Then I saw in my dream, that when they were got out of the wilderness, they presently
saw a town before them, and the name of that town is Vanity; and at the town
there is a fair kept, called Vanity Fair. It is kept all the year long. It
beareth the name of Vanity Fair, because the town where it is kept is lighter
than vanity, and also because all that is there
sold, or that cometh thither, is vanity; as is the saying of the wise, “All
that cometh is vanity.” see also
This fair is no
new-erected business but a thing of ancient standing. I will show you the
original of it.
Almost five
thousand years ago there were pilgrims walking to the Celestial City, as these
two honest persons are: and Beelzebub, Apollyon, and Legion, with their
companions, perceiving by the path that the pilgrims made, that their way to
the city lay through this town of Vanity, they contrived here to set up a fair;
a fair wherein should be sold all sorts of vanity, and that it should last all
the year long. Therefore, at this fair are all such merchandise sold as houses,
lands, trades, places, honors, preferments, titles, countries, kingdoms, lusts,
pleasures; and delights of all sorts, as harlots, wives, husbands, children,
masters, servants, lives, blood, bodies, souls, silver, gold, pearls, precious
stones, and what not.
And moreover, at
this fair there is at all times to be seen jugglings, cheats, games, plays,
fools, apes, knaves, and rogues, and that of every kind.
Here are to be
seen, too, and that for nothing, thefts, murders, adulteries, false-swearers,
and that of a blood-red color.
And, as in other
fairs of less moment, there are the several rows and streets under their proper
names, where such and such wares are vended; so here, likewise, you have the
proper places, rows, streets, (namely, countries and kingdoms,) where the wares
of this fair are soonest to be found. Here is the Britain Row, the French Row,
the Italian Row, the Spanish Row, the German Row, where several sorts of
vanities are to be sold. But, as in other fairs, some one commodity is as the
chief of all the fair; so the ware of Rome and her merchandise is greatly
promoted in this fair; only our English nation, with some others, have taken a
dislike thereat.
Now, as I said,
the way to the Celestial City lies just through this town, where this lusty
fair is kept; and he that will go to the city, and yet not go through this
town, “must needs go out of the world.” The Prince of princes himself,
when here, went through this town to his own country, and that upon a fair-day
too; yea, and, as I think, it was Beelzebub, the chief lord of this fair, that
invited him to buy of his vanities, yea, would have made him lord of the fair,
would he but have done him reverence as he went through the town. Yea, because
he was such a person of honor, Beelzebub had him from street to street, and
showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a little time, that he might, if
possible, allure that blessed One to cheapen and buy some of his vanities; but
he had no mind to the merchandise, and therefore left the town, without laying
out so much as one farthing upon these vanities. This fair, therefore, is an ancient
thing, of long standing, and a very great fair.
