Jestor
People sitting around a table being served wine
W
WE have observed that the churchwardens of St. Margaret’s, Westminster, were fined in 1647 for decorating their church at Christmas. The practice, as before referred to, existed from the earliest times; and in the churchwardens’ accounts of various parishes in the fifteenth and following centuries, entries may be found of payments for holme, holly, and ivy; and even during the Commonwealth the practice was not extinct, although the puritans tried to abolish it; for in ‘Festorum Metropolis,’ 1652, the author, who supports the cause of Christmas, then endeavoured to be suppressed by the puritans, mentions the trimming of churches and houses with bays,rosemary, holly, ivy, box, and privet, and answers the objections made to the practice. Coles also, in his ‘Art of Simpling,’ 1656, says, that in some places setting up holly, ivy, rosemary, bays, &c. in churches at Christmas, was still in use. Aubrey mentions it as the custom in many parts of Oxfordshire for the maid-servant to ask one of the men for ivy to dress the house, and if he refused or neglected it, she was to steal a pair of his breeches, and nail them up to the gate in the yard or highway. Poor Robin, whose Almanac contains many allusions to Christmas customs, in a Christmas song of 1695, sings,
“With holly and ivySo green and so gay,We deck up our housesAs fresh as the day;With bays and rosemary,And laurel compleate,And every one nowIs a king in conceite.”
The practice has continued to the present time, when the addition of the chrysanthemum, satin flower, and other everlastings, mingling with the red berry of the holly and the waxen one of the mystic misletoe, together with occasionally the myrtle and laurustinum, have a very pleasing and cheerful effect. In most places these greens and flowers are taken down after Twelfth Day, except in churches, where they are frequently kept till Lent; but, according to Herrick, they should remain in houses until Candlemas Day, and then
“Down with the rosemary and soDown with the baies and misletoe;Down with the holly, ivie, allWherewith ye drest the Christmas hall;That so the superstitious findNo one least branch there left behind,For look, how many leaves there beNeglected there, maids, trust to me,So many goblins you shall see.”
After the Restoration, the festive as well as the sacred observance of Christmas was immediately resumed, and on the very first Christmas Day, Evelyn says, Dr. Rainbow preached before the king, when the service was performed with music, voices, &c., as formerly. The court revels, however, never recovered their former splendour; plays, masks, and pageants were nearly abandoned, and the festivities gradually assumed the form of a mere state party, until in the time of our present gifted queen, the plays at court have been resumed with the utmost taste and talent. The manners of the country in general had been much changed during the ascendancy of the puritan party and the troubles occasioned by the civil wars; and the habits of Charles the Second were of too indolent and sensual a nature to care much for any trouble in the court pageants, though gambling at the groom-porter’s was prevalent—Charles generally opening there the Christmas revels, if they may be so called; the play was deep, of which many instances are given, the ladies joining in it. A pastoral, however, by Crowne, called ‘Calisto,’ was at one time acted by the daughters of the Duke of York (afterwards James the Second) and the young nobility; and Lady Anne, afterwards queen, about the same time acted the part of Semandra, in Lee’s ‘Mithridates.’ Betterton and his wife instructed the performers; in remembrance of which, when Anne came to the throne, she gave the latter a pension of £100 a year.
King Charles on a raised chair looking boredJames Stephanoff, del.Ashbee & Dangerfield, lith.TEMPLE REVELS BEFORE CHARLES THE SECOND.
James Stephanoff, del.
Ashbee & Dangerfield, lith.
TEMPLE REVELS BEFORE CHARLES THE SECOND.
The Inns of Court continued their revels; and in January, 1662, Pepys mentions that while he was at Faithorne’s, the celebrated engraver’s, he saw the king’s life-guards, he being gone to Lincoln’s Inn, where, according to old custom, there was a prince and all his nobles, and other matters of sport and charge. Evelyn, who was present at these revels, speaks somewhat disdainfully of them, calling them “the solemn foolerie of the Prince de la Grange, where came the king, duke,” &c. It began with a grand mask, and a formal pleading before the mock princes, grandees, nobles, and knights of the sun. He had his lord chancellor, chamberlain, treasurer, and other royal officers, gloriously clad and attended; and ended in a magnificent banquet; one Mr. Lort being the “young spark” who maintained the pageantry.
In January, 1688, Evelyn went, after the meeting of the Royal Society, to see the revels at the Middle Temple, which he calls an old, but riotous, custom, and had no relation to virtue or policy. He did not know that the most eager in these sports are frequently among the wisest of their class, and that the philosopher can sometimes wear the garb of folly gracefully.
Towards the end of the seventeenth century, however, these revels ceased, having gradually fallen off, and the dignity of master of the revels, instead of being eagerly sought for, as in former times, required a bribe or premium to induce any member to take it upon him. We find, for instance, in the records of Gray’s Inn, on the 3d of November, 1682, that Mr. Richard Gipps, on his promise to perform the office of master of the revels that and the next term, should be called to the bar, of grace, that is, without payment of the usual fees.
The amusing gossip Pepys was a much more agreeableChristmas companion apparently than Evelyn. How one would like to have joined such a party as he describes on the 4th of January, 1667, when having had company to dinner, at night, the last thing they had was a flagon of ale and apples drunk out of a wood cup as a Christmas draught, which made all merry! This was keeping up the old custom of the wassail bowl (was Knipp of this sociable party?); and no doubt Pepys entered heartily into all the old customs, and certainly was liberal as to his gifts; for, on December 28th, 1668, he says that drums, trumpets, and boxes cost him much money that Christmas. On the previous Christmas Day he had been quiet, though probably in expectation of some approaching party, having dined at home with his wife, who sat undressed all day until ten at night, altering and lacing of a “noble petticoat.” So, ladies we see, even in those times, contrived and worked a little to vary and ornament that apparel which adds so much grace to their charms; and though “when unadorned, adorned the most,” is frequently quoted with approbation, yet it probably is often misunderstood, and simplicity with taste in ornament is always an object of admiration. Pepys gives an amusing account of Sir George Downing, a man of thrift, who asked some poor people (poor relations probably) to dine with him at Christmas, and gave them nothing but beef, porridge, pudding, and pork; there was nothing said during the dinner, except his mother would remark, “It’s good broth, son.” “Yes, it is good broth,” he would answer. “Confirm all,” says the lady, and say, “Yes, very good broth.” By and bye, she would say, “Good pork;” to which the son would respond, “Yes, very good pork.” And so throughout the scanty bill of fare, the humble guests saying nothing, as they went not out of love or esteem, butfor the purpose of getting a good dinner, a rare occurrence perhaps to some of them.
The Rev. Henry Teonge, chaplain of one of our ships of war, gives the following description of a Christmas Day of quite another sort, in 1675, “Crismas Day wee keepe thus: At four in the morning our trumpeters all doe flatt their trumpetts, and begin at our captain’s cabin, and thence to all the officers’ and gentlemen’s cabins; playing a levite at each cabine door, and bidding good morrow, wishing a merry Crismas. After they goe to their station, viz. on the poope, and sound three levitts in honour of the morning. At ten we goe to prayers and sermon; text, Zacc. ix, 9. Our captaine had all his officers and gentlemen to dinner with him, where wee had excellent good fayre: a ribb of beefe, plumb-puddings, minct pyes, &c., and plenty of good wines of severall sorts; dranke healths to the king, to our wives and friends, and ended the day with much civill myrth.” Teonge and his companions seem to have been a merry, pleasant set, and he thus describes their ensuing Twelfth Day. “Very ruff weather all the last night, and all this day. Wee are now past Zante; had wee beene there this day, wee had seene a greate solemnity; for this day being 12 day, the Greeke Bishop of Zante doth (as they call it) baptise the sea, with a great deale of ceremonie, sprinkling their gallys and fishing-tackle with holy water. But wee had much myrth on board, for wee had a greate kake made, in which was put a beane for the king, a pease for the queen, a cloave for the knave, a forked stick for the cuckold, a ragg for the slutt. The kake was cut into severall pieces in the great cabin, and all put into a napkin, out of which every one took his piece, as out of a lottery; then each piece is broaken to seewhat was in it, which caused much laughter, to see our leiuetenant prove the coockold, and more to see us tumble one over the other in the cabin, by reason of the ruff weather.” The celebrated Lord Peterborough, then a youth, was one of the party on board this ship, as Lord Mordaunt.
Poor Robin’s almanack, for 1675, gives some notion of the bill of fare for Christmas at this time among the middle classes.
“Now the season of the yearBids thee to provide good cheer,For to feast thy needy neighbours,Who do live by their hard labours;Then thy coyn freely bestowFor raisins, sun, and maligo;No currans, prunes, nor sugar lack,Pepper, both the white and black,Nutmegs, ginger, cloves, and mace,Rice for porridge i’ th’ first place;Pork and mutton, veal and beef,For hungry stomachs good relief;Pig, goose, turkey, capon, coney,What may be had for thy money;Plum-pudding, and furmity,Mutton pasties, Christmas pye;Nappy ale, a full carouseTo the master of the house;And instead of tobacco pipes,The fidler up an old dance strikes.”
In following years there are descriptions somewhat similar.
New Year’s Gifts were continued; and at court they seem to have been arranged according to rule, and were generallyin money. The aggregate amount presented was about £3000, sent in purses, worth 30s.or 40s.each, the donors receiving gifts of gilt plate in return. Pepys mentions his going to the jewell office, on the 4th of January, 1661, to choose a piece of plate for Earl Sandwich, who had given twenty pieces of gold in a purse. His account will suffice to show the perfect matter of routine then existing, as well as the amount of recognised official peculation. He chose a gilt tankard, weighing thirty-one ounces and a half, but this was an ounce and a half more than the Earl, or the value of the Earl’s gift, was entitled to, this limit being thirty ounces; so Pepys was obliged to pay 12s.for the extra ounce and a half, so much was it a matter of calculation. He adds, “Strange it was for me to see what a company of small fees I was called upon by a great many to pay there, which, I perceive, is the manner that courtiers do get their estates.”
A lot of people at a banquetJames Stephanoff, del.Ashbee & Dangerfield, lith.THE WASSAIL BOWL.
James Stephanoff, del.
Ashbee & Dangerfield, lith.
THE WASSAIL BOWL.
The spirit of Christmas, however, had received a check in the time of the Commonwealth, which it struggled in vain to overcome entirely. The hospitality and festivities in private houses recovered, and were prevalent in the eighteenth century, and exist in many parts, and to a certain extent, even in the present utilitarian age; but the pageants and masks, in the royal household, and at the Inns of Court, had received a death-blow; although they were not actually abolished until the latter end of the century. Evelyn mentions a riotous and revelling Christmas at the Inner Temple, according to custom, as late as 1697, and says that his brother, who appears to have been a worthy, as well as a wealthy, squire, in the previous yearmore veterum, kept a Christmas at Wotton, in which they had not fewer than 300 bumpkins every holyday.
In 1702, Poor Robin makes complaints of the falling off of Christmas festivities.
“But now landlords and tenants tooIn making feasts are very slow;One in an age, or near so far,Or one perhaps each blazing star;The cook now and the butler too,Have little or nothing for to do;And fidlers who used to get scraps,Now cannot fill their hungry chaps;Yet some true English blood still lives,Who gifts to the poor atChristmasgives,And to their neighbours make a feast,I wish their number were increast,And that their stock may never decay,Christmasmay come again in play,And poor man keep it holyday.”
Many of the popular ballads, in the latter part of the seventeenth century, refer to the same falling off in Christmas feasting, complaining of the degeneracy of the times. Poets and ballad writers, however, from the earliest times, certainly as far back as Homer, have been noted for this species of grumbling. Praising the bygone times, in order to conceal the annoyance at having had so many of our would-be-original good things said by our ancestors before us.
Nedham in his ‘History of the Rebellion,’ 1661, alluding to the times before the Commonwealth, says—
“Gone are those golden days of yore,When Christmas was a high day;Whose sports we now shall see no more,’Tis turn’d into Good Friday.”
In ‘The Old and Young Courtier,’ printed in 1670, we have comparisons between the times of Elizabeth and the then modern times, including the following lines as to Christmas,—
“With a good old fashion, when Christmasse was come,To call in all his old neighbours with bagpipe and drum,With good chear enough to furnish every old roome,And old liquor, able to make a cat speak, and man dumb.Like an old courtier of the queen’s,And the queen’s old courtier.”
then comes the contrast,—
“With a new fashion, when Christmas is drawing on,On a new journey to London, straight we all must begone,And leave none to keep house, but our new porter, John,Who relieves the poor with a thump on the back with a stone.Like a young courtier of the king’s,And the king’s young courtier.”
In “‘Time’s Alteration; or, the Old Man’s Rehearsal,’ what brave dayes he knew a great while agone, when his old cap was new,” there is much in the same strain,—
“Black jacks to every manWere fill’d with wine and beer;No pewter pot nor canIn those days did appear:Good cheer in a nobleman’s houseWas counted a seemly show;We wanted no brawn nor souse,When this old cap was new.“
But, ‘Old Christmas Returned,’ probably written at thetime of the Restoration and prior to the last-named ballads, gives a more favourable view, and welcomes the return of Christmas.
“All you that to feasting and mirth are inclin’d,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.A long time together he hath been forgot,They scarce could afford for to hang on the pot;Such miserly sneaking in England hath been,As by our forefathers ne’er us’d to be seen;But now he’s returned you shall have in brief,Plum-pudding, goose, capon, minc’d pies and roast beef.“
The last line forms the burden of every stanza. A few years later, in 1695, Poor Robin welcomes Christmas much in the same terms,—
“Now, thrice welcome, Christmas,Which brings us good cheer,Minc’d pies and plumb-porridge,Good ale and strong beer;With pig, goose, and capon,The best that may be,So well doth the weatherAnd our stomachs agree.”
Really, one may say with Terence, “jamdudum animus est in patinis,” and eating seems to be a happy invention, occupying a valuable portion of our existence. Old Tusser,long before, had recommended somewhat similar dishes for Christmas,—
“Brawn, pudding, and souse, and good mustard withal,Beef, mutton, and pork, shred pies of the best,Pig, veal, goose, and capon, and turkey well dressed;Cheese, apples, and nuts, jolly carols to hearAs then in the country is counted good cheer.”
This was hearty and hospitable fare, fit for the fine old gentry of England; but Massinger talks of something more luxurious, hardly to be surpassed in our scientific days.
“Men may talk of country Christmasses,Their thirty pound butter’d eggs, their pies of carps’ tongues,Their pheasants drench’d with ambergris, the carcasesOf three fat wethers bruised for gravy toMake sauce for a single peacock.”
The well-known minced or Christmas pie is of considerable antiquity, and many references are made to it in early writers. It is customary, in London, to introduce them at the lord-mayor’s feast, on the 9th of November, where many hundreds of them appear; but this is an irregularity that some archæological lord-mayor will, no doubt, by and bye, correct; at any rate they should be eaten under protest, or without prejudice, as lawyers say. They ought to be confined to the season of Christmas, and the practice of using up the remnant of the mince meat, even up to Easter, should be put a stop to by some of our ecclesiastical reformers. So much were they considered as connected with Christmas, that the puritans treated their use as a superstitious observance, and after the Restoration they almost served as a test of religious opinions. Bunyan, when in confinement and in distress for a comfortablemeal, for some time refused to injure his morals by eating them when he might have done so. Misson, in the beginning of the last century, says they were made of neats’ tongues, chicken, eggs, sugar, currants, lemon and orange peel, with various spices.
The modern receipts are similar, and the less meat they contain the better. The following is a well-tried and much approved one, and has been handed down in the same family for generations: “A pound of beef suet, chopped fine; a pound of raisins, do. stoned; a pound of currants, cleaned dry; a pound of apples, chopped fine; two or three eggs; allspice beat very fine, and sugar to your taste; a little salt, and as much brandy and wine as you like:” a small piece of citron in each pie is an improvement, and the cover or case should be oblong, in imitation of the crache or manger where our Saviour was laid, the ingredients themselves having been said to have some reference to the offering of the wise men.
James the First’s dislike to the look of a naked sword took its rise from about the time of his birth; but Lord Feesimple, a cowardly character, in ‘Amends for Ladies,’ one of Field’s plays, attributes his lack of courage to an incident during that extensive chopping season, the necessary precursor of minced pies. “I being in the kitchen, in my lord my father’s house, the cook was making minc’d pies; so, sir, I standing by the dresser, there lay a heap of plums; here was he mincing; what did me? I, sir, being a notable little witty coxcomb, but popp’d my hand just under his chopping-knife, to snatch some raisins, and so was cut o’er the hand; and never since could I endure the sight of any edge tool.” There is a superstition that in as many different houses as you eat minced pies during Christmas, so many happy monthswill you have in the ensuing year; you have only therefore to go to a different house each day in the Christmas to ensure a happy twelvemonth, a simple receipt, if effectual. Something like this is mentioned in ‘Dives and Pauper,’ by W. de Worde, 1496, where the custom is reprobated of judging of the weather of the coming year by that of the days of Christmas. This was also prognosticated by the day of the week on which Christmas Day fell, and there are some old Christmas songs referring to it. In the ‘Golden Legend,’ of the same printer, is a more laudable prejudice, “That what persone, beynge in clene lyfe, desyre on thys daye a boone of God; as ferre as it is ryghtfull and good for hym; our lorde at reuerēce of thys blessid and hye feste of his Natiuite wol graūt it to hym.”
The north of England is celebrated for its Christmas pies of a different description, composed of turkeys, geese, game, and various small birds, weighing sometimes half a hundred weight and upwards, and calculated to meet the attacks of a large Christmas party throughout the festival. Plum-pudding, of which the old name is said to have beenhackin, until the time of Charles the Second, is another valuable dish; though, fortunately for its admirers, not confined to Christmas time. Plum-porridge seems to be something like the French edition of plum-pudding brought up to our ambassador many years since, which had been boiled without the cloth; it is, however, mentioned by Misson, and not very many years since the custom existed of serving up a tureen of it at the table of the royal chaplains at St. James’s Palace.
An amusing little book, called ‘Round about our coal-fire, or Christmas Entertainments,’ gives an account of the manner of observing this festival, by the middling classes,about the middle of the seventeenth century, and as the writer, in the spirit of grumbling, refers to former times, he may be supposed to carry back his reference to old times for a century earlier. “The manner of celebrating this great course of holydays,” he says, “is vastly different now to what it was in former days: there was once upon a time hospitality in the land; anEnglishgentleman, at the opening of the great day, had all his tenants and neighbours enter’d his hall by day-break, the strong beer was broach’d, and the black-jacks went plentifully about with toast, sugar, nutmeg, and good Cheshire cheese; the rooms were embower’d with holly, ivy, cypress, bays, laurel, and misleto, and a bouncingChristmaslog in the chimney, glowing like the cheeks of a country milk-maid; there was the pewter as bright asClarinda, and every bit of brass as polished as the most refined gentleman; the servants were then running here and there, with merry hearts and jolly countenances; every one was busy in welcoming of guests, and look’d as snug as new-lick’d puppies; the lasses were as blithe and buxom as the maids in good QueenBess’sdays, when they eat sirloins of roast beef for breakfast;Pegwould scuttle about to make a toast forJohn, whileTomrunharum scarumto draw a jug of ale forMargery.” “In these times all the spits were sparkling, thehackin(pudding) must be boil’d by day-break, or else two young men took the maiden by the arms, and run her round the market-place, till she was ashamed of her laziness.” “This great festival was, in former times, kept with so much freedom and openness of heart, that every one in the country where a gentleman resided, possessed at least a day of pleasure in theChristmasholydays; the tables were all spread, from the first to the last, with the sirloyns of beef,the minc’d pies, the plumb-porridge, the capons, turkeys, geese, and plumb-puddings, were all brought upon the board; and all those who had sharp stomacks and sharp knives, eat heartily and were welcome, which gave rise to the proverb,Merry in the hall, where beards wag all. There were then turnspits employed, who, by the time dinner was over, would look as black and as greasy as a Welsh porridge-pot, but the jacks have since turned them all out of doors. The geese, who used to be fatted for the honest neighbours, have been of late, sent toLondon, and the quills made into pens, to convey away the landlord’s estate; the sheep are drove away, to raise money to answer the loss at a game at dice or cards, and their skins made into parchment for deeds and indentures; nay, even the poor innocent bee, who was used to pay its tribute to the lord once a year at least in good metheglin, for the entertainment of the guests, and its wax converted into beneficial plaisters for sick neighbours, is now used for the sealing of deeds to his disadvantage.” He adds, however, “the spirit of hospitality has not quite forsaken us; several of the gentry are gone down to their respective seats in the country, in order to keep theirChristmasin the old way, and entertain their tenants and tradesfolks as their ancestors used to do; and I wish them a merryChristmasaccordingly.”
Many people at party , two under mistletoeJames Stephanoff, del.Ashbee & Dangerfield, lith.OLD CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES.
James Stephanoff, del.
Ashbee & Dangerfield, lith.
OLD CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES.
He gives a ridiculous example of the influence of the squire in former times; that if he asked a neighbour what it was o’clock, the answer would be with a low scrape, “It is what your worship pleases.” Dr. Arbuthnot, however, is reported to have given a similar answer to Queen Anne, “Whatever time it pleases your majesty.”
Among the amusements mentioned are mumming or masquerading, when the squire’s wardrobe was ransacked fordresses, and burnt corks were in requisition; blind-man’s buff, puss in the corner, questions and commands, hoop and hide, story-telling, and dancing. In some places it seems to have been the custom to dance in the country churches, after prayers, crying out, “Yole, yole, yole!” &c.
Previous to the time of Queen Anne, it had been the custom for the officers of his court and for the suitors to present gifts to the chancellor; the officers also exacting gifts from the suitors to reimburse themselves. The chancery bar breakfasted with the chancellor on the 1st of January, and gave him pecuniary New Year’s Gifts to gain his good graces according to their means and liberality. The practice also was common to the other courts; and the marshal of the King’s Bench used to present the judges with a piece of plate, a gift which Sir Matthew Hale wished to decline, but fearing he might injure his successors, he received the value in money, and distributed it among the poor prisoners. Sir Thomas More always returned the gifts, and being presented on one occasion, by one Mrs. Goaker, with a pair of gloves containing forty angels, he said to her, “Mistresse, since it were against good manners to refuse your New-year’s gift, I am content to take your gloves, but as for theliningI utterly refuse it.” When Lord Cowper, however, became lord keeper, in 1705, he determined to abolish the practice, and mentioned the subject to Godolphin, the prime minister, that he might not injure his patronage in the value of the place, but he was desired, in effect, to act as he thought proper. He incurred much obloquy at first from the other courts and public offices where the practice likewise existed, but he persevered, and his example was followed, though slowly, by them.
There is an old custom in the north of England, according to Brockett’s ‘North Country Glossary,’ that the first person who enters the house on New Year’s Day is called First-Foot, who is considered to influence the fate of the family, especially the female part, for the whole of the year. Need we doubt that the fair damsels of the household take good care that some favoured swain shall be this influential First-Foot, hoping perhaps that ere the next season he may have a dwelling of his own to receive such characters, instead of enacting it himself; of course he comes provided with an acceptable New Year’s Gift.
woman looking out of window at men in costume
T
THE masks and pageants at court appear to have been gradually abandoned from the time of the Restoration, as before mentioned. They were succeeded by grand feasts and entertainments, which also fell gradually into disuse, and latterly even that relic, the Christmas tureen of plum-porridge, served up at the royal chaplains’ table, was omitted, and the crown-pieces under their plates for New Year’s Gifts soon followed. The poet-laureat has long since been relieved from that tax on his imagination, the New Year’s Ode; and the only remaining ceremony is, I believe, the offering on Twelfth Day. George the First andSecond were in the habit of playing at hazard in public at the groom-porter’s, where several of the nobility, and even some of the princesses, staked considerable sums; but in the time of George the Third the practice was abolished, and a handsome gratuity given to the groom-porter by way of compensation.
It will be understood that the remarks as to the abatement in Christmas festivities, apply more particularly to what may be considered as state or public observances; for Christmas feasting and revelry were still kept up throughout the last century in many parts, according as the spirit of hospitality prevailed, accompanied, but too frequently, by that excess for which those times have gained an unenviable celebrity, and where the motto appears to have been—
“Fill up the bowl, then, fill it high,Fill all the glasses then, for whyShould every creature drink but I?Why, man of morals, tell me why?”
Hals, in that very scarce book, his ‘History of Cornwall,’ reprinted, with some omissions, a few years since, by the late Davies Gilbert, P.R.S., mentions the hospitality existing in that county in the beginning of the eighteenth century, referring particularly to the establishment of John Carminow, who kept open house for all comers and goers, drinkers, minstrels, dancers, and what not, during the Christmas time; his usual allowance of provisions for that season being twelve fat bullocks, twenty Cornish bushels of wheat (about sixty of usual measure), thirty-six sheep, with hogs, lambs, and fowls, of all sorts, and drink made of wheat and oat malt proportionable; barley-malt being then little known in those parts. Genuine hospitality was indeed to be met with in most of the provinces; but still the general effect was a falling off in theobservance of Christmas. Garrick, in returning thanks to his friend Bunbury (the caricaturist) for some Norfolk game, at Christmas, says,—
“Few presents now to friends are sent,Few hours in merry-making spent;Old-fashioned folks there are indeed,Whose hogs and pigs at Christmas bleed;Whose honest hearts no modes refine,They send their puddings and their chine.”
Even down to the present time—although the spirit has sadly abated, and been modified, and is still abating under the influence of the genius of the age, which requires work and not play—the festivities are yet kept up in many parts in a genial feeling of kindness and hospitality, not only in the dwellings of the humbler classes, who encroach upon their hard-gained earnings for the exigencies of the season, and of those of higher grade, where the luxuries mingle with the comforts of life; but also in the mansions of the opulent, and in the baronial hall, where still remain the better privileges of feudal state; and especially in the palace of our sovereign, who wisely considers the state of royalty not incompatible with the blessings of domestic enjoyment, and has shown how the dignity of a reigning queen is perfectly consistent with the exemplary performance of the duties of a wife and mother.
And surely a cheerful observance of this festival is quite allowable with the requirements for mental exertion of the present times; and hospitality and innocent revelry may be used as safety valves for our high pressure educational power,—
“Kind hearts can make December blithe as May,And in each morrow find a New Year’s Day.”
In some parts the wassail-bowl may yet be found, though most commonly in the guise of toast and ale, without the roasted apples.
In juvenile parties, snap-dragon, throwing its mysterious and witch-like hue over the faces of the bystanders, is sometimes yet permitted. Not Poins’s, who swallowed down candle-ends for flap-dragons; but the veritable Malaga fruit, carolling away in the frolicsome spirit, burning the fingers but rejoicing the palate of the adventurous youth, and half frightened little maiden reveller. The custom is old, but not quite so old as stated in the curious play of ‘Lingua;’ by the performance of one character, wherein—Tactus—Oliver Cromwell is said to have had his first dream of ambition.
“Memory.O, I remember this dish well; it was first invented by Pluto, to entertain Proserpina withal.Phantastes.I think not so, Memory; for when Hercules had kill’d the flaming dragon of Hesperia, with the apples of that orchard he made this fiery meat; in memory whereof he named it snapdragon.“
“Memory.O, I remember this dish well; it was first invented by Pluto, to entertain Proserpina withal.
Phantastes.I think not so, Memory; for when Hercules had kill’d the flaming dragon of Hesperia, with the apples of that orchard he made this fiery meat; in memory whereof he named it snapdragon.“
There is still a species of flapdragon in the west, among the peasantry, by means of a cup of ale or cyder with a lighted candle standing in it: the difficulty being for a man to drink the liquor, without having his face singed, while his companions are singing some doggrel verses about Tom Toddy.
The waits still remain, as we know from auricular experience, though their performances are of a most heterodox nature, generally comprising a polka or galope, with some of the latest opera airs, instead of the genuine old carol tunes; and indeed the street carol singer himself is almost extinct, and when met with, his stock is confined to three or four different carols, with one tune, while the broadside carolsthemselves are much limited, in variety, even to what they were a few years back, my own collection, which is large, having been commenced long since. Christmas-boxes still prevail; self-interest will endeavour to keep these alive, and most housekeepers have a list of regular applicants, besides a few speculators, who think it worth while to ask. The principal wait claims his privilege, under a regular appointment, by warrant and admission, with all the ancient forms of the city and liberty of Westminster, having a silver badge and chain, with the arms of that city. The constant dustmen, who have “no connection with the scavengers,” in order to warn against base pretenders, leave printed applications, sometimes of a classical nature, as, for instance, requesting “you will not bestow your bounty on any persons who cannot produce a medal, having on one side a bust of Julius Cæsar’s wife, surrounded with the superscription, ‘Pompeia, Jul. Cæs. Uxor.’” One hardly sees the connection between “Julius Cæsar’s wife” and the dustman’s Christmas-box, and it gives a curious sort of fame to be so selected; and, by parity of reasoning, it may be assumed that the dustmen of Rome would have carried round a medal with Nimrod’s wife. These Christmas boxes, like New Year’s gifts, are probably of pagan origin, but seem to differ, inasmuch as they are more commonly given to dependents, while the latter are frequently reciprocal, and if given by an inferior, as an offering to a superior, meet generally with some return. Some have derived the Christmas box from the practice of the monks to offer masses for the safety of all vessels that went long voyages, in each of which a box, under the controul of the priest, was kept for offerings; this was opened at Christmas, whence the name arose: but this does not seem a probablederivation. Apprentices, journeymen, and servants, even of the higher class, such as butlers of the Inns of Court, had their boxes. John Taylor, the water poet, without due reverence of the law, compared Westminster Hall to a butler’s box, at Christmas, amongst gamesters; for whosoever loseth the box will be sure to be a winner. Some of these were earthen boxes, with a slit to receive money, and was broken after the collection was made; similar boxes of wood may still be seen. Many entries may be found in old accounts of payments made in the nature of Christmas boxes, and the kings of France indeed used to give presents to their soldiers at this time. In the countries where the disgraceful practice of slavery yet remains, a young slave child would appear to be considered as a desirable present, and advertisements to the following effect may be occasionally seen, outraging the feelings, and showing an utter indifference to the common ties of humanity. “To be sold, a little mulatto, two years of age, very pretty, and well adapted for afestival present.” It is to be presumed this “very pretty” child had a mother. Poor creature! When will this abomination of man selling his fellow-man cease on the earth? How would the slaveholders like to give the blacks their turn? We may remember that about the time of Julius Cæsar’s wife, we have lately mentioned, and long before America was known, white slaves from Britain were imported into Rome, as valuable articles for the sports of the amphitheatres. However, we must leave slavery to the lash of ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin;’ but in describing a festival peculiarly commemorative of peace, good will, and freedom to man, one could not help raising a voice, however feeble, against such an evil.
In our younger days—addressing now of course thosewhose younger days are past—the magic-lantern, even the common Dutch toy of the class, and especially the ‘Galanti show,’ used to afford great amusement; and when the phantasmagoria was introduced it seemed inexplicable. The dissolving views, and the great advances made in exhibitions of this class have placed the old lantern much in the back ground, and even the old-fashioned conjuring tricks are now known to nearly every school-boy, without taking into account the penetrating eyes of clever little ladies fixed on you, to find you out.
large family gathered around a decorated treeJames Stephanoff, del.Ashbee & Dangerfield, lith.THE CHRISTMAS TREE.
James Stephanoff, del.
Ashbee & Dangerfield, lith.
THE CHRISTMAS TREE.
In recent times the Christmas tree has been introduced from the continent, and is productive of much amusement to old and young, and much taste can be displayed and expense also incurred in preparing its glittering and attractive fruit. It is delightful to watch the animated expectation and enjoyment of the children as the treasures are displayed and distributed; the parents equally participating in the pleasure, and enjoying the sports of their childhood over again. And where can the weary world-worn man find greater relief from his anxious toil and many cares, and haply his many sorrows, than in contemplating the amusements of artless children, and assisting as far as he is able; for it is not every one has tact for this purpose, and our young friends soon detect this, and discover the right “Simon Pure.”
In the younger days of many of us the Christmas Pantomime was looked forward to as a source of the highest gratification, and the promise was in general realized; for who that ever sawtheGrimaldi can ever forget the genuine pleasure afforded by his inimitable humour, laughable simplicity, and irresistible fun? Surely he never could belong to private or domestic life, but must have been always thesame—stealing tarts from his own baker, and legs of mutton from his own butcher, and filling his pockets with his wife’s dresses and bed-furniture. When, in after life, we were introduced to him, in private, and found a quiet, respectable gentleman, in plain clothes, and no red half-moon cheeks, talking as rationally as other people, we could hardly believe but that we had been imposed upon. Peace to thy memory, Grimaldi! for many a joyous hour hast thou given the young, and of many a weary hour hast thou relieved the old.
It is not our province to argue here whether the modern pantomime is derived from the ancient Greek, harlequin being Mercury; columbine, Psyche; pantaloon, Charon; and the clown, Momus—still retaining, in his painted face and wide mouth, the resemblance of the ancient masks. It is more probable that they were introduced into Italy, as Sismondi says, with other characters of the same class, in the sixteenth century, by the wandering comedians of the time.
The harlequin and scaramouch in early times were, however, speaking characters, and often celebrated wits. Constantini, Tiberio Fiurilli (the inventor of the character of scaramouch), Cecchini, Sacchi, and Nicholas Barbieri, were all highly patronised by royalty; and the reputation of Domenic, who was occasionally admitted to the table of Louis the Fourteenth, is well known. The harlequinade or pantomime, as it is popularly called, was introduced here in 1717, by Mr. Rich, who was a celebrated harlequin himself, and acted under the name of Lun. This pantomime was called ‘Harlequin Executed,’ and was performed at the theatre in Lincoln’s Inn Fields. Between 1717 and 1761, when he retired, he composed several harlequinades, which were all successful. The present handsome though somewhat bizarre dress of harlequin, issaid to have been introduced by Mr. Byrne, a celebrated performer, who was never excelled in this character, at Christmas, 1799, in ‘Harlequin Amulet,’ and at the same time he introduced new steps and leaps. Before this time the dress was a loose jacket and trousers, but the party-coloured jacket, though of inferior quality, was worn by merry-andrews at least a century before this time, and may have been modified from the motley of the fool. The wand of harlequin would seem to be somewhat akin to the dagger of lath of the old vice, but used for a different purpose, and the cap is an article of mystery, as, when placed on his head, he is rendered invisible to the other characters.
The pantaloon was taken from the Venetians, and his former dress, a gown over a red waistcoat, was that of a Venetian citizen. Pulcinello, or Punch, as I am informed by an Italian friend, of considerable literary acquirements—the Chevalier Mortara—is derived from one Paolo or Paol Cinello, who was an attendant or buffoon at an inn at Acerras, about the year 1600, and so famous for his humour, that Silvio Fiorillo, the comedian, persuaded him to join his troop, whence his fame soon spread.
In some parts, particularly in the west and north of the kingdom, the old Christmas play is still kept up, and a specimen is hereafter given. The subject of these plays, which agree in general effect, although varying in detail, is ‘St. George and the Dragon, with the King of Egypt, and Fair Sabra, his daughter;’ usually accompanied by ‘Father Christmas and the Doctor,’ and sometimes by very incongruous characters; as the great and exemplary man, whose loss the nation is now lamenting, as that of the first character in its history, the Duke of Wellington; and General Wolfe, who fightsSt. George, and then sings a song about his own death, beginning—
“Bold General Wolfe to his men did say,Come, come, ye lads, come follow me,To yonder mountain, which is so high;Ye lads of honour, all for your honour,Gain the victory or die.”
Occasionally burlesque characters are introduced, who have nothing to do with the piece, as Hub-Bub, Old Squire, &c., and they generally announce themselves, as one mentioned about 1760, by Jackson, in his ‘History of the Scottish Stage.’
“My name it is Captain Calf-tail, Calf-tail,And on my back it is plain to be seen;Although I am simple and wear a fool’s-cap,I am dearly beloved of a queen.”
The buffoon of the piece used formerly to wear a calf-skin, “I’ll go put on my devilish robes, I mean my Christmas calf’s-skin suit, and then walk to the woods,” says Robin Goodfellow, in the time of James the First. “I’ll put me on my great carnation nose, and wrap me in a rousing calf-skin suit, and come like some hobgoblin.” The performers, who are usually young persons in humble life, are attired, including St. George and the Dragon, much in the same manner, having white trousers and waistcoats, showing their shirt-sleeves, and decorated with ribbons and handkerchiefs; each carrying a drawn sword or cudgel in his hand: as one of the Somersetshire mummers says, “Here comes I liddle man Jan wi’ my sword in my han!” They wear high caps of pasteboard, covered with fancy paper, and ornamented with beads, small pieces of looking-glass, bugles, &c., and generally havelong strips of pith hanging down from the top, with shreds of different coloured cloth strung on them, the whole having a fanciful and smart effect. The Turk sometimes has a turban; Father Christmas is represented as a grotesque old man, with a large mask and comic wig, and a huge club in his hand; the Doctor has a three-cornered hat, and painted face, with some ludicrous dress, being the comic character of the piece; the lady is generally in the dress of last century, when it can be got up; and the hobby-horse, when introduced, which is rarely, has a representation of a horse’s hide. Wellington and Wolfe, when they appear, are dressed in any sort of uniform that can be procured for the nonce, and no doubt will now be found as militia men of the county where the play is represented.
These plays are of very remote origin, and founded probably on the old mysteries before mentioned, the subject of St. George being introduced at the time of the crusades. A play was performed before Henry the Fifth at Windsor, in 1416, when the Emperor Sigismund was with him, founded on the incidents of the life of St. George, and “his ridyng and fighting with the dragon, with his speer in his hand.”
It is curious to observe how near, in many cases, the style of the early drama approaches to the homeliness of our present country Christmas plays; so that one may suppose that not only their structure is derived from the ancient representations, but that even some of the speeches have been carried down with some little modification. When St. George struts in, saying, “Here am I, St. George,” he is but repeating the introduction of characters sometimes used of old. Johnson, who wrote the favourite romance of the ‘Seven Champions of Christendome,’ about the time ofElizabeth, took his subject from early metrical romances, and particularly from the story of St. George and the fair Sabra, in the old poetical legend of Sir Bevis of Hampton, which is older than Chaucer.
The Cornish had their Guary or Miracle Play from a very early date, and amphitheatres are still existing where they used to be performed.
The ‘Creation of the World,’ by William Jordan, of Helstone, in 1611, has been published by the late Davies Gilbert, as also two other Cornish mysteries, of much earlier date, ‘The Passion of our Lord,’ and the ‘Resurrection.’ Carew, in his ‘Survey of the County,’ gives an amusing anecdote of the stupidity, feigned or real, of one of the performers. It having come to his turn, the ordinary or manager, said “Goe forthe, man, and shew thy selfe.” The actor stepped forward, and gravely repeated, “Goe forthe man, and shew thy selfe.” The ordinary, in dismay, whispered to him, “Oh, you marre all the play.” The actor, with very emphatic gesture, repeated aloud, “Oh, you marre all the play.” The prompter, then losing his patience, reviled the actor with all the bitter terms he could think of, which the actor repeated with a serious countenance, as if part of the play. The ordinary was at last obliged to give over, the assembly having received a great deal more sport than twenty such guaries could have afforded.
The play of ‘Alexander the Great,’ acted in the north, and printed at Newcastle, in 1788, is very similar to the Cornish St. George; and others, all showing from their likeness a common origin, may be found in Scotland, Lancashire, Yorkshire, Gloucestershire, Dorsetshire, and other parts. In Yorkshire and Northumberland, and other places in the north, they had the sword or rapier dance, where the performers weredressed in frocks, or white shirts, with paper or pasteboard helmets,—calling themselves Hector, Paris, Guy of Warwick, and other great names, and performing many evolutions with their swords, accompanied by a fiddler or doctor, and a character called Bessy.
Cards, dancing, and music, are still resorted to; but the brawl, the pavan, the minuet, the gavot, the saraband, and even the country dance, excepting in the exhilirating form of Sir Roger de Coverley, have given place to the quadrille, the polka, and the galope; and if we look at the figures of some of the old dances, our drawing-room coryphees will not be sorry to be spared the task of learning them. Take the account of the brawl in one of our old plays, which one of the characters says she has forgotten: “Why! ’tis but two singles on the left, two on the right, three doubles, a traverse of six round; do this twice, curranto pace; a figure of eight, three singles broken down, come up, meet two doubles, fall back, and then honour.” But if we have not gained much in the exhibition of this accomplishment, it is amply made up in the quality of our domestic musical acquirements, where, instead of a ditty or lesson, or sonata, droned out on the virginals or harpsichord, our ladies now treat us not only with the elegant compositions of the talented Osborne, and other able modern writers, but with the classical works of Beethoven, Mozart, and other masters of the noble science. Many of our male amateurs also, both vocal and instrumental, have acquired considerable skill; but as they in general are pretty well aware of their own merits, it will not be necessary to remind them here. Singing, however, is more particularly in quest at Christmas time, but the old carol is rarely now to be met with, though several of them possess much pleasing harmony.One of the great gratifications, however, of these Christmas meetings, where they can take place, is the re-union, even though for a short space, of relations and friends, renewing, as it were, the bonds of love and friendship; casting off for a time the cares of the world; joining, if not audibly, yet mentally, in the praise of that Creator, who has given us so much “richly to enjoy;” and, if it be His will that loved and familiar faces, one by one, drop off, yet are we not left comfortless; for though they cannot return to us, we, through faith in Him, whose Nativity we now commemorate, shall join them, in that blessed region, where the cares and trials of our weary pilgrimage here will be forgotten, as a dream that is past; and hope shall be fulfilled, when “the desire cometh,” that “is a tree of life.”
Our pagan ancestors observed their sacred festival at this season, in honour of their unknown gods, and of a mystic mythology, founded on the attributes of the Deity; but corrupted in the course of ages into a mass of fables and idolatry: but we keep it in commemoration of Him, who, as at this time, mercifully revealed Himself to us; who is omniscient and omnipresent, and of whom my lamented and learned friend, Dr. Macculloch, has emphatically said, referring to the true Christian, “Not an object will occur to him, in which he will not see the hand of God, and feel that he is under the eye of God; and if he but turn to contemplate the vacancy of the chamber around him, it is to feel that he is in the presence of his Maker; surrounded, even to contact, by Him who fills all space. Feeling this, can he dare to be evil?”