{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_19979/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_19979","id":"gutenberg_19979","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19979","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Other","Category: History - Religious","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Christmas","Christmas -- History"],"text":"Produced by Julie Barkley, Linda Cantoni, and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA righte Merrie Christmasse!!!\n\nThe Story of Christ-tide\n\n\nBy John Ashton. Copperplate\nEtching of \"The\nWassail Song,\" by Arthur\nC. Behrend.\n\n\nLondon: published by the Leadenhall\nPress, Ltd., 50 Leadenhall Street;\nSimpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent\n& Co., Ltd. New York: Charles\nScribner's Sons, 153-157 Fifth Avenue.\n\nThe Leadenhall Press Ltd.\nLondon\n[1894]\n\n\n[Transcriber's Notes:\n\nThis text contains passages using the Anglo-Saxon thorn (\u017d or \u017e,\nequivalent of \"th\"), which should display properly in most text\nviewers. The Anglo-Saxon yogh (equivalent of \"y,\" \"i,\" \"g,\" or \"gh\")\nwill display properly only if the user has the proper font, so to\nmaximize accessibility, the character \"3\" is used in this e-text to\nrepresent the yogh.\n\nCharacters with a macron are preceded by an equal sign and enclosed in\nsquare brackets, e.g., [=a].\n\nSuperscripted characters are preceded by a carat and enclosed in curly\nbrackets, e.g., y^{t}.]\n\n\n[Illustration: The Wassail Song]\n\n\n\n\nTO THE READER\n\n\n     I do not craue\n     mo thankes to haue,\n     than geuen to me\n     all ready be;\n     but this is all,\n     to such as shall\n       peruse this booke.\n     That, for my sake,\n     they gently take\n     what ere they finde\n     against their minde,\n     when he, or she,\n     shal minded be\n       therein to looke.\n\n     _Tusser._\n\n\n\n\nA righte Merrie Christmasse!!!\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nIt is with a view of preserving the memory of Christmas that I have\nwritten this book.\n\nIn it the reader will find its History, Legends, Folk-lore, Customs,\nand Carols--in fact, an epitome of Old Christ-tide, forming a volume\nwhich, it is hoped, will be found full of interest.\n\nJOHN ASHTON.\n\n\n\n\nA righte Merrie Christmasse!!!\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nDate of Christ's Birth discussed--Opinions of the Fathers--The\nEastern Church and Christ-tide--Error in Chronology--Roman\nSaturnalia--Scandinavian Yule--Duration of Christ-tide 1\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nHistoric Christ-tides in 790, 878, and 1065--William I.,\n1066-1085--William II.--Henry I., 1127--Stephen--Henry II.,\n1158-1171--Richard I., 1190--John, 1200--Henry III., 1253--Edwards I.,\nII., and III.--Richard II., 1377-1398--Henry IV.-V., 1418--Henry\nVIII., his magnificent Christ-tides 9\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nHistoric Christ-tides--Edward VI., 1551--Mary--Elizabeth--James\nI.--The Puritans--The Pilgrim Fathers--Christmas's Lamentation--Christ-tide\nin the Navy, 1625 19\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nAttempts of Puritans to put down Christ-tide--Attitude of the\npeople--Preaching before Parliament--\"The arraignment, etc., of\nChristmas\" 26\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nThe popular love of Christmas--Riots at Ealing and\nCanterbury--Evelyn's Christmas days, 1652, '3, '4, '5, '7, Cromwell\nand Christ-tide--The Restoration--Pepys and Christmas day, 1662--\"The\nExamination and Tryal of old Father Christmas\" 34\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nCommencement of Christ-tide--\"O Sapientia!\"--St. Thomas's day--William\nthe Conqueror and the City of York--Providing for Christmas\nfare--Charities of food--Bull-baiting--Christ-tide charities--Going\n\"a-Thomassing,\" etc.--Superstitions of the day 45\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nPaddington Charity (Bread and Cheese Lands)--Barring-out at\nSchools--Interesting narrative 53\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nThe Bellman--Descriptions of him--His verses. The Waits--Their\norigin--Ned Ward on them--Corporation Waits--York Waits (17th\ncentury)--Essay on Waits--Westminster Waits--Modern Waits 63\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\nChrist-tide Carols--The days of Yule--A Carol for\nChrist-tide--\"Lullaby\"--The Cherry-tree Carol--Dives and Lazarus 70\n\n\nCHAPTER X\n\nChristmas Eve--Herrick thereon--The Yule Log--Folk-lore thereon--The\nAshen Faggot--Christmas Candles--Christmas Eve in the Isle of\nMan--Hunting the Wren--Divination by Onions and Sage--A Custom at\nAston--\"The Mock\"--Decorations and Kissing Bunch--\"Black\nBall\"--Guisers and Waits--Ale Posset 75\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\nChristmas Eve in North Notts--Wassailing the Fruit Trees--Wassail\nSongs--Wassailing in Sussex--Other Customs--King at Downside\nCollege--Christ-tide Carol--Midnight Mass--The Manger--St. Francis of\nAssisi 84\n\n\nCHAPTER XII\n\nDecorating with Evergreens--Its Origin and Antiquity--Mistletoe in\nChurches--The permissible Evergreens--The Holly--\"Holly and\nIvy\"--\"Here comes Holly\"--\"Ivy, chief of Trees\"--\"The Contest of the\nIvy and the Holly\"--Holly Folk-lore--Church Decorations--To be kept up\ntill Candlemas day 91\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII\n\nLegends of the Nativity--The Angels--The Birth--The Cradles--The Ox\nand Ass--Legends of Animals--The Carol of St. Stephen--Christmas\nWolves--Dancing for a Twelve-months--Underground Bells--The Fiddler\nand the Devil 97\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV\n\nThe Glastonbury Thorn, its Legend--Cuttings from it--Oaks coming into\nleaf on Christmas day--Folk-lore--Forecast, according to the days of\nthe week on which Christmas falls--Other Folk-lore thereon 105\n\n\nCHAPTER XV\n\nWithholding Light--\"Wesley Bob\"--Wassail Carol--Presents in\nChurch--Morris Dancers--\"First Foot\"--Red-haired Men--Lamprey\nPie--\"Hodening\"--Its Possible Origin--The \"Mari Lhoyd\" 111\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI\n\nCurious Gambling Customs in Church--Boon granted--Sheaf of Corn for\nthe Birds--Crowning of the Cock--\"The Lord Mayor of Pennyless\nCove\"--\"Letting in Yule\"--Guisards--Christmas in the Highlands--Christmas\nin Shetland--Christmas in Ireland 117\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII\n\nOrdinance against out-door Revelry--Marriage of a Lord of\nMisrule--Mummers and Mumming--Country Mummers--Early Play--Two modern\nPlays 125\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII\n\nA Christmas jest--Ben Jonson's Masque of Christmas--Milton's Masque of\nComus--Queen Elizabeth and the Masters of Defence 138\n\n\nCHAPTER XIX\n\nThe Lord of Misrule--The \"Emperor\" and \"King\" at Oxford--Dignity of\nthe Office--Its abolition in the City of London--The functions of a\nLord of Misrule--Christmas at the Temple--A grand Christmas there 143\n\n\nCHAPTER XX\n\nA riotous Lord of Misrule at the Temple--Stubbes on Lords of\nMisrule--The Bishops ditto--Mumming at Norwich 1440--Dancing at the\nInns of Court--Dancing at Christmas--The Cushion Dance 155\n\n\nCHAPTER XXI\n\nHoney Fairs--Card-playing at Christmas--Throwing the Hood--Early\nReligious Plays--Moralities--Story of a Gray's Inn Play--The first\nPantomime--Spectacular drama--George Barnwell--Story respecting this\nPlay 162\n\n\nCHAPTER XXII\n\nProfusion of Food at Christ-tide--Old English\nFare--Hospitality--Proclamations for People to spend Christ-tide at\ntheir Country Places--Roast Beef--Boar's Head--Boar's Head\nCarol--Custom at Queen's College, Oxon.--Brawn--Christmas Pie--Goose\nPie--Plum Pudding--Plum Porridge--Anecdotes of Plum Pudding--Large\none--Mince Pies--Hackin--Folk-lore--Gifts at Christ-tide--Yule\nDoughs--Cop-a-loaf--Snap-dragon 169\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIII\n\nThe First Carol--Anglo-Norman Carol--Fifteenth-Century Carol--\"The\nTwelve Good Joys of Mary\"--Other Carols--\"A Virgin most Pure\"--Carol\nof Fifteenth Century--\"A Christenmesse Carroll\" 180\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIV\n\nChristmas Gifts forbidden in the City of London--Charles II. and\nChristmas Gifts--Christmas Tree--Asiatic Descent--Scandinavian\nDescent--Candles on the Tree--Early Notices of in England--Santa\nClaus--Krishkinkle--Curious Tenures of Land at Christmas 186\n\n\nCHAPTER XXV\n\nChrist-tide Literature--Christmas Cards--Their Origin--Lamplighter's\nVerses--Watchman's Verses--Christmas Pieces 194\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVI\n\nCarol for St. Stephen's Day--Boxing Day--Origin of Custom--Early\nexamples--The Box--Bleeding Horses--Festivity on this Day--Charity at\nBampton--Hunting the Wren in Ireland--Song of the Wren Boys 201\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVII\n\nSt. John's Day--Legend of the Saint--Carols for the Day--Holy\nInnocents--Whipping Children--Boy Bishops--Ceremonies connected\ntherewith--The King of Cockney's Unlucky Day--Anecdote thereon--Carol\nfor the Day 207\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVIII\n\nNew Year's Eve--Wassail--New Year's Eve Customs--Hogmany--The\nCl[=a]vie--Other Customs--Weather Prophecy 214\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIX\n\nNew Year's Day--Carol--New Year's Gifts--\"Dipping\"--Riding the\n\"Stang\"--Curious Tenures--God Cakes--The \"Quaaltagh\"--\"First foot\" in\nScotland--Highland Customs--In Ireland--Weather Prophecies--Handsel\nMonday 220\n\n\nCHAPTER XXX\n\nEve of Twelfth Day--Thirteen Fires--Tossing the Cake--Wassailing\nApple-Trees--The Eve in Ireland--Twelfth Day, or Epiphany--Carol for\nthe Day--Royal Offerings 232\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXI\n\n\"The King of the Bean\"--Customs on Twelfth Day--Twelfth Cakes--Twelfth\nNight Characters--Modern Twelfth Night--The Pastry Cook's\nShops--Dethier's Lottery--The Song of the Wren--\"Holly Night\" at\nBrough--\"Cutting off the Fiddler's Head\" 238\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXII\n\nSt. Distaff's Day--Plough Monday--Customs on the Day--Feast of the\nPurification 246\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\n     Date of Christ's Birth discussed--Opinions of the\n     Fathers--The Eastern Church and Christ-tide--Error in\n     Chronology--Roman Saturnalia--Scandinavian Yule--Duration of\n     Christ-tide.\n\n\nThe day on which Jesus Christ died is plainly distinguishable, but the\nday of His birth is open to very much question, and, literally, is\nonly conjectural; so that the 25th December must be taken purely as\nthe day on which His birth is celebrated, and not as His absolute\nnatal day. In this matter we can only follow the traditions of the\nChurch, and tradition alone has little value.\n\nIn the second and early third centuries of our aera, we only know that\nthe festivals, other than Sundays and days set apart for the\nremembrance of particular martyrs, were the Passover, Pentecost, and\nthe Epiphany, the baptism or manifestation of our Lord, when came \"a\nvoice from Heaven saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well\npleased.\" This seems always to have been fixed for the 6th of January,\nand with it was incorporated the commemoration of His birth.\n\nTitus Flavius Clemens, generally known as Clemens of Alexandria, lived\nexactly at this time, and was a contemporary of Origen. He speaks\nplainly on the subject, and shows the uncertainty, even at that early\nepoch of Christianity, of fixing the date:[1] \"There are those who,\nwith an over-busy curiosity, attempt to fix not only the year, but the\ndate of our Saviour's birth, who, they say, was born in the\ntwenty-eighth year of Augustus, on the 25th of the month Pachon,\"\n_i.e._ the 20th of May. And in another place he says: \"Some say that\nHe was born on the 24th or 25th of the month Pharmuthi,\" which would\nbe the 19th or 20th of April.\n\n[Footnote 1: _Stromat._, L. 1, pp. 407-408, ed. Oxon., 1715.]\n\nBut, perhaps, the best source of information is from the _Memoires\npour servir a l'histoire ecclesiastique des six premiers Siecles_, by\nLouis Sebastian le Nain de Tillemont, written at the very commencement\nof the eighteenth century,[2] and I have no hesitation in appending a\nportion of his fourth note, which treats \"_Upon the day and year of\nthe birth of Jesus Christ_.\"\n\n[Footnote 2: Translated by T. Deacon in 1733-35, pp. 335-336.]\n\n\"It is thought that Jesus Christ was born in the night, because it was\nnight when the angel declared His birth to the shepherds: in which S.\nAugustin says that He literally fulfilled David's words, _Ante\nluciferum genuite_.\n\n\"The tradition of the Church, says this father, is that it was upon\nthe 25th of December. Casaubon acknowledges that we should not\nimmediately reject it upon the pretence that it is too cold a season\nfor cattle to be at pasture, there being a great deal of difference\nbetween these countries and Judaea; and he assures us that, even in\nEngland, they leave the cows in the field all the year round.\n\n\"S. Chrysostom alleges several reasons to prove that Jesus Christ was\nreally born upon the 25th of December; but they are weak enough,\nexcept that which he assures of, that it has always been the belief of\nthe Western Churches. S. Epiphanius, who will have the day to have\nbeen the 6th of January, places it but at twelve days' distance. S.\nClement of Alexandria says that, in his time, some fixed the birth of\nJesus Christ upon the 19th or 20th April; others, on the 20th of May.\nHe speaks of it as not seeing anything certain in it.\n\n\"It is cited from one John of Nice, that it was only under Pope Julius\nthat the Festival of the Nativity was fixed at Rome upon the 25th of\nDecember. Father Combesisius, who has published the epistle of this\nauthor, confesses that he is very modern: to which we may add that he\nis full of idle stories, and entirely ignorant of the history and\ndiscipline of antiquity. So that it is better to rest upon the\ntestimony of S. Chrysostom, who asserts that, for a long time before,\nand by very ancient tradition, it was celebrated upon the 25th of\nDecember in the West, that is, in all the countries which reach from\nThrace to Cadiz, and to the farthest parts of Spain. He names Rome\nparticularly; and thinks that it might be found there that this was\nthe true day of our Saviour's birth, by consulting the registers of\nthe description of Judaea made at that time, supposing them still to be\npreserved there. We find this festival placed upon the 25th of\nDecember in the ancient Roman Calendar, which was probably made in the\nyear 354....\n\n\"We find by S. Basil's homily upon the birth of our Lord that a\nfestival in commemoration of it was observed in Cappadocia, provided\nthat this homily is all his; but I am not of opinion that it appears\nfrom thence either that this was done in January rather than December\nor any other month in the year, or that this festival was joined with\nthat of the Baptism. On the contrary, the Churches of Cappadocia seem\nto have distinguished the Feast of the Nativity from that of the\nEpiphany, for S. Gregory Nazianzen says, that after he had been\nordained priest, in the year 361, upon the festival of one mystery, he\nretired immediately after into Pontus, on that of another mystery, and\nreturned from Pontus upon that of a third. Now we find that he\nreturned at Easter, so that there is all imaginable reason to believe\nthat he was ordained at Christmas, and retired upon the Epiphany. S.\nBasil died, in all probability, upon the 1st of January in the year\n379, and S. Gregory Nyssen says that his festival followed close upon\nthose of Christmas, S. Stephen, S. Peter, S. James, and S. John. We\nread in an oration ascribed to S. Amphilochius, that he died on the\nday of the Circumcision, between the Nativity of Jesus Christ and His\nBaptism. S. Gregory Nyssen says that the Feast of Lights, and of the\nBaptism of Jesus Christ, was celebrated some days after that of His\nNativity. The other S. Gregory takes notice of several mysteries which\nwere commemorated at Nazianzium with the Nativity, the Magi, etc., but\nhe says nothing, in that place, of the Baptism. And yet, if the\nfestival of Christmas was observed in Cappadocia upon the 25th of\nDecember, we must say that S. Chrysostom was ignorant of it, since he\nascribes this practice only to Thrace and the more Western\nprovinces....\n\n\"In the year 377, or soon after, some persons who came from Rome,\nintroduced into Syria the practice of celebrating our Lord's Nativity\nin the month of December, upon the same day as was done in the West;\nand this festival was so well received in that country that in less\nthan ten years it was entirely established at Antioch, and was\nobserved there by all the people with great solemnity, though some\ncomplained of it as an innovation. S. Chrysostom, who informs us of\nall this, speaks of it in such a manner as to make Father Thomassin\nsay, not that the birth of Jesus Christ had till then been kept upon a\nwrong day, but that absolutely it had not been celebrated there at\nall.\n\n\"S. Chrysostom seems to say, that this festival was received at the\nsame time by the neighbouring provinces to Antioch; but this must not\nbe extended as far as to Egypt, as we learn from a passage in Cassian.\nThis author seems to speak only of the time when he was in Scetae\n(about 399), but also of that when he wrote his tenth conference\n(about the year 420 or 425). But it appears that, in the year 432,\nEgypt had likewise embraced the practice of Rome: for Paul of Emesa,\nin the discourse which he made then at Alexandria upon the 29th of\nCoiac, which is the 25th of December, says it was the day on which\nJesus Christ was born. S. Isidore of Pelusium, in Egypt, mentions the\nTheophany and the Nativity of our Saviour, according to the flesh, as\ntwo different festivals. We were surprised to read in an oration of\nBasil of Seleucia, upon S. Stephen, that Juvenal of Jerusalem, who\nmight be made bishop about the year 420, was the first who celebrated\nthere our Saviour's Nativity.\"\n\nThe Armenian Church still keeps up the eastern 6th of January as\nChristmas day--and, as the old style of the calendar is retained, it\nfollows that they celebrate the Nativity twenty-four days after we do:\nand modern writers make the matter more mixed--for Wiesseler thinks\nthat the date of the Nativity was 10th January, whilst Mr. Greswell\nsays it occurred on the 9th April B.C. 4.\n\nIt is not everybody that knows that our system of chronology is four\nyears wrong--_i.e._ that Jesus Christ must have been born four years\nbefore _Anno Domini_, the year of our Lord. It happened in this way.\nDionysius Exiguus, in 533, first introduced the system of writing the\nwords _Anno Domini_, to point out the number of years which had\nelapsed since the Incarnation of our Lord; in other words he\nintroduced our present chronology. He said the year 1 was the same as\nthe year A.U.C. (from the building of Rome) 754; and this statement he\nbased on the fact that our Saviour was born in the twenty-eighth year\nof the reign of Augustus; and he reckoned from A.U.C. 727, when the\nemperor first took the name of Augustus. The early Christians,\nhowever, dated from the battle of Actium, which was A.U.C. 723, thus\nmaking the Nativity 750. Now we believe that that event took place\nduring Herod's reign, and we know that Herod died between the 13th\nMarch and 29th March, on which day Passover commenced, in A.U.C. 750,\nso that it stands to reason that our chronology is wrong.\n\nSome think that the date of 25th December, which certainly began in\nthe Roman Church, was fixed upon to avoid the multiplication of\nfestivals about the vernal equinox, and to appropriate to a Christian\nuse the existing festival of the winter solstice--the returning sun\nbeing made symbolical of the visit of Christ to our earth; and to\nwithdraw Christian converts from those pagan observances with which\nthe closing year was crowded, whilst the licence of the _Saturnalia_\nwas turned into the merriment of Christmas.\n\nThis festival of the Saturnalia (of which the most complete account is\ngiven by Macrobius in his _Conviviorum Saturnaliorum_) dated from the\nremotest settlement of Latium, whose people reverenced Saturnus as the\nauthor of husbandry and the arts of life. At this festival the utmost\nfreedom of social intercourse was permitted to all classes; even\nslaves were allowed to come to the tables of their masters clothed in\ntheir apparel, and were waited on by those whom they were accustomed\nto serve. Feasting, gaming, and revelry were the occupations of all\nclasses, without discrimination of age, or sex, or rank. Processions\ncrowded the streets, boisterous with mirth: these illuminated the\nnight with lighted tapers of wax, which were also used as gifts\nbetween friends in the humbler walks of life. The season was one for\nthe exchange of gifts of friendship, and especially of gifts to\nchildren. It began on the 17th December, and extended virtually, to\nthe commencement of the New Year.\n\nPrynne[3] speaks thus of Christmas: \"If we compare our Bacchanalian\nChristmasses and New Year's Tides with these Saturnalia and Feasts of\nJanus, we shall finde such near affinytie betweene them both in regard\nof time (they being both in the end of December and on the first of\nJanuary), and in their manner of solemnizing (both of them being spent\nin revelling, epicurisme, wantonesse, idlenesse, dancing, drinking,\nstage playes, and such other Christmas disorders now in use with\nChristians), were derived from these Roman Saturnalia and Bacchanalian\nFestivals; which should cause all pious Christians eternally to\nabominate them.\"\n\n[Footnote 3: _Histrio Mastix_, ed. 1633, p. 757.]\n\nThe Anglo-Saxons and early English knew not the words either of\nChristmas or Christ-tide. To them it was the season of Yule. Bede (_de\ntemporum ratione_, c. 13), regards it as a term for the winter\nsolstice. \"Menses Giuli a conversione solis in auctum dici, quia unus\neorum praecedit, alius subsequitur, nomina acceperunt\": alluding to the\nAnglo-Saxon Calendar, which designated the months of December and\nJanuary as _aeerre-geola_ and _aeftera-geola_, the former and the latter\nYule. Both Skeat and Wedgwood derive it from the old Norse _jol_,\nwhich means feasting and revelry. Mr. J.F. Hodgetts, in an article\nentitled \"Paganism in Modern Christianity\" (_Antiquary_, December\n1882, p. 257), says:--\n\n\"The ancient name (Yule) for Christmas is still used throughout all\nScandinavia. The Swedes, Danes, and Norwegians wish each other a 'glad\nYule,' as we say 'A merry Christmas to you.' This alone would serve to\ndraw our attention to Scandinavia, even if no other reason existed for\nsearching there for the origin of our great Christian Feast. The grand\nstorehouses of Pagan lore, as far as the Northern nations of Teutonic\nrace are concerned, are the two Eddas, and if we refer to the part, or\nchapter, of Snorri Sturlson's Edda, known as _Gylfa Ginning_, we shall\nfind the twelfth name of Odin, the Father of the Gods, or Allfather,\ngiven as _Ialg_ or _Ialkr_ (pronounced _yolk_ or _yulg_). The\nChristmas tree, introduced into Russia by the Scandinavians, is\ncalled _elka_ (pronounced _yolka_), and in the times just preceding,\nand just after, the conquest of Britain by the English, this high\nfeast of Odin was held in mid-winter, under the name of _Ialka tid_,\nor Yule-tide. It was celebrated at this season, because the Vikings,\nbeing then unable to go to sea, could assemble in their great halls\nand temples and drink to the gods they served so well. Another reason\nwas, that it fell towards the end of the twelve mystic months that\nmade up the mythical, as well as the cosmical, cycle of the year, and\nwas therefore appropriately designated by the last of the names by\nwhich Odin is called in the Edda.\"\n\nThere are different opinions as to the duration of Christ-tide. The\nRoman Church holds that Christmas properly begins at Lauds on\nChristmas Eve, when the Divine Office begins to be solemnised as a\nDouble, and refers directly to the Nativity of our Lord. It terminates\non the 13th of January, the Octave day of the Epiphany. The evergreens\nand decorations remain in churches and houses until the 2nd of\nFebruary, the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary.\n\nBut I think that if we in England are bound by ecclesiastical law as\nto the keeping of Christ-tide, it should, at least, be an English\nuse--such as was observed before the domination of Rome in England.\nAnd, previous to the _Natale_, or Festival of the Nativity, the early\nChurch ordained a preparatory period of _nine days_, called a\n_Novena_. These take the commencement of Christ-tide back to the 16th\nDecember, on which day the Sarum use ordained the Anthem, which\ncommences, \"O Sapientia, quae ex ore Altissimi prodidisti,\" and at the\npresent time this day is marked in the Calendar of the English Church\nService Book as \"O Sapientia.\" That this was commonly considered the\ncommencement of Christ-tide is shown by the following anecdote of the\nlearned Dr. Parr:--A lady asked him when Christmas commenced, so that\nshe might know when to begin to eat mince pies. \"Please to say\nChristmas pie, madam,\" replied the Doctor. \"Mince pie is\nPresbyterian.\" \"Well, Christmas pie--when may we begin to eat them?\"\n\"Look in your Prayer-book Calendar for December and there you will\nfind 'O Sapientia.' Then Christmas pie--not before.\"\n\nThe Festival was considered of such high importance by the\nAnglo-Saxons that the ordinary Octave was not good enough; it must be\nkept up for _twelve_ days. And Collier (_Eccl. Hist._, 1840, vol. i.\np. 285) says that a law passed in the days of King Alfred, \"by virtue\nof which the _twelve days_ after the Nativity of our Saviour are made\nfestivals.\" This brings us to the feast of the Epiphany, 6th January,\nor \"Twelfth Day,\" when Christmas ends--for the Epiphany has its own\nOctave to follow, and I think the general consensus of opinion is in\nfavour of this ending.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\n     Historic Christ-tides in 790, 878, and 1065--William I.,\n     1066-1085--William II.--Henry I., 1127--Stephen--Henry II.,\n     1158-1171--Richard I., 1190--John, 1200--Henry III.,\n     1253--Edwards I., II., and III.--Richard II.,\n     1377-1398--Henry IV.-V., 1418--Henry VIII., his magnificent\n     Christ-tides.\n\n\nThe earliest historic Christmas in England was 790, when the Welsh\nsuddenly attacked the soldiers of Offa, King of Mercia, who were\ncelebrating Christ-tide, and slew many of them; and in 878, when\nAlfred was doing likewise at Chippenham, that Guthrum and his Danes\nfell upon him, destroyed his forces, and sent him a fugitive. In 1065,\nat this season, Westminster Abbey was consecrated, but King Edward was\nnot there, being too ill. Next year, in this same Church of St. Peter,\nwas William I. crowned on Christmas day by Aldred, archbishop of York;\nfor he would not receive the crown at the hands of Stigand, archbishop\nof Canterbury, \"because he was hated, and furthermore judged to be a\nverie lewd person, and a naughtie liver.\" In 1085 he kept his\nChrist-tide at Gloucester, where he knighted his son Henry.\n\nWilliam II. followed the example of his father, and kept the festival\nin state; as did Henry I. at Westminster, Windsor, and elsewhere. But\nthat of 1127 at Windsor was somewhat marred by a quarrel between two\nprelates. It seems that Thurston, archbishop of York (in prejudice of\nthe right of William, archbishop of Canterbury), would have set the\ncrown on the king's head as he was going to hear Mass, but was pushed\nback with some violence by the followers of the other archbishop, and\nhis chaplain, who was bearing the archiepiscopal crozier, was\nignominiously and contemptuously thrust out of doors, cross and all.\nThe strife did not end there, for both the prelates, together with the\nbishop of Lincoln, went to Rome to lay their case before the Pope for\nhis decision.\n\nStephen, for a short time, kept Christ-tide royally; but the internal\ndissensions of his kingdom prevented him from continuing celebrating\nthe festival in state. Henry II. kept his first Christ-tide at\nBermondsey, where, to conciliate his subjects, he solemnly promised to\nexpel all foreigners from England, whereupon some tarried not, but\nwent incontinently. A curious event happened at Christmas 1158, when\nthe king, then at Worcester, took the crown from his head and\ndeposited it on the altar, never wearing it afterwards. In 1171 he\nspent the feast at Dublin, where, there being no place large enough,\nhe built a temporary hall for the accommodation of his suite and\nguests, to which latter he taught the delights of civilisation in good\ncookery, masquings, and tournaments. The most famous Christ-tide that\nwe hear of in the reign of Richard I. is that in 1190, when \"the two\nKings of England and France held their Christmasse this yeare at\nMessina, and still the King of England used great liberalitie in\nbestowing his treasure freelie amongst knights and other men of warre,\nso that it was thought he spent more in a moneth than anie of his\npredecessours ever spent in a whole yeare.\"\n\nJohn kept Christ-tide in 1200 at Guildford, \"and there gave to his\nservants manie faire liveries and suits of apparell. The archbishop of\nCanturburie did also the like at Canturburie, seeming in deed to\nstrive with the king, which of them should passe the other in such\nsumptuous appareling of their men: whereat the king (and not without\ngood cause) was greatlie mooved to indignation against him, although,\nfor a time, he coloured the same.\" John took a speedy and very curious\nrevenge. \"From thence he returned and came to Canturburie, where he\nheld his Easter, which fell that yeare on the day of the Annunciation\nof our Ladie, at which feast he sat crowned, together with his wife,\nqueen Isabell, _the archbishop of Canturburie bearing the charges of\nthem and their trains while they remained there_.\" Next year he held\nthe feast at Argenton in Normandy.\n\nHenry III. celebrated the Nativity right royally in 1253 at York,\n\"whither came Alexander the young King of Scots, and was there made\nknight by the King of England; and, on Saint Stephan's day, he married\nthe ladie Margaret, daughter to the King of England, according to the\nassurance before time concluded. There was a great assemblie of noble\npersonages at that feast. The Queene dowager of Scotland, mother to\nKing Alexander, a Frenchwoman of the house of Coucie, had passed the\nsea, and was present there with a faire companie of lords and\ngentlemen. The number of knights that were come thither on the King of\nEngland's part were reckoned to be at the point of one thousand. The\nKing of Scots had with him three score knights, and a great sort of\nother gentlemen comparable to knights. The King of Scots did homage to\nthe King of England, at that time, for the realme of Scotland, and all\nthings were done with great love and favour, although, at the\nbeginning, some strife was kindled about taking up of lodgings. This\nassemblie of the princes cost the archbishop verie deerelie in\nfeasting and banketting them and their traines. At one dinner it was\nreported he spent at the first course three score fat oxen.\"\n\nEdward I. had, at two separate times, as Christmas guests Llewellyn of\nWales and Baliol of Scotland. Edward II. kept one feast of the\nNativity at York in 1311, revelling with Piers Gaveston and his\ncompanions; but that of 1326 was spent in prison at Kenilworth, whilst\nhis wife and son enjoyed themselves at Wallingford. Strange and sad\nguests, too, must the captive King of France and David of Scotland\nhave been at Edward III.'s Christ-tide feast in 1358 at Westminster.\n\nRichard II. came to the throne 21st June 1377, a boy of eleven years,\nand I think Stow has made a mistake in a year in the following\naccount, because at the date he gives he would have been king instead\nof prince.\n\n\"One other show, in the year 1377, made by the citizens for the\ndisport of the young prince Richard, son to the Black Prince, in the\nfeast of Christmas, in this manner:--On the Sunday before Candlemas,\nin the night, one hundred and thirty citizens, disguised and well\nhorsed, in a mummery, with sound of trumpets, sackbuts, cornets,\nshalmes, and other minstrels, and innumerable torch lights of wax,\nrode from Newgate through Cheape, over the bridge, through\nSouthwarke, and so to Kennington beside Lambheth, where the young\nprince remained with his mother and the Duke of Lancaster, his uncle,\nthe Earls of Cambridge, Hertford, Warwicke, and Suffolke, with divers\nother lords. In the first rank did ride forty-eight in the likeness\nand habit of Esquires, two and two together, clothed in red coats and\ngowns of say or sandal, with comely visors on their faces; after them\ncame forty-eight Knights, in the same livery of colour and stuff; then\nfollowed one richly arrayed like an Emperor; and, after him some\ndistance, one stately attired like a Pope, whom followed twenty-four\nCardinals; and, after them, eight or ten with black visors, not\namiable, as if they had been legates from some foreign princes. These\nmaskers, after they had entered Kennington, alighted from their\nhorses, and entered the hall on foot; which done, the prince, his\nmother, and the lords, came out of the chamber into the hall, whom the\nsaid mummers did salute, showing by a pair of dice upon the table\ntheir desire to play with the prince, which they so handled, that the\nprince did always win when he cast them. Then the mummers set to the\nprince three jewels, one after the other, which were a bowl of gold, a\ncup of gold, and a ring of gold, which the prince won at three casts.\nThen they set to the prince's mother, the duke, the earls, and other\nlords, to every one a ring of gold, which they did also win. After\nwhich they were feasted, and the music sounded, the prince and lords\ndanced on the one part with the mummers, which did also dance; which\njollity being ended, they were again made to drink, and then departed\nin order as they came.\"\n\nWhen he came to the throne as Richard II. he had very enlarged ideas\non expenditure, and amongst others on Christmas feasts. He held one at\nLichfield in 1398, where the Pope's Nuncio and several foreign\nnoblemen were present, and he was obliged to enlarge the episcopal\npalace in order to accommodate his guests. Stow tells us: \"This yeere\nKing Richarde kept his Christmas at Liechfield, where he spent in the\nChristmas time 200 tunns of wine, and 2000 oxen with their\nappurtenances.\" But then he is said to have had 2000 cooks, and\ncookery was then elevated into a science: so much so, that the\nearliest cookery book that has come down to us is _The Forme of\nCury_, which \"was compiled of the chef Mairt Cok of Kyng Richard the\nSecunde, Kyng of .nglond[4] aftir the Conquest.\" Twenty-eight oxen,\nthree hundred sheep, an incredible number of fowls, and all kinds of\ngame were slaughtered every morning for the use of his household. It\nseems incredible, but see what old John Hardyng, the metrical\nchronicler, says:--\n\n     Truly I herd Robert Ireleffe saye,\n       Clerke of the grene cloth, y^{t} to the household,\n     Came euery daye for moost partie alwaye,\n       Ten thousand folke by his messis tould,\n     That folowed the hous aye as thei would,\n       And in the kechin three hundred seruitours,\n       And in eche office many occupiours;\n\n     And ladies faire with their gentilwomen,\n       Chamberers also and launderers,\n     Three hundred of them were occupied then.\n\n[Footnote 4: [Transcriber's Note: \".nglond\" appears in the original.\nAn 18th-Century annotated edition of _The Forme of Cury_ notes that in\nthe original manuscript, \"E was intended to be prefixed in red ink\" in\nplace of the leading period. See Pegge, Samuel, _The Forme of Cury_,\np. 1, note c (London: J. Nichols, 1780) (page image available at\nhttp://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/foc/FoC042.html).]]\n\nOf the Christ-tides of Henry IV. there are no events recorded, except\nthat Stow states that \"in the 2nd of his reign, he then keeping his\nChristmas at Eltham, twelve aldermen and their sons rode in a mumming,\nand had great thanks,\" but Henry V. had at least one sweet Christmas\nday. It was in the year 1418, when he was besieging Rouen, and\nHolinshed thus describes the sufferings of the garrison. \"If I should\nrehearse (according to the report of diverse writers) how deerelie\ndogs, rats, mise, and cats were sold within the towne, and how\ngreedilie they were by the poore people eaten and devoured, and how\nthe people dailie died for fault of food, and young infants laie\nsucking in the streets on their mother's breasts, lieng dead, starved\nfor hunger; the reader might lament their extreme miseries. A great\nnumber of poore sillie creatures were put out at the gates, which were\nby the Englishmen that kept the trenches, beaten and driven backe\nagaine to the same gates, which they found closed and shut against\nthem. And so they laie betweene the wals of the citie and the trenches\nof the enimies, still crieing for helpe and releefe, for lacke whereof\ngreat numbers of them dailie died.\n\n\"Howbeit, King Henrie, moved with pitie, upon Christmasse daie, in\nthe honor of Christes Nativitie, refreshed all the poore people with\nvittels, to their great comfort and his high praise.\"\n\nThere are no notable Christ-tides until we come to the reign of Henry\nVIII. In the second year of his reign he kept Christmas quietly at\nRichmond, the queen being near her confinement, which event taking\nplace on the first of January, she was sufficiently recovered to look\nat the festivities on Twelfth day. \"Against the twelfe daie, or the\ndaie of the Epiphanie, at night, before the banket in the hall at\nRichmond, was a pageant devised like a mounteine, and set with stones;\non the top of which mounteine was a tree of gold, the branches and\nboughes frised with gold, spreading on everie side over the mounteine,\nwith roses and pomegranates, the which mounteine was, with vices,\nbrought up towards the king, and out of the same came a ladie\napparelled in cloth of gold, and the children of honour called the\nhenchmen, which were freshlie disguised, and danced a morice before\nthe king; and, that done, re-entered the mounteine, which was then\ndrawen backe, and then was the wassail or banket brought in, and so\nbrake up Christmasse.\"\n\nHowever the queen was better next year, and \"In this yeare the king\nkept his Christmasse at Greenewich, where was such abundance of viands\nserved to all comers of anie honest behaviour, as hath beene few times\nseene. And against New Yeeres night was made in the hall a castell,\ngates, towers, and dungeon, garnished with artillerie and weapon,\nafter the most warlike fashion: and on the front of the castell was\nwritten _Le forteresse dangereux_, and, within the castell were six\nladies cloathed in russet sattin, laid all over with leaves of gold,\nand everie one knit with laces of blew silke and gold. On their heads,\ncoifs and caps all of gold. After this castell had beene caried about\nthe hall, and the queene had beheld it, in came the king with five\nother, apparelled in coats, the one half of russet sattin, the other\nhalfe of rich cloth of gold; on their heads caps of russet sattin\nembrodered with works of fine gold bullion.\n\n\"These six assaulted the castell. The ladies seeing them so lustie and\ncouragious, were content to solace with them, and upon further\ncommunication to yeeld the castell, and so they came downe and dansed\na long space. And after, the ladies led the knights into the castell,\nand then the castell suddenlie vanished out of their sights. On the\ndaie of the Epiphanie at night, the king, with eleven other, were\ndisguised, after the manner of Italie; called a maske, a thing not\nseene before, in England; they were apparelled in garments long and\nbroad, wrought all with gold, with visors and caps of gold. And, after\nthe banket done, these maskers came in, with six gentlemen disguised\nin silke, bearing staffe torches, and desired the ladies to danse:\nsome were content, and some refused. And, after they had dansed, and\ncommuned togither, as the fashion of the maske is, they tooke their\nleave and departed, and so did the queene and all the ladies.\"\n\nIn 1513, \"The king kept a solemne Christmasse at Greenwich, with\ndanses and mummeries in most princelie manner. And on the Twelfe daie\nat night came into the hall a mount, called _the_ rich mount. The\nmount was set full of rich flowers of silke, and especiallie full of\nbroome slips full of cods, the branches were greene sattin, and the\nflowers flat gold of damaske, which signified Plantagenet. On the top\nstood a goodlie beacon giving light; round about the beacon sat the\nking and five others, all in cotes and caps of right crimsin velvet,\nembrodered with flat gold of damaske, their cotes set full of spangles\nof gold. And foure woodhouses (? _wooden horses_) drew the mount till\nit came before the queene, and then the king and his companie\ndescended and dansed. Then, suddenlie, the mount opened, and out came\nsix ladies in crimsin sattin and plunket, embrodered with gold and\npearle, with French hoods on their heads, and they dansed alone. Then\nthe lords of the mount tooke the ladies and dansed together; and the\nladies re-entered, and the mount closed, and so was conveied out of\nthe hall. Then the king shifted him, and came to the queene, and sat\nat the banket, which was verie sumptuous.\"\n\n1514, \"This Christmasse, on New Yeares night, the king, the Duke of\nSuffolke, and two other were in mantels of cloath of silver, lined\nwith blew velvet; the silver was pounced in letters, that the velvet\nmight be seene through; the mantels had great capes like to the\nPortingall slops, and all their hosen, dublets, and coats were of the\nsame fashion cut, and of the same stuffe. With them were foure ladies\nin gowns, after the fashion of Savoie, of blew velvet, lined with\ncloath of gold, the velvet all cut, and mantels like tipets knit\ntogither all of silver, and on their heads bonets of burned gold: the\nfoure torch-bearers were in sattin white and blew. This strange\napparell pleased much everie person, and in especiall the queene. And\nthus these foure lords and foure ladies came into the queenes chamber\nwith great light of torches, and dansed a great season, and then put\noff their visors, and were all well knowne, and then the queene\nhartily thanked the king's grace for her goodlie pastime and desport.\n\n\"Likewise on the Twelve night, the king and the queene came into the\nhall at Greenewich, and suddenlie entered a tent of cloath of gold; and\nbefore the tent stood foure men of armes, armed at all points, with\nswords in their hands; and, suddenlie, with noise of trumpets entered\nfoure other persons all armed, and ran to the other foure, and there\nwas a great and fierce fight. And, suddenlie, out of a place like a\nwood, eight wild men, all apparelled in greene mosse, made with sleved\nsilke, with ouglie weapons, and terrible visages, and there fought\nwith the knights eight to eight: and, after long fighting, the armed\nknights drove the wild men out of their places, and followed the chase\nout of the hall, and when they were departed, the tent opened, and\nthere came out six lords and six ladies richlie apparelled, and dansed\na great time. When they had dansed their pleasure, they entered the\ntent againe, which was conveied out of the hall: then the king and\nqueene were served with a right sumptuous banket.\"\n\nIn 1515, \"The king kept a solemne Christmasse at his manor of Eltham;\nand on the Twelfe night, in the hall was made a goodlie castell,\nwounderously set out: and in it certeine ladies and knights; and when\nthe king and queene were set, in came other knights and assailed the\ncastell, where manie a good stripe was given; and at the last the\nassailants were beaten awaie. And then issued out knights and ladies\nout of the castell, which ladies were rich and strangelie disguised;\nfor all their apparell was in braids of gold, fret with moving\nspangles of silver and gilt, set on crimsin sattin, loose and not\nfastned; the men's apparell of the same sute made like Julis of\nHungarie, and the ladies heads and bodies were after the fashion of\nAmsterdam. And when the dansing was done, the banket was served in of\nfive hundred dishes, with great plentie to everie bodie.\"\n\nIn 1517, \"the king kept his Christmasse at his manor of Greenwich, and\non the Twelfe night, according to the old custome, he and the queene\ncame into the hall; and when they were set, and the queene of Scots\nalso, there entered into the hall a garden artificiall, called the\ngarden of _Esperance_. This garden was towred at everie corner, and\nrailed with railes gilt; all the banks were set with flowers\nartificiall of silke and gold, the leaves cut of green sattin, so that\nthey seemed verie flowers. In the midst of this garden was a piller of\nantique worke, all gold set with pearles and stones, and on the top of\nthe piller, which was six square, was a lover, or an arch embowed,\ncrowned with gold; within which stood a bush of roses red and white,\nall of silk and gold, and a bush of pomegranats of the like stuffe. In\nthis garden walked six knights, and six ladies richlie apparelled, and\nthen they descended and dansed manie goodlie danses, and so ascended\nout of the hall, and then the king was served with a great banket.\"\n\nIn 1518 was the fearful plague of the \"sweating sickness,\" and the\nchronicler says \"this maladie was so cruell that it killed some within\nthree houres, some merrie at dinner, and dead at dinner.\" It even\ninvaded the sanctity of the Court, and the king reduced his\n_entourage_, and kept no Christmas that year.\n\nIn 1520, \"the king kept his Christmas at Greenwich with much\nnoblenesse and open Court. On Twelfe daie his grace and the earle of\nDevonshire, with foure aids, answered at the tournie all commers,\nwhich were sixteene persons. Noble and rich was their apparell, but in\nfeats of armes the king excelled the rest.\"\n\nThe next one recorded is that of 1524, when \"before the feast of\nChristmasse, the lord Leonard Graie, and the lord John Graie, brethren\nto the Marquesse Dorset, Sir George Cobham, sonne to the lord Cobham,\nWilliam Carie, Sir John Dudleie, Thomas Wiat, Francis Pointz, Francis\nSidneie, Sir Anthonie Browne, Sir Edward Seimor, Oliver Manners,\nPercivall Hart, Sebastian Nudigate, and Thomas Calen, esquiers of the\nking's houshold, enterprised a challenge of feats of armes against the\nfeast of Christmas, which was proclaimed by Windsore the herald, and\nperformed at the time appointed after the best manners, both at tilt,\ntourneie, barriers, and assault of a castell erected for that purpose\nin the tilt-yard at Greenewich, where the king held a roiall\nChristmasse that yeare, with great mirth and princelie pastime.\"\n\nOf the next Christ-tide we are told, \"In this winter there was great\ndeath in London, so that the terme was adjourned: and the king kept\nhis Christmasse at Eltham, with a small number, and therefore it was\ncalled the Still Christmasse.\"\n\nIn 1526, \"the king kept a solemne Christmasse at Greenewich with\nrevelles, maskes, disguisings and bankets; and the thirtith daie of\nDecember, was an enterprise of iusts made at the tilt by six\ngentlemen, against all commers, which valiantlie furnished the same,\nboth with speare and sword; and like iustes were kept the third daie\nof Januarie, where were three hundred speares broken. That same night,\nthe king and manie yoong gentlemen with him, came to Bridewell, and\nthere put him and fifteene other, all in masking apparell, and then\ntooke his barge and rowed to the cardinal's place, where were at\nsupper a great companie of lords and ladies, and then the maskers\ndansed, and made goodlie pastime; and when they had well dansed, the\nladies plucked awaie their visors, and so they were all knowen, and to\nthe king was made a great banket.\"\n\nThis is the last recorded Christ-tide of this reign, and, doubtless,\nas the king grew older and more sedate, he did not encourage the\nsports which delighted him in his hot youth.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\n     Historic Christ-tides--Edward VI., 1551--Mary--Elizabeth--James\n     I.--The Puritans--The Pilgrim Fathers--Christmas's\n     Lamentation--Christ-tide in the Navy, 1625.\n\n\nOnly one is noted in the reign of Edward VI., that of 1551, of which\nHolinshed writes, \"Wherefore, as well to remove fond talke out of\nmen's mouths, as also to recreat and refresh the troubled spirits of\nthe young king; who seemed to take the trouble of his uncle[5]\nsomewhat heavilie; it was devised, that the feast of Christ's\nnativitie, commonlie called Christmasse, then at hand, should be\nsolemnlie kept at Greenwich, with open houshold and frank resorte to\nCourt (which is called keeping of the hall), what time of old\nordinarie course there is alwaies one appointed to make sport in the\nCourt, called commonlie lord of misrule: whose office is not unknowne\nto such as have beene brought up in noble men's houses, and among\ngreat house-keepers, which use liberall feasting in that season. There\nwas, therefore, by orders of the Councell, a wise gentleman, and\nlearned, named George Ferrers, appointed to that office for this\nyeare; who, being of better credit and estimation than commonlie his\npredecessors had beene before, received all his commissions and\nwarrants by the name of the maister of the king's pastimes. Which\ngentleman so well supplied his office, both in shew of sundrie sights\nand devises of rare inventions, and in act of diverse interludes, and\nmatters of pastime plaied by persons, as not onely satisfied the\ncommon sort, but, also, were very well liked and allowed by the\ncouncell, and others of skill in the like pastimes; but, best of all,\nby the yoong king himselfe, as appeered by his princelie liberalitie\nin rewarding that service.\n\n[Footnote 5: The Duke of Somerset had just been condemned to death,\nand was beheaded the 22nd January following.]\n\n\"On mondaie, the fourth of Januarie, the said lord of merie disports\ncame by water to London, and landed at the Tower wharffe, where he was\nreceived by Vanse, lord of misrule to John Mainard, one of the\nshiriffes of London, and so conducted through the citie with a great\ncompanie of yoong lords and gentlemen to the house of Sir George\nBarne, lord maior, where he, with the cheefe of his companie dined,\nand, after, had a great banket: and at his departure the lord maior\ngave him a standing cup with a cover of silver and guilt, of the value\nof ten pounds, for a reward, and also set a hogshed of wine, and a\nbarrell of beere at his gate, for his traine that followed him. The\nresidue of his gentlemen and servants dined at other aldermen's\nhouses, and with the shiriffes, and then departed to the tower wharffe\nagaine, and so to the court by water, to the great commendation of the\nmaior and aldermen, and highlie accepted of the king and councell.\"\n\nMary does not seem to have kept up state Christ-tide except on one\noccasion, the year after her marriage with Philip, when a masque was\nperformed before her.\n\nElizabeth continued the old tradition, but they are only mentioned and\nknown by the Expenses books. It is said that at Christmas 1559 she was\ndispleased with something in the play performed before her, and\ncommanded the players to leave off. There was also a masque for her\namusement on Twelfth Night.\n\nOf James I.'s first Christ-tide in England we have the following in a\nletter from the Lady Arabella Stuart to the Earl of Shrewsbury, 3rd\nDecember 1603:--\n\n\"The Queen intendeth to make a mask this Christmass, to which my lady\nof Suffolk and my lady Walsingham have warrants to take of the late\nQueen's apparell out of the Tower at their discretion. Certain\ngentlemen, whom I may not yet name, have made me of theyr counsell,\nintend another. Certain gentlemen of good sort another. It is said\nthere shall be 30 playes. The king will feast all the Embassadours\nthis Christmass.\"\n\nThe death of the infant Princess Mary in September 1607 did not\ninterfere with James I. keeping Christmas right royally in that year.\nThere were masques and theatricals--nay, the king wanted a play acted\non Christmas night--and card-playing went on for high sums, the queen\nlosing L300 on the eve of Twelfth night.\n\nIt was, probably, the exceeding license of Christ-tide that made the\nsour Puritans look upon its being kept in remembrance, as vain and\nsuperstitious; at all events, whenever in their power, they did their\nbest to crush it. Take, for instance, the first Christmas day after\nthe landing of the so-called \"Pilgrim Fathers\" at Plymouth Rock in\n1620, and read the deliberate chilliness and studied slight of the\nwhole affair, which was evidently more than the ship's master could\nbear.\n\n\"Munday, the 25 Day, we went on shore, some to fell tymber, some to\nsaw, some to riue, and some to carry, so that no man rested all that\nday, but towards night, some, as they were at worke, heard a noyse of\nsome Indians, which caused vs all to goe to our Muskets, but we heard\nno further, so we came aboord againe, and left some twentie to keepe\nthe court of gard; that night we had a sore storme of winde and raine.\nMunday the 25 being Christmas day, we began to drinke water aboord,\nbut at night, the Master caused vs to have some Beere, and so on board\nwe had diverse times now and then some Beere, but on shore none at\nall.\"\n\nThat this working on Christmas day was meant as an intentional\nslight--for these pious gentlemen would not work on the Sunday--is, I\nthink, made patent by the notice by William Bradford, of how they kept\nthe following Christmas.\n\n\"One ye day called Christmas-day, ye Gov'r caled them out to worke (as\nwas used), but ye most of this new company excused themselves, and\nsaid it went against their consciences to worke on ye day. So ye Gov'r\ntould them that if they made it a mater of conscience, he would spare\nthem till they were better informed. So he led away y^{e} rest, and\nleft them: but when they came home at noone from their worke, he found\nthem in ye streete at play, openly; some pitching ye barr, and some at\nstoole ball, and such like sports. So he went to them and tooke away\ntheir implements, and told them it was against his conscience that\nthey should play, and others worke. If they made ye keeping of it\nmatter of devotion, let them kepe their houses, but there should be no\ngameing or revelling in ye streets. Since which time nothing hath been\nattempted that way, at least, openly.\"\n\nBut we shall hear more of the Puritans and Christ-tide, only my scheme\nis to treat the season chronologically, and, consequently, there must\nbe a slight digression; and the following ballad, which must have been\npublished in the time of James I., because of the allusion to yellow\nstarch (Mrs. Turner having been executed for the poisoning of Sir\nThomas Overbury in 1615), gives us\n\n     CHRISTMAS'S LAMENTATION\n\n     Christmas is my name, far have I gone,\n       Without regard; without regard.\n     Whereas great men by flocks there be flown,\n       To London-ward--to London Ward.\n     There they in pomp and pleasure do waste\n     That which Old Christmas was wonted to feast,\n         Well a day!\n     Houses where music was wont for to ring,\n     Nothing but bats and owlets do sing.\n         Well a day, Well a day.\n           Well a day, where should I stay?\n\n     Christmas beef and bread is turn'd into stones,\n       Into stones and silken rags;\n     And Lady Money sleeps and makes moans,\n       And makes moans in misers' bags;\n     Houses where pleasures once did abound,\n     Nought but a dog and a shepherd is found,\n         Well a day!\n     Places where Christmas revels did keep,\n     Now are become habitations for sheep.\n         Well a day, Well a day,\n           Well a day, where should I stay?\n\n     Pan, the shepherds' god, doth deface,\n       Doth deface Lady Ceres' crown,\n     And the tillage doth go to decay,\n       To decay in every town;\n     Landlords their rents so highly enhance,\n     That Pierce, the ploughman, barefoot may dance;\n         Well a day!\n     Farmers that Christmas would still entertain,\n     Scarce have wherewith themselves to maintain,\n         Well a day, etc.\n\n     Come to the countryman, he will protest,\n       Will protest, and of bull-beef boast;\n     And, for the citizen, he is so hot,\n       Is so hot, he will burn the roast.\n     The courtier, sure good deeds will not scorn,\n     Nor will he see poor Christmas forlorn?\n         Well a day!\n     Since none of these good deeds will do,\n     Christmas had best turn courtier too,\n         Well a day, etc.\n\n     Pride and luxury they do devour,\n       Do devour house keeping quite;\n     And soon beggary they do beget,\n       Do beget in many a knight.\n     Madam, forsooth, in her coach must wheel\n     Although she wear her hose out at heel,\n         Well a day!\n     And on her back wear that for a weed,\n     Which me and all my fellows would feed.\n         Well a day, etc.\n\n     Since pride came up with the yellow starch,\n       Yellow starch--poor folks do want,\n     And nothing the rich men will to them give,\n       To them give, but do them taunt;\n     For Charity from the country is fled,\n     And in her place hath nought left but need;\n         Well a day!\n     And corn is grown to so high a price,\n     It makes poor men cry with weeping eyes.\n         Well a day, etc.\n\n     Briefly for to end, here do I find,\n       I do find so great a vocation,\n     That most great houses seem to attain,\n       To attain a strong purgation;\n     Where purging pills such effects they have shew'd,\n     That forth of doors they their owners have spued;\n         Well a day!\n     And where'er Christmas comes by, and calls,\n     Nought now but solitary and naked walls.\n         Well a day, etc.\n\n     Philemon's cottage was turn'd into gold,\n       Into gold, for harbouring Jove:\n     Rich men their houses up for to keep,\n       For to keep, might their greatness move;\n     But, in the city, they say, they do live,\n     Where gold by handfulls away they do give;--\n         I'll away,\n     And thither, therefore, I purpose to pass,\n     Hoping at London to find the Golden Ass.\n         I'll away, I'll away,\n           I'll away, for here's no stay.\n\nA little light upon this ballad may possibly be found in a letter from\nJohn Chamberlain to Sir Dudley Carleton (21st December 1627):--\"Divers\nlords and personages of quality have made means to be dispensed\nwithall for going into the Country this Christmas according to the\nproclamation; but it will not be granted, so that they pack away on\nall sides for fear of the worst.\"\n\nAs we are now getting near the attempted suppression of Christmas\nunder the Puritan _regime_, it may be as well to notice the extreme\nlicence to which the season's holiday and festivities had reached--and\nperhaps a more flagrant case than the following can scarcely be given.\nOn 13th January 1626 the Commissioners of the Navy write to the Duke\nof Buckingham that they have received information from persons who\nhave been on board the _Happy Entrance_ in the Downs, and the\n_Nonsuch_ and _Garland_ at Gore-end, that for these Christmas\nholidays, the captains, masters, boatswains, gunners, and carpenters,\nwere not aboard their ships, nor gave any attendance to the service,\nleaving the ships a prey to any who might have assaulted them. The\nCommissioners sent down clothes for the sailors, and there were no\nofficers to take charge of them, and the pressed men ran away as fast\nas the Commissioners sent them down. If they had beaten up and down,\nthey might have prevented the loss of two English ships taken by the\nDunkirkers off Yarmouth.\n\nThis, naturally, was a state of things which could not be allowed, and\non January 15 the Duke of Buckingham wrote to Sir Henry Palmer as to\nthe officers and men quitting their ships at Christmas time, and\ncalled upon him \"presently to repair on board his own ship, and to\ncharge the officers of all the ships composing his fleet, not to\ndepart from their ships without order.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\n     Attempts of Puritans to put down Christ-tide--Attitude of\n     the people--Preaching before Parliament--\"The Arraignment,\n     etc., of Christmas.\"\n\n\nAs soon as the Puritans became at all powerful, their iconoclastic\nzeal naturally attacked Christmas, and the Scotchmen, such as Baillie,\nRutherford, Gillespie, and Henderson, in the Westminster Assembly of\nDivines, tried in 1643 to get the English observance of Christmas\nabolished--but they only succeeded so far as coming to a resolution\nthat whilst preaching on that day, \"withal to cry down the\nsuperstition of that day.\" Next year they were happier in their\nefforts, as is shortly told in _Parliamentary History_, December 19,\n1644. \"The lords and commons having long since appointed a day for a\nFast and Humiliation, which was to be on the last Wednesday in every\nMonth, it happening to fall on Christmas day this month, the Assembly\nof Divine sent to acquaint the lords with it: and, to avoid any\ninconveniences that might be by some people keeping it as a Feast, and\nothers as a Fast, they desired that the Parliament would publish a\nDeclaration the next Lord's day in the Churches of London and\nWestminster; that that day might be kept as it ought to be, that the\nwhole kingdom might have comfort thereby. The houses agreed to this\nproposal, and directed the following Ordinance to be published; which\nbore this title--\n\n\"AN ORDINANCE FOR THE BETTER OBSERVATION OF THE FEAST OF THE NATIVITY\nOF CHRIST.\n\n\"Whereas some doubts have been raised whether the next Fast shall be\ncelebrated, because it falleth on the day which, heretofore, was\nusually called the Feast of the Nativity of our Saviour; the lords and\ncommons do order and ordain that public notice be given, that the Fast\nappointed to be kept on the last Wednesday in every month, ought to be\nobserved until it be otherwise ordered by both houses; and that this\nday particularly is to be kept with the more solemn humiliation,\nbecause it may call to remembrance our sins and the sins of our\nforefathers, who have turned this Feast, pretending the memory of\nChrist, into an extreme forgetfulness of him, by giving liberty to\ncarnal and sensual delights; being contrary to the life which Christ\nhimself led here upon earth, and to the spiritual life of Christ in\nour souls; for the sanctifying and saving whereof Christ was pleased\nboth to take a human life, and to lay it down again.\n\n\"The lords ordered That the Lord Mayor of London take care that this\nOrdinance should be dispersed to all churches and chapels, within the\nline of communication and the bills of mortality. Afterwards it was\nmade general through the kingdom; in consequence of which Christmas\nday was no longer observed as a Festival, by law, till the\nRestoration.\"\n\nBut the popular love of Christmas could not be done away with by\nrestrictive legislation, as the movers therein very well knew, _teste_\nLightfoot, who, in his Journal, says \"Some of our members were sent to\nthe houses to desire them to give an order that the next Fast day\nmight be solemnly kept, because the people will be ready to neglect\nit, being Christmas day.\"\n\nNor was anything neglected to repress this Christ-tide, because its\nkeeping was inbred in the people, and they hated this sour puritanical\nfeeling, and the doing away with their accustomed festivities. Richard\nKentish told the House of Commons so in very plain language. Said he:\n\"The people of England do hate to be reformed; so now, a prelatical\npriest, with a superstitious service book, is more desired, and would\nbe better welcome to the generality of England, than the most learned,\nlaborious, conscientious preacher, whether Presbyterian or\nIndependent. These poor simple creatures are mad after superstitious\nfestivals, after unholy holidays.\"\n\nThe houses of Parliament baked their pie for themselves, and\ndeservedly had to eat it; for two red hot gospellers, Calamy and\nSedgewick, preached on the iniquity of keeping Christ-tide to the\nLords in Westminster Abbey; whilst in the contiguous Church of S.\nMargaret, Thorowgood and Langley expatiated on the same theme to the\nCommons, and, as if they could not have enough of so good a thing,\n_all four sermons were printed by order of the Houses_.\n\nCalamy in his sermon said, \"This day is the day which is commonly\ncalled the Feast of Christ's Nativity, or Christmas Day, a day that\nhath hitherto been much abused in superstition and profaneness. I have\nknown some that have preferred Christmas Day before the Lord's Day,\nand have cried down the Lord's Day and cried up Christmas Day. I have\nknown those that would be sure to receive the Sacrament on Christmas\nDay though they did not receive it all the year after. This was the\nsuperstition of this day, and the profaneness was as great. There were\nsome that did not play cards all the year long, yet they must play at\nChristmas. This year, God, by a providence hath buried this Feast in a\nFast, and I hope it will never rise again. You have set out, Right\nHonourable, a strict Order for the keeping of it, and you are here\nto-day to observe your own Order, and I hope you will do it strictly.\"\nAnd he finished with a prayer, in which he begged they might have\ngrace \"to be humbled, especially for the old superstition and\nprofaneness of this Feast.\"\n\nBut although the English people were crushed for a time under the iron\nheel of the Puritan boot, they had no sympathy with their masters, nor\ntheir ways--_vide_ the rebound, immediately after Oliver Cromwell's\ndeath, and the return to the old state of things, which has never\naltered since, except as a matter of fashion. Yet, even then, there\nwere protests against this effacement of Christ-tide, and many have\nbeen handed down to us, differing naturally very much in style. One\nreally amusing one has the merit of being short: and when the reader\nof this book has perused it, I believe he will thank me for having\nreproduced it. It is--\n\n     \"THE\n\n     ARRAIGNMENT\n\n     Conviction and Imprisonment\n\n     of\n\n     CHRISTMAS\n\n     On _S. Thomas Day_ last,\n\n     And\n\n     How he broke out of Prison in the Holidayes and got away,\n     onely left his hoary hair, and gray beard, sticking between\n     two Iron Bars of a Window.\n\n     With\n\n     An Hue and Cry after CHRISTMAS, and a Letter from _Mr.\n     Woodcock_, a Fellow in Oxford, to a Malignant Lady in LONDON.\n\n     And divers passages between the Lady and the Cryer, about Old\n     Christmas: And what shift he was fain to make to save his\n     life, and great stir to fetch him back again.\n\n     With divers other Witty Passages.\n\n     Printed by _Simon Minc'd Pye_, for _Cissely Plum-Porridge_;\n     And are to be sold by _Ralph Fidler_, Chandler, at the signe\n     of the _Pack of Cards_ in _Mustard-Alley_, in _Brawn Street_.\n     1645.\"\n\nThis little Tract commenced with the supposed Letter,\n\n\"Lady,\n\n\"_I Beseech you, for the love of Oxford, hire a Cryer (I will see him\npaid for his paines), to cry old father Christmas, and keep him with\nyou (if you can meet with him, and stay him), till we come to London,\nfor we expect to be there shortly, and then we will have all things as\nthey were wont, I warrant you; hold up your spirits, and let not your\nold friends be lost out of your favour, for his sake, who is_\n\n\"Your ever servant,\n\n\"JO. WOODCOCK.\n\n\"_Lady_--Honest Crier, I know thou knewest old Father Christmas; I am\nsent to thee from an honest schollar of Oxford (that hath given me\nmany a hug and kisse in Christmasse time when we have been merry) to\ncry Christmas, for they hear that he is gone from hence, and that we\nhave lost the poor old man; you know what marks he hath, and how to\ncry him.\n\n\"_Cryer_--Who shall pay me for my paines?\n\n\"_Lady_--Your old friend, _Mr. Woodcock_, of Oxford. Wilt thou take\nhis word?\n\n\"_Cryer_--I will cry him, I warrant you, through the Citie and\nCountrie, and it shall go hard but I will finde him out; I can partly\nghesse who can tell some newes of him, if any people in England can,\nfor I am acquainted with all his familiar friends. Trust me in this\nbusinesse, I will bring you word within fewe dayes.\n\n     _Ho-o-o-o-o-o-o yes, ho-o-o-o-o-o yes, ho-o-o-o-o-o yes;_\n\nAny man or woman, whether Popish or Prelaticall, Superstitious or\nJudaicall, or what person so ever, of any Tribe or Trullibub,[6] that\ncan give any knowledge, or tell any tidings of an old, old, old, very\nold, grey-bearded Gentleman, called Christmas, who was wont to be a\nverie familiar ghest, and visite all sorts of people, both poor and\nrich, and used to appear in glittering gold silk and silver in the\nCourt, and in all shapes in the Theater in Whitehall, and had ringing\nfeasts and jollitie in all places, both in the Citie and Countrie for\nhis comming; if you went to the Temple, you might have found him there\nat In and In, till many a Gentleman had outed all the mony from his\npocket, and after all, the Butlers found him locked up in their Boxes:\nAnd in almost every house, you might have found him at Cards and Dice,\nthe very boyes and children could have traced him and the Beggers have\nfollowed him from place to place, and seen him walking up and downe,\nand in every house roast Beefe and Mutton, Pies and Plum-porrige, and\nall manner of delicates round about him, and every one saluting merry\nChristmas: If you had gone to the Queene's Chappel, you might have\nfound him standing against the wall, and the Papists weeping, and\nbeating themselves before him, and kissing his hoary head with\nsuperstitious teares, in a theater exceeding all the plays of the\nBull, the Fortune, and the Cock-pit.\n\n[Footnote 6: This word has an indefinite meaning. Sometimes it is\nsynonymous with entrails--as \"tripes and trullibubs\"; sometimes it is\nmeant for something very trifling, and then is occasionally spelt\n\"trillibubs.\" Why introduced here, no one can tell.]\n\n\"For age, this hoarie headed man was of great yeares, and as white as\nsnow; he entred the Romish Kallender time out of mind; is old, or very\nneer, as _Father Mathusalem_ was; one that looked fresh in the\nBishops' time, though their fall made him pine away ever since; he was\nfull and fat as any dumb Docter of them all. He looked under the\nconsecrated Laune sleeves as big as Bul-beefe--just like Bacchus upon\na tunne of wine, when the grapes hang shaking about his eares; but,\nsince the catholike liquor is taken from him, he is much wasted, so\nthat he hath looked very thin and ill of late; but the wanton women\nthat are so mad after him, do not know how he is metamorphised, so\nthat he is not now like himselfe, but rather like Jack-a-lent.\n\n\"But yet some other markes that you may know him by, is that the\nwanton Women dote after him; he helped them to so many new Gownes,\nHatts, and Hankerches, and other fine knacks, of which he hath a pack\non his back, in which is good store of all sorts, besides the fine\nknacks that he got out of their husbands' pockets for household\nprovisions for him. He got Prentises, Servants, and Schollars many\nplay dayes, and therefore was well beloved by them also, and made all\nmerry with Bagpipes, Fiddles, and other musicks, Giggs, Dances, and\nMummings, yea, the young people had more merry dayes and houres before\nhim whilst he stayd, which was in some houses 12 dayes, in some 20, in\nsome more, in some lesse, than in all the yeare againe.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\"All you, therefore, that by your diligent inquirie, can tell me anie\ntidings of this ould man called Christmas, and tell me where he may be\nmet withall; whether in any of your streets, or elsewhere, though in\nnever so straitned a place; in an Applewoman's staul or Grocer's\nCurren Tub, in a Cooke's Oven or the Maide's Porrige pot, or crept\ninto some corner of a Translater's shop, where the Cobler was wont so\nmerrily to chant his Carolls; whosoever can tel what is become of him,\nor where he may be found, let them bring him back againe into England,\nto the Crier, and they shall have a Benediction from the Pope, an\nhundred oaths from the Cavaliers, 40 kisses from the Wanton Wenches,\nand be made Pursevant to the next Arch Bishop. Malignants will send\nhim a piece of Braune, and everie Prentice boy will give him his point\n(? _pint of wine_) next holie Thursday, the good Wives will keepe him\nin some corners of their mince pies, and the new Nuncio Ireland will\nreturne him to be canonized the next Reformation of the Calender.\n\n     \"_And so Pope save Christmas._\n\n\"_Cryer_--Lady, I am come to tell you what returne I can make you of\nthe crying of old Father Christmas, which I have done, and am now here\nto give you an answer.\n\n\"_Lady_--Well said, honest Cryer, Mr. Woodcock will remember you for\nit.\n\n\"_Cryer_--The poor old man upon St. Thomas his day was arraigned,\ncondemned, and after conviction cast into prison amongst the King's\nSouldiers; fearing to be hanged, or some other execution to be done\nupon him, and got out at so narrow a passage, between two Iron Bars of\na Window, that nothing but onely his old gray beard and hoarie haire\nof his head stuck there, but nothing else to be seen of him; and, if\nyou will have that, compound for it, lest it be sold among the\nsequestred goods, or burnt with the next Popish pictures, by the hand\nof the hangman.\n\n\"_Lady_--But is old, old, good old Christmas gone? Nothing but the\nhair of his good, grave old head and beard left! Well I will have\nthat, seeing I cannot have more of him, one lock whereof will serve\n_Mr. Woodcock_ for a token. But what is the event of his departure?\n\n\"_Cryer_--The poor are sory for it, for they go to every door\na-begging as they were wont to do (_Good Mrs., somewhat against this\ngood Time_); but Time was transformed (_Away, begone, here is not for\nyou_); and so they, instead of going to the Ale-house to be drunk,\nwere fain to work all the Holidayes. The Schollers came into the Hall,\nwhere their hungry stomacks had thought to have found good Brawn and\nChristmas pies, Roast Beef and Plum-porridge; but no such matter.\nAway, ye prophane, these are superstitious meats; your stomacks must\nbe fed with wholesome doctrine. Alas, poor tallow-faced Chandlers, I\nmet them mourning through the streets, and complaining that they could\nget no vent for their Mustard, for want of Brawn.\n\n\"_Lady_--Well, if ever the Catholiques or Bishops rule again in\nEngland, they will set the Church dores open on Christmas day, and we\nshall have Masse at the High Altar, as was used when the day was first\ninstituted, and not have the holy Eucharist barred out of School, as\nSchool boyes do their Masters against the festival![7] What! shall we\nhave our mouths shut to welcome old Christmas? No, no, bid him come by\nnight over the Thames, and we will have a back door open to let him\nin. I will, myself, give him his diet for one year, to try his fortune\nthis time twelve month, it may prove better.\"\n\n[Footnote 7: This Saturnalia of barring out the Schoolmaster at\nChristmas--just before breaking up--was in use certainly as late as\n1888. Vide _Notes and Queries_, 7th series, vol. vi. p. 484.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\n     The popular love of Christmas--Riots at Ealing and\n     Canterbury--Evelyn's Christmas days, 1652 '3 '4 '5\n     '7--Cromwell and Christ-tide--The Restoration--Pepys and\n     Christmas day, 1662--\"The Examination and Tryal of old\n     Father Christmas.\"\n\n\nAnd this was the general feeling. Parliament might sit, as we learn by\n_The Kingdome's Weekly Intelligencer_, No. 152: \"Thursday, December\n25, vulgarly known by the name of Christmas Day, both Houses sate. The\nHouse of Commons, more especially, debated some things in reference to\nthe privileges of that House, and made some orders therein.\" But the\nmass of the people quietly protested against this way of ignoring\nChrist-tide, and notwithstanding the Assembly of Divines and\nParliament, no shops were open in London on that day, in spite of the\narticle published in No. 135 of _Mercurius Civicus, or London's\nIntelligencer_, which explained the absurdity of keeping Christmas\nday, and ordained that all shops should be opened, and that the\nshopkeepers should see that their apprentices were at work on that\nday. If they needed a holiday, \"let them keep the fift of November,\nand other dayes of that nature, or the late great mercy of God in the\ntaking of Hereford, which deserves an especiall day of thanks giving.\"\nIt would not so much have mattered if all the Puritans had followed\nthe example of George Fox, the founder of Quakerism, who, \"when the\ntime called Christmas came, when others were feasting and sporting\nthemselves, went from house to house seeking out the poor and\ndesolate, and giving them money.\"\n\nParliament, although they did their best by public example to do away\nwith it, sitting every Christmas day from 1644 to 1656, could not\nextinguish the deep-rooted feeling in favour of its being kept up in\nthe old-fashioned way, and, in London, at Christmas 1646, those who\nopened their shops were very roughly used, so much so that in 1647\nthey asked the Parliament to protect them in future. Certainly, in\nthat year, the shops were all closed, but the irrepressible love of\nChristmas could not be controlled, and the porters of Cornhill\nbedecked the conduit with \"Ivy, Rosmary, and Bays,\" and similar\ndecorations were exhibited in other parts of the City--a proceeding\nwhich sorely exercised the Lord Mayor and the City Marshal, who rode\nabout, with their followings, setting fire to the harmless green\nstuff--the doing of which occasioned great mirth among the Royalist\nparty.\n\nThere were riots about the keeping of Christmas in several parts of\nthe country--notably one at Ealing, in Middlesex; but there was a\nfamous one at Canterbury,[8] the particulars of which are given in a\nshort tract, which I here reprint, as it shows the feeling in the\ncountry:\n\n[Footnote 8: \"Canterbury Christmas; or, A True Relation of the\nInsurrection in Canterbury on Christmas Day last, with the great hurt\nthat befell divers persons thereby.\"]\n\n\"Upon Wednesday, _Decem._ 22, the Cryer of _Canterbury_ by the\nappointment of Master _Major_,[9] openly proclaimed that Christmas\nday, and all other Superstitious Festivals should be put downe, and\nthat a Market should be kept upon _Christmas day_.\n\n[Footnote 9: Mayor.]\n\n\"Which not being observed (but very ill taken by the Country) the\ntowne was thereby unserved with provision, and trading very much\nhindered; which occasioned great discontent among the people, caused\nthem to rise in a Rebellious way.\n\n\"The _Major_ being slighted, and his Commands observed only of a few\nwho opened their Shops, to the number of 12 at the most: They were\ncommanded by the multitude to shut up again, but refusing to obey,\ntheir ware was thrown up and down, and they, at last, forced to shut\nin.\n\n\"The _Major_ and his assistants used their best endeavours to qualifie\nthis tumult, but the fire being once kindled, was not easily quenched.\n\n\"The _Sheriffe_ laying hold of a fellow, was stoutly resisted; which\nthe _Major_ perceiving, took a Cudgell, and strook the man: who,\nbeing now puny, pulled up his courage, and knockt down the _Major_,\nwhereby his Cloak was much torne and durty, besides the hurt he\nreceived.\n\n\"The _Major_ hereupon made strict Proclamation for keeping the Peace,\nand that every man depart to his own house.\n\n\"The multitude hollowing thereat, in disorderly manner; the _Aldermen_\nand _Constables_ caught two or three of the rout, and sent them to the\nJaile, but they soon broke loose, and Jeered Master _Alderman_.\n\n\"Soone after, issued forth the Commanders of this Rabble, with an\naddition of Souldiers, into the high street, and brought with them two\nFoot-balls, whereby their company increased. Which the _Major_ and\n_Aldermen_ perceiving, took what prisoners they had got, and would\nhave carried them to the Jayle. But the multitude following after to\nthe _King's Bench_, were opposed by Captain _Bridg_, who was straight\nknoct down, and had his head broke in two places, not being able to\nwithstand the multitude, who, getting betwixt him and the Jayle,\nrescued their fellowes, and beat the _Major_ and _Aldermen_ into their\nhouses, and then cried _Conquest_.\n\n\"Where, leaving them to breath a while, they went to one _White's_, a\nBarber (a man noted to be a busie fellow), whose windowes they pulled\ndowne to the ground: The like they did to divers others, till night\novertook them, and they were forced to depart, continuing peaceable\nthe next day, it being the Saboth.\n\n\"On _Munday_ morning, the Multitude comming, the Major set a strong\nwatch with Muskets and Holbards in the City, both at the Gates and at\n_S. Andrews_ Church, the Captaine of the Guard was _White_ the Barber.\n\n\"Till noon, they were quiet, then came one _Joyce_, a Hackney man,\nwhom _White_ bid stand, the fellow asked what the matter was, and\nwithall called him _Roundhead_; whereat _White_ being moved, cocked\nhis Pistoll and would have shot him, but the Major wisht him to hold:\nNeverthelesse he shot, and the fellow fell down, but was not dead.\nWhence arose a sudden clamour that a man was murdered, whereupon the\npeople came forth with clubs, and the _Major_ and _Aldermen_ made\nhaste away; the Towne rose againe, and the Country came in, took\npossession of the Gates, and made enquiry for _White_; they found him\nin a hay loft, where they broke his head, and drag'd him in the\nstreets, setting open the Prison dores and releasing those that were\nin hold.\n\n\"Next, they vowed vengeance on the _Major_, pulling up his posts,\nbreaking his windowes; but, at last, being perswaded by Sir _William\nMan_, Master _Lovelise_, Master _Harris_, and Master _Purser_, had\nmuch adoe to persuade them from taking of his Person; so came\ntumultuously into the high street, and their demands were so high,\nthat those Gentlemen could not perswade them. Afterward, meeting\nMaster _Burly_, the Town Clark, demanded the Keyes of the Prison from\nhim, which, being granted, they, with those Gentlemen formerly named,\nwent again to the Town Hall to Treat, and came to an agreement, which\nwas, that forty or fifty of their own men should keep the Town that\nnight, being compleatly armed, which being performed (the morning\nissued) and they continued in arms till Tuesday morning: There are\nnone as yet dead, but diverse dangerously hurt.\n\n\"Master _Sheriffe_ taking _White's_ part, and striving to keep the\nPeace, was knockt down, and his head fearfully broke; it was God's\nmercy his braines were not beat out, but it should seem he had a\nclung[10] pate of his own.\n\n[Footnote 10: Tough or strong.]\n\n\"They went also without S. _George's_ gate, and did much injury to Mr.\n_Lee_.\n\n\"As I am credibly informed, the injuries done are these.\n\n\"They have beat down all the windowes of Mr. _Major's_ House, burnt\nthe Stoups at the comming in of his dore, Master _Reeves'_ Windowes\nwere broke, Master _Page_, and Master _Pollen_, one _Buchurst_,\nCaptaine _Bridge_, _Thomas Harris_, a busie prating fellow, and others\nwere sorely wounded.\n\n\"It is Ordered that _Richard White_ and _Robert Hues_, being in\nfetters, be tryed according to the Law, and upon faire Composition,\nthe multitude have delivered their Armes into the Hands of the City,\nupon engagements of the best of the City that no man shall further\nquestion or trouble them.\"\n\nOn this Christmas day, Parliament,[11] \"on Saturday, December 25th,\ncommonly called Christmas day, received some complaints of the\ncountenancing of malignant ministers in some parts of London, where\nthey preach and use the Common Prayer Book, contrary to the order of\nParliament, and some delinquent Ministers have power given them to\nexamine and punish churchwardens, sequestrators, and others that do\ncountenance delinquent ministers to preach, and commit them, if they\nsee cause; upon which some were taken into Custody.\" One instance of\nthis is given in Whitelocke's _Memorials_ (p. 286). \"Mr. Harris, a\nChurchwarden of St. Martius, ordered to be committed for bringing\ndelinquents to preach there, and to be displaced from his office of\nChurchwarden.\"\n\n[Footnote 11: Rushworth's _Historical Collections_, pt. iv. vol. ii.\np. 944.]\n\nAnd so it went on, the Parliament and Nonconformists doing their best\nto suppress Christ-tide, and the populace stubbornly refusing to\nsubmit, as is shown in a letter from Sir Thomas Gower to Mr. John\nLangley, on December 28, 1652.[12] \"There is little worth writing,\nmost of the time being spent in endeavouring to take away the esteem\nheld of Christmas Day, to which end, order was made that whoever would\nopen shops should be protected by the State; yet I heard of no more\nthan two who did so, and one of them had better have given L50, his\nwares were so dirtyed; and secondly, that no sermons should be\npreached, which was observed (for aught I hear) save at Lincoln's\nInn.\"\n\n[Footnote 12: Hist. MSS. Commission Reports, v. p. 192.]\n\nEvelyn, who was a staunch Episcopalian, writes in deep despondency as\nto the keeping of Christ-tide. \"1652, Dec. 25, Christmas day, no\nSermon any where, no church being permitted to be open, so observed it\nat home. The next day, we went to Lewisham, where an honest divine\npreached.\" \"1653, Dec. 25, Christmas-day. No churches, or public\nassembly. I was fain to pass the devotions of that Blessed day with my\nfamily at home.\" \"1654, Dec. 25, Christmas-day. No public offices in\nChurches, but penalties on observers, so as I was constrained to\ncelebrate it at home.\"\n\nOn November 27, 1655, Cromwell promulgated an edict, prohibiting all\nministers of the Church of England from preaching or teaching in any\nschools, and Evelyn sadly notes the fact. \"Dec. 25. There was no more\nnotice taken of Christmas day in Churches. I went to London, where\nDr. Wild preached the funeral sermon of Preaching,[13] this being the\nlast day; after which, Cromwell's proclamation was to take place, that\nnone of the Church of England should dare either to preach, or\nadminister Sacraments, teach school, etc., on pain of imprisonment or\nexile. So this was the mournfullest day that in my life I had seen, or\nthe Church of England herself, since the Reformation; to the great\nrejoicing of both Papist and Presbyter. So pathetic was his discourse,\nthat it drew many tears from the auditory. Myself, wife, and some of\nour family received the Communion: God make me thankful, who hath\nhitherto provided for us the food of our souls as well as bodies! The\nLord Jesus pity our distressed Church, and bring back the captivity of\nZion!\"\n\n[Footnote 13: His text was 2 Cor. xiii. 9.]\n\nHis next recorded Christ-tide was an eventful one for him, and he thus\ndescribes it: \"1657, Dec. 25. I went to London with my wife to\ncelebrate Christmas day, Mr. Gunning preaching in Exeter Chapel, on\nMichah vii. 2. Sermon ended, as he was giving us the Holy Sacrament,\nthe Chapel was surrounded with soldiers, and all the Communicants and\nassembly surprised and kept prisoners by them, some in the house,\nothers carried away. It fell to my share to be confined to a room in\nthe house, where yet I was permitted to dine with the master of it,\nthe Countess of Dorset, Lady Hatton, and some others of quality who\ninvited me. In the afternoon, came Colonel Whalley, Goffe, and others,\nfrom Whitehall, to examine us one by one; some they committed to the\nMarshal, some to prison. When I came before them, they took my name\nand abode, examined me why, contrary to the ordinance made, that none\nshould any longer observe the superstitious time of the Nativity (so\nesteemed by them), I durst offend, and particularly be at Common\nPrayers, which they told me was but the Mass in English, and\nparticularly pray for Charles Stuart, for which we had no Scripture. I\ntold them we did not pray for Charles Stuart, but for all Christian\nKings, Princes, and Governors. They replied, in doing so we prayed for\nthe King of Spain, too, who was their enemy, and a Papist, with other\nfrivolous and ensnaring questions and much threatening; and, finding\nno colour to detain me, they dismissed me with much pity of my\nignorance. These were men of high flight and above ordinances, and\nspake spiteful things of our Lord's Nativity. As we went up to receive\nthe Sacrament, the miscreants held their muskets against us, as if\nthey would have shot us at the Altar, but yet suffering us to finish\nthe Office of the Communion, as, perhaps, not having instructions what\nto do, in case they found us in that action. So I got home late the\nnext day: blessed be God!\"\n\nCromwell himself seems to have been somewhat ashamed of these\npersecutions and severities, for[14] (25th December 1657) \"Some\nCongregations being met to observe this day, according to former\nsolemnity, and the _Protector_ being moved that Souldiers might be\nsent to repress them, he advised against it, as that which was\ncontrary to the _Liberty of Conscience_ so much owned and pleaded for\nby the _Protector_ and his friends; but, it being contrary to\nOrdinances of Parliament (which were also opposed in the passing of\nthem) that these days should be so solemnized, the _Protector_ gave\nway to it, and those meetings were suppressed by the Souldiers.\"\n\n[Footnote 14: Whitelock's _Memorials_, ed. 1682, p. 666.]\n\nBut his life was drawing to a close, and with the Restoration of the\nking came also that of Christ-tide, and there was no longer any need\nof concealment, as Pepys tells us how he spent his Christmas day in\n1662. \"Had a pleasant walk to White Hall, where I intended to have\nreceived the Communion with the family, but I came a little too late.\nSo I walked up into the house, and spent my time looking over\npictures, particularly the ships in King Henry the VIII.ths voyage to\nBullaen; marking the great difference between those built then and\nnow. By and by down to the Chapel again, where Bishop Morley[15]\npreached upon the Song of the Angels, 'Glory to God on high, on earth\npeace, and good will towards men.' Methought he made but a poor\nSermon, but long, and, reprehending the common jollity of the Court\nfor the true joy that shall and ought to be on these days; he\nparticularized concerning their excess in playes and gaming, saying\nthat he whose office it is to keep the gamesters in order and within\nbounds, serves but for a second rather in a duell, meaning the\ngroome-porter. Upon which it was worth observing how far they are come\nfrom taking the reprehensions of a bishop seriously, that they all\nlaugh in the Chapel when he reflected on their ill actions and\ncourses. He did much press us to joy in these public days of joy, and\nto hospitality; but one that stood by whispered in my eare that the\nBishop do not spend one groate to the poor himself. The Sermon done, a\ngood anthem followed with vialls, and the King come down to receive\nthe Sacrament. But I staid not, but, calling my boy from my Lord's\nlodgings, and giving Sarah some good advice, by my Lord's order, to be\nsober, and look after the house, I walked home again with great\npleasure, and there dined by my wife's bed side with great content,\nhaving a mess of brave plum-porridge and a roasted pullet for dinner,\nand I sent for a mince pie abroad, my wife not being well, to make any\nherself yet.\"\n\n[Footnote 15: Bishop of Winchester, died 1684.]\n\nThe popular love of Christmas is well exemplified in a little 16mo\nbook, printed in 1678, entitled \"The Examination and Tryal of old\nFather CHRISTMAS; Together with his Clearing by the Jury, at the\nAssizes held at the Town of _Difference_, in the County of\n_Discontent_.\" The Jury was evidently a packed one. \"Then saith the\n_Clerk_ to the _Cryer_, count them--_Starve-mouse_, one, _All-pride_,\ntwo, _Keep-all_, three, _Love-none_, four, _Eat-alone_, five,\n_Give-little_, six, _Hoard-corn_, seven, _Grutch-meat_, eight,\n_Knit-gut_, nine, _Serve-time_, ten, _Hate-good_, eleven,\n_Cold-kitchen_, twelve.\n\n\"Then saith the _Cryer_, all you bountiful Gentlemen of the Jury,\nanswer to your names, and stand together, and hear your Charge.\n\n\"With that there was such a lamentable groan heard, enough to turn Ice\ninto Ashes, which caused the _Judge_, and the rest of the Bench, to\ndemand what the matter was; it was replied that the grave old\nGentleman, _Christmas_, did sound (_swoon_) at the naming of the Jury;\nthen it was commanded that they should give him air, and comfort him\nup, so that he might plead for himself: and here, I cannot pass by in\nsilence, the love that was expressed by the Country people, some\nshreeking and crying for the old man; others striving to hold him up,\nothers hugging him, till they had almost broke the back of him,\nothers running for Cordials and strong waters, insomuch that, at last\nthey had called back his wandring spirits, which were ready to take\ntheir last farewel.\"\n\nChristmas challenged this jury, and another was empanelled consisting\nof Messrs _Love-friend_, _Hate-strife_, _Free-man_, _Cloath-back_,\n_Warm-gut_, _Good-work_, _Neighbour-hood_, _Open-house_, _Scorn-use_,\n_Soft-heart_, _Merry-man_, and _True-love_. His Indictment was as\nfollows:\n\n\"_Christmas_, thou art here indicted by the name of _Christmas_, of\nthe Town of _Superstition_, in the County of _Idolatry_, and that thou\nhast, from time to time, abused the people of this Common-wealth,\ndrawing and inticing them to Drunkenness, Gluttony, and unlawful\nGaming, Wantonness, Uncleanness, Lasciviousness, Cursing, Swearing,\nabuse of the Creatures, some to one Vice, and some to another; all to\nIdleness: what sayest thou to thy Inditement, guilty or not guilty? He\nanswered, Not guilty, and so put himself to the Trial.\"\n\nAfter the witnesses against him were heard, Christmas was asked what\nhe could say in his defence.\n\n\"_Judge._--Old _Christmas_, hold up thy head, and speak for thy self.\nThou hast heard thy inditement, and also what all these Witnesses have\nevidenced against thee; what sayest thou now for thy self, that\nsentence of condemnation should not be pronounced against thee?\n\n\"_Christmas._--Good my Lord, be favourable to an old man, I am above\nOne thousand six hundred years old, and was never questioned at Sizes\nor Sessions before: my Lord, look on these white hairs, are they not a\nCrown of Glory?...\n\n\"And first, my Lord, I am wronged in being indited by a wrong name, I\nam corruptly called _Christmas_, my name is _Christ-tide_ or time.\n\n\"And though I generally come at a set time, yet I am with him every\nday that knows how to use me.\n\n\"My Lord, let the Records be searcht, and you shall find that the\nAngels rejoyced at my coming, and sung _Gloria in excelsis_; the\nPatriarchs and Prophets longed to see me.\n\n\"The Fathers have sweetly imbraced me, our modern Divines all\ncomfortably cherisht me; O let me not be despised now I'm old. Is\nthere not an injunction in _Magna Charta_, that commands men to\ninquire for the old way, which is the good way; many good deeds do I\ndo, O, why do the people hate me? We are commanded to be given to\nHospitality, and this hath been my practice from my youth upward: I\ncome to put men in mind of their redemption, to have them love one\nanother, to impart with something here below, that they may receive\nmore and better things above; the wise man saith _There is a time for\nall things_, and why not for thankfulness? I have been the cause that\nat my coming, Ministers have instructed the people every day in\npublick, telling the people how they should use me, and other\ndelights, not to effeminate, or corrupt the mind, and bid them abhor\nthose pleasures from which they should not rise bettered, and that\nthey should by no means turn pass-time into Trade: And if that at any\ntime they have stept an Inch into excess, to punish themselves for it,\nand be ever after the more careful to keep within compass.\n\n\"And did also advise them to manage their sports without Passion; they\nwould also tell the people that their feasts should not be much more\nthan nature requires, and grace moderates; not pinching, nor\npampering; And whereas they say that I am the cause they sit down to\nmeat, and rise up again graceless, they abundantly wrong me: I have\ntold them that before any one should put his hand in the dish, he\nshould look up to the owner, and hate to put one morsel in his mouth\nunblessed: I tell them they ought to give thanks for that which is\npaid for already, knowing that neither the meat, nor the mouth, nor\nthe man, are of his own making: I bid them fill their bellies, not\ntheir eyes, and rise from the board, not glutted, but only satisfied,\nand charge them to have a care that their guts be no hindrances to\ntheir brains or hands, and that they should not lose themselves in\ntheir feasts, but bid them be soberly merry, and wisely free. I also\nadvise them to get friendly Thrift to be there Caterer, and Temperance\nto carve at the board, and be very watchful that obscenity, detraction\nand scurrility be banisht the table; but let their discourse be as\nsavoury as the meat, and so feed as though they did live to eat, and,\nat last, rise as full of thankfulness, as of food; this hath, this is,\nand this shall be my continual practice.\n\n\"Now, concerning the particulars that these folks charge me with, I\ncannot answer them, because I do not remember them; my memory is but\nweak, as old men's use to be; but, methinks, they seem to be the seed\nof the Dragon; they send forth of their mouths whole floods of impious\ninventions against me, and lay to my charge things which I am not\nguilty of, which hath caused some of my friends to forsake me, and\nlook upon me as a stranger: my brother _Good-works_ broke his heart\nwhen he heard on it, my sister _Charity_ was taken with the\nNumb-palsie, so that she cannot stretch out her hand....\"\n\nCounsel was heard for him as well as witnesses examined on his behalf,\nand the Jury \"brought him in, _Not Guilty_, with their own judgement\nupon it. That he who would not fully celebrate _Christmas_ should\nforfeit his estate. The Judge being a man of old integrity, was very\nwell pleased, and _Christmas_ was released with a great deal of\ntriumph and exaltation.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\n     Commencement of Christ-tide--\"O Sapientia!\"--St. Thomas's\n     Day--William the Conqueror and the City of York--Providing\n     for Christmas fare--Charities of\n     food--Bull-baiting--Christ-tide charities--Going\n     \"a-Thomassing,\" etc.--Superstitions of the day.\n\n\nWe take it for granted that in the old times, when Christ-tide was\nconsidered so great a festival as to be accorded a Novena--that it\nbegan on the 16th December, when, according to the use of Sarum, the\nantiphon \"O Sapientia,\" is sung. This, as before stated, is pointed\nout plainly in our English Church Calendar, which led to a curious\nmistake on the part of Dr. Ellicott, Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol,\nwho on one occasion described it as the _Festival_ of \"O Sapientia.\"\nThe other antiphons which are sung between the 16th December and\nChristmas Eve are \"O Adonai,\" \"O Radix Jesu,\" \"O Clavis David,\" \"O\nOriens Splendor,\" \"O Rex Gentium,\" and \"O Emmanuel,\" and they are\ncommonly called the O's.\n\nBut, beyond its being lawful to eat mince pies on the 16th December, I\nknow of nothing noteworthy on the days intervening between that date\nand the festival of St. Thomas on the 21st December, which is, or was,\ncelebrated in different parts of the country, with some very curious\ncustoms. The earliest I can find of these is noted by Drake in his\n_Eboracum_,[16] and he says he took the account from a MS. which came\ninto his possession.\n\n[Footnote 16: Ed. 1736, p. 217.]\n\n\"William the Conqueror, on the third year of his reign (on St.\nThomas's Day), laid siege to the City of York; but, finding himself\nunable, either by policy or strength, to gain it, raised the siege,\nwhich he had no sooner done but by accident he met with two fryers at\na place called Skelton, not far from York, and had been to seek\nreliefe for their fellows and themselves against Christmas: the one\nhaving a wallet full of victualls and a shoulder of mutton in his\nhand, with two great cakes hanging about his neck; the other having\nbottles of ale, with provisions, likewise of beife and mutton in his\nwallett.\n\n\"The King, knowing their poverty and condition, thought they might be\nserviceable to him towards the attaining York, wherefore (being\naccompanied with Sir John Fothergill, general of the field, a Norman\nborn), he gave them money, and withall a promise that, if they would\nlett him and his soldiers into their priory at a time appointed, he\nwould not only rebuild their priory, but indowe it likewise with large\nrevenues and ample privileges. The fryers easily consented, and the\nConqueror as soon sent back his army, which, that night, according to\nagreement, were let into the priory by the two fryers, by which they\nimmediately made themselves masters of all York; after which Sir\nRobert Clifford, who was governor thereof, was so far from being\nblamed by the Conqueror for his stout defence made the preceding days,\nthat he was highly esteemed and rewarded for his valour, being created\nLord Clifford, and there knighted, with the four magistrates then in\noffice--viz., Horongate, Talbot (who after came to be Lord Talbott),\nLassells, and Erringham.\n\n\"The Arms of the City of York at that time was, _argent_, a cross,\n_gules_, viz. St. George's Cross. The Conqueror charged the cross with\nfive lyons, passant gardant, _or_, in memory of the five worthy\ncaptains, magistrates, who governed the city so well, that he\nafterwards made Sir Robert Clifford governour thereof, and the other\nfour to aid him in counsell; and, the better to keep the City in\nobedience, he built two castles, and double-moated them about; and, to\nshew the confidence and trust he put in these old but new-made\nofficers by him, he offered them freely to ask whatsoever they would\nof him before he went, and he would grant their request; wherefore\nthey (abominating the treachery of the two fryers to their eternal\ninfamy), desired that, on St. Thomas's Day, for ever, they might have\na fryer of the priory of St. Peter's to ride through the city on\nhorseback, with his face to the horse's tayle: and that, in his hand,\ninstead of a bridle, he should have a rope, and in the other a\nshoulder of mutton, with one cake hanging on his back and another on\nhis breast, with his face painted like a Jew; and the youth of the\nCity to ride with him, and to cry and shout 'Youl, Youl!' with the\nofficers of the City riding before and making proclamation, that on\nthis day the City was betrayed; and their request was granted them;\nwhich custom continued till the dissolution of the said fryory; and\nafterwards, in imitation of the same, the young men and artizans of\nthe City, on the aforesaid St. Thomas's day, used to dress up one of\ntheir own companions like a fryer, and call him Youl, which custom\ncontinued till within these threescore years, there being many now\nliving which can testify the same. But upon what occasion since\ndiscontinued, I cannot learn; this being done in memory of betraying\nthe City by the said fryers to William the Conqueror.\"\n\nSt. Thomas's day used to be utilised in laying in store of food at\nChrist-tide for the purpose of properly keeping the feast of the\nNativity. In the Isle of Man it was the custom for the people to go on\nthat day to the mountains in order to capture deer and sheep for the\nfeast; and at night bonfires blazed on the summit of every \"fingan,\"\nor cliff, to provide for which, at the time of casting peats, every\nperson put aside a large one, saying, \"Faaid mooar moaney son oie'l\nfingan\"--that is, _A large turf for Fingan's Eve_.\n\nBeef was sometimes left to the parish by deceased benefactors, as in\nthe case of Boteler's Bull Charity at Biddenham, Bedfordshire, of\nwhich Edwards says:[17] \"This is an ancient annual payment of L5 out\nof an estate at Biddenham, formerly belonging to the family of\nBoteler, and now the property of Lord Viscount Hampden, which is due\nand regularly paid on St. Thomas's Day to the overseers of the poor,\nand is applicable by the terms of the original gift (of which no\nwritten memorial is to be found), or by long-established usage, to the\npurchase of a bull, which is killed and the flesh thereof given among\nthe poor persons of the parish.\n\n[Footnote 17: _A Collection of Old English Customs and Curious\nBequests and Charities_, London, 1842, p. 64.]\n\n\"For many years past, the annual fund being insufficient to purchase a\nbull, the deficiency has been made good out of other charities\nbelonging to the parish. It was proposed some years ago by the vicar\nthat the L5 a year should be laid out in buying meat, but the poor\ninsisted on the customary purchase of a bull being continued, and the\nusage is, accordingly, kept up. The price of the bull has varied of\nlate years from L9 to L14. The Churchwardens, Overseers, and principal\ninhabitants assist at the distribution of the meat.\"\n\nHe gives another instance[18] of a gift of beef and barley at Nevern,\nPembrokeshire: \"William Rogers, by will, June 1806, gave to the\nMinister and Churchwardens of Nevern and their successors L800 three\nper cent. Consols, to be transferred by his executors within six\nmonths after his decease; and it was his will that the dividends\nshould be laid out annually, one moiety thereof in good beef, the\nother moiety in good barley, the same to be distributed on every St.\nThomas's Day in every year by the Minister and Churchwardens, to and\namong the poor of the said parish of Nevern.\n\n[Footnote 18: _A Collection of Old English Customs and Curious\nBequests and Charities_, London, 1842, p. 24.]\n\n\"After the payment of L1 to a solicitor in London, and a small amount\nfor a stamp and postage, the dividends (L24) are expended in the\npurchase of beef and barley, which is distributed by the Churchwarden\non 21st December to all the poor of the parish, in shares of between\ntwo and three gallons of barley, and between two and three pounds of\nbeef.\"\n\nYet another example of Christmas beef for the poor--this time rather\nan unpleasant one:[19] \"The cruel practice of bull-baiting was\ncontinued annually on St. Thomas's Day in the quaint old town of\nWokingham, Berks, so lately as 1821. In 1822, upon the passing of the\nAct against cruelty to Animals, the Corporation resolved on abolishing\nthe custom. The alderman (as the chief Magistrate is called there)\nwent with his officers in procession and solemnly pulled up the\nbull-ring, which had, from immemorial time been fixed in the\nmarket-place. The bull-baiting was regarded with no ordinary\nattachment by 'the masses'; for, besides the love of 'sport,' however\nbarbarous, it was here connected with something more solid--the\nChristmas dinner.\n\n[Footnote 19: _Notes and Queries_, second series, v. 35.]\n\n\"In 1661, George Staverton gave by will, out of his Staines house,\nfour pounds to buy a bull for the use of the poor of Wokingham parish,\nto be increased to six pounds after the death of his wife and her\ndaughter; the bull to be baited, and then cut up, 'one poor's piece\nnot exceeding another's in bigness.' Staverton must have been an\namateur of the bull-bait; for he exhorts his wife, if she can spare\nher four pounds a-year, to let the poor have the bull at Christmas\nnext after his decease, and so forward.\n\n\"Great was the wrath of the populace in 1822 at the loss, not of the\nbeef--for the corporation duly distributed the meat--but of the\nbaiting. They vented their rage for successive years in occasional\nbreaches of the peace. They found out--often informed by the\nsympathising farmer or butcher--where the devoted animal was\ndomiciled; proceeded at night to liberate him from stall or meadow,\nand to chase him across the country with all the noisy accompaniments\nimaginable. So long was this feeling kept alive, that thirteen years\nafterwards--viz. in 1835--the mob broke into the place where one of\nthe two animals to be divided was abiding, and baited him, in defiance\nof the authorities, in the market-place; one enthusiastic amateur,\ntradition relates, actually lying on the ground and seizing the\nmiserable brute by the nostril, _more canino_, with his own human\nteeth! This was not to be endured, and a sentence of imprisonment in\nReading Gaol gave the _coup de grace_ to the sport. The bequest of\nStaverton now yields an income of L20, and has for several years past\nbeen appropriated to the purchase of two bulls. The flesh is divided,\nand distributed annually on St. Thomas's Day, by the alderman,\nchurchwardens, and overseers to nearly every poor family (between 200\nand 300), without regard to their receiving parochial relief. The\nproduce of the offal and hides is laid out in the purchase of shoes\nand stockings for the poor women and children. The bulls' tongues are\nrecognised by courtesy as the perquisites of the alderman and\ntown-clerk.\"\n\nBut there were other kindly gifts to the poor, _vide_ one at\nFarnsfield, Nottinghamshire, where Samuel Higgs,[20] by his will dated\nMay 11, 1820 (as appears from the church tablet), gave L50 to the\nvicar and churchwardens of this parish, and directed that the interest\nshould be given every year on 21st December, in equal proportions, to\nten poor men and women who could repeat the Lord's Prayer, the Creed,\nand the Ten Commandments before the vicar or such other person as he\nshould appoint to hear them. The interest is applied according to the\ndonor's orders, and the poor persons appointed to partake of the\ncharity continue to receive it during their lives.\n\n[Footnote 20: _Edwards_, p. 209.]\n\nTake another case, at Tainton, Oxfordshire,[21] where a quarter of\nbarley meal is provided annually at the expense of Lord Dynevor, the\nlord of the manor, and made into loaves called cobbs. These used to be\ngiven away in Tainton Church to such of the poor children of Burford\nas attended. A sermon is preached on St. Thomas's Day, according to\ndirections supposed to be contained in the will of Edmund Harman, 6s.\n8d. being also paid out of Lord Dynevor's estate to the preacher. The\nchildren used to make so much riot and disturbance in the church, that\nabout 1809 it was thought better to distribute the cobbs in a stable\nbelonging to one of the churchwardens, and this course has been\npursued ever since.\n\n[Footnote 21: _Ibid._, p. 25.]\n\nAt Slindon, Sussex,[22] a sum of L15 was placed in the Arundel Savings\nBank, in the year 1824, the interest of which is distributed on St.\nThomas's Day. It is said that this money was found many years since on\nthe person of a beggar, who died by the roadside, and the interest of\nit has always been appropriated by the parish officers for the use of\nthe poor.\n\n[Footnote 22: _Ibid._, p. 129.]\n\nWhere these gifts were not distributed, as a rule, the poor country\nfolk went round begging for something wherewith to keep the festival\nof Christ-tide; and for this they can scarcely be blamed, for\nagricultural wages were very low, and mostly paid in kind, so that the\nlabourer could never lay by for a rainy day, much less have spare cash\nto spend in festivity. Feudality was not wholly extinct, and they\nnaturally leaned upon their richer neighbours for help--especially at\nthis season of rejoicing throughout all England--a time of feasting\never since the Saxon rule. So, following the rule of using St.\nThomas's Day as the day for providing the necessaries for the\nChristmas feast, they went about from farm-house to mansion soliciting\ngifts of food. In some parts, as in Derbyshire, this was called \"going\na-Thomassing,\" and the old and young folks would come home laden with\ngifts of milk, cheese, wheat, with which to make furmity or furmenty,\noatmeal, flour, potatoes, mince pies, pigs' puddings, or pork pies,\nand other goodies. This collection went by the same name in Cheshire\nand neighbouring counties, where the poor generally carried a bag and\na can into which they might put the flour, meal, or corn that might be\ngiven them.\n\nIn other places, such as Northamptonshire, Kent, Sussex,\nHerefordshire, Worcestershire, it went under the name of \"Going a\nGooding,\" and in some cases the benefactions were acknowledged by a\nreturn present of a sprig of holly or mistletoe or a bunch of\nprimroses. In some parts of Herefordshire they \"called a spade a\nspade,\" and called this day \"Mumping,\" or begging day; and in\nWarwickshire, where they principally received presents of corn, it was\ntermed \"going-a-corning\"; and in that home of orchards Worcestershire,\nthis rhyme used to be sung--\n\n     Wissal, wassail through the town,\n     If you've got any apples throw them down;\n     Up with the stocking, and down with the shoe,\n     If you've got no apples money will do.\n     The jug is white, and the ale is brown,\n     This is the best house in the town.\n\n\"Cuthbert Bede\" (the Rev. Edward Bradley) writes[23]--\"In the\nStaffordshire parish whence I write, S. Thomas's Day is observed\nthus:--Not only do the old women and widows, but representatives also\nfrom each poorer family in the parish, come round for alms. The\nclergyman is expected to give one shilling to each person, and, as no\n'reduction is made on taking a quantity' of recipients, he finds the\ncelebration of the day attended with no small expense. Some of the\nparishioners give alms in money, others in kind. Thus, some of the\nfarmers give corn, which the miller grinds _gratis_. The day's custom\nis termed 'Gooding.' In neighbouring parishes no corn is given, the\nfarmers giving money instead; and in some places the money collected\nis placed in the hands of the clergyman and churchwardens, who, on the\nSunday nearest to S. Thomas's Day, distribute it at the vestry. The\nfund is called S. Thomas's Dole, and the day itself is termed Doleing\nDay.\"\n\n[Footnote 23: _Notes and Queries_, 2 series, iv. 487.]\n\nThere is very little folk-lore about this day. Halliwell says that\ngirls used to have a method of divination with a \"S. Thomas's Onion,\"\nfor the purpose of finding their future husbands. The onion was\npeeled, wrapped in a clean handkerchief, and then being placed under\ntheir heads, the following lines were said:\n\n     Good S. Thomas, do me right,\n     And see my true love come to-night,\n     That I may see him in the face,\n     And him in my kind arms embrace.\n\nA writer in _Notes and Queries_[24] says, \"A Nottinghamshire\nmaid-servant tells me:--'One of my mistresses was brought up at\nRanskill, or not far from there. She used to say that when she and her\nsister were children they always hid under the nurse's cloak if they\nwent out to a party on S. Thomas's Day. They were told that S. Thomas\ncame down at that time and sat on the steeple of the church.'\"\n\n[Footnote 24: 7 series, x. p. 487.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\n     Paddington Charity (Bread and Cheese Lands)--Barring-out at\n     Schools--Interesting narrative.\n\n\nUntil Christmas eve there is nothing remarkable about this Novena of\nChrist-tide, excepting a curious charitable custom which used to\nobtain in the parish of Paddington, which may be well described by a\nquotation from the _London Magazine_ (December 1737, p. 705).\n\n\"Sunday, December 18, 1737. This day, according to annual custom,\nbread and cheese were thrown from Paddington steeple to the populace,\nagreeable to the will of two women, who were relieved there with bread\nand cheese when they were almost starved; and Providence afterwards\nfavouring them, they left an estate in that parish to continue the\ncustom for ever on that day.\"\n\nThree pieces of land situated in the parish were certainly left by two\nmaiden ladies, whose names are unknown, and their charity was\ndistributed as described until the Sunday before Christmas 1834, when\nthe bread and cheese (consisting of three or four dozen penny rolls,\nand the same quantity of pieces of cheese) were thrown for the last\ntime from the belfry of St. Mary's Church by Mr. Wm. Hogg, the parish\nclerk. After that date the rents arising from these \"bread and cheese\nlands,\" as they are called, were distributed in the shape of bread,\ncoals, and blankets, to poor families inhabiting the parish, of whom a\nlist was made out annually for the churchwardens, stating their\nresidence and occupation, and the number of children under ten years\nof age. Subsequently the Court of Chancery assented to a scheme\nwhereby the rents are portioned amongst the national schools, etc.\n\nA curious custom used to obtain in some schools just before the\nChristmas holidays, of _barring-out_ the master, and keeping him out\nof the schoolroom until the boys' grievances had been listened to and\npromise of redress given; and the best account of this custom that I\nhave ever met with is in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for 1828, vol. ii.\np. 404, etc.\n\n\"It was a few days before the usual period of the Christmas Holidays\narrived, when the leading scholars of the head form determined on\nreviving the ancient but obsolete custom of _barring-out_ the master\nof the school. Many years had elapsed since the attempt had succeeded;\nand many times since that period had it been made in vain. The\nscholars had heard of the glorious feats of their forefathers in their\nboyish years, when they set the lash of the master at defiance for\ndays together. Now, alas! all was changed; the master, in the opinion\nof the boys, reigned a despot absolute and uncontrolled; the merciless\ncruelty of his rod, and the heaviness of his tasks, were\ninsupportable. The accustomed holidays had been rescinded; the usual\nChristmas feast reduced to a non-entity, and the chartered rights of\nthe scholars were continually violated. These grievances were\ndiscussed _seriatim_; and we were all unanimously of opinion that our\nwrongs should, if possible, be redressed. But how the object should be\neffected was a momentous and weighty affair. The master was a\nclergyman of the old school, who for the last forty years had\nexercised an authority hitherto uncontrolled, and who had no idea of\nenforcing scholastic discipline without the exercise of the whip. The\nconsequences of a failure were terrible to think upon; but then the\nanticipation of success, and the glory attendant upon the enterprise,\nif successful, were sufficient to dispel every fear.\n\n\"At the head of the Greek class was one whose very soul seemed formed\nfor the most daring attempts. He communicated his intentions to a\nchosen few, of which the writer was one, and offered to be the leader\nof the undertaking if we would promise him our support. We hesitated;\nbut he represented the certainty of success with such feeling\neloquence that he entirely subdued our opposition. He stated that\nAddison had acquired immortal fame by a similar enterprise. He told us\nthat almost every effort in the sacred cause of freedom had succeeded.\nHe appealed to our classical recollections:--Epaminondas and Leonidas\nwere worthy of our example; Tarquin and Caesar, as tyrants, had fallen\nbefore the united efforts of freedom; we had only to be unanimous, and\nthe rod of this scholastic despot would be for ever broken. We then\nentered enthusiastically into his views. He observed that delays were\ndangerous; 'the barring-out,' he said, 'should take place the very\nnext morning to prevent the possibility of being betrayed.' On a\nprevious occasion (he said), some officious little urchin had told the\nmaster the whole plot, several days having been allowed to intervene\nbetween the planning of the project and its execution, and, to the\nastonishment of the boys, it appeared they found the master at his\ndesk two hours before his usual time, and had the mortification of\nbeing congratulated on their early attendance, with an order to be\nthere every morning at the same hour!\n\n\"To prevent the occurrence of such a defeat we determined on\norganising our plans that very night. The boys were accordingly told\nto assemble after school hours at a well-known tombstone in the\nneighbouring Churchyard, as something of importance was under\nconsideration. The place of meeting was an elevated parallelogram\ntombstone, which had always served as a kind of council table to\nsettle our little disputes as well as parties of pleasure. Here we all\nassembled at the appointed time. Our leader took his stand at one end\nof the stone, with the head boys who were in the secret on each side\nof him. 'My boys (he laconically observed), to-morrow morning we are\nto _bar-out_ the flogging parson, and to make him promise that he will\nnot flog us hereafter without a cause, nor set us long tasks or\ndeprive us of our holidays. The boys of the Greek form will be your\nCaptains, and I am to be your Captain-General. Those that are cowards\nhad better retire and be satisfied with future floggings; but you, who\nhave courage, and know what it is to have been flogged for nothing,\ncome here and sign your names.' He immediately pulled out a pen and a\nsheet of paper; and having tied some bits of thread round the\nfinger-ends of two or three boys, with a pin he drew blood to answer\nfor ink, and to give more solemnity to the act. He signed the first,\nthe Captains next, and the rest in succession. Many of the lesser boys\nslunk away during the ceremony; but on counting the names we found we\nmustered upwards of forty--sufficient, it was imagined, even to carry\nthe school by storm. The Captain-General then addressed us: 'I have\nthe key of the school, and shall be there at seven o'clock. The old\nParson will arrive at nine, and every one of you must be there before\neight to allow us one hour for barricading the doors and windows.\nBring with you as much provision as you can; and tell your parents\nthat you have to take your dinners in school. Let every one of you\nhave some weapon of defence; you who cannot obtain a sword, pistol, or\npoker, must bring a stick or cudgel. Now, all go home directly, and be\nsure to arrive early in the morning.'\n\n\"Perhaps a more restless and anxious night was never passed by young\nrecruits on the eve of a general battle. Many of us rose some hours\nbefore the time; and at seven o'clock, when the school door was\nopened, there was a tolerably numerous muster. Our Captain immediately\nordered candles to be lighted, and a rousing fire to be made (for it\nwas a dark December's morning). He then began to examine the store of\nprovisions, and the arms which each had brought. In the meantime, the\narrival of every boy with additional material was announced by\ntremendous cheers.\n\n\"At length the Church Clock struck eight. 'Proceed to barricade the\ndoors and windows,' exclaimed the Captain, 'or the old lion will be\nupon us before we are prepared to meet him.' In an instant the old\noaken door rang on its heavy hinges. Some, with hammers, gimlets, and\nnails, were eagerly securing the windows, while others were dragging\nalong the ponderous desks, forms, and everything portable, to\nblockade, with certain security, every place which might admit of\ningress. This operation being completed, the Captain mounted the\nmaster's rostrum, and called over the list of names, when he found\nonly two or three missing. He then proceeded to classify them into\ndivisions, or companies of six, and assigned to each its respective\nCaptain. He prescribed the duties of each company. Two were to guard\nthe large casement window, where, it was expected, the first attack\nwould be made; this was considered the post of honour, and,\nconsequently, the strongest boys, with the most formidable weapons,\nwere selected, whom we called Grenadiers. Another company, whom we\nconsidered as the Light Infantry, or Sharp Shooters, were ordered to\nmount a large desk in the centre of the School; and, armed with\nsquibs, crackers, and various missiles, they were to attack the enemy\nover the heads of the Combatants. The other divisions were to guard\nthe back windows and door, and to act according to the emergency of\nthe moment. Our leader then moved some resolutions (which, in\nimitation of Brutus, he had cogitated during the previous night), to\nthe effect that each individual should implicitly obey his own\nCaptain; that each Captain should follow the orders of the\nCaptain-general, and that a _corps de reserve_ should be stationed in\nthe rear, to enforce this obedience, and prevent the combatants from\ntaking to flight. The resolutions were passed amid loud vociferations.\n\n\"We next commenced an examination of the various weapons, and found\nthem to consist of one old blunderbuss, one pistol, two old swords, a\nfew rusty pokers, and sticks, stones, squibs, and gunpowder in\nabundance. The firearms were immediately loaded with blank powder; the\nswords were sharpened, and the pokers heated in the fire. These\nweapons were assigned to the most daring company, who had to protect\nthe principal window. The missiles were for the light infantry, and\nall the rest were armed with sticks.\n\n\"We now began to manoeuvre our companies, by marching them into line\nand column, so that every one might know his own situation. In the\nmidst of this preparation, the sentinel whom we had placed at the\nwindow, loudly vociferated, 'The parson! The parson's coming!'\n\n\"In an instant all was confusion. Every one ran he knew not where; as\nif eager to fly, or screen himself from observation. Our captain\nimmediately mounted a form, and called to the captains of the two\nleading companies to take their stations. They immediately obeyed;\nand the other companies followed their example; though they found it\nmuch more difficult to manoeuvre when danger approached than they\nhad a few minutes before! The well-known footstep, which had often\nstruck on our ears with terror, was now heard to advance along the\nportico. The muttering of his stern voice sounded in our ears like the\nlion's growl. A death-like silence prevailed: we scarcely dared to\nbreathe: the palpitations of our little hearts could, perhaps, alone\nbe heard. The object of our dread then went round to the front window,\nfor the purpose of ascertaining whether any one was in the school.\nEvery footstep struck us with awe: not a word, not a whisper was\nheard. He approached close to the window; and with an astonished\ncountenance stood gazing upon us, while we were ranged in battle\narray, motionless statues, and silent as the tomb. 'What is the\nmeaning of this?' he impatiently exclaimed. But no answer could he\nobtain, for who would then have dared to render himself conspicuous by\na reply? Pallid countenances and livid lips betrayed our fears. The\ncourage, which one hour before was ready to brave every danger,\nappeared to be fled. Every one seemed anxious to conceal himself from\nview: and there would, certainly, have been a general flight through\nthe back windows had it not been for the prudent regulation of a\n_corps de reserve,_ armed with cudgels, to prevent it.\n\n\"'You young scoundrels, open the door instantly,' he again exclaimed;\nand, what added to our indescribable horror, in a fit of rage he\ndashed his hand through the window, which consisted of diamond-shaped\npanes, and appeared as if determined to force his way in.\n\n\"Fear and trepidation, attended by an increasing commotion, now\npossessed us all. At this critical moment every eye turned to our\ncaptain, as if to reproach him for having brought us into this\nterrible dilemma. He alone stood unmoved; but he saw that none would\nhave courage to obey his commands. Some exciting stimulus was\nnecessary. Suddenly waving his hand, he exclaimed aloud, 'Three cheers\nfor the barring-out, and success to our cause!' The cheers were\ntremendous; our courage revived; the blood flushed in our cheeks; the\nparson was breaking in; the moment was critical. Our Captain,\nundaunted, sprang to the fire-place--seized a heated poker in one\nhand, and a blazing torch in the other. The latter he gave to the\ncaptain of the sharp shooters, and told him to prepare a volley; when,\nwith red-hot poker, he fearlessly advanced to the window seat; and,\ndaring his master to enter, he ordered an attack--and an attack,\nindeed, was made, sufficiently tremendous to have repelled a more\npowerful assailant. The missiles flew at the ill-fated window from\nevery quarter. The blunderbuss and the pistol were fired; squibs and\ncrackers, inkstands and rulers, stones, and even burning coals, came\nin showers about the casement, and broke some of the panes into a\nthousand pieces; while blazing torches, heated pokers, and sticks,\nstood bristling under the window. The whole was scarcely the work of a\nminute: the astonished master reeled back in dumb amazement. He had,\nevidently, been struck with a missile or with the broken glass; and\nprobably fancied that he had been wounded by the firearms. The schools\nnow rang with the shouts of 'Victory,' and continued cheering. 'The\nenemy again approaches,' cried the captain; 'fire another\nvolley;--stay, he seeks a parley--hear him.' 'What is the meaning, I\nsay, of this horrid tumult?' 'The barring-out, the barring-out!' a\ndozen voices instantly exclaimed. 'For shame,' says he, in a tone\nevidently subdued; what disgrace are you bringing upon yourselves and\nthe schools. What will the Trustees--what will your parents say?\nWilliam,' continued he, addressing the captain, 'open the door without\nfurther delay.' 'I will, Sir,' he replied, 'on your promising to\npardon us, and give us our lawful holidays, of which we have lately\nbeen deprived; and not set us tasks during the holidays.' 'Yes, yes,'\nsaid several squealing voices, 'that is what we want; and not to be\nflogged for nothing.' 'You insolent scoundrels! you consummate young\nvillains!' he exclaimed, choking with rage, and at the same time\nmaking a furious effort to break through the already shattered window,\n'open the door instantly, or I'll break every bone in your hides.'\n'Not on those conditions,' replied our Captain, with provoking\ncoolness;--'Come on, my boys, another volley.' No sooner said than\ndone, and even with more fury than before. Like men driven to despair,\nwho expect no quarter on surrendering, the little urchins daringly\nmounted the window seat, which was a broad, old-fashioned one, and\npointed the fire arms and heated poker at him; whilst others advanced\nwith the squibs and missiles. 'Come on, my lads,' said the captain,\n'let this be our Thermopylae, and I will be your Leonidas.' And,\nindeed, so daring were they, that each seemed ready to emulate the\nSpartans of old. The master, perceiving their determined obstinacy,\nturned round, without further remonstrance, and indignantly walked\naway.\n\n\"Relieved from our terrors, we now became intoxicated with joy. The\nwalls rang with repeated hurrahs! In the madness of enthusiasm, some\nof the boys began to tear up the forms, throw the books about, break\nthe slates, locks, and cupboards, and act so outrageously that the\ncaptain called them to order; not, however, before the master's desk\nand drawers had been broken open, and every play thing which had been\ntaken from the scholars restored to its owner.\n\n\"We now began to think of provisions. They were all placed on one\ntable and dealt out in rations by the Captains of each company. In the\nmeantime, we held a council of war, as we called it, to determine on\nwhat was to be done.\n\n\"In a recess at the east end of the school there stood a large oak\nchest, black with age, whose heavy hinges had become corroded with\nyears of rust. It was known to contain the records and endowments of\nthe school; and, as we presumed, the regulations for the treatment of\nthe scholars. The oldest boy had never seen its inside. Attempts,\ndictated by insatiable curiosity, had often been made to open it; but\nit was deemed impregnable. It was guarded by three immense locks, and\neach key was in the possession of different persons. The wood appeared\nto be nearly half a foot thick, and every corner was plaited with\niron. All eyes were instinctively directed to this mysterious chest.\nCould any means be devised for effecting an entrance? was the natural\nquestion. We all proceeded to reconnoitre; we attempted to move it,\nbut in vain: we made some feeble efforts to force the lid; it was firm\nas a block of marble. At length, one daring urchin brought, from the\nfire-place, a red-hot poker, and began to bore through its sides. A\nuniversal shout was given. Other pokers were brought, and to work they\nwent. The smoke and tremendous smell which the old wood sent forth\nrather alarmed us. We were apprehensive that we might burn the records\ninstead of obtaining a copy of them. This arrested our progress for a\nfew minutes.\n\n\"At this critical moment a shout was set up that the parson\nand a constable was coming! Down went the pokers; and, as if\nconscience-stricken, we were all seized with consternation. The\ncasement window was so shattered that it could easily be entered by\nany resolute fellow. In the desperation of the moment we seized the\ndesks, forms, and stools to block it up; but, in some degree, our\ncourage had evaporated, and we felt reluctant to act on the offensive.\nThe old gentleman and his attendant deliberately inspected the windows\nand fastenings: but, without making any attempt to enter, they\nretreated for the purpose, we presumed, of obtaining additional\nassistance. What was now to be done? The master appeared obdurate, and\nwe had gone too far to recede. Some proposed to drill a hole in the\nwindow seat, fill it with gunpowder, and explode it if any one\nattempted to enter. Others thought we had better prepare to set fire\nto the school sooner than surrender unconditionally. But the majority\nadvised what was, perhaps, the most prudent resolution, to wait for\nanother attack; and, if we saw no hopes of sustaining a longer\ndefence, to make the best retreat we could.\n\n\"The affair of the Barring Out had now become known, and persons began\nto assemble round the windows, calling out that the master was coming\nwith assistance, and saying everything to intimidate us. Many of us\nwere completely jaded with the over-excitement we had experienced\nsince the previous evening. The school was hot, close, and full of\nsmoke. Some were longing for liberty and fresh air; and most of us\nwere now of opinion that we had engaged in an affair which it was\nimpossible to accomplish. In this state of mind we received another\nvisit from our dreaded master. With his stick he commenced a more\nfurious attack than before; and, observing us less turbulent, he\nappeared determined to force his way in spite of the barricadoes. The\nyounger boys thought of nothing but flight and self-preservation, and\nthe rush to the back windows became general. In the midst of this\nconsternation our Captain exclaims, 'Let us not fly like cowards; if\nwe must surrender, let the gates of the citadel be thrown open: the\nday is against us; but let us bravely face the enemy, and march out\nwith the honours of war.' Some few had already escaped; but the rest\nimmediately ranged themselves on each side of the school, in two\nextended lines, with their weapons in hand. The door was thrown\nopen--the master instantly entered, and passed between the two lines,\ndenouncing vengeance on us all. But, as he marched in we marched out\nin military order; and, giving three cheers, we dispersed into the\nneighbouring fields.\n\n\"We shortly met again, and, after a little consultation, it was\ndetermined that none of the leaders should come to school until sent\nfor, and a free pardon given.\n\n\"The defection, however, was so general that no corporal punishments\ntook place. Many of the boys did not return till after the holidays:\nand several of the elder ones never entered the school again.\"\n\nThis curious custom can hardly be considered as dead, for a writer,\nmentioning it in _Notes and Queries_ for December 22, 1888 (7th\nseries, vi. p. 484), says: \"This old custom, strange to say, still\nexists, in spite of the schoolmaster and the Board School. It may be\nof interest to some of your readers if I give an extract from a letter\nto the Dalston (Carlisle) School Board in reference to this subject,\nreceived at their last meeting on December 7th. 'I would ask the\nsanction of the Board for the closing of the school for the Vacation\non the evening of Thursday the 20th. If we open on the Friday we\nshall, most likely, have a poor attendance. My principal reason for\nasking is that we should be thus better able to effectually put a stop\nto the old barbarous custom of Barring Out. Some of the children might\npossibly be persuaded by outsiders to make the attempt on Friday, and\nin such a case I should feel it my duty to inflict an amount of\ncastigation on offenders such as neither they nor myself would\nrelish.'\n\n\"The majority of the Board sympathised with the Master's difficulty\nand granted his request; though as Chairman I expressed my curiosity\nto see the repetition of a custom I had heard so much about.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\n     The Bellman--Descriptions of him--His verses. The\n     Waits--Their origin--Ned Ward on them--Corporation\n     Waits--York Waits (17th Century)--Essay on\n     Waits--Westminster Waits--Modern Waits.\n\n\nBefore the advent of Christmas the Bellman, or Watchman, left at each\nhouse a copy of verses ostensibly breathing good-will and a happy\nChristmas to the occupants, but in reality as a reminder to them of\nhis existence, and that he would call in due time for his Christmas\nbox. The date of the institution of the Bellman is not well defined.\nIn Tegg's _Dictionary of Chronology_, 1530 is given, but no authority\nfor the statement is adduced; Machyn, in his diary, is more definite\n\"[the xij. day of January 1556-7, in Alderman Draper's ward called]\nchordwenerstrett ward, a belle man [went about] with a belle at evere\nlane, and at the ward [end to] gyff warnyng of ffyre and candyll\nlyght, [and to help the] poure, and pray for the ded.\" Their cry\nbeing, \"Take care of your fire and candle, be charitable to the poor,\nand pray for the dead.\"\n\nShakespeare knew him, for in _Macbeth_ (Act II. sc. 2) he says:\n\n     It was the owl that shriek'd, the fatal bell man,\n     Which gives the stern'st good night.\n\nAnd Milton mentions him in _Il Penseroso_:\n\n     Or the bellman's drowsy charm,\n     To bless the doors from nightly harm.\n\nHerrick also celebrates _The Bellman_:\n\n     From noise of Scare-fires rest ye free,\n     From Murders _Benedicite_.\n     From all mischances, that may fright\n     Your pleasing slumbers in the night;\n     Mercie secure ye all, and keep\n     The Goblin from ye, while ye sleep.\n     Past one o'clock, and almost two,\n     My Masters all, _Good day to you_.\n\nOn the title page of Decker's _Belman of London_ (ed. 1608) we have a\nwoodcut giving a vivid portrait of the Bellman going his nightly\nrounds with his pike upon his shoulder, a horn lanthorn, with a candle\ninside, in one hand, and his bell, which is attached by a strap to his\ngirdle, in the other hand, his faithful dog following him in his\nnightly rounds. In his _Lanthorne and Candle light; or The Bell-man's\nsecond Night's walke_, ed. 1608, the title page gives us a totally\ndifferent type of Bellman, carrying both bell and lanthorn, but\nbearing no pike, nor is he accompanied by a dog. In his _O per se O_,\ned. 1612, is another type of Bellman, with lanthorn, bell, and brown\nbill on his shoulder, but no dog. And in his _Villanies Discovered by\nLanthorne and Candle Light_, etc., ed. 1620, we have two more and yet\ndifferent Bellmen, one with bell, lanthorn, and bill, followed by a\ndog; the other (a very rough wood cut) does not give him his\nfour-footed friend. This is the heading to the \"Belman's Cry\":\n\n     Men and Children, Maides and Wives,\n     'Tis not late to mend your lives:\n\n            *       *       *       *       *\n\n     When you heare this ringing Bell,\n     Think it is your latest knell:\n     When I cry, Maide in your Smocke,\n     Doe not take it for a mocke:\n     Well I meane, if well 'tis taken,\n     I would have you still awaken:\n     Foure a Clocke, the Cock is crowing\n     I must to my home be going:\n     When all other men doe rise,\n     Then must I shut up mine eyes.\n\nHe was a person of such importance, that in 1716 Vincent Bourne\ncomposed a long Latin poem in praise of one of the fraternity: \"Ad\nDavidem Cook, Westmonasterii Custodem Nocturnum et Vigilantissimum,\"\na translation of which runs thus, in the last few lines:\n\n     Should you and your dog ever call at my door,\n     You'll be welcome, I promise you, nobody more.\n     May you call at a thousand each year that you live,\n     A shilling, at least, may each householder give;\n     May the \"Merry Old Christmas\" you wish us, befal,\n     And your self, and your dog, be the merriest of all!\n\nAt Christ-tide it was their custom to leave a copy of verses, mostly\nof Scriptural character, and generally very sorry stuff, at every\nhouse on their beat, with a view to receiving a Christmas box; and\nthis was an old custom, for Gay notices it in his _Trivia_ (book ii.)\nwritten in 1715:\n\n     Behold that narrow street which steep descends,\n     Whose building to the slimy shore extends;\n     Here Arundel's fam'd structure rear'd its frame,\n     The street, alone, retains the empty name;\n     Where Titian's glowing paint the canvass warm'd,\n     And Raphael's fair design, with judgment, charm'd,\n     Now hangs the _bellman's song_, and pasted here\n     The coloured prints of Overton appear.\n\nAnother ante-Christmas custom now falling into desuetude is the waits,\nwho originally were musical watchmen, who had to give practical\nevidence of their vigilance by playing on the hautboy, or flageolet,\nat stated times during the night. In the household of Edward IV. there\nis mentioned in the _Liber niger Domus Regis_, \"A Wayte, that nightely\nfrom Mychelmas to Shreve Thorsdaye, _pipe the watch_ within this\ncourte fowere tymes; in the Somere nightes three tymes, and maketh\n_bon gayte_ at every chambre doare and offyce, as well for feare of\npyckeres and pillers.\"[25]\n\n[Footnote 25: Pickers and stealers.]\n\nThese waits afterwards became bands of musicians, who were ready to\nplay at any festivities, such as weddings, etc., and almost every city\nand town had its band of waits; the City of London had its Corporation\nWaits, which played before the Lord Mayor in his inaugural procession,\nand at banquets and other festivities. They wore blue gowns, red\nsleeves and caps, and every one had a silver collar about his neck.\nNed Ward thus describes them in his _London Spy_ (1703).\n\n\"At last bolted out from the corner of a street, with an _ignis\nfatuus_ dancing before them, a parcel of strange hobgoblins, covered\nwith long frieze rugs and blankets, hooped round with leather girdles\nfrom their cruppers to their shoulders, and their noddles buttoned up\ninto caps of martial figure, like a Knight Errant at tilt and\ntournament, with his wooden head locked in an iron helmet; one, armed,\nas I thought with a lusty faggot-bat, and the rest with strange wooden\nweapons in their hands, in the shape of clyster pipes, but as long\nalmost as speaking trumpets. Of a sudden they clapped them to their\nmouths, and made such a frightful yelling that I thought _he_ would\nhave been dissolving, and the terrible sound of the last trumpet to be\nwithin an inch of my ears.... 'Why, what,' says he, 'don't you love\nmusick? These are the topping tooters of the town, and have gowns,\nsilver chains and salaries for playing _Lilli-borlero_ to my Lord\nMayor's horse through the City.'\"\n\nThat these Corporation Waits were no mean musicians we have the\nauthority of Morley, who, in dedicating his _Consort Lessons_ to the\nLord Mayor and Aldermen in 1599, says:\n\n\"As the ancient custom of this most honourable and renowned city hath\nbeen ever to retain and maintain excellent and expert musicians to\nadorn your Honours' favours, feasts and solemn meetings--to these,\nyour Lordships' Wayts, I recommend the same--to your servants' careful\nand skilful handling.\"\n\nThese concert lessons were arranged for six instruments--viz. two\nviols (treble and bass), a flute, a cittern (a kind of guitar, strung\nwith wire), a treble lute, and a pandora, which was a large\ninstrument, similar to a lute, but strung with wire in lieu of catgut.\n\nThe following is a description of the York Waits, end of seventeenth\ncentury:\n\n     In a Winter's morning,\n     Long before the dawning,\n     'Ere the cock did crow,\n     Or stars their light withdraw,\n     Wak'd by a hornpipe pretty,\n     Play'd along York City,\n     By th' help of o'er night's bottle\n     Damon made this ditty....\n     In a winter's night,\n     By moon or lanthorn light,\n     Through hail, rain, frost, or snow\n     Their rounds the music go;\n     Clad each in frieze or blanket\n     (For either, heav'n be thanked),\n     Lin'd with wine a quart,\n     Or ale a double tankard.\n     Burglars send away,\n     And, bar guests dare not stay;\n     Of claret, snoring sots\n     Dream o'er their pipes and pots,\n\n            *       *       *       *       *\n\n     Candles, four in the pound,\n     Lead up the jolly Round,\n     While Cornet shrill i' th' middle\n     Marches, and merry fiddle,\n     Curtal with deep hum, hum,\n     Cries we come, come,\n     And theorbo loudly answers,\n     Thrum, thrum, thrum, thrum, thrum.\n     But, their fingers frost-nipt,\n     So many notes are o'erslipt,\n     That you'd take sometimes\n     The Waits for the Minster chimes:\n     Then, Sirs, to hear their musick\n     Would make both me and you sick,\n     And much more to hear a roopy fiddler call\n     (With voice, as Moll would cry,\n     \"Come, shrimps, or cockles buy\").\n     \"Past three, fair frosty morn,\n     Good morrow, my masters all.\"\n\nWith regard to their modern practice of playing during the night-tide,\nwe find the following explanation in an _Essay on the Musical Waits at\nChristmas_, by John Cleland, 1766. Speaking of the Druids, he says:\n\"But, whatever were their reasons for this preference, it is out of\ndoubt that they generally chose the dead of night for the celebration\nof their greatest solemnities and festivals. Such assemblies, then,\nwhether of religion, of ceremony, or of mere merriment, were\npromiscuously called _Wakes_, from their being nocturnal. The master\nof the _Revels_ (_Reveils_) would, in good old English, be termed the\nMaster of the _Wakes_. In short, such nocturnal meetings are the\n_Wakes_ of the Britons; the _Reveillons_ of the French; the\n_Medianoche_ of the Spaniards; and the _Pervigilia_ of the Romans. The\nCustom of _Wakes_ at burials (_les vigiles des morts_) is at this\nmoment, in many parts, not discontinued.\n\n\"But, at the antient _Yule_ (or Christmas time, especially), the\ndreariness of the weather, the length of the night, would naturally\nrequire something extraordinary, to wake and rouse men from their\nnatural inclination to rest, and to a warm bed, at that hour. The\nsummons, then, to the _Wakes_ of that season were given by music,\ngoing the rounds of invitation to the mirth or festivals which were\nawaiting them. In this there was some propriety, some object; but\nwhere is there any in such a solemn piece of banter as that of music\ngoing the rounds and disturbing people in vain? For, surely, any\nmeditation to be thereby excited on the holiness of the ensuing day\ncould hardly be of great avail, in a bed, between sleeping and waking.\nBut such is the power of custom to perpetuate absurdities.\n\n\"However, the music was called _The Wakeths_, and, by the usual\ntendency of language to euphony, softened into _Waits_, as _workth_\ninto _wort_, or _checkths_ into _chess_, etc.\"\n\nAnother authority, Jones, in his _Welsh Bards_, 1794, says: \"Waits are\nmusicians of the lower order, who commonly perform on Wind\ninstruments, and they play in most towns under the windows of the\nchief inhabitants, at midnight, a short time before Christmas; for\nwhich they collect a Christmas box, from house to house. They are said\nto derive their name of _Waits_, for being always in waiting to\ncelebrate weddings and other joyous events happening within their\ndistrict. There is a building at Newcastle called _Waits' Tower_,\nwhich was, formerly, the meeting-house of the town band of musicians.\"\n\nThe town waits certainly existed in Westminster as late as 1822, and\nthey were elected by the Court of Burgesses of that city--_vide_ a\nmagazine cutting of that date: \"_Christmas Waits_.--Charles Clapp,\nBenjamin Jackson, Denis Jelks, and Robert Prinset, were brought to Bow\nStreet Office by O. Bond, the constable, charged with performing on\nseveral musical instruments in St. Martin's Lane, at half-past twelve\no'clock this morning, by Mr. Munroe, the authorized principal Wait,\nappointed by the Court of Burgesses for the City and Liberty of\nWestminster, who alone considers himself entitled, by his appointment,\nto apply for Christmas boxes. He also urged that the prisoners, acting\nas Minstrels, came under the meaning of the Vagrant Act, alluded to in\nthe 17th Geo. II.; however, on reference to the last Vagrant Act of\nthe present king, the word 'minstrels' is omitted; consequently, they\nare no longer cognizable under that Act of Parliament; and, in\naddition to that, Mr. Charles Clapp, one of the prisoners, produced\nhis indenture of having served seven years as an apprentice to the\nprofession of a musician to Mr. Clay, who held the same appointment as\nMr. Munroe does under the Court of Burgesses. The prisoners were\ndischarged, after receiving an admonition from Mr. Halls, the sitting\nmagistrate, not to collect Christmas boxes.\"\n\nIn an article, \"Concerning Christmas,\" in _Belgravia_ (vol. 6, new\nseries, p. 326), we read: \"It may not, perhaps, be generally known\nthat, in the year of grace 1871, 'Waits' are regularly sworn before\nthe Court of Burgesses at Westminster, and act under the authority of\na warrant, signed by the clerk, and sealed with the arms of the city\nand liberty; in addition to which they are bound to provide themselves\nwith a silver badge, also bearing the arms of Westminster.\"\n\nThe modern waits have entirely departed from any pretence of allusion\nto Christ-tide, and play indifferently the last things out in dance\nmusic, operatic airs, or music-hall songs; and they act upon people\naccording to their various temperaments, some liking to \"hear the\nwaits,\" whilst others roundly anathematise them for disturbing their\nslumbers.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\n     Christ-tide Carols--The days of Yule--A Carol for\n     Christ-tide--\"Lullaby\"--The Cherry-tree Carol--Dives and\n     Lazarus.\n\n\nThe singing of carols is now confined to Christmas day; but it was not\nalways so, appropriate carols being sung during the Christ-tide\npreceding the day of the Nativity--such, for instance, as the\nfollowing examples. The first is taken from Sloane MS. 2593, in the\nBritish Museum, and in this one I have preserved the old spelling,\nwhich is ascribed to the time of Henry VI. It will be seen that\nChrist-tide is prolonged till Candlemas day, the Feast of the\nPurification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which is kept on the 2nd of\nFebruary, on which day all Christ-tide decorations are taken down.\n\n     Make we myrth\n     For Crystes byrth,\n       And syng we 3ole[26] tyl Candelmes.\n\n     The fyrst day of 3ole have we in mynd,\n     How God was man born of oure kynd:\n     For he the bondes wold onbynd\n       Of all oure synnes and wykednes.\n\n     The secund day we syng of Stevene,\n     That stoned and steyyd up even\n     To God that he saw stond in hevyn,\n       And crounned was for hys prouesse.\n\n     The iij day longeth to sent Johan,\n     That was Cristys darlyng, derer non,\n     Whom he betok, whan he shuld gon,\n       Hys moder der for hyr clennesse,\n\n     The iiij day of the chyldren 3ong,\n     That Herowd to deth had do with wrong,\n     And Crist thei coud non tell with tong,\n       But with ther blod bar hym wytnesse.\n\n     The v day longeth to sent Thomas,[27]\n     That as a strong pyller of bras,\n     Held up the chyrch, and sclayn he was,\n       For he sted with ry3twesnesse.\n\n     The viij day tok Jhesu hys name,\n     That saved mankynd fro syn and shame,\n     And circumsysed was for no blame,\n       But for ensample of meknesse.\n\n     The xij day offerd to hym kynges iij,\n     Gold, myr, and cence, thes gyftes free,\n     For God, and man, and kyng was he,\n       Thus worschyppyd thei his worthynes.\n\n     On the xl day cam Mary myld,\n     Unto the temple with hyr chyld,\n     To shew hyr clen that never was fylyd,\n       And therwith endyth Chrystmes.\n\n[Footnote 26: Yule.]\n\n[Footnote 27: St. Thomas a Becket, of Canterbury, was commemorated on\n29th December.]\n\nThe following is taken from a MS. of the latter half of the fifteenth\ncentury, which Mr. Thomas Wright edited for the Percy Society in 1847.\nThe spelling is even more archaic than the above, so that it is\nmodernised, and a gloss given for all those words which may not be\neasily understood wherever possible:--\n\n         This endris[28] night\n         I saw a sight,\n           A star as bright as day;\n         And ever among\n         A maiden sung,\n           Lullay, by by, lullay.\n\n     The lovely lady sat and sang, and to her Child said--\n     My son, my brother, my father dear, why lyest Thou thus in hayd.\n         My sweet bird,\n         Thus it is betide\n           Though Thou be King veray;[29]\n         But, nevertheless,\n         I will not cease\n           To sing, by by, lullay.\n\n     The Child then spake in His talking, and to His mother said--\n     I bekyd[30] am King, in Crib[31] there I be laid;\n         For Angels bright\n         Down to Me light,\n           Thou knowest it is no nay;\n         And of that sight\n         Thou mays't be light\n           To sing, by by, lullay.\n\n     Now, sweet Son, since Thou art King, why art Thou laid in stall?\n     Why not Thou ordained Thy bedding in some great King his hall?\n         Me thinketh it is right\n         That King or Knight\n           Should lie in good array;\n         And then among\n         It were no wrong\n           To sing, by by, lullay.\n\n     Mary, mother, I am thy child, though I be laid in stall,\n     Lords and dukes shall worship Me, and so shall Kings all;\n         Ye shall well see\n         That Kings three\n           Shall come the twelfth day;\n         For this behest\n         Give me thy breast\n           And sing, by by, lullay.\n\n     Now tell me, sweet Son, I pray Thee, Thou art my love and dear,\n     How should I keep Thee to Thy pay,[32] and make Thee glad of cheer;\n         For all Thy will\n         I would fulfil\n           Thou witest[33] full well, in fay,[34]\n         And for all this\n         I will Thee kiss\n           And sing, by by, lullay.\n\n     My dear mother, when time it be, thou take Me up aloft,\n     And set Me upon thy knee, and handle Me full soft;\n         And in thy arm,\n         Thou wilt Me warm,\n           And keep night and day;\n         If I weep,\n         And may not sleep,\n           Thou sing, by by, lullay.\n\n     Now, sweet Son, since it is so, that all thing is at Thy will,\n     I pray Thee grant me a boon, if it be both right and skill.[35]\n         That child or man,\n         That will or can\n           Be merry upon my day;\n         To bliss them bring,\n         And I shall sing\n           Lullay, by by, lullay.\n\n[Footnote 28: Last.]\n\n[Footnote 29: True.]\n\n[Footnote 30: I am renowned as.]\n\n[Footnote 31: Manger.]\n\n[Footnote 32: Satisfaction.]\n\n[Footnote 33: Knowest.]\n\n[Footnote 34: In faith.]\n\n[Footnote 35: Reasonable.]\n\nA very popular carol, too, was that of the Legend of the Cherry Tree,\nwhich is very ancient, and is one of the scenes in the fifteenth of\nthe Coventry Mysteries, which were played in the fifteenth century, on\n_Corpus Christi Day_.\n\n     Joseph was an old man,\n       And an old man was he,\n     And he married Mary\n       The Queen of Galilee.\n\n     When Joseph was married,\n       And Mary home had brought,\n     Mary proved with child,\n       And Joseph knew it not.\n\n     Joseph and Mary walked\n       Through a garden gay,\n     Where the cherries they grew\n       Upon every tree.\n\n     O, then bespoke Mary,\n       With words both meek and mild,\n     \"O, gather me cherries, Joseph,\n       They run so in my mind.\"\n\n     And then replied Joseph,\n       With his words so unkind,\n     \"Let him gather thee cherries,\n       That got thee with child.\"\n\n     O, then bespoke our Savior,\n       All in His mother's womb,\n     \"Bow down, good cherry tree,\n       To My mother's hand.\"\n\n     The uppermost sprig\n       Bowed down to Mary's knee,\n     \"Thus you may see, Joseph,\n       These cherries are for me.\"\n\n     \"O, eat your cherries, Mary,\n       O, eat your cherries now,\n     O, eat your cherries, Mary,\n       That grow upon the bow.\"\n\nThe parable of Dives and Lazarus was a great favourite at Christ-tide,\nas, presumably, it served to stir up men to deeds of charity towards\ntheir poorer brethren; but the following carol, parts of which are\nvery curious, has nothing like the antiquity of the foregoing\nexamples:--\n\n     As it fell out upon a day,\n       Rich Dives made a feast,\n     And he invited all his guests,\n       And gentry of the best.\n\n     Then Lazarus laid him down, and down,\n       And down at Dives' door,\n     \"Some meat, some drink, brother Dives,\n       Bestow upon the poor.\"\n\n     \"Thou art none of my brother, Lazarus,\n       That lies begging at my door,\n     No meat, nor drink will I give thee,\n       Nor bestow upon the poor.\"\n\n     Then Lazarus laid him down, and down,\n       And down at Dives' wall,\n     \"Some meat, some drink, brother Dives,\n       Or with hunger starve I shall.\"\n\n     \"Thou art none of my brother, Lazarus,\n       That lies begging at my wall,\n     No meat, nor drink will I give thee,\n       But with hunger starve you shall.\"\n\n     Then Lazarus laid him down, and down,\n       And down at Dives' gate,\n     \"Some meat, some drink, brother Dives,\n       For Jesus Christ, His sake.\"\n\n     \"Thou art none of my brother, Lazarus,\n       That lies begging at my gate,\n     No meat, nor drink I'll give to thee,\n       For Jesus Christ, His sake.\"\n\n     Then Dives sent out his merry men,\n       To whip poor Lazarus away,\n     But they had no power to strike a stroke,\n       And flung their whips away.\n\n     Then Dives sent out his hungry dogs,\n       To bite him as he lay.\n     But they had no power to bite at all,\n       So licked his sores away.\n\n     As it fell upon a day,\n       Poor Lazarus sickened and died,\n     There came an Angel out of heaven,\n       His soul there for to guide.\n\n     \"Rise up, rise up, brother Lazarus,\n       And come along with me,\n     For there's a place in heaven provided\n       To site on an Angel's knee.\"\n\n     As it fell upon a day,\n       Rich Dives sickened and died,\n     There came a serpent out of hell,\n       His soul there for to guide.\n\n     \"Rise up, rise up, brother Dives,\n       And come along with me,\n     For there's a place in hell provided,\n       To sit on a serpent's knee.\"\n\n     Then Dives lifting his eyes to heaven,\n       And seeing poor Lazarus blest,\n     \"Give me a drop of water, brother Lazarus,\n       To quench my flaming thirst.\n\n     \"Oh! had I as many years to abide,\n       As there are blades of grass,\n     Then there would be an ending day;\n       But in hell I must ever last.\n\n     \"Oh! was I now but alive again,\n       For the space of one half hour,\n     I would make my will, and then secure\n       That the devil should have no power.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X\n\n     Christmas Eve--Herrick thereon--The Yule Log--Folk-lore\n     thereon--The Ashen Faggot--Christmas Candles--Christmas Eve\n     in the Isle of Man--Hunting the Wren--Divination by Onions\n     and Sage--A Custom at Aston--\"The Mock\"--Decorations and\n     Kissing Bunch--\"Black Ball\"--Guisers and Waits--Ale Posset.\n\n\nAll the festivals of the Church are preceded by a vigil, or eve, and,\nconsidering the magnitude of the festival of Christmas, it is no\nwonder that the ceremonial attaching to the eve of the Nativity\noutvies all others. What sings old Herrick of it?\n\n       Come, bring with a noise,\n       My merrie, merrie boyes,\n     The Christmas Log to the firing;\n       While my good Dame, she\n       Bids ye all be free;\n     And drink to your hearts' desiring.\n\n       With the last yeere's brand,\n       Light the new block, And\n     For good successe in his spending,\n       On your Psalterie play,\n       That sweet luck may\n     Come while the Log is teending.[36]\n\n       Drink now the strong Beere,\n       Cut the white loafe heere,\n     The while the meat is a shredding;\n       For the rare Mince pie,\n       And the Plums stand by\n     To fill the Paste that's a-kneading.\n\n[Footnote 36: Lighting, burning.]\n\nBringing in the Yule log, clog, or block--for it is indifferently\ncalled by any of these names, was a great function on Christmas\neve--and much superstitious reverence was paid to it, in order to\ninsure good luck for the coming year. It had to be lit \"with the last\nyeere's brand,\" and Herrick gives the following instructions in _The\nCeremonies for Candlemasse day_.\n\n     Kindle the Christmas Brand, and then\n       Till Sunne-set, let it burne;\n     Which quencht, then lay it up agen,\n       Till Christmas next returne.\n\n     Part must be kept, wherewith to teend\n       The Christmas Log next yeare;\n     And, where 'tis safely kept, the Fiend\n       Can do no mischief there.\n\nBut, even if lit with the remains of last year's log, it seems to be\ninsufficient, unless the advice to the maids who light it be followed.\n\n     Wash your hands, or else the fire\n     Will not teend to your desire;\n     Unwasht hands, ye Maidens, know,\n     Dead the Fire, though ye blow.\n\nIn some parts of Devonshire a curious custom in connection with the\nYule log is still kept up, that of burning the Ashton or ashen faggot.\nIt is well described by a writer in _Notes and Queries_.[37]\n\n[Footnote 37: Sixth series, vol. ii. p. 508.]\n\n\"Of the olden customs, so many of which are dying out, that of burning\nan 'ashen faggot' on Christmas Eve, still holds its own, and is kept\nup at many farm houses.\n\n\"Among the various gleanings of the Devon Association Folk-Lore\nCommittee is recorded a notice of this custom. We are there informed\nthat, on Christmas eve, 1878, the customary faggot was burned at\n_thirty-two_ farms and cottages in the Ashburton postal district\nalone.\n\n\"The details of the observance vary in different families; but some,\nbeing common to all, may be considered as held necessary to the due\nperformance of the rite. For example, the faggot must contain as\nlarge a log of ash as possible, usually the trunk of a tree, remnants\nof which are supposed to continue smouldering on the hearth the whole\nof the twelve days of Christmas. This is the Yule dog of our\nforefathers, from which a fire can be raised by the aid of a pair of\nbellows, at any moment day or night, in token of the ancient custom of\nopen hospitality at such a season. Then the faggot must be bound\ntogether with as many binders of twisted hazel as possible.\nRemembering that the Ash and Hazel were sacred trees with the\nScandinavians, their combined presence in forming the faggot may once\nhave contained some mystic signification. Also, as each binder is\nburned through, a quart of cider is claimed by the Company. By this,\nsome hidden connexion between the pleasures of the party and the\nloosening bands of the faggot is typified. While the fire lasts, all\nsorts of amusements are indulged in--all distinction between master\nand servant, neighbour and visitor, is for the time set aside.\n\n     \"The heir, with roses in his shoes,\n     That night might village partner choose;\n     The lord, underogating, share\n     The vulgar game of 'post and pair.'\n     All hailed, with uncontrolled delight,\n     And general voice, the happy night,\n     That to the cottage, as the crown,\n     Brought tidings of Salvation down.\n\n\"In some houses, when the faggot begins to burn up, a young child is\nplaced on it, and his future pluck foretold by his nerve or timidity.\nMay not this be a remnant of the dedication of children to the Deity\nby passing them through the sacred fire?\n\n\"Different reasons are given for burning Ash. By some, it is said that\nwhen our Saviour was born, Joseph cut a bundle of Ash, which, every\none knows, burns very well when green; that, by this, was lighted a\nfire, by which He was first dressed in swaddling clothes.\n\n\"The gipsies have a legend that our Saviour was born out in a field\nlike themselves, and brought up by an Ash fire. The holly, ivy, and\npine, they say, hid him, and so, now, are always green, whilst the ash\nand the oak showed where He was hiding, and they remain dead all the\nwinter. Therefore the gipsies burn Ash at Christmas.\n\n\"We can well understand how the pleasures of the ashen faggot are\nlooked forward to with delight by the hard-working agricultural\nlabourer, for whom few social enjoyments are provided. The harvest\nhome, in these days of machinery, seems lost in the usual routine of\nwork, and the shearing feast, when held, is confined to the farmer's\nfamily, or shepherd staff, and is not a general gathering. Moreover,\nthese take place in the long busy days of summer, when extra hands and\nstrangers are about the farm doing job work. But, with Christmas,\nthings are different. Work is scarce; only the regular hands are on\nthe farm, and there is nothing to prevent following out the good old\ncustom of our ancestors, of feasting, for once, those among whom one's\nlot is cast.\n\n     \"England was Merry England, when\n     Old Christmas brought his sports again.\n     'Twas Christmas broached the mightiest ale;\n     'Twas Christmas told the merriest tale:\n     A Christmas gambol oft could cheer\n     The poor man's heart through half the year.\"\n\nTo add to the festivity and light, large candles are burnt, the bigger\nthe better; but, as the custom of keeping Christmas descended from\n\"Children of a larger growth\" to those of lesser, so did the size of\nthe candles decrease in proportion, until they reached the minimum at\nwhich we now know them. In the Isle of Man they had a custom which\nhas, probably, dropped into desuetude, of all going to church on\nChristmas eve, each bearing the largest candle procurable. The\nchurches were well decorated with holly, and the service, in\ncommemoration of the Nativity, was called _Oiel Verry_. Waldron, in\nhis _Description of the Isle of Man_, says, \"On the 24th of December,\ntowards evening, all the servants in general have a holiday; they go\nnot to bed all night, but ramble about till the bells ring in all the\nchurches, which is at twelve o'clock: prayers being over, they go to\nhunt the wren; and, after having found one of these poor birds, they\nkill her and lay her on a bier, with the utmost solemnity, bringing\nher to the parish church, and burying her with a whimsical kind of\nsolemnity, singing dirges over her in the Manks language, which they\ncall her knell; after which Christmas begins.\"\n\nThere are many peculiar customs appertaining to Christmas eve. Burton,\nin his _Anatomy of Melancholy_, says, \"'Tis their only desire, if it\nmay be done by art, to see their husband's picture in a glass; they'll\ngive anything to know when they shall be married; how many husbands\nthey shall have, by _Cromnyomantia_, a kind of divination, with onions\nlaid on the altar at Christmas eve.\" This seems to be something like\nthat which we have seen practised on St. Thomas's day--or that\ndescribed in Googe's _Popish Kingdome_.\n\n     In these same days, young wanton gyrles that meet for marriage be,\n     Doe search to know the names of them that shall their husbands be;\n     Four onyons, five, or eight, they take, and make in every one\n     Such names as they doe fancie most, and best to think upon.\n     Then near the chimney them they set, and that same onyon then\n     That firste doth sproute doth surely beare the name of their good man.\n\nIn Northamptonshire another kind of divination, with the same object,\nused to be practised: the girl who was anxious to ascertain her lot in\nthe married state, went into the garden and plucked twelve sage\nleaves, under the firm conviction that she would be favoured with a\nglimpse of the shadowy form of her future husband as he approached her\nfrom the opposite end of the ground; but she had to take great care\nnot to damage or break the sage stock, otherwise the consequences\nwould be fearful. But then, in this county, the ghosts of people who\nhad been buried at cross roads had liberty to walk about and show\nthemselves on Christmas eve, so that the country folk did not care to\nstir out more than necessary on the vigil. At Walton-le-Dale, in\nLancashire, the inmates of most of the houses sat up on Christmas eve,\nwith their doors open, whilst one of the party read the narrative of\nSt. Luke, the saint himself being supposed to pass through the house.\n\nA contributor to the _Gentleman's Magazine_, 7th February 1795, gives\nthe following account of a custom which took place annually on the\n24th of December, at the house of a gentleman residing at Aston, near\nBirmingham. \"As soon as supper is over, a table is set in the hall. On\nit is placed a brown loaf, with twenty silver threepences stuck on\nthe top of it, a tankard of ale, with pipes and tobacco; and the two\noldest servants have chairs behind it, to sit as judges, if they\nplease. The steward brings the servants, both men and women, by one at\na time, covered with a winnow sheet, and lays their right hand on the\nloaf, exposing no other part of the body. The oldest of the two judges\nguesses at the person, by naming a name, then the younger judge, and,\nlastly, the oldest again. If they hit upon the right person, the\nsteward leads the person back again; but, if they do not, he takes off\nthe winnow sheet, and the person receives a threepence, makes a low\nobeisance to the judges, but speaks not a word. When the second\nservant was brought, the younger judge guessed first and third; and\nthis they did alternately, till all the money was given away. Whatever\nservant had not slept in the house the preceding night forfeited his\nright to the money. No account is given of the origin of this strange\ncustom, but it has been practised ever since the family lived there.\nWhen the money is gone, the servants have full liberty to drink,\ndance, sing, and go to bed when they please.\"\n\nIn Cornwall, in many villages, Christmas merriment begins on the\nvigil, when the \"mock\" or Yule log is lighted by a portion saved from\nlast year's fire. The family gather round the blaze, and amuse\nthemselves with various games; and even the younger children are\nallowed, as a special favour, to sit up till a late hour to see the\nfun, and afterwards \"to drink to the mock.\" In the course of the\nevening the merriment is increased by the entry of the \"goosey\ndancers\" (guised dancers), the boys and girls of the village, who have\nrifled their parents' wardrobes of old coats and gowns and, thus\ndisguised, dance and sing, and beg money to make merry with. They are\nallowed, and are not slow to take, a large amount of license in\nconsideration of the season. It is considered to be out of character\nwith the time, and a mark of an ill-natured churlish disposition, to\ntake offence at anything they do or say. This mumming is kept up\nduring the week.\n\nA very graphic description of Christmas eve in a Derbyshire cottage is\ngiven in _Notes and Queries_.[38] \"For several weeks before Christmas\nthe cottager's household is much busier than usual in making\npreparations for the great holiday. The fatted pig has been killed, as\na matter of course, and Christmas pies, mince pies, and many other\ngood things made from it in readiness for the feast. The house has\nbeen thoroughly cleaned, and all made 'spick and span.' The lads of\nthe house, with those of their neighbours, have been learning their\nparts, and getting ready their dresses for the 'Christmas guising,'\nand the household daily talk is full flavoured of Christmas.\n\n[Footnote 38: Fifth series, viii. p. 481.]\n\n\"The lasses have made their own special preparations, and for two or\nthree days before Christmas Eve have been getting ready the accustomed\nhouse decorations--short garlands of holly and other evergreens for\nthe tops of cupboards, pictures, and other furniture--and making up\nthe most important decoration of all, 'the kissing-bunch.'\n\n\"This 'kissing-bunch' is always an elaborate affair. The size depends\nupon the couple of hoops--one thrust through the other--which form its\nskeleton. Each of the ribs is garlanded with holly, ivy, and sprigs of\nother greens, with bits of coloured ribbons and paper roses, rosy\ncheeked apples, specially reserved for this occasion, and oranges.\nThree small dolls are also prepared, often with much taste, and these\nrepresent our Saviour, the mother of Jesus, and Joseph. These dolls\ngenerally hang within the kissing-bunch by strings from the top, and\nare surrounded by apples, oranges tied to strings, and various\nbrightly coloured ornaments. Occasionally, however, the dolls are\narranged in the kissing-bunch to represent a manger scene.\n\n\"When the preparations are completed, the house is decorated during\nthe day of Christmas eve. Every leaded window-pane holds its sprig of\nholly, ivy, or box; the ornaments on and over the mantel-shelf receive\nlike attention, and every ledge and corner is loaded with green stuff.\nMistletoe is not very plentiful in Derbyshire; but, generally, a bit\nis obtainable, and this is carefully tied to the bottom of the\nkissing-bunch, which is then hung in the middle of the house-place,\nthe centre of attraction during Christmas-tide.\n\n\"While all this is going on, the housewife is very busy. 'Black-ball'\nhas to be made; the 'elderberry wine' to be got out; 'sugar, spice,\nand all that's nice' and needful placed handy. The shop has to be\nvisited, and the usual yearly gift of one, two, or three Christmas\ncandles received. With these last, as every one knows, the house is\nlit up at dusk on Christmas Eve.\n\n\"Without the 'black-ball' just mentioned, the Christmas rejoicings in\na cottage would not be complete. 'Black-ball' is a delicacy compounded\nof black treacle and sugar boiled together in a pan, to which, when\nboiling, is added a little flour, grated ginger, and spices. When it\nis boiled enough, it is poured into a large shallow dish, and, when\npartially cooled, is cut into squares and lengths, then rolled or\nmoulded into various shapes. When quite cool, it is very hard, and\nvery toothsome to young Derbyshire.\n\n\"After an early tea-meal, the fire is made up with a huge Yule-log;\nall the candles, oil and fat lamps lit, and everything is bright and\nmerry-looking. The head of the family sits in the chimney corner with\npipe and glass of ale, or mulled elder wine. The best table is set\nout, and fairly loaded with Christmas and mince pies, oranges, apples,\nnuts, 'black-baw,' wine, cakes, and green cheese, and the whole\nfamily, with the guests, if any, set about enjoying themselves.\nRomping games are the order of the eve, broken only when the\n'guisers'--of whom there are always several sets--or waits arrive. The\n'guisers' are admitted indoors, and go through the several acts of\ntheir play. At the conclusion 'Betsy Belzebub' collects coppers from\nthe company, and glasses of ale and wine are given to the players. The\nWaits, or 'Christmas Singers' as they are mostly called, sing their\ncarols and hymns outside the house, and during the performance cakes\nand ale, wine, and other cheer are carried out to them. So the Eve\npasses on.\n\n\"At nine or ten o'clock is brewed a large bowl of 'poor man's\npunch'--ale posset! This is the event of the night. Ale posset, or\nmilk and ale posset as some call it, is made in this wise. Set a quart\nof milk on the fire. While it boils, crumble a twopenny loaf into a\ndeep bowl, upon which pour the boiling milk. Next, set two quarts of\ngood ale to boil, into which grate ginger and nutmeg, adding a\nquantity of sugar. When the ale nearly boils, add it to the milk and\nbread in the bowl, stirring it while it is being poured in.\n\n\"The bowl of ale posset is then placed in the centre of the table. All\nthe single folks gather round, each provided with a spoon. Then\nfollows an interesting ceremony. A wedding ring, a bone button, and a\nfourpenny piece are thrown into the bowl, and all begin to eat, each\ndipping to the bottom of the bowl. He or she who brings up the ring\nwill be the first married; whoever brings up the button will be an old\nmaid or an old bachelor; and he or she who brings out the coin will\nbecome the richest. As may be imagined, this creates great fun. When\nseven shilling gold pieces were in circulation, this was the coin\nalways thrown into the posset.\n\n\"The games are resumed when the posset is eaten, or possibly all\ngather round the fire, and sing or tell stories, whiling away the\nhours till the stroke of twelve, when all go outside the house to\nlisten, whilst the singers, who have gathered at some point in the\nvillage, sing 'Christians, awake!' or 'Hark! the Herald Angels Sing';\nand so comes to an end the cottager's one hearth-stone holiday of the\nwhole year.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\n     Christmas Eve in North Notts--Wassailing the Fruit\n     Trees--Wassail Songs--Wassailing in Sussex--Other\n     Customs--King at Downside College--A Christ-tide\n     Carol--Midnight Mass--The Manger--St. Francis of Assisi.\n\n\nAs these old customs are fast dying out, and should be chronicled, I\nmust be pardoned if I give another and very similar illustration of\nhow Christmas eve was spent in North Notts fifty years ago.[39]\n\n[Footnote 39: _Notes and Queries_, seventh series, ii. 501.]\n\n\"None keep Christmas nowadays as was the fashion fifty to a hundred\nyears ago in this part of the country. Here and there are to be met\nthe customs, or bits of the customs, which were then observed: but, as\na rule, the old ways have given place to new ones. Here in North\nNotts, every house is more or less decked in the few days before\nChristmas Day with holly, ivy, and evergreens, nor is mistletoe\nforgotten, which would scarcely be likely by any one living within a\ndozen miles of Sherwood Forest, where mistletoe grows in rare\nprofusion on thorn bushes, the oak, and other trees, and under certain\nconditions may be had for the asking.\n\n\"Fifty years ago, at any rate, in all the villages and towns of North\nNotts, the preparations among farmers, tradesmen, and poor folks for\nkeeping Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were always on a bountiful\nscale. Fat pigs were killed a week or so previously, portions of which\nwere made into Christmas pies of various kinds. Plum puddings were\nmade, and the mince meat, cunningly prepared some weeks beforehand,\nwas made into mince pies of all sorts, sizes, and shapes. Yule\n'clogs,' as they are here called, were sawn or chopped in readiness,\nand a stock laid in sufficient to last the whole of one or two\nevenings.\n\n\"In well-regulated houses it was usual to have all the preparations\nand the housework completed by early in the afternoon of Christmas\nEve, and after an early tea in parlour and kitchen--the servants,\nclean and neat, piled up the Yule clogs in the rooms, getting the\nlarge ones well alight, and keeping them going by smaller knots of\nwood. Long, large, white Christmas Candles were lighted, set in\nold-fashioned, time-honoured, brass candlesticks, accompanied by\nequally old and honoured brass snuffers and trays, all bright and\nshining. Of candles, there was no lack, and when all were fairly\ngoing, parlour and kitchen presented a blaze of warm, ruddy light,\nonly seen once in the year. In both rooms the Christmas Eve tables\nwere laid with snowy linen, and set for feasting, with all the good\nthings provided. On each table would be a large piece of beef, and a\nham, flanked by the pies and other good things, including a Christmas\nCheese.\n\n\"About six in the evening, the chief item of the feast was prepared.\nThis was hot spiced ale, usually of a special brew. This was prepared\nby the gallon in a large kettle, or iron pot, which stood, for the\npurpose, on the hob. The ale was poured in, made quite hot, but not\nallowed to boil, and then sugar and spice were added according to\ntaste, some women having a special mode of making the brew. When\nready, the hot ale was ladled into bowls,--the large earthenware ones\nnow so rare. A white one, with blue decorations, was used in the\nparlour, a commoner one, of the yellowish earthenware kind, with rough\nblue or other coloured bands for ornamentation, being for the kitchen.\nThese, nearly full of the steaming brew, were carried to the tables.\nWhoever then dropped in, and usually there were many, to see parlour\nor kitchen company, had to drink from these bowls, lifting the bowl to\nthe lips with both hands, expressing a good seasonable wish, and\ntaking a hearty drink. The visitors then partook of anything on the\ntable they liked, and one and all were treated bountifully. Soon, as\nthe company arrived, the fun increased in parlour and kitchen,\nparticularly in the latter, as the womenkind went through the\nold-fashioned ceremony under the mistletoe, which was hung aloft from\na highly-decorated 'kissing-bunch.'\n\n\"All sorts of games and fun went on till about ten o'clock, as a rule,\nabout which time the master, mistress, and family, with the rest of\nthe parlour company, visited the kitchen. Then the steaming ale bowl\nwas refilled, and all, beginning with the master and the mistress, in\nturn drank from the bowl. This over, the parlour company remained, and\nentered into the games for a time. There was always some one who could\nsing a suitable song; and one, if song it can be called, was:\n\n     \"_The Folks' Song._\n\n     \"When me an' my folks\n     Come to see you an' your folks,\n     Let you an' your folks\n     Treat me an' my folks\n     As kind, as me an' my folks\n     Treated you an' your folks,\n     When you an' your folks\n     Came to see me an' my folks,\n     Sure then! never were such folks\n     Since folks were folks!\n\n\"This was sung several times over with the last two lines as a chorus.\nThe proceedings in the kitchen closed with another general sup from\nthe replenished bowl, the parlour folks returning to the parlour.\nDuring the evening the proceedings were varied by visits from\nChristmas singers and the mummers, all of whom were well entertained.\nUsually, if the weather was fit, the kitchen folks wound up the night\nwith a stroll, dropping in to see friends at other houses. As a rule,\nsoon after midnight the feastings were over, but most folks never\nthought of retiring till they heard the bands of singers in the\ndistance singing the morning hymn, 'Christians, awake!'\"\n\nA very old custom was that of \"wassailing\" the fruit trees on\nChristmas eve, although it obtained on other days, such as New Year's\nday and Twelfth day. Herrick says:\n\n     Wassaile the Trees that they may beare\n     You many a Plum and many a Peare;\n     For more or lesse fruits they will bring,\n     As you do give them Wassailing.\n\nThis custom of drinking to the trees and pouring forth libations to\nthem differs according to the locality. In some parts of Devonshire it\nused to be customary for the farmer, with his family and friends,\nafter partaking together of hot cakes and cider (the cakes being\ndipped in the liquor previous to being eaten), to proceed to the\norchard, one of the party bearing hot cake and cider as an offering to\nthe principal apple tree. The cake was formally deposited on the fork\nof the tree, and the cider thrown over it.\n\nIn the neighbourhood of the New Forest the following lines are sung at\nthe wassailing of the trees:\n\n     Apples and pears, with right good corn\n     Come in plenty to every one;\n     Eat and drink good cake and hot ale,\n     Give earth to drink, and she'll not fail.\n\nHorsfield, who wrote of Sussex, speaks somewhat at length of this\nsubject, and says that the wassail bowl was compounded of ale, sugar,\nnutmeg, and roasted apples, the latter called \"lambs' wool.\" The\nwassail bowl is placed on a small round table, and each person present\nis furnished with a silver spoon to stir. They then walk round the\ntable as they go, and stirring with the right hand, and every\nalternate person passes at the same time under the arm of his\npreceding neighbour. The wassailing (or \"worsling,\" as it is termed in\nWest Sussex) of the fruit trees is considered a matter of grave\nimportance, and its omission is held to bring ill luck, if not the\nloss of all the next crop. Those who engage in the ceremony are called\n\"howlers.\"\n\nThe farm labourers, or boys (says Horsfield), after the day's toil is\nended, assemble in a group to wassail the apple trees, etc. The\ntrumpeter of the party is furnished with a cow's horn, with which he\nmakes sweet music. Thus equipped, they call on the farmer, and\ninquire, \"please, sir, do you want your trees worsled?\" They then\nproceed to the orchard, and encircling one of the largest and\nbest-bearing trees, chant in a low voice a certain doggerel rhyme; and\nthis ended, all shout in chorus, with the exception of the trumpeter,\nwho blows a loud blast. During the ceremony they rap the trees with\ntheir sticks. \"Thus going from tree to tree, or group to group, they\nwassail the whole orchard; this finished, they proceed to the house of\nthe owner, and sing at his door a song common on the occasion. They\nare then admitted, and, placing themselves around the kitchen fire,\nenjoy the sparkling ale and the festivities of the season.\"\n\nThere are two wassail rhymes in Sussex:\n\n     \"Stand fast, root; bear well, top;\n     Pray the God send us a good howling crop.\n     Every twig, apples big;\n     Every bough, apples enow.\n     Hats full, caps full,\n     Full quarters, sacks full.\n          Holloa, boys, holloa! Hurrah!\"\n\nThe other is:\n\n     \"Here's to thee, old apple tree;\n     May'st thou bud, may'st thou blow,\n     May'st thou bear apples enow!\n     Hats full! Caps full!\n     Bushel, bushel sacks full!\n     And my pockets full, too!\n                        Hurrah!\"\n\nIn the _Gentleman's Magazine_ (January 1820, p. 33) mention is made of\n\"an ancient superstitious custom obtaining at Tretyre, in\nHerefordshire, upon Christmas Eve. They make a cake, poke a stick\nthrough it, fasten it upon the horn of an ox, and say certain words,\nbegging a good crop of corn for the master. The men and boys attending\nthe oxen range themselves around. If the ox throws the cake behind it\nbelongs to the men; if before, to the boys. They take with them a\nwooden bottle of cyder, and drink it, repeating the charm before\nmentioned.\"\n\nThere is a curious custom at Downside College, near Bath. On Christmas\neve the scholars of this well-known institution proceed to the\nelection of their king and other officers of his household, consisting\nof the mayor of the palace, etc. His reign lasts fourteen days, during\nwhich period there are many good feasts; a room in the college being\nfitted up in fine style, and used by his Majesty as his palace. At\nOxford, too, in pre-Reformation time, at Merton College, they had a\nking of Christmas, or misrule; at St. John's he was styled lord, and\nat Trinity he was emperor!\n\nThere is a rather rough but pretty west country carol for Christmas\neve, which is to be found in Davies Giddy, or Gilbert's _Ancient\nChristmas Carols, etc._, and which, he says, was chanted in private\nhouses on Christmas eve throughout the west of England up to the\nlatter part of the last century.\n\n     The Lord at first did Adam make\n       Out of the dust and clay,\n     And in his nostrils breathed life,\n       E'en as the Scriptures say.\n     And then in Eden's Paradise\n       He placed him to dwell,\n     That he, within it, should remain,\n       To dress and keep it well.\n         _Now let good Christians all begin\n         An holy life to live,\n         And to rejoice and merry be,\n         For this is Christmas Eve._\n\n     And then within the garden he\n       Commanded was to stay,\n     And unto him in commandment\n       These words the Lord did say:\n     \"The fruit which in the garden grows\n       To thee shall be for meat,\n     Except the tree in the midst thereof,\n       Of which thou shall not eat.\"\n         _Now let good Christians, etc._\n\n     \"For in the day that thou shall eat,\n       Or to it then come nigh;\n     For if that thou doth eat thereof,\n       Then surely thou shalt die.\"\n     But Adam he did take no heed\n       Unto the only thing,\n     But did transgress God's holy law,\n       And so was wrapt in sin.\n         _Now let good Christians, etc._\n\n     Now, mark the goodness of the Lord,\n       Which He for mankind bore,\n     His mercy soon He did extend,\n       Lost man for to restore;\n     And then, for to redeem our souls\n       From death and hellish thrall,\n     He said His own dear Son should be\n       The Saviour of us all.\n         _Now let good Christians, etc._\n\n     Which promise now is brought to pass,\n       Christians, believe it well;\n     And by the coming of God's dear Son\n       We are redeemed from thrall.\n     Then, if we truly do believe,\n       And do the thing aright;\n     Then, by His merits, we, at last,\n       Shall live in heaven bright\n         _Now let good Christians, etc._\n\n     And now the Tide is nigh at hand\n       In which our Saviour came;\n     Let us rejoice, and merry be,\n       In keeping of the same.\n     Let's feed the poor and hungry souls,\n       And such as do it crave;\n     Then, when we die, in heaven sure\n       Our reward we shall have.\n         _Now let good Christians, etc._\n\nChristmas eve is notable in the Roman Catholic Church for the unique\nfact that mass is celebrated at midnight. I say, advisably, _is_\ncelebrated, because, although Cardinal Manning abolished public mass\nat that hour within the diocese of Westminster about 1867, yet in\nconventual establishments it is still kept up, and in every church\nthree masses are celebrated. The ancient, and, in fact, the modern\nuse, until interrupted by Cardinal Manning, was to celebrate mass at\nmidnight, at daybreak, and at the third hour (9 a.m.) This use is very\nold; for Thelesphorus, who was Pope A.D. 127, decreed that three\nmasses should be sung _in Festo Nativitatis_, to denote that the birth\nof Christ brought salvation to the fathers of three periods--viz. the\nfathers before, under, and after the law.\n\nAnother Roman Catholic custom on Christmas eve is the preparation of\n\"the Manger,\" which in some places is a very elaborate affair. The\nChrist is lying on straw between the ox and ass, Mary and Joseph\nbending over Him; the shepherds are kneeling in adoration, and the\nangels, hovering above, are supposed to be singing the _gloria in\nexcelsis_. A writer in the _Catholic World_ (vol. xxxiv. p. 439)\nsays:--\"Christmas Dramas are said to owe their origin to St. Francis\nof Assisi. Before his death he celebrated the sacred Birth-night in\nthe woods, where a stable had been prepared with an ox and an ass, and\na crib for an altar. A great number of people came down from the\nmountains, singing joyful hymns and bearing torches in their hands;\nfor it was not fitting that a night that had given light to the whole\nworld, should be shrouded in darkness. St. Francis, who loved to\nassociate all nature with his ministry, was filled with joy. He\nofficiated at the Mass as deacon. He sang the Gospel, and then\npreached in a dramatic manner on the birth of Christ. When he spoke of\nthe Lamb of God, he was filled with a kind of divine frenzy, and\nimitated the plaintive cry of the sacrificial lamb; and, when he\npronounced the sweet name of Jesus, it was as if the taste of honey\nwere on his lips. One soul before the rural altar, that night, with\npurer eyes than the rest, saw the Divine Babe, radiant with eternal\nbeauty, lying in the manger.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII\n\n     Decorating with Evergreens--Its Origin and\n     Antiquity--Mistletoe in Churches--The permissible\n     Evergreens--The Holly--\"Holly and Ivy\"--\"Here comes\n     Holly\"--\"Ivy, chief of Trees\"--\"The Contest of the Ivy and\n     the Holly\"--Holly Folk-lore--Church Decorations--To be kept\n     up till Candlemas day.\n\n\nChristmas Eve is especially the time for decorating houses and\nchurches with evergreens, a custom which seems to have come from\nheathen times; at least, no one seems to know when it commenced.\nPolydore Vergil[40] says:--\"Trymming of the temples with hangynges,\nfloures, boughes, and garlondes, was taken of the heathen people,\nwhiche decked their idols and houses with such array.\" That it is an\nold custom in England to deck houses, churches, etc., at Christ-tide\nwith evergreens is undoubted--the only question is, how old is it?\nStow, in his _Survey_, says: \"Against the Feast of Christmas, every\nman's house, as also their parish churches, were decked with holme,\nivy, bayes, and whatsoever the season of the year afforded to be\ngreen. The Conduits and Standards in the streets were, likewise,\ngarnished; among the which I read that, in the year 1444, by tempest\nof thunder and lightning, towards the morning of Candlemas day, at the\nLeadenhall in Cornhill, a standard of tree, being set up in the midst\nof the pavement, fast in the ground, nailed full of holme and ivie,\nfor disport of Christmass to the people, was torne up and cast down by\nthe malignant Spirit (as was thought), and the stones of the pavement\nall about were cast in the streets, and into divers houses, so that\nthe people were sore aghast at the great tempests.\"\n\n[Footnote 40: Langley's _Abridg._, p. 100.]\n\nStow, we see, makes no mention of mistletoe, nor do we find it in old\nchurchwardens' accounts, because mistletoe was accounted a heathen\nplant, on account of its association with the Druids, and not only was\ntherefore unsuitable to bedeck a place of Christian worship, but the\nold rite of kissing beneath it rendered it inadmissible. Still, in\nQueen Anne's time, it was recognised as a Christmas decoration, for\nGay in his _Trivia_ has sung--\n\n     When _Rosemary_ and _Bays_, the poet's crown,\n     Are bawl'd in frequent cries through all the town;\n     Then judge the festival of Christmas near,\n     Christmas, the joyous period of the year!\n     Now with bright _Holly_ all the temples strow\n     With _Laurel_ green, and sacred MISTLETOE.\n\nThe mistletoe is found in several counties in England, but the bulk of\nthat which we have now at Christ-tide comes from Brittany. There is a\npopular belief that it grows on oaks, possibly on account of Druidical\ntradition to that effect, but, as a matter of fact, its connection\nwith that tree in England is very rare, Dr. Ball, in a paper in the\n_Journal of Botany_, only mentioning seven authentic instances of its\ngrowth on the oak tree in this country. It principally makes its\n_habitat_ on the apple, poplar, hawthorn, lime, maple, and mountain\nash, and has been found on the cedar of Lebanon and the laurel.\n\nThe bay tree was believed to have the property of protection against\nfire or lightning. The ivy was considered to prevent intoxication, and\nfor this reason Bacchus is represented as being crowned with ivy\nleaves. The holly was originally the Holy Tree, and tradition says\nthat, unknown before, it sprang up in perfection and beauty beneath\nthe footsteps of Christ when he first trod the earth, and that, though\nman has forgotten its attributes, the beasts all reverence it, and are\nnever known to injure it.\n\nThe four following carols are all of the fifteenth century:\n\n     HOLLY AND IVY\n\n     Holly and Ivy made a great party,\n     Who should have the mastery\n       In lands where they go.\n\n     Then spake Holly, \"I am fierce and jolly,\n     I will have the mastery\n       In lands where we go.\"\n\n     Then spake Ivy, \"I am loud and proud,\n     And I will have the mastery\n       In lands where we go.\"\n\n     Then spake Holly, and set him down on his knee,\n       \"I pray thee, gentle Ivy, say[41] me no villany\n       In lands where we go.\"\n\n[Footnote 41: Do.]\n\n\n     HERE COMES HOLLY\n\n       Alleluia, Alleluia,\n       Alleluia, now sing we.\n     Here comes Holly, that is so gent,[42]\n     To please all men is his intent,\n         Alleluia.\n\n     But Lord and Lady of this Hall,\n     Whosoever against Holly call.\n         Alleluia.\n\n     Whosoever against Holly do cry,\n     In a lepe[43] he shall hang full high.\n         Alleluia.\n\n     Whosoever against Holly doth sing,\n     He may weep and hands wring.\n         Alleluia.\n\n[Footnote 42: Pretty.]\n\n[Footnote 43: A large basket.]\n\n\n     IVY, CHIEF OF TREES\n\n     The most worthy she is in town,\n       He that saith other, doth amiss;\n     And worthy to bear the crown;\n       _Veni coronaberis._\n\n     Ivy is soft and meek of speech,\n       Against all bale she is bliss;\n     Well is he that may her reach,\n       _Veni coronaberis._\n\n     Ivy is green with colour bright,\n       Of all trees best she is;\n     And that I prove well now be right,\n       _Veni coronaberis._\n\n     Ivy beareth berries black.\n       God grant us all His bliss;\n     For there shall we nothing lack,\n       _Veni coronaberis._\n\n\n     THE CONTEST OF THE IVY AND THE HOLLY\n\n       _Nay, Ivy, nay, it shall not be, I wis,\n       Let Holly have the mastery as the manner is._\n\n     Holly standeth in the hall, fair to behold,\n     Ivy stands without the door; she is full sore a cold.\n       _Nay, Ivy, nay_, etc.\n\n     Holly and his merry men, they dancen and they sing;\n     Ivy and her maidens, they weepen and they wring.\n       _Nay, Ivy, nay_, etc.\n\n     Ivy hath a lybe, she caught it with the cold,\n     So may they all have, that with Ivy hold.\n       _Nay, Ivy, nay_, etc.\n\n     Holly hath berries, as red as any rose,\n     The foresters, the hunters, keep them from the does.\n       _Nay, Ivy, nay_, etc.\n\n     Ivy hath berries, as black as any sloe,\n     There comes the owl and eats them as she go.\n       _Nay, Ivy, nay_, etc.\n\n     Holly hath birds, a full fair flock,\n     The nightingale, the poppinjay, the gentle laverock.\n       _Nay, Ivy, nay_, etc.\n\n     Good Ivy, good Ivy, what birds hast thou?\n     None but the owlet that cries How! How!\n       _Nay, Ivy, nay_, etc.\n\nIt is just as well to be particular as to the quality of the holly\nused in Christmas decorations; for on that depends who will be the\nruler of the house during the coming year--the wife or the husband. If\nthe holly is smooth the wife will get the upper hand, but if it be\nprickly, then the husband will gain the supremacy. It is also unlucky\nto bring holly into the house before Christmas Eve. And, please, if\nyou are doing at home any decorations for the church, be sure and make\nthem on the ground floor, for it is specially unlucky to make anything\nintended for use in a church in an upper chamber.\n\nThe custom of church decoration may possibly have been suggested by a\nverse in the first lesson appointed to be read on Christmas eve--lx.\nIsaiah, 13. \"The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree,\nthe pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my\nsanctuary.\" Some years ago, at the commencement of the great Church\nrevival, the Christmas decorations in churches were very elaborate,\nbut they are now, as a rule, much quieter, and the only admissible\nevergreens are contained in the following distich--\n\n     Holly and Ivy, Box and Bay,\n     Put in the Church on Christmas day.\n\nThese decorations, both in church and in private houses, ought to be\nkept up until the 1st of February, Candlemas eve, when they should be\nburnt--a proceeding which set fire to the hall of Christ Church,\nOxford, in 1719. Herrick gives the following:--\n\n     CEREMONIES FOR CANDLEMASSE EVE\n\n     Down with the Rosemary and Bayes,\n       Down with the Mistleto;\n     Instead of Holly, now upraise\n       The greener Box (for show).\n\n     The Holly, hitherto did sway;\n       Let Box now domineere;\n     Untill the dancing Easter day,\n       Or Easter's Eve appeare.\n\n     The youthfull Box, which now hath grace,\n       Your houses to renew;\n     Grown old, surrender must his place,\n       Unto the crisped Yew.\n\n     When Yew is out, then Birch comes in,\n       And many Flowers beside;\n     Both of a fresh and fragrant kinne\n       To honour Whitsuntide.\n\n     Green Rushes then, and sweetest Bents,\n       With cooler Oken boughs;\n     Come in for comely ornaments,\n       To readorn the house\n     Thus times do shift; each thing his turn do's hold;\n     _New things succeed, as former things grow old._\n\nAnd with Candlemas day ends all festivity connected with Christ-tide.\n\n     End now the White-loafe, and the Pye,\n     And let all sports with Christmas dye.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII\n\n     Legends of the Nativity--The Angels--The Birth--The\n     Cradles--The Ox and Ass--Legends of Animals--The Carol of\n     St. Stephen--Christmas Wolves--Dancing for a\n     Twelve-months--Underground Bells--The Fiddler and the Devil.\n\n\nIt would indeed be singular if an event of such importance as the\nbirth, as man, of the Son of God had not been specially marked out by\nsigns and wonders, and that many legends concerning these should be\nrife. Naturally He was welcomed by the heavenly host; and Abraham a\nSancta Clara, in one of his sermons, gives a vivid description of the\nwonders that happened on the Nativity. \"At the time when God's Son was\nborn, there came to pass a great many wonderful circumstances. First\nof all, a countless multitude of angels flew from heaven, and paid\ntheir homage to the Celestial Child in various loving hymns, instead\nof the usual lullabie, sung to babies. Next, the deep snow, which had\ncovered the ground in the same neighbourhood, at once disappeared;\nand, in its place were to be seen trees covered with a thick foliage\nof leaves, whilst the earth was decorated with a rich and luxuriant\ncrop of the most beautiful flowers.\"\n\nThis visitation of the angels is represented in nearly every old\npainting of the Nativity, some, like Botticelli, giving a whole band\nof angels, others contenting themselves with two or three, sufficient\nto indicate their presence. Fra Jacopone da Todi sings:\n\n     Little angels all around\n       Danced and Carols flung;\n     Making verselets sweet and true,\n       Still of love they sung;\n     Calling saints and sinners too,\n       With love's tender tongue.\n\nLope de Vega makes Our Lady caution the angels as they come through\nthe palm trees--\n\n     Holy angels, and blest,\n       Through these palms as ye sweep,\n     Hold their branches at rest,\n       For my Babe is asleep.\n\n     And ye, Bethlehem palm-trees,\n       As stormy winds rush\n     In tempest and fury,\n       Your angry noise hush;--\n\n     Move gently, move gently,\n       Restrain your wild sweep;\n     Hold your branches at rest,\n       My Babe is asleep.\n\nMrs. Jameson[44] says that \"one legend relates that Joseph went to\nseek a midwife, and met a woman coming down from the mountains, with\nwhom he returned to the stable. But, when they entered, it was filled\nwith light greater than the sun at noonday; and, as the light\ndecreased, and they were able to open their eyes, they beheld Mary\nsitting there with her Infant at her bosom. And the Hebrew woman,\nbeing amazed, said: 'Can this be true?' and Mary answered, 'It is\ntrue; as there is no child like unto my son, so there is no woman like\nunto his mother.'\"\n\n[Footnote 44: _Legends of the Madonna_, p. 205.]\n\nLe Bon,[45] speaking of the cradle of Jesus, says: \"According to\ntradition, the stone cradle contained one of wood. That of stone still\nexists at Bethlehem, not in its primitive state, but decorated with\nwhite marble, and enriched with magnificent draperies. The wooden one\nwas, in the seventh century, at the time of the Mahometan Invasion in\nthe East, transported to Rome, then become the new Jerusalem, the\nBethlehem of a new people. It there reposes in the superb basilica of\nSanta Maria Maggiore, where it is guarded by the eternal city with\nmore affection than the Ark of the Covenant, and with more respect\nthan the cottage of Romulus. Centuries have not been able to enfeeble\nthe veneration and the love with which this trophy of the love of God\nfor his creatures has been surrounded. This cradle, this sacred\nmonument, reposes in a shrine of crystal, mounted on a stand of silver\nenamelled with gold and precious stones, the splendid offering of\nPhilip IV., King of Spain. This shrine is preserved in a brazen\ncoffer, and is only exposed for veneration--on the grand altar, once a\nyear, on Christmas Day.\"\n\n[Footnote 45: _Fleurs de Catholicisme_, vol. iii. p. 236.]\n\nThe ox and ass are indispensable accessories to a picture of the\nNativity, and it is said that their introduction rests on an old\ntradition mentioned by St. Jerome, and also on a text of prophecy:\n\"The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib.\"[46]\nTradition says that these animals recognised and worshipped their\nDivine Master.\n\n[Footnote 46: Isaiah i. 3.]\n\n     In praesepe ponitur,\n     Sub foeno asinorum,\n     Cognoverunt Dominum,\n     Christum, Regem coelorum.\n\n     Et a brutis noscitur,\n     Matris velo tegitur.\n\nSo also it is believed in many places that at midnight on Christmas\neve all cattle bowed their knees; and Brand gives an instance of this\nlegend, and says \"that a Cornish peasant told him in 1790 of his\nhaving, with some others, watched several oxen in their stalls on the\nEve of old Christmas Day, and that at twelve o'clock, they observed\nthe two oldest oxen fall upon their knees and (as he expressed it in\nthe idiom of the country) make a cruel moan like Christian creatures.\"\n\nThere is another legend which relates how other animals took part in\nthe announcement of the Saviour's coming on earth. Praetorius says:\n\n     Vacca _puer natus_ clamabat nocte sub ipsa,\n       Qua Christus pura virgine natus homo est;\n     Sed, quia dicenti nunquam bene creditur uni,\n       Addebat facti testis, asellus; _ita_.\n     Dumque aiebat; _ubi?_ clamoso guttere gallus;\n       _In Betlem, Betlem_, vox geminabat ovis.\n     Felices nimium pecudes, pecorumque magistri,\n       Qui norunt Dominum concelebrare suum.\n\nHone describes a curious sheet of carols printed in London in 1701.\n\"It is headed 'CHRISTUS NATUS EST; _Christ is born_,' with a wood-cut\n10 inches high by 8-1/2 inches wide, representing the stable of\nBethlehem; Christ in the crib, watched by the Virgin and Joseph;\nshepherds kneeling, angels attending; a man playing on the bagpipes; a\nwoman with a basket of fruit on her head; a sheep bleating, and an ox\nlowing on the ground; a raven croaking, and a crow cawing, on the hay\nrack; a cock crowing above them; and angels singing in the sky. The\nanimals have labels from their mouths bearing Latin inscriptions. Down\nthe side of the wood-cut is the following account and explanation:--'A\nreligious man inventing the concerts of both birds and beasts drawn in\nthe picture of our Saviour's birth, doth thus express them: The cock\ncroweth, _Christus natus est_--Christ is born. The raven asked\n_Quando_?--When? The crow replied, _Hac nocte_--this night. The ox\ncrieth out, _Ubi? Ubi?_--Where? Where? The sheep bleateth out\n_Bethlehem_. A voice from heaven sounded, _Gloria in Excelsis_--Glory\nbe on high!'\"\n\nAnother pictorial representation of this legend is mentioned by the\nRev. Dr. John Mason Neale in _The Unseen World_ (p. 27). An example\nwhich, in modern times, would be considered ludicrous, of the manner\nin which our ancestors made external Nature bear witness to our Lord,\noccurs in what is called the Prior's Chamber in the small Augustinian\nhouse of Shulbrede, in the parish of Linchmere, in Sussex. On the wall\nis a fresco of the Nativity; and certain animals are made to give\ntheir testimony to that event in words which somewhat resemble, or may\nbe supposed to resemble, their natural sounds. A cock, in the act of\ncrowing, stands at the top, and a label, issuing from his mouth, bears\nthe words, _Christus natus est_. A duck inquires, _Quando? Quando?_ A\nraven hoarsely answers, _In hac nocte_. A cow asks, _Ubi? Ubi?_ And a\nlamb bleats out _Bethlehem_.\n\nThis idea that beasts were endowed with human speech on Christmas\nnight was very widespread, as the following legend well instances, it\nbeing common both to Switzerland and Suabia. One Christmas night, in\norder to test the truth of this legend, a peasant crept slyly upon\nthat solemn and holy night into the stable, where his oxen were\nquietly chewing the hay set before them. An instant after the peasant\nhad hidden himself, one of the oxen said to another \"We are going to\nhave a hard and heavy task to do this week.\" \"How is that? the harvest\nis got in and we have drawn home all the winter fuel.\" \"That is so,\"\nwas the reply, \"but we shall have to drag a coffin to the churchyard,\nfor our poor master will most certainly die this week.\" The peasant\nshrieked, and fell back, senseless, was taken home, and the ox's\nprophecy was duly fulfilled.\n\nIt is also thought that the cocks crow all night at Christmas, and\nBourne says, anent this belief, that it was about the time of cock\ncrowing when our Saviour was born, and the heavenly host had then\ndescended to sing the first Christmas carol to the poor shepherds in\nthe fields of Bethlehem.\n\nShakespeare mentions this popular tradition in Hamlet, act i. sc.\ni.:--\n\n     Some say, that ever 'gainst that season comes\n     Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,\n     The bird of dawning singeth all night long:\n     And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad;\n     The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike,\n     No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,\n     So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.\n\nBut there is yet another legend of cock-crowing which is found in a\ncarol for St. Stephen's Day, temp. Henry VI.:--\n\n     Saint Stephen was a clerk\n       In King Herod his hall,\n     And served him of bread and cloth,\n       As ever King befall.\n\n     Stephen out of kitchen came\n       With boar his head on hand,\n     He saw a star was fair and bright\n       Over Bethlem stand.\n\n     He cast adown the boar his head,\n       And went into the hall.\n     \"I forsake thee, King Herod,\n       And thy works all.\n\n     \"I forsake thee, King Herod,\n       And thy works all,\n     There is a Child in Bethlem born,\n       Is better than we all.\"\n\n     \"What aileth thee, Stephen,\n       What is thee befall?\n     Lacketh thee either meat or drink,\n       In King Herod his hall?\"\n\n     \"Lacketh me neither meat nor drink,\n       In King Herod his hall;\n     There is a Child in Bethlem born,\n       Is better than we all.\"\n\n     \"What aileth thee, Stephen,\n       Art thou wode,[47] or ginnest to brede[48]\n     Lacketh thee either gold or fee,\n       Or any rich weed?\"[49]\n\n     \"Lacketh me neither gold nor fee,\n       Nor none rich weed,\n     There is a child in Bethlem born\n       Shall help us at our need.\"\n\n     \"That is all so sooth, Stephen,\n       All so sooth, I wis,\n     As this capon crow shall,\n       That lyeth here in my dish.\"\n\n     That word was not so soon said,\n       That word in that hall,\n     The Capon crew, _Christus natus est_!\n       Among the lords, all.\n\n     Riseth up my tormentors,\n       By two, and all by one,\n     And leadeth Stephen out of this town\n       And stoneth him with stone.\n\n     Tooken they Stephen\n       And stoned him in the way,\n     And therefore is his even,\n       On Christ his own day.\n\n[Footnote 47: Mad.]\n\n[Footnote 48: Beginnest to upbraid.]\n\n[Footnote 49: Dress.]\n\nThere are several minor legends of animals and Christ-tide--for\ninstance, at this time the bees are said to hum the Old Hundredth\nPsalm, but this is mild to what Olaus Magnus tells us _Of the\nFiercenesse of Men, who by Charms are turned into Wolves_:--\"In the\nFeast of Christ's Nativity, in the night, at a certain place, that\nthey are resolved upon amongst themselves, there is gathered together\nsuch a huge multitude of Wolves changed from men, that dwell in divers\nplaces, which afterwards, the same night, doth so rage with wonderfull\nfiercenesse, both against mankind, and other creatures that are not\nfierce by nature, that the Inhabitants of that country suffer more\nhurt from them than ever they do from the true natural Wolves. For, as\nit is proved, they sit upon the houses of men that are in the Woods,\nwith wonderfull fiercenesse, and labour to break down the doors,\nwhereby they may destroy both men and other creatures that remain\nthere.\n\n\"They go into the Beer-Cellars, and there they drink out some Tuns of\nBeer or Mede, and they heap al the empty vessels one upon another in\nthe midst of the Cellar, and so leave them; wherin they differ from\nthe natural and true Wolves. But the place, where, by chance they\nstayed that night, the Inhabitants of those Countries think to be\nprophetical; Because, if any ill successe befall a Man in that place;\nas if his Cart overturn, and he be thrown down in the Snow, they are\nfully persuaded that man must die that year, as they have, for many\nyears, proved it by experience. Between _Lituania_, _Samogetia_ and\n_Curonia_, there is a certain wall left, of a Castle that was thrown\ndown; to this, at a set time, some thousands of them come together,\nthat each of them may try his nimblenesse in leaping. He that cannot\nleap over this wall, as commonly the fat ones cannot, are beaten with\nwhips by their Captains.\"\n\nThere is a story told of another Magnus, only in this case it was a\nSaint of that name. On Christmas eve, in the year 1012, a party of\nabout thirty-three young men and women were merrily dancing in the\nchurchyard of a certain church, dedicated to St. Magnus. A priest was\nat his devotions inside the church, and was so much disturbed by their\nmerriment that he sent to them, asking them to desist for a while. But\nof this they took no heed, although the message was more than once\nrepeated. Thereupon, waxing indignant, the holy man prayed his patron\nsaint, St. Magnus, to visit the offenders with condign punishment. His\nprayer was heard, and the result was that the festive crew could not\nleave off dancing. For twelve whole months they continued dancing;\nnight and day, winter and summer, through sunshine or storm, they had\nto prance. They knew no weariness, they needed no rest, nor did their\nclothes or boots wear out; but they wore away the surface of the earth\nso much that at the end of the twelvemonths they were in a hole up to\ntheir middles. The legend goes on to say, that on the expiration of\ntheir Terpsichorean punishment they slept continuously for three days\nand nights.\n\nThere are some curious legends of underground bells which sound only\nat Christmas. A writer in _Notes and Queries_ (5 series, ii. 509)\nsays--\"Near Raleigh, Notts, there is a valley said to have been caused\nby an earthquake several hundred years ago, which swallowed up a whole\nvillage, together with the Church. Formerly, it was a custom of the\npeople to assemble in this valley every Christmas Day morning to\nlisten to the ringing of the bells of the Church beneath them. This,\nit was positively stated, might be heard by placing the ear to the\nground, and hearkening attentively. As late as 1827 it was usual on\nthis morning for old men and women to tell their children and young\nfriends to go to the valley, stoop down, and hear the bells ring\nmerrily. The villagers heard the ringing of the bells of a\nneighbouring church, the sound of which was communicated by the\nsurface of the ground. A similar belief exists, or did, a short time\nago, at Preston, Lancashire.\"\n\nThis legend is not peculiar to England, for there is the same told of\na place in the Netherlands, named Been, near Zoutleeuw, now engulphed\nin the ocean. It was a lovely and a stately city, but foul with sin,\nwhen our Lord descended to earth upon a Christmas night to visit it.\nAll the houses were flaming with lights, and filled with luxury and\ndebauchery; and, as our Lord, in the guise of a beggar, passed from\ndoor to door, there was not found a single person who would afford Him\nthe slightest relief. Then, in His wrath, He spoke one word, and the\nwaves of the sea rushed over the wicked city, and it was never seen\nmore; but the place where it was immersed is known by the sound of the\nchurch bells coming up through the waters on a Christmas night.\n\nIn spite of Shakespeare's dictum that \"no spirit dares stir abroad,\"\nthe rule would not seem to obtain in the Isle of Man--for there is a\nlegend there, how a fiddler, having agreed with a stranger to play,\nduring the twelve days of Christmas, to whatever company he should\nbring him, was astonished at seeing his new master vanish into the\nearth as soon as the bargain had been made. Terrified at the thought\nof having agreed to work for such a mysterious personage, he quickly\nresorted to the clergyman, who ordered him to fulfil his engagement,\nbut to play nothing but psalms. Accordingly, as soon as Christ-tide\narrived, the weird stranger made his appearance, and beckoned the\nfiddler to a spot where some company was assembled. On reaching his\ndestination, he at once struck up a psalm tune, which so enraged his\naudience that they instantly vanished, but not without so violently\nbruising him that it was with difficulty that he reached home to tell\nhis novel Christmas experience.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV\n\n     The Glastonbury Thorn, its Legend--Cuttings from it--Oaks\n     coming into leaf on Christmas day--Folk-lore--Forecast,\n     according to the days of the week on which Christmas\n     falls--Other Folk-lore thereon.\n\n\nEven the vegetable world contributed to the wonders of Christmas, for\nwas there not the famous Glastonbury Thorn which blossomed on old\nChristmas day? Legend says that this was the walking staff of Joseph\nof Arimathaea, who, after Christ's death, came over to England and\nsettled at Glastonbury, where, having planted his staff in the ground,\nit put forth leaves, and miraculously flowered on the festival of the\nNativity; and it is a matter of popular belief, not always followed\nout by practice, that it does so to this day. The fact is that this\nthorn, the _Crataegus praecox_, will, in a mild and suitable season,\nblossom before Christmas. It is not a particularly rare plant. Aubrey\nthus speaks of it in his _Natural History of Wiltshire_.\n\n\"Mr. Anthony Hinton, one of the Officers of the Earle of Pembroke, did\ninoculate, not long before the late civill warres (ten yeares or\nmore), a bud of Glastonbury Thorne, on a thorne, at his farm house, at\nWilton, which blossoms at Christmas, as the other did. My mother has\nhad branches of them for a flower-pott, several Christmasses, which I\nhave seen. Elias Ashmole, Esq., in his notes upon _Theatrum Chymicum_,\nsaies that in the churchyard of Glastonbury grew a walnutt tree that\ndid putt out young leaves at Christmas, as doth the King's Oake in the\nNew Forest. In Parham Park, in Suffolk (Mr. Boutele's), is a pretty\nancient thorne, that blossomes like that at Glastonbury; the people\nflock hither to see it on Christmas Day. But in the rode that leades\nfrom Worcester to Droitwiche is a black thorne hedge at Clayes, half\na mile long or more, that blossoms about Christmas day, for a week or\nmore together. Dr. Ezerel Tong sayd that about Rumly-Marsh, in Kent,\nare thornes naturally like that near Glastonbury. The Soldiers did\ncutt downe that near Glastonbury; the stump remaines.\"\n\nSeveral trees which are descended by cuttings from the Holy Thorn\nstill exist in and about Glastonbury. One of them, of somewhat scanty\nand straggling growth, occupies the site of the original thorn, on the\nsummit of Weary-all Hill. Another, a much finer tree, compact and\nhealthy, stands on private premises, near the entrance of a house that\nfaces the abbot's kitchen. These descendants of the Holy Thorn inherit\nthe famous peculiarity of that tree.\n\nThe _Gentleman's Magazine_ for 1753, has the following in its\n\"Historical Chronicle\" for January. \"_Quainton in Buckinghamshire,\nDec. 24._ Above 2000 people came here this night, with lanthorns and\ncandles, to view a black thorn which grows in the neighbourhood, and\nwhich was remembered (this year only) to be a slip from the famous\n_Glastonbury_ Thorn, that it always budded on the 24th, was full blown\nthe next day, and went all off at night; but the people, finding no\nappearance of a bud, 'twas agreed by all that Decemb. 25, N.S., could\nnot be the right _Christmas Day_,[50] and, accordingly, refused going\nto Church, and treating their friends on that day, as usual: at length\nthe affair became so serious that the ministers of the neighbouring\nvillages, in order to appease the people, thought it prudent to give\nnotice that the old _Christmas Day_ should be kept holy as before.\n\n[Footnote 50: This was the first Christmas day, New Style: the change\ntaking place Sept. 2, 1752, which became Sept. 14.]\n\n\"_Glastonbury._ A vast concourse of people attended the noted thorns\non _Christmas Eve_, New Stile; but, to their great disappointment,\nthere was no appearance of its blowing, which made them watch it\nnarrowly the 5th of _Jan._, the _Christmas-day_, Old Stile, when it\nblow'd as usual.\"\n\nA writer in _Notes and Queries_ (3 series ix. 33) says, \"A friend of\nmine met a girl on Old Christmas Day, in a village of North Somerset,\nwho told him that she was going to see the Christmas Thorn in\nblossom. He accompanied her to an orchard, where he found a tree,\npropagated from the celebrated Glastonbury Thorn, and gathered from it\nseveral sprigs in blossom. Afterwards, the girl's mother informed him\nthat it had, formerly, been the custom for the youth of both sexes to\nassemble under the tree at midnight, on Christmas Eve, in order to\nhear the bursting of the buds into flower; and, she added, 'As they\ncom'd out, you could hear 'em haffer.'\"[51]\n\n[Footnote 51: Crackle.]\n\nThis celebration of Christ-tide was not confined to this thorn--some\noaks put forth leaves on Christmas day. Aubrey says that an oak in the\nNew Forest \"putteth forth young leaves on Christmas-day, for about a\nweek at that time of the yeare. Old Mr. Hastings, of Woodlands, was\nwont to send a basket full of them to King Charles I. I have seen of\nthem several Christmasses brought to my father. But Mr. Perkins, who\nlives in the New Forest, sayes that there are two other oakes besides\nthat, which breed green buddes after Christmas day (pollards also),\nbut not constantly.\"\n\nThere is yet another bit of Folk-lore anent flowers and Christ-tide\nwhich may be found in _The Connoisseur_, No. 56, Feb. 20, 1755. \"Our\nmaid, Betty, tells me that, if I go backwards, without speaking a\nword, into the garden, upon Midsummer Eve, and gather a Rose, and keep\nit in a clean sheet of paper, without looking at it, 'till Christmas\nday, it will be as fresh as in June; and, if I then stick it in my\nbosom, he that is to be my husband will come and take it out.\"\n\nIt is perhaps as well to know what will happen to us if the Feast of\nthe Nativity falls on a particular day in the week--as, according to\nthe proverb, \"forewarned is fore armed.\"\n\n     Nowe takethe heed, euery man,\n     That englisshe vnderstonde can,\n     If that Crystmasse day falle\n     Vpon Sonday, wittethe weel alle,\n     That wynter saysoun shal been esy,\n     Save gret wyndes on lofft shal flye.\n     The somer affter al-so bee drye,\n     And right saysounable, I seye.\n     Beestis and sheepe shal threue right weel,\n     But other vytayle shal fayle, mooste deel.[52]\n\n            *       *       *       *       *\n\n     Be kynde shal, with-outen lees,\n     Alle landes thanne shal haue pees.\n     But offt-tymes, for synne that is doone,\n     Grace is wyth-drawen from many oone\n     And goode tyme alle thinges for to do;\n     But who-so feelethe, is sone for-do.\n     What chylde that day is borne,\n     Gret and ryche he shal be of Corne.\n\n     If Cristmasse day on Monday bee,\n     Gret wynter that yeer shal ghee see,\n     And ful of wynde lowde and scille;[53]\n     But the somer, truwly to telle,\n     Shal bee sterne with wynde also,\n     Ful of tempeste eeke ther-too;\n     And vitayles shal soo multeplye,\n     And gret moryne of bestes shal hye.\n     They that bee borne, with-outen weene,\n     Shoulle be strong men and kene.\n\n     If Crystmasse day on Tuysday be,\n     Wymmen shal dye gret plentee.\n     That wynter shal shewe gret merveylle\n     Shippes shal bee in gret parayle;\n     That yeer shal kynges and lordes bee sleyne,\n     In lande, of werre gret woone,[54] certayne.\n     A drye somer shal be that yeere;\n     Alle that been borne that day in-feere,\n     They been stronge and coveytous,\n     But theyre ende shal be petous;[55]\n     They shal dye with swerd or knyff.\n     If thou stele ought, hit leesethe thy lyfe;\n     But if thou falle seeke, certayne,\n     Thou shalt tourne to lyf ageyne.\n\n     If that the Cristmasse day\n     Falle vpon a Weddensday,\n     That yeere shal be hardee and strong,\n     And many huge wyndes amonge.\n     The somer goode and mury shal be,\n     And that yeere shal be plentee.\n     Yonge folkes shal dye alsoo;\n     Shippes in the see, tempest and woo.\n     What chylde that day is borne is his\n     Fortune to be doughty and wys,\n     Discrete al-so and sleeghe of deede,\n     To fynde feel[56] folkes mete and weede.[57]\n\n     If Cristmasse day on therusday bee,\n     A wonder wynter yee shoule see,\n     Of wyndes, and of weders wicke,[58]\n     Tempestes eeke many and thicke.\n     The somer shal bee strong and drye,\n     Corne and beestes shal multeplye,\n     Ther as the lande is goode of tilthe;\n     But kynges and lordes shal dye by filthe\n     What chylde that day eborne bee,\n     He shal no dowte Right weel ethee,[59]\n     Of deedes that been good and stable.\n     Of speeche ful wyse and Raysonable.\n     Who-so that day bee thefft aboute,\n     He shall bee shent,[60] with-outen doute;\n     But if seeknesse that day thee felle,\n     Hit may not long with thee dwelle.\n\n     If Cristmasse day on fryday be,\n     The frost of wynter harde shal be,\n     The frost, snowe and the floode;\n     But at the eende hit shal bee goode.\n     The somer goode and feyre alsoo,\n     Folke in eerthe shal haue gret woo.\n     Wymmen with chylde, beestes and corne,\n     Shal multeplye, and noon be lorne.[61]\n     The children that been borne that day,\n     Shoule longe lyve, and lechcherous ay.\n\n     If Cristmasse day on saturday falle,\n     That wynter wee most dreeden alle.\n     Hit shal bee ful of foule tempest,\n     That hit shal slee bothe man and beest.\n     Fruytes and corne shal fayle, gret woone,\n     And eelde folk dye many oon.\n     What woman that of chylde travayle,\n     They shoule bee boothe in gret parayle.\n     And children that been borne that day,\n     With June half yeere shal dy, no nay.\n\n[Footnote 52: There seems to be a hiatus here.]\n\n[Footnote 53: Shrill.]\n\n[Footnote 54: Abundance.]\n\n[Footnote 55: Piteous.]\n\n[Footnote 56: Many.]\n\n[Footnote 57: Clothing.]\n\n[Footnote 58: Wicked, foul.]\n\n[Footnote 59: Thrive.]\n\n[Footnote 60: Brought to confusion.]\n\n[Footnote 61: Lost.]\n\nThe _Shepherd's Kalendar_ says: \"If the sun shines clear and bright on\nChristmas day, it promises a peaceful year, free from clamours and\nstrife, and foretells much plenty to ensue; but if the wind blows\nstormy towards sunset, it betokens sickness in the spring and autumn\nquarters.\"\n\nAnother authority, _Husband-man's Practice_, warns us that \"when\nChristmas day cometh while the moon waxeth, it shall be a very good\nyear, and the nearer it cometh to the new moon, the better shall that\nyear be. If it cometh when the moon decreaseth, it shall be a hard\nyear, and the nearer the latter end thereof it cometh, the worse and\nharder shall the year be.\"\n\nThe same book says: \"The wise and cunning masters in Astrology have\nfound that men may see and mark the weather of the holy Christmas\nnight, how the whole year after shall be in his working and doing, and\nthey shall speak on this wise:\n\n\"When on the Christmas night and evening it is very fair and clear\nweather, and is without wind and rain, then it is a token that this\nyear will be plenty of wine and fruite.\n\n\"But if the contrariwise, foul weather and windy, so shall it be very\nscant of wine and fruite.\n\n\"But if the wind arise at the rising of the sun, then it betokeneth\ngreat dearth among beasts and cattle this year.\n\n\"But if the wind arise at the going down of the same, then it\nsignifieth death to come among kings and other great lords.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV\n\n     Withholding Light--\"Wesley Bob\"--Wassail Carol--Presents in\n     Church--Morris Dancers--\"First Foot\"--Red-haired\n     Men--Lamprey Pie--\"Hodening\"--Its Possible Origin--The \"Mari\n     Lhoyd.\"\n\n\nThere was a curious tradition in the north of England, which is\npractically done away with in these days of lucifer matches. In the\nold days of tinder boxes, if any one failed to get a light, it was of\nno use his going round to the neighbours to get one, for even his\ndearest friends would refuse him, it being considered _most unlucky_\nto allow any light to leave the house between Christmas eve and New\nYear's day, both inclusive. No reason has been found for this singular\nand somewhat churlish custom.\n\nAnother north country custom, especially at Leeds, was for the\nchildren to go from house to house carrying a \"Wessel (or Wesley)\nbob,\" a kind of bower made of evergreens, inside which were placed a\ncouple of dolls, representing the Virgin and Infant Christ. This was\ncovered with a cloth until they came to a house door, when it was\nuncovered. At Huddersfield, a \"wessel bob\" was carried about,\ngorgeously ornamented with apples, oranges, and ribbons, and when they\nreached a house door they sung the following carol:\n\n     Here we come a wassailing\n       Among the leaves so green,\n     Here we come a wandering\n       So fair to be seen.\n\n     _Chorus._\n\n     For it is in Christmas time\n       Strangers travel far and near,\n     So God bless you, and send you a happy New Year.\n\n     We are not daily beggars,\n       That beg from door to door,\n     But we are neighbours' children,\n       Whom you have seen before.\n\n     Call up the butler of this house,\n       Put on his golden ring,\n     Let him bring us a glass of beer,\n       And the better we shall sing.\n\n     We have got a little purse\n       Made of stretching leather skin,\n     We want a little of your money\n       To line it well within.\n\n     Bring us out a Table,\n       And spread it with a cloth;\n     Bring out a mouldy cheese,\n       Also your Christmas loaf.\n\n     God bless the Master of the house,\n       Likewise the Mistress too,\n     And all the little children\n       That round the table go.\n\n     Good master and mistress,\n       While you're sitting by the fire,\n     Pray think of us poor children\n       Who are wand'ring in the mire.[62]\n\n[Footnote 62: Those who went round thus were called \"Vessel Cup\nwomen.\"]\n\nAt Aberford, near Leeds, two dolls were carried about in boxes in a\nsimilar manner, and they were called \"wesley (_wassail_) boxes.\"\n\nWhilst on the subject of Yorkshire Christmas customs, I may mention\nthat a correspondent of the _Gentleman's Magazine_ (1790, vol. 60, p.\n719), says that at Ripon the singing boys came into the church with\nlarge baskets of red apples, with a sprig of rosemary stuck in each,\nwhich they present to all the congregation, and generally have a\nreturn made to them of 2d., 4d., or 6d., according to the quality of\nthe lady or gentleman.\n\nIn the _History of Yorkshire_ (1814, p. 296) it tells how, during the\nChristmas holidays, the Sword or Morisco Dance used to be practised at\nRichmond by young men dressed in shirts ornamented with ribbons folded\ninto roses, having swords, or wood cut in the form of that weapon.\nThey exhibited various feats of activity, attended by an old fiddler,\nby \"Bessy,\" in the grotesque habit of an old woman, and by the fool,\nalmost covered with skins, a hairy cap on his head, and the tail of a\nfox hanging from his head. These led the festive throng, and diverted\nthe crowd with their droll antic buffoonery. The office of one of\nthese characters was to go about rattling a box, and soliciting money\nfrom door to door to defray the expenses of a feast, and a dance in\nthe evening.[63]\n\n[Footnote 63: This dance is thus described in _Notes and Queries_ (5th\nseries, xii. 506). \"Six youths, called sword dancers, dressed in white\nand decked with ribbons, accompanied by a fiddler, a boy in fantastic\nattire, the Bessy, and a doctor, practised a rude dance till New\nYear's day, when they ended with a feast. The Bessy interfered, whilst\nthe dancers, surrounded him with swords, and he was killed.\"]\n\nIn Sheffield the custom of \"first-foot\" is kept up on Christmas day\nand New Year's day, but there is no distinction as to complexion or\ncolour of hair of the male who first enters the house.\n\nA correspondent in _Notes and Queries_ (3rd series, i. 223), writes:\n\"The object of desire is that the first person who enters a house on\nthe morning of Christmas day or that of New Year's day, should have\nblack or dark hair. Many make arrangements by special invitation that\nsome man or boy of dark hair, and otherwise approved, should present\nhimself at an early hour to wish the compliments of the season, and\nthe door is not opened to let any one else in until the arrival of the\nfavoured person. He is regaled with spice cake and cheese, and with\nale or spirits, as the case may be. All the 'ill luck'--that is, the\nuntoward circumstances of the year, would be ascribed to the accident\nof a person with light hair having been the first to enter a dwelling\non the mornings referred to. I have known instances where such\npersons, innocently presenting themselves, have met with anything but\na Christmas welcome. The great object of dread is a red-haired man or\nboy (women or girls of any coloured hair or complexion are not\nadmissible as the first visitors at all), and all light shades are\nobjectionable.\n\n\"I have not been able to trace the origin of the custom, nor do I\nremember having read any explanation of its meaning. I once heard an\naged woman, who was a most stern observer of all customs of the\nneighbourhood, especially those which had an air of mystery or a\nsuperstition attached to them, attempt to connect the observance with\nthe disciple who sold the Saviour. In her mind all the observances of\nChristmas were associated with the birth or death of Christ, and she\nmade no distinction whatever between the events which attended the\nNativity, and those which preceded and followed the Crucifixion. She\ntold me that Judas had red hair, and it was in vain to argue with her\nthat he had no connection whatever with the events which our Christmas\nsolemnities and festivities were intended to commemorate. It satisfied\nher mind, and that was enough. After many inquiries, I was not able to\nobtain any answer more reasonable.\"\n\nMore than twenty-two years after the above, another correspondent\nwriting on the subject to the same periodical (6th series, x. 482)\nsays (speaking of Yorkshire): \"The first person to enter the house on\na Christmas morning must be a male, and the first thing brought in\nmust be green. Some folks used to lay a bunch of holly on the doorstep\non Christmas Eve, so as to be ready. Some say you must not admit a\n_strange_ woman on Christmas day; but I have heard of one old\ngentleman near York who would never permit _any_ woman to enter his\nhouse on a Christmas Day.\"\n\nIt was formerly the custom of the city of Gloucester to present a\nlamprey pie to the king at Christmas. This custom was kept up until\nearly in this century, when it fell into desuetude. It was revived in\n1893, not at Christmas, but in May, when a beautiful pie, with finely\nmoulded paste, and enamelled silver skewers, which also served as\nspoons, was presented to Her Majesty.\n\nThere was, or is, a curious custom in Kent at Christ-tide called\n\"Hodening,\" the best account of which that I have seen is in the\n_Church Times_ of January 23, 1891: \"Hodening was observed on\nChristmas Eve at Walmer in 1886, which was the last time I spent the\nfestival there,\" writes one antiquary. Another writes: \"When I was a\nlad, about forty-five years since, it was always the custom, on\nChristmas Eve, with the male farm servants from every farm in our\nparish of Hoath (Borough of Reculver), and neighbouring parishes of\nHerne and Chislet, to go round in the evening from house to house with\nthe hoodining horse, which consisted of the imitation of a horse's\nhead made of wood, life size, fixed on a stick about the length of a\nbroom handle, the lower jaw of the head was made to open with hinges,\na hole was made through the roof of the mouth, then another through\nthe forehead, coming out by the throat; through this was passed a cord\nattached to the lower jaw, which, when pulled by the cord at the\nthroat, caused it to close and open; on the lower jaw large-headed\nhobnails were driven in to form the teeth. The strongest of the lads\nwas selected for the horse; he stooped, and made as long a back as he\ncould, supporting himself by the stick carrying the head; then he was\ncovered with a horsecloth, and one of his companions mounted his\nback. The horse had a bridle and reins. Then commenced the kicking,\nrearing, jumping, etc., and the banging together of the teeth. As soon\nas the doors were opened the 'horse' would pull his string\nincessantly, and the noise made can be better imagined than described.\nI confess that, in my very young days, I was horrified at the approach\nof the hoodining horse, but, as I grew older, I used to go round with\nthem. I was at Hoath on Thursday last, and asked if the custom was\nstill kept up. It appears it is now three or four years since it has\ntaken place. I never heard of it in the Isle of Thanet. There was no\nsinging going on with the hoodining horse, and the party was strictly\nconfined to the young men who went with the horses on the farms. I\nhave seen some of the wooden heads carved out quite hollow in the\nthroat part, and two holes bored through the forehead to form the\neyes. The lad who played the horse would hold a lighted candle in the\nhollow, and you can imagine how horrible it was to any one who opened\nthe door to see such a thing close to his eyes. Carollers in those\ndays were called hoodiners in the parishes I have named.\"\n\nAnd the following communication is interesting and valuable: \"Some\nsuch custom prevailed in the seventh century. In the _Penitential_ of\nArchbishop Theodore (d. 690) penances are ordained for 'any who, on\nthe Kalends of January, clothe themselves with the skins of cattle and\ncarry heads of animals.' The practice is condemned as being\n_daemoniacum_ (see Kemble's _Saxons_, vol. i., p. 525). The custom\nwould, therefore, seem to be of pagan origin, and the date is\npractically synchronous with Christmas, when, according to the rites\nof Scandinavian mythology, one of the three great annual festivals\ncommenced. At the sacrifices which formed part of these festivals, the\nhorse was a frequent victim in the offerings to Odin for martial\nsuccess, just as in the offerings to Frey for a fruitful year the hog\nwas the chosen animal. I venture, therefore, to suggest that\n_hodening_ (or probably _Odening_) is a relic of the Scandinavian\nmythology of our forefathers.\"\n\nBrand says: \"It has been satisfactorily shown that the _Mari Lhoyd_,\nor horse's skull decked with ribbons, which used to be carried about\nat Christmas in Wales, was not exclusively a Welsh custom, but was\nknown and practised in the border counties. It was undoubtedly a form\nof the old English Hobby Horse, one universally prevalent as a popular\nsport, and conducted, as the readers of Strutt, Douce, and others are\nalready well aware, with all kinds of grotesque and whimsical\nmummery.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI\n\n     Curious Gambling Customs in Church--Boon granted--Sheaf of\n     Corn for the Birds--Crowning of the Cock--\"The Lord Mayor of\n     Pennyless Cove\"--\"Letting in Yule\"--Guisards--Christmas in\n     the Highlands--Christmas in Shetland--Christmas in Ireland.\n\n\nIn 1570 was published \"The Popish Kingdome, or, Reigne of Antichrist,\nwritten in Latin Verse by Thomas Naogeorgus (Kirchmayer) and englished\nby Barnabe Googe,\" and in it we have some curious Christmas customs\nand folk-lore.\n\n     Then comes the day wherein the Lorde did bring his birth to passe;\n     Whereas at midnight up they rise, and every man to Masse.\n     This time so holy counted is, that divers earnestly\n     Do thinke the waters all to wine are chaunged sodainly;\n     In that same houre that Christ himselfe was borne, and came to light,\n     And unto water streight againe transformde and altred quight.\n     There are beside that mindfully the money still do watch,\n     That first to aultar commes, which then they privily do snatch.\n     The priestes, least other should it have, takes oft the same away,\n     Whereby they thinke, throughout the yeare to have good lucke in play,\n     And not to lose: then straight at game till day-light do they strive,\n     To make some present proofe how well their hallowde pence wil thrive.\n     Three Masses every priest doth sing upon that solemne day,\n     With offrings unto every one, that so the more may play.\n     This done, a woodden child in clowtes is on the aultar set,\n     About the which both boyes and gyrles do daunce and trymly jet,\n     And Carrols sing in prayse of Christ, and, for to helpe them heare,\n     The organs aunswere every verse with sweete and solemne cheere.\n     The priestes doe rore aloude; and round about the parentes stande,\n     To see the sport, and with their voyce do helpe them and their hande.\n\nAnother old Christmas belief may be found in the _Golden Legend_,\nprinted by Wynkyn de Worde, where it is said, \"that what persone\nbeynge in clene lyfe desyre on thys daye (_Christmas_) a boone of God:\nas ferre as it is ryghtfull and good for hym, our lorde at reuerence\nof thys blessid and hye feste of his natiuite wol graunt it to hym.\"\n\nMost English Christmas customs, save the Christmas Tree, cards, and\nthe stocking hung up to receive gifts, are old, but one of the\nprettiest modern ones that I know of was started by the Rev. J.\nKenworthy, Rector of Ackworth, in Yorkshire, about forty years since,\nof hanging a sheaf of corn outside the church porch, on Christmas eve,\nfor the special benefit of the birds. It seems a pity that it is not\nuniversally practised in rural parishes.\n\nTo be spoken of in the past tense also are, I fear, the Christ-tide\ncustoms of Wales--the _Mari Lhoyd_, or _Lwyd_, answering to the\nKentish _Hodening_, and the _Pulgen_, or the Crowning of the Cock,\nwhich was a simple religious ceremony. About three o'clock on\nChristmas morning the Welsh in many parts used to assemble in church,\nand, after prayers and a sermon, continue there singing psalms and\nhymns with great devotion till it was daylight; and if, through age or\ninfirmity, any were disabled from attending, they never failed having\nprayers at home and carols on our Saviour's nativity.\n\nAt Tenby it was customary at four o'clock on Christmas morning for\nthe young men of the town to escort the rector with lighted torches\nfrom his residence to the church. Sometimes also, before or after\nChristmas day, the fishermen of Tenby dressed up one of their number,\nwhom they called the \"Lord Mayor of Pennyless Cove,\" with a covering\nof evergreens and a mask over his face; they would then carry him\nabout, seated in a chair, with flags flying, and a couple of violins\nplaying before him. Before every house the \"Lord Mayor\" would address\nthe occupants, wishing them a merry Christmas and a happy New Year. If\nhis good wishes were responded to with money his followers gave three\ncheers, the masquer would himself give thanks, and the crowd again\ncheered.\n\nIn Scotland, Christ-tide is not observed as much as in England, the\nScotch reserving all their festive energy for the New Year. Yet, in\nsome parts of Scotland, he who first opens the door on Yule day is\nesteemed more fortunate during the coming year than the remainder of\nthe family, because he \"lets in Yule.\" And Yule is treated as a real\nperson, as some people set a table or chair, covered with a clean\ncloth, in the doorway, and set upon it bread and cheese for Yule. It\nis common also to have a table covered in the house from morning till\nnight with bread and drink upon it, that every one who calls may take\na portion, and it is considered particularly inauspicious if any one\ncomes into a house and leaves it without doing so. However many be the\ncallers during the day, all must partake of the good cheer.\n\nIn Chambers's _Popular Rhymes_ (ed. 1870, p. 169), it is said that the\ndoings of the guisards (masquers) form a conspicuous feature in the\nNew Year proceedings throughout Scotland. The evenings on which these\npersons are understood to be privileged to appear are those of\nChristmas, Hogmanay, New Year's day, and Handsel Monday. Dressed in\nquaint and fantastic attire, they sing a selection of songs which have\nbeen practised by them some weeks before. There were important doings,\nhowever--one of a theatrical character. There is one rude and\ngrotesque drama (called Galatian) which they are accustomed to perform\non each of the four above-mentioned nights; and which, in various\nfragments or versions, exists in every part of Lowland Scotland. The\nperformers, who are never less than three, but sometimes as many as\nsix, having dressed themselves, proceed in a band from house to house,\ngenerally contenting themselves with the kitchen as an arena, whither,\nin mansions presided over by the spirit of good humour, the whole\nfamily will resort to witness the scene of mirth.\n\nGrant, in his _Popular Superstitions of the Highlands_, says that as\nsoon as the brightening glow of the eastern sky warns the anxious\nhousemaid of the approach of Christmas day, she rises, full of anxiety\nat the prospect of her morning labours. The meal, which was steeped in\nthe _sowans bowie_ a fortnight ago to make the _Prechdacdan sour_, or\n_sour scones_, is the first object of her attention. The gridiron is\nput on the fire, and the sour scones are soon followed by hard cakes,\nsoft cakes, buttered cakes, bannocks, and _pannich perm_. The baking\nbeing once over, the sowans pot succeeds the gridiron, full of new\nsowans, which are to be given to the family, agreeably to custom, this\nday in their beds. The sowans are boiled into the consistency of\nmolasses, when the _lagan-le-vrich_, or yeast bread, to distinguish it\nfrom boiled sowans, is ready. It is then poured into as many bickers\nas there are individuals to partake of it, and presently served to the\nwhole, both old and young. As soon as each despatches his bicker, he\njumps out of bed--the elder branches to examine the ominous signs of\nthe day, and the younger to enter into its amusements.\n\nFlocking to the swing--a favourite amusement on this occasion, the\nyoungest of the family gets the first \"shouder,\" and the next oldest\nto him, in regular succession. In order to add more to the spirit of\nthe exercise, it is a common practice with the person in the swing,\nand the person appointed to swing him, to enter into a very warm and\nhumorous altercation. As the swung person approaches the swinger, he\nexclaims, \"_Ei mi tu chal_\"--\"I'll eat your kail.\" To this the swinger\nreplies, with a violent shove, \"_Cha ni u mu chal_\"--\"You shan't eat\nmy kail.\" These threats and repulses are sometimes carried to such a\nheight as to break down or capsize the threatener, which generally\nputs an end to the quarrel.\n\nAs the day advances those minor amusements are terminated at the\nreport of the gun, or the rattle of the ball-clubs--the gun inviting\nthe marksmen to the _Kiavamuchd_, or prize-shooting, and the latter to\n_Luchd-vouil_, or the ball combatants--both the principal sports of\nthe day. Tired at length of the active amusements of the field, they\nexchange them for the substantial entertainment of the table. Groaning\nunder the \"_Sonsy Haggis_\" and many other savoury dainties, unseen for\ntwelve months before, the relish communicated to the company by the\nappearance of the festive board is more easily conceived than\ndescribed. The dinner once despatched, the flowing bowl succeeds, and\nthe sparkling glass flies to and fro like a weaver's shuttle. The rest\nof the day is spent in dancing and games.\n\nAn old Shetlander, telling about Yule-time in Shetland[64] in his\nboyhood, says: \"I daresay Yule--the dear Yule I remember so well--will\nere long be known and spoken of only as a tradition; for, altogether,\nlife in those islands is now very different from what it was some\nfifty or sixty years ago.\" Yule, it seems, was then kept on old\nChristmas day, and great were the preparations made for it. Everybody\nhad to have a new suit of clothes for the season, and the day began\nwith a breakfast at nine--a veritable feast of fat things; and \"before\nwe rise from the table, we have yet to partake of the crowning glory\nof a Yule breakfast, and without which we should not look upon it as a\nYule breakfast at all. From the sideboard are now brought and set\nbefore our host a large china punch-bowl, kept expressly for the\npurpose; a salver, with very ancient, curiously-shaped large\nglasses--also kept sacred to the occasion--and a cake-basket heaped\nwith rich, crisp shortbread. The bowl contains _whipcol_, the\nvenerable and famous Yule breakfast beverage. I do not know the origin\nor etymology of the name _whipcol_. I do not think it is to be found\nin any of the dictionaries. I do not know if it was a Yule drink of\nour Viking ancestors in the days of paganism. I do not know if there\nwas any truth in the tradition that it was the favourite drink of the\ndwellers in Valhalla, gods and heroes, when they kept their high Yule\nfestival. But this I know, there never was, in the old house, a Yule\nbreakfast without it. It had come down to us from time immemorial, and\nwas indissolubly connected with Yule morning. That is all I am able to\nsay about it, except that I am able to give the constituents of this\nluscious beverage, which is not to be confounded with egg-flip. The\nyelks of a dozen fresh eggs are whisked for about half an hour with\nabout a pound of sifted loaf sugar; nearly half a pint of old rum is\nadded, and then a pint of rich, sweet cream. A bumper of this, tossed\noff to many happy returns of Yule day, together with a large square of\nshortbread, always rounded up our Yule breakfast.\"\n\n[Footnote 64: _Chambers' Journal_, Dec. 21, 1881.]\n\nFootball was the only game played at, and at this they continued till\n3 P.M., when they sat down to a dinner which entirely eclipsed the\nbreakfast. After tea, there was dancing to the music of a fiddler\nuntil eleven, when a substantial supper was partaken of, then several\nglasses of potent punch, before retiring to rest. For a whole week\nthis feasting and football playing was kept up, and wonderful must\nhave been the constitutions of the Shetlanders who could stand it.\n\nIn Catholic Ireland, as opposed to Presbyterian Scotland, we might\nexpect a better observance of Christ-tide; and the best account I can\nfind of Christmas customs in Ireland is to be met with in _Notes and\nQueries_ (3rd series, viii. 495).\n\n\"Many of what are called 'the good old customs' are not now observed\nin the rural districts of Ireland; and I have heard ignorant old men\nattribute the falling off to the introduction of railways, the\nimprovement of agricultural operations, and cattle shows! Amongst some\nof the customs that I remember in the south-east of Ireland were the\nfollowing:\n\n\"A week or two before Christmas landed proprietors would have\nslaughtered fine fat bullocks, the greater portion of which would be\ndistributed to the poor; and farmers holding from ten acres of land\nupwards, were sure to kill a good fat pig, fed up for the purpose, for\nthe household; but the poorer neighbours were also certain of\nreceiving some portions as presents. When the hay was made up in the\nfarm yards, which was generally about the time that apples became\nripe, quantities of the fruit would be put in the hayricks, and left\nthere till Christmas. The apples thus received a fine flavour, no\ndoubt from the aroma of the new-mown hay. In localities of rivers\nfrequented by salmon, which came up with the floods of August and\nSeptember, the inhabitants used to select the largest fish, pickle\nthem in vinegar, whole ginger, and other spices, and retain them till\nChristmas, when they formed a most delicious dish at the breakfast\ntable. Large trout were preserved in like manner for the same purpose.\nEggs were collected in large quantities, and were preserved in corn\nchaff, after having been first rubbed over with butter. I have eaten\neggs, so preserved, after three or four months and they tasted as\nfresh as if only a day old.\n\n\"In districts where the farmers were well-to-do, and in hamlets and\nvillages, young men used to go about fantastically dressed, and with\nfifes and drums serenade and salute the inhabitants, for which they\nwere generally rewarded with eggs, butter, and bacon. These they would\nafterwards dispose of for money, and then have a 'batter,' which, as\nDr. Todd, of Trinity College, Dublin, truly says, is a 'drinking\nbout.' These bands of itinerant minstrels were called 'Mummers.' They\nare not now to be met with. It was usual for people to send presents\nto each other, which consisted chiefly of spirits (_potheen_,\nhome-made whisky), beer, fine flour, geese, turkeys, and hares. A\nbeverage called 'Mead,' which was extracted from honeycomb, was also a\nfavourite liquor, and when mixed with a little alcoholic spirit, was\nan agreeable drink, but deceitful and seductive, as well as\nintoxicating. This used to pass in large quantities amongst\nneighbours. 'Christmas cakes' and puddings were extensively made and\nsent as presents. The latter were particularly fine, and made with\nfine flour, eggs, butter, fruit, and spices. I have never met anything\nin cities and large towns to equal them in their way, both as regards\nwholesomeness and flavour.\n\n\"Of course, the houses were all decorated with holly and ivy, winter\nnatural flowers, and other emblems of joy. People hardly went to bed\nat all on Christmas eve, and the first who announced the crowing of\nthe Cock, if a male, was rewarded with a cup of tea, in which was\nmixed a glass of spirits; if a female, the tea only; but, as a\nsubstitute for the whisky, she was saluted with half a dozen kisses,\nwhich was the greatest compliment that could be paid her. The\nChristmas block for the fire, or Yule log, was indispensable. The\nlast place in which I saw it was the hall of Lord Ward's mansion, near\nDownpatrick, in Ireland; and although it was early in the forenoon,\nhis lordship (then a young man) insisted on my tasting a glass of\nwhisky, not to break the custom of the country, or the hall. He did\nthe same himself.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII\n\n     Ordinance against out-door Revelry--Marriage of a Lord of\n     Misrule--Mummers and Mumming--Country Mummers--Early\n     Play--Two modern Plays.\n\n\nThese Christmas revelries were sometimes carried to excess, and needed\ncurbing with the strong hand of the law, an early instance of which we\nfind in Letter Book I. of the Corporation of the City of London, fol.\n223, 6 Henry V., A.D. 1418.\n\n\"The Mair and Aldermen chargen on \u017ee kynges byhalf, and \u017eis Cite, \u017eat\nno manere persone, of what astate, degre, or condicoun \u017eat euere he\nbe, duryng \u017eis holy tyme of Christemes be so hardy in eny wyse to walk\nby nyght in eny manere mommyng, pleyes, enterludes, or eny o\u017eer\ndisgisynges with eny feynyd berdis,[65] peyntid visers, diffourmyd or\ncolourid visages in eny wyse, up peyne of enprisonement of her bodyes\nand makyng fyne after \u017ee discrecioun of \u017ee Mair and Aldremen;\nontake[66] \u017eat hit be leful to eche persone for to be honestly mery as\nhe can, within his owne hous dwellyng. And more ouere \u017eei charge on \u017ee\nKynges byhalf, and \u017ee Cite, \u017eat eche honest persone, dwellyng in eny\nhye strete or lane of \u017eis Citee, hang out of her house eche night,\nduryng \u017eis solempne Feste, a lanterne with a candell \u017eer in, to\nbrenne[67] as long as hit may endure, up[68] peyne to pay ivd, to \u017ee\nchaumbre at eche tyme \u017eat hit faillith.\"\n\n[Footnote 65: False beards.]\n\n[Footnote 66: Except that it shall be.]\n\n[Footnote 67: Burn.]\n\n[Footnote 68: Upon pain of paying.]\n\nAnd to cite another case, much later in date, the Commissioners for\nCauses Ecclesiastical kept strict watch on some of the Christmas\nrevellers of 1637. They had before them one Saunders, from\nLincolnshire, for carrying revelry too far. Saunders and others, at\nBlatherwick, had appointed a Lord of Misrule over their festivities.\nThis was perfectly lawful, and could not be gainsaid. But they had\nresolved that he should have a lady, or Christmas wife; and probably\nthere would have been no harm in that, if they had not carried the\nmatter too far. They, however, brought in as bride one Elizabeth\nPitto, daughter of the hog-herd of the town. Saunders received her,\ndisguised as a parson, wearing a shirt or smock for a surplice. He\nthen married the Lord of Misrule to the hog-herd's daughter, reading\nthe whole of the marriage service from the Book of Common Prayer. All\nthe after ceremonies and customs then in use were observed, and the\naffair was carried to its utmost extent. The parties had time to\nrepent at leisure in prison.\n\nThe old English disport of mumming at Christmas is of great\nantiquity--so great that its origin is lost. Fosbroke, in his\n_Encyclopaedia of Antiquities_ (ed. 1843, ii. 668), says, under the\nheading \"Mummers: These were amusements derived from the Saturnalia,\nand so called from the Danish _mumme_, or Dutch _momme_--disguise in a\nmask. Christmas was the grand scene of mumming, and some mummers were\ndisguised as bears, others like unicorns, bringing presents. Those who\ncould not procure masks rubbed their faces with soot, or painted them.\nIn the Christmas mummings the chief aim was to surprise by the oddity\nof the masks, and singularity and splendour of the dresses. Everything\nwas out of nature and propriety. They were often attended with an\nexhibition of gorgeous machinery.[69] It was an old custom also to\nhave mummeries on Twelfth night. They were the common holiday\namusements of young people of both sexes; but by 6 Edward III. the\nmummers, or masqueraders, were ordered to be whipped out of London.\"\n\n[Footnote 69: Fosbroke here seems to have mixed up masquers and\nmummers.]\n\nThe original mumming was in dumb show, and was sometimes of\nconsiderable proportions, _vide_ one in 1348, where there were \"eighty\ntunics of buckram, forty-two visors, and a great variety of other\nwhimsical dresses were provided for the disguising at court at the\nFeast of Christmas.\" A most magnificent mummery or disguising was\nexhibited by the citizens of London in 1377, for the amusement of\nRichard, Prince of Wales, in which no fewer than 130 persons were\ndisguised; which, with that in 1401, I have already described. Philip\nStubbes, the Puritan, says: \"In 1440, one captain John Gladman, a man\never true and faithful to God and the King, and constantly sportive,\nmade public disport with his neighbours at Christmas. He traversed the\ntown on a horse as gaily caparisoned as himself, preceded by the\ntwelve months, each dressed in character. After him crept the pale\nattenuated figure of Lent, clothed in herring skins, and mounted on a\nsorry horse, whose harness was covered with oyster shells. A train,\nfantastically garbed, followed. Some were clothed as bears, apes, and\nwolves; others were tricked out in armour; a number appeared as\nharridans, with blackened faces and tattered clothes, and all kept up\na promiscuous fight. Last of all marched several carts, whereon a\nnumber of fellows, dressed as old fools, sat upon nests, and pretended\nto hatch young fools.\"\n\nWe still have our mummers in very many a country village; but the\nsport is now confined to the village boys, who, either masked or with\npainted faces, ribbons, and other finery (I have known them tricked\nout with paper streamers, obtained from a neighbouring paper mill),\nact a play(!), and, of course, ask for money at its conclusion. By\nsome, it is considered that this play originated in the commemoration\nof the doughty deeds of the Crusaders.\n\nThe earliest of these plays that I can find is in a fifteenth century\nMS.--_temp._ Edward IV.--and the characters are the nine worthies:\n\n_Ector de Troye._     Thow Achylles in bataly me slow,\n                           Of my worthynes men speken I now.\n\n_Alisander._          And in romaunce often am I leyt,\n                           As conqueror gret thow I seyt.\n\n_Julius Caesar._       Thow my cenatoures me slow in c[=o]llory,\n                           Fele londes byfore by conquest wan I.\n\n_Josue._              In holy Chyrche 3e mowen here and rede,\n                           Of my worthynes and of my dede.\n\n_Dauit._              After y^{t} slayn was Golyas,\n                           By me the sawter than made was.\n\n_Judas Macabeus._     Of my wurthynesse 3yf 3e wyll wete,\n                           Secke the byble, for ther it is wrete.\n\n_Arthour._            The round tabyll I sette w^{t} Knyghtes strong,\n                           Zyt shall I come a3en, thow it be long.\n\n_Charles._            With me dwellyd Rouland Olyvere,\n                           In all my conquest fer and nere.\n\n_Godefry de Boleyn._  And I was Kyng of Jherusalem,\n                           The crowne of thorn I wan fro hem.\n\nOf the comparatively modern play acted by the mummers space only\nenables me to give two examples, although I could give many more. The\nfirst is the simplest, and only requires three principal actors, and\nthis is still played in Oxfordshire.[70]\n\n[Footnote 70: _Notes and Queries_, 6th series xii. 489.]\n\n_A Knight enters with his sword drawn, and says:_\n\n     Room, room, make room, brave gallants all,\n     For me and my brave company!\n     Where's the man that dares bid me stand?\n     I'll cut him down with my bold hand!\n\n_St. George._  Here's the man that dares bid you stand;\n                    He defies your courageous hand!\n\n_The Knight._  Then mind your eye, to guard the blow,\n                    And shield your face, and heart also.\n\n(_St. George gets wounded in the combat, and falls._)\n\n     Doctor, Doctor, come here and see,\n     St. George is wounded in the knee;\n     Doctor, Doctor, play well your part.\n     St. George is wounded in the heart!\n\n(_The Doctor enters._)\n\n     I am a Doctor, and a Doctor good,\n     And with my hand I'll stop the blood.\n\n_The Knight._  What can you cure, Doctor?\n\n_The Doctor._  I can cure coughs, colds, fevers, gout,\n                    Both pains within and aches without;\n                    I will bleed him in the thumb.\n\n_St. George._  O! will you so? then I'll get up and run!\n\n_Some more Mummers or Minstrels come in, and they sing the following\nstanza, accompanied by the Hurdy Gourdy_:--\n\n     My father, he killed a fine fat hog,\n       And that you may plainly see;\n     My mother gave me the guts of the hog,\n       To make a hurdy gourdy.\n\n_Then they repeat the song in full chorus, and dance._\n\nThe other example is far more elaborate, and was read by J.S. Udal,\nEsquire, in a paper on Christmas Mummers in Dorsetshire before the\nFolk-lore Society, 13th April 1880. He said: \"I will now proceed to\ngive the entire rendering of the first version as it was obtained for\nme, some few years ago, by an old Dorsetshire lady, who is now dead,\nand in this the _dramatis personae_ are as follow:--\n\n     \"OLD FATHER CHRISTMAS.\n     ROOM.\n     ANTHONY, the Egyptian King.\n     ST. GEORGE.\n     ST. PATRICK.\n     CAPTAIN BLUSTER.\n     GRACIOUS KING.\n     GENERAL VALENTINE.\n     COLONEL SPRING.\n     OLD BETTY.\n     DOCTOR.\n     SERVANT-MAN.\"\n\n_Enter_ OLD FATHER CHRISTMAS.\n\n     Here comes I, Father Christmas, welcome, or welcome not,\n     I hope Old Father Christmas will never be forgot.\n     Although it is Old Father Christmas, he has but a short time to stay\n     I am come to show you pleasure, and pass the time away.\n     I have been far, I have been near,\n     And now, I am come to drink a pot of your Christmas beer;\n     And, if it is your best,\n     I hope, in heaven your soul will rest.\n     If it is a pot of your small,\n     We cannot show you no Christmas at all.\n     Walk in, Room, again I say,\n     And, pray, good people, clear the way.\n     Walk in, Room.\n\n_Enter_ ROOM.\n\n     God bless you all, Ladies and Gentlemen,\n     It's Christmas time, and I am come again.\n     My name is Room, one sincere and true,\n     A merry Christmas I wish to you.\n     King of Egypt is for to display,\n     A noble champion without delay.\n     St. Patrick too, a charming Irish youth,\n     He can fight, or dance, or love a girl with truth.\n     A noble Doctor, I do declare, and his surprising tricks, bring up\n       the rear.\n     And let the Egyptian King straightway appear.\n\n_Enter_ EGYPTIAN KING.\n\n     Here comes I, Anthony, the Egyptian King.\n     With whose mighty acts, all round the globe doth ring;\n     No other champion but me excels,\n     Except St. George, my only son-in-law.\n     Indeed, that wondrous Knight, whom I so dearly love,\n     Whose mortal deeds the world dost well approve,\n     The hero whom no dragon could affright,\n     A whole troop of soldiers couldn't stand in sight.\n     Walk in, St. George, his warlike ardour to display,\n     And show Great Britain's enemies dismay.\n     Walk in, St. George.\n\n_Enter_ ST. GEORGE.\n\n     Here am I, St. George, an Englishman so stout,\n     With those mighty warriors I long to have a bout;\n     No one could ever picture me the many I have slain,\n     I long to fight, it's my delight, the battle o'er again.\n     Come then, you boasting champions,\n     And here, that in war I doth take pleasure,\n     I will fight you all, both great and small,\n     And slay you at my leisure.\n     Come, haste, away, make no delay,\n     For I'll give you something you won't like,\n     And, like a true-born Englishman,\n     I will fight you on my stumps.\n     And, now, the world I do defy,\n     To injure me before I die.\n     So, now, prepare for war, for that is my delight.\n\n_Enter_ ST. PATRICK, _who shakes hands with_ ST. GEORGE.\n\n     My worthy friend, how dost thou fare, St. George?\n     Answer, my worthy Knight.\n\nST. GEORGE.\n\n     I am glad to find thee here;\n     In many a fight that I have been in, travelled far and near,\n     To find my worthy friend St. Patrick, that man I love so dear.\n     Four bold warriors have promised me\n     To meet me here this night to fight.\n     The challenge did I accept, but they could not me affright.\n\nST. PATRICK.\n\n     I will always stand by that man that did me first enlarge,\n     I thank thee now, in gratitude, my worthy friend, St. Geaerge;\n     Thou did'st first deliver me out of this wretched den,\n     And now I have my liberty, I thank thee once again.\n\n_Enter_ CAPTAIN BLUSTER.\n\n     I'll give St. George a thrashing, I'll make him sick and sore,\n     And, if I further am disposed, I'll thrash a dozen more.\n\nST. PATRICK.\n\n     Large words, my worthy friend,\n     St. George is here,\n     And likewise St. Patrick too;\n     And he doth scorn such men as you.\n     I am the man for thee,\n     Therefore, prepare yourself to fight with me;\n     Or, else, I'll slay thee instantly.\n\nCAPTAIN BLUSTER.\n\n     Come on, my boy! I'll die before\n     I yield to thee, or twenty more.\n\n(_They fight, and_ ST. PATRICK _kills_ CAPTAIN BLUSTER.)\n\nST. PATRICK.\n\n     Now one of St. George's foes is killed by me,\n     Who fought the battle o'er,\n     And, now, for the sake of good St. George,\n     I'll freely fight a hundred more.\n\nST. GEORGE.\n\n     No, no, my worthy friend,\n     St. George is here,\n     I'll fight the other three;\n     And, after that, with Christmas beer,\n     So merry we will be.\n\n_Enter_ GRACIOUS KING.\n\n     No beer, or brandy, Sir, I want, my courage for to rise,\n     I only want to meet St. George, or take him by surprise;\n     But I am afraid he never will fight me,\n     I wish I could that villain see.\n\nST. GEORGE.\n\n     Tremble, thou tyrant, for all thy sin that's past,\n     Tremble to think that this night will be thy last.\n     Thy conquering arms shall quickly by thee lay alone\n     And send thee, passing, to eternal doom.\n     St. George will make thy armour ring;\n     St. George will soon despatch the Gracious King.\n\nGRACIOUS KING.\n\n     I'll die before I yield to thee, or twenty more.\n\n(_They fight_, ST. GEORGE _kills the_ GRACIOUS KING.)\n\nST. GEORGE.\n\n     He was no match for me, he quickly fell.\n\n_Enter_ GENERAL VALENTINE.\n\n     But I am thy match, and that my sword shall tell,\n     Prepare thyself to die, and bid thy friends farewell.\n     I long to fight such a brave man as thee,\n     For it's a pleasure to fight so manfully\n                     (_a line missing._)\n     Rations so severe he never so long to receive.\n     So cruel! for thy foes are always killed;\n     Oh! what a sight of blood St. George has spilled!\n     I'll fight St. George the hero here,\n     Before I sleep this night.\n     Come on, my boy, I'll die before\n     I yield to thee, or twenty more.\n     St. George, thou and I'll the battle try,\n     If thou dost conquer I will die.\n\n(_They fight_, ST. GEORGE _kills the_ GENERAL.)\n\nST. GEORGE.\n\n     Where now is Colonel Spring? he doth so long delay,\n     That hero of renown, I long to show him play.\n\n_Enter_ COLONEL SPRING.\n\n     Holloa! behold me, here am I!\n     I'll have thee now prepare,\n     And by this arm thou'lt surely die,\n     I'll have thee this night, beware.\n     So, see, what bloody works thou'st made,\n     Thou art a butcher, sir, by trade.\n     I'll kill, as thou did'st kill my brother,\n     For one good turn deserves another.\n\n(_They fight_, ST. GEORGE _kills the_ COLONEL.)\n\nST. PATRICK.\n\nStay thy hand, St. George, and slay no more; for I feel for the wives\nand families of those men thou hast slain.\n\nST. GEORGE.\n\nSo am I sorry. I'll freely give any sum of money to a doctor to\nrestore them again. I have heard talk of a mill to grind old men\nyoung, but I never heard of a doctor to bring dead men to life again.\n\nST. PATRICK.\n\nThere's an Irish doctor, a townsman of mine, who lived next door to\nSt. Patrick, he can perform wonders. Shall I call him, St. George?\n\nST. GEORGE.\n\nWith all my heart. Please to walk in, Mr. Martin Dennis. It's an ill\nwind that blows no good work for the doctor. If you will set these men\non\n\n_Enter_ DOCTOR.\n\ntheir pins, I'll give thee a hundred pound, and here is the money.\n\nDOCTOR.\n\nSo I will, my worthy knight, and then I shall not want for whiskey for\none twelvemonth to come. I am sure, the first man I saw beheaded, I\nput his head on the wrong way. I put his mouth where his poll ought to\nbe, and he's exhibited in a wondering nature.\n\nST. GEORGE.\n\nVery good answer, Doctor. Tell me the rest of your miracles, and raise\nthose warriors.\n\nDOCTOR.\n\nI can cure love-sick maidens, jealous husbands, squalling wives,\nbrandy-drinking dames, with one touch of my triple liquid, or one sly\ndose of my Jerusalem balsam, and that will make an old crippled dame\ndance the hornpipe, or an old woman of seventy years of age conceive\nand bear a twin. And now to convince you all of my exertions,--Rise,\nCaptain Bluster, Gracious King, General Valentine, and Colonel Spring!\nRise, and go to your father!\n\n(_On the application of the medicine they all rise and retire._)\n\n_Enter_ OLD BET.\n\n     Here comes dame Dorothy,\n     A handsome young woman, good morning to ye.\n     I am rather fat, but not very tall,\n     I'll do my best endeavour to please you all.\n     My husband, he is to work, and soon he will return,\n     And something for our supper bring,\n     And, perhaps, some wood to burn.\n     Oh! here he comes!\n\n_Enter_ JAN, _or_ OLD FATHER CHRISTMAS.\n\nWell! Jan.\n\nOLD FATHER CHRISTMAS.\n\nOh! Dorothy.\n\nOLD BET.\n\nWhat have you been doing all this long day, Jan?\n\nOLD FATHER CHRISTMAS.\n\nI have been a-hunting, Bet.\n\nOLD BET.\n\nThe devil! a-hunting is it? Is that the way to support a wife? Well,\nwhat have you catched to-day, Jan?\n\nOLD FATHER CHRISTMAS.\n\nA fine jack hare, and I intend to have him a-fried for supper; and\nhere is some wood to dress him.\n\nOLD BET.\n\nFried! no, Jan, I'll roast it nice.\n\nOLD FATHER CHRISTMAS.\n\nI say, I'll have it fried.\n\nOLD BET.\n\nWas there ever such a foolish dish!\n\nOLD FATHER CHRISTMAS.\n\n     No matter for that. I'll have it a-done; and if you don't do as I\n       do bid,\n     I'll hit you in the head.\n\nOLD BET.\n\n     You may do as you like for all I do care,\n     I'll never fry a dry jack hare.\n\nOLD FATHER CHRISTMAS.\n\nOh! you won't, wooll'ee?\n\n(_He strikes her and she falls._)\n\n     Oh! what have I done! I have murdered my wife!\n     The joy of my heart, and the pride of my life.\n     And out to the gaol I quickly shall be sent.\n     In a passion I did it, and no malice meant.\n     Is there a doctor that can restore?\n     Fifty pounds I'll give him, or twice fifty more.\n\n(_Some one speaks._)\n\nOh! yes, Uncle Jan, there is a doctor just below, and for God's sake\nlet him just come in. Walk in, Doctor.\n\n_Enter_ DOCTOR.\n\nOLD FATHER CHRISTMAS.\n\nAre you a doctor?\n\nDOCTOR.\n\nYes, I am a doctor--a doctor of good fame. I have travelled through\nEurope, Asia, Africa, and America, and by long practice and experience\nI have learned the best of cures for most disorders instant\n(_incident?_) to the human body; find nothing difficult in restoring a\nlimb, or mortification, or an arm being cut off by a sword, or a head\nbeing struck off by a cannon-ball, if application have not been\ndelayed till it is too late.\n\nOLD FATHER CHRISTMAS.\n\n     You are the very man, I plainly see,\n     That can restore my poor old wife to me.\n     Pray tell me thy lowest fee.\n\nDOCTOR.\n\n     A hundred guineas, I'll have to restore thy wife,\n     'Tis no wonder that you could not bring the dead to life.\n\nOLD FATHER CHRISTMAS.\n\nThat's a large sum of money for a dead wife!\n\nDOCTOR.\n\nSmall sum of money to save a man from the gallows. Pray what big stick\nis that you have in your hand?\n\nOLD FATHER CHRISTMAS.\n\nThat is my hunting pole.\n\nDOCTOR.\n\nPut aside your hunting pole, and get some assistance to help up your\nwife.\n\n(OLD BET _is raised up to life again._)\n\nFal, dal, lal! fal, dal, lal! my wife's alive!\n\n_Enter_ SERVANT MAN _who sings._\n\n     Well met, my brother dear!\n     All on the highway\n     Sall and I were walking along,\n     So I pray, come tell to me\n     What calling you might be.\n     I'll have you for some serving man.\n\nOLD FATHER CHRISTMAS.\n\n     I'll give thee many thanks,\n     And I'll quit thee as soon as I can;\n     Vain did I know\n     Where thee could do so or no,\n     For to the pleasure of a servant man.\n\nSERVANT MAN.\n\n     Some servants of pleasure\n     Will pass time out of measure,\n     With our hares and hounds\n     They will make the hills and valleys sound\n     That's a pleasure for some servant man.\n\nOLD FATHER CHRISTMAS.\n\n     My pleasure is more than for to see my oxen grow fat,\n     And see them prove well in their kind,\n     A good rick of hay, and a good stack of corn to fill up my barn,\n     That's a pleasure of a good honest husband man.\n\nSERVANT MAN.\n\n     Next to church they will go with their livery fine and gay,\n     With their cocked-up hat, and gold lace all round,\n     And their shirt so white as milk,\n     And stitched so fine as silk,\n     That's a habit for a servant man.\n\nOLD FATHER CHRISTMAS.\n\n     Don't tell I about thee silks and garments that's not fit to\n       travel the bushes.\n     Let I have on my old leather coat,\n     And in my purse a groat,\n     And there, that's a habit for a good old husband man.\n\nSERVANT MAN.\n\n     Some servant men doth eat\n     The very best of meat,\n     A cock, goose, capon, and swan;\n     After lords and ladies dine,\n     We'll drink strong beer, ale, and wine;\n     That's a diet for some servant man.\n\nOLD FATHER CHRISTMAS.\n\nDon't tell I of the cock, goose, or capon, nor swan; let I have a good\nrusty piece of bacon, pickled pork, in the house, and a hard crust of\nbread and cheese once now and then; that's a diet for a good old\nhonest husband man.\n\n     So we needs must confess\n     That your calling is the best,\n     And we will give you the uppermost hand;\n     So no more we won't delay,\n     But we will pray both night and day,\n     God bless the honest husband man. Amen.\n\n[_Exeunt_ OMNES.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII\n\n     A Christmas jest--Ben Jonson's Masque of Christmas--Milton's\n     Masque of Comus--Queen Elizabeth and the Masters of Defence.\n\n\nThis is rather sorry stuff; but then in purely rural places, untouched\nby that great civiliser, the railroad, a little wit goes a great way,\nas we may see by the following story told in Pasquil's \"Jests,\" 1604.\n\"There was some time an old knight, who, being disposed to make\nhimself merry on a Christmas time, sent for many of his tenants and\npoore neighbours, with their wives to dinner; when, having made meat\nto be set on the table, he would suffer no man to drinke till he that\nwas master over his wife should sing a carrol; great niceness there\nwas who should be the musician. Yet with much adoe, looking one upon\nanother, after a dry hemme or two, a dreaming companion drew out as\nmuch as he durst towards an ill-fashioned ditty. When, having made an\nend, to the great comfort of the beholders, at last it came to the\nwomen's table, when, likewise, commandment was given that there should\nno drinkes be touched till she that was master over her husband had\nsung a Christmas carroll, whereupon they fell all to such a singing\nthat there never was heard such a catterwauling piece of musicke.\nWhereat the knight laughed so heartily that it did him halfe as much\ngood as a corner of his Christmas pie.\"\n\nOf Masques I have already written, in describing Royal Christ-tides,\nbut there is one, a notice of which must not be omitted, Ben Jonson's\nMasque of Christmas, as it was presented at Court 1616. The _dramatis\npersonae_ are:--\n\nCHRISTMAS, attired in round hose, long stockings, a closed doublet, a\nhigh-crowned hat, with a brooch, a long thin beard, a truncheon,\nlittle ruffs, white shoes, his scarfs and garters tied cross, and his\ndrum beaten before him.\n\nHIS SONS AND DAUGHTERS (ten in number) led in, in a string, by CUPID,\nwho is attired in a flat cap, and a prentice's coat, with wings at his\nshoulders.\n\nMISRULE, in a velvet cap, with a sprig, a short cloak, great yellow\nruff, his torch-bearer bearing a rope, a cheese, and a basket.\n\nCAROL, a long tawney coat, with a red cap, and a flute at his girdle,\nhis torch-bearer carrying a song-book open.\n\nMINCED PIE, like a fine cook's wife, drest neat; her man carrying a\npie, dish, and spoons.\n\nGAMBOL, like a tumbler, with a hoop and bells; his torch-bearer arm'd\nwith a colt staff and a binding staff.\n\nPOST AND PAIR, with a pair-royal of aces in his hat; his garment all\ndone over with pairs and purs; his squire carrying a box, cards, and\ncounters.\n\nNEW YEAR'S GIFT, in a blue coat, serving man like, with an orange, and\na sprig of rosemary gilt, on his head, his hat full of brooches, with\na collar of gingerbread; his torch-bearer carrying a march pane with a\nbottle of wine on either arm.\n\nMUMMING, in a masquing pied suit, with a vizard; his torch-bearer\ncarrying the box, and ringing it.\n\nWASSEL, like a neat sempster and songster; her page bearing a brown\nbowl, drest with ribands, and rosemary, before her.\n\nOFFERING, in a short gown, with a porter's staff in his hand, a wyth\nborne before him, and a bason, by his torch-bearer.\n\nBABY CAKE (_Twelfth cake_), dressed like a boy, in a fine long coat,\nbiggin bib, muckender, and a little dagger; his usher bearing a great\ncake, with a bean and a pease.\n\nAfter some dialogue, Christmas introduces his family in the following\nsong:--\n\n     Now, their intent, is above to present,\n       With all the appurtenances,\n     A right Christmas, as, of old, it was,\n       To be gathered out of the dances.\n\n     Which they do bring, and afore the king,\n       The queen, and prince, as it were now\n     Drawn here by love; who over and above,\n       Doth draw himself in the geer too.\n\n[_Here the drum and fife sounds, and they march about once. In the\nsecond coming up_, Christmas _proceeds to his_ Song.]\n\n     Hum drum, sauce for a coney;\n       No more of your martial music;\n     Even for the sake o' the next new stake,\n       For there I do mean to use it.\n\n     And now to ye, who in place are to see\n       With roll and farthingale hooped;\n     I pray you know, though he want his bow,\n       By the wings, that this is CUPID.\n\n     He might go back, for to cry _What you lack?_\n       But that were not so witty:\n     His cap and coat are enough to note,\n       That he is the Love o' the City.\n\n     And he leads on, though he now be gone,\n       For that was only his rule:\n     But now comes in, Tom of Bosom's-Inn,\n       And he presenteth MIS-RULE.\n\n     Which you may know, by the very show,\n       Albeit you never ask it:\n     For there you may see, what his ensigns be,\n       The rope, the cheese, and the basket.\n\n     This CAROL plays, and has been in his days\n       A chirping boy, and a kill-pot.\n     Kit cobler it is, I'm a father of his,\n       And he dwells in the lane called Fill-pot.\n\n     But, who is this? O, my daughter Cis,\n       MINCED PIE; with her do not dally\n     On pain o' your life; she's an honest cook's wife,\n       And comes out of Scalding-alley.\n\n     Next in the trace, comes GAMBOL in place;\n       And to make my tale the shorter,\n     My son Hercules, tane out of Distaff lane,\n       But an active man and a porter.\n\n     Now, POST AND PAIR, old Christmas's heir,\n       Doth make and a gingling sally;\n     And wot you who, 'tis one of my two\n       Sons, card makers in Pur-alley.\n\n     Next, in a trice, with his box and his dice,\n       Mac' pipin my son, but younger,\n     Brings MUMMING in; and the knave will win\n       For he is a costermonger.\n\n     But NEW YEAR'S GIFT, of himself makes shift\n       To tell you what his name is;\n     With orange on head, and his gingerbread,\n       Clem Waspe of Honey lane 'tis.\n\n     This, I you tell, is our jolly WASSEL,\n       And for Twelfth night more meet too;\n     She works by the ell, and her name is Nell,\n       And she dwells in Threadneedle street too.\n\n     Then OFFERING, he, with his dish and his tree,\n       That in every great house keepeth,\n     Is by my son, young Little-worth, done,\n       And in Penny-rich street he sleepeth.\n\n     Last BABY CAKE, that an end doth make\n       Of Christmas merry, merry vein-a,\n     Is child Rowlan, and a straight young man,\n       Though he comes out of Crooked lane-a.\n\n     There should have been, and a dozen, I ween,\n       But I could find but one more\n     Child of Christmas, and a LOG it was,\n       When I had them all gone o'er.\n\n     I prayed him, in a tune so trim,\n       That he would make one to prance it:\n     And I myself would have been the twelfth,\n       O! but LOG was too heavy to dance it.\n\nNor must we forget a Masque by Milton, \"Comus, a Masque, at Ludlow\nCastle, 1634,\" in which appeared the Lord Brockley, Mr. Thomas\nEgerton, his brother, and the Lady Alice Egerton.\n\nBut all Christmas sports were not so gentle as was the Masque, as the\nfollowing account of the Virgin Queen's amusements shows us. Amongst\nthe original letters preserved by the descendants of Sir John Kytson,\nof Hengrave Hall, is one addressed by Christopher Playter to Mr.\nKytson, in 1572, which contains the following: \"At Chris-time here\nwere certayne ma^{rs} of defence, that did challenge all comers at all\nweapons, as long sworde, staff, sword and buckler, rapier with the\ndagger: and here was many broken heads, and one of the ma^{rs} of\ndefence dyed upon the hurt which he received on his head. The\nchallenge was before the quenes Ma^{tie}, who seemes to have pleasure\ntherein; for when some of them would have sollen a broken pate, her\nMajesty bade him not to be ashamed to put off his cap, and the blood\nwas spied to run about his face. There was also at the corte new\nplays, w^{h} lasted almost all night. The name of the play was huff,\nsuff, and ruff, with other masks both of ladies and gents.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIX\n\n     The Lord of Misrule--The \"Emperor\" and \"King\" at\n     Oxford--Dignity of the Office--Its abolition in the City of\n     London--The functions of a Lord of Misrule--Christmas at the\n     Temple--A grand Christmas there.\n\n\nWe have seen in the account of historic Christ-tides how a Lord of\nMisrule was nominated to amuse Edward VI., and with what honour he was\nreceived at the Mansion house. The popular idea of the Lord of Misrule\nis that he was a buffoon; but this is far from being the case. Warton\nsays that, in an original draught of the Statutes of Trinity College,\nCambridge, founded in 1546, one of the chapters is entitled \"De\nPraefecto Ludorum, qui IMPERATOR dicitur.\" And it was ordered, as\ndefining the office of \"Emperor,\" that one of the Masters of Arts\nshould be placed over the juniors every Christmas for the regulation\nof their games and diversions at that season. His sovereignty was to\nlast during the twelve days of Christmas, and also on Candlemas day,\nand his fee was forty shillings. Warton also found a disbursement in\nan audit book of Trinity Coll. Oxon. for 1559. \"Pro prandio _Principis\nNatalicii_.\"\n\nAnthony a Wood, in his _Athenae_, speaking of the \"Christmas Prince of\nSt. John's College, whom the Juniors have annually, for the most part,\nelected from the first foundation of that College,\" says: \"The custom\nwas not only observed in that College, but in several other Houses,\nparticularly in Merton College, where, from the first foundation, the\nfellows annually elected, about St. Edmund's Day, in November, a\nChristmas Lord, or Lord of Misrule, styled in the Registers _Rex\nFabarum_, and _Rex Regni Fabarum_: which custom continued till the\nReformation of Religion, and then that producing Puritanism, and\nPuritanism Presbytery, the possession of it looked upon such laudable\nand ingenious customs as popish, diabolical, and anti-Christian.\"\n\nThe office was one of dignity, as we may see by Henry Machyn's diary,\n1551-52: \"The iiij day of Januarii was made a grett skaffold in chepe,\nhard by the crosse, agaynst the kynges lord of myssrule cummyng from\nGrenwyche and (he) landyd at Toure warff, and with hym yonge knyghts\nand gentyllmen a gret nombur on hosse bake sum in gownes and cotes and\nchaynes abowt ther nekes, and on the Toure hyll ther they went in\norder, furst a standard of yelow and grene sylke with Saint George,\nand then gounes and skuybes (squibs) and trompets and bagespypes, and\ndrousselars and flutes, and then a gret company all in yelow and gren,\nand docturs declaryng my lord grett, and then the mores danse, dansyng\nwith a tabret,\" etc.\n\nBut so popular were these Lords of Misrule that every nobleman and\nperson of position had one. Henry Percy, fifth Earl of Northumberland,\nhad one certainly in 1512, whose fee was 30s. Nor did Sir Thomas More,\nwhen attached to the household of Cardinal Morton, object to \"stepp in\namong the players.\" That they were usual adjuncts to great houses is\nevidenced by an extract from Churchyard's _Lamentacion of\nFreyndshypp_, a ballad printed about 1565:--\n\n     Men are so used these dayes wyth wordes,\n     They take them but for jestes and boordes,\n     That _Christmas Lordes_ were wont to speke.\n\nStow tells us that, by an Act of Common Council, 12, Philip and Mary,\nfor retrenching expenses, among other things it was ordered that the\nLord Mayor or Sheriffs shall not keep any Lord of Misrule in any of\ntheir houses. But it still seems to have been customary for Sheriffs,\nat least, to have them, for Richard Evelyn, Esq. (father of the\ndiarist), who kept his Shrievalty of Surrey and Sussex in 1634, in a\nmost splendid manner, did not forego his Lord of Misrule, as the\nfollowing shows:--\n\n     \"Articles made and appoynted by the Right Wo^{ll} Richard\n     Evelyn Esq., High Sheriffe and Deputie Leavetenaunt to the\n     Kinge's Ma^{tie} for the Counties of Surrey and Sussex.\n\n\"IMPRIMIS. I give free leave to Owen Flood my Trumpeter, gent. to be\nLo^{d} of Misrule of all good Orders during the twelve dayes. And also\nI give free leave to the said Owen Flood to co[=m]and all and every\nperson whatsoev^{r}, as well servants as others, to be at his\nco[=m]and whensoev^{r} he shall sound his Trumpett or Musick, and to\ndo him good service as though I were present my selfe at their\nperills.\n\n\"His Lo^{pp} commaunds every person or persons whatsoev^{r} to appeare\nat the Hall at seaven of the Clocke in the morninge, to be at prayers,\nand afterwards to be at his Lo^{pps} commaunds, upon paine of\npunishment, accordinge as his Lo^{pp} shall thinke fitt.\n\n\"If any person shall sware any oath w^{th}in the precinct of the ...\nshall suffer punishment at his Lo^{pps} pleasure.\n\n\"If any man shall come into the Hall, and sett at dinner or supper\nmore than once, he shall endure punishment at his Lo^{pps} pleasure.\n\n\"If any man shal bee drunke, or drinke more than is fitt, or offer to\nsleepe during the time abovesaid, or do not drinke up his bowle of\nbeere, but flings away his snuffe (that is to say) the second draught,\nhe shall drinke two, and afterwards be excluded.\n\n\"If any man shall quarrell, or give any ill language to any person\nduringe the abovesaid twelve dayes w^{th}in the gates or precinct\nthereof, he is in danger of his Lo^{pps} displeasure.\n\n\"If any person shall come into the kitchen whiles meate is a\ndressinge, to molest the cookes, he shall suffer the rigor of his\nLo^{pps} law.\n\n\"If any man shall kisse any maid, widdow or wife, except to bid\nwelcome or farewell, w^{th}out his Lo^{pps} consent, he shall have\npunishment as his Lo^{pp} shall thinke convenient.\n\n\"The last article: I give full power and authoritie to his Lo^{pp} to\nbreake up all lockes, bolts, barres, doores, and latches, and to\nflinge up all doores out of hendges to come at those whoe presume to\ndisobey his Lo^{pps} commaunds.\n\n     \"God save the King.\"\n\nThese somewhat whimsical articles of agreement were evidently intended\nto prevent mirth relapsing into licence, which, unfortunately, was too\noften the case, especially with the Lord of Misrule or Prince of Love,\nwho directed the revels of the law students. Gerard Legh, in _The\nAccidens of Armory_, 1562, says that Christmas was inaugurated with\n\"the shot of double cannon, in so great a number, and so terrible,\nthat it darkened the whole air,\" and meeting \"an honest citizen,\nclothed in a long garment,\" he asked him its meaning, \"who friendly\nanswered, 'It is,' quoth he, 'a warning to the Constable Marshall of\nthe Inner Temple to prepare the dinner.'\"\n\nSir William Dugdale, in _Origines Juridiciales_ (ed. 1666, p. 163,\netc.), gives us the following account of a grand Christmas in the\nInner Temple, \"extracted out of the Accompts of the House\":--\n\n\"First, it hath been the duty of the Steward to provide five fat\nBrawns, Vessells, Wood, and other necessaries belonging to the\nKitchin: As also all manner of Spices, Flesh, Fowl, and other Cates\nfor the Kitchin.\n\n\"The Office of the Chief Butler to provide a rich Cupboard of Plate,\nSilver and Parcel gilt; Seaven dozen of Silver and gilt Spoons; Twelve\nfair Salt-cellars, likewise Silver and gilt; Twenty Candlesticks of\nthe like.\n\n\"Twelve fine large Table Cloths of Damask and Diaper. Twenty dozen of\nNapkins suitable, at the least. Three dozen of fair large Towells;\nwhereof the Gentlemen Servers and Butlers of the House to have, every\nof them, one at meal times, during their attendance. Likewise to\nprovide Carving Knives: Twenty dozen of white Cups and green Potts; a\nCarving Table; Torches; Bread; Beer, and Ale. And the chief of the\nButlers was to give attendance on the highest Table in the Hall, with\nWine, Ale, and Beer; and all the other Butlers to attend at the other\nTables in like sort.\n\n\"The Cupboard of Plate is to remain in the Hall on _Christmass_ day,\n_St. Stephan's_ day, and _New Year's_ day. Upon the Banquetting night\nit was removed into the Buttry; which, in all respects, was very\nlaudably performed.\n\n\"The Office of the Constable Marshall to provide for his imployment, a\nfair gilt compleat Harneys, with a nest of Fethers in the Helm; a\nfair Poleaxe to bear in his hand, to be chevalrously ordered on\n_Christmass_ day, and other days, as, afterwards, is shewed: touching\nthe ordering and setling of all which ceremonies, during the said\n_grand Christmass_, a solempn consultation was held at their\nParliament in this House, in form following:--\n\n\"First, at the Parliament kept in their Parliament Chamber of this\nHouse, on the even at night of _St. Thomas_ the Apostle, Officers are\nto attend, according as they had been, long before that time, at a\nformer Parliament named and elected to undergo several offices for\nthis time of solempnity, honour, and pleasance: Of which Officers,\nthese are the most eminent; namely the _Steward_, _Marshall_,\n_Constable Marshall_, _Butler_, and _Master of the Game_. These\nOfficers are made known, and elected in _Trinity Term_ next before;\nand to have knowledg thereof by Letters, if in the Country, to the end\nthat they may prepare themselves against _All Hallow-tide_; that, if\nsuch nominated Officers happen to fail, others may then be chosen in\ntheir rooms. The other Officers are appointed at other times neerer\n_Christmass_ day.\n\n\"If the Steward, or any of the said Officers named in _Trinity Term_,\nrefuse, or fail, he, or they, were fined, every one, at the discretion\nof the Bench; and the Officers aforenamed agreed upon. And at such a\nParliament, if it be fully resolved to proceed with such a _grand\nChristmass_, then the two youngest Butlers must light two Torches, and\ngo before the Bench to the Upper end of the Hall; who, being set down,\nthe ancientest Bencher delivereth a Speech, briefly to the whole\nsociety of gentlemen then present, touching their Consent, as afore;\nwhich ended, the eldest Butler is to publish all the Officers names,\nappointed in Parliament; and then in token of joy and good liking, the\nBench and Company pass beneath the Harth, and sing a Carol, and so to\nBoyer (drink).\n\n[Sidenote: _Christmas Eve._]\n\n\"The _Marshall_ at Dinner is to place at the highest Table's end, and\nnext to the Library, all on one side thereof, the most ancient persons\nin the Company present: the Dean of the Chapell next to him; then an\nAntient, or Bencher, beneath him. At the other end of the Table, the\nServer, Cup-bearer and Carver. At the upper end of the Bench Table,\nthe King's Serjeant and Chief Butler: and, when the Steward hath\nserved in, and set on the Table, the first Mess, then he, also, is to\nsit down.\n\n\"Also, at the upper end of the other Table, on the other side of the\nHall, are to be placed the three Masters of the Revells; and at the\nlower end of the Bench Table, are to sit, the King's Attorney, the\nRanger of the Forest, and the Master of the Game. And, at the lower\nend of the Table, on the other side of the Hall, the fourth Master of\nthe Revells, the Common Sergeant, and Constable Marshall. And, at the\nupper end of the Utter Barister's Table, the Marshall sitteth, when he\nhath served in the first Mess: The Clark of the Kitchin, also, and the\nClark of the Sowce-tub, when they have done their offices in the\nKitchin, sit down. And, at the upper end of the Clark's Table, the\nLieutenant of the Tower, and the attendant to the Buttry are placed.\n\n\"At these two Tables last rehersed, the persons there, may sit on both\nsides of the Table: but, of the other three Tables, all are to sit\nupon one side. And then, the Butlers, or Christmas servants, are first\nto cover the Tables with fair linnen Table-Cloths; and furnish them\nwith Salt-cellars, Napkins and Trenchers, and a Silver Spoon. And\nthen, the Butlers of the House must place at the Salt-cellar, at every\nthe said first three highest Tables, a stock of Trenchers, and Bread:\nand, at the other Tables, Bread only, without Trenchers.\n\n\"At the first Course the Minstrells must sound their Instruments, and\ngo before; and the Steward and Marshall are, next, to follow together;\nand, after them, the Gentlemen Server; and, then, cometh the meat.\nThose three Officers are to make, altogether, three solempn Curtesies,\nat three several times, between the Skreen and the upper Table;\nbeginning with the first, at the end of the Bencher's table; the\nsecond at the midst; and the third at the other end; and then,\nstanding by, the Server performeth his Office.\n\n\"When the first Table is set and served, the Steward's Table is next\nto be served. After him, the Master's table of the Revells; then that\nof the Master of the Game, the High Constable-Marshall: Then the\nLieutenant of the Tower; then the Utter Barister's table; and lastly,\nthe Clerk's table. All which time the Musick must stand right above\nthe Harthside, with the noise of their Musick, their faces direct\ntowards the highest Table: and, that done, to return into the Buttry,\nwith their Musick sounding.\n\n\"At the second course, every Table is to be served, as at the first\nCourse, in every respect, which performed, the Servitors and Musicians\nare to resort to the place assigned them to dine at; which is the\nValect's, or Yeoman's Table, beneath the Skreen. Dinner ended, the\nMusicians prepare to sing a Song, at the highest Table; which ceremony\naccomplished, then the Officers are to address themselves, every one\nin his office, to avoid the Tables in fair and decent manner, they\nbeginning at the Clerk's Table; thence proceed to the next; and thence\nto all the others, till the highest Table be solempnly avoided.\n\n\"Then, after a little repose, the persons at the highest Table arise,\nand prepare to Revells: in which time, the Butlers and other Servitors\nwith them, are to dine in the Library.\n\n\"At both the dores in the Hall, are Porters to view the Comers in and\nout at meal times: To each of them is allowed a Cast of Bread and a\nCandle nightly, after Supper.\n\n\"At night, before Supper, are Revells and Dancing; and so also after\nSupper, during the twelve days of Christmass. The antientest Master of\nthe Revells is, after Dinner and Supper, to sing a Caroll, or Song;\nand command other Gentlemen then there present, to sing with him and\nthe Company, and so it is very decently performed.\n\n\"A Repast at Dinner is viii^{d.}\n\n[Sidenote: _Christmass day._]\n\n\"Service in the Church ended, the Gentlemen presently repair into the\nHall, to Breakfast, with Brawn, Mustard, and Malmsey.\n\n\"At Dinner, the Butler appointed for the _grand Christmass_, is to see\nthe Tables covered and furnished: and the ordinary Butlers of the\nHouse are decently to set Bread, Napkins, and Trenchers in good form,\nat every Table; with Spoones and Knives.\n\n\"At the first Course is served in, a fair and large Bore's head, upon\na Silver Platter, with Minstralsye. Two Gentlemen in Gownes are to\nattend at Supper, and to bear two fair Torches of Wax, next before the\nMusicians and Trumpeters, and stand above the Fire with the Musick,\ntill the first Course be served in, through the Hall. Which performed,\nthey, with the Musick, are to return to the Buttry. The like course is\nto be observed in all things, during the time of Christmass. The like\nat Supper.\n\n\"At Service time this Evening, the two youngest Butlers are to bear\nTorches in the Genealogia. A Repast at Dinner is xii^{d.} which\nStrangers of worth are admitted to take in the Hall; and such are to\nbe placed at the discretion of the Marshall.\n\n[Sidenote: _St. Stephan's day._]\n\n\"The Butler appointed for Christmass is to see the Tables covered, and\nfurnished with Salt-cellars, Napkins, Bread, Trenchers and Spoones.\nYoung gentlemen of the House are to attend and serve till the latter\nDinner, and then dine themselves.\n\n\"This day, the Server, Carver and Cup-bearer are to serve, as afore.\nAfter the first Course served in, the Constable Marshall cometh into\nthe Hall, arrayed with a fair, rich, compleat Harneys, white and\nbright, and gilt; with a Nest of Fethers of all Colours upon his Crest\nor Helm, and a gilt Poleaxe in his hand: to whom is associate the\nLieutenant of the Tower, armed with a fair white Armour, a Nest of\nFethers in his Helm, and a like Poleaxe in his hand; and with them\nsixteen Trumpetters; four Drums and Fifes going in rank before them:\nand, with them, attendeth four men in white Harneys, from the middle\nupwards, and Halberds in their hands, bearing on their shoulders the\nTower; which persons, with the Drums, Trumpets and Musick, go three\ntimes about the Fire. Then the Constable Marshall, after two or three\nCurtesies made, kneeleth down before the Lord Chancellor; behind him\nthe Lieutenant; and they kneeling, the Constable Marshall pronounceth\nan Oration of a quarter of an hour's length, thereby declaring the\npurpose of his coming; and that his purpose is, to be admitted into\nhis Lordship's service.\n\n\"The Lord Chancellor saith, He will take farther advice thereon.\n\n\"Then the Constable Marshall, standing up, in submissive manner,\ndelivereth his naked Sword to the Steward, who giveth it to the Lord\nChancellour: and, thereupon, the Lord Chancellour willeth the Marshall\nto place the Constable Marshall in his Seat; and so he doth, with the\nLieutenant, also, in his Seat or Place. During this ceremony, the\nTower is placed beneath the fire.\n\n\"Then cometh in the Master of the Game apparalled in green Velvet: and\nthe Ranger of the Forest also, in a green suit of Satten; bearing in\nhis hand a green Bow, and divers Arrows; with, either of them, a\nHunting Horn about their Necks; blowing together three blasts of\nVenery, they pace round about the fire three times. Then the Master of\nthe Game maketh three Curtesies, as aforesaid; and kneeleth down\nbefore the Lord Chancellour, declaring the cause of his coming, and\ndesireth to be admitted into his service, &c. All this time, the\nRanger of the Forest standeth directly behind him. Then the Master of\nthe Game standeth up.\n\n\"This ceremony also performed, a Huntsman cometh into the Hall, with a\nFox and a Purse-net; with a Cat, both bound at the end of a staff;\nand, with them, nine or ten Couple of Hounds, with the blowing of\nHunting Hornes. And the Fox and Cat are, by the Hounds, set upon, and\nkilled beneath the Fire. This sport finished, the Marshall placeth\nthem in their several appointed places.\n\n\"Then proceedeth the second Course; which done, and served out, the\nCommon Serjeant delivereth a plausible Speech to the Lord Chancellour,\nand his Company, at the highest Table, how necessary a thing it is to\nhave Officers at this present; the Constable Marshall, and Master of\nthe Game, for the better honour and reputation of the Common-Wealth;\nand wisheth them to be received, &c.\n\n\"Then the King's Serjeant at Law declareth and inferreth the\nnecessity; which heard, the Lord Chancellour desireth respite of\nfarther advice. Then the antientist of the Masters of the Revells\nsingeth a Song, with assistance of others there present.\n\n\"At Supper, the Hall is to be served with all solempnity, as upon\nChristmass day, both the first and second Course to the highest\nTable. Supper ended, the Constable Marshall presenteth himself with\nDrums afore him, mounted upon a Scaffold, borne by four men; and goeth\nthree times round about the Harthe, crying out aloud, _A Lord, A\nLord_, &c. Then he descendeth and goeth to dance, &c., and, after, he\ncalleth his Court, every one by name, one by one, in this Manner:--\n\n     \"_Sir Francis Flatterer_, of FOWLESHURST, in the County of\n     BUCKINGHAM.\n\n     _Sir Randle Backbite_, of RASCALL HALL, in the County of RAKE\n     HELL.\n\n     _Sir Morgan Mumchance_, of MUCH MONKERY, in the County of MAD\n     MOPERY.\n\n     _Sir Bartholomew Baldbreech_, of BUTTOCKSBURY, in the County\n     of BREKE NECK.\n\n\"This done, the Lord of Misrule addresseth himself to the Banquet:\nwhich ended with some Minstralsye, mirth and dancing, every man\ndeparteth to rest.\n\n\"At every Mess is a pot of Wine allowed. Every Repast is vi^{d.}\n\n[Sidenote: _St. John's day._]\n\n\"About Seaven of the Clock in the Morning, the Lord of Misrule is\nabroad, and, if he lack any Officer or Attendant, he repaireth to\ntheir Chambers, and compelleth them to attend in person upon him after\nService in the Church, to breakfast, with Brawn, Mustard and Malmsey.\nAfter Breakfast ended, his Lordship's power is in suspence, untill his\npersonal presence at night; and then his power is most potent.\n\n\"At Dinner and Supper is observed the Diet and service performed on\n_St. Stephan's_ day. After the second Course served in, the King's\nSerjeant, Oratour like, declareth the disorder of the Constable\nMarshall, and of the Common Serjeant; which complaint is answered by\nthe Common Serjeant, who defendeth himself and the Constable Marshall\nwith words of great efficacy: Hereto the King's Serjeant replyeth.\nThey rejoyn &c., and whoso is found faulty, committed to the Tower &c.\n\n\"If any Officer be absent at Dinner or Supper Times; if it be\ncomplained of, he that sitteth in his place is adjudged to have like\npunishment, as the Officer should have had, being present: and then,\nwithall, he is enjoyned to supply the Office of the true absent\nOfficer, in all points. If any offendor escape from the Lieutenant,\ninto the Buttery, and bring into the Hall a Manchet upon the point of\na knife, he is pardoned. For the Buttry, in that case, is a Sanctuary.\nAfter Cheese served to the Table, not any is commanded to sing.\n\n[Sidenote: _Childermass day._]\n\n\"In the Morning, as afore, on Monday, the Hall is served; saving that\nthe Server, Carver and Cup bearer do not attend any service. Also like\nCeremony at Supper.\n\n[Sidenote: _Wednsday._]\n\n\"In the Morning no Breakfast at all; but like service as afore is\nmentioned, both at Dinner and Supper.\n\n[Sidenote: _Thursday._]\n\n\"At Breakfast, Brawn, Mustard and Malmsey. At Dinner, Roast Beef,\nVenison-Pasties, with like solempnities as afore. And at Supper,\nMutton and Hens roasted.\n\n[Sidenote: _New Year's day._]\n\n\"In the Morning, Breakfast, as formerly. At Dinner like solempnity as\non Christmass Eve.\n\n\"_The Banquetting Night._\n\n\"It is proper to the Butler's Office to give warning to every House of\nCourt, of this Banquet; to the end that they, and the Innes of\nChancery be invited thereto, to see a Play and Mask. The Hall is to be\nfurnished with Scaffolds to sit on, for Ladies to behold the Sports,\non each side. Which ended, the Ladies are to be brought into the\nLibrary, unto the Banquet there; and a Table is to be covered and\nfurnished with all Banquetting Dishes, for the Lord Chancellour, in\nthe Hall; where he is to call to him the Ancients of other Houses, as\nmany as may be on the one side of the Table. The Banquet is to be\nserved in, by Gentlemen of the House.\n\n\"The Marshall and Steward are to come before the Lord Chancellour's\nMess. The Butlers for Christmas must serve Wine; and the Butlers of\nthe House, Beer and Ale &c. When the Banquet is ended, then cometh\ninto the Hall, the Constable Marshall, fairly mounted on his Mule;\nand deviseth some sport, for passing away the rest of the night.\n\n[Sidenote: _Twelf Day._]\n\n\"At Breakfast, Brawn, Mustard and Malmsey, after Morning Prayer ended:\nAnd, at Dinner, the Hall is to be served as upon _St. John's_ Day.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XX\n\n     A riotous Lord of Misrule at the Temple--Stubbes on Lords of\n     Misrule--The Bishops ditto--Mumming at Norwich,\n     1440--Dancing at the Inns of Court--Dancing at\n     Christmas--The Cushion Dance.\n\n\nThe high spirits of the \"Temple Sparks\" occasionally led them to\nlicence, as the author of _The Reign of King Charles_ (1655) tells us\nwas the case in 1627. \"That Christmas the Temple Sparks had enstalled\na Lieutenant, which we country folk call a Lord of Misrule. The\nLieutenant had, on Twelfth eve, late in the night, sent out to collect\nhis rents in Ramme Alley and Fleet Street, limiting five shillings to\nevery house. At every door they winded their Temple horn, and if it\nprocured not entrance at the second blast or summons, the word of\ncommand was then 'Give fire, gunner.' This gunner was a robustious\nVulcan, and his engine a mighty smith's hammer. The next morning the\nLord Mayor of London was made acquainted therewith, and promised to be\nwith them next night; commanding all that ward, and also the watch, to\nattend him with their halberds. At the hour prefixt, the Lord Mayor\nand his train marched up in martial equipage to Ramme Alley.\n\n\"Out came the Lieutenant with his suit of Gallants, all armed _in\ncuerpo_. One of the Halberdiers bade the Lieutenant come to my Lord\nMayor. 'No,' said the Lieutenant, 'let the Lord Mayor come to me.' But\nthis controversy was soon ended, they advancing each to other, till\nthey met half way; then one of the Halberdiers reproved the Lieutenant\nfor standing covered before the Lord Mayor. The Lieutenant gave so\ncrosse an answere, as it begat as crosse a blow; which, the Gentlemen,\nnot brooking, began to lay about them; but in fine the Lieutenant was\nknockt down and sore wounded, and the Halberdiers had the better of\nthe swords. The Lord Mayor being master of the field, took the\nLieutenant, and haled rather than led him to the Counter, and with\nindignation thrust him in at the prison gate, where he lay till the\nAttorney General mediated for his enlargement, which the Lord Mayor\ngranted upon condition he should submit and acknowledge his fault. The\nLieutenant readily embraced the motion; and, the next day, performing\nthe condition, so ended this Christmas Game.\"\n\nWe can hardly expect an unbiassed opinion on the subject of Lords of\nMisrule, or any other merriment, from Phillip Stubbes, the Puritan,\nwho, in _The Anatomie of Abuses_ (ed. 1583), speaking of these\n\"Christmas Lords,\" says: \"The name, indeed, is odious both to God and\ngood men, and such as the very heathen people would have blushed at\nonce to have named amongst them. And, if the name importeth some evil,\nthen, what may the thing it selfe be, judge you? But, because you\ndesire to know the manner of them, I will showe you as I have seen\nthem practised myself.\n\n\"First, all the wilde-heds of the parish, conventing togither, chuse\nthem a graund-captain (of all mischeefe) whom they innoble with the\ntitle of my Lord of Mis-rule, and him they crowne with great\nsolemnitie, and adopt for their king. This king anointed chuseth forth\ntwentie, fortie, three score, or a hundred lustie guttes, like to him\nself, to waight uppon his lordlie Majestie, and to guarde his noble\nperson. Then, everie one of these his men, he investeth with his\nliveries of green, yellow, or some other light wanton colour; and, as\nthough they were not gaudie enough, I should say, they bedecke them\nselves with scarfs, ribons and laces, hanged all over with golde\nrings, precious stones, and other jewels; this doon, they tye about\neither leg xx or xl bels, with rich handkerchiefs in their hands, and\nsometimes laid a crosse over their shoulders and necks, borrowed for\nthe most parte of their pretie Mopsies and looving Besses, for bussing\nthem in the dark.\n\n\"Thus, al things set in order, then have they their hobby horses,\ndragons and other antiques, togither with their baudie pipers and\nthundering drummers, to strike up the devil's daunce withall. Then\nmarche these heathen company towards the church and church yard, their\npipers piping, their drummers thundring, their stumps dauncing, their\nbels jyngling, their handkerchefs swinging about their heds like\nmadmen, their hobbie horses and other monsters skirmishing amongst the\nroute; and in this sorte they go to the church (I say), and into the\nchurch (though the minister be at praier, or preaching), dancing and\nswinging their handkercheifs over their heds in the church, like\ndevils incarnate, with such a confuse noise, that no man can hear his\nown voice. Then, the foolish people, they looke, they stare, they\nlaugh, they fleer, and mount upon fourmes and pewes, to see these\ngoodly pageants solemnized in this sort. Then, after this, about the\nchurch they goe againe and again, and so foorth into the churchyard,\nwhere they have commonly their sommer haules, their bowers, arbors,\nand banqueting houses set up, wherin they feast, banquet and daunce al\nthat day, and (peradventure) all the night too. And thus these\nterrestriall furies spend the Sabaoth day.\n\n\"They have, also, certain papers, wherein is painted some babblerie or\nother, of imagery woork, and these they call My Lord of Misrule's\nbadges: these they give to every one that wil give money for them, to\nmaintaine them in their heathenrie, devilrie, whordome, drunkennes,\npride, and what not. And who will not be buxom to them, and give them\nmoney for these their devilish cognizances, they are mocked and\nflouted at not a little. And, so assotted are some, that they not only\ngive them monie, to maintain their abhomination withall, but also\nweare their badges and cognizances in their hats and caps openly. But\nlet them take heede; for these are the badges, seales, brands, and\ncognizances of the devil, whereby he knoweth his servants and clyents\nfrom the children of God; and so long as they weare them, _Sub vexillo\ndiaboli militant contra Dominum et legem suam_: they fight under the\nbanner and standerd of the Devil against Christ Jesus, and all his\nlawes. Another sorte of fantasticall fooles bring to these hel-hounds\n(the Lord of Mis-rule and his complices) some bread, some good ale,\nsome new cheese, some olde, some custards and fine Cakes; some one\nthing, some another; but, if they knew that as often as they bring\nanything to the maintenance of these execrable pastimes, they offer\nsacrifice to the devil and Sathanas, they would repent and withdraw\ntheir hands, which God graunt they may!\"\n\nAlthough Stubbes wrote with exceeding bitterness and party bias, he\nhad some warrant for his diatribe. In the _Injunctions_ of Parkhurst,\nBishop of Norwich[71] (1569), he says: \"Item, that no person or\npersons calling themselves lords of misrule in the Christmas tyme, or\nother vnreuerent persons at any other tyme, presume to come into the\nchurch vnreuerently playing their lewd partes, with scoffing, iesting,\nor rebaldry talke, and, if any such haue alredy offended herein, to\npresent them and their names to the ordinary.\"\n\n[Footnote 71: _Second Report of Ritual Comm._, from which the examples\nfollowing are also taken.]\n\nGrindal, Archbishop of York, in his _Injunctions_ (1571) also says:\n\"Item, that the Minister and Churchwardens shall not suffer any lordes\nof misrule, or sommer lordes or ladies, or any disguised persons or\nothers, in Christmas or ... at rish bearings, or any other times to\ncome vnreuerently into any Church, or Chapell, or Churchyarde, and\nthere daunce ... namely, in the time of diuine service, or of anie\nsermon.\" And so say Overton, Bishop of Lichfield (1584); Bancroft,\nBishop of London (1601); and Howson, Bishop of Oxford (1619).\n\nMerely to show how general throughout England were these Rulers of\nChristmas Festivities, I will give one more example, taken from the\n_Records of Norwich_, re what happened there at Christ-tide 1440.\n\"John Hadman,[72] a wealthy citizen, made disport with his neighbours\nand friends, and was crowned King of Christmas. He rode in state\nthrough the City, dressed forth in silks and tinsel, and preceded by\ntwelve persons habited as the twelve months of the year. After King\nChristmas followed Lent, clothed in white garments, trimmed with\nherring skins, on horseback, the horse being decorated with trappings\nof oyster shells, being indicative that sadness and a holy time should\nfollow Christmas revelling. In this way they rode through the City,\naccompanied by numbers in various grotesque dresses, making disport\nand merriment; some clothed in armour, others, dressed as devils,\nchased the people, and sorely affrighted the women and children;\nothers wearing skin dresses, and counterfeiting bears, wolves, lions,\nand other animals, and endeavouring to imitate the animals they\nrepresented, in roaring and raving, alarming the cowardly, and\nappalling the stoutest hearts.\"\n\n[Footnote 72: Probably the John Gladman spoken of by Stubbes (see p.\n127).]\n\nNaturally, among the pastimes of this festive season dancing was not\nthe least. And it was reckoned as a diversion for staid people. We\nknow how--\n\n     The grave Lord Keeper led the braules,\n       The mace and seals before him.\n\nIt was a practice for the bar to dance before the Judges at Lincoln's\nInn at Christmas, and in James I.'s time the under barristers were, by\ndecimation, put out of Commons, because they did not dance, as was\ntheir wont, according to the ancient custom of the Society.[73] This\npractice is also mentioned in a book published about 1730, called\n_Round About our Coal Fire_, etc. \"The dancing and singing of the\nBenchers in the great Inns of Court at Christmas is, in some sort,\nfounded upon interest, for they hold, as I am informed, some\npriviledge by dancing about the fire in the middle of their Hall, and\nsinging the song of _Round About our Coal Fire_.\" In the prologue to\nthe same book we have the following song:--\n\n     O you merry, merry Souls,\n       Christmas is a coming,\n     We shall have flowing bowls,\n       Dancing, piping, drumming.\n\n     Delicate minced pies,\n       To feast every virgin,\n     Capon and goose likewise,\n       Brawn, and a dish of sturgeon.\n\n     Then, for your Christmas box,\n       Sweet plumb cakes and money,\n     Delicate Holland smocks,\n       Kisses sweet as honey.\n\n     Hey for the Christmas Ball,\n       Where we shall be jolly,\n     Coupling short and tall,\n       Kate, Dick, Ralph, and Molly.\n\n     Then to the hop we'll go,\n       Where we'll jig and caper,\n     _Cuckolds all a-row_,\n       Will shall pay the scraper.\n\n     Hodge shall dance with Prue,\n       Keeping time with kisses,\n     We'll have a jovial crew\n       Of sweet smirking Misses.\n\n[Footnote 73: Dugdale's _Orig. Jurid._ cap. 64.]\n\nWe still keep up the custom of dancing at Christ-tide, and no\nChristmas party is complete without it; but of all the old tunes,\nsuch as _Sellinger's Rounds_, the one mentioned in the above song,\nwith many others, but one remains to us, and that is peculiar to this\nseason--_Sir Roger de Coverly_.\n\n_Notes and Queries_, 19th December 1885, gives an account of a very\ncurious dance. \"One of the most popular indoor games at Christmas time\nwas, in Derbyshire, that of the 'Cushion Dance,' which was performed\nat most of the village gatherings and farm-house parties during the\nChristmas holidays upwards of forty years ago. The following is an\naccount of the dance as it was known amongst the farmer's sons and\ndaughters and the domestics, all of whom were on a pretty fair\nequality, very different from what prevails in farm-houses of to-day.\nThe dance was performed with boisterous fun, quite unlike the game as\nplayed in higher circles, where the conditions and rules of procedure\nwere of a more refined order.\n\n\"The company were seated round the room, a fiddler occupying a raised\nseat in a corner. When all were ready, two of the young men left the\nroom, returning presently, one carrying a large square cushion, the\nother an ordinary drinking horn, china bowl, or silver tankard,\naccording to the possessions of the family. The one carrying the\ncushion locked the door, putting the key in his pocket. Both gentlemen\nthen went to the fiddler's corner, and, after the cushion-bearer had\nput a coin in the vessel carried by the other, the fiddler struck up a\nlively tune, to which the young men began to dance round the room,\nsinging or reciting to the music:--\n\n     \"'Frinkum, frankum is a fine song,\n     An' we will dance it all along;\n     All along and round about\n     Till we find the pretty maid out.'\n\n\"After making the circuit of the room, they halted on reaching the\nfiddler's corner, and the cushion-bearer, still to the music of the\nfiddle, sang or recited:--\n\n     \"'Our song it will no further go!'\n\n\"_The Fiddler_--\n\n     \"'Pray, kind sir, why say you so?'\n\n\"_The Cushion-Bearer_--\n\n     \"'Because Jane Sandars won't come to.'\n\n\"_The Fiddler_--\n\n     \"'She must come to, she shall come to,\n     An' I'll make her, whether she will or no!'\n\n\"The cushion-bearer and vessel-holder then proceeded with the dance,\ngoing as before round the room, singing 'Frinkum, frankum,' etc., till\nthe cushion-bearer came to the lady of his choice, before whom he\npaused, placed the cushion on the floor at her feet, and knelt upon\nit. The vessel-bearer then offered the cup to the lady, who put money\nin it, and knelt on the cushion in front of the kneeling gentleman.\nThe pair kissed, arose, and the gentleman, first giving the cushion to\nthe lady with a bow, placed himself behind her, taking hold of some\nportion of her dress. The cup-bearer fell in also, and they danced on\nto the fiddler's corner, and the ceremony was again gone through as at\nfirst, with the substitution of the name of John for Jane, thus:--\n\n\"_The Lady_--\n\n     \"'Our song it will no further go!'\n\n\"_The Fiddler_--\n\n     \"'Pray, kind Miss, why say you so?'\n\n\"_The Lady_--\n\n     \"'Because John Sandars won't come to.'\n\n\"_The Fiddler_--\n\n     \"'He must come to, he shall come to,\n     An' I'll make him, whether he will or no.'\n\n\"The dancing then proceeded, and the lady, on reaching her choice (a\ngentleman, of necessity), placed the cushion at his feet. He put money\nin the horn and knelt. They kissed and rose, he taking the cushion and\nhis place in front of the lady, heading the next dance round; the lady\ntaking him by the coat tails, the first gentleman behind the lady,\nwith the horn-bearer in the rear. In this way the dance went on till\nall present, alternately a lady and gentleman, had taken part in the\nceremony. The dance concluded with a romp in file round the room, to\nthe quickening music of the fiddler, who, at the close, received the\nwhole of the money collected by the horn-bearer.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXI\n\n     Honey Fairs--Card-playing at Christmas--Throwing the\n     Hood--Early Religious Plays--Moralities--Story of a Gray's\n     Inn Play--The first Pantomime--Spectacular Drama--George\n     Barnwell--Story respecting this Play.\n\n\n_Time's Telescope_ (1824, p. 297) notes that in Cumberland, and in all\nthe great towns in the north of England, about a week before\nChristmas, what are called _Honey fairs_ were held, in which dancing\nforms the leading amusement.\n\nCard-playing, too, was justifiable at Christ-tide. An ordinance for\ngoverning the household of the Duke of Clarence in the reign of Edward\nIV. forbade all games at dice, cards, or other hazard for money\n\"_except during the twelve days at Christmas_.\" And, again, in the\nreign of Henry VII. an Act was passed against unlawful games, which\nexpressly forbids artificers, labourers, servants, or apprentices to\nplay at any such, _except at Christmas_, and at some of the colleges\ncards are introduced in the Combination Rooms during the twelve days\nof Christmas, but never appear there during the remainder of the year.\n\nCards are not much patronised by the present generation, yet dignity\nis occasionally sunk in a romping round game at Christ-tide. But it is\na question as to who knows such games as My Lady Coventry, All Fours,\nSnip Snap Snorum, Old Maid, Commerce, Put, Pope Joan, Brag, Blind\nHookey, Loo, etc., etc., without reference to a manual on the subject.\n\nTimbs[74] gives a very curious custom or game which, he says, is still\nobserved on Old Christmas day in the village of Haxey, in\nLincolnshire. It is traditionally said to have originated from a lady\nof the De Mowbrays, who, a few years after the Conquest, was riding\nthrough Craize Lound, an adjoining hamlet, when the wind blew her\nriding hood from her head, and so amused her, that she left twelve\nacres of land to twelve men who ran after the hood, and gave them the\nstrange name of Boggoners; to them, however, the land, with the\nexception of about a quarter of an acre, has for centuries been lost.\nThe Throwing of the Hood now consists of the villagers of West\nWoodside and Haxey trying who can get to the nearest public-house in\neach place, the Hood, which is made of straw covered with leather,\nabout two feet long and nine inches round. The twelve Boggoners are\npitched against the multitude, which has been known to exceed two\nthousand persons from all parts of the neighbourhood; and as soon as a\nBoggoner touches the hood or catches it the game is won.\n\n[Footnote 74: _Garland for the Year_, p. 151.]\n\nThere was another amusement at Christmas, before Mumming and the\ncomparatively modern play of St. George--the Religious plays, the\nfirst of which is mentioned by Matthew Paris, who says that Geoffrey,\na learned Norman, and Master of the school of the Abbey of Dunstable,\ncomposed the play of St. Catharine, which was acted by his scholars in\n1110. Fitzstephen, writing later in the same century, remarks that\n\"London, for its theatrical exhibitions has religious plays, either\nthe representations of miracles wrought by holy confessors or the\nsufferings of martyrs.\" Then came the Interlude, which was generally\nfounded on a single event, and was of moderate length, but not always,\nfor in the reign of Henry IV. one was exhibited in Smithfield which\nlasted eight days; but then this began with the creation of the world,\nand contained the greater part of the Old and New Testament.\n\nBeing originally devised by the clergy to withdraw the minds of the\npeople from the profane and immoral buffooneries to which they were\naccustomed, ecclesiastics did not hesitate to join in the performance,\nand even to permit the representation to take place in churches and\nchapels. Afterwards the ordering and arrangement of them fell into the\nhands of the gilds, or different trading companies.\n\nIn process of time the rigid religious simplicity of these\nperformances was broken in upon, and the devil and a circle of\ninfernal associates were introduced to relieve the performance, and to\nexcite laughter by all sorts of strange noises and antics. By and by,\nabstract personifications, such as Truth, Justice, Mercy, etc., found\ntheir way into these plays, and they then became moral plays, or\n\"Moralities.\" These were in their highest vogue in the reigns of\nHenries VII. and VIII., and Holinshed tells a story of one played at\nChrist-tide 1526-27.\n\n\"This Christmasse was a goodlie disguising plaied at Graies In, which\nwas compiled for the most part by maister John Roo, sergeant at the\nlaw manie yeares past, and long before the cardinall had any\nauthoritie. The effect of the plaie was that lord gouernance was ruled\nby dissipation and negligence, by whose misgouernance and evill order\nladie publike weale was put from gouernance; which caused rumor\npopuli, inwarde grudge and disdaine of wanton souereignetie to rise,\nwith a great multitude, to expell negligence and dissipation, and to\nrestore publike weale againe to hir estate, which was so doone.\n\n\"This plaie was so set foorth with riche and costlie apparell, with\nstrange devises of Maskes and morrishes, that it was highlie praised\nof all men, sauing of the cardinall, which imagined that the play had\nbeen devised of him, and in a great furie sent for the said maister\nRoo, and took from him his coife, and sent him to the Fleet; and\nafter, he sent for the yoong gentlemen that plaied in the plaie, and\nthem highlie rebuked and threatned, and sent one of them, called\nThomas Moile, of Kent, to the Fleet; but by means of friends, maister\nRoo and he were deliuered at last. This plaie sore displeased the\ncardinall, and yet it was neuer meant to him, as you haue heard.\nWherfore manie wise men grudged to see him take it so hartilie, and\neuer the cardinall said that the king was highlie displeased with it,\nand spake nothing of himselfe.\"\n\nJ.P. Collier, in his _Annals of the Stage_ (ed. 1879, pp. 68, 69),\ngives an account of two Interludes played before royalty at Richmond,\nChrist-tide 1514-15, which he found in a paper folded up in a roll in\nthe Chapter House. \"The Interlud was callyd the tryumpe of Love and\nBewte, and yt was wryten and presented by Mayster Cornyshe and\noothers of the Chappell of our soverayne lorde the Kynge, and the\nchyldern of the sayd Chapell. In the same, Venus and Bewte dyd tryumpe\nover al ther enemys, and tamyd a salvadge man and a lyon, that was\nmade very rare and naturall, so as the Kynge was gretly plesyd\ntherwyth, and gracyously gaf Mayster Cornysshe a ryche rewarde owt of\nhis owne hand, to be dyvyded with the rest of his felows. Venus did\nsynge a songe with Beawte, which was lykyd of al that harde yt, every\nstaffe endyng after this sorte--\n\n     \"Bowe you downe, and doo your dutye\n     To Venus and the goddes Bewty:\n     We tryumpe hye over all,\n     Kyngs attend when we doo call.\n\n\"Inglyshe, and the oothers of the Kynges pleyers, after pleyed an\nInterluyt, whiche was wryten by Mayster Midwell, but yt was so long,\nyt was not lykyd: yt was of the fyndyng of Troth, who was caryed away\nby ygnoraunce and ypocresy. The foolys part was the best, but the kyng\ndepartyd befor the end to hys chambre.\"\n\nOf Christ-tide Masques I have already written, and after they fell\ninto desuetude there was nothing theatrical absolutely peculiar to\nChristmas until Rich, in 1717, introduced the comic pantomime at his\ntheatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields, where, on 26th December of that year,\nhe produced _Harlequin Executed_. Davies says: \"To retrieve the credit\nof his theatre, Rich created a species of dramatic composition,\nunknown to this, and I believe to any other country, which he called a\npantomime; it consisted of two parts--one serious, and the other\ncomic. By the help of gay scenes, fine habits, grand dances,\nappropriate music, and other decorations, he exhibited a story from\nOvid's _Metamorphoses_, or some other fabulous writer. Between the\npauses, or acts, of this serious, representation he interwove a comic\nfable; consisting chiefly of the courtship of Harlequin and Columbine,\nwith a variety of surprizing adventures and tricks, which were\nproduced by the magic wand of Harlequin; such as the sudden\ntransformation of palaces and temples to huts and cottages, of men and\nwomen into wheelbarrows and joint stools, of trees turned into\nhouses, colonades to beds of tulips, and mechanics' shops into\nserpents and ostriches.\" From 1717 until 1761, the date of his death,\nhe brought out a succession of pantomimes, all of which were eminently\nsuccessful, and ran at least forty or fifty nights each. That the\npantomime, very slightly altered from Rich's first conception, still\nis attractive, speaks for itself.\n\nNo other style of entertainment for Christ-tide was ever so popular.\nGarrick tried spectacular drama, and failed. Walpole, writing to Lady\nOssory, 30th December 1772, says: \"Garrick has brought out what he\ncalls a _Christmas tale_, adorned with the most beautiful scenes, next\nto those in the Opera at Paradise, designed by Loutherbourg. They have\nmuch ado to save the piece from being sent to the Devil. It is\nbelieved to be Garrick's own, and a new proof that it is possible to\nbe the best actor and the worst author in the world, as Shakspeare was\njust the contrary.\" Some of us are old enough to remember with delight\nPlanche's extravaganzas, _The King of the Peacocks_, etc., which were\nso beautifully put on the stage of the Lyceum Theatre by Madame\nVestris, but I do not think they were a financial success, and they\nhave never been repeated by other managers.\n\nUp to a very recent date a stock piece at the minor theatres on Boxing\nNight was the tragedy of _The London Merchant; or, The History of\nGeorge Barnwell_, acted at Drury Lane in 1731, which was so successful\nthat the Queen sent for the MS. to read it, and Hone (_Every-Day\nBook_, ii. 1651) remarks as a notable circumstance that \"the\nrepresentation of this tragedy was omitted in the Christmas holidays\nof 1819 at both the theatres for the first time.\"\n\nIt was considered a highly moral play, and was acted for the\nparticular benefit of apprentices, to deter them from the crime of\ntheft, and from keeping company with bad women. David Ross, the actor,\nwrote in 1787 the following letter to a friend:--\n\n\"In the year 1752, during the Christmas holidays, I played George\nBarnwell, and the late Mrs. Pritchard played Millwood. Doctor\nBarrowby, physician to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, told me he was sent\nfor by a young gentleman in Great St. Helen's, apprentice to a very\ncapital merchant. He found him very ill with a slow fever, a heavy\nhammer pulse, that no medicine could touch. The nurse told him he\nsighed at times so very heavily that she was sure something lay heavy\non his mind. The Doctor sent every one out of the room, and told his\npatient he was sure there was something that oppressed his mind, and\nlay so heavy on his spirits, that it would be in vain to order him\nmedicine, unless he would open his mind freely. After much\nsolicitation on the part of the Doctor, the youth confessed there was\nsomething lay heavy at his heart; but that he would sooner die than\ndivulge it, as it must be his ruin if it was known. The Doctor assured\nhim, if he would make him his confidant, he would, by every means in\nhis power, serve him, and that his secret, if he desired it, should\nremain so to all the world, but to those who might be necessary to\nrelieve him.\n\n\"After much conversation he told the Doctor he was the second son of a\ngentleman of good fortune in Hertfordshire; that he had made an\nimproper acquaintance with a kept mistress of a captain of an Indiaman\nthen abroad; that he was within a year of being out of his time, and\nhad been intrusted with cash, drafts, and notes, which he had made\nfree with, to the amount of two hundred pounds. That, going two or\nthree nights before to Drury Lane to see Ross and Mrs. Pritchard in\ntheir characters of George Barnwell and Milwood, he was so forcibly\nstruck, he had not enjoyed a moment's peace since, and wished to die,\nto avoid the shame he saw hanging over him. The Doctor asked where his\nfather was? He replied he expected him there every minute, as he was\nsent for by his master upon his being taken so very ill. The Doctor\ndesired the young man to make himself perfectly easy, as he would\nundertake his father should make all right; and, to get his patient in\na promising way, assured him, if his father made the least hesitation,\nhe should have the money of him.\n\n\"The father soon arrived. The Doctor took him into another room, and\nafter explaining the whole cause of his son's illness, begged him to\nsave the honour of his family and the life of his son. The father,\nwith tears in his eyes, gave him a thousand thanks, said he would step\nto his banker and bring the money. While the father was gone Dr.\nBarrowby went to his patient, and told him everything would be settled\nin a few minutes to his ease and satisfaction; that his father was\ngone to his banker for the money, and would soon return with peace and\nforgiveness, and never mention or even think of it more. What is very\nextraordinary, the Doctor told me that, in a few minutes after he\ncommunicated this news to his patient, upon feeling of his pulse,\nwithout the help of any medicine, he was quite another creature. The\nfather returned with notes to the amount of L200, which he put into\nhis son's hands. They wept, kissed, embraced. The son soon recovered,\nand lived to be a very eminent merchant.\n\n\"Dr. Barrowby never told me the name; but the story he mentioned often\nin the green-room of Drury Lane Theatre; and after telling it one\nnight when I was standing by, he said to me, 'You have done some good\nin your profession--more, perhaps, than many a clergyman who preached\nlast Sunday,' for the patient told the Doctor the play raised such\nhorror and contrition in his soul that he would, if it would please\nGod to raise a friend to extricate him out of that distress, dedicate,\nthe rest of his life to religion and virtue. Though I never knew his\nname or saw him, to my knowledge, I had, for nine or ten years, at my\nbenefit a note sealed up, with ten guineas, and these words--'_A\ntribute of gratitude from one who was highly obliged, and saved from\nruin, by seeing Mr. Ross's performance of Barnwell._'\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXII\n\n     Profusion of Food at Christ-tide--Old English\n     Fare--Hospitality--Proclamations for People to spend\n     Christ-tide at their Country Places--Roast Beef--Boar's\n     Head--Boar's Head Carol--Custom at Queen's Coll.\n     Oxon.--Brawn--Christmas Pie--Goose Pie--Plum Pudding--Plum\n     Porridge--Anecdotes of Plum Pudding--Large one--Mince\n     Pies--Hackin--Folk-lore--Gifts at Christ-tide--Yule\n     Doughs--Cop-a-loaf--Snap-dragon.\n\n\nIf any exception can be taken to Christ-tide in England, it is to the\nenormous amount of flesh, fowl, etc., consumed. To a sensitive mind,\nthe butchers' shops, gorged with the flesh of fat beeves, or the\npoulterers, with their hecatombs of turkeys, are repulsive, to say the\nleast. It is the remains of a coarse barbarism, which shows but little\nsigns of dying out. Profusion of food at this season is traditional,\nand has been handed down from generation to generation. A Christmas\ndinner must, if possible, be every one's portion, down to the pauper\nin the workhouse, and even the prisoner in the gaol. Tusser, who,\nthough he could write--\n\n     At Christmas we banket, the riche with the poore,\n     Who then (but the miser) but openeth his doore.\n     At Christmas, of Christ, many Carols we sing;\n     And give many gifts, for the joy of that King,\n\ncould also sing of \"Christmas husbandly fare\"--\n\n     Good husband and huswife, now chiefly be glad,\n     Things handsome to have, as they ought to be had.\n     They both do provide against Christmas do come,\n     To welcome their neighbor, good chere to have some.\n     Good bread and good drinke, a good fier in the hall,\n     Brawne, pudding, and souse, and good mustard withall.\n     Biefe, Mutton, and Porke, shred pies of the best,\n     Pig, veale, goose, and capon, and Turkey well drest.\n     Cheese, apples, and nuttes, ioly Carols to here,\n     As then, in the countrey, is compted good chere.\n     What cost to good husband is any of this?\n     Good houshold provision, only, it is.\n     Of other, the like I do leave out a meny,\n     That costeth the husband man never a peny.\n\nBut his intention in this provision is not for personal\ngratification--\n\n     At Christmas, be mery, and thankfull withall,\n     And feast thy poore neighbours, the great with y^{e} small.\n     Yea, al the yere long, to the poore let us give,\n     God's blessing to follow us while we do live.\n\nThis hospitality in the country was made the subject of legislation,\nfor James I. much disliked the flocking of the gentry, etc., to\nLondon, as he said in his address to the council of the Star Chamber:\n\"And therefore, as every fish lives in his own place, some in the\nfresh, some in the salt, some in the mud, so let every one live in his\nown place--some at Court, some in the city, some in the country;\nspecially at festival times, as Christmas, and Easter, and the rest.\"\nNay, he issued a proclamation ordering the landed gentry to repair to\ntheir country seats at Christmas, which is thus noticed in a letter\nfrom Mr. Chamberlain to Sir Dudley Carleton (21st December 1622):\n\"Diverse Lords and personages of quality have made means to be\ndispensed withall for going into the country this Christmas, according\nto the proclamation; but it will not be granted, so that they pack\naway on all sides for fear of the worst.\" And Charles I. inherited his\nfather's opinions on this matter, for he also proclaimed that \"every\nnobleman or gentleman, bishop, rector, or curate, unless he be in the\nservice of the Court or Council, shall in forty days depart from the\ncities of London and Westminster, and resort to their several counties\nwhere they usually reside, and there keep their habitations and\nhospitality.\"\n\nAs to Christmas fare, place must be given, I think, to \"The Roast Beef\nof Old England,\" which used to be a standing dish on every table--from\nthe \"Sir Loin,\" said to have been knighted by Charles II. when in a\nmerry mood, to the \"Baron of Beef,\" which is, like a \"saddle\" of\nmutton, two loins joined together by the backbone. This enormous dish\nis not within the range of ordinary mortals; but the Queen always\nkeeps up the custom of having one wherever she may be, at Windsor, or\nOsborne. Beef may be said to be the staple flesh of England, and is\nprocurable by every one except the very poorest, whilst it is not\ngiven to all to obtain the lordly boar's head, which used to be an\nindispensable adjunct to the Christmas feast. One thing is, that wild\nboars only exist in England either in zoological gardens or in a few\nparks--notably Windsor--in a semi-domesticated state. The bringing in\nthe boar's head was conducted with great ceremony, as Holinshed tells\nus that in 1170, when Henry I. had his son crowned as joint-ruler with\nhimself, \"Upon the daie of coronation King Henrie, the father, served\nhis sonne at the table, as server, bringing up the bore's head with\ntrumpets before it, according to the maner.\"\n\nIn \"Christmasse carolles, newely enprinted at Lond[=o], in the\nfletestrete at the Sygne of the Sonne, by Wynkyn de Worde. The Yere of\nour lorde M.D.XXI.,\" is the following, which, from its being \"newely\nenprinted,\" must have been older than the date given:--\n\n     A carol bringyng in the bores heed.\n         Caput apri differo[75]\n         Reddens laudes domino.\n     The bores heed in hande bring I,\n     With garlands gay and rosemary.\n     I praye you all synge merely\n         Qui estis in conuiuio.\n     The bores heed I understande\n     Is the chefe servyce in this lande\n     Loke where euer it be fande[76]\n         Servite cum cantico.\n     Be gladde lordes bothe more and lasse,[77]\n     For this hath ordeyned our stewarde\n     To chere you all this Christmasse\n     The bores heed with mustarde.\n                    Finis.\n\n[Footnote 75: Defero.]\n\n[Footnote 76: Found.]\n\n[Footnote 77: Great and small.]\n\nThe custom of ceremoniously introducing the boar's head at Christ-tide\nwas, at one time, of general use among the nobility, and still\nobtains at Queen's College, Oxford; and its _raison d'etre_ is said to\nbe that at some remote time a student of this College was walking in\nthe neighbouring forest of Shotover (_Chateau vert_), and whilst\nreading Aristotle was attacked by a wild boar. Unarmed, he did not\nknow how to defend himself; but as the beast rushed on him with open\nmouth he rammed the Aristotle down its throat, exclaiming, \"_Graecum\nest_,\" which ended the boar's existence. Some little ceremony is still\nused when it is brought in; the head is decorated, as saith the carol,\nand it is borne into the hall on the shoulders of two College\nservants, followed by members of the College and the choir. The carol,\nwhich is a modification of the above, is generally sung by a Fellow,\nassisted by the choir, and the boar's head is solemnly deposited\nbefore the Provost, who, after helping those sitting at the high\ntable, sends it round to all the other tables.\n\nDr. King, in his _Art of Cookery_, gives the following recipe for\ndishing up a boar's head:--\n\n     Then if you would send up the Brawner's head,\n     Sweet rosemary and bays around it spread;\n     His foaming tusks let some large pippin grace,\n     Or midst these thundering spears an orange place.\n     Sauce, like himself, offensive to its foes,\n     The roguish mustard, dangerous to the nose.\n     Sack, and the well-spic'd Hippocras the wine,\n     Wassail the bowl with ancient ribbons fine,\n     Porridge with plums, and turkies with the chine.\n\nOf the boar's head was made _brawn_, which, when well made, is good\nindeed; and this was another Christmas dish. Sandys says: \"The French\ndo not seem to have been so well acquainted with brawn; for on the\ncapture of Calais by them they found a large quantity, which they\nguessed to be some dainty, and tried every means of preparing it; in\nvain did they roast it, bake it, boil it; it was impracticable and\nimpenetrable to their culinary arts. Its merits, however, being at\nlength discovered, 'Ha!' said the monks, 'what delightful fish!' and\nimmediately added it to their stock of fast day viands. The Jews,\nagain, could not believe it was procured from that impure beast, the\nhog, and included in their list of clean animals.\"\n\nThen there was a dish, \"the Christmas pie,\" which must have been very\npeculiar, if we can trust Henri Misson, who was in England in the\nlatter end of the seventeenth century. Says he: \"Every Family against\n_Christmass_ makes a famous Pye, which they call _Christmass_ Pye: It\nis a great Nostrum the composition of this Pasty; it is a most learned\nMixture of Neats-tongues, Chicken, Eggs, Sugar, Raisins, Lemon and\nOrange Peel, various kinds of Spicery, etc.\" Can this be the pie of\nwhich Herrick sang?--\n\n     Come, guard this night the Christmas pie,\n     That the thiefe, though ne'r so slie,\n     With his flesh hooks don't come nie\n              To catch it;\n     From him, who all alone sits there,\n     Having his eyes still in his eare,\n     And a deale of nightly feare,\n              To watch it.\n\nFletcher, in his poem _Christmas Day_,[78] thus describes the pie:--\n\n     Christmas? give me my beads; the word implies\n     A plot, by its ingredients, beef and pyes.\n     The cloyster'd steaks, with salt and pepper, lye\n     Like Nunnes with patches in a monastrie.\n     Prophaneness in a conclave? Nay, much more\n     Idolatrie in crust! Babylon's whore\n     Rak'd from the grave, and bak'd by hanches, then\n     Serv'd up in _coffins_ to unholy men:\n     Defil'd with superstition like the Gentiles\n     Of old, that worship'd onions, roots, and lentils.\n\n[Footnote 78: _Ex Otio Negotium_, etc., ed. 1656, p. 114.]\n\nThe _Grub Street Journal_ of 27th December 1733 has an essay on\nChristmas Pye; but it is only a political satire, and not worth\nquoting here. There was once a famous Christmas pie which obtained the\nfollowing notice in the _Newcastle Chronicle_, 6th January 1770:\n\"Monday last, was brought from Howick to Berwick, to be shipp'd for\nLondon, for sir Hen. Grey, bart., a pie, the contents whereof are as\nfollows: viz. 2 bushels of flour, 20 lbs. of butter, 4 geese, 2\nturkies, 2 rabbits, 4 wild ducks, 2 woodcocks, 6 snipes, and 4\npartridges, 2 neats' tongues, 2 curlews, 7 blackbirds, and 6 pigeons;\nit is supposed a very great curiosity, was made by Mrs. Dorothy\nPatterson, house keeper at Howick. It was near nine feet in\ncircumference at bottom, weighs about twelve stones, will take two men\nto present it to table; it is neatly fitted with a case, and four\nsmall wheels to facilitate its use to every guest that inclines to\npartake of its contents at table.\"\n\nBrand says that in the north of England a goose is always the chief\ningredient in the composition of a Christmas pie. Ramsay, in his\n_Elegy on Lucky Wood_, tells us that, among other baits by which the\ngood ale-wife drew customers to her house, she never failed to tempt\nthem at Christmas with a _Goose pie_--\n\n     Than ay at _Yule_ whene'er we came,\n            _A bra' Goose Pye_;\n     And was na that a good Belly baum?\n              Nane dare deny.\n\nA writer in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ (May 1811, p. 423), speaking of\nChristmas in the North Riding of Yorkshire, says: \"On the feast of St.\nStephen large goose pies are made, all which they distribute among\ntheir needy neighbours, except one, which is carefully laid up, and\nnot tasted till the purification of the Virgin, called Candlemas Day.\"\n\nPlum pudding is a comparatively modern dish--not two centuries old;\nbut, nowadays, wherever an Englishman travels--even when engaged in\nwar--be he in any of our colonies, a plum pudding must be had. If an\nexplorer, some loving hand has presented him with one. Were not our\nsoldiers, in the latter part of the Crimean War, bountifully supplied\nwith plum puddings? Was there ever a Christmas on board a man-of-war\nwithout one? It is now a national institution, and yet none can tell\nof its genesis. It has been evolved from that dish of which Misson\ngives us a description: \"They also make a Sort of Soup with Plums,\nwhich is not at all inferior to the Pye, which is in their language\ncall'd Plum porridge.\" We can find no reference to plum pudding in the\ndiaries either of Evelyn or Pepys, and perhaps as early an instance as\nany of a _Christmas_ plum pudding is in _Round about our Coal Fire_\n(1730?): \"In Christmas holidays the tables were all spread from the\nfirst to the last; the sirloins of beef, the minced pies, the plum\nporridge, the capons, geese, turkeys, and plum puddings, were all\nbrought upon the board.\"\n\nPlum porridge is very frequently mentioned, and Brand gives an\ninstance (vol. i. p. 296, note) of it being eaten in this century.\n\"Memorandum. I dined at the Chaplain's Table at St. James's on\nChristmas Day 1801, and partook of the first thing served up and eaten\non that festival at table, _i.e._ a tureen full of rich luscious plum\nporridge. I do not know that the custom is anywhere else retained.\"\n\"Plum porridge was made of a very strong broth of shin of beef, to\nwhich was added crumb of bread, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, mace,\ncurrants, raisins, and dates. It was boiled gently, and then further\nstrengthened with a quart of canary and one of red port; and when\nserved up, a little grape verjuice or juice of orange was popped in as\na zest.\"--_Daily Telegraph_, 21st January 1890.\n\nPlum pudding is a peculiarly _English_ dish, and foreigners, as a\nrule, do not know how to make it properly, and many are the stories\ntold thereanent. In a leading article in the _Daily Telegraph_, 21st\nJanuary 1890, a recipe is given, copied from the _Kreuz Zeitung_, for\nmaking a plum pudding: \"The cook is to take dough, beer in the course\nof fermentation, milk, brandy, whiskey, and gin in equal parts; bread,\ncitronate, large and small raisins in profusion. This must be stirred\nby the whole family for at least three days, and it is then to be hung\nup in a linen bag for six weeks '_in order thoroughly to ferment_.'\"\n\nThere is a somewhat amusing story told in vol. i. of _Anecdotes and\nBiographical Sketches_ by Lady Hawkins, widow of Sir John Hawkins, the\nfriend of Johnson. Dr. Schomberg, of Reading, in the early part of his\nlife spent a Christmas at Paris with some English friends. They were\ndesirous to celebrate the season, in the manner of their own country,\nby having, as one dish on their table, an English plum pudding; but no\ncook was found equal to the task of making it. A clergyman of the\nparty had, indeed, a receipt-book, but this did not sufficiently\nexplain the process. Dr. Schomberg, however, supplied all that was\nwanting by throwing the recipe into the form of a prescription, and\nsending it to an apothecary to be made up. To prevent any chance of\nerror, he directed that it should be boiled in a cloth, and sent home\nin the same cloth. At the specified hour it arrived, borne by the\napothecary's assistant, and preceded by the apothecary himself,\ndressed according to the professional formality of the time, with a\nsword. Seeing, on his entry into the apartment, instead of signs of\nsickness, a table well filled, and surrounded by very merry faces, he\nperceived that he was made a party to a joke that turned on himself,\nand indignantly laid his hand on his sword; but an invitation to taste\nhis own cookery appeased him, and all was well.\n\nThere is a good plum pudding story told of Lord Macartney when he was\non his embassy to China, and wished to give gratification to a\ndistinguished mandarin. He gave instructions to his Chinese _chef_,\nand, no doubt, they were carried out most conscientiously, but it came\nto table in a soup tureen, for my Lord _had forgotten all about the\ncloth_.\n\nI cannot verify the following, nor do I know when it occurred. At\nPaignton Fair, near Exeter, a plum pudding of vast dimensions was\ndrawn through the town amid great rejoicings. No wonder that a\nbrewer's copper was needed for the boiling, seeing that the pudding\ncontained 400 lbs. of flour, 170 lbs. of beef suet, 140 lbs. of\nraisins, and 240 eggs. This eight hundred pounder or so required\ncontinuous boiling from Saturday morning till the following Tuesday\nevening. It was finally placed on a car decorated with ribbons and\nevergreens, drawn through the streets by eight oxen, cut up, and\ndistributed to the poor.\n\nEvery housewife has her own pet recipe for her Christmas pudding, of\nundoubted antiquity, none being later than that left as a precious\nlegacy by grandmamma. Some housewives put a thimble, a ring, a piece\nof money, and a button, which will influence the future destinies of\nthe recipients. It is good that every person in the family should take\nsome part in its manufacture, even if only to stir it; and it should\nbe brought to table hoarily sprinkled with powdered sugar, with a fine\npiece of berried holly stuck in it, and surrounded on all sides by\nblazing spirits.\n\nMince pie, as we have seen in Ben Jonson's masque, is one of the\ndaughters of Father Christmas, but the mince pie of his day was not\nthe same as ours; they were made of meat, and were called _minched_\npies, or _shrid_ pies. The meat might be either beef or mutton, but it\nwas chopped fine, and mixed with plums and sugar. It is doubtful\nwhether it was much known before the time of Elizabeth, although\nShakespeare knew it well; but with poetic licence he makes it as known\nat the siege of Troy (_Troilus and Cressida_, Act i. sc. 2).\n\n\"_Pandarus_--Is not birth, beauty, good shape, discourse, manhood,\nlearning, gentleness, virtue, youth, liberality, and such like, the\nspice and salt that season a man?\n\n\"_Cressida_--Ay, a minced man; and then to be baked with no date[79]\nin the pie,--for then the man's date's out.\"\n\n[Footnote 79: Dates were an ingredient in most kinds of pastry. See\n_All's Well that Ends Well_, Act i. sc. 1--\"Your date is better in\nyour pie and your porridge than in your cheek.\"]\n\nGradually the meat was left out, and more sweets introduced, until the\nproduct resulted in the modern mince pie, in which, however, some\nhousewives still introduce a little chopped meat. There is no luck for\nthe wight who does not eat a mince pie at Christmas. If he eat one, he\nis sure of one happy month; but if he wants a happy twelve months, he\nshould eat one on each of the twelve days of Christmas.\n\nThere was another form of eating the minced or shrid meat, in the form\nof a great sausage, called \"the hackin,\" so called from to _hack_, or\nchop; and this, by custom, must be boiled before daybreak, or else the\ncook must pay the penalty of being taken by the arms by two young men,\nand by them run round the market-place till she is ashamed of her\nlaziness.\n\nA writer in _Notes and Queries_ (5 ser. x. 514) gives a very peculiar\nsuperstition prevalent in Derbyshire: \"A neighbour had killed his\nChristmas pig, and his wife, to show her respect, brought me a goodly\nplate of what is known as 'pig's fry.' The dish was delivered covered\nwith a snowy cloth, with the strict injunction, 'Don't wash the plate,\nplease!' Having asked why the plate was to be returned unwashed, the\nreply was made, 'If _you_ wash the plate upon which the fry was\nbrought to you, the pig won't take the salt.'\"\n\nA very pretty custom obtained, as we learn by the records of Evelyn's\nfather's shrievalty. In those days of hospitality, when the hall of\nthe great house was open to the neighbours during Christ-tide, they\nused to contribute some trifle towards the provisions; a list has been\nkept of this kindly help on this occasion. Two sides of venison, two\nhalf brawns, three pigs, ninety capons, five geese, six turkeys, four\nrabbits, eight partridges, two pullets, five sugar loaves, half pound\nnutmegs, one basket of apples and eggs, three baskets of apples, two\nbaskets of pears.\n\nAt one time the bakers used to make and present to their customers two\nlittle images of dough, called Yule doughs, or doos, and it seems\nprobable that these were meant to represent our Lord and His mother.\nAt Alnwick, in Northumberland, a custom existed of giving sweetmeats\nto children at Christ-tide, called Yule Babies, in commemoration of\nour Saviour's nativity. There are various other cakes peculiar to this\nseason. At Llantwit Major, Co. Glamorgan, they make \"finger cakes\"--or\ncakes in the form of a hand, on the back of which is a little bird;\nbut what its symbolism is I know not. In some parts of Cornwall it is\ncustomary for each household to make a batch of currant cakes on\nChristmas eve. These cakes are made in the ordinary manner, and\ncoloured with a decoction of saffron, as is the custom in those parts.\nOn this occasion the peculiarity of the cakes is, that a small portion\nof the dough in the centre of the top of each is pulled up, and made\ninto a form which resembles a very small cake on the top of a large\none, and this centre-piece is specially called \"The Christmas.\" Each\nperson in the house has his or her special cake, and every one ought\nto taste a small piece of every other person's cake. Similar cakes are\nalso bestowed on the hangers-on of the establishment, such as\nlaundresses, sempstresses, charwomen, etc.\n\nAnother correspondent (Wiltshire) of _Notes and Queries_ (6 ser. xii.\n496) says: \"Can any one tell me the origin of a cake called a\ncop-a-loaf or cop loaf? It was a piece of paste made in the shape of a\nbox or casket, ornamented at the top with the head of a cock or\ndragon, with currants for eyes. It was always placed, in my young\ndays, at the bedside on Christmas morning, and, it is scarcely\nnecessary to say, eaten before breakfast. Inside was an apple.\" Brand\nsays: \"In Yorkshire (Cleveland) the children eat, at the present\nseason, a kind of gingerbread, baked in large and thick cakes, or flat\nloaves, called _Pepper Cakes_. They are also usual at the birth of a\nchild. One of these cakes is provided, and a cheese; the latter is on\na large platter or dish, and the pepper cake upon it. The cutting of\nthe Christmas cheese is done by the master of the house on Christmas\nEve, and is a ceremony not to be lightly omitted. All comers to the\nhouse are invited to partake of the pepper cake and Christmas cheese.\"\n\nAny notice of Christmas cheer would be incomplete without mention\nbeing made of _Snap-dragon_. It is an old sport, and is alluded to by\nShakespeare in _Henry IV._, part ii. Act ii. sc. 4, where Falstaff\nsays--\n\n     And drinks off candles' ends for flap-dragons.\n\nAnd in _Loves Labours Lost_, Act v. sc. 1--\n\n     Thou art easier swallowed than a flap-dragon.\n\nIt is a kind of game, in which brandy is poured over a large dish full\nof raisins, and then set alight. The object is to snatch the raisins\nout of the flame and devour them without burning oneself. This can be\nmanaged by sharply seizing them, and shutting the mouth at once. It is\nsuggested that the name is derived from the German _schnapps_, spirit,\nand _drache_, dragon.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIII\n\n     The First Carol--Anglo-Norman Carol--Fifteenth-Century\n     Carol--\"The Twelve Good Joys of Mary\"--Other Carols--\"A\n     Virgin most Pure\"--\"Noel\"--Festive Carol of Fifteenth\n     Century--\"A Christenmesse Carroll.\"\n\n\nBishop Jeremy Taylor very appropriately said that the first Christmas\ncarol was sung by the angels at the Nativity of our Saviour--\"GLORY TO\nGOD IN THE HIGHEST, AND ON EARTH PEACE, GOODWILL TOWARD MEN.\" No man\nknows when the custom began of singing carols, or hymns on Christmas\nday in honour of the Nativity; but there can be no doubt that it was\nof very ancient date in the English Church, and that it has been an\nunbroken custom to this day, when the practice is decidedly on the\nincrease, as may be judged from the many collections of ancient\ncarols, and of modern ones as well. It would be impossible for me to\ngive anything like a representative collection of Christmas carols,\nbecause of space, but I venture to reproduce a few old ones, and\nfirst, perhaps the oldest we have, an Anglo-Norman carol, which is in\nthe British Museum, and with it I give Douce's very free translation.\nIt will be seen by this that all carols were not of a religious kind,\nbut many were songs appropriate to the festive season:--\n\n     Seignors ore entendez a nus,\n     De loinz sumes venuz a wous,\n       Pur quere Noel;\n     Car lun nus dit que en cest hostel\n     Soleit tenir sa feste anuel\n       Ahi cest iur.\n         Deu doint a tuz icels joie d'amurs\n         Qi a DANZ NOEL ferunt honors.\n\n     Seignors io vus di por veir\n     KE DANZ NOEL ne uelt aveir\n       Si joie non:\n     E replein sa maison\n     De payn, de char, e de peison,\n       Por faire honor.\n         Deu doint, etc.\n\n     Seignors il est crie en lost\n     Qe cil qui despent bien e tost,\n       E largement;\n     E fet les granz honors sovent\n     Deu li duble quanque il despent\n       Por faire honor.\n         Deu doint, etc.\n\n     Seignors escriez les malveis,\n     Car vus nel les troverez jameis\n       De bone part;\n     Botun, batun, ferun groinard,\n     Car tot dis a le quer cunard\n       Por faire honor.\n         Deu doint, etc.\n\n     NOEL beyt bein li vin Engleis\n     E li Gascoin e li Franceys\n       E l'Angeuin;\n     NOEL fait beivre son veisin,\n     Si quil se dort, le chief en clin,\n       Sovent le ior.\n         Deu doint, etc.\n\n     Seignors io vus di par NOEL,\n     E par li sires de cest hostel,\n       Car benez ben:\n     E io primes beurai le men,\n     E pois apres chescon le soen,\n       Par mon conseil.\n     Si io vus di trestoz Wesseyl\n     Dehaiz eil qui ne dirra Drincheyl.\n\n\n     TRANSLATION.\n\n     Now, lordings, listen to our ditty,\n       Strangers coming from afar;\n     Let poor minstrels move your pity,\n       Give us welcome, soothe our care:\n     In this mansion, as they tell us,\n       Christmas wassell keeps to-day;\n     And, as the king of all good fellows,\n       Reigns with uncontrouled sway.\n\n     Lordings, in these realms of pleasure,\n       Father Christmas yearly dwells;\n     Deals out joy with liberal measure,\n       Gloomy sorrow soon dispels:\n     Numerous guests, and viands dainty,\n       Fill the hall and grace the board;\n     Mirth and beauty, peace and plenty,\n       Solid pleasures here afford.\n\n     Lordings, 'tis said the liberal mind,\n       That on the needy much bestows,\n     From Heav'n a sure reward shall find;\n       From Heav'n, whence ev'ry blessing flows.\n     Who largely gives with willing hand,\n       Or quickly gives with willing heart,\n     His fame shall spread throughout the land,\n       His mem'ry thence shall ne'er depart.\n\n     Lordings, grant not your protection\n       To a base unworthy crew,\n     But cherish, with a kind affection,\n       Men that are loyal, good, and true.\n     Chase from your hospitable dwelling\n       Swinish souls that ever crave;\n     Virtue they can ne'er excel in,\n       Gluttons never can be brave.\n\n     Lordings, Christmas loves good drinking.\n       Wines of Gascoigne, France, Anjou,\n     English ale that drives out thinking,\n       Prince of liquors, old or new.\n     Every neighbour shares the bowl,\n       Drinks of the spicy liquor deep,\n     Drinks his fill without controul,\n       Till he drowns his care in sleep.\n\n     And now--by Christmas, jolly soul!\n       By this mansion's generous sieur!\n     By the wine, and by the bowl,\n       And all the joys they both inspire!\n     Here I'll drink a health to all:\n       The glorious task shall first be mine:\n     And ever may foul luck befall\n       Him that to pledge me shall decline.\n\n     THE CHORUS.\n\n     Hail, Father Christmas! hail to Thee!\n     Honour'd ever shalt thou be!\n     All the sweets that love bestows,\n     Endless pleasures, wait on those\n     Who, like vassals brave and true,\n     Give to Christmas homage due.\n\nWynkyn de Worde first printed Christmas carols in 1521, but there were\nmany MS. carols in existence before then. Here is a very pretty one\nfrom Mr. Wright's fifteenth-century MS.:--\n\n     To blys God bryng us al and sum.\n     _Christe, redemptor omnium._\n\n     In Bedlem, that fayer cyte,\n     Was born a chyld that was so fre,\n     Lord and prince of hey degre,\n         _Jam lucis orto sidere._\n\n     Jhesu, for the lowe of the,\n     Chylder wer slayn grett plente\n     In Bedlem, that fayer cyte,\n         _A solis ortus cardine._\n\n     As the sune schynyth in the glas,\n     So Jhesu of hys moder borne was;\n     Hym to serve God gyffe us grace,\n         _O Lux beata Trinitas._\n\n     Now is he oure Lord Jhesus;\n     Thus hath he veryly vysyt us;\n     Now to mak mery among us\n       _Exultet coelum laudibus._\n\nThe next carol I give has always been a popular favourite, and can be\ntraced back to the fourteenth century, when it was called \"Joyes\nFyve.\" In Mr. Wright's fifteenth-century MS. it is \"Off the Five Joyes\nof Our Lady.\" It afterwards became the \"Seven Joys of Mary,\" and has\nexpanded to\n\n     THE TWELVE GOOD JOYS OF MARY.\n\n     The first good joy our Mary had,\n       It was the joy of One,\n     To see her own Son Jesus\n       To suck at her breast-bone.\n         To suck at her breast-bone, good man,\n           And blessed may he be,\n         Both Father, Son and Holy Ghost,\n           To all eternity.\n\n     The next good joy our Mary had,\n       It was the joy of Two,\n     To see her own Son Jesus\n       To make the lame to go.\n         To make the lame, etc.\n\n     The next good joy our Mary had,\n       It was the joy of Three,\n     To see her own Son Jesus\n       To make the blind to see.\n         To make the blind to see, etc.\n\n     The next good joy our Mary had,\n       It was the joy of Four,\n     To see her own Son Jesus\n       To read the Bible o'er.\n         To read, etc.\n\n     The next good joy our Mary had,\n       It was the joy of Five,\n     To see her own Son Jesus\n       To raise the dead alive.\n         To raise, etc.\n\n     The next good joy our Mary had,\n       It was the joy of Six,\n     To see her own Son Jesus\n       To wear the crucifix.\n         To wear, etc.\n\n     The next good joy our Mary had,\n       It was the joy of Seven,\n     To see her own Son Jesus\n       To wear the Crown of Heaven.\n         To wear, etc.\n\n     The next good joy our Mary had,\n       It was the joy of Eight,\n     To see our blessed Saviour\n       Turn darkness into light.\n         Turn darkness, etc.\n\n     The next good joy our Mary had,\n       It was the joy of Nine,\n     To see our blessed Saviour\n       Turn water into wine.\n         Turn water, etc.\n\n     The next good joy our Mary had,\n       It was the joy of Ten,\n     To see our blessed Saviour\n       Write without a pen.\n         Write without, etc.\n\n     The next good joy our Mary had,\n       It was the joy of Eleven,\n     To see our blessed Saviour\n       Shew the gates of Heaven.\n         Shew the gates, etc.\n\n     The next good joy our Mary had,\n       It was the joy of Twelve,\n     To see our blessed Saviour\n       Shut close the gates of Hell.\n         Shut close, etc.\n\n\"On Christmas Day in the Morning\" and \"God rest You, Merry Gentlemen,\"\nare both very old and popular, the latter extremely so; in fact, it is\nthe carol most known. The next example was first printed by the Rev.\nArthur Bedford, who wrote many books and published sermons between\n1705 and 1743, but his version began somewhat differently:--\n\n     A Virgin unspotted, the Prophets did tell,\n     Should bring forth a Saviour, as now it befell.\n\n     A VIRGIN MOST PURE.\n\n     A Virgin most pure, as the Prophets did tell,\n     Hath brought forth a Baby, as it hath befell,\n     To be our Redeemer from death, hell and Sin,\n     Which Adam's transgression hath wrapped us in.\n         Rejoice and be merry, set sorrow aside,\n         Christ Jesus, our Saviour, was born on this tide.\n\n     In Bethlehem, a city in Jewry it was--\n     Where Joseph and Mary together did pass,\n     And there to be taxed, with many ane mo,\n     For Caesar commanded the same should be so.\n         Rejoice, etc.\n\n     But when they had entered the city so fair,\n     A number of people so mighty was there,\n     That Joseph and Mary, whose substance was small,\n     Could get in the city no lodging at all.\n         Rejoice, etc.\n\n     Then they were constrained in a stable to lie,\n     Where oxen and asses they used to tie;\n     Their lodging so simple, they held it no scorn,\n     But against the next morning our Saviour was born.\n         Rejoice, etc.\n\n     Then God sent an Angel from heaven so high,\n     To certain poor shepherds in fields where they lie,\n     And bid them no longer in sorrow to stay,\n     Because that our Saviour was born on this day.\n         Rejoice, etc.\n\n     Then presently after, the shepherds did spy\n     A number of Angels appear in the sky,\n     Who joyfully talked, and sweetly did sing,\n     \"To God be all Glory, our Heavenly King.\"\n         Rejoice, etc.\n\n     Three certain Wise Princes they thought it most meet\n     To lay their rich offerings at our Saviour's feet;\n     So then they consented, and to Bethlehem did go,\n     And when they came thither they found it was so.\n         Rejoice, etc.\n\nBut all Christmas carols were not religious--many of them were of the\nmost festive description; but here is one, temp. Henry VIII., which is\na mixture of both:--\n\n     Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,\n     Who is there, that singeth so, Noel,\n         Noel, Noel?\n\n     I am here, Sir Christhismass,\n     Welcome, my lord Christhismass,\n     Welcome to all, both more and less.\n         Come near, Noel.\n\n     _Dieu vous garde, beau Sire_, tidings I you bring,\n     A maid hath born a Child full young,\n     The which causeth for to sing,\n         Noel.\n\n     Christ is now born of a pure maid,\n     In an ox stall He is laid,\n     Wherefore sing we all at a braid,[80]\n         Noel.\n\n     _Buvez bien par toute la compagnie_,\n     Make good cheer, and be right merry,\n     And sing with us, now, joyfully,\n         Noel.\n\n[Footnote 80: Suddenly.]\n\nOf the purely festive carols here is an example of the fifteenth\ncentury, from Mr. Wright's MS.:--\n\n     At the begynnyng of the mete\n     Of a borejs hed 3e schal hete;\n     And in the mustard 3e xal wete;\n         And 3e xal syngyn, or 3e gon.\n\n     Wolcom be 3e that ben here,\n     And 3e xal have ryth gud chere,\n     And also a ryth gud face;\n         And 3e xal syngyn, or 3e gon.\n\n     Welcum be 3e everychon,\n     For 3e xal syngyn ryth anon;\n     Hey 3ow fast that 3e had don,\n         And 3e xal syngyn, or 3e gon.\n\nThe last I give is of the sixteenth century, and is in the British\nMuseum (MS. Cott. Vesp. A. xxv.):--\n\n     A CHRISTENMESSE CARROLL\n\n       A bonne, God wote!\n       Stickes in my throate,\n     Without I have a draught,\n       Of cornie aile,\n       Nappy and staile,\n     My lyffe lyes in great wanste.\n       Some ayle or beare,\n       Gentell butlere,\n     Some lycoure thou hus showe,\n       Such as you mashe,\n       Our throtes to washe\n     The best were that you brew.\n\n       Saint, master and knight,\n       That Saint Mault hight,\n     Were prest between two stones;\n       That swet humour\n       Of his lycoure\n     Would make us sing at once.\n\n       Mr. Wortley,\n       I dar well say,\n     I tell you as I thinke,\n       Would not, I say,\n       Byd hus this day,\n     But that we shuld have drink.\n\n       His men so tall\n       Walkes up his hall,\n     With many a comly dishe;\n       Of his good meat\n       I cannot eate,\n     Without a drink i-wysse.\n       Now gyve hus drink,\n       And let cat wynke,\n     I tell you all at once,\n       Yt stickes so sore,\n       I may sing no more,\n     Tyll I have dronken once.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIV\n\n     Christmas Gifts forbidden in the City of London--Charles II.\n     and Christmas Gifts--Christmas Tree--Asiatic\n     Descent--Scandinavian Descent--Candles on the Tree--Early\n     Notices of in England--Santa Claus--Krishkinkle--Curious\n     Tenures of Land at Christmas.\n\n\nThe presentation of gifts on Christmas day was an English custom of\nvery great antiquity; so great that, in 1419, the practice had become\nmuch corrupted, and the abuse had to be sternly repressed. Hence we\nfind the following[81] \"_Regulation made that the Serjeants and other\nofficers of the Mayor, Sheriffs, or City, shall not beg for Christmas\ngifts._\n\n[Footnote 81: _Corporation Letter-book_, i. fol. 238.]\n\n\"Forasmuch as it is not becoming or agreeable to propriety that those\nwho are in the service of reverend men, and from them, or through\nthem, have the advantage of befitting food and raiment, as also of\nreward, or remuneration, in a competent degree, should, after a\nperverse custom, be begging aught of people, like paupers; and seeing\nthat in times past, every year at the feast of our Lord's Nativity\n(25th December), according to a certain custom, which has grown to be\nan abuse, the vadlets of the Mayor, the Sheriffs and the Chamber of\nthe said city--persons who have food, raiment, and appropriate\nadvantages, resulting from their office,--under colour of asking for\nan oblation, have begged many sums of money of brewers, bakers, cooks,\nand other victuallers; and, in some instances, have, more than once,\nthreatened wrongfully to do them an injury if they should refuse to\ngive them something; and have frequently made promises to others that,\nin return for a present, they would pass over their unlawful doings\nin mute silence; to the great dishonour of their masters, and to the\ncommon loss of all the city: therefore, on Wednesday, the last day of\nApril, in the 7th year of King Henry the Fifth, by William Sevenok,\nthe Mayor, and the Aldermen of London, it was ordered and established\nthat no vadlet, or other sergeant of the Mayor, Sheriffs, or City,\nshould in future beg or require of any person, of any rank, degree, or\ncondition whatsoever, any moneys, under colour of an oblation, or in\nany other way, on pain of losing his office.\"\n\nRoyalty was not above receiving presents on this day, and as, of\ncourse, such presents could not be of small value, it must have been\nno small tax on the nobility. Pepys (23rd February 1663) remarks:\n\"This day I was told that my Lady Castlemaine hath all the King's\nChristmas presents, made him by the Peers, given to her, which is a\nmost abominable thing.\" He records his own Christmas gifts (25th\nDecember 1667): \"Being a fine, light, moonshine morning, home round\nthe city, and stopped and dropped money at five or six places, which I\nwas the willinger to do, it being Christmas day.\"\n\nBut the prettiest method of distributing Christmas gifts was reserved\nfor comparatively modern times, in the Christmas tree. Anent this\nwonderful tree there are many speculations, one or two so curious that\nthey deserve mention. It is said of a certain living Professor that he\ndeduces everything from an Indian or Aryan descent; and there is a\nlong and very learned article by Sir George Birdwood, C.S.I., in the\n_Asiatic Quarterly Review_ (vol. i. pp. 19, 20), who endeavours to\ntrace it to an eastern origin. He says: \"Only during the past thirty\nor forty years has the custom become prevalent in England of employing\nthe Christmas tree as an appropriate decoration, and a most delightful\nvehicle for showering down gifts upon the young, in connection with\ndomestic and public popular celebrations of the joyous ecclesiastical\nFestival of the Nativity. It is said to have been introduced among us\nfrom Germany, where it is regarded as indigenous, and it is, probably,\na survival of some observance connected with the pagan Saturnalia of\nthe winter solstice, to supersede which, the Church, about the fifth\ncentury of our era, instituted Christmas day.\n\n\"It has, indeed, been explained as being derived from the ancient\nEgyptian practice of decking houses at the time of the winter solstice\nwith branches of the date palm, the symbol of life triumphant over\ndeath, and therefore of perennial life in the renewal of each\nbounteous year; and the supporters of this suggestion point to the\nfact that pyramids of green paper, covered all over with wreaths and\nfestoons of flowers, and strings of sweetmeats, and other presents for\nchildren, are often substituted in Germany for the Christmas Tree.\n\n\"But similar pyramids, together with similar trees, the latter,\nusually, altogether artificial, and often constructed of the costliest\nmaterials, even of gems and gold, are carried about at marriage\nceremonies in India, and at many festivals, such as the Hoolee, or\nannual festival of the vernal equinox. These pyramids represent Mount\nMeru and the earth; and the trees, the Kalpadruma, or 'Tree of Ages,'\nand the fragrant Parajita, the tree of every perfect gift, which grew\non the slopes of Mount Meru; and, in their enlarged sense, they\nsymbolise the splendour of the outstretched heavens, as of a tree,\nladen with golden fruit, deep-rooted in the earth. Both pyramids and\ntrees are also phallic emblems of life, individual, terrestrial, and\ncelestial. Therefore, if a relationship exists between the Egyptian\npractice of decking houses at the winter solstice with branches of the\ndate palm, and the German and English custom of using gift-bearing and\nbrilliantly illuminated evergreen trees, which are, nearly always,\nfirs, as a Christmas decoration, it is most probably due to collateral\nrather than to direct descent; and this is indicated by the Egyptians\nhaving regarded the date palm, not only as an emblem of immortality,\nbut, also, of the starlit firmament.\"\n\nOthers attempt to trace the Christmas tree to the Scandinavian legend\nof the mystic tree Yggdrasil, which sprang from the centre of\nMid-gard, and the summit of As-gard, with branches spreading out over\nthe whole earth, and reaching above the highest heavens, whilst its\nthree great roots go down into the lowest hell.\n\nA writer in the _Cornhill Magazine_, December 1886, thus accounts for\nthe candles on the tree--\n\n\"But how came the lights on the Christmas tree?\n\n\"In the ninth month of the Jewish year, corresponding nearly to our\nDecember, and on the twenty-fifth day, the Jews celebrated the Feast\nof the Dedication of their Temple. It had been desecrated on that day\nby Antiochus; it was rededicated by Judas Maccabeus; and then,\naccording to the Jewish legend, sufficient oil was found in the Temple\nto last for the seven-branched candlestick for seven days, and it\nwould have taken seven days to prepare new oil. Accordingly, the Jews\nwere wont, on the twenty-fifth of Kislen, in every house, to light a\ncandle, on the next day, two, and so on, till on the seventh and last\nday of the feast, seven candles twinkled in every house. It is not\neasy to fix the exact date of the Nativity, but it fell, most\nprobably, on the last day of Kislen, when every Jewish house in\nBethlehem and Jerusalem was twinkling with lights. It is worthy of\nnotice that the German name for Christmas is _Weihnacht_, the Night of\nDedication, as though it were associated with this feast. The Greeks\nalso call Christmas the Feast of Lights; and, indeed, this also was a\nname given to the Dedication Festival, _Chanuka_, by the Jews.\"\n\nThat this pretty Christ-tide custom came to us from Germany there can\nbe no doubt, and all the early notices of it show that it was so. Thus\nthe first mention of it that I can find is in _Court and Private Life\nin the Time of Queen Charlotte, being the Journals of Mrs. Papendiek_,\nvol. ii. 158. Speaking of Christ-tide 1789, she says: \"This Christmas\nMr. Papendiek proposed an illuminated tree, according to the German\nfashion, but the Blagroves being at home for their fortnight, and the\nparty at Mrs. Roach's for the holidays, I objected to it. Our eldest\ngirl, Charlotte, being only six the 30th of this November, I thought\nour children too young to be amused at so much expense and trouble.\"\n\nA.J. Kempe, Esq., in a footnote to p. 75 of the Losely MSS., edited by\nhim in 1836, says: \"We remember a German of the household of the late\nQueen Caroline making what he termed a _Christmas tree_ for a juvenile\nparty at that festive season. The tree was a branch of some evergreen\nfastened to a board. Its boughs bent under the weight of gilt oranges,\nalmonds, &c., and under it was a neat model of a farm house,\nsurrounded by figures of animals, &c., and all due accompaniments.\"\n\nCharles Greville, in his _Memoirs_, writes thus of Christ-tide 1829\nas celebrated at Panshanger. \"The Princess Lieven got up a little\n_fete_ such as is customary all over Germany. Three trees in great\npots were put upon a long table covered with pink linen; each tree was\nilluminated with three circular tiers of coloured wax candles--blue,\ngreen, red, and white. Before each tree was displayed a quantity of\ntoys, gloves, pocket handkerchiefs, work boxes, books, and various\narticles--presents made to the owner of the tree. It was very pretty.\nHere it was only for the children; in Germany the custom extends to\npersons of all ages.\"\n\nOne more extract, to show about what time it became popular, and I\nhave done. It is from _Mary Howitt, an Autobiography_ (vol. i. 298).\n\"Our practical knowledge of the Christmas tree was gained in this\nfirst winter at Heidelberg. Universal as the custom now is, I believe\nthe earliest knowledge which the English public had of it was through\nColeridge in his _Biographia Literaria_. It had, at the time I am\nwriting of--1840--been introduced into Manchester by some of the\nGerman merchants established there. Our Queen and Prince Albert\nlikewise celebrated the festival with its beautiful old German\ncustoms. Thus the fashion spread, until now even our asylums, schools,\nand workhouses have, through friends and benefactors, each its\nChristmas tree.\"\n\nAnother pretty Christ-tide custom has also come to us from Germany,\nthat of putting presents into stockings left out for the purpose\nwhilst the children sleep on Christmas eve. St. Nicholas (or Santa\nClaus, as he is now called), the patron of children, ought to get the\ncredit of it. In America the presents are supposed to be brought by a\nfabulous personage called _Krishkinkle_, who is believed to come down\nthe chimney laden with good things for those children whose conduct\nhad been exemplary during the past year; for peccant babies the\nstocking held a birch rod. _Krishkinkle_ is a corruption of\n_Christ-kindlein_ or Child Christ.\n\nThere are some very curious tenures of lands and manors connected with\nChristmas which must not be passed over. I have taken them from\nBlount's book on the subject, as being the best authority.\n\nBONDBY, Lincolnshire.--Sir Edward Botiler, knight, and Ann, his wife,\nsister and heir of Hugh le Despencer, hold the manor of Bondby, in\nthe county of Lincoln, by the service of bearing a white rod before\nour Lord the King on the Feast of Christmas, if the King should be in\nthat county at the said feast.\n\nBRIDSHALL, Staffordshire.--Sir Philip de Somerville, knight, holdeth\nof his lord, the Earl of Lancaster, the manor of Briddeshalle by these\nservices, that at such time as his lord holdeth his Christmas at\nTutbury, the said Sir Philip shall come to Tutbury upon Christmas\nEven, and shall be lodged in the town of Tutbury, by the marshal of\nthe Earl's house, and upon Christmas Day he himself, or some other\nknight, his deputy, shall go to the dresser, and shall sew[82] his\nlord's mess, and then shall he carve the same meat to his said lord,\nand this service shall he do as well at supper as at dinner, and, when\nhis lord hath eaten, the said Sir Philip shall sit down in the same\nplace where his lord sat, and shall be served at his table by the\nsteward of the Earl's house. And upon St. Stephen's day, when he hath\ndined, he shall take his leave of his lord and shall kiss him; and all\nthese services to-fore rehearsed, the said Philip hath done by the\nspace of xlviii years, and his ancestors before him, to his lords,\nEarls of Lancaster.\n\n[Footnote 82: Place the dishes before him, and remove them.]\n\nBRIMINGTON, Derbyshire.--Geoffery, son of William de Brimington, gave,\ngranted, and confirmed to Peter, son of Hugh de Brimington, one toft\nwith the buildings, and three acres of land in the fields there, with\ntwenty pence yearly rent, which he used to receive of Thomas, son of\nGilbert de Bosco, with the homages, etc., rendering yearly to him and\nhis heirs a pair of white gloves, of the price of a halfpenny, at\nChristmas yearly, for all services.\n\nBROOK HOUSE, Yorkshire.--A farm at Langsett, in the parish of Peniston\nand county of York, pays yearly to Godfrey Bosville, Esqre., a\nsnowball at Midsummer, and a red rose at Christmas.\n\nBURGE, Derbyshire.--Hugh, son and heir of Philip de Stredley, made\nfine with the King by two marks for his relief for the Mill of Burge,\nin the county of Derby, which the said Philip held of the King _in\ncapite_, by the service of finding one man bearing a heron falcon,\nevery year in season, before the King, when he should be summoned,\nand to take for performing the said service, at the cost of the King,\ntwo robes at Whitsuntide and Christmas.\n\nGREENS-NORTON, Northamptonshire.--This, so named of the Greens\n(persons famed in the sixteenth century for their wealth), called\nbefore Norton-Dauncy, was held of the King _in capite_ by the service\nof lifting up their right hands towards the King yearly, on Christmas\nday, wheresoever the King should then be in England.\n\nHAWARDEN AND BOSELE, Cheshire.--The manors of Hawarden and Bosele,\nwith the appurtenances in the county of Cheshire, are held of the King\n_in capite_ by Robert de Monhault, Earl of Arundel, by being steward\nof the county of Cheshire, _viz._ by the service of setting down the\nfirst dish before the Earl of Chester at Chester on Christmas day.\n\nHEDSOR, Bucks.--An estate in this parish, called Lambert Farm, was\nformerly held under the manor by the service of bringing in the first\ndish at the lord's table on St. Stephen's day, and presenting him with\ntwo hens, a cock, a gallon of ale, and two manchets of white bread;\nafter dinner the lord delivered to the tenant a sparrow hawk and a\ncouple of spaniels, to be kept at his costs and charges for the lord's\nuse.\n\nHEMINGSTON, Suffolk.--Rowland le Sarcere held one hundred and ten\nacres of land in Hemingston by serjeanty; for which, on Christmas day\nevery year, before our sovereign lord the King of England, he should\nperform altogether, and at once, a leap, puff up his cheeks, therewith\nmaking a sound, and let a crack.\n\nLEVINGTON, Yorkshire.--Adam de Bras, lord of Skelton, gave in marriage\nwith his daughter Isabel, to Henry de Percy, eldest son and heir of\nJoceline de Lovain (ancestor to the present Duke of Northumberland),\nthe manor of Levington, for which he and his heirs were to repair to\nSkelton Castle every Christmas day, and lead the lady of that castle\nfrom her chamber to the chapel to mass, and thence to her chamber\nagain, and after dining with her, to depart.\n\nREDWORTH, Co. Durham.--In the fourth year of Bishop Skirlawe, 1391,\nJohn de Redworth died, seised in his demesne, &c. of two messuages and\ntwenty-six acres of land and meadow, with the appurtenances, in\nRedworth, held of the said Lord Bishop _in capite_ by homage and\nfealty, and the service of four shillings and ten pence a year, to be\npaid at the Exchequer at Durham, and the rent of one hen and two parts\nof a hen to be paid at the same Exchequer yearly at Christmas.\n\nSTAMFORD, Lincolnshire.--William, Earl Warren, lord of this town in\nthe time of King John, standing upon the castle walls, saw two bulls\nfighting for a cow in the Castle Meadow, till all the butchers' dogs\npursued one of the bulls (maddened with noise and multitude) clean\nthrough the town. This sight so pleased the Earl that he gave the\nCastle Meadow, where the bulls' duel had begun, for a common to the\nbutchers of the town, after the first grass was mown, on condition\nthat they should find a mad bull the day six weeks before Christmas\nday, for the continuance of the sport for ever.\n\nTHURGARTON AND HORSEPOLL, Notts.--The tenants of these manors held\ntheir lands by these customs and services. Every native and villein\n(which were such as we call husbandmen) paid each a cock and a hen,\nbesides a small rent in money, for a toft and one bovate of land, held\nof the Priory of Thurgarton. These cocks and hens were paid the second\nday in Christmas, and that day every one, both cottagers and natives,\ndined in the hall; and those who did not had a white loaf and a flagon\nof ale, with one mess from the kitchen. And all the reapers in\nharvest, which were called hallewimen, were to eat in the hall one day\nin Christmas, or afterwards, at the discretion of the cellarer.\n\nThere is a curious custom still carried out at Queen's College,\nOxford. On the feast of the Circumcision the bursar gives to every\nmember a needle and thread, adding the injunction, \"Take this and be\nthrifty.\" It is said, I know not with what truth, that it is to\ncommemorate the name of the founder, Robert Egglesfield--by the\nvisible pun, _aiguille_ (needle) and _fil_ (thread).\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXV\n\n     Christ-tide Literature--Christmas Cards--Their\n     Origin--Lamplighter's Verses--Watchman's Verses--Christmas\n     Pieces.\n\n\nThe literature specially designed nowadays for Christmas reading is\ncertainly not of a high order, whether we take books--which are issued\nat this time by the hundred--or the special numbers of magazines and\nnewspapers, all of which have rubbishing stories with some tag in them\nrelating to Christ-tide. Tales of ghosts, etc., were at one time very\nfashionable, and even Dickens pandered to this miserable style of\nwriting, not enhancing his reputation thereby.\n\nAkin in merit to this literature are the mottoes we find in the _bon\nbon_ crackers, and the verses on Christmas cards, which are on a par\nwith those which adorned the defunct valentine. When first Christmas\ncards came into vogue they were expensive and comparatively good; now\nthey are simply rubbish, and generally have no allusion either in the\ndesign, or doggrel to Christ-tide, to which they owe their existence.\nTheir origin was thoroughly threshed out in _Notes and Queries_, and I\ngive the correspondence thereon (6th series, v. 155).\n\n\"Christmas cards were first published and issued from Summerly's _Home\nTreasury_ Office, 12 Old Bond Street, in the year 1846. The design was\ndrawn by J.C. Horsley, R.A., at the suggestion of Sir Henry Cole,\nK.C.B., and carried out by De la Rue and Co.\"\n\n(_Ib._ 376) \"Mr. Platt is somewhat in error in stating that the first\nChristmas card was carried out by De la Rue and Co. This firm\nrepublished it last year (1881) in chromo-lithography, but in 1846 it\nwas produced in outline by lithography, and coloured by hand by a\ncolourer of that time named Mason, when it could not have been sold\nfor less than a shilling. Last year chromo-lithography enabled it to\nbe produced for two pence. The original publisher was Mr. Joseph\nCundall. It may be well to place the design on record. A trellis of\nrustic work in the Germanesque style divided the card into a centre\nand two side panels. The sides were filled by representations of the\nfeeding of the hungry and the clothing of the naked; in the central\ncompartment a family party was shown at table--an old man and woman, a\nmaiden and her young man, and several children,--and they were\npictured drinking healths in wine. On this ground certain total\nabstainers have called in question the morality of Mr. Horsley's\ndesign.\"\n\n_The Publishers' Circular_, 31st December 1883 (p. 1432), says:\n\"Several years ago, in the Christmas number of _The Publishers'\nCircular_, we described the original Christmas card, designed by Mr.\nJ.C. Horsley, R.A., at the suggestion of Sir Henry Cole, and no\ncontradiction was then offered to our theory that this must have been\nthe real and original card. On Thursday, however, Mr. John Leighton,\nwriting under his _nom de plume_, 'Luke Limner,' comes forward to\ncontest the claim of priority of design, and says: 'Occasional cards\nof a purely private character have been done years ago, but the\nChristmas card pure and simple is the growth of our town and our time.\nIt began in 1862, the first attempts being the size of the ordinary\ngentleman's address card, on which were simply put \"A Merry Christmas\"\nand \"A Happy New Year\"; after that there came to be added robins and\nholly branches, embossed figures and landscapes. Having made the\noriginal designs for these, I have the originals before me now; they\nwere produced by Goodall and Son. Seeing a growing want, and the great\nsale obtained abroad, this house produced (1868) a \"Little Red Riding\nHood,\" a \"Hermit and his Cell,\" and many other subjects in which snow\nand the robin played a part.' We fail to see how a card issued in 1862\ncan ante-date the production of 1846, a copy of which is in our\npossession; and although there is no copyright in an idea, the title\nto the honour of originating the pretty trifle now so familiar to us\nseems to rest with Sir Henry Cole.\"\n\n_The Times_ of 2nd January 1884 has the following letter:--\n\n\"SIR--The writer of the article on Christmas Cards in _The Times_ of\nDecember 25th is quite right in his assertion. The first Christmas\ncard ever published was issued by me in the usual way, in the year\n1846, at the office of _Felix Summerly's Home Treasury_, at 12 Old\nBond Street. Mr. Henry Cole (afterwards Sir Henry) originated the\nidea. The drawing was made by J.C. Horsley, R.A.; it was printed in\nlithography by Mr. Jobbins of Warwick Court, Holborn, and coloured by\nhand. Many copies were sold, but possibly not more than 1000. It was\nof the usual size of a lady's card. Those my friend Luke Limner speaks\nof were not brought out, as he says, till many years after.--JOSEPH\nCUNDALL.\"\n\nAs works of art--compared with the majority of Christmas cards, which\nare mostly \"made in Germany\"--the card almanacs presented by tradesmen\nto their customers are generally of a very superior character.\n\nIn the old days, when there were oil lamps in the streets, the\nlamplighter, like the bellman and the watchman, used annually at\nChristmas to leave some verses at every house to remind its occupier\nthat Boxing day drew nigh. One example will suffice, and its date is\n1758:--\n\n     THE LAMPLIGHTER'S POEM:\n\n     Humbly Presented to all His worthy Masters and Mistresses.\n\n     _Compos'd by a Lamplighter._\n\n     Revolving Time another Glass has run,\n     Since I, last year, this Annual Task begun,\n     And Christmas now beginning to appear\n     (Which never comes, you know, but once a year),\n     I have presum'd to bring my Mite once more,\n     Which, tho' it be but small, is all my Store;\n     And I don't doubt you'll take it in good Part,\n     As 'tis the Tribute of a grateful Heart.\n       Brave Prussia's king, that true Protestant Prince,\n     For Valour Fam'd, endow'd with Martial Sense;\n     Against three mighty Potentates did stand,\n     Who would have plundered him of all his Land:\n     But God, who knew his Cause was Just and Right,\n     Gave him such Courage and Success in Fight:\n     Born to oppose the Pope's malignant clan,\n     He'll do whatever Prince or Hero can;\n     Retrieve that martial Fame by Britons lost,\n     And prove that Faith which graceless Christians boast.\n     O! make his Cause, ye Powers above! your Care;\n     Let Guilt shrink back, and Innocence appear.\n       But, now, with State Affairs I must have done,\n     And to the Business of my Lamps must run;\n     When Sun and Moon from you do hide their Head,\n     Your busy Streets with artful Lights are spread,\n     And gives you Light with great indulgent Care,\n     Makes the dark Night like the bright Day appear;\n     Then we poor useful Mortals nimbly run\n     To light your Lamps before the Day is gone:\n     With strictest Care, we to each Lamp give Fire,\n     The longest Night to burn: you do require\n     Of us to make each Lamp to burn that time,\n     But, oft, we do fall short of that Design:\n     Sometimes a Lamp goes out at Master's Door,\n     This happens once which ne'er did so before:\n     The Lamp-man's blamed, and ask'd the reason why\n     That should go out, and others burning by?\n     Kind, worthy Sirs, if I may be so bold,\n     A truer Tale to you was never told;\n     We trim, we give each Lamp their Oil alike,\n     Yet some goes out, while others keep alight:\n     Why they do so, to you we can't explain,\n     It ne'er did sink into our shallow Brain:\n     Nor have we heard that any one could tell,\n     That secret Place where Life of Fire does dwell,\n     Such various Motions in it we do find,\n     And a hard Task with it to please Mankind.\n       Now, our kind Master, who Contractor is,\n     If a Complaint he hears of Lamps amiss,\n     With strictest Care the Streets looks round about,\n     And views the Lamps, takes Notice which are out;\n     Then, in great Fury, he to us replies,\n     Such Lamps were out, why have I all this Noise?\n     Go fetch those Burners all down here to me,\n     That where the Fault is I may plainly see:\n     Then straight he views them, with Remains of Oil,\n     Crys, ah! I thought you did these Lamps beguile;\n     But now the thing I do more plainly see,\n     The Burning Oil is a great Mystery:\n     Then come, my Boys, to work, make no delay,\n     Keep from Complaints, if possible you may;\n     Clean well each Glass, I'll spare for no Expence\n     Where I contract, to please th' Inhabitants.\n       Since Time still flies, and Life is but a Vapour,\n     'Tis now high time that I conclude my Paper,\n     And, if my Verses have the Luck to Please,\n     My Mind will be exceedingly at ease;\n     But, if this shouldn't Please, I know what will,\n     And that's with Diligence to serve you still.\n                 FINIS.\n\nHone, in his _Every-Day Book_ (vol. i. p. 1627), gives, date 1823:--\n\n     A COPY OF CHRISTMAS VERSES,\n\n     presented to the\n\n     INHABITANTS OF BUNGAY\n\n     By their Humble Servants, the late Watchmen,\n\n     JOHN PYE and JOHN TYE.\n\n     Your pardon, Gentles, while we thus implore,\n     In strains not less _awakening_ than of yore,\n     Those smiles we deem our best reward to catch,\n     And, for the which, we've long been on the _Watch_;\n     Well pleas'd if we that recompence obtain,\n     Which we have ta'en so many _steps_ to gain.\n     Think of the perils in our _calling past_,\n     The chilling coldness of the midnight blast,\n     The beating rain, the swiftly-driving snow,\n     The various ills that we must undergo,\n     Who roam, the glow-worms of the human race,\n     The living Jack-a-Lanthorns of the place.\n       'Tis said by some, perchance to mock our toil,\n     That we are prone to \"_waste the midnight oil_!\"\n     And that a task thus idle to pursue\n     Would be an idle _waste of money_, too!\n     How hard that we the _dark_ designs should rue\n     Of those who'd fain make _light_ of all we do!\n     But such the fate which oft doth merit greet,\n     And which now drives us fairly off our beat!\n     Thus it appears from this, our dismal plight,\n     That _some_ love _darkness_ rather than the _light_.\n       Henceforth, let riot and disorder reign,\n     With all the ills that follow in their train;\n     Let TOMS and JERRYS unmolested brawl\n     (No _Charlies_ have they now to _floor_ withal).\n     And \"rogues and vagabonds\" infest the Town,\n     Far cheaper 'tis to _save_ than _crack a crown_.\n       To brighter scenes we now direct our view--\n     And, first, fair Ladies, let us turn to you.\n     May each NEW YEAR new joys, new pleasures bring,\n     And Life for you be one delightful spring!\n     No summer's sun annoy with fev'rish rays,\n     No winter chill the evening of your days!\n       To you, kind Sirs, we next our tribute pay:\n     May smiles and sunshine greet you on your way!\n     If married, calm and peaceful be your lives;\n     If single, may you, forthwith, get you wives!\n       Thus, whether Male or Female, Old or Young\n     Or Wed, or Single, be this burden sung:\n     Long may you live to hear, and we to call,\n     \"_A Happy Christmas and New Year to all._\"\n\nThe present generation has never seen, and probably never heard of,\n\"Christmas pieces,\" or specimens of handwriting, which went out of\nvogue fifty years ago. It was very useful, as the boy took great pride\nin its writing, and parents could judge of their children's\nproficiency in penmanship. Sometimes these sheets were surrounded with\nelaborate flourishings of birds, pens, scrolls, etc., such as the\nwriting-master of the last century delighted in; others were headed\nwith copper-plate engravings, sometimes coloured. Here are a few of\nthe subjects: Ruth and Boaz, Measuring the Temple (Ezekiel), Philip\nBaptising the Eunuch, The Good Samaritan, Joshua's Command, John the\nBaptist Preaching in the Wilderness, The Seven Wonders of the World,\nKing William III., St. Paul's Shipwreck, etc., etc.\n\nA publisher, writing to _Notes and Queries_ in 1871 (4 series, vi.\n462) about these \"Christmas Pieces,\" says: \"As a youngster, some\nthirty years ago, in my father's establishment, the sale of 'school\npieces,' or 'Christmas pieces,' as they were called, was very large.\nMy father published some thirty different subjects (a new one every\nyear, one of the old ones being let go out of print). There were also\nthree other publishers of them. The order to print used to average\nabout 500 of each kind, but double of the Life of our Saviour. Most of\nthe subjects were those of the Old Testament. I only recollect four\nsubjects not sacred. Printing at home, we generally commenced the\nprinting in August from the copper-plates, as they had to be coloured\nby hand. They sold, retail, at sixpence each, and we used to supply\nthem to the trade at thirty shillings per gross, and to schools at\nthree shillings and sixpence per dozen, or two dozen for six shillings\nand sixpence. Charity boys were large purchasers of these pieces, and\nat Christmas time used to take them round their parish to show, and,\nat the same time, solicit a trifle. The sale never began before\nOctober in the country, and December in London; and early in January\nthe stock left used to be put by until the following season. It is\nover fifteen years since any were printed by my firm, and the last new\none I find was done in lithography.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVI\n\n     Carol for St. Stephen's Day--Boxing Day--Origin of\n     Custom--Early Examples--The Box--Bleeding Horses--Festivity\n     on this Day--Charity at Bampton--Hunting the Wren in\n     Ireland--Song of the Wren Boys.\n\n\nOn the day succeeding Christmas day the Church commemorates the death\nof the proto-martyr Stephen, and in honour of this festival the\nfollowing carol is sung:--\n\n     In friendly Love and Unity,\n       For good _St. Stephen's_ Sake,\n     Let us all, this blessed Day,\n       To Heaven our Prayers make:\n     That we with him the Cross of Christ\n       May freely undertake.\n         _And_ Jesus _will send you his Blessing._\n\n     Those accursed Infidels\n       That stoned him to Death,\n     Could not by their cruelties\n       Withhold him from his Faith,\n     In such a godly Martyrdom\n       Seek we all the Path.\n         _And_ Jesus, etc.\n\n     And whilst we sit here banqueting,\n       Of dainties having Store,\n     Let us not forgetful be\n       To cherish up the Poor;\n     And give what is convenient\n       To those that ask at Door.\n         _And_ Jesus, etc.\n\n     For God hath made you Stewards here,\n       Upon the Earth to dwell;\n     He that gathereth for himself,\n       And will not use it well,\n     Lives far worse than _Dives_ did,\n       That burneth now in Hell.\n         _And_ Jesus, etc.\n\n     And, now, in Love and Charity,\n       See you your Table spread,\n     That I may taste of your good Cheer,\n       Your _Christmas_ Ale and Bread:\n     Then I may say that I full well\n       For this, my Carol, sped.\n         _And_ Jesus, etc.\n\n     For Bounty is a blessed Gift,\n       The Lord above it sends,\n     And he that gives it from His Hands,\n       Deserveth many Friends:\n     I see it on my Master's Board,\n       And so my Carol ends.\n         _Lord_ Jesus, etc.\n\nBut St. Stephen's day is much better known in England as \"Boxing Day,\"\nfrom the kindly custom of recognising little services rendered during\nthe year by giving a Christmas box--a custom which, of course, is\nliable to abuse, and especially when, as in many instances, it is\nregarded as a right, in which case it loses its pleasant significance.\nNo one knows how old this custom is, nor its origin. Hutchinson, in\nhis _History of Northumberland_ (vol. ii. p. 20), says: \"The Paganalia\nof the Romans, instituted by Servius Tullius, were celebrated in the\nbeginning of the year; an altar was erected in each village, where all\npersons gave money.\" There is a somewhat whimsical account of its\norigin in the first attempt at _Notes and Queries_, _The_ Athenian\n_Oracle_, by John Dunton (1703, vol. i. 360).\n\n\"Q. _From whence comes the custom of gathering of_ Christmas Box\nMoney? _And how long since?_\n\n\"A. It is as Ancient as the word _Mass_, which the Romish Priests\ninvented from the _Latin_ word _Mitto_, to send, by putting People in\nMind to send Gifts, Offerings, Oblations, to have Masses said for\neverything almost, that a Ship goes not out to the _Indies_, but the\nPriest have a Box in that Ship, under the Protection of some Saint.\nAnd for Masses, as they Cant, to be said for them to that Saint, etc.,\nthe Poor People must put something into the Priest's Box, which is not\nto be Opened till the Ship Return. Thus the Mass at that time was\ncalled _Christ's Mass_, and the Box, _Christ's Mass Box_, or Money\ngathered against that time, that Masses might be made by the Priests\nto the Saints, to forgive the People the Debaucheries of that time;\nand from this, Servants had the Liberty to get Box-money, because they\nmight be able to pay the Priest for his Masses, because _No Penny, No\nPaternoster_.\"\n\nAt all events, the Christmas box was a well-known institution in the\nearly seventeenth century. We have already seen Pepys \"dropping money\"\nhere and there at Christ-tide, and on 28th December 1668 he notes:\n\"Called up by drums and trumpets; these things and boxes having cost\nme much money this Christmas already, and will do more.\" Yet the\ncustom must have been much older, for in the accounts of Dame Agnes\nMerett, Cellaress of Syon Monastery, at Isleworth, in 29 Henry VIII.,\n1537-38 (_Record Office Roll_, T.G. 18,232), the following are\nentered among the _Foreigne Paymentes_: \"Reward to the servauntes at\nCrystemas, with their aprons xxs. Reward to the Clerk of the Kechyn,\nxiijs. iiijd. Reward to the Baily of the Husbandry, vis. viijd. Reward\nto the Keeper of the Covent Garden, vis. viijd.\"\n\nAs time went on we find increasing notices of Christmas boxes. In\nBeaumont and Fletcher's _Wit without Money_ (Act ii. sc. 2) \"A Widow\nis a Christmas box that sweeps all.\"\n\nSwift, in his _Journal to Stella_, mentions them several times. 26th\nDecember 1710: \"By the Lord Harry, I shall be undone here with\nChristmas boxes. The rogues at the Coffee-house have raised their tax,\nevery one giving a crown, and I gave mine for shame, besides a great\nmany half-crowns to great men's porters,\" etc.\n\n24th December 1711: \"I gave Patrick half a crown for his Christmas\nbox, on condition he would be good; and he came home drunk at\nmidnight.\"\n\n2nd January 1712: \"I see nothing here like Christmas, excepting brawn\nand mince pies in places where I dine, and giving away my half crowns\nlike farthings to great men's porters and butlers.\"\n\nGay, in his _Trivia_, thus mentions it:--\n\n     Some boys are rich by birth beyond all wants,\n     Belov'd by uncles, and kind, good, old aunts;\n     When Time comes round, a _Christmas Box_ they bear,\n     And one day makes them rich for all the year.\n\nBut the Christmas _box_ was an entity, and tangible; it was a saving's\nbox made of earthenware, which must be broken before the cash could be\nextracted, as can be proved by several quotations, and the gift took\nits name from the receptacle for it.\n\nIn Mason's _Handful of Essaies_ 1621: \"Like a swine, he never doth\ngood till his death; as an apprentice's box of earth, apt he is to\ntake all, but to restore none till hee be broken.\"\n\nIn the frontispiece to Blaxton's _English Usurer_, 1634, the same\nsimile is used:--\n\n     Both with the Christmas Boxe may well comply,\n     It nothing yields till broke; they till they die.\n\nAnd again, in Browne's _Map of the Microcosme_, 1642, speaking of a\ncovetous man, he says, he \"doth exceed in receiving, but is very\ndeficient in giving; like the Christmas earthen Boxes of apprentices,\napt to take in money, but he restores none till hee be broken, like a\npotter's vessell, into many shares.\"\n\nAubrey, in his _Wiltshire Collections_, _circ._ 1670 (p. 45), thus\ndescribes a _trouvaille_ of Roman coins. \"Among the rest was an\nearthen pott of the colour of a Crucible, and of the shape of a\nprentice's Christmas Box, with a slit in it, containing about a quart,\nwhich was near full of money. This pot I gave to the Repository of the\nRoyal Society at Gresham College.\"\n\nAnd, to wind up these Christmas box notices, I may quote a verse from\nHenry Carey's \"Sally in our Alley\" (1715?).\n\n     When Christmas comes about again,\n       Oh! then I shall have money;\n     I'll hoard it up, and box and all,\n       I'll give it to my honey.\n\nThere used to be a very curious custom on St. Stephen's day, which\nDouce says was introduced into this country by Danes--that of bleeding\nhorses. That it was usual is, I think, proved by very different\nauthorities. Tusser says:--\n\n     Yer Christmas be passed, let horsse be let blood,\n     For manie a purpose it dooth him much good;\n     The day of S. Steeven old fathers did use;\n     If that do mislike thee, some other day chuse.\n\nAnd Barnebe Googe, in his translation of Naogeorgus, remarks:--\n\n     Then followeth Saint Stephen's day, whereon doth every man\n     His horses iaunt and course abrode, as swiftly as he can;\n     Untill they doe extreemely sweate, and than they let them blood,\n     For this being done upon this day, they say doth do them good,\n     And keepes them from all maladies and secknesse through the yeare,\n     As if that Steuen any time tooke charge of horses heare.\n\nAubrey, also, in his _Remains of Gentilisme_, says: \"On St. Stephen's\nday the farrier came constantly, and blouded all our cart horses.\"\n\nIt was occasionally the day of great festivity, even though it came\nso very closely after Christmas day; and Mr. J.G. Nichols, in _Notes\nand Queries_ (2 ser. viii. 484), quotes a letter, dated 2nd January\n1614, in confirmation. It is from an alderman of Leicester to his\nbrother in Wood Street, Cheapside. \"Yow wryte how yow reacayved my\nlettar on St. Steven's day, and that, I thanke yow, yow esteemed yt as\nwelcoom as the 18 trumpytors; w^{t} in so doing, I must and will\nesteme yowres, God willing, more wellcoom then trumpets and all the\nmusicke we have had since Christmas, and yet we have had prety store\nbothe of owre owne and othar, evar since Christmas. And the same day\nwe were busy w^{t} hollding up hands and spoones to yow, out of\nporredge and pyes, in the remembraunce of yowre greate lyberality of\nfrute and spice, which God send yow long lyffe to contynew, for of\nthat day we have not myssed anny St. Steven this 47 yeare to have as\nmany gas (_guests_) as my howse will holld, I thank God for yt.\"\n\nIn Southey's _Common Place Book_ it is noted that the three Vicars of\nBampton, Oxon., give beef and beer on the morning of St. Stephen's day\nto those who choose to partake of it. This is called St. Stephen's\nbreakfast. The same book also mentions a singular custom in Wales,\nthat on this day everybody is privileged to whip another person's legs\nwith holly, which is often reciprocated till the blood streams down;\nand this is corroborated in Mason's _Tales and Traditions of Tenby_,\nwhere it is mentioned as being practised in that town.\n\nWe have heard of hunting the wren in the Isle of Man; the same custom\nobtains in the south of Ireland, only it takes place on St. Stephen's\nday. There is a tradition which is supposed to account for this\nanimosity against this pretty and harmless little bird. In one of the\nmany Irish rebellions a night march was made by a body of rebels on a\nparty of royalists, and when, about dawn of day, they neared the\nsleeping out-posts, a slumbering drummer was aroused by a tapping on\nhis drum; and, giving the alarm, the rebels were repulsed. The tapping\nwas caused by a wren pecking at the crumbs left on the drum-head after\nthe drummer's last meal. Henceforward a grudge was nursed against the\nwren, which has existed until now.\n\nThe \"wren boys\" go round, calling at houses, either having a dead wren\nin a box, or hung on a holly bush, and they sing a song:--\n\n     The Wran, the Wran, the king of all birds,\n     On St. Stephen's day she's cotched in the furze;\n     Although she's but wee, her family's great,\n     So come down, Lan'leddy, and gie us a trate.\n       Then up wi' the kettle, an' down wi' the pan,\n       An' let us ha' money to bury the Wran.\n\nCroker, in his _Researches in the South of Ireland_ (p. 233), gives us\nmore of this song:--\n\n     The Wren, the Wren, the King of all birds,\n     St. Stephen's day was caught in the furze;\n     Although he is little, his family's great,\n     I pray you, good landlady, give us a treat.\n\n     My box would speak if it had but a tongue,\n     And two or three shillings would do it no wrong;\n     Sing holly, sing ivy--sing ivy, sing holly,\n     A drop just to drink, it would drown melancholy.\n\n     And, if you draw it of the best,\n     I hope in Heaven your soul may rest;\n     But, if you draw it of the small,\n     It won't agree with the Wren boys at all, etc. etc.\n\n\"A small piece of money is usually bestowed on them, and the evening\nconcludes in merrymaking with the money thus collected.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVII\n\n     St. John's Day--Legend of the Saint--Carols for the\n     Day--Holy Innocents--Whipping Children--Boy\n     Bishops--Ceremonies connected therewith--The King of\n     Cockney's Unlucky Day--Anecdote thereon--Carol for the Day.\n\n\nThe 27th December is set apart by the Church to commemorate St. John\nthe Evangelist. Googe, in his translation of Naogeorgus, says:--\n\n     Next _John_ the sonne of _Zebedee_ hath his appoynted day,\n     Who once by cruell tyraunts will, constrayned was, they say,\n     Strong poyson up to drinke, therefore the Papistes doe beleeve\n     That whoso puts their trust in him, no poyson them can greeue.\n     The wine beside that hallowed is, in worship of his name,\n     The priestes doe giue the people that bring money for the same.\n     And, after, with the selfe same wine are little manchets made,\n     Agaynst the boystrous winter stormes, and sundrie such like trade.\n     The men upon this solemne day do take this holy wine,\n     To make them strong, so do the maydes, to make them faire and fine.\n\nIn explanation of this I may quote from Mrs. Jameson's _Sacred and\nLegendary Art_ (ed. 1857, p. 159): \"He (St. John) bears in his hand\nthe sacramental cup, from which a serpent is seen to issue. St.\nIsidore relates that at Rome an attempt was made to poison St. John in\nthe cup of the sacrament; he drank of the same, and administered it to\nthe communicants without injury, the poison having, by a miracle,\nissued from the cup in the form of a serpent, while the hired assassin\nfell down dead at his feet. According to another version of this story\nthe poisoned cup was administered by order of the Emperor Domitian.\nAccording to a third version, Aristodemus, the high priest of Diana at\nEphesus, defied him to drink of the poisoned chalice, as a test of\nthe truth of his mission. St. John drank unharmed--the priest fell\ndead.\"\n\nWright gives two very pretty carols for St. John's day.\n\n     TO ALMYGHTY GOD PRAY FOR PEES.\n\n     _Amice Christi Johannes._\n\n     O glorius Johan Evangelyste,\n     Best belovyd with Jhesu Cryst,\n     _In Cena Domini_ upon hys bryst\n         _Ejus vidisti archana._\n\n     Chosen thou art to Cryst Jhesu,\n     Thy mynd was never cast frome vertu;\n     Thi doctryne of God thou dydest renu,\n         _Per ejus vestigia._\n\n     Cryst on the rod, in hys swet passyon,\n     Toke the hys moder as to hyr sone;\n     For owr synnes gett grace and pardon,\n         _Per tua sancta merita._\n\n     O most nobble of evangelystes all,\n     Grace to owr maker for us thou call,\n     And off swetenesse celestyall,\n         _Prebe nobis pocula._\n\n     And aftur the cowrs of mortalite,\n     In heven with aungels for to be,\n     Sayyng Ozanna to the Trinitye.\n         _Per seculorum secula._\n\n\n     PRAY FOR US, THOU PRYNCE OF PES.\n\n     _Amici Christi, Johannes._\n\n     To the now, Crystys der derlyng,\n     That was a mayd bothe old and 3yng,\n     Myn hert is sett for to syng\n         _Amici Christi, Johannes._\n\n     For he was so clene a maye,\n     On Crystys brest aslepe he laye,\n     The prevyteys of hevyn ther he saye.\n         _Amici Christi, Johannes._\n\n     Qwhen Cryst beforne Pilate was browte,\n     Hys clene mayd forsoke hym nowte,\n     To deye with hym was all hys thowte,\n         _Amici Christi, Johannes._\n\n     Crystys moder was hym betake,\n     Won mayd to be anodyris make,\n     To help that we be nott forsake,\n         _Amici Christi, Johannes._\n\nOn 28th December the Holy Innocents, or the children slain by order of\nHerod, are borne in mind. Naogeorgus says of this day:--\n\n     Then comes the day that calles to minde the cruell _Herode's_ strife,\n     Who, seeking Christ to kill, the King of everlasting life,\n     Destroyde the little infants yong, a beast unmercilesse,\n     And put to death all such as were of two yeares age or lesse.\n     To them the sinfull wretchesse crie, and earnestly do pray,\n     To get them pardon for their faultes, and wipe their sinnes away.\n     The Parentes, when this day appeares, do beate their children all,\n     (Though nothing they deserve), and servaunts all to beating fall,\n     And Monkes do whip eche other well, or else their Prior great,\n     Or Abbot mad, doth take in hande their breeches all to beat:\n     In worship of these Innocents, or rather, as we see,\n     In honour of the cursed King, that did this crueltee.\n\nIn the Rev. John Gregorie's pamphlet, _Episcopus Puerorum in die\nInnocentium_ (1683, p. 113), he says: \"It hath been a Custom, and yet\nis elsewhere, to whip up the Children upon _Innocents' day_ morning,\nthat the memory of this Murther might stick the closer, and, in a\nmoderate proportion, to act over again the cruelty in kind.\"\n\nBy the way, the Boy Bishop went out of office on Innocents' day, and\nthe learned John Gregorie aforesaid tells us all about him. \"The\n_Episcopus Choristarum_ was a Chorister Bishop chosen by his Fellow\nChildren upon St. Nicholas Day.... From this Day till _Innocents' Day_\nat night (it lasted longer at the first) the _Episcopus Puerorum_ was\nto bear the name and hold up the state of a _Bishop_, answerably\nhabited with a _Crosier_, or _Pastoral Staff_, in his hand, and a\n_Mitre_ upon his head; and such an one, too, some had, as was _multis\nEpiscoporum mitris sumptuosior_ (saith one), very much richer than\nthose of Bishops indeed.\n\n\"The rest of his Fellows from the same time being were to take upon\nthem the style and counterfeit of Prebends, yielding to their Bishop\nno less than Canonical obedience.\n\n\"And look what service the very Bishop himself with his Dean and\nPrebends (had they been to officiate) was to have performed. The very\nsame was done by the Chorister Bishop and his Canons upon the Eve and\nHoliday.\" Then follows the full ritual of his office, according to the\nUse of Sarum; and it was provided, \"That no man whatsoever, under the\npain of _Anathema_, should interrupt, or press upon these Children at\nthe Procession spoken of before, or in any part of their _Service_ in\nany ways, but to suffer them quietly to perform and execute what it\nconcerned them to do.\n\n\"And the part was acted yet more earnestly, for _Molanus_ saith that\nthis Bishop, in some places, did receive Rents, Capons, etc., during\nhis year; And it seemeth by the statute of _Sarum_, that he held a\nkind of Visitation, and had a full correspondency of all other State\nand Prerogative.... In case the Chorister Bishop died within the\nMonth, his Exequies were solemnized with an answerable glorious pomp\nand sadness. He was buried (as all other Bishops) in all his\nOrnaments, as by the Monument in stone spoken of before,[83] it\nplainly appeareth.\"\n\n[Footnote 83: A stone monument of a boy bishop found in Salisbury\nCathedral.]\n\nHone, in his _Every-Day Book_ (vol. i. pp. 1559-60), gives a facsimile\nof this monument from Gregorie's book, and says: \"The ceremony of the\nboy bishop is supposed to have existed, not only in collegiate\nchurches, but in almost every parish in England. He and his companions\nwalked the streets in public procession. A statute of the Collegiate\nChurch of St. Mary Overy, in 1337, restrained one of them to the\nlimits of his own parish. On December 7, 1229, the day after St.\nNicholas' Day, a boy bishop in the chapel at Heton, near\nNewcastle-on-Tyne, said vespers before Edward I. on his way to\nScotland, who made a considerable present to him, and the other boys\nwho sang with him. In the reign of King Edward III, a boy bishop\nreceived a present of nineteen shillings and sixpence for singing\nbefore the king in his private chamber on Innocents' day. Dean Colet,\nin the statutes of St. Paul's School, which he founded in 1512,\nexpressly ordains that his scholars should, every Childermas Day,[84]\n'come to Paulis Churche, and hear the Chylde Bishop's Sermon; and,\nafter, be at hygh masse, and each of them offer a penny to the\nChylde-Bishop; and with them, the maisters and surveyors of the\nScole.'\"\n\n[Footnote 84: The Anglo-Saxons called Innocents' day Childe-mass or\nChilder-mass.]\n\nBy a proclamation of Henry VIII., dated 22nd July 1542, the show of\nthe boy bishop was abrogated, but in the reign of Mary it was revived\nwith other Romish ceremonials. A flattering song was sung before that\nqueen by a boy bishop, and printed. It was a panegyric on her\ndevotion, and compared her to Judith, Esther, the Queen of Sheba, and\nthe Virgin Mary.\n\nThe accounts of St. Mary at Hill, London, in the 10th Henry VI., and\nfor 1549 and 1550, contain charges for boy bishops for those years. At\nthat period his estimation in the Church seems to have been\nundiminished; for on 13th November 1554 the Bishop of London issued an\norder to all the clergy of his diocese to have boy bishops and their\nprocessions; and in the same year these young sons of the old Church\nparaded St. Andrew's, Holborn, and St. Nicholas, Olaves, in Bread\nStreet, and other parishes. In 1556 Strype says that \"the boy bishops\nagain went abroad, singing in the old fashion, and were received by\nmany ignorant but well-disposed persons into their houses, and had\nmuch good cheer.\"\n\nSpeaking of the Christmas festivities at Lincoln's Inn, Dugdale[85]\nsays: \"Moreover, that the _King of Cockneys_, on _Childermass_ Day,\nshould sit and have due service; and that he and all his officers\nshould use honest manner and good Order, without any wast or\ndestruction making, in Wine, Brawn, Chely, or other Vitaills.\"\n\n[Footnote 85: _Orig. Jur._, p. 246.]\n\nIn Chambers's _Book of Days_ we find that, \"In consequence probably of\nthe feeling of horror attached to such an act of atrocity, Innocents'\nDay used to be reckoned about the most unlucky throughout the year,\nand in former times no one who could possibly avoid it began any work,\nor entered on any undertaking on this anniversary. To marry on\nChildermas Day was specially inauspicious. It is said of the equally\nsuperstitious and unprincipled monarch, Louis XV., that he would never\nperform any business or enter into any discussion about his affairs on\nthis day, and to make to him then any proposal of the kind was certain\nto exasperate him to the utmost. We are informed, too, that in\nEngland, on the occasion of the coronation of King Edward IV., that\nsolemnity, which had been originally intended to take place on a\nSunday, was postponed till the Monday, owing to the former day being,\nin that year, the festival of Childermas. The idea of the\ninauspicious nature of the day was long prevalent, and is even not yet\nwholly extinct. To the present hour, we understand, the housewives in\nCornwall, and probably also in other parts of the country, refrain\nscrupulously from scouring or scrubbing on Innocents' Day.\"\n\nAt the churches in several parts of the country muffled peals are rung\non this day, and with the Irish it is called \"La crosta na bliana,\" or\n\"the cross day of the year,\" and also, \"Diar daoin darg,\" or \"Bloody\nThursday,\" and on that day the Irish housewife will not warp thread,\nnor permit it to be warped; and the Irish say that anything begun upon\nthat day must have an unlucky ending.\n\nA writer in _Notes and Queries_ (4 ser. xii. 185) says: \"The following\nlegend regarding the day is current in the county of Clare. Between\nthe parishes of Quin and Tulla, in that county, is a lake called\nTurlough. In the lake is a little island; and among a heap of loose\nstones in the middle of the island rises a white thorn bush, which is\ncalled 'Scagh an Earla' (the Earl's bush). A suit of clothes made for\na child on the 'Cross day' was put on the child; the child died. The\nclothes were put on a second and on a third child; they also died. The\nparents of the children at length put out the clothes on the 'Scag an\nEarla,' and when the waters fell the clothes were found to be full of\ndead eels.\"\n\nHere is a good carol for Innocents' day, published in the middle of\nthe sixteenth century:--\n\n     A CAROL OF THE INNOCENTS.\n\n     Mark this song, for it is true,\n     For it is true, as clerks tell:\n     In old time strange things came to pass,\n     Great wonder and great marvel was\n         In Israel.\n\n     There was one, Octavian,\n     Octavian of Rome Emperor,\n     As books old doth specify,\n     Of all the wide world truly\n         He was lord and governor.\n\n     The Jews, that time, lack'd a king,\n     They lack'd a king to guide them well,\n     The Emperor of power and might,\n     Chose one Herod against all right,\n         In Israel.\n\n     This Herod, then, was King of Jews\n     Was King of Jews, and he no Jew,\n     Forsooth he was a Paynim born,\n     Wherefore on faith it may be sworn\n         He reigned King untrue.\n\n     By prophecy, one Isai,\n     One Isai, at least, did tell\n     A child should come, wondrous news,\n     That should be born true King of Jews\n         In Israel.\n\n     This Herod knew one born should be,\n     One born should be of true lineage,\n     That should be right heritor;\n     For he but by the Emperor\n         Was made by usurpage.\n\n     Wherefore of thought this King Herod,\n     This King Herod in great fear fell,\n     For all the days most in his mirth,\n     Ever he feared Christ his birth\n         In Israel.\n\n     The time came it pleased God,\n     It pleased God so to come to pass,\n     For man's soul indeed\n     His blessed Son was born with speed,\n         As His will was.\n\n     Tidings came to King Herod,\n     To King Herod, and did him tell,\n     That one born forsooth is he,\n     Which lord and king of all shall be\n         In Israel.\n\n     Herod then raged, as he were wode (mad),\n     As he were wode of this tyding,\n     And sent for all his scribes sure,\n     Yet would he not trust the Scripture,\n         Nor of their counselling.\n\n     This, then, was the conclusion,\n     The conclusion of his counsel,\n     To send unto his knights anon\n     To slay the children every one\n         In Israel.\n\n     This cruel king this tyranny,\n     This tyranny did put in ure (practice),\n     Between a day and years two,\n     All men-children he did slew,\n         Of Christ for to be sure.\n\n     Yet Herod missed his cruel prey,\n     His cruel prey, as was God's will;\n     Joseph with Mary then did flee\n     With Christ to Egypt, gone was she\n         From Israel.\n\n     All the while these tyrants,\n     These tyrants would not convert,\n     But innocents young\n     That lay sucking,\n         They thrust to the heart.\n\n     This Herod sought the children young,\n     The children young, with courage fell.\n     But in doing this vengeance\n     His own son was slain by chance\n         In Israel.\n\n     Alas! I think the mothers were woe,\n     The mothers were woe, it was great skill,\n     What motherly pain\n     To see them slain,\n         In cradles lying still!\n\n     But God Himself hath them elect,\n     Hath them elect in heaven to dwell,\n     For they were bathed in their blood,\n     For their Baptism forsooth it stood\n         In Israel.\n\n     Alas! again, what hearts had they,\n     What hearts had they those babes to kill,\n     With swords when they them caught,\n     In cradles they lay and laughed,\n         And never thought ill.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVIII\n\n     New Year's Eve--Wassail--New Year's Eve\n     Customs--Hogmany--The Cl[=a]vie--Other Customs--Weather\n     Prophecy.\n\n\nNew Year's eve is variously kept--by some in harmless mirth, by others\nin religious exercises. Many churches in England have late services,\nwhich close at midnight with a carol or appropriate hymn, and this\ncustom is especially held by the Wesleyan Methodists in their \"Watch\nNight,\" when they pray, etc., till about five minutes to twelve, when\nthere is a dead silence, supposed to be spent in introspection, which\nlasts until the clock strikes, and then they burst forth with a hymn\nof praise and joy.\n\nThe wassail bowl used to hold as high a position as at Christmas eve,\nand in Lyson's time it was customary in Gloucestershire for a merry\nparty to go from house to house carrying a large bowl, decked with\ngarlands and ribbons, singing the following wassail song:--\n\n     Wassail! Wassail! all over the town,\n     Our toast it is white, our ale it is brown,\n     Our bowl it is made of a maplin tree;\n     We be good fellows all, I drink to thee.\n\n     Here's to our horse, and to his right ear,\n     God send our maister a happy New Year;\n     A happy New Year as e'er he did see--\n     With my wassailing bowl I drink to thee.\n\n     Here's to our mare, and to her right eye,\n     God send our mistress a good Christmas pye:\n     A good Christmas pye as e'er I did see--\n     With my wassailing bowl I drink to thee.\n\n     Here's to Fill-pail (cow) and to her long tail,\n     God send our measter us never may fail\n     Of a cup of good beer, I pray you draw near,\n     And our jolly wassail it's then you shall hear.\n\n     Be here any maids? I suppose there be some,\n     Sure they will not let young men stand on the cold stone\n     Sing hey, O maids, come trole back the pin,\n     And the fairest maid in the house let us all in.\n\n     Come, butler, come bring us a bowl of the best:\n     I hope your soul in heaven will rest:\n     But, if you do bring us a bowl of the small,\n     Then down fall butler, bowl, and all.\n\nUntil recently, a similar custom obtained in Nottinghamshire; but, in\nthat case, the young women of the village, dressed in their best,\ncarried round a decorated bowl filled with ale, roasted apples, and\ntoast, seasoned with nutmeg and sugar, the regulation wassail\ncompound. This they offered to the inmates of the house they called\nat, whilst they sang the following, amongst other verses:--\n\n     Good master, at your door,\n       Our wassail we begin;\n     We are all maidens poor,\n       So we pray you let us in,\n     And drink our wassail.\n         All hail, wassail!\n         Wassail! wassail!\n     And drink our wassail.\n\nIn Derbyshire, on this night, a cold posset used to be prepared, made\nof milk, ale, eggs, currants, and spices, and in it is placed the\nhostess's wedding ring. Each of the party takes out a ladleful, and in\nso doing tries to fish out the ring, believing that whoever shall be\nfortunate enough to get it will be married before the year is out. It\nwas also customary in some districts to throw open all the doors of\nthe house just before midnight, and, waiting for the advent of the New\nYear, to greet him as he approaches with cries of \"Welcome!\"\n\nAt Muncaster, in Cumberland, on this night the children used to go\nfrom house to house singing a song, in which they crave the bounty\n\"they were wont to have in old King Edward's time\"; but what that was\nis not known.\n\nIt was a custom at Merton College, Oxford, according to Pointer\n(_Oxoniensis Academia_, ed. 1749, p. 24), on the last night in the\nyear, called Scrutiny Night, for the College servants, all in a body,\nto make their appearance in the Hall, before the Warden and Fellows\n(after supper), and there to deliver up their keys, so that if they\nhave committed any great crime during the year their keys are taken\naway, and they consequently lose their places, or they have them\ndelivered to them afresh.\n\nOn this night a curious custom obtained at Bradford, in Yorkshire,\nwhere a party of men and women, with blackened faces, and\nfantastically attired, used to enter houses with besoms, and \"sweep\nout the Old Year.\"\n\nAlthough Christmas is kept in Scotland, there is more festivity at the\nNew Year, and perhaps one of the most singular customs is that which\nwas told by a gentleman to Dr. Johnson during his tour in the\nHebrides. On New Year's eve, in the hall or castle of the Laird, where\nat festal seasons there may be supposed to be a very numerous company,\none man dresses himself in a cow's hide, upon which the others beat\nwith sticks. He runs, with all this noise, round the house, which all\nthe company quit in a counterfeited fright, and the door is then shut.\nOn New Year's eve there is no great pleasure to be had out of doors in\nthe Hebrides. They are sure soon to recover sufficiently from their\nterror to solicit for readmission, which is not to be obtained but by\nrepeating a verse, with which those who are knowing and provident are\nprovided.\n\nIn the Orkney Islands it was formerly the custom for bands of people\nto assemble and pay a round of visits, singing a song which began--\n\n     This night it is guid New'r E'en's night,\n       We're a' here Queen Mary's men:\n     And we're come here to crave our right,\n       And that's before our Lady!\n\nIn the county of Fife this night was called \"Singen E'en,\" probably\nfrom the custom of singing carols then. This day is popularly known\nin Scotland as _Hogmany_, and the following is a fragment of a\nYorkshire _Hagmena_ song:--\n\n     To-night it is the New Year's night, to-morrow is the day,\n     And we are come for our right and for our ray,\n     As we used to do in Old King Henry's day:\n         Sing, fellows! sing, Hagman-ha!\n\n     If you go to the bacon flick, cut me a good bit;\n     Cut, cut and low, beware of your maw.\n     Cut, cut and round, beware of your thumb,\n     That me and my merry men may have some:\n         Sing, fellows! sing, Hag-man-ha!\n\n     If you go to the black ark (chest), bring me ten marks;\n     Ten marks, ten pound, throw it down upon the ground,\n     That me and my merry men may have some:\n         Sing, fellows! sing, Hog-man-ha!\n\nThe meaning of this word \"Hogmany\" is not clear, and has been a source\nof dispute among Scottish antiquaries; but two suggestions of its\nderivation are probable. One is that it comes from _Au qui menez_ (To\nthe mistleto go), which mummers formerly cried in France at Christmas;\nand the other is that it is derived from _Au gueux menez_, _i.e._\nbring the beggars--which would be suitable for charitable purposes at\nsuch a time. In some remote parts of Scotland the poor children robe\nthemselves in a sheet, which is so arranged as to make a large pocket\nin front, and going about in little bands, they call at houses for\ntheir Hogmany, which is given them in the shape of some oat cake, and\nsometimes cheese, the cakes being prepared some days beforehand, in\norder to meet the demand. On arriving at a house they cry \"Hogmany,\"\nor sing some rough verse, like--\n\n                         Hogmanay,\n                         Trollolay,\n     Give us of your white bread, and none of your grey!\n\nIn _Notes and Queries_ (2 ser. ix. 38) a singular Scotch custom is\ndetailed. Speaking of the village of Burghead, on the southern shore\nof the Moray Frith, the writer says: \"On the evening of the last day\nof December (old style) the youth of the village assemble about dusk,\nand make the necessary preparations for the celebration of the\n'cl[=a]vie.' Proceeding to some shop, they demand a strong empty\nbarrel, which is usually gifted at once; but if refused, taken by\nforce. Another for breaking up, and a quantity of tar are likewise\nprocured at the same time. Thus furnished, they repair to a particular\nspot close to the sea shore, and commence operations.\n\n\"A hole, about four inches in diameter, is first made in the bottom of\nthe stronger barrel, into which the end of a stout pole, five feet in\nlength, is firmly fixed; to strengthen their hold, a number of\nsupports are nailed round the outside of the former, and also closely\nround the latter. The tar is then put into the barrel, and set on\nfire; and the remaining one being broken up, stave after stave is\nthrown in, until it is quite full. The 'cl[=a]vie,' already burning\nfiercely, is now shouldered by some strong young man, and borne away\nat a rapid pace. As soon as the bearer gives signs of exhaustion,\nanother willingly takes his place; and should any of those who are\nhonoured to carry the blazing load meet with an accident, as sometimes\nhappens, the misfortune excites no pity, even among his near\nrelatives.\n\n\"In making the circuit of the village they are said to confine\nthemselves to their old boundaries. Formerly the procession visited\nall the fishing boats, but this has been discontinued for some time.\nHaving gone over the appointed ground, the 'cl[=a]vie' is finally\ncarried to a small artificial eminence near the point of the\npromontory, and, interesting as being a portion of the ancient\nfortifications, spared, probably on account of its being used for this\npurpose, where a circular heap of stones used to be hastily piled up,\nin the hollow centre of which the 'cl[=a]vie' was placed, still\nburning. On this eminence, which is termed the 'durie,' the present\nproprietor has recently erected a small round column, with a cavity in\nthe centre, for admitting the free end of the pole, and into this it\nis now placed. After being allowed to burn on the 'durie' for a few\nminutes, the 'cl[=a]vie' is most unceremoniously hurled from its\nplace, and the smoking embers scattered among the assembled crowd, by\nwhom, in less enlightened times, they were eagerly caught at, and\nfragments of them carried home, and carefully preserved as charms\nagainst witchcraft.\" Some discussion took place on the origin of this\ncustom, but nothing satisfactory was eliminated.\n\nAnother correspondent to the same periodical (2 ser. ix. 322) says: \"A\npractice, which may be worth noting, came under my observation at the\ntown of Biggar (in the upper ward of Lanarkshire) on 31st December\nlast. It has been customary there, from time immemorial, among the\ninhabitants to celebrate what is called 'Burning out the Old Year.'\nFor this purpose, during the day of the 31st, a large quantity of fuel\nis collected, consisting of branches of trees, brushwood, and coals,\nand placed in a heap at the 'Cross'; and about nine o'clock at night\nthe lighting of the fire is commenced, surrounded by a crowd of\nonlookers, who each thinks it a duty to cast into the flaming mass\nsome additional portion of material, the whole becoming sufficient to\nmaintain the fire till next, or New Year's morning is far advanced.\nFires are also kindled on the adjacent hills to add to the importance\nof the occasion.\"\n\nIn Ireland, according to Croker (_Researches in the South of Ireland_,\np. 233), on the last night of the year a cake is thrown against the\noutside door of each house, by the head of the family, which ceremony\nis said to keep out hunger during the ensuing year:--\n\n     If New Year's Eve night wind blow South,\n     It betokeneth warmth and growth;\n     If West, much milk, and fish in the sea;\n     If North, much cold and storms there will be;\n     If East, the trees will bear much fruit;\n     If North-East, flee it, man and brute.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIX\n\n     New Year's Day--Carol--New Year's Gifts--\"Dipping\"--Riding\n     the \"Stang\"--Curious Tenures--God Cakes--The\n     \"Quaaltagh\"--\"First-foot\" in Scotland--Highland Customs--In\n     Ireland--Weather Prophecies--Handsel Monday.\n\n\nThere is a peculiar feeling of satisfaction that comes over us with\nthe advent of the New Year. The Old Year, with its joys and sorrows,\nits gains and disappointments, is irrevocably dead--dead without hope\nof resurrection, and there is not one of us who does not hope that the\nforthcoming year may be a happier one than that departed.\n\nThe following very pretty \"Carol for New Year's Day\" is taken from\n_Psalmes, Songs, and Sonnets_, composed by William Byrd, Lond. 1611:--\n\n     O God, that guides the cheerful sun\n       By motions strange the year to frame,\n     Which now, returned whence it begun,\n       From Heaven extols Thy glorious Name;\n     This New Year's season sanctify\n       With double blessings of Thy store,\n     That graces new may multiply,\n       And former follies reign no more.\n     So shall our hearts with Heaven agree,\n     And both give laud and praise to Thee. Amen.\n\n     Th' old year, by course, is past and gone,\n       Old Adam, Lord, from us expel;\n     New creatures make us every one,\n       New life becomes the New Year well.\n     As new-born babes from malice keep,\n       New wedding garments, Christ, we crave;\n     That we Thy face in Heaven may see,\n       With Angels bright, our souls to save.\n     So shall our hearts with Heaven agree,\n     And both give laud and praise to Thee. Amen.\n\nThe Church takes no notice of the first of January as the beginning of\na New Year, but only as the Feast of the Circumcision of our Lord, and\nconsequently, being included in the twelve days of Christ-tide\nfestivity, it was only regarded as one of them, and no particular\nstress was placed upon it. There were, and are, local customs peculiar\nto the day, but, with the exception of some special festivity, general\ngood wishes for health and prosperity, and the giving of presents,\nthere is no extraordinary recognition of the day.\n\nNaogeorgus says of it:--\n\n     The next to this is New Yeares day, whereon to every frende,\n     They costly presents in do bring, and Newe Yeares giftes do sende.\n     These giftes the husband gives his wife, and father eke the childe,\n     And maister on his men bestowes the like, with favour milde.\n     And good beginning of the yeare, they wishe and wishe againe,\n     According to the auncient guise of heathen people vaine.\n     These eight dayes no man doth require his dettes of any man,\n     Their tables do they furnish out with all the meate they can:\n     With Marchpaynes, Tartes, and Custards great, they drink with\n       staring eyes,\n     They rowte and revell, feede and feast, as merry all as Pyes:\n     As if they should at th' entrance of this newe yeare hap to die,\n     Yet would they have theyr bellyes full, and auncient friendes allie.\n\nThe custom of mutual gifts on this day still obtains in England, but\nis in great force in France. Here it was general among all classes,\nand many are the notices of presents to Royalty, but nowadays a\npresent at Christmas has very greatly superseded the old custom. We\nowe the term \"pin-money\" to the gift of pins at this season. They were\nexpensive articles, and occasionally money was given as a commutation.\nGloves were, as they are now, always an acceptable present, but to\nthose who were not overburdened with this world's goods an orange\nstuck with cloves was deemed sufficient for a New Year's gift.\n\nAmong the many superstitious customs which used to obtain in England\nwas a kind of \"Sortes Virgilianae,\" or divination, as to the coming\nyear. Only the Bible was the medium, and the operation was termed\n\"dipping.\" The ceremony usually took place before breakfast, as it was\nabsolutely necessary that the rite should be performed fasting. The\nBible was laid upon a table, and opened haphazard, a finger being\nplaced, without premeditation, upon a verse, and the future for the\ncoming year was dependent upon the sense of the verse pitched upon. A\ncorrespondent in _Notes and Queries_ (2 ser. xii. 303) writes: \"About\neight years ago I was staying in a little village in Oxfordshire on\nthe first day of the year, and happening to pass by a cottage where an\nold woman lived whom I knew well, I stepped in, and wished her 'A\nHappy New Year.' Instead of replying to my salutation, she stared\nwildly at me, and exclaimed in a horrified tone, 'New Year's Day! and\nI have never dipped.' Not having the slightest idea of her meaning, I\nasked for an explanation, and gathered from her that it was customary\nto _dip_ into the Bible before twelve o'clock on New Year's Day, and\nthe first verse that met the eye indicated the good or bad fortune of\nthe inquirer through the ensuing year. My old friend added: 'Last year\nI dipped, and I opened on Job, and sure enough, I have had nought but\ntrouble ever since.' Her consternation on receiving my good wishes was\nin consequence of her having let the opportunity of dipping go by for\nthat year, it being past twelve o'clock.\"\n\nAnother singular custom which used to obtain in Cumberland and\nWestmoreland is noted in a letter in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for\n1791, vol. lxi., part ii. p. 1169: \"Early in the morning of the first\nof January the _Faex Populi_ assemble together, carrying _stangs_[86]\nand baskets. Any inhabitant, stranger, or whoever joins not this\nruffian tribe in sacrificing to their favourite Saint day, if\nunfortunate enough to be met by any of the band, is immediately\nmounted across the stang (if a woman, she is basketed), and carried,\nshoulder height, to the nearest public-house, where the payment of\nsixpence immediately liberates the prisoner. No respect is paid to any\nperson; the cobler on that day thinks himself equal to the parson, who\ngenerally gets mounted like the rest of his flock; whilst one of his\nporters _boasts and prides himself_ in having, but just before, got\nthe _Squire_ across the pole. None, though ever so industriously\ninclined, are permitted to follow their respective avocations on that\nday.\"\n\n[Footnote 86: Poles. To ride the stang was a popular punishment for\nhusbands who behaved cruelly to their wives.]\n\nBlount, in his _Tenures of Land_, etc., gives a very curious tenure by\nwhich the Manor of Essington, Staffordshire, was held; the lord of\nwhich manor (either by himself, deputy, or steward) oweth, and is\nobliged yearly to perform, service to the lord of the Manor of Hilton,\na village about a mile distant from this manor. The Lord of Essington\nis to bring a goose every New Year's day, and drive it round the fire,\nat least three times, whilst Jack of Hilton is blowing the fire. This\nJack of Hilton is an image of brass, of about twelve inches high,\nhaving a little hole at the mouth, at which, being filled with water,\nand set to a strong fire, which makes it evaporate like an _aeolipole_,\nit vents itself in a constant blast, so strongly that it is very\naudible, and blows the fire fiercely.\n\nWhen the Lord of Essington has done his duty, and the other things are\nperformed, he carries his goose into the kitchen of Hilton Hall, and\ndelivers it to the cook, who, having dressed it, the Lord of\nEssington, or his deputy, by way of farther service, is to carry it to\nthe table of the lord paramount of Hilton and Essington, and receives\na dish from the Lord of Hilton's table for his own mess, and so\ndeparts.\n\nHe also gives a curious tenure at Hutton Conyers, Yorkshire: \"Near\nthis town, which lies a few miles from Ripon, there is a large common,\ncalled Hutton Conyers Moor.... The occupiers of messuages and cottages\nwithin the several towns of Hutton Conyers, Melmerby, Baldersby,\nRainton, Dishforth, and Hewick have right of estray for their sheep to\ncertain limited boundaries on the common, and each township has a\nshepherd.\n\n\"The lord's shepherd has a pre-eminence of tending his sheep on any\npart of the common, and, wherever he herds the lord's sheep, the\nseveral other shepherds have to give way to him, and give up their\nhoofing place, so long as he pleases to depasture the lord's sheep\nthereon. The lord holds his court the first day in the year, and, to\nentitle those several townships to such right of estray, the shepherd\nof each township attends the court, and does fealty by bringing to\nthe court a large apple-pie and a twopenny sweet cake, except the\nshepherd of Hewick, who compounds by paying sixteenpence for ale\n(which is drunk as aftermentioned) and a wooden spoon; each pie is cut\nin two, and divided by the bailiff, one half between the steward,\nbailiff, and the tenant of a coney warren, and the other half into six\nparts, and divided amongst the six shepherds of the beforementioned\nsix townships. In the pie brought by the shepherd of Rainton, an inner\none is made, filled with prunes. The cakes are divided in the same\nmanner. The bailiff of the manor provides furmety and mustard, and\ndelivers to each shepherd a slice of cheese and a penny roll. The\nfurmety, well mixed with mustard, is put into an earthen pot, and\nplaced in a hole in the ground in a garth belonging to the bailiff's\nhouse, to which place the steward of the court, with the bailiff,\ntenant of the warren, and six shepherds adjourn, with their respective\nwooden spoons. The bailiff provides spoons for the steward, the tenant\nof the warren, and himself. The steward first pays respect to the\nfurmety by taking a large spoonful; the bailiff has the next honour,\nthe tenant of the warren next, then the shepherd of Hutton Conyers,\nand afterwards the other shepherds by regular turns; then each person\nis served with a glass of ale (paid for by the sixteenpence brought by\nthe Hewick shepherd), and the health of the Lord of the Manor is\ndrunk; then they adjourn back to the bailiff's house, and the further\nbusiness of the court is proceeded with.\"\n\nThe question was asked (_Notes and Queries_, 2 ser. ii. 229), but\nnever answered, Whether any reader could give information respecting\nthe ancient custom in the city of Coventry of sending God Cakes on the\nfirst day of the year? \"They are used by all classes, and vary in\nprice from a halfpenny to one pound. They are invariably made in a\ntriangular shape, an inch thick, and filled with a kind of mince meat.\nI believe the custom is peculiar to that city, and should be glad to\nknow more about its origin. So general is the use of them on January\n1st, that the cheaper sorts are hawked about the streets, as hot Cross\nbuns are on Good Friday in London.\"\n\nIn Nottinghamshire it is considered unlucky to take anything out of a\nhouse on New Year's day before something has been brought in;\nconsequently, as early as possible in the morning, each member of the\nfamily brings in some trifle. Near Newark this rhyme is sung:--\n\n     Take out, and take in,\n     Bad luck is sure to begin;\n     But take in and take out,\n     Good luck will come about.\n\nTrain, in his _History of the Isle of Man_ (ed. 1845, vol. ii. 115),\nsays that on 1st January an old custom is observed, called the\n_quaaltagh_. In almost every parish throughout the island a party of\nyoung men go from house to house singing the following rhyme:--\n\n     Again we assemble, a merry New Year\n     To wish to each one of the family here,\n     Whether man, woman, or girl, or boy,\n     That long life and happiness all may enjoy;\n     May they of potatoes and herrings have plenty,\n     With butter and cheese, and each other dainty;\n     And may their sleep never, by night or day,\n     Disturbed be by even the tooth of a flea:\n     Until at the Quaaltagh again we appear,\n     To wish you, as now, all a happy New Year.\n\nWhen these lines are repeated at the door, the whole party are invited\ninto the house to partake of the best the family can afford. On these\noccasions a person of dark complexion always enters first, as a\nlight-haired male or female is deemed unlucky to be the first-foot, or\n_quaaltagh_, on New Year's morning. The actors of the _quaaltagh_ do\nnot assume fantastic habiliments like the Mummers of England, or the\nGuisards of Scotland; nor do they, like these rude performers of the\nAncient Mysteries, appear ever to have been attended by minstrels\nplaying on different kinds of musical instruments.\n\nThe custom of _first-footing_ is still in vogue in many parts of\nScotland, although a very good authority, _Chambers's Book of Days_\n(vol. i. p. 28), says it is dying out:--\n\n\"Till very few years ago in Scotland the custom of the wassail bowl,\nat the passing away of the old year, might be said to be still in\ncomparative vigour. On the approach of twelve o'clock a _hot pint_\nwas prepared--that is, a kettle or flagon full of warm, spiced, and\nsweetened ale, with an infusion of spirits. When the clock had struck\nthe knell of the departed year, each member of the family drank of\nthis mixture, 'A good health and a happy New Year, and many of them!'\nto all the rest, with a general hand-shaking, and perhaps a dance\nround the table, with the addition of a song to the tune of _Hey\ntuttie taitie_--\n\n     \"Weel may we a' be,\n     Ill may we never see,\n     Here's to the King\n     And the gude companie! etc.\n\n\"The elders of the family would then most probably sally out, with the\nhot kettle, and bearing also a competent provision of buns and short\ncakes, or bread and cheese, with the design of visiting their\nneighbours, and interchanging with them the same cordial greetings. If\nthey met by the way another party similarly bent whom they knew, they\nwould stop, and give and take sips from their respective kettles.\nReaching the friends' house, they would enter with vociferous good\nwishes, and soon send the kettle a-circulating. If they were the first\nto enter the house since twelve o'clock, they were deemed the\n_first-foot_; and, as such, it was most important, for luck to the\nfamily in the coming year, that they should make their entry, not\nempty-handed, but with their hands full of cakes, and bread and\ncheese; of which, on the other hand, civility demanded that each\nindividual in the house should partake.\n\n\"To such an extent did this custom prevail in Edinburgh, in the\nrecollection of persons still living, that, according to their\naccount, the principal streets were more thronged between twelve and\none in the morning than they usually were at mid-day. Much innocent\nmirth prevailed, and mutual good feelings were largely promoted. An\nunlucky circumstance, which took place on the 1st January of 1812,\nproved the means of nearly extinguishing the custom. A small party of\nreckless boys formed the design of turning the innocent festivities of\n_first-footing_ to account, for the purposes of plunder. They kept\ntheir counsel well. No sooner had the people come abroad on the\nprincipal thoroughfares of the Old Town, than these youths sallied out\nin small bands, and commenced the business which they had undertaken.\nTheir previous agreement was--to _look out for the white neckcloths_,\nsuch being the best mark by which they could distinguish, in the dark,\nindividuals likely to carry any property worthy of being taken. A\ngreat number of gentlemen were thus spoiled of their watches and other\nvaluables. The least resistance was resented by the most brutal\nmaltreatment. A policeman and a young man of the rank of a clerk in\nLeith died of the injuries they had received. An affair so singular,\nso uncharacteristic of the people among whom it happened, produced a\nwidespread and lasting feeling of surprise. The outrage was expiated\nby the execution of three of the youthful rioters on the chief scene\nof their wickedness; but from that time it was observed that the old\ncustom of going about with the _hot pint_--the ancient wassail--fell\noff.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\"There was, in Scotland, a _first-footing_ independent of the _hot\npint_. It was a time for some youthful friend of the family to steal\nto the door, in the hope of meeting there the young maiden of his\nfancy, and obtaining the privilege of a kiss, as her _first-foot_.\nGreat was the disappointment on his part, and great the joking among\nthe family, if, through accident or plan, some half-withered aunt or\nancient grand-dame came to receive him instead of the blooming Jenny.\"\n\nIn Sir T.D. Hardy's _Memoirs of Lord Langdale_ (1852, vol. i., p. 55)\nis the following extract from a letter dated 1st January 1802. \"Being\nin Scotland, I ought to tell you of Scotch customs; and really they\nhave a charming one on this occasion (_i.e._ New Year's day). Whether\nit is meant as a farewell ceremony to the old one, or an introduction\nto the New Year, I can't tell; but on the 31st of December almost\neverybody has a party, either to dine or sup. The company, almost\nentirely consisting of young people, wait together till twelve o'clock\nstrikes, at which time every one begins to move, and they all fall to\nwork. At what? why, kissing. Each male is successively locked in pure\nPlatonic embrace with each female; and after this grand ceremony,\nwhich, of course, creates infinite fun, they separate and go home.\nThis matter is not at all confined to these, but wherever man meets\nwoman it is the peculiar privilege of this hour. The common people\nthink it necessary to drink what they call _hot pint_, which consists\nof strong beer, whisky, eggs, etc., a most horrid composition, as bad\nor worse than that infamous mixture called _fig-one_,[87] which the\nEnglish people drink on Good Friday.\"\n\n[Footnote 87: Or _Fig-sue_, which is a mixture of ale, sliced figs,\nbread, and nutmeg, all boiled together, and eaten hot. This mess is\nmade in North Lancashire, and partaken of on Good Friday, probably by\nway of mortifying the flesh.]\n\nPennant tells us, in his _Tour in Scotland_, that on New Year's day\nthe Highlanders burned juniper before their cattle; and Stewart, in\n_Popular Superstitions of the Highlanders of Scotland_, says, as soon\nas the last night of the year sets in, it is the signal with the\nStrathdown Highlander for the suspension of his usual employment, and\nhe directs his attention to more agreeable callings. The men form into\nbands, with tethers and axes, and, shaping their course to the juniper\nbushes, they return home with mighty loads, which are arranged round\nthe fire to dry until morning. A certain discreet person is despatched\nto the _dead and living ford_, to draw a pitcher of water in profound\nsilence, without the vessel touching the ground, lest its virtue\nshould be destroyed, and on his return all retire to rest.\n\nEarly on New Year's morning, the _usque-cashrichd_, or water from the\n_dead and living ford_, is drunk, as a potent charm until next New\nYear's day, against the spells of witchcraft, the malignity of evil\neyes, and the activity of all infernal agency. The qualified\nHighlander then takes a large brush, with which he profusely asperses\nthe occupants of all beds, from whom it is not unusual for him to\nreceive ungrateful remonstrances against ablution. This ended, and the\ndoors and windows being thoroughly closed, and all crevices stopped,\nhe kindles piles of the collected juniper in the different apartments,\ntill the vapour collected from the burning branches condenses into\nopaque clouds, and coughing, sneezing, wheezing, gasping, and other\ndemonstrations of suffocation ensue. The operator, aware that the more\nintense the _smuchdan_, the more propitious the solemnity, disregards\nthese indications, and continues, with streaming eyes and averted\nhead, to increase the fumigation, until, in his own defence, he admits\nthe air to recover the exhausted household and himself. He then treats\nthe horses, cattle, and other bestial stock in the town with the same\nsmothering, to keep them from harm throughout the year.\n\nWhen the gudewife gets up, and having ceased from coughing, has gained\nsufficient strength to reach the bottle _dhu_, she administers its\ncomfort to the relief of the sufferers; laughter takes the place of\ncomplaint, all the family get up, wash their faces, and receive the\nvisits of their neighbours, who arrive full of congratulations\npeculiar to the day. _Mu nase choil orst_, \"My Candlemas bond upon\nyou,\" is the customary salutation, and means, in plain words, \"You owe\nme a New Year's gift.\" A point of great emulation is, who shall salute\nthe other first, because the one who does so is entitled to a gift\nfrom the person saluted. Breakfast, consisting of all procurable\nluxuries, is then served, the neighbours not engaged are invited to\npartake, and the day ends in festivity.\n\nOf New Year's customs in Ireland a correspondent in _Notes and\nQueries_ (5 ser. iii. 7), writes: \"On New Year's day I observed boys\nrunning about the suburbs at the County Down side of Belfast, carrying\nlittle twisted wisps of straw, which they offer to persons whom they\nmeet, or throw into houses as New Year Offerings, and expect in return\nto get any small present, such as a little money, or a piece of bread.\n\n\"About Glenarm, on the coast of County Antrim, the 'wisp' is not used;\nbut on this day the boys go about from house to house, and are regaled\nwith 'bannocks' of oaten bread, buttered; these bannocks are baked\nspecially for the occasion, and are commonly small, thick, and round,\nand with a hole through the centre. Any person who enters a house at\nGlenarm on this day must either eat or drink before leaving it.\"\n\nIt is only natural that auguries for the weather of the year should be\ndrawn from that on which New Year's day falls, and not only so, but,\nas at Christmas, the weather for the ensuing year was materially\ninfluenced, according to the day in the week on which this\ncommencement of another year happened to fall. It is, however,\nsatisfactory to have persons able to tell us all about it, and thus\nsaith Digges, in his _Prognosticacion Everlasting, of ryghte goode\nEffect_, Lond., 1596, 4to.\n\n\"It is affirmed by some, when New Yeare's day falleth on the Sunday,\nthen a pleasant winter doth ensue: a naturall summer: fruite\nsufficient: harvest indifferent, yet some winde and raine: many\nmarriages: plentie of wine and honey; death of young men and cattell:\nrobberies in most places: newes of prelates, of kinges; and cruell\nwarres in the end.\n\n\"On Monday, a winter somewhat uncomfortable; summer temperate: no\nplentie of fruite: many fansies and fables opened: agues shall reigne:\nkings and many others shall dye: marriages shall be in most places:\nand a common fall of gentlemen.\n\n\"On Tuesday, a stormie winter: a wet summer: a divers harvest: corne\nand fruite indifferent, yet hearbes in gardens shall not flourish:\ngreat sicknesse of men, women, and yong children. Beasts shall hunger,\nstarve, and dye of the botch; many shippes, gallies, and hulkes shall\nbe lost; and the bloodie flixes shall kill many men; all things deare,\nsave corne.\n\n\"On Wednesday, lo, a warme winter; in the end, snowe and frost: a\ncloudie summer, plentie of fruite, corne, hay, wine, and honey: great\npaine to women with childe, and death to infants: good for sheepe:\nnews of kinges: great warres: battell, and slaughter towards the\nmiddell.\n\n\"On Thursday, winter and summer windie; a rainie harveste: therefore\nwee shall have overflowings: much fruite: plentie of honey: yet flesh\nshall be deare: cattell in general shall dye: great trouble; warres,\netc.: with a licencious life of the feminine sexe.\n\n\"On Friday, winter stormie: summer scant and pleasant: harvest\nindifferent: little store of fruite, of wine and honey: corne deare:\nmany bleare eyes: youth shall dye: earthquakes are perceived in many\nplaces: plentie of thunders, lightnings and tempestes: with a sudden\ndeath of cattell.\n\n\"On Saturday, a mean winter: summer very hot: a late harvest: good\ncheape garden hearbs: much burning: plentie of hempe, flax and honey.\nOld folke shall dye in most places: fevers and tercians shall grieve\nmany people: great muttering of warres: murthers shall be suddenly\ncommitted in many places for light matters.\"\n\nIn Scotland the first Monday is kept as a great holiday among servants\nand children, to whom _Handsel Monday_, as it is called, is analogous\nto _Boxing Day_ in England, when all expect some little present in\ntoken of affection, or in recognition of services rendered during the\npast year. In the rural districts _Auld Handsel Monday_--that is, the\nfirst Monday after the twelfth of the month--is kept in preference. It\nis also a day for hiring servants for another year, and at\nfarm-houses, after a good substantial breakfast, the remainder of the\nday is spent as a holiday.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXX\n\n     Eve of Twelfth Day--Thirteen Fires--Tossing the\n     Cake--Wassailing Apple-Trees--The Eve in Ireland--Twelfth\n     Day, or Epiphany--Carol for the Day--Royal Offerings.\n\n\nThe 5th of January is the eve of the Epiphany, and the Vigil of\nTwelfth day, which used to be celebrated by the liberal use of the\ncustomary wassail bowl. In the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for 1791, p.\n116, we get a good account of the customs in Herefordshire on that\nnight. \"On the eve of Twelfth day, at the approach of evening, the\nfarmers, their friends, servants, etc., all assemble; and near six\no'clock, all walk together to a field where wheat is growing. The\nhighest part of the ground is always chosen, where twelve small fires\nand one large one are lighted up. The attendants, headed by the master\nof the family, pledge the company in old cider, which circulates\nfreely on these occasions. A circle is formed round the large fire,\nwhen a general shout and hallooing takes place, which you hear\nanswered from all the villages and fields near, as I have myself\ncounted fifty or sixty fires burning at the same time, which are\ngenerally placed on some eminence. This being finished, the company\nall return to the house, where the good housewife and her maids are\npreparing a good supper, which on this occasion is very plentiful.\n\n\"A large cake is always provided, with a hole in the middle. After\nsupper, the company all attend the bailiff (or head of the oxen) to\nthe Wain house, where the following particulars are observed: the\nmaster, at the head of his friends, fills the cup (generally of strong\nale), and stands opposite the first or finest of the oxen (twenty-four\nof which I have often seen tied up in their stalls together); he then\npledges him in a curious toast; the company then follow his example\nwith all the other oxen, addressing each by their name. This being\nover, the large cake is produced, and is with much ceremony put on the\nhorn of the first ox, through the hole in the cake; he is then tickled\nto make him toss his head: if he throws the cake behind, it is the\nmistress's perquisite; if before (in what is termed the _boosy_), the\nbailiff claims the prize. This ended, the company all return to the\nhouse, the doors of which are in the meantime locked, and not opened\ntill some joyous songs are sung. On entering, a scene of mirth and\njollity commences, and reigns through the house till a late hour the\nnext morning. Cards are introduced, and the merry tale goes round. I\nhave often enjoyed the hospitality, friendship, and harmony I have\nbeen witness to on these occasions.\"\n\nOn p. 403 of the same volume another correspondent writes as to the\ncustom on Twelfth day eve in Devonshire. \"On the Eve of the Epiphany\nthe farmer, attended by his workmen, with a large pitcher of cyder,\ngoes to the orchard, and there, encircling one of the best-bearing\ntrees, they drink the following toast three several times:--\n\n     \"Here's to thee, old apple tree,\n     Whence thou may'st bud, and whence thou may'st blow!\n     And whence thou may'st bear apples enow!\n     Hats full!--Caps full!\n     Bushel,--bushel,--sacks full!\n     And my pockets full, too! Huzza!\n\n\"This done, they return to the house, the doors of which they are sure\nto find bolted by the females, who, be the weather what it may, are\ninexorable to all entreaties to open them, till some one has guessed\nat what is on the spit, which is generally some nice little thing\ndifficult to be hit on, and is the reward of him who first names it.\nThe doors are then thrown open, and the lucky clodpole receives the\ntit-bit as his recompence. Some are so superstitious as to believe\nthat, if they neglect this custom, the trees will bear no apples that\nyear.\"\n\nReferring to these customs, Cuthbert Bede remarks (_Notes and\nQueries_, 2 ser. viii. 448): \"A farmer's wife told me that where she\nhad lived in Herefordshire, twenty years ago, they were wont, on\nTwelfth Night Eve, to light in a wheat field twelve small fires, and\none large one.... She told me that they were designed to represent the\nblessed Saviour and his twelve Apostles. The fire representing Judas\nIscariot, after being allowed to burn for a brief time, was kicked\nabout, and put out.... The same person also told me that the ceremony\nof placing the twelfth cake on the horn of the ox was observed in all\nthe particulars.... It was twenty years since she had left the farm,\nand she had forgotten all the words of the toast used on that\noccasion: she could only remember one verse out of three or four:--\n\n     \"Fill your cups, my merry men all!\n     For here's the best ox in the stall;\n     Oh! he's the best ox, of that there's no mistake,\n     And so let us crown him with the Twelfth Cake.\"\n\n_The Derby and Chesterfield Reporter_ of 7th January 1830 gives the\nfollowing notice of the Herefordshire customs: \"On the eve of Old\nChristmas day there are thirteen fires lighted in the cornfields of\nmany of the farms, twelve of them in a circle, and one round a pole,\nmuch longer and higher than the rest, in the centre. These fires are\ndignified by the names of the Virgin Mary and the Twelve Apostles, the\nlady being in the middle; and while they are burning, the labourers\nretire into some shed or out-house, where they can behold the\nbrightness of the Apostolic flame. Into this shed they lead a cow, on\nwhose horn a large plum cake has been stuck, and having assembled\nround the animal, the oldest labourer takes a pail of cider, and\naddresses the following lines to the cow with great solemnity; after\nwhich the verse is chaunted in chorus by all present:--\n\n     \"Here's to thy pretty face and thy white horn,\n     God send thy master a good crop of corn,\n     Both wheat, rye, and barley, and all sorts of grain,\n     And, next year, if we live, we'll drink to thee again.\n\n\"He then dashes the cider in the cow's face, when, by a violent toss\nof her head, she throws the plum cake on the ground; and if it falls\nforward, it is an omen that the next harvest will be good; if\nbackward, that it will be unfavourable. This is the ceremony at the\ncommencement of the rural feast, which is generally prolonged to the\nfollowing morning.\"\n\nIn Ireland,[88] \"on Twelve Eve in Christmas, they use to set up, as\nhigh as they can, a sieve of oats, and in it a dozen of candles set\nround, and in the centre one larger, all lighted. This is in memory of\nour Saviour and His Apostles--lights of the world.\"\n\n[Footnote 88: Vallancey's _Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis_, vol. i.\nNo. 1. p. 124.]\n\nThe 6th of January, or twelfth day after Christmas, is a festival of\nthe Church, called _the Epiphany_ (from a Greek word signifying\n\"appearance\"), or Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles; and it\narises from the adoration of the Wise Men, or _Magi_, commonly known\nas \"the Three Kings,\" _Gaspar_, _Melchior_, and _Balthazar_, who were\nled by the miraculous star to Bethlehem, and there offered to the\ninfant Christ gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The following carol is in\nthe Harl. MSS. British Museum, and is of the time of Henry VII.:--\n\n     Now is Christmas i-come,\n     Father and Son together in One,\n     Holy Ghost as ye be One,\n           In fere-a;\n     God send us a good new year-a.\n\n     I would now sing, for and I might,\n     Of a Child is fair to sight;\n     His mother bare him this enders[89] night,\n           So still-a;\n     And as it was his will-a.\n\n     There came three kings from Galilee\n     To Bethlehem, that fair citie,\n     To see Him that should ever be\n           By right-a,\n     Lord, and King, and Knight-a.\n\n     As they came forth with their offering,\n     They met with Herod, that moody king,\n     He asked them of their coming\n           This tide-a;\n     And thus to them he said-a:\n\n     \"Of whence be ye, you kings three?\"\n     \"Of the East, as you may see,\n     To seek Him that should ever be\n           By right-a,\n     Lord, and King, and Knight-a.\"\n\n     \"When you to this Child have been,\n     Come you home this way again,\n     Tell me the sights that ye have seen,\n           I pray-a;\n     Go not another way-a.\"\n\n     They took their leave, both old and young,\n     Of Herod, that moody king;\n     They went forth with their offering,\n           By light-a\n     Of the Star that shone so bright-a.\n\n     Till they came into the place\n     Where Jesus and his mother was,\n     There they offered with great solace,\n           In fere-a,\n     Gold, incense, and myrrh-a.\n\n     When they had their offering made,\n     As the Holy Ghost them bade,\n     Then were they both merry and glad,\n           And light-a;\n     It was a good fair sight-a.\n\n     Anon, as on their way they went,\n     The Father of Heaven an Angel sent,\n     To those three kings that made present,\n           That day-a,\n     Who thus to them did say-a:\n\n     \"My Lord hath warned you every one,\n     By Herod King ye go not home,\n     For, an' you do, he will you slone[90]\n           And strye-a,[91]\n     And hurt you wonderly-a.\"\n\n     So forth they went another way,\n     Through the might of God, His lay,[92]\n     As the Angel to them did say,\n           Full right-a,\n     It was a fair good sight-a.\n\n     When they were come to their countree,\n     Merry and glad they were all three,\n     Of the sight that they had see\n           By night-a;\n     By the Star's shining light-a.\n\n     Kneel we now all here adown\n     To that Lord of great renown,\n     And pray we in good devotion\n           For grace-a,\n     In Heaven to have a place-a.\n\n[Footnote 89: Last.]\n\n[Footnote 90: Slay.]\n\n[Footnote 91: Stay, hinder.]\n\n[Footnote 92: Law.]\n\nThis festival was held in high honour in England; and up to the reign\nof George III. our Kings and Queens, attended by the Knights of the\nthree great Orders--the Garter, the Thistle, and the Bath--were wont\nto go in state to the Chapel Royal, St. James's, and there offer gold,\nfrankincense, and myrrh, in commemoration of the _Magi_; but when\nGeorge III. was incapacitated, mentally, from performing the functions\nof royalty, it was done by proxy, and successive sovereigns have found\nit convenient to perform this act of piety vicariously.\n\nIt must have been a magnificent function in the time of Henry VII., as\nwe learn by Le Neve's _Royalle Book_. \"As for Twelfth Day, the King\nmust go crowned, in his royal robes, kirtle, surtout, his furred hood\nabout his neck, his mantle with a long train, and his cutlas before\nhim; his armills upon his arms, of gold set full of rich stones; and\nno temporal man to touch it but the King himself; and the squire for\nthe body must bring it to the King in a fair kerchief, and the King\nmust put them on himself; and he must have his sceptre in his right\nhand, and the ball with the cross in his left hand, and the crown upon\nhis head. And he must offer that day gold, myrrh, and sense; then must\nthe Dean of the Chapel send unto the Archbishop of Canterbury, by\nclerk, or priest, the King's offering that day; and then must the\nArchbishop give the next benefice that falleth in his gift to the same\nmessenger. And then the King must change his mantle when he goeth to\nmeat, and take off his hood, and lay it about his neck; and clasp it\nbefore with a great rich ouche; and this must be of the same colour\nthat he offered in. And the Queen in the same form as when she is\ncrowned.\"\n\nNow the ceremonial is as simple as it can be made. In the Chapel\nRoyal, St. James's, after the reading of the sentence at the\noffertory, \"Let your light so shine before men,\" etc., while the organ\nplays, two members of Her Majesty's household, wearing the royal\nlivery, descend from the royal pew, and, preceded by the usher,\nadvance to the altar rails, where they present to one of the two\nofficiating clergymen a red bag, edged with gold lace or braid, which\nis received in an alms dish, and then reverently placed upon the\naltar. This bag, or purse, is understood to contain the Queen's\noffering of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXI\n\n     \"The King of the Bean\"--Customs on Twelfth Day--Twelfth\n     Cakes--Twelfth Night Characters--Modern Twelfth Night--The\n     Pastry Cook's Shops--Dethier's Lottery--The Song of the\n     Wren--\"Holly Night\" at Brough--\"Cutting off the Fiddler's\n     Head.\"\n\n\nBut another sovereign had a great deal to do with Twelfth day, \"The\nKing of the Bean,\" who takes his title from a bean, or a silver penny,\nbaked in a cake, which is cut up and distributed, and he is king in\nwhose slice the bean is found. Naogeorgus gives us the following\naccount of Twelfth day:--\n\n     The wise men's day here foloweth, who out from _Persia_ farre,\n     Brought giftes and presents unto Christ, conducted by a starre.\n     The Papistes do beleeve that these were kings, and so them call,\n     And do affirme that of the same there were but three in all.\n     Here sundrie friendes togither come, and meete in companie,\n     And make a king amongst themselves by voyce, or destinie:\n     Who, after princely guise, appoyntes his officers alway.\n     Then, unto feasting doe they go, and long time after play:\n     Upon their hordes, in order thicke, the daintie dishes stande,\n     Till that their purses emptie be, and creditors at hande.\n     Their children herein follow them, and choosing princes here,\n     With pompe and great solemnitie, they meete and make good chere:\n     With money eyther got by stealth, or of their parents eft,\n     That so they may be traynde to knowe, both ryot here and theft.\n     Then also every housholder, to his abilitie,\n     Doth make a mightie Cake, that may suffice his companie:\n     Herein a pennie doth he put, before it comes to fire,\n     This he devides according as his housholde doth require.\n     And every peece distributeth, as round about they stand,\n     Which, in their names, unto the poore, is given out of hand:\n     But, who so chaunceth on the peece wherin the money lies,\n     Is counted king amongst them all, and is, with showtes and cries,\n     Exalted to the heavens up, who, taking chalke in hande,\n     Doth make a crosse on every beame, and rafters as they stande:\n     Great force and powre have these agaynst all injuryes and harmes\n     Of cursed devils, sprites, and bugges,[93] of coniurings and charmes.\n     So much this king can do, so much the Crosses brings to passe,\n     Made by some servant, maide, or childe, or by some foolish asse.\n     Twise sixe nightes then from Christmasse, they do count with diligence\n     Wherein eche maister, in his house, doth burne up Franckensence:\n     And on the Table settes a loafe, when night approcheth nere,\n     Before the Coles, and Franckensence, to be perfumed there:\n     First bowing downe his heade he standes, and nose, and eares, and eyes\n     He smokes, and with his mouth receyve the fume that doth arise:\n     Whom followeth streight his wife, and doth the same full solemly,\n     And of their children every one, and all their family:\n     Which doth preserve, they say, their teeth, and nose, and eyes,\n       and eare,\n     From every kind of maladie, and sicknesse all the yeare.\n     When every one receyved hath this odour, great and small,\n     Then one takes up the pan with Coales, and Franckensence, and all,\n     Another takes the loafe, whom all the rest do follow here,\n     And round about the house they go, with torch or taper clere,\n     That neither bread nor meat do want, nor witch with dreadful charme\n     Have powre to hurt their children, or to do their cattell harme.\n     There are, that three nightes onely do perfourme this foolish geare,\n     To this intent, and thinke themselves in safetie all the yeare.\n     To Christ dare none commit himselfe. And in these dayes beside,\n     They iudge what weather all the yeare shall happen and betide:\n     Ascribing to ech day a month. And, at this present time,\n     The youth in every place doe flocke, and all appareld fine,\n     With Pypars through the streetes they runne, and sing at every dore,\n     In commendation of the man, rewarded well therefore:\n     Which on themselves they do bestowe, or on the Church, as though\n     The people were not plagude with Roges and begging Fryers enough.\n     There Cities are, where boyes and gyrles togither still do runne,\n     About the streete with like, as soone as night beginnes to come,\n     And bring abrode their wassell bowles, who well rewarded bee,\n     With Cakes and Cheese, and great good cheare, and money plentiouslie.\n\n[Footnote 93: Bugbears, goblins.]\n\nThe above gives us Twelfth day customs in the sixteenth century.\nHerrick tells us how it was celebrated a hundred years later, when\nthey had added a queen to the festivities, as they had, previously,\ngiven a consort to the Lord of Misrule.\n\n     _Twelfe night, or_ King _and_ Queene.\n\n       Now, now the mirth comes\n       With the cake full of plums,\n     Where Beane's the _King_ of the sport here;\n       Besides, we must know\n       The Pea also\n     Must revell, as _Queene_, in the Court here.\n\n       Begin, then, to chuse\n       (This night, as ye use),\n     Who shall for the present delight here,\n       Be a _King_ by the lot,\n       And who shall not\n     Be Twelfe-day _Queene_ for the night here.\n\n       Which knowne, let us make\n       Joy-sops with the cake;\n     And let not a man then be seen here\n       Who un-urg'd will not drinke\n       To the base, from the brink,\n     A health to the _King_ and the _Queene_ here.\n\n       Next, crowne the bowle full\n       With gentle lamb's-wooll;\n     Adde sugar, nutmeg, and ginger,\n       With store of ale too;\n       And thus ye must doe\n     To make the wassaile a swinger.\n\n       Give then to the _King_\n       And _Queene_ wassailing;\n     And though, with ale, ye be whet here,\n       Yet part ye from hence\n       As free from offence\n     As when ye innocent met here.\n\nThis custom of having a Twelfth cake and electing a king and queen has\nnow died out, and is only known by tradition; so utterly died out\nindeed, that in the British Museum Library there is not a single sheet\nof \"Twelfth-night Characters\" to show the younger race of students\nwhat they were like. The nearest approach to them preserved in that\nnational collection of literature are some Lottery squibs, which\nimitated them; and Hone, writing in 1838, says: \"It must be admitted,\nhowever, that the characters sold by the pastry cooks are either\ncommonplace or gross; when genteel, they are inane; when humorous,\nthey are vulgar.\"\n\nA correspondent in the _Universal Magazine_ for 1774 thus describes\nthe drawing for King and Queen at that date. He says: \"I went to a\nfriend's house in the country to partake of some of those innocent\npleasures that constitute a merry Christmas. I did not return till I\nhad been present at drawing King and Queen, and eaten a slice of the\nTwelfth Cake, made by the fair hands of my good friend's consort.\nAfter tea, yesterday, a noble cake was produced, and two bowls,\ncontaining the fortunate chances for the different sexes. Our host\nfilled up the tickets; the whole company, except the King and Queen,\nwere to be ministers of state, maids of honour, or ladies of the\nbed-chamber. Our kind host and hostess, whether by design or accident,\nbecame king and queen. According to Twelfth-day law, each party is to\nsupport their character till midnight.\"\n\nHere we see they had no sheets of \"Twelfth-night Characters\" (the loss\nof which I deplore), but they were of home manufacture. Hone, in his\n_Every-Day Book_, vol. i. p. 51, describes the drawing some fifty\nyears later. \"First, buy your cake. Then, before your visitors arrive,\nbuy your characters, each of which should have a pleasant verse\nbeneath. Next, look at your invitation list, and count the number of\nladies you expect; and, afterwards, the number of gentlemen. Then take\nas many female characters as you have invited ladies; fold them up,\nexactly of the same size, and number each on the back, taking care to\nmake the king No. 1 and the queen No. 2. Then prepare and number the\ngentlemen's characters. Cause tea and coffee to be handed to your\nvisitors as they drop in. When all are assembled, and tea over, put as\nmany ladies' characters in a reticule as there are ladies present;\nnext, put the gentlemen's characters in a hat. Then call a gentleman\nto carry the reticule to the ladies, as they sit, from which each lady\nis to draw one ticket, and to preserve it unopened. Select a lady to\nbear the hat to the gentlemen for the same purpose. There will be one\nticket left in the reticule, and another in the hat, which the lady\nand gentleman who carried each is to interchange, as having fallen to\neach. Next, arrange your visitors according to their numbers; the king\nNo. 1, the queen No. 2, and so on. The king is then to recite the\nverse on his ticket; then the queen the verse on hers, and so the\ncharacters are to proceed in numerical order. This done, let the cake\nand refreshments go round, and hey! for merriment!\"\n\nThe Twelfth cakes themselves were, in the higher class, almost as\nbeautiful as wedding cakes, but they might be had of all prices, from\nsixpence to anything one's purse might compass; and the confectioner's\n(they called them pastry cooks in those days) windows were well worth\na visit, and crowds did visit them, sometimes a little practical\njoking taking place, such as pinning two persons together, etc.\nQuoting Hone again: \"In London, with every pastry cook in the city,\nand at the west end of the town, it is 'high change' on Twelfth day.\nFrom the taking down the shutters in the morning, he and his men, with\nadditional assistants, male and female, are fully occupied by\nattending to the dressing out of the window, executing orders of the\nday before, receiving fresh ones, or supplying the wants of chance\ncustomers. Before dusk the important arrangement of the window is\ncompleted. Then the gas is turned on, with supernumerary argand lamps\nand manifold waxlights, to illuminate countless cakes, of all prices\nand dimensions, that stand in rows and piles on the counters and\nsideboards, and in the windows. The richest in flavour and heaviest in\nweight and price are placed on large and massy salvers; one,\nenormously superior in size, is the chief object of curiosity; and all\nare decorated with all imaginable images of things animate and\ninanimate. Stars, castles, kings, cottages, dragons, trees, fish,\npalaces, cats, dogs, churches, lions, milkmaids, knights, serpents,\nand innumerable other forms in snow-white confectionery, painted with\nvariegated colours, glitter by 'excess of light' from mirrors against\nthe walls, festooned with artificial wonders of Flora.\"\n\nAs the fashion of Twelfth cakes declined, the pastry cooks had to push\ntheir sale in every way possible, not being very particular as to\noverstepping the law, by getting rid of them by means of drawings,\nraffles, and lotteries, which for a long time were winked at by the\nauthorities, until they assumed dimensions which could not be\nignored, and M. Louis Dethier was summoned at Bow Street on 26th\nDecember 1860, under the Act 42 Geo. III. cap. 119, sec. 2, for\nkeeping an office at the Hanover Square Rooms for the purpose of\ncarrying on a lottery \"under the name, device, and pretence of a\ndistribution of Twelfth cakes.\" He had brought a similar distribution\nto a successful conclusion in 1851, but that was the exceptional year\nof the Great Exhibition, and he was not interfered with; but this was\nfor L10,000 worth of cakes to be drawn for on ten successive days,\nbeginning 26th December--tickets one shilling each. This was an\nundoubted lottery on a grand scale. The case was completely proved\nagainst Dethier, but he was not punished, as he abandoned his scheme,\nputting up with the loss.\n\nThere were some curious customs in different parts of the kingdom on\nTwelfth day, but I doubt whether many are in existence now. The\nfollowing, taken from _Notes and Queries_ (3 ser. v. 109), was in\nvogue in 1864. \"It is still the custom in parts of Pembrokeshire on\nTwelfth night to carry about a wren.\n\n\"The wren is secured in a small house made of wood, with door and\nwindows--the latter glazed. Pieces of ribbon of various colours are\nfixed to the ridge of the roof outside. Sometimes several wrens are\nbrought in the same cage; and oftentimes a stable lantern, decorated\nas above mentioned, serves for the wren's house. The proprietors of\nthis establishment go round to the principal houses in the\nneighbourhood, where, accompanying themselves with some musical\ninstrument, they announce their arrival by singing the 'Song of the\nWren.' The wren's visit is a source of much amusement to children and\nservants; and the wren's men, or lads, are usually invited to have a\ndraught from the cellar, and receive a present in money. The 'Song of\nthe Wren' is generally encored, and the proprietors very commonly\ncommence high life below stairs, dancing with the maid-servants, and\nsaluting them under the kissing bush, where there is one. I have\nlately procured a copy of the song sung on this occasion. I am told\nthat there is a version of this song in the Welsh language, which is\nin substance very near to the following:--\n\n     \"THE SONG OF THE WREN.\n\n     \"Joy health, love, and peace\n     Be to you in this place,\n     By your leave we will sing\n     Concerning our King:\n     Our King is well drest,\n     In silks of the best;\n     With his ribbons so rare,\n     No King can compare.\n     In his coach he does ride,\n     With a great deal of pride;\n     And with four footmen\n     To wait upon him.\n\n     We four were at watch,\n     And all nigh of a match;\n     With powder and ball,\n     We fired at his hall.\n     We have travelled many miles\n     Over hedges and stiles,\n     To find you this King,\n     Which we now to you bring.\n     Now Christmas is past,\n     Twelfth day is the last,\n     Th' Old Year bids adieu;\n     Great joy to the New.\"\n\nHone, in his _Table Book_, p. 26, gives a description of \"Holly Night\"\nat Brough, Westmoreland, in 1838. \"Formerly the 'Holly Tree' at Brough\nwas really holly, but ash being abundant, the latter is now\nsubstituted. There are two head inns in the town, which provide for\nthe ceremony alternately, although the good townspeople mostly lend\ntheir assistance in preparing the tree, to every branch of which they\nfasten a torch. About eight o'clock in the evening it is taken to a\nconvenient part of the town, where the torches are lighted, the town\nband accompanying, and playing till all is completed, when it is\nremoved to the lower end of the town; and after divers salutes and\nhuzzas from the spectators, is carried up and down the town in stately\nprocession. The band march behind it, playing their instruments, and\nstopping every time they reach the town bridge and the cross, where\nthe 'holly' is again greeted with shouts of applause. Many of the\ninhabitants carry lighted branches and flambeaus; and rockets, squibs,\netc., are discharged on the joyful occasion. After the tree is thus\ncarried, and the torches are sufficiently burnt, it is placed in the\nmiddle of the town, when it is again cheered by the surrounding\npopulace, and is afterwards thrown among them. They eagerly watch for\nthis opportunity; and, clinging to each end of the tree, endeavour to\ncarry it away to the inn they are contending for, where they are\nallowed their usual quantum of ale and spirits, and pass a merry\nnight, which seldom breaks up before two in the morning.\"\n\nAccording to Waldron, in his _Description of the Isle of Man_, 1859,\np. 156, the following singular custom is in force on Twelfth day. In\nthis island there is not a barn unoccupied on the whole twelve days\nafter Christmas, every parish hiring fiddlers at the public charge. On\nTwelfth day the fiddler lays his head in the lap of some one of the\nwenches, and the _mainstyr fiddler_ asks who such a maid, or such a\nmaid, naming all the girls one after another, shall marry, to which he\nanswers according to his own whim, or agreeable to the intimacies he\nhas taken notice of during the time of merriment, and whatever he says\nis absolutely depended upon as an oracle; and if he couple two people\nwho have an aversion to each other, tears and vexation succeed the\nmirth; this they call \"cutting off the fiddler's head,\" for after this\nhe is dead for a whole year.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXII\n\n     St. Distaff's Day--Plough Monday--Customs on the Day--Feast\n     of the Purification.\n\n\nHere Christ-tide ought to end, and men and women should have returned\nto their ordinary avocations, but the long holiday demoralised them;\nand although the women were supposed to set to work on the day\nsucceeding Twelfth day, thence called St. Distaff's day, or Rock[94]\nday, there was rough play, as Herrick tells us:--\n\n     Partly work, and partly play,\n     Ye must, on _St. Distaff's day_:\n     From the Plough soone free your teame;\n     Then come home and fother them.\n     If the Maides a spinning goe,\n     Burne the flax, and fire the tow:\n     Bring in pails of water then,\n     Let the Maides bewash the men.\n     Give _S. Distaffe_ all the right,\n     Then bid Christmas sport _good-night_.\n     And, next morrow, every one\n     To his owne vocation.\n\n[Footnote 94: A name for a spinning wheel.]\n\nThe men, however, could not settle down to work so speedily, serious\nwork not beginning till after \"Plough Monday,\" or the Monday after\nTwelfth Day. Tusser says:\n\n     Plough Munday, next after that twelf tide is past,\n     Bids out with the plough--the worst husband is last.\n     If plowman get hatchet, or whip to the skrene,\n     Maids loseth their cocke, if no water be seen.\n\nThis verse would be rather enigmatical were it not explained in\n_Tusser Redivivus_ (1744, p. 79). \"After Christmas (which, formerly,\nduring the twelve days, was a time of very little work) every\ngentleman feasted the farmers, and every farmer their servants and\ntask-men. _Plough Monday_ puts them in mind of their business. In the\nmorning, the men and the maid-servants strive who shall show their\ndiligence in rising earliest. If the ploughman can get his whip, his\nploughstaff, hatchet, or any thing that he wants in the field, by the\nfireside before the maid hath got her kettle on, then the maid loseth\nher Shrove-tide cock, and it belongs wholly to the men. Thus did our\nforefathers strive to allure youth to their duty, and provided them\nwith innocent mirth as well as labour. On this Plough Monday they have\na good supper and some strong drink.\"\n\nIn many parts of the country it was made a regular festival, but, like\nall these old customs, it has fallen into desuetude. However, Hone's\n_Every-Day Book_ was not written so long ago, and he there says: \"In\nsome parts of the country, and especially in the North, they draw the\nplough in procession to the doors of the villagers and townspeople.\nLong ropes are attached to it, and thirty or forty men, stripped to\ntheir clean white shirts, but protected from the weather by waistcoats\nbeneath, drag it along. Their arms and shoulders are decorated with\ngay coloured ribbons tied in large knots and bows, and their hats are\nsmartened in the same way. They are usually accompanied by an old\nwoman, or a boy dressed up to represent one; she is gaily bedizened,\nand called the _Bessy_. Sometimes the sport is assisted by a humourous\ncountryman to represent a _fool_. He is covered with ribbons, and\nattired in skins, with a depending tail, and carries a box to collect\nmoney from the spectators. They are attended by music and Morris\nDancers, when they can be got; but it is always a sportive dance with\na few lasses in all their finery, and a superabundance of ribbons.\nThe money collected is spent at night in conviviality.\"\n\nChambers's _Book of Days_ also gives an account of this frolic. \"A\ncorrespondent, who has borne a part (cow-horn blowing) on many a\nPlough Monday in Lincolnshire, thus describes what happened on these\noccasions under his own observation:--Rude though it was, the Plough\nprocession threw a life into the dreary scenery of winter as it came\nwinding along the quiet rutted lanes on its way from one village to\nanother; for the ploughmen from many a surrounding thorpe, hamlet, and\nlonely farm-house united in the celebration of Plough Monday. It was\nnothing unusual for at least a score of the 'sons of the soil' to yoke\nthemselves with ropes to the plough, having put on clean smock-frocks\nin honour of the day. There was no limit to the number who joined in\nthe morris dance, and were partners with 'Bessy,' who carried the\nmoney box; and all these had ribbons in their hats, and pinned about\nthem, wherever there was room to display a bunch. Many a hard-working\ncountry Molly lent a helping hand in decorating her Johnny for Plough\nMonday, and finished him with an admiring exclamation of--'Lawks,\nJohn! thou dost look smart, surely!' Some also wore small bunches of\ncorn in their hats, from which the wheat was soon shaken out by the\nungainly jumping which they called dancing. Occasionally, if the\nwinter was severe, the procession was joined by threshers carrying\ntheir flails, reapers bearing their sickles, and carters with their\nlong whips, which they were ever cracking to add to the noise, while\neven the smith and the miller were among the number, for the one\nsharpened the plough-shares, and the other ground the corn; and Bessy\nrattled his box, and danced so high that he showed his worsted\nstockings and corduroy breeches; and, very often, if there was a thaw,\ntucked up his gown-skirts under his waistcoat and shook the bonnet off\nhis head, and disarranged the long ringlets that ought to have\nconcealed his whiskers. For Bessy is to the procession of Plough\nMonday what the leading _figurante_ is to the opera or ballet, and\ndances about as gracefully as the hippopotami described by Dr.\nLivingstone. But these rough antics were the cause of much laughter,\nand rarely do we ever remember hearing any coarse jest that could call\nup an angry blush to a modest cheek.\n\n\"No doubt they were called 'plough bullocks' through drawing the\nplough, as bullocks were formerly used, and are still yoked to the\nplough in some parts of the country. The rubbishy verses they recited\nare not worth preserving, beyond the line which graces many a\npublic-house sign, of 'God speed the Plough.' At the large farm-house,\nbesides money, they obtained refreshment; and, through the quantity of\nale they thus drank during the day, managed to get what they called\n'their load' by night.\n\n\"But the great event of the day was when they came before some house\nwhich bore signs that the owner was well-to-do in the world, and\nnothing was given to them. Bessy rattled his box, and the ploughmen\ndanced, while the country lads blew their bullock's horns, or shouted\nwith all their might; but if there was still no sign, no forthcoming\nof either bread and cheese or ale, then the word was given, the\nploughshare driven into the ground before the door or window, the\nwhole twenty men yoked pulling like one, and, in a minute or two, the\nground was as brown, barren, and ridgy as a newly ploughed field. But\nthis was rarely done, for everybody gave something, and, were it but\nlittle, the men never murmured, though they might talk of the\nstinginess of the giver afterwards amongst themselves, more especially\nif the party was what they called 'well off in the world.' We are not\naware that the ploughmen were ever summoned to answer for such a\nbreach of the law, for they believe, to use their own expressive\nlanguage, 'they can stand by it, and no law in the world can touch\n'em, 'cause it's an old charter.'\n\n\"One of the mummers generally wears a fox's skin in the form of a\nhood; but, beyond the laughter the tail that hangs down his back\nawakens by its motion when he dances, we are at a loss to find a\nmeaning. Bessy formerly wore a bullock's tail behind, under his gown,\nand which he held in his hand while dancing, but that appendage has\nnot been worn of late.\"\n\nOn the 2nd of February--the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed\nVirgin Mary--all Christ-tide decorations are to be taken down, and\nwith them ends all trace of that festive season.\n\n     Farwell, Crystmas fayer and fre;\n     Farwell, Newers Day with the;\n     Farwell, the Holy Epyphane;\n         And to Mary now sing we.\n\n     \"_Revertere, revertere_, the queen of blysse and of beaute.\"\n\n\nTHE END","title":"A Righte Merrie Christmasse: The Story of Christ-Tide","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":84595}