The Sun.
London, England, 1822-12-30 00:00:00

U B ICATION S.

This Day was plihlished,
In Three Volume., Octavo, price 365.
The Third Edit'.On, of
THE LIFE of the Right Honourable WIL,
• LIAM 'PITT.
By GEORGE TOMLIN E, D.D. Lord Bishop of WIN-
CHESTER.
Printed fur John Min ray, Alhemarte,treet.

This Day %vele published, in foolscap iivo. price Ss.,
The Second Edition, of
CONFESSION'S of an ENGLISH OPIUM
EATER.

•‘ It is long since we have passed an evening of slush en-
chaining interest as that which Ce owe to-the Confessions of
an
.English Opitun Eater."
(Quarterly Review, July, 1822.)
Printed for Taylor and Hessey, 93, Fleet-street.
The LONDON MAGAZINE for January Ist, contains
No- I. of a Series of Letters to a Young Man whose Educa-
tion has been neglected, lay the English Opium Eater.

NVESTALL'S ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE SKETCH.
BOOK.
E .LITERARY SPECULUM for January
contains the'first of a Series of Illustrations of the Sketch
P.ook. The subject is the Pride of the Village. The whole
from .the pencil of R. Westall, Esq., ILA., and engraved in
the line manner in the best style. • -This number contains the
following original articles :-
1. On the Story of the Pride of the- Village in the. Sketch
Book. 2. Christmas, in times past and .present. 3. The De-
mon's Isle. 4. Scholastic Rerruniscenes, No. I.—The Tutors.
5. On the Character of Juliet and some of its Representatives.
6. On Chess-playing. 7. My Fire-side. 8. Sonnet. 0. On
the Opinion we tbrm of Authors from their Writings. 10.
-Song. 11. The Lottery of Life. 12. The Encounter, a
Northumbrian Tale. 13. Mark Adrian. 14. On Lord Byron's
Werner, and Lord Russell's Don Carlos. 15. On David's
Picture of Napoleon's Coronation.-16. Characteristic Memoirs
of the late Evan Evergreen, Gent. 17. The Cormorant, a
civic sketch.

London : Published by Goodier, 5, New-street, Covent-
Gard en.

E MONTHLY CENSOR, No. V 1
will be published on the Ist of January next, price
2s. (hi.; containing, among. other Artieles.
THEOLOtiY—Belsham's Translation of St. Pant's Epis-
tles—Bishop of Calcutta's Charges—Bishop of Llaidatf's Ser.
MCM—Dran of Peterborough's Sermon—Glen on t he Sabbat h.
POLITY—:Lowe on the present State of England—Con-
sumption of Polslic Wealth by the Clergy—Campbell's Let-
ter on Ditto—Eutope by an American—Cohsiderations on the
Marriage Act—jour by the Author of Sketches and Frag-
ments.

PHYSlCS—Conyheare and Philips' Geology of Eng.'and—
Bergethis on the 131 ow Pipe—Sir G. Blane's Essays—Dun-
glisson on Moxa.
Plll,ol.oGY—Clarke's River Derwent—Reddoes'
Tragedy—Brooke's Retrospecrion--Singnlarit3— Sketches
and Fr a,'ni ,ents—New England Tale—Llorente oo Gil Mai.
Printed for F. C. and J. Rivington, Saint Paul's Wireli-
yard, and Waterloo-place, Pall Mall ; and G. and W. B.. Whi-
ttaker, Ave Mai iadane.

***The FIRST VOLUME is just completed, comprising
the Past Seven Numbers, price tss, boards.

ANCIENT CHRISTMAS CAROLS.

Extracted from a publication of Mr. DAvty.s
GILBERT, M.P. for Bodmin, who has taken the
pains to collect these pleasing " specimens of
times now passed al way, and of religious feelings
superseded by those of a different cast."

" These carols or Christmas songs were chanted to the tunes
accompanying them, in churches on Christmas-day, and in
privaie houses on Christmas-eve, throtighout the West.of Eng-
land, up to the latter part of the last century.
" The editor is anxious also to preseve them, on account of
the delight they afforded him in his childhood ; when- the
festivities of Christmas-eve were anticipated by many days of
preparation, and prolonged through several weeks by repeti-
tions and remembrances.

". Christmas-day, like every other great festival, has prefixed
,to it in the calendar a Vigil or Fast ; and in Catholic countries
mass is still celebrated at midnight after Christmas-eve, when
austerities cease, and rejoicings of all kinds succeed. Shadows
of these customs were, till very lately, preserved in the Pro-
testant West of England. The day of Christmas-eve was
passed in an ordinary manner ; but at seven or eiglit o'clock in
the evening, cakes were drawn hot from the oven ; cider or
beer exhilarated the spirits in every house; and the -singing of
carols was continued late into the night. On Christmas-day
these carols took the place at psalms in all the churches, espe_
chilly at afternoon service, the whole congregation joining ; and
.at the end it was usual for the parish-clerk to declare, in a loud
voice, his wishes for a merry Christmas and a happy new year
to all the parishioners. •
" None of the sports or gambols, so fre9uently practised on
subsequent days, ever mixed themselves with. the religious ob-
servances of Christmas-eve. Two of the sports most used in
Cornwall were, the one a metrical play, exhibiting the success-
ful prowess of Saint George exerted against a ..Nialiametan ad-
versary ; the other, a less aignified.representation of some trans.
actions at a market or fair.

" In the first, St. George enters accoutred with complete
armour, and exlaims,
" Here come I Saint George,
That valiant champion bold,
And with my sword and spear,
I've won three crowns of gold.
•
I slew the Dragon he
And brought him to the slaughter,
By which I gained fair Sabra,
The King of Egypt's daughter'.
" The Pagan enters.
" Here come I the Turkish knight,
Come from the Turkish land to fight,
a aa,* a a a
*a a" bold,
And if your blood is hot,
I soon will make it cold.'
" They fight, the Turkish Knight falls, and rising on one knee,'
" Oh ! pardon me, Saint George,
Oh ! pardon me, I crave,
Oh ! give me but my life, • •
And I will be thy slave.'
" Saint George, however, again strikes him down ; but, im-
mediately relenting, calls out,
" Is there no Doctor to be'found,
To cure a deep and deadly-wound ?'
" A Doctor enters, declaring that he has a small phial filled
with the juice of some particular plant, capable ()fret:ailing any
one to life ; he tries, however, and fails : when St. George kills.
him, enraged by his want of success. Soon after this the Turk-
ish Knight appears perfectly well ; and, having been fully con-
vinced of his errors, by the strength of St. George's arm, he
becomes a Christian, and the scene closes.
" The fair or market usually followed, as a farce. Several
persons arranged on benches were sometimes supposed to sell
corn; and one applying to each seller in his turn inquired the
price, using a set form of words, to be ,:tnswered in a • corre-
sponding manner. If any error were committed, a grave per-
sonage was introduced with much ceremony, grotesquely pr-
tired, and provided with a large stick ; who, after stipulating
for some-ludicrous reward, such as a gallon of moonlight, pro-
ceeded to shoe the untamed colt, by striking the person in error
on the sole of the foot.

" For an ample•acconnt of various customs end- ceremonies
practised at Christmas in former periods, the reader .is referred
to Brand's Observations in Popular Antiquities,' edited by
Henry Ellis,. F.R.S., and Secretary of the Society of . Anti-
quaries, 2 vols. 4to; and to,' The elavisJohn
Brady, 2 vols. Bvo. In each of these works will be found a
very curious dissertation on the word yule, the name of a Pagan
festival, which has passed into most European languages, to de-
nominate Christmas. The French nod is obviously rived
from from this word, and appears corrupted into "Now Well,' when
it forms a part of the chorus in tbe fourth carol; and perhaps
indicates the whole to be.a translation. •

* Some ancient Christmas earols, > with the times to >whiet
they were formerly sung in. -the. West, of tEngland.
_Coll►c;ed
by Davis Gilbert, Esti. F. 8,5., F.A.S., tte. tifo,

CORONERS' INQUESTS.