king William's reign, to a weaver in London, where he continued titl the time of his death; and followed that business till he reached his 90th year. (To be continued.) The Hiftory and Origin of FAIRLOP FAIR; with Memoirs of Mr. DANIEL DAY, the Founder; including an Account of the GREAT OAK in HAINAULT FOREST, in Effex. THIS Curious and interefting account, written by a gentleman of Effex, intimate with one of the defcendants of Mr. Daniel Day,* will afford us an inftance of its being in the power of almost every man, to add to the felicity of his neighbours and fellow creatures. The fubject before us, though in the middling rank of life, for a series of years had the gratification to see the hearts of hundreds annually rejoiced and made glad, by his means, around the old Oak, and thousands to this time affemble there, on the day he fet apart for innocent paftime and rational recreation, so that the benevolent views of his heart were not buried with him in his grave; and, we moft fincerely hope, while a veftige of the old oak fhall remain, or the ground whereon it ftands fhall be found, the fons and daughters of freedom and hilarity will meet on the spot, in commemoration of the Founder of the Feast and Fair, Daniel Day. - Daniel Day was born in the parish of St. Mary Overy's, (in which parish his father was an opulent brewer) in the year 1683, and for a great number of years, until his death, was a very confiderable engine, pump and blockmaker, in the parish of St. John's, Wapping, where, to *The copy-right was purchased exclufively for GRANGER'S WONDERFUL MUSEUM, by the proprietor, 170 VOL. VI. No. 70. this this day, his memory is refpected as a great benefactor to that parith, particularly in the gift of the great bell at the confecration of the new church in 1760, and as an upright and ingenious tradesman, a great mechanic, as the many inventions he has left behind him in the conftruction of various defcription of engines and pumps, and of the improvement he made in the jiggers used by brewers in the starting of beer, which is worked by them to this day, fufficiently proves. He was of a more charitable and humane temper, and exemplarily generous and liberal in his principles, and actions; to evince this we need only mention his portioning off his twin nieces in his lifetime with 1000l. each, one of whom lies buried near him, the other is living now a widow. He would not only lend a diftreffed friend confiderable fums, but he invariably refused the smalleft intereft, and very frequently forgave the principal; in fhort his character for probity was such, that his neighbours were ever fatisfied with his arbitrations in their difputes, to which his abilities were amply adequate; his memory was aftonishingly retentive, in fo great a degree, as to enable him to repeat almoft verbatim, a long dif courfe or fermon. He was not the enemy of any man, or particular defcription of men, but the mufcles of his face were violently agitated whenever he heard of litigation in law, and he always profeffed to be uneafy in the company of the practitioners of it. Notwithstanding the very large fums he diftributed in charities and lent, he lived in comfort and died rich, leaving to the eight fatherlefs children of his niece, whom we have mentioned to be deceafed, the bulk of his property to be equally divided. It is with fome degree of pain we mention that Mr. Day was never married, becaufe with a heart replete with the milk of human kindness, and poffefling an underftanding at the fame time folid and elevated, he wanted only only the additional great characters of a husband and father to have made him more completely the great and good man. Mr. Day had many eccentricities, but they were unoffending in their nature, and no man was ever splashed or injured by his hobby-horfe. We fhould be doing injuftice to his memory if we did not mention a peculiar and very high trait in his character, and that was, his kindness to his fervants; in a few words, he was their friend. He had a widowed house-keeper who lived with him for thirty years, and died in his life-time at a very advanced age. She had two very strong attachments, one to her wedding-ring and garments, and the other to tea; when he died, Mr. Day would not permit her ring to be taken off, he said, "If that was attempted, the would come to life again," and directed that the fhould be buried in her wedding fuit and a pound of tea in each hand; and thefe directions were literally obeyed. This whim was highly illuftrative of his good nature, for although he had an averfion to tea, and never drank it, he did not debar his fervants the use of it; and in the inftance of his old housekeeper, carried his liberality even into her grave, by providing her a commodity there, which fhe was fo fond of here. And although a bachelor, no man honoured more the marriage ftate, as will be feen hereafter. Mr. Day enjoyed as much as any man his friend and pitcher, but he was temperate and regular in his mode of living, and very fond of the exercise of walking; by this means he enjoyed an uncommon fhare of health, until his death. We are now drawing towards that laft fcene which fooner or later must happen to the mighty and the weak, the rich and the poor, the good and the bad. A few years before Mr. Day's death, a branch of the 1702 Old Old Oak received a fhock, either by decay, by lightning, or ftorm; this operated upon Mr. Day as the warning of an old friend, it pointed out to him the inftability of life, and the effects of time; and he received the call with the refignation of a chriftian, and the fortitude of a man, who was conscious of having performed his allotted part with propriety. He fet about with alacrity, a task which to fome men would have been an awful preparation for the journey: his first business was to provide the repofitory; by the favor of the lord of the manor, he procured the dismembered limb of his favourite tree: this being done, he employed a Mr. Clear, a carpenter, to measure him for a coffin, and to make it out of this oak. Mr. Clear executed his job, and brought home his work, which was neatly pannelled, and highly rubbed and varnished with bees-wax. Mr. D. viewed his future habitation with the utmost serenity and philofophy, and addreffing himself to the carpenter, faid, "Mr. Clear, I have heard that when a perfon dies he is much stretched, and confequently much longer than when living," and punning upon the man's name, went on, "now Mr. Clear, it is not very clear to me that you have made this coffin long enough, but, however, we'll try;" and laying himself down in the coffin, he found it too short. Never mind it," fays the Stoic, "you must defire my executors to cut off my head and put it between my legs." His next care was the difpofition of his eftate, and in this inftance, as well as in every action of his life, he demonstrated himself to be a just and honest man. After bequeathing feveral legacies, and providing for the children of his niece, as we have before obferved, he carried his harmless oddities to the laft action poffible, and in that his mind fhone with its wonted benignity. He directed his executors to convey his remains, by water, 1 to |