80 
JOURNAL OP THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
" We have also granted, and do for us, our heirs and successors, grant to the 
aforesaid mayor and burgesses of the borough aforesaid, and their successors 
for ever, that they and their successors have to keep in the borough aforesaid 
yearly for ever, one fair, to last three days ; viz., the eve, the day, and the day 
following the feast of St. Simon and St. Jude the apostles, together with the 
Court of Pye-powder, to be held during the same time before the steward 
thereof, to be appointed by the mayor aforesaid for the time being, together 
with all liberties and free customs to such a court belonging, together with 
the tolls, stallage, picage, fines, and amercements, and all other profits, com- 
modities, and emoluments whatsoever, of such fairs or Courts of Pye-powder, 
happening, growing, or chancing ; and with all liberties and free-customs to 
such fairs and Courts of Pye-powder belonging or appertaining, so as that 
fair be not to the hurt of other fairs near adjoining." * 
The proclamations ordered by the statute 2 Edward III. are 
still made at some of our fairs, although the actual ceremony varies 
in different places. As examples of such proclamations I will quote 
two ; viz., at Modbury and Great Torrington. 
At Modbury, on the 4th May, being the eve of Old St. George's- 
day,t even though it falls on a Sunday, the portreeve and borough 
jury assemble in the centre of the town, once the market cross. 
Here the crier, having made three " Oyez," and required all persons 
to keep silence, makes the following proclamation : 
" The fair called St. George's Fair, within this borough of Modbury, is 
now held in the right of (Mrs. Mary Crespin) lady of the said borough, in 
whose name and behalf, and according to the statute of second year of King 
Edward III., cap. 15, we do proclaim and publish the same, and that it is 
to continue for nine days from hence, being St. George' s-eve (Sunday ex- 
cepted by 27 Henry VI. c. 7), during which time it is the duty of all persons 
who shall come to this fair (especially the officers and inhabitants of this 
borough) to use their utmost endeavour to preserve the Queen Majesty's 
peace within this borough, and to cause every one that shall disturb it to be 
punished for so doing ; and if any matter shall happen to arise relating to 
any bargain within the jurisdiction, or time of this fair, it is determinable 
by a Pye-powder Court, wherein the steward of this borough will be ready 
to perform his part. 
" By the statute of second and third of King Philip and Queen Mary, 
* Vide Cotton's " Totnes," Appendix, pp. 97, 98. 
f St. George' s-day is 24th April. An old memorandum -book in Mr. 
Dobell's possession shows that after the change of the calendar, in 1752, the 
fair at Modbury was held for a few times on that date, when, by general 
consent, it was changed to the 4th May, being Old St. George's-day. 
[Query : Was this change owing to a superstitious idea that the calendar 
ought not to be changed ? or that there was a chance of losing the charter if 
the fair was not kept on the identical day ?] 
