Flame Heath. _Erica flammea._
Dedicated to _St. John_.
~December 28.~
_The Holy Innocents._ _St. Theodorus_, Abbot of Tabenna, A. D. 367.
~Innocents.~
This is another Romish celebration preserved in the church of England
calendar and the almanacs. It has another name--
~Childermas-Day.~
This is conjectured to have been derived from the _masses_ said for the
souls of the _Innocents_ who suffered from Herod’s cruelty. It is to
commemorate their slaughter that _Innocents_ or _Childermas_-day is
appropriated, and hence the name it bears.
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It was formerly a custom to whip up the children on Innocent’s day
morning, in order “that the memorial of Herod’s murder of the Innocents
might stick the closer, and so, in a moderate proportion, to act over
the crueltie again in kinde.”[434] The day itself was deemed of especial
ill omen, and hence the superstitious never married on Childermas-day.
Neither upon this day was it “lucky” to put on new clothes, or pare the
nails, or begin any thing of moment. In the play of “Sir John Oldcastle”
the prevalence of this belief is instanced by an objection urged to an
expedition proposed on a Friday,--“Friday, quoth’a, a dismal day;
Candlemas-day this year was Friday.” This vulgar superstition reached
the throne; the coronation of king Edward IV. was put off till the
Monday, because the preceding Sunday was Childermas-day.[435] Lastly, a
mother in the “Spectator” is made to say, at that time, “No, child, if
it please God, you shall not go into join-hand on Childermas-day.”
* * * * *
Yet this was a day of disport among the sages of the law. In 1517, king
Henry VIII., by an order, enjoined, “that the _king of cockneys_, on
_Childermas-day_, should sit and have due service; and that he and all
his officers should use honest manner and good order, without any waste
or destruction making in wine, brawn, chely, or other vitails: and also
that he, and his marshal, butler, and constable marshal, should have
their lawful and honest commandments by delivery of the officers of
Christmas, and that the said king of cockneys, ne none of his officers
medyl neither in the buttery, nor in the Stuard of Christmass his
office, upon pain of 40_s._ for every such medling: and lastly, that
Jack Straw, and all his adherents, should be thenceforth utterly banisht
and no more to be used in this house, upon pain to forfeit, for every
time, five pounds, to be levied on every fellow hapning to offend
against this rule.”[436]
[Illustration: ~The Flight of the Holy Family.~]
From Herod’s cruel order they,
By angel’s order, fled away,
And painters add, an angel, too,
Attended them the journey through.
The old artists often painted the flight of the holy family from Herod’s
cruel purpose:--“Behold the angel of the lord appeared to Joseph in a
dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee
into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will
seek the young child to destroy him. When he arose he took the young
child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt, and was there
until the death of Herod.”[437] In some pictures an angel is painted
accompanying them on the way, although on no scriptural authority. In a
painting by “Lucca Giordano” they are represented in a boat with the
ass, whereon the virgin had rode, held by an angel, who is thus degraded
to the condition of a stable boy; while cherubs company them in the sky:
the picture being curious, an engraving from it is placed in this
article.
_Lucca Giordano._
The artist of the picture mentioned was born at Naples, about 1629: he
studied under Spagnoletto, and afterwards under Pietra da Cortona. He is
likewise called _Luca fa Presto_, from a phrase used by his father.
Though his son painted with amazing facility, from designs of the great
masters, while he pursued his studies, and the old man sold them for
high prices, yet he was accustomed to hurry his son at his meals as well
as his work, and say, “Luca _fa presto!_” Luca, make haste: hence,
Luca’s companions nicknamed him _Fa Presto_. His knowledge of the style
of artists belonging to different schools was amazing, and though his
attainments in judgment and execution were of high order, he seems to
have preferred the copying of other compositions to painting designs by
himself. Hence, there are more pictures by Luca fa Presto than some
connoisseurs would willingly acknowledge. They pervade every collection
under the reputation of being by Titian, Guido, Tintorette, and other
painters of greater celebrity than Giordano. He etched his own thoughts
freely and gracefully, and died loaded with honours from crowned heads,
and immensely rich, in 1704.
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