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Christmastide: its History, Festivities, and Carols.
Christmastide: its History, Festivities, and Carols.
By WILLIAM SANDYS, F.S.A. LONDON: JOHN RUSSELL SMITH, SOHO SQUARE . London : Printed by E. TUCKER , Perry’s Place, Oxford Street. TO WYNN ELLIS, ESQUIRE, High Sheriff of Hertfordshire, THE FOLLOWING WORK IS GRATEFULLY INSCRIBED, AS A SMALL TRIBUTE OF RESPECT FOR HIS PUBLIC, AND ESTEEM FOR HIS PRIVATE CHARACTER....
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CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER I.
IT would not be consistent with the proposed character of this work to enlarge on the Christian dispensation, as connected with the sacred feast of Christmas; to show Christianity as old as the Creation; that the fall of man naturally involved his punishment; and hence the vicarious sacrifice of our Saviour to redeem us from sin and death. These are subjects to be entered on by those who have had opportunities, if not of thinking more, at least of reading more, relative to them, than the writer
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CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER II.
THE Anglo-Norman kings introduced increased splendour at this festival, as they did on all other occasions; the king wearing his crown and robes of state, and the prelates and nobles attending, with great pomp and ceremony, to partake of the feast provided by their monarch, and to receive from him presents, as marks of his royal favour; returning, probably, more than an equivalent. William the Conqueror, was crowned on Christmas day, 1066. “On Christmas day in solemne sort, Then was he crowned h
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CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER III.
THE wild course of Henry the Fifth, while Prince of Wales, and his brilliant but short career as king, are well known, and are immortalised by Shakespeare;— “Never was such a sudden scholar made: Never came reformation in a flood, With such a heady current, scouring faults;” his historical plays have probably supplied many with their principal knowledge of the early annals of our country, from King Lear downwards; and we must not quarrel with the dramatic fate of Cordelia, although her real stor
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CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER IV.
WHEN Henry the Eighth came to the throne the festivities at Christmas, as well as those at other seasons, were kept with great splendour. He was then young, of manly address, and tall handsome person, skilled in martial exercises, of great bodily strength and activity, and accomplished; fond of exhibiting his prowess; and, though naturally overbearing, possessed some chivalrous qualities in the early part of his reign, until freed from the advice of Wolsey, and spoiled by flattery and adulation,
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CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER V.
ALTHOUGH in the short reign of Edward the Sixth, the splendour of the royal Christmasses was, in general, somewhat reduced, yet, in 1551-2, there was one of the most magnificent revellings on record; for the youthful king being much grieved at the condemnation of the Duke of Somerset, it was thought expedient to divert his mind, by additional pastimes, at the following Christmas. George Ferrers, of Lincoln’s Inn, being a gentleman of some rank, was appointed lord of Misrule, or master of the kin
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CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VI.
PLAYS and other Christmas festivities continued throughout the reign of James the First; and amongst others we find ‘Measure for Measure,’ and the ‘Plaie of Errors,’ by Shaxberd—a new reading as to the spelling of the name of our glorious bard—also ‘King Lear,’ and ‘Love’s Labour’s Lost.’ Many of Fletcher’s plays likewise were first acted before the court at Christmas. Masks were performed almost yearly; and in one of them, the ‘Queen’s Mask of Moors,’ the queen with eleven ladies of honour took
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CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VII.
WE have observed that the churchwardens of St. Margaret’s, Westminster, were fined in 1647 for decorating their church at Christmas. The practice, as before referred to, existed from the earliest times; and in the churchwardens’ accounts of various parishes in the fifteenth and following centuries, entries may be found of payments for holme, holly, and ivy; and even during the Commonwealth the practice was not extinct, although the puritans tried to abolish it; for in ‘Festorum Metropolis,’ 1652
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CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE masks and pageants at court appear to have been gradually abandoned from the time of the Restoration, as before mentioned. They were succeeded by grand feasts and entertainments, which also fell gradually into disuse, and latterly even that relic, the Christmas tureen of plum-porridge, served up at the royal chaplains’ table, was omitted, and the crown-pieces under their plates for New Year’s Gifts soon followed. The poet-laureat has long since been relieved from that tax on his imagination,
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CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER IX.
THE subjects of the offerings at the Epiphany, with the accompanying legend of the Three Kings or Magi, and that of carol singing, require so much space that it has been thought preferable to devote particular chapters to them, rather than interrupt the narrative of Christmas festivities. The offerings on the day of the Epiphany were in remembrance of the Manifestation of our Saviour to the Gentiles, and of the gifts made to Him by the Magi, or Wise Men of the East; when “the kings of Tarshish a
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CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER X.
THE term carol, appears originally to have signified a song, joined with a dance, a union frequently found in early religious ceremonies; and it is used in this sense by Chaucer, Boccacio, Spenser, and others. By some it has been derived from cantare , to sing, and rola , an interjection of joy. It was, however, applied to joyous singing, and thus to festive songs; and as these became more frequent at Christmas, it has for a long time past, though not exclusively yet more particularly, designate
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CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XI.
SEVERAL of the circumstances referred to in the carols, may also be found in the early mysteries, and are probably handed down from them, or from some legend common to both. Some, indeed, may have been derived from the Apocryphal New Testament, as from the birth of Mary, the Protevangelion, and the infancy. The tradition, for instance, of Joseph being an old man, is derived from both sources; in the Coventry Mysteries he complains of his age in many passages. “....I am so agyd and so olde, Yt bo
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XXIX.
XXIX.
Su l’ar “ Ma Mere Mariez-moi. ” Per le jour des Reys. Un Pastou ben de Hiérusalém & dits a sons Coumpaignons. Sur un chant joyeux. Sur l’air “ Ver lou Pourtaou San-Laze .” Sur l’ayre, “ Quand je me leve le matin .”...
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XXXVI.
XXXVI.
Per le jour des Reys. Un Pastou ben de Hiérusalém & dits a sons Coumpaignons....
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Act I.—Scene I.
Act I.—Scene I.
Enter Alexander.—Alexander speaks ....
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Act II.—Scene I.
Act II.—Scene I.
Alexander and Prince George fight : the latter is wounded, and falls . King of Egypt speaks ....
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Act II.—Scene II.
Act II.—Scene II.
Prince George arises .—Prince George speaks ....
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Act. III.—Scene I.
Act. III.—Scene I.
King of Egypt fights , and is killed . Enter Prince George. The Conclusion ....
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Christmas Play of St. George and the Dragon.
Christmas Play of St. George and the Dragon.
A S REPRESENTED IN THE WEST OF ENGLAND. Enter Father Christmas. Enter the Turkish Knight. Enter the King of Egypt. Enter Saint George. Enter the Dragon. Father Christmas. Enter Doctor. St. George. The Turkish Knight advances . St. George. Father Christmas. Many of the old Chronicles have been inspected for historical facts, but it has not been thought necessary to specify them, except in a few instances; and where one is cited, the fact is frequently corroborated by two or three others. Hickes’s
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IN THOSE TWELVE DAYS.
IN THOSE TWELVE DAYS.
E. TUCKER, PRINTER, PERRYS PLACE, OXFORD STREET. Obvious punctuation errors repaired. Unconventional spelling was retained especially in quotations of older texts, expect much variation as in “tres,” “très,” and “trés.” Table of Contents, Music, “226” changed to “326” for (Joseph was an old man) Page 124, “boomarang” changed to “boomerang” (boomerang, on their own) Page 205, “crucifixon” changed to “crucifixion” (time of the crucifixion) Page 254, “trangression” changed to “transgression” (Which
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