3^30 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY FROM S.H.Bumham -""'A'^Pffl 4^m Ja 2S !*;*«-. . > •£. m-r '4y '*JUL 3 1 1944 A,\' 4 . ,cj.. ^""^ ^ ' la i p*! ^ ^ //^ GT3930 .WzT """"'""•' '■"'"^ "°'mffiiiffliljStKSr,.,.'r.S*'e'i an" Whitsun 3 1924 029 896 754 The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029896754 ^JliJ ^'^ -^-1^"^^ t-— "^^^^-^ "i :^3^-.'-'«f->'f kr ~ THE HOLIDAYS C]^ns!tma^3 (Bamv, and mi^itmntiat; SOCIAL FESTIVITIES, CUSTOMS, AND CAROLS. NATHAN B. WARREN. ILLUSTRATED BY F. O. C. DARLEY. ' I like them well, — the curious preciseness And all pretended gravity of those That seek to banish hence these harmless sports, Have thrust away much ancient honesty." London Holiday Book. NEW YORK: PUBLISHED BY HURD AND HOUGHTON.' datnbriiige : UitJersibe |)us5. r UKMV(-U! i'l Y ! lni;AKY- -^^-^^- ^'^y Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year iS68, by Nathan B. Warren, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Northern District of New York. RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE : S T E R E O I' Y P E D AND PRINTED BY H. O. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY. M .'^ K( 5i p U Y'l ir w:-iviwu PREFACE. OINCE the publication of Bourne's " Antiquitates Vulgares," or "Popular Antiquities," 1725, and its enlargement and republication by Brand and Sir Henry Ellis, many curious and entertaining works have appeared on this interesting subject. Among the most celebrated of these are the works of Hone, Strutt, Drake, Soane, Sandys, Wright, and Chambers. From these and others, also of high authority, but not quite so well known, the present volume on " The Holidays," has been compiled. If it shall help to meet what appears to be a literary want in this coun- try, the writer will feel himself well^ rewarded for the labor bestowed upon the work. There appears to be a growing interest in the subject, owing, perhaps, to its connection with the great religious movement now progressing within the Church of England, whose influence is felt far beyond the strict limits of its communion. The social festivity which once always accompanied the observance of ecclesiastical festivals, whether under the Jewish or Christian dispensation, has at least the merit of interesting the young and of making an impression on the mind, which increasing years do not easily efface. VI PREFACE. Zion's ways, like those of Wisdom, are indeed " ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace," to such at least as do not stray from them, and who can use without abusing the good gifts of a beneficent Cre- ator. It is hoped that the excellence of the illustrations of this work, both pictorial and choral, together with the quaint sayings of the old authors quoted, will make up for the deficiencies which may appear either in the plan or its execution. N. B. W. Ida Cottage, Troy, N. Y., November 5, 1868. CONTENTS. Chap. " page I. Introduction . . . i II. Origin of the Social Festivities of Christmas . 7 III. Christmas Carols . . 14 IV. Christmas in the Halls of Old England ... 32 V. Christmas Mummeries . . .... 45 VI. Christmas Gambols . . . . . 58 VIL The Christmas Banquets of the Olden Time ... 69 VIII. TwELrrn-DAY, or Old Christmas ... 80 IX. Shrove-Tide or Carnival- . . ' . go ' X. Easter . . 99 XI. Rogation Week . no XII. Whitsuntide ... 122 XIII. May Day . 132 XIV. St. John's or Midsummer Eve . . 146 XV. Harvest Home . .... 164 APPENDIX. Gloria in Excelsis . ... 174 The First Noel . . . 176 Christmas Day in the Morning . . 179 As Joseph was a Walking 180 The Holy Well 181 ' The Holly and the Ivy 182 The Boar's Head Carol 186 Christmas Plays 188 'I !/;I, ) >l! ! 'Hi >I/TOi'T AM'I t,.i JIaV/ :>k;i INITIALS. Villagers around the May-pole . .... Bringing in the Yule-log Pifferari ...... Rowena presenting the Wassail Bowl to Vortiger The Christmas Tree . . . . . Snap-dragon . . Combat of the Oxonian with the Wild Boar in the Forest of Shotover King and Queen of the Bean .... Pancake Tossing in Westminster School . ... Women heaving the Men at Easter . ... Parish Officers beating the Bounds . Archery Exhibition at Whitsunitde Raising of the May-polk . . . St. John's Eve ... Harvest Home . . . . PAGE I 7 14 32 45 58 69 80 90 99 no 122 132 146 164 ILLUSTRATIONS. HARVE.ST Home . Frontispiece. Christmas Wait 31 Lord of Misrule . . . . .64 . Christmas Banquet • ?■ Whitsun Ale . . 130 A London Marching Watch on Midsummer's Eve . . . .153 CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. REG- ,,1,11/ the # Great, in the oft-quoted letter to MelHtus, a British abbot (afterward a suc- cessor of Augustine in the See of Canterbury), says : " Whereas the people were accustomed to sacrifice many oxen in honor of demons, let them celebrate a relig- ious and solemn festi- val, and not slay the animals, ' diabolo ' — 'to the devil,' but to be eat- en by themselves ' ad laudem Dei,' — ' to the Praise of God.' " 2 INTK OD UCTJON. This idea seems to have been suggested to this Patron of the Anglo-Saxon Church by the success of a very similar experiment or transformation, which in an earlier age had resulted in the conversion to Chris- tianity of the populous district of Neo-Cassarea in Pontus. For it is said that Gregory, Bishop of that Diocese, changed the observance of the Pagan festi- vals to those of the Christian saints and martyrs, retaining such of their ancient festivities and cere- monies, as were in themselves harmless and to which the people were greatly attached. Objections to com- pliances such as these have been made by the precise and scrupulous both in ancient and modern times. Thus we read that Gregory Nazianzen and other Fathers of the Church, warned their flocks against the secularizing tendency of their age, and the dan- gers of excess in feasting, dancing, crowning the doors, and like practices. They feared that these things would carry their people back into Paganism or Juda- ism, not perceiving that Paganism had died a na.tural death, and that Judaism had been superseded by Christianity — the Law being indeed the shadow of good things to come. However this may be, Gregory the Great, undeterred by these serious apprehensions expressed by the early Fathers, and considering the wants of human nature, and' especially those of his spiritual children, jecommended, as we have seen, to the Anglo-Saxon missionaries, commissioned by him, a more liberal course in regard to these festivities, INTR on UCTION. 3 which appears to have greatly promoted the social well-being of the Anglo-Saxon race. St. Augustine and the other Roman missionaries derived no inconsiderable assistance from the Calen- dar they found already in existence among their heathen converts. For the great Pagan festivals of the ancient world were regulated by the sun, their Feast of Yule, or " Juul," being about the winter solstice, or Christmas ; the Festival of Foster, or Easter, about the Vernal Equinox ; and that of Mid- summer, or St. John Baptist's Day, at the summer solstice. These most ancient of the world's festivals, under changed names and with new objects, are still kept in our own times. We are not, however, war- ranted in concluding from the above, as many archae- ologists have affirmed, that the social festivities of the Christian holidays are altogether of heathen origin, but, on the contrary, it will appear that they claim for themselves a much higher authority. In answer to certain Puritanical objections, of the kind just alluded to, we quote from a rare tract of 1648, entitled "The Vindication of the Solemnity of the Nativity of Christ " : — " If it doth appeare that the time of this festival doth comply with the time of the Heathen's Saturnalia, this leaves no charge of im- piety upon it, for since things are best cured by their contraries, it was both wisdom and piety in the ancient Christians (whose work it was to convert the Heathens from such, as well as other super- stitions and miscarriages), to vindicate such times from the service of the Devil, by appoynting them to the more solemne and especial) service of God." 4 INTRODUCTION. Moreover, it appears that our Christmas, Easter, and Whitsun festivals, have taken the place of those three great feasts of the Jewish Church, — the feasts of Passover, of Weeks, and of Tabernacles, instituted by Divine appointment. In the social festivities of the most joyous of these festivals, the Feast of Taber- nacles, there is a striking resemblance to those of our Christmas holidays. The requirements of The Law, with respect to the Feast of Tabernacles, were : — " And thou shall rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates. Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord shall choose : because the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice." — Deut. xvi. 14, 15. Smith, in his " Dictionary of the Bible," gives an interesting account of the manner in which this in- junction of Moses was observed in after-times by the J-ews in Jerusalem. He says : — " Though all the Hebrew Annual Festivals were seasons' of re- joicing, the Feast of Tabernacles was in this respect distinguished above them all. The huts and the lUldbs must have made a gay and striking spectacle over the city by day ; and the lamps, the flambeaux, the music, and the joyous gatherings in the court of the Temple, must have given a still more festive character to the night At the Temple in the evening (after the day with which the festivals had commenced, had ended), both men and women assembled in the Court of the Women, expressly to hold a rejoicing for the drawing of the water of Siloam. On this occasion INTRODUCTION. 5 a degree of unrestrained hilarity was permitted, such as would have been unbecoming while the ceremony itself was going on, in the presence of the Altar, and in connection with the offering of the Morning Sacrifice At the same time there were set up in the Court two lofty stands, each supporting four great lamps. These were lighted on each night of the Festival ; and, as it is said, they cast their light over nearly the whole compass of the city. Many in the assembly carried flambeaux ; a body of Levites stationed on the fifteen steps , leading up to the Women's Court, played instruments of music and chanted the fifteen psalms (120 to 134), which are called in the A. V. ' Songs of Degrees.' Singing and dancing were afterwards continued for some time ; the same ceremonies in the day, and the same joyous meetings in the even- ing, were renewed on each of the seven days." The austerity and intolerance of the seventeenth century in regard to social festivities, have, in a great measure, given place in modern times to more rational ideas. The learned, it appears, to the confusion of Judaiz- ing zealots of the old Puritanical school, have clearly established the fact that the Jewish Festivals were, even in the time of our Saviour and his Apostles, seasons of general social enjoyment. In conformity with the positive injunctions of the Mosaic Law, the New Moons, the Passover, the Feast of Pentecost and of Tabernacles, were observed with a degree of hilar- ity altogether inconsistent with the modern Puri- tanical ndtions of propriety. Indeed, they applied very literally the words of the Psalmist, " Serve the Lord with gladness and come before his presence with a song."' It seems, therefore, reasonable to conclude that, as 6 INTR on UCTION. Our Saviour went up regularly to these feasts at Jeru- salem, and as the Apostles also continued even after his Ascension and the outpouring of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, to take part in these national fes- tivals, there was nothing in these holiday festivities inconsistent with the profession of the principles of Christianity ; for " they continuing daily with one accord in the Temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and single- ness of heart." The severity of our Puritanical forefathers in im- agining the social festivities of their times to be merely heathenish vanities, is equaled only by their misconception in regard to the character of the Jewish holidays.^ This mistake of theirs, however, is not more remarkable than that made by the Roman histo- rian Tacitus, who erroneously supposed that the Jew- ish Feast of Tabernacles, held at the time of the vintage (in October), was celebrated in honor of Bacchus. 1 The joyous nature of the Jewish festivals has been briefly but forcibly de- picted by the author of Festivals, Games, and Amusements, in the following passage : " The sacred ceremonies which, exclusive of the pomp of sacrifice, the perfume of rich odors, and a stately display of gorgeously attired proces- sionists in the courts of their venerated temple, and in the presence of a whole assembled people, combined the attractions of male and female dancers with all the enchantments of the most exquisite musicians and singers, were not only incomparably more grand, imposing, and magnificent, as a mere spectacle, than any theatrical exhibition that the world could produce, but appealed to the heart while they delighted the eye ; gratified the soul as well as the sense ; awakened feelings of patriotism as well as religion, and by uniting the splendors of earth to the glorious hopes of heaven, constituted a union of fascinations which no sensitive or pious Jew could "have contemplated without an ecstasy of delight.'' CHAPTER II. ORIGIN OF THE SOCIAL FESTIVITIES OF CHRISTMAS. RA DY, i n h i s "Cla- vi s Calendaria," says : — " The first Christians, who, it is proper to remark, were all converts from the He- brews, solemnized the Nativ- ity on the first of January, conforming in this computa- tion to the Roman year, thbugh it is to be particu- larly noticed, that on the day of the Feast of Taber- nacles they ornamented their churches with green boughs, as a memorial that Christ was actually born at that time, in like manner as the ancient Jews erected booths 8 ORIGIN OF THE SOCIAL or tents which they inhabited at this season, to keep up by an express command from God the remembrance of their deliverance from Egyptian bondage, and of their having dwelt in tents or taber- nacles in the wilderness." The religious observance of Christmas ' dates from a period as early, at least, as the Second Century. Haydn says it was first observed a. d. 98. Clement, the co-worker of. St. Paul, mentioned by him in his Epistle to the Philippians (iii. 3), says : " Brethren, keep diligently feast days ; and truly in the first place the day of Christ's birth." It was ordered to be kept as a solemn Feast, and with the performance of Divine Services, on the 25th of December, by Telesphorus, Bishop of Rome, about A. D. 137. His injunctions are, "that in the holy night of the Nativity of our Lord and Saviour, they do celebrate public Church services, and in them solemnly sing the Angels' Hymn, because also the same night he was declared unto the shepherds by an angel, as the truth itself doth witnesse." In the same age Theophilus, Bishop of Csesarea, recommends " the celebration of the birth-day of Our Lord, on what day soever the 25th of December shall happen." In the following century, Cyprian begins his " Treatise on the Nativity," thus : " The much wished for and long expected Nativity of Christ is come, the famous solem- nity is come." Gregory Nazianzen and St. Basil both have sermons 1 The term " Christmas " is derived from Christ ^nd the Saxon maisse, sig- nifying the Mass, and a Feast. FESTIVITIES OF CHRISTMAS. 9 on this day. St. Chrysostom also says : " This day was of great antiquity, and of long continuance, being famous and renowned in the Church from the begin- ning, far and wide, from Thrace as far as Gades in Spain." And he styles it, " the most venerable and tremendous of all festivals, and the Metropolis or Mother of all Festivals." Blunt, also, in his " Annotated Book of Common Prayer," observes : — '■ Most of the Fathers have left sermons which were preached on Christmas Day, or during the continuance of the festival. And secular decrees of the Christian emperors, as well as canons of the Church, show, that it was very strictly observed as a time of rest from labour, of Divine Worship, and of Christian hilarity, and that ' it is most fit that the season so marked out by angels by songs of joy such as had not been heard on Earth since the Creation, should also be observed as a time of festive gladness by the Church, and in the social life of Christians." This hilarity and festive gladness — the marked peculiarity of an old English Christmas — once in- cluded sundry pageants and religious shows, which, in an age less cultivated than our own, combined for the people instruction and amusement, the clergy in them, as it were, teaching the multitude by a sort of parables. After the invention of printing, however, when bet- ter means of popular instruction became possible, these mysteries and moralities gradually degenerated into mere burlesques, masks, or mummeries, which frequently, it appears, proved to be more or less ob- lO ORIGIN OF THE SOCIAL jectionable, and against which the Puritanism of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries maintained an unceasing and destructive warfare ; nevertheless there still survives in these prosaic days, especially in those hospitable mansions wherein " Christmas yearly dwells," and where — '•Numerous guests and viands dainty, Fill the hall, and grace the board," much of that hilarity which, indeed, is the essential part of the festival. The bringing in and placing of the ponderous Christmas-block, or Yule-log, on the hearth of the wide chimney of the Old English Hall, was the most joyous of the ceremonies observed on Christmas Eve. This mode of rejoicing at the Winter Solstice, appears to have originated with the Danes and Pagan Saxons, and was intended to be emblematical of the return of the Sun, and its increasing light and heat. But on the introduction of Christianity, the illumina- tions of the Eve of Yu/e were continued as representa- tive of the True Light, which was then ushered into the world, in the person of Our Saviour, the " Day- spring FROM ON High." " This venerable Yule-log, destined to crackle a welcome to all comers, was drawn," says Mr. Chambers, " in triumph from its rest- ing place at the feet of its living brethren of the woods. Each wayfarer raised his hat as it passed, for he .well knew it was full of good promises, and that its flame would burn out old wrongs and heart-burnings." ' ^ In Devonshire this Yule-log takes the form of the Ashton fagot ; the FESTIVITIES OF CHRISTMAS. II The towns of England have been described by Stowe and other old writers as presenting at this -season a sylvan appearance ; the houses dressed with branches of ivy and holly; the churches converted into leafy tabernacles, and standards bedecked with evergreens set up in the streets, while the young of both sexes danced around them. It is interesting to observe from such descriptions, the close resemblance between these manners and cus- toms, and those described in the passages quoted from Smith and Brady ; when, in accordance with Scripture injunctions, the people of Israel went forth into the mount and brought thence " olive-branches, and pine- branches, and myrtle-branches, and palm-branches, and branches of thick trees, and made themselves booths, every one upon the roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the street of the water-gate, and in the street of the gate of Ephraim." '• The ancient custom of dressing our churches and houses at Christmas with evergreens, appears to be not only thus traceable to the Feast of Tabernacles, but is also supposed to have been derived from certain expressions in the following prophecies of the coming of our Saviour : ' Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a Righteous Branch ; ' ' For behold I will bring Scandinavian tradition that man was created out of an ash-tree, may have origi- nated the custom. The fagot is composed of a bundle of ash-sticks, bound or hooped round with bands of the same tree, and the number of these last ought, it is said, to be nine. It is an acknowledged and time-honored custom that for every crack which the bands of the ashen fagot made in bursting when charred through, the master of the house is bound to furnish a fresh bowl cf wassail. 1 2 ORIGIN OF THE SOCIAL forth my servant the Branch ; ' ' Thus speaketh the Lord of Hosts, saying, behold the Man whose name is The Branch, and He shall grow up out of his place ; ' At that time will I cause the Branch of Righteousness to grow up unto David ; ' 'Thus saith the I^ord God, I will also take of the highest Branch of the High Cedar, and will set it ; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon an high mountain and eminent ; in the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it, and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and it shall be a goodly Cedar ; ' ' In that day shall the Branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious ; ' ' For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground ; and the Lord shall reign over them in Mount Zion from henceforth even for ever ; ' ' There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots, which shall stand for an ensign of the people, and my servant David shall be their Prince for ever.' " For it must be confessed that those passages and expressions in which our Saviour is represented under the type of a Branch, a Righteous Branch, a Bough, the Branch df Righteousness, who will reign for ever, etc., in the above quoted clear and eminent proph- ecies of his first appearance in the flesh upon earth, are in a most lively manner brought to our memories, and unmistakably alluded to by those branches and boughs of evergreens, with which our churches and houses are adorned, whose gay appearance and per- petual verdure, in that dead season of the year, when all Nature looks comfortless, dark, and dreary, and when the rest of the vegetable world has shed its honors, does agreeably charm the unwearied beholder and make a very suitable accompaniment of the universal joy which always attends the annual commemoration of that holy festival.'' — • See Gentleman'' s Magazine, 1765. Another quaint old writer thus spiritualizes the practice of Christmas decoration : — " So cur churches and houses, decked with bayes and rosemary, FESTIVITIES OF CHRISTMAS. 13 holly and ivy, and other plants which are always green, winter and summer, signify and put us in mind of His Deity ; that the Child who now was born was God and Man, who should spring up like a tender plant, shbuld always be green and flourishing, and live for evermore.'' In this custom there appears to be also a reference, to those passages of the prophet Isaiah, which foretell the felicities attending the coming of Christ, namely : " The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir- tree, the pine-tree, and the box, together, to beautify the place 0/ my sanctuary." (Isaiah Ix. 13.) "Instead of the thorn, shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle-tree,- and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off." In an old English custom described by Thomas Millar, we find a happy response to this prophecy of Isaiah : — " The hundreds of silver-toned bells of London ring loud, deep, and clear, from tower and spire, to welcome in Christmas. The far-stretching suburbs, like glad children, take up and fling back the sound over hill and valley, marsh and meadow, while steeple calls to steeple across the winding arms of the mast-crowded river, proclaiming to the heathen voyager who has brought his treasures to our coast, and who is ignorant of our religion, the approach of some great Christian festival." CHAPTER III. CHRISTMAS CAROLS. ^v\^'^W. ARO L singing ■^ appears to have originated in a usage of the Primitive Church, for " In the early ages the bishops were accustomed to sing Carols on Christmas Day with their clergy." Jeremy Taylor, refer- ring to this custom in his " Great Exemplar," says of the " Gloria in Excelsis"^ "As soon as those blessed choristers had sung their Christ- mas Carol, and taught the church a hymn to put into ■' See Appendix. CHRISTMAS CAROLS. 15 her offices for ever in the anniversary of this Festivity, the angels returned into heaven." The term " carol " is supposed to be derived either from the Italian " caroli " — a song of devotion, or carol, properly "a round dance." ^ Carols, it is said, were early introduced by the clergy into England from Italy, probably soon after the Norman Conquest, as a substitute for the Yule and Wassail songs of heathen origin, which, until then, had been in use among the vulgar. The custom of singing these " caroli " is still maintained in Italy ; indeed, on the continent, caroling at Christmas is almost universal, and particularly in Rome, where, during the season of Advent, the Pifferari may be seen and heard perform- ing their Novena before the shrine of the Madonna and Bambino. These pilgrims, who, by the way, are 1 French caroh, querole ; Breton keroll, a dance; Welsh coroli, to reel, to dance. " Tho mightest thou karollis sene And- folke dance and merie ben, And made many a faire tourning Upon the green grass springing." Romaunt of the Rose, A. D. 760. Chanson de carole, a song accompanying a dance ; then, as French balade, from Italian ballare, to dance, applied to the song itself. Diez suggests chorulus, from chorus, as the origin. But we have no occasion to invent a diminutive, as the Latin corolla, from corona, gives the exact sense required. Robert of Brune calls the circuit of Druidical stones a carol." " The Bretons ranged about the felde The karole of the stones behelde, Many tyme yede tham about, Biheld within, biheld without." Wedgewood's Dictionary. 1 6 CItRISTMAS CAROLS. shepherds from the Calabrian Mountains, annually flock to Rome at this season. Their picturesque cos- tume is thus described in " Roba di Roma : " — " On their heads they wear conical felt hats adorned with a frayed peacock's feather, or a faded band of red cords and tassels ; their bodies are clad in red waistcoats, blue jackets, and small-clothes of skin or yellowish homespun cloth ; skin sandals are bound to their feet with cords that interlace each other up the leg as far as the knee, — and over all is worn a long brown or blue cloak with a short cape, buckled closely round the neck. Sometimes, but rarely, this cloak is of a deep red with a scalloped cape. As they stand before the pictures of the Madonna, their hats placed on the ground before them, and their thick disheveled hair covering their sunburnt brows, blowing away on their instruments or pausing to sing their novena, they form a picture which every artist desires to paint. These Pifferari always go in couples, one playing on the zampogna or bagpipe, the base and treble accompaniment, and the other on the piffero, or pastoral pipe, which carries the air. Some- times one of them varies the performance by singing, in a strong peasant voice, verse after verse of the novena to the accompaniment of the bagpipe." But to return from this digression. The old Eng- lish Yule songs before referred to, are mentioned by Brady in his " Calendaria" (1808). He says that in his time they were still sung by the people about the church-yards after service on Christmas Day. The example given by him is identical vi^ith that in the Christmas of Washington Irving's " Sketch Book." " Ule, Ule, Ule, Ule, Three puddings in a pule. Crack nuts and cry Ule." CHRISTMAS CAROLS. 1 7 These Yule songs, it appears, were sung at the bringing in of the Christmas block, or Yule-log, which was anciently introduced into the old English baro- nial hall with much pomp and circumstance, the minstrels saluting its appearance with a song. The following specimen from the Sloane MS. is supposed to be of the time of Henry VI., and appears to have been a sort of intermediate link between the ancient Yule song and its more orthodox substitute, the Christmas Carol. WELCOME YULE ! " Welcome be thou heavenly King, Welcome, born on this morning, Welcome for whom we shall sing, AVelcome Yule ! " Welcome be ye Stephen and John, Welcome Innocents every one, Welcome Thomas, Martyr-one, Welcome Yule ! " Welcome be ye, good New Year, Welcome Twelfth-Day, both in fere, Welcome Saints, loved and dear, Welcome Yule ! " Welcome be ye, Candlemas, Welcome be ye Queen of Bliss, Welcome both to more and less. Welcome Yule ! 1 8 CHRISTMAS CAROLS. " Welcome be ye that are here, Welcome all, and make good cheer. Welcome all another year. Welcome Yule ! " The Carol for St. Stephen's Day, which follows this, founded on an ancient legend, is of the beginning of the fourteenth century. Very nearly the original words are given as a specimen of the language of the period. In the carol entitled " The Carnal and the Crane," this same legend appears in a more modern dress. CAROL FOR ST. STEPHEN'S DAY. " Saint Stephen was a clerk In King Herode's hall. And served him of bread and cloth As ever king befalle.^ " Stephen out of kitchen came With boar's head in hande. He saw a star was fair and bright, Over Bethlem stande. " He cast adown the boar's head, And went into the halle : — ' I forsake thee, King Herod, And thy werkes alle. " ' I forsake thee, King Heroa, And thine werkes alle. There is a child in Bethlem borne, Is better than we alle.' 1 Befalle, :'. r., happened ; — as well as ever happened to a king. CHRISTMAS CAROLS. 19 "'What aileth thee, Stephen, What is thee befalle ? Lacketh thee either meat or drink, In King Herod's hall?' " ' Lacketh me neither meat nor drink In King Herod's hall. There is a child in Bethlem borne, Is better than we all.' " ' What aileth thee, Stephen, Art thou wode.'' or thou ginnest to brede ? ^ Lacketh thee either gold or fee. Or any rich weede ? ' ' " ' Lacketh me neither gold nor fee. Nor none rich weede, There is a child in Bethlem borne Shall help us at our need.' " ' That is all so sooth, Stephen, All so sooth, I wiss. As this capon crow shall, That lyeth here in my dish.' " That word was not so soon said. That word in that hall. The capon crew, ' Christus natus est,' Among the lordes alle. ' Wode, /. e., mad. 2 Brede, i. c, upbraid. Danish, " bebreide." In Chaucer the line, — " For veray wo out of his wit he braide," is explained, " He went, or ran out of his wits." ' Weede, i. «-., dress. 20 CHRISTMAS CAROLS. " Riseth up my tormentors, By two, and all by one, And leadeth Stephen out of town. And stoneth him with stone. " Token they Stephen, And stoned him in the way, And therefore is his even, On Christe's owen day." The custom of carol singing formerly prevailed over the greater part of the British Isles, and there, are still in use in many places, especially among the peasantry of Derbyshire and Lancashire, Yorkshire, Northumberland, and Durham, carols of undoubted antiquity, illustrative of the manners and sentiments of the Middle Ages, some of which are said to be fragments of the Mystery and Miracle Plays, for- merly enacted at this season. The following are selected as specimens from these curious old carols : — AS JOSEPH WAS A-WALKING.> " As Joseph was a-walking, He heard an angel sing, ' This night shall be the birth-time Of Christ the Heav'nly King. " ' He neither shall be born In housen nor in hall, Nor in the place of Paradise, But in an ox's stall. ' For music see Appendix. CHRISTMAS CAROLS. 21 " ' He neither shall be clothed In purple nor in pall, But in the fair white linen That usen babies all. " ' He neither shall be rocked In silver nor in gold, But in a wooden manger That resteth on the mould.' " As Joseph was a-walking, There did an angel sing ; And Mary's child at midnight Was born to be our king. " Then be ye glad good people, This night of all the year. And light ye up your candles, For His star it shineth clear." The next specimen seems to have been founded on a legend from one of the Apocryphal Gospels. It exhibits, says Mr. Howitt, a striking impress of the character of the Middle Ages, and shows how well they understood the true spirit of Christ. The music is to be found in the Appendix : — THE HOLY WELL. " Honor the leaves, and the leaves of life Upon this blest holiday, When Jesus asked his mother dear Whether He might go to play. 22 CHBISTMAS CAROLS. " ' To play ! to play ! ' said Blessed Mary, ' To play, then, get you gone ; And see there be no complaint of you At night when you come home.' " Sweet Jesus He ran into yonder town As far as the Holy Well ; And there He saw three as fine children As ever eyes beheld. " He said, ' God bless you every one, And sweet may your sleep be ; And now, little children, I'll play with you, And you shall play with Me.' " ' Nay, nay, we are Lords' and Ladies' sons — Thou art meaner than us all ,; Thou art but a silly fair maid's child Born in an oxen's stall." " Sweet Jesus turned Him around. And He neither laugh'd nor smiled, But the tears came trickling from his eyes. Like water from the skies. " Sweet Jesus He ran to his mother dear. As fast as He could run — ' O mother, I saw three as fine children As ever were eyes set on. " ' I said, " God bless you eveiy one. And sweet may your sleep be ; And now, little children, I'll play with you, And you shall play with Me.' CHRISTMAS CAROLS. 23 " ' " Nay," said they, " we're Lords' and Ladies' sons. Thou art meaner than us all ; For thou art but a poor fair maid's child. Born in an oxen's stall."' " ' Though you are but a maiden's child Born in an oxen's stall, Thon art the Christ, the King of Heaven, And the Saviour of them all. " ' Sweet Jesus, go down to yonder town. As far as the Holy Well, And take away those sinful souls And dip them deep in hell.' "'Nay, nay,' 'sweet Jesus said, ' Nay, nay, that may not be. For there are too many sinful souls Crying out for the help of Me.' ^ " O, then spoke the Angel Gabriel, Upon one good Saint Stephen, ' Although you're but a maiden's child. You are the King of Heaven.' Numeral Hymns were common in the olden time. The following is one of the most ancient of all the popular carols ; the original, preserved among the Sloane MSS., and of a date not later than the four- teenth century, is entitled — 1 This response seems to have been suggested by the answer made by Christ to the disciples when they would have called down fire from heaven. — Luke ix. 54, 55. 24 CHRISTMAS CAROLS. "JOYES FYVE." "The first good joy our Mary had, It was the joy of one, To see her own Son Jesus To suck at her breast bone, To suck at her breast bone. Good man, and blessed, may he be Both Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, And Christ to eternity. " The next good joy our Mary had, It was the joy of two, To see her own Son Jesus To make the lame to go ; To make the lame to go. Good man, etc. " The next good joy our Mary had, It was the joy of three. To see her own Son Jesus To make the blind to see ; To make the blind to see. Good man, etc. "The next good joy our Mary had, It was the joy of four, To see her own Son Jesus To read the Bible o'er ; To read the Bible o'er. Good man, etc. " The next good joy our Mary had. It was the joy of five, CHRISTMAS CAROLS. 25 To see her own Son Jesus To raise the dead alive ; To raise the dead alive. Good man, etc. " The next good joy our Mary had, It was the joy of six, To see her own Son Jesus To wear the crucifix ; To wear the crucifix. Good man, etc. " The next good joy our Mary had. It was the joy of seven, To see her own Son Jesus To wear the crown of Heaven, To wear the crown of Heaven. Good man, and blessed may he be, Both Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, And Christ to eternity.'' The following popular carol is from a Kentish version : — CHRISTMAS DAY IN THE MORNING. " I saw three ships come sailing in. On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day ; I saw three ships come sailing in. On Christmas Day in the morning.-' " And what was in those ships all three ? etc. ; And what was in those ships all three ? etc. lln singing this carol, repeat after the first line oi each verse, "On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day," and after the second line, " On Christmas Day in the morning." 26 CHRISTMAS CAROLS. " Our Saviour Christ and his ladie, etc. ; Our Saviour Christ and his ladie, etc. " Pray whither sailed those ships all three ? etc. ; Pray whither sailed those ships all three ? etc. " O they sailed into Bethlehem, etc. ; O they sailed into Bethlehem, etc. " And all the bells on earth shall ring, etc. ; And all the bells on earth shall ring, etc. " And all the Angels in Heaven shall sing, etc. ; And all the Angels in Heaven shall sing, etc. " And all the Souls on Earth shall sing, etc. ; And all the Souls on Earth shall sing, etc. " Then let us all rejoice amain, etc. ; Then let us all rejoice amain, etc." Ritson thinks that the different versions of this carol may have had their origin in the following curious fragment found by him in Scotland : — " There comes a ship far sailing then. Saint Michel was the stieres-man; Saint John sate in the horn : Our Lord harped, our Lady sang. And all the bells of heaven they rang. On Christ's Sonday at morn." The carol entitled " The Holly and the Ivy," is from Sylvester's collection, and is derived from an CHRISTMAS CAROLS. 27 old broadside printed more than a century and a half ago. The holly, from time immemorial, has been the favorite Christmas evergreen. Dr. Turner, an early English writer on plants, calls it " holy " and " holy- tree ; " which appellation was given it, most probably, from its being used in holy places. " It has a great variety of names in Germany, amongst which is Christdorn ; in Danish it is also called Christhorn ; and in Swedish Christtorn, amongst other appella- tions ; from whence it appears that it is considered a holy plant, by many people in those countries." THE HOLLY AND THE IVY.^ " The Holly and the Ivy Now are both well grown. Of all the trees that are in the wood. The holly bears the crown. Chorus. — The rising of the sun, The running of the deer, The playing of the merry organ. The singing in the choir. "The holly bears a blossom As white as the lily flower, And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ, To be our sweet Saviour. Chorus. — The rising of the sun, etc. " The holly bears a berry. As red as any blood, 1 Music in the Appendix. 28 CHRISTMAS CAROLS. And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ, To do poor sinners good. Chorus. — The rising of the sun, etc. " The holly bears a prickle As sharp as any thorn. And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ, On Christmas Day in the morn. Chorus. — The rising of the sun, etc. " The holly bears a bark. As bitter as any gall, And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ, For to redeem us all. Chorus. — The rising of the sun, etc. " The holly and the ivy Now are both well grown. Of all the trees that are in the wood. The holly bears the crown. Chorus. — The rising of the sun," etc. So popular had carols such as these become in the fifteenth century, that Wynkyn de Worde, one of the earliest printers, published a collection of them in 1 52 1, containing among others, the celebrated " Boar's Head Carol," the best in the collection ; ^ for besides the devotional carols in use at the season, there were those of a convivial character. These "jolie carols," as old Tusser calls them, were sung by the company or by itinerant minstrels who attended the feasts for the purpose. ' See Appendix for the music of this famous carol. CHRISTMAS CAROLS. 29 The Reformation, it appears, did not by any means impair the popularity of the Christmas Carol in Eng- land. Says an old writer of 1&31, "Suppose Christ- mas now approaching, the evergreen ivy trimming and adorning the portals and partcloses of so frequented a building ; the usual carols to observe antiquity cheer- fully sounding, and that which is the complement of his inferior comforts,- his neighbors, tvhom he tenders as members of his own family, join with him in this consort of mirth and melody." One of these Christmas Carols, printed about the same period, recites some of the peculiar pastimes of the season : — " Hark how the wagges abroad doe call Each other forthe to rambling ; Anon you'll see them in the hall For nuts and apples scrambling ; The wenches, with their wassail bowles About the streets are singing ; The boyes are come to catch the owles, The wild mare is in bringing." Mr. Davies Gilbert has, in a collection of ancient Christmas Carols, said, that " Till recently in the West of England on Christmas Eve, about seven or eight o'clock in the evening, cakes were drawn hot from the oven ; cider or beer exhilarated the spirits in every house ; and the singing of carols was continued late in the night. On Christmas Day these carols took the place of psalms in all the churches, especially 30 CHRISTMAS CAROLS. at afternoon service, the whole congregation joining; and at the end it was usual for the parish clerk to declare, in a loud voice, his wishes for a merry Christ- mas and a happy New Year, to all the parishioners." In Wales Christmas caroling is still kept up, per- haps to a greater extent even than in England. After the turn of midnight on Christmas Eve, divine service is celebrated, followed by the singing of carolB to the harp ; and they are also with similar accompaniment sung in the houses, during the continuance of the Christmas holidays. The instruments used by the waits at Christmas in old times, consisted ordinarily of hautboys of four different sizes, although Morley's " Consort Lessons," dedicated to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of Lon- don, 1529, speak of the treble and base viols, the flute, the cittern or English guitar, the treble lute, and the pandora. This ancient custom of carol singing at Christmas, is one of those which of late years has greatly revived and become generally popular both in Europe and America. The usage, however, in regard to their per- formance, has been made to conform in great measure to our modern notions of propriety and convenience. Itinerant minstrels, during the season of Advent, do not now often awaken people from their slumbers at midnight with a carol similar to that of — '&' " God rest you merry gentlemen, Let nothing you dismay ! " CHRISTMAS CAROLS. 3: Nor do the " waits " (those famous bands of vocal and instrumental performers) go now as they once did, from house to house, and from hamlet to hamlet, " all the night long, chanting such carols as our pious forefathers loved well to listen to." Nocturnes such as these with pastoral symphonies, performed by such shepherd-like swains, are altogether too romantic for these more prosaic days. And yet Keble, that most popular of modern poets, has piously sung : — " Wake me that I the twelvemonth long, May bear the song About me in the world's throng ; That treasured joys of Christmas tide May with mine hour of gloom abide ; The Christmas Carol ring Deep in my heart, when I would sing, Each of the twelve good days, Its earnest yield of duteous love and praise, Ensuring happy months, and hallowing common ways." Note. — In France, " Noel " is the term used to express Christ- mas songs or carols, as well as the- tide of Yule itself This word noel is commonly understood to be derived from the Latin natalis (the dies natalis of Our Lord), and is said by Mr. Wright to have been introduced into England at the time of the Norman Con- quest. CHAPTER IV. CHRISTMAS IN THE HALLS OF OLD ENGLAND. HRIST- M A S ' Carols, as is observed in the preceding chap- ters, were, divided into two classes ; the more serious of them, those of a religious charac- ter, were sung morning A and evening ; and those which were convivial in their nature, at those bountiful and stately banquets in which our English ancestors so greatly delighted, and which were indeed the especial glory of the Christmas holidays.-^ 1 For examples, see Appendix. CHRISTMAS IN OLD ENGLAND 33 Some account of those Gothic halls in which these Christmas festivities were held, might, it is supposed, add to the interest of the present work. The follow- ing facts are derived chiefly from Mr. Thomas Wright's learned work, entitled " Domestic Manners and Senti- ments of the Middle Ages." First we learn that the most important part of the Saxon house was the hall. It was the place where the household collected round their lord and protector ; and where the visits of a stranger were first received — the scene of hospitality. These Saxon dwejlings appear to have been of wood, of which material houses continued very generally to be built, until compara- tively modern times. A great change, however, was_ wrought in England by the entrance of the Normans. Some time after that period, or about the middle of the twelfth century, we begin to become better acquainted with the domestic manners of our forefathers, and from this time to the end of the fourteenth century the change was very gradual, and in many respects the manners and customs remained nearly the same. The " hall," or, according to the Norman word, the " salle," was still the principal part of the building ; but its old Saxon character seems to have been so universally ac- knowledged that the first or Saxon name prevailed over the other. The name at this time usually given to the whole dwelling-house, was the Norman word "manoir," or manor; and we find this applied popu- 3 34 CHRISTMAS IN THE HALTS larly to the houses of all classes, excepting only the cottages of laboring people. In houses of the twelfth century, the hall, situated on the ground floor, and open to the roof, continued to form the principal feature of the building. A chamber generally adjoined one end, and at the other was usually a stable. The whole building stood within a small inclosure, consisting, in front, of a yard or court, called in Norman -' aire " (area) ; and in the rear, of a garden which was surrounded with a hedge dnd ditch. In front, the house had generally one door, which was the main entrance into the hall, from which apartment there was a door into the chamber at one end ; and one into the " croiche," or stable, at the other end, and a back door into the garden. The stable, as a matter of course, would have a large door, or outlet into the yard. The chief windows were those of the hall. Alexander Neckam, Abbot of Cirencester, who died in 12 17, has left us a sufficiently clear description of the Norman hall. He says that it had a vestibule or screen (vestibulum), and was entered through a porch (portions), and that it had a court (atrium). In the interior of the hall, there were posts (or columns) placed at regular distances. The few examples of Norman halls which remain, are thus divided inter- nally by two rows of these columns. He enumer- ates the materials required in the construction of the hall, which shows that he is speaking of a timber OF OLD ENGLAND. 35 building. A fine example of one of these timber halls, though of a later period, is, or was recently, standing in the city of Gloucester, with its internal posts as here described. There appears, also, to have been an inner court-yard, in which Neckam intimates that poultry were kept. The whole building and the two court-yards were surrounded by a wall, outside of which were the garden and orchard. At the close of the fourteenth century, the middle classes of England had made great advances in wealth and independence. This increase of wealth appears in the multiplication of articles of furniture and house- hold implements, especially those of a more valuable description. There was also a great increase both in the number and magnitude of the houses which inter- vened between the castle and the cottage. Instead of having one or two bedrooms only, and turning people at night into the hall to sleep, as in earlier times, we now find whole suites of chambers ; while, where before, the family lived chiefly in the hall, privacy was now sought by the addition of parlors, of which there were often more than one, in a house of ordinar);^ size. The hall was, in fact, already beginning to diminish in relative importance to the rest of the mansion. Whether in town or country, houses of any magni- tude were now generally built round an interior court, into which the rooms almost invariably looked, only small and unimportant windows looking toward the street or country. This arrangement, of course, 36 CHRISTMAS IN 2HE HALLS originated in the necessity of studying security, a necessity which was never felt in England more severely than during the fifteenth century. The hall was still but scantily furnished. The per- manent furniture consisted chiefly of benches and of a seat with a back to it, for the superior members of the family. The head table, at least, which stood on a dais, or raised platform, at the upper end of the hall, was often a permanent one ; and there were in general other permanent tables, or "tables dormants;" but still the majority of the tables in the hall were made up for each meal, by placing boards upon trestles. Cushions with ornamental cloths called " bankers " and " dorsers," for placing over the benches and backs of the seats of the better persons at the table, were also in general use. On special occasions tapestry was suspended on the walls of the hall. Another article of furniture also had now be- come common, the " buffet," or stand on which the plate and other vessels were arranged. A vocabulary of the fifteenth century enumerates as the ordinary furniture of the hall : " A board, a trestle, a banker, a dorser, a natte (table-cloth), a table dor- mant, a basin, a laver, fire on a hearth, a brand or torch, a Yule block, an andiron, tongs, a pair of bel- lows, wood for the fire, a long settle, a chair, a bench, a stool, a cushion, and a screen." There were also " waits," or trumpeters, in olden time always attached to the halls of great people, to OF OLD ENGLAND. 37 announce the commencement of the dinner. Only persons of a certain rank were allowed this piece of ostentation ; but everybody who could obtain it had minstrelsy at dinner. The wandering minstrel was welcome in every hall ; and for this very reason the class of ambulatory musicians was very numerous. In the sixteenth century the hall still continued to hold its position as the great public apartment of the house, and in its arrangenjents it differed slightly from those of an earlier date ; it was, indeed, now, the only part of the house which had not been affected by the increasing taste for domestic privacy. We have many examples of the old Gothic hall of this period in England, not only as it existed and was used in the sixteenth century, but in some cases, especially in colleges, still used for its original purposes. One of the simplest, and at the same time best examples of these halls, is found in the Hospital of St. Cross near Winchester : — " The principal entrance to the main building from the first or outer court, opened into a thorough lobby, having on one side sev- eral doors or arches leading to the buttery, kitchen, and domestic offices ; on the other side, the hall, parted off by a screen, generally of wood elaborately carved, and enriched with shields and a variety of ornament, and pierced with several arches having folding doors. Above the screen and over the lobby, was the ministrels' gallery, and on its front were usually hung armor, antlers, and similar me- morials of the family exploits. The hall itself was a large and lofty room, in the shape of a parallelogram ; the roof, the timbers of which were framed with pendents, richly carved and emblazoned with 38 CHRISTMAS IN THE HALTS heraldic insignia, formed one of its most striking features. ' The top- beam of the hall ' — in allusion to the position of his coat of arms — was a symbolical manner of drinking the health of the master of the house. At the upper end of this chamber — furthest from the entrance — the floor was usually raised a step, and this part was styled the ' dais', or ' high place.' On one side of the dais was a deep embayed window, reaching nearly down to the floor ; the other windows ranged along one or both sides of the hall, at a consider- able height above the ground, so as to leave room for wainscoting or arras below them. They were enriched with stained glass, repre- senting the armorial bearings of the family, their connections, and royal patrons, and between the windows were hung full length portraits of the same persons. The royal arms, also, usually occu- pied a conspicuous station at either end of the room. The head table was laid for the lord and principal guests on the raised place, parallel with the upper end wall, and other tables were ranged along the sides for inferior visitors and retainers. Tables so placed were said to stand ' banquet-wise.' In the centre of the hall was the rere-dosse, or fire-iron, against which fagots were piled, and burnt upon the stone floor ; the smoke passing through an aperture in the roof immediately overhead, which was generally formed into an elevated lantern, a conspicuous ornament to the exterior of the build- ing. In latter times a wide arched fire-place was formed in the wall on one side of the room." The earlier half of the sixteenth century was the period when the pageantry of feasting in these halls was carried to its greatest degree of splendor, espe- cially at Christmas. " In the houses of the noble and wealthy, the dinner itself was laid out with great pomp, was almost always accompanied with music, and not unfrequently interrupted with dances, mum- mings, and masquerades." OF OLD ENGLAND. 39 In view of the above it is easy to form an idea of those domestic establishments in which our forefathers used to keep their Christmas. We say our fore- fathers, for although the old manorial residences belonged to the nobility and gentry of the land, yet the whole population may in a manner be said to have kept their Christmas there. Everywhere, indeed, during the twelve days of Christmas, these old halls were the centres of holiday festivities. From time to time it appears that the gentry and nobility of the realm were admonished by royal authority of their duty to go down to their country seats, and tlijen and there to entertain their friends and neighbors with liberal hospitality. Aubrey says of these times : — " In the days of yore, lords and gentlemen lived in the country like petty kings ; had jura regalia belonging to their seignories ; had their castles and boroughs ; had gallows within their liberties ; where they could try, condemn, and execute ; never went to London but in Parliament time, or once a year to do homage to the king. They always ate in Gothic halls at the high table or orielle (which is a little room at the upper end of the hall, where stands a table), with the folks at the side tables. The meat was served up by watch- words. Jacks are but a late invention." Here in the hall the mumming, and the loaf-steal- ing, and other Christmas sports, were performed. The hearth was commonly in the middle, whence the say- ing — "Round about our sea-coal fire." 40 CHRISTMAS IN THE HALLS Heretofore noblemen and gentlemen of fair estates had their heralds, who wore their coat-of-arms at Christmas, and at other solemn times, and cried " Lar- gesse " thrice. The halls in fact, of all the colleges, at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and in the Inns of Court, still remain, as in Aubrey's time, accu- rate examples of the ancient baronial and conventual " halls ; preserving not merely their original form and appearance, but the identical arrangement and service of the tables. It is said that at Houghton Chapel, Nottingham- shire, " the good Sir William Hollis" that example of the " fine old English gentleman, all of the olden time,' who kept his house in great splendor and hospitality, began Christmas at All Hallow-tide (October 31), and continued it till Candlemas (February 2); during which time any man was permitted to stay three days, with- out being asked who he was,, or whence he came. In the " Diary " of the Rev. John Ward, Vicar of Stratford-upon-Avon, extending from 1648 to 1679, it is stated that the Duke of Norfolk expended ^20,000 in keeping Christmas. Charles II. gave over keeping this festival on account, it is said, of its ex- pense. The Duke of Norfolk's profuse hospitality gave great offense at court, where it appears to have been more the fashion to keep disorderly households, than to keep Christmas; and from about the above period of degeneracy, it is said, this good old custom of keeping Christmas began to decline. Indeed it OF OLD ENGLAND. 41 appears that the decHne of Christmas customs was really as much owing to the general corruption of manners introduced into England by a profligate king and court, as it was to any influence exercised upon them by the severe Puritanism of Cromwell's time. The picturesque and poetical custom of bringing in the Yule-log, elsewhere described, though shorn of the "pomp and circumstance" which formerly attended it, is still maintained in various parts of the country. Anciently a Yule song was sung on these occasions. Herrick furnishes an example — written, probably, for the express purpose : — "With the last year's brand Light the new block, and For good Success in his spending, On your psalteries play That sweet luck may Come while the log is a-teending" (burning). Then, it is said, went round the spicy wassail bowl,^ drowning every former grudge and animosity ; an example, it would seem, worthy of modern imitation. " Wassail ! " was the word ; " Wassail ! " every guest returned, as he took the circling goblet from his friend. J A fine specimen of a wassail bowl of undoubted Anglo-Saxon work, for- merly belonging to the Abbey of Glastonbury, is now in the possession of Lord Arundel of Wardour ; it holds two quarts, and formerly had eight pegs inside, dividing the liquor into half pints ; on the lid is carved the Crucifixion, with the Virgin and John, one on each side ; and round the cup are carved the Twelve Apostles. 42 CHRISTMAS IN THE HALTS The spicy wassail, by the way, besides being sweet- ened, was also " augmented " by the addition of a toast and apples stuck full of cloves; the liquor might be wine, cider, or ale, and was served smoking Aot. According to traditional authority, the origin of this wassailing is traced to Rowena, the daughter of the Saxon Hengist. Richard Verstegan (1605) says : — " As this lady was very beautiful, so was she of a very comely deportment ; and Hingistus, having invited King Vortiger to a sup- per at his new builded castle, caused that after supper she came forth of her chamber into the king's presence, with a cup of gold filled with wine in her hand, and making in very seemly manner a low rev- erence unto the king, said with a pleasing grace and countenance, ' Waes-heal, hlaford Cyning ' — ' Be of health, Lord King.' " Of the beauty of this lady the king took so great liking, that he became exceedingly inamored with her, and desired to have her in marriage, which Hingistus agreed unto, upon condition that the king should give unto him the whole country of Kent, whereunto he willingly condescended, and divorcing himself from his former married wife, married with the Saxon Lady Rowena." This presentation of the wassail bowl by Rowena, has been thus happily commemorated by a contributor to the " Antiquarian Repertory " (1808) : — " ' Health, my lord king,' the sweet Rowena said ; ' Health,' cry'd the chieftain, to the Saxon maid ; Then gayly 'rose, and 'midst the concourse wide, Kiss'd her hale lips, and placed her by his side ; At the soft scene such gentle thoughts abound, That health and kisses 'mongst the guests went round ; From this the social custom took its rise, We still retain, and must forever prize." OF OLD ENGLAND. 43 Perhaps in the "loving cup," still in use in London at the state dinners of the Lord Mayor, there is an allusion to this historical event. The kissing, how- ever, at these civic banquets, is confined to the loving cup or wassail bowl itself, as it circulates from guest to guest ; the degenerate Britons of these days being too cautious, it appears, to follow the chivalrous ex- ample of the royal Vortiger, who, according to the above cited authority, willingly gave " a kingdom for a kiss." Bishop Cox, in his " Impressions of England," de- scribing one of these dinners given to the S. P. G. in 1 85 1, says : — " The toast-master appeared behind his lordsliip's chair, and began : ' My Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, my Lord Bishop of London,' and so on through the roll of bishops — ' my lords, ladies, and gentlemen, the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress greet you in a loving cup and give you a hearty welcome.' The Mayor and May- oress then rose, and taking the loving cup in hand, she uncovered it for him, with a graceful courtesy, to which he returned a bow, and then drank, wiped the chalice with his napkin, allowed it to be covered, and then sat down, while the lady, turning to the Arch- bishop, who rose accordingly, repeated the ceremony, save that he uncovered the cup, and it was her turn to taste the draught. Thus the cup went round." The mystic mistletoe, or kissing-bush, however, appears to have regulated the custom of wassailing at Christmas, for with the disappearance of its white berries, one of which was to be plucked at each kiss, this innocent sport came to an end. 44 CHRISTMAS IN OLD ENGLAND. The following imaginary scene from the " Holiday Book," gives us a very good idea of the appearance of one of these old English halls on a Christmas Eve: — " A fire on the wide hearth-stone ; an oaken table ; with a goodly company ; closed doors ; the mistletoe aloft upon a mighty beam ; evergreens abundant ; the ' Minstrels ' in the tapestried gallery ; quaint figures of 'Mummers ' drolly attired, peep from behind the half-drawn curtains, dependent before the recess of the deep bay- windows." As an accompaniment to the Yule-log, a candle of monstrous size, called the Yule-candle, or Christmas candle, shed its light on the festive board during the evening. Brand, in his " Popular Antiquities," states that " in the buttery of St. John's College, Oxford, an ancient candle socket of stone still remains, orna- mented with the figure of the Holy Lamb. It was formerly used for holding the Christmas candle, which, during the twelve nights of the Christmas festival, was burned on the high table at supper." CHAPTER V. CHRISTMAS MUMMERIES. not Miracle Plays, and Moralities, formerly enacted during the Christ- ^""' mas holidays, and to which reference has been made in pre- vious chapters, have in modern times grad- ually disappeared, or degenerated from their pristine splendor and magnificence into mere burlesques, such as the mock play of St. George and ^--"' the Dragon. This demoralization, however, does seem to have extended to the Christmas 46 CHRISTMAS MUMMERIES. Tree, the most picturesque of the mediaeval pageants, which, with undiminished glory towering aloft, fes- tooned by garlands of gold and silver paper, and sparkling with its myriad lights, still presents an enchanting vision to thousands of happy children here as well as abroad. The custom of decorating the Christmas tree, al- though of German origin and of great antiquity, has but recently been successfully introduced in England and this country. Indeed, it would seem to have been naturalized with us at a much earlier period even than in England. For in Pennsylvania, where many of the settlers are of German descent, Christmas Eve is ob- served with many of the ceremonies practiced in the Fatherland. The Christmas tree branches forth in all its splendor, and the Christ-Child — according to the German legend — comes flying through the air on golden wings, and causes the bough to produce in the night all manner of fruit, gilt sweetmeats, apples, nuts, etc., for the good children.-" It is said that Luther in his family celebrated Christ- mas Eve according to the German custom. In an engraving published in.Leipsic, the great Reformer, who was fond of childij^n and music, is represented 1 Bunsen, it is said, contributed to christianize a lieathen custom derived from pagan times, by placing a picture of the Madonna della Seggiola amid tlie tapers so as to illuminate the loveliest infant representation of Him who brought good gifts unto men ; and thus to sanctify the ancient German custom of hanging gifts on a tree, dating from the time of heathen life in a forest. — Christian Remem- brancer, 1868. CHRISTMAS MUMMERIES. 47 in the midst of both, and playing upon a gittern, an instrument not unlike the modern guitar. But it is not our well-known Christmas tree and its customs, which it is the especifri purpose of the present chapter to notice, but rather those half-forgotten Christ- mas Mummeries, Plays, and Moralities which once formed the most intellectual part of the sports and pastimes of our ancestors. The custom of representing at every solemn festival of the church some event recorded in Scripture, be- came very general in Christendom at an early period. Gregory Nazianzen, Patriarch of Constantinople, and others eminent in the church, had dramatized portions of the Qld and New Testament, and substi- tuted them for the Greek plays still publicly repre- sented in their day.' Farces, also, such as the Feast of Fools and of the Ass were enacted, with the de- sign, it is said, of weaning the people from the ancient heathen spectacles, particularly those of the licentious Bacchanalian and Calendary solemnities. The more modern mysteries, miracle plays, and moralities, were also devised by the clergy in later times, doubtless with the same good intention of withdrawing their people at this season of the Nativity from a participa- tion in the traditional games of the Roman Saturnalia. 1 The sacred dramas of Gregory Nazianzen were modeled on those of the ancient Greek tragedy, the choruses being turned into Christian hymns. One only of the Patriarch's plays, a tragedy called "Christ's Passion," is extant. The Christians found in the wit and elegance of his writings, all that they could de- sire in the heathen poets. 48 CHRISTMAS MUMMERIES. These were composed of Scriptural incidents, or, as Fitz-Stephen informs us, of "Representations of those miracles that were wrought by holy confessors ; or those passions and sufferings in which the martyrs so signally displayed their fortitude. The actors were the scholars of the clergy ; the church itself was fre- quently used as the place of exhibition ; and the rich vestments and sacred furniture employed in the church service were sometimes permitted to be used by the performers, to give superior truth and lustre to their representations." The " ludi" or Christmas plays, formerly exhibited at court, were of quite a different character from those described above. It is said they can be traced back certainly as far as the reign of Edward III.; and they are by some thought to be much older. The dresses appropriated in 1348 to one of these plays, show that they were mummeries, and not theatrical divertise- ments. The King (Edward III.) then kept his Christ- mas at his castle at Guildford, the " keep " of which remains to this day. The dresses on that occasion, it is said, consisted of eighty tunics of buckram of vari- ous colors ; forty-two vizors ; fourteen faces of women ; fourteen of men ; and fourteen heads of angels made with silver ; twenty-eight crests ; fourteen mantles em- broidered with heads of dragons ; fourteen white tunics, wrought with the heads and wings of peacocks; fourteen with the heads and wings of swans ; fourteen tunics, painted with the eyes of peacocks ; fourteen CHRISTMAS MUMMERIES. 49 tunics of English linen, painted; and fourteen other tunics embroidered with stars of gold. The magnificent pageants and disguisings frequently exhibited at court, in succeeding reigns, and especially in the reign of Henry VIII., were but a species of mummeries destitute of character and humor ; their chief aim being to surprise the spectators " by. the ridiculous and exaggerated oddity of the vizors, and by the singularity and splendor of the dresses ; — every- thing was out of nature and propriety." Stowe thus describes a remarkable mummery made by the citizens of London in 1377, for the disport of the young Prince Richard, son to the Black Prince : — "They rode, disguised and well horsed, 130 in number, with min- strels and torch-lights of wax, to Kennington beside Lambeth, where the young Prince remained with his mother. These maskers alight- ed, entered the Palace Hall, and set to the Prince and his mother and lords, cups and rings of gold, which they won at a cast ; after which they feasted, and the Prince and lords danced with the mum- mers, which jollity being ended, they were made to drink," etc. The plays exhibited in the country at this season appear to have been of a more mixed character. Such were the Cornish mummeries or miracle plays ; which were not performed as elsewhere in churches, but in an earthen amphitheatre in some open field. These con- tinued to be exhibited long after the abolition of the miracle plays and moralities in other parts of the king- dom. Accordingly we find them lingering in Corn- 50 CHRISTMAS MUMMERIES. wall even to the present time ; and there, as also in Devonshire and Staffordshire, the old spirit of Christ- mas is kept up with great earnestness. There is also in the North of England a species of mumming called the sword dance, and, says Mr. Henderson, "this may- yet be looked for in most towns from the H umber to the Cheviot Hills." There are some trifling local vari- ations both in dance and song ; the latter has altered with the times ; the former is plainly a relic of the war dances of our Danish and Saxon ancestors. Tacitus thus describes a sword dance among the ancient Ger- mans : — " One public diversion was constantly exhibited at all their meet- ings ; young men, who by frequent exercise have attained to great perfection in that pastime, strip themselves, and dance among the points of swords and spears, with most wonderful agility, and even with the most elegant and graceful motions. They do not perform this dance for hire, but for the entertainment of the spectators, esteeming their applause a sufficient reward." Mr. Brand also tells us ,that he has seen this dance frequently performed in the North of England, about Christmas, with little or no variation from the ancient method. Washington Irving also refers to the custom in the " Sketch Book." There is a relic of the ancient mystery and rniracle plays to be found in the more modern Christmas mummeries ; especially in that pop- ular play of " St. George and the Dragon." This is still represented in some parts of England by a sort of dramatic corps headed by " Father Christmas." ^ ^ See Appendix. CHRISTMAS MUMMERIES. 5 1 These mummers go abroad and about the country on Christmas Eve, performing this mock play in the halls of the gentry and in the kitchens of farm-houses. According to the " Golden Legend," on which this old play is founded, the city of Sylene, being infested with a dragon in the marsh, and the sheep failing — which had been given, two a day, to prevent his hurt- ing the people — an ordinance substituted children and young people, to be chosen by lot, whether rich or poor. The king's daughter was drawn, and St. George happening to pass by when she was on her way to be devoured, fought and killed the dragon. In this legend there seems to be an allusion to the spiritual combat against " that old serpent the Devil," or the " dragon " mentioned in the Apocalypse. In 1849 this still very popular drama of" St. George and the Dragon " was acted on the floor of the Free Trade Hall in Manchester, where it is customary to celebrate the Epiphany, called Old Christmas or Twelfth Day, with many ancient forms and ceremo- nies. The programme for each year varies slightly. Sometimes there is a procession of the Months ; some- times of the Seasons, etc. ; but there never fail to be the presentation and carrying of the Boar's Head, with the necessary glees and choruses. Among the religious shows which, like those of the Mysteries and Miracle Plays, gave life and animation to the Christmas festivities of our forefathers, was that of the Boy-Bishop. " The accounts of the origin 52 CHRISTMAS MUMMERIES. of this curious custom have been," says Mr. Fosbrooke, " elucidated into obscurity^ It is said to have been founded on this story in the " Legend of St. Nicho- las " : — " A bishop who had been elected to a vacant see, was warned by a dream to go to the doors of the church at the hour of matins, and ' hym that sholde fyrste come to the cliyrche, and have the name of Nicholas, they sholde sacre hym Bissop,' — that is, one bishop was superceded by another." — Qold. Leg. 29 b. Hone, on the subject of the Boy-Bishop, writes : — " Anciently, on the 6th of December (St. Nicholas' Day), the choir-boys in cathedral and collegiate churches chose one of their number to maintain the state and authority of a bishop ; for which purpose he was habited in rich episcopal robes, wore a mitre on his head, and bore a crozier in his hand ; his fellows for the time being assuming the character and dress of priests, yielding him canonical obedience, taking possession of the church, and, except mass, per- forming all the ceremonies and offices, and on Holy Innocents' Day, actually preaching a sermon to the assembled congregation." There is a monument of such a child-bishop who died while in office, situated on the north side of Salisbury Cathedral, on which is sculptured the figure of a youth clad in episcopal robes, with his foot on a lion-headed and dragon-tailed monster, in allusion to the expression of the Psalmist, " Thou shalt tread on the lion and the dragon." Although there resulted much actual profanity from the above prescribed ritualistic observances, yet there CHRISTMAS MUMMERIES. 53 seems to have been nothing irreverent intended by them, for we find that whatever was strictly sacra- mental in its nature, or that properly belonged to the priestly office, was not originally permitted or exer- cised by these mimic prelates. " But our ancestors," says Fosbrooke, " used all these m,ummeries, as we now do the catechism, to im- press principles upon the minds of their children." The election of this " Kpiscopus Puerorum," or Episcopus Ckorisiorum, always took place on St. Nicholas' Day (December 6), and as St. Nicholas was the patron saint of school-boys and choristers, the Boy- Bishop naturally became identified in name with his patron saint. Thus, " St. Nicholas," as he was called, became a person of great consequence, perambulating both town and country, habited as a bishop, " in pon- tificalibus," with his fellow choristers also in appropri- ate vestments, singing carols, etc., being in fact Christ- mas personified, or " Old Father Christmas." From a printed church-book containing the service of the Boy-Bishop set to music, we learn that on the eve of Innocents' Day, the Boy-Bishop and his youthful clergy, in their copes, and with burning tapers in their hands, went in solemn procession, chanting and sing- ing versicles as they walked, into the choir by the west door, in such order that the dean and canons went foremost, the chaplains next, and the Boy-Bishop, with his priests, in the last and highest place. He then took his seat, and the rest of the children disposed 54 CHRISTMAS MUMMERIES. themselves upon each side of the choir, upon the up- permost ascent ; the canons resident (reversing the usual order) bearing the incense and the book, and the petit-canons the tapers, according to the Rubric. Afterwards he proceeded to the altar of the Holy Trinity and All Saints, which he first censed, and next the Image of the Holy Trinity, his priests all the while singing. Then they all chanted a service with prayers and responses, and, in the like manner taking his seat, the Boy-Bishop repeated salutations, prayers, and versicles ; and, in conclusion, gave his benediction to the people, the chorus answering, " Deo Gratias." After he received his crozier from the cross-bearer, other ceremonies were performed, and he chanted the compline ; turning toward the choir he delivered an exhortation, and last of all pronounced the benedic- tion. In process of time, however, all this seemingly orderly behavior was changed for the worse. It appeared that boys would be boys, and that they mixed up with their regularly appointed services the buffoon- eries of the so-called " Feast of Fools," and of " The Ass," and instead of psalms and hymns, were now " sung or said " indecent songs and jests ; and in place of the fragrance of incense, there were, substituted all sorts of unsavory abominations. These enormities had reached such a pitch at the time of the Reformation in the reign of Henrv VIII., that we are not surprised to find the ceremonies of the CHRISTMAS MUMMERIES. 55 Boy-Bishop installation abrogated by royal authority. Nevertheless, according to Strype : " In the reacting times of Queen Mary, an edict was issued November 13, 1554, by the Bishop of London, to all the clergy of his diocese, to have the procession of a Boy- Bishop." And again, " On the 5th of December, or St. Nicholas' Eve, of the same year, ' at even song,' came a commandment that St. Nicholas should not go abroad or about ; but notwithstanding, it seems, so much were the citizens taken with the ' mask ' of St. Nicholas (that is, Boy-Bishop), that there went about these St. Nicholases in divers parishes." Again, Strype informs us, that " In 1556, on the eve of his day, St. Nicholas, that is, a boy habited like a bishop, ' in pontificalibus,' went abroad in most parts of London, singing after the old fashion, and was received with many ignorant but well-disposed people, into their houses, and had as much good cheer as ever was wont to be had before, at least in many places." But with the final establishment of the Reformation under Elizabeth, this pastime or pageant of the Boy- Bishop disappears ; and henceforth he is not to be found in England, excepting, perhaps, under an alias as '' Old Father Christmas." Ben Jonson appears to have attempted a partial revival of the pageant in his " Masque " presented al court in 1616 ; in which Christmas is represented in the novel character of an ardent professor of Protest- antism. He says : "Ha! would you have kept me out? 56 CHRISTMAS MUMMERIES. Christmas, Old Christmas, Christmas of London, and Captaine Christmas ! Why, I am no dangerous person, and so I told my friends o' the guard. I am old Greg- ory Christmas still. And though I come out of Pope's Head Alley, as good a Protestant as any in my Parish." "Pope's Head Alley" appears to have been inti- mately related to those celebrated Protestant localities known as Ave Maria Lane, Paternoster Row, and Amen Corner. This plea of his Protestantism, how- ever, did not satisfy the suspicious Puritanical spirit of that age ; for at a subsequent period, during the civil wars of the seventeenth century, we find him and his children, mince-pie and plum-porridge included, solemnly banished the land by act of Parliament ! Needham, in his " History of the Rebellio"n " (1661), bewailing the decline of Christmas, in consequence of Puritanism and of similar legislation, says : — " Gone are those golden days of yore, When Christmas was a High-Day ; Whose sports we now shall see no more ; 'Tis turned into Good-Friday." But if the Long Parliament could expel him from England, it could not prevent his taking up his abode among the more tolerant Dutch in the " New Nether- lands," and where, according to Knickerbocker's " His- tory of New York," " he has continued to flourish at Christmas in spite of the ' Blue Laws ' of the neigh- CHRISTMAS MUMMERIES. 57 boring Puritanical State of Connecticut." He does not now, however, go any more abroad, habited " in pontificalibus." Having turned Presbyterian, he con- tents himself with the ordinary guise of a Dutchman, heavily furred, and has also exchanged his wassail- bowl for the '■'bowl'" of a short Dutch pipe, with which he has completely mystified and befogged the intellect of his old enemies, the Puritans. CHAPTER VI. CHRISTMAS GAMBOLS. N ad. dition to the cui^SS."-— ' Christ- ^)^ mas mummeries and plays noticed in the pre- ceding chapter, a brief ac- count perhaps should be given of some of the other old English games and amusements appropriate to this season, and espe- cially of the Lord of Mis- rule, whose authority in some places extended not only over the Christmas holidays, but from the time of his election at Hal- loween (31st October) even until Whitsuntide. Brand, in his " Popular Antiquities," speaking of these games, says, " I find in a tract entitled ' Round about our Coal-fire,' or ' Christmas Entertainments,' CHRISTMAS GAMBOLS. 59 published in the early part of the last century, the fol- lowing : — " Then comes mumming or masquerading, when the squire's wardrobe is ransacked for dresses of all kinds. Corks are burnt to black the faces of the fair, or make deputy mustachios, and every one of the family, except the squire himself, must be transformed." This account further says : — " The time of the year being cold and frosty, the diversions are within doors, either in exercise, or by the fireside. Dancing is one of the chief exercises ; or else there is a match at Blindman's Buff or Puss in the Corner. The next game is Questions and Commands, when the commander may oblige his subjects to an- swer any lawful question, and make the same obey him instantly, under the penalty of being smutted, or paying such forfeit as may be laid on the aggressor. Most of the other diversions are cards and dice." Although there appears to have been a considerable falling off in modern times in the number and variety of these Christmas games and amusements, still we gather from the above that the sports on a Christmas Eve, a hundred and fifty years ago, were not very much unlike those at present in vogue. The names of almost all the pastimes above mentioned must be familiar to every reader, who has probably participated in some of them. One of these favorite Christmas sports, once generally played on Christmas Eve, has been handed down to us from time immemorial, under the name of Snap-Dragon. In England this amuse- 6o CHRISTMAS GAMBOLS. ment is familiar to many people, but as it is not so well known elsewhere, we subjoin from the " Book of Days," a description of the game : — " A quantity of raisins is deposited in a large bowl or dish (the broader and shallower this is, the better), and brandy or some other spirit is poured over the fruit and ignited. The by-standers now endeavor, by turns, to grasp a raisin, by plunging their hands through the flames ; and as this is somewhat of an arduous feat, requiring both courage and rapidity of action, a considerable amount of laughter and merriment is evoked at the expense of the unsuccessful competitors. As an appropriate accompaniment we introduce here — "THE SONG OF SNAP-DRAGON. " ' Here he comes with flaming bowl, Don't he mean to take his toll, Snip ! Snap ! Dragon ! " ' Take care you don't take too much, Be not greedy in your clutch, Snip ! Snap ! Dragon ! " ' With his blue and lapping tongue Many of you will be stung, Snip ! Snap ! Dragon ! " ' For he snaps at all that comes Snatching at his feast of plums. Snip ! Snap ! Dragon ! " ' But old Christmas makes him come, Though he looks so fee ! fa ! fum ! Snip ! Snap ! Dragon ! " ' Don't'ee fear him — be but bold — Out he goes, his flames are cold, Snip ! Snap ! Dragon \ CHRISTMAS GAMBOLS. 6 1 "While the sport of Snap-dragon is going on, it is usual to extinguish all the lights in the room, so that the lurid glare from the flaming spirits may exercise to the full its weird-like effect;" Christmas gambols such as these, and indeed holi- day festivities of all kinds, were formerly presided over by an officer of great consequence, entitled the " Lord of Misrule, or Christmas Prince." The rights and privileges of this potentate are, it appears, derived from the Roman Saturnalia, a festival insti- tuted in commemoration of the freedom and equality which once prevailed on the earth in the golden reign of Saturn, or, as it has been suggested, from even a still higher origin. For the ancient Jews had among them a sort of Lord of Misrule, or " Symposiarch," as he was called, at their merry-makings, whose duty it was to promote the general hilarity. " If thou be made the master of the feast," says the author of "Ec- clesiasticus," " take diligent care for them, and when thou hast done all thy office, take thy place that thou mayest be merry with them, and receive a crown for thy well ordering of the feast." But whatever may have been the origin of the office, his authority seems to have been pretty generally ac- knowledged in England previous to the civil wars of the seventeenth century. A good idea of the merry-makings of our ancestors, and of the nature of the duties of the Lord of Mis- rule, or master of ceremonies, may be formed from a 62 CHRISTMAS GAMBOLS. consideration of the will of the Right Worshipful Richard Evelyn Esq"'°, of the sixteenth century, father of the author of " The Diary," and Deputy-Lieutenant of the counties of Surrey and Sussex, thus appointing and defining the functions of a Christmas Lord of Misrule, over his estate at Wotton : — "Imprimis. — I give free leave to Owen Flood, my trumpeter, gentleman, to be Lord of Misrule of all good orders during the twelve days. And also I give free leave to the said Owen Flood, to command all and every person or persons whatsoever, as well servants as others, to be at his command whensoever he shall sound his trumpet or music, and to do him service, as though I were present myself, at their perils I give full power and authority to his lordship to break up all locks, bolts, bars, doors, and latches, and to fling up all doors out of hinges, to come at those who presume to disobey his lordship's commands. God save the king ! " Sir Richard's son did not depart from the economy and hospitality of the old house, but " more veierum" kept a Christmas in which they had not fewer than three hundred bumpkins every holiday. Hollingshed also informs us that — " What time there is alwayes one appointed to make sporte at Courte, called commonly, Lord of Misrule, whose office is not un- knowne to such as have been brought up in nobleman's houses, and among great housekeepers, which use liberal feasting in the season." Again, Stowe says, — " At the Feast of Christmas, in the king's court, wherever he CHRISTMAS GAMBOLS. 63 chanced to reside, there was appointed a Lord of Misrule, or master of merry disports ; the same merry-fellow made his appear- ance at the house of every nobleman and person of distinc- tion, and among the rest the Lord Mayor of London, and the sheriffs, had severally of them their Lord of Misrule ; ever con- tending, without quarrel or offense, who should make the rarest pastimes to delight the beholders ; this pageant potentate began his rule at All-hallow Eve, and continued the same till the morrow after the Feast of the Purification, in which space there were fine and subtle disguisings, masks, and mummeries.'' The sway of this officer, the Master of Merry Dis- ports, was not confined to the court, nor to the houses of the opulent ; but he was also elected in various towns and parishes, where, however, his reign seems to have been of shorter duration. The practical result of this facetious and popular species of misrule perhaps may be gathered in part from the graphic description left by Stubbs, who, from all accounts, was himself a notable rebel not only against '' misrule" but also against all " right rule." In the " Anatomy of Abuses," he says : — " First of all, the wilde heads of the parish flocking togither, chuse them a graund captaine of mischiefe, whom they innoble with the title of Lord of Misrule ; and him they crowne with great solemnity, and adopt for their king. This king annoynted chooseth forth twentie, fourt}', threescore, or an hundred, lustie guttes, like to him- self, to waite upon his lordly majesty, and to guarde his noble person. Then every one of these men he investeth with his liveries of greene, yellow, or some other light wanton colour, and as though they were not gaudy ynaugh, they bedecke themselves with scarffes, ribbons and laces, hanged all over with gold ringes, pretious stones. 64 CHRISTMAS GAMBOLS. and olher jewels. This done, they tie about either legge t wen tie, or fourtie belles, with rich handkerchiefes in their handes, and some- times laide across over their shoulders and neckes, borrowed, for the most part, of their pretie Mopsies and loving Bessies. Thus all thinges set in order, then have they their hobby-\\ox'!,&'s,, their drag- ons, and other antiques, together with their baudie pipers, and thundring drimimers to strike up the devils daunce withal. Then march this heathen company towards the church, their pypers pjrping, their drummers thundring, their stumpes dauncing, their belles jyngling, their handkerchiefes fluttering aboute their heades like madde men, their hobby-\yoxi,&s and other monsters skirmish- ing amongst the throng : and in this state they go to the church though the minister be at prayer or preaching, dauncing and singing like devils incarnate, with such a confused noise that no man can heare his owne voyce. Then the foolish people they looke, they stare, they laugh, they fleere, and mount upon the formes and pewes, to see these goodly pageants solemnized. Then after this, aboute the church they go againe and againe, and so fourthe into the churche-yard, where they have commonly their summer halls, their bowers, arbours, and banqueting houses set up, wherein they feaste, banquette, and daunce all that day, and peradventure all that night too ; and thus these terrestrial furies spend the Sabbath-day. Then, for the further innobling of this honourable lordane — lord I should say — they have cer- taine papers wherein is painted some babelerie or other of imagerie worke, and these they call my Lord of Misrules badges or cogni- zances. These they give to every one that will give them money to mantaine them in this their heathenish devilrie ; and who will not show himself buxome to them and give them money, they shall be mocked and flouted shamefully ; yea, and many times carried upon a cowlstaffe, and dived over heade and eares in water, or otherwise most horribly abused. And so besotted are some, that they not only give them money, but weare their badges or cognizances in their hattes or cappes openly. Another sorte of fantasticall fooles bring to these hell-hounds, the Lord of Misrule and his com- CHRISTMAS GAMBOLS. 65 plices, some bread, some good ale, some new cheese, some old cheese, some custardes, some cracknels, some cakes, some flauns, some tartes, some creame, some meate, some one thing and some another." It would seem from the above, although Strutt appears to have inferred in his " Sports and Pastimes " that Stubbs was speaking of the Christmas holidays, that the Lord of Misrule was sometimes also presi- dent over the summer sports ; and that his author- ity appears to have been occasionally extended over the whole period, from All-hallows till Whitsuntide. Stubbs speaks of this revel being on the Sabbath-day, and also of their erecting summer-halls, etc., in the church-yard, from which we may infer that the Sab- bath-day mentioned, was a Whitsunday, because, the "belles that were tied about either legge," indicate the morris-dance, a dance peculiar to Whitsuntide. But the amusing account by Stubbs of the Lord of Misrule, and his alleged evil doings, does not convey to us so truthful an impression of this mighty poten- tate, as may be derived from other less prejudiced sources. In contrast with the above, we subjoin an account of certain stately proceedings by the lawyers of the Inner Temple. In 1561, a Lord of Misrule, having with him a train of one hundred horsemen, richly appareled, rode through London to the Inner Temple, where there was great reveling throughout the Christ- mas. Lord Robert Dudley, afterwards Earl of Lei- 5 66 CHRISTMAS GAMBOLS. cester, being the constable and marshal, under the name of Palaphilos, and Christopher Hatton, after- wards Chancellor, master of the game. A sort of Parliament had been previously held on St. Thomas's Eve, to decide whether the society should keep Christ- mas, and if so, the oldest bencher should deliver a speech on the occasion, and the oldest butler publish the officers' names, and then — " in token of joy and good liking, the bench and company pass be- neath the hearth, and sing a carol, and so to boyer" (collation). Again, in 1629, we read that — " The Templars chose Bulstrode Whitelocke as Master of the Revels ; and as soon as the evening was come, entered the hall fol- lowed by sixteen revellers. They were proper handsome young gen- tlemen, habited in rich suits, shoes and stockings, hats and great feathers. The Master led them in his bar gown, with a white staff in his hand, the music playing before them. They began with the old masques ; after which they daunced the Brawls, and then the Master took his seat, while the revellers flaunted through gal- liards, corantos, French and country dances, till it grew very late. As might be expected, the reputation of this dancing soon brought a store of other gentlemen and ladies, some of whom were of great quality. To crown the ambition and vanity of all, a great German lord had a desire to witness the revels, then making such a sensa- tion at court, and the Templars entertained him at great cost to themselves, receiving in exchange that which cost the great noble very little, — his avowal that ' Dere was no such nople gollege in Christendom as deirs.' " The Templars, according to Hone, also formerly held in their hall at Christmas, around about their CHRISTMAS GAMBOLS. 67 coal fire, a species of hunt with hound and horn, con- ducted by the Lord of Misrule ; a fox and cat being the game pursued. This hunt seems at one time to have been general in great houses, and to have had a sort of symbolic signification. What that was before the Reformation, does not appear, but " In ane com- pendious Boke of godly and spiritual Songs, Edin- burgh, 1 62 1, printed from an old copy," are the follow- ing lines, seemingly referring to some such pageant: — " The hunter is Christ that hunts in haist, The hunds are Peter and Pawle, The Paip is the fox, Rome is the rox, That rubbis us on the gall." There was also, it appears, a very splendid Christ- mas at the Middle Temple in 1635, when Mr. Francis Vivian of Cornwall was the Christmas Prince, and expended £2,