618 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 217. 



folks.^^ A cross was tied in the tail of a cow " to 

 keep her from bad bodies." On May morning it 

 was deemed of the greatest importance to avoid 

 going to a neighbour's house for fire ; a turf was 

 therefore kept burning all night at home. Flowers 

 growing in a hedge, especially green or yellow 

 ones, were good to keep ofi' the fairies. And 

 finally, the last cake was left " behind the turf- 

 flag for the little people" J. W. Thomas. 

 Dewsbury. 



Cornish Folk Lore : King Arthur in the Form 

 ijf a Raven. — In Jarvis's translation of Don 

 Quixote, book ii. chap, v., the following passage 

 occurs : 



" ' Have you not read, sir,' answered Don Quixote, 

 ^■the annals and histories of England, wherein are re- 

 corded the famous exploits of King Arthur, whom in 

 our Castiliau tongue we ahvays call King Artus ; of 

 whom there goes an old tradition, and a common one 

 all over that kingdom of Great Britain, that this king 

 did not die, but that by magic art he was turned into 

 a raven ; and that, in process of time, he shall reign 

 again, and recover his kingdom and sceptre; for which 

 reason it cannot be proved, that, from that time to this, 

 any Englishman has killed a raven?'" 



My reason for transcribing this passage is to 

 I'ecord the curious fact that the legend of King 

 Arthur's existence in the form of a raven was still 

 repeated as a piece of folk lore in Cornwall about 

 ■sixty years ago. My father, who died about two 

 jears since at the age of eighty, spent a few years 

 of his youth in the neighbourhood of Penzance. 

 One day, as he was walking along Marazion Green 

 with his fowling-pieee on his shoulder, he saw a 

 raven at a distance and tired at it. An old man 

 who was near immediately rebuked him, telling 

 liim that he ought on no account to have shot at a 

 raven, for that King Arthur was still alive in the 

 form of that bird. My father was much in- 

 terested when I drew his attention to the passage 

 which I have quoted above. Perhaps some of 

 your Cornish or Welsh correspondents may be 

 able to say whether the legend is still known 

 among the people of Cornwall or Wales. 



Edgae MacCulloch. 



Guernsey. 



St. elements Apple Feast in Staffordshire. — 

 On the feast of St. Clement's (Nov. 23) the 

 <diiidren go round to the various houses in the 

 tillages to which they belong singing the following 

 •doggerel : 



** Clemany ! Clemany ! Clemany mine ! 

 A good red apple and a pint of wine, 

 Some of your mutton and some of your veal, 

 If it is good, pray give me a deal ; 

 If it is not, pray give some salt. 

 Butler, butler, fill your bowl ; 

 If thou fillst it of the best. 

 The Lord '11 send your soul to rest ; 



If thou fillst it of the small, 

 Down goes butler, bowl and all. 

 Pray, good mistress, send to me 

 One for Peter, one for Paul, 

 One for Him who made us all, 

 Apple, pear, plum, or cherry, 

 Any good thing to make us merry ; 

 A bouncing buck and a velvet chair, 

 Clement comes but once a year ; 

 Off with the pot and on with the pan, 

 A good red apple and I'll begone." 



How the above came to be conglomerated I know 

 not, as there seem to be at least three separate 

 compositions pressed into St. Clement's service. 



I shall be glad to know if any of your contri- 

 butors can furnish farther illustrations of St. 

 Clement's apple feast. I believe, in Worcester- 

 shire, St. Catherine and St. Clement unite in 

 becoming the patrons on these occasions. 



G. E. T. S. R. N. 



Neiv Years Eve and Neiv Years Day. —An- 

 other German custom prevalent in Philadelphia is 

 the custom of celebrating the departure of the old 

 year and the arrival of the new by discharges 

 of fire-arms. As soon as the sun sets the firing 

 commences, and it is kept up all night with 

 every description of musket, fowling-piece, and 

 pistol. It is called " firing out the old year " and 

 " firing in the new year." Uneda. 



Philadelphia. 



Carlist Calembourg. — The original of the 

 French jeu d'esprit in Vol. viii., p. 242., was a 

 Carlist calembourg circulated in the salons about 

 the middle of 1831 : 



" La nation n'aime pas Louis-Philippe muis en rit 

 (^Henri')." 



There was another also very popular : 



" In travelling to Bordeaux you must go to Orleans." 



V. T. Sternberg. 



Jewish Custom. — In a recently published 

 music-novel of some merit, called Chai-les Au- 

 Chester, occurs the following : 



" ' I shall treat him as my son, because he will indeed 

 be my music-child, and no more indebted to me than I 

 am to music, or than we all are to Jehovah.' ' Sir, you 

 are certainly a Jew, if you say Jehovah ; I was quite sure 

 of it before, and I am so pleased." 



There is a great error as to custom here, for the 

 Jews never attempt to pronounce tlie " four- 

 lettered " Name, and in reading and speaking 

 always use instead Adonai or Eiohim. And even 

 converted Jews retain for the most part the same 

 habit. The writer of Charles Auchester can only 

 defend himself by the example of tlie writer of 



