Inns of Court.—There were anciently great doings in the halls of the Inns of Court at Christmas. At the Inner Temple early in the morning the gentlemen of the Inn went to church, and after the service they repaired into the hall to breakfast with brawn, mustard, and malmsey. At the first course at dinner was “served in, a fair and large Bore’s head upon a silver platter, with minstralsye.”—Dugdale’s Orig. Jurid.
A correspondent of N. & Q. (5th S. vol. ii. p. 507), alluding to the time-honoured custom of the Boar’s Head Feast at St. John’s Gate, Clerkenwell, says the boar’s head is still served up at Queen’s College, Oxford (see [p. 477]), but I do not think it can be more enjoyable than the Christmas custom used to be at Clerkenwell, with the hall strewn with rushes, the gigantic yule-log drawn in by the sons of the host (the late proprietor), with the accompanying announcement, by bugles, and the bringing in of the boar’s head, the “cook dressed all in white,” singing the good old carol (printed by Wynkyn, de Worde, 1521), copies of which being in the hands of the guests, who joined in the chorus, rendering the whole scene so pleasant as never to be forgotten. The loving cup was never omitted, and of course wassail was duly brought in, “ye Lorde of Mysrewle doing his duty ‘passing well.’” The following is an exact copy of the carol:
“Caroll at ye Bryngyne in ye Bore’s Heed.
Caput apri differo
Reddens laudem Domino.
The bore’s heed in hande bringe I,
With garlens gay and rosemarie,
I pray you all synge merrilie,
Qui estis in convivio.
The bore’s heed I understande,
Is the chefe servyce in this lande,
Loke wherever it be fonde,
Servite cum cantico.
Be gladde lordes, both more and lesse,
For this hath ordeyned our stewarde
To chere you all this Christmasse,
The bore’s heed with mustarde.”
Subjoined is a copy of the invitation the late host and his predecessor used to issue, which is a curious production:
“We’ll passe aboute ye lovynge cuppe,
And sende ye wassaile rounde;
With myrthe and songes of chyvalrie,
These goodlye Halles shall sounde.
[Here is an illustration of the north side of the Gate.]