shop was opened; the eve was kept in merrymakings; and on the day the usual PrayerBook service was held in many churches, in some (e.g. on Garlick Hill) with full ceremonial, and there were no disturbances. The Cavaliers arranged for a big horse-race on Banstead Downs on the 29th; see particulars at length in 'Clarke Papers,' iii. 130.

In 1676 two persons in the parish of St. Nicholas, Durham, opened their shops on Christmas Day, and were therefore brought before the Archdeacon's Court (Granville's 'Diary,' ii. 237). During the "12 daies of Christmas Dean Granville allowed his servants to sit up later than 11 P.M., provided they did not "make it a pretence to lye a bed next morning" (ibid., 155).

"

On Christmas Day, 1714, some boys, sons of Dissenters, got up a mock procession at Croydon, dressed themselves in merry-andrew fashion, with fringes of divers colours tied about them, one riding upon an ass, and so they abused folks going to church at 10 A.M.; see Full Answer to Mr. Pillonniere's Reply to Dr. Snape, in a Letter to the Bishop of Bangor,' by H. Mills, A.M, 1718, ii. 51.

W. C. B.

THE CHRISTMAS BUSH. THERE were no Christmas trees sixty years ago, at least not in country places; but there was the "bush," which hung from the main beam of every house-place in the villages and most houses in towns, the poor people in particular being careful to hang the bush ready for Christmas Eve, seldom before, though portions of days for a whole week previous were occupied in making up the bush, which was called "the Christmas bush" or "kissing bush," both terms often used in one sentence. A modern Christmas tree is perhaps more good for sore eyes to look upon than the older Christmas bush, but the latter was "the better to like," using an old phrase. The old "kissing bush" to a great extent resembled a Christinas tree inverted, especially when it was of large size, and made in the most elaborate fashion. The size of the Christmas bush depended in great measure on the distance of the houseplace beam from the floor, for it had to be sufficiently high to allow couples to kiss under the bunch of mistletoe which always hung from the middle of the bush. There was a third name for it, "the kissing bunch,' and all the names were in regular use at Christmas time, at any rate in Derbyshire. The Christmas bush was the centre of the Christmas-week life, for it was rarely that for less than a week parties of lads, lasses,

and their friends, with children of all sorts and ages, failed to gather each night for fun and frolic, and all this time the kissing bush was the centre of attraction, under which all the kissing forfeits were redeemed.

The Christmas bush was a marvellous production. The foundation generally was a couple of hoops, one inserted within the other; or a young fir of considerable size had a portion of its heart cut out, leaving a space in which hoops could be inserted, the outer branches of the bush hanging downthe reverse of the Christmas tree. In any case the decoration of the hoops was much the same, depending entirely upon the resource of the children of the family. The bars of the hoops were bound round with box, ivy, and yew sprigs, and bits of holly loaded with berries were inserted here and there. The other things used in setting off the bush were bits of coloured paper, with narrow ribbons tied in bows, those of the brightest colours being used. Rosy-cheeked apples, with oranges, were worked into the general design, and here and there were hung various kinds of little gilt and coloured animals and birds-pigs, rabbits, cats, robins, fowls, and ducks. The glass toys, so much used now, were then quite unknown, though coloured bits of glass were used when such could be got. Both outside and inside the bush places for candles were made, and these were lighted on Christmas Eve, if not afterwards.

One feature in the making of the biggestand best Christmas bush was a representation in some way of the Nativity. This was placed just within the bush, and where the lower portion of the hoops crossed. The Child Jesus was shown in cradle, and angels hung just above; but as a rule this part was wanting in detail, though kine sometimes. were shown looking on. These details were always home-made, for nothing of the kind could then be bought, so that there was ample scope for nimble fingers to use a pair of scissors, for all the items were cut from paper.

The Christmas Eve parties were full of fun and frolic, following on a good supper of Christmas cheer notable for variety and abundance. And the foundation of this cheer was mainly the Christmas pig, killed a week or so before, and its parts worked up into. pies, pork and mince, and even chitterlings were set upon the table, for with many this was a dish only to be had at the pig-killing: time, which was at Christmas. For drinks there were home-made wines-the elder for

choice-ale mulled and otherwise, and aleposset, this last the drink of the evening. Then the games, a bit of dancing if there was room for it, hunt the slipper, turn trencher, "Neighbour, neighbour, I've come to torment you," ," "Do as I do," with various forfeit games. The "forfeits " were the best liked because most of the sentences imposed wound up with kissing beneath the mistletoe hanging from the middle of the Christmas bush. The forfeits were not, however, all of the "bread and cheese and kisses" order; some were mainly unpleasant, and were used as the means of "paying some one out." It was not pleasant for a young man to be ordered, before his sweetheart and all the company assembled, to kneel at the fireplace, look up the chimney, and say :—

Peep, fool, peep, Peep at thy brother: Why mayn't one fool Peep at another!

But such an abasement, with others quite as cutting, had to be done and were done at homely Christmas Eve parties, and none were the worse friends for it afterwards.

Such Christmas Eves were happy times for the old folks sitting in the chimney nooks, with glasses on the hob. The men smoked long churchwarden pipes, looking on with approval, smacking their thighs with a "Dash my wigs !" when any funny incident sent them into hearty laughter. If such could look on a present-day Christmas tree, they would tell us that nothing beats "the Christmas bush." THOS. RATCLIFFE. Worksop.

Saxton, Peter, vicar of Leeds. Christmas Cheere, 1606.-Hunter, S. Yorkshire,' i. 94.

Ludovicus Granatensis, Tractatus...... De mysterio Incarnationis Filij Dei......Colon. Agripp.-12mo (pp. 1-110), 1614.

Havsted, P., M.A. Ten Sermons, 1635.-No. 5, Upon the Day of the blessed Innocents.'

Prideavx, Iohn. D.D., Regius Professor, and Rector of Exeter Colledge. A Christians Free-will Offering. As it was delivered in a Sermon on Christmasse day, at Christ Church in Oxford. Oxford.-Sm. 4to, 15 leaves, on Psalm cx. 3, 1636. Gardyner, Richard, D.D., Canon of Ch. Ch. Sermon preach'd in the cathedrall chvrch of Christ in Oxford, on Christmas Day: wherein is defended

the Catholique Doctrine that Christ is True God ded. to Dr. Duppa, Dean of Ch. Ch. Sm. 4to, 19 Truely Incarnate. Oxford.-On St. John i. 14; leaves, 1638.

Ussher, Iames, Archbishop of Armagh. Immanuel, or the Mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God; unfolded. London.-Ded. to Thomas, Vis-count Wentworth. 4to, 35 leaves, 1638. bration Of the Sacred Nativity of Our Blessed Lord Anonymous. The Feast of Feasts. Or, the Celeand Saviour, Jesvs Christ; Grounded upon the Scriptures, and confirmed by the practice of the Christian Church in all Ages. Oxford, Leonard Lichfield.-Small 4to, 17 leaves, 1644. Copy of an Incarnation Sermon, that should have Bernard, N. The Styll-Borne Nativitie, or A been delivered at St. Margarets-Westminster, on Saturday December the five and twenty, 1647, in the afternoone, but Prevented by the Committee for Preacher, carried him from the Vestry of the said Plunder'd Ministers who sent and seized the Church, and Committed him to the Fleet, for his undertaking to Preach without the License of Parliament. Now Published by the Authoritie of that Scripture which saith, Preach the Word, be instant, in season, out of season. London Printed for their sakes who love our Lord Jesus and his Birth day.-Dated from the Fleet, lanuary 8. 1647;. on St. John i. 14. Sm. 4to, 17 leaves, 1648.

Warmstry, Thomas, D.D. The Vindication of the Solemnity of the Nativity of Christ; Shewing the grounds upon which the Observation of that and other Festivalls is justified in the Church. With a short Answer to certaine Quæries propounded by one Joseph Heming, in opposition to the aforesayd practise of the Church.-Sm. 4to, 14 leaves, no place, 1648.

66

Pastor Fido." Festorvm Metropolis. The Metropolitan Feast. Or the Birth-Day Of Our Saviour Jesus Christ, Annually to be kept holy by them that call upon him in all Nations. Proved by Scriptures, the practice of the Church Primitive, and Reformed; the Testimonies of the Fathers, and Modern Divines; strong Reasons, grounded on the Word of God; confirming Miracles; &c. Written by Pastor Fido. London: Printed by Matthew Simmons. -Sm. 4to, 43 leaves, 1652. Dedication, signed B, to John Dutton, of Sheirborne, co. Glouc., esq., who sheltered him during exile; defends baies and rosemary," and quotes Fisher's 'Christian plum-pottage and minc'd pies,. Caveat.'

64

Woodward, Hezekiah. Christmas Day, the Old Heathens Festive Day in honour of Saturn their Idol God, the Papists Massing Day, the True

Christian Mau's Fasting Day. 1656.

Anonymous. Against the Observation of a Dayin memory of Christs birth, written in 1659, and now tendred to the consideration of all sober and serious Persons, this present Decemb. 1660, by a reverend Divine.-12mo, 4 leaves, no separate title or imprint.

"Friar John." A Sermon preached by Fryer John, curate of Colignac in France. Upon the Feast of Epiphanie, commonly called Twelfth Day. London.-Sm. 4to, 4 leaves, 1680.

Stratford, N., D.D., Dean of St. Asaph. Sermon before the King at White Hall on Christmas Day, 1682. London.-4to, 17 leaves (on Rom. viii. 3),. 1683.

Gower, Humfrey, D.D., Master of St. John's Coll., Cambridge. Sermon before the King at

Et ne publions pas que je ne suis qu'un sot."
Un mois après, par aventure,
En devisant sur la verdure,
Devant le traître confident,

Il se vanta, l'amour est imprudent,
Qu'il avait fait une maîtresse

Aux environs. "Vas-tu la voir souvent?
Dit le fin oiseleur, que le cas intéresse.

-Une fois chaque jour; encor n'est-ce pas tant
Que je voudrais.-Est-elle jeune et belle?

-Oui, monsieur.-Où demeure-t-elle ?
-Oh! palsangué! nous y voilà,

Sans doute, et ce n'est pas pour enfiler des perles
Que vous me demandez cela ;

A d'autres, dénicheur de merles!"

At one time dénicheur de fauvettes or de moineaux was applied to a chevalier d'industrie, or a person keenly alive to his own interests, and not to be trusted.

Il ne faut pas mettre tous ses œufs dans un panier.-This phrase has, of course, its English literal equivalent, but the following rime by Boursault is a good illustration of its meaning :

Un homme avait des œufs, et voulait s'en défaire;
Pour ne pas à la foire arriver des derniers,
Quoiqu'il pût en remplir trois ou quatre paniers,
Il mit tout dans un seul, et ne pouvait pis faire.
Sa mule, qui suait sous le poids d'un fardeau
Fragile comme du verre,

Pour en décharger sa peau

A quatre pas de là donna du nez en terre.
Hélas! s'écria l'homme, à qui son désespoir

Inspira de vains préambules,

Que n'ai-je mis mes œufs sur trois ou quatre mules!
Je mérite un malheur que je devais prévoir.
Si le cicl veut me permettre

De faire encor le métier,
Je jure de ne plus mettre

Tous mes œufs dans un panier.

Graisser la patte.-To use palm-oil, bribe. According to La Mésangère, this phrase is found in a fabliau of the thirteenth century, from which he gives an extract :

"Une vieille femme avait deux vaches qui la faisaient subsister. Elles entrèrent un jour dans les pâturages du seigneur, et y furent saisies par son prévôt. La bonne femme à l'instant courut au château supplier cet officier de les lui rendre. Il fit entendre qu'il lui fallait de l'argent; et celle-ci, qui n'avait rien à donner, s'en revint bien désolée. En chemin elle rencontra une de ses voisines, qu'elle consulta sur son malheur. Il faut en passer par ce qu'il demande, lui dit l'autre, et vous résoudre à lui graisser la patte. La vieille, qui était fort simple, n'y entendit pas finesse; et prenant le conseil à la lettre, elle mit dans sa poche un vieux morceau de lard, et retourna au château. Le seigneur se promenait devant sa porte, les mains derrière le dos. Elle s'avance doucement sur la pointe du pied, et lui frotte les mains avec son lard. Il se retourne pour lui demander ce qu'elle fait: 'Ah! monseigneur, s'écrie-t-elle en se jetant à genoux, le prévôt a saisi mes deux vaches dans votre pré, et l'on m'a dit que si je voulais les ravoir, il fallait lui graisser la patte. Je venais pour cela; mais comme je vous ai vu à la porte, et que vous êtes son maître

WAITS. (See 10th S. ii. 503.) — In 1679 musition,' Nathan Harrison, "afterwards described as wait," was admitted a freeman of York, "gratis" (Surt. Soc., vol. cii. 152, 218). Many minstrels, musicians, and harpers are mentioned in the same volume. The late Robert Davies, town clerk of York, supplied notes on the city waits in Marmaduke Rawdon' (Camd. Soc.), where it is recorded that the waits of Linlithgow, in 1664, had drums and bagpipes (pp. 136, 137).

W. C. B. CHRISTMAS PIG'S - HEAD SUPPER.-It is a long time since I was present at a Christmas But such suppers were pig's-head supper. common enough at this season when I was a lad, and in many houses the Christmas pig's head was served at this meal, roasted generally, but sometimes boiled, and was looked upon as a great treat. It seems to me that the Christmas pig's head in the poorer houses was an imitation of the boar's head in the greater houses.

Worksop.

THOS. RATCLIFFE.

BLACK CAT FOLK-LORE.-For a black cat, a strange one, to enter a house without an invitation is considered to be a piece of good luck, if the cat is not driven out, but allowed to remain until it goes of its own will. Any kind of black cat brings good luck under such conditions, but if the cat has not a white hair to show, the good luck is stronger. This, with variations, is a pretty general belief.

But there is another phase in which the appearance of a black cat in a sudden fashion is a portent of death-the worst of luck. This, however, necessitates the sudden appearance of the black cat out of doors. It is the women folk who note and speak of such things as a rule, and so far it does not seem that men are troubled in this way.