CHRISTMAS UNDER JAMES I.

THE FOOL OF THE OLD PLAYthe fool of the old play(From a print by Bruegel.)

At this period

The Christmas Revels at the Inns of Court

were observed with much zest and jollity. Sandys (writing in 1833 of Elizabeth's time) says:—

"The order of the usual Christmas amusements at the Inns of Court at this period would cause some curious scenes if carried into effect in the present day. Barristers singing and dancing before the judges, serjeants and benchers, would'draw a house' if spectators were admitted. Of so serious import was this dancing considered, that by an order in Lincoln's Inn of February, 7th James I., the under barristers were by decimation put out of commons because the whole bar offended by not dancing on Candlemas Day preceding, according to the ancient order of the society, when the judges were present; with a threat that if the fault were repeated, they should be fined or disbarred."

Sir William Dugdale makes the following reference to

The Christmas Revels of the Inner Temple:—

"First, the solemn Revells (after dinner, and the play ended,) are begun by the whole House, Judges, Sergeants at Law, Benchers; the Utter and Inner Barr; and they led by theMaster of the Revells: and one of the Gentlemen of the Utter Barr are chosen to sing a song to the Judges, Serjeants, or Masters of the Bench; which is usually performed; and in default thereof, there may be an amerciament. Then the Judges and Benchers take their places, and sit down at the upper end of the Hall. Which done, theUtter-BarristersandInner-Barristers, perform a second solemn Revell before them. Which ended, theUtter-Barristerstake their places and sit down. Some of the Gentlemen of theInner-Barr, do present the House with dancing, which is called thePost Revells, and continue their Dances, till the Judges or Bench think meet to rise and depart."

The Hard Frost of 1564

gave the citizens of London an opportunity of keeping Christmas on the ice. An old chronicler says: "From 21st December, 1564, a hard frost prevailed, and on new year's eve, people went over and alongst the Thames on the ise from London Bridge to Westminster. Some plaied at the football as boldlie there, as if it had been on the drie land; divers of the Court, being then at Westminster shot dailie at prickes set upon the Thames, and tradition says, Queen Elizabeth herself walked upon the ise. The people both men and women, went on the Thames in greater numbers than in any street of the City of London. On the third daie of January, 1565, at night it began to thaw, and on the fifth there was no ise to be seene between London Bridge and Lambeth, which sudden thaw caused great floods, and high waters, that bore downe bridges and houses and drowned Manie people in England."

How Queen Elizabeth went to Worship, Christmas, 1565.

Nichols[55]gives the following particular account of Queen Elizabeth's attendance at Divine worship, at the "Chappell ofWhitehall, Westminster," Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, 1565:—

"Item, on Monday, the 24th of December, the Officers of Arms being there present, the Queen's Majesty came to the evening prayer, the sword borne by the Earle of Warwick, her trayn borne by the Lady Strange.

"Item, on Christmas Day her Majesty came to service very richly apparelled in a gown of purple velvet embroidered with silver very richly set with stones, with a rich collar set with stones; the Earl of Warwick bare the sword, the Lady Strange the trayn. After the Creed, the Queene's Majesty went down to the offering, and having a short forme with a carpet, and a cushion laid by a gentleman usher, the ... taken by the Lord Chamberlain, her Majesty kneeled down, her offering given her by the Marquis of Northampton; after which she went into her traverse, where she abode till the time of the communion, and then came forth, and kneeled down at the cushion and carpet aforesaid; the Gentlemen Ushers delivered the towel to the Lord Chamberlain, who delivered the same to be holden by the Earl of Sussex on the right hand, and the Earl of Leicester on the left hand; the Bishop of Rochester served the Queen both of wine and bread; then the Queen went into the traverse again; and the Ladie Cicilie, wife of the Marquis of Baden, came out of the traverse, and kneeled at the place where the Queen kneeled, but she had no cushion, but one to kneel on; after she had received she returned to the traverse again; then the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lord Chamberlain received the Communion with the Mother of the Maids; after which the service proceeded to the end, and the Queen returned again to the Chamber of presence strait, and not the closet. Her Majesty dined not abroad; the said Officers of Arms had a mess of meat of seven dishes, with bread, beer, ale, and wine."

Royal Christmases at Hampton Court.

In 1568, the Earl of Shrewsbury, writing from Hampton Court to his countess, says, "The Plage is disposed far abrode in London, so that the Queene kepes hur Kyrsomas her, and goth not to Grenwych as it was mete." Meet or not, Elizabeth kept many Christmases at Hampton Court, banqueting, dancing, and dicing—the last being a favourite amusement with her, because she generally won, thanks to her dice being so loaded as to throw up the higher numbers. Writing from Hampton Court at Christmas, 1572, Sir Thomas Smith says: "If ye would what we do here, we play at tables, dance, and keep Christmasse."

A COAT OF ARMS.

Queen Elizabeth's Singers and Players.

The Christmas entertainments of Queen Elizabeth were enlivened by the beautiful singing of the children of her Majesty's Chapel. From the notes to Gascoigne'sPrincely Pleasures(1821) it appears that Queen Elizabeth retained on her Royal establishment four sets of singing boys; which belonged to the Cathedral of St. Paul, the Abbey of Westminster, St. George's Chapel, Windsor, and the Household Chapel. For the support and reinforcement of her musical bands, Elizabeth, like the other English Sovereigns, issued warrants for taking "up suche apt and meete children, as are fitt to be instructed and framed in the Art and Science of Musicke and Singing." Thomas Tusser, the well-known author of "Five Hundreth Points of Good Husbandrye," was in his youth a choir boy of St. Paul's. Nor is it astonishing, that although masses had ceased to be performed, the Queen should yet endeavour to preserve sacred melody in a high state of perfection; since, according to Burney, she was herself greatly skilled in musical learning. "If her Majesty," says that eminent author, "was ever able to execute any of the pieces that are preserved in a MS. which goes under the name of Queen Elizabeth's Virginal-book, she must have been a very great player, as some of the pieces which were composed by Tallis, Bird, Giles, Farnaby, Dr. Bull, and others, are so difficult that it would be hardly possible to find a master in Europe who would undertake to play any of them at the end of a month's practice."[56]But the children of the chapel were also employed in the theatrical exhibitions represented at Court, for which their musical education had peculiarly qualified them. Richard Edwards, an eminent poet and musician of the sixteenth century, had written two comedies; Damon and Pythias, and Palemon and Arcite, which, according to Wood, were often acted before the Queen, both at Court and at Oxford.

THE ACTING OF ONE OF SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS. IN THE TIME OF QUEEN ELIZABETH.the acting of one of shakespeare's plays. in the time of queen elizabeth.(By permission, from Messr Cassell & Cos "Illustrated History of England")

With the latter of these Queen Elizabeth was so much delighted that she promised Edwards a reward, which she subsequently gave him by making him first Gentleman of her Chapel, and in 1561 Master of the Children on the death of Richard Bowyer. As the Queen was particularly attached to dramatic entertainments, about 1569 she formed the children of the Royal Chapel into a company of theatrical performers, and placed them under the superintendence of Edwards. Not long after she formed a second society of players under the title of the "Children of the Revels," and by these two companies all Lyly's plays, and many of Shakespeare's and Jonson's, were first performed. Jonson has celebrated one of the chapel children, named Salathiel Pavy, who was famous for his performance of old men, butwho died about 1601, under the age of thirteen. In his beautiful epitaph of Pavy, Jonson says:—

"'Twas a child that did so thriveIn grace and feature,As heaven and nature seem'd to striveWhich own'd the creature.Years he number'd scarce thirteenWhen fates turn'd cruel,Yet three fill'd Zodiacs had he beenThe stage's jewel;And did act, what now we moan.Old men so duly,That the Parcœ thought him oneHe played so truly."

The Shakespearian period had its grand Christmases, for

The Christmas Players

at the Court of Queen Elizabeth included England's greatest dramatist, William Shakespeare; and the Queen not only took delight in witnessing Shakespeare's plays, but also admired the poet as a player. The histrionic ability of Shakespeare was by no means contemptible, though probably not such as to have transmitted his name to posterity had he confined himself exclusively to acting. Rowe informs us that "the tip-top of his performances was the ghost in his ownHamlet;" but Aubrey states that he "did act exceedingly well"; and Cheetle, a contemporary of the poet, who had seen him perform, assures us that he was "excellent in the quality he professed." An anecdote is preserved in connection with Shakespeare's playing before Queen Elizabeth. While he was taking the part of a king, in the presence of the Queen, Elizabeth rose, and, in crossing the stage, dropped her glove as she passed the poet. No notice was taken by him of the incident; and the Queen, desirous of finding out whether this was the result of inadvertence, or a determination to preserve the consistency of his part, moved again towards him, and again dropped her glove. Shakespeare then stooped down to pick it up, saying, in the character of the monarch whom he was playing—

"And though now bent on this high embassy,Yet stoop we to take up our cousin's glove."

He then retired and presented the glove to the Queen, who was highly pleased with his courtly performance.

Grand Christmas at Gray's Inn.

In 1594 there was a celebrated Christmas at Gray's Inn, of which an account was published in 1688 under the following title:—

"Gesta Grayorum: or the History of the High and Mighty Prince, Henry Prince of Purpoole, Arch-Duke of Stapulia and Bernardia, Duke of High and Nether Holborn, Marquis of St.Giles and Tottenham, Count Palatine of Bloomsbury and Clerkenwell, Great Lord of the Cantons of Islington, Kentish-Town, Paddington, and Knights-bridge, Knight of the most Heroical Order of the Helmet, and Sovereign of the same; Who Reigned and Died,a.d.1594. Together with a Masque, as it was presented (by his Highness's Command) for the entertainment of Q. Elizabeth; who, with the Nobles of both Courts, was present thereat. London, Printed for W. Canning, at his shop in the Temple-Cloysters, MDCLXXXVIII. Price one shilling." 4to nine sheets, dedicated "To the most honourable Matthew Smyth, Esq., Comptroller of the honourable society of the Inner Temple."

The Prince of Purpoole was Mr. Henry Helmes, a Norfolk gentleman, "who was thought to be accomplished with all good parts, fit for so great a dignity; and was also a very proper man of personage, and very active in dancing and revelling." His coffers were filled by voluntary contributors, amongst whom the lord treasurer, Sir William Cecil, sent him ten pounds, and a purse of rich needlework.

The performers were highly applauded by Queen Elizabeth, who expressed satisfaction in her own peculiar style. When the actors had performed their Masque, some of her Majesty's courtiers danced a measure, whereupon the Queen exclaimed: "What! shall we have bread and cheese after a banquet?" Finally the Prince and his Officers of State were honoured by kissing her fair hands, and receiving the most flattering commendations. The whole amusement terminated in fighting at barriers; the Earl of Essex, and others, challengers; the Earl of Cumberland and company defendants, "into which number," says the narrator, "our Prince was taken, and behaved himself so valiantly and skilfully therein, that he had the prize adjudged due unto him, which it pleased her Majesty to deliver him with her own hands; telling him, that it was not her gift, for if it had, it should have been better; but she gave it to him, as that prize which was due to his desert, and good behaviour in those exercises; and that hereafter he should be remembered with a better reward from herself. The prize was a jewel, set with seventeen diamonds and four rubies; in value accounted worth a hundred marks."

The following is the Gray's Inn list of performers, which included some gentlemen who were afterwards "distinguished members in the law."

[From "Gesta Grayorum," page 6.]

"The order of the Prince of Purpoole's proceedings, with his officers and attendants at his honourable inthronization; which was likewise observed in all his solemn marches on grand days, and like occasions; which place every officer did duly attend, during the reign of his highness's government.

A Marshal.

Trumpets.

Pursuevant at Arms

Lanye.

Townsmen in the Prince's Livery with Halberts

Yeomen of the Guardthree couples.

Captain of the Guard

Grimes.

Baron of the Grand Port

Dudley.

Baron of the Base Port

Grante.

Christmas's Lamentation

is the subject of an old song preserved in the Roxburgh Collection of Ballads in the British Museum. The full title is: "Christmas's Lamentation for the losse of his acquaintance; showing how he is forst to leave the country and come to London." It appears to have been published at the end of the sixteenth or the beginning of the seventeenth century. The burden of the song is that Christmas "charity from the country is fled," and the first verse will sufficiently indicate the style of the writing:—

Christmas is my name, far have I gone,Have I gone, have I gone, have I gone, without regard,Whereas great men by flocks there be flown,There be flown, there be flown, there be flown, to London-ward;Where they in pomp and pleasure do wasteThat which Christmas was wonted to feast, Welladay!Houses where music was wont for to ringNothing but bats and owlets do sing.Welladay! Welladay! Welladay! where should I stay?

Old Christmas Returned

is the title of a lively Christmas ditty which is a kind of reply to the preceding ballad. It is preserved in the collection formed by Samuel Pepys, some time Secretary to the Admiralty, and author of the famous diary, and by him bequeathed to MagdaleneCollege, Cambridge. The full title and first verse of the old song are as follows:—

"Old Christmas returned, or Hospitality revived; being a Looking-glass for Rich Misers, wherein they may see (if they be not blind) how much they are to blame for their penurious house-keeping, and likewise an encouragement to those noble-minded gentry, who lay out a great part of their estates in hospitality, relieving such persons as have need thereof:

'Who feasts the poor, a true reward shall find,Or helps the old, the feeble, lame, and blind.'""All you that to feasting and mirth are inclined,Come, here is good news for to pleasure your mind;Old Christmas is come for to keep open house,He scorns to be guilty of starving a mouse;Then come, boys, and welcome, for diet the chief,Plum-pudding, goose, capon, minc'd pies, and roast beef."

Christmas-Keeping in the Country

was revived in accordance with the commands of Queen Elizabeth, who listened sympathetically to the "Lamentations" of her lowlier subjects. Their complaint was that the royal and public pageants at Christmastide allured to the metropolis many country gentlemen, who, neglecting the comforts of their dependents in the country at this season, dissipated in town part of their means for assisting them, and incapacitated themselves from continuing that hospitality for which the country had been so long noted. In order to check this practice, the gentlemen of Norfolk and Suffolk were commanded by Queen Elizabeth to depart from London before Christmas, and "to repair to their counties, and there to keep hospitality amongst their neighbours." The presence of the higher classes was needed among the country people to give that assistance which was quaintly recommended by Tusser in his "Hundreth good Points of Husbandrie":

"At Christmas be mery, and thanke God of all:And feast thy pore neighbours, the great with the small.Yea al the yere long have an eie to the poore:And God shall sende luck to kepe open thy doore."

Henry Lord Berkeley, who had a seat in Warwickshire, appears to have set a good example in this respect to the noblemen of the period, for, according to Dugdale, "the greatest part of this lord's abydinge after his mother's death, happenynge in the sixth yeare of Queen Elizabeth, was at Callowdon, till his own death in the eleventh of Kinge James, from whence, once in two or three yeares, hee used in July to come to Berkeley." The historic house of Berkeley essentially belongs to Gloucestershire; but on the death of Edward VI., Henry Lord Berkeley,

NEIGHBOURS WITH PIPE AND TABOR.With a good old fashion, when when Christmas was come,To call in all his old neighbours with bagpipe and drum.

by descent from the Mowbrays and the Segraves, became possessed of the ancient Manor and castellated mansion of Caludon, near Coventry, where he lived in splendour, and kept a grand retinue, being profuse in his hospitalities at Christmas, as well as in his alms to the poor throughout the year. "As touchinge the Almes to the poore of 5 & six country p'ishes & villages hard adjoyninge to Callowdon were relieved, with each of them a neepe of holsome pottage, with a peece of beoffe or mutton therin, halfe a cheate loafe, & a kan of beere, besides the private Almes that dayly went out of his purse never without eight or ten shillings in single money of ijd iijd & groates, & besides his Maundy & Thursday before Ester day, wherein many poore men and women were clothed by the liberality of this lord and his first wife, whilest they lived; and besides twenty markes, or twenty pound, or more, which thrice each yeare, against the feaste of Christmas, Ester, and Whitsontide, was sent by this Lord to two or three of the chiefest Inhabitants of these villages, and of Gosford Street at Coventry, to bee distributed amongst the poore accordinge to their discretions. Such was the humanity of this Lord, that in tymes of Christmas and other festyvalls, when his neighbor townships were invited and feasted in his Hall, hee would, in the midst of their dynner, ryse from his owne, & goynge to each of their tables in his Hall, cheerfully bid them welcome. And his further order was, having guests of Honour or remarkable ranke that filled his owne table, to seate himselfe at the lower end; and when such guests filled but half his bord, & a meaner degree the rest of his table, then to seate himselfe the last of the first ranke, & the first of the later, which was about the midst of his large tables, neare the salt."

Another home of Christmas hospitality in the days of "Good Queen Bess" was Penshurst in Kent, the birthplace of the distinguished and chivalrous Sir Philip Sidney. "All who enjoyed the hospitality of Penshurst," says Mills'sHistory of Chivalry, "were equal in consideration of the host; there were no odious distinctions of rank or fortune; 'the dishes did not grow coarser as they receded from the head of the table,' and no huge salt-cellar divided the noble from the ignoble guests." That hospitality was the honourable distinction of the Sidney family in general is also evident from Ben Jonson's lines on Penshurst:

"Whose liberal board doth flowWith all that hospitality doth know!Where comes no guest but is allow'd to eat,Without his fear, and of thy Lord's own meatWhere the same beer and bread, and self-same wine,That is His Lordship's, shall be also mine."[57]

A reviewer of "The Sidneys of Penshurst," by Philip Sidney, says there is a tradition that the Black Prince and his Fair Maid of Kent once spent their Christmastide at Penshurst, whose banqueting hall, one of the finest in England, dates back to that age of chivalry. At Penshurst Spenser wrote part of his "Shepherd's Calendar," and Ben Jonson drank and rhymed and revelled in this stateliest of English manor houses.

CHRISTMAS IN THE HALL.christmas in the hall.

"A man might then behold,At Christmas, in each hall,Good fires to curb the cold,And meat for great and small."

Queen Elizabeth died on March 23, 1603, after nominating James VI. of Scotland as her successor, and

The Accession of King James,

as James I. of England, united the crowns of England and Scotland, which had been the aim of Mary Queen of Scots before her death.

A RABBIT AND A DOG.

[49]Cassell's "History of England."

[50]"Domestic Memoirs of the Royal Family."

[51]"History of the English People."

[52]"Progresses."

[53]"English Plays."

[54]Sir William Dugdale's "Origines Juridiciales."

[55]"Progresses."

[56]"History of Music," vol iii. p. 15.

[57]Gifford's "Ben Jonson," vol. viii. p. 254.

Court Masques.

The Court entertainments of Christmastide in the reign of James the First consisted chiefly of the magnificent masques of Ben Jonson and others, who, by their training in the preceding reign, had acquired a mastery of the dramatic art. The company to which Shakespeare belonged (that of Lord Chamberlain's players) became the King's players on the accession of James, and several of Shakespeare's plays were produced at Court. But very early in this reign plays gave place to the more costly and elaborate entertainments called masques, but which were very different from the dumb-show masques of Elizabeth's reign, the masquerades of Henry the Eighth, and the low-buffoonery masques of earlier times. At the Court of James thousands of pounds were sometimes expended on the production of a single masque. To the aid of poetry, composed by poets of the first rank, came the most skilful musicians and the most ingenious machinists. Inigo Jones, who became architect to the Court in 1606, shared honours with Ben Jonson in the production of the Court masques, as did also Henry Lawes, the eminent musician. In some of the masques the devices of attire were the work of "Master Jones," as well as the invention and the architecture of the whole of the scenery. D'Israeli[58]says:—"That the moveable scenery of these masques formed as perfect a scenical illusion as any that our own age, with all its perfection and decoration, has attained to, will not be denied by those who have read the few masques that have been printed. They usually contrived a double division of the scene; one part was for some time concealed from the spectator, which produced surprise and variety. Thus in the Lord's Masque, at the marriage of the Palatine, the scene was divided into two parts from the roof to the floor; the lower part being first discovered, there appeared a wood in perspective, the innermost part being of "releeve or whole round," the rest painted. On the left acave, and on the right a thicket from which issued Orpheus. At the back of the scene, at the sudden fall of a curtain, the upper part broke on the spectators, a heaven of clouds of all hues; the stars suddenly vanished, the clouds dispersed; an element of artificial fire played about the house of Prometheus—a bright and transparent cloud reaching from the heavens to the earth, whence the eight maskers descended with the music of a full song; and at the end of their descent the cloud broke in twain, and one part of it, as with a wind, was blown athwart the scene. While this cloud was vanishing, the wood, being the under part of the scene, was insensibly changing: a perspective view opened, with porticoes on each side, and female statues of silver, accompanied with ornaments of architecture, filled the end of the house of Prometheus, and seemed all of goldsmith's work. The women of Prometheus descended from their niches till the anger of Jupiter turned them again into statues. It is evident, too, that the size of the procenium accorded with the magnificence of the scene; for I find choruses described, 'and changeable conveyances of the song,' in manner of an echo, performed by more than forty different voices and instruments in various parts of the scene."

The masque, as Lord Bacon says, was composed for princes, and by princes it was played. The King and Queen, Prince Henry, and Prince Charles (afterwards Charles the First) all appeared in Court masques, as did also the nobility and gentry of the Court, foreign ambassadors, and other eminent personages.

In his notes to "The Masque of Queens," Ben Jonson refers several times to "the King's Majesty's book (our sovereign) of Demonology." The goat ridden was said to be often the devil himself, but "of the green cock, we have no other ground (to confess ingenuously) than a vulgar fable of a witch, that with a cock of that colour, and a bottom of blue thread, would transport herself through the air; and so escaped (at the time of her being brought to execution) from the hand of justice. It was a tale when I went to school."

That there was no lack of ability for carrying out the Court commands in regard to the Christmas entertainments of this period is evident from the company of eminent men who used to meet at the "Mermaid." "Sir Walter Raleigh," says Gifford,[59]"previously to his unfortunate engagement with the wretched Cobham and others, had instituted a meeting ofbeaux espritsat the Mermaid, a celebrated tavern in Friday Street. Of this club, which combined more talent and genius, perhaps, than ever met together before or since, Jonson was a member; and here, for many years, he regularly repaired with Shakespeare, Beaumont, Fletcher, Selden, Cotton, Carew, Martin, Donne, and many others, whose names, even at this distantperiod, call up a mingled feeling of reverence and respect." Here, in the full flow and confidence of friendship, the lively and interesting "wit-combats" took place between Shakespeare and Jonson; and hither, in probable allusion to them, Beaumont fondly lets his thoughts wander in his letter to Jonson from the country.

"What things have we seen,Done at the Mermaid? heard words that have been,So nimble, and so full of subtle flame,As if that every one from whom they came,Had meant to put his whole wit in a jest," &c.

Masques, however, were not the only Christmas diversions of royalty at this period, for James I. was very fond of hunting, and Nichols[60]says that, in 1604, the King kept

A Royal Christmas at Royston,

at his new hunting seat there, and "between the 18th of December and 22nd of January he there knighted Sir Richard Hussey, of Salop; Sir Edward Bushell, of Gloucestershire; Sir John Fenwick, of Northumberland; Sir John Huet, of London; Sir Robert Jermyn, of Suffolk; Sir Isaac Jermyn, of Suffolk; Sir John Rowse; Sir Thomas Muschamp, of Surrey. Mr. Chamberlaine, in a letter to Mr. Winwood from London, December 18th, says: 'The King came back from Royston on Saturday; but so far from being weary or satisfyed with those sports, that presently after the holy-days he makes reckoning to be there againe, or, as some say, to go further towards Lincolnshire, to a place calledAncaster Heath.'"

In this letter Mr. Chamberlaine also refers to

Other Court Amusements of Christmastide,

for, proceeding, he says:—

"In the meantime here is great provision for Cockpit, to entertaine him at home, and of Masks and Revells against the marriage of Sir Philip Herbert and the Lady Susan Vere, which is to be celebrated on St. John's Day. The Queen hath likewise a great Mask in hand against Twelfth-tide, for which there was £3,000 delivered a month ago. Her brother, the Duke of Holst, is here still, procuring a levy of men to carry into Hungary. The Tragedy of 'Gowry,' with all the action and actors, hath been twice represented by the King's Players, with exceeding concourse of all sorts of people; but whether the matter or manner be not well handled, or that it be thought unfit that Princes should be played on the stage in their lifetime, I hear that some great Councellors are much displeased with it, and so 'tis thought shall be forbidden. And so wishing a merry Christmas and many a good year to you and Mrs.Winwood, I committ you to God. Yours, most assuredly,John Chamberlaine."

"On the 26th of January, Mr. Chamberlaine writes thus to Mr. Winwood: 'I doubt not but Dudley Carleton hath acquainted you with all their Christmas-games at Court, for he was a spectator of all the sports and shows. The King went to Royston two days after Twelfth-tide, where and thereabout he hath continued ever since, and finds such felicity in that hunting life, that he hath written to the Councill that it is the only means to maintain his health, which being the health and welfare of us all, he desires them to take the charge and burden of affairs, and foresee that he be not interrupted ortroubled with too much business.'"

Campion's Masque in honour of Lord Hayes and his bride was presented before King James, at Whitehall, on Twelfth Night, 1606; and in reference to the Christmas festivities at Court the following year (1607), Mr. Chamberlaine, writing to Sir D. Carleton, on the 5th of January, says:

"The Masque goes forward at Court for Twelfth-day, though I doubt the New Room will be scant ready. All the Holidays there were Plays; but with so little concourse of strangers, that they say they wanted company. The King was very earnest to have one on Christmas-night; but the Lords told him it was not the fashion. Which answer pleased him not a whit; but he said, 'What do you tell me of the fashion? I will make it a fashion.' Yesterday he dined in the Presence in great pomp, with two rich cupboards of plate, the one gold, the other that of the House of Burgundy pawned to Queen Elizabeth by the States of Brabant, and hath seldom been seen abroad, being exceeding massy, fair, and sumptuous. I could learn no reason of this extraordinary bravery, but that he would show himself in glory to certain Scots that were never here before, as they say there be many lately come, and that the Court is full of new and strange faces. Yesterday there were to be shewn certain rare fire-works contrived by a Dane, two Dutchmen, and Sir Thomas Challoner, in concert."

On January 8th, another letter of Mr. Chamberlaine thus refers to gaming at Court: "On the Twelfth-eve there was great golden play at Court. No Gamester admitted that brought not £300 at least. Montgomery played the King's money, and won him £750, which he had for his labour. The Lord Montegle lost the Queen £400. Sir Robert Cary, for the Prince, £300; and the Earl Salisbury, £300; the Lord Buckhurst, £500;et sic de cæteris. So that I heard of no winner but the King and Sir Francis Wolley, who got above £800. The King went a hawking-journey yesterday to Theobalds and returns to-morrow.

"Above Westminster the Thames is quite frozen over; and the Archbishop came from Lambeth, on Twelfth-day, over the ice to Court. Many fanciful experiments are daily put inpractice; as certain youths burnt a gallon of wine upon the ice, and made all the passengers partakers. But the best is, of an honest woman (they say) that had a great longing to encrease her family on the Thames" (Nichols's "Progresses").

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