New Iberia enterprise and independent observer. (New Iberia, La.) 1902-1944, 1905-12-23
These maSQueS.

appearing with her ivory skin black
ened to represent a negress from he
Niger. The young Prince Charles.
afterward the Inflated King Charles l.,
also took part in these Christmas res
tiyities. as did also the Princess Eliza
beth and Prince Henry.
The Twelfth Night ReveIs.
Twelfth Night was the usual time
for these Christmas revels at White
hall. and. in fact, had been for cen
turtles at the English court. Although
Henry VIII, is credited with having
adopted the cid Italian custom. as
early as Edward HIS time we heard
of ludi. or plays. exhibited at court in
the Christmas holidays. In l34S. when
Edward kept his Christmas at his cas-
tie at Guldford the dresses for the
maskerS consisted of buckram tun
les Of various colOrs. masks of differ
ent SimilitudeS. namely faces of WON
en- and men. heads of angels, "made
of silver" and nantes embroidered
with heads of dragons. peacoCks and
swans. 1t 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 it.
No court entertainments in Eng
land that had gone before eOualed in
magnifiCence the Mosques written by
Johnson and designed by lingo Jon es,
which made the holidays an annual
pleasure to James |. and his queen.
King James, Notwithstanding the fact
his name is inseparably linked with
the choicest English version Of the
Bible, was given to luxurious pleas
Ures. and his young queen, Anne, mad
the reputation Of being q most grace
full dancer at 4 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 $4,000 on a costly presenta-
ton of a masuuc. From this it may
be imagined that the Christmas
Mosques held at Whitehall. where
the king then lived, must have cost an
enormous outlay. in fact. it is known
that one cost $4,000. Ben JOrson
wrote twenty-nine Mosques for his
king. most of them being produced at
Christmas.
The Christmas season usually be-
gan on Dec. 16 and lasted until an
6. although in Elizabeth'S day the sea
son had been known to last tor full 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
long-drawn faces, sour looking all the
year, were almost unbeara5le at The
season of joy. Alarmed at the goings-
or at court, mortified at the licen-
tiousness of the ruling class, they
vowed worldly JOY was a detestabe
thing. Life to them was a stern ex.
istence. Even in Elizabeth's time
these Puritans had begun their pro-
tests against Christmas celebrations,
and against royal pageantries. and in
the time of James !. 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 I. in most effectual
that England loved most, including
Christmas.
Under the Commonwealth they
stopped the decoration of churches
at Christmas, and sent crier about
London with proclamation to the
effect that Christmas day and all
other superstitious festivals should
be put down and that 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
it's own act crossed Christmas of the
calendar For ten long years Eng
land, so closely allied with the OBJ
servance 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 first
to go, and later in the century the
waits disappeared, although 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 Victorias reign. when
the spirit of the season was still alive
and modern ideas had not yet showed
the old customs aside.
Who doeth right deeds is wise born.
and who doeth i'll deeds vile.-Sir Ed
win Arnold.