Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1905-12-21

\ hnu Jdluco uueeu, AuuC VI DeUnafk
appearing with her ivory skin black
ened to represent negress from the
Niger. The young Prince Charles
afterward the Inflated King Charles T..
also took part in these Christmas les
tivities, az did also the Princess Eliza
beth and Prince Henry.
The Twelfth Night Revels.
| 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 old Italian custom, as
early as Edward HIS 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 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 IL they even suggested the
drama as we know 1t.
No court entertainments in Eng
land that had gone before equaled in
magnifcence the Mosques written by
Johnson and designed by lingo jones'.
which made the holidays an annual
pleasure to James |. and his queen
King James, notwithstanding the fact
.hisaname 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 a most grace
full dancer at time when dancing
was regarded as one of the fine arts
Christmas Mosques at Whitehall.
King James loved pleasure anc
Queen Anne nearly made a bankrupt
of him to pay her jewellers. She loved
progresses, as they were called, ant
in one of her royal visits to Bristo
spent $l50,000 on a costly presenta
tion of masque. From this it may
be imagined that the Christina.
Mosques held at Whitehall, wLer,
the king then lived, must have cost al
enormous outlay, in fact, it is known
that one cost $4,000. Ben Jorsol
wrote twenty-nine Mosques for hi
king, most of them being produced a
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 for full ai
weeks or until Shroye Tuesday, hel
aiding the coming of Lent, put a stoj
to the merrymakings.
To the Victorian Era.
A growing body of the people il
these days took no part in the merrs
ment of Christmastide; in fact, thei
long drawn faces, sour looking all tn
year, were almost unbearable at III
season Of Joy. Alarmed at the goings
on at court, mortified at the liceL
tiousness of the ruling class, the
vowed worldly joy was a detestabl
istence. Even in Elizabeth's tim
these Puritans had begun their pre-
tests against Christmas celebrations
and against royal pageantries, and il
the time of James l. their voice grey
so loud that they were caricature
in some Of the Mosques at court
They continued, these stern oil
roundheads, to grow in number an
III power, and, having made an end o
King Charles l. in q most effectua
manner, put their ban on everything
that England loved most, includin;
Christmas.
Under the Commonwealth the
stopped the decoration of churche
at Christmas, and sent crier abou
London with a proclamation to tn
effect that Christmas day and al
other superstitious festivals shoul
be put down and that markc. shoul
be kept upon Christmas day." Pei
sons who insisted upon attendin,
church on Christmas day were imme
6iately arrested. AS for the Lord
Misrule and Father Christmas the
were bapished, and the Parliament b,
it's own act crossed Christmas off tn
calendar. For ten long years Eng
land, so closely allied with the OF
seryance of Christmas, was throttled
but Christmas was only in exile; h
returned with the royal family wheI
the Restoration was accomplished.
The Passing of Old Customs.
The days Of the last of the George
saw the departure of many time-hon
ored Christmas customs in England
and the arrival of some new ones. TIL,
inging of carols was one of the frs
to go, and later in the century tn,
waits disappeared, although a few
stragglers now and then annoy Lon
doners in the Christmas season, unit
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 tn,
early days of Victoria's reign, whel
the spirit of the season was still alive
and modern ideas had not yet shovel
the old customs aside.
Who doeth right deeds is wise born
and who doeth Ill deeds vile.-Sir Ed