and the liquor went off freely. The present landlord is Mr. James Cuddington. The house is a good picture of an old country inn, and has been in the family for a great number of years." On enquiry I was told the custom had been observed for 80 years. A new bushel corn measure is used, and, when tilled, the beer put in it froths up, and with the green paper, &c., makes it appear like a huge cauliflower. The beer is ladled out with a pint mug, and drunk from glasses. There is a regular chairman, and the man who ladles out the beer is called "the baler" and the latter has the privilege of drinking from the measure itself. Is this custom common elsewhere, and what is its origin?
Malagasy and Chinese parallels.—See ante, p. 66.—The Malagasy effusion here quoted by Mr. Sibree, stanza 1, reminds one of the Chinese saying:—
"In the sky there are not two suns,
On earth there are not two Emperors."
The original of which is very terse and expressive.
Similarly the note on p. 70, respecting the misfortune of dying away from home, finds its counterpart in China. A Celestial, as every one knows, will do anything rather than be buried in a strange land. The great reason is that they believe the spirits of the unburied to become vagrant, and there can be no greater misfortune befall a man than this. Hence, too, their desire to have coffins made during their life-time.
Richmond Castle tradition.—The following tradition told to me by the Rev. Mr. Sorby, of Sheffield, was thought by him to refer to Richmond Castle, but he was not quite sure on this point:—In the ruins of (Richmond) Castle, Yorkshire, King Arthur and his knights sit spell-bound. A man, Potter Thompson by name, once penetrated by accident into the hall in which they sit around a table on which lie a sword and a horn. Terrorstruck at the sight the intruder fled, and as he crossed the threshold of the hall a voice sounded in his ears:
"Potter Thompson, Potter Thompson, hadst thou blown the horn,
Thou hadst been the greatest man that ever was born."
