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diff --git a/1850.txt b/1850.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f4592ff --- /dev/null +++ b/1850.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2356 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Old Christmas, by Washington Irving + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Old Christmas + +Author: Washington Irving + +Release Date: May 13, 2006 [EBook #1850] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OLD CHRISTMAS *** + + + + +Produced by Donald Lainson + + + + + +OLD CHRISTMAS + +By Washington Irving + + +But is old, old, good old Christmas gone? Nothing but the hair of his +good, gray, old head and beard left? Well, I will have that, seeing that +I cannot have more of him. + +Hue and Cry after Christmas. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHRISTMAS + +THE STAGE-COACH + +CHRISTMAS EVE + +CHRISTMAS DAY + +THE CHRISTMAS DINNER + + + A man might then behold + At Christmas, in each hall + Good fires to curb the cold, + And meat for great and small. + The neighbours were friendly bidden, + And all had welcome true, + The poor from the gates were not chidden, + When this old cap was new. + + Old Song + + + + +Christmas + + +There is nothing in England that exercises a more delightful spell over +my imagination than the lingerings of the holiday customs and rural +games of former times. They recall the pictures my fancy used to draw +in the May morning of life, when as yet I only knew the world through +books, and believed it to be all that poets had painted it; and they +bring with them the flavour of those honest days of yore, in which, +perhaps with equal fallacy, I am apt to think the world was more +home-bred, social, and joyous than at present. I regret to say that +they are daily growing more and more faint, being gradually worn away by +time, but still more obliterated by modern fashion. They resemble those +picturesque morsels of Gothic architecture which we see crumbling in +various parts of the country, partly dilapidated by the waste of ages, +and partly lost in the additions and alterations of latter days. Poetry, +however, clings with cherishing fondness about the rural game and +holiday revel, from which it has derived so many of its themes,--as the +ivy winds its rich foliage about the Gothic arch and mouldering tower, +gratefully repaying their support by clasping together their tottering +remains, and, as it were, embalming them in verdure. + +Of all the old festivals, however, that of Christmas awakens the +strongest and most heartfelt associations. There is a tone of solemn and +sacred feeling that blends with our conviviality, and lifts the spirit +to a state of hallowed and elevated enjoyment. The services of the +church about this season are extremely tender and inspiring. They dwell +on the beautiful story of the origin of our faith, and the pastoral +scenes that accompanied its announcement. They gradually increase in +fervour and pathos during the season of Advent, until they break forth +in full jubilee on the morning that brought peace and good-will to men. +I do not know a grander effect of music on the moral feelings than to +hear the full choir and the pealing organ performing a Christmas anthem +in a cathedral, and filling every part of the vast pile with triumphant +harmony. + +It is a beautiful arrangement, also derived from days of yore, that this +festival, which commemorates the announcement of the religion of peace +and love, has been made the season for gathering together of family +connections, and drawing closer again those bands of kindred hearts +which the cares and pleasures and sorrows of the world are continually +operating to cast loose; of calling back the children of a family who +have launched forth in life, and wandered widely asunder, once more +to assemble about the paternal hearth, that rallying-place of the +affections, there to grow young and loving again among the endearing +mementoes of childhood. + +There is something in the very season of the year that gives a charm to +the festivity of Christmas. At other times we derive a great portion of +our pleasures from the mere beauties of nature. Our feelings sally forth +and dissipate themselves over the sunny landscape, and we "live abroad +and everywhere." The song of the bird, the murmur of the stream, the +breathing fragrance of spring, the soft voluptuousness of summer, the +golden pomp of autumn; earth with its mantle of refreshing green, and +heaven with its deep delicious blue and its cloudy magnificence, all +fill us with mute but exquisite delight, and we revel in the luxury of +mere sensation. But in the depth of winter, when nature lies despoiled +of every charm, and wrapped in her shroud of sheeted snow, we turn for +our gratifications to moral sources. The dreariness and desolation of +the landscape, the short gloomy days and darksome nights, while they +circumscribe our wanderings, shut in our feelings also from rambling +abroad, and make us more keenly disposed for the pleasures of the social +circle. Our thoughts are more concentrated; our friendly sympathies more +aroused, we feel more sensibly the charm of each other's society, +and are brought more closely together by dependence on each other for +enjoyment. Heart calleth unto heart; and we draw our pleasures from the +deep wells of living kindness, which lie in the quiet recesses of our +bosoms: and which when resorted to, furnish forth the pure element of +domestic felicity. + +The pitchy gloom without makes the heart dilate on entering the room +filled with the glow and warmth of the evening fire. The ruddy blaze +diffuses an artificial summer and sunshine through the room, and lights +up each countenance into a kindlier welcome. Where does the honest face +of hospitality expand into a broader and more cordial smile--where +is the shy glance of love more sweetly eloquent--than by the winter +fireside? and as the hollow blast of wintry wind rushes through the +hall, claps the distant door, whistles about the casement, and rumbles +down the chimney, what can be more grateful than that feeling of sober +and sheltered security with which we look around upon the comfortable +chamber and the scene of domestic hilarity? + +The English, from the great prevalence of rural habits throughout every +class of society, have always been fond of those festivals and holidays +which agreeably interrupt the stillness of country life; and they were, +in former days, particularly observant of the religious and social rites +of Christmas. It is inspiring to read even the dry details which some +antiquarians have given of the quaint humours, the burlesque pageants, +the complete abandonment to mirth and good-fellowship with which this +festival was celebrated. It seemed to throw open every door, and unlock +every heart. It brought the peasant and the peer together, and blended +all ranks in one warm generous flow of joy and kindness. The old halls +of castles and manor-houses resounded with the harp and the Christmas +carol, and their ample boards groaned under the weight of hospitality. +Even the poorest cottage welcomed the festive season with green +decorations of bay and holly--the cheerful fire glanced its rays through +the lattice, inviting the passenger to raise the latch, and join the +gossip knot huddled around the hearth, beguiling the long evening with +legendary jokes and oft-told Christmas tales. + +One of the least pleasing effects of modern refinement is the havoc it +has made among the hearty old holiday customs. It has completely taken +off the sharp touchings and spirited reliefs of these embellishments +of life, and has worn down society into a more smooth and polished, +but certainly a less characteristic surface. Many of the games and +ceremonials of Christmas have entirely disappeared, and like the sherris +sack of old Falstaff, are become matters of speculation and dispute +among commentators. They flourished in times full of spirit and +lustihood, when men enjoyed life roughly, but heartily and vigorously; +times wild and picturesque, which have furnished poetry with its richest +materials, and the drama with its most attractive variety of characters +and manners. The world has become more worldly. There is more of +dissipation, and less of enjoyment. Pleasure has expanded into a +broader, but a shallower stream, and has forsaken many of those deep +and quiet channels where it flowed sweetly through the calm bosom of +domestic life. Society has acquired a more enlightened and elegant tone; +but it has lost many of its strong local peculiarities, its homebred +feelings, its honest fireside delights. The traditionary customs +of golden-hearted antiquity, its feudal hospitalities, and lordly +wassailings, have passed away with the baronial castles and stately +manor-houses in which they were celebrated. They comported with the +shadowy hall, the great oaken gallery, and the tapestried parlour, but +are unfitted to the light showy saloons and gay drawing-rooms of the +modern villa. + +Shorn, however, as it is, of its ancient and festive honours, Christmas +is still a period of delightful excitement in England. It is gratifying +to see that home feeling completely aroused which seems to hold so +powerful a place in every English bosom. The preparations making on +every side for the social board that is again to unite friends and +kindred; the presents of good cheer passing and repassing, those tokens +of regard, and quickeners of kind feelings; the evergreens distributed +about houses and churches, emblems of peace and gladness; all these have +the most pleasing effect in producing fond associations, and kindling +benevolent sympathies. Even the sound of the waits, rude as may be +their minstrelsy, breaks upon the mid-watches of a winter night with the +effect of perfect harmony. As I have been awakened by them in that still +and solemn hour, "when deep sleep falleth upon man," I have listened +with a hushed delight, and, connecting them with the sacred and joyous +occasion, have almost fancied them into another celestial choir, +announcing peace and good-will to mankind. + +How delightfully the imagination, when wrought upon by these moral +influences, turns everything to melody and beauty: The very crowing of +the cock, who is sometimes heard in the profound repose of the country, +"telling the night-watches to his feathery dames," was thought by the +common people to announce the approach of this sacred festival: + + "Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes + Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated, + This bird of dawning singeth all night long: + And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad; + The nights are wholesome--then no planets strike, + No fairy takes, no witch hath power to charm, + So hallow'd and so gracious is the time." + +Amidst the general call to happiness, the bustle of the spirits, and +stir of the affections, which prevail at this period, what bosom can +remain insensible? It is, indeed, the season of regenerated feeling--the +season for kindling, not merely the fire of hospitality in the hall, but +the genial flame of charity in the heart. + +The scene of early love again rises green to memory beyond the sterile +waste of years; and the idea of home, fraught with the fragrance of +home-dwelling joys, reanimates the drooping spirit,--as the Arabian +breeze will sometimes waft the freshness of the distant fields to the +weary pilgrim of the desert. + +Stranger and sojourner as I am in the land,--though for me no social +hearth may blaze, no hospitable roof throw open its doors, nor the +warm grasp of friendship welcome me at the threshold,--yet I feel the +influence of the season beaming into my soul from the happy looks of +those around me. Surely happiness is reflective, like the light of +heaven; and every countenance, bright with smiles, and glowing with +innocent enjoyment, is a mirror transmitting to others the rays of a +supreme and ever shining benevolence. He who can turn churlishly away +from contemplating the felicity of his fellow beings, and sit down +darkling and repining in his loneliness when all around is joyful, may +have his moments of strong excitement and selfish gratification, but he +wants the genial and social sympathies which constitute the charm of a +merry Christmas. + + + + +The Stage-coach + + Omne bene + Sine poena + Tempus est ludendi; + Venit hora, + Absque mora + Libros deponendi. + + --Old Holiday School Song. + +In the preceding paper I have made some general observations on the +Christmas festivities of England, and am tempted to illustrate them by +some anecdotes of a Christmas passed in the country; in perusing which, +I would most courteously invite my reader to lay aside the austerity of +wisdom, and to put on that genuine holiday spirit which is tolerant of +folly, and anxious only for amusement. + +In the course of a December tour in Yorkshire, I rode for a long +distance in one of the public coaches, on the day preceding Christmas. +The coach was crowded, both inside and out, with passengers, who, by +their talk, seemed principally bound to the mansions of relations or +friends to eat the Christmas dinner. It was loaded also with hampers of +game, and baskets and boxes of delicacies; and hares hung dangling their +long ears about the coachman's box,--presents from distant friends for +the impending feast. I had three fine rosy-cheeked schoolboys for my +fellow passengers inside, full of the buxom health and manly spirit +which I have observed in the children of this country. They were +returning home for the holidays in high glee, and promising themselves +a world of enjoyment. It was delightful to hear the gigantic plans of +pleasure of the little rogues, and the impracticable feats they were to +perform during their six weeks' emancipation from the abhorred thraldom +of book, birch, and pedagogue. They were full of anticipations of the +meeting with the family and household, down to the very cat and dog; and +of the joy they were to give their little sisters by the presents with +which their pockets were crammed; but the meeting to which they seemed +to look forward with the greatest impatience was with Bantam, which +I found to be a pony, and, according to their talk, possessed of more +virtues than any steed since the days of Bucephalus. How he could trot! +how he could run! and then such leaps as he would take--there was not a +hedge in the whole country that he could not clear. + +They were under the particular guardianship of the coachman, to whom, +whenever an opportunity presented, they addressed a host of questions, +and pronounced him one of the best fellows in the whole world. Indeed, I +could not but notice the more than ordinary air of bustle and importance +of the coachman, who wore his hat a little on one side, and had a large +bunch of Christmas greens stuck in the button-hole of his coat. He +is always a personage full of mighty care and business, but he is +particularly so during this season, having so many commissions to +execute in consequence of the great interchange of presents. + +And here, perhaps, it may not be unacceptable to my untravelled readers +to have a sketch that may serve as a general representation of this +very numerous and important class of functionaries who have a dress, +a manner, a language, an air, peculiar to themselves, and prevalent +throughout the fraternity; so that, wherever an English stage-coachman +may be seen, he cannot be mistaken for one of any other craft or +mystery. + +He has commonly a broad, full face, curiously mottled with red, as if +the blood had been forced by hard feeding into every vessel of the +skin; he is swelled into jolly dimensions by frequent potations of malt +liquors, and his bulk is still further increased by a multiplicity of +coats, in which he is buried like a cauliflower, the upper one reaching +to his heels. He wears a broad-brimmed, low-crowned hat; a huge roll of +coloured handkerchief about his neck, knowingly knotted and tucked in +at the bosom; and has in summer-time a large bouquet of flowers in his +buttonhole; the present, most probably, of some enamoured country +lass. His waistcoat is commonly of some bright colour, striped; and his +small-clothes extend far below the knees, to meet a pair of jockey boots +which reach about half-way up his legs. + +All this costume is maintained with much precision; he has a pride in +having his clothes of excellent materials; and, notwithstanding the +seeming grossness of his appearance, there is still discernible +that neatness and propriety of person which is almost inherent in an +Englishman. He enjoys great consequence and consideration along the +road; has frequent conferences with the village housewives, who look +upon him as a man of great trust and dependence; and he seems to have +a good understanding with every bright-eyed country lass. The moment +he arrives where the horses are to be changed, he throws down the reins +with something of an air, and abandons the cattle to the care of the +hostler; his duty being merely to drive from one stage to another. + +When off the box, his hands are thrust in the pockets of his greatcoat, +and he rolls about the inn-yard with an air of the most absolute +lordliness. Here he is generally surrounded by an admiring throng of +hostlers, stable-boys, shoe-blacks, and those nameless hangers-on that +infest inns and taverns, and run errands, and do all kinds of odd jobs, +for the privilege of battening on the drippings of the kitchen and +the leakage of the tap-room. These all look up to him as to an oracle; +treasure up his cant phrases; echo his opinions about horses and other +topics of jockey lore; and, above all, endeavour to imitate his air and +carriage. Every ragamuffin that has a coat to his back thrusts his +hands in the pockets, rolls in his gait, talks slang, and is an embryo +Coachey. + +Perhaps it might be owing to the pleasing serenity that reigned in +my own mind, that I fancied I saw cheerfulness in every countenance +throughout the journey. A stage-coach, however, carries animation always +with it, and puts the world in motion as it whirls along. The horn, +sounded at the entrance of a village, produces a general bustle. Some +hasten forth to meet friends; some with bundles and bandboxes to secure +places, and in the hurry of the moment can hardly take leave of the +group that accompanies them. In the meantime, the coachman has a +world of small commissions to execute. Sometimes he delivers a hare or +pheasant; sometimes jerks a small parcel or newspaper to the door of a +public-house; and sometimes, with knowing leer and words of sly import, +hands to some half-blushing, half-laughing housemaid an odd-shaped +billet-doux from some rustic admirer. As the coach rattles through the +village, every one runs to the window, and you have glances on every +side of fresh country faces, and blooming, giggling girls. At the +corners are assembled juntas of village idlers and wise men, who take +their stations there for the important purpose of seeing company pass; +but the sagest knot is generally at the blacksmith's, to whom the +passing of the coach is an event fruitful of much speculation. The +smith, with the horse's heel in his lap, pauses as the vehicle whirls +by; the Cyclops round the anvil suspend their ringing hammers, and +suffer the iron to grow cool; and the sooty spectre in brown paper cap, +labouring at the bellows, leans on the handle for a moment, and permits +the asthmatic engine to heave a long-drawn sigh, while he glares through +the murky smoke and sulphureous gleams of the smithy. + +Perhaps the impending holiday might have given a more than usual +animation to the country, for it seemed to me as if everybody was in +good looks and good spirits. Game, poultry, and other luxuries of +the table, were in brisk circulation in the villages; the grocers', +butchers', and fruiterers' shops were thronged with customers. The +housewives were stirring briskly about, putting their dwellings in +order; and the glossy branches of holly, with their bright red berries, +began to appear at the windows. The scene brought to mind an old +writer's account of Christmas preparations:--"Now capons and hens, +besides turkeys, geese, and ducks, with beef and mutton--must all die; +for in twelve days a multitude of people will not be fed with a little. +Now plums and spice, sugar and honey, square it among pies and broth. +Now or never must music be in tune, for the youth must dance and sing to +get them a heat, while the aged sit by the fire. The country maid leaves +half her market, and must be sent again, if she forgets a pack of cards +on Christmas eve. Great is the contention of Holly and Ivy, whether +master or dame wears the breeches. Dice and cards benefit the butler; +and if the cook do not lack wit, he will sweetly lick his fingers." + +I was roused from this fit of luxurious meditation by a shout from +my little travelling companions. They had been looking out of the +coach-windows for the last few miles, recognising every tree and +cottage as they approached home, and now there was a general burst of +joy--"There's John! and there's old Carlo! and there's Bantam!" cried +the happy little rogues, clapping their hands. + +At the end of a lane there was an old sober-looking servant in livery +waiting for them: he was accompanied by a superannuated pointer, and by +the redoubtable Bantam, a little old rat of a pony, with a shaggy mane +and long, rusty tail, who stood dozing quietly by the roadside, little +dreaming of the bustling times that awaited him. + +I was pleased to see the fondness with which the little fellows leaped +about the steady old footman, and hugged the pointer, who wriggled his +whole body for joy. But Bantam was the great object of interest; all +wanted to mount at once; and it was with some difficulty that John +arranged that they should ride by turns, and the eldest should ride +first. + +Off they set at last; one on the pony, with the dog bounding and barking +before him, and the others holding John's hands; both talking at once, +and overpowering him by questions about home, and with school anecdotes. +I looked after them with a feeling in which I do not know whether +pleasure or melancholy predominated: for I was reminded of those days +when, like them, I had neither known care nor sorrow, and a holiday was +the summit of earthly felicity. We stopped a few moments afterward to +water the horses, and on resuming our route, a turn of the road brought +us in sight of a neat country seat. I could just distinguish the forms +of a lady and two young girls in the portico, and I saw my little +comrades, with Bantam, Carlo, and old John, trooping along the carriage +road. I leaned out of the coach-window, in hopes of witnessing the happy +meeting, but a grove of trees shut it from my sight. + +In the evening we reached a village where I had determined to pass the +night. As we drove into the great gateway of the inn, I saw on one side +the light of a rousing kitchen fire beaming through a window. I entered, +and admired, for the hundredth time, that picture of convenience, +neatness, and broad, honest enjoyment, the kitchen of an English inn. +It was of spacious dimensions, hung round with copper and tin vessels, +highly polished, and decorated here and there with a Christmas green. +Hams, tongues, and flitches of bacon were suspended from the ceiling; a +smoke-jack made its ceaseless clanking beside the fireplace, and a clock +ticked in one corner. A well scoured deal table extended along one side +of the kitchen, with a cold round of beef and other hearty viands upon +it, over which two foaming tankards of ale seemed mounting guard. + +Travellers of inferior order were preparing to attack this stout repast, +while others sat smoking and gossiping over their ale on two high-backed +oaken seats beside the fire. Trim house-maids were hurrying backwards +and forwards under the directions of a fresh, bustling landlady; but +still seizing an occasional moment to exchange a flippant word, and have +a rallying laugh, with the group round the fire. The scene completely +realised Poor Robin's humble idea of the comforts of midwinter. + + "Now trees their leafy hats do bare, + To reverence Winter's silver hair; + A handsome hostess, merry host, + A pot of ale now and a toast, + Tobacco and a good coal fire, + Are things this season doth require."* + + + * Poor Robin's Almanack, 1684. + +I had not been long at the inn when a postchaise drove up to the door. +A young gentleman stepped out, and by the light of the lamps I caught a +glimpse of a countenance which I thought I knew. I moved forward to +get a nearer view, when his eye caught mine. I was not mistaken; it was +Frank Bracebridge, a sprightly, good-humoured young fellow, with whom I +had once travelled on the Continent. Our meeting was extremely cordial; +for the countenance of an old fellow traveller always brings up +the recollection of a thousand pleasant scenes, odd adventures, and +excellent jokes. To discuss all these in a transient interview at an +inn was impossible; and finding that I was not pressed for time, and was +merely making a tour of observation, he insisted that I should give him +a day or two at his father's country-seat, to which he was going to pass +the holidays, and which lay at a few miles' distance. "It is better +than eating a solitary Christmas dinner at an inn," said he; "and I can +assure you of a hearty welcome in something of the old-fashion style." +His reasoning was cogent; and I must confess the preparation I had seen +for universal festivity and social enjoyment had made me feel a little +impatient of my loneliness. I closed, therefore, at once with his +invitation: the chaise drove up to the door; and in a few moments I was +on my way to the family mansion of the Bracebridges. + + + + +Christmas Eve + + Saint Francis and Saint Benedight + Blesse this house from wicked wight, + From the night-mare and the goblin, + That is hight good-fellow Robin; + Keep it from all evil spirits. + Fairies, weezels, rats, and ferrets: + From curfew time + To the next prime. + + --CARTWRIGHT. + +It was a brilliant moonlight night, but extremely cold; our chaise +whirled rapidly over the frozen ground; the post-boy smacked his whip +incessantly, and a part of the time his horses were on a gallop. "He +knows where he is going," said my companion, laughing, "and is eager to +arrive in time for some of the merriment and good cheer of the servants' +hall. My father, you must know, is a bigoted devotee of the old school, +and prides himself upon keeping up something of old English hospitality. +He is a tolerable specimen of what you will rarely meet with nowadays +in its purity, the old English country gentleman; for our men of fortune +spend so much of their time in town, and fashion is carried so much into +the country, that the strong, rich peculiarities of ancient rural life +are almost polished away. My father, however, from early years, +took honest Peacham* for his textbook, instead of Chesterfield: he +determined, in his own mind, that there was no condition more truly +honourable and enviable than that of a country gentleman on his paternal +lands, and, therefore, passes the whole of his time on his estate. He is +a strenuous advocate for the revival of the old rural games and holiday +observances, and is deeply read in the writers, ancient and modern, who +have treated on the subject. Indeed, his favourite range of reading is +among the authors who flourished at least two centuries since; who, he +insists, wrote and thought more like true Englishmen than any of their +successors. He even regrets sometimes that he had not been born a few +centuries earlier, when England was itself, and had its peculiar manners +and customs. As he lives at some distance from the main road, in rather +a lonely part of the country, without any rival gentry near him, he has +that most enviable of all blessings to an Englishman, an opportunity +of indulging the bent of his own humour without molestation. Being +representative of the oldest family in the neighbourhood, and a great +part of the peasantry being his tenants, he is much looked up to, and, +in general, is known simply by the appellation of 'The Squire;' a title +which has been accorded to the head of the family since time immemorial. +I think it best to give you these hints about my worthy old father, to +prepare you for any little eccentricities that might otherwise appear +absurd." + + * Peacham's "Complete Gentleman," 1622. + +We had passed for some time along the wall of a park, and at length the +chaise stopped at the gate. It was in a heavy, magnificent old style, +of iron bars, fancifully wrought at top into flourishes and flowers. +The huge square columns that supported the gate were surmounted by the +family crest. Close adjoining was the porter's lodge, sheltered under +dark fir-trees, and almost buried in shrubbery. + +The post-boy rang a large porter's bell, which resounded through the +still, frosty air, and was answered by the distant barking of dogs, +with which the mansion-house seemed garrisoned. An old woman immediately +appeared at the gate. As the moonlight fell strongly upon her, I had +full view of a little primitive dame, dressed very much in the antique +taste, with a neat kerchief and stomacher, and her silver hair peeping +from under a cap of snowy whiteness. She came curtseying forth, with +many expressions of simple joy at seeing her young master. Her husband, +it seems, was up at the house keeping Christmas eve in the servants' +hall; they could not do without him, as he was the best hand at a song +and story in the household. + +My friend proposed that we should alight and walk through the park to +the hall, which was at no great distance, while the chaise should follow +on. Our road wound through a noble avenue of trees, among the naked +branches of which the moon glittered as she rolled through the deep +vault of a cloudless sky. The lawn beyond was sheeted with a slight +covering of snow, which here and there sparkled as the moonbeams caught +a frosty crystal; and at a distance might be seen a thin, transparent +vapour, stealing up from the low grounds, and threatening gradually to +shroud the landscape. + +My companion looked round him with transport:--"How often," said he, +"have I scampered up this avenue, on returning home on school vacations! +How often have I played under these trees when a boy! I feel a degree of +filial reverence for them, as we look up to those who have cherished us +in childhood. My father was always scrupulous in exacting our holidays, +and having us around him on family festivals. He used to direct and +superintend our games with the strictness that some parents do the +studies of their children. He was very particular that we should play +the old English games according to their original form and consulted +old books for precedent and authority for every 'merrie disport;' yet I +assure you there never was pedantry so delightful. It was the policy +of the good old gentleman to make his children feel that home was the +happiest place in the world; and I value this delicious home-feeling as +one of the choicest gifts a parent can bestow." + +We were interrupted by the clangour of a troop of dogs of all sorts and +sizes, "mongrel, puppy, whelp, and hound, and curs of low degree," that, +disturbed by the ringing of the porter's bell, and the rattling of the +chaise, came bounding, open-mouthed, across the lawn. + + "The little dogs and all, + Tray, Blanch, and Sweetheart--see, they bark at me!" + +cried Bracebridge, laughing. At the sound of his voice the bark was +changed into a yelp of delight, and in a moment he was surrounded and +almost overpowered by the caresses of the faithful animals. + +We had now come in full view of the old family mansion, partly thrown +in deep shadow, and partly lit up by the cold moonshine. It was +an irregular building of some magnitude, and seemed to be of the +architecture of different periods. One wing was, evidently very ancient, +with heavy stone-shafted bow windows jutting out and overrun with ivy, +from among the foliage of which the small diamond-shaped panes of glass +glittered with the moonbeams. The rest of the house was in the French +taste of Charles the Second's time, having been repaired and altered, +as my friend told me, by one of his ancestors, who returned with that +monarch at the Restoration. The grounds about the house were laid out +in the old formal manner of artificial flower-beds, clipped shrubberies, +raised terraces, and heavy stone balustrades, ornamented with urns, a +leaden statue or two, and a jet of water. The old gentleman, I was +told, was extremely careful to preserve this obsolete finery in all its +original state. He admired this fashion in gardening; it had an air +of magnificence, was courtly and noble, and befitting good old family +style. The boasted imitation of nature in modern gardening had sprung +up with modern republican notions, but did not suit a monarchical +government; it smacked of the levelling system. I could not help smiling +at this introduction of politics into gardening, though I expressed some +apprehension that I should find the old gentleman rather intolerant +in his creed. Frank assured me, however, that it was almost the only +instance in which he had ever heard his father meddle with politics; and +he believed that he had got this notion from a member of Parliament who +once passed a few weeks with him. The Squire was glad of any argument +to defend his clipped yew-trees and formal terraces, which had been +occasionally attacked by modern landscape gardeners. + +As we approached the house, we heard the sound of music, and now and +then a burst of laughter from one end of the building. This, Bracebridge +said, must proceed from the servants' hall, where a great deal of +revelry was permitted, and even encouraged, by the Squire throughout the +twelve days of Christmas, provided everything was done comformably to +ancient usage. Here were kept up the old games of hoodman blind, +shoe the wild mare, hot cockles, steal the white loaf, bob apple and +snapdragon: the Yule log and Christmas candle were regularly burnt, and +the mistletoe, with its white berries, hung up to the imminent peril of +all the pretty housemaids.* + + *[1] See Note A. + +So intent were the servants upon their sports, that we had to ring +repeatedly before we could make ourselves heard. On our arrival being +announced, the Squire came out to receive us, accompanied by his two +other sons; one a young officer in the army, home on leave of absence; +the other an Oxonian, just from the University. The Squire was a fine, +healthy-looking old gentleman, with silver hair curling lightly round an +open, florid countenance; in which a physiognomist, with the advantage, +like myself, of a previous hint or two, might discover a singular +mixture of whim and benevolence. + +The family meeting was warm and affectionate; as the evening was far +advanced, the Squire would not permit us to change our travelling +dresses, but ushered us at once to the company, which was assembled in +a large old-fashioned hall. It was composed of different branches of a +numerous family connection, where there were the usual proportion of old +uncles and aunts, comfortably married dames, superannuated spinsters, +blooming country cousins, half-fledged striplings, and bright-eyed +boarding-school hoydens. They were variously occupied; some at a round +game of cards; others conversing around the fireplace; at one end of the +hall was a group of the young folks, some nearly grown up, others of +a more tender and budding age, fully engrossed by a merry game; and a +profusion of wooden horses, penny trumpets, and tattered dolls, about +the floor, showed traces of a troop of little fairy beings, who, having +frolicked through a happy day, had been carried off to slumber through a +peaceful night. + +While the mutual greetings were going on between Bracebridge and his +relatives, I had time to scan the apartment. I have called it a hall, +for so it had certainly been in old times, and the Squire had evidently +endeavoured to restore it to something of its primitive state. Over +the heavy projecting fireplace was suspended a picture of a warrior in +armour standing by a white horse, and on the opposite wall hung helmet, +buckler, and lance. At one end an enormous pair of antlers were inserted +in the wall, the branches serving as hooks on which to suspend +hats, whips, and spurs; and in the corners of the apartment were +fowling-pieces, fishing-rods, and other sporting implements. The +furniture was of the cumbrous workmanship of former days, though some +articles of modern convenience had been added, and the oaken floor had +been carpeted; so that the whole presented an odd mixture of parlour and +hall. + +The grate had been removed from the wide overwhelming fireplace, to +make way for a fire of wood, in the midst of which was an enormous log +glowing and blazing, and sending forth a vast volume of light and heat; +this I understood was the Yule-log, which the Squire was particular in +having brought in and illumined on a Christmas eve, according to ancient +custom.* + + *[2] See Note B. + +It was really delightful to see the old Squire seated in his hereditary +elbow-chair by the hospitable fireside of his ancestors, and looking +around him like the sun of a system, beaming warmth and gladness to +every heart. Even the very dog that lay stretched at his feet, as he +lazily shifted his position and yawned, would look fondly up in his +master's face, wag his tail against the floor, and stretch himself again +to sleep, confident of kindness and protection. There is an emanation +from the heart in genuine hospitality which cannot be described, but is +immediately felt, and puts the stranger at once at his ease. I had +not been seated many minutes by the comfortable hearth of the worthy +cavalier before I found myself as much at home as if I had been one of +the family. + +Supper was announced shortly after our arrival. It was served up in a +spacious oaken chamber, the panels of which shone with wax, and around +which were several family portraits decorated with holly and ivy. Beside +the accustomed lights, two great wax tapers, called Christmas candles, +wreathed with greens, were placed on a highly-polished buffet among the +family plate. The table was abundantly spread with substantial fare; +but the Squire made his supper of frumenty, a dish made of wheat cakes +boiled in milk with rich spices, being a standing dish in old times for +Christmas eve. I was happy to find my old friend, minced-pie, in the +retinue of the feast; and finding him to be perfectly orthodox, and that +I need not be ashamed of my predilection, I greeted him with all the +warmth wherewith we usually greet an old and very genteel acquaintance. + +The mirth of the company was greatly promoted by the humours of an +eccentric personage whom Mr. Bracebridge always addressed with the +quaint appellation of Master Simon. He was a tight, brisk little man, +with the air of an arrant old bachelor. His nose was shaped like the +bill of a parrot; his face slightly pitted with the smallpox, with a dry +perpetual bloom on it, like a frost-bitten leaf in autumn. He had an eye +of great quickness and vivacity, with a drollery and lurking waggery +of expression that was irresistible. He was evidently the wit of the +family, dealing very much in sly jokes and innuendoes with the ladies, +and making infinite merriment by harpings upon old themes; which, +unfortunately, my ignorance of the family chronicles did not permit +me to enjoy. It seemed to be his great delight during supper to keep a +young girl next him in a continual agony of stifled laughter, in spite +of her awe of the reproving looks of her mother, who sat opposite. +Indeed, he was the idol of the younger part of the company, who laughed +at everything he said or did, and at every turn of his countenance. +I could not wonder at it; for he must have been a miracle of +accomplishments in their eyes. He could imitate Punch and Judy; make +an old woman of his hand, with the assistance of a burnt cork and +pocket-handkerchief: and cut an orange into such a ludicrous caricature, +that the young folks were ready to die with laughing. + +I was let briefly into his history by Frank Bracebridge. He was an old +bachelor of a small independent income, which by careful management was +sufficient for all his wants. He revolved through the family system +like a vagrant comet in its orbit; sometimes visiting one branch, and +sometimes another quite remote; as is often the case with gentlemen of +extensive connections and small fortunes in England. He had a chirping, +buoyant disposition, always enjoying the present moment; and his +frequent change of scene and company prevented his acquiring those +rusty unaccommodating habits with which old bachelors are so uncharitably +charged. He was a complete family chronicle, being versed in +the genealogy, history, and intermarriages of the whole house of +Bracebridge, which made him a great favourite with the old folks; he was +a beau of all the elder ladies and superannuated spinsters, among whom +he was habitually considered rather a young fellow, and he was a master +of the revels among the children; so that there was not a more popular +being in the sphere in which he moved than Mr. Simon Bracebridge. Of +late years he had resided almost entirely with the Squire, to whom he +had become a factotum, and whom he particularly delighted by jumping +with his humour in respect to old times, and by having a scrap of an +old song to suit every occasion. We had presently a specimen of his last +mentioned talent; for no sooner was supper removed, and spiced wines and +other beverages peculiar to the season introduced, than Master Simon +was called on for a good old Christmas song. He bethought himself for a +moment, and then, with a sparkle of the eye, and a voice that was by no +means bad, excepting that it ran occasionally into a falsetto, like the +notes of a split reed, he quavered forth a quaint old ditty: + + "Now Christmas is come, + Let us beat up the drum, + And call all our neighbours together; + And when they appear, + Let us make them such cheer + As will keep out the wind and the weather," + etc. + +The supper had disposed every one to gaiety, and an old harper was +summoned from the servants' hall, where he had been strumming all the +evening, and to all appearance comforting himself with some of the +Squire's home-brewed. He was a kind of hanger-on, I was told, of the +establishment, and though ostensibly a resident of the village, was +oftener to be found in the Squire's kitchen than his own home, the old +gentleman being fond of the sound of "harp in hall." + +The dance, like most dances after supper, was a merry one; some of the +older folks joined in it, and the Squire himself figured down several +couples with a partner with whom he affirmed he had danced at every +Christmas for nearly half a century. Master Simon, who seemed to be a +kind of connecting link between the old times and the new, and to +be withal a little antiquated in the taste of his accomplishments, +evidently piqued himself on his dancing, and was endeavouring to gain +credit by the heel and toe, rigadoon, and other graces of the ancient +school; but he had unluckily assorted himself with a little romping girl +from boarding-school, who, by her wild vivacity, kept him continually on +the stretch, and defeated all his sober attempts at elegance;--such are +the ill-assorted matches to which antique gentlemen are unfortunately +prone! + +The young Oxonian, on the contrary, had led out one of his maiden aunts, +on whom the rogue played a thousand little knaveries with impunity; he +was full of practical jokes, and his delight was to tease his aunts and +cousins; yet, like all madcap youngsters, he was a universal favourite +among the women. The most interesting couple in the dance was the +young officer and a ward of the Squire's, a beautiful blushing girl of +seventeen. From several shy glances which I had noticed in the course of +the evening, I suspected there was a little kindness growing up between +them; and, indeed, the young soldier was just the hero to captivate a +romantic girl. He was tall, slender, and handsome, and like most +young British officers of late years, had picked up various small +accomplishments on the Continent--he could talk French and Italian--draw +landscapes,--sing very tolerably--dance divinely; but above all he had +been wounded at Waterloo;--what girl of seventeen, well read in poetry +and romance, could resist such a mirror of chivalry and perfection! + +The moment the dance was over, he caught up a guitar, and lolling +against the old marble fireplace, in an attitude which I am half +inclined to suspect was studied, began the little French air of the +Troubadour. The Squire, however, exclaimed against having anything +on Christmas eve but good old English; upon which the young minstrel, +casting up his eye for a moment, as if in an effort of memory, struck +into another strain, and, with a charming air of gallantry, gave +Herrick's "Night-Piece to Julia:" + + "Her eyes the glow-worm lend thee, + The shooting stars attend thee, + And the elves also, + Whose little eyes glow + Like the sparks of fire, befriend thee. + + "No Will-o'-the-Wisp mislight thee; + Nor snake or glow-worm bite thee; + But on, on thy way, + Not making a stay, + Since ghost there is none to affright thee. + + "Then let not the dark thee cumber; + What though the moon does slumber, + The stars of the night + Will lend thee their light, + Like tapers clear without number. + + "Then, Julia, let me woo thee, + Thus, thus to come unto me; + And when I shall meet + Thy silvery feet, + My soul I'll pour into thee." + +The song might have been intended in compliment to the fair Julia, for +so I found his partner was called, or it might not; she, however, was +certainly unconscious of any such application, for she never looked +at the singer, but kept her eyes cast upon the floor. Her face was +suffused, it is true, with a beautiful blush, and there was a gentle +heaving of the bosom, but all that was doubtless caused by the exercise +of the dance; indeed, so great was her indifference, that she was +amusing herself with plucking to pieces a choice bouquet of hothouse +flowers, and by the time the song was concluded, the nosegay lay in +ruins on the floor. + +The party now broke up for the night with the kind-hearted old custom of +shaking hands. As I passed through the hall, on the way to my chamber, +the dying embers of the Yule-clog still sent forth a dusky glow; and had +it not been the season when "no spirit dares stir abroad," I should have +been half tempted to steal from my room at midnight, and peep whether +the fairies might not be at their revels about the hearth. + +My chamber was in the old part of the mansion, the ponderous furniture +of which might have been fabricated in the days of the giants. The room +was panelled with cornices of heavy carved work, in which flowers and +grotesque faces were strangely intermingled; and a row of black looking +portraits stared mournfully at me from the walls. The bed was of rich +though faded damask, with a lofty tester, and stood in a niche opposite +a bow window. I had scarcely got into bed when a strain of music seemed +to break forth in the air just below the window. I listened, and found +it proceeded from a band, which I concluded to be the waits from some +neighbouring village. They went round the house, playing under the +windows. + +I drew aside the curtains, to hear them more distinctly. The moonbeams +fell through the upper part of the casement, partially lighting up the +antiquated apartment. The sounds, as they receded, became more soft and +aerial, and seemed to accord with quiet and moonlight. I listened and +listened--they became more and more tender and remote, and, as they +gradually died away, my head sank upon the pillow and I fell asleep. + + + + +Christmas Day + + Dark and dull night, flie hence away, + And give the honour to this day + That Sees December turn'd to May. + . . . . . . . . + Why does the chilling winter's morne + Smile like a field beset with corn? + Or smell like to a meade new-shorne, + Thus on the sudden?--Come and see + The cause why things thus fragrant be. + + --HERRICK. + +When I awoke the next morning, it seemed as if all the events of the +preceding evening had been a dream, and nothing but the identity of the +ancient chamber convinced me of their reality. While I lay musing on my +pillow, I heard the sound of little feet pattering outside of the door, +and a whispering consultation. Presently a choir of small voices chanted +forth an old Christmas carol, the burden of which was: + + "Rejoice, our Saviour he was born + On Christmas Day in the morning." + +I rose softly, slipped on my clothes, opened the door suddenly, and +beheld one of the most beautiful little fairy groups that a painter +could imagine. + +It consisted of a boy and two girls, the eldest not more than six, and +lovely as seraphs. They were going the rounds of the house, and singing +at every chamber-door; but my sudden appearance frightened them into +mute bashfulness. They remained for a moment playing on their lips with +their fingers, and now and then stealing a shy glance, from under their +eyebrows, until, as if by one impulse, they scampered away, and as they +turned an angle of the gallery, I heard them laughing in triumph at +their escape. + +Everything conspired to produce kind and happy feelings in this +stronghold of old-fashioned hospitality. The window of my chamber looked +out upon what in summer would have been a beautiful landscape. There was +a sloping lawn, a fine stream winding at the foot of it, and a tract +of park beyond, with noble clumps of trees, and herds of deer. At a +distance was a neat hamlet, with the smoke from the cottage chimneys +hanging over it; and a church with its dark spire in strong relief +against the clear, cold sky. The house was surrounded with evergreens, +according to the English custom, which would have given almost an +appearance of summer; but the morning was extremely frosty; the light +vapour of the preceding evening had been precipitated by the cold, +and covered all the trees and every blade of grass with its fine +crystallisations. The rays of a bright morning sun had a dazzling +effect among the glittering foliage. A robin, perched upon the top of +a mountain-ash that hung its clusters of red berries just before my +window, was basking himself in the sunshine, and piping a few querulous +notes; and a peacock was displaying all the glories of his train, +and strutting with the pride and gravity of a Spanish grandee on the +terrace-walk below. + +I had scarcely dressed myself, when a servant appeared to invite me to +family prayers. He showed me the way to a small chapel in the old wing +of the house, where I found the principal part of the family already +assembled in a kind of gallery, furnished with cushions, hassocks, and +large prayer-books; the servants were seated on benches below. The old +gentleman read prayers from a desk in front of the gallery, and Master +Simon acted as clerk, and made the responses; and I must do him the +justice to say that he acquitted himself with great gravity and decorum. + +The service was followed by a Christmas carol, which Mr. Bracebridge +himself had constructed from a poem of his favourite author, Herrick; +and it had been adapted to an old church melody by Master Simon. As +there were several good voices among the household, the effect was +extremely pleasing; but I was particularly gratified by the exaltation +of heart, and sudden sally of grateful feeling, with which the worthy +Squire delivered one stanza: his eyes glistening, and his voice rambling +out of all the bounds of time and tune: + + "'Tis thou that crown'st my glittering hearth + With guiltlesse mirth, + And giv'st me wassaile bowles to drink, + Spiced to the brink: + Lord, 'tis Thy plenty-dropping hand, + That soiles my land; + And giv'st me for my bushell sowne, + Twice ten for one." + +I afterwards understood that early morning service was read on every +Sunday and saint's day throughout the year, either by Mr. Bracebridge or +by some member of the family. It was once almost universally the case +at the seats of the nobility and gentry of England, and it is much to +be regretted that the custom is fallen into neglect; for the dullest +observer must be sensible of the order and serenity prevalent in those +households, where the occasional exercise of a beautiful form of worship +in the morning gives, as it were, the key-note to every temper for the +day, and attunes every spirit to harmony. + +Our breakfast consisted of what the Squire denominated true old English +fare. He indulged in some bitter lamentations over modern breakfasts +of tea-and-toast, which he censured as among the causes of modern +effeminacy and weak nerves, and the decline of old English heartiness; +and though he admitted them to his table to suit the palates of his +guests, yet there was a brave display of cold meats, wine, and ale, on +the sideboard. + +After breakfast I walked about the grounds with Frank Bracebridge and +Master Simon, or Mr. Simon as he was called by everybody but the +Squire. We were escorted by a number of gentleman-like dogs, that seemed +loungers about the establishment; from the frisking spaniel to the +steady old staghound; the last of which was of a race that had been in +the family time out of mind: they were all obedient to a dog-whistle +which hung to Master Simon's buttonhole, and in the midst of their +gambols would glance an eye occasionally upon a small switch he carried +in his hand. + +The old mansion had a still more venerable look in the yellow sunshine +than by pale moonlight; and I could not but feel the force of the +Squire's idea, that the formal terraces, heavily moulded balustrades, +and clipped yew-trees, carried with them an air of proud aristocracy. +There appeared to be an unusual number of peacocks about the place, and +I was making some remarks upon what I termed a flock of them, that +were basking under a sunny wall, when I was gently corrected in my +phraseology by Master Simon, who told me that, according to the most +ancient and approved treatise on hunting, I must say a MUSTER of +peacocks. "In the same way," added he, with a slight air of pedantry, +"we say a flight of doves or swallows, a bevy of quails, a herd of deer, +of wrens, or cranes, a skulk of foxes, or a building of rooks." He went +on to inform me, that, according to Sir Anthony Fitzherbert, we ought to +ascribe, to this bird "both understanding and glory; for, being praised, +he will presently set up his tail chiefly against the sun, to the intent +you may the better behold the beauty thereof. But at the fall of the +leaf, when his tail falleth, he will mourn and hide himself in corners, +till his tail come again as it was." + +I could not help smiling at this display of small erudition on so +whimsical a subject; but I found that the peacocks were birds of some +consequence at the Hall, for Frank Bracebridge informed me that they +were great favourites with his father, who was extremely careful to +keep up the breed; partly because they belonged to chivalry, and were +in great request at the stately banquets of the olden time; and partly +because they had a pomp and magnificence about them, highly becoming +an old family mansion. Nothing, he was accustomed to say, had an air of +greater state and dignity than a peacock perched upon an antique stone +balustrade. + +Master Simon had now to hurry off, having an appointment at the parish +church with the village choristers, who were to perform some music of +his selection. There was something extremely agreeable in the cheerful +flow of animal spirits of the little man; and I confess I had been +somewhat surprised at his apt quotations from authors who certainly +were not in the range of every-day reading. I mentioned this last +circumstance to Frank Bracebridge, who told me with a smile that Master +Simon's whole stock of erudition was confined to some half-a-dozen old +authors, which the Squire had put into his hands, and which he read over +and over, whenever he had a studious fit; as he sometimes had on a +rainy day, or a long winter evening. Sir Anthony Fitzherbert's "Book of +Husbandry;" Markham's "Country Contentments;" the "Tretyse of Hunting," +by Sir Thomas Cockayne, Knight; Izaak Walton's "Angler," and two +or three more such ancient worthies of the pen, were his standard +authorities; and, like all men who know but a few books, he looked up +to them with a kind of idolatry, and quoted them on all occasions. As +to his songs, they were chiefly picked out of old books in the Squire's +library, and adapted to tunes that were popular among the choice spirits +of the last century. His practical application of scraps of literature, +however, had caused him to be looked upon as a prodigy of book-knowledge +by all the grooms, huntsmen, and small sportsmen of the neighbourhood. + +While we were talking we heard the distant toll of the village bell, +and I was told that the Squire was a little particular in having his +household at church on a Christmas morning; considering it a day of +pouring out of thanks and rejoicing; for, as old Tusser observed: + + "At Christmas be merry, and thankful withal, + And feast thy poor neighbours, the great and the small." + +"If you are disposed to go to church," said Frank Bracebridge, "I can +promise you a specimen of my cousin Simon's musical achievements. As the +church is destitute of an organ, he has formed a band from the village +amateurs, and established a musical club for their improvement; he has +also sorted a choir, as he sorted my father's pack of hounds, according +to the directions of Jervaise Markham, in his 'Country Contentments;' +for the bass he has sought out all the 'deep solemn mouths,' and for +the tenor the 'loud ringing mouths,' among the country bumpkins; and +for 'sweet mouths,' he has culled with curious taste among the prettiest +lasses in the neighbourhood; though these last, he affirms, are the most +difficult to keep in tune; your pretty female singer being exceedingly +wayward and capricious, and very liable to accident." + +As the morning, though frosty, was remarkably fine and clear, the most +of the family walked to the church, which was a very old building of +gray stone, and stood near a village, about half a mile from the park +gate. Adjoining it was a low snug parsonage, which seemed coeval with +the church. The front of it was perfectly matted with a yew-tree that +had been trained against its walls, through the dense foliage of +which apertures had been formed to admit light into the small antique +lattices. As we passed this sheltered nest, the parson issued forth and +preceded us. + +I had expected to see a sleek, well-conditioned pastor, such as is often +found in a snug living in the vicinity of a rich patron's table; but I +was disappointed. The parson was a little, meagre, black-looking man, +with a grizzled wig that was too wide, and stood off from each ear; so +that his head seemed to have shrunk away within it, like a dried filbert +in its shell. He wore a rusty coat, with great skirts, and pockets that +would have held the church Bible and prayer-book; and his small legs +seemed still smaller, from being planted in large shoes decorated with +enormous buckles. + +I was informed by Frank Bracebridge that the parson had been a chum of +his father's at Oxford, and had received this living shortly after the +latter had come to his estate. He was a complete black-letter hunter, +and would scarcely read a work printed in the Roman character. The +editions of Caxton and Wynkin de Worde were his delight; and he was +indefatigable in his researches after such old English writers as have +fallen into oblivion from their worthlessness. In deference, perhaps, to +the notions of Mr. Bracebridge, he had made diligent investigations into +the festive rites and holiday customs of former times; and had been as +zealous in the inquiry as if he had been a boon companion; but it was +merely with that plodding spirit with which men of adust temperament +follow up any track of study, merely because it is denominated learning; +indifferent to its intrinsic nature, whether it be the illustration of +the wisdom, or of the ribaldry and obscenity of antiquity. He had pored +over these old volumes so intensely, that they seemed to have been +reflected into his countenance indeed; which, if the face be an index of +the mind, might be compared to a title-page of black-letter. + +On reaching the church porch, we found the parson rebuking the +gray-headed sexton for having used mistletoe among the greens with which +the church was decorated. It was, he observed, an unholy plant, profaned +by having been used by the Druids in their mystic ceremonies; and though +it might be innocently employed in the festive ornamenting of halls +and kitchens, yet it had been deemed by the Fathers of the Church as +unhallowed, and totally unfit for sacred purposes. So tenacious was he +on this point, that the poor sexton was obliged to strip down a great +part of the humble trophies of his taste, before the parson would +consent to enter upon the service of the day. + +The interior of the church was venerable but simple; on the walls were +several mural monuments of the Bracebridges, and just beside the altar +was a tomb of ancient workmanship, on which lay the effigy of a warrior +in armour, with his legs crossed, a sign of his having been a crusader. +I was told it was one of the family who had signalised himself in the +Holy Land, and the same whose picture hung over the fireplace in the +hall. + +During service, Master Simon stood up in the pew, and repeated the +responses very audibly; evincing that kind of ceremonious devotion +punctually observed by a gentleman of the old school, and a man of old +family connections. I observed, too, that he turned over the leaves of a +folio prayer-book with something of a flourish; possibly to show off an +enormous seal-ring which enriched one of his fingers, and which had the +look of a family relic. But he was evidently most solicitous about +the musical part of the service, keeping his eye fixed intently on the +choir, and beating time with much gesticulation and emphasis. + +The orchestra was in a small gallery, and presented a most whimsical +grouping of heads, piled one above the other, among which I particularly +noticed that of the village tailor, a pale fellow with a retreating +forehead and chin, who played on the clarionet, and seemed to have blown +his face to a point; and there was another, a short pursy man, stooping +and labouring at a bass viol, so as to show nothing but the top of a +round bald head, like the egg of an ostrich. There were two or three +pretty faces among the female singers, to which the keen air of a frosty +morning had given a bright rosy tint; but the gentlemen choristers had +evidently been chosen, like old Cremona fiddles, more for tone than +looks; and as several had to sing from the same book, there were +clusterings of odd physiognomies, not unlike those groups of cherubs we +sometimes see on country tombstones. + +The usual services of the choir were managed tolerably well, the vocal +parts generally lagging a little behind the instrumental, and some +loitering fiddler now and then making up for lost time by travelling +over a passage with prodigious celerity, and clearing more bars than +the keenest fox-hunter to be in at the death. But the great trial was an +anthem that had been prepared and arranged by Master Simon, and on which +he had founded great expectation. Unluckily there was a blunder at the +very outset; the musicians became flurried; Master Simon was in a fever; +everything went on lamely and irregularly until they came to a chorus +beginning "Now let us sing with one accord," which seemed to be a signal +for parting company: all became discord and confusion; each shifted for +himself, and got to the end as well, or rather as soon, as he could, +excepting one old chorister in a pair of horn spectacles bestriding and +pinching a long sonorous nose; who, happening to stand a little apart, +and being wrapped up in his own melody, kept on a quavering course, +wriggling his head, ogling his book, and winding all up by a nasal solo +of at least three bars' duration. + +The parson gave us a most erudite sermon on the rites and ceremonies +of Christmas, and the propriety of observing it not merely as a day +of thanksgiving, but of rejoicing; supporting the correctness of his +opinions by the earliest usages of the Church, and enforcing them by the +authorities of Theophilus of Cesarea, St. Cyprian, St. Chrysostom, St. +Augustine, and a cloud more of Saints and Fathers, from whom he made +copious quotations. I was a little at a loss to perceive the necessity +of such a mighty array of forces to maintain a point which no one +present seemed inclined to dispute; but I soon found that the good man +had a legion of ideal adversaries to contend with; having, in the course +of his researches on the subject of Christmas, got completely embroiled +in the sectarian controversies of the Revolution, when the Puritans made +such a fierce assault upon the ceremonies of the Church, and poor old +Christmas was driven out of the land by proclamation of Parliament.* The +worthy parson lived but with times past, and knew but a little of the +present. + + *[3] See Note C. + +Shut up among worm-eaten tomes in the retirement of his antiquated +little study, the pages of old times were to him as the gazettes of the +day; while the era of the Revolution was mere modern history. He forgot +that nearly two centuries had elapsed since the fiery persecution of +poor mince-pie throughout the land; when plum-porridge was denounced as +"mere popery," and roast beef as antichristian; and that Christmas had +been brought in again triumphantly with the merry court of King Charles +at the Restoration. He kindled into warmth with the ardour of his +contest, and the host of imaginary foes with whom he had to combat; had +a stubborn conflict with old Prynne and two or three other forgotten +champions of the Round-heads, on the subject of Christmas festivity; +and concluded by urging his hearers, in the most solemn and affecting +manner, to stand to the traditionary customs of their fathers, and feast +and make merry on this joyful anniversary of the Church. + +I have seldom known a sermon attended apparently with more immediate +effects; for, on leaving the church, the congregation seemed one and +all possessed with the gaiety of spirit so earnestly enjoined by their +pastor. The elder folks gathered in knots in the churchyard, greeting +and shaking hands; and the children ran about crying, Ule! Ule! and +repeating some uncouth rhymes,* which the parson, who had joined us, +informed me had been handed down from days of yore. The villagers doffed +their hats to the Squire as he passed, giving him the good wishes of the +season with every appearance of heartfelt sincerity, and were invited by +him to the Hall, to take something to keep out the cold of the weather; +and I heard blessings uttered by several of the poor, which convinced +me that, in the midst of his enjoyments, the worthy old cavalier had not +forgotten the true Christmas virtue of charity. + + * "Ule! Ule! + Three puddings in a pule; + Crack nuts and cry ule!" + +On our way homeward his heart seemed overflowing with generous and happy +feelings. As we passed over a rising ground which commanded something +of a prospect, the sounds of rustic merriment now and then reached our +ears; the Squire paused for a few moments, and looked around with an +air of inexpressible benignity. The beauty of the day was of itself +sufficient to inspire philanthropy. Notwithstanding the frostiness of +the morning, the sun in his cloudless journey had acquired sufficient +power to melt away the thin covering of snow from every southern +declivity, and to bring out the living green which adorns an English +landscape even in midwinter. Large tracts of smiling verdure contrasted +with the dazzling whiteness of the shaded slopes and hollows. Every +sheltered bank on which the broad rays rested yielded its silver rill of +cold and limpid water, glittering through the dripping grass; and sent +up slight exhalations to contribute to the thin haze that hung just +above the surface of the earth. There was something truly cheering in +this triumph of warmth and verdure over the frosty thraldom of winter; +it was, as the Squire observed, an emblem of Christmas hospitality, +breaking through the chills of ceremony and selfishness, and thawing +every heart into a flow. He pointed with pleasure to the indications of +good cheer reeking from the chimneys of the comfortable farmhouses and +low, thatched cottages. "I love," said he, "to see this day well kept +by rich and poor; it is a great thing to have one day in the year, +at least, when you are sure of being welcome wherever you go, and of +having, as it were, the world all thrown open to you; and I am almost +disposed to join with Poor Robin, in his malediction of every churlish +enemy to this honest festival: + + "'Those who at Christmas do repine, + And would fain hence despatch him, + May they with old Duke Humphry dine, + Or else may Squire Ketch catch 'em.'" + +The Squire went on to lament the deplorable decay of the games and +amusements which were once prevalent at this season among the lower +orders, and countenanced by the higher: when the old halls of castles +and manor-houses were thrown open at daylight; when the tables were +covered with brawn, and beef, and humming ale; when the harp and the +carol resounded all day long, and when rich and poor were alike welcome +to enter and make merry.* "Our old games and local customs," said he, +"had a great effect in making the peasant fond of his home, and the +promotion of them, by the gentry made him fond of his lord. They made +the times merrier, and kinder, and better; and I can truly say, with one +of our old poets: + + "'I like them well--the curious preciseness + And all-pretended gravity of those + That seek to banish hence these harmless sports, + Have thrust away much ancient honesty.' + + + *[4] See Note D. + +"The nation," continued he, "is altered; we have almost lost our +simple, true-hearted peasantry. They have broken asunder from the higher +classes, and seem to think their interests are separate. They have +become too knowing, and begin to read newspapers, listen to alehouse +politicians, and talk of reform. I think one mode to keep them in good +humour in these hard times would be for the nobility and gentry to pass +more time on their estates, mingle more among the country people, and +set the merry old English games going again." + +Such was the good Squire's project for mitigating public discontent; +and, indeed, he had once attempted to put his doctrine in practice, and +a few years before had kept open house during the holidays in the old +style. The country people, however, did not understand how to play their +parts in the scene of hospitality; many uncouth circumstances occurred; +the manor was overrun by all the vagrants of the country, and more +beggars drawn into the neighbourhood in one week than the parish +officers could get rid of in a year. Since then, he had contented +himself with inviting the decent part of the neighbouring peasantry to +call at the Hall on Christmas Day, and distributing beef, and bread, and +ale, among the poor, that they might make merry in their own dwellings. + +We had not been long home when the sound of music was heard from a +distance. A band of country lads, without coats, their shirt-sleeves +fancifully tied with ribands, their hats decorated with greens, and +clubs in their hands, were seen advancing up the avenue, followed by a +large number of villagers and peasantry. They stopped before the hall +door, where the music struck up a peculiar air, and the lads performed +a curious and intricate dance, advancing, retreating, and striking their +clubs together, keeping exact time to the music; while one, whimsically +crowned with a fox's skin, the tail of which flaunted down his +back, kept capering around the skirts of the dance, and rattling a +Christmas-box with many antic gesticulations. + +The Squire eyed this fanciful exhibition with great interest and +delight, and gave me a full account of its origin, which he traced to +the times when the Romans held possession of the island; plainly proving +that this was a lineal descendant of the sword-dance of the ancients. +"It was now," he said, "nearly extinct, but he had accidentally met +with traces of it in the neighbourhood, and had encouraged its revival; +though, to tell the truth, it was too apt to be followed up by rough +cudgel-play and broken heads in the evening." + +After the dance was concluded, the whole party was entertained with +brawn and beef, and stout home-brewed. The Squire himself mingled among +the rustics, and was received with awkward demonstrations of deference +and regard. + +It is true, I perceived two or three of the younger peasants, as they +were raising their tankards to their mouths when the Squire's back was +turned, making something of a grimace, and giving each other the wink; +but the moment they caught my eye they pulled grave faces, and were +exceedingly demure. With Master Simon, however, they all seemed more at +their ease. + +His varied occupations and amusements had made him well known throughout +the neighbourhood. He was a visitor at every farmhouse and cottage; +gossiped with the farmers and their wives; romped with their daughters; +and, like that type of a vagrant bachelor, the bumblebee, tolled the +sweets from all the rosy lips of the country around. + +The bashfulness of the guests soon gave way before good cheer and +affability. There is something genuine and affectionate in the gaiety +of the lower orders, when it is excited by the bounty and familiarity +of those above them; the warm glow of gratitude enters into their mirth, +and a kind word or a small pleasantry, frankly uttered by a patron, +gladdens the heart of the dependant more than oil and wine. When the +Squire had retired, the merriment increased, and there was much joking +and laughter, particularly between Master Simon and a hale, ruddy-faced, +white-headed farmer, who appeared to be the wit of the village; for I +observed all his companions to wait with open mouths for his retorts, +and burst into a gratuitous laugh before they could well understand +them. + +The whole house, indeed, seemed abandoned to merriment. As I passed +to my room to dress for dinner, I heard the sound of music in a small +court, and, looking through a window that commanded it, I perceived +a band of wandering musicians, with pandean pipes and tambourine; a +pretty, coquettish housemaid was dancing a jig with a smart country lad, +while several of the other servants were looking on. In the midst of her +sport the girl caught a glimpse of my face at the window, and, colouring +up, ran off with an air of roguish affected confusion. + + + + +The Christmas Dinner + + Lo, now is come the joyful'st feast! + Let every man be jolly, + Eache roome with yvie leaves is drest, + And every post with holly. + Now all our neighbours' chimneys smoke, + And Christmas blocks are burning; + Their ovens they with bak't meats choke, + And all their spits are turning. + Without the door let sorrow lie, + And if, for cold, it hap to die, + We'll bury't in a Christmas pye, + And evermore be merry. + + --WITHERS'S Juvenilia. + +I had finished my toilet, and was loitering with Frank Bracebridge in +the library, when we heard a distant thwacking sound, which he informed +me was a signal for the serving up of the dinner. The Squire kept up old +customs in kitchen as well as hall; and the rolling-pin, struck upon the +dresser by the cook, summoned the servants to carry in the meats. + + "Just in this nick the cook knock'd thrice, + And all the waiters in a trice + His summons did obey; + Each serving man, with dish in hand, + March'd boldly up, like our train-band, + Presented and away."* + + + * Sir John Suckling. + +The dinner was served up in the great hall, where the Squire always held +his Christmas banquet. A blazing, crackling fire of logs had been heaped +on to warm the spacious apartment, and the flame went sparkling and +wreathing up the wide-mouthed chimney. The great picture of the crusader +and his white horse had been profusely decorated with greens for the +occasion; and holly and ivy had likewise been wreathed around the helmet +and weapons on the opposite wall, which I understood were the arms of +the same warrior. I must own, by the by, I had strong doubts about the +authenticity of painting and armour as having belonged to the crusader, +they certainly having the stamp of more recent days; but I was told that +the painting had been so considered time out of mind; and that as to the +armour, it had been found in a lumber room, and elevated to its present +situation by the Squire, who at once determined it to be the armour of +the family hero; and as he was absolute authority on all such subjects +to his own household, the matter had passed into current acceptation. A +sideboard was set out just under this chivalric trophy, on which was +a display of plate that might have vied (at least in variety) with +Belshazzar's parade of the vessels of the Temple: "flagons, cans, cups, +beakers, goblets, basins, and ewers;" the gorgeous utensils of good +companionship, that had gradually accumulated through many generations +of jovial housekeepers. Before these stood the two Yule candles, beaming +like two stars of the first magnitude: other lights were distributed in +branches, and the whole array glittered like a firmament of silver. + +We were ushered into this banqueting scene with the sound of minstrelsy, +the old harper being seated on a stool beside the fireplace, and +twanging his instrument with a vast deal more power than melody. Never +did Christmas board display a more goodly and gracious assemblage of +countenances; those who were not handsome were, at least, happy; and +happiness is a rare improver of your hard-favoured visage. + +I always consider an old English family as well worth studying as a +collection of Holbein's portraits or Albert Durer's prints. There +is much antiquarian lore to be acquired; much knowledge of the +physiognomies of former times. Perhaps it may be from having continually +before their eyes those rows of old family portraits, with which the +mansions of this country are stocked; certain it is, that the quaint +features of antiquity are often most faithfully perpetuated in these +ancient lines; and I have traced an old family nose through a whole +picture-gallery, legitimately handed down from generation to generation, +almost from the time of the Conquest. Something of the kind was to +be observed in the worthy company around me. Many of their faces +had evidently originated in a Gothic age, and been merely copied by +succeeding generations; and there was one little girl, in particular, of +staid demeanour, with a high Roman nose, and an antique vinegar +aspect, who was a great favourite of the Squire's, being, as he said, a +Bracebridge all over, and the very counterpart of one of his ancestors +who figured in the court of Henry VIII. + +The parson said grace, which was not a short, familiar one, such as +is commonly addressed to the Deity, in these unceremonious days; but a +long, courtly, well-worded one of the ancient school. + +There was now a pause, as if something was expected; when suddenly the +butler entered the hall with some degree of bustle; he was attended by a +servant on each side with a large wax-light, and bore a silver dish, on +which was an enormous pig's head, decorated with rosemary, with a lemon +in its mouth, which was placed with great formality at the head of the +table. The moment this pageant made its appearance, the harper struck up +a flourish; at the conclusion of which the young Oxonian, on receiving +a hint from the Squire, gave, with an air of the most comic gravity, an +old carol, the first verse of which was as follows: + + "Caput apri defero + Reddens laudes Domino. + The boar's head in hand bring I, + With garlands gay and rosemary. + I pray you all synge merily + Qui estis in convivio." + +Though prepared to witness many of these little eccentricities, from +being apprised of the peculiar hobby of mine host; yet, I confess, the +parade with which so odd a dish was introduced somewhat perplexed me, +until I gathered from the conversation of the Squire and the parson that +it was meant to represent the bringing in of the boar's head: a dish +formerly served up with much ceremony, and the sound of minstrelsy and +song, at great tables on Christmas Day. "I like the old custom," said +the Squire, "not merely because it is stately and pleasing in itself, +but because it was observed at the College of Oxford, at which I was +educated. When I hear the old song chanted, it brings to mind the time +when I was young and gamesome--and the noble old college-hall--and my +fellow students loitering about in their black gowns; many of whom, poor +lads, are now in their graves!" + +The parson, however, whose mind was not haunted by such associations, +and who was always more taken up with the text than the sentiment, +objected to the Oxonian's version of the carol: which he affirmed +was different from that sung at college. He went on, with the dry +perseverance of a commentator, to give the college reading, accompanied +by sundry annotations: addressing himself at first to the company at +large; but finding their attention gradually diverted to other talk, and +other objects, he lowered his tone as his number of auditors diminished, +until he concluded his remarks, in an under voice, to a fat-headed old +gentleman next him, who was silently engaged in the discussion of a huge +plateful of turkey.* + + *[5] See Note E. + +The table was literally loaded with good cheer, and presented an +epitome of country abundance, in this season of overflowing larders. +A distinguished post was allotted to "ancient sirloin," as mine host +termed it; being, as he added, "the standard of old English hospitality, +and a joint of goodly presence, and full of expectation." + +There were several dishes quaintly decorated, and which had evidently +something traditionary in their embellishments; but about which, as I +did not like to appear over curious, I asked no questions. I could +not, however, but notice a pie, magnificently decorated with peacocks' +feathers, in imitation of the tail of that bird, which overshadowed a +considerable tract of the table. This, the Squire confessed, with +some little hesitation, was a pheasant-pie, though a peacock-pie was +certainly the most authentical; but there had been such a mortality +among the peacocks this season, that he could not prevail upon himself +to have one killed.* + + *[6] See Note F. + +It would be tedious, perhaps, to my wiser readers, who may not have +that foolish fondness for odd and obsolete things to which I am a +little given, were I to mention the other makeshifts of this worthy old +humourist, by which he was endeavouring to follow up, though at humble +distance, the quaint customs of antiquity. I was pleased, however, to +see the respect shown to his whims by his children and relatives; who, +indeed, entered readily into the full spirit of them, and seemed all +well versed in their parts; having doubtless been present at many a +rehearsal. I was amused, too, at the air of profound gravity with which +the butler and other servants executed the duties assigned them, however +eccentric. They had an old-fashioned look; having, for the most part, +been brought up in the household, and grown into keeping with the +antiquated mansion, and the humours of its lord; and most probably +looked upon all his whimsical regulations as the established laws of +honourable housekeeping. When the cloth was removed, the butler brought +in a huge silver vessel of rare and curious workmanship, which he placed +before the Squire. Its appearance was hailed with acclamation; being the +Wassail Bowl, so renowned in Christmas festivity. The contents had been +prepared by the Squire himself; for it was a beverage in the skilful +mixture of which he particularly prided himself, alleging that it was +too abstruse and complex for the comprehension of an ordinary servant. +It was a potation, indeed, that might well make the heart of a toper +leap within him; being composed of the richest and raciest wines, highly +spiced and sweetened, with roasted apples bobbing about the surface.* + + *[7] See Note G. + +The old gentleman's whole countenance beamed with a serene look of +indwelling delight, as he stirred this mighty bowl. Having raised it +to his lips, with a hearty wish of a merry Christmas to all present, he +sent it brimming, around the board, for every one to follow his example, +according to the primitive style; pronouncing it "the ancient fountain +of good feeling, where all hearts met together."* + + *[8] See Note H. + +There was much laughing and rallying, as the honest emblem of Christmas +joviality circulated, and was kissed rather coyly by the ladies. When it +reached Master Simon he raised it in both hands, and with the air of a +boon companion struck up an old Wassail chanson: + + The browne bowle, + The merry browne bowle, + As it goes round about-a, + Fill + Still, + Let the world say what it will, + And drink your fill all out-a. + + The deep canne, + The merry deep canne, + As thou dost freely quaff-a, + Sing, + Fling, + Be as merry as a king, + And sound a lusty laugh-a.* + + + * From "Poor Robin's Almanack." + +Much of the conversation during dinner turned upon family topics, to +which I was a stranger. There was, however, a great deal of rallying of +Master Simon about some gay widow, with whom he was accused of having +a flirtation. This attack was commenced by the ladies; but it was +continued throughout the dinner by the fat-headed old gentleman next +the parson, with the persevering assiduity of a slow-hound; being one of +those long-winded jokers, who, though rather dull at starting game, are +unrivalled for their talents in hunting it down. At every pause in the +general conversation, he renewed his bantering in pretty much the same +terms; winking hard at me with both eyes whenever he gave Master Simon +what he considered a home thrust. The latter, indeed, seemed fond of +being teased on the subject, as old bachelors are apt to be; and he took +occasion to inform me, in an undertone, that the lady in question was a +prodigiously fine woman, and drove her own curricle. + +The dinner-time passed away in this flow of innocent hilarity; and, +though the old hall may have resounded in its time with many a scene +of broader rout and revel, yet I doubt whether it ever witnessed more +honest and genuine enjoyment. How easy it is for one benevolent being to +diffuse pleasure around him; and how truly is a kind heart a fountain of +gladness, making everything in its vicinity to freshen into smiles! The +joyous disposition of the worthy Squire was perfectly contagious; he was +happy himself, and disposed to make all the world happy; and the little +eccentricities of his humour did but season, in a manner, the sweetness +of his philanthropy. + +When the ladies had retired, the conversation, as usual, became still +more animated; many good things were broached which had been thought +of during dinner, but which would not exactly do for a lady's ear; and +though I cannot positively affirm that there was much wit uttered, yet +I have certainly heard many contests of rare wit produce much less +laughter. Wit, after all, is a mighty tart, pungent ingredient, and much +too acid for some stomachs; but honest good humour is the oil and wine +of a merry meeting, and there is no jovial companionship equal to that +where the jokes are rather small, and the laughter abundant. The Squire +told several long stories of early college pranks and adventures, in +some of which the parson had been a sharer; though in looking at the +latter, it required some effort of imagination to figure such a little +dark anatomy of a man into the perpetrator of a madcap gambol. Indeed, +the two college chums presented pictures of what men may be made by +their different lots in life. The Squire had left the university to live +lustily on his paternal domains, in the vigorous enjoyment of prosperity +and sunshine, and had flourished on to a hearty and florid old age; +whilst the poor parson, on the contrary, had dried and withered away, +among dusty tomes, in the silence and shadows of his study. + +Still there seemed to be a spark of almost extinguished fire, feebly +glimmering in the bottom of his soul; and as the Squire hinted at a sly +story of the parson and a pretty milkmaid, whom they once met on the +banks of the Isis, the old gentleman made an "alphabet of faces," +which, as far as I could decipher his physiognomy, I verily believe was +indicative of laughter;--indeed, I have rarely met with an old gentleman +who took absolutely offence at the imputed gallantries of his youth. + +I found the tide of wine and wassail fast gaining on the dry land of +sober judgment. The company grew merrier and louder as their jokes grew +duller. Master Simon was in as chirping a humour as a grasshopper filled +with dew; his old songs grew of a warmer complexion, and he began to +talk maudlin about the widow. He even gave a long song about the wooing +of a widow, which he informed me he had gathered from an excellent +black-letter work, entitled "Cupid's Solicitor for Love," containing +store of good advice for bachelors, and which he promised to lend me. +The first verse was to this effect: + + "He that will woo a widow must not dally, + He must make hay while the sun doth shine; + He must not stand with her, Shall I, Shall I? + But boldly say, Widow, thou must be mine." + +This song inspired the fat-headed old gentleman, who made several +attempts to tell a rather broad story out of Joe Miller, that was pat to +the purpose; but he always stuck in the middle, everybody recollecting +the latter part excepting himself. The parson, too, began to show the +effects of good cheer, having gradually settled down into a doze, and +his wig sitting most suspiciously on one side. Just at this juncture +we were summoned to the drawing-room, and, I suspect, at the private +instigation of mine host, whose joviality seemed always tempered with a +proper love of decorum. + +After the dinner-table was removed, the hall was given up to the younger +members of the family, who, prompted to all kind of noisy mirth by the +Oxonian and Master Simon, made its old walls ring with their merriment, +as they played at romping games. I delight in witnessing the gambols of +children, and particularly at this happy holiday-season, and could not +help stealing out of the drawing-room on hearing one of their peals of +laughter. I found them at the game of blind-man's buff. Master Simon, +who was the leader of their revels, and seemed on all occasions to +fulfil the office of that ancient potentate, the Lord of Misrule,* was +blinded in the midst of the hall. The little beings were as busy about +him as the mock fairies about Falstaff; pinching him, plucking at the +skirts of his coat, and tickling him with straws. One fine blue-eyed +girl of about thirteen, with her flaxen hair all in beautiful confusion, +her frolic face in a glow, her frock half torn off her shoulders, +a complete picture of a romp, was the chief tormentor; and from the +slyness with which Master Simon avoided the smaller game, and hemmed +this wild little nymph in corners, and obliged her to jump shrieking +over chairs, I suspected the rogue of being not a whit more blinded than +was convenient. + + *[9] See Note I. + +When I returned to the drawing-room, I found the company seated around +the fire, listening to the parson, who was deeply ensconced in a +high-backed oaken chair, the work of some cunning artificer of +yore, which had been brought from the library for his particular +accommodation. From this venerable piece of furniture, with which +his shadowy figure and dark weazen face so admirably accorded, he was +dealing forth strange accounts of popular superstitions and legends +of the surrounding country, with which he had become acquainted in the +course of his antiquarian researches. I am half inclined to think that +the old gentleman was himself somewhat tinctured with superstition, +as men are very apt to be who live a recluse and studious life in a +sequestered part of the country, and pore over black-letter tracts, so +often filled with the marvellous and supernatural. He gave us several +anecdotes of the fancies of the neighbouring peasantry, concerning the +effigy of the crusader which lay on the tomb by the church altar. As it +was the only monument of the kind in that part of the country, it had +always been regarded with feelings of superstition by the goodwives of +the village. It was said to get up from the tomb and walk the rounds of +the churchyard in stormy nights, particularly when it thundered; and +one old woman, whose cottage bordered on the churchyard, had seen it, +through the windows of the church, when the moon shone, slowly pacing +up and down the aisles. It was the belief that some wrong had been left +unredressed by the deceased, or some treasure hidden, which kept the +spirit in a state of trouble and restlessness. Some talked of gold and +jewels buried in the tomb, over which the spectre kept watch; and there +was a story current of a sexton in old times who endeavoured to break +his way to the coffin at night; but just as he reached it, received a +violent blow from the marble hand of the effigy, which stretched him +senseless on the pavement. These tales were often laughed at by some of +the sturdier among the rustics, yet when night came on, there were many +of the stoutest unbelievers that were shy of venturing alone in the +footpath that led across the churchyard. From these and other anecdotes +that followed, the crusader appeared to be the favourite hero of ghost +stories throughout the vicinity. His picture, which hung up in the hall, +was thought by the servants to have something supernatural about it; for +they remarked that, in whatever part of the hall you went, the eyes of +the warrior were still fixed on you. The old porter's wife, too, at the +lodge, who had been born and brought up in the family, and was a great +gossip among the maid servants, affirmed that in her young days she had +often heard say that on Midsummer eve, when it is well known all kinds +of ghosts, goblins, and fairies become visible and walk abroad, the +crusader used to mount his horse, come down from his picture, ride about +the house, down the avenue, and so to the church to visit the tomb; on +which occasion the church door most civilly swung open of itself: not +that he needed it; for he rode through closed gates and even stone +walls, and had been seen by one of the dairymaids to pass between two +bars of the great park gate, making himself as thin as a sheet of paper. + +All these superstitions, I found, had been very much countenanced by the +Squire, who, though not superstitious himself, was very fond of seeing +others so. He listened to every goblin tale of the neighbouring gossips +with infinite gravity, and held the porter's wife in high favour on +account of her talent for the marvellous. He was himself a great reader +of old legends and romances, and often lamented that he could not +believe in them; for a superstitious person, he thought, must live in a +kind of fairyland. + +Whilst we were all attention to the parson's stories, our ears were +suddenly assailed by a burst of heterogeneous sounds from the hall, in +which was mingled something like the clang of rude minstrelsy, with the +uproar of many small voices and girlish laughter. The door suddenly flew +open, and a train came trooping into the room, that might almost +have been mistaken for the breaking up of the court of Fairy. That +indefatigable spirit, Master Simon, in the faithful discharge of +his duties as Lord of Misrule, had conceived the idea of a Christmas +mummery, or masking; and having called in to his assistance the Oxonian +and the young officer, who were equally ripe for anything that should +occasion romping and merriment, they had carried it into instant effect. +The old housekeeper had been consulted; the antique clothes-presses and +wardrobes rummaged and made to yield up the relics of finery that had +not seen the light for several generations; the younger part of the +company had been privately convened from the parlour and hall, and the +whole had been bedizened out, into a burlesque imitation of an antique +masque.* + + *[10] See Note J. + +Master Simon led the van, as "Ancient Christmas," quaintly apparelled in +a ruff, a short cloak, which had very much the aspect of one of the old +housekeeper's petticoats, and a hat that might have served for a +village steeple, and must indubitably have figured in the days of the +Covenanters. From under this his nose curved boldly forth, flushed with +a frost-bitten bloom, that seemed the very trophy of a December blast. +He was accompanied by the blue-eyed romp, dished up as "Dame Mince-Pie," +in the venerable magnificence of faded brocade, long stomacher, peaked +hat, and high-heeled shoes. The young officer appeared as Robin Hood, in +a sporting dress of Kendal green and a foraging cap with a gold tassel. +The costume, to be sure, did not bear testimony to deep research, and +there was an evident eye to the picturesque, natural to a young gallant +in the presence of his mistress. The fair Julia hung on his arm in a +pretty rustic dress, as "Maid Marian." The rest of the train had been +metamorphosed in various ways; the girls trussed up in the finery of the +ancient belles of the Bracebridge line, and the striplings bewhiskered +with burnt cork, and gravely clad in broad skirts, hanging sleeves, +and full-bottomed wigs, to represent the characters of Roast Beef, Plum +Pudding, and other worthies celebrated in ancient maskings. The whole +was under the control of the Oxonian, in the appropriate character of +Misrule; and I observed that he exercised rather a mischievous sway with +his wand over the smaller personages of the pageant. + +The irruption of this motley crew, with beat of drum, according to +ancient custom, was the consummation of uproar and merriment. Master +Simon covered himself with glory by the stateliness with which, +as Ancient Christmas, he walked a minuet with the peerless, though +giggling, Dame Mince-Pie. It was followed by a dance of all the +characters, which, from its medley of costumes, seemed as though the +old family portraits had skipped down from their frames to join in the +sport. Different centuries were figuring at cross hands and right and +left; the dark ages were cutting pirouettes and rigadoons; and the +days of Queen Bess jigging merrily down the middle, through a line of +succeeding generations. + +The worthy Squire contemplated these fantastic sports, and this +resurrection of his old wardrobe, with the simple relish of childish +delight. He stood chuckling and rubbing his hands, and scarcely hearing +a word the parson said, notwithstanding that the latter was discoursing +most authentically on the ancient and stately dance at the Paon, or +Peacock, from which he conceived the minuet to be derived.* For my part, +I was in a continual excitement, from the varied scenes of whim and +innocent gaiety passing before me. It was inspiring to see wild-eyed +frolic and warm-hearted hospitality breaking out from among the chills +and glooms of winter, and old age throwing off his apathy, and catching +once more the freshness of youthful enjoyment. I felt also an interest +in the scene, from the consideration that these fleeting customs were +posting fast into oblivion, and that this was, perhaps, the only family +in England in which the whole of them were still punctiliously observed. +There was a quaintness, too, mingled with all this revelry that gave +it a peculiar zest; it was suited to the time and place; and as the old +Manor House almost reeled with mirth and wassail, it seemed echoing back +the joviality of long-departed years. + + *[11] See Note K. + +But enough of Christmas and its gambols; it is time for me to pause +in this garrulity. Methinks I hear the questions asked by my graver +readers, "To what purpose is all this?--how is the world to be made +wiser by this talk?" Alas! is there not wisdom enough extant for the +instruction of the world? And if not, are there not thousands of abler +pens labouring for its improvement?--It is so much pleasanter to please +than to instruct--to play the companion rather than the preceptor. + +What, after all, is the mite of wisdom that I could throw into the mass +of knowledge? or how am I sure that my sagest deductions may be safe +guides for the opinions of others? But in writing to amuse, if I fail, +the only evil is my own disappointment. If, however, I can by any lucky +chance, in these days of evil, rub out one wrinkle from the brow of +care, or beguile the heavy heart of one moment of sorrow; if I can now +and then penetrate through the gathering film of misanthropy, prompt a +benevolent view of human nature, and make my reader more in good humour +with his fellow beings and himself, surely, surely, I shall not then +have written entirely in vain. + + +THE END. + + + + +Notes + + +[Footnote 1: NOTE A. + +The misletoe is still hung up in farmhouses and kitchens at Christmas; +and the young men have the privilege of kissing the girls under it, +plucking each time a berry from the bush. When the berries are all +plucked, the privilege ceases.] + + +[Footnote 2: NOTE B. + +The Yule-clog is a great log of wood, sometimes the root of a tree, +brought into the house with great ceremony, on Christmas eve, laid in +the fireplace, and lighted with the brand of last year's clog. While +it lasted there was great drinking, singing, and telling of tales. +Sometimes it was accompanied by Christmas candles, but in the cottages +the only light was from the ruddy blaze of the great wood fire. The +Yule-clog was to burn all night; if it went out, it was considered a +sign of ill luck. + +Herrick mentions it in one of his songs: + + "Come, bring with a noise + My merrie, merrie boyes, + The Christmas log to the firing: + While my good dame, she + Bids ye all be free, + And drink to your hearts' desiring." + +The Yule-clog is still burnt in many farmhouses and kitchens in England, +particularly in the north, and there are several superstitions connected +with it among the peasantry. If a squinting person come to the house +while it is burning, or a person barefooted, it is considered an ill +omen. The brand remaining from the Yule-clog is carefully put away to +light the next year's Christmas fire.] + + +[Footnote 3: NOTE C. + +From the Flying Eagle, a small gazette, published December 24, 1652: +"The House spent much time this day about the business of the Navy, for +settling the affairs at sea; and before they rose, were presented with +a terrible remonstrance against Christmas day, grounded upon divine +Scriptures, 2 Cor. v. 16; 1 Cor. xv. 14, 17; and in honour of the Lord's +Day, grounded upon these Scriptures, John xx. I; Rev. i. 10; Psalm +cxviii. 24; Lev. xxiii. 7, 11; Mark xvi. 8; Psalm lxxxiv. 10, in which +Christmas is called Anti-Christ's masse, and those Mass-mongers and +Papists who observe it, etc. In consequence of which Parliament spent +some time in consultation about the abolition of Christmas day, passed +orders to that effect, and resolved to sit on the following day, which +was commonly called Christmas day."] + + +[Footnote 4: NOTE D. + +An English gentleman at the opening of the great day, i. e. on Christmas +day in the morning, had all his tenants and neighbours enter his hall +by daybreak. The strong beer was broached, and the black jacks went +plentifully about with toast, sugar, nutmeg, and good Cheshire cheese. +The hackin (the great sausage) must be boiled by daybreak, or else two +young men must take the maiden (i.e. the cook) by the arms and run her +round the market-place till she is shamed of her laziness.--Round about +our Sea-coal Fire.] + + +[Footnote 5: NOTE E. + +The old ceremony of serving up the boar's head on Christmas day is still +observed in the hall of Queen's College, Oxford. I was favoured by the +parson with a copy of the carol as now sung, and as it may be acceptable +to such of my readers as are curious in these grave and learned matters, +I give it entire. + + "The boar's head in hand bear I, + Bedeck'd with bays and rosemary; + And I pray you, my masters, be merry, + Quot estia in convivio. + Caput apri defero + Reddens laudes Domino. + + + "The boar's head, as I understand, + Is the rarest dish in all this land, + Which thus bedeck'd with a gay garland + Let us servire cantico. + Caput apri defero, etc. + + + "Our Steward hath provided this + In honour of the King of Bliss, + Which on this day to be served is + In Reginensi Atrio. + Caput apri defero," + Etc., etc., etc.] + +[Footnote 6: NOTE F. + +The peacock was anciently in great demand for stately entertainments. +Sometimes it was made into a pie, at one end of which the head appeared +above the crust in all its plumage, with the beak richly gilt; at the +other end the tail was displayed. Such pies were served up at the +solemn banquets of chivalry, when knights-errant pledged themselves to +undertake any perilous enterprise; whence came the ancient oath, used by +Justice Shallow, "by cock and pie." + +The peacock was also an important dish for the Christmas feast; and +Massinger, in his "City Madam," gives some idea of the extravagance +with which this, as well as other dishes, was prepared for the gorgeous +revels of the olden times: + + +"Men may talk of country Christmasses, Their thirty pound butter'd eggs, +their pies of carps' tongues: Their pheasants drench'd with ambergris; +the carcases of three fat wethers bruised for gravy, to make sauce for a +single peacock!"] + + + +[Footnote 7: NOTE G. + +The Wassail Bowl was sometimes composed of ale instead of wine; with +nutmeg, sugar, toast, ginger, and roasted crabs; in this way the +nut-brown beverage is still prepared in some old families, and round the +hearths of substantial farmers at Christmas. It is also called Lambs' +Wool, and is celebrated by Herrick in his "Twelfth Night:" + + "Next crowne the bowle full + With gentle Lambs' Wool, + Add sugar, nutmeg, and ginger, + With store of ale too; + And thus ye must doe + To make the Wassaile a swinger."] + + +[Footnote 8: NOTE H. + +The custom of drinking out of the same cup gave place to each having his +cup. When the steward came to the doore with the Wassel, he was to cry +three times, Wassel, Wassel, Wassel, and then the chappel (chaplain) was +to answer with a song.--Archaeologia.] + + +[Footnote 9: NOTE I. + +At Christmasse there was in the Kings's house, wheresoever hee was +lodged, a lorde of misrule, or mayster of merry disportes; and the like +had ye in the house of every nobleman of honour, or good worshippe, were +he spirituall or temporall.--Stow.] + + +[Footnote 10: NOTE J. + +Maskings or mummeries were favourite sports at Christmas in old times; +and the wardrobes at halls and manor-houses were often laid under +contribution to furnish dresses and fantastic disguisings. I strongly +suspect Master Simon to have taken the idea of his from Ben Jonson's +"Masque of Christmas."] + + +[Footnote 11: NOTE K. + +Sir John Hawkins, speaking of the dance called the Pavon, from pavo, a +peacock, says: "It is a grave and majestic dance; the method of dancing +it anciently was by gentlemen dressed with caps and swords, by those of +the long robe in their gowns, by the peers in their mantles, and by +the ladies in gowns with long trains, the motion whereof, in dancing, +resembled that of a peacock."--History of Music.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Old Christmas, by Washington Irving + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OLD CHRISTMAS *** + +***** This file should be named 1850.txt or 1850.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/5/1850/ + +Produced by Donald Lainson + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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