whereat his Majesty was highly displeased. He made choise of some
thirty of the civillest and best-fashioned gentlemen of the House to
sup with him; and, being at supper, took a cup of wine in one hand,
and held his sword drawn in the other, and so began a health to the
distressed Lady Elizabeth [the Queen of Bohemia], and having drunk,
kissed his sword, and laying his hand upon it, took an oath to live
and die in her service; then delivered the cup and sword to the next,
and so the health and ceremonie went round.
"'The Gentlemen of Graye's Inne, to make an end of Christmas on
Twelfe-night, in the dead time of the night, shot off all the chambers
they had borrowed from the Tower, being as many as filled four carts.
The King, awakened with this noise, started out of his bed, and cryed,
"Treason, treason," &c., and that the Cittie was in an uprore, in such
sort (as it is told) that the whole court was raised and almost in
armes, the Earle of Arundell running to the Bed-chamber with his sword
drawne as to rescue the King's person.'"
In this reign many accomplished writers assisted in the Christmas
festivities. Professor Henry Morley[67] mentions that in December,
1623, the name of Philip Massinger, poet and dramatist, first appeared
in the office book of the Master of the Revells, when his "Bondman"
was acted, and the play was first printed in 1624.
King James I. died at Theobald's, Herts, on the 27th March, 1625, and
was buried in Westminster Abbey.
KING JAMES I. AND BISHOP ANDREWES ON CHRISTMAS DAYS.
The remarkable fact that Bishop Andrewes preached seventeen sermons on
the Nativity before James I. gives an unusual interest to the
Christmas Day services of this reign. Nichols makes the following
references to them:--
1605. "On Christmas Day the King attended Divine Service at Whitehall,
where Dr Lancelot Andrews, then recently promoted to the Bishoprick of
Chichester, preached before his Majesty, on the Epistle of St. Paul to
the Hebrews, ii. 16."
1606. "On Christmas Day, the King attended Divine Service at
Whitehall, where Bishop Andrews, now decidedly the King's favourite
Preacher, discoursed on Esaias ix. 6."
1607. "On Thursday, being Christmas Day, the King attended Divine
Service at Whitehall, and there heard Bishop Andrews preach on 1 Tim.
iii. 16."
1609. "Monday, December 25, being Christmas Day, the King attended
Divine Service at Whitehall, and there heard the Bishop of Ely, Dr.
Andrews, on Galat. iv. 4, 5." In a note Nichols says: "This sermon was
much admired by the King. This was probably the reason that it was
printed in 1610, together with that the Bishop preached on the same
occasion in that year, under the following title: 'Two Sermons
preached before the King's Majestie at Whitehall; of the Birth of
Christ; the one on Christmas Day, anno 1609, the other on Christmas
Day last, anno 1610. By the Bishop of Elie, his Majestie's Almoner.
Imprinted at London by Robert Barker, Printer to the King's most
excellent Majestie, anno 1610.'"
1610. "On Tuesday, the 25th December, Christmas Day, the King attended
Divine Service at Whitehall, where Bishop Andrews preached on Luke ii.
9, 10."
1611. "On Christmas Day the King attended Divine Service at Whitehall,
and Bishop Andrews preached on John. i. 14."
1612. "On Friday, 25th December, Christmas Day was kept as usual at
Whitehall; where the King attended Divine Service, and Bishop Andrews
(as usual) preached."
1613. "Saturday, 25th December, being Christmas Day, was kept with the
usual solemnities; the King attended Divine service at Whitehall, and
Bishop Andrews preached."
1614. "His Majesty returned to keep Christmas Day, as was customary,
at Whitehall. Bishop Andrews addressed him from the pulpit as usual."
1615. "'On Christmas Day, the King, being sorely troubled with the
gout, was not able to go to Divine service; but heard a sermon in
private, and took the Sacrament.' The Preacher was, as usual, Bishop
Andrews."
1616. "On Christmas Day, Thomas, Earl of Arundel, who was educated
from his youth in the Popish Religion, and had lately travelled all
over Italy detesting the abuses of the Papists, embraced the
Protestant religion, and received the Sacrament in the King's Chapel
at Whitehall, where Bishop Andrews preached, as was customary, a
sermon suited to the Festival of the Nativity."
1618. "On the 25th [December], Bishop Andrews resumed his post as
preacher on Christmas Day, before the King at Whitehall. His text was
from Luke ii. 12, 13."
1619. "Christmas was kept by the King at Whitehall, as had ever been
his practice; and Bishop Andrews preached then before him, on
Saturday, the 25th."
1620. "During the month of December, before the King left the country,
he knighted at Newmarket, Sir Francis Michell, afterward degraded in
June 1621; and at Theobalds, Sir Gilbert Cornwall. On the 23rd, his
Majestie 'came to Westminster, but went not to Chappel, being
prevented by the gout.' On Monday, the 25th, however, being Christmas
Day, Bishop Andrews preached before him at Whitehall, on Matt. ii. 1,
2; and during Christmas, Sir Clement Cotterell and Sir Henry Carvell
were there knighted."
1622. "On the 25th [December] Bishop Andrews resumed his Christmas
station in the pulpit at Whitehall, and thence preached to the King
and his Court on the same text as he had adopted on the same occasion
two years before, Matt. ii. 1, 2."
1623. "The King kept inviolate his old custom of being at Whitehall on
Christmas Day, and hearing there a sermon from Bishop Andrews, who
this year preached on Ephes. i. 10."
1624. "On Saturday, the 25th of December, Bishop Andrews preached
before his Majesty at Whitehall, on Psalm ii. 7, it being at least the
seventeenth, as it was the last, Christmas Day on which King James
heard that favourite preacher."
The unique series of "Seventeen Sermons on the Nativity, preached
before King James I. at Whitehall, by the Right Honourable and
Reverend Father in God, Lancelot Andrewes, sometime Lord Bishop of
Winchester," were preserved to posterity by an order of Charles I.,
who, after Bishop Andrewes's death, commanded Bishops Laud and
Buckeridge to collect and publish his sermons. This series of sermons
on the Nativity have recently been reprinted in "The Ancient and
Modern Library of Theological Literature," and the editor, after
referring to the ability and integrity of Bishop Andrewes, says: "An
interest apart from that which must be created by his genius,
learning, and character, belongs to him as the exponent of the mind
and practice of the English Church in the years that intervened
between the Reformation and the Revolution."
THE POPULAR AMUSEMENTS OF CHRISTMASTIDE
at this period are thus enumerated by Robert Burton in his "Anatomy of
Melancholy," published in 1621:--
"The ordinary recreations which we have in winter are cards, tables
and dice, shovelboard, chess-play, the philosopher's game, small
trunks, billiards, music, masks, singing, dancing, ule games, catches,
purposes, questions; merry tales of errant knights, kings, queens,
lovers, lords, ladies, giants, dwarfs, thieves, fairies, goblins,
friars, witches, and the rest."
The following curious cut is from the title-page of the amusing story
of the great "Giant Gargantua" of this period:--
[Illustration: "Giant Gargantua"]
The legends of Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, Bevis of
Southampton, Guy of Warwick, Adam Bell, and Clymme of Clough, were
favourites among the lovers of romance; but the people of this age,
being very superstitious, were very fond of stories about ghosts and
goblins, believing them to be founded on fact, and also attributing
feats performed by conjurors and jugglers to supernatural agency. The
King himself was equally superstitious, for Strutt in describing the
tricks of jugglers says: "Our learned monarch, James I., was perfectly
convinced that these, and other inferior feats exhibited by the
tregetours, could only be performed by the agency of the devil, 'who,'
says he, 'will learne them many juglarie tricks, at cardes and dice,
to deceive men's senses thereby, and such innumerable false
practiques, which are proved by over-many in this age.'"[68]
Looking back to the ancient superstitions about ghosts and fairies,
Dryden, the poet, has some lines which may fitly close this chapter:--
"I speak of ancient times, for now the swain
Returning late may pass the woods in vain,
And never hope to see the mighty train;
In vain the dairy now with mint is dressed,
The dairy-maid expects no fairy guest,
To skim the bowls and after pay the feast.
She sighs and shakes her empty shoes in vain,
No silver penny to reward her pain:
For priests, with prayers and other godly gear,
Have made the merry goblins disappear."
[58] "Curiosities of Literature."
[59] "Memoirs of Ben Jonson."
[60] "Progresses of King James the First."
[61] Cassell's "History of England."
[62] This portion is inserted to introduce _the Prince's
Triumph_, as they are termed.
[63] Cassell's "History of England."
[64] Nichols's "Progresses."
[65] "Camden's Annals."
[66] "Progresses."
[67] "Library of English Literature."
[68] "Dæmonologie," by King James I.
CHAPTER IX.
CHRISTMAS UNDER CHARLES I. AND THE
COMMONWEALTH.
(1625-1660.)
KING CHARLES THE FIRST
was the second son of James I. and of Anne, daughter of Frederick
III., King of Denmark, and he came to the throne on the death of his
father in March 1625. As Prince Charles he had taken part in the Court
entertainments of Christmastide, and had particularly distinguished
himself in Ben Jonson's masque, "The Vision of Delight." These
magnificent Christmas masques were continued after Charles's accession
to the throne until the troubles of his reign stopped them.
Gifford[69] mentions that Jonson's "Masque of Owls" was presented at
Kenilworth Castle, "By the Ghost of Captain Cox mounted on his
Hobby-horse, in 1626":--
"_Enter_ Captain Cox, _on his Hobby-horse._
Room! room! for my horse will wince,
If he come within so many yards of a prince;
And though he have not on his wings,
He will do strange things,
He is the Pegasus that uses
To wait on Warwick Muses;
And on gaudy-days he paces
Before the Coventry Graces;
For to tell you true, and in rhyme,
He was foal'd in Queen Elizabeth's time,
When the great Earl of Lester
In this castle did feast her."
[Illustration: THE HOBBY-HORSE.]
Jonson's "The Fortunate Isles, and Their Union," a masque designed for
the Court, was presented on Twelfth Night, 1626; and "Love's Triumph
through Callipolis" (a masque invented by Ben Jonson and Inigo Jones)
was presented at Court in 1630.
THE LORD OF MISRULE
also made merry at Christmas at this period; but it sometimes happened
that when he went forth with his band of merry men, they got into
trouble. An instance of this, which occurred in 1627, is recorded in
one of Meade's letters to Sir Martin Stuteville. The letter is worth
reprinting as an illustration of the manners of the age, and as
relating to what was probably the last Lord of Misrule elected by the
barristers. Meade writes:--"On Saturday the Templars chose one Mr.
Palmer their Lord of Misrule, who, on Twelfth-eve, late in the night,
sent out to gather up his rents at five shillings a house in Ram-alley
and Fleet Street. At every door they came to they winded the
Temple-horn, and if at the second blast or summons they within opened
not the door, then the Lord of Misrule cried out, 'Give fire, gunner!'
His gunner was a robustious Vulcan, and the gun or petard itself was a
huge overgrown smith's hammer. This being complained of to my Lord
Mayor, he said he would be with them about eleven o'clock on Sunday
night last; willing that all that ward should attend him with their
halberds, and that himself, besides those that came out of his house,
should bring the watches along with him. His lordship, thus attended,
advanced as high as Ram-alley in martial equipage: when forth came the
Lord of Misrule, attended by his gallants, out of the Temple-gate,
with their swords all armed _in cuerpo_. A halberdier bade the Lord of
Misrule come to my Lord Mayor. He answered, No! let the Lord Mayor
come to me! At length they agreed to meet halfway: and, as the
interview of rival princes is never without danger of some ill
accident, so it happened in this: for first, Mr. Palmer being
quarrelled with for not pulling off his hat to my Lord Mayor, and
giving cross answers, the halberds began to fly about his ears, and he
and his company to brandish their swords. At last being beaten to the
ground, and the Lord of Misrule sore wounded, they were fain to yield
to the longer and more numerous weapon. My Lord Mayor taking Mr.
Palmer by the shoulder, led him to the Compter, and thrust him in at
the prison-gate with a kind of indignation; and so, notwithstanding
his hurts, he was forced to lie among the common prisoners for two
nights. On Tuesday the King's attorney became a suitor to my Lord
Mayor for their liberty: which his lordship granted, upon condition
that they should repay the gathered rents, and do reparations upon
broken doors. Thus the game ended. Mr. Attorney-General, being of the
same house, fetched them in his own coach, and carried them to the
court, where the King himself reconciled my Lord Mayor and them
together with joining all hands; the gentlemen of the Temple being
this Shrovetide to present a Mask to their majesties, over and besides
the King's own great Mask, to be performed at the Banquetting-house by
an hundred actors."
We get other glances at
THE CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES IN THE 17TH CENTURY
through contemporary writers of the period. Nicholas Breton,[70]
writing in merry mood, says: "It is now Christmas, and not a cup of
drink must pass without a carol; the beasts, fowl, and fish come to a
general execution, and the corn is ground to dust for the bakehouse
and the pastry: cards and dice purge many a purse, and the youth show
their agility in shoeing of the wild mare: now, good cheer, and
welcome, and God be with you, and I thank you:--and against the New
Year provide for the presents:--The Lord of Misrule is no mean man for
his time, and the guests of the high table must lack no wine: the
lusty bloods must look about them like men, and piping and dancing
puts away much melancholy: stolen venison is sweet, and a fat coney is
worth money: pit-falls are now set for small birds, and a woodcock
hangs himself in a gin: a good fire heats all the house, and a full
alms-basket makes the beggar's prayers:--the maskers and the mummers
make the merry sport, but if they lose their money their drum goes
dead: swearers and swaggerers are sent away to the ale-house, and
unruly wenches go in danger of judgment; musicians now make their
instruments speak out, and a good song is worth the hearing. In sum it
is a holy time, a duty in Christians for the remembrance of Christ and
custom among friends for the maintenance of good fellowship. In brief
I thus conclude it: I hold it a memory of the Heaven's love and the
world's peace, the mirth of the honest, and the meeting of the
friendly. Farewell."
In 1633, William Prynne, a Puritan lawyer, published his
"Histriomastix," against plays, masques, balls, the decking of houses
with evergreens at Christmas, &c., for which he was committed to the
Tower, prosecuted in the Star Chamber, and sentenced to pay a fine to
the King of £5,000, to be expelled from the University of Oxford, from
the Society of Lincoln's Inn, and from his profession of the law; to
stand twice in the pillory, each time losing an ear; to have his book
burnt before his face by the hangman; and to suffer perpetual
imprisonment: a most barbarous sentence, which Green[71] says, "showed
the hard cruelty of the Primate."
Milton's masque of "Comus" was produced the following year (1634) for
performance at Ludlow Castle, in Shropshire, which was the seat of
government for the Principality of Wales, the Earl of Bridgewater
being then the Lord President, and having a jurisdiction and military
command that comprised the English counties of Gloucester, Worcester,
Hereford and Shropshire. Ludlow Castle was to the Lord President of
Wales of that period what Dublin Castle is to the Lord Lieutenant of
Ireland in the present day; and, as hospitality was one of the duties
of the Lord President's office, the Earl and Countess of Bridgewater
gave a grand entertainment to the country people, in which the masque
of "Comus" was an important feature. The music was composed by the
eminent musician Henry Lawes, and the masque was adapted for
performance by the family of the earl and countess, who then had ten
children--eight daughters and two sons.
It is quite refreshing to think of the author of "Paradise Lost," with
his friend Lawes, the musician, among the country dancers, listening
to the song of the attendant spirit:--
"Back, shepherds, back; enough your play
Till next sun-shine holiday:
Here be, without duck or nod,
Other trippings to be trod
Of lighter toes, and such court guise
As Mercury did first devise
With the mincing Dryades,
On the lawns, and on the leas."
"But Milton was a courtier when he wrote the Masque at Ludlow Castle,"
says Charles Lamb, "and still more of a courtier when he composed the
'Arcades'" (a masque, or entertainment presented to the Countess
Dowager of Derby, at Harefield, by some noble persons of her family).
"When the national struggle was to begin, he becomingly cast these
varieties behind him."
From "Archæologia" (vol. xviii. p. 335), we learn that "Richard
Evelyn, Esq., High Sheriff of Surrey and Sussex in 1634, held a
splendid Christmas at his mansion at Wotton, having a regular Lord of
Misrule for the occasion: and it appears it was then the custom for
the neighbours to send presents of eatables to provide for the great
consumption consequent upon such entertainments. The following is a
list of those sent on this occasion: two sides of venison, two half
brawns, three pigs, ninety capons, five geese, six turkeys, four
rabbits, eight partridges, two pullets, five sugar loaves, half a
pound of nutmeg, one basket of apples, two baskets of pears."
Hone[72] states that "in the ninth year of King Charles I. the four
Inns of Court provided a Christmas mask, which cost £2,400, and the
King invited a hundred and twenty gentlemen of the four Inns to a mask
at Whitehall on Shrove Tuesday following." And Sandys says that on the
13th December, 1637, a warrant under Privy Seal was issued to 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 £1,400 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 the 3rd of January, 1639.
In connection with the entertainments at the Inns of Court, Sandys
mentions that by an order, 17th November, 4th Charles I., all playing
at dice, cards, or otherwise was forbidden at Gray's Inn, except
during the 20 days in Christmas.
As indicating the prolongation of the Christmas revels at this period,
it is recorded that in February, 1633, there was a celebrated masque,
called "The Triumph of Peace," presented jointly by the two Temples,
Lincoln's Inn and Gray's Inn, which cost the Societies about £20,000.
Evelyn, in his "Memoirs," relates, that on the 15th December, 1641, he
was elected one of the Comptrollers of the Middle Temple revellers,
"as the custom of ye young students and gentlemen was, the Christmas
being kept this yeare with greate solemnity"; but he got excused.
An order still existed directing the nobility and gentry who had
mansions in the country "to repair to them to keep hospitality meet to
their degrees;" for a note in Collier's History states that Sir J.
Astley, on the 20th of March, 1637, in consequence of ill-health,
obtained a license to reside in London, or where he pleased, at
Christmas, or any other times; which proves such license to have been
requisite.
At this period noblemen and gentlemen lived like petty princes, and in
the arrangement of their households copied their sovereign, having
officers of the same 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 were 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 time which repaid his former toils; and gratitude for
worldly comforts then received caused him to reflect on the eternal
blessings bestowed on mankind by the event then commemorated.
[Illustration: SERVANTS' CHRISTMAS FEAST.]
Of all our English poets, Robert Herrick, a writer of the seventeenth
century, has left us the most complete contemporary picture of the
Christmas season. He was born in Cheapside, London, and received his
early education, it is supposed, at Westminster School, whence he
removed to Cambridge, and after taking his M.A. degree in 1620, left
Cambridge. He afterwards spent some years in London in familiar
intercourse with the wits and writers of the age, enjoying those
"lyric feasts" which are celebrated in his "Ode to Ben Jonson":--
"Ah Ben!
Say how or when
Shall we, thy guests
Meet at those lyric feasts
Made at the Sun,
The Dog, the Triple Tun;
Where we such clusters had
As made us nobly wild, not mad?
And yet each verse of thine
Outdid the meat, outdid the frolic wine."
In 1629 he accepted the living of Dean Prior, in Devonshire, where he
lived as a bachelor Vicar, being ejected by the Long Parliament,
returning on the Restoration under Charles the Second, and dying at
length at the age of eighty-four. He was buried in the Church at Dean
Prior, where a memorial tablet has latterly been erected to his
memory. And it is fitting that he should die and be buried in the
quiet Devonshire hamlet from which he drew so much of his happiest
inspiration, and which will always be associated now with the endless
charm of the "Hesperides."
In "A New Year's Gift, sent to Sir Simeon Steward," included in his
"Hesperides," Herrick refers to the Christmas sports of the time, and
says:--
"No new device or late-found trick
* * * * *
We send you; but here a jolly
Verse crowned with ivy and with holly;
That tells of winter's tales and mirth,
That milk-maids make about the hearth,
Of Christmas sports, the Wassail bowl,
That's tossed up after Fox-i'-th'-hole;
Of Blind-man's-buff, and of the care
That young men have to shoe the Mare;
Of Twelfth-tide cake, of peas and beans,
Wherewith ye make those merry scenes,
When as ye choose your king and queen,
And cry out, 'Hey for our town green.'
Of ash-heaps in the which ye use
Husbands and wives by streaks to choose:
Of crackling laurel, which fore-sounds
A plenteous harvest to your grounds;
Of these, and such like things, for shift,
We send instead of New-year's gift.
Read then, and when your faces shine
With bucksome meat and cap'ring wine,
Remember us in cups full crowned,
And let our city's health go round,
Quite through the young maids and the men,
To the ninth number, if not ten,
Until the firèd chestnuts leap
For joy to see the fruits ye reap,
From the plump chalice and the cup
That tempts till it be tossèd up.
Then as ye sit about your embers,
Call not to mind those fled Decembers;
But think on these, that are t' appear,
As daughters to the instant year;
Sit crowned with rose-buds and carouse,
Till _Liber Pater_ twirls the house
About your ears, and lay upon
The year, your cares, that's fled and gone.
And let the russet swains the plough
And harrow hang up resting now;
And to the bagpipe all address
Till sleep takes place of weariness.
And thus, throughout, with Christmas plays,
Frolic the full twelve holy-days."
SIR ISAAC NEWTON'S BIRTH, ON CHRISTMAS DAY,
at Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, was the most important Christmas event
of the memorable year which saw the outbreak of the Civil War (1642).
In the year of the Restoration he entered Cambridge, where the
teaching of Isaac Barrow quickened his genius for mathematics, and
from the time he left College his life became a series of wonderful
physical discoveries. As early as 1666, he discovered the law of
gravitation, but it was not till the eve of the Revolution that his
"Principia" revealed to the world his new theory of the universe.
THE CUSTOMS OF CHRISTMASTIDE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
"A Christmas Carol," by George Wither, a well-known poet of this
period, contains many allusions to the customs of Christmastide:--
So, now is come our joyful'st feast;
Let every man be jolly;
Each room with ivy leaves is drest,
And every post with holly.
Though some churls at our mirth repine,
Round your foreheads garlands twine;
Drown sorrow in a cup of wine,
And let us all be merry.
Now all our neighbours' chimneys smoke,
And Christmas blocks are burning;
Their ovens they with baked meats choke,
And all their spits are turning.
Without the door let sorrow lie;
And if for cold it hap to die,
We'll bury 't in a Christmas pie,
And ever more be merry.
Now every lad is wondrous trim,
And no man minds his labour;
Our lasses have provided them
A bag-pipe and a tabour;
Young men and maids, and girls and boys,
Give life to one another's joys;
And you anon shall by their noise
Perceive that they are merry.
Rank misers now do sparing shun;
Their hall of music soundeth;
And dogs thence with whole shoulders run,
So all things there aboundeth.
The country folks themselves advance
With crowdy-muttons[73] out of France;
And Jack shall pipe, and Jill shall dance,
And all the town be merry.
Ned Squash hath fetched his bands from pawn,
And all his best apparel;
Brisk Nell hath bought a ruff of lawn
With droppings of the barrel;
And those that hardly all the year
Had bread to eat, or rags to wear,
Will have both clothes and dainty fare,
And all the day be merry.
Now poor men to the justices
With capons make their errants;
And if they hap to fail of these;
They plague them with their warrants;
But now they feed them with good cheer.
And what they want they take in beer;
For Christmas comes but once a year,
And then they shall be merry.
Good farmers in the country nurse
The poor that else were undone;
Some landlords spend their money worse,
On lust and pride at London.
There the roys'ters they do play,
Drab and dice their lands away,
Which may be ours another day;
And therefore let's be merry.
The client now his suit forbears,
The prisoner's heart is eased:
The debtor drinks away his cares,
And for the time is pleased.
Though other purses be more fat,
Why should we pine or grieve at that?
Hang sorrow! care will kill a cat,
And therefore let's be merry.
Hark! how the wags abroad do call
Each other forth to rambling:
Anon you'll see them in the hall
For nuts and apples scrambling.
Hark! how the roofs with laughter sound!
Anon they'll think the house goes round,
For they the cellar's depth have found,
And there they will be merry.
The wenches with their wassail bowls
About the streets are singing;
The boys are come to catch the owls,
The wild mare in is bringing.
Our kitchen-boy hath broke his box,[74]
And to the dealing of the ox
Our honest neighbours come by flocks,
And here they will be merry.
Now kings and queens poor sheep cotes have,
And mate with everybody;
The honest now may play the knave,
And wise men play the noddy.
Some youths will now a mumming go,
Some others play at Rowland-ho
And twenty other gambols mo,
Because they will be merry.
Then wherefore in these merry days
Should we, I pray, be duller?
No, let us sing some roundelays,
To make our mirth the fuller.
And, whilst thus inspired we sing,
Let all the streets with echoes ring,
Woods and hills, and everything,
Bear witness we are merry.
The preceding poem was evidently written by Wither before the Civil
War troubles of the reign of Charles the First had interfered to damp
the national hilarity, or check the rejoicings at the festive season
of Christmas.
THE DEFEAT OF THE ROYALISTS,
the overthrow of the monarchy, and the changes resulting therefrom at
Christmastide are alluded to in "The Complaint of Christmas, written
after Twelftide, and printed before Candlemas, 1646," by old John
Taylor, the Water Poet, who says: "All the liberty and harmless
sports, the merry gambols, dances and friscols, with which the toiling
ploughman and labourer once a year were wont to be recreated, and
their spirits and hopes revived for a whole twelvemonth, are now
extinct and put out of use, in such a fashion as if they never had
been. Thus are the merry lords of bad rule at Westminster; nay, more,
their madness hath extended itself to the very vegetables; senseless
trees, herbs, and weeds, are in a profane estimation amongst
them--holly, ivy, mistletoe, rosemary, bays, are accounted ungodly
branches of superstition for your entertainment. And to roast a
sirloin of beef, to touch a collar of brawn, to take a pie, to put a
plum in the pottage pot, to burn a great candle, or to lay one block
the more in the fire for your sake, Master Christmas, is enough to
make a man to be suspected and taken for a Christian, for which he
shall be apprehended for committing high Parliament Treason and mighty
malignancy against the general Council of the Directorian private
Presbyterian Conventicle."
With the success of the Parliamentarians, certain changes came in the
ruling manners of the age; but
THE ATTEMPT TO ABOLISH CHRISTMAS DAY
was, of course, a signal failure. The event commemorated made it
impossible for the commemoration to cease. Men may differ as to the
mode of celebration, but the Christ must and will be celebrated.
"In 1642," says Sandys, "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. 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 festivals and holy days; 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."
In describing "The First Christmas under the Puritan Directory," the
_Saturday Review_ (December 27, 1884) says:--"It must have been taken
as a piece of good luck by the Parliamentary and Puritanical masters
of England, or, as they would have said, as 'a providence,' that the
Christmas Day of 1645 fell upon a week-day. It was the first Christmas
Day after the legislative abolition of the Anglican Prayer-book and
the establishment of 'the Directory' in its stead; and, if it had
fallen upon a Sunday, the Churches must have been opened. A 'Sabbath'
could not be ignored, even though it chanced to be the 25th of
December. There can be small doubt that, if the Presbyterian and
Independent preachers who held all the English parishes subject to the
Parliament had been obliged to go into the pulpits on the 25th of
December 1645, they would again have irritated the masses of the
people by ferociously 'improving the occasion.' The Parliament had not
the courage to repeat the brutal experiment of the previous year. It
was easy to abolish the feast by an ordinance; but it was risky to
insist by an ordinance that the English people and English families
should keep the dearest and most sacred of their festivals as a fast.
The rulers knew that such an ordinance would not be obeyed. They
resolved simply to ignore the day, or treat it as any ordinary
Thursday. Doubtless many of the members kept up some sort of
celebration of the old family festival in their own private houses.
But the legislators marched solemnly to the Lower House, and the
'divines' marched as solemnly to the Assembly in the Jerusalem
Chamber, affecting to take no notice of the unusual aspect of the
shops and streets, which everywhere bore witness to the fact that
there was a deep and fundamental estrangement between 'the State' and
'the people,' and that the people were actually keeping the festival
which the 'Synod' had declared to be profane and superstitious, and
which the Parliament to please the Scots, the Nonconformists, and the
Sectaries, had abolished by law. 'Notwithstanding the Ordinance,'
wrote a Member of the House of Commons, the Erastian Whitelock, in his
'Memorials,' 'yet generally this day, in London, the shops were shut
and the day observed.' The Christmas number of the _Mercurius
Academicus_ (December 25 to 31, 1645), states that General Browne, who
was a Presbyterian zealot, 'proclaimed' the abolition of Christmas
Day at Abingdon, and 'sent out his warrants for men to work on
that day especially.' ... The Parliamentary newspaper, _The Weekly
Account_, (LIII. week, 1645), has the bald record: 'Thursday, Decemb.
25. The Commons sate in a Grand Committee concerning the privileges of
members of their House.' The news in the Tuesday paper, _The
Kingdome's Weekly Intelligencer_ (No. 152), is equally thin:
'Thursday, Decemb. 25, vulgarly known by the name of Christmas Day,
both Houses sate. The House of Commons more especially debated some
things in reference to the privileges of that House, and made some
orders therein.' ... The Presbyterian and Independent divines spent
Christmas Day in the 'Synod' of Westminster. December the 25th, 1645,
was entered in their minutes as 'Session 561.' ... The City newspaper
of that period, _Mercurius Civicus, or London's Intelligencer_, in
what we may call its Christmas number (No. 135, December 18 to
December 24, 1645), printed an article explaining to the citizens of
London the absurdity, if not the impiety, of keeping Christmas Day.
Every good citizen was expected to open his shop as usual on the
coming Thursday, and compel his apprentices to keep behind the
counter. The City newspaper stated, that it was more probable that the
Saviour was born in September than in December, and quotes 'a late
reverend minister's opinion, that God did conceale the time when
Christ was borne, upon the same reason that He tooke away the body of
Moses, that they might not put an holinesse upon that day.' If the
apprentices want a holiday, 'let them keep the fift of November, and
other dayes of that nature, or the late great mercy of God in the
taking of Hereford, which deserves an especiall day of thanksgiving.'
The mass of the English folk meanwhile protested by all such ways as
were open to them against the outlandish new religion which was being
invented for them. The _Mercuricus Civicus_ complained that, 'Many
people in these times are too much addicted to the superstitious
observance of this day, December 25th, and other saints days, as they
are called.' It was asked in a 'Hue and Cry after Christmas,'
published anonymously at the end of the year 1645, 'Where may
Christmas be found?' The answer is, 'In the corner of a translator's
shop, where the cobbler was wont so merrily to chant his carols.' _The
Moderate Intelligencer_, which devoted itself to 'impartially
communicating martiall affaires,' in its forty-third number (December
25, 1645, to January 1, 1646), expressed itself as scandalized at the
zeal with which the English people, in spite of Parliament and the
Assembly, had kept their Christmas. Social phenomena lay beyond the
usual ken of the military chroniclers; but 'we shall only observe,'
they wrote, 'the loathnesse of the People to part with it, which
certainly argues a greater adoration than should have been. Hardly
forty shops were open within the lines upon that day. The State hath
done well to null it out of this respect, as Moses did the Brazen
Serpent.' The Scriptural knowledge of the Puritan military newsmen was
curiously at fault; they evidently confounded Moses with Hezekiah,
unless they substituted the lawgiver for the king, because they
thought it unwise to represent the King as the foe of idolatry. The
traditional scorn of the Pharisee for the common people which know not
the law comes out in the ironical passage with which the 'martiall'
organ concludes its reference to the distressing social symptom; 'Sure
if there were an ordinance for recreation and labour upon the Lord's
Day, or Sabbath (like the prelatical Book of Sports), these would want
no observers. Unwillingness to obey, in a multitude, argues generally
the goodnesse of a law, readinesse the contrary, especially in those
laws which have anything of religion in them.' Hence the puritanical
tyrants thought the observation of Christmas Day should be visited in
future years with more severe penalties. A few days after Christmas a
pamphlet was issued under the title of 'The Arraignment, Conviction,
and Imprisonment of Christmas.' A letter from a 'Malignant scholar' in
Oxford, where Christmas had been observed as usual, to 'a Malignant
lady in London,' had contained the promise or threat, according to the
pamphleteer, that the King would shortly appear in London, and restore
to his poor people their old social and religious liberties. 'We shall
soon be in London, and have all things as they were wont.' There was
small chance, six months after Naseby, of the fulfilment of the
prediction. The puritanical pamphleteer, however, owns that it would
be welcome to 'every 'prentice boy,' because the return of the King
would have meant the return of a free Christmas, which he sorely
missed. 'All popish, prelatical, Jesuitical, ignorant, Judaical, and
superstitious persons,' said he, 'ask after the old, old, old, very
old grey-bearded gentleman called Christmas, who was wont to be a very
familiar ghest (_sic_). Whoever finds him again shall be rewarded with
a benediction from the Pope, a hundred oaths from the Cavaliers, forty
kisses from the wanton wenches, and be made pursuivant to the next
Archbishop.' 'The poor,' he added, 'are sorry for it. They go to every
door a-begging, as they were wont to do, 'Good Mistress, somewhat
against this good time.' Instead of going to the alehouse to be
drunke, they are fain to work all the holy dayes.' Again, 'The
schollars come into the hall, where their hungry stomacks had thought
to have found good brawne and Christmas pie, roast-beef and
plum-porridge. But no such matter. Away, ye profane! These are
superstitious meats; your stomacks must be fed with sound doctrine.'"
In the _National Magazine_ (1857), Dr. Doran, on "The Ups and Downs of
Christmas," remarks upon the stout resistance given by the citizens of
London to the order of the Puritan Parliament, that shops should be
opened and churches closed on Christmas Day. "We may have a sermon on
any other day," said the London apprentices, who did not always go to
hear it, "why should we be deprived on this day?" "It is no longer
lawful for the day to be kept," was the reply. "Nay," exclaimed the
sharp-witted fellows, "you keep it yourselves by thus distinguishing
it by desecration." "They declared," says Dr. Doran, "they would go to
church; numerous preachers promised to be ready for them with prayer
and lecture; and the porters of Cornhill swore they would dress up
their conduit with holly, if it were only to prove that in that
orthodox and heavily-enduring body there was some respect yet left for
Christianity and hard drinking--for the raising of the holly was ever
accompanied by the lifting of tankards.
"Nor was the gallant Christmas spirit less lively in the country than
in the capital. At Oxford there was a world of skull-breaking; and at
Ipswich the festival was celebrated by some loss of life. Canterbury
especially distinguished itself by its violent opposition to the
municipal order to be mirthless. There was a combat there, which was
most rudely maintained, and in which the mayor got pummelled until he
was as senseless as a pocket of hops. The mob mauled him terribly,
broke all his windows, as well as his bones, and, as we are told,
'burnt the stoupes at the coming in of his door.' So serious was the
riot, so complete the popular victory, and so jubilant the exultation,
that thousands of the never-conquered men of Kent and Kentish men met
in Canterbury, and passed a solemn resolution that if they could not
have their Christmas Day, they were determined to have the King on his
throne again."
Of the Canterbury riot an account is given in a rare tract, published
in 1647 (preserved in the British Museum), and entitled--
"The Declaration of many thousands of the city of Canterbury, or
county of Kent. Concerning the late tumult in the city of Canterbury,
provokt by the Mayor's violent proceedings against those who desired
to continue the celebration of the Feast of Christ's Nativity, 1,500
years and upwards maintained in the Church. Together with their
Resolutions for the restitution of His Majestie to his Crown and
dignity, whereby Religion may be restored to its ancient splendour,
and the known Laws of this Kingdom maintained. As also their desires
to all His Majesties loyall subjects within his Dominions, for their
concurrence and assistance in this so good and pious a work."
The resolutions of the Canterbury citizens were not couched in the
choicest terms, for the tract states that the two Houses of Parliament
"have sate above seven years to hatch Cocatrices and Vipers, they have
filled the kingdom with Serpents, bloodthirsty Souldiers, extorting
Committees, Sequestrators, Excisemen; all the Rogues and scumme of the
kingdom have they set on work to torment and vex the people, to rob
them, and to eat the bread out of their mouthes; they have raised a
causelesse and unnaturall Warre against their own Soveraigne Lord and
King, a most pious Christian Prince, contrary to their allegiance and
duty, and have shed innocent blood in this Land. Religion is onely
talkt of, nothing done; they have put down what is good," &c., &c. And
further on the tract says:--"The cause of this so sudden a posture of
defence which we have put our selves into was the violent proceedings
of the Mayor of this city of Canterbury and his uncivill carriage in
persuance of some petty order of the House of Commons for hindering
the celebration of Christ's Nativity so long continued in the Church
of God. That which we so much desired that day was but a Sermon, which
any other day of the weeke was tollerable by the orders and practise
of the two Houses and all their adherents, but that day (because it
was Christ's birth day) we must have none; that which is good all the
yeer long, yet is this day superstitious. The Mayor causing some of us
to be beaten contrary to his oath and office, who ought to preserve
the peace, and to that purpose chiefly is the sword of justice put
into his hands, and wrongfully imprisoned divers of us, because we did
assemble ourselves to hear the Word of God, which he was pleased to
interpret a Ryot; yet we were unarmed, behaved ourselves civilly,
intended no such tumult as afterwards we were forc'd unto; but at
last, seeing the manifest wrong done to our children, servants, and
neighbours, by beating, wounding, and imprisoning them, and to release
them that were imprisoned, and did call unto our assistance our
brethren of the county of Kent, who very readily came in to us, as
have associated themselves to us in this our just and lawfull defence,
and do concurre with us in this our Remonstrance concerning the King
Majestie, and the settlement of the peace in this Kingdome." And the
tract afterwards expresses the desire that "all his Majesties loyall
subjects within his Dominions" will "readily and cheerfully concurre
and assist in this so good and pious a work."
Among the single sheets in the British Museum is an order of
Parliament, dated the 24th of December, 1652, directing,
"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."
Referring to the celebration of Christmas Day in 1657, Evelyn says:--
"I went to London with my wife to celebrate Christmas Day, Mr. Gunning
preaching in Exeter Chapel, on Micah vii. 2. Sermon ended; as he was
giving us the Holy Sacrament the chapel was surrounded with soldiers,
and all the communicants and assembly surprised and kept prisoners by
them, some in the house, others carried away. It fell to my share to
be confined to a room in the house, where yet I was permitted to dine
with the master of it, the Countess of Dorset, Lady Hatton, and some
others of quality who invited me. In the afternoon came Colonel
Whalley, Goffe, and others from Whitehall to examine us one by one;
some they committed to the Marshal, some to prison. When I came before
them they took my name and abode, examined me why, contrary to the
ordinance made that none should any longer observe the superstitious
time of the Nativity (as esteemed by them), I durst offend, and
particularly be at Common Prayers, which they told me was but the mass
in English, and particularly pray for Charles Stuart, for which we had
no Scripture. I told them we did not pray for Charles Stuart, but for
all Christian kings, princes, and governors. They replied, in so doing
we prayed for the King of Spain too, who was their enemy and a Papist;
with other frivolous and ensnaring questions and much threatening,
and, finding no colour to detain me, they dismissed me with much pity
of my ignorance. These were men of high flight and above ordinances,
and spake spiteful things of our Lord's Nativity. As we went up to
receive the sacrament the miscreants held their muskets against us, as
if they would have shot us at the altar, but yet suffering us to
finish the office of communion, as perhaps not having instructions
what to do in case they found us in that action; so I got home late
the next day, blessed be God!"
Notwithstanding the adverse acts of the Puritans, however, and the
suppression of Christmas observances in high places, the old customs
and festivities were still observed in different parts of the country,
though with less ostentation than formerly; and various publications
appeared which plainly showed that the popular sentiments were in
favour of the festivities. The motto of No. 37 of _Mercurius
Democritus_, from December 22, 1652, begins:
"Old Christmas now is come to town
Though few do him regard,
He laughs to see them going down
That have put down his Lord."
In "The Vindication of Father Christmas," 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. "But welcome, or not welcome, I am come," he says,
and then states that his "best and freest welcome was with some kinde
of country farmers in Devonshire," thus describing his entertainment
among them:--"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 lamb wool. After which we discoursed merily,
without either prophaneness or obscenity; some went to cards; others
sung carols and pleasant songs (suitable to the times), and 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,
"Let's dance and sing, and make good chear,
For Christmas comes but once a year:
Draw hogsheads dry, let flagons fly,
For now the bells shall ring;
Whilst we endeavour to make good
The title 'gainst a King.
"Thus at active games, and gambols of hot cockles, shooing the wild
mare, and the like harmless sports, some part of the tedious night was
spent."
[Illustration]
THE NATIONAL TROUBLES
were not brought to an end by the execution of Charles I. on the 30th
of January, 1649. In addition to the rioting caused by the attempt to
abolish the festival of Christmas by law, the Lord Protector (Oliver
Cromwell) had to struggle against discontented republicans and also
against fresh outbreaks of the Royalists; and, although able to carry
on the Protectorate to the end of his own life, Cromwell was unable to
secure a strong successor. He died on September 3, 1658, having on his
deathbed nominated his son Richard to succeed him. Richard Cromwell
was accepted in England and by the European Powers, and carried
himself discreetly in his new position. A Parliament was assembled on
January 17, 1659, which recognised the new Protector, but the
republican minority, headed by Vane and Haselrig, united with the
officers of the army, headed by Lambert, Fleetwood, and Desborough, to
force him to dissolve Parliament (April 22, 1659). The Protector's
supporters urged him to meet force by force, but he replied, "I will
not have a drop of blood spilt for the preservation of my greatness,
which is a burden to me." He signed a formal abdication (May, 1659),
in return for which the restored Rump undertook the discharge of his
debts. After the Restoration Richard Cromwell fled to the Continent,
where he remained for many years, returning to England in 1680. A
portion of his property was afterwards restored to him. He died at
Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, in 1712.
On Richard Cromwell declining to uphold the Protectorate by force of
arms, the only hope of establishing a settled form of government and
of saving the country from a military despotism seemed to be in the
restoration of the monarchy; therefore, chiefly through the
instrumentality of General Monk, Charles, the son of Charles I. and
Henrietta Maria, was invited to return to England. He at once
responded, and entered London in triumph as Charles II., on May 29,
1660, having previously signed the declaration of Breda. By this
declaration the King granted a free and general pardon to all "who
within forty days after the publishing hereof shall lay hold upon this
our grace and favour, and shall by any public act declare their doing
so," except such as the Parliament of both houses should except.
[69] "Works of Ben Jonson."
[70] "Fantasticks," 1626.
[71] "History of the English People."
[72] "Year Book."
[73] Fiddlers.
[74] An allusion to the Christmas money-box, made of
earthenware which required to be broken to obtain
possession of the money it held.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER X.
CHRISTMAS FROM THE RESTORATION TO
THE DEATH OF GEORGE II.
(1660-1760.)
[Illustration]
THE RESTORATION OF THE MONARCHY
under Charles II., sometimes styled the "Merry Monarch," was an
occasion of great rejoicing, and the spirit in which the
so-long-fugitive Prince, who once eluded his pursuers by hiding in an
oak, was now welcomed as "Charles our King" by "the roaring, ranting"
portion of the populace is set forth in the following ballad, written
for the first Christmas after the Restoration, printed in London, the
same year, and now copied from a collection of illustrated broadsides
preserved in the Library of the British Museum:--
MERRY BOYS OF CHRISTMAS,
OR
The Milk-maid's New Year's Gift.
When Lads and Lasses take delight,
together for to be;
They pass away the Winter night,
and live most merrily.
To the tune of, _Hey boys up go we_.
Come, come my roaring ranting boys
lets never be cast down,
We'l never mind the female toys,
but Loyal be to th' Crown:
We'l never break our hearts with care,
nor be cast down with fear,
Our bellys then let us prepare
to drink some Christmas Beer.
Then here's a health to Charles our King,
throughout the world admir'd,
Let us his great applauses sing,
that we so much desir'd,
And wisht amongst us for to reign,
when Oliver rul'd here,
But since he's home return'd again,
come fill some Christmas Beer.
These holidays we'l briskly drink,
all mirth we will devise,
No Treason we will speak or think,
then bring us brave minc'd pies
Roast Beef and brave Plum porridge,
our Loyal hearts to chear,
Then prithee make no more ado,
but bring us Christmas Beer.
[Illustration: "THE HACKIN"]
[In these Times all the Spits were sparkling the _Hackin_ must be boiled
by Daybreak or else two young Men took the Maiden by the Arms and run
her round the Market Place till she was ashamed of her laziness.--_Round
about our Coal Fire or Christmas Entertainments_ published in 1740.]
Many of the popular songs of this period complain of the decline of
the Christmas celebrations during the time of the Commonwealth, and
some of them contrast the present with former celebrations. In a
ballad called "The Old and Young Courtier," printed in 1670, comparing
the times of Queen Elizabeth with those of her successors, the fifth
and twelfth verses contain the following parallel respecting
Christmas--
V
"With a good old fashion, when Christmasse was come,
To call in all his old neighbours with bagpipe and drum,
With good chear enough to furnish every old room,
And old liquor, able to make a cat speak, and man dumb
Like an old Courtier of the Queen's,
And the Queen's old Courtier"
XII
"With a new fashion, when Christmas is drawing on,
On a new journey to London straight we all must begone,
And leave none to keep house, but our new porter John,
Who relieves the poor with a thump on the back with a stone,
Like a young courtier of the King's,
And the King's young courtier"
(_Percy's Reliques_)
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,"
says--
"A man might then behold,
At Christmas, in each hall,
Good fires to curb the cold
And meat for great and small;
The neighbours were friendly bidden,
And all had welcome true,
The poor from the gates were not chidden,
When this old cap was new
Black jacks to every man
Were filled with wine and beer,
No pewter pot nor can
In those days did appear
Good cheer in a nobleman's house
Was counted a seemly shew,
We wanted no brawn nor souse,
When this old cap was new."
(_Evans's Ballads_)
Referring to the Restoration of the monarchy, and contrasting it with
the Protectorate period, _Poor Robin's Almanack_, 1685, says--
"Now thanks to God for Charles' return,
Whose absence made old Christmas mourn,
For then we scarcely did it know,
Whether it Christmas were or no
* * * * *
To feast the poor was counted sin,
When treason that great praise did win
May we ne'er see the like again,
The roguish Rump should o'er us reign."
After the Restoration an effort was made to revive the Christmas
entertainments of the Court at Whitehall, but they do not appear 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 Puritans. Pepys states that Charles II.
visited Lincoln's Inn to see the Christmas revels of 1661, "there
being, according to an old custom, a Prince and all his nobles, and
other matters of sport and charge." And the diary of the Rev. John
Ward, vicar of Stratford-upon-Avon, extending from 1648 to 1679,
states: "The Duke of Norfolk expended £20,000 in keeping Christmas.
Charles II. gave over keeping that festival on this account; his
munificence gave great offence at Court." Sandys mentions that a
pastoral 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 evidently not so much coveted as in former times, for there
is an entry in the records of Gray's Inn on November 3, 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.
Among the principal of the royal amusements in the time of Charles the
Second were horse-racing and theatrical performances. The King kept an
establishment at Newmarket, where, according to Strutt, "he entered
horses and ran them in his name." And the author of some doggerel
verses, referring to Burford Downs, says:--
"Next for the glory of the place,
Here has been rode many a race,--
King Charles the Second I saw here;
But I've forgotten in what year."
CHRISTMAS AT SEA IN 1675.
The Rev. Henry Teonge, chaplain of an English ship of war, gives in
his diary 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."
[Illustration]
CHRISTMAS-KEEPING IN THE COUNTRY,
at this period, is referred to by different writers.
Among the Garrick Plays in the British Museum is "_The Christmas
Ordinary, a Private Show_; wherein is expressed the jovial Freedom of
that Festival: as it was acted at a Gentleman's House among other
Revels. By W. R., Master of Arts, 4 to. London, 1682."
The Memoirs of the hospitable Sir John Reresby (Camden Society)
contain references to the Christmas festivities at Thrybergh. In 1682,
there assembled on Christmas Eve nineteen of the poorer tenants from
Denby and Hooton; on Christmas Day twenty-six of the poorer tenants
from Thrybergh, Brinsford, and Mexborough; on St. Stephen's Day
farmers and better sort of tenants to the number of fifty-four; on St.
John's-day forty five of the chief tenants; on the 30th of December
eighteen gentlemen of the neighbourhood with their wives; on the 1st
of January sixteen gentlemen; on the 4th twelve of the neighbouring
clergymen; and on the 6th seven gentlemen and tradesmen. Among the
guests who lodged at the house were "Mr. Rigden, merchant of York, and
his wife, a handsome woman," and "Mr. Belton, an ingenious clergyman,
but too much a good fellow." How the "ingenious clergyman" became "too
much of a good fellow" may be easily guessed from Sir John's further
observation that "_the expense of liquor_, _both of wine & others, was
considerable_, as of other provisions, and my friends appeared well
satisfied." In 1684, writes Sir John, "I returned to Thrybergh, by
God's mercy, in safety, to keep Christmas amongst my neighbours and
tenants. I had more company this Christmas than heretofore. The four
first days of the new year all my tenants of Thrybergh, Brinsford,
Denby, Mexborough, Hooton Roberts, and Rotterham dined with me; the
rest of the time some four-score of gentlemen and yeomen with their
wives were invited, besides some that came from York; so that all the
beds in the house and most in the town were taken up. There were
seldom less than four-score, counting all sorts of people, that dined
in the house every day, and some days many more. On New Year's-day
chiefly there dined above three hundred, so that whole sheep were
roasted and served up to feed them. For music I had four violins,
besides bagpipes, drums, and trumpets."
At Houghton Chapel, Nottinghamshire, says an old writer, "the good Sir
William Hollis kept his house in great splendour and hospitality. He
began Christmas at All Hallowtide, and continued it till Candlemas,
during which time any man was permitted to stay three days without
being asked who he was, or from whence he came." This generous knight
had many guests who rejoiced in the couplet:--
"If I ask'not my guest whence and whither his way,
'Tis because I would have him here with me to stay."
It is no part of our purpose to enter into details of the events which
led up to the Revolution. Suffice it to say, that during the reign of
Charles II. began the great struggle between the King and the people,
but Charles steadily refused to alter the succession by excluding his
brother James. He died on the 6th of February, 1685, and
JAMES II. CAME TO THE THRONE
in the midst of an unsettled state of affairs. James made a bold, but
unsuccessful, attempt to restore the power of Romanism in England,
and, ultimately, consulted his own safety by fleeing to France,
landing at Ambleteuse, in Brittany, on Christmas Day, 1688,
THE CHRISTMAS OF THE REVOLUTION.
The flight of James put an end to the struggle between Crown and
people, and the offering of the Crown, with constitutional
limitations, to William, Prince of Orange, and his wife Mary, daughter
of King James II. and granddaughter of King Charles I. of England,
speedily followed.
WILLIAM AND MARY
accepted the invitation of the English people, and began their reign
on February 13, 1689. They both took an interest in the sports and
pastimes of the people. Strutt says William patronised horse-racing,
"and established an academy for riding; and his queen not only
continued the bounty of her predecessors, but added several plates to
the former donations." The death of Queen Mary, from small-pox, on the
28th of December, 1694, cast a gloom over the Christmas festivities,
and left King William almost heart-broken at her loss. As to
THE CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES
Brand says that in "Batt upon Batt," a Poem by a Person of Quality
(1694), speaking of Batt's carving knives and other implements, the
author asks:--
"Without their help, who can good Christmas keep?
Our teeth would chatter and our eyes would weep;
Hunger and dullness would invade our feasts,
Did not Batt find us arms against such guests.
He is the cunning engineer, whose skill
Makes fools to carve the goose, and shape the quill:
Fancy and wit unto our meals supplies:
Carols, and not minc'd-meat, make Christmas pies.
'Tis mirth, not dishes, sets a table off;
Brutes and Phanaticks eat, and never laugh.
* * * * *
When _brawn, with powdred wig_, comes swaggering in,
And mighty serjeant ushers in the Chine,
What ought a wise man first to think upon?
Have I my Tools? if not, I am undone:
For 'tis a law concerns both saint and sinner,
He that hath no knife must have no dinner.
So he falls on; pig, goose, and capon, feel
The goodness of his stomach and Batt's steel.
In such fierce frays, alas! there no remorse is;
All flesh is grass, which makes men feed like horses:
But when the battle's done, _off goes the hat_,
And each man sheaths, with God-a-mercy Batt.'"
"Batt upon Batt" also gives the following account of the Christmas
Gambols in 1694:--
"O mortal man! is eating all you do
At Christ-Tide? or the making Sing-songs? No:
Our Batt can _dance_, play at _high Jinks with Dice_,
At any primitive, orthodoxal Vice.
_Shooing the wild Mare, tumbling the young Wenches,
Drinking all Night_, and sleeping on the Benches.
Shew me a man can _shuffle fair and cut_,
Yet always _have three Trays in hand at Putt_:
Shew me a man can _turn up Noddy_ still,
And _deal himself three Fives too_ when he will:
Conclude with _one and thirty, and a Pair_,
Never fail _Ten in stock_, and yet play fair,
If Batt be not that Wight, I lose my aim."
Another enumeration of the festive sports of this season occurs (says
Brand) in a poem entitled Christmas--
"Young Men and Maidens, now
At _Feed the Dove_ (with laurel leaf in mouth)
Or _Blindman's Buff_, or _Hunt the Slipper_ play,
Replete with glee. Some, haply, _Cards_ adopt;
Of it to _Forfeits_ they the Sport confine,
The happy Folk, adjacent to the fire,
Their Stations take; excepting one alone.
(Sometimes the social Mistress of the house)
Who sits within the centre of the room,
To cry the pawns; much is the laughter, now,
Of such as can't the Christmas Catch repeat,
And who, perchance, are sentenc'd to salute
The jetty beauties of the chimney black,
Or Lady's shoe: others, more lucky far,
By hap or favour, meet a sweeter doom,
And on each fair-one's lovely lips imprint
The ardent kiss."
_Poor Robin's Almanack_ (1695) thus rejoices at the return of the
festival:--
"Now thrice welcome, Christmas,
Which brings us good cheer,
Minc'd-pies and plumb-porridge,
Good ale and strong beer;
With pig, goose, and capon,
The best that may be,
So well doth the weather
And our stomachs agree.
Observe how the chimneys
Do smoak all about,
The cooks are providing
For dinner, no doubt;
But those on whose tables
No victuals appear,
O may they keep Lent
All the rest of the year!
With holly and ivy
So green and so gay;
We deck up our houses
As fresh as the day,
With bays and rosemary,
And laurel compleat,
And every one now
Is a king in conceit.
* * * * *
But as for curmudgeons,
Who will not be free,
I wish they may die
On the three-legged tree."
At Christmastide, 1696, an Act of Attainder was passed against Sir
John Fenwick, one of the most ardent of the Jacobite conspirators who
took part in the plot to assassinate the King. He was executed on
Tower Hill, January 28, 1697. This was the last instance in English
history in which a person was attainted by Act of Parliament, and
Hallam's opinion of this Act of Attainder is that "it did not, like
some acts of attainder, inflict a punishment beyond the offence, but
supplied the deficiency of legal evidence."
Peter the Great, of Russia, kept the Christmas of 1697 in England,
residing at Sayes Court, a house of the celebrated John Evelyn, close
to Deptford Dockyard.
[Illustration]
CHRISTMAS, 1701.
[From _Poor Robin's Almanack_.]
Now enter Christmas like a man,
Armed with spit and dripping-pan,
Attended with pasty, plum-pie,
Puddings, plum-porridge, furmity;
With beef, pork, mutton of each sort
More than my pen can make report;
Pig, swan, goose, rabbits, partridge, teal,
With legs and loins and breasts of veal:
But above all the minced pies
Must mention'd be in any wise,
Or else my Muse were much to blame,
Since they from Christmas take their name.
With these, or any one of these,
A man may dine well if he please;
Yet this must well be understood,--
Though one of these be singly good,
Yet more the merrier is the best
As well of dishes as of guest.
But the times are grown so bad
Scarce one dish for the poor is had;
Good housekeeping is laid aside,
And all is spent to maintain pride;
Good works are counted popish, and
Small charity is in the land.
A man may sooner (truth I tell ye)
Break his own neck than fill his belly.
Good God amend what is amiss
And send a remedy to this,
That Christmas day again may rise
And we enjoy our Christmas pies.
The Christmas customs of this period are thus referred to by the
"Bellman, on Christmas Eve":--
"This night (you may my Almanack believe)
Is the return of famous Christmas Eve:
Ye virgins then your cleanly rooms prepare,
And let the windows bays and laurels wear;
Your _Rosemary_ preserve to dress your _Beef_,
Not forget me, which I advise in chief."
[Illustration]
CHRISTMAS, AT HADDON HALL,
was magnificently kept in the early part of the eighteenth century.
The amount of good cheer that was required for the table may be
readily imagined from the magnitude of the culinary furniture in the
kitchen--two vast fireplaces, with irons for sustaining a surprising
number of spits, and several enormous chopping-blocks--which survived
to the nineteenth century. John, the ninth Earl and first Duke of
Rutland (created Marquis of Granby and Duke of Rutland in 1703),
revived in the ancient spirit the hospitality of Christmastide. He
kept sevenscore servants, and his twelve days' feasts at Christmas
recalled the bountiful celebrations of the "King of the Peak," Sir
George Vernon--the last male heir of the Vernon family in Derbyshire
who inherited the manor of Haddon, and who died in the seventh year of
Queen Elizabeth's reign. "The King of the Peak" was the father of the
charming Dorothy Vernon, the fair heiress, whose romantic elopement is
thus depicted in "Picturesque Europe":--"In the fullness of time
Dorothy loved, but her father did not approve. She determined to
elope; and now we must fill, in fancy, the Long Gallery with the
splendour of a revel and the stately joy of a great ball in the time
of Elizabeth. In the midst of the noise and excitement the fair young
daughter of the house steals unobserved away. She issues from _her_
door, and her light feet fly with tremulous speed along the darkling
Terrace, flecked with light from the blazing ball-room, till they
reach a postern in the wall, which opens upon the void of the night
outside dancing Haddon. At that postern some one is waiting eagerly
for her; waiting with swift horses. That some one is young Sir John
Manners, second son of the House of Rutland, and her own true love.
The anxious lovers mount, and ride rapidly and silently away; and so
Dorothy Vernon transfers Haddon to the owners of Belvoir; and the
boar's head of Vernon becomes mingled, at Haddon, with the peacock of
Manners. We fancy with sympathetic pleasure that night-ride and the
hurried marriage; and--forgetting that the thing happened 'ages long
agone'--we wish, with full hearts, all happiness to the dear and
charming Dorothy!"
From the boar's head of Vernon and the peacock of Manners, thought
passes quite naturally to the boar's head and peacock, which were
principal items of Christmas fare in the olden time.
In her "Collected Writings," Janetta, Duchess of Rutland, gives an
interesting account of a revival of some of the ancient glories of
Haddon:
"In the winter of 1872 the late Duke entertained the Prince and
Princess of Wales in the banqueting hall at luncheon, when the boar's
head and peacock in pride were carried in, and formed part of the
fare, as in olden days: while once more musicians filled the
minstrels' gallery, great logs blazed in the huge fireplace, and
scarlet hangings were spread over the walls."
[Illustration: AN ANCIENT FIREPLACE.]
On the 20th of February, 1702, King William III. fell from his horse,
breaking his collar-bone and sustaining other serious injuries, which
terminated fatally on Sunday, the 8th of March. He was succeeded by
Queen Anne, who was the second daughter of King James II., and the
last of the Stuart sovereigns.
QUEEN ANNE KEPT A ROYAL CHRISTMAS
at Windsor, in 1703, and entertained the new King of Spain, who
arrived at Spithead on the 26th of December. "The Queen dispatched the
Dukes of Somerset and Marlborough to conduct him to Windsor, and
Prince George met him on the way at Petworth, the seat of the Duke of
Somerset, and conducted him to Windsor on the 29th. The King was
entertained in great state for three days at Windsor, during which
time he was politic enough to ingratiate himself with the Duchess of
Marlborough. When the Duchess presented the basin and napkin after
supper to the Queen for her to wash her hands, the King gallantly took
the napkin and held it himself, and on returning it to the Queen's
great favourite, he presented her with a superb diamond ring. After
three days the King returned to Portsmouth, and on the 4th of January,
1704, he embarked on board the fleet commanded by Sir George Rooke,
for Portugal, accompanied by a body of land forces under the Duke of
Schomberg. The voyage was, however, a most stormy one, and when the
fleet had nearly reached Cape Finisterre, it was compelled to put back
to Spithead, where it remained till the middle of February. His next
attempt was more successful, and he landed in Lisbon amid much popular
demonstration, though the court itself was sunk in sorrow by the death
of the Infanta, whom he went to marry."[75]
At the Christmas festivities the following year (1704) there were
great rejoicings over the return home of the Duke of Marlborough from
the continental wars. "He arrived in England in the middle of
December, carrying with him Marshal Tallard and the rest of the
distinguished officers, with the standards and other trophies of his
victories. He was received with acclaim by all classes, except a few
Ultra Tories, who threatened to impeach him for his rash march to the
Danube. As Parliament had assembled, Marlborough took his seat in the
House of Peers the day after his arrival, where he was complimented on
his magnificent success by the Lord Keeper. This was followed by a
deputation with a vote of thanks from the Commons, and by similar
honours from the City. But perhaps the most palpable triumph of
Marlborough was the transferring of the military trophies which he had
taken from the Tower, where they were first deposited, to Westminster
Hall. This was done by each soldier carrying a standard or other
trophy, amid the thunders of artillery and the hurrahs of the people;
such a spectacle never having been witnessed since the days of the
Spanish Armada. The Royal Manor of Woodstock was granted him, and
Blenheim Mansion erected at the cost of the nation."
CHRISTMAS-KEEPING IN THE COUNTRY.
The country squire of three hundred a year, an independent gentleman
in the reign of Queen Anne, is described as having "never played at
cards but at Christmas, when the family pack was produced from the
mantle-piece." "His chief drink the year round was generally ale,
except at this season, the 5th of November, or some gala days, when he
would make a bowl of strong brandy punch, garnished with a toast and
nutmeg. In the corner of his hall, by the fireside, stood a large
wooden two-armed chair, with a cushion, and within the chimney corner
were a couple of seats. Here, at Christmas, he entertained his
tenants, assembled round a glowing fire, made of the roots of trees,
and other great logs, and told and heard the traditionary tales of the
village, respecting ghosts and witches, till fear made them afraid to
move. In the meantime the jorum of ale was in continual
circulation."[76]
"This is Yuletide! Bring the holly boughs,
Deck the old mansion with its berries red;
Bring in the mistletoe, that lover's vows
Be sweetly sealed the while it hangs o'erhead.
Pile on the logs, fresh gathered from the wood,
And let the firelight dance upon the walls,
The while we tell the stories of the good,
The brave, the noble, that the past recalls."[77]
Many interesting tales respecting the manners and customs of the
eighteenth century are given by Steele and Addison in their well-known
series of papers entitled the _Spectator_. Charity and hospitality are
conspicuous traits of the typical country gentleman of the period, Sir
Roger de Coverley. "Sir Roger," says the _Spectator_, "after the
laudable custom of his ancestors, always keeps open house at
Christmas. I learned from him, that he had killed eight fat hogs for
this season; that he had dealt about his chines very liberally amongst
his neighbours; and that in particular he had sent a string of hog's
puddings with a pack of cards to every poor family in the parish. 'I
have often thought,' says Sir Roger, 'it happens well that Christmas
should fall out in the middle of winter. It is the most dead
uncomfortable time of the year, when the poor people would suffer very
much from their poverty and cold, if they had not good cheer, warm
fires, and Christmas gambols to support them. I love to rejoice their
poor hearts at this season, and to see the whole village merry in my
great hall. I allow a double quantity of malt to my small beer, and
set it running for twelve days to every one that calls for it. I have
always a piece of cold beef and a mince-pie upon the table, and am
wonderfully pleased to see my tenants pass away a whole evening in
playing their innocent tricks, and smutting one another. Our friend
Will Wimble is as merry as any of them, and shows a thousand roguish
tricks upon these occasions."
Puppet-shows and other scenic exhibitions with moving figures were
among the Christmas amusements in the reign of Queen Anne. Strutt
quotes a description of such an exhibition "by the manager of a show
exhibited at the great house in the Strand, over against the Globe
Tavern, near Hungerford Market; the best places at one shilling and
the others at sixpence each: 'To be seen, the greatest Piece of
Curiosity that ever arrived in England, being made by a famous
engineer from the camp before Lisle, who, with great labour and
industry, has collected into a moving picture the following figures:
first, it doth represent the confederate camp, and the army lying
intrenched before the town; secondly, the convoys and the mules with
Prince Eugene's baggage; thirdly, the English forces commanded by the
Duke of Marlborough; likewise, several vessels laden with provisions
for the army, which are so artificially done as to seem to drive the
water before them. The city and the citadel are very fine, with all
its outworks, ravelins, horn-works, counter-scarps, half-moons, and
palisades; the French horse marching out at one gate, and the
confederate army marching in at the other; the prince's travelling
coach with two generals in it, one saluting the company as it passes
by; then a trumpeter sounds a call as he rides, at the noise whereof a
sleeping sentinel starts, and lifts up his head, but, not being
espied, lies down to sleep again; beside abundance more admirable
curiosities too tedious to be inserted here.' He then modestly adds,
'In short, the whole piece is so contrived by art that it seems to be
life and nature.'"
[Illustration: A DRUID PRIESTESS BEARING MISTLETOE.]
Tumbling and feats of agility were also fashionable during the
Christmas festival at this period, for in one of the _Tatlers_ (No.
115, dated January 3, 1709) the following passage occurs: "I went on
Friday last to the Opera, and was surprised to find a thin house at
so noble an entertainment, 'till I heard that the tumbler was not to
make his appearance that night." The sword-dance--dancing "among the
points of swords and spears with most wonderful agility, and even with
the most elegant and graceful motions"--rope-dancing, feats of
balancing, leaping and vaulting, tricks by horses and other animals,
and bull-baiting and bear-baiting were also among the public
amusements. And _Hot Cockles_ was one of the favourite indoor
amusements of Christmastide. Strutt, in his "Sports and Pastimes,"
says, _Hot Cockles_ is from the French _hautes-coquilles_, "a play in
which one kneels, and covering his eyes, lays his head in another's
lap and guesses who struck him." John Gay, a poet of the time, thus
pleasantly writes of the game:--
"As at Hot Cockles once I laid me down,
And felt the weighty hand of many a clown,
Buxoma gave a gentle tap, and I
Quick rose, and read soft mischief in her eye."
[Illustration]
On the death of Queen Anne (August 11, 1714) Prince George Louis of
Hanover was proclaimed King of England as
GEORGE THE FIRST.
There was little change in the Christmas festivities in this reign,
for, as Mr. Thackeray says in his lively sketch of George I.: "He was
a moderate ruler of England. His aim was to leave it to itself as much
as possible, and to live out of it as much as he could. His heart was
in Hanover." The most important addition to the plays of the period
was
THE CHRISTMAS PANTOMIME.
[Illustration: A NEST OF FOOLS]
In his "English Plays," Professor Henry Morley thus records the
introduction of the modern English pantomime, which has since been the
great show of Christmastide:--
"The theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields, which Christopher Rich had been
restoring, his son, John Rich, was allowed to open on the 18th of
December, 1714. John Rich was a clever mimic, and after a year or two
he found it to his advantage to compete with the actors in a fashion
of his own. He was the inventor of the modern English form of
pantomime, with a serious part that he took from Ovid's Metamorphosis
or any fabulous history, and a comic addition of the courtship of
harlequin and columbine, with surprising tricks and transformations.
He introduced the old Italian characters of pantomime under changed
conditions, and beginning with 'Harlequin Sorcerer' in 1717, continued
to produce these entertainments until a year before his death in 1761.
They have since been retained as Christmas shows upon the English
stage."
In a note to "The Dunciad," Pope complains of "the extravagancies
introduced on the stage, and frequented by persons of the first
quality in England to the twentieth and thirtieth time," and states
that "_all_ the extravagances" in the following lines of the poem
actually appeared on the stage:--
"See now, what Dulness and her sons admire!
See what the charms, that smite the simple heart
Not touch'd by nature, and not reach'd by art.
His never-blushing head he turn'd aside,
(Not half so pleased when Goodman prophesied)
And look'd, and saw a sable Sorcerer rise,
Swift to whose hand a winged volume flies:
All sudden, gorgons hiss, and dragons glare,
And ten-horn'd fiends and giants rush to war.
Hell rises, Heaven descends, and dance on earth:
Gods, imps, and monsters, music, rage, and mirth,
A fire, a jig, a battle, and a ball,
Till one wide conflagration swallows all.
Thence a new world, to nature's laws unknown,
Breaks out refulgent, with a heaven its own:
Another Cynthia her new journey runs,
And other planets circle other suns.
The forests dance, the rivers upward rise,
Whales sport in woods, and dolphins in the skies;
And last, to give the whole creation grace,
Lo! one vast egg produces human race."
David Garrick, the eminent actor, wrote in a similar strain, finding
it hard to hold his own against the patrons of the pantomime:--
"They in the drama find no joys,
But doat on mimicry and toys.
Thus, when a dance is in my bill,
Nobility my boxes fill;
Or send three days before the time,
To crowd a new-made pantomime."
"OLD MERRY PLENTIFUL CHRISTMAS,"
at this period, is sketched by a writer in _Poor Robin's Almanack_,
for 1723, thus:--"Now comes on old merry plentiful Christmas. The
Husbandman lays his great Log behind the fire, and with a few of his
neighbours, over a good fire, taps his Christmas beer, cuts his
Christmas cheese, and sets forward for a merry Christmas. The Landlord
(for we hope there are yet some generous ones left) invites his
Tenants and Labourers, and with a good Sirloin of Roast Beef, and a
few pitchers of nappy ale or beer, he wisheth them all a merry
Christmas. The beggar begs his bread, sells some of it for money to
buy drink, and without fear of being arrested, or call'd upon for
parish duties, has as merry a Christmas as any of them all."
[Illustration: "THE MASK DANCE."]
So the people made merry at Christmas throughout the reign of George
I., who died on June 10, 1727, and was succeeded by his son,
GEORGE THE SECOND.
In this reign the customs of Christmas were kept up with unabated
heartiness, and liberality to the poor was not forgotten. The
customary distributions of creature comforts on Christmas Eve were
continued, and, in some instances, provision for the maintenance of
them was made in the wills of worthy parishioners. An instance of this
kind is recorded in Devonshire. "It appears, from a statement of
charities in an old book, that John Martyn, by will, 28th of November,
1729, gave to the churchwardens and overseers of the poor of the
parish of St. Mary Major, Exeter, twenty pounds, to be put out at
interest, and the profits thereof to be laid out every Christmas Eve
in twenty pieces of beef, to be distributed to twenty poor people of
the parish, such as had no relief on that day, for ever."[78]
That
CHRISTMAS HOUSEKEEPING IN LONDON,
at this period, was excellent, both as to quantity and quality, is
evident, from a contribution made to _Read's Weekly Journal_, of
Saturday, January 9, 1731, by Mr. Thomas North, who thus describes the
Christmas entertainment and good cheer he met with in London at the
house of a friend: "It was the house of an eminent and worthy
merchant, and tho', sir, I have been accustomed in my own country to
what may very well be called good housekeeping, yet I assure you I
should have taken this dinner to have been provided for a whole
parish, rather than for about a dozen gentlemen: 'Tis impossible for
me to give you half our bill of fare, so you must be content to know
that we had turkies, geese, capons, puddings of a dozen sorts more
than I had ever seen in my life, besides brawn, roast beef, and many
things of which I know not the names, minc'd pyes in abundance, and a
thing they call plumb pottage, which may be good for ought I know,
though it seems to me to have 50 different tastes. Our wines were of
the best, as were all the rest of our liquors; in short, the God of
plenty seemed to reign here, and to make everything perfect, our
company was polite and every way agreeable; nothing but mirth and
loyal healths went round. If a stranger were to have made an estimate
of London from this place, he would imagine it not only the most rich
but the most happy city in the world."
Another interesting item of this period is the following--
CURIOUS CHRISTMAS ADVERTISEMENT,
which has been cut from some publication and (by the late Mr. Joseph
Haslewood) inserted between pages 358 and 359 of the British Museum
large paper copy of Brand's "Antiquities," and dated December, 1739:--
"This day is published, Price 6d.
"THE TRIAL OF OLD FATHER CHRISTMAS for encouraging his Majesty's
subjects in Idleness, Drunkenness, Gaming, Rioting, and all manner of
Extravagance and Debauchery, at the Assizes held in the city of
Profusion before the Lord Chief Justice Churchman, Mr. Justice Feast,
Mr. Justice Gambol, and several other his Majesty's Justices of Oyer
and Terminer, and Gaol-Delivery.
"To which is added a Diary found in the Pocket of Old Father
Christmas, with Directions to all Lovers of him how to welcome their
neighbours; likewise the Judge's sentence and Opinion how Christmas
ought to be kept; and further Witty Tales and Merry Stories designed
for Christmas Evenings Diversion, when round about our Coal Fire.
By Josiah King,
Printer for T. Cooper, at the Globe in Pater-noster Row; and sold by
the Pamphlet-shops of London and Westminster."
Now we come to a quaintly interesting account of
CHRISTMAS ENTERTAINMENT IN THE OLDEN TIME.
The manner of observing the Christmas festival in the time of George
the Second is described in an amusing little book entitled "Round
about our Coal Fire, or Christmas Entertainments," published in 1740,
and "illustrated with many diverting cuts." We quote the following
extracts:--
PROLOGUE.
I.
"O you merry, merry souls,
Christmas is a coming,
We shall have flowing Bowls,
Dancing, piping, drumming.
II.
"Delicate minced Pies,
To feast every Virgin,
Capon and Goose likewise,
Brawn and a dish of Sturgeon.
III.
"Then for your Christmas Box,
Sweet Plumb-cakes and money,
Delicate Holland Smocks,
Kisses sweet as Honey.
IV.
"Hey for the Christmas Ball,
Where we shall be jolly,
Jigging short and tall,
Kate, Dick, Ralph, and Molly.
V.
"Then to the Hop we'll go,
Where we'll jig and caper,
Maidens all-a-row,
Will shall pay the Scraper.
VI.
"Hodge shall dance with Prue,
Keeping Time with Kisses
We'll have a jovial Crew,
Of sweet smirking Misses.
[Illustration: THE CHRISTMAS MUMMERS.]
"First acknowledging the sacredness of the Holy Time of _Christmas_, I
proceed to set forth the Rejoicings which are generally made at that
great Festival.
"You must understand, good People, 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 welcoming of Guests, and look'd as smug as
new-lick'd Puppies; the Lasses as blithe and buxom as the maids in
good Queen _Bess's_ Days, when they eat Sir-Loins 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_: Gaffer
_Spriggins_ was bid thrice welcome by the 'Squire, and Gooddy _Goose_
did not fail of a smacking Buss from his Worship while his Son and
Heir did the Honours of the House: in a word, the Spirit of Generosity
ran thro' the whole House.
"In these Times all the Spits were sparkling, the _Hackin_ must be
boiled by Day-break, or else two young Men took the Maiden by the
Arms, and run her round the Market-place, till she was ashamed of her
Laziness. And what was worse than this, she must not play with the
Young Fellows that Day, but stand Neuter, like a Girl doing penance in
a Winding-sheet at a Church-door.
"But now let us enquire a little farther, to arrive at the Sense of
the Thing; 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--
_Merry in the Hall, when Beards wag all._"
"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 of
a Game at Dice or Cards, and their Skins made into Parchment for Deeds
and Indentures; nay even the poor innocent Bee, who 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.
"But give me the Man _who has a good Heart_, and has Spirit enough to
keep up the Old way of Hospitality, feeds his People till they are as
plump as Partridges, and as fat as Porpoises that every Servant may
appear as jolly as the late Bishop of _Winchester's_ Porter at
_Chelsea_.
"The News-Papers however inform us, that the Spirit of Hospitality has
not quite forsaken us; for three or four of them tell us, that 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. I must also take notice to the stingy
Tribe, that if they don't at least make their Tenants or Tradesmen
drink when they come to see them in the Christmas Holydays, they have
Liberty of retaliating which is a Law of very ancient Date.
"A merry Gentleman of my Acquaintance desires I will insert, that the
old Folks in Days of yore kept open House at _Christmas_ out of
Interest; for then, says he, they receive the greatest Part of their
Rent in Kind; such as Wheat, Barley or Malt, Oxen, Calves, Sheep,
Swine, Turkeys, Capon, Geese, and such like; and they not having Room
enough to preserve their Grain, or Fodder enough to preserve their
Cattle or Poultry, nor Markets to sell off the Overplus, they were
obliged to use them in their own Houses; and by treating the People of
the Country, gained Credit amongst them, and riveted the Minds and
Goodwill of their Neighbours so firmly in them, that no one durst
venture to oppose them. The 'Squire's Will was done whatever came on
it; for if he happened to ask a Neighbour what it was a Clock, they
returned with a low Scrape, it is what your Worship pleases.
"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.
"This time of year being cold and frosty generally speaking, or when
Jack-Frost commonly takes us by the Nose, the Diversions are within
Doors, either in Exercise or by the Fire-side.
"Country-Dancing is one of the chief Exercises....
"Then comes 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....
"Or else there is a Match at _Blind-Man's-Buff_, and then it is lawful
to set anything in the way for Folks to tumble over....
"As for _Puss in the Corner_, that is a very harmless Sport, and one
may romp at it as much as one will....
"The next game to this is _Questions and Commands_, when the Commander
may oblige his Subject to answer any lawful Question, and make the
same obey him instantly, under the penalty of being smutted, or paying
such Forfeit as may be laid on the Aggressor; but the Forfeits being
generally fixed at some certain Price, as a Shilling, Half a Crown,
&c., so every one knowing what to do if they should be too stubborn to
submit, make themselves easy at discretion.
"As for the Game of _Hoop and Hide_, the Parties have the Liberty of
hiding where they will, in any part of the House; and if they happen
to be caught, the Dispute ends in Kissing, &c.
"Most of the other Diversions are Cards and Dice, but they are 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.
"And now I come to another Entertainment frequently used, which is of
the Story-telling Order, _viz._ of Hobgoblins, Witches, Conjurers,
Ghosts, Fairies, and such like common Disturbers."
At this period
DAVID GARRICK'S CHRISTMAS ACTING
won him great applause. At Christmas, 1741, he brought out at
Goodman's Fields a Christmas Farce, written by himself, entitled "The
Lying Valet," wherein the great actor took the part of "Sharp." It was
thought the most diverting farce ever performed. "There was a general
roar from beginning to end. So great was his versatility that people
were not able to determine whether he was best in tragedy or comedy."
On his benefit, when his real name was placed on the bills for the
first time, there was an immense gathering, and the applause was quite
extraordinary.
The Christmas festivities of 1745 were marred by the
DISTURBANCES OF THE JACOBITES,
under the romantic "Prince Charlie," whose attempted invasion of
England speedily collapsed.
Pointer, in his _Oxoniensis Academia_ (1749) refers to
AN OLD CHRISTMAS CUSTOM
of this period. He states that at Merton College, Oxford, the Fellows
meet together in the Hall, on Christmas Eve, to sing a Psalm and drink
a grace-cup to one another (called _Poculum Charitatis_), wishing one
another health and happiness.
The Christmas of 1752 was
THE FIRST CHRISTMAS UNDER THE "NEW STYLE,"
and many refused to observe the festival eleven days earlier than
usual, but insisted on keeping "Old Christmas Day." Why should they be
robbed of eleven days by a new Act of Parliament? It was of no use to
tell them that it had been discovered that the fractional few minutes
which are tailed on to the days and hours which make up the year had,
by neglect through many centuries, brought us into a wrong condition,
and that to set us right it would be necessary to give credit for
eleven days which nobody was conscious of having enjoyed. The law,
however, had said that it should be so. Accordingly, the day after the
2nd of September, 1752, was called the 14th, to the great indignation
of thousands, who reckoned that they had thus been cut off from nearly
a fortnight of life which honestly belonged to them. These persons
sturdily refused to acknowledge the Christmas Eve and Day of the new
calendar. They averred that the true festival was that which now began
on the 5th of January _next year_. They would go to church, they said,
on no other day; nor eat mince-pies nor drink punch but in reference
to this one day. The clergy had a hard time of it with these
recusants. It will be well, therefore, to quote one singular example
to show how this recusancy was encountered. It is from a collection of
pamphlet-sermons preserved by George III., none of which, however,
have anything curious or particularly meritorious about them save this
one, which was preached on Friday, January 5, 1753, "Old Christmas
Day." Mr. Francis Blackburne, "one of the candid disquisitors," opened
his church on that day, which was crowded by a congregation anxious to
see the day celebrated as that of the anniversary of the Nativity. The
service for Christmas Day, however, was not used. "I will answer your
expectations so far," said the preacher in his sermon, "as to give you
a _sermon on the day_; and the rather because I perceive you are
disappointed of _something else_ that you expected." The purport of
the discourse is to show that the change of style was desirable, and
that it having been effected by Act of Parliament, with the sanction
of the King, there was nothing for it but acquiescence. "For," says
the preacher, "had I, to oblige you, disobeyed this Act of Parliament,
it is very probable I might have lost my benefice, which, you know, is
all the subsistence I have in the world; and I should have been
rightly served; for who am I that I should fly in the face of his
Majesty and the Parliament? These things are left to be ordered by the
higher powers; and in any such case as that, I hope not to think
myself wiser than the King, the whole nobility, and principal gentry
of Great Britain"!!
The peasants of Buckinghamshire, however, pitched upon a very pretty
method to settle the question of Christmas, left so meekly by Mr.
Blackburne to the King, nobility, and most of the gentry. They
bethought themselves of a blackthorn near one of their villages; and
this thorn was for the nonce declared to be the growth of a slip from
the Christmas-flowering thorn at Glastonbury. If the Buckinghamshire
thorn, so argued the peasants, will only blossom in the night of the
24th of December, we will go to church next day, and allow that the
Christmas by Act of Parliament is the true Christmas; but no blossom
no feast, and there shall be no revel till the eve of old Christmas
Day. They watched the thorn and drank to its budding; but as it
produced no promise of a flower by the morning, they turned to go
homewards as best they might, perfectly satisfied with the success of
the experiment. Some were interrupted in their way by their respective
"vicars," who took them by the arm and would fain have persuaded them
to go to church. They argued the question by field, stile, and
church-gate; but not a Bucks peasant would consent to enter a pew till
the parson had promised to preach a sermon to, and smoke a pipe with,
them on the only Christmas Day they chose to acknowledge.
Now, however, this old prejudice has been conquered, and the "new
style" has maintained its ground. It has even done more, for its
authors have so arranged the years and leap years that a confusion in
the time of Christmas or any other festival is not likely to occur
again.
[75] Cassell's "History of England."
[76] Grose.
[77] Herbert H. Adams.
[78] "Old English Customs and Charities," 1842.
[Illustration]
_CHAPTER XI._
MODERN CHRISTMASES AT HOME.
[Illustration: THE WAITS.]
KING GEORGE THE THIRD
came to the throne on the death of his grandfather, George II.
(October 25, 1760), and the first Christmas of his reign "was a high
festival at Court, when his Majesty, preceded by heralds, pursuivants,
&c., went with their usual state to the Chapel Royal, and heard a
sermon preached by his Grace the Archbishop of York; and it being a
collar day, the Knights of the Garter, Thistle and Bath, appeared in
the collars of their respective orders. After the sermon was over,
his Majesty, Prince Edward and Princess Augusta went into the Chapel
Royal, and received the sacrament from the hands of the Bishop of
Durham; and the King offered the byzant, or wedge of gold, in a purse,
for the benefit of the poor, and the royal family all made offerings.
His Majesty afterwards dined with his royal mother at Leicester House,
and in the evening returned to St. James's."[79]
At this period
THE FAVOURITE CHRISTMAS DIVERSION
was card-playing. The King himself spent a great deal of his time in
playing at cards with the ladies and gentlemen of his court. In doing
so, however, he was but following the example of George II., of whom
the biographer already quoted (Mr. Huish) says:--
"After the death of Queen Caroline, the King was very fond of a game
at cards with the Countess of Pembroke, Albemarle, and other
distinguished ladies. His attachment to cards was transferred to his
attachment for the ladies, and it was said that what he gained by the
one he lost by the other." Cards were very much resorted to at the
family parties and other social gatherings held during the twelve days
of Christmas. Hone makes various allusions to card-playing at
Christmastide, and Washington Irving, in his "Life of Oliver
Goldsmith," pictures the poet "keeping the card-table in an uproar."
Mrs. Bunbury invited Goldsmith down to Barton to pass the Christmas
holidays. Irving regrets "that we have no record of this Christmas
visit to Barton; that the poet had no Boswell to follow at his heels,
and take notes of all his sayings and doings. We can only picture him
in our minds, casting off all care; enacting the Lord of Misrule;
presiding at the Christmas revels; providing all kinds of merriment;
keeping the card-table in an uproar, and finally opening the ball on
the first day of the year in his spring-velvet suit, with the Jessamy
Bride for a partner."
From the reprint additions made in the British Museum large paper copy
of Brand's "Antiquities," by the late Mr. Joseph Haslewood, and dated
January, 1779, we quote the following verses descriptive of the
concluding portion of the Christmas festivities at this period:--
TWELFTH DAY.
Now the jovial girls and boys,
Struggling for the cake and plumbs,
Testify their eager joys,
And lick their fingers and their thumbs.
Statesmen like, they struggle still,
Scarcely hands kept out of dishes,
And yet, when they have had their fill,
Still anxious for the loaves and fishes.
Kings and Queens, in petty state,
Now their sovereign will declare,
But other sovereigns' plans they hate,
Full fond of peace--detesting war.
One moral from this tale appears,
Worth notice when a world's at stake;
That all our hopes and all our fears,
Are but a _struggling for the_ Cake.
Other particulars of the
POPULAR CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES
in the latter part of the eighteenth century are gleaned from
contemporary writers:--
"At Ripon, on Christmas Eve, the grocers, send each of their customers
a pound or half of currants and raisins to make a Christmas pudding.
The chandlers also send large mould candles, and the coopers logs of
wood, generally called _Yule clogs_, which are always used on
Christmas Eve; but should it be so large as not to be all burnt that
night, which is frequently the case, the remains are kept till old
Christmas Eve."[80]
In Sinclair's Account of Scotland, parish of Kirkden, county of Angus
(1792), Christmas is said to be held as a great festival in the
neighbourhood. "The servant is free from his master, and goes about
visiting his friends and acquaintance. The poorest must have beef or
mutton on the table, and what they call a dinner with their friends.
Many amuse themselves with various diversions, particularly with
shooting for prizes, called here _wad-shooting_; and many do but
little business all the Christmas week; the evening of almost every
day being spent in amusement." And in the account of Keith, in
Banffshire, the inhabitants are said to "have no pastimes or holidays,
except dancing on Christmas and New Year's Day."
Boyhood's Christmas Breaking-up is thus described in a poem entitled
"Christmas" (Bristol, 1795):--
"A school there was, within a well-known town,
(Bridgwater call'd), in which the boys were wont,
At _breaking-up_ for Christmas' lov'd recess,
To meet the master, on the happy morn,
At early hour; the custom, too, prevail'd,
That he who first the seminary reach'd
Should, instantly, perambulate the streets
With sounding horn, to rouse his fellows up;
And, as a compensation for his care,
His flourish'd copies, and his chapter-task,
Before the rest, he from the master had.
For many days, ere breaking-up commenced,
Much was the clamour, 'mongst the beardless crowd,
Who first would dare his well-warm'd bed forego,
And, round the town, with horn of ox equipp'd,
His schoolmates call. Great emulation glow'd
In all their breasts; but, when the morning came,
Straightway was heard, resounding through the streets,
The pleasing blast (more welcome far, to them,
Than is, to sportsmen, the delightful cry
Of hounds on chase), which soon together brought
A tribe of boys, who, thund'ring at the doors
Of those, their fellows, sunk in Somnus' arms,
Great hubbub made, and much the town alarm'd.
At length the gladsome, congregated throng,
Toward the school their willing progress bent,
With loud huzzas, and, crowded round the desk,
Where sat the master busy at his books,
In reg'lar order, each receiv'd his own,
The youngsters then, enfranchised from the school,
Their fav'rite sports pursued."
A writer in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for February, 1795, gives the
following account of a Christmas Eve custom at the house of Sir ----
Holt, Bart., of Aston, near Birmingham:
"As soon as supper is over, a table is set in the hall. On it is
placed a brown loaf, with twenty silver threepences stuck on the top
of it, a tankard of ale, with pipes and tobacco; and the two oldest
servants have chairs behind it, to sit as judges if they please. The
steward brings the servants, both men and women, by one at a time,
covered with a winnow-sheet, and lays their right hand on the loaf,
exposing no other part of the body. The oldest of the two judges
guesses at the person, by naming a name, then the younger judge, and
lastly the oldest again. If they hit upon the right name, the steward
leads the person back again; but, if they do not, he takes off the
winnow-sheet, and the person receives a threepence, makes a low
obeisance to the judges, but speaks not a word. When the second
servant was brought, the younger judge guessed first and third; and
this they did alternately, till all the money was given away. Whatever
servant had not slept in the house the preceding night forfeited his
right to the money. No account is given of the origin of this strange
custom, but it has been practised ever since the family lived there.
When the money is gone, the servants have full liberty to drink,
dance, sing, and go to bed when they please."
Brand quotes the foregoing paragraph and asks: "Can this be what
Aubrey calls the sport of 'Cob-loaf stealing'?"
THE DELIGHTS OF CHRISTMAS.
A New Song by R. P.
(Tune--"Since Love is my Plan.")
_In the Poor Soldier._
When Christmas approaches each bosom is gay,
That festival banishes sorrow away,
While Richard he kisses both Susan and Dolly,
When tricking the house up with ivy and holly;
For never as yet it was counted a crime,
To be merry and cherry at that happy time.
For never as yet, &c.
Then comes turkey and chine, with the famous roast beef,
Of English provisions still reckon'd the chief;
Roger whispers the cook-maid his wishes to crown,
O Dolly! pray give me a bit of the brown;
For never as yet it was counted a crime,
To be merry and cherry at that happy time.
For never as yet, &c.
The luscious plum-pudding does smoking appear,
And the charming mince pye is not far in the rear,
Then each licks his chops to behold such a sight,
But to taste it affords him superior delight;
For never as yet it was counted a crime,
To be merry and cherry at that happy time.
For never as yet, &c.
Now the humming October goes merrily round,
And each with good humour is happily crown'd,
The song and the dance, and the mirth-giving jest,
Alike without harm by each one is expressed;
For never as yet it was counted a crime,
To be merry and cherry at that happy time.
For never as yet, &c.
Twelfth Day next approaches, to give you delight,
And the sugar'd rich cake is display'd to the sight,
Then sloven and slut and the king and the queen,
Alike must be present to add to the scene;
For never as yet it was counted a crime,
To be merry and cherry at that happy time.
For never as yet, &c.
May each be found thus as the year circles round,
With mirth and good humour each Christmas be crown'd,
And may all who have plenty of riches in store
With their bountiful blessings make happy the poor;
For never as yet it was counted a crime,
To be merry and cherry at that happy time.
For never as yet, &c.[81]
CHARLES LAMB ON CHRISTMAS.
In his essay on "Recollections of Christ's Hospital," Charles Lamb
thus refers to the Christmas festivities of his schoolboy days:--
"Let me have leave to remember the festivities at Christmas, when the
richest of us would club our stock to have a gaudy day, sitting round
the fire, replenished to the height with logs, and the pennyless, and
he that could contribute nothing, partook in all the mirth, and in
some of the substantialities of the feasting; the carol sung by night
at that time of the year, which, when a young boy, I have so often
lain awake to hear from seven (the hour of going to bed) till ten when
it was sung by the older boys and monitors, and have listened to it,
in their rude chaunting, till I have been transported in fancy to the
fields of Bethlehem, and the song which was sung at that season, by
angels' voices to the shepherds."
In a sonnet sent to Coleridge, in 1797, Lamb says:--
"It were unwisely done, should we refuse
To cheer our path, as featly as we may--
Our lonely path to cheer, as travellers use,
With merry song, quaint tale, or roundelay.
And we will sometimes talk past troubles o'er,
Of mercies shown, and all our sickness heal'd,
And in His judgments God remembering love:
And we will learn to praise God evermore,
For those 'glad tidings of great joy,' reveal'd
By that sooth messenger, sent from above."
[Illustration: THE CHRISTMAS PLUM-PUDDING.
(_From an old print._)]
Writing to Southey, in 1798, Lamb tells the poet that Christmas is a
"glorious theme"; and addressing his "dear old friend and absentee,"
Mr. Manning, at Canton, on December 25, 1815, Lamb says:--"This is
Christmas Day, 1815, with us; what it may be with you I don't know,
the 12th of June next year perhaps; and if it should be the
consecrated season with you, I don't see how you can keep it. You have
no turkeys; you would not desecrate the festival by offering up a
withered Chinese bantam, instead of the savoury grand Norfolcian
holocaust, that smokes all around my nostrils at this moment from a
thousand firesides. Then what puddings have you? Where will you get
holly to stick in your churches, or churches to stick your dried
tea-leaves (that must be the substitute) in? Come out of Babylon, O my
friend."
[Illustration: ITALIAN MINSTRELS IN LONDON, AT CHRISTMAS, 1825.
(_From a sketch of that period._)]
"Ranged in a row, with guitars slung
Before them thus, they played and sung:
Their instruments and choral voice
Bid each glad guest still more rejoice;
And each guest wish'd again to hear
Their wild guitars and voices clear."[82]
THE CHRISTMAS GAMES
at the beginning of the nineteenth century include the old Christmas
game of _Forfeits_, for every breach of the rules of which the players
have to deposit some little article as a forfeit, to be redeemed by
some sportive penalty, imposed by the "Crier of the Forfeits" (usually
a bonnie lassie). The "crying of the forfeits" and paying of the
penalties creates much merriment, particularly when a bashful youth is
sentenced to "kiss through the fire-tongs" some beautiful romp of a
girl, who delights playing him tricks while the room rings with
laughter.
Some of the old pastimes, however, have fallen into disuse, as, for
instance, the once popular game of _Hot Cockles_, _Hunt the Slipper_,
and "the vulgar game of _Post and Pair_"; but _Cards_ are still
popular, and Snapdragon continues such Christmas merriment as is set
forth in the following verses:--
[Illustration]
SNAP DRAGON.
"Here he comes with flaming bowl,
Don't he mean to take his toll,
Snip! Snap! Dragon!
Take care you don't take too much,
Be not greedy in your clutch,
Snip! Snap! Dragon!
With his blue and lapping tongue
Many of you will be stung,
Snip! Snap! Dragon!
For he snaps at all that comes
Snatching at his feast of plums,
Snip! Snap! Dragon!
But old Christmas makes him come,
Though he looks so fee! fa! fum!
Snip! Snap! Dragon!
Don't 'ee fear him, be but bold--
Out he goes, his flames are cold,
Snip! Snap! Dragon!"
"Don't 'ee fear him, be but bold," accords with the advice of a writer
in "Pantalogia," in 1813, who says that when the brandy in the bowl is
set on fire, and raisins thrown into it, those who are unused to the
sport are afraid to take out, but the raisins may be safely snatched
by a quick motion and put blazing into the mouth, which being closed,
the fire is at once extinguished. The game requires both courage and
rapidity of action, and a good deal of merriment is caused by the
unsuccessful efforts of competitors for the raisins in the flaming
bowl.
BLINDMAN'S BUFF.
A favourite game of Christmastide, is thus described by Thomas
Miller, in his "Sports and Pastimes of Merry England":--
"The very youngest of our brothers and sisters can join in this old
English game: and it is selfish to select only such sports as they
cannot become sharers of. Its ancient name is 'hoodman-blind'; and
when hoods were worn by both men and women--centuries before hats and
caps were so common as they are now--the hood was reversed, placed
hind-before, and was, no doubt, a much surer way of blinding the
player than that now adopted--for we have seen Charley try to catch
his pretty cousin Caroline, by chasing her behind chairs and into all
sorts of corners, to our strong conviction that he was not half so
well blinded as he ought to have been. Some said he could see through
the black silk handkerchief; others that it ought to have been tied
clean over his nose, for that when he looked down he could see her
feet, wherever she moved; and Charley had often been heard to say that
she had the prettiest foot and ankle he had ever seen. But there he
goes, head over heels across a chair, tearing off Caroline's gown
skirt in his fall, as he clutches it in the hope of saving himself.
Now, that is what I call retributive justice; for she threw down the
chair for him to stumble over, and, if he has grazed his knees, she
suffers under a torn dress, and must retire until one of the maids
darn up the rent. But now the mirth and glee grow 'fast and furious,'
for hoodman blind has imprisoned three or four of the youngest boys in
a corner, and can place his hand on whichever he likes. Into what a
small compass they have forced themselves! But the one behind has the
wall at his back, and, taking advantage of so good a purchase, he
sends his three laughing companions sprawling on the floor, and is
himself caught through their having fallen, as his shoulder is the
first that is grasped by Blindman-buff--so that he must now submit to
be hooded."
[Illustration: BLINDMAN'S BUFF.
(_In the last century_.)]
THE CHRISTMAS DANCE.
"Again the ball-room is wide open thrown,
The oak beams festooned with the garlands gay;
The red dais where the fiddlers sit alone,
Where, flushed with pride, the good old tunes they play.
Strike, fiddlers, strike! we're ready for the set;
The young folks' feet are eager for the dance;
We'll trip Sir Roger and the minuet,
And revel in the latest games from France."[83]
"Man should be called a dancing animal," said _Old Florentine_; and
Burton, in his "Anatomy of Melancholy," says, "Young lasses are never
better pleased than when, upon a holiday, after _even-song_, they may
meet their sweethearts and dance." And dancing is just as popular at
Christmas in the present day, as it was in that mediæval age when
(according to William of Malmesbury) the priest Rathbertus, being
disturbed at his Christmas mass by young men and women dancing outside
the church, prayed God and St. Magnus that they might continue to
dance for a whole year without cessation--a prayer which the old
chronicler gravely assures us was answered.
[Illustration: THE CHRISTMAS DANCE.]
CHRISTMAS EVE IN THE OLDEN TIME.
And well our Christian sires of old
Loved when the year its course had roll'd,
And brought blithe Christmas back again,
With all his hospitable train.
Domestic and religious rite
Gave honour to the holy night:
On Christmas Eve the bells were rung;
On Christmas Eve the mass was sung:
That only night in all the year,
Saw the stoled priest the chalice rear.
The damsel donn'd her kirtle sheen;
The hall was dress'd with holly green;
Forth to the wood did merry-men go,
To gather in the mistletoe.
Then open'd wide the Baron's hall
To vassal, tenant, serf, and all;
Power laid his rod of rule aside,
And Ceremony doffed his pride.
The heir, with roses in his shoes,
That night might village partner choose.
The lord, underogating, share
The vulgar game of "post and pair."
All hail'd, with uncontroll'd delight,
And general voice, the happy night
That to the cottage, as the crown,
Brought tidings of salvation down!
The fire, with well-dried logs supplied,
Went roaring up the chimney wide;
The huge hall-table's oaken face,
Scrubb'd till it shone, the day to grace
Bore then upon its massive board
No mark to part the squire and lord.
Then was brought in the lusty brawn
By old blue-coated serving man;
Then the grim boar's-head frowned on high,
Crested with bays and rosemary.
Well can the green-garbed ranger tell
How, when, and where the monster fell;
What dogs before his death he tore,
And all the baiting of the boar.
The wassail round in good brown bowls,
Garnish'd with ribbons, blithely trowls.
There the huge sirloin reek'd; hard by
Plum-porridge stood, and Christmas-pye;
Nor fail'd old Scotland to produce,
At such high tide, her savoury goose.
Then came the merry masquers in,
And carols roar'd with blithesome din
If unmelodious was the song,
It was a hearty note, and strong.
Who lists may in their mumming see
Traces of ancient mystery;
White shirts supplied the masquerade,
And smutted cheeks the visors made;
But oh! what masquers, richly dight,
Can boast of bosoms half so light!
England was merry England when
Old Christmas brought his sports again.
'Twas Christmas broached the mightiest ale,
'Twas Christmas told the merriest tale;
A Christmas gambol oft could cheer
The poor man's heart through half the year.
SIR WALTER SCOTT, 1808.
Lyson's "Magna Britannia" (1813) states the following as an
OLD ENGLISH CUSTOM.
"At Cumnor the parishioners, who paid vicarial tithes, claimed a
custom of being entertained at the vicarage on the afternoon of
Christmas Day, with four bushels of malt brewed into ale and beer, two
bushels of wheat made into bread, and half a hundred weight of cheese.
The remainder was given to the poor the next morning after divine
service."
Mason ("Statistical Account of Ireland," 1814) records the following
IRISH CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS:--
"At Culdaff, previous to Christmas, it is customary with the labouring
classes to raffle for mutton, when a sufficient number can subscribe
to defray the cost of a sheep. During the Christmas holidays they
amuse themselves with a game of kamman, which consists in impelling a
wooden ball with a crooked stick to a given point, while an adversary
endeavours to drive it in a contrary direction."
YORKSHIRE.
A writer in "Time's Telescope" (1822) states that in Yorkshire at
eight o'clock on Christmas Eve the bells greet "Old Father Christmas"
with a merry peal, the children parade the streets with drums,
trumpets, bells, or perhaps, in their absence, with the poker and
shovel, taken from their humble cottage fire; the yule candle is
lighted, and--
"High on the cheerful fire
Is blazing seen th' enormous Christmas brand."
Supper is served, of which one dish, from the lordly mansion to the
humblest shed, is invariably furmety; yule cake, one of which is
always made for each individual in the family, and other more
substantial viands are also added.
SOME SOCIAL FESTIVITIES
of Christmastide are sketched by a contributor to the _New Monthly
Magazine_, December 1, 1825, who says:--
"On the north side of the church at M. are a great many holly-trees.
It is from these that our dining and bed-rooms are furnished with
boughs. Families take it by turns to entertain their friends. They
meet early; the beef and pudding are noble; the mince-pies--peculiar;
the nuts half play-things and half-eatables; the oranges as cold and
acid as they ought to be, furnishing us with a superfluity which we
can afford to laugh at; the cakes indestructible; the wassail bowls
generous, old English, huge, demanding ladles, threatening overflow as
they come in, solid with roasted apples when set down. Towards
bed-time you hear of elder-wine, and not seldom of punch. At the
manorhouse it is pretty much the same as elsewhere. Girls, although
they be ladies, are kissed under the mistletoe. If any family among us
happen to have hit upon an exquisite brewing, they send some of it
round about, the squire's house included; and he does the same by the
rest. Riddles, hot-cockles, forfeits, music, dances sudden and not to
be suppressed, prevail among great and small; and from two o'clock in
the day to midnight, M. looks like a deserted place out of doors, but
is full of life and merriment within. Playing at knights and ladies
last year, a jade of a charming creature must needs send me out for a
piece of ice to put in her wine. It was evening and a hard frost. I
shall never forget the cold, cutting, dreary, dead look of every thing
out of doors, with a wind through the wiry trees, and the snow on the
ground, contrasted with the sudden return to warmth, light, and
joviality.
"I remember we had a discussion that time as to what was the great
point and crowning glory of Christmas. Many were for mince-pie; some
for the beef and plum-pudding; more for the wassail-bowl; a maiden
lady timidly said the mistletoe; but we agreed at last, that although
all these were prodigious, and some of them exclusively belonging to
the season, the _fire_ was the great indispensable. Upon which we all
turned our faces towards it, and began warming our already scorched
hands. A great blazing fire, too big, is the visible heart and soul
of Christmas. You may do without beef and plum-pudding; even the
absence of mince-pie may be tolerated; there must be a bowl,
poetically speaking, but it need not be absolutely wassail. The bowl
may give place to the bottle. But a huge, heaped-up, _over_ heaped-up,
all-attracting fire, with a semicircle of faces about it, is not to be
denied us. It is the _lar_ and genius of the meeting; the proof
positive of the season; the representative of all our warm emotions
and bright thoughts; the glorious eye of the room; the inciter to
mirth, yet the retainer of order; the amalgamater of the age and sex;
the universal relish. Tastes may differ even on a mince-pie; but who
gainsays a fire? The absence of other luxuries still leaves you in
possession of that; but
'Who can hold a fire in his hand
With thinking on the frostiest twelfth-cake?'
"Let me have a dinner of some sort, no matter what, and then give me
my fire, and my friends, the humblest glass of wine, and a few
penn'orths of chestnuts, and I will still make out my Christmas. What!
Have we not Burgundy in our blood? Have we not joke, laughter,
repartee, bright eyes, comedies of other people, and comedies of our
own; songs, memories, hopes? [An organ strikes up in the street at
this word, as if to answer me in the affirmative. Right thou old
spirit of harmony, wandering about in that ark of thine, and touching
the public ear with sweetness and an abstraction! Let the multitude
bustle on, but not unarrested by thee and by others, and not
unreminded of the happiness of renewing a wise childhood.] As to our
old friends the chestnuts, if anybody wants an excuse to his dignity
for roasting them, let him take the authority of Milton. 'Who now,'
says he lamenting the loss of his friend Deodati,--'who now will help
to soothe my cares for me, and make the long night seem short with his
conversation; while the roasting pear hisses tenderly on the fire, and
the nuts burst away with a noise,--
'And out of doors a washing storm o'erwhelms
Nature pitch-dark, and rides the thundering elms?'"
[Illustration]
CHRISTMAS IN THE HIGHLANDS.
[Illustration]
From Grant's "Popular Superstitions of the Highlands" Hone gathered
the following account:--
"As soon as the brightening glow of the eastern sky warns the anxious
house-maid of the approach of Christmas Day, she rises full of
anxiety at the prospect of her morning labours. The meal, which was
steeped in the _sowans-bowie_ a fortnight ago, to make the
_Prechdachdan sour_, or _sour scones_, is the first object of her
attention. The gridiron is put on the fire, and the sour scones are
soon followed by hard cakes, soft cakes, buttered cakes, brandered
bannocks, and pannich perm. The baking being once over, the sowans pot
succeeds the gridiron, full of new sowans, which are to be given to
the family, agreeably to custom, this day in their beds. The
sowans are boiled into the consistence of molasses, when the
_Lagan-le-vrich_, or yeast bread, to distinguish it from boiled
sowans, is ready. It is then poured into as many bickers as there are
individuals to partake of it, and presently served to the whole, old
and young. It would suit well the pen of a Burns, or the pencil of a
Hogarth, to paint the scene which follows. The ambrosial food is
despatched in aspiring draughts by the family, who soon give evident
proofs of the enlivening effects of the _Lagan-le-vrich_. As soon as
each despatches his bicker, he jumps out of bed--the elder branches to
examine the ominous signs of the day,[84] and the younger to enter on
its amusements. Flocking to the swing, a favourite amusement on this
occasion, the youngest of the family get the first '_shoulder_,' and
the next oldest in regular succession. In order to add the more to the
spirit of the exercise, it is a common practice with the person in the
_swing_, and the person appointed to swing him, to enter into a very
warm and humorous altercation. As the swinged person approaches the
swinger, he exclaims, _Ei mi tu chal_, 'I'll eat your kail.' To this
the swinger replies, with a violent shove, _Cha ni u mu chal_, 'You
shan't eat my kail.' These threats and repulses are sometimes carried
to such a height, as to break down or capsize the threatener, which
generally puts an end to the quarrel.
"As the day advances, those minor amusements are terminated at the
report of the gun, or the rattle of the ball clubs--the gun inviting
the marksman to the '_Kiavamuchd_,' or prize-shooting, and the latter
to '_Luchd-vouil_,' or the ball combatants--both the principal sports
of the day. Tired at length of the active amusements of the field,
they exchange them for the substantial entertainments of the table.
Groaning under the '_sonsy haggis_,'[85] and many other savoury
dainties, unseen for twelve months before, the relish communicated to
the company, by the appearance of the festive board, is more easily
conceived than described. The dinner once despatched, the flowing bowl
succeeds, and the sparkling glass flies to and fro like a weaver's
shuttle. As it continues its rounds, the spirits of the company become
more jovial and happy. Animated by its cheering influence, even old
decrepitude no longer feels his habitual pains--the fire of youth is
in his eye, as he details to the company the exploits which
distinguished him in the days of '_auld langsyne_;' while the young,
with hearts inflamed with '_love and glory_,' long to mingle in the
more lively scenes of mirth, to display their prowess and agility.
Leaving the patriarchs to finish those professions of friendship for
each other, in which they are so devoutly engaged, the younger part of
the company will shape their course to the ball-room, or the
card-table, as their individual inclinations suggest; and the
remainder of the evening is spent with the greatest pleasure of which
human nature is susceptible."
SWORD DANCING AT CHRISTMAS.
Hone's "Table Book" (vol. i.), 1827, contains a letter descriptive of
the pitmen of Northumberland, which says:--