The Duke Of Grafton, Now Lord-Lieutenant Of Ireland, Has Also A
Stately House At Euston, Near This Town, Which
He enjoys in right
of his mother, daughter to the Earl of Arlington, one of the chief
ministers of State
In the reign of King Charles II., and who made
the second letter in the word "cabal," a word formed by that famous
satirist Andrew Marvell, to represent the five heads of the
politics of that time, as the word "smectymnus" was on a former
occasion.
I shall believe nothing so scandalous of the ladies of this town
and the country round it as a late writer insinuates. That the
ladies round the country appear mighty gay and agreeable at the
time of the fair in this town I acknowledge; one hardly sees such a
show in any part of the world; but to suggest they come hither, as
to a market, is so coarse a jest, that the gentlemen that wait on
them hither (for they rarely come but in good company) ought to
resent and correct him for it.
It is true, Bury Fair, like Bartholomew Fair, is a fair for
diversion, more than for trade; and it may be a fair for toys and
for trinkets, which the ladies may think fit to lay out some of
their money in, as they see occasion. But to judge from thence
that the knights' daughters of Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, and
Suffolk--that is to say, for it cannot be understood any otherwise,
the daughters of all the gentry of the three counties--come hither
to be picked up, is a way of speaking I never before heard any
author have the assurance to make use of in print.
The assembly he justly commends for the bright appearance of the
beauties; but with a sting in the tail of this compliment, where he
says they seldom end without some considerable match or intrigue;
and yet he owns that during the fair these assemblies are held
every night. Now that these fine ladies go intriguing every night,
and that too after the comedy is done, which is after the fair and
raffling is over for the day, so that it must be very late. This
is a terrible character for the ladies of Bury, and intimates, in
short, that most of them are loose women, which is a horrid abuse
upon the whole country.
Now, though I like not the assemblies at all, and shall in another
place give them something of their due, yet having the opportunity
to see the fair at Bury, and to see that there were, indeed,
abundance of the finest ladies, or as fine as any in Britain, yet I
must own the number of the ladies at the comedy, or at the
assembly, is no way equal to the number that are seen in the town,
much less are they equal to the whole body of the ladies in the
three counties; and I must also add, that though it is far from
true that all that appear at the assembly are there for matches or
intrigues, yet I will venture to say that they are not the worst of
the ladies who stay away, neither are they the fewest in number or
the meanest in beauty, but just the contrary; and I do not at all
doubt, but that the scandalous liberty some take at those
assemblies will in time bring them out of credit with the virtuous
part of the sex here, as it has done already in Kent and other
places, and that those ladies who most value their reputation will
be seen less there than they have been; for though the institution
of them has been innocent and virtuous, the ill use of them, and
the scandalous behaviour of some people at them, will in time arm
virtue against them, and they will be laid down as they have been
set up without much satisfaction.
But the beauty of this town consists in the number of gentry who
dwell in and near it, the polite conversation among them, the
affluence and plenty they live in, the sweet air they breathe in,
and the pleasant country they have to go abroad in.
Here is no manufacturing in this town, or but very little, except
spinning, the chief trade of the place depending upon the gentry
who live there, or near it, and who cannot fail to cause trade
enough by the expense of their families and equipages among the
people of a county town. They have but a very small river, or
rather but a very small branch of a small river, at this town,
which runs from hence to Milden Hall, on the edge of the fens.
However, the town and gentlemen about have been at the charge, or
have so encouraged the engineer who was at the charge, that they
have made this river navigable to the said Milden Hall, from whence
there is a navigable dyke, called Milden Hall Drain, which goes
into the River Ouse, and so to Lynn; so that all their coal and
wine, iron, lead, and other heavy goods, are brought by water from
Lynn, or from London, by the way of Lynn, to the great ease of the
tradesmen.
This town is famous for two great events. One was that in the year
1447, in the 25th year of Henry VI., a Parliament was held here.
The other was, that at the meeting of this Parliament, the great
Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, regent of the kingdom during the
absence of King Henry V. and the minority of Henry VI., and to his
last hour the safeguard of the whole nation, and darling of the
people, was basely murdered here; by whose death the gate was
opened to that dreadful war between the houses of Lancaster and
York, which ended in the confusion of that very race who are
supposed to have contrived that murder.
From St. Edmund's Bury I returned by Stowmarket and Needham to
Ipswich, that I might keep as near the coast as was proper to my
designed circuit or journey; and from Ipswich, to visit the sea
again, I went to Woodbridge, and from thence to Orford, on the sea
side.
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