Sept 12.]

Hampshire.

A fair used to be celebrated at Winchester on the 12th of September, and was by far the greatest fair in the kingdom. The mayor resigned the keys of the four gates to a magistrate appointed by the bishop, and collectors were stationed on all the roads. Merchants resorted to it from distant parts of Europe, and it formed a temporary city; each street being appropriated to different commodities.—Historical and Descriptive Guide to Winchester, 1829, p. 86.