of this Custom, was to represent that Light which the next Day arose upon the World. The Difference between these two Customs, is that of the Time, the Reason of their Observation is much the same. The one illuminated the Eve of Easter, that there might be an Emblem of the Sun of Righteousness, who the next Day arose upon the World; the other, the Eve of Yule, to give an Emblem of that Light which was the Day spring from on High. Nay, this Eve of Yule, as Gregory "was illuminated with so many Tapors among the Ancients, as to give to the Vigil the Name of Vigilia Luminum; and "the Ancients, says he, did well to send Lights

tells us,

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one to another, whatever some think of the "Christmas-Candle."

* Eus. Vit. Constan. Cap. 22. Lib. 5.

OBSERVATIONS ON CHAP. XIII.

MR. BOURNE omits the Yule-Dough, (or Dow) a Kind of Baby or little Image of Paste, which our Bakers used formerly to bake at this Season, and present to their Customers, in the same Manner as the Chandlers gave Christmas Candles. They are called Yule-Cakes in the county of Durham. I

find in the antient Calendar of the Romish Church*, that at Rome, on the Vigil of the Nativity, Sweetmeats were presented to the Fathers in the Vatican, and that all Kinds of little Images (no doubt of Paste) were to be found at the Confectioners' Shops.

*

There is the greatest Probability that we have had from hence both our Yule Doughs † and Mince Pies, the latter of which are still in common Use at this Season. The Yule-Dough has perhaps been intended for an Image of the Child Jesus. It is if I mistake not, pretty generally laid aside, or at most retained only by Children.

now,

J. Boëmus Aubanus tells us, that in Franconia, on the three Thursday Nights preceding the Nativity of our Lord, it is customary for the Youth of both Sexes to go from House to House, knocking at the Doors, singing their Christmass Carrols, and wishing a happy new Year.-They get in Return

*In Vaticano-Dulcia Patribus exhibentur,

In Cupidinariorum mensis, omnium generum Imagunculæ.

Vide Librum rarissimum, cui titulus Ephemeris, sive Diarium Historicum: &c. Francofurti. 1590. Quarto.

+ Dough or Dow is vulgarly used in the North for a little Cake, though it properly signifies a Mass of Flour tempered with Water, Salt, Yeast, and kneaded fit for baking. It is derived, as Junius tells us, from the Dutch Deeg, which comes from the Theotiscan, thihen, to grow bigger, or rise, as (if I mistake not) the Bakers term it.

In trium quintarum feriarum noctibus, quæ proximè Domini nostri natalem præcedunt, utriusque Sexus pueri domesticatim eunt januas pulsantes, cantantesque; futurum Salvatoris exortum annunciant et salubrem annum: unde ab his qui in ædibus sunt, pyra, poma, nuces & nummos etiam percipiunt. P. 264.

from the Houses they stop at, Pears, Apples, Nuts, and even Money.

Little Troops of Boys and Girls still go about in this very Manner at Newcastle, some few Nights before, on the Night of the Eve of this Day, and on that of the Day itself.-The Hagmena is still preserved among them. They still conclude too with wishing a merry Christmass and a happy "new Year.'

66 *

We are told in the Athenian Oracle, that the Christmass↑ Bor Money is derived from hence.— The Romish Priests had Masses said for almost every thing: If a Ship went out to the Indies, the Priests had a Bor in her, under the Protection of some Saint And for Masses, as their Cant was, to

"It is ordinary among some Plebeians in the South of Scot"land, to go about from Door to Door upon New-year's Eve, cry"ing Hagmane, a corrupted Word from the Greek ayia unvn, "i. e. Holy Month. (It is more probably a Corruption of some Saxon Words.)

"John Dixon holding forth against this Custom once in a Sermon "at Kelso, says, "Sirs, do you know what Hagmane signifies? It "is the Devil be in the House! that's the Meaning of its Hebrew Original." Vide Scotch Presb. Eloquence, p. 102.

One preaching against the Observation of Christmass, said in a Scotch Jingle, "Ye will say, Sirs, good old Youl Day; I tell you, good old Fool Day-You will say it is a brave Holiday! I tell "6 you it is a brave Belly Day." Ibid. p. 98. This is Jack tearing off the Lace and making a plain Coat! Šee Swift's Tale of a Tub.

This is still retained in Barbers' Shops: - A`Thrift-Box (as it is vulgarly called) is put up against the Wall, and every Customer puts in something.—Mr. Gay mentions it thus:

Some Boys are rich by Birth beyond all Wants,
Belov'd by Uncles and kind, good old Aunts;

When Time comes round a Christmass Box they bear,
And one Day makes them rich for all the Year.

Gay's Trivia.

be

be said for them to that Saint, &c. the poor People must put in something into the Priests' Box, which is not to be opened till the Ship return.

The Mass at that Time was called Christmass* ; the Box, Christmass Box, or Money gathered against that Time, that Masses might be made by the Priests to the Saints to forgive the People the Debaucheries of that Time: and from this Servants had the Liberty to get Box Money, that they too might be enabled to pay the Priest for his Masses, knowing well the Truth of the Proverb,

"No Penny, No Pater-noster."

Christmass, says Blount, was called the Feast of Lights, in the Western or Latin Church, because they used many Lights or Candles at the Feast; or rather, because Christ, the Light of all Lights, that true Light then came into the World.

* Christmass, says Selden, succeeds the Saturnalia, the sameTime, the same Number of Holy Days, when the Master waited upon the Servants like the Lord of Misrule. Table Talk.

Int he Feast of Christmass, says Stow in his Survey, there was in the King's House, a Lord of Misrule, or Master of Merry Disports, and the like had ye in the House of every Nobleman of Honour, or good Worship, were he spiritual or temporal. The Mayor of London and either of the Sheriffs had their several Lords of Misrule, ever contending, without Quarrel or Offence, who should make the rarest Pastimes to delight the Beholders. These Lords, beginning their Rule at All-hallon Eve, continued the same till the Morrow after the Feast of the Purification, commonly called Candlemas Day: In which Space, there were fine and subtil Disguisings, Masks, and Mummeries, with playing at Cards for Counters, Nayles, and Points in every House, more for Pastime than for Gaine. P. 79.

On the pulling down of Canterbury Court, Christ Church, Oxford, 1775, many of these Counters were found. There was a Hole in the Center of each, and they appeared to have been strung together, I saw many of them, having been in Oxford at that Time. Hence

N 4

Hence it should seem the Christmass Candle, and what was perhaps only a Succedaneum, the Yule Clog * or Block, before Candles † were in general Use. Thus a very large Coal is often set apart at present in the North for the same Purpose, i. e. to make a great Light on Yule or ChristmassEve. Lights indeed seem to have been used upon all festive Occasions:-Thus our Illuminations, Fireworks, &c. on the News of Victories.

In the antient Times to which we would trace back the Origin of these almost obsolete Customs, Blocks, Logs, or Clogs of dried Wood might be easily procured, and provided against this festive Season: At that Time of Day it must have been

*Clog is properly a Piece of Wood, fastened about the Legs of Beasts, to keep them from running astray.—In a secondary or figurative Sense, it signifies a Load, Let, or Hinderance. Thus also a Truant-Clog.-Bailey supposes it to come from Log, (which he derives from the Saxon hgan, to lie, because of its Weight, it lies as it were immoveable) the Trunk of a Tree or Stump of Wood for Fuel. Block has the same Signification.

There is an old Scotch Proverb, "He's as bare as the Birk at "Yule E'en," which perhaps alludes to this Custom; the Birk meaning a Block of the Birch Tree, stripped of its Bark, and dried against Yule Even.-It is spoken of one who is exceedingly poor.

This is merely Conjecture! and yet we can do little else but make Conjectures concerning the Origin of Customs of such remote Antiquity.

Perhaps the Yule Block will be found at last only the Counter Part of the Midsummer Fires, made on within Doors because of the cold Weather at this Winter Solstice, as those in the hot Season at the Summer one are kindled in the open Air.-After a diligent and close Study of Gebelin, the French Bryant, on this Subject, one cannot fail, I think, of adopting this Hypothesis, which is confirmed by great Probability and many cogent if not infallible Proofs,

in