Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern

The study of Popular Antiquities, as connected with the early history of mankind, is one, of deep interest, involving researches into the different ancient systems of religion, and is a subject of too serious a nature to be enlarged on in the following pages. The sacred rites and ceremonies of the various Heathen nations, however different the details may appear, had a common origin. For some few years after the Flood, mankind had one religion; the worship of the true God. But so prone is man to err, when unassisted by the Divine grace, that a century had scarcely elapsed before a perverted system was introduced, and the Tower of Babel was built, which caused the dispersion of nations. As the respective migrations receded from the common centre, which was the seat of true religion, so did the forms of worship adopted by them get gradually more corrupted; and in lapse of time, the allegories and symbols with which their ceremonies were burthened, confused all authentic traditions of their origin, unless, as has been supposed, they were preserved to a certain extent by some of the chief and chosen of the priesthood. Traces of such origin might, however, be found in every quarter of the world, however disguised; as, in the allusions to the deluge; the fall of man, his punishment, his forgiveness, and existence in a future state; vicarious sacrifice, debased into the immolation of human victims, and many others.

The various customs to commemorate the return of the seasons, appear also to have been similar to a great extent throughout the world, though to these would occasionally be superadded festivals arising from local circumstances. These commemorations were held as religious festivals, and so deep rooted had become the attachment of the Heathens to them, that some of the early Christians, instead of endeavouring to abolish, made them subservient to Christianity, first modifying and cleansing them from their grosser ceremonies, a practice, however, reprobated by the Apostles. Gregory Thaumaturgus, bishop of Neocæsarea, who died in 265, instituted annual festivals to the saints and martyrs, which succeeded those of the Heathens, in order to facilitate their conversion; and the keeping of Christmas with joy and feasting, playing and sports, replaced the Bacchanalia and Saturnalia. Papal Rome preserved many relics of Heathen Rome; and ancient statues were preserved as objects of adoration, being changed but in name. Pagan temples also were converted into Christian churches. When Pope Gregory sent St. Austin over in the end of the sixth century to convert the Anglo-Saxons, he directed him to accommodate the ceremonies of the Christian worship, as much as possible, to those of the Heathen, that the people might not be much startled at the change; and, in particular, he advised him to allow the Christian converts, on certain festivals, to kill and eat a great number of oxen to the glory of God, as they had formerly done to the honour of the devil.¹ In after times the clergy endeavoured to connect the remnants of Pagan idolatry with Christianity, in consequence of the difficulty they found in suppressing them. On the introduction of the Protestant religion, some Catholic observances were in like manner connived at, in order to humour the uneducated part of the community, and the festivals handed down, though with various alterations, from our Pagan ancestors, were preserved. Thus we may account for the superstitious customs that still attend the observance of many of our popular feasts and holidays, and that may be traced in some of our games and amusements, and indeed in several of the common occurrences of life.

Among the most celebrated of the festivals of the ancients was that in honour of the return of the sun, which at the winter solstice begins gradually to regain power, and to ascend apparently in the horizon. Previously to this the year was drawing to a close, and the world was typically considered to be in the same state. The promised restoration of light and commencement of a new æra were therefore hailed with rejoicings and thanksgivings.

The Saxon and other northern nations kept a festival at this time of the year in honour of Thor, in which they mingled feasting, drinking, and dancing, with sacrifices and religious rites. It was called Yule, or Jule, a term of which the derivation has caused dispute amongst antiquaries; some considering it to mean a festival, and others stating that Iol, or Iul, (spelt in various ways,) is a primitive word, conveying the idea of Revolution or Wheel, and applicable therefore to the return of the sun. Persons anxious to indulge in verbal disquisitions may find much learned information on the subject in the voluminous works of Gebelin, Hickes, Junius, &c. The name Yule still continues to be applied to the Christian festival in Scotland, and in parts of England; having been retained when Paganism gave place to Christianity.

The Saturnalia of the Romans had apparently the same object as the Yule-tide, or feast of the Northern nations, and were probably adopted from some more ancient nations, as the Greeks, Mexicans, Persians, Chinese, &c. had all something similar. In the course of them, as is well known, masters and slaves were supposed to be on an equality; indeed, the former waited on the Tatter. Presents were mutually given and received, as Christmas presents in these days. Towards the end of the feast, when the sun was on its return, and the world was considered to be renovated, a king or ruler was chosen, with considerable powers granted to him during his ephemeral reign, whence may have sprung some of the Twelfth Night revels, mingled with those in honour of the Manifestation and Adoration of the Magi. Our sacred feast of Christmas happens at the same time of the year as the Yule of the Northern nations, and the other feasts before alluded to, and has preserved vestiges of some of their observances: as decking with greens, the use of misletoe, and, perhaps, even the wassail bowl.

According to Brady,² the Christian epocha was first introduced into chronology in the year 523, and was established in this country by Bede; but the observance of the feast in honour of the Nativity was of much earlier date. It is not certain whether it was kept by the Apostles, although by no means improbable. Clement, who flourished in the first century, says, “Brethren, keep diligently feast-daies, and truly in the first place the day of Christ’s birth.”³ In the second century it was ordained, according to Telesphorus, in his Decretall Epistle, “that in the holy night of the Nativity of our Lord and Saviour, they do celebrate publique Church services, and in them solemnly sing the Angells Hymne, because also the same night he was declared unto the shepherds by an Angell, as the truth itself doth witnesse.” In the same age Theophilus, bishop of Cæsarea, 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 solemnity is come.” Gregory Nazianzen, who died in 389, and other Christian writers of the same age, mention the feast, and in particular he cautions against feasting to excess, dancing, and crowning the doors (practices derived from the Heathens) ; urging the celebration after an heavenly, and not an earthly manner. From this caution it would seem as if the religious part of the festival, as in the present times, was not sufficiently attended to, and that the spiritual thanksgiving was in danger of being absorbed in the temporal rejoicing. Gregory’s observation, however, might have been intended as much for a warning as a rebuke, because in the same age there is on record, connected with the religious celebration of this day, one of those acts of ferocity of which the annals of human nature unfortunately afford too many examples. A multitude of Christians of all ages had assembled to commemorate the Nativity in the temple at Nicomedia, in Bithynia, when Dioclesian the tyrant had it enclosed and set on fire, and about 20,000 persons perished on the occasion.⁴

After the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity, Christmas was observed as a solemn festival, and the ordinary meetings of the Wittenagemots were then held, as well as at Easter and Whitsuntide, wherever the court happened to be. At these times the Anglo-Saxon kings, and afterwards the Danish kings of England, lived in great state, wore their crowns, and were surrounded by all the great men of their kingdoms (with strangers of rank), who were sumptuously entertained, and the most important affairs of church and state were brought under consideration.

In these, as in more polished ages, the love of dancing appears to have been extended to a fault, for William of Malmsbury relates a story of fifteen young women and eighteen young men dancing and singing (A.D. 1012) in the church-yard of a church dedicated to St. Magnus on the day before Christmas, and thereby disturbing one Robert a priest, who was performing mass in the church. In consequence of his prayers to that effect, they continued to dance and sing for a whole year without intermission, feeling neither heat, cold, hunger, thirst, weariness, or wear of apparel, and wore away the earth till they were sunk up to the middle.⁵

The Anglo-Norman kings celebrated these festivals with increased splendour, when all the prelates and nobles of the kingdom were, by their tenures, obliged to attend their sovereign to assist in the administration of justice, and in deliberating on the great affairs of the kingdom. On these occasions the king wore his crown, and feasted his nobles in the great hall of his palace, and made them presents of robes, &c. as marks of his royal favour; after which they proceeded to business.⁶

Polydore Virgil says,⁷ that it was the custom of the English, as early as the reign of Henry the Second (about 1170) to celebrate their Christmas with plays, masques, and magnificent spectacles, together with games at dice and dancing; he derives many of the particulars from the Roman Saturnalia, and considers the Christmas Prince, or Lord of Misrule, a personage almost peculiar to this country. From this time mummeries⁸ and disguisings, with plays and pageants, appear to have been introduced among the diversions of the king and nobles at Christmas; but they were probably in vogue among the inferior orders at an earlier period, though of a description rude as their habits and poor as their means. They are supposed to have been derived from the custom of the Heathens during some of their festivals, on the Kalends of January, to go about in disguises as wild beasts and cattle, and the sexes also exchanging apparel: a practice productive of many abuses, and much opposed by the clergy, when they found many of the early Christians endeavoured to intermingle it with their own observances during the Christmas holidays, although the more devout celebrated the Nativity by prayer, thanksgiving, and psalm-singing.

In the council, generally called Concilium Africanum, held A.D. 408, “Stage-playes and spectacles are forbidden on the Lord’s-day, and other solemne Christian festivalls.” Theodosius the younger, in his laws de Spectaculis, in 425, forbade shows or games on the Nativity, and some other feasts. In the council of Auxerre in Burgundy, in 578, disguisings are again forbidden; but these canons were not duly attended to, for at another council in 614 it was found necessary to repeat them in stronger terms, declaring it to be unlawful to make any filthy plays upon the Kalends of January.

The ecclesiastics are said to have introduced miracle-plays and scripture histories about the end of the eleventh century, and they were become common in the time of Henry the Second. The secular plays, which they were intended to replace, were of a comic nature, with coarse jests introduced, accompanied by music, dancing, mimicry, &c. and principally performed by strolling minstrels. The clergy, now adding instruction to amusement, found the representation of their plays very effective in withdrawing the populace from the licentiousness of the secular performances, and consequently endeavoured to render the construction of them more interesting and the machinery more imposing. They were at first of a very homely nature, and in many instances the effect is ludicrous to our modernized taste. Thus, in the Chester Mysteries,⁹ Noah’s wife refuses to go into the ark without her “gossepes everich one,” and swears by “Saint John” and “Christ;” when she is at last forced in by her sons, she salutes Noah, on his welcoming her, with a hearty box on the ear. In the Cornish mystery of the Creation of the World, by Jordan, published by Mr. Davies Gilbert, the lady is rather more courteous, as she says on being hastened —

It is however not unlikely that some comic passages were purposely inserted, in order to relieve the tediousness of the performances, which sometimes lasted for days. Dr. Dibdin mentions one called “La Vēgeance et destruction de Hierusalem,” acted in 1437, which occupied four days in the performance, and required one hundred and seventy-eight actors.¹⁰

The pilgrims and crusaders, on their return from the Holy Land, brought with them new subjects for theatrical representation, founded on the objects of their devotions and of their labours; and many allusions to these will be found in the early mysteries; as the introduction of Mahound for instance. The Christmas-play of St. George and the Dragon, still preserved in the western and northern parts of the kingdom, with the King of Egypt, and fair Sabra his daughter, now generally enacted by a “great lubberly boy,” may also derive its origin from this period. [Compare: Christmas Play of St. George and the Dragon, which is from Sandys' 1852 Christmas-tide; they are substantially the same.]

Certain religious fraternities and schools at different times claimed an exclusive privilege of performing these plays or mysteries; the parish clerks in particular were famed for their representations. In the year 1378 the scholars of St. Paul’s School presented a petition to Richard the Second, praying him “to prohibit some unexpert people from presenting the History of the Old Testament, to the great prejudice of the said clergy, who have been at great expense in order to represent it publickly at Christmas.” Different guilds, or trades, also had their respective pageants, of which several instances are mentioned in Brand’s History of Newcastle; the Chester and Coventry, and other similar sets of mysteries, were also performed by them.

Disguisings and pageants with these plays speedily became some of the principal diversions at court during Christmas, when any persons were admitted who were competent to add to the amusement of the guests.

In 1348, Edward the Third held his Christmas at Guildford, and there is an account in the wardrobe rolls of dresses, ad faciendum Ludos domini regis ad festum natalis Domini celebratos apud Guldeford. In 1391 (temp. Richard the Second) the sages of the law were made subjects for disguisements; as in the rolls of his wardrobe is this entry — “Pro xxi coifs de tela linea pro hominibus de lege contrafactis pro Ludo regis tempore natalis Domini anno xii.” That is, for twenty-one linen coifs for counterfeiting men of the law in the king’s play at Christmas.¹¹ Ten years after this, the Emperor of Constantinople, as he is called, being here, the king (Henry the Fourth) held his Christmas at Eltham,¹² and men of London made a “gret mummyng to him of xii Aldermen & here sones, for whiche they had gret thanke.” The citizens were in favour at this time, the king having two years previously escaped a dangerous conspiracy through the timely notice of the Lord Mayor.¹³ The Earls of Huntingdon and Kent, (then recently degraded from the dukedoms of Exeter and Surrey,) together with the Earl of Salisbury and others, in order to effect the restoration of Richard the Second, and the recovery of their own titles and possessions, had proposed, under colour of a Christmas mumming, to gain access to Windsor Castle, and kill the king and princes. In such esteem was this feast held, that it even hushed the voice of war. During the siege of Orleans in 1428, “the solemnities and festivities of Christmas gave a short interval of repose. The English lords requested of the French commanders, that they might have a night of minstrelsy, with trumpets and clarions. This was granted, and the horrors of war were suspended by melodies, that were felt to be delightful.”¹⁴

About the middle of the fifteenth century, Moralities were introduced, consisting of allegorical personifications; and these may also be included in the list of Christmas amusements. At this period, indeed, these public diversions were in general confined to certain great feasts, (of which Christmas was the principal,) when entertainments of all kinds were resorted to with avidity, to compensate for the previous want of them. A case somewhat parallel may be observed in the eagerness with which country people flock in to their central or market town, during fair-time. Nor is the character of the entertainments provided for them in the present age, of a much higher class than those of the time now under notice. Jugglers, inferior in skill if we may judge from old drawings, to those who amused our ancestors; learned animals; rope-dancers; itinerant singers stage-plays, in the literal sense of the word; and on the Continent, scripture pieces are yet performed,¹⁵ as they were in this country, (though perhaps in the shape of a puppet-show,) during the last Century.¹⁶ Of Mr. Punch, I beg to speak with due respect, whether he be the descendant of the Vice of the Moralities with his wooden lath, or not (though Harlequin may better answer this description); he still maintains his ground, and has been the cause of laughter to most of us; long and late therefore may it be before he is compelled by the “march of intellect” to squeak out his adieus, and favour us with his reminiscences.

During the destructive wars of York and Lancaster, the observances and festivities at Christmas time must have been liable to frequent interruption, but during the latter part of the reign of Edward the Fourth, and especially upon the establishment of Henry the Seventh, they were attended to with increasing zest. By the ordinances for governing the household of George Duke of Clarence in the 8th of Edward the Fourth, it appears that games at dice, cards, or any other hazard for money, were forbidden except during the twelve days at Christmas. In a book much esteemed at that time, and well-known at present to bibliomaniacs,¹⁷ it is stated, “For to represente in playnge at Crystmasse herodes and the thre kynges and other processes of the gospelles both than and at Ester and other tymes also it is lefull and cōmendable.” Leland, speaking of 1489, says, “This Cristmas I saw no disgysyngs, and but right few plays. But ther was an Abbot of Misrule, that made much sport and did right well his office.” In the following year, however, “on neweres day at nyght, there was a goodly disgysyng,” and “many and dyvers pleyes.” The Household Book of Henry the Seventh, in the Chapter-house at Westminster, contains numerous disbursements connected with Christmas diversions, which prove them to have been much encouraged at Court during this reign. In his seventh year is a payment to Wat Alyn (Walter Alwyn) in full payment for the disguysing made at Christmas, £14. 13s. 4d. and payments for similar purposes occur in the following years, varying occasionally in amount. Another book, also in the Chapter-house, called “The Kyng’s boke of paymentis,” contains various payments to players and others who assisted to amuse the king at Christmas; and among the rest, to the Lord of Misrule (or Abbot as he is sometimes called), for several years, “in rewarde for his besynes in Crestenmes holydays, £6. 13s. 4d.”

The plays at this festival seem to have been acted by the “gentelmen of the King’s Chapell,” as there are several liberal payments to certain of them for playing on Twelfth Night: for instance, an entry on January 7th, 28 Henry VII. of a reward to five of them of £6. 18s. 4d. for acting before the King on the previous night; but he had a distinct set of players for acting interludes at other times.

In the reign of Henry the Eighth, masques, pageants, and other similar diversions were very much in vogue, and the King himself was a frequent performer as well as spectator. The books of account at the Chapter-house afford numerous examples of payments for various purposes at Christmas time during this reign; and many interesting extracts may be found in Collier’s History of Dramatic Poetry. The payments to the Lord of Misrule, which in Henry the Seventh’s time never exceeded £6. 13s. 4d. were raised by Henry the Eighth in his first year to £8. 6s. 8d. and subsequently to £15. 6s. 5d.

Some of the entertainments were of a sumptuous nature: in the 1st year is a payment to “Rob. Amadas vpon his bill for certen plate of gold stuf bought of him for the disguisings,” £451. 12s. 2d.; and another to “Willm Buttry vpon his bill for certen sylks bought of him for the disguysings,” £133. 7s. 5d.

In the 6th year are charges “To Leonard Friscobald for diverse velvets, and other sylks, for the disguysing,” £247. 12s. 7d.; and “To Richard Gybson for certen apparell, &c. for the disguysing at the fest of Cristemes last,” £137. 14s. ½d. Considerable payments are made to the same Gybson in after years for the same purpose, particularly in the 11th, for the revells, called a Maskelyn.

In the 10th year large rewards were given to the gentlemen and children of the King’s Chapel; the former having £13. 6s. 8d. for their good attendance in Xtemas; and “Mr. Cornisse for playing affore the king opon newyeres day at nyght with the children,” £6. 13s. 4d.

In the 17th year of this reign (1525) there was a great sickness and mortality in London, and the King therefore kept his Christmas quietly at Eltham, whence it was called the “still Christmas.” This however did not satisfy the haughty Cardinal Wolsey, who “laye at the Manor of Richemond, and there kept open housholde, to lordes, ladies, and all other that would come, with plaies and disguisyng in most royall maner; whiche sore greued the people, and in especiall the kynges seruauntes, to se hym kepe an open Court, and the kyng a secret Court.”¹⁸

The King made himself amends for this cessation by the festivities of subsequent years, and Greenwich was frequently resorted to during this season. In 1527 there was a “solemne Christmas” held there “with revels, maskes, disguisings, and banquets; and the thirtieth of December, and third of January were solemne Justs holden, when at night the King and fifteen other with him, came to Bridewel, and there putting on masking apparell, took his barge, and rowed to the Cardinalls (Woolsey) place, where were at supper many Lords and Ladyes, who danced with the maskers, and after the dancing was made a great Banquet.”¹⁹

The lower classes still practising the ceremonies and superstitions of their forefathers, added to them some imitations of the revelries of their superiors, but, as may be supposed, of a grosser description; and many abuses were committed. It was therefore found necessary by an Act passed in the 3d year of Henry VIII. to order that no persons should appear abroad like mummers, covering their faces with vizors, and in disguised apparel, under pain of three months’ imprisonment: and a penalty of 20s. was declared against such as kept vizors in their houses for the purpose of mumming. It was not intended, however, to debar people from proper recreations during this season, but on the contrary we have reason to believe that many indulgences were afforded to them, and that landlords and masters assisted them with the means of enjoying the customary festivities; listening to their tales of legendary lore, round the yule-block, when weary of more boisterous sports, and encouraging them by their presence, as is yet the case in some parts of the country, though the practice is unfortunately gradually wearing out.

The working classes at this period were professedly allowed greater privileges at Christmas than at any other part of the year.²⁰ The Act of II Hen. VII. c. 2, against unlawful games, expressly forbids Artificers, Labourers, Servants, or Apprentices, to play at any such, but in Christmas; and then only in their masters’ houses by the latter; and a penalty of 6s. 8d. was incurred by any householder allowing such games, except during those holidays; which, according to Stow, extended from All-hallows evening to the day after Candlemasday. The Act of 33 Henry VIII. c. 9, enacts more particularly, “That no manner of Artificer or Craftsman of any handicraft or occupation, Husbandman, Apprentice, Labourer, Servant at husbandry, Journeyman, or Servant of artificer, Mariners, Fishermen, Watermen, or any Serving-man, shall from the said feast of the Nativity of St. John Baptist, play at the Tables, Tennis, Dice, Cards, Bowls, Clash, Coyting, Logating, or any other unlawful Game, out of Christmas, under the pain of xxs. to be forfeit for every time; and in Christmas to play at any of the said Games in their Masters’ houses, or in their Masters’ presence.”

Many of the nobility imitated the royal splendour in the arrangement of their domestic establishments, maintaining such numerous retinues as to constitute a miniature court. The various household books that still exist shew the state in which they lived; among these, that of the Northumberland family is the best known, having been printed, and frequently quoted. It appears from the regulations here laid down, (1512,) that the “Almonar” was frequently “a maker of Interludys;” and if so, “than he to have a servaunt to the intent for writynge of the Parts; and ells to have non.” The persons on the establishment of the chapel performed plays from some sacred subject during Christmas; as “My lorde usith and accustomyth to gyf yerely, if his lordship kepe a chapell and be at home, them of his lordschipes chapell, if they doo play the Play of the NATIVITE uppon cristynmes day in the mornnynge in my lords chapell befor his lordship, xxs.” Other players were however permitted and encouraged, and a Master of the Revells appointed to superintend. And “My lorde useth and accustomyth yerly to gyf hym which is ordynede to be the MASTER OF THE REVELLS yerly in my lordis hous in cristmas for the overseyinge and orderinge of his lordschips Playes, Interludes, and Dresinge that is plaid befor his lordship in his hous in the xijth dayes of Cristenmas, and they to have in rewarde for that caus yerly, xxs.”

In a volume of accounts of the Earl of Northumberland at the Chapter-house, quoted by Collier,²¹ 18s. 4d. is the price paid to his chaplain, William Peres, in the 17th Henry VIII. “ for makyng an Enterlued to be playd this next Cristenmas.” The Princess (afterwards Queen) Mary was indulged from her childhood with the usual ceremonies and festivities in her own household, although as she grew up, and her temper got soured, she probably lost all enjoyment of such scenes. Before she had completed her sixth year, Christmas revels were exhibited for her entertainment, and she was accustomed to give presents to the King’s players, the children of the chapel, and others. Ellis, in his “Original Letters,”²² gives the following curious application from the council for the household of the Lady Mary, to the all powerful Cardinal Wolsey about 1525, to obtain his directions and leave to celebrate the ensuing Christmas; so necessary was his sanction then to every public transaction.

“Please it youre grace for the great repaire of straungers supposed unto the Pryncesse honorable householde this solempne fest of Cristmas, We humbly beseche the same to let us knowe youre gracious pleasure concernyng aswell a ship of silver for the almes disshe requysite for her high estate, and spice plats, as also for trumpetts and a rebek to be sent, and whither we shall appoynte any Lord of Mysrule for the said honorable householde, provide for enterluds, disgysyngs, or pleyes in the said fest, or for banket on twelf nyght. And in likewise whither the Pryncesse shall sende any newe yeres gifts to the Kinge, the Quene, your Grace, and the Frensshe quene, and of the value and devise of the same. Besechyng youre grace also to pardon oure busy and importunate suts to the same in suche behalf made. Thus oure right syngler good lorde, We pray the holy Trynyte have you in his holy preservacion. At Teoxbury, the xxvij day of November.

“To the most reverent
Father in God the Lord
Cardinall his good grace.”

JOHN ExoN.
JEILEZ Grenvile.
PETER BURNELL.
JOHN SALTER.
G. BROMLEY.
Thomas AUDELEY.”

About this time the Christmasses at the Inns of Court became celebrated, especially those at Lincoln’s Inn, which had kept them as early as the 9th of Henry VI. The Temples and Gray’s Inn afterwards disputed the palm with it. The first particular account of any regulations for conducting one of these grand Christmasses is in the 9th of Henry VIII.; ²³ when, besides the King for Christmas-day, the Marshal and the Master of the Revels, it is ordered that the King of Cockneys, on Childermas-day, should sit and have due service, and “that Jack Straw, and all his adherents, should be thenceforth utterly banished, and no more to be used in this house, upon pain to forfeit for every time five pounds, to be levied on every fellow hapning to offend against this rule.”

Of Jack Straw and his offences, I confess my ignorance; perhaps something in the nature of an anti-masque, or suspected of treasonable practices against the King of the Cockneys, and unpopular with the aristocratic or elder part of the community, from the amount of the fine imposed. The Society of Gray’s Inn, however, in 1527, got into a worse scrape than permitting Jack Straw and his adherents, for they acted a play (the first on record at the Inns of Court) during this Christmas, the effect whereof was, that Lord Governance was ruled by Dissipation and Negligence, by whose evil order Lady Public Weal was put from Governance.²⁴ Cardinal Wolsey, conscience-smitten, thought this to be a reflection on himself, deprived the author, Serjeant Roe, of his coif, arid committed him to the Fleet, together with Thomas Moyle, one of the actors, until it was satisfactorily explained to him.

It was found necessary from time to time to make regulations to limit the extent of these revels and plays, and to provide for the expences, which were considerable, and they were therefore not performed every year. In 1531 the Lincoln’s Inn Society agreed that if the two Temples kept Christmas, they would also, not liking to be outdone. In 1550 an order was made in Gray’s Inn that no Comedies, commonly called Interludes, should be acted in the refectory in the intervals of vacation, except at the celebration of Christmas; and that then the whole body of students should jointly contribute towards the dresses, scenes, and decorations.

During the short reign of the youthful monarch Edward the Sixth, the splendour of the royal Christmasses somewhat abated, though they were still continued; and the King being much grieved at the condemnation of the Duke of Somerset, it was thought expedient to divert his mind by additional pastimes at the following Christmas (1553). George Ferrers of Lincoln’s Inn, a gentleman of some rank, was therefore appointed Lord of Misrule, or Master of the King’s pastimes, arid acquitted himself so well as to afford great delight and satisfaction. The expences on the occasion were more than £700.

The troubled reign of Mary was not congenial to these sports, though they were still kept up with spirit in different parts of the country; but in the first Christmas after the accession of Queen Elizabeth there were plays and entertainments before her; the former however unfortunately contained some offensive, and probably indecent matter, as the actors were commanded to leave off. Elizabeth, like her father, was fond of pomp and show, and particularly encouraged theatrical exhibitions. Complaints however having been made of the expence of these entertainments, she determined to control them, and directed an estimate to be made in the second year of her reign for the masks and pastimes to be shewn before her at Christmas and Shroveide, Sir Thomas Cawarden being then, as he had for some time previous been, Master of the Revells. The estimate amounted to £227. 11s. 2d. being nearly £200 less than the expences in former years.²⁵ This control over the expences, however, must soon have ceased, for soon afterwards the sums were much increased. She had plays performed before her at Christmas during the greater part of her reign, and tile drama assumed a more regular form. “Ferrex and Porrex,” the first regular tragedy, and “Gammer Gurton’s Needle,” were both produced in the commencement of her reign, and in the after part the unrivalled Shakspeare caused a new era in dramatic literature.

Amongst other performances, Collier²⁶ mentions one by the boys of the “grammer skolle” of Westminster, in January 1564—5; and in 1573 the children of Westminster, upon New Yeares Daye at night, performed one called “Truth, Faithfulnesse, and Mercye.” This custom of acting plays at or near Christmas, is preserved at Westminster School still, by the representation of one of Terence’s plays in the beginning of December. Masques and pageants were in great request as well as plays; and the Inns of Court vied with each other in the magnificence of their revels.

In the 4th of Elizabeth, there was a splendid Christmas kept at the Inner Temple, wherein Lord Robert Dudley (afterwards Earl of Leicester) was the chief person, Constable and Marshal, under the name of Palaphilos, and Christopher Hatton (afterwards Chancellor) was Master of the Game. Previous to this, a sort of parliament was held on St. Thomas’s eve [December 20], to decide whether they should keep it, and if so, to publish the officers’ names, and then “in token of joy and good liking, the bench and company pass beneath the hearth and sing a carol, and so to boyer.”

At these grand Christmasses there were revels and dancing during the twelve days of Christmas. It was about this time that “Ferrex and Porrex” was acted before the Queen by the gentlemen of the Inner Temple; the printer stating it to be “for furniture of part of the grand Christmasse in the Inner Temple.” The order of the usual Christmas amusements at the inns of court at this period, would cause some curious scenes if carried into effect in the present day. Barristers singing and dancing before the judges, serjeants, and benchers, would “draw a house,” if spectators were admitted. Of so serious import was this dancing considered, that by an order in Lincoln’s Inn, of February, 7th James I. the under barristers were by decimation put out of commons, because the whole bar offended by not dancing on Candlemas day preceding, according to the ancient order of the society, when the judges were present; with a threat that if the fault were 21.repeated, they should be fined or disbarred. Dugdale²⁷ gives the following description of the Inner Temple revels, the three grand days being All-hallown, Candlemass, and Ascension day.

“First, the solemn Revells (after dinner, and the play ended,) are begun by the whole House, Judges, Sergeants at Law, Benchers; the Utter and Inner Barr; and they led by the Master of the Revells: and one of the Gentlemen of the Utter Barr are chosen to sing a Song to the Judges, Serjeants, or Masters of the Bench; which is usually performed; and in default thereof, there may be an amerciament. Then the Judges and Benchers take their places, and sit down at the upper end of the Hall. Which done, the Utter-Barristers, and Inner-Barristers, perform a second solemn Revell before them. Which ended, the Utter-Barristers take their places and sit down. Some of the Gentlemen of the Inner-Barr, do present the House with dancing, which is called the Post Revells, and continue their Dances, till the Judges or Bench think meet to rise and depart.”

In 1594 there was a celebrated Christmas at Gray’s Inn, of which an account was published under the title of “Gesta Grayorum,” so called in consequence of the great popularity at that time of the Gesta Romanorum. The entertainments appear to have been heavy and pedantic in their nature, though suited to the style of the age. The concluding performance was a Masque before the Queen at Shrovetide, containing much of that flattery which prevailed in all exhibitions before her, being always expected by her. She was so much pleased with the performance, that on the courtiers dancing a measure after the Masque was ended, she exclaimed, “What! shall we have bread and cheese after a banquet?” Mr. Henry Helmes was the prince chosen, who assumed the following style, and had a numerous court to support him.

“The High and Mighty Prince, HENRY Prince of Purpoole, Arch-duke of Stapulia and Bernardia, Duke of High and Nether Holborn, Marquis of St. Giles and Tottenham, Count Palatine of Bloomsbury and Clerkenwell, Great Lord of the Cantons of Islington, Kentish- Town, Paddington and Knightsbridge, Knight of the most Heroical Order of the Helmet, and Sovereign of the same.”

These royal and public pageants allured many country gentlemen to the metropolis, who neglecting the comforts of their dependants in the country at this season, dissipated in town part of their means for assisting them, and incapacitated themselves from continuing that hospitality for which the country had been so long noted. In order to check this practice, the gentlemen of Norfolk and Suffolk were in 1589 commanded to depart from London before Christmas; and to repair to their countries, and there to keep hospitality amongst their neighbours. The presence of the higher classes would have controlled the tendency to drinking and riotous sports among the country people, which the resort of minstrels and other strollers at this time to taverns and ale-houses encouraged; while their real enjoyments would have been increased through the assistance and fostering care of their superiors, bearing in mind the recommendation of a quaint and well-known writer of this age, Thomas Tusser, in his “Hundreth good pointes of Husbandrie.”

Masques and plays, with other Christmas festivities, continued throughout the reign of James the First, and the Prince (Charles) himself occasionally performed, and in particular gained great applause in Ben Jonson’s Mask, “‘The Vision of Delight, or Prince’s Mask,”²⁸ performed on Twelfth-night in 1617—18, when the Muscovy Ambassadors were feasted at court; and £750 were issued for the necessary preparations. A Masque of ladies had been prepared for the same occasion, which for some reason was not allowed by the King and Queen.

In 1607 there was a grand exhibition of the Christmas Prince at St. John’s College, Oxford, of which a description was printed. It was conducted with the accustomed ceremonies, but with more than usual pomp. A very numerous court was appointed, and pageants and dramatic performances were from time to time exhibited, the Prince (Mr. Thomas Tucker) occasionally issuing orders for the good conduct of the common weal, and for raising the supplies, which, as may be supposed, were principally in the nature of benevolences. The Prince did not resign his office until Shrove Tuesday [the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent], and on the following Saturday the sports were concluded with a play, which there had not previously been time for. In the course of it some disturbances arose, caused by the numerous persons who were unable to find room within the building, but they were fortunately quelled without any serious mischief. This account was reprinted in 1816, and is therefore within reach of the curious in these matters.

The winter amusements in vogue at this period may be seen by the following extract from Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy.²⁹

"The ordinary recreations which we have in winter, and in most solitary times busie our minds with, are Cardes, Tables and Dice, Shovelboard, Chesse-play, the Philosopher’s game, small trunkes, shuttle-cocke, billiards, musicke, masks, singing, dancing, ulegames, frolicks, jests, riddles, catches, purposes, questions and commands, merry tales of errant Knights, Queenes, Lovers, Lords, Ladies, Giants, Dwarfes, Theeves, Cheaters, Witches, Fayries, Goblins, Friers," &c.

During the reign of Charles the First, until the year 1641, or thereabouts, when the national troubles interfered with all similar amusements, and the spirit of fanaticism endeavoured to abolish any commemoration of the Nativity of our Saviour, masks and pageants were continued at court during Christmas, and frequently with great splendour. In 1630-1, the Queen and her ladies presented a mask called “Love’s Triumph through Callipolis,” and the King, with certain lords and gentlemen, one called “Chloridia,” both written by Ben Jonson. In 1632-3 the Queen got up a Pastoral in Somerset House, in which it would seem she herself took a part. There were masks at the same time, independently of this performance, the cost of which considerably exceeded £2000, besides that portion of the charge which was borne by the office of the Revels, and charged to the accounts of that department.³⁰

On 23d Dec. 1632, a grant of £450 was made to George Kirke, Esq. Gentleman of the Robes, for the masking attire of the King and his party. The King and Queen, with many of the courtiers, were in the habit of joining in these amusements,—a practice of early date also in France. Margaret de Valois, Queen of Navarre, wrote Moralities in 1540, which she called Pastorals, to he acted by the ladies of her court³¹ On the 13th Dec. 1637, a warrant under Privy Seal was issued to the same George Kirke for £150 to provide masking apparel for the King; and on the 1st of the same month Edmund Taverner had a warrant for £1400 towards the charge of a mask to be presented at Whitehall the next Twelfth Night. A similar sum for a similar purpose was granted to Michael Oldisworth on 3rd January 1639-40. Many interesting particulars connected with the royal masks will be found in Nichols’s “Progresses of Elizabeth and James the First.”

The Inns of Court continued to maintain their celebrity for these entertainments.³² In 1635, in particular, there was a splendid one at the Middle Temple, when Mr. Francis Vivian, a gentleman of Cornwall, son of Sir Francis Vivian, was elected the Christmas Prince, and expended £2000 out of his own pocket to support his character with becoming state. But their revels were not confined to Christmas, for in February 1633 there was a celebrated mask called “The Triumph of Peace,” presented jointly by the two Temples, Lincoln’s Inn and Gray’s Inn, which cost the Societies above £20,000. Evelyn in his Memoirs relates, that on 15th December, 1641, he was elected one of the Comptrollers of the Middle Temple revellers, “as the fashion of y^e young Students and Gentlemen was, the Christmas being kept this yeare with greate solemnity;” but he got excused from serving.

An order still existed directing the nobility and gentry who had mansion-houses in the country “to repair to them to keep hospitality meet to their degrees;” as Sir J. Astley, on 20th of March, 1637-8, in consequence of ill health, obtained a licence to reside in London, or where he pleased, at Christmas, or at any other times:³³ which proves such a licence to have been requisite.

The noblemen and gentlemen of fortune lived when in the country like petty princes, and in the arrangement of their households copied that of their sovereigns, having officers of the same name and import, and even heralds wearing their coat of arms at Christmas, and other solemn feasts, crying largesse thrice at the proper times. They feasted in their halls, where many of the Christmas sports were performed. When coals began to be introduced, the hearth was commonly in the middle, whence, according to Aubrey, is the saying, “Round about our coal-fire.” Christmas was considered as the commemoration of a holy festival, to be observed with cheerfulness as well as devotion. The comforts and personal gratification of their dependants were provided for by the landlords, their merriment encouraged, and their sports joined. The working man looked forward to Christmas as the portion of the year which repaid his former toils; and gratitude for the worldly comforts then received would occasion him to reflect on the eternal blessings bestowed on mankind by the event then commemorated.

The Carol, by George Withers, printed in the following collection, contains many allusions to the customs attending the feast. [See: So, Now Is Come Our Joyfulst Feast] But now a cessation was about to take place in these sports. In 1642 the first ordinances were issued to suppress the performance of plays, and hesitation was expressed as to the manner of keeping Christmas. Some shops in London were even opened on Christmas-day 1643, part of the people being fearful of a Popish observance of the day. The Puritans gradually prevailed, and in 1647 some parish officers were committed for permitting ministers to preach upon Christmas-day, and for adorning the Church.³⁵

On the 3rd of June in the same year, it was ordained by the Lords and Commons in Parliament, that the feast of the Nativity of Christ, with other holidays, should be no longer observed, and that all scholars, apprentices, and other servants, with the leave and approbation of their masters, should have such relaxation from labour on the second Tuesday in every month as they used to have from such Festivalls and Holy dayes: and in Canterbury, on the 22nd of December following, the crier went round by direction of the Mayor, and proclaimed that Christmas-day and all other superstitious festivals should be put down, and a market kept upon that day.

After the defeat of the royalists, and the execution of the monarch, the ruling manners of the age were marked by austerity, sometimes accompanied by hypocrisy, little favourable therefore to festive amusements, however innocent. The Parliament, by an order dated the 24th of December 1652, directed, “ That no observation shall be had of the five and twentieth day of December, commonly called Christmas Day; nor any solemnity used or exercised in churches upon that day in respect thereof.” And Evelyn states in his Memoirs,³⁶ that as he and his wife, with others, were taking the sacrament on Christmas-day 1657, the chapel was surrounded by soldiers, and the assembly taken into custody and examined for celebrating the Nativity against the ordinance of the Commonwealth; but were let off. Still the Christmas customs and festivities could not be abolished by the harsh measures of the republicans, though banished from high places (if any such could then be so called), and practised by stealth or in privacy, and without ostentation. The motto of No. 37, of “Mercurius Democritus,” from December 16th to December 22nd 1652, begins,

In “The Vindication of Christmas,” 4to. 1653, a mock complaint in the character of Father Christmas, he laments the treatment he had received for the last twelve years, and that he was even then but coolly received, adding, “But welcome, or not welcome, I am come;” he says, his “best and freest welcome with some kinde of countrey farmers was in Devonshire,” (in which we may fairly include Cornwall, where the customs are still so zealously preserved,) thus describing his entertainment among them (pp. 7—8).

“After dinner we arose from the boord, and sate by the fire, where the harth was imbrodered all over with roasted apples, piping hot, expecting a bole of ale for a cooler, which immediately was transformed into warm lambwool. After which, we discoursed merily, without either prophaness or obscenity; some went to cards; others sung carols, and pleasant songs (suitable to the times); then the poor laboring Hinds, and Maid-servants, with the plow-boys, went nimbly to dancing; the poor toyling wretches being glad of my company, because they had little or no sport at all till I came amongst them; and therefore they skipped and leaped for joy, singing a carol to the tune of hey,

“Thus at active games, and gambols of hotcockles, shooing the wild mare, and the like harmless sports, some part of the tedious night was spent.”

After the Restoration an effort was made to revive the Christmas amusements at Court at Whitehall, but they do not appear ever to have recovered their former splendour. The habits of Charles the Second were of too sensual a nature to induce him to interest himself in such pursuits besides which the manners of the country had been changed during the sway of the Puritan party. A pastoral however, called “CALISTO,” written by Crowne, was acted by the daughters of the Duke of York and the young nobility. About the same time the Lady Anne, afterwards Queen, acted the part of Semandra, in Lee’s Mithridates. Betterton and his wife instructed the performers: in remembrance of which, when Anne came to the throne, she gave the latter a pension of £100 a-year.

The Inns of Court also had their Christmas feasts but the conduct of them was probably not so much coveted as in former times, as there is an entry in the records of Gray’s Inn, on 3rd November 1682, “That Mr. Richard Gipps, on his promise to perform the office of Master of the Revels, this and the next Term, be called to the Bar of Grace,” i.e. without payment of the usual fees: thus holding out a reward for his services, instead of allowing him, as in former times, to spend a large portion of his private fortune, unrequited, except by the honour of the temporary office.

The Rev. Henry Teonge, chaplain of one of our ships of war, gives in his Diary (1825, p. 127—8.) a description of the manner in which the Christmas was spent on board in 1675.

“Dec. 25, 1675.—Crismas day wee keepe thus. At 4 in the morning our trumpeters all doe flatt their trumpetts, and begin at our Captain’s cabin, and thence to all the officers’ and gentlemen’s cabins; playing a levite at each cabine door, and bidding good morrow, wishing a merry Crismas. After they goe to their station, viz, on the poope, and sound 3 levitts in honour of the morning. At 10 wee goe to prayers and sermon; text, Zacc. ix. 9. Our Captaine had all his officers and gentlemen to dinner with him, where wee had excellent good fayre: a ribb of beife, plumb-puddings, minct pyes, &c. and plenty of good wines of severall sorts; dranke healths to the King, to our wives and friends, and ended the day with much civill myrth.”

The spirit of the Christmas festivities had abated during the Commonwealth in many parts of the country, particularly where great establishments had become extinct; and on the restoration of Monarchy it required some time to revive them properly again. Many of the popular songs of the day complain of this, and contrast them with former times,—a species of grumbling, however, as ancient as ballad writing, or Homer himself. Nedham, in his History of the Rebellion (1661), bewails the decline of Christmas, in consequence of Puritanism, and says,

In a ballad called “The old and young Courtier,” printed in 1670, comparing the times of Queen Elizabeth with those of her successors, the 5th and 12th verses contain the following parallel respecting Christmas :—

Another called “Time’s Alteration; or, the Old Man’s Rehearsal, what brave dayes he knew a great while agone, when his old cap was new,” sings,

Another of a somewhat similar, though of a less querulous nature, and rejoicing at the renewal of Christmas customs, after they had ceased for a time, is printed at length in the ensuing collection (p. 53: Old Christmas Returned, or All You That To Feasting and Mirth Are Inclin'd). Poor Robin for 1695, mentions Christmas with equal zest, when he seems to feast in idea on the good things of the season, in the Christmas song or carol from which the following lines are taken.³⁹

The masques and pageants at court gradually declined, and at first were succeeded by feasts and entertainments, until these in turn were omitted. The New Year’s Ode of the Poet Laureate in process of time was itself forgotten, and even that lingering relic of royal Christmasses, plum-porridge, of which, until lately, a tureen was served up to the chaplains at St. James’s, is now discarded: the only ceremony now left being, if I am not mistaken, the offering at the altar on Twelfth-day.

The Christmas feasts in the establishments of noblemen and gentlemen of wealth abated in splendour and hospitality more gradually than those of the royal household, and are still kept up in parts of the country, but each succeeding festival finds them fewer in number.

An amusing little book, called “Round about our Coal-Fire, or Christmas Entertainments,” gives an account of the manner of observing this festival among the middling classes towards the beginning of last century, and as the writer draws a contrast between his and former times, in the like spirit of grumbling, he may be supposed to give some insight into the amusements of a century preceding himself. He says, that “the manner of celebrating this great course of holydays is vastly different now to what it was in former days There was once upon a time Hospitality in the Land; an English Gentleman at the opening of the great day, had all his Tenants and Neighbours enter’d his hall by day-break, the strong-beer was broach’d, and the black-jacks went plentifully about with toast, sugar, nutmeg, and good Cheshire cheese; the rooms were embower’d with holly, ivy, cypress, bays, laurel, and missleto, and a bouncing Christmas log in the chimney glowing like the cheeks of a country milk-maid; then was the pewter as bright as Clarinda, and every bit of brass as polished as the most refined Gentleman; the Servants were then running here and there, with merry hearts and jolly countenances; every one was busy in welcoming of Guests, and look’d as snug as new-lick’d puppies; the Lasses were as blithe and buxom as the maids in good Queen Bess’s days, when they eat sirloins of roast beef for breakfast; Peg would scuttle about to make a toast for John, while Tom run harum scarum to draw a jug of ale for Margery.” And afterwards, “This great festival was in former times kept with so much freedom and openness of heart, that every one in the country where a Gentleman resided, possessed at least a day of pleasure in the Christmas holydays; the tables were all spread from the first to the last, the sir-loyns of beef, the minc’d-pies, the plumb-porridge, the capons, turkeys, geese, and plumb-puddings, were all brought upon the board; and all those who had sharp stomachs and sharp knives, eat heartily and were welcome, which gave rise to the proverb,

There were then turnspits employed, who by the time dinner was over, would look as black and as greasy as a Welch porridge-pot, but the Jacks have since turned them all out of doors. The geese, which used to be fatted for the honest neighbours, have been of late sent to London, and the quills made into pens to convey away the Landlord’s estate; the sheep are drove away to raise money to answer the loss at a game at dice or cards, and their skins made into parchment for deeds and indentures; nay, even the poor innocent bee, who was used to pay its tribute to the Lord once a year at least in good metheglin, for the entertainment of the guests, and its wax converted into beneficial plaisters for sick neighbours, is now used for the sealing of deeds to his disadvantage.”

He gives a ridiculous instance of the influence of the Squire in former times, that if he happened to ask a neighbour what it was o’ clock, he returned with a low scrape, “It is what your Worship pleases.” He adds, “The spirit of hospitality has not quite forsaken us; several of the gentry are gone down to their respective seats in the country, in order to keep their Christmas in the old way, and entertain their tenants and trades-folks as their ancestors used to do, and I wish them a merry Christmas accordingly.”

Among the amusements of his own time, he mentions “Mumming, or Masquerading, when the ‘Squire’s wardrobe is ransacked for dresses of all kinds, and the coal-hole searched around, or corks burnt to black the faces of the fair, or make deputy-mustaches, and every one in the family, except the ‘Squire himself, must be transformed from what they were.” Blind-man’s buff, puss in the corner, questions and commands, hoop and hide, and story-telling, were also resorted to for variety, but cards and dice were seldom set on foot, “unless a lawyer is at hand to breed some dispute for him to decide, or at least have some party in.” Dancing was also in great vogue, and here the writer takes an opportunity of saying, “The dancing and singing of the Benchers in the great Inns of Court in Christmas, is in some sort founded upon interest; for they hold, as I am informed, some priviledge by dancing about the fire in the middle of their Hall, and singing the song of Round about our Coal Fire,” &c.

In Major Pearson’s collection, in the library of the late Duke of Roxburghe, vol. i. p. 48. in bl. let., is a ballad of older date than this book, called “Christmas Lamentation for the losse of his acquaintance, showing how he is forst to leave the country and come to London. To the tune of Now Spring is come,”—which contains similar complaints of the degeneracy of the times, the decay of good fellowship, and the neglect of Christmas by the wealthy: the poet laments, that,

In many parts of the kingdom, especially in the northern and western parts, this festival is still kept up with spirit among the middling and lower classes, though its influence is on the wane even with them; the genius of the present age requires work and not play, and since the commencement of this century a great change may be traced. The modern instructors of mankind do not think it necessary to provide for popular amusements, considering mental improvement the one thing needful: and to a great extent they may be right; the exercise of the mind among the working classes serving as a relaxation to bodily labour; as bodily exercise or athletic games serve to relieve from great mental exertion. Conferring on the labouring classes the power of mental recreation, of which they were in general incapable but a few years since, is like bestowing on them an additional sense, and of the highest value if properly directed. Still a cheerful observance of the great festivals of the year may well combine with this popular rage for reading, and the “Schoolmaster” might allow his Christmas holidays to be something more than a mere cessation from labour for a day or two. They might he observed with hospitality and innocent revelry, joined to the religious observances by which as Christians we are bound to shew our gratitude for the unbounded mercy vouchsafed us: for the fulfilment of a promise pronounced in the earliest ages of the world, which was to release us from the dominion of Satan; a promise which even the Pagans in their traditions never lost sight of, although they confused its import with their own superstitious ceremonies, through the da’rkness of which its glimmering may be traced.

The commencement of this feast is on the eve preceding the Nativity, having been announced by the waits for several nights previous. The first ceremony, after having properly decked the house with evergreens, including the misseltoe with its pearly berries, is, or should be, to light the Christmas block, or Yule log, a custom of very ancient date. This is a massy piece of wood, frequently the rugged root of a tree, grotesquely marked, and which should burn throughout the holidays, reserving a small piece to light the fire for the Christmas in the ensuing year. According to Drake (Shakspeare and his Times), this was placed “in the centre of the great hall, each of the family in turn sate down upon it, sung a Yule-Song, and drank to a merry Christmas and a happy new year. The family and their friends were feasted with Yule-Dough or Yule-Cakes, on which were impressed the figure of the child Jesus; and with bowls of frumenty, made from wheat cakes or creed wheat, boiled in milk, with sugar, nutmeg, &c. To these succeeded tankards of spiced ale, while preparations were usually going on among the domestics for the hospitalities of the succeeding day.” That cheerful writer, Herrick, thus mentions it in his “Ceremonies for Christmasse.”

    Come, bring with a noise,
    My merrie merrie boyes,
The Christmas log to the firing;
    While my good dame, she
    Bids ye all be free,
And drink to your hearts desiring.

    With the last yeeres brand
    Light the new block, and
For good successe in his spending,
    On your psaltries play,
    That sweet luck may
Come while the log is a teending.

    Drink now the strong laere,
    Cut the white loafe here,
The while the meat is a shredding;
    For the rare mince-pie,
    And the plums stand by,
To fill the paste that’s a kneading.⁴¹

Froissart⁴² mentions a Christmas log of a novel description, at a great feast held by Earl Foix on Christmas day, according to his custom. After dinner he went up into a gallery, ascending a staircase of twenty-four steps. It being cold, he complained that the fire was not large enough, on which a person “named Ervalton of Spayne, went down stairs, and seeing in the court a great many asses laden with wood for the house, took up one of the largest of them, with the woode, and laid him on his back, carried him up stairs, and threw him with the wood on the fire, feet upwards, to the marvel of the beholders.”

The Yule-Dough, according to Brand, was a little image of paste, intended for the infant Saviour with the Virgin, formerly presented by the bakers to their customers. Presents of sweetmeats and confectionery in the shape of infants, crosses, &c. used to be offered to the holy fathers at Rome. Hone, in his “Every Day Book,” mentions a custom at Venice, to eat a kind of pottage, called torta de lasagne, composed of oil, onions, paste, parsley, pine nuts, raisins, currants, and candied orange peel; and in some parts of the North of Europe, the peasants make bread in the shape of a boar-pig, and keep it on the table throughout the holidays. In the Noei Borguignon (1720, pp. 236-7), a species of Christmas bread is mentioned, called Foisse, or Fouace, “sorte de pain blanc que les Boulangers cuisent à Dijon la veille de Noël, & dont ils font un très grand débit, parce qu’il n’est pas jusqu’aux plus pauvres geris qui, a l’honneur de la fête, ne veuillent manger de la fouace.” These viands, with mince-pies and other Christmas dainties, had probably somewhat the same origin, and that of considerable antiquity. The Wassail Bowl, or Lamb’s Wool, is another joyous accompaniment of this eve, a composition of ale, nutmeg, sugar, toast, and roasted crabs or apples, still preserved in many parts.⁴³ According to Vallancey,⁴⁴ the term Lamb’s Wool is a corruption from La Mas Ubhal, the day of the apple fruit, pronounced Lanmasool. The term Wassail, or Wassel, is generally derived from the salutation of Rowena, daughter of the Saxon Hengist to the British King Vortigern, in the early part of the 5th century, when she presented him with a bowl of some favourite liquor, welcoming him with the words “Louerd king wass-heil,” to which he answered as he was directed, “Drinc heile.” She appears, however, only to have made use of a form of speech already known. The term wasseling has at any rate, from a very early period, been used for jovial revelry and carousing⁴⁵ and the wassel-bowl has been particularly appropriated to this time of the year.

Among the ordinances for Henry the Seventh’s household, the steward, when he enters with the Wassel, is directed “to cry three times, Wassell, Wassell, Wassell, to which the chappell (probably gentlemen of the chapel) to answere with a good song.” There were regular Wassail-songs, of which some ancient specimens may be found in the Harleian MSS. (275 and 541 [Harleian Wassail] for instance,) but of no great merit or curiosity, sometimes containing a mixture of Latin and English, not unusual in the monkish times, as thus,

In the 17th century the wassel bowl was carried round to the houses of the gentry and others with songs, the bearers expecting a gratuity wherever they proffered it: a custom still preserved in some counties. Most of the great houses also had a wassel-bowl, or cup, frequently of massy silver.⁴⁷ As the hour of twelve approaches, the carol-singers prepare, and the bell-ringers place themselves at their post to usher in the morning of the Nativity with due rejoicing, and bands of music parade the towns. In some of the parishes in the West of England (and perhaps elsewhere) the carol-singers adjourn to the church to sing in Christmas-day, a remnant probably of popery, as in Catholic countries there was church-service frequently at this time, sometimes interspersed with a species of dramatic interlude; the peasantry flocking in to pay their adoration to our Saviour and the Virgin in the course of the holidays.

According to popular superstition, it is not man only that recognizes the sanctity of this morning; for the bees are heard to sing, and the labouring oxen may be seen to kneel, in memory of the oxen at the holy manger. Howison, in his “Sketches of Upper Canada,” relates the circumstance of his meeting an Indian at midnight on Christmas eve (during a beautiful moonlight) cautiously creeping along, who beckoned him to silence in vain, and in answer to his inquiries said, “Me watch to see the deer kneel; this is Christmas night, and all the deer fall upon their knees to the Great Spirit, and look up.” Supposing the Indian to have been converted, but perhaps imperfectly instructed in Christianity, this is a pleasing instance of unaffected adoration.

The first duty of a Christian on Christmas-day is to repair to his church, to return thanks for the benefit conferred on man; he may then with greater satisfaction partake of the subsequent feasting and rejoicing, bearing in mind that he should, as far as in his power, or consistent with his station in life, assist at this time his poorer brethren and dependants.

The Britons and Saxons were famed for their hospitality and feasting, and Christmas was probably their principal feast. Thus does Whistlecraft (alias Frere), in his most amusing national work, describe the dainties at King Arthur’s Christmas

After the introduction of the Normans, the manners were still unchanged in this respect, although the style of the entertainments, and nature of the dishes, might from time to time vary. Some of their dainties would rather astonish a party of experimental gourmands, or gourmets, at present. Imagine a bill of fare, containing diligrout, maupigyrnun, or karumpie, all favourite dishes in the 12th century.⁴⁸ King Edward the Third endeavoured to restrain his subjects from over luxury at their meals; and an act was passed at Nottingham in the 10th year of his reign (1336,) to prohibit more than two courses and two sorts of meat in each to any person, “forspris le plus grantz festes del an, cest assavoir la veile & le jour de Noel, le jour de Seint Estiephue, le jour del an renoef,⁴⁹ les jours de la Tiphaynei & de la Purification de nostre Dame,” &c. Probably this act, like most other sumptuary laws, was not much attended to; and within a few years after, Chaucer thus describes the Cook, in the prologue to his Canterbury Tales, (l. 381-9.)

In his description of the Prioresse⁵¹ he gives a curious specimen of the manners in his times, as we may presume from his statement that the little mistakes which she, who appears as a highly educated woman, contrived to avoid, were not uncommon then, even in good female society.

In the 16th century Tusser prescribes for Christmas, good drink, a good fire in the hail, brawn, pudding, and mustard withall, capon, or turkey, cheese, apples, and nuts, with jolly carols. Some few years after this the feeding must have been of a more scientific description, though something of the richest, for Massinger, in the City Madam, (act ii. sc. 1.) says,

Heath,⁵³ in the middle of the last century, states that formerly the Christmas feasts were observed with greater magnificence in Cornwall than in any other part of England, but that the clergy had rather discountenanced them, as partaking too much of a celebration of Ceres and Bacchus. However this may be, true Christmas hospitality and many of the good old customs are still preserved in the country, and long may they there flourish.

No one who has not joined actively in these strenuæ inertiæ can properly judge of the grateful relaxation they afford from the constant and necessary labours and anxieties of life; or what satisfaction there is now and then, when out of school, in making a useful fool of one’s-self.

The Boar’s head was a celebrated dish at Christmas, and ushered in with great pomp and ceremony. Some writers have stated it to have been introduced at this feast in abhorrence of Judaisrn, but there is no sufficient proof, as it was introduced also at other great feasts. Holinshed relates that in the year 1170, King Henry the Second, on the day when his son was crowned, served him at table himself as sewer, bringing up the boar’s head, with trumpets before it, “according to the manner.”⁵⁴ During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, at the revels of the Inner Temple, “At the first course (on Christmas day) is served in, a fair and large bore’s head, upon a silver platter, with minstralsye.”

At the time of the celebrated Christmas Prince, at St. John’s, Oxford, in 1607, “The first messe was a boar’s head, w^ch was carried by y^e tallest and lustiest of all y^e guard, before whom (as attendants) wente first, one attired in a horseman’s coate, w^th a boar’s speare in his hande, next to him an other huntsman in greene, w^th a bloody faucion drawne; next to him 2 pages in tafatye sarcenet, each of y^em w^th a messe of mustard; next to whome came hee y^t carried y^e boares-head crost w^th a greene silke scarfe, by w^ch hunge y^e empty scabbard of ye faulcion, w^ch was carried before him. As y^ei entred y^e hall, he sange this Christmas Caroll, y^e three last verses of euerie staffe being repeated after him by y^e whole companye.”⁵⁵ [See: The Boar Is Dead]

Queen’s College, Oxford, is famed for its Boar’s Head Carol, “Caput apri defero,” &c. and the accompanying ceremony on introducing the head. [See The Boar's Head In Hand Bear I] The boar’s head, with a lemon in his mouth, continued long after this to be the first dish at Christmas in great houses, nor is the practice yet entirely obsolete, though in most cases brawn is now substituted for it, the former being rather an expensive dainty, for a dainty it is, experto crede. Brawn is a dish of great antiquity, and may be found in most of the old bills of fare, for coronation, and other great feasts. It appears in that for the coronation of Henry the Fourth; and in that of Henry the Seventh, there is a distinction made between “brawne royall” and “brawne;”⁵⁶ the former being probably for the king’s table. The begging frere in Chaucer’s Sompnoure’s Tale (v. 7328-32) applies for brawn, amongst other articles, from which it would appear then not to have been a great rarity.

Brawn, mustard, and malmsey, were directed for breakfast at Christmas during Queen Elizabeth’s reign; and Dugdale, in his account of the Inner Temple revels of the same age, states the same directions for that Society.

The French do not appear to have been so well acquainted with it, for on the capture of Calais by them, they found a large quantity, which they guessed to be some dainty, and tried every means of preparing it; in vain did they roast it, bake it, and boil it, it was impracticable and impenetrable to their culinary arts. Its merits, however, being at length discovered, “ Ha !“ said the monks, “what delightful fish,” and immediately added it to their stock of fast-day viands. The Jews, again, could not believe it was procured from that impure beast the hog, and included it in their list of clean animals.

Minced or mince-pies, form another dish of considerable antiquity, and still remain in great request, as an essential article in Christmas dinners; and the stock of mince-meat is frequently not exhausted until Easter. It is also, I believe, customary in London to introduce them on Lord Mayor’s Day (November 9th); and in a modern bill of fare for this feast (1832), there are no less than one hundred and eleven dishes of mince-pies included. This savoury article is said to have reference, in the variety of its ingredients, to the offerings of the Wise Men, and the coffin or case of them should be oblong, in imitation of the crache (rack or manger) where our Saviour was laid.

After the Restoration, these pies, with other observances of the same nature, as decorating with evergreens, &c. almost served as a test of a person’s opinions; the presbyterian party looking on them as superstitious abominations. They would even refuse to eat them when in distress for a comfortable meal, as is related at first of Bunyan when in confinement. They should have eaten them with a protest, as lawyers would have done in a similar case.

Misson, in his “Travels in England,” (p. 322.) in the beginning of the last century, gives the following as the ingredients of a mince-pie. Neats’ tongues, chicken, eggs, sugar, currants, lemon and orange peel, with various sorts of spices. The receipts in the present day contain the same leading features, but vary a little in the minutiæ. I have been told by the cognoscenti in mince-pies, that the best receipts for mince-meat contain little or no meat, and it consequently keeps fresher, and eats lighter. The following is a valued receipt that has been handed down in a Cornish family for many generations, and the hand-writing of the receipt book will vouch for its antiquity. “A pound of beef-suet chopped fine; a pound of raisins do. stoned. A pound of currants cleaned dry. A pound of apples chopped fine. Two or three eggs. Allspice beat very fine, and sugar to your taste. A little salt, and as much brandy and wine as you like. An ancient Cornish custom at Christmas.” A small piece of citron in each pie is an improvement.

There is a superstition existing in some places, that in as many different houses as you eat mince-pies during Christmas, so many happy months will you have in the ensuing year. Something like this is mentioned in “ Dives and Pauper,” by W. de Worde (1496), where a custom is reprobated of judging of the weather of the ensuing twelve months, by that of the twelve days at Christmas. If Christmas-day fell on a Sunday, it was also thought fortunate. In the “Golden Legend,” of the same printer, (folio vi.) is a more laudable prejudice, “That what persone beynge in clene lyfe: desyre on thys daye a boone of God; as ferre as it is ryghtfull & good for hym; our lorde at reuerēce of thys blessid & hye feste of his natiuite wol graūt it to hym.”

The North of England is celebrated for Christmas pies of a different description, composed of birds and game, and frequently of great size. Hone in his “Table Book,” (vol. ii. p. 506.) gives the following extract front the “ Newcastle Chronicle” of 6th January 1770, describing a giant of this race. “Monday last was brought from Howick to Berwick, to be shipp’d for London, for Sir Hen. Grey, Bart. a pie, the contents whereof are as follows: viz. 2 bushels of flour, 20lbs. of butter, 4 geese, 2 turkies, 2 rabbits, 4 wild ducks, 2 woodcocks, 6 snipes, and 4 partridges; 2 neat’s tongues, 2 curlews, 7 blackbirds, and 6 pigeons: it is supposed a very great curiosity, was made by Mrs. Dorothy Patterson, housekeeper at Howick. It was near nine feet in circumference at bottom, weighs about twelve stones, will take two men to present it to table; it is neatly fitted with a case, and four small wheels to facilitate its use to every guest that inclines to partake of its contents at table.” Turkies and geese are also common at Christmas, the latter being the dish in the western counties, while the turkey prevails in London.

In Spain it was customary for patients to send their medical attendants presents of turkeys, so that doctors in large practice had to open a kind of trade in them. Capons were formerly used at this time, probably because many landlords then received them from their tenants. Gascoigne, in 1575, says,

The liquors drunk at this time were the same as at any other great feast. The Anglo-Saxons, and other northern nations, who in times of paganism drank in honour of Odin, Thor, and their other fabulous deities, afterwards, when converted to Christianity, being unwilling to resign their potations, drank large draughts of liquor in honour of Christ, the Virgin Mary, the Apostles, and other Saints. Edward the Confessor drank wine, mead, ale, pigment, morat, and cyder, and so did his successors for some centuries, with the addition perhaps of clarré or claret, garhiofilac, and hypocras.⁵⁷ But good Christmas ale is indispensable,

Croker, in his “Researches in the South of Ireland,” (p. 233,) mentions a custom on St. Stephen’s Day for the young villagers to carry about from house to house a holly bush adorned with ribbons, having many wrens depending from it, the “Wren boys” chaunting several verses, the burthen of which may be collected from the following lines of their song

A small piece of money is usually bestowed on them, and the evening concludes with merrymaking. [See: Hymns to St Stephen]

Childermas, or Innocents’ Day [December 28; See: The Hymns Of The Holy Innocents] as is well known, is in commemoration of the slaughter of the children at Bethlehem by command of Herod, and therefore considered a day of unlucky omen; and the day of the week on which it fell was thought unpropitious throughout the year. Brand mentions a custom in Catholic countries on this day, “to run through all the rooms of a house, making a pretended search in and under the beds, in memory of the search made by Herod for the discovery and destruction of the child Jesus, and his having been imposed upon and deceived by the Wise Men, who, contrary to his orders and expectation, ‘ returned to their own country another way.’”⁵⁹

New Year’s Eve was observed as a convivial and cordial meeting, as it still continues in some places, and the wassail-bowl was again brought into requisition, and occasionally carried about by young women from door to door with an appropriate song. The following is given in Hone’s “Every-day Book,” vol. ii. p. 14, as a Wassail Song, sung in Gloucestershire on New Year’s Eve, in which I have taken the liberty of introducing the names of the horses, instead of cutting them out into little stars as Juliet wished Romeo to be.

Croker, in his “Researches,” (p. 233.) states a custom in the South of Ireland on this night of a cake being thrown against the outside door of each house by the head of the family, to keep out hunger during the ensuing year. The New Year is rung, in, and bands of music parade the towns as on Christmas morn, and in some places (though getting nearly obsolete) the bellman goes round with a copy of verses wishing a merry Christmas and happy New Year.

New Year’s Day, or the first of January, was kept by the Romans as a feast in honour of Janus; and according to Brady,⁶⁰ the first mention of it as a Christian festival was in 487, under Pope Felix the Third, who called it the octave of Christmas; it having been originally kept by the more zealous primitive Christians as a fast, to distinguish it from the customs of the heathens. Under the title of the Circumcision, it is only to be traced from the end of the 11th century; and it was not generally so observed, until it was included in our Liturgy in the year 1550. It was, however, a day of feasting for some centuries before this, and, with Christmas-day and Twelfth-day, one of the most marked days throughout the holidays. After Edward the Third had fought incognito in a severe battle at Calais, under the banners of Sir Walter de Manny, and overcome the French on the 31st day of Dec. 1348, he entertained the captive knights on the following day, to celebrate the New Year. Henry the Eighth, in the early part of his reign, (before the uncontrolled indulgence of his passions had demoralized a disposition naturally impetuous,) was fond of Christmas revellings, as before mentioned; and New Year’s day, or night, was frequently fixed on for some imposing pageant, according to the style of that age ; of which one instance may be selected from Hall’s Chronicle in the Christmas of 1513-14. “And against Newieres night, was made in the halle a castle, gates, towers, and dungion, garnished wyth artilerie, and weapon after the most warlike fashion: and on the frount of the castle was written, Le Fortresse dangerus, and within the castle were vi ladies clothed in russet satin laide all ouer with leues of golde, and every owde knit with laces of blewe silke and golde. On their heddes, coyfes and cappes all of golde. After this castle had been caried about the hal, and the Queue had behelde it, in came the Kyng, with fiue other appareled in coates, the one halfe of russet satyn, spangled with spagles of fine gold, the other halfe riche clothe of gold, on ther heddes cappes of russet satin, embroudered with workes of fine gold bulliō. These vi assaulted the castle; the ladies seyng them so lustie & coragious, were content to solace with them, and upon farther communicacion, to yeld the castle, and so thei came doune and daunced a long space. And after the ladies led the knightes into the castle, and then the castle sodoinly vanished out of their sightes.”

At present the commencement of the year is treated as a feast, and frequently as a sort of meeting or re-union among families, where they can conveniently join at the same table; and in many cases the servants and labourers are entertained by their employers, and many of the Christmas sports repeated. Stewart mentions a singular custom in vogue in Strathdown, and its neighbourhood, formerly common to all the Highlands on this day. “Piles of juniper wood are collected and set on fire, each door, window, and crevice being first closely stopped up; the fumes and smoke of the burning wood cause to the inmates violent sneezing, coughing, &c. till they are nearly exhausted, producing expectoration, and thereby, as they fancy, driving off disease; a cordial is afterwards administered around. The horses, cattle, and other bestial stock are treated in the same way.” ⁶¹

New year’s gifts are not yet obsolete, although the practice is losing ground, which is a pity, as it served to strengthen and cement that kind feeling in society, which so many circumstances concur to jar and interrupt. It is now very much confined to interchange of gifts in families, at least in this country. For on the Continent the mutual exchange of presents, in the shape of jewellery, fancy articles, bon-bons, sweetmeats, &c. is very considerable: the expenditure in Paris alone for them (étrennes, as they are called, and hence le jour d’étrennes) has been reckoned at upwards of £20,000. Visits are made throughout the circle of a person’s acquaintance, and the customary gifts left, which, if not intrinsically valuable, are at least fanciful and pretty. In Spain a similar custom formerly existed, tables being prepared in the house-squares, or entrance halls, for the reception of the visiting cards and presents.