Old Christmas Customs, Superstitions, &C.

hires which distinguish them from the rest exist rather in name than in reality . Formerly there seem to havo been the general rejoicings , which lasted throughout the whole- of the season , and at the same time special customs and observances peculiar to some of the more prominent days . Thns the revels over which presided the Lord , or , as ho was sometimes called , the Abbot of Misrule , lasted tho greater

part of the holidays ; so did the ceremonial connected with the election and reign of the Boy Bishop , an institution said to havo been derived from the Festival of Fools . On tho other hand , tho King of the Bean ruled only on Twelfth Day , having been elected to his office the evening previous , while the King of the Cockneys was duly honoured on Childermas or Innocents' Day . Bnt to give a description of some of these old customs .

Many writers are of opinion that the Lord of Misrnle was peculiar to England , foreigners especially considering him a personage rarely "to be met with out of our conntry . Strntt , however , thinks he was " well known on the Continent , where he probably received his first honours , " and ho adds , " In this kingdom his power and his dignities suffered no diminution ; but on the

contrary , were established by royal authority , and continued after they had ceased to exist elsewhere . Bnt even with ns his government has been extinct for many years , and his name and offices are nearly forgotten . " Holinshed , with reference to Christmas , speaks of it as "what time thero is always ono appointed to make sporte at conrte , called commonly lorde of misrule , whose office is not unknown

to such as have bene brought np in noblemen's houses , and among great housekeepers which use liberal feasting in tho season . " Stow writes , " At the feast of Christmas , in the King ' s Conrt , wherever he chanced to reside , there was appointed a lord of misrnle , or master of merry disports ; the same merry fellow made his appearance at tho house of every nobleman and person of distinction , and among the

rest the lord mayor of London and the sheriffs , had severally of them their lord of misrule ever contending , without qnarrel or offence , who shonld make the rarest pastimes to delight tho beholders . The pageant potentate began his rule nt Allhallow Eve , and continued the same till tho morrow after tho Feast of tho Purification , in which space there were fine and subtle disgnisings , masks , and

mummeries . Occasionally , it happened , as in the fifth year of Edward "VT . ' s reign that a gentleman of position and ability was appointed to preside over the pastimes . On this occasion it was a certain George Ferrers , who was a lawyer , a poet , and an historian , of whom Holinshed remarks , " And ho being of better calling than commonly his predecessors had been before received all his commissions

and warrauntes by the name of master of tho Kinge ' s pastimes ; which gentleman so well supplied his office both of show and snndry sights , and devises of rare invention , and in act of divers interludes , and matters of pastime , played by persons , as not only satisfied tho common sort , but also wero vorie well liked , and allowed by the Council and others of skill in lyke pastimes ; but best by the young

king himselfe , ns appeared by his princely libnralitie in rewarding that service . " On the other hand , Philip Stnbbs , in his "Anatomio of Abuses , " speaks in tho reverse of complimentary terms , showing how " the wilde heades of the parish- . . . chuse them a graund captainc of mischiefe , whom thoy innoble with the title of Lord of Misrule , and him they crown with great solemnity and adopt for

their king . " The newly " annoynted " sovereign chooses a number of followers like himself , who are invested with their liveries and bedeck themselves " with FcarfFcs , ribbons , and laces , hanged all over with gold ringes , pretions stones , and other jewels , " as well as with bells on their legs , nitcl " rich handkerchiefes in their handes , and sometimes laid nerosso over their shoulders and necks , borrowe I , for the most , part , of their pretie Mopssis

and loving Bossies . " A procession is formed , and they march to the chnrch with " their hobbyhorses , their dragons , and other antiques , " as well as with their pipers and their thnndoring drnmmers , "danncing and st ' nging like devils incarnate . " Those who gfive them no money were " mocked and flouted shamefnily , " many being " dived over heade and eares in water , or otherwise most horribly abnsed . "

At Cambridge the functions of Lord of Misrule were entrusted to a Master of Arts , who was regularly elected to superintend tho annual representation of Latin plays by the students , and also took general charge of their games and diversions during the Christmas season . Ho was styled Jwpcrafor , or Prefect us Lndorum . A similar custom

prevailed at Oxford , and tho Templars regarded the office as an honourable one , while in 1035 this mock representative of royalty is said to have expended in the discharge of his duties no less a sum that £ 2 , 000 out of his own purse . In consideration of this irinnificence he was knighted nt the close of his brief reign by Charles I . at Whitehall .

Richard Evelyn , father of the famous anthor cf the " Diary , " and a Deputy Lientcnant for Surrey and Sussex , has left on rcco d his rnles defining the functions of a Christmas Lord of Misrule on his estate at Wootton : — "Imprimis , I give free leave to Owen Flood , my trumpeter , gentleman , to bo Lord of Misrule of all good ( ri ders during the twelve days . And , also , I give free leave to the said Owen Flood to command all and every person or persons whatsoever , as well servants as others , to bo at his command whenever he shall

sound his trumpet or music , aud to do hint good service , as though I were present myself , at thoir perils . . . I give full power and faithority to his lordship to break np all locks , bolts , bars , doors , and latches , and to fling tip all doors ont of hinges , to come at those who presume to disobey his lordship ' s command . God save the King . " The custom of electing and investing tho Boy Bishop was , r . s has been suggested , derived from the Festival of Fools , and is traceable

as far back ns tho fourteenth century . One of the choir , habited ir episcopal vestments , took the title of Bishop on tho Feast of Sfc Nicholas ( Gth December ) , or that of the Innocents ( 28 th December ) . or both . His fellows , dressed like priests , obeyed him , ami ho performed all tho offices of a bishop and his prebendaries , except that o ( the mass . Tho custom was abolished by proclamation of the Kitty aud Council in 1512 .

Old Christmas Customs, Superstitions, &C.

Strntt , quoting from Dngdale , makes mention of tho Society of Lincoln ' s Inn having had anciently an officer , chosen at this season , who was honoured with the title of King of Christmas Day , because ) he presided in tho hall npon that day . This temporary potentate had a Marshal and a Steward to attend upon him . Tho marshal , in tho absence of the monarch , was permitted to assume his state , and

upon New Year ' s Day he sat as king in the hall , when the Master of the Revels , during tho time of dining , supplied tho marshal ' s place . Upon Childermas , or Innocents' Day , they had another officer , dene , minated tho King of tho Cockneys , who also presided on the day of his appointment , and had his inferior officers to wait upon him . Another quaint old custom , which still survives in a modified form ,

is associated with the King of the Bean , whose reign commenced on the vigil of tho Epiphany , or tho day itself , 6 th Jannary . " It was a common Christmas gambol in both our Universities , and continned "—at the commencement of last century— "to be used in other places , to give the name of king or queen to that person whose extraordinary good luck it was to hit upon that part of a divided

cake which was honoured above tho others by having a bean in it . " According to another version , derive *! from an old Calendar of tho Romish Chnrch , and referred to by the anthor we are quoting , " On the fifth of Jannary , the vigil of tho Epiphany , the Kings of tho Bean are created ; and on the sixth the feast of the kings shall bo held , and also of the queen , and let tho banqneting bo continued for

many days . " It appears from an entry in a Computus of the 8 th year of Edward III . that in that year " this majestic title was con . ferred npon one of the king ' s minstrels . " At least there is in it an entry to the effect that " sixty shillings "—a very considerable sum in those days—wero given by the king upon the day of tho Epiphmy to B , egan tho trumpeter and his associates , tho Court Minstrels , iu

the name of the King of tho Bean . " Wo havo already referred to Childermas day and the custom in Lincoln's Inn of electing a King of the Cockneys , a person of somo distinction , as Douglas montions an order issued in 1717 by King Henry VIII . regnlating tho service that should be done him and the order to be maintained by his officers . One other custom

thero was , however , the abolition of which our young friends will not regret , namely , that of whipping the children on the morning of this festival , so that " the memorial of Herod ' s murder of the Innocents might stick the closer , and so , in a moderate proportion , to apt over the crueltie again in kinde . " The infliction of snch a memorial may bavo been impressive , but it mnst also have been a little painful .

The day in question , too , was regarded as of ill-omen , and hence the superstition against being married on its anniversary , and also the belief that it was unlucky to put on new clothes , pare the nails , or begin anything of moment . Boxing Day , though it has latterly been elevated to the rank of a Bank Holiday , and enjoys the fnrther honour of inaugurating tho

Pantomime season at the principal theatres , has its drawbacks in the sight of many people . Thocnstom from which it derives its name is not so ancient as somo we have enumerated . Yet as far back as 1731 , we find a writer in a well-known work on London in the eighteenth century recounting his experiences in a somewhat doleful strain . " By that time , " says he , " I was up , my servants conld

do do nothing but run to the door . Inquiring the reason , I was answered , the people wero come for their ' Christmas Box ; ' this was logic to me ; but I fonnd at last that because I had laid ont a great deal of ready money with my brewer , baker , and other tradesmen , they kindly thought it my duty to present their servants with some money for tho favour of having their goods . This provoked me

a little , but being told it was ' the custom , ' I complied . These wero followed by tho watch , tho beadles , dustmen , and an innumerable tribe ; bnt what vexed mo tho most was the clerk , who has an extraordinary place , and makes as good an appearance as most trades , men in the parish ; to see him come a boxing , alias begging , I thought was intolerable : however , I found it was ' the custom , ' too , so I gave

him half-a-crown , as I was likewise obliged to do to tho bellman , for breaking my rest for many nights together . " But even "boxing " may be set down as tolerable , especially when we think of the poorlypaid postmen and others , to whom tho shillings or half CTOWDS we disburse are veritably a godsend . Of the sreneral character of tho festivities we are on the eve of

indulging in we need say little . What they were last year and the year before , that will they be now and for years to come . The spirit of old Father Christmas is unchangeable . No matter how great oi how modest the attractions of tho festive board , his aim is to imbne nil who surround it with the same kindly feeling towards their felloweroattires . Ho knows no distinction of persons , but greets all alike

with the same jovial welcome . And our reception of him is equally jovial . We are glad to see him again among us ; as glad as were our forefathers in their day ; as glad , wo doubt not , as will be our de . scendants . We have little to add , and that little shall take the form of an old sontr , said to be tho first drinking song composed in England , and in

Hone ' s opinion an abridged version of an old Christmas carol in Norman-French , which hns been translated by Mr . Douce . It would he difficult to find a more appropriate conclusion to these jotting s about Christmas . " Lordliness , from a distant home ,

To seek old Christmas are we come , Who loves onr minstrelsy—And here , unless report mis-say , Tiic greybeard dwells ; and on this day Keeps yearly wassel , ever gay With festive mirth and "lee .

" Lordlings , lift , for we tell you true , Christinas loves the jolly crew That cloudy care defy ; His liberal board is deftly sprea : ! With manchefc loaves and wastel bread ; His guests with fish and flesh arc led , Nor lack the stately pye .