down to the period of the civil troubles which darkened the reign of
Charles I.; and so lately as the year 1641, when they had already
commenced, we find it recorded by Evelyn, in his Memoirs, that he was
elected one of the comptrollers of the Middle Temple revellers, "as the
fashion of the young students and gentlemen was, the Christmas being
kept this yeare with greate solemnity." During this reign, we discover
the several societies lessening their expenses by a very wise compromise
of their disputes for supremacy; for in the eighth year thereof the four
Inns of Court provided a Christmas masque in conjunction, for the
entertainment of the court, which cost the startling sum of £24,000 of
the money of that day, and in return King Charles invited one hundred
and twenty gentlemen of the four Inns to a masque at Whitehall on the
Shrove-Tuesday following.
That our readers may form some idea of the kind of sports which
furnished entertainment to men of no less pretension than Hatton and
Coke and Crewe, we will extract for them a few more particulars of the
ceremonies usually observed at the grand Christmases of the Inner
Temple, before quitting this part of the subject.
In the first place, it appears that on Christmas Eve there was a banquet
in the hall, at which three masters of the revels were present, the
oldest of whom, after dinner and supper, was to sing a carol, and to
command other gentlemen to sing with him; and in all this we see nothing
which is not perfectly worthy of all imitation now. Then, on each of the
twelve nights, before and after supper were revels and dancing; and if
any of these revels and dancing were performed in company with the fair
sex (which, on the face of the evidence, doth not appear), then we have
none of the objections to urge against them which we have ventured to
insinuate against the solemn buffooneries, to which the bar was fined
for refusing to surrender itself, in the time of James I. Neither do we
find anything repugnant to our modern tastes in the announcement that
the breakfasts of the following mornings were very substantial ones,
consisting of brawn, mustard, and malmsey, which the exhaustion of the
previous night's dancing might render necessary; nor that all the
courses were served with music, which we intend that some of our own
shall be this coming Christmas. But against most of that which follows
we enter our decided protest, as not only very absurd in itself, but
eminently calculated to spoil a good dinner.
On St. Stephen's Day, we learn that, after the first course was served
in, the constable marshal was wont to enter the hall (and we think he
had much better have come in, and said all he had to say beforehand)
bravely arrayed with "a fair rich compleat harneys, white and bright and
gilt, with a nest of fethers, of all colours, upon his crest or helm,
and a gilt pole ax in his hand," and, no doubt, thinking himself a
prodigiously fine fellow. He was accompanied by the lieutenant of the
Tower, "armed with a fair white armour," also wearing "fethers," and
"with a like pole ax in his hand," and of course also thinking himself a
very fine fellow. With them came sixteen trumpeters, preceded by four
drums and fifes, and attended by four men clad in white "harneys," from
the middle upwards, having halberds in their hands, and bearing on their
shoulders a model of the Tower, and each and every one of these latter
personages, in his degree, having a consciousness that he, too, was a
fine fellow. Then all these fine fellows, with the drums and music, and
with all their "fethers" and finery, went three times round the fire,
whereas, considering that the boar's head was cooling all the time, we
think once might have sufficed. Then the constable marshal, after three
courtesies, knelt down before the Lord Chancellor, with the lieutenant
doing the same behind him, and then and there deliberately proceeded to
deliver himself of an "oration of a quarter of an hour's length," the
purport of which was to tender his services to the Lord Chancellor,
which, we think, at such a time he might have contrived to do in fewer
words. To this the Chancellor was unwise enough to reply that he would
"take farther advice therein," when it would have been much better for
him to settle the matter at once, and proceed to eat his dinner.
However, this part of the ceremony ended at last by the constable
marshal and the lieutenant obtaining seats at the Chancellor's table,
upon the former giving up his sword: and then enter, for a similar
purpose, the master of the game, apparelled in green velvet, and the
ranger of the forest, in a green suit of "satten," bearing in his hand a
green bow, and "divers" arrows, "with either of them a hunting-horn
about their necks, blowing together three blasts of venery." These
worthies, also, thought it necessary to parade their finery three times
around the fire; and having then made similar obeisances, and offered up
a similar petition in a similar posture, they were finally inducted into
a similar privilege.
But though seated at the Chancellor's table, and no doubt sufficiently
roused by the steam of its good things, they were far enough as yet from
getting anything to eat, as a consequence; and the next ceremony is one
which strikingly marks the rudeness of the times. "A huntsman cometh
into the hall, with a fox, and a purse-net with a cat, both bound at the
end of a staff, and with them nine or ten couple of hounds, with the
blowing of hunting-horns. And the fox and the cat are set upon by the
hounds, and killed beneath the fire." "What this 'merry disport'
signified (if practised) before the Reformation," says a writer in Mr.
Hone's Year Book, "I know not. In 'Ane compendious boke of godly and
spiritual songs, Edinburgh, 1621, printed from an old copy,' are the
following lines, seemingly referring to some such pageant:--
'The hunter is Christ that hunts in haist,
The hunds are Peter and Pawle,
The paip is the fox, Rome is the Rox
That rubbis us on the gall.'"
After these ceremonies, the welcome permission to betake themselves to
the far more interesting one of an attack upon the good things of the
feast appears to have been at length given; but at the close of the
second course the subject of receiving the officers who had tendered
their Christmas service was renewed. Whether the gentlemen of the law
were burlesquing their own profession intentionally or whether it was
only an awkward _hit_, like that which befell their brethren of Gray's
Inn, does not appear. However, the common serjeant made what is called
"a plausible speech," insisting on the necessity of these officers "for
the better reputation of the Commonwealth;" and he was followed, to the
same effect, by the king's serjeant-at-law till the Lord Chancellor
silenced them by desiring a respite of further advice, which it is
greatly to be marvelled he had not done sooner. And thereupon he called
upon the "ancientest of the masters of the revels" for a song,--a
proceeding to which we give our unqualified approbation.
So much for the dinner. After supper, the constable marshal again
presented himself, if possible finer than before, preceded by drums,--as
so fine a man ought to be,--and mounted on a scaffold borne by four men.
After again going thrice round the hearth, he dismounted from his
elevation, and having set a good example by first playing the figurant
himself for the edification of the court, called upon the nobles, by
their respective Christmas names, to do the same. Of the styles and
titles which it was considered humorous to assume on such occasions, and
by which he called up his courtiers to dance, our readers may take the
following for specimens:--
"Sir Francis Flatterer, of Fowlehurst, in the county of Buckingham."
"Sir Randle Rackabite, of Rascall Hall, in the county of Rabchell."
"Sir Morgan Mumchance, of Much Monkery, in the county of Mad Popery."
And so on, with much more of the same kind, which we are sure our
readers will spare us, or rather thank us for sparing them. The
ceremonies of St. John's Day were, if possible, more absurd than those
by which St. Stephen was honored; but, that we may take leave of the
lawyers on good terms, and with a word of commendation, we will simply
add that the concluding one is stated to be that on the Thursday
following "the Chancellor and company partook of dinner of roast beef
and venison pasties, and at supper of mutton and hens roasted," which we
take to have been not only the most sensible proceeding of the whole
series, but about as sensible a thing as they or anybody else could well
do.
So important were these Christmas celebrations deemed by our ancestors,
and such was the earnestness bestowed upon their preparation, that a
special officer was appointed for that purpose, and to preside over the
festival with large privileges, very considerable appointments, and a
retinue which in course of time came to be no insignificant imitation
of a prince's. We are of course speaking at present of the officer who
was appointed to the superintendence of the Christmas ceremonials _at
court_. The title by which this potentate was usually distinguished in
England was that of "Lord of Misrule," "Abbot of Misrule," or "Master of
Merry Disports;" and his office was, in fact, that of a temporary
"Master of the Revels" (which latter title was formerly that of a
permanent and distinguished officer attached to the household of our
kings). Accordingly we find that amongst those of the more powerful
nobles who affected an imitation of the royal arrangements in their
Christmas establishments, this Christmas officer (when they appointed
one to preside over their private Christmas celebrations) was
occasionally nominated as _their_ "Master of the Revels." In the
Household-Book of the Northumberland family, amongst the directions
given for the order of the establishment, it is stated that "My lorde
useth and accustomyth yerly to gyf hym which is ordynede to be the
MASTER OF THE REVELLS yerly in my lordis hous in cristmas for the
overseyinge and orderinge of his lordschips Playes, Interludes, and
Dresinge that is plaid befor his lordship in his hous in the xijth dayes
of Cristenmas, and they to have in rewarde for that caus yerly, xx_s_."
In the Inns of Court, where this officer formed no part of a household,
but was a member elected out of their own body for his ingenuity, he was
commonly dignified by a title more appropriate to the extensive
authority with which he was invested, and the state with which he was
furnished for its due maintenance; namely, that of "Christmas Prince,"
or sometimes "King of Christmas." He is the same officer who was known
in Scotland as the "Abbot of Unreason," and bears a close resemblance to
the "Abbas Stultorum," who presided over the Feast of Fools in France,
and the "Abbé de la Malgourverné," who ruled the sports in certain
provinces of that kingdom. In a note to Ellis's edition of Brand's
"Popular Antiquities," we find a quotation from Mr. Warton (whose
"History of English Poetry" we have not at hand) in which mention is
made of an "Abbé de Liesse," and a reference given to Carpentier's
Supplement to Du Cange, for the title "Abbas Lætitiæ." We mention these,
to enable the antiquarian portion of our readers to make the reference
for themselves. Writing in the country, we have not access to the works
in question, and could not, in these pages, go farther into the matter
if we had.
We have already stated that the "Lord of Misrule" appears to bear a
considerable resemblance to that ruler or king who was anciently
appointed to preside over the sports of the Roman Saturnalia; and we
find on looking farther into the subject, that we are corroborated in
this view by one who, of course, asserts the resemblance for the purpose
of making it a matter of reproach. The notorious Prynne, in his
"Histrio-Mastix," affirms (and quotes Polydore Virgil to the same
effect) that "our Christmas lords of Misrule, together with dancing,
masques, mummeries, stage-players, and such other Christmas disorders,
now in use with Christians, were derived from these Roman Saturnalia and
Bacchanalian festivals; which," adds he, "should cause all pious
Christians eternally to abominate them." We should not, however, omit to
mention that by some this officer has been derived from the ancient
ceremony of the Boy-Bishop. Faber speaks of him as originating in an old
Persico-Gothic festival in honor of Buddha: and Purchas, in his
"Pilgrimage," as quoted in the Aubrey manuscripts, says, that the custom
is deduced from the "Feast in Babylon, kept in honour of the goddess
Dorcetha, for five dayes together; during which time the masters were
under the dominion of their servants, one of which is usually sett over
the rest, and royally cloathed, and was called Sogan, that is, Great
Prince."
The title, however, by which this officer is most generally known is
that of Lord of Misrule. "There was," says Stow, "in the feast of
Christmas, in the king's house, wheresoever he was lodged, a Lord of
Misrule, or Master of merry Disports; and the like had ye for the house
of every nobleman of honour or good worship, were he spiritual or
temporal. Among the which the Mayor of London and either of the Sheriffs
had their several Lords of Misrule ever contending, without quarrel or
offence, which should make the rarest pastimes to delight the
beholders."
Of the antiquity of this officer in England, we have not been able to
find any satisfactory account; but we discover traces of him almost as
early as we have any positive records of the various sports by which the
festival of this season was supported. Polydore Virgil speaks of the
splendid spectacles, the masques, dancings, etc., by which it was
illustrated as far back as the close of the twelfth century; and it is
reasonable to suppose that something in the shape of a master of these
public ceremonies must have existed then, to preserve order as well as
furnish devices, particularly as the hints for the one and the other
seem to have been taken from the celebrations of the heathens. As early
as the year 1489 Leland speaks of an Abbot of Misrule "that made much
sport, and did right well his office." Henry the Seventh's "boke of
paymentis," preserved in the Chapter House, is stated by Sandys to
contain several items of disbursement to the Lord of Misrule (or Abbot,
as he is therein sometimes called) for different years "in rewarde for
his besynes in Christenmes holydays," none of which exceeded the sum of
£6. 13_s._ 4_d._ This sum--multiplied as we imagine it ought to be by
something like fifteen, to give the value thereof in our days--certainly
affords no very liberal remuneration to an officer whose duties were of
any extent; and we mention it that our readers may contrast it with the
lavish appointments of the same functionary in after times. Henry,
however, was a frugal monarch, though it was a part of his policy to
promote the amusements of the people; and from the treasures which that
frugality created, his immediate successors felt themselves at liberty
to assume a greater show. In the subsequent reign, the yearly payments
to the Lord of Misrule had already been raised as high as £15 6_s._
8_d._; and the entertainments over which he presided were furnished at a
proportionably increased cost.
It is not, however, until the reign of the young monarch, Edward the
Sixth, that this officer appears to have attained his highest dignities;
and during the subsequent reign we find him playing just such a part as
might be expected from one whose business it was to take the lead in
revels such as we have had occasion to describe; namely, that of
arch-buffoon.
In Hollinshed's Chronicle, honorable mention is made of a certain George
Ferrers, therein described as a "lawyer, a poet, and an historian," who
supplied the office well in the fifth year of Edward the Sixth, and who
was rewarded by the young king with princely liberality. This George
Ferrers was the principal author of that well-known work, the "Mirrour
for Magistrates;" and Mr. Kempe, the editor of the recently published
"Loseley Manuscripts," mentions his having been likewise distinguished
by military services, in the reign of Henry the Eighth. It appears that
the young king having fallen into a state of melancholy after the
condemnation of his uncle, the Protector, it was determined to celebrate
the approaching Christmas festival with more than usual splendor, for
the purpose of diverting his mind; and this distinguished individual was
selected to preside over the arrangements.
The publication of the "Loseley Manuscripts" enables us to present our
readers with some very curious particulars, illustrative at once of the
nature of those arrangements, and of the heavy cost at which they were
furnished. By an order in council,--dated the 31st of September, 1552,
and addressed to Sir Thomas Cawarden, at that time Master of the King's
Revels,--after reciting the appointment of the said George Ferrers, the
said Sir Thomas is informed that it is his Majesty's pleasure "that you
se hym furneshed for hym and his bande, as well in apparell as all other
necessaries, of such stuff as remayneth in your office. And whatsoever
wanteth in the same, to take order that it be provided accordinglie by
yo^{r} discretion."
For the manner in which the Lord of Misrule availed himself of this
unlimited order, we recommend to such of our readers as the subject may
interest a perusal of the various estimates and accounts published by
Mr. Kempe from the manuscripts in question. Were it not that they would
occupy too much of our space, we should have been glad to introduce some
of them here, for the purpose of conveying to the reader a lively notion
of the gorgeousness of apparel and appointment exhibited on this
occasion. We must, however, present them with some idea of the train for
whom these costly preparations were made, and of the kind of mock court
with which the Lord of Misrule surrounded himself.
Amongst these we find mention made of a chancellor, treasurer,
comptroller, vice-chamberlain, lords-councillors, divine, philosopher,
astronomer, poet, physician, apothecary, master of requests, civilian,
disard (an old word for clown), gentleman-ushers, pages of honor,
sergeants-at-arms, provost-marshal, under-marshal, footmen, messengers,
trumpeter, herald, orator; besides hunters, jugglers, tumblers, band,
fools, friars (a curious juxtaposition, which Mr. Kempe thinks might
intend a satire), and a variety of others. None seem in fact to have
been omitted who were usually included in the retinue of a prince; and
over this mock court the mock monarch appears to have presided with a
sway as absolute, as far as regarded the purposes of his appointment, as
the actual monarch himself over the weightier matters of the state. But
the most curious part of these arrangements is that by which (as appears
from one of the lists printed from these manuscripts) he seems to have
been accompanied in his processions by an heir-at-law, and three other
children, besides two _base sons_. These two base sons, we presume, are
bastards; and that the establishment of a potentate could not be
considered complete without them. The editor also mentions that he was
attended by an almoner, who scattered amongst the crowd during his
progresses, certain coins made by the wire-drawers; and remarks that if
these bore the portrait and superscription of the Lord of Misrule, they
would be rare pieces in the eye of a numismatist.
The following very curious letter, which we will give entire, will
furnish our readers with a lively picture of the pageantries of that
time, and of the zeal with which full-grown men set about amusements of
a kind which are now usually left to children of a smaller growth.
Playing at kings is in our day one of the sports of more juvenile
actors. The letter is addressed by Master George Ferrers to Sir Thomas
Cawarden; and gives some account of his intended entry at the court at
Christmas, and of his devices for furnishing entertainment during the
festival.
SIR,--Whereas you required me to write, for that y{^r}
busynes is great, I have in as few wordes as I maie
signefied to you such things as I thinke moste
necessarie for my purpose.
ffirst, as towching my Introduction. Whereas the laste
yeare my devise was to cum of oute of the mone (moon)
this yeare I imagine to cum oute of a place called
_vastum vacuum_, the great waste, as moche to saie as
a place voide or emptie w^{th}out the worlde, where is
neither fier, ayre, nor earth; and that I have bene
remayning there sins the last yeare. And, because of
certaine devises which I have towching this matter, I
wold, yf it were possyble, have all myne apparell
blewe, the first daie that I p'sent my self to the
King's Ma^{tie}; and even as I shewe my self that
daie, so my mynd is in like order and in like suets
(suits) to shew myself at my comyng into London after
the halowed daies.
Againe, how I shall cum into the Courte, whether under
a canopie, as the last yeare, or in a chare
triumphall, or uppon some straunge beaste,--that I
reserve to you; but the serpente with sevin heddes,
cauled hidra, is the chief beast of myne armes, and
wholme[2] (holm) bushe is the devise of my crest, my
worde[3] is _semper ferians_, I alwaies feasting or
keping holie daies. Uppon Christmas daie I send a
solempne ambassad^{e} to the King's Ma^{ie} by an
herrald, a trumpet, an orator speaking in a straunge
language, an interpreter or a truchman with hym, to
which p'sons ther were requiset to have convenient
farnyture, which I referre to you.
I have provided one to plaie uppon a kettell drom with
his boye, and a nother drome w^{th} a fyffe, whiche
must be apparelled like turkes garments, according to
the paternes I send you herewith. On St. Stephen's
daie, I wold, if it were possyble, be with the King's
Ma^{tie} before dynner. Mr. Windham, being my
Admyrall, is appointed to receive me beneth the bridge
with the King's Brigandyne, and other vessells
apointed for the same purpose; his desire is to have
the poope of his vessell covered w^{th} white and
blew, like as I signefie to you by a nother l^{re}.
Sir George Howard, being my M^{r.} of the Horsis,
receiveth me at my landing at Grenwiche with a spare
horse and my pages of hono^{r}, one carieng my hed
pece, a nother my shelde, the thirde my sword, the
fourth my axe. As for their furniture I know nothing
as yet provided, either for my pages or otherwise,
save a hed peece that I caused to be made. My
counsailo^{rs}, with suche other necessarie psons
y^{t} attend uppon me that daie, also must be
consydered. There maie be no fewer than sixe
counsailo^{rs} at the least; I must also have a
divine, a philosopher, an astronomer, a poet, a
phisician, a potecarie, a m^{r} of requests, a
sivilian, a disard, John Smyth, two gentlemen ushers,
besides juglers, tomblers, fooles, friers, and suche
other.
The residue of the wholie daies I will spend in other
devises: as one daie in feats of armes, and then wolde
I have a challeng pformed with hobbie horsis, where I
purpose to be in pson. Another daie in hunting and
hawking, the residue of the tyme shalbe spent in other
devisis, which I will declare to you by mouth to have
yo^{r} ayde and advice therin.
S^{r}, I know not howe ye be provided to furnish me,
but suer methinks I shold have no lesse than five
suets of apparell, the first for the daie I come in,
which shall also serve me in London, and two other
suets for the two halowed daies folowing, the fourth
for newe yeares daie, and the fifte for XII^{th} daie.
Touching my suet of blew, I have sent you a pece of
velvet which hath a kinde of powdered ermaines in it,
vearie fytt for my wering, yf you so thynke good. All
other matters I referre tyll I shall speake with you.
GEORGE FERRERS.
In other letters from this Lord of Misrule to the Master of the Revels
he applies for eight visors for a drunken masque, and eight swords and
daggers for the same purpose; twelve hobby-horses, two Dryads, and Irish
dresses for a man and woman; and seventy jerkins of buckram, or canvas
painted like mail, for seventy "hakbuturs," or musketeers of his guard.