PECULIAR FAMILY VOWS.

Evening Star, Issue 13002, 22 December 1906, Page 13

PECULIAR FAMILY VOWS.

The costume which King Alfonso wore when attending church on Twelfth Day last has been solemnly presented to Count Hivodco. The House of Rivndoo lias now two huge chambers entirely with a collection —priceless from an antiquarian view—of Royal garments, for this ccre-m-tmy has been performed without a single break for 459 years. It originated in 1451. savs the '"Penny Magazine,’ when a plot was hatched to assassinate Juan IL, of Castile, ns be sat at dinner on Twelfth Day. But Don Rodrigo Villandvando, the then Count of Xvivadeo, managed to inform His Majesty of tho plot, got him away from tho room, and, donning a suit of the Royal garments, stood in the king’s bedchamber. There the conspirators found him, and mistaking him for the king, killed him. Whereupon the in gratitude, vowed that on each ;uimversarv of the bravo, deed the suit he wore should be given to the Count e descendants, and tho premise has never once been broken. It is a tradition in the Marlborough family , for each duke to present a Blenheim spaniel to tho dudicss when she enters Blenheim palace for the first time as its mistress. The practice dates from tho time of tho first duke, ftcarly two hundred years ago. All day during the battle of Blenheim a spaniel followed at tha heels of the great general, never leaving him until victory was assured. In memory of this, his wife, the famous favorite of Queen Anne, declared that tut spaniel should for ever bo the favorite dog of the Mnrlboroughs, and that every duchess should own one. , The celebrated old estate of V ccdf'-'v r has a very fire breed cf fallow doer. Hundreds are killed even- year, but erdv the right side of the animal is ever cooked or eaten. The curious observance traces its origin back through many general:- r... A pet deer was once accidentally wourued bv an arrow in the left side, and its owner declared that henceforth no doer on his estate should ever be struck on the left side, and only tho right side should be eaten. A vow equally peculiar was that made by a long-since-passsd-away owner of an East End public-house known as the “ Widow’s . c on.” Tho original widow line q son, who wont away in Lent, and. had not returned when Gcod Friday arnved. but wrote to say that he would be nonu for Easter. His mother therefore placed fils share of buns aside. But he never arrived. A servant wished to clear away the buns when stale, but the mother hung one to a hook in the roof,, and vowed that it should never be removed until he returned. As every Good Friday came round a fresh bun was added to the original one. After the widow died the custom was still kept up. To-day there is a bunch of bans, some so old and black that they look like fossils, suspended from the room. And every year one more is added to the store.