Omne bene
Sine poena
Tempua est ludendi.
Venit hora
Absque mora
Libros deponendi.
OLD HOLIDAY SCHOOL-SONG.
IN the preceding paper I have made some general observations on the
Christmas festivities of England, and am tempted to illustrate them by
some anecdotes of a Christmas passed in the country; in perusing which
I would most courteously invite my reader to lay aside the austerity of
wisdom, and to put on that genuine holiday spirit which is tolerant of
folly and anxious only for amusement.
In the course of a December tour in Yorkshire, I rode for a long
distance in one of the public coaches on the day preceding Christmas.
The coach was crowded, both inside and out, with passengers who, by
their talk, seemed principally bound to the mansions of relations or
friends to eat the Christmas dinner. It was loaded also with hampers of
game and baskets and boxes of delicacies, and hares hung dangling their
long ears about the coachman’s box, presents from distant friends for
the impending feast. I had three fine rosy-cheeked school boys for my
fellow-passengers inside, full of the buxom health and manly spirit
which I have observed in the children of this country. They were
returning home for the holidays in high glee, and promising themselves a
world of enjoyment. It was delightful to hear the gigantic plans of the
little rogues, and the impracticable feats they were to perform during
their six weeks’ emancipation from the abhorred thraldom of book, birch,
and pedagogue. They were full of anticipations of the meeting with the
family and household, down to the very cat and dog, and of the joy
they were to give their little sisters by the presents with which their
pockets were crammed; but the meeting to which they seemed to look
forward with the greatest impatience was with Bantam, which I found to
be a pony, and, according to their talk, possessed of more virtues than
any steed since the days of Bucephalus. How he could trot! how he could
run! and then such leaps as he would take!--there was not a hedge in the
whole country that he could not clear.
They were under the particular guardianship of the coachman, to whom,
whenever an opportunity presented, they addressed a host of questions,
and pronounced him one of the best fellows in the world. Indeed, I could
not but notice the more than ordinary air of bustle and importance of
the coachman, who wore his hat a little on one side and had a large
bunch of Christmas greens stuck in the buttonhole of his coat. He
is always a personage full of mighty care and business, but he is
particularly so during this season, having so many commissions to
execute in consequence of the great interchange of presents. And here,
perhaps, it may not be unacceptable to my untravelled readers to have a
sketch that may serve as a general representation of this very numerous
and important class of functionaries, who have a dress, a manner, a
language, an air peculiar to themselves and prevalent throughout the
fraternity; so that wherever an English stage-coachman may be seen he
cannot be mistaken for one of any other craft or mystery.
He has commonly a broad, full face, curiously mottled with red, as if
the blood had been forced by hard feeding into every vessel of the
skin; he is swelled into jolly dimensions by frequent potations of malt
liquors, and his bulk is still further increased by a multiplicity of
coats, in which he is buried like a cauliflower, the upper one reaching
to his heels. He wears a broad-brimmed, low-crowned hat; a huge roll of
colored handkerchief about his neck, knowingly knotted and tucked in
at the bosom; and has in summer-time a large bouquet of flowers in his
buttonhole, the present, most probably, of some enamored country
lass. His waistcoat is commonly of some bright color, striped, and his
small-clothes extend far below the knees, to meet a pair of jockey boots
which reach about halfway up his legs.
All this costume is maintained with much precision; he has a pride in
having his clothes of excellent materials, and, notwithstanding the
seeming grossness of his appearance, there is still discernible
that neatness and propriety of person which is almost inherent in an
Englishman. He enjoys great consequence and consideration along the
road; has frequent conferences with the village housewives, who look
upon him as a man of great trust and dependence; and he seems to have
a good understanding with every bright-eyed country lass. The moment
he arrives where the horses are to be changed, he throws down the reins
with something of an air and abandons the cattle to the care of the
ostler, his duty being merely to drive from one stage to another. When
off the box his hands are thrust into the pockets of his great coat, and
he rolls about the inn-yard with an air of the most absolute lordliness.
Here he is generally surrounded by an admiring throng of ostlers,
stableboys, shoeblacks, and those nameless hangers-on that infest
inns and taverns, and run errands and do all kind of odd jobs for the
privilege of battening on the drippings of the kitchen and the leakage
of the tap-room. These all look up to him as to an oracle, treasure up
his cant phrases, echo his opinions about horses and other topics of
jockey lore, and, above all, endeavor to imitate his air and carriage.
Every ragamuffin that has a coat to his back thrusts his hands in the
pockets, rolls in his gait, talks slang, and is an embryo Coachey.
Perhaps it might be owing to the pleasing serenity that reigned in
my own mind that I fancied I saw cheerfulness in every countenance
throughout the journey. A stage-coach, however, carries animation always
with it, and puts the world in motion as it whirls along. The horn,
sounded at the entrance of the village, produces a general bustle. Some
hasten forth to meet friends; some with bundles and bandboxes to secure
places, and in the hurry of the moment can hardly take leave of the
group that accompanies them. In the meantime the coachman has a world of
small commissions to execute. Sometimes he delivers a hare or pheasant;
sometimes jerks a small parcel or newspaper to the door of a public
house; and sometimes, with knowing leer and words of sly import,
hands to some half-blushing, half-laughing house-maid an odd-shaped
billet-doux from some rustic admirer. As the coach rattles through the
village every one runs to the window, and you have glances on every side
of fresh country faces and blooming giggling girls. At the corners are
assembled juntos of village idlers and wise men, who take their stations
there for the important purpose of seeing company pass; but the sagest
knot is generally at the blacksmith’s, to whom the passing of the coach
is an event fruitful of much speculation. The smith, with the horse’s
heel in his lap, pauses as the vehicle whirls by; the cyclops round the
anvil suspend their ringing hammers and suffer the iron to grow cool;
and the sooty spectre in brown paper cap laboring at the bellows leans
on the handle for a moment, and permits the asthmatic engine to heave a
long-drawn sigh, while he glares through the murky smoke and sulphurous
gleams of the smithy.
Perhaps the impending holiday might have given a more than usual
animation to the country, for it seemed to me as if everybody was in
good looks and good spirits. Game, poultry, and other luxuries of
the table were in brisk circulation in the villages; the grocers’,
butchers’, and fruiterers’ shops were thronged with customers. The
housewives were stirring briskly about, putting their dwellings in
order, and the glossy branches of holly with their bright-red berries
began to appear at the windows. The scene brought to mind an old
writer’s account of Christmas preparation: “Now capons and hens, besides
turkeys, geese, and ducks, with beef and mutton, must all die, for in
twelve days a multitude of people will not be fed with a little. Now
plums and spice, sugar and honey, square it among pies and broth. Now
or never must music be in tune, for the youth must dance and sing to
get them a heat, while the aged sit by the fire. The country maid leaves
half her market, and must be sent again if she forgets a pack of cards
on Christmas Eve. Great is the contention of holly and ivy whether
master or dame wears the breeches. Dice and cards benefit the butler;
and if the cook do not lack wit, he will sweetly lick his fingers.”
I was roused from this fit of luxurious meditation by a shout from
my little travelling companions. They had been looking out of the
coach-windows for the last few miles, recognizing every tree and cottage
as they approached home, and now there was a general burst of joy.
“There’s John! and there’s old Carlo! and there’s Bantam!” cried the
happy little rogues, clapping their hands.
At the end of a lane there was an old sober-looking servant in livery
waiting for them; he was accompanied by a superannuated pointer and by
the redoubtable Bantam, a little old rat of a pony with a shaggy mane
and long rusty tail, who stood dozing quietly by the roadside, little
dreaming of the bustling times that awaited him.
I was pleased to see the fondness with which the little fellows leaped
about the steady old footman and hugged the pointer, who wriggled his
whole body for joy. But Bantam was the great object of interest; all
wanted to mount at once, and it was with some difficulty that John
arranged that they should ride by turns and the eldest should ride
first.
Off they set at last, one on the pony, with the dog bounding and barking
before him, and the others holding John’s hands, both talking at
once and overpowering him with questions about home and with school
anecdotes. I looked after them with a feeling in which I do not know
whether pleasure or melancholy predominated; for I was reminded of those
days when, like them, I had known neither care nor sorrow and a holiday
was the summit of earthly felicity. We stopped a few moments afterwards
to water the horses, and on resuming our route a turn of the road
brought us in sight of a neat country-seat. I could just distinguish the
forms of a lady and two young girls in the portico, and I saw my
little comrades, with Bantam, Carlo, and old John, trooping along the
carriage-road. I leaned out of the coach-window, in hopes of witnessing
the happy meeting, but a grove of trees shut it from my sight.
In the evening we reached a village where I had determined to pass the
night. As we drove into the great gateway of the inn, I saw on one side
the light of a rousing kitchen-fire beaming through a window. I entered,
and admired, for the hundredth time, that picture of convenience,
neatness, and broad honest enjoyment, the kitchen of an English inn.
It was of spacious dimensions, hung round with copper and tin vessels
highly polished, and decorated here and there with a Christmas green.
Hams, tongues, and flitches of bacon were suspended from the ceiling; a
smoke-jack made its ceaseless clanking beside the fireplace, and a clock
ticked in one corner. A well-scoured deal table extended along one side
of the kitchen, with a cold round of beef and other hearty viands
upon it, over which two foaming tankards of ale seemed mounting guard.
Travellers of inferior order were preparing to attack this stout repast,
while others sat smoking and gossiping over their ale on two high-backed
oaken settles beside the fire. Trim housemaids were hurrying backwards
and forwards under the directions of a fresh bustling landlady, but
still seizing an occasional moment to exchange a flippant word and have
a rallying laugh with the group round the fire. The scene completely
realized Poor Robin’s humble idea of the comforts of midwinter:
Now trees their leafy hats do bare
To reverence Winter’s silver hair;
A handsome hostess, merry host,
A pot of ale now and a toast,
Tobacco and a good coal fire,
Are things this season doth require.*
* Poor Robin’s Almanack, 1684.
I had not been long at the inn when a post-chaise drove up to the door.
A young gentleman stept out, and by the light of the lamps I caught a
glimpse of a countenance which I thought I knew. I moved forward to
get a nearer view, when his eye caught mine. I was not mistaken; it was
Frank Bracebridge, a sprightly, good-humored young fellow with whom I
had once travelled on the Continent. Our meeting was extremely cordial,
for the countenance of an old fellow-traveller always brings up
the recollection of a thousand pleasant scenes, odd adventures, and
excellent jokes. To discuss all these in a transient interview at an
inn was impossible; and, finding that I was not pressed for time and was
merely making a tour of observation, he insisted that I should give him
a day or two at his father’s country-seat, to which he was going to pass
the holidays and which lay at a few miles’ distance. “It is better
than eating a solitary Christmas dinner at an inn,” said he, “and I can
assure you of a hearty welcome in something of the old-fashioned style.”
His reasoning was cogent, and I must confess the preparation I had seen
for universal festivity and social enjoyment had made me feel a little
impatient of my loneliness. I closed, therefore, at once with his
invitation; the chaise drove up to the door, and in a few moments I was
on my way to the family mansion of the Bracebridges.