has been held
annually for upwards of eight hundred years, having been established
in the reign of Henry III, has practically ceased to exist. Held on an
isolated common two miles from Billingborough, it was formerly one of
the largest fairs in England for merchandise, and originally lasted
for three weeks. Now it is limited to two days, and when it opened
last year there were but few attractions.

Fairs have enriched our language with at least one word. There is a
fair at Ely founded in connexion with the abbey built by St.
Etheldreda, and at this fair a famous "fairing" was "St. Audrey's
laces." St. Audrey, or Etheldreda, in the days of her youthful vanity
was very fond of wearing necklaces and jewels. "St. Audrey's laces"
became corrupted into "Tawdry laces"; hence the adjective has come to
be applied to all cheap and showy pieces of female ornament.

Trade now finds its way by means of other channels than fairs.
Railways and telegrams have changed the old methods of conducting the
commerce of the country. But, as we have said, many fairs have
contrived to survive, and unless they degenerate into a scandal and a
nuisance it is well that they should be continued. Education and the
increasing sobriety of the nation may deprive them of their more
objectionable features, and it would be a pity to prevent the rustic
from having some amusements which do not often fall to his lot, and to
forbid him from enjoying once a year "all the fun of the fair."

CHAPTER XVII

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF OLD DOCUMENTS

The history of England is enshrined in its ancient documents. Some of
it may be read in its stone walls and earthworks. The builders of our
churches stamped its story on their stones, and by the shape of arch
and design of window, by porch and doorway, tower and buttress you can
read the history of the building and tell its age and the dates of its
additions and alterations. Inscriptions, monuments, and brasses help
to fill in the details; but all would be in vain if we had no
documentary evidence, no deeds and charters, registers and wills, to
help us to build up the history of each town and monastery, castle and
manor. Even after the most careful searches in the Record Office and
the British Museum it is very difficult oftentimes to trace a manorial
descent. You spend time and labour, eyesight and midnight oil in
trying to discover missing links, and very often it is all in vain;
the chain remains broken, and y