Soon after Whitsuntide began the season of sheep-shearing, which was

generally terminated about midsummer, and either at its commencement or

close, was distinguished by the LAMB-ALE or SHEEP-SHEARING FEAST.

At Kidlington in Oxfordshire, it seems to have been _ushered in_ by

ceremonies of a peculiar kind, for, according to Blount, "the Monday

after the Whitsun week, a fat lamb was provided, and the maidens of

the town, having their thumbs tied behind them, were permitted to run

after it, and she who with her mouth took hold of the lamb was declared

the Lady of the Lamb, which, being killed and cleaned, but with the

skin hanging upon it, was carried on a long pole before the lady and

her companions to the green, attended with music, and a morisco dance

of men, and another of women. The rest of the day was spent in mirth

and merry glee. Next day the lamb, partly baked, partly boiled, and

partly roasted, was served up for the lady's feast, where she sat,

majestically at the upper end of the table, and her companions with

her, the music playing during the repast, which, being finished, the

solemnity ended."[181:B]

The most usual mode, however, of celebrating this important period was

by a dinner, music, with songs, and the election of a Shepherd King, an

office always conferred upon the individual whose flock had produced

the earliest lamb. The dinner is thus enjoined by the rustic muse of

Tusser:—

"Wife make us a dinner, spare flesh neither corne,

Make wafers and cakes, for our sheepe must be shorne,

At sheep-shearing, neighbours none other things crave,

But good cheare and welcome, like neighbours to have."[182:A]

But it is from Drayton that we derive the most minute account of the

festival; who in the fourteenth song of his Poly-Olbion, and still more

at large in his ninth Eclogue, has given a most pleasing picture of

this rural holy-day:—

"When the new-wash'd flock from the river's side,

Coming as white as January's snow,

The ram with nosegays bears his horns in pride,

And no less brave the bell-wether doth go.

After their fair flocks in a lusty rout,

Come the gay swains with bag-pipes strongly blown,

And busied, though this solemn sport about,

Yet had each one an eye unto his own.

And by the ancient statutes of the field,

He that his flocks the earliest lamb should bring,

(As it fell out then, Rowland's charge to yield)

Always for that year was the shepherd's king.

And soon preparing for the shepherd's board,

Upon a green that curiously was squar'd,

With country cates being plentifully stor'd:

And 'gainst their coming handsomely prepar'd.

New whig, with water from the clearest stream,

Green plumbs, and wildings, cherries chief of feast,

Fresh cheese, and dowsets, curds, and clouted cream,

Spic'd syllibubs, and cyder of the best:

And to the same down solemnly they sit,

In the fresh shadow of their summer bowers,

With sundry sweets them every way to fit,

The neighb'ring vale despoiled of her flowers.—

When now, at last, as lik'd the shepherd's king,

(At whose command they all obedient were)

Was pointed, who the roundelay should sing,

And who again the under-song should bear."[183:A]

Shakspeare also, in his _Winter's Tale_, has presented us not only with

a list of the good things necessary for a sheep-shearing feast, but he

describes likewise the attentions which were due, on this occasion,

from the hostess, or Shepherd's Queen.

"Let me see," says the Clown, "what I am to buy for our sheep-shearing

feast? _Three pound of sugar; five pound of currants; rice_——What

will this sister of mine do with rice? But my father hath made

her mistress of the feast, and _she lays it on_. She hath made

me four-and-twenty nosegays for the shearers: three-man song-men

all[183:B], and very good ones; but they are most of them means[183:C]

and bases: but one Puritan amongst them, and he sings psalms to

horn-pipes. I must have _saffron_, to colour the _warden pies_;

mace,—dates,—none; that's out of my note: _nutmegs, seven_; _a race,

or two, of ginger_: but that I may beg;—_four pound of prunes, and as

many of raisins o' the sun_."[183:D]

The culinary articles in this detail are somewhat more expensive than

those enumerated by Drayton; and Mr. Steevens, in a note on this

passage of the Winter's Tale, observes that "the expence attending

these festivities, appears to have afforded matter of complaint. Thus,

in _Questions of profitable and pleasant Concernings_, &c. 1594: 'If it

be a _sheep-shearing feast_, maister Baily can entertaine you with his

bill of reckonings to his maister of three sheapheard's wages, spent on

_fresh cates_, besides _spices_ and _saffron pottage_."[183:E]

The shepherd's reproof to his adopted daughter, Perdita, as Polixenes

remarks,

——— "the prettiest low-born lass, that ever

Ran on the green-sward,"

implies indirectly the duties which were expected by the peasants,

on this day, from their rural queen, and which seems to have been

sufficiently numerous and laborious:—

"Fye, daughter, when my old wife liv'd, upon

This day, she was both pantler, butler, cook;

Both dame and servant: welcom'd all; serv'd all:

Would sing her song, and dance her turn: now here,

At upper end o'the table, now, ithe middle;

On his shoulder, and his: her face o'fire

With labour; and the thing, she took to quench it,

She would to each one sip: You are retir'd,

As if you were a feasted one, and not

The hostess of the meeting: Pray you, bid

These unknown friends to us welcome: for it is

A way to make us better friends, more known.

Come, quench your blushes; and present yourself

That which you are, mistress o'the feast: Come on,

And bid us welcome to your _sheep-shearing_,

As your good flock shall prosper."[184:A]

It should be remarked that one material part of this welcome appears,

from the context, to have consisted in the distribution of various

flowers, suited to the ages of the respective visitors, a ceremony

which was, probably, customary at this season of rejoicing.

"_Perdita._ Give me those flowers there, Dorcas.—Reverend sirs,

For you there's rosemary, and rue; these keep

Seeming, and savour, all the winter long:

Grace, and remembrance, be to you both,

And welcome to our shearing!———

——————————— Here's flowers for you;

Hot lavender, mints, savory, marjoram;

The marigold, that goes to bed with the sun,

And with him rises weeping; these are flowers

Of middle summer, and, I think, they are given

To men of middle age: You are very welcome.—

———— ———— ——— Now, my fairest friend,

I would, I had some flowers of the spring, that might

Become your time of day; and yours, and yours;

That wear upon your virgin branches yet

Your maidenheads growing:—O, these I lack,

To make you garlands of."[185:A]

A custom somewhat allied to this, that of scattering flowers on the

streams at _shearing time_, has been long observed in the south-west

of England, and is thus alluded to as an ancient rite by Dyer, in his

beautifully descriptive poem entitled _The Fleece_:

——— "With light fantastic toe, the nymphs

Thither assembled, thither ev'ry swain;

And o'er the dimpled stream a thousand flowers,

Pale lilies, roses, violets and pinks,

Mixt with the greens of burnet, mint and thyme,

And trefoil, sprinkled with their sportive arms.

Such custom holds along the irriguous vales,

From Wreakin's brow to rocky Dolvoryn,

Sabrina's early haunt."[185:B]

That one of the principal seasons of rejoicing should take place on

securely collecting the fruits of the field, it is natural to expect;

and accordingly, in almost every country, a HARVEST-HOME, or Feast, has

been observed on this occasion.

Much of the festivity and jocular freedom however, which subsisted

formerly at this period, has been worn away by the increasing

refinements and distinctions of society. In the sixteenth and

seventeenth centuries, and, indeed, during a part of the eighteenth,

the Harvest, or _Mell_, Supper, as it was sometimes called, from the

French word _Mesler_, to mingle or mix together, was a scene not

only remarkable for merriment and hospitality, but for a temporary

suspension of all inequality between master and man. The whole family

sate down at the same table, and conversed, danced, and sang together

during the entire night without difference or distinction of any kind;

and, in many places indeed, this freedom of manner subsisted during the

whole period of getting in the Harvest. Thus Tusser, recommending the

social equality of the Harvest-tide, exclaims,

"In harvest time, harvest folke, _servants and al_,

should make _altogither_, good cheere in the hal:

And fil out the blacke bol, of bleith to their song,

and let them be merrie, _al harvest time long_."[186:A]

Of this ancient convivial licence, a modern rural poet has drawn a most

pleasing picture, lamenting, at the same time, that the Harvest-Feast

of the present day is but the phantom of what it was:—

"The aspect only with the substance gone.

* * * * *

Behold the sound oak table's massy frame

Bestride the kitchen floor! the careful dame

And gen'rous host invite their friends around,

_While all that clear'd the crop, or till'd the ground,

Are guests by right of custom:——

Here once a year Distinction low'rs its crest,

The master, servant, and the merry guest,

Are equal all_; and round the happy ring

The reaper's eyes exulting glances fling,

And, warm'd with gratitude, he quits his place,

With sun-burnt hands and ale-enliven'd face,

Refills the jug his honour'd host to tend,

To serve at once the master and the friend;

Proud thus to meet his smiles, to share his tale,

His nuts, his conversation, and his ale.

_Such were the days,——of days long past I sing._"[186:B]

It will be necessary to enter a little more minutely into the rites

and ceremonies which accompanied this annual feast in the days of

Shakspeare, and fortunately we can appeal to a few curious documents

on which dependence can be placed. Hentzner, a learned German who

travelled through Germany, England, France, and Italy, towards the

close of the sixteenth century, and whose Itinerary, as far as it

relates to this country, has been translated by the late Lord Orford,

says, "as we were returning to our inn (from Windsor), we happened

to meet some country people _celebrating their harvest-home_; their

last load of corn they crown with flowers, having besides an image

richly dressed, by which, perhaps, they would signify Ceres; this they

keep moving about, while men and women, men and maid servants, riding

through the streets in the cart, shout as loud as they can till they

arrive at the barn."[187:A] Dr. Moresin also, another foreigner, who

published, in the reign of James I., an elaborate work on the "Origin

and Increase of Depravity in Religion," relates that he saw "in England

the country people bringing home, in a cart from the harvest field,

a figure made of corn, round which men and women were promiscuously

singing, preceded by a piper and a drum."[187:B]

To this custom of accompanying home the last waggon-load of corn, at

the close of harvest, with music, Shakspeare is supposed to allude in

the _Merchant of Venice_, where Lorenzo tells the musicians to pierce

his mistress' ear with sweetest touches,

"And draw her home with musick."[187:C]

It was usual also, not only to feast the men and women, but to reward

likewise the boys and girls who were in any degree instrumental in

getting in the harvest; accordingly Tusser humanely observes,

"Once ended thy harvest, let none be begilde,

please such as did please thee, man, woman and _child_:

Thus doing, with alwaie such helpe as they can,

thou winnest the praise, of the labouring man;"[188:A]

an injunction which Mr. Hilman has further explained by subjoining to

this stanza the following remark:—"Every one," says he, "that did

any thing towards the Inning, must now have some reward, as ribbons,

laces, rows of pins to boys and girls, if never so small, for their

encouragement, and to be sure plumb-pudding."

The most minute account, however, which we can now any where meet

with, of the ceremonies and rejoicings at Harvest-Home, as they

existed during the prior part of the seventeenth century, and which

we may justly consider as not deviating from those that accompanied

the same festival in the reign of Elizabeth, is to be found among the

poems of Robert Herrick, and will be valued, not exclusively for its

striking illustration of the subject, but for its merit, likewise, as a

descriptive piece.

"THE HOCK-CART, OR HARVEST-HOME.[188:B]

COME, Sons of Summer, by whose toile

We are the Lords of wine and oile:

By whose tough labours, and rough hands,

We rip up first, then reap our lands.

Crown'd with the eares of corne, now come,

And, to the pipe, sing Harvest-home.

Come forth, my Lord, and see the cart

Drest up with all the country art.

See, here a _Maukin_, there a sheet,

As spotlesse pure, as it is sweet:

The horses, mares, and frisking fillies,

Clad, all, in linnen, white as lillies.

The Harvest swaines, and wenches bound

For joy, to see the _Hock-cart_ crown'd.

About the cart, heare, how the rout

Of rurall younglings raise the shout;

Pressing before, some coming after,

These with a shout, and these with laughter.

Some blesse the cart; some kisse the sheaves;

Some prank them up with oaken leaves:

Some crosse the fill-horse; some with great

Devotion, stroak the home-borne wheat:

While other rusticks, lesse attent

To prayers, then to merryment,

Run after with their breeches rent.

Well, on, brave boyes, to your Lord's hearth,

Glitt'ring with fire; where, for your mirth,

Ye shall see first the large and cheefe

Foundation of your feast, fat beefe:

With upper stories, mutton, veale

And bacon, which makes full the meale;

With sev'ral dishes standing by,

As here a custard, there a pie,

And here all tempting frumentie.

And for to make the merry cheere,

If smirking wine be wanting here,

There's that, which drowns all care, stout beere;

Which freely drink to your Lord's health,

Then to the plough, the commonwealth;

Next to your flailes, your fanes, your fats;

Then to the maids with wheaten hats;

To the rough sickle, and crookt sythe,

Drink frollick boyes, till all be blythe.

Feed, and grow fat; and as ye eat,

Be mindfull, that the lab'ring neat,

As you, may have their fill of meat.

And know, besides, ye must revoke

The patient oxe unto the yoke,

And all goe back unto the plough

And harrow, though they're hang'd up now.

And, you must know, your Lord's word true,

Feed him ye must, whose food fils you.

And that this pleasure is like raine,

Not sent ye for to drowne your paine,

But for to make it spring againe."[189:A]

We must not forget that, during the reign of Elizabeth, another

_feast-day_ fell to the lot of the husbandman, at the close of

wheat-sowing, in October. This was termed, from one of the chief

articles provided for the table, THE SEED-CAKE, and is no where

recorded so distinctly as by the agricultural muse of Tusser:—

"Wife sometime this week, if the weather hold cleer,

an end of wheat-sowing, we make for this yeere:

Remember thou therefore, though I do it not,

the _seed-cake_, the _pastries_, and _furmenty pot_."[190:A]

Proceeding with the year, and postponing the consideration of All

Hallowmas to the chapter on superstitions, we reach the eleventh

of November, or the festival of St. Martin, usually called

MARTINMAS, or MARTLEMAS, a day formerly devoted to feasting and

conviviality, and on which a stock of salted provisions was laid in

for the winter. This custom of killing cattle, swine, &c. and _curing_

them against the approaching season, was, during the sixteenth and

seventeenth centuries, common every where, though _now_ only partially

observed in a few country-villages; for smoke-dryed meat in those days

was more generally relished than at present. We find Tusser, therefore,

as might be expected, recommending this savoury diet; in one place

saying to his farmer,—

"For Easter, at _Martilmas_, hang up a beefe—

With that and the like, yer grasse beef come in,

thy folke shall look cheerely, when others look thin;"[190:B]

and again,—

"_Martilmas_ beefe doth bear good tacke,

When countrey folke do dainties lacke;"[190:C]

so, likewise, in _The Pinner of Wakefield_, printed in 1559,

"A piece of beef hung up since _Martlemas_."

Moresin tells us, in the reign of James I., that there were

great rejoicings and feasting on this day throughout Europe, an

assertion which is verified by the ancient Calendar of the church

of Rome, where under the eleventh of November occur the following

observations:—"Martinalia, Geniale Festum. Vina delibantur et

defecantur. Vinalia veterum festum huc translatum. Bacchus in Martini

figura.—The Martinalia, a genial feast. Wines are tasted of and

drawn from the lees. The Vinalia, a feast of the Antients, removed to

this day. Bacchus in the figure of Martin."[191:A] J. Boëmus Aubanus

likewise informs us, as Mr. Brand remarks, "that in Franconia, there

was a great deal of eating and drinking at this season; no one was so

poor or niggardly that on the _Feast of St. Martin_ had not his dish of

the _entrails_ either of _oxen_, _swine_, or _calves_. They drank, too,

he says, very liberally of _wine_ on the occasion."[191:B]

In this country, merriment and good cheer were equally conspicuous on

St. Martin's feast; the young danced and sang, and the old regaled

themselves by the fire-side. A modern poet, who has beautifully copied

the antique, under the somewhat stale pretence of discovering an

ancient manuscript, presents us with a specimen of his manufacture

of considerable merit, under the title of _Martilmasse Daye_; this,

as being referred to the age of Elizabeth, and recording, with due

attention to historical costume, the mirth and revelry which used

formerly to distinguish this period, may be admitted here as a species

of traditional evidence of no exceptionable kind. The poem, which is

supposed to have been found at Norwich, at an ancient Hostelrie, whilst

under repair, consists of six stanzas, two of which, however, though

possessing poetical and descriptive point, we have omitted, as not

referable to any peculiar observance of the day:—

"It is the day of Martilmasse,

Cuppes of ale should freelie passe;

What though Wynter has begunne

To push downe the summer sunne,

To our fire we can betake

And enjoie the cracklinge brake,

Never heedinge winter's face

On the day of Martilmasse.—

Some do the citie now frequent,

Where costlie shews and merriment

Do weare the vaporish ev'ninge out

With interlude and revellinge rout;

Such as did pleasure Englandes Queene,

When here her royal Grace was seene,[192:A]

Yet will they not this day let passe,

The merrie day of Martilmasse.

Nel hath left her wool at home,

The Flanderkin hath stayed his loom,[192:B]

No beame doth swinge nor wheel go round

Upon Gurguntums walled ground;[192:C]

Where now no anchorite doth dwell

To rise and pray at Lenard's bell:

Martyn hath kicked at Balaam's ass,

So merrie be old Martilmasse.

When the dailie sportes be done,

Round the market crosse they runne,

Prentis laddes, and gallant blades,

Dancinge with their gamesome maids,

Till the beadel, stoute and sowre,

Shakes his bell, and calls the houre;

Then farewell ladde and farewell lasse,

To' th' merry night of Martilmasse."[193:A]

Shakspeare has an allusion to this formerly convivial day in the

_Second Part of King Henry IV._, where Poins, asking Bardolph after

Falstaff, says: "How doth the _martlemas_, your master?" an epithet

by which, as Johnson observes, he means the latter spring, or the old

fellow with juvenile passions.[193:B]

We have now to record the closing and certainly the greatest festival

of the year, the celebration of CHRISTMAS, a period which our ancestors

were accustomed to devote to hospitality on a very large scale, to the

indulgence indeed of hilarity and good cheer for, at least, twelve

days, and sometimes, especially among the lower ranks, for six weeks.

Christmas was always ushered in by the due observance of its _Eve_,

first in a religious and then in a festive point of view. "Our

forefathers," remarks Bourne, "when the common devotions of the _Eve_

were over, and night was come on, were wont to light up _candles_ of

an uncommon size, which were called _Christmas-candles_, and to lay

a _log_ of wood upon the fire, which they termed a _Yule-clog_, or

Christmas-block. These were to illuminate the house, and turn the

night into day; which custom, in some measure, is still kept up in the

northern parts."[194:A]

This mode of rejoicing, at the winter solstice, appears to have

originated with the Danes and Pagan Saxons, and was intended to be

emblematical of the return of the sun, and its increasing light and

heat; _gehol_ or _Geol_, Angl. Sax. _Jel_, _Jul_, _Huil_, or _Yule_,

Dan. Sax. Swed., implying the idea of _revolution_ or of _wheel_,

and not only designating, among these northern nations, the month

of December, called _Jul_-Month, but the great feast also of this

period.[194:B] On the introduction of Christianity, the illuminations

of the _Eve of Yule_ were continued as representative of the _true

light_ which was then ushered into the world, in the person of our

Saviour, the _Day spring from on High_.

The ceremonies and festivities which were observed on Christmas-Eve

during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and which in some

parts of the north have been partially continued, until within

these last thirty years, consisted in bringing into the house, with

much parade and with vocal and instrumental harmony, the _Yule_ or

_Christmas-block_, a massy piece of fire-wood, frequently the enormous

root of a tree, and which was usually supplied by the carpenter

attached to the family. This being placed in the centre of the

great hall, each of the family, in turn, sate down upon it, sung a

_Yule-Song_, and drank to a _merry Christmas_ and a _happy new year_.

It was then placed on the large open hearth in the hall chimney, and,

being lighted with the last year's brand, carefully preserved for this

express purpose, the music again struck up, when the addition of fuel

already inflamed, expedited the process, and occasioned a brilliant

conflagration. The family and their friends were then feasted with

_Yule-Dough_ or _Yule-cakes_, on which were impressed the figure of the

child Jesus; and with bowls of _frumenty_, made from wheat cakes or

creed wheat, boiled in milk, with sugar, nutmeg, &c. To these succeeded

tankards of spiced ale, while preparations were usually going on among

the domestics for the hospitalities of the succeeding day.

In the curious collection of Herrick is preserved a poem descriptive

of some of these observances, and which was probably written for the

express purpose of being sung during the kindling of the Yule-clog.

"COME, bring with a noise,

My merrie, merrie boyes,

The Christmas Log to the firing;

While my good Dame, she

Bids ye all be free,

And drink to your hearts desiring.

With the last yeere's brand

Light the new block, and

For good success in his spending,

On your psalteries play,

That sweet luck may

Come while the Log is a teending.[195:A]

Drink now the strong beere,

Cut the white loafe here,[195:B]

The while the meat is a shredding

For the rare mince-pie,

And the plums stand by

To fill the paste that's a kneading."[195:C]

It was customary on this _eve_, likewise, to decorate the windows

of every house, from the nobleman's seat to the cottage, with bay,

laurel, ivy, and holly leaves, which were continued during the whole

of the Christmas-holidays, and frequently until Candlemas. Stowe, in

his Survey of London, particularly mentions this observance:—"Against

the feast of _Christmas_," says he, "every man's house, as also their

parish churches, were decked with holm, ivie, bayes, and whatsoever the

season of the yeere aforded to be greene: The conduits and standards

in the streetes were likewise garnished. Amongst the which, I read,

that in the yeere 1444, by tempest of thunder and lightning, on the

first of February at night, Paul's steeple was fired, but with great

labour quenched, and toward the morning of Candlemas day, at the Leaden

Hall in Cornhill, a standard of tree, beeing set up in the midst of

the pavement fast in the ground, nayled full of holme and ivy, for

disport of Christmas to the people; was torne up, and cast downe by the

_malignant spirit_ (as was thought) and the stones of the pavement all

about were cast in the streetes, and into divers houses, so that the

people were sore agast at the great tempests."[196:A]

This custom, which still prevails in many parts of the kingdom,

especially in our parish-churches, is probably founded on a very

natural idea, that whatever is green, at this bleak season of the year,

may be considered as emblematic of joy and victory, more particularly

the laurel, which had been adopted by the Greeks and Romans, for this

express purpose. That this was the opinion of our ancestors, and that

they believed the _malignant spirit_ was envious of, and interested in

destroying these symbols of their triumph, appears from the passage

just quoted from Stowe.

It has been, indeed, conjectured, that this mode of ornamenting

churches and houses is either allusive to numerous figurative

expressions in the prophetic Scriptures typical of Christ, as the

_Branch of Righteousness_, or that it was commemorative of the style

in which the first Christian churches in this country were built, the

materials for the erection of which being usually _wrythen wands or

boughs_[196:B]; it may have, however, an origin still more remote,

and fancy may trace the misletoe, which is frequently used on these

occasions, to the times of the ancient Druids, an hypothesis which

acquires some probability from a passage in Dr. Chandler's Travels in

Greece, where he informs us, "It is related where Druidism prevailed,

the _houses_ were _decked_ with _evergreens_ in _December_, that the

Sylvan spirits might repair to them, and remain unnipped with frost

and cold winds, until a milder season had renewed the foliage of their

darling abodes."[197:A]

The morning of the Nativity was ushered in with the chaunting of

_Christmas Carols_, or _Pious Chansons_. _The Christmas Carol_ was

either _scriptural_ or _convivial_, the first being sung morning and

evening, until the twelfth day, and the second during the period of

feasting or carousing.

"As soon as the morning of the Nativity appears," says Bourne, "it is

customary among the common people to sing a _Christmas Carol_, which

is a song upon the birth of our Saviour, and generally sung from the

Nativity to the Twelfth-day; this custom," he adds, "seems to be an

imitation of the _Gloria in Excelsis_, or _Glory be to God on High_,

&c. which was sung by the angels, as they hovered o'er the fields of

Bethlehem on the morning of the Nativity; for even that song, as the

learned Bishop Taylor observes, was a Christmas Carol. _As soon_, says

he, _as these blessed Choristers had sung their Xmas Carol, and taught

the Church a hymn, to put into her offices for ever, on the anniversary

of this festivity; the angels_," &c.[197:B] We can well remember that,

during the early period of our life, which was spent in the north of

England, it was in general use for the young people to sing a _carol_

early on the morning of this great festival, and the burthen of which

was,

"All the angels in heaven do sing

On a Chrismas day in the morning;"

customs such as this, laudable in themselves and highly impressive on

the youthful mind, are, we are sorry to say, nearly, if not totally,

disappearing from the present generation.

To the carols, hymns, or pious chansons, which were sung about the

streets at night, during Christmas-tide, Shakspeare has two allusions;

one in _Hamlet_, where the Prince quotes two lines from a popular

ballad entitled "_The Songe of Jepthah's Daughter_," and adds, "The

first row of the pious chanson will show you more[198:A];" and the

other in the _Midsummer-Night's Dream_, where Titania remarks that

"No night is now with _hymn_ or _carol_ blest."[198:B]

Upon the first of these passages Mr. Steevens has observed that the

"_pious chansons_ were a kind of _Christmas carols_, containing some

scriptural history thrown into loose rhymes, and sung about the streets

by the common people;" and upon the second, that "_hymns_ and _carols_,

in the time of Shakspeare, during the season of Christmas, were sung

every night about the streets, as a pretext for collecting money from

house to house."

Carols of this kind, indeed, were, during the sixteenth century, sung

at Christmas, through every town and village in the kingdom; and

Tusser, in his _Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie_, introduces

one for this season, which he orders to be sung to the tune of _King

Salomon_.[198:C]

The chief object of the common people in chaunting these _nightly_

carols, from house to house, was to obtain money or _Christmas-Boxes_,

a term derived from the usage of the Romish priests, who ordered masses

at this time to be made to the Saints, in order to atone for the

excesses of the people, during the festival of the Nativity, and as

these masses were always purchased of the priest, the poor were allowed

to gather money in this way with the view of liberating themselves

from the consequence of the debaucheries of which they were enabled to

partake, through the hospitality of the rich.

The _convivial_ or _jolie carols_ were those which were sung either

by the company, or by itinerant minstrels, during the revelry that

daily took place, in the houses of the wealthy, from Christmas-Eve

to Twelfth Day. They were also frequently called _Wassel Songs_, and

may be traced back to the Anglo-Norman period. Mr. Douce, in his very

interesting "Illustrations of Shakspeare and of Ancient Manners," has

given us a Christmas-carol of the thirteenth or fourteenth century

written in the Norman language, and which may be regarded, says he,

"as the most ancient drinking song, composed in England, that is

extant. This singular curiosity," he adds, "has been written on a

spare leaf in the middle of a valuable miscellaneous manuscript of the

fourteenth century, preserved in the British Museum, Bibl. Regal. 16,

E. 8."[199:A] To the original he has annexed a translation, admirable

for its fidelity and harmony, and we are tempted to insert three

stanzas as illustrative of manners and diet which still continued

fashionable in the days of Shakspeare. We shall prefix the first stanza

of the original, as a specimen of the language, with the observation,

that from the word _Noel_, which occurs in it, Blount has derived the

term _Ule_ or _Yule_; the French _Nouël_ or Christmas, he observes,

the Normans corrupted to _Nuel_, and from _Nuel_ we had _Nule_, or

_Ule_.[199:B]

"Seignors ore entendez a nus,

De loinz sumes renuz a wous,

Pur quere NOEL;

Car lem nus dit que en cest hostel

Soleit tenir sa feste anuel

A hi cest jur."

"Lordings, from a distant home,

To seek old CHRISTMAS we are come,

Who loves our minstrelsy:

And here, unless report mis-say,

The grey-beard dwells; and on this day

Keeps yearly wassel, ever gay,

With festive mirth and glee.

Lordings list, for we tell you true;

CHRISTMAS loves the jolly crew

That cloudy care defy:

His liberal board is deftly spread

With manchet loaves and wastel-bread;

His guests with fish and flesh are fed,

Nor lack the stately pye.

Lordings, it is our hosts' command,

And Christmas joins him hand in hand,

To drain the brimming bowl:

And I'll be foremost to obey:

Then pledge me sirs, and drink away,

For CHRISTMAS revels here to day

And sways without controul.

Now _Wassel_ to you all! and merry may ye be!

But foul that wight befall, who _Drinks_ not _Health_ to me!"[200:A]

_Manchet loaves_, _wastel-bread_, and the _stately pye_, that is,

a _peacock_ or _pheasant_ pye, were still common in the days of

Shakspeare. During the prevalence of chivalry, it was usual for the

knights to take their vows of enterprise, at a solemn feast, on the

presentation to each knight, in turn, of a roasted peacock in a golden

dish. For this was afterwards substituted, though only in a culinary

light, and as the most magnificent dish which could be brought to

table, a peacock in a pie, preserving as much as possible the form of

the bird, with the head elevated above the crust, the beak richly gilt,

and the beautiful tail spread out to its full extent. In allusion to

these superb dishes a ludicrous oath was prevalent in Shakspeare's

time, which he has, with much propriety, put into the mouth of Justice

Shallow, who, soliciting the stay of the fat knight, exclaims,

"By _cock and pye_, sir, you shall not away to night."[201:A]

The use of the peacock, however, as one of the articles of a second

course, continued to the close of the seventeenth century; for Gervase

Markham, in the ninth edition of his _English House-Wife_, London 1683,

enumerating the articles and ordering of a _great feast_, mentions

this, among other birds, now seldom seen as objects of cookery; "then

in the second course she shall first preferr the lesser wild-fowl, as

&c. then the lesser land-fowl as &c. &c. then the great wild-fowl, as

_bittern_, _hearn_, _shoveler_, _crane_, bustard, and such like. Then

the greater land-fowl, as PEACOCKS, phesant, _puets_, _gulls_,

&c."[201:B]

Numerous collections of _Carols_, or _festal chansons_, to be sung

at the various feasts and ceremonies of the Christmas-holidays, were

published during the sixteenth century. One of the earliest of these

was printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1521, and entitled _Christmasse

carolles_. It contains, among many very curious specimens of this

species of popular poetry, one, which not only contributed to the

hilarity of our ancestors in the reigns of Henry, Elizabeth, and James,

but is still in use, though with many alterations, in Queen's College,

Oxford; it is designated as _a Carol bryngyng in the bores head_, which

was the first dish served up at the baron's high table in the great

hall on Christmas-day, and was usually accompanied by a procession,

with the sound of trumpets and other instruments.

"_Caput Apri defero,

Reddens laudes Domino._

The bores head in hande bringe I,

With garlandes gay and rosemary.

I pray you all synge merily,

_Qui estis in convivio_.

The bores head, I understande,

Is the chefe servyce in this lande:

Loke wherever it be fande

_Servite cum cantico_.

Be gladde lordes, both more and lasse,

For this hath ordayned our stewarde

To chere you all this christmasse,

The bores head with mustarde."[202:A]

For the hospitality, indeed, the merriment and good cheer, which

prevailed during the season of Christmas, this country was peculiarly

distinguished in the sixteenth century. Setting aside the splendid

manner in which this festival was kept at court, and in the capital, we

may appeal to the country, in confirmation of the assertion; the hall

of the nobleman and country-gentleman, and even the humbler mansions

of the yeoman and husbandman, vied with the city in the exhibition

of plenty, revelry, and sport. Of the mode in which the farmer and

his servants enjoyed themselves, on this occasion, a good idea may

be formed from the poem of Tusser, the first edition of which thus

admonishes the housewife:—

"Get ivye and hull, woman deck up thyne house:

and take this same brawne, for to seeth and to souse.

Provide us good chere, for thou know'st the old guise:

olde customes, that good be, let no man despise.

At Christmas be mery, and thanke god of all

and feast thy pore neighbours, the great with the small."[202:B]

And in subsequent impressions, the articles of the _Christmas

husbandlie fare_ are more particularly enumerated; for instance, good

drinke, a blazing fire in the hall, brawne, pudding and souse, and

mustard _with all_, beef, mutton, and pork, shred or minced pies _of

the best_, pig, veal, goose, capon, and turkey, cheese, apples, and

nuts, with _jolie carols_; a pretty ample provision for the rites of

hospitality, and a powerful security against the inclemencies of the

season!

The Hall of the baron, knight, or squire, was the seat of the same

festivities, the same gambols, wassailing, mummery, and mirth, which

usually took place in the palaces and mansions of the metropolis, and

of these Jonson has given us a very curious epitome in his _Masque of

Christmas_, where he has personified the season and its attributes in

the following manner:

"_Enter CHRISTMAS with two or three of the Guard._

"He is attir'd in round hose, long stockings, a close

doublet, a high crownd hat with a broach, a long thin beard,

a truncheon, little ruffes, white shoes, his scarffes, and

garters tyed crosse, and his drum beaten before him.—

"The names of his CHILDREN, with their attyres.

"_Mis-rule._ In a velvet cap with a sprig, a short cloake,

great yellow ruffe like a reveller, his torch-bearer bearing a

rope, a cheese and a basket.

"_Caroll._ A long tawny coat, with a red cap, and a flute at

his girdle, his torch-bearer carrying a song booke open.

"_Minc'd Pie._ Like a fine cooke's wife, drest neat; her man

carrying a pie, dish, and spoones.

"_Gamboll._ Like a tumbler, with a hoope and bells; his

torch-bearer arm'd with a cole-staffe, and a blinding cloth.

"_Post And Paire._ With a paire-royall of aces in his hat;

his garment all done over with payres, and purrs; his squier

carrying a box, cards and counters.

"_New-Yeares-Gift._ In a blew coat, serving-man like, with

an orange, and a sprig of rosemarie guilt on his head, his

hat full of broaches, with a coller of gingerbread, his

torch-bearer carrying a march-paine, with a bottle of wine on

either arme.

"_Mumming._ In a masquing pied suite, with a visor, his

torch-bearer carrying the boxe, and ringing it.

"_Wassall._ Like a neat sempster, and songster; her page

bearing a browne bowle, drest with ribbands, and rosemarie

before her.

"_Offering._ In a short gowne, with a porter's staffe in his

hand; a wyth borne before him, and a bason by his torch-bearer.

"_Babie-Coche._ Drest like a boy, in a fine long coat, biggin,

bib, muckender, and a little dagger; his usher bearing a great

cake with a beane, and a pease."[203:A]

Of these personified attributes we have already noticed, at

some length, the most material, such as _Misrule_, _Caroll_,

_New-Year's-Gift_ and _Wassall_; to the account, however, which has

been given of the Summer Lord of Misrule, from Stubbes's Anatomie of

Abuses, it will be here necessary to add, that the sway of this mock

prince, both in town and country, was still more absolute during the

Christmas-holidays; "what time," says Holinshed, "of old ordinarie

course there is alwaies one appointed to make sport in the court,

called commonlie Lord of Misrule: whose office is not unknowne to

such as have beene brought up in noblemen's houses, and among great

house-keepers, which use liberal feasting in that season."[204:A]

Stowe, likewise, has recorded, in his Survey, the universal domination

of this holiday monarch. "In the feast of Christmas," he remarks,

"there was in the king's house, wheresoever he was lodged, a _Lord of

Misrule_, or _Master of merry desports_, and the like had yee in the

house of every nobleman of honour, or good worship, were he spirituall

or temporall. Amongst the which, the Maior of London, and either of the

Sheriffes had their severall Lords of Misrule, ever contending without

quarrell or offence, who should make the rarest pastimes to delight

the beholders. These Lords beginning their rule on Alhallow Eve,

continued the same til the morrow after the feast of the Purification,

commonly called Candlemas-day: In all which space, there were fine and

subtill disguisings, maskes and mummeries, with playing at cardes for

counters, nayles and points _in every house_, more for pastime than for

gaine."[204:B]

In short, the directions which are to be found for a grand Christmas

in the capital, were copied with equal splendour and profusion in the

houses of the opulent gentlemen in the country, who made it a point to

be even lavish at this season of the year. We may, therefore, consider

the following description as applying accurately to the Christmas

hospitality of the Baron's hall.

"On Christmas-day, service in the church ended, the gentlemen presently

repair into the hall to breakfast, with brawn, mustard, and malmsey.

"At dinner the butler, appointed for the Christmas, is to see the

tables covered and furnished: and the ordinary butlers of the house

are decently to set bread, napkins, and trenchers, in good form, at

every table; with spoones and knives. At the first course is served in

a fair and large bore's head, upon a silver platter, with minstralsye.

"Two 'servants' are to attend at supper, and to bear two fair torches

of wax, next before the musicians and trumpeters, and stand above the

fire with the music, till the first course be served in through the

hall. Which performed, they, with the musick, are to return into the

buttery. The like course is to be observed in all things, during the

time of Christmas.

"At night, before supper, are revels and dancing, and so also after

supper, during the twelve daies of Christmas. The Master of the Revels

is, after dinner and supper, to sing a caroll, or song; and command

other gentlemen then there present to sing with him and the company;

and so it is very decently performed."[205:A]

Beside the revelry and dancing here mentioned, we may add, that it was

customary, at this season, after the Christmas sports and games had

been indulged in, until the performers were weary, to gather round the

ruddy fire, and tell tales of legendary lore, or popular superstition.

Herrick, recording the diversions of this period, mentions one of them

as consisting of "winter's tales about the hearth[205:B];" and Grose,

speaking of the source whence he had derived many of the superstitions

narrated in the concluding section of his "Provincial Glossary," says,

that he gives them, as they had, from age to age, been "related to a

closing circle of attentive hearers, assembled in a winter's evening,

round the capacious chimney of an old hall or manor-house;" and he

adds, that tales of this description formed, among our ancestors, "a

principal part of rural conversation, in all large assemblies, _and

particularly those in Christmas holidays, during the burning of the

Yule-block_."[205:C]

Of the conviviality which universally reigned during these holidays,

a good estimate may be taken by a few lines from the author of

Hesperides, who, addressing a friend at Christmas-tide, makes the

following request:

———— "When your faces shine

With bucksome meat and cap'ring wine,

Remember us in cups full crown'd,—

Untill the fired chesnuts leape

For joy, to see the fruits ye reape

From the plumpe challice, and the cup,

That tempts till it be tossed up:—

—— —— —— —— carouse

Till Liber Pater[206:A] twirles the house

About your eares;——

"Then" to the bagpipe all addresse,

Till sleep takes place of wearinesse:

And thus throughout, with Christmas playes,

Frolick the full twelve holy-dayes."[206:B]

We shall close this detail of the ceremonies and festivities of

Christmas with a passage from the descriptive muse of Mr. Walter

Scott, in which he has collected, with his usual accuracy, and with

his almost unequalled power of costume-painting, nearly all the

striking circumstances which distinguished the celebration of this high

festival, from an early period, to the close of the sixteenth century.

They form a picture which must delight, both from the nature of its

subject, and from the truth and mellowness of its colouring.

—— "Well our Christian sires of old

Loved when the year its course had rolled,

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;—

The damsel donned her kirtle sheen;

The hall was dressed with holly green;

Forth to the wood did merry-men go,

To gather in the misletoe.

Then opened 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 chuse;

The lord, underogating, share

The vulgar game of "post and pair."

All hailed, with uncontrolled 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,

Scrubbed 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 wassol round, in good brown bowls,

Garnished with ribbons, blithely trowls.

There the huge sirloin recked: hard by

Plumb-porridge stood, and Christmas pye;

Nor failed old Scotland to produce,

At such high tide, her savoury goose.

Then came the merry masquers in,

And carols roared 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, O! 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."[208:A]

FOOTNOTES:

[124:A] Selden, under the article Pope. The _Table Talk_, though not

printed until A. D. 1689, is a work illustrative of the era under our

consideration.

[126:A] Nichols's Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth,

vol. i. preface, p. 25-28.

[127:A] Collier's Ecclesiastical History, vol. i. p. 163.

[128:A] Galfred. Monumeth. l. 3. c. 1. _Robert_ of _Gloucester_ gives

us a similar account of the origin of this ceremony, and makes the

same observation as to its general prevalency. The rude lines of the

ancient poet have been thus beautifully paraphrased in the Antiquarian

Repertory:—

'Health, my Lord King,' the sweet Rowena said—

'Health,' cried the Chieftain to the Saxon maid;

Then gaily rose, and, 'mid the concourse wide,

Kiss'd her hale lips, and plac'd her by his side.

At the soft scene such gentle thoughts abound,

That healths and kisses 'mongst the guests went round:

From this the social custom took its rise,

We still retain, and still must keep the prize.

[129:A] "The ingenious remarker on this representation observes, that

it is the figure of the old Wassel-Bowl, so much the delight of our

hardy ancestors, who on the vigil of the New-Year never failed to

assemble round the glowing hearth, with their chearful neighbours,

and then in the spicy Wassel-Bowl (which testified the goodness of

their hearts) drowned every former animosity, an example worthy modern

imitation. _Wassel_ was the word, _Wassel_ every guest returned as he

took the circling goblet from his friend, whilst song and civil mirth

brought in the infant year." Brand's Observations, by Ellis, vol. i. p.

3.

[129:B] Douce's Illustrations of Shakspeare and of Ancient Manners,

vol. ii. p. 209, 210.

[129:C] Act i. sc. 4. Reed's edit. vol. xviii. p. 64.

[129:D] Act i. sc. 7. Reed, vol. x. p. 88.

[129:E] Act i. sc. 4. Reed, vol. xvii. p. 49.

[130:A] Act v. sc. 2. Reed, vol. vii. p. 165.

[130:B] Epigrammes i. booke folio 1640, p. 50.

[130:C] Jonson's Works, fol. vol. ii. 1640.

[130:D] Act v. sc. 1.

[131:A] Warton's Milton, 2d edit. p. 160. The _Peg Tankard_, a species

of Wassail-Bowl introduced by the Saxons, was still in use in the days

of Shakspeare. I am in possession of one, which was given to a member

of my family about one hundred and fifty years ago; it is of chased

silver, containing nearly two quarts, and is divided by four pegs.

This form of the _wassail_ or _wish-health bowl_ was introduced

by _Dunstan_, with the view of checking the intemperance of his

countrymen, which for a time it effected; but subsequently the remedy

was converted into an additional stimulus to excess; "for, refining

upon Dunstan's plan, each was obliged to drink precisely to a pin,

whether he could sustain a quantity of liquor equal to others or not:

and to that end it became a rule, that whether they exceeded, or fell

short of the prescribed bumper, they were alike compelled to drink

_again_, until they reached the next mark. In the year 1102, the

_priests_, who had not been backward in joining and encouraging these

drunken assemblies, were ordered to avoid such abominations, and wholly

to _discontinue_ the practice of "DRINKING TO PEGS." Some of these PEG

or PIN CUPS, or _Bowls_, and PIN or PEG TANKARDS, are yet to be found

in the cabinets of antiquaries; and we are to trace from their use

some common terms yet current among us. When a person is much elated,

we say he is "IN A MERRY PIN," which no doubt originally meant, he had

reached that _mark_ which had deprived him of his usual sedateness

and sobriety: we talk of taking a man "A PEG LOWER," when we imply we

shall check him in any forwardness; a saying which originated from a

regulation that deprived all those of their turn of drinking, _or of

their Peg_, who had become troublesome in their liquor: from the like

rule of society came also the expression of "HE IS A PEG TOO LOW,"

_i. e._ has been restrained too far, when we say that a person is not in

equal spirits with his company; while we also remark of an individual,

that he is getting on "PEG BY PEG," or, in other words, he is taking

greater freedoms than he ought to do, which formerly meant, he was

either drinking out of his turn, or, contrary to express regulation,

did not confine himself to his proper portion, or _peg_, but drank

into the _next_, thereby taking a double quantity." Brady's Clavis

Calendaria, vol. ii. p. 322, 323. 1st edit.

[133:A] Nichols's Progresses of Elizabeth, vol. i. Entertainments at

the Temple, &c. p. 22. 24.

[134:A] The only rite that still lingers among us on the Twelfth

Day, is the election of a King and Queen, a ceremony which is now

usually performed by drawing tickets, and of which Mr. Brand, in his

commentary on Bourne's Antiquities of the Common People, has extracted

the subsequent detail from the Universal Magazine of 1774:—"I went to

a Friend's house in the country to partake of some of those innocent

pleasures that constitute a merry Christmas; I did not return till I

had been present at _drawing King and Queen_, and _eaten_ a _Slice_ of

the _Twelfth Cake_, made by the fair hands of my good friend's Consort.

After Tea Yesterday, a _noble Cake_ was produced, and two _Bowls_,

containing the _fortunate chances_ for the different sexes. Our Host

_filled up_ the _tickets_; the whole company, except the _King_ and

_Queen_, were to be _Ministers of State_, _Maids of Honour_, or _Ladies

of the Bed-chamber_.

"Our kind _Host_ and _Hostess_, whether by _design_, or _accident_

became _King_ and _Queen_. According to _Twelfth-Day Law_, each _party_

is to _support_ their _character_ till Mid-night. After supper one

called for a _Kings Speech_, &c." Observations on Popular Antiquities,

edit. of 1810, p. 228.

[135:A] Dr. Johnson's definition of the word _Rock_ in the sense of the

text, is as follows:

"(_rock_, Danish; _rocca_, Italian; _rucca_, Spanish; _spinrock_,

Dutch) A distaff held in the hand, from which the wool was spun by

twirling a ball below." I shall add one of his illustrations:

"A learned and a manly soul

I purpos'd her; that should with even powers,

The _rock_, the spindle, and the sheers, controul

Of destiny, and spin her own free hours.

_Ben Jonson._"

[135:B] Chalmers's Poets, vol. iv. p. 564. Albion's England, chap. 24.

[136:A] Hesperides, p. 374.

[137:A] Tusser Redivivus, p. 79, 80.

[137:B] Olai Magni Gent. Septent. Breviar. p. 341.

[137:C] See Brand on Bourne's Antiquitates Vulgares, p. 194; and

Strutt's Sports and Pastimes of the People of England, p. 307. edit.

of 1810. Of this curious exhibition on _Plough-Monday_, I have often,

during my boyhood, at York, been a delighted spectator, and, as far as

I can now recollect, the above description appears to be an accurate

detail of what took place.

[138:A] Act iii. sc. 9. Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xvii. p. 171.

[138:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xvii. p. 172.

[138:C] Bourne's Antiquities apud Brand, p. 244.

[138:D] Fuller's Church History, p. 222.

[140:A] Hesperides, p. 337.

[140:B] _Teend_, to kindle.

[140:C] Hesperides, p. 337, 338.

[141:A] Hesperides, p. 361. Dramatic amusements were frequent on

this day, as well in the halls of the nobility in the country, as at

court. With regard to their exhibition in the latter, many documents

exist; for instance, in a chronological series of Queen Elizabeth's

payments for plays acted before her (from the Council Registers) is the

following entry:

"18th March, 1573-4. To Richard Mouncaster, (Mulcaster, the

Grammarian,) for two plays presented before her on Candlemas-day and

Shrove-tuesday last, 20 marks."[141:B]

[141:B] Gentleman's Magazine, vide life of Richard Mulcaster, May,

June, and July, 1800.

[142:A] Hilman's Tusser, p. 80. Mr. Hilman seems to have had as great

an aversion to tobacco as King James; for, in another part of his

notes, he observes, that "_Suffolk_ and _Essex_ were the counties

wherein our author was a farmer, and no where are better dairies for

butter, and neater housewives than there, _if too many of them at

present do not smoke tobacco_." p. 19.

[143:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. viii. p. 272, 273. Act ii. sc.

2. Warner has also noticed this culinary article as appropriated

to Shrove-Tuesday in his Albion's England, chapter xxiv., where,

enumerating the feasts and holidays of his time, he says, they had

"At fasts-eve pan-puffes."—

_Chalmers's Poets_, vol. iv. p. 564.

_Shrove_ or _Pancake Tuesday_, is still called, in the North,

_Fastens_, or _Fasterns E'en_, as preceding _Ash-Wednesday_, the first

day of Lent; and the turning of these cakes in the pan is yet observed

as a feat of dexterity and skill.

Of the _pancake-bell_ which used to be rung on Shrove-Tuesday,

Taylor, the Water Poet, has given us the following most singular

account:—"Shrove-Tuesday, at whose entrance in the morning all the

whole kingdom is unquiet, but by that time the clocke strikes eleven,

which (by the help of a knavish sexton) is commonly before nine, then

there is a bell rung, cal'd pancake-bell, the sound whereof makes

thousands of people distracted, and forgetful either of manners or

humanitie." See his Works, folio, 1630. p. 115.

[143:B] —_my wife's as all_;] _i. e._ as all women are. Farmer.

[143:C] Warton's History of English Poetry, vol. i. p. 225. note (p).

[144:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xii. p. 235.

[144:B] See his Masque on the Shrove-tuesday at night 1608, and

Chloridia, a Masque, at Shrove-tide, 1630.

[144:C] The author of _Apollo Shroving_ was _William Hawkins_,

who likewise published "Corolla varia contexta per Guil. Haukinum

scholarcham Hadleianum in agro Suffolcienci. Cantabr. ap. Tho. Buck."

12mo. 1634.

It may be observed, that _Shrove-Tuesday_ was considered by the

_apprentices_ as their peculiar _holiday_, and it appears that in

the days of Shakspeare, they claimed a right of punishing, at this

season, women of ill-fame. To these customs Dekker and Sir Thomas

Overbury allude, when the former says: "They presently (like Prentises

upon Shrove-Tuesday) take the lawe into their owne handes and do what

they list." Seven Deadly Sinnes of London, 4to. p. 35. 1606. And when

the latter, in his Characters, speaking of a bawd, remarks: "Nothing

daunts her so much as the approach of Shrove-Tuesday;" and describing a

"roaring boy," adds, "he is a supervisor of brothels, and in them is a

more unlawful reformer of vice than prentices on Shrove-Tuesday."

[144:D] History of English Poetry, vol. ii. p. 387.

[145:A] Stow's Survey of London, edit. of 1618, p. 142.

[145:B] Vide Strutt's Sports and Pastimes, p. 250.

[145:C] Vide Hogarth Moralized, p. 134.

[145:D] "In some places," says Mr. Strutt, "it was a common practice

to put the cock into an earthern vessel made for the purpose, and to

place him in such a position that his head and tail might be exposed to

view; the vessel, with the bird in it, was then suspended across the

street, about twelve or fourteen feet from the ground, to be thrown

at by such as chose to make trial of their skill; two-pence was paid

for four throws, and he who broke the pot, and delivered the cock from

his confinement, had him for a reward. At North-Walsham, in Norfolk,

about forty years ago, some wags put an owl into one of these vessels;

and having procured the head and tail of a dead cock, they placed them

in the same position as if they had appertained to a living one; the

deception was successful; and at last, a labouring man belonging to the

town, after several fruitless attempts, broke the pot, but missed his

prize; for the owl being set at liberty, instantly flew away, to his

great astonishment, and left him nothing more than the head and tail

of the dead bird, with the potsherds, for his money and his trouble;

this ridiculous adventure exposed him to the continual laughter of the

town's people, and obliged him to quit the place, to which I am told he

returned no more." Sports and Pastimes, p. 251.

"For many years," observes Mr. Brady, "our public diaries, and monthly

publications, took infinite pains to impress upon the minds of the

populace a just abhorrence of such barbarities (cock-fighting and

cock-throwing); and, by way of strengthening their arguments, they

failed not to detail in the most pathetic terms the following fact,

which for the interest it contains is here transcribed, from the

Obituary of the Gentleman's Magazine for April, 1789. 'Died, April 4th,

at Tottenham, JOHN ARDESOIF, esquire, a young man of large fortune,

and in the splendour of his horses and carriages, rivalled by few

country-gentlemen. His table was that of hospitality, where it may be

said he sacrificed too much to conviviality. _Mr. Ardesoif_ was very

fond of cock-fighting, and had a favourite cock upon which he had won

many profitable matches. The last bet he laid upon this cock he lost,

which so enraged him, that he had the bird tied to a spit, and roasted

alive before a large fire. The screams of the miserable animal were so

affecting, that some gentlemen who were present attempted to interfere,

which so enraged _Mr. Ardesoif_, that he seized a poker, and with the

most furious vehemence declared, that he would kill the first man who

interfered: but in the midst of his passionate asseverations, _he fell

down dead upon the spot_.' Clavis Calendaria, 1st edit. vol. i. p. 200,

201."

[146:A] Bourne's Antiquities apud Brand, p. 268.

[147:A] Bourne's Antiquities apud Brand, p. 277. "Why they should play

at _Hand Ball_ at this time," observes Mr. Bourne, "rather than any

other game, I have not been able to find out, but I suppose it will

readily be granted, that this custom of so playing, was the original of

our present recreations and diversions on Easter Holy Days," p. 277.

[147:B] Brand on Bourne, p. 280. note. The _morris dance_, of which

such frequent mention is made in our old poets, was frequently

performed at Easter; but, as we shall have occasion to notice this

amusement, at some length, under the article "May-Day," we shall here

barely notice that Warner has recorded it as an Easter diversion in the

following line:

"At _Paske begun_ our _morrise_: and ere Penticost our May."

_Albion's England_, Chap. xxiv.

[147:C] _Rack_ or _Manger_.

[147:D] Selden's Table-Talk, art. Christmas.

[148:A] Fuller's Worthies, p. 188.

[148:B] Bourne apud Brand, p. 316.

[148:C] The following whimsical custom, relates Mr. Brand, "is still

retained at the city of Durham on these holidays. On one day the men

take off the women's shoes, which are only to be redeem'd by a present;

on another day the women take off the men's in like manner." Bourne

apud Brand, p. 282.

Stow also records, that in the week before Easter there were "great

shewes made, for the fetching in of a twisted tree, or With, as they

tearmed it, out of the Woods into the King's house, and the like into

every man's house of Honor or Worship," p. 150.; but whether this was

general throughout the kingdom, is not mentioned.

[149:A] Vide Ross, as published by Hearne, p. 105.

[149:B] Spelman's Glossary, under the title Hock-day.

[151:A] Nichols's Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, vol. i. Laneham's

Letter, p. 32-34.

[151:B] That Hock-tide was _generally_ observed in the days of

Shakspeare, is evident from the following passage in Withers's "Abuses

Stript and Whipt." 8vo. London. 1618.

"Who think (forsooth) because that once a yeare

They can affoord the poore some slender cheere,

Observe their country feasts, or common doles,

And entertaine their Christmass Wassaile Boles,

Or els because that, _for the Churche's good,

They in defence of HOCKTIDE custome stood_:

A Whitsun-ale, or some such goodly motion,

The better to procure young men's devotion:

What will they do, I say, that think to please

Their mighty God with such fond things as these?

Sure, very ill." P. 232.

[152:A] Vide Pennant's Scotland, p. 91.; and Jamieson's Etymological

Dictionary of the Scottish Language.

[152:B] Olaus Magnus de Gentibus Septentrionalibus, lib. xv. c. 8.

[153:A] Chalmers's English Poets, vol. i. p. 378.

[153:B] Bourne's Antiquitates Vulgares apud Brand, p. 283.

[154:A] Vide Borlase's Natural History of Cornwall, &c.

[154:B] Stubbes's Anatomie of Abuses, p. 109. edit. 1595, 4to.

[155:A] Book ii. Song 4. Chalmers's Poets, vol. vi. p. 296.—It was no

uncommon thing also for the milk-maids to join the procession to the

May-pole on this day, leading a cow decorated with ribands of various

colours, intermingled with knots of flowers, and wreathes of oaken

leaves, and with the horns of the animal gilt.

[155:B] Stow's Survey of London, p. 150. 1618.

[155:C] Act i. sc. 1. Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 327.

[156:A] Act iv. sc. 1. Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 452, 453.—"The

_rite_ of this month," observes Mr. Steevens, "was once so universally

observed, that even authors thought their works would obtain a more

favourable reception, if published on _May-day_. The following is a

title-page to a metrical performance by a once celebrated poet, Thomas

Churchyard:

'Come bring in _Maye_ with me,

My _Maye_ is fresh and greene;

A subjectes harte, an humble mind,

To serve a mayden Queene.

'A discourse of rebellion, drawne forth for to warne the wanton wittes

how to kepe their heads on their shoulders.

'Imprinted at London, in Flete-streat by William Griffith, Anno Domini

1570. The _first_ of _Maye_.'"

[156:B] Act v. sc. 3. Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xi. p. 201.

[157:A] Herrick's Hesperides, p. 74, 75.

[158:A] Illustrations of Shakspeare, vol. ii. p. 473.

[158:B] Anatomie of Abuses, p. 107.

[158:C] Illustrations of Shakspeare, vol. ii. p. 474.

[158:D] Vide Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xi. p. 440.

[158:E] Midsummer-Night's Dream, act iii. sc. 2. Reed's Shakspeare,

vol. iv. p. 427.

[159:A] Act ii. sc. 2. Reed's Shakspeare, vol. viii. p. 278.

[159:B] Drayton's Poly-Olbion, Song 26. Chalmers's Poets, vol. iv. p.

373, 374.

[160:A] Warner's Albion's England, chapter 21. Chalmers's Poets, vol.

iv. p. 564.

[160:B] As You Like It, act i. sc. 1. Reed's Shakspeare, vol. viii. p.

13.

[160:C] Lysons's Environs of London, vol. i. p. 227.

[160:D] Beloe's Anecdotes of Literature and scarce Books, vol. i. p.

401.

[160:E] Act iii. sc. 4. Reed's Shakspeare, vol. v. p. 364.

[161:A] Douce's Illustrations of Shakspeare, vol. ii. p. 451.

[162:A] Fetherston's Dialogue agaynst light, lewde, and lascivious

dancing, 1582, 12mo. sign. D. 7. apud Douce.

[162:B] The honestie of this age, 1615, 4to. p. 35.

[162:C] First part of King Henry IV. act iii. sc. 3. Reed's Shakspeare,

vol. xi. p. 362.

[163:A] Act iv. sc. 1. Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 266.

[163:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xi. p. 438.

[163:C] Douce's Illustrations of Shakspeare, vol. ii. p. 450. Fordun's

Scotichronicon, 1759, folio, tom. ii. p. 104. "In this time," says

Stow, that is, about the year 1190, in the reign of Richard I. "were

many robbers, and outlawes, among the which Robin Hood and Little John,

renowned theeves, continued in woods, despoyling and robbing the goods

of the rich." Annals, p. 159.

[163:D] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 267. note by Malone.

[164:A] Eclogue iii. Chalmers's Poets, vol. iv. p. 433.

[164:B] Second Part of King Henry the Sixth, act iii. sc. 1. Reed's

Shakspeare, vol. xiii. p. 276.

[164:C] Plaine Percevall the peace-maker of England, &c. &c. Vide

Censura Literaria, vol. ix. p. 250.

[165:A] Censura Literaria, vol. ix. p. 251.

[165:B] Act iv. sc. 3. Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ix. p. 345.

[165:C] Canto Madrigals, of 5 and 6 parts, apt for the viols and

voices. Made and newly published by Thomas Weelkes of the Coledge at

Winchester, Organist. At London printed by Thomas Este, the assigne of

Thomas Morley. 1600. 4to.

[166:A] Censura Literaria, vol. ix. p. 34.

[166:B] It is probable indeed from the subsequent Madrigal, that the

Hobby-horse was frequently attached to, and provided for, by the town

or village.

"Our country swains, in the morris daunce,

Thus woo'd and win their brides;

_Will, for our towne, the hobby horse

A pleasure frolike rides_."[166:C]

[166:C] Vide Cantus primo. Madrigals to 3, 4, 5, and 6 voyces. Made and

newly published by Thomas Weelkes at London, printed by Thomas Este,

1597, 4to. Censura Literaria, vol. ix. p. 9-10.

[167:A] "The English were famed," observes Dr. Grey, "for these and

such like diversions; and even the old, as well as young persons,

formerly followed them: a remarkable instance of which is given by Sir

William Temple, (Miscellanea, Part 3. Essay of Health and Long Life,)

who makes mention of a Morrice Dance in Herefordshire, from a noble

person, who told him he had a pamphlet in his library written by a very

ingenious gentleman of that county, which gave an account how, in such

a year of King James's reign, there went about the country a sett of

Morrice Dancers, composed of _ten_ men, who danced a Maid Marian, and

a taber and pipe: and how these ten, one with another, made up twelve

hundred years. 'Tis not so much, says he, that so many in one county

should live to that age, as that they should be in vigour and humour to

travel and dance." Grey's Notes on Shakspeare, vol. i. p. 382.

[168:A] _Courtpie_, in women's dress, a short vest. Strutt.

[168:B] _Watchet-coloured_, pale blue. Strutt.

[168:C] _Rochet_, a lawn garment resembling a surplice gathered at the

wrists. Strutt.

[168:D] _Baudekin_, a cloth of gold tissue, with figures in silk, for

female dress. Strutt.

[169:A] The mole-taker, in this place, personates the character of the

_fool_ or domestic buffoon.

[170:A] The management of the hobby-horse appears to have been the

most difficult part of the May-day festivities, and from the following

passage in an old play, to have required some preparatory discipline.

A character personating this piece of pageantry, and angry with the

mayor of the town as being his rival, calls out, "Let the mayor play

the hobby-horse among his brethren, an he will, I hope our towne-lads

cannot want a hobby-horse. Have I practic'd my reines, my careeres, my

pranckers, my ambles, my false trotts, my smooth ambles and Canterbury

paces, and shall master mayor put me besides the hobby-horse? Have I

borrowed the fore horse bells, his plumes and braveries, nay had his

mane new shorne and frizl'd, and shall the mayor put me besides the

hobby-horse?" The Vow breaker, by Sampson.

[170:B] The morris-dance in this description of the May-game seems to

have been performed chiefly by the fool, with the occasional assistance

of the hobby-horse, which was always decorated with bells, and the

dragon.

[171:A] Strutt's Queenhoo-Hall, a romance, vol. i. p. 13. et seq.

[171:B] Act iii. sc. 2. Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xviii. p. 198.

[171:C] Act iii. sc. 1. Reed's Shakspeare, vol. vii. p. 53, 54.

[172:A] Entertainment of the Queen and Prince at Althorpe. 1603. fol.

edit. vol. i. p. 99.

[172:B] The Metamorphosed Gipsies, fol. edit. vol. 2. p. 65.—This folio

edition of Jonson's works, in two volumes, dated 1640, is not regularly

paged to the close of each volume; for instance, in vol. i. the Dramas

terminate at p. 668, and then the Epigrammes, Forest, Masques, &c.

commence with p. 1.

[173:A] Act iv. sc. 1.—Jonson in his _Bartholmew Fayre_, acted in the

year 1614, has a character of this kind, a Baker, who has undergone a

similar conversion, and is thus introduced:—

"_Win. W._ What call you the Reverend _Elder_, you told me of?

your Banbury-man.

_Joh._ _Rabbi Busy_, Sir, he is more than an _Elder_, he is a

_Prophet_, Sir.

_Quar._ O, I know him! a Baker, is he not?

_Joh._ Hee was a Baker, Sir, but hee do's dreame now, and see

visions, he has given over his Trade.

_Quar._ I remember that too: out of a scruple hee tooke, that

(in spic'd conscience) those Cakes hee made, were serv'd to

_Bridales_, _May poles_, _Morrisses_, and such prophane feasts

and meetings; his Christen-name is _Zeale-of-the-land_ Busye."

Jonson's Works, fol. edit. vol. ii. p. vi. act i. sc. 3.

[173:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xviii. p. 198, note, Steevens.

[173:C] Wilson, censuring these indulgences, places the era of the

publication of the Book of Sports under 1617, and says of it, that

"some of the Bishops, pretending _Recreations_, and _liberty_ to

servants and the common people (of which they carved to themselves too

much already) procured the King to put out a Book to permit dancing

about _May-poles_, _Church-ales_, and such debauched exercises upon

the Sabbath-Day after Evening-Prayer (being a specious way to make the

King, and them, acceptable to the _Rout_): which Book came out with

a command, injoyning all Ministers to read it to their parishioners,

and to approve of it; and those that did not, were brought into the

high _Commission_, imprisoned and suspended." The History of Great

Britain, being the Life and Reign of King James the First, relating to

what passed from his first access to the Crown, till his death. Folio,

London 1653. p. 105.

[174:A] Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, 8th edit. fol. p. 174.

[174:B] "The last May-pole in London was taken down in 1717, and

conveyed to Wanstead in Essex, where it was fixed in the Park for

the support of an immensely large telescope. Its original height was

upwards of one hundred feet above the surface of the ground, and its

station on the East side of Somerset-House, where the new church now

stands.—POPE thus perpetuates its remembrance:

Amidst the area wide they took their stand,

Where the tall May-pole once o'erlook'd the Strand."

Clavis Calendaria, vol. i. p. 318.

[175:A] Act ii. sc. 4. Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xii. p. 354.

[175:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 231. act ii. sc. 6.

[175:C] Ascham's Works apud Bennet, p. 62, 63.

[176:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xxi. p. 155.

[176:B] Jonson's Works, fol. edit.

[176:C] "A leet," observes Bullokar, in his _English Expositor_, 1616,

"is a court, or law-day, holden commonly every half year."

[176:D] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ix. p. 33. act i. sc. 2.

[176:E] Warton's History of English Poetry, vol. iii. p. 129, note.

[177:A] MSS. Bibl. Bod., vol. cxlviii. fol. 97.

[178:A] Carew's Survey of Cornwall, edit. of 1769. p. 68.

[178:B] Anatomie of Abuses, A. D. 1595.

[179:A] Jonson's Works, fol. edit. vol. i. p. 166.

[179:B] The Lady of Pleasure, act i.

[179:C] The former of which is thus noticed by Sir Philip Sidney:—

"Strephon, with leavy twigs of laurell tree,

A garlant made on temples for to weare,

_For he then chosen was the dignitie

Of village Lord that Whitsuntide to beare_."

The Countesse of Pembroke's Arcadie,

7th edit. fol. 1629. p. 84.

[180:A] Anatomie of Abuses, 1595. p. 107.

[181:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ix. p. 341. Act iv. sc. 3.—Whitsun

playes or mysteries, which at first were exclusively drawn from the

sacred page, may be traced to the fourteenth century; those which

were performed at Chester have been attributed to Ranulph Higden, the

chronicler, who died 1363.

[181:B] Blount's Ancient Tenures, p. 49, and Strutt's Sports and

Pastimes, p. 316.

[182:A] Tusser apud Hilton, p. 80.

[183:A] Chalmers's Poets, vol. iv. p. 443.

[183:B] Singers of catches in three parts.

[183:C] By _means_ are meant tenors.

[183:D] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ix. p. 323, 324. Act iv. sc. 2.

[183:E] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ix. p. 323. note 5.

[184:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ix. p. 334. Act iv. sc. 3.—I believe

the custom of choosing a king and queen at the sheep-shearing feast,

is still continued in several of our counties; that it was commonly

observed, at least, in the time of Thomson, is evident from the

following lines, taken from his description of this festival:—

"One, chief, in gracious dignity enthron'd,

Shines o'er the rest, the _Pas'tral Queen_, and rays

Her smiles, sweet-beaming on her _Shepherd King_."

Summer.

[185:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ix. p. 334, 335. 337, 338. 340.

[185:B] Dyer's Fleece, book i. _sub finem_.

[186:A] Tusser Redivivus, p. 104. In the first edition of Tusser, 1557,

this stanza is as follows:—

"Then welcome thy harvest folke, serveauntes and all:

with mirth and good chere, let them furnish the hall.

The harvest lorde nightly, must give thee a song:

fill him then the blacke boll, or els he hath wrong."

Reprint by Sir Egerton Brydges, p. 19.

[186:B] Bloomfield's Farmer's Boy, Summer, l. 299.

[187:A] Paul Hentzner's Travels in England, during the reign of Queen

Elizabeth, translated by Horace, late Earl of Orford. Edit. of 1797. p.

55.

[187:B] "Anglos vidi spiceam ferre domum in Rheda Imaginem circum

cantantibus promiscuê viris et fœminis, præcedente tibicine aut

tympano." Deprav. Rel. Orig. in verbo _Vacina_.

[187:C] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. vii. p. 376. Act v. sc. 1.

[188:A] Tusser Redivivus, p. 104.

[188:B] _Hock-cart_,—by this word is meant the _high_ or

_rejoicing-cart_, and was applied to the last load of corn, as

typical of the close of harvest. Thus _Hock-tide_ is derived from the

Saxon _Hoah_-+tid+, or high tide, and is expressive of the height of

festivity.

[189:A] Hesperides, p. 113-115.

[190:A] Tusser Redivivus, p. 81.

[190:B] Ibid. p. 147.

[190:C] Ibid. p. 77.

[191:A] Brand on Bourne's Antiquities, p. 392. note edit. 1810.

[191:B] Ibid. p. 393, 394.

[192:A] The magnificent reception of Queen Elizabeth at Norwich in

1578, has been recorded with great minuteness, in two tracts, by

Bernard Goldingham and Thomas Churchyard the poet, which are reprinted

in Mr. Nichols's Progresses; these accounts are likewise incorporated

by Abraham Fleming as a supplement to Holinshed, and will be found

in the last edition of this chronicler, in vol. iv. p. 375. The pomp

and pageantry which were exhibited during this regal visit were

equally gorgeous, quaint, and operose; "order was taken there," says

Churchyard, "that every day, for sixe dayes together, a shew of some

strange device should be seene; and the maior and aldermen appointed

among themselves and their breethren, that no person reteyning to

the Queene, shoulde be unfeasted, or unbidden to dinner and supper,

during the space of those sixe dayes: which order was well and wisely

observed, and gained their citie more fame and credite, than they wot

of: for that courtesie of theirs shall remayne in perpetuall memorie,

whiles the walles of their citie standeth."—Nichols's Progresses of Q.

Elizabeth, vol. ii. p. 56.

[192:B] The wise policy of Elizabeth in establishing the Flemings in

this country gave birth to our vast superiority in the woollen trade;

and the first pageant which met the eyes of Elizabeth on her entrance

into Norwich was the _artizan-strangers_ pageant, illustrative of the

whole process of the manufactory, "a shewe which pleased her Majestie

so greatly, as she particularly viewed the knitting and spinning of

the children, perused the loombes, and noted the several workes and

commodities which were made by these meanes."—Nichols's Progresses,

vol. ii. p. 13.

[192:C] Gerguntum, a fabulous kind of Briton, who is supposed to have

built Norwich Castle; in the procession which went out of Norwich

to meet the Queen, on the 16th of August, 1578, was "one whiche

represented King GURGUNT, some tyme king of Englande, whiche buylded

the castle of Norwich, called Blanch Flowre, and layde the foundation

of the citie. He was mounted uppon a brave courser, and was thus

furnished: his body armed, his bases of greene and white silke; on his

head a black velvet hat, with a plume of white feathers. There attended

upon him three henchmen in white and greene: one of them did beare his

helmet, the seconde his tergat, the thirde his staffe."—Nichols's

Progresses, vol. ii. p. 5, 6.

[193:A] The Cabinet, vol. ii. p. 75, 76.

[193:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xii. p. 66.

[194:A] Bourne's Antiquities, p. 172.

[194:B] A great display of literature on the etymon of the word _Yule_

will be found in the _Allegories Orientales_ of M. Count de Gebelin,

Paris, 1773.

[195:A] _Teending_, a word derived from the Saxon, means _kindling_.

[195:B] _White-loafe_, sometimes called at this period _wastel-bread_

or cake, from the French _wastiaux_, pastry; implied white bread well

or twice baked, and was considered as a delicacy.

[195:C] Hesperides, p. 309, 310.

[196:A] Stowe's Survey of London, 4to. edit., 1618, p. 149, 150.

[196:B] Vide Gentleman's Magazine for 1765.

[197:A] Brand on Bourne's Antiquities, p. 193.

[197:B] Ibid. p. 200, 201.

[198:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xviii. p. 143. Act ii. sc. 2.

[198:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 361. Act ii. sc. 2.

[198:C] Chap. xxx. fol. 57. edit. 1586.

[199:A] Douce's Illustrations, vol. ii. p. 214.

[199:B] Vide Blount's Ancient Tenures of Land, and Jocular Customs of

some Manors. Beckwith's edit. 8vo. 1784.

[200:A] Douce's Illustrations, vol. ii. p. 215-217. 219.

[201:A] Act v. sc. 1. Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xii. p. 213.

[201:B] English House-Wife, p. 99. The pies which he recommends

immediately subsequent to this enumeration are somewhat curious, and

rather of a more substantial nature than those of modern days; for

instance, _red-deer pye_, _gammon of bacon pye_, _wild-bore pye_, and

_roe-pye_.

[202:A] Vide Warton's History of English Poetry, vol. iii. p. 143.

[202:B] A hundreth good poyntes of husbandry, 1557. p. 10.

[203:A] Christmas, His Masque; as it was presented at Court 1616.

Jonson's Works, folio edit. 1640. vol. ii.

[204:A] Holinshed's Chronicles, vol. iii. p. 1032. edit. 1808.

[204:B] Stowe's Survey of London, p. 149. edit. 1618.

[205:A] Nichols's Progresses and Processions of Queen Elizabeth, vol.

i. p. 20, 21. Anno 1562.

[205:B] Hesperides, p. 145.

[205:C] Provincial Glossary, Preface, p. 8. 8vo. 1787.

[206:A] _Liber Pater_, Bacchus.

[206:B] Hesperides, p. 146. The following passages place in a strong

and interesting point of view, the hospitality of our ancestors during

this season of the year, and will add not a little to the impression

derived from the text.

"Heretofore, noblemen and gentlemen of fair estates had their heralds

who wore their coate of armes at Christmas, and at other solemne times,

and cryed largesse thrice. They lived in the country like petty kings.

They always eat in Gothic Halls where the Mummings and Loaf-stealing,

and other Christmas sports, were performed. The hearth was commonly

in the middle; whence the saying, _round about our coal-fire_."

Antiquarian Repertory, No. xxvi. from the MS. Collections of Aubrey,

dated 1678.

"An English Gentleman at the opening of the great day, _i. e._ on

Christmas Day in the morning, had all his tenants and neighbours

entered his Hall by day-break. The strong beer was broached, and the

black jacks went plentifully about with toast, sugar, nutmegg, and

good Cheshire cheese. The Hackin, (the great sausage) must be boiled

by day-break, or else two young men must take the maiden (_i. e._ the

cook,) by the arms and run her round the market place till she is

ashamed of her laziness.

"In Christmass Holidays, the tables were all spread from the first to

the last; the sirloins of beef, the minced pies, the plumb-porridge,

the capons, turkeys, geese, and plumb-puddings, were all brought upon

the board: every one eat heartily, and was welcome, which gave rise to

the proverb, 'Merry in the hall when beards wag all.'" From a Tract

entitled "Round about our Coal-Fire, or Christmas Entertainments;" of

which the first edition was published, I believe, about the close of

the seventeenth century.

"Our ancestors considered Christmas in the double light of a holy

commemoration and a cheerful festival; and accordingly distinguished it

by devotion, by vacation from business, by merriment and hospitality.

They seemed eagerly bent to make themselves and every body about them

happy.—The great hall resounded with the tumultuous joys of servants

and tenants, and the gambols they played served as amusement to the

lord of the mansion and his family, who, by encouraging every art

conducive to mirth and entertainment, endeavoured to soften the rigour

of the season, and mitigate the influence of winter."—_The World_, No.

104.

[208:A] Scott's Marmion. Introduction to Canto Sixth. 8vo. edit. p.

300-303.

"At present, Christmas meetings," remarks Mr. Brady, "are chiefly

confined to family parties, happy, it must be confessed, though less

jovial in their nature; perhaps, too, less beneficial to society,

because they can be enjoyed on other days not, as originally was the

case, set apart for more general conviviality and sociability; not such

as our old ballads proclaim, and history confirms, in which the most

frigid tempers gave way to relaxation, and all in eager joy were ready

to exclaim, in honour of the festivity,—

"For, since such delights are thine,

CHRISTMAS, with thy bands I join."

_Clavis Calendaria_, vol. ii. p. 319.