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diff --git a/old/oxmas10.txt b/old/oxmas10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..19196b8 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/oxmas10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2412 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext Old Christmas, by Washington Irving +#5 in our series by Washington Irving + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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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.* + + +* 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.* + + +* 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 +unacommodating 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. + + +* 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.' + + +* 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.* + + +* 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.* + + +* 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.* + + +* 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."* + + +* 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. + + +* 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.* + + +* 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. + + +* 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 + + +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. + + +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. + + +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." + + +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. + + +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. + + +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!" + + + +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." + + +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. + + +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. + + +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." + + +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 Etext Old Christmas, by Washington Irving + diff --git a/old/oxmas10.zip b/old/oxmas10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8a38633 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/oxmas10.zip |