Father Christmas, another conception.
Drawing by Kenny Meadows.
Well, Father Christmas did come back to England in the train of Charles I’s son, Charles II who shortly after Cromwell’s death was restored to the English throne by the wish of the majority of the English people.
When he resumed the rule that had been wrested by the Puritans from his father the old celebrations of Christmas were to some extent revived in the royal and other mansions and at the theatres.
“To some extent”—that is too often a sad phrase!
It means, in this case, that pretty much all the life and spirit of the old ceremonies had departed so that no revival could restore them to their former vitality.
The changes wrought by the troublous times through which England had passed were fatal to the old-time splendors of the Christmas season. In the country many of the great old estates had passed into new hands and the old ties between the lord of the manor and his tenants had been forever sundered. The rafters of the old baronial halls no longer rang with the merriment which had graced the meeting of master and servants on a holiday basis of equality. Friends and relatives who from childhood had gathered together around the Yule log were now scattered or had been slain by the chances of war. Members of old country families deprived by Cromwell of their estates and driven into exile, now flocked to London to become hangers-on at the court of a “Merry Monarch” whose mirth was often bought at the expense of his subject’s years.
The Merry Monarch, himself (that was the name given to Charles II), was a prodigal and a spendthrift, who found all sorts of new ways in which to squander the money raised by taxes from his subjects. He had little left, therefore, to imitate the splendid pageants that distinguished the courts of Queen Elizabeth and James I at the ancient holiday seasons.
A famous song called “The Old and Young Courtier” was written shortly after Charles II had regained his throne. It sadly contrasts the good old times and the good old people with the bad new times and the bad new people of the Restoration.
The old courtier is lovingly described as “a worshipful old gentleman who had a great estate,” with a lovely old wife by his side, and a great band of servants around them. Then followed this verse:
With a good old fashion when Christmas was come,