Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 1.djvu/137

 ii s. i. FEB. 12, mo.] NOTES AND QUEEIES.

129

ALFRED AND THE CAKES : CANUTE AN THE WAVES. I shall be glad to know wha are the authorities for the tales respectin " Alfred and the cakes " and " Canute an the waves.' 1 Can any kind friend pleas help me ? A. G.

[The authorities for the Canute story are given a 9 &. xi. 312.]

WILLIAM AND MARY HOWITT. Can an reader of ' N. & Q.' tell me who Mary Ho wit was before her marriage ? I do not fin the Howitts in the ' D.N.B.,' and I am anxious to learn something of their parentag and origin. F. H. S.

[Both Mary Howitt (born Botham) and her hus band are in the 4 D.N.B.,' vol. xxviii. pp. 122, 124 of the original edition.]

SIR JOHN CHADWORTH. The late Mr J. J. Stocken includes the following no tic of this civic worthy among his MS. note on the London Aldermen, now in the Guild hall Library :

''Chad worth, John, K* Mercer. He was dis charged from his shrievalty with John Hind (Mayor and Henry Vennor (co-Sheriff). Munday's ' Stow says he died 7 May, 1401, but as in 1428 he gave a parsonage - house, vestry, and churchyard to the church of S 1 John Zachary (where he was buried ir his own vault), it is probable that year is a mistake for 1431. '

Had Mr. Stocken any authority for his statement beyond Munday ? If not, the parish intended is evidently St. Mildred Bread Street, and not St. John Zachary But as the matter is of some importance to my local history of the latter, I shall be glad of further evidence, if any can be adduced L am not, however, interested in Chad- worth's personality unless Mr. Stocken's reference be proved correct.

WILLIAM MCMURRAY.

COMBOLOIO ROSARY. In Byron's ' Works,' London, 1900, ' Poetry, 1 edited by Cole- ridge, vol. iii. p. 275, note 2, the " Com- boloio or Mahommedan Rosary " is men- tioned. What language is " Comboloio," and where can other information about it be found ? j. M<

BURGLAR FOLK-LORE. F. D. M'Millan, the writer of an article on ' Plunder J in C/iambers's Journal for January, says :

"The ordinary burglar frequently does serious damage, which may be classified as follows : (1) Damage consequent either upon breaking into the iHXMinses through internal doors or in the search for >oty. (2) Wanton damage done for no apparent reason, but sometimes attributable to dis^ustin^ superstitions. (3) Malicious damage due to dis- sutistaction with haul. The first class must be

considered inevitable. It is more difficult, how- ever, to bear with fortitude losses which are conse- quent upon .the second and third class." May information as to particulars of the " disgusting superstitions " which have such unpleasant effect be sought, without im- propriety, of ' N. & Q. J ? ST. SWITHIN.

CHEYNE WALK, CHELSEA. Hard by Battersea Bridge stands an old brick- towered church restored in the beginning of the eighteenth century, whereon is fixed a long marble tablet, with an inscription which I could not decipher. I believe the tablet was fixed by some family named Chamber- lain, and should be glad to know more about it. M. L. R. BRESLAR.

PETERS'S * FORTUNE-TELLER.' Can some collector of mezzotints identify the lady in ' The Fortune -Teller, 1 painted by the Rev. M. Peters ? Names are sometimes found written at the back of prints. M. F. H.

INDIAN CHIEF'S ORATION TO LORD DUN- MORE. Daniel Bio we of Wigan, the author of ' A View of America * (Liverpool, Fisher, 1819), prints a lengthy address delivered at a council at Buffalo in 1811 by an Indian chief known as Red Jacket. The author states that " the celebrated oration of Logan, a chief of the Mingo tribe, to Lord Dunmore when Governor of Virginia had been so often published that it would be familiar to most readers. " Where can this oration be found ? Civis.

YULE LOG IN CORNWALL. The following account of how the ancient custom of bringing in the Yule Log is still celebrated at Boyton a parish on the borderland of North-East Cornwall and North-West Devon is taken from a letter of a boy of fourteen, named Stanley John Denner, in answer to a question, ' What did you do at Christmas ? " The letter was published in The, Cornish and Devon Post (Launceston) of 22 January : " Xmas Eve we brought in the Yule Log, We have kept up that old custom as long as I can emember, and my grandfather always kept it. My brothers and I went to the woodstack and elected a big log. We put two sticks under it, nd each taking an end (there were four of us) we carried it in. You must understand that we have a large open fireplace which is now seldom r never put into new houses. It is six feet ong and about -two and a half wide. It would >e impossible to put this log in a stove, or even, grate. We put the log into the fireplace and )ut the fire against it. Into the fire we put a mall fragment of last year's log, which helps o light the new. It is the old custom to keep a ragment of last year's log to light that of next ear. If this was not done, the old folk thought