honour'd with the very Works he came to destroy.

*

With some, Christmas ends with the Twelve Days, but with the generality of the Vulgar, not till Candlemas. Till then they continué Feasting, and are ambitious of keeping some of their Christmas-Chear, and then are fond of getting quit of it. Durand tells us, They celebrated this Time with Joy, because the Incarnation of CHRIST was the Occasion of Joy to Angels and Men. But the lengthening of the Time from twelve to forty Days, seems to have been done out of honour to the Virgin Mary's Lying-in: Under the old Law, the Time of Purification was forty Days, which was to Women then, what the Month is to Women now. And as during that Time, the Friends and Relations of the Women, pay them Visits, and do them Abundance of Honour; so this Time seems to have been calculated, to do Honour to the Virgin's Lying-in.

There is a Canon in the Council of Trullus, against those who bak'd a Cake in Ho

*Hanc Quadragessimam cum gaudio celebramus, quia Christi incarnatio fuit gaudium angelorum & hominum. Durand. Lib. 6. C, 22.

+ Can, 80. Trul. Bal.

hour

nour of the Virgin's Lying-in, in which it is decreed, that no such Ceremony should be observed; because it was otherwise with her, at the Birth of our Saviour, than with all other Women. She suffer'd no Pollution, and therefore needed no Purification, but only in Obedience to the Law: If then the Baking of a single Cake was faulty, how much more so many Feasts in her Honour?

OBSERVATONS ON CHAP. XVII.

THE subsequent Extract from Collier's Ecclesiastical History, Vol. I. p. 163. seems to account in a satisfactory Manner for the Name of Twelfth Day. "In the Days of King Alfred, a Law was "made with Relation to Holidays, by Virtue of "which the twelve Days after the Nativity of our "Saviour were made Festivals."

In the ancient Calendar of the Romish Church above cited, I find in an * Observation on the fifth of January, the Vigil of the Epiphany, " Kings "created or elected by Beans." The sixth is called there"The Festival of Kings;" and there is added,

* Reges Fabis creantur.

And on the sixth Day of January,

Festum Regum

. (as also)

Regna atque Epule in multos dies exercentur.

"That

"That this Ceremony of electing Kings "was con“tinued with Feasting for many Days.”

There was a custom similar to this on the festive Days of Saturn among the Romans, Grecians, &c. Persons of the same Rank drew Lots for Kingdoms, and like Kings exercised their temporary Authority Alex. ab Alex. B. 2. ch. 22. The learned * More-/ sin observes, that our Ceremony of chusing a King on the Epiphany or Feast of the three Kings, is practised about the same Time of the Year.-He is called the Bean King from the Lot.

This Custom is practised no where that I know of in the Northern Parts of the Kingdom, but is still retained in the South.†

I gather

* Regna sortiri inter æquales festis Saturni diebus & tanquam Reges imperitare mos fuit, qui etiam Romanis, cum Græcis et exteris communis fuit. Circa idem tempus inter æquales, Regis fit electio ad Epiphaniæ nostræ, seu trium regum festum, et Rez fabaceus dicitur, ex sorte nomen habens. Moresin. Deprav. Rel. p. 143.

I find also in Joannes Boëmus Aubanus' Description of some singular Rites in Franconia, in Germany, the following circumstantial Description of this Ceremony:

"In Epiphania Domini singulæ Familiæ ex melle farina, addito "Zinzibere et pipere, libum conficiunt et Regem sibi legunt hoc " modo: Libum mater familias facit, cui absque consideratione inter "subigendum denarium unum immittit, postea amoto igne supra "calidum focum illud torret, tostum in tot partes frangit, quot "homines familia habet: demum distribuit, cuique partem unam "tribuens. Adsignantur etiam Christo, beatæque Virgini & tribus Magis suæ partes, quæ loco eleemosynæ elargiuntur. In cujus "autem portione Denarius repertus fuerit, hic Rex ab omnibus "salutatus, in sedem locatur et ter in altum cum jubilo elevatur: " ipse in dextera cretam habet, qua toties signum crucis suprà in "Triclinii laqueariis delineat: quæ cruces quòd obstare plurimis "malis credantur, in multa observatione habentur." p. 266.

I gather the present Manner of drawing King and Queen on this Day, from an ingenious Letter preserved in the Universal Magazine, 1774, whence I shall take the Liberty to extract a few select Passages. "I went to a Friend's House in the

Country to partake of some of those innocent "Pleasures that constitute a merry Christmass; I "did not return till I had been present at drawing

King and Queen, and eaten a Slice of the twelfth "Cake, made by the fair Hands of my good Friend's "Consort. After Tea Yesterday, a noble Cake

was produced, and two Bowls, containing the fortunate Chances for the different Sexes. Our "Host filled up the Tickets; the whole Company, except the King and Queen, were to be Minis"ters of State, Maids of Honour, or Ladies of the "Bedchamber.

"Our kind Host and Hostess, whether by Design or Accident became King and Queen. According to twelfth Day Law, each Party is to support their Character till Midnight. After Supper

Here we have the Materials of the Cake, which are Flour, Honey, Ginger, and Pepper; one is made for every Family. The Maker thrusts in at Random a small Coin as she is kneading it; when it is baked, it is divided into as many Parts as there are Persons in "the Family. It is distributed, and each has his Share; Portions of it also are assigned to Christ, the Virgin, and the Three Magi, which are given away in Alms. Whoever finds the Piece of Coin in his Share is saluted by all as King, and being placed on a Seat or Throne, is thrice lifted aloft with joyful Acclamations: He holds a Piece of Chalk in his Right Hand, and each Time he is lifted up makes a Cross on the Ceiling. These Crosses are thought to prevent many Evils, and are much revered.

one

"one called for a King's Speech, &c." The rest is political Satire, and is foreign to our Purpose.

I have inserted this with a View of gratifying the Curiosity of my northern Readers on this Head.

N. B. The Reader is desired to add the following Remarks to the Observations on YULE; "All the "Celtic Nations have been accustomed to the Wor

66

ship of the Sun; either as distinguished from Thor,

or considered as his Symbol:-It was a Custom "that every where prevailed in antient Times, to "celebrate a Feast at the Winter Solstice; by which "Men testified their Joy at seeing this great Lumi(c nary return again to this Part of the Heavens."This was the greatest Solemnity in the Year. They call it in many Places, Yole, or Yuul, from "the Word Hiaul and Houl, which even at this

Day signifies the Sun, in the Languages of Bass Britagne, and Cornwal*." Vide Mallet's Northern Antiquities, Vol. II. p. 68.

*This is giving a Celtic Derivation of a Gothic Word (two Languages extremely different). The learned Doctor Hickes, thus derives the Term in Question. Jol, Cimbricum, Anglo Saxonicè scriptum, Geol; et Dan. Sax. Jul, o in u facile mutato, ope intensivi præfixi 1 et ge, faciunt ol, Commessatio, Compotatio, &c, (Isl. Ol cerevisiam denotat et metonymicè Convivium) Junii Etym. V. Yeol.

Our ingenious Author, however, is certainly right as to the Origin and Design of the Yule Feast: The Green-landers at this Day keep a Sun Feast at the Winter Solstice, about Dec. 22, to rejoice at the Return of the Sun, and the expected Renewal of the Hunting Season, &c. which Custom they may possibly have learnt of the Norvegian Colony formerly settled in Greenland. See Crantz's Hist. of Greenland, Vol. I. p. 176. Ibid. in Not.