_Source._--Sent me anonymously soon after the appearance of _English
Fairy Tales_. From a gloss in the MS. "vitty" = Devonian for "decent," I
conclude the tale is current in Devon. I should be obliged if the sender
would communicate with me.
_Parallels._--The latter part has a certain similarity with "Jack
Hannaford" (No. viii.). Halliwell's story of the miser who kept his
money "for luck" (p. 153) is of the same type. Halliwell remarks that
the tale throws light on a passage in Ben Jonson:
Say we are robbed,
If any come to borrow a spoon or so
I will not have Good Fortune or God's Blessing
Let in, while I am busy.
The earlier part of the tale has resemblance with "Lazy Jack" (No.
xxvii), the European variants of which are given by M. Cosquin, _Contes
de Lorraine_, i., 241. Jan's satisfaction with his wife's blunders is
also European (Cosquin, _l.c._, i., 157). On minding the door and
dispersing robbers by its aid see "Mr. Vinegar" (No. vi.).
_Remarks._--"Hereafterthis" is thus a _mélange_ of droll incidents, yet
has characteristic folkish touches ("can you milk-y, bake-y," "when I
lived home") which give it much vivacity.