The Sun.
London, England, 1823-12-25 00:00:00

KEEPING CHRISTMAS

PUTTING/TAM, A writer of Queen ELIZABETH'S
days, in his " Art of English Poesie," speaking
of the country custom of keeping Christmas near
that period, tells us, that supper, at Christmas,
was succeeded by gambols of various sorts, and
sometimes the 'Squire. and his family would
mingle in the amusements, or retiring to the ta•
pestried parlour, would leave the ball to the more
boisterous mirth of his household. "Then," say he,
" would the blind harper, who sold his fit ofinirai
for a groat, be introduced, either to provoke the
dance, or to rouse their wonder by his minstrelsy;
his matter being for the most part stories of olden
time—as the tale of Sir Topas, the Iteporte4 of
Bevis of Southampton, Guy Earl of Warwicke,
Adam Bell, and tilyrnme of the Clough, and such
other old romances or historical rimes, made pur-
posely for recreation of the common people at
Christmasse dinners and brideales !"

At this early period it was getting to be no un-
common thing for country gentlemen to spend their
Christmas in London, an innovation which several
authors complain of, and which seems by no means
to have met with Queen Klizabeth's approval.
This we learn from a letter in 44 Lodge's Illustra-
tions of English History." It is written by Ser-
geantFleetwood to the Earl of Derby,New Year's
Day, 1589, and contains the following passage :
" The gentlemen of Norff. and Suffolk, were com-
manded to dep'te from London before Xterumasse,
and to repaire to their counties, and there to
keepe hospitalitie amongest their neighboures."
What was called summing or disguising—that
is, dressing in masquerade, was then un old cue.
tom at Christmas time, and was kept up for many
years afterwards. These sports extended to
royalty, and were exhibited occasionally with
great displays of grandeur. History informs us,
that King Henry IV. keeping his Christmas at
Eltham, twelve of the Aldermen of London,and
their sons, rode a mumming, and bad great
thanks ; and numerous similar instances are men-
tioned at the " Christmassings" of our early Mo-
narchs. In " Fenns Pastons Letters," in a let-
ter dated Dec. 24,1484, we read that Lady Mor-
ley, on account of the death of her Lord, idthe
preceding July, directing what sports were to
be used in her house at Christmas, ordered that,
" there were none disguising:, nor harping, nor lut-
ing, nor singing, nor any loud disports; but playing
at the tables, and chess, and cards; such disports
she gave her people leave to play, and none other."
Among the common people in the country, this
diversion consisted in changing clothes between
men and women, who, when dressed in each
other's habits, went from one neighbour's house
to another, partaking of Christmas cheer, and
making merry with them in disguise.
In the tract " Round about our Coal Fire, or
Christmas Entertainments," written in the reign
of Charles 11. it is observed of this amusement :
"Then comes mummings or masquerading, when
the master's wardrobe is ranksacked for dresses
of all kinds. Corks are burnt to black the faces
of the fair, or make deputy-mustucios, and every,
one in the family, except the master himself,
must be transformed." This account further says,
" The time of the year being cold and frosty,
the diversions are within doors ; either in exer.
cise or by the fire side. Dancing is one of the
chief exercises : or else there is a match of blind-
man's buff, or puss in the corner. The next game
is questions and commands ; when the commander
may oblige his subject to answer any lawful
question, and make time same obey him instantly,
under the penalty of being smutted, or paying
such forfeit as may be laid on the aggressor.
Most of the other diversions are cards and dice."

Bear-baiting appears to have been anciently
one of the Christmas sports of our Nobility.
16 Our Nobles," says Pennant, in his Zoology,
14 also kept their bearward. Twenty shillings
was th• annual ,reward of that officer from his
Lord, the fifth Earl of Northumberland. 6 When
he corny th to my Lord() in Cristmas, with his
Lordshippes beasts for makyng of his Lordship
pastyme the said twelve days.'"
At Rippon, in Yorkshire, on Christmas' Eve
the chandlers used to send large mould candles,
and the coopers logs of wood, generally termed
11 yule logs," which are generally used on Christ.,
mas Eve ; but should one of these logs ho so
large as not to be burnt all that night, which is
frequently the case, the remains are carefully
kept until Old Christmas Eve. With this agrees
the following lines in" Herrick's Mesprerides

Come, bring with a noise, my merry merry boys, *
The Christmas log to the firing, •
While my. good dame she bids you all be free,
And drink to your hearts' desiring.
With the last year's brand light the new block, and
For good successe in his spending;
On your psalteries play, that sweet luck may
Come while the log is a-tending.

And we are informed by the " Provincial
Glossary," that in farm-house• in the north, the
servants lay by a large knotty block for their
Christmas fire, and during the time it lasts they
are entitled, by custom, to ale at their meals.
Andrews (Mist. Great Brit.) mentions " the
humorous pageant of Christmass, personified by
an old man) hung round with sat►oury dainties"
which, he says, in common with " dancing round
the may-pole and riding the hobby-horse, suffer-
ed a severe check at the Reformatich."

This personage was emblematic of the luxu-
rious living at this season, a part of the festivities
In which the ancients seem even to have exceeded
the moderns. Messinger, in his play of the" City
Madam," hints at this sort of feasting in his day
Men may talk of country Chtisitnasses,
Their thirty..pound butter'd fs, their pies of carps tongues,
Their pheasants &cached with anibergrii, the carcasses
Of three fat wailers bruis'd for gravy, to
Make sauce for a single peacock ; yet their feasts
Were fasts, .compar'd with the city's.
Twelve Months" (1661),
And in " SteVeliwn'l!

under the head December, are the following
notices :

" :Now capons and hens, besides turkeys,
geese, ducks, with beef and mutton, must all die ;
for in twelve days a multitude of people wilt not
be fad with a little. Now plumbes„ and spice,
sugar and honey, square it among pies and broth.
Now a journeyman cares not a rush for his mas-
ter, though be begs his plum-porridge all the
twelve days. Now or never must the music be
in tune, for the youth must dance and sing to gat
them a-heat, while the aged sit by the fire. The
country maid leaves half her market, and must be,
sent again if she forgets a pack of cards on Christ..
mss even. Great is the contention of holly and
ivy, whether master or dame wearer the breeches ;
and, if the cook do not lack wit, he wilt sweetly
lick his lingers."

Grose, in his " Worn-out Characters of the
Last Age," describing the little country squire of
about 300/. a-year, in Queen Anne's days, says,
44 he never played at cards but at Christmas,
when a family pack was produced from the
mantle-piece. His chief drink the year round
was generally ale, except at this season, the sth
of November, or some other gala days, when he
would make a bowl of strong brandy punch, gar-
nished with a toast end nutmeg ln the
corner of his hall, by the fire-side, stood a large
wooden two-armed chair with a cushion, and
within the chimney corner were a couple of
seats. Here, at Christmas, he entertained his
tenants, assembled round a glowing fire, made
of the roots of trees, and other great logs,
and told and heard the traditionary tales of the
village, reApecting ghosts and witches, till fear
made them afraid to move. In the meantime the
jorum of ale was in continual circulation."
The paper of 64 Thu World" (No. 101) very
humorously laments tho decay of these and other
old hospitable customs at Christmas :

" Our ancestors considered Christmas in the
double light of a holy commemoration, and a
cheerful festival, and accordingly distinguished
it by devotion, by vacation from business, by mer-
riment, and hospitality. They seemed eagerly
bent to make themselves, and every one about
them, happy, with what punctual zeal did they
wish one another a merra Christmas! and what
an omission would it have been thought to have
concluded a letter without the compliments of the
season! The great hall resounded with the tu-
multuous joys of servants and tenants, and the
gambols they played served as amusement to the
lord of the mansion and his family, who, by on.
couraging every art conducive to mirth and enter-
tainment, endeavoured to soften the rigor of the
season, and mitigate the influence of winter,—
What a fund of delight was the choosing of King
and Queen upon Twelfth Night ! and how greatly
ought ere to regret the use of minced pies, which,
besides the idea of merry-making inseparable
from them, were always considered as the test of
schismatics. How regularly were they swallow,
ed by the orthodox, to the utter confusion of all
fanatical recusants !Ifycountry gentleman should
be so unfortunate in this age as to be under a
suspicion of heresy, where will he find so easy a
method of acquitting himself as by the ordeal
of ylumporridge

The custom of singing Christmas Carols, and
the midnight performance of the Waits,-are thus
prettily described by a modern poet i

Now too is heard
The hapless cripple, tuning through the streets
His Cora new ; and oft, amid the gloom
Of midnight hours, prevail th' accustomed sounds
Of wakeful Waits, whose harmony .(compos'd
Of hautboy, organ, violin, and flute,
And various other instruments of mirth),
Is meant to celebrate the coming time.
In the West Riding of Yorkshire, at Christ-
mas, they have a sort of rustic ball, which is
termed 44 merry night," which proved so interest.
ing, that the young people cannot be kept from
them. The amusement consists of athletic dancing
in all the lower modes of that art ; of interludes
by masking, mimics and gesticulations, and of the
ancient sword-dance. Tea, cakes, fruit, strong
ale, and strong punch, besides kissing and romp-
ing 44 with gallantry robust," forms an indis-
pensable part of the entertainment. At midnight
all the parties engaged depart in separate groups,
cheering the way with jocund raillery, heartfelt
laughter, and shouts of exultation. The boding.
of the howlet or night-crow are unheeded by the
votaries of Euphrosyne ; no direful phantom
glides across their path in gloomy avenues; no
demons obstruct their passage by lonely barns,
mouldering ruins, or ivy-covered bridges. Each
rustic nymph is finally conducted by her partner
in the dunce to her father's house, into which
both enter without noise, and seated on the
antique lung Mae; prolong conversation in gentle
whispers till the first breaks of dawn admonish
the youth to retire.

cHRIsTliiAs BOXES.
The " Athenian Oracle" derives the origin of
Christmas money from this :—" The Romish
priests had masses for almost every thing: if a
ship went to the Indies, a priest had a box in
her, under the protection of some Saint, and for
masses, as their cant was, to be said to that
Saint, Sic. the poor people must put something
into the priest's box, which was not opened till
the ship's return. The mass at that time was
called Chritt.mass ; the box called Christmass-
box, or money gathered against that time, that
masses might be made by the priests to the taints
to forgive the people the debaucheries of that
time ; and from this servants had the liberty to
get box-mohey, that they too might be enabled
to pay the priest for his masses, well knowing
the truth of the proverb—" No penny, no Peter.
nester,"

PRIG SEVENP,ENG..

LORD RODNEY'S VICTORY OVER DE GRASSI:
IN 1782. '4,

' There was combined in RODNEY'S victory, as
Lord LOUGHBOROUGH, at the time remarked,
in the `louse of Peers, all " the pomp, and pride,
and circumstance of war." it commenced with
the rising sun, and only terminated with that
setting luminary. The elements were hushed,
only a light air prevailing ; and the contending
fleets were very. nearly matched. Jamaica, the
prize contended for by the two nations, was
preserved by the result; while all the promised
conquests of France and Spain, so near their ap-
parent realization, disappeard, no more to be re-
vived, even in idea. It constituted a sort of
compensation to Great Britain, for so many
years of disgrace, for so great an expenditure of
blood and treasure, and even for the loss of
America itself. The country, exhausted sad
humiliated, seemed to revive in• its own estima-
tion, and to resume once more its dignity among
nations. France, amidst all her past success, de-
dined proportionably in the opinion of Europe,
and has never since arrogated the same rank as a
naval power. it formed, in fact, the last triumph
of England on the element of the water, over the
House of Bourbon, before that great family it-
self, after reigning 800 years over the French,
sunk under the torrent of revolution and anarchy.
Lord Cranston, one of the Captains of the For-
midable, Sir George Rodney's ship, who brought
over the news to this country, having, in conse-
quence of that Commander's special injunctioes,
waited on Lord Sackville, though then no longer
in office as American Secretary, in order to corn-
municate to him the particulars of the action,
afforded an opportunity of hearing Lord Cm-
ston's account of the engagement. He was sent.
after the 'Ville de Paris struck, to take posses-
of her, as well as to receive De Grasse's sword ;
and, he described the scene which the French
Admiral's ship presented, on his ascending her
side, as altogether terrible. Between the fore-
mast and main-must, at every step he took, he
said that he was over his buckles in blood, the
carnage having been prodigious ; but as numbers
of cattle and sheep were stowed between decks,
they had suffered not lees than the crew and
troops from the effects of the cannon. On the
quarter-deck, which remained still covered with
dead and wounded, only De Grasse himself, to-
gether with two or three other persons, continued
standing. The French Admiral had received a
contusion in the loins, from a splinter, but was
otherwise unhurt ; a circumstance the more re-
markable, he having been, during the whole
action, for so many hours, exposed to a de-
structive fire, which swept away almost all his
officers, and repeatedly cleared the quarter-deck.
He was a tall, robust, and martial figure ; pre-
senting in that moment on object of respect, nu
less than of concern and sympathy. Lord Cram-
ton said, that De Grasso could not recover from
the astonishment into which he was plunged ;
the expressions of which he often reiterated, at
seeing, in the course of so short a time, his vessel
taken, his fleet defeated, and himself a prisoner.
Ile was allowed to pass the night on board his
own ship, with every testimony of attention and
regard manifested towards him on the part of
the British Commander. The commencement of
Rodney's public letter, addressed to 'Mr. Ste-
phens, the Secretary of the Admiralty, on this
glorious occasion, excited a smile among the
critics and grammarians ; as he stated, that " It
had pleased. God, out of his divine. providence, to
grant to his Majesty's arms a most complete victory
over the fleet of his enemy ;" hereas, it seemed
rather to have been an act performed in his divine
providence. This error of a naval commander,une
accustomed to composition, and whose profession
was not the pen, but the sword, did not, how-
ever, attract the same comments, as an official
dispatch which we have since perused, sent from
one of his Britannic Majesty's Ambassadors, who,
addressing the Secretary of State, from Constar..
tinople, appeared, by some act of oblivious in-
advertence, to consider himself in Asia. Rod-
ney's enemies, of whom he had a great number,
asserted, that after the victory was gained, he
gave way to a sort of intoxication of mind, en
finding himself master of the French Admiral's
person and ship. They said that he seated him-
self in an arm chair, placed on the quarter-deck,
of the Formideble, as the moon rose, in order to
indulge his sight with the view of the Ville de
Paris, which-lay near him in a disabled state, and
whose side far overtopped those of his Owls vessel.
And they added, that he burst into ex pressionsw
exclamations of extravagant self-praise amid com-
placency, mingled with some reproaches on the
want of ministerial gratitude, which he had ex-
perienced for his past services. Even admitting
all these facts to be true In their utmost extent,
they only prove the infirmity of human nature ;
and similar instances of weakness occur in the
history of the most illustrious commanders.
Rodney, like the celebrated Marshal Vilifies, so
distinguished under Louis the Fourteenth, talked
perpetually of himself, and was the hero of his
own story. But posterity will never forget the
debt of gratitude due to his liervihs, nor cease
to oonsider him as one of the greatest men whom
the English navy produced in the course of the
eighteenth century. lie unquestionably dis.
played equal coolness and science on the day of
the l'2th of April ; directed in person every
roaureuvre, and preserved, during twelve hours
that the action lasted, the utmost presence of
mind. Lord Cranston said, that he never quitted
the quarter.deck for a mipute, nor took arty re.
freshment, except time support he derived from a
lemon, which he held constantly in his hand, anti
applied frequently to his lips,