_Mistletoe as a Christmas Evergreen._--Can any of your readers inform me
at what period of time the mistletoe came to be recognised as a
Christmas evergreen? I am aware it played a great part in those
ceremonies of the ancient Druids which took place towards the end of the
year, but I cannot find any allusion to it, in connexion with the
Christian festival, before the time of Herrick. You are of course aware,
that there are still in existence some five or six very curious old
carols, of as early, or even an earlier date than the fifteenth century,
in praise of the holly or the ivy, which said carols used to be sung
during the Christmas festivities held by our forefathers but I can
discover no allusion even to the mistletoe for two centuries later. If
any of your readers should be familiar with any earlier allusion in
prose, but still more particularly in verse, printed or in manuscript, I
shall feel obliged by their pointing it out.