Dec. 25.] CHRISTMAS DAY.

Dec. 25.]

CHRISTMAS DAY.

St. Chrysostom informs us that, in the primitive times, Christmas and Epiphany were celebrated at one and the same feast (Homil. in Diem Nativ. D. N. J. Christi, Opera, edit. Monfaucon, tom. iii.), probably from a belief that the rising of the star in the East and the birth of Christ were simultaneous. The separation took place at the Council of Nice, A.D. 325. The Armenians, however, continued to make but one feast of the two as late as the thirteenth century. The learned have long been divided upon the precise day of the Nativity. Some have fixed it at the Passover; others, amongst whom was Archbishop Usher, at the feast of Tabernacles; and it has been observed that, if others were watching their flocks when it occurred in the field by night, it would hardly have happened in the depth of winter. Be this as it may, the 25th of December has been the day most generally fixed upon from the earliest ages of the Church. Sir Isaac Newton, in his Commentary on the Prophecies of Daniel (Part I. chap. ii. p. 144), has a chapter, “Of the Times of the Birth and Passion of our Saviour,” in which he accounts for the choice of the 25th of December, the winter solstice, by showing that not only the feast of the Nativity, but most others, were originally fixed at cardinal points of the year; and that the first Christian calendar having been so arranged by mathematicians at pleasure, without any ground in tradition, the Christians afterwards took up with what they found in the calendars: so long as a fixed time of commemoration was solemnly appointed they were content.—See Baronii Apparatus ad Annales Ecclesiasticos, fol. Lucæ, 1740, p. 475 et seq.; Bingham’s Antiquities of the Christian Church, lib. xx. cap. 4; a curious tract entitled, The Feast of Feasts, or ‘The Celebration of the Sacred Nativity of our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, grounded upon the Scriptures and confirmed by the Practice of the Christian Church in all Ages;’ see also Knight’s English Cyclopædia, 1859, vol. ii. p. 882.

The name given, says a correspondent of Book of Days, (vol. ii. p. 745) by the ancient Goths and Saxons to the festival of the winter solstice was Jul or Yule, the latter term forming to the present day the designation in the Scottish dialect of Christmas, and preserved also in the phrase of the “yule log.” Perhaps the etymology of no term has excited greater discussions among antiquaries. Some maintain it to be derived from the Greek ουλος or ιουλος, the name of a hymn in honour of Ceres, others say it comes from the Latin jubilum, signifying a time of rejoicing, or from its being a festival in honour of Julius Cæsar; whilst some also explain its meaning as synonymous with ol or oel, which in the ancient Gothic language denotes a feast, and also the favourite liquor used on such occasions whence our word ale. A much more probable derivation, however, of the term in question is from the Gothic giul or hiul, the origin of the modern word wheel, and bearing the same significance. According to this very probable explanation, the yule festival received its name from its being the turning-point of the year, or the period at which the fiery orb of day made a revolution in his annual circuit and entered on his northern journey. A confirmation of this view is afforded by the circumstance that, in the old clog almanacs, a wheel is the device employed for marking the season of yule-tide.

The season of the Nativity is now no longer marked by that hospitality which characterized its observance among our forefathers. At present Christmas meetings are chiefly confined to family parties. The wassail-bowl, the yule-clog, and the lord of misrule, with a long train of sports and customs which formerly prevailed at this season are forgotten, even Christmas carols are nearly gone by; and the decking of churches, and occasionally of houses, with holly and other evergreens, forms now almost the only indication that this great festival is at hand.—Knight’s English Cyclopædia, 1859, vol. ii. p. 882.

Christmas, says Père Cyprian (quoted by Agnes Strickland, Lives of the Queens of England, 1865, vol. iv. pp. 320, 321), was always observed in this country, especially at the King’s palaces, with greater ceremony than in any other realm in Europe. Among other ancient ceremonies, he tells us how a branch of the Glastonbury thorn used to be brought up in procession, and presented in great pomp to the King and Queen of England on Christmas morning.

Under the Commonwealth.

—In the Diary of John Evelyn (1859, vol. i. p. 297), under the date of the 25th of December, occurs the following:—

“Christmas Day. No sermon anywhere, no church being permitted to be open, so observed it at home.”

Again, under the same date in 1654 (p. 341), the statement is renewed:

“Christmas Day. No churches or public assembly. I was fain to pass the devotions of that Blessed Day with my family at home.”

Alluding to the observance of Christmas Day in 1657, the same writer says:—

“I went to London with my wife to celebrate Christmas Day, Mr. Gunning preaching in Exeter Chapel, on Micah, vii. 2. Sermon ended; as he was giving us the Holy Sacrament the chapel was surrounded with soldiers, and all the communicants and assembly surprised and kept prisoners by them, some in the house, others carried away. It fell to my share to be confined to a room in the house, where yet I was permitted to dine with the master of it, the Countess of Dorset, Lady Hatton, and some others of quality who invited me. In the afternoon came Colonel Whalley, Goffe, and others from Whitehall to examine us one by one; some they committed to the Marshal, some to prison. When I came before them they took my name and abode, examined me why, contrary to the ordinance made that none should any longer observe the superstitious time of the Nativity (as esteemed by them), I durst offend, and particularly be at Common Prayers, which they told me was but the mass in English, and particularly pray for Charles Stuart, for which we had no Scripture. I told them we did not pray for Charles Stuart, but for all Christian kings, princes, and governors. They replied, in so doing we prayed for the king of Spain too, who was their enemy and a Papist; with other frivolous and ensnaring questions and much threatening, and, finding no colour to detain me, they dismissed me with much pity of my ignorance. These were men of high flight and above ordinances, and spake spiteful things of our Lord’s Nativity. As we went up to receive the sacrament the miscreants held their muskets against us, as if they would have shot us at the altar, but yet suffering us to finish the office of communion, as perhaps not having instructions what to do in case they found us in that action; so I got home late the next day, blessed be God!”

In a tract entitled Round about our Coal-Fire, is the following account of the manner in which Christmas was observed in days gone by:—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 ashamed of her laziness. In Christmas holidays, the tables were all spread from the first to the last; the sirloins of beef, the minced pies, the plum-porridge, the capons, turkeys, geese, and plum-puddings, were all brought upon the board. Every one eat heartily, and was welcome, which gave rise to the proverb, “Merry in the hall when beards wag all.”—Brand, Pop. Antiq. 1849, vol. i. p. 531.

Boar’s Head.

—Aubrey, in a MS. dated 1678, says: “Before the last civil wars, in gentlemen’s houses at Christmas, the first diet that was brought to table was a boar’s head with a lemon in his mouth.”

Christmas Book.

—A book in which people were accustomed to keep an account of the Christmas presents they received.—Nares’ Glossary (Halliwell and Wright), 1857, vol. i. p. 11.

Bustard.

—The bustard, says Timbs (Something for Everybody, 1861, p. 148), has almost disappeared; but within memory it might be seen in the Christmas larders of large inns.

Christmas Candles.

—Those were candles of an uncommon size, and the name has descended to the small candles which children light up at this season. Hampson (Med. Ævi Kalend. vol. i. p. 109), alluding to the custom, says, in some places candles are made of a particular kind, because the candle that is lighted on Christmas Day must be so large as to burn from the time of its ignition to the close of the day, otherwise it will portend evil to the family for the ensuing year. The poor were wont to present the rich with wax tapers, and yule candles are still in the north of Scotland given by merchants to their customers. At one time children at the village schools in Lancashire were required to bring each a mould candle before the parting or separation for the Christmas holidays.

Christmas Carols.

—The Christmas carol (said to be derived from cantare to sing, and rola, an interjection of joy) is of very ancient date. Bishop Taylor observes that the ‘Gloria in Excelsis,’ the well-known hymn sung by the angels to the shepherds at our Lord’s Nativity, was the earliest Christmas carol. In the early ages of the Church bishops were accustomed to sing these sacred canticles among their clergy. The oldest printed collections in England are those of Wynkyn de Worde, 1521, and of Kele soon after. Warton, in his History of English Poetry, notices a licence granted in 1562 to John Tysdale for printing “Certayne goodly carowles to be songe to the glory of God;” and again, “Crestenmas carowles auctorisshed by my lord of London.” See N. & Q. 4th S. vol. x. p. 485. In the sixteenth century the popularity of carol-singing occasioned the publication of a duodecimo volume, published in 1642, entitled, “Psalmes or Songs of Sion, turned into the language, and set to the tunes of a strange land. By W(illiam) S(layter), intended for Christmas carols, and fitted to divers of the most noted and common but solemne tunes, everywhere in this land familiarly used and knowne.”—See Athenæum, December 20th, 1856; Sandy’s Christmas Carols, 1833.

Decorations.

—Tradition, says Phillips in his Sylva Florifera (1823, vol. i. p. 281), asserts that the first Christian church in Britain was built of boughs, and that this plan was adopted as more likely to attract the notice of the people because the heathens built their temples in that manner, probably to imitate the temples of Saturn which were always under the oak. The great feast of Saturn was held in December, and as the oaks of this country were then without leaves, the priests obliged the people to bring in boughs and sprigs of evergreens; and Christians, on the 20th of the same month, did likewise, from whence originated the present custom of placing holly and other evergreens in our churches and houses to show the arrival of the feast of Christmas. The name of holly is a corruption of the word holy, as Dr. Turner, our earliest writer on plants, calls it Holy and Holy tree. It has a great variety of names in Germany, amongst which is Christdorn; in Danish it is also called Christorn; and in Swedish Christtorn, amongst other appellations.

A correspondent of Book of Days, speaking of this custom (vol. ii., p. 753), says the decking of churches, houses, and shops with evergreens at Christmas springs from a period far anterior to the revelation of Christianity, and seems proximately to be derived from the custom prevalent during the Saturnalia of the inhabitants of Rome, ornamenting their temples and dwellings with green boughs.

The favourite plants for church decoration at Christmas are holly, bay, rosemary, and laurel. Ivy is rather objectionable, from its associations, having anciently been sacred to Bacchus. Cypress seems inappropriate from its funereal relations. One plant, in special, is excluded—the mistletoe. Ibid. p. 753.

Game Pies.

—These were formerly made at the season of Christmas. In the books of the Salters’ Company, London, is the following—

“Receipt. Fit to make a moost choyce paaste of gamys to be eten at ye Feste of Chrystmasse” (17th Richard II A.D. 1394). A pie so made by the company’s cook in 1836 was found excellent. It consisted of a pheasant, hare, and a capon; two partridges, two pigeons, and two rabbits; all boned and put into paste in the shape of a bird, with the livers and hearts, two mutton kidneys, forced meats, and egg-balls, seasoning, spice, catsup and pickled mushrooms, filled up with gravy made from the various bones.—See Timbs’ Something for Everybody, 1861, p. 148.

Mince Pies.

—These were popular under the name of “mutton pies” so early as 1596: Book of Days, vol. ii. p. 755. They were also known as Shred and Christmas pies. Thus, in Sheppard’s Epigrams (1651, p. 121), we find the following:—

“No matter for plomb-porridge or Shrid pies;” and Herrick, alluding to the custom of setting a watch upon the pies the night before Christmas, says:

“Come guard this night the Christmas pie,
That the thief, though ne’er so sly,
With his flesh-hooks don’t come nigh,
To catch it.”

Brand (Pop. Antiq. 1849, vol. i. p. 527), quoting from an old tract, printed about the time of Elizabeth, or James I., says they were also called Minched pies.

Selden, in his Table Talk, tells us that mince pies were baked in a coffin-shaped crust, intended to represent the cratch or manger wherein the infant Jesus was laid. This statement may be regarded, however, as improbable, as in old English cookery books the crust of a pie is generally called “the coffin.”

Minced pies, says Timbs (Something for Everybody, 1861, p. 149), were derived from the paste images and sweetmeats given to the Fathers of the Vatican at Rome on Christmas Eve. Eating minced pies at Christmas was formerly a test of orthodoxy against recusants.

Mistletoe.

—At what period mistletoe came to be recognised as a Christmas evergreen, is not by any means certain. We have Christmas carols in praise of holly and ivy of even earlier date than the fifteenth century, but allusion to mistletoe can scarcely be found for two centuries later, or before the time of Herrick. Coles, too, in his Knowledge of Plants, 1656, says of mistletoe, “it is carried many miles to set up in houses about Christmas-time, when it is adorned with a white glistening berry.” In the tract, Round about our Coal-Fire, published early in the last century, we are told the rooms were embowered with holly, ivy, cypress, bays, laurel, and mistletoe. Brand (Pop. Antiq., 1849, vol. i. p. 523) thinks that mistletoe was never put in churches among evergreens but by mistake or ignorance; for, says he, it was the heathenish, or profane plant, as having been of such distinction in the pagan rites of druidism, and it had its place therefore assigned it in kitchens, where it was hung in great state.—See Timbs’ Things Not Generally Known, 1856, pp. 159-160.

Lord of Misrule.

—His office was to preside over the festivities of Christmas, and his duties consisted in directing the various revels of the season. In some great families, and occasionally at Court, he was also called the Abbot of Misrule, corresponding with the French Abbé de Liesse, a word which implies merriment. Stow, in his Survey of London, alluding to this whimsical custom says:—“In the feast of Christmas there was in the king’s house, wheresoever he lodged, a Lord of Misrule, or master of merry disports, and the like, had ye in the house of every nobleman of honour, or good worship, were he spiritual or temporal. The Mayor of London, and either of the sheriffs, had their several lords of misrule, ever contending, without quarrel or offence, who should make the rarest pastime to delight the beholders, these lords beginning their rule at Allhallowed Eve, continued the same till the morrow after the Feast of the Purification, commonly called Candlemas Day, in which space there were fine and subtle disguisings, masks, and mummeries, with playing at cards for counters, nayles, and points, in every house, more for pastimes than for game.”

Leland (Collectanea de Rebus Anglicis, 1770, vol. iii., Append. p. 256), speaking of the year 4 Henry VII., 1489, says:—“This Christmas I saw no disguisings, and but right few playes; but there was an Abbot of Misrule that made much sport, and did right well his office.” It appears that large sums of money were expended by this king upon these masquerades and sports, as the following extracts from his “Privy Purse Expenses” will show:—

“Dec. 24 (1491). To Ringley, Lorde of Mysrewle, upon a preste, 5l.

“Oct. 24 (1492). To Ringley, Abbot of Mysreule, 5l.

“Jan. 2 (1494). For playing of the Mourice daunce, 2l.

“Jan. 15 (1494). To Walter Alwyn, in full payment for the disguising made at Christenmas, 14l. 3s. 4d.

“March 3 (1490). To Jacques Haulte, in full payment for the disguising at Christenmas, 32l. 18s. 6¹⁄₂d.

“Jan. 2 (1503). To the Abbot of Misrule, in rewarde, 61. 13s. 4d.

“Feb. 12 (1503). To Lewis Adams, that made disguysings, 10l.”

The Lord or Abbot of Misrule at Court, says Hampson, (Med. Ævi Kalend. vol. i. p. 117) was usually a writer of interludes and plays, and the office was not unfrequently held by a poet of some reputation. Such, for example, was George Ferrers, “in whose pastimes Edward the Sixth,” we are told by Warton, “had great delight.” There can be no doubt, however, that scandalous abuses often resulted from the exuberant licence assumed by the lord of misrule and his satellites, and consequently we find their proceedings denounced in no measured terms by Prynne, and other zealous puritans.—See Book of Days, vol. ii. p. 742.

Stubbes, a morose puritan in the days of Elizabeth, denominates the lord of misrule “a grand captaine of mischiefe,” and has preserved a minute description of all his wild doings in the country, of which the following is a summary. He says that the lord of misrule on being selected, takes twenty to sixty others, “lyke hymself,” to act as his guard, who are decorated with ribbands and scarfs and bells on their legs. Thus, all things set in order, they have their hobby-horses, their dragons, and other antiques, together with the gaudie pipers and thunderyng drummers, and strike up the devill’s dance withal. So they march to the church, invading it, even though service be performing, with such a confused noyse that no man can hear his own voice. Then they adjourn to the churchyard, where booths are set up, and the rest of the day spent in dancing and drinking. The followers of “My Lord” go about to collect money for this, giving in return “badges and cognizances” to wear in the hat: and do not scruple to insult, or even duck, such as will not contribute. But, adds Stubbes, another sort of fantasticall fooles are well pleased to bring all sorts of food and drink to furnish out the feast.—See Disraeli, Curiosities of Literature, 1858, vol. ii. p. 262; and Strutt’s Sports and Pastimes of the People of England, p. 254.

Mummers.

—These were amusements derived from the Saturnalia, and so called from the Danish Mumme, or Dutch Momme, disguise in a mask. Christmas was the grand scene of mumming, and some mummers were disguised like bears, others like unicorns, bringing presents. Those who could not procure masks rubbed their faces with soot, or painted them. In the Christmas mummeries the chief aim was to surprise by the oddity of the masques and singularity and splendour of the dresses. Everything was out of nature and propriety. They were often attended with an exhibition of gorgeous machinery.—Fosbroke’s Encylopædia of Antiquities, 1840, p. 669; see Strutt’s Sports and Pastimes, 1801, pp. 124, 189, 190; also N. & Q. 2nd S. vol. x. pp. 464, 465, vol. xi. p. 271, vol. xii. p. 407; 3rd S. vol. i. p. 66, vol. iv. p. 486.

Pantomime.

—The Christmas pantomime or harlequinade is, in its present shape, essentially a British entertainment, and was first introduced into this country by a dancing master of Shrewsbury named Weaver in 1702. One of his pantomimes, entitled The Loves of Mars and Venus, met with great success. The arrival, in the year 1717, in London of a troupe of French pantomimists with performing dogs, gave an impetus to this kind of drama, which was further developed in 1758 by the arrival of the Grimaldi family, the head of which was a posture-master and dentist. Under the auspices of this family the art of producing pantomimes was greatly cultivated, and the entertainment much relished. Joseph Grimaldi, the son of the dentist, was clever at inventing tricks and devising machinery, and Mother Goose, and others of his harlequinades, had an extended run. At that time the wit of the clown was the great feature, but, by-and-by, as good clowns became scarce, other adjuncts were supplied, such as panoramas or dioramic views; and now the chief reliance of the manager is on scenic effects, large sums of money being lavished on the mise en scène. This is particularly the case as regards the transformation scene—i.e., the scene where the characters are changed into clown, harlequin, &c., as much as 1000l. being frequently spent on this one effort. In London alone a sum of 40,000l. is annually expended at Christmas time on pantomimes. The King of the Peacocks, a pantomime produced at the London Lyceum Theatre during the management of Madame Vestris, cost upwards of £3000. Even provincial theatres, such as those of Manchester or Edinburgh, consider it right to go to considerable expense in the production of their Christmas pantomime.—Chambers’ Encyclopædia, 1874, vol. vii. p. 237; see Disraeli’s Curiosities of Literature, 1858, pp. 116-130; N. & Q. 4th S. vol. v. pp. 193-95.

Plum-Porridge.

—This, says Misson, was a “sort of soup with plumbs, which is not at all inferior to the pye.” Dr. Rimbault says, was not this the same as plum-pudding? Pudding was formerly used in the sense of stuffing or force-meat, as we now say black-puddings. Porridge, on the other hand, was used in the sense of our pudding. Thus Shakspeare talks of “porridge after meat,” meaning pudding after meat.—N. & Q. 2nd S. vol. xii. p. 489.

Snapdragon.

—A very favourite pastime at this season. Although so prevalent in England, it is almost unknown in Scotland.—See Book of Days, vol. ii. p. 738.

A writer in the Pantalogia (1813, vol. x.) thus describes this sport:—It is a kind of play, in which brandy is set on fire, and raisins thrown into it, which those who are unused to the sport are afraid to take out, but which may be safely snatched by a quick motion and put blazing into the mouth, which being closed, the fire is at once extinguished. A correspondent of N. & Q. (2nd S. vol. vii. p. 277) suggests as a derivation the German schnapps, spirit, and drache, dragon, and that it is equivalent to spirit-fire. The game has also been called flap- and slap-dragon at different times. Shakspeare, for example, in the second part of Henry IV. act ii. sc. 4, makes Falstaff answer:

“And drinks off candles’ ends for flap-dragons.”

And in Love’s Labours Lost, act v. sc. 1:

“Thou art easier swallowed than a flap-dragon.”

Christmas Sports.

—Among the various games and sports of an olden Christmas, says Dr. Rimbault, were card-playing, chess, and draughts, jack-pudding in the hall; fiddlers and musicians, who were regaled with a black-jack of beer and a Christmas pie; also singing the wassail, scrambling for nuts, cakes, and apples; dancing round standards decorated with evergreens in the streets; the famous old hobby-horse, hunting owls and squirrels, the fool plough, hot cockles, and the game of hoodman-blind.—N. & Q. 2nd S. vol. xii. p. 489.

Christmas Tree.

—Various suggestions have been made as to the origin of the Christmas tree. Mr. Timbs, in his Something for Everybody (1861, p. 127), suggests its being traceable to the ancient Egyptians and their palm-tree, which produces a branch every month, and therefore held to be emblematical of the year. The Germans may be said to claim it as peculiar to themselves, as being indicative of their attachment to Christianity; they identify it with the apostolic labours of St. Maternus, one of the earliest, if not the very first, of the preachers of the Gospel among them. They have a legend of his sleeping under a fir-tree, and of a miracle that occurred on that occasion. Mr. MacCabe (N. & Q. 3rd S. vol. viii. p. 489), however, thinks the Christmas tree is traceable to the Roman Saturnalia, and was not improbably first imported into Germany with the conquering legions of Drusus. The Christmas tree, such as we now see it, with its pendent toys and mannikins, is distinctly portrayed in a single line of Virgil (Georg. ii. 389):

“Oscilla ex alta suspendunt mollia pinu.”

Consult Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1849, 2nd ed. p. 846, in verb. “oscillum”), where there is given an engraving “from an ancient gem (Maffei, Gem. Ant. iii. 64) representing a tree with four oscilla hung upon its branches.” Any one looking into that valuable work will see at once that it is an exact picture of a Christmas tree.

A correspondent of Book of Days (vol. ii. p. 787) says, within the last twenty years, and apparently since the marriage of Queen Victoria with Prince Albert, previous to which time it was almost unknown in this country, the Christmas tree has been introduced into England with the greatest success.

The Vessel-Cup.

—There is a very pretty custom, now nearly obsolete, of bearing the “vessel,” or, more properly the wassail-cup, at Christmas. This consists of a box containing two dolls, dressed up to represent the Virgin and the Infant Christ, decorated with ribbons and surrounded by flowers and apples; the box has usually a glass lid, is covered over by a white napkin, and carried from door to door on the arms of a woman; on the top, or in the box, a china bason is placed, and the bearer on reaching a house, uncovered the box and sung the carol known as the “Seven Joys of the Virgin.”

The carrying of the “vessel-cup” is a fortuitous speculation, as it is considered so unlucky to send any one away unrequited, that few can be found whose temerity is so great as to deter them from giving some halfpence to the singer.

In Yorkshire, formerly, only one image used to be carried about—that of the Saviour, which was placed in a box surrounded by evergreens, and such flowers as could be procured at the season. The party to whose house the figure was carried were at liberty to take from the decorations of the image a leaf or a flower, which was carefully preserved and regarded as a sovereign remedy for the toothache.—Jour. of Arch. Assoc. 1853, vol. viii. p. 38; Book of Days, 1864, vol. ii. p. 725; Brand, Pop. Antiq. vol. i. p. 454.

Turkey.

—The turkey has graced the Christmas table from the date of its introduction into England, about the year 1524. Tusser mentions the bird as forming part of the Christmas fare in 1587:

“Beefe, mutton, and porke, shred pies of the best;
Pig, veale, goose, and capon, and turkie well drest.”

Waits.

—Musicians who play by night for two or three weeks before Christmas, terminating their performances generally on Christmas Eve. It is uncertain, says a correspondent of Book of Days (vol ii. p. 742), whether the term Waits denoted originally musical instruments, a particular kind of music, or the persons who played under certain special circumstances. There is evidence in support of all these views. At one time the name of waits was given to minstrels attached to the king’s court, whose duty it was to guard the streets at night and proclaim the hour, something in the same manner as the watchmen were wont to do in London before the establishment of the metropolitan police. Down to the year 1820, perhaps later, says the same writer (p. 743), the waits had a certain degree of official recognition in the cities of London and Westminster. In London, the post was purchased; in Westminster, it was an appointment under the control of the high constable and the court of burgesses. A police inquiry about Christmas time in that year brought the matter in a singular way under public notice. Mr. Clay had been the official leader of the waits for Westminster, and, on his death, Mr. Monro obtained the post. Having employed a number of persons in different parts of the city and liberties of Westminster to serenade the inhabitants, trusting to their liberality at Christmas as a remuneration, he was surprised to find that other persons were, unauthorized, assuming the right of playing at night, and making applications to the inhabitants for Christmas boxes. Sir R. Baker, the police magistrate, promised to aid Mr. Munro in the assertion of his claims, and the result, in several cases, showed that there really was this “vested right” to charm the ears of the citizens with nocturnal music. At present, however, there is nothing to prevent any number of such itinerant minstrels from plying their midnight calling. See two interesting articles on the subject by Mr. Chappell in N. & Q. 3rd S. vol. vi. pp. 489, 509.

Yule-clog or Yule-log.

—This was generally lighted on Christmas Eve, and was, says Soane, as large as the hearth would admit of, or the means of the rejoicers could supply; and, in some of the northern counties of England, so long as the log lasted, the servants were entitled to ale at their meals. At one time custom prescribed that it should be lighted with a brand of the last year’s block, which had been carefully put by and preserved for that purpose, as we find it recorded by Herrick:

“Come bring with a noise,
My merrie, merrie boys,
The Christmas log to the firing;
While my good dame, she
Bids ye all be free,
And drink to your heart’s desiring.

With the last year’s brand
Light the new block, and
For good success in his spending,
On your psalteries play
That sweet luck may
Come while the log is a tiending.”[91]

[91] To Teend is to kindle, or to burn, from the Anglo-Saxon Tendan to set on fire.

It is also requisite that the maidens who blow a fire, should come to the task with clean hands:

“Wash your hands, or else the fire
Will not tiend to your desire;
Unwash’d hands, ye maidens, know,
Dead the fire though ye blow.”