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

I have bared my breast to the

lting rain

. ~ •
And my bosom has heaved withharrowing pain ;
And often, my soul has been wrought up to rage,
In the fury of battle and death to engage.

I have laughed in the moonlight, and danced in the day,
But 'twas only a moment for sportive play ;
How changeful, how restive, bow yielding, how vain !
My 'portion, all launched on his wild-tossing main !

And is there no stillness, no comfort, no peace ?
Shall the wanderer's rovings have never to cease?
Shall there never a rest from this pilgrimage be ?
A promise fore-whispers, " There's no more sea."

I have seen, I have seen the ill-fated wreck,
Where ruin and death have stalked on the deck ;
Where gay hopes have perished, and treasures gone down,
At the whirwind's nod, and the tempest's frown.

I have seen the struggling saildr die,
As he sent up a prayer to the Thunderer nigh ;
And the lover and friend, all silent in death—
I've echoed their names—but no answering breath

I have borne on my bosom the anguisb'd crew,
Of whose dread engulphiug no mortal knew;
And last words I've gathered, all spoken apart,
For the weeping survivors, bereaved in heart.

But oh ! I have seen a bright starry sky,
When the raging tampest has all passed by ;
And sweet communings, e'en face to face,
I have held with those tenants of boundless space.

And thither I've sent up my echoing groan,
And thither ascends this deep plaintive moan—
I long for a transfer to those blest spheres,
Where there are no strivings, nor wrecks, nor tears

'Tis not to be poised in yon vapory plain,
To descend for a sojourn here again ;
But it is beyond clouds, beyond skies to be,
Where the promise is certain—" There's no more sea."

CHRISTMAS GAMES IN THE OLDEN TIME

(Abridged from an article in the Penny Magazine.)

Few relics of the olden time are recurred to with more zest
by our fathers than the goodly frolics and mirthful games
which were wont to usher in the merry days of Christmas.
We may still perceive in some parts of the country the lin-
gering remains of the rough sports which were wont in ear-
lier times to enliven the comfortless period of the year in
which the anniversary of the great event occurs, in whose
honour the Christmas festivals were instituted.
Christmas 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 at the
adventures of their youthful days ; the young people dance
on the sanded floor; John cudgels his brains for some sly
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 be and two or three of the older guests
(who smile and sigh as they recal the time) were boys,
scarcely so tall as the stile at the end of thelane; when oxen
were roasted whole, and the whole village was alive with the
preparations and enjoyment of " real good English games ' "
when the men were stronger, and the girls—" but, no, they
were not prettier !" nay, he looks round and says he almost
thinks the girls are prettitr now than they were then—
" 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-stirring
times that preceded her reign, that the festival of Christmas
was celebrated with the greatest vigour, when the boar's
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
the yule-log, when the " Lord of Misrule" put in practice
all the arts he 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
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 werg 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 period
of Christmas in the Odays of Elizabeth, the investiture of a
person with the power and privileges of assembling a number
of persons and teaching them tricks, tumbling, and fantastic
--rnances, for the purpose of amusing the peasantry, and
he higher classes, is on,of the most remarkable.
'ar personage was styled the " Lord of Misrule,"
t of Unreason ; " and by custom of long continu-
ance, connived at by the authorities of church and state, he
was permitted to lead the vulgar who desired to enlist under
his banner whithersoever he pleased in search of fun and
ludicrous adventures. Even at court and at the houses of
the principal nobility, this officer was appointed to super-
intend and direct the Christmas revellings
, and his reign of
folly generally lasted a month
or more, commencing early in
until e
the month of December, and not terminating
" morrow after the Feast of the Purification," on the 2ndth of
February. These worthies were also appointed in solemn
conclave by the principal inhabitants of a village or parish,
to represent the wit or folly of the place. But it is probable
that the Lords of Misrule appointed by parishes and by the
less wealthy personages were more confined in their powers
than those who were appointed and protected by the more
powerful noblemen or by the monarch.
We have no doubt that an assemblage of persons under so
little control as that of the " Lord of Misrule" seldom sepa-
rated without some rough or dangerous mischief having been
perpetrated. Yet the institution in itself was innocent
enough, and calculated to lighten the severities to which the
rude peasantry were exposed at this inclement season ; and
had it been under proper superintendence and control, such
a system for the exercise of joyful amusements might be en-
couraged without ill effects occurring to the people from its
existence. With respect to the appearance and proceedings
of this motley assemblage, Sir W. Scott has given a very
lively and amusing description.*

This joc
or " Ab

" The appearance of the crowd was grotesque in the ex-
treme. It was composed of men, women, and children, lu-
dicrously disguised in various habits, and presenting groups
equally diversified and ludicrous. Here one fellow, with a
horse's head painted before him, and a tail behind, and the
whole covered with a long foot-cloth, which was supposed to
hide the body of the animal, ambled, caracoled, pranced, and
plunged, as he performed the celebrated part of the hobby-
horse, so often alluded to in our ancient drama; and which
still flourishes on the stage in the battle that concludes
Bayes's tragedy. To rival the address and agili'y displayed
by this character, another personage advanced, in the more
formidable character of a huge dragon, with gilded wings,