[Notices of fires at Honiton occur in the following works:--_The Wisdom
and Righteousness of Divine Providence._ A sermon preached at Honiton
on occasion of a dreadful fire, 21st August, 1765, which consumed 140
houses, a chapel, and a meeting-house. By R. Harrison, 4to.
1765.--Shaw, in his _Tour to the West of England_, p. 444., mentions a
dreadful fire, 19th July, 1747, which reduced three parts of the town
to ashes.--Lysons' _Devonshire_, p. 281., states that Honiton has been
visited by the destructive calamity of fire in 1672, 1747, 1754, and
1765. The last-mentioned happened on the 21st August, and was the most
calamitous; 115 houses were burnt down, and the steeple of Allhallows
Chapel, with the school, were destroyed. The damage was estimated at
above 10,500l.]
_Michaelmas Goose._--The following little inconsistency in a
commonly-received tradition has led me, at the request of a large party of
well-read and literary friends, to request your solution of the difficulty
in an early Number of your paper.
It is currently reported, and nine men in ten will tell you, if you ask
them the reason why goose is always eaten on the 29th Sept., Michaelmas
Day, that Queen Elizabeth was eating goose when the news of the destruction
of the Invincible Armada was brought, and she immediately put down her
knife and fork, and said, "From this day forth let all British-born
subjects eat goose on this day."
Now in Creasy's _Battles_ it is stated that the Spanish fleet was destroyed
in the month of July. How could it then be the 29th of Sept. when the news
of its defeat reached her majesty? If any of your readers can solve this
seeming improbability be will greatly oblige