The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1905-12-23


afterward the Inflated King Charles ! d,
also took part in these Christmas res
tivities, as did also the Princess Eliza
beth and Prince Henry
The Twelfth Night Sevels.
Twelfth Night was the usual time
for these Christmas revels az White
hall. and. IN fact. had been for cen
turtles ot the English court Although
Henry VIII. is credited with having
adopted the old Italian custom, as
early as Edward Ills time we heard
OF ludi. or plays, exhibited at court in
the Christmas holidays. In 134S when
Edward kept his Christmas at his cas-
tie at Guildford, the dresses for the
maskers consisted Of buckram tun-
les Of various colors, masks Of differ
ent similitudes, namely, faces Of wom-
en- and men, heads Of angels. made
Of silver" and mantles embroidered
with heads Of dragons peacocks and
swans II is not known that the en-
tertainment consisted Of anything be-
yond the most primitive kind OF pan
tomime and posturing. and it is very
doubtful If they even suggested the
drama as we know &C.
No court entertainments In Eng
land that had gone before equaled in
magnihceuce the Mosques written by
Johnson and designed by Inigo Jores.
which made the holidays an annual
pleasure to James l. and his queen.
King James. Notwithstanding the fact
his name Is inseparably linked with
the choicest English version ef the
Bible, was given to luxurious pleas
urcs, and his young queen, Anne. had
the reputation of being q most grace
ful dancer at a time when dancing
was regarded as one of the fine arts.
Christmas Mosques at Whitehall.
King James loved pleasure and
Queen Anne nearly made a bankrupt
of him to pay her jewelers. She loved
progresses, as they were called, and
in one of her royal visits to Bristol
spent S150OOO on costly presenta-
ton of a masque From this it may
be imagined that the Christmas
masques held at Whitehall, where
me king then lived, must have cost an
enormous outlay, In fact, It is known
that one cost $4,000 Ben Jonson
wrote twenty-nlne Mosques for his
king. most Of them being produced at
Christmas.
The Christmas season usually be-
gan on Dec. 16 and lasted until lan.
6, although in Elizabeth's dag the sea-
son had been known to last for hull SIX
weeks or until Shrove Tuesday, her
aiding the coming Of Lent. put a stop
to the merrymakings.
To the Victorian Era.
A growing body of the people in
these days took no part in the merri-
ment Of Christmastide; in fact, their
longdrawn faces, sour looking all the
year, were almost unbearable at The
season Of joy. Alarmed at the goings-
on at court, mortified at the licen-
tiousness of the ruling class, they
vowed worldly Joy was q detestable
thing. Life to them was a stern ex-
istence. Even in Elizabeths time
these Puritans had begun their pro-
tests against Christmas celebrations,
and against royal pageantries, and in
the time Of James l. their voice grew
so loud that they were caricatured
In some of the Mosques at court.
They continued, these stern old
roundheads, to grow in number and
in power. and. having made an end of
King Charles l. in a most effectual
manner put their ban on everything
.,hat England loved most, including
Christmas.
Under the Commonwealth they
stopped the decoration Of churches
at Christmas. and sent a crier about
London with a proclamation to the
effect that Christmas day and all
other superstitious festivals should
be put down and that a market should
be kept upon Christmas day" Per
sons who insisted upon attending
church on Christmas day were imme-
diately arrested. AS for the Lord Of
Misrule and Father Christmas they
were banished. and the Parliament by
its own act crossed Christmas OF the
calendar. For ten long years Eng
land, so closely allied with the OBJ
ssrvance OF Christmas, was throttled,
but Christmas was only IN exile; he
returned with the royal family when
the Restoration was accomplished.
The Passing Of Old Customs.
The days Of the last OF the Georges
saw the departure OF many time-hon.
ored Christmas customs In England
and the arrival of some new ones. The
singing of carols was one of the 6rst
to go. and later in the century the
waits disappeared, although a few
stragglers now and then annoy Lon
doners in the Christmas season, until
a bobby tells them to move on.
Some of the old etchings by Sey
mour. the FIRST illustrator of Pickwick
which are reproduced on this page
give a spirited idea of how old Christ
mas was observed in England In the
early days of Victoria's reign, when
the spirit Of the season was still alive
and modern ideas had not yet showed
She old customs aside.
Who doeth right deeds is wise born
and who doeth III deeds vile.- Sir Ed