. . . And the midlent fair is still going strong, still popular and still using the public thoroughfares, although the original prancing horses have been replaced by modern, exciting and faster rides. But it’s a shame we don’t have the wild beasts and feats of horsemanship nowadays.
This year’s midlent fair will open on Monday, 16th March.
” – this annual pleasure mart, which formerly lasted for a fortnight, commenced on Monday last, and will be continued till the end of the week. The attraction of the shows is not quite equal in extent to that of late years, and consequently the public thoroughfares are not so much incommoded as it was anticipated they would be : there are no exhibitions of wild beasts, nor any booths for the feats of horsemanship, though the drama (besides the ‘legitimate’ at the theatre-royal under the able management of Mr. Cacle) is abundently applied on the customary pruning principles exercised at fairtimes of ‘cut and come again,’ by Messrs Bennett and Lawrence.”
The Stamford Mercury, 7th April, 1848.