Slight thread creep: Nancy Dawson was a theatrical dancer, famous for her hornpipe.

NANCY DAWSON

Of all the girls in our town,
The black, the fair, the brown,
Who dance and prance it up and down,
There's none like Nancy Dawson.

Her easy mien, her step so neat,
She foots, she trips, she looks so sweet,
Her every motion is complete,
I die for Nancy Dawson.

See how the Op'ra takes a run,
Exceeding Hamlet, Lear or Lun,
Though in it there would be no fun,
Was't not for Nancy Dawson.

Though Garrick he has had his day,
And forc'd the town his laws t'obey,
Now Johnny Rich is come in play,
With help of Nancy Dawson.

The tune is very familiar as 'Here we go round the mulberry bush' and was also popular in the sailing Royal Navy, as it was usually played at 'up spirits', when the rum (or other) ration was served up.

'It's like Howden Fair' was an expression used by my parents to signify something crowded and chaotic.