ed by the Heathens in January; which was a going in Disguise, not publicly, or to any indifferent Place; but privately, and to some well known Families. This kind of Custom received a deserved Blow from the Church, and was taken Notice of in the Synod * of Trullus ; where it was decreed, that the Days called the Calends, should be intirely strip'd of their Ceremonies, and the Faithful should no longer observe them: That the public Dancings of Women should cease, as being the Occasion of much Harm and Ruin, and as being invented and observed in honour of their Gods, and therefore quite averse to the Christian Life. They therefore decreed, that no Man should be cloathed with a Woman's Garment, no Woman with a Man's. It were to be wish'd, this Custom, which is still so common among us at this Season of "sides this they sent Presents to one another, among Friends. No War was to be proclaim'd, and no Offender executed. The «Schools kept a Vacation, and nothing but Mirth and Freedom “ was to be met with in the City. They kept at first only one Day, "the Fourteenth of the Kalends of January: but the Number was "afterwards increas'd to three, four, five, and some say seven Days." Kennet. Rom. Antiq. P. 96. *Can. Trull. 62. Bal. 435. P 3 the the Year, was laid aside; as it is the Occasion of much * Uucleanness and Debauchery, and directly opposite to the Word of GOD. The + Woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a Man put on a Woman's Garment; for all that do so, are Abomition unto the LORD thy GOD. * Hoc autem, quum noctu fiat, nemini dubium esse debet, quin sub hoc prætextu, multa obscæna & turpia perpetrantur simul. Hosp. de Orig. Fest. 41. + Deut. xxii. OBSERVATIONS ON CHAP. XVI. Turba frequens Jani fundit pia vota Kalendis Ut novus exacto faustior Annus eat. BUCHANAN. In the antient Saturnalia*, there were frequent and luxurious Feastings amongst Friends; presents were sent mutually, and Changes of Dress made. Christians have adopted the same Customs, * Ut olim in Saturnalibus frequentes, luxoriosæque cœnationes inter Amicos fiebant, munera ultro citroque missitabantur, Vestium mutationes fiebant, ita hodie etiam apud nos Christianos eadem fieri videmus à Natalibus Dominicis usque ad Festum Epiphaniæ, quod in Januario celebratur: Hoc enim tempore omni et crebro convivamur et Strenas, hoc est, ut nos vocamus, Novi anni Donaria missitamus. Eodem tempore mutationes vestium, ut apud Romanos quondam, usurpantur, vicinique ad vicinos invitati hac ratione commeant, quod nos Germani Hummerey vocamus. Antiquitat. Convivial. 126. which continue to be used from the Nativity to the Epiphany.-Feastings are frequent during the whole Time, and we send what are called New Year's Gifts*: Exchanges of Dress too, as of old among the Romans, are common, and Neighbours by mutual Invitations, visit each other in the Manner which we Germans call Mummery: So writes the Author of the Convivial Antiquities, and adds, as the Heathens had their Saturnalia in December, their Sigillaria in January, and the Lupercalia and Bacchanalia in February; so amongst Christians these three Months are devoted to Feastings and Revellings of every Kind†. There was an antient‡ Custom, (I know not whether * Strena usus primo die anni, Romanorum veterum est inventum -Suetonius in Augusto. Deprav. Rel. 164. Johannes Boëmus Aubanus tells us, "Calendis Januarii, quo "tempore et Annus & omnis Computatio nostra inchoatur, Cogna"tus cognatum, Amicus amicum accedunt, & consertis manibus "invicem in novum Annum prosperitatem imprecantur, diemque "illum festiva Congratulatione & Compotatione deducunt. Tunc "etiam ex avita consuetudine ultro citroque munera mittuntur, quæ à Saturnalibus, quæ eo tempore celebrantur à Romanis, Sa "turnalitia, a Græcis Apophoreta dicta sunt. Hunc morem anno "superiori ego ita versificavi:" Christe patris Verbum, &c. Natalemque tuum celebrantes octo diebus, P. 265. There are Allusions to some other obsolete Rites at this Time in Pope Zecharias' Interdiction of them, preserved in the Convivial P 4 Antiquities. whether it be not yet retained in many Places): Young Women went about with a Wassail-bowl, that is, a Bowl of spiced Ale on New Year's Eve, with some Sort of Verses that were sung by them in going about from Door to Door. Waissail is derived from the Anglo. Sax. Wær pæl, that is, "be in "Health." They accepted little Presents from the Houses they stopped at. --Mr. Selden thus alludes to it in his Table Talk, Art. Pope. "The Pope in "sending Relicks to Princes, does as Wenches do by "their Wassels at New Year's Tide.-They present you with a Cup, and you must drink of a slabby Stuff; but the Meaning is, you must give them Money ten Times more than it is worth." 66 Stow has preserved an Account of a remarkable Mummery, 1377, "made by the Citizens for disport of the young Prince Richard, Sonne to the Black Prince. On the Sunday before Candlemass in the Night, 130 Citizens disguised and well horsed, in a Mummery, with Sound of Trumpets, Sackbuts, Cornets, Shalmes and other Minstrels, and innumerable ་་ Antiquities. "Si quis Calendas Januarii ritu Ethnicorum colere, "ut aliquid plus novi facere propter novum annum, aut mensas cum lampadibus, vel Epulas in domibus præparare, et per vicos et plateas cantatores et Choreas ducere aùsus fuerit, Anathema sit." Antiquit. Conviv. p. 126. In Trusler's Chronology, A. D. 1198, we are told, “Fools, Festival of, at Paris, held January 1st, and continued for 240 Years, "when all Sorts of Absurdities and Indecencies were committed." Mr. Pennant tells us, that the Highlanders on New Year's Day, burn Juniper before their Cattle, and on the first Monday in every Quarter sprinkle them with Urine, 6 Torch Torch Lights of Wax, rode to Kennington, besides Lambeth, where the young Prince was. In the 1st Rank, 48 in Likeness and Habit of Esquires, two and two together, clothed in red Coats and Gowns of Say or Sendall, with comely Vizors on their Faces. After them came 48 Knights, in the same Livery: Then followed one richly arrayed, like an Emperor; and after him some Distance, one stately tyred like a Pope, who was followed by 24 Cardinals: And after them eight or ten with black Vizors, not amiable, as if they had been Legates from some forraigne Princes. These Maskers, after they had entred the Mannor of Kennington, alighted from their Horses, and entred the Hall on foot; which done, the Prince, his Mother and the Lords came out of the Chambers into the Hall, whom the Mummers did salute; shewing by a Paire of Dice on the Table, their desire to play with the young Prince; which they so handled, that the Prince did alwaies winne, when he cast at them. Then the Mummers set to the Prince three Jewels, one after another; which were, a Boule of Gold, a Cup of Gold, and a Ring of Gold, which the Prince wanne at three Casts. Then they set to the Princes Mother, the Duke, the Earles and other Lords, to every one a Ring of Gold,` which they did also win. After which they were feasted, and the Musick sounded, the Prince and Lords |