his retorts, and burst into a gratuitous laugh before they could well understand them. The whole house indeed seemed abandoned to merriment. As I passed to my room to dress for dinner, I heard the sound of music in a small court, 5 and, looking through a window that commanded it, I perceived a band of wandering musicians, with pandean pipes and tambourine; a pretty coquetish housemaid was dancing a jig with a smart country lad, while several of the other servants 10 were looking on. In the midst of her sport the girl caught a glimpse of my face at the window, and, colouring up, ran off with an air of roguish affected confusion. VII. THE CHRISTMAS DINNER. Lo, now is come the joyful'st feast! Eache roome with yvie leaves is drest, Now all our neighbours' chimneys smoke, We'll bury 't in a Christmas pye, WITHERS'S Juvenilia. I had finished my toilet, and was loitering with Frank Bracebridge in the library, when we heard 25 a distant thwacking sound, which he informed me was a signal for the serving up of the dinner. The Squire kept up old customs in kitchens as well as hall; and the rolling-pin, struck upon the dresser 5 by the cook, summoned the servants to carry in the meats. 10 Just in this nick the cook knock'd thrice, His summons did obey; Each serving man, with dish in hand, The dinner was served up in the great hall, where the Squire always held his Christmas banquet. 15 A blazing crackling fire of logs had been heaped on to warm the spacious apartment, and the flame went sparkling and wreathing up the wide-mouthed chimney. The great picture of the crusader and his white horse had been profusely decorated with 20 greens for the occasion, and holly and ivy had likewise been wreathed round the helmet and weapons on the opposite wall, which I understood were the arms of the same warrior. I must own, bythe-by, I had strong doubts about the authenticity 25 of the painting and armour as having belonged to the crusader, they certainly having the stamp of more recent days; but I was told that the painting had been so considered time out of mind, and that, as to the armour, it had been found in 30 a lumber room, and elevated to its present situation by the Squire, who at once determined it to be the armour of the family hero; and as he was ab solute authority on all such subjects in his own household, the matter had passed into current acceptation. A sideboard was set out just under this chivalric trophy, on which was a display of plate that might have vied (at least in variety) with Bel- 5 shazzar's parade of the vessels of the temple; "flagons, cans, cups, beakers, goblets, basins, and ewers"; the gorgeous utensils of good companionship, that had gradually accumulated through many generations of jovial housekeepers. Before these stood the two 10 Yule candles beaming like two stars of the first magnitude; other lights were distributed in branches, and the whole array glittered like a firmament of silver. We were ushered into this banqueting scene 15 with the sound of minstrelsy, the old harper being seated on a stool beside the fireplace, and twanging his instrument with a vast deal more power than melody. Never did Christmas board display a more goodly and gracious assemblage of countenances: 20 those who were not handsome were, at least, happy; and happiness is a rare improver of your hardfavoured visage. I always consider an old English family as well worth studying as a collection of Holbein's portraits or Albert Durer's prints. There 25 is much antiquarian lore to be acquired; much knowledge of the physiognomies of former times. Perhaps it may be from having continually before their eyes those rows of old family portraits, with which the mansions of this country are stocked; 30 certain it is, that the quaint features of antiquity are often most faithfully perpetuated in these ancient lines, and I have traced an old family nose through a whole picture gallery, legitimately handed down from generation to generation, almost from the time of the Conquest. Something of the kind was to 5 be observed in the worthy company around me. Many of their faces had evidently originated in a gothic age, and been merely copied by succeeding generations; and there was one little girl, in particular, of staid demeanour, with a high Roman 10 nose, and an antique vinegar aspect, who was a great favourite of the Squire's, being, as he said, a Bracebridge all over, and the very counterpart of one of his ancestors who figured in the court of Henry VIII. 15 The parson said grace, which was not a short familiar one, such as is commonly addressed to the Deity, in these unceremonious days; but a long, courtly, well-worded one of the ancient school. There was now a pause, as if something was ex20 pected; when suddenly the butler entered the hall with some degree of bustle: he was attended by a servant on each side with a large wax-light, and bore a silver dish, on which was an enormous pig's head, decorated with rosemary, with a lemon 25 in its mouth, which was placed with great formality at the head of the table. The moment this pageant made its appearance, the harper struck up a flourish; at the conclusion of which the young Oxonian, on receiving a hint from the Squire, gave, with an 30 air of the most comic gravity, an old carol, the first verse of which was as follows: Caput apri defero Reddens laudes Domino. The boar's head in hand bring I, Though prepared to witness many of these little eccentricities, from being apprised of the peculiar hobby of mine host, yet, I confess, the parade with which so odd a dish was introduced somewhat 10 perplexed me, until I gathered from the conversation of the Squire and the parson, that it was meant to represent the bringing in of the boar's head: a dish formerly served up with much ceremony, and the sound of minstrelsy and song, at 15 great tables on Christmas day. "I like the old custom," said the Squire, "not merely because it is stately and pleasing in itself, but because it was observed at the College at Oxford, at which I was educated. When I hear the old song chanted, it 20 brings to mind the time when I was young and gamesome and the noble old college-hall- and my fellow students loitering about in their black gowns; many of whom, poor lads, are now in their graves!" 25 The parson, however, whose mind was not haunted by such associations, and who was always more taken up with the text than the sentiment, objected to the Oxonian's version of the carol; which he affirmed was different from that sung at 30 college. He went on, with the dry perseverance of a commentator, to give the college reading, |