The Mistletoe.

—the consummation of the heaven-sent message—all ? " Yes ! " I was nearly saying ; but even as my eye wandered for a moment from the bough of Mirth , I began to detect a latent SOITOAV beneath every laughing mask . Grandsire and grandame ,

Avith their recollections of departed friends ; father and mother , with their blighted hopes ; young men and maidens , Avith their broken troths ; the very children , Avith their tiny disappointments ; all Avith some drop of SOITOAV in their cup of happiness ;

for to one and all had come already the rude dispelling of their fancied dream of happiness ; to old and young " all things were not as they seemed . " Pondering , then , Avhere true happiness could be found , if not here , once more my

eye lighted on the Mistletoe , and as I gazed the scene changed : — No longer from Mary ' s voice alone , but from a band of minstrels , came tho refrain : — " GoodAvill ' mongst men ! " and men enough there Avere in all conscience , but in Avhat strangely altered garb—no

longer the sober black of our ordinary evening dress , but of every hue in the rainbow ; no longer serious broad-cloth , but silks and satins , damasks and velvets ; and of Avhat fashions , too—doublets and truiikhose , ruffs , frills , and furbeloAvs Avithout end . Nor Avas the chamber any longer

the same—vanished Avas the smoothly whitewashed ceiling with its centre fioAver , from which the bough depended , and instead beams and planks of chesnut and of dark old oak ; vanished the modern papered Availsand instead the hihdark

, g , , Avainscoat—dark with many a generation ' s seasoning ; vanished eA'en the dearly-loved chimney-corner , with its expanse of glass and gilding , its mantel of polished marble , and its grate , glowing with the bright coal fire , and instead the heavy Avooden panelling ,

grim with its massive carving , and the firedogs Avith their logs of blazing Avood , Avhich sent many a crackling burst of sparks up the Avide dark cavern of a chimney . But Avhat was that pushing towards the hearth ? and that boisterous rush of men , shouting-:

—" Welcome be ye that are here , Welcome all , and make good cheer , Welcome all , another year , Welcome Yule !" Why , the bringing in ol the yule-log ,

destined for many a long day past to grace Avith its grateful glow this Avell-kept festival ! Soon there succeeded the mummers and the morris-dancers , hot-cockles , and slioethe-Avild-mare , aud many another Christmas sport , until at last the Wassail-bowl came in , and its bearers sang , Avhilst round it went right lovingly : —

" It is a noble part To bear a liberal mind ; God bless our master ' s heart ! For here we comfort find , With our Wassail . " Much joy betide them all ,

Our prayers shall be still , We hope , and ever shall , For this your great good-will To our Wassail . " Surely , here is peace of heart , boisterous though be the outward seeming ; herein

, this manor-hall is true " goodwill ' mongst men" displayed and felt ? Once more , as if to an oracle , to the Mistletoe my eager eye turned for an answer . What . ' No ? Hardly a heart beats iu the breasts of all those seemingly . grateful servitorsbut

, broods over some fancied wrong or act of tyranny . The privileged hour of license of those merry mummers is as fleeting as those crackling sparks ; and , as the last drops of tho Avassail-bowl are drained , so soon Avill this transient feast-day reach its

end , and but the dregs of another year of bitter toil remain behind . Nay , more , eveu that gentle lady ' s heart is wrung with the ingratitude of a rebellious daughter , and the miseries fresh Avronght by her loved but scapegrace son . Whilst yet again , the bitter tooth of that serpent envy sorely galls the proud spirit of the baron slighted and passed over by his sovereign

pnuce . " Good will" —not yet , dear bough ?—Again the scene changed : —the lights , the fire were gone , and I Avas rucking my way by the light of the moon over a dreary plain . The oaken Avails had vanished , and sotoohad the baronial halland I Avas

, , , passing beneath a rude archway into an immense circular space surrounded by tAvelve pairs of upright stones , bearing rude lintels of the same unhewn material ; beneath each arch stood its allotted guardian , armed to repel the intrusion of