142 



THE HAMPSHIRE ANTIQUARY & NATURALIST. 



Of East Meon, the author writes [Vol. I, p. 175] 

 " I am sure that East Meon has been a large place. 

 The church has a Saxon tower pretty nearly equal as 

 far as I can recollect to that of the cathedral at Win- 

 chester. The rest of the church has been re-built, 

 and perhaps several times ; but the tower is com- 

 plete ; it has had a steeple put upon it ; but it retains 

 all its beauty, and it shows that the church (which is 

 still large) must, at first, have been a very large build- 

 ing." 



[Vol. II, p. 210.] " In this north of Hampshire, as 

 everywhere else, the churches and all other things 

 exhibit indubitable marks of decay. There are along 

 under the north side of that chain of hills which 

 divides Hampshire from Berkshire, in this part, taking 

 into Hampshire about two or three miles wide of tne 

 low ground under the chain, eleven churches in a 

 string, in about fifteen miles, the chancels of which 

 would contain a great many more than all the in- 

 habitants, men, women and children, sitting at their 

 ease with plenty of room. How should this be other- 

 wise, when in the parish of Burghclere, one single 

 farmer holds by lease, under Lord Carnarvon, as one 

 farm, the lands that men, now living, can remember to 

 have formed fourteen farms, bringing up, in a 

 respectable way, fourteen families ? " 



Mr. Cobbett gives many other illustrations of this 

 theory, in his ride through Wilts and Glo'ster, and 

 shows that in many of the villages of these counties, 

 the churches were in his time absurdly large for the 

 requirements of the population, and that in many of 

 these villages the whole of the inhabitants could be 

 seated within the porch of the parish church. 



J. H. K. 



"ENGLISH FAIRY TALES." 

 A very interesting branch of Folk-lore is opened up 

 bythe fairytales which delight children of all agesand 

 all countries. These tales may often shed light on the 

 thought and beliefs of primitive times or preserve 

 relics of customs long fallen into desuetude. They 

 are far more prevalent than at first may be supposed ; 

 but the reason why many of them have not been 

 brought to light no doubt, is, as Mr. Joseph Jacobs 

 says in the preface to his charming collection,* the 

 lamentable gap between the governing and recording 

 classes and the dumb working classes of this country 

 dumb to others but eloquent among themselves. 

 To bridge over this gulf Mr. Jacobs has printed some 

 forty-three tales out of 140 which he has collected at 

 various times. The book will prove a delightful one 

 to the children, for not only are the stories told in a 

 way to captivate the little ones' attention, but the 

 book is profusely illustrated with appropriate and 

 suggestive sketches. But Mr. Jacobs has some further 



* " English Fairv Tales." Collected by Joseph Jacobs, 

 Editor of Folk-lore. Illustrated by John D. Batten. 

 London : David Nutt, 1890. 



purpose in view than merely to amuse the young. 

 Appended to the book are some notes explaining the 

 source whence each tale has been derived and 

 references to similar or parallel stories in this 

 and foreign countries. The stories comprise some 

 more or less well known, such as " Jack the 

 Giant Killer," "Jack and the Bean Stalk," 

 " Tom Thumb" and " Whittington and his Cat," 

 and some, like " The Old Woman and her Pig," 

 belong to that class of " accumulative stories'" which, 

 it has been suggested, may " derive their origin from 

 magical formulas." t Several of these tales come down 

 from early times ; some dozen of them can be traced 

 back to the sixteenth century, and two are quoted in 

 Shakespeare's plays. And some are of still more 

 hoary antiquity ; two or three have to do with the 

 legendary times of King Arthur ; and some appear to 

 have had their origin in the da3's of those prehistoric 

 mound-builders, whose burial places are scattered up 

 and down the country. Of these barrows or tumuli, 

 though many are constantly being " improved" out of 

 existence, there are numerous examples in this part 

 of the country. It is not at all inconceivable that 

 when the primitive inhabitants \vere driven into the 

 recesses ot the country by a somewhat more advanced 

 people they should gradually come to be regarded as 

 a mysterious race of beings under the garb of pixies 

 brownies, or elves. 



One of the objects which Mr. Jacobs has in view 

 in his book is to induce others in different parts of the 

 country to record such tales as they may pick up. No 

 doubt Hampshire could with a little effort give its 

 quota to the collection. One of the tales he narrates, 

 " The Three Little Pigs," would appear to have had 

 its origin in the Isle of Wight, for in it the wolf in- 

 vites the little pig to " a fair at Shanklin," hoping to 

 get him into his power. But the little pig was too 

 wide awake, and determined to be beforehand. 



"So the little pig went off before the time as usual, and 

 got to the fair, and bought a butter-churn, which he was 

 going home with, when he saw the wolf coming. Then he 

 could not tell what to do. So he got into the churn to 

 hide, and by so doing turned it round, and it rolled down 

 the hill with the pig in it, which frightened the wolf so 

 much that he ran home without going to the fair." 



Is this tale, or any similar to it, at all prevalent 

 among the children of the Island ? If there are 

 variations of it, it is the object of the study of Folk- 

 lore to bring these variations into comparison, to see 

 what can be learned from them. 



WEATHER REPORT FOR THE WEEK. 

 From the meteorological register made at the Ordnance 

 Survey Office, Southampton, under the direction of Col. Sir 

 Chas. Wilson, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., F.R S., R.E. Lat. 50. 

 45' 50" N. ; long, t* 24' o" VV. ; height above sea, 84 leet. 

 Observers Se'gt. T. Chambers, R.E., and Mr. J.T. Cook. 



t Gomme's " Handbook of Folk-lore." London : D. 

 Nut', 1890. p. 112. 



