Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1881-12-24

perhaps it is as well. We arc a dyspcptic
people, and if it camo more often our suf-
1erings would be fearful d; and yet how our
British ancestors enjoyed it, aud how they
ate :. For days the fires blazed in the
great hearths, and the yawning chimney
roared with the blaze of oak logs, and the
cook lost her temper, and the scullions
tremblcd before her, and the game keepers
were on foot night and day, and poachcrs
prOwled in the crisp forest and above, in
the great hall, the maidens and youths
hung the holly, and with mischievous and
arch looks and red lips, which pouted
many 4 temptation, the mistletOe bOugh
was tlrapcd in the most convenient place
for uncOnsciOusly standing beneath It.
How they managed to move about at all
after dinner is mystery to their degencr-
ate descendants, for then
They served up salmon, veniSOn and bOars
By hundreds and by dozens and by scores
Muttons and fatted becves and bacon swine !:
Herons and bittcrns. pcacocks, swans and
buStard,
Teal, maIlard. pigeons, widgcons and in fine
Plum-puddinSs, pancakes, apple. pies AMI Gus
tard.
And thcrcwithal they drank good Gascon
wine,
With mead and ale and ci,lcr.''
We will add to this the "Laborers'
song" from an old print:
Now thrice welcome Christmas,
Which brings us good cheer,
Mince pies and plum porritlge,
Good ale and strong beer,
With pig, goose and capOn,
The best that may be.
With holly and ivy,
So green AMI so gay,
We deck up our houses
AS fresh as the day,
With bays and rosemary.
And laurel complete,
And everyone now
1Sa king in conceit."
They drank i'll proportion to their cat
ing, good, wholesome liquor mostly, which
accounts, with an out Of-dOor life, for such
excess not killing them, as it would kill
off modern topper. We do not say, how
ever, that eating and drinking was all of
Christmas in the Olden time in England.
But it is the phase Of it most dwclt upon
by old writer's. Even bishop thought it
no derogation to chant Of "JOlly good ale
and DID," and doubtless could drink his
fill with the best of them. We mean
John Still, bishop of Bath and Wells.
From his office, he, if any one, should
have been cold-water advocate. But VIC
find in the Oldest comedy in tho English
language "Gammcr Gurton's Needle, ''thc
convivial bishop singing:
II cannot cat but little meat,
My stomach is not good
But sure think that can drink
With any that wears hood;
Tho go bare, take ye no care
nothing am a-cOid;
stuff my skin SO full within
or jolly good ale and old.
Back and side. go bare, go bare;
Both fOOt4ind hand, go cold:
But belly, God send thee good a.C enough
Whether it be new or Old.'
English Festivities.
The good bishop sung thus in 1866, but
wo fear that afterwards the license OF the
times often abandoned the "jOlly good
ale an old" for stronger liquors. n
writer who very much resembles Charles
Lamb in his style and quaintncss Of ex-
preston, says of the men of Il later date ::
Put IN Englishmal behind a full pot
and he will drink until he cannot stand.
At first he is silent, but as the liquor gets
towards the bottom he iEclincs to CONVEX
sation. AS he replcnishcs, his GOODNESS
tiaws and he is conversational. The
oftener he calls to ''till again the more
talkaIivc he becomes, and when thorough
ly liquciied his loquacity is deluging. The
business of dinner on Christmas and
other feast days, brings on the greater
business OF drinking; and the potations
are strong aud fiery-full- bodied port, hot
sherry and spirits. This occupation con-
sumes five or six hours, and perhaps more
after dining. Wine and wainuts with :.
vengeance. There is TO rising from it but
to toss off the glass, and to huzza after
tho hip. hip! hip" of the toast
given A calculation of the number who
celebrate festivals after this fashion might
be usefully illustrated by the reports Of
physicians, wives and nurses, and the bills
Of apothccaries. By continuing the Was
sail of our ancestors We attempt to use
tho body as they did, but we are other
beings, cultivated in other ways, with
faculties and powers of mind which would
have astonished their generations quite as
much as their rObustcr constitutions, If
they were to reappear among us, would
astOnish ours. Their employment was in
hunting the forest for food, Or following
in armOr, with risk to life and limb. They
had no ledgers, no commerce., no Christ
mas bills, no letter writing, no printing,
no engraving, no bending over the desk,
no wasting of the brain, no financicring !;
not hundrcdth part of the social rclas
tions nor of the cares that we have"
A Christmas Pie.
l: takes US back to the old days of Rome
to find Sir Henry Gray having prepared
for his Christmas feast pie nine feet in
circumference at bottom, and so heavy
that it took two men to lift it, and SO
cumbrous that it was neatly fitted in box
on wheels to roll it around the table to
each guest. 1t may interest our house
keepers to know its contents, in case they
wish to make one like it for their own
tables. Take two bushels OF flour, 90
pounds Of butter, geese, 2 turkeys, 2
rabbits, wild ducks, wOodcock, 6 snipe,
4 partridgcs, 2 meats tongues, . curlcws,
blackbirds and pigeons build a small
house especially for it-for VIC modcrns
have dcgenerated in the matter Of ovens
and bake serve cold. As the rage is now
for mediavalism, old furniture, antiques,
stained glass and cur grandmothcrs'
dresses, tho pic may be served in old style,
with a boar's head with q lemon in irs