V
"With a good old fashion, when Christmasse was come, To call in all his old neighbours with bagpipe and drum, With good chear enough to furnish every old room, And old liquor, able to make a cat speak, and man dumb Like an old Courtier of the Queen's, And the Queen's old Courtier"
XII
"With a new fashion, when Christmas is drawing on, On a new journey to London straight we all must begone, And leave none to keep house, but our new porter John, Who relieves the poor with a thump on the back with a stone, Like a young courtier of the King's, And the King's young courtier" (Percy's Reliques)
Another called "Time's Alteration, or, the Old Man's Rehearsal, what brave dayes he knew a great while agone, when his old cap was new," says—
"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 Black jacks to every man Were filled with wine and beer, No pewter pot nor can In those days did appear Good cheer in a nobleman's house Was counted a seemly shew, We wanted no brawn nor souse, When this old cap was new." (Evans's Ballads)
Referring to the Restoration of the monarchy, and contrasting it with the Protectorate period, Poor Robin's Almanack, 1685, says—
"Now thanks to God for Charles' return, Whose absence made old Christmas mourn, For then we scarcely did it know, Whether it Christmas were or no - - - - - To feast the poor was counted sin, When treason that great praise did win May we ne'er see the like again, The roguish Rump should o'er us reign."
After the Restoration an effort was made to revive the Christmas entertainments of the Court at Whitehall, but they do not appear to have recovered their former splendour. The habits of Charles the Second were of too sensual a nature to induce him to interest himself in such pursuits; besides which the manners of the country had been changed during the sway of the Puritans. Pepys states that Charles II. visited Lincoln's Inn to see the Christmas revels of 1661, "there being, according to an old custom, a Prince and all his nobles, and other matters of sport and charge." And the diary of the Rev. John Ward, vicar of Stratford-upon-Avon, extending from 1648 to 1679, states: "The Duke of Norfolk expended £20,000 in keeping Christmas. Charles II. gave over keeping that festival on this account; his munificence gave great offence at Court." Sandys mentions that a pastoral called Calisto, written by Crowne, was acted by the daughters of the Duke of York and the young nobility. About the same time the Lady Anne, afterwards Queen, acted the part of Semandra in Lee's "Mithridates." Betterton and his wife instructed the performers, in remembrance of which, when Anne came to the throne, she gave the latter a pension of £100 a year.
The Inns of Court also had their Christmas feasts; but the conduct of them was evidently not so much coveted as in former times, for there is an entry in the records of Gray's Inn on November 3, 1682, "That Mr. Richard Gipps, on his promise to perform the office of Master of the Revels, this and the next Term, be called to the Bar of Grace," i.e., without payment of the usual fees: thus holding out a reward for his services, instead of allowing him, as in former times, to spend a large portion of his private fortune unrequited, except by the honour of the temporary office.