"THE BACONIQUES."

Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3582, 19 June 1880, Page 4

"THE BACONIQUES."

The gamins' annual ham fair is now takiog place in and around the Bastille, and is limited to three days, like an orthodox revolution. It is the oldest fair in Paris, and has survived that of St. Germain, which has disappeared since ages. In the seventh and eighth centuries laconiqves, or "bacon parties," were generally given by the Chapter of the Sol re Dame to soften the rigors of Lent. Dealers in time brought their bacon to sell here, and from habit sprang up the custom of a fair. The bakers next put in an appearance, and so limited was space that the gibbet, which was permanently in front of the cathedral, had to lend its aid to hang flitches. In time shows and cheap Jacks became grafted on the fair, and from sundry peregrinations, it is now a fixed residence. The practice of ham being a favorite dish in Lent is probably due to the circumstance that formerly the Church accorded dispensations to private parties to indulge in eating it occasionally during the forty days. The Parliament prohibited chandlers and knackers' yard people from selling pork, their trades not being like Cesar's wives; As a compensation pigs were allowed to roam unmolested in the streets, not crying out, " who'll eat me?" but eating children, and when these were scarce, adults. But some pigs having once upset a 3on of Louis le Gros while riding, pigs were prohibited from promenading the streets, save those belonging to the monastery of St. Anthony, and these were even required to wear a bell round the neck. If not, the wanderer could be taken up, led to the executioner, who despatched the animal, reserving the head for himself. Irish hams appear to be on the increase this year ; horse flesh is made up in tins, and so looking like canned meat from the States as to deceive even the very elect.—From " Our Paris Letter."