 
other stuff as linen cloth, woollen cloth, brass, pewter, bedding, osmonde, 
iron, flax, and wax, and many other necessary things. Whereupon it was 
enacted that 'all freemen and citizens of London' might hereafter sell their 
wares in any fair or market in the realm they pleased, and the said ordnance 
and act made in the city to be void and of none effect." 
The vexed question of receivers of stolen goods, especially of 
pewter, lead, and brass, came up in 1503, when the statute 
19 Henry VII., c. 6, enacted 
" To prevent itinerant buyers and sellers of pewter and brass wandering 
about the country and receiving stolen goods, It was ordered that no pewter 
or brass goods should be sold or exchanged except in open fairs or markets, 
or in the house of the pewterer or brazier." 
Then it was found that cattle jobbers, by buying privately and 
selling in fairs, cheated the farmer of his profit. To meet this, it 
was enacted by 3 and 4 Edward VI., c. 19 (1549) — 
" That persons should not buy cattle except in open fairs or markets, save 
for their own use, unless butchers, and should not buy and sell again in the 
same fair." 
In 1554, by 1 and 2 Philip and Mary, c. 7, it was ordered that 
country people should sell goods by retail only at fairs or markets 
in any city, borough, or town. 
The question of the too easy disposal of stolen horses at fairs 
received attention in 1555. The 2 and 3 Philip and Mary, c. 7, 
sets forth — 
"Forasmuch as stolen horses were sold or exchanged in private places and 
stables of fairs and markets, and the toll privately paid, whereby the true 
owner was unable to obtain redress by the common law of this realm, it 
was enacted that the owner of every fair should appoint a special open place 
where horses shall be sold, and also a toll-taker, who shall be present from 
ten o'clock to sunset each day of the fair, at which time and place toll for 
horses should only be taken. That the particulars of every bargain should be 
written in a book provided for the purpose, with the names and residences 
of the parties to the bargain, and a description of the horse. That a stolen 
