The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-12-27 00:00:00

which the anniversary of the gr
stivals were instituted

e'ent occurs, in whos,

honour the C

unristmas parties and merry-makings are still formed to
render the season of dark December more cheerful and en-
livening. The elders sit over their punch and smile •
adventures of their youthful days; the younv

oL .ne sanded floor; John cudgels his brains for su...
trick to lead the blooming Mary, without her being aware
of his intention, under the bunch of mistletoe hanging from
the ceiling; and Mary at last runs, quite by accident, to the
very place he wishes, when he bounces after her, and an-
nounces her capture by a smacking report heard at the far-
thest corner of the kitchen ; and " snap-dragon," or " hunt
the slipper," or " hoodman-blind," or the merry song and
hearty laugh, puts every one in good humour with all, and
with everything.

The children sitting round the blazing hearth, still listen
to the stories Of the village patriarch, who, honoured with
the best seat in the chimney-corner' descants on the " good
old times," when he and two or three of the of
(who smile and sigh as they recal the time
scarcely so tall as the stile at the end of the lam
were roasted whole, and the whole viii
preparations and enjoyment of "real ei

'ere boys,

when oxen
was alive with the

put, no,

were not prettier !" nay, he looks round an(
thinks the rills are prettier now than th
Al .•

" though there was Margery, the miller's daughter—he re-
membered her, and certainly she was the beauty !"
But even in the youthful days of a centenarian of the pre-
sent age, the sports of Christmas were very different to what
they had been a hundred years or so before. It was in the
days of " good Queen Bess," or in the more spirit
times that preceded her reign, that the festival of (
was celebrated wi

stirring
ristmas

..skrua uGII LUC I.locll
head was brought to table with trumpets sounding, drums
beating, and the whole company singing its praises; when
the ale flowed unceasingly, the fire blazed and crackled with

ne yule-I

when ti

be arts

se was master of to make the peasantry joyful
with boisterous merriment; when the games and festivity
lasted for a month, and rendered every one happy for a year.
Although most people are aware of the general passion for
feasts and amusements which distinguishes the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, but few persons are aware of the cha-
racter of the sports which were then so popular. We shall
now endeavour to convey some idea of the amusements inci-
dental to the season which were then in high repute. In
England we find, in the earliest accounts we have of the

G UL
State of the island, that the Druids celebrated during the
winter solstice the rites in honour of Thor, one of the Scan-
dinavian deities; and some few of the customs by which the
festivities of Christmas were characterised in later times may
be traced to the established ceremonies in honour of that
heathen deity. Thus the practice of adorning the house
with mistletoe has been derived from the use of that plant
in the druidical ceremonies; and other customs which ob-
tained in this country but a few years since are referable to
the same origin.

Among the many customs which prevailed at the iod
of Christmas in the days of Elizabeth, the investitureper of a
person with the power and privileges of assembling a number
of persons and teaching them tricks, tumbling, and fantastic
erformances, fa the purpose of amusing the peasantry, and
teed the higher classes, is one of the most remarkable.
ocular personage was styled the " Lord of Misrule,"

-- -
--
i 3 a"
ance, connived at I], y the auth dby custom of long continn-
orities of church and state, he
was permitted to lead the vial who desired to enlist under
his banner whithersoever he pleased in search of fun and
ludicrous adventures. Even
ofliceerouwrt and at the houses of
the principal nobility, this
intend and direct the Christmas reveall. appointed to super-
intend, and his reign of
folly generally lasted a month or moreiecommencing early in
the month of December, and not
unl the
" morrow after the Feast of the Purificatra'nnVng ti
W-L. Mt_ __-.......111;0a were Mai, —_ '. on the 2nd of

renruary. These wo.rinir a■aV appointed s-oie-mn
conclave by the principal inhabitants of a Pill r par;sh
to represent the wit or folly of the place. Bates proba.ble
`he Lords of Misrule appointed by parishes and by the

led in their Powers
ected by the more

f persons under so
,ule" seldom sepa_
schief having been

was innocent
i to which the

and control, such

iiroceedin

r W. Scott has given a very