The Christmas at Belvoir Castle,
kept with generous liberality by the Duke of Rutland, in 1883, may be cited as an example of Christmas customs continued by the head of a noble house:
"The usual Christmas gifts were given to the poor of Knipton, Woolsthorpe, and Redmile—nearly two hundred in number—consisting of calico, flannel dresses, stockings, and handkerchiefs, each person at the same time receiving a loaf of bread and a pint of ale. Twenty-one bales of goods, containing counterpanes, blankets, and sheets, were also sent to the clergy of as many different villages for distribution amongst the poor. The servants at the Castle and workmen of the establishment had their Christmas dinner, tea, and supper, the servants' hall having been beautifully decorated. At one end of the room was a coronet, with the letter 'R'; and at the opposite end three coronets, with the 'peacock in pride,' being the crest of the Rutland family. The following mottoes, in large letters, were conspicuous, 'Long live the Duke of Rutland,' 'Long live Lord and Lady John Manners and family,' and 'A Merry Christmas to you all.' These were enclosed in a neat border. From the top of the room were suspended long festoons of linked ribbons of red, white, blue, and orange. All present thoroughly enjoyed themselves, as it was the wish of his Grace they should do."
Similar hospitalities are dispensed by other noblemen and gentlemen in different parts of the country at Christmas.
The lordly hospitality of Lincolnshire is depicted in
"The Baron's Yule Feast:
A Christmas Rhyme; by Thomas Cooper, the Chartist" (1846); which is inscribed to the Countess of Blessington, and in the advertisement the author offers "but one apology for the production of a metrical essay, composed chiefly of imperfect and immature pieces: The ambition to contribute towards the fund of Christmas entertainment." The scene of the Baron's Yule Feast is depicted in Torksey's Hall, Torksey being one of the first towns in Lincolnshire in the Saxon period. After some introductory verses the writer says:
"It is the season when our sires Kept jocund holiday; And, now, around our charier fires, Old Yule shall have a lay:— A prison-bard is once more free; And, ere he yields his voice to thee, His song a merry-song shall be!
Sir Wilfrid de Thorold freely holds What his stout sires held before— Broad lands for plough and fruitful folds,— Though by gold he sets no store; And he saith, from fen and woodland wolds From marish, heath, and moor,— To feast in his hall Both free and thrall, Shall come as they came of yore. - - - - - - - Now merrily ring the lady-bells Of the nunnery by the Fosse:— Say the hinds their silver music swells 'Like the blessed angels' syllables, At His birth who bore the cross.'
And solemnly swells Saint Leonard's chime And the great bell loud and deep:— Say the gossips, 'Let's talk of the holy time When the shepherds watched their sheep; And the Babe was born for all souls' crime In the weakness of flesh to weep.'— But, anon, shrills the pipe of the merry mime And their simple hearts upleap.