The musicians who play by night in the streets at Christmas are called
_waits_. It has been presumed, that _waits_ in very ancient times meant
watchmen; they were minstrels at first attached to the king’s court, who
sounded the watch every night, and paraded the streets during winter to
prevent depredations.
In London, the _waits_ are remains of the musicians attached to the
corporation of the city under that denomination. They cheer the hours of
the long nights before Christmas with instrumental music. To denote that
they were “the lord mayor’s music,” they anciently wore a _cognizance_,
or badge on the arm, similar to that represented in the engraving below,
from a picture by A. Bloemart.
[Illustration: ~The Piper.~]
He blows his bagpipe soft or strong,
Or high or low, to hymn or song,
Or shrill lament, or solemn groan,
Or dance, or reel, or sad o-hone!
Or ballad gay, or well-a-day--
To all he gives due melody.
Preparatory to Christmas, the bellman of every parish in London rings
his bell at dead midnight, that his “worthy masters and mistresses” may
listen, and be assured by his vocal intonation that he is reciting “a
copy of verses” in praise of their several virtues, especially their
liberality; and, when the festival is over, he calls with his bell, and
hopes he shall be “remembered.”
* * * * *
At the good town of Bungay, in Suffolk, the “watch” of the year 1823
circulated the following, headed by a representation of a moiety of
their dual body:--
[Illustration: A COPY OF CHRISTMAS VERSES,