The Sun.
London, England, 1822-12-26 00:00:00

CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES.

We are indebted for the following extract to a
very amusing and instructive annual work, in-
tituled TIME'S TELESCOPE:— •

CHRISTMAS DAY.

This is named Christmas Day, from the Latin Christi Missa,
the Mass of Christ, and thence the Roman Catholic Liturgy is
termed their Missal, or Mass Book. About the year 500, the
observation of this day became general in the Catholic Church.
At this once hospitable season there was "a run of merry
days" frOm Christmas-eve to Candlemas, and the first twelve in
particular were full of triumph and innocent pleasure. But
" every thing is altered" now. The celebration of Christmas,
in modern times, is scarcely worth a record. The middle classes
make it a sorry business of a pudding or so extra, and a game at
cards. The rich invite their rich friends to their country houses :
but the poor are left out entirely, or presented with a few clothes
and eatablesthat make up a wyetched substitute for the hospitable
intercourse of old. To those who have the power (would that
they had the heart !) to do it, we would say—Every face that
you contribute to set sparkling at Christmas is a reflection of that
goodness of nature which generosity helps to uncloud, as the
windows reflect the lustre of the sunny heavens. Every holly
bough and lump of berries with which you adorn your houses, is
a piece of natural piety as well as beauty, and will enable you to
relish the green world of which you shew yourselves not forget-
ful. Every wassail bowl which you set flowing without drunken-
ness, every harmless pleasure, every innocent mirth, however
mirthful, every forgetfulness even of serious things, when they
are only swallowed up in the kindness and joy which it is the
end of wisdom to produce, is
• Wisest, virtuousest, discretest, best.

The 'divine Milton, though a stern reformer, saw nothing to
quarrel with the natural joys of humanity, or in the customs
which they gave rise to. In a Latin epistle to his friend Deo-
dati, he countenances all the merriments of Christmas. He is
recorded as having kept "gaudy days" (holidays) himself;
and in his affectionate elegy on the death of the same friend,
does not disdain to regret the pleasure they used to have in
roasting pears and chesnuts during the long winter evenings,
while the wind was thundering through the elm-trees out of
doors.
Many of the amusing Christmas ceremonies of olden tyme'
in England are described in our previous volumes. Mr. Weistle-'
craft afibrds us a delightful picture of the substantial entertain-
ments given in the days of good King Arthur, which is deli-
neated with all the minute accuracy and high finishing of a
Mieris or a Gerard Douw :
The great King Arthur made a sumptuous feast,
And held his Royal Christmas at Carlisle,
And thither came the vassals, most and least,
From every corner of the British Isle;
And all were entertained, both man and beast,
According to their rank, in proper style ;
The steeds were fed and littered in the stable,
The ladies and the knights sat down to table.
The bill of fare as you may well suppose)
Was suited to those plentiful old times,
Before our modern luxuries arose,
With truffles, and ragouts, and various crimes ;
And therefore, from the original in prose
I shall arrange the catalog* in rhymes :
They served up salmon, venison, and wild boars
By hundreds, and by dozens, and by scores.
Hogsheads of honey, kilderkins of mustard,
Muttons, and fatted beeves, and bacon swine ;
Herons and bitterns, peacock, swan, and bustard,
Teal, mallard, pigeons, widgeons, and in fine
Plum-puddings, pancakes, apple-pies, and custard :
And therewithal they drank good Gascon wine,
With mead, and ale, and cider of our own;
For porter, punch, and negus, were not known.
The noise and uproar of the scullery tribe,
All pilfering and scrambling in their calling,
Was past all powers of
Language. to describe—

All sorts of people there were seen together,
All sorts of characters, all sort of dresses ;
The fool with fox's tail and peacock's feather.
Pilgrims, and penitents, and grave burgesses ;
The country people with their coats of leather,
Vintners and victuallers with cans and messes;
Grooms, archers, varlets, falconers, and yeomen,
Damsels and waiting-maids, and waiting-women.

The Christmas ceremonies at Naples are described at some
length in our last volume, pp. 303-305. To this account may
now be added the following custom on the day preceding Ch-ist-
mas-day. The city then makes a present to the King of fruit
and birds ; this oaring, which consists of every fruit that the
country produces, and of every bird which supplies the table,
is arranged on several pyramids, and cirried in procession down
the principal street to the palace. The fruits are the most ex-
cellent of the kind, and the quantity is generally enormous.