The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-01-08 00:00:00

CHORUS OF FAIRIES.

Our noontide sleep is on leaf and flower,
Our revels ate held in a moonlit hour,---
What is there sweet, what is there fair,
And we are not the dwellers there ?
Dance we round, for the morning light
Will put us and our glow-worm lamps to flight !

The Holiday Book and Festivals of England. The
Book of Christmas. By T. K. Hervey. With Illus-
trations by R. Seymour. London : William Spooner,
259, Regent-street. 1836.
THE BOOK OF CHRISTMAS.
One of the most striking signs of the season —and which meets
the eye in all directions—is that which atises out of the ancient,
and still familiar, practice of adorning our houses and churches
with evergreens, during the continuance of this festival. The
decorations of our mantel-pieces, and in many places, of our
windows,—the wreaths which ornament our lamps and christ-
mas candles—the garniture of our tables,—are alike gathered
from the hedges and winter gardens; and in the neighbour-
hood of every town and village, the
raveller ma meet with
some such sylvan procession as is here represented
[see plate]—
and groups of boys "bringing home christmas." This symp-
tom of the approaching festivity is mentioned by Gay, in his
"Trivia"—
"When Rosemary and Bays, the poet's crown,
Are bawled in frequent cries through all the town
Then judge the festival of Christmas near, ;
Christmas, the joyous period of the year!
Now with bright Holly all the temples strow;
With Laurel green, and sacred Misletoe."
The practice of these decorations, which is recommended to
modern times by its own pleasantness and natural beauty is of
very high antivity, and has been ascribed to various sources.
They who are desirous of tracing a christian observance to a
christian cause, remind us of those figurative expressions in the
prophets which speak of the Messiah as the "branch of righ-
teousnnd describe by natural allusions, the fertility which
should ess," a
attend his coming. "e Lord shall "
says Isaiah, "he will comfort all her waste places;comfort and heZion will
make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden
of the Lord." Again, "The glory of Lebanon shall come unto
thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together to beau-
tify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of
my feet glorious."
The practice, however, of introducing flowers and branches
amongst the tokens of festivity, seems, and very naturally, to
have existed universally and at all times. It was, as we know,
&pagan manifestation of rejoicing and worship; and is forbid-
den, on that express ground, in early councils of the christian
church. Hone, in his "Every-day Book," quotes Polydore
Vergil, to the effect that "trymnaing of the temples with ban-
gynges, flowers, bouglies, and garlandes, was taken of the hea-
then people whiehe decked their idols and houses with suehe
array;" and it came under the list of abominations denounced
by She puritans, for :he same reason. The practice was also in
use amongst the nations both of Gothic and Celtic origin; and
Brand quotes from Dr. Chandler's "Travels in Greece," a
very beautiful superstition, mentioned as the reason of this
practice, amongst the votaries of Druidism. "The houses,"
he says, "were decked with evergreens in December, that the
sylvan spirits might repair to them, and remain unnipped with
frost and cald winds, until a milder season had renewed the
foliage of their' darling abodes."
In En .
gland, the practice whencesoever derived, has existed
from the very.earliest &vs; and, in spite of outcry and prohi-
bition, has come down in full vigour to our own. In former
times," sags Stows, in Es "Survey of London," "not only
were our houses and churches decorated with evergreens, but
also the conduits, standards, and crosses in the streets."
The plants most coremo
have generally been the nly in use for this purpose, appear to
and the misletoe, althoultilvi; the ivy, the laurel, the rosemary,
limited to these materials. t
the dirt
were by no means
finding cypress included in tiler expresses some surprise at
called, "Round about the Coalte!* mentioned in the tract
should as. soon have expected to hit" and observes that "he
(1 press used on this occasion." Thveey seen the yew as the
tioned amongst the christmas decoration*: "frequently men-
The greater num-
ber of these appear to have been so used, not'
ottieilrecount of any
mystic meanings, ,bnt simply fur the sake of
rorded to be
eenery, or
flowers are
of their rich berries, and "whatsoever the year
green." Sandys, observes, " that many
reduced
that were unknown to our ancestors, but , whose varied
add to the cheerful effect—the chrysanthum, satin flower
mingling with the redberry of the holly, and the mystic rnisletoe.