The Sun.
London, England, 1870-12-28 00:00:00

HOLLY AT COVENT GARDEN.

One of the chief features of Covent-garden market
during the past week has been its Christmas evergreens,
which are as much sought after at this festive season as
roses in June or chrysanthemums in November. Fore-
most on our list stands the holly, with the dark green
prickly leaves and coral coloured berries with which every
Englishman loves to ornament his Christmas home. As
most of us know, there are lots of kinds of hollies,
some of which have leaves variegated with cream-
colour, white, different shades of yellow, and
slight tinges of red : and others have white, yellow, and
even black fruit. All of them are beautiful, and, being
evergreen and quite hardy, they rank among the best of
decorative shrubs, either for hedge making, or for planting
out singly on grass. But it is the common holly which is
at this season coveted, and, after all, the commcnest
things are often the nicest. Who would despise a prim-
rose, or a blue-bell, or even a wild geranium because they
are, common? Why if we talk of common, the double white
Narcissus may sometimes be found in our corn-fields, a pink
flowered hawthorn by the side of a mountain streamlet,
the loveliest of violets fringing a limestone quarry under
the partial shade of some wild rose, and lilies of the
valley carpeting the very woods in which we go to cut our
holly. Nothing, in short, can beat the common holly for
house decoration, and its appearance is as effective at
night as it is in the daytime. Such, indeed, is the rage
for this favourite evergreen in our great metropolis, that
much depredation is often committed in suburban plan-
tations in order to satisfy its capacious demands.—Gar-
deners' Chronicle.

Twenty-three Trappists have quitted their monastery
at bombes, in the AM Department, and have joined the
Garde Mobile.

The wife of the Fenian Captain Mackay has
received a letter from the governor of Chatham Convict
Prison apprising her that her husband will be liberated
next week, and advising her if she desires to see him she
must go over to England. It is inferred from this letter
that none of the Fenian prisoners will be permitted to
visit their friends in Ireland previous to their expatria-
tion.

THE BOAR'S HEAD AT OXFORD.—The ancient
ceremony of serving up a boar's head in the hall of Queen's
College, Oxford, at Christmas, was observed with the
usual pomp on Monday, when the public were admitted in
large numbers to witness the interesting event. The boar's
head was borne on the shoulders of two of the college
servants, preceded by the Provost and Fellows of the
society, and followed by a procession of choristers and
singing men, who sang the following ballad most effectively,
the Rev. T. Rennison, Precentor of Queen's, taking the
solo part :

"The boar's head in hand bring I,
" Bedeck'd with bays and rosemary,
"And I pray you, my masters, be merry.
" Quot estis in convivio,
"Caput estis in convivio
" Reddens laudes Domino.
"The boar's head, as I understand,
" Is the rarest dish in all the land ;
" Which thus bedeck'd with a gay garland,
"Let us servire cantico •
" Caput apri defero
" Reddens laudes Domino.
" Our stewards hath provided this
"In honour of the King of Bliss,
" Which on this day to be served is
" In Reginensi Atrio,
"Caput apri defero,
• " Reddens laudes Domino."
After the ceremony the decorations of bays, rosemary,
holly, and artificial flowers, &c., were distributed among
the visitors, the monster head was placed upon the
high table, and the members of the society proceeded to
dine. The origin of serving up the boar's head at Queen's
College is somewhat obscure, but we glean from Pointer's
" Oxoniensis Academia" that "it is in memory of a noble
exploit, as tradition goes, by a scholar (a tabarder) of
this College in killing a wild boar in Shotover-wood."
Having wandered into the wood, which is not far from
Oxford, with a copy of "Aristotle" in his hand, and
being attacked by a wild boar, who came at him with ex-
tended jaws, intending to make but a mouthful of him,
he was enabled to conquer him by thrusting the ' Aris-
totle' down the loafs throat, crying Crcum Est !'
The animal, of course, fell prostrate at his feet, was car-
ried in triumph to the College. and no doubt served up
with an " old sonv," as Mr. Pointer says, in memory of
this " noble exploit."