Part 34 (1/2)
_CHAPTER XI._
MODERN CHRISTMASES AT HOME.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE WAITS.]
KING GEORGE THE THIRD
came to the throne on the death of his grandfather, George II.
(October 25, 1760), and the first Christmas of his reign ”was a high festival at Court, when his Majesty, preceded by heralds, pursuivants, &c., went with their usual state to the Chapel Royal, and heard a sermon preached by his Grace the Archbishop of York; and it being a collar day, the Knights of the Garter, Thistle and Bath, appeared in the collars of their respective orders. After the sermon was over, his Majesty, Prince Edward and Princess Augusta went into the Chapel Royal, and received the sacrament from the hands of the Bishop of Durham; and the King offered the byzant, or wedge of gold, in a purse, for the benefit of the poor, and the royal family all made offerings.
His Majesty afterwards dined with his royal mother at Leicester House, and in the evening returned to St. James's.”[79]
At this period
THE FAVOURITE CHRISTMAS DIVERSION
was card-playing. The King himself spent a great deal of his time in playing at cards with the ladies and gentlemen of his court. In doing so, however, he was but following the example of George II., of whom the biographer already quoted (Mr. Huish) says:--
”After the death of Queen Caroline, the King was very fond of a game at cards with the Countess of Pembroke, Albemarle, and other distinguished ladies. His attachment to cards was transferred to his attachment for the ladies, and it was said that what he gained by the one he lost by the other.” Cards were very much resorted to at the family parties and other social gatherings held during the twelve days of Christmas. Hone makes various allusions to card-playing at Christmastide, and Was.h.i.+ngton Irving, in his ”Life of Oliver Goldsmith,” pictures the poet ”keeping the card-table in an uproar.”
Mrs. Bunbury invited Goldsmith down to Barton to pa.s.s the Christmas holidays. Irving regrets ”that we have no record of this Christmas visit to Barton; that the poet had no Boswell to follow at his heels, and take notes of all his sayings and doings. We can only picture him in our minds, casting off all care; enacting the Lord of Misrule; presiding at the Christmas revels; providing all kinds of merriment; keeping the card-table in an uproar, and finally opening the ball on the first day of the year in his spring-velvet suit, with the Jessamy Bride for a partner.”
From the reprint additions made in the British Museum large paper copy of Brand's ”Antiquities,” by the late Mr. Joseph Haslewood, and dated January, 1779, we quote the following verses descriptive of the concluding portion of the Christmas festivities at this period:--
TWELFTH DAY.
Now the jovial girls and boys, Struggling for the cake and plumbs, Testify their eager joys, And lick their fingers and their thumbs.
Statesmen like, they struggle still, Scarcely hands kept out of dishes, And yet, when they have had their fill, Still anxious for the loaves and fishes.
Kings and Queens, in petty state, Now their sovereign will declare, But other sovereigns' plans they hate, Full fond of peace--detesting war.
One moral from this tale appears, Worth notice when a world's at stake; That all our hopes and all our fears, Are but a _struggling for the_ Cake.
Other particulars of the
POPULAR CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES
in the latter part of the eighteenth century are gleaned from contemporary writers:--
”At Ripon, on Christmas Eve, the grocers, send each of their customers a pound or half of currants and raisins to make a Christmas pudding.
The chandlers also send large mould candles, and the coopers logs of wood, generally called _Yule clogs_, which are always used on Christmas Eve; but should it be so large as not to be all burnt that night, which is frequently the case, the remains are kept till old Christmas Eve.”[80]
In Sinclair's Account of Scotland, parish of Kirkden, county of Angus (1792), Christmas is said to be held as a great festival in the neighbourhood. ”The servant is free from his master, and goes about visiting his friends and acquaintance. The poorest must have beef or mutton on the table, and what they call a dinner with their friends.
Many amuse themselves with various diversions, particularly with shooting for prizes, called here _wad-shooting_; and many do but little business all the Christmas week; the evening of almost every day being spent in amus.e.m.e.nt.” And in the account of Keith, in Banffs.h.i.+re, the inhabitants are said to ”have no pastimes or holidays, except dancing on Christmas and New Year's Day.”
Boyhood's Christmas Breaking-up is thus described in a poem ent.i.tled ”Christmas” (Bristol, 1795):--
”A school there was, within a well-known town, (Bridgwater call'd), in which the boys were wont, At _breaking-up_ for Christmas' lov'd recess, To meet the master, on the happy morn, At early hour; the custom, too, prevail'd, That he who first the seminary reach'd Should, instantly, perambulate the streets With sounding horn, to rouse his fellows up; And, as a compensation for his care, His flourish'd copies, and his chapter-task, Before the rest, he from the master had.
For many days, ere breaking-up commenced, Much was the clamour, 'mongst the beardless crowd, Who first would dare his well-warm'd bed forego, And, round the town, with horn of ox equipp'd, His schoolmates call. Great emulation glow'd In all their b.r.e.a.s.t.s; but, when the morning came, Straightway was heard, resounding through the streets, The pleasing blast (more welcome far, to them, Than is, to sportsmen, the delightful cry Of hounds on chase), which soon together brought A tribe of boys, who, thund'ring at the doors Of those, their fellows, sunk in Somnus' arms, Great hubbub made, and much the town alarm'd.