oldest oxen fall upon their knees, and (as he expressed it in the idiom of the country) make a cruel moan like Christian creatures." To those (says a writer before cited) who regard the analogies of the human mindwho mark the progress of tradition-who study the diffusion of certain fancies, and their influence upon mankind-an anecdote related by Mr. Howison, in his "Sketches of Upper Canada," is full of comparative interest. He mentions meeting an Indian, at midnight, creeping cautiously along, in the stillness of a beautiful moonlight Christmas-Eve. The Indian made signals to him to be silent; and, when questioned as to his reason, replied "Me watch to see the deer kneel; this is Christmas night, and all the deer fall upon their knees, to the Great Spirit, and look up." In some places, particularly in Derbyshire, it is as serted that the watchers on this mysterious eve may hear the ringing of subterranean bells, and in the mining districts the workmen declare that high mass is solemnly celebrated in that cavern which contains the richest lode of ore,-that it is brilliantly lighted up,and that the divine office is chanted by unseen choristers. In Ireland, Germany, and probably in some parts of England also, the night of Christmas-Eve is regarded as a season of omens, and usages exist for "gathering its auguries" having a resemblance to those practised in Scotland at Halloween, which we have elsewhere described. OLD AND POPULAR CUSTOMS. "Domestic and religious rite The vulgar game of 'post and pair.' It was thus that the vigil of the REDEEMER's birthday was formerly celebrated in "Merrie England." Towards evening the church bells rang out joyously; sportive parties assembled round the fire; candles of an unusual size were ignited in token of the advent of the "Light of light;" and the Yule Clog, or Christmas block, brought in with much ceremony and kindled on the hearth. In reference to this last practice Herrick blithesomely sings: "Come bring, with a noise, My merry, merry boys, The Christmas log to the firing; While my good dame she Bids ye all be free, And drink to your heart's desiring. "With the last year's brand Light the new block, and For good success in his spending, On your psaltries play, That sweet luck may Come while the log is a teending."' As the servants, remarks a chronicler of old customs, were entitled to ale at their meals while the block lasted, they usually endeavoured to get as large a one as the fire-place would admit of; and hence it is scarcely surprising to learn, that, in the time of the Civil War, a good house in England (that of Hagmond Abbey, near Shrewsbury) was burnt down in consequence of the kindling of a too large Yule clog. It was either a (1) Burning. general or local custom to have the block bandaged round in nine places, and as each bandage, in succession, was burnt off, to hand round a service of ale, mingled with spirits, to the party assembled. Brand states the usage of burning the Christmas Block in Devonshire and the north of England. "At Ripon, in on Christmas Eve, Yorkshire," says a writer in 1790, the chandlers sent large mold candles, and the coopers logs of wood, generally called Yule Clogs, which are always used on Christmas Eve; but should it be so large as not to burn all that night, which is frequently the case, the remains are kept till Old Christmas Eve." In former times, it was customary on the 24th of December, to roast apples on a string, till they dropped into a large bowl of spiced ale. Furmity, we are told, always formed part of the supper on this Even; and "there was a prevalent superstition that bread baked then never would turn mouldy." In addition to the above "old and popular customs," others, of a local nature, are, or were formerly, observed at this season, which deserve to be recorded in these pages. In Devonshire, they still bless the orchards at this time, according to the old verses : "Wassail the trees, that they may bear In some places (we are told) they walk in procession to the principal orchards in the parish. In each orchard, one tree is selected as the representative of the rest, and is saluted with a certain form of words. They then either sprinkle the tree with cyder, or dash a bowl of cyder against it. In other places, only the farmer and his servants assemble on the occasion, and, after immersing cakes in cyder, hang them on the apple-tree. They then sprinkle the tree with cyder, pronounce their incantation, dance round the tree, and then go home to feast. A contributor to the Gentleman's Magazine for February, 1795, thus describes an amusement practised on Christmas Eve at the mansion of a worthy baronet, at Ashton, near Birmingham, down to the end of the last century. He writes:-" As soon as supper is over, a table is set in the hall. On it is placed a brown loaf, with twenty silver threepences stuck on the top of it, a tankard of ale, with pipes and tobacco; and the two oldest servants have chairs behind it, to sit as judges, if they please. The steward brings the servants, both men and women, by one at a time, covered with a winnow-sheet, and lays their right hand on the loaf, exposing no other part of the body. The oldest of the two judges guesses at the person, by naming a name, then the younger judge, and lastly the oldest again. If they hit upon the right name, the steward leads the person back again; but, if they do not, he takes off the winnow-sheet, and the person receives a threepence, makes a low obeisance to the judges, but speaks not a word. When the second servant was brought, the younger judge guessed first and third; and thus they did alternately, till all the money was given away. Whatever servant had not slept in the house the preceding night forfeited his right to the money. No account is given of the origin of this strange custom, but it has been practised ever since the family lived there. When the money is gone, the servants have full liberty to drink, dance, sing, and go to bed when they please." "At York," says Stukeley, only a century ago, on the eve of Christmas-Day, they carry misletoe to the high altar of the cathedral, and proclaim a public and universal liberty, pardon, and freedom to all sorts of inferior, and even wicked people, at the gates of the city, towards the four quarters of Heaven." "In the Isle of on the 24th of December, Man," relates Waldron, towards evening, all the servants have a holiday; they go not to bed all night, but ramble about till the bells ring in all the churches, which is at twelve o'clock: 66 prayers being over, they go to hunt the wren; and, after having found one of these poor birds, they kill her, and lay her on a bier; bring her to the parish church, and bury her with a whimsical kind of solemnity,' singing dirges over her in the Manks language, which they call her knell; after which Christmas begins." At Dews bury, Yorkshire, one of the church bells is tolled as at a funeral on Christmas Eve; and any one asking whose bell it was, would be told that it was the devil's knell. "The moral of it is, that the devil died when CHRIST was born." This custom was discontinued for many years, but revived by the vicar in 1828. Little troops of boys and girls go about at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and other places in the north of England, some nights before, and on the night of, Christmas Eve, knocking at the doors, singing their Christmas carols, and wishing a happy New Year. They get in return, at the houses they stop at, pears, apples, nuts, and money. At Folkstone, Kent, the fishermen formerly chose eight of the largest and best whitings out of every boat when they came home from their fishery, sold them apart from the rest, and out of the money arising from them they made a feast every 24th of December, which they called a Rumbald. The master of each boat provided this feast for his own company. This usage has been long discontinued. Our space will not allow of our descanting upon such Continental customs as appertain to the vigil of the Nativity one, however, peculiar to Germany, is of too interesting a nature to be passed over without mention. The children make little presents to their parents, and to each other, and the parents to their children. For three or four months before Christmas the girls are all busy; and the boys save their pocket-money to make or purchase these presents. Then, on the evening before Christmas-Day, one of the parlours, into which the parents must not go, is lighted up by the children. A great bough of yew or birch is fastened on the table, at a little distance from the wall; a multitude of little tapers are fixed on the bough, but not so as to burn it till they are nearly consumed; and coloured paper, &c. hangs and flutters from the twigs. Under this bough the children lay out, in great order, the presents they mean for their parents, still concealing in their pockets what they intend for each other. Then the parents are introduced, and each presents his little gift; they then bring out the remainder, one by one, from their pockets, and present them, with kisses and embraces. On the next day, in the great parlour, the parents lay on the table the gifts for the children. A scene of sober joy succeeds; as, on this day, after an old custom, the mother tells privately to each of her daughters, and the father to his sons, that which he has observed most praiseworthy, and that which was most faulty, in their conduct. Formerly, and still in all the smaller towns and villages throughout North Germany," says Coleridge, "these presents are sent by all the parents to some one fellow, who, in high buskins, a white robe, a mask, and an enormous flax wig, personates Knecht Rupert, i.e. the servant Rupert. On Christmas night, he goes round to every house, and says that JESUS CHRIST, his Master, sent him thither. The parents and elder children receive him with great pomp and reverence, while the little ones are most terribly frightened. He then inquires for the children, and according to the character which he hears from the parents, he gives them the intended present, as if they came out of heaven from JESUS CHRIST. Or, if they should have been bad children, he gives the parents a rod, and, in the name of his Master, recommends them to use it frequently. About seven or eight years old, the children are let into the secret, and it is curious how faithfully they keep it. RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES. "On Christmas Eve the mass was sung; That only night in all the year Saw the stoled priest the chalice rear." An In Roman Catholic countries mass is never said at night, except on the above vigil. Such, in medieval times, was the practice throughout Christendom; and "well indeed," exclaims Mr. Digby, "might the church appear a delightful place on that blessed night, when the altar, illuminated by a sudden splendour, proclaimed in symbol the happy day which had risen upon the world. Nothing was even wanting that could add majesty to the solemn scene in the estimation of men of secular minds. Emperors and kings claimed as a privilege the honour of reading the Seventh Lesson, which records the decree of Cæsar Augustus." ciently, on Christmas Eve, every one kept watch, like the shepherds, while minstrels chanted carols in celebration of the Nativity. This observance is still retained in the Isle of Man. The people assemble in vast numbers at church, where the divine office is solemnized, and followed by a sermon; after which, the congregation remain in the sacred edifice, singing carols, until midnight. "In Rome, on this Even," relates the author of Rural Life in England, "the pipes of the Calabrian minstrels are heard in the streets. The decorators are busy in draping the churches, clothing altars, and festooning façades. Nuns and ladies are preparing dresses, crowns, necklaces, and cradles, for the Madonna and Child of their respective churches. The cannons of St. Angelo announce the festival; shops are shut, and saloons deserted. The midnight supper and the midnight bands begin the 'holy revel; and the splendid pomp in which the august ceremonies are performed at the churches of the Quirinal, St. Louis, and the Ara Coeli, is succeeded by a banquet, of which even the poorest child of indigence contrives to partake. The people from the mountains of the Campagna flock in to witness and to enjoy the fête, and present a strange sight of wild figures amid the inhabitants of the city. The churches are lit up with thousands of wax tapers; the cradle of CHRIST is removed from the shrine at the chapel of Santa Maria Maggiore, and carried in procession to the chapel of the Santa Croce; and the pope himself performs divine service in the Sixtine Chapel." WOMAN'S COURAGE. THE annals of 1780 record a remarkable case where a long course of robbery was brought to light, and a frightful murder prevented in the very act, by a woman's courage. Abraham Danford, the chief criminal in the transaction, himself detailed with minute accuracy his course from the first act of dishonesty to the ferocious outrage which cost him his life. The skill and tact requisite for carrying out his first plans hardly prepare us for the more ruffianly atrocity which concludes his career. At that period, money was chiefly sent by parcel, and an ingenious plan occurred to him by which he could, with little risk, put himself in possession of any parcel which struck him as likely to be of particular value, while it yet lay in the carrier's office previous to delivery. "The method (says his confession) which I chiefly put in practice, was forging the post-marks of the different towns, which I put on a piece of paper, made up as a letter, and then went to the inns where the coaches came, and heard the parcels called over; then went to a public-house near, and wrote the direction of the letter the same as was on the parcel I had fixed on. The book-keeper seeing the direction the same, and the post-mark on it, they usually gave me what I asked for, on paying their demand." The addresses on the parcels would give him some idea of their value, and of six of these thefts that he records, five contained considerable sums of money. Among his first experiments, was one on Messrs. Smith, Wright, and Grey, bankers, by which he got a parcel with 500l. enclosed. Having gone on a considerable time with impunity, and become an adept at forging, he now practised upon the same house in another way, by forging an accepted bill, which he lodged in the bank till it became due. This pretended bill he directed to an empty house in Water-lane, Blackfriars, and some days before it was due, he hired this house, and with an im pudent show of haste and anxiety, requested for the key, under pretence of getting it aired before he entered upon it. The owner of the house being made acquainted with the haste of his new tenant, and not much liking his appearance, now went to one Mrs. Bouchier, the landlady of a public-house opposite, of whose good sense he had had reason to form a high opinion, and requested her to keep watch upon the man's proceedings, which she promised to do. SIR WALTER SCOTT'S TOMBSTONE. We find the following interesting particulars, regarding the monument to be placed over Sir Walter Scott's grave at Dryburgh Abbey, in the Inverness Courier :— "The Aberdeen papers state that a monumental stone for the grave of Sir Walter Scott has been constructed there: At the works of Messrs. Macdonald and Leslie of Aberdeen, there has just been executed a massive tombstone, which is to be placed on the contiguous graves of the late Sir Walter Scott, and of Lady Scott, at Dryburgh Abbey. It consists of a large block of the beautiful red granite, cut from Messrs. Macdonald and Leslie's quarries at Stirling Hill, near Peterhead, on the property of the Earl of Aberdeen. The block is seven feet long, by six and a half feet broad, and weighs nearly five tons. The upper surface is cut in the form of the top of a double sarcophagus. On the one compartment is the following inscription : For some time, nothing remarkable happened, but on the day on which the bill became due, Messrs. Smith, Wright, and Grey, despatched one of their clerks, William Waits, a quaker, to pay the money to the person indicated in the bill. It is not quite certain whether Danford meditated violence beforehand; it may be that the man's subdued and defenceless appearance suggested the attack at the moment; but the presence of an accomplice, prepared for any atrocity, leads rather to the sup- On the other :position that the crime was premeditated; and that taking for granted that a clerk calling to discount a bill might have other errands of the same kind before him, and, therefore, much money on his person, they had planned, in cold blood, to rob and murder him. 'Sir Walter Scott, Baronet, Died September 21, A.D. 1832.' 'Dame Charlotte Margaret Carpenter, Sir Walter Scott of Abbotsford, Baronet, Mrs. Bouchier, who, after the instructions she had received, was on the watch, observed on that day two men enter the house, and open the parlour window. Some time after, a third person, a quaker, came up, knocked at the door, was admitted, and the door closed and fastened behind him. Something in the circumstances and the appearance of the first men excited her "We happen to know some of the incidents connected suspicion, and she kept her eye and her attention fixed with this Monument, which, as they relate to the "mighty upon the house. Presently she thought she heard a dead," and explain the cause of the long delay in its strange noise proceed from it, not loud, but which she erection, are worthy of recital. Many years since, the could not account for. She crossed over the street, and late Sir Francis Chantrey promised to furnish a design His numerous engagelistening attentively, soon heard the word "murder" for the Dryburgh monument. pronounced in a hoarse, faint voice, succeeded by a kind ments, however, and his declining health, interfered of groaning, which very much alarmed her: and looking with this intention, and it seemed to be utterly forgotten. through the key-hole of the house door, she saw two men At length, on the suggestion of Mr. Lockhart, Mr. Cadell, dragging the unfortunate quaker down the cellar stairs. the publisher, called on the eminent sculptor and re"You shall have it," said On this, she screamed out to the passers-by, that they minded him of his offer. were murdering a man within the house, and while she Chantrey: " Dryburgh, you know, is a ruin, and the knocked violently at the door, called upon the people in structure above Sir Walter's grave will come down some the street to break it open; but with that apathy which stormy morning. Now, my purpose is to put over the is sometimes met with in such a crisis, no one would grave a huge granite block that will defy all such asstir, or regard her exclamations. Enraged at their stu-saults, and baffle time itself." He hastily sketched an pidity, she broke open the parlour window herself, and as she was forcing her way through, one of the villains who had been interrupted and alarmed by the knocking, opened the door, and was running off at full speed. At the sight of him, however, the lookers-on roused themselves, set up a cry of stop thief, and presently made him their prisoner. The other ruffian Mrs. Bouchier herself seized by the throat, and dragged him across the street to her own house. It appeared that the villains had first robbed the poor man of his pocketbook, and then, to stop his cries, had nearly throttled him, while they were hurrying him down the back-cellar stairs, there to complete their crime by his murder. A design which would certainly have been carried out, but for this woman's fortitude and presence of mind, thus providentially interfering for his protection. When the two prisoners were brought before the Lord Mayor for examination, William Waits, as a quaker, refused to give evidence upon oath of the assault that had been made upon him. Arguments were used in vain, and it was much feared that the villains would escape for want of sufficient evidence against them. In the end, however, Mrs. Bouchier's testimony, and that of her assistants, was deemed conclusive. The prisoners were condemned and executed, with several others, at Tyburn, having previously made great professions of penitence and contrition. outline of what he proposed; but the design went no farther, and death soon carried off the artist. His friend and assistant, Mr. Allan Cunningham, was then applied to; he recollected the conversation, found Chantrey's rough sketch, and extended it in the form of a more with the Aberdeen granite workers, and on the very regular drawing. He was next authorised to arrange evening that he died-only a few hours before his deThis was the last line traced by his busy hand, and, as cease-Allan wrote to Mr. Cadell closing the transaction. such, his family asked and obtained possession of it. And thus, after the sudden deaths of two remarkable men, who sought to honour the memory of one still greater, the simple massive structure which they designed has been completed. Such burial the illustrious Hector found!" Chantrey had a partiality for huge granite sepulchres, independently of the fitness of such an erection for the grave of Scott. He ordered that his own tomb at Norton, in Derbyshire, should be composed of wrought granite, covered by an enormous square of the same material; and that even this lasting memorial might, be carefully preserved, he left by his will yearly sums to the Vicar and Schoolmaster of Norton, payable only so long as his tomb shall last," and ten poor boys of the parish shall be instructed to remove the moss and nettles from around the edifice. This seems to argue a 66 "fond desire and longing after immortality;" yet it might be intended to ripen into useful fruit. Some among the successive generations of poor boys who pluck the nettles from the grave of the sculptor may be led to think of his high art and his fame, and to emulate his genius for he, too, was once a poor boy. The busts of Chantrey are, however, his best monument,-the living, intellectual marble will outlast the ponderous masses of dead granite." Poetry. In Original Poetry, the Name, real or assumed, of the Author is printed in Small Capitals under the title; in Selections, it is printed in Italics at the end.] THE CONTEST. Two shepherds had a friendly strife, They sat them down beneath the shade While flocks were busy at the blade, One took his pipe and gaz'd around, He caught th' exulting wild bird's sound, The lazy breeze all soothing blew, And o'er the wave the glad notes flew, The song had ceas'd; the smile had fled, And downcast was the other's head, Upon the earth he fixed his eye, Through many hopes and fears, The low note struck its tone, The echoes fell, no voice arose, Miscellaneous. "I have here made only a nosegay of culled flowers, and have brought nothing of my own, but the string that ties them."-Montaigne. ANCIENT CORONATION CEREMONIES. MOST of the ancient ceremonics observed at the coronation banquets of the Anglo-Norman and Plantagenet services were revived by James the Second at his coronation. The lords who claimed the office of sewers that day, went to the dresser of the kitchen to receive the dishes. The master of the horse officiated as serjeant of the silver scullery, and went in person to the kitchen bar to take assay of the king's meat, which was thus performed: having called for a dish of meat, he wiped the bottom of the dish, and also the cover, within and without; tasted it, covered it, and caused it to be conveyed to the royal table; and, attended by a procession of all the great officers of the household, including the earl-marshal, with his rod; the great high steward, with his white staff; the lord high constable, with his constable's staff; rode up the hall on horseback, preceding the first course. Thirty-two dishes of hot meat were brought up by the knights of the bath, bareheaded, followed by a supply of other dishes by private gentlemen. Then the lord of the manor of Addington had the satisfaction of placing the mess of dillegrout before their majesties, and was afterwards knighted for his pains.-Strickland's Queens of England, vol. IX. A GUEST TOO MANY. The colonel who commanded on the frontier discovered that there were "crimps" on the other side. They were well-dressed and disguised, and came over to tamper with the men. The day after Lord Durham's review, a number of visitors came over from the opposite shore, among them one of these crimps, who, unfortunately for himself, pitched on the colonel's orderly, a peninsular veteran, who allowed him to go on, and afterwards pointed him out to his colonel, as he was turning into the great table-d'hôte at which we all dined, together with the visitors who daily came to see the lions. After dinner the colonel got up. He was a magnificent fellow-a noble figure-the hero of a hundred fights. He began with a little soft sawder; the Yankees were all attention:-"He regretted that there should be a set of persons on the other side who tried to induce his men to desert their colours, and forfeit their honour and allegiance to the queen of England. There is such a man here present "-here he beckoned to his orderly to step forward, on which a man, covered with rings and chains, was observed to turn deadly pale-" who, by his appearance ought to be above such rascally actions." Upon a "Yes, sir, that's he," from the orderly, the colonel, with Herculean strength, took hold of the fellow by the collar, and, lifting him completely off his seat, gave him a kick in that part where the smallest particle of honour, be there any, is supposed to be seated, and handed him over to a file of the guard, to see him safe to the other side of the water.-Echoes from the Backwoods. Vol. ii. p. 142. LEARNING is like a river, whose head, being far in the land, is, at first rising, little and easily viewed: but still, as you go, it gapeth with a wider bank: not without pleasure, and delightful winding; while it is on both sides set with trees, and the beauties of various flowers; but still, the further you follow it, the deeper and the broader it is; till, at last, it enwaves itself in the unfathomed ocean. There you see more water; but no shore, no end of that liquid, fluid vastness.— Feltham's Resolves. |