vileges that I have just been describing, was not chosen without due reference to his mental and bodily qualifications. It was indispensable that he should be well versed in the church ceremonies, and that he should be handsome, or else his election became null and void.* From this it would seem that the clergy considered the ceremony as important, and one which was likely to influence the minds of the people, a supposition that is yet farther strengthened when we find it strictly forbidden by Henry the Eighth, and revived by his daughter Mary. For this revival a special enactment was issued by the bishop of London, and it certainly does not say much for the fervour or the orthodoxy of the people that the pageant should have been so great a favourite as it evidently was with them. When on the subsequent Saint Nicolas' Eve the Cardinal ordered that the Boy-Bishop should not walk abroad because he had summoned the head of the clergy to him at Lambeth House to be absolved of their sins, these Saint Nicolases were still carried about in divers parishes to the great delight of the citizens.§ Capitulum ordinavit, quod electio Episcopi Puerorum in ecclesia Eboracensi de cætero fieret de eo, qui diutius et magis in dicta ecclesia laboraverit, et magis idoneus repertus fuerit, dum tamen competenter sit corpore formosus, et quod aliter facta electio non valebit." -REGISTR. ARCHIV. ECCLES. EBOR.-as quoted by Warton in his History of English Poetry, vol. iii. p. 303. This was by a solemn proclamation in the 33rd year of his reign, A.D. 1541. See BISHOP HALL'S TRIUMPHS OF ROME. To be sure Henry had by this time quarrelled with Rome, and made himself, if not in name, at least in reality, the Pope of England. Strype, in his HISTORICAL MEMORIALS, (vol. iii. chap. xxv. p. 202) records under the head of November 13, "it was commanded by the Bishop of London to all clerks in his diocese to have S. Nicolas, that is a boy-bishop, in procession, and to go abroad, as many as were so minded, according to an old superstition." "On the 5th of December, the which was St. Nicolas' Eve, at evensong time came a commandment that St. Nicolas should not go abroad nor about. But notwithstanding it seems so much were the But the custom, so far from being confined to this country, would seem to have been common throughout Europe. We find a specific mention of its existence in Franconia by Boemus Aubanus,* and indeed its origin may be traced up to a very remote period, though, as might be expected, under a somewhat different form. In the Constantinopolitan synod in the year 867, at which were present three hundred and seventy-three bishops, it was found to be a solemn custom in the courts of princes on certain days to dress some layman in the episcopal apparel, and to create a burlesque patriarch for the amusement of the company. This, like so many other things of the same kind, was anathematized by the clergy at one time, though there can be little doubt that it had originated with themselves. And here arises a contradiction that at first sight seems not a little puzzling; at one moment we see the church adopting the pagan rites and ceremonies without hesitation, baptizing them as it were with holy names, while at another we find them launching their anathemas against such abuses. That sound policy dictated either measure there can be little reason to doubt, for when was the Romish Church wanting in craft or sagacity to defend its own interests, though at so remote a period it is hardly possible for us to investigate the motives of their conduct? citizens taken with the mock St. Nicolas, that is a Boy-Bishop, that there went about these St. Nicolases in divers parishes, as in St. Andrews, Holborn, and St. Nicolas Olaves in Bread Street. The reason the procession of St. Nicolas was forbid was because the Cardinal had this St. Nicolas' Day sent for all the convocation, bishops, and inferior clergy, to come to him to Lambeth, there to be absolved from all their perjuries, schisms, and heresies."-Idem. chap. xxvi. vol. iii. p. 205. * Boemus Aubanus.-ORBIS TERRARUM EPITOME, Lib. iii. cap. xv. p. 241. † See WARTON'S HISTORY OF ENGLISH POETRY, vol. iii. p. 325. 1 We have thus seen what were the actual ceremonies pertaining to the election and office of the Boy-Bishop; it now only remains to enquire why Saint Nicholas should have been more particularly chosen as the saint of this incongruous festival, or why indeed he should have been elevated into the patron-saint of scholars. Various reasons have been assigned for this. The learned Gregorie says, "it is sayd that his fader hyght Epiphanius, and his mother Joanna. And when hee was born they made him christen, and called him Nycolas, that is a mannes name, but he kepeth the name of the child, for he chose to kepe vertues, meknes, and simpleness, and without malice. Also we rede, while he lay in his cradel, he fasted wednesday and friday; these dayes he would souke but ones of the day, and ther wyth held him pleased. Thus he lyved all his lyfe in vertues with this childes name. And therefore children don him worship before all other saints."* Another version is that given by Maitre Wace, chaplain to Henry the Second, "Treis clers alvent a escole- Nen frai mie longe parole; Lor ostes par nuit les oscieit, Nes peut muscier einz lui mustra. Les ames mist el cors ariere, Por ceo qe as clers fist tiel honor * GREGORII POSTHUMA, p. 114. But he quotes from the Book of Festivals, fol. 55. A word is defaced here from the MS. I quote from Douce's ILLUSTRATIONS OF SHAKSPEARE, vol. i. p. 40. That is, "three scholars were going to school-I shall not make my words long-their host in the night murdered them, and hid their bodies; their he re ........ served. Saint Nicholas knew it of God, and went there as God directed. He demanded the scholars of the host, who not being able to conceal them showed them to him. By his prayers Saint Nicholas replaced the souls within the bodies. Because he conferred such honour on scholars, they at this day celebrate a festival." CONCEPTION OF THE IMMACULATE, HOLY, AND BLESSED VIRGIN MOTHER OF GOD; or, as it is generally abbreviated, C. B. V. MARY; December 8th.-Some editions, however, of the Roman Calendar would seem to place this feast on the 9th. ST. THOMAS'S DAY; December 21st.-Brand* has noticed some faint traces of a custom on this day, called, Going a Gooding. It was peculiar to the women, and is thus incidentally mentioned by a writer in the Gentleman's Magazine, when speaking of the extreme mildness of the preceding winter; "the pleasing objects of Autumn continued to be seen after the commencement of winter. The women, who went a-gooding,-as they call it in these parts-on St. Thomas' Day, might in return for alms have presented their benefactors with sprigs of palm and bunches of primroses." It should seem, however, not to have been restricted to Kent, for we find it mentioned as having existed at Pinner, about thirteen miles from London. ‡ The same custom, or something very like it, appears to have obtained in Warwickshire, but under another name "My servant B. Jelkes, who is from Warwickshire, * POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, vol. i. p. 347. + GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE for 1793—4, April, vol. Ixiv. p. 292. BRAND'S POFULAR ANTIQUITIES, vol. i. p. 347. informs me that there is a custom in that county for the poor on St. Thomas' Day to go with a bag to beg corn of the farmers, which they call going a corning J. B." * CHRISTMAS EVE; December 24th. In the primitive church Christmas Day was always observed as a Sabbath, and hence like other Lord's-Days it was preceded by an Eve or Vigil as an occasion of preparing for the day following. No festival of the church was attended by more popular superstitions and observances, the ceremonies of the Saturnalia from which it was derived being improved upon by Christian and Druidical additions. The day of this Vigil was passed in the ordinary manner, but with the evening the sports began; about seven or eight o'clock hot cakes were drawn from the oven; ale, cyder, and spirits went freely round; and the carol-singing commenced, which was continued through the greater part of the night. The connexion of this festival with the Roman Saturnalia has never been disputed by those competent to form a judgment, and in some existing observances in Franconia the traces of it are undeniable. In the nights of the three Thursdays preceding the nativity the young of either sex go about beating at the doors of the houses singing the near birth of our Saviour, and wishing the inhabitants a happy new year, for which in return they are presented with pears, apples, nuts, and money. With what joy in the churches not only the priests, but the people also, receive the birth-day of Christ may be inferred from this, that the image of a new-born child being placed upon the altar, they dance and chaunt as they circle round it, while the elders sing much as the Corybantes * BRAND'S POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, vol. i. p. 347. |