it to have a brewing called _Jough-ny-nollick_, i.e., Christmas drink,
prepared for the festivities of the season. On such occasions one
brewing-kettle generally served a whole neighbourhood, which gave rise
to the monk’s proverb, “To go about like a brewing-pan.”--_Ibid._ p.
127.
MIDDLESEX.
Malcolm, in his _Anecdotes of the Manners and Customs of London_ (1811,
p. 259), speaking of Christmas Day, says:--“It was a day of grand
difference in the judgment of some, and in the City of London some
opened their shops, but to stop mutinying they were shut up again; yet
do very few understand what the difference is that is now embraced in
the judgments of those who desire the reformation from Popish
innovation, but to give such further satisfaction herein, it is the
opinion of these that it is a day wherein it is very fit for the people
of God to congregate in the church to hear the Word of God preached, but
not a holiday or such a day as is of absolute necessity to be kept holy;
it is a day wherein it is no sin for a man to follow his calling, and he
must not by a Popish innovation adore the day.”
_Inns of Court._--There were anciently great doings in the halls of the
Inns of Court at Christmas. At the Inner Temple early in the morning the
gentlemen of the Inn went to church, and after the service they repaired
into the hall to breakfast with brawn, mustard, and malmsey. At the
first course at dinner was “served in, a fair and large _Bore’s head_
upon a silver platter, with minstralsye.”--Dugdale’s _Orig. Jurid._
A correspondent of _N. & Q._ (_5th S._ vol. ii. p. 507), alluding to the
time-honoured custom of the Boar’s Head Feast at St. John’s Gate,
Clerkenwell, says the boar’s head is still served up at Queen’s College,
Oxford (see p. 477), but I do not think it can be more enjoyable than
the Christmas custom used to be at Clerkenwell, with the hall strewn
with rushes, the gigantic yule-log drawn in by the sons of the host (the
late proprietor), with the accompanying announcement, by bugles, and the
bringing in of the boar’s head, the “cook dressed all in white,” singing
the good old carol (printed by Wynkyn, de Worde, 1521), copies of which
being in the hands of the guests, who joined in the chorus, rendering
the whole scene so pleasant as never to be forgotten. The loving cup was
never omitted, and of course wassail was duly brought in, “y^{e} Lorde
of Mysrewle doing his duty ‘passing well.’” The following is an exact
copy of the carol:
“CAROLL AT YE BRYNGYNE IN YE BORE’S HEED.
_Caput apri differo
Reddens laudem Domino._
The bore’s heed in hande bringe I,
With garlens gay and rosemarie,
I pray you all synge merrilie,
_Qui estis in convivio_.
The bore’s heed I understande,
Is the chefe servyce in this lande,
Loke wherever it be fonde,
_Servite cum cantico_.
Be gladde lordes, both more and lesse,
For this hath ordeyned our stewarde
To chere you all this Christmasse,
The bore’s heed with mustarde.”
Subjoined is a copy of the invitation the late host and his predecessor
used to issue, which is a curious production:
“We’ll passe aboute y^{e} lovynge cuppe,
And sende ye wassaile rounde;
With myrthe and songes of chyvalrie,
These goodlye Halles shall sounde.
[Here is an illustration of the north side of the Gate.]
“Samuel Wickens, ye Grande Mayester of ye Priorye of Sainte John,
Greetinge welle hys ryght trustye and welle beloved friends, dothe
herebye summon them to hys councill to be holden in y^{e} Greate Halle
of y^{e} Priorye, aforesaide, on y^{e} ninthe daye of Ianuarie, anno
Domini, one thousande eighte hundrede and seventie-three, to adjudycate
on y^{e} qualitie of hys viandes: that is to saye, roaste beefe and
plumbe puddynge, and with a cordialle greetinge in y^{e} wassaile boule
and y^{e} lovynge cuppe, perpetuate to alle tyme and to tyme oute of
mynde a ryghte goodlye and lastynge fellowshipe. Ye Boare’s heade will
be broughte into ye halle, and y^{e} chante will be sange, at sixe of
the clocke, at which tyme y^{e} Feast will begine.”
NORFOLK.
At Yarmouth before the Reformation it was a custom for the prior and
monks, and afterwards for the dean and chapter, or the farmer of their
parsonage, to provide a breakfast for the inhabitants of the town every
year on Christmas Day, which custom continued till the 21st of
Elizabeth, when, on account of a grievous plague which carried off two
thousand of the inhabitants in one year, and on consideration of the
ruinous condition of the parsonage-house, it was agreed that Thomas
Osborne, who was then farmer of the parsonage, should pay 5_l._ a year
to the churchwardens for the use of the town in lieu of the said
breakfast. After the plague had ceased, the breakfast was resumed and
continued as usual, till the reign of James I., when William Gostlynge,
then farmer, absolutely refused to provide it or to pay an equivalent
composition, upon which the town preferred a complaint to the dean and
chapter, who promised not to countenance him in such a non-conformity to
the terms of the lease by which he held of them. Finally, Mr. Gostlynge
was obliged to sign an agreement, whereby he engaged to pay yearly to
the town in lieu of the breakfast, 10_l._, which was distributed to poor
fishermen, &c., and 5_l._ for his default, in before refusing to provide
the breakfast. This continued till the making of a new agreement,
between the corporation and Mr. Gostlynge, of a grant of nomination and
appointment of preachers and ministers in the town, since which it seems
that both breakfast and composition shared the fate of all human
institutions and sank into oblivion.--Parkin, _History of Great
Yarmouth_, 1776, p. 330.
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.
Cole, in his _History of Weston Favell_ (1827, p. 60), says Christmas
Day is ushered in by the ringing of the bells of the church, precisely
at twelve o’clock, called the midnight peal, till which time many of the
inhabitants sit round the jovial fire, whence at twelve o’clock they
emerge into the midnight air to listen to the peals of the bells of the
neighbouring churches.
NORTHUMBERLAND.
In Alnwick a custom existed of giving sweetmeats to children at
Christmas time, called Yule Babies, in commemoration of our Saviour’s
nativity.--_History of Alnwick_, 1822, p. 262.
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE.
The inhabitants of North Clifton were formerly ferry free. In
consequence, the ferryman and his dog were indulged with a dinner each
at the vicar’s at Christmas. The ferryman also on that day received of
the inhabitants a prime loaf of bread.--_N. & Q. 5th S._ vol. ii. p.
509.
Near Raleigh there is a valley said to have been caused by an earthquake
several hundred years ago, which swallowed up a whole village, together
with the church. Formerly, it was the custom of the people to assemble
in this valley every Christmas Day morning to listen to the ringing of
the bells of the church beneath them. This, it was positively stated,
might be heard by placing the ear to the ground and hearkening
attentively. As late as 1827 it was usual on this morning for old men
and women to tell their children and young friends to go to the valley,
stoop down, and hear the bells ring merrily. The villagers heard the
ringing of the bells of a neighbouring church, the sound of which was
communicated by the surface of the ground. A similar belief exists, or
did a short time ago, at Preston, in Lancashire.--_Ibid._ p. 509.
OXFORDSHIRE.
In the buttery of St. John’s College, Oxford, an ancient candle socket
of stone still remains, ornamented with the figure of the Holy Lamb. It
was formerly used to burn the Christmas candle in, on the high table at
supper during the twelve nights of this festival.--Brand, _Pop. Antiq._
1849, vol. i. p. 467.
It was formerly a custom for the butcher of Merton College, about
Christmas time, to invite the scholars to a treat at his house, when he
used to provide a _bull_ for the steward to knock down with his own
hands, whence this treat was called _The Kill-Bull_.--Pointer,
_Oxoniensis Academia_, 1749, p. 23.
The following account of the ancient custom of bringing in a boar’s head
at Queen’s College, Oxford, is taken from a MS., in the Bodleian
Library, quoted in the _Antiquary_ (1873, vol. iii. p. 47):--
There is a custom at Queen’s College to serve up every year a boar’s
head, provided by the manciple against Christmas Day. This boar’s head
being boyl’d or roasted, is laid in a great charger, covered with a
garland of bays or laurell as broad at bottom as the brims of the
chargers. When the first course is served up in the refectory on
Christmas Day, in the said college, the manciple brings the said boar’s
head from the kitchen up to the high table, accompanied with one of the
tabarders (i.e., the scholars), who lays his hand on the charger. The
tabarder sings a song, and when he comes to the chorus all the scholars
that are in the refectory joyn together and sing it:
I.
“The boar’s head in hand bear I,
Bedeck’d with bays and rosemary,
And I pray you master merry be,
_Quotquot estis in convivio_.
CHORUS. _Caput apri defero_
_Reddens laudes Domino_.
II.
The boar’s head, as I understand,
Is the bravest dish in the land,
Being thus bedeck’d with a gay garland,
Let us _servire convivio_.
CHORUS. _Caput apri, &c._
III.
Our steward has provided this
In honour of the King of bliss,
Which on this day to be served is,
In _Reginensi atrio_.
CHORUS. _Caput apri,” &c._
According to Mr. Wade (_Walks in Oxford_, 1817, vol. i. p. 128) the
usage is in commemoration of an act of valour performed by a student of
the college, who, while walking in the neighbouring forest of Shotover,
and reading Aristotle, was suddenly attacked by a wild boar. The furious
beast came open-mouthed upon the youth, who, however, very courageously,
and with a happy presence of mind, rammed in the volume, and crying
_Græcum est_, fairly choked the savage.
In an audit-book of Trinity College for the year 1559, Warton found a
disbursement “_pro prandio Principis natalicii_.” A Christmas prince, or
Lord of Misrule, he adds, corresponding to the Imperator at Cambridge,
was a common temporary magistrate in the colleges of Oxford.--See
Brand’s _Pop. Antiq._ 1849, vol. i. p. 498; _The Antiquary_, 1873, vol.
iii. p. 53; Wood, in his _Athenæ Oxonienses_, alludes to the Christmas
prince at St. John’s and Merton Colleges.
Mummings at Christmas are common in Oxfordshire. At Islip some of the
mummers wear masks, others, who cannot get masks, black their faces and
dress themselves up with haybands tied round their arms and bodies. The
smaller boys black their faces, and go about singing--
“A merry Christmas and a happy new year,
Your pockets full of money, and your cellars full of beer.”
Brand, _Pop. Antiq._ 1849, vol. i. p. 466.
Dr. Lee, in _N. & Q._ (_5th S._ vol. ii. pp. 503-505), has given a
curious old miracle play, the text of which he says was taken down by
himself from the lips of one of the performers in 1853.
Aubrey informs us that in several parts of Oxfordshire it was the custom
for the maidservant to ask the man for ivy to decorate the house, and if
he refused or neglected to fetch in a supply the maids stole a pair of
his breeches, and nailed them up to the gate in the yard or highway. A
similar usage prevailed in other places, when the refusal to comply with
such a request incurred the penalty of being debarred from the
well-known privilege of the mistletoe.--See _Book of Days_, vol. ii. p.
753.
SCILLY ISLES.
Troutbeck, in his _State of the Scilly Isles_ (1796, p. 172), gives the
following account of how Christmas was celebrated in his time. The young
people, he says, exercise a sort of gallantry among themselves, which
they call goose-dancing, when the maidens are dressed up for young men
and the young men for maidens. In the day time they dance about the
streets in masquerade, vieing with each other who can appear the most
uncouth. In the evenings they visit their neighbours in companies, where
they dance and make their jokes upon what has happened in the islands.
By this sort of sport according to yearly custom and toleration, there
is a spirit of wit and drollery kept up among the people. The maidens,
who are sometimes dressed up for sea captains and other officers,
display their alluring graces to the ladies, who are young men equipped
for that purpose; and the ladies exert their talents to them in courtly
addresses, their hangers are sometimes drawn, &c., after which, and
other pieces of drollery, the scene shifts to music and dancing, which
being over they are treated with liquor and then go to the next house of
entertainment.
They have a custom also of singing carols at church on Christmas Day, to
which the congregation make contributions by dropping money into a hat
carried about the church when the performance is over.--Heath’s _Account
of the Scilly Isles_, p. 125.
SOMERSETSHIRE.
At West Hatch the reeve or bailiff to the manor provided at the lord’s
expense a feast on Christmas Day, and distributed to each householder a
loaf of bread, a pound and a half of beef, and the like quantity of
pork, undressed, and the same evening treated them with a
supper.--Collinson, _History of County of Somerset_, 1791, vol. ii. p.
186.
The following lines are sung at the Christmas mummings in this county:
“Here comes I, liddle man Jan,
With my zword in my han!
If you don’t all do,
As you be told by I,
I’ll zend you all to York,
Vor to make apple-pie.”
Brand, _Pop. Antiq._ 1849, vol. i. p. 466.
STAFFORDSHIRE.
In Shaw’s _History of Staffordshire_ (1798-1801) is mentioned a custom
formerly prevalent in the parish of Great Barr, for the rector on every
Christmas Day to give to each person, great and small, of his parish
that came to his house, so much bread, beef, mustard, and vinegar as
they could eat. Latterly, however, money was given instead.
Plot, in his _Natural History of Staffordshire_ (1686, p. 434), gives
the following account of a jocular custom celebrated in olden times at
Bromley Abbots. He says:--Within memory, at Abbots or Pagets Bromley,
they had a sort of sport which they celebrated at Christmas (on New Year
and Twelfth Day) called the _Hobby-horse Dance_ from a person who
carried the image of a horse between his legs, made of thin boards, and
in his hands a bow and arrow which, passing through a hole in the bow
and stopping upon a shoulder it had in it, he made a snapping noise as
he drew it to and fro, keeping time with the musick; with this man
danced six others, carrying on their shoulders as many reindeer heads,
three of them painted white, with three red, with the arms of the chief
families (viz., of Paget, Bagot, and Wells), to whom the revenues of the
town chiefly belonged, depicted on the _palms_ of them, with which they
danced the hays and other country dances. To this hobby-horse dance
there also belonged a pot, which was kept by turns by four or five of
the chief of the town, whom they called reeves, who provided cake and
ale to put into this pot; all people who had any kindness for the good
intent of the institution of the sport, giving pence a piece for
themselves and their families, and so foreigners too that came to see
it, with which money (the charge of the cakes and ale being defrayed)
they not only repaired their church, but kept the poor too, which
charges are not now perhaps so cheerfully borne.
There is an ancient payment made by the chamberlain of the corporation
of Stafford, of an annual sum of money, generally six shillings, at
Christmas, for the purchasing of plums, to be distributed among the
inhabitants of certain old houses in the liberty of Forebridge.
The origin of this payment is ascribed by general reputation to the
bounty of some individual who heard from some poor children a complaint
on Christmas Day that they had no plums for a pudding; and it is
reported that he counted the houses then in the place, and made
provision for the supply of a pound of plums for each house. The money
received is laid out in plums, which are divided into equal quantities,
and made up into parcels, one for each of the houses, fifteen or sixteen
in number, entitled by the established usage to receive a portion,
without reference to the circumstances of the inhabitants.--_Old English
Customs and Charities_, p. 5.
SUFFOLK.
Brand (_Pop. Antiq._ 1849, vol. i. p. 489) alludes to a custom practised
in the neighbourhood of Bury St. Edmunds among the young men, of hunting
owls and squirrels on Christmas Day.
In 1358, at Hawstead, the customary tenants paid their lord at Christmas
a small rent, called _offering silver_. Eleven of them paid in all
xviij^{d.} In 1386 the Christmas offerings made by the master for his
domestics amounted to xiiij^{d.} for seven servants.--Cullum, _History
of Hawstead_, 1813, pp. 13-14.
WESTMORELAND.
At Kendal, if a man be found at work in Christmas week his
fellow-tradesmen lay violent hands on him, and carry him on a pole to
the ale-house, where he is to treat them.--Southey’s _Common Place
Book_, 1851, 4th series, p. 354.
WORCESTERSHIRE.
At Bewdley it was the custom for the bellman to go round on Christmas
morning, ringing his bell in several parts of the town, and singing the
following doggerel, first saying, “Good morning, masters and mistresses
all, I wish you all a merry Christmas”:
“Arise mistress, arise,
And make your tarts and pies,
And let your maids lie still;
For if they should rise and spoil your pies
You’d take it very ill.
Whilst you are sleeping in your bed,
I the cold wintry nights must tread,
Past twelve o’clock. Ehe!”
_Kidderminster Shuttle_, Dec. 2nd, 1871.
At Yardley such of the poor as are excluded from partaking of certain
doles on account of receiving regular weekly relief, are allowed one
shilling each out of a general charity fund at Christmas, under the name
of plum-pudding money, to the extent of about 4_l._--Edwards, _Old
English Customs and Charities_, p. 23.
YORKSHIRE.
Blount tells us that, in Yorkshire and other northern parts, after
sermon or service on Christmas Day, the people will, even in the
churches, cry “_Ule! Ule!_” as a token of rejoicing; and the common sort
run about the streets singing:
“_Ule! Ule! Ule! Ule!_
Three puddings in a pule,
Crack nuts and cry _Ule_!”
See Brand, _Pop. Antiq._ 1849, vol. i. pp. 476-477.
One never-failing remnant of the olden time observed in this county,
says Soane (_Curiosities of Literature_), was the _cheese_, which had
been especially made and preserved for the season. It was produced with
much ceremony by every rustic dame, who, before she allowed it to be
tasted, took a sharp knife and scored upon it rude resemblances to the
cross. To this were added the mighty wassail bowl brimming with
_lamb’s-wool_, and furmity made of barley-meal, which last was also an
essential of the breakfast-table.
Between Christmas Day and the New Year it is customary in the North
Riding of Yorkshire to give every visitor a slice of “pepper cake” (a
spiced gingerbread cake) and cheese and a glass of gin.
In the North Riding of Yorkshire it is also the custom for the
parishioners, after receiving the Sacrament on Christmas Day, to go from
church directly to the ale-house, and there drink together as a
testimony of charity and friendship.--Aubrey, MS. quoted in _Time’s
Telescope_, 1826, p. 293.
At Filey, on Christmas morning before break of day, there existed
formerly the greatest uproar, by numbers of boys going round from house
to house, rapping at every door, and roaring out, “I wish you a merry
Christmas and a happy new year,” which words were vociferated again and
again till the family awoke and admitted the clamorous visitor; who, if
he were the _first_,[94] was treated with money or cheese and
gingerbread, which were also distributed, but less liberally, to
subsequent visitors. No persons (boys excepted) ever presumed to go out
of doors till the threshold had been consecrated by the entrance of a
male. Females had no part in this matter, and if a damsel, lovely as an
angel, entered _first_, her fair form was viewed with horror as an image
of death.--Cole, _Antiquities of Filey_, 1828, p. 137.
[94] The custom of _first footing_ seems to have been confined in
other places to New Year’s Morning.
At Huddersfield the children carry about a “wessel-bob,” or large bunch
of evergreens hung with oranges and apples, and coloured ribbons,
singing the following carol:
“Here we come a wassailing
Among the leaves so green,
Here we come a wandering
So fair to be seen.
_Chorus._
For it is in Christmas time
Strangers travel far and near,
So God bless you and send you a happy
New year.
We are not daily beggars,
That beg from door to door,
But we are neighbours’ children,
Whom you have seen before.
Call up the butler of this house,
Put on his golden ring,
Let him bring us a glass of beer,
And the better we shall sing.
We have got a little purse
Made of stretching leather skin,
We want a little of your money
To line it well within.
Bring us out a table
And spread it with a cloth;
Bring out a mouldy cheese,
Also your Christmas loaf.
God bless the master of this house,
Likewise the mistress too,
And all the little children
That round the table go.
Good master and mistress,
While you’re sitting by the fire,
Pray think of us poor children
Who are wandering in the mire.”
_N. & Q. 3rd S._ vol. xi. p. 144.
Some years ago it was the custom in Leeds, and the neighbourhood, for
children to go from house to house singing and carrying what they called
a “wesley-bob.” This they kept veiled in a cloth till they came to a
house door, when they uncovered it.
The wesley-bob was made of holly and evergreens, like a bower, inside
were placed a couple of dolls, adorned with ribbons, and the whole
affair was borne upon a stick. Whilst the wesley-bob was being
displayed, a song or ditty was sung.
At Aberford, near Leeds, two dolls are carried about in boxes in a
similar way, and such an affair here is called a wesley-box.--_N. & Q.
3rd S._ vol. vi. p. 494.
At Ripon, on Christmas Day, says a correspondent of the _Gent. Mag._
(1790, vol. lx. p. 719), the singing boys come into the church with
large baskets full of red apples, with a sprig of rosemary stuck in
each, which they present to all the congregation, and generally have a
return made them of 2_d._, 4_d._, or 6_d._, according to the quality of
the lady or gentleman.
The sword or morisco dance used to be practised at Richmond, during the
Christmas holidays, by young men dressed in shirts ornamented with
ribbons folded into roses, having swords, or wood cut in the form of
that weapon. They exhibited various feats of activity, attended by an
old fiddler, by Bessy in the grotesque habit of an old woman, and by the
fool almost covered with skins, a hairy cap on his head, and the tail of
a fox hanging from his head. These led the festive throng, and diverted
the crowd with their droll antic buffoonery. The office of one of these
characters was to go about rattling a box, and soliciting money from
door to door to defray the expenses of a feast and a dance in the
evening.--_History of Richmond_, 1814, p. 296.
In Sheffield, a male must be the first to enter a house on the morning
of both Christmas Day and New Year’s Day; but there is no distinction as
to complexion or colour of hair. In the houses of the more opulent
manufacturers, these first admissions are often accorded to choirs of
work-people, who, as “waits,” proceed at an early hour and sing before
the houses of their employers and friends Christmas carols and hymns,
always commencing with that beautiful composition:
“Christians, awake, salute the happy morn,
Whereon the Saviour of mankind was born.”
On expressing their good wishes to the inmates, they are generally
rewarded with something warm and occasionally with a pecuniary present.
Among the class called “respectable,” but not manufacturers, a previous
arrangement is often made; that a boy, the son of a friend, shall come
and be first admitted, receiving for his good wishes a Christmas-box of
sixpence or a shilling. The houses of the artisans and poor are
successively besieged by a host of _gamins_, who, soon after midnight,
spread themselves over the town, shouting at the doors, and through
keyholes, as follows: