Chapter 53

Profusion of Food at Christ-tide--Old English Fare--Hospitality--Proclamations for People to spend Christ-tide at their Country Places--Roast Beef--Boar's Head--Boar's Head Carol--Custom at Queen's Coll. Oxon.--Brawn--Christmas Pie--Goose Pie--Plum Pudding--Plum Porridge--Anecdotes of Plum Pudding--Large one--Mince Pies--Hackin--Folk-lore--Gifts at Christ-tide--Yule Doughs--Cop-a-loaf--Snap-dragon.

If any exception can be taken to Christ-tide in England, it is to the enormous amount of flesh, fowl, etc., consumed. To a sensitive mind, the butchers' shops, gorged with the flesh of fat beeves, or the poulterers, with their hecatombs of turkeys, are repulsive, to say the least. It is the remains of a coarse barbarism, which shows but little signs of dying out. Profusion of food at this season is traditional, and has been handed down from generation to generation. A Christmas dinner must, if possible, be every one's portion, down to the pauper in the workhouse, and even the prisoner in the gaol. Tusser, who, though he could write--

At Christmas we banket, the riche with the poore, Who then (but the miser) but openeth his doore. At Christmas, of Christ, many Carols we sing; And give many gifts, for the joy of that King,

could also sing of "Christmas husbandly fare"--

Good husband and huswife, now chiefly be glad, Things handsome to have, as they ought to be had. They both do provide against Christmas do come, To welcome their neighbor, good chere to have some. Good bread and good drinke, a good fier in the hall, Brawne, pudding, and souse, and good mustard withall. Biefe, Mutton, and Porke, shred pies of the best, Pig, veale, goose, and capon, and Turkey well drest. Cheese, apples, and nuttes, ioly Carols to here, As then, in the countrey, is compted good chere. What cost to good husband is any of this? Good houshold provision, only, it is. Of other, the like I do leave out a meny, That costeth the husband man never a peny.

But his intention in this provision is not for personal gratification--

At Christmas, be mery, and thankfull withall, And feast thy poore neighbours, the great with y^{e} small. Yea, al the yere long, to the poore let us give, God's blessing to follow us while we do live.

This hospitality in the country was made the subject of legislation, for James I. much disliked the flocking of the gentry, etc., to London, as he said in his address to the council of the Star Chamber: "And therefore, as every fish lives in his own place, some in the fresh, some in the salt, some in the mud, so let every one live in his own place--some at Court, some in the city, some in the country; specially at festival times, as Christmas, and Easter, and the rest." Nay, he issued a proclamation ordering the landed gentry to repair to their country seats at Christmas, which is thus noticed in a letter from Mr. Chamberlain to Sir Dudley Carleton (21st December 1622): "Diverse Lords and personages of quality have made means to be dispensed withall for going into the country this Christmas, according to the proclamation; but it will not be granted, so that they pack away on all sides for fear of the worst." And Charles I. inherited his father's opinions on this matter, for he also proclaimed that "every nobleman or gentleman, bishop, rector, or curate, unless he be in the service of the Court or Council, shall in forty days depart from the cities of London and Westminster, and resort to their several counties where they usually reside, and there keep their habitations and hospitality."

As to Christmas fare, place must be given, I think, to "The Roast Beef of Old England," which used to be a standing dish on every table--from the "Sir Loin," said to have been knighted by Charles II. when in a merry mood, to the "Baron of Beef," which is, like a "saddle" of mutton, two loins joined together by the backbone. This enormous dish is not within the range of ordinary mortals; but the Queen always keeps up the custom of having one wherever she may be, at Windsor, or Osborne. Beef may be said to be the staple flesh of England, and is procurable by every one except the very poorest, whilst it is not given to all to obtain the lordly boar's head, which used to be an indispensable adjunct to the Christmas feast. One thing is, that wild boars only exist in England either in zoological gardens or in a few parks--notably Windsor--in a semi-domesticated state. The bringing in the boar's head was conducted with great ceremony, as Holinshed tells us that in 1170, when Henry I. had his son crowned as joint-ruler with himself, "Upon the daie of coronation King Henrie, the father, served his sonne at the table, as server, bringing up the bore's head with trumpets before it, according to the maner."

In "Christmasse carolles, newely enprinted at Lond[=o], in the fletestrete at the Sygne of the Sonne, by Wynkyn de Worde. The Yere of our lorde M.D.XXI.," is the following, which, from its being "newely enprinted," must have been older than the date given:--

A carol bringyng in the bores heed. Caput apri differo[75] Reddens laudes domino. The bores heed in hande bring I, With garlands gay and rosemary. I praye you all synge merely Qui estis in conuiuio. The bores heed I understande Is the chefe servyce in this lande Loke where euer it be fande[76] Servite cum cantico. Be gladde lordes bothe more and lasse,[77] For this hath ordeyned our stewarde To chere you all this Christmasse The bores heed with mustarde. Finis.

[Footnote 75: Defero.]

[Footnote 76: Found.]

[Footnote 77: Great and small.]

The custom of ceremoniously introducing the boar's head at Christ-tide was, at one time, of general use among the nobility, and still obtains at Queen's College, Oxford; and its _raison d'être_ is said to be that at some remote time a student of this College was walking in the neighbouring forest of Shotover (_Chateau vert_), and whilst reading Aristotle was attacked by a wild boar. Unarmed, he did not know how to defend himself; but as the beast rushed on him with open mouth he rammed the Aristotle down its throat, exclaiming, "_Græcum est_," which ended the boar's existence. Some little ceremony is still used when it is brought in; the head is decorated, as saith the carol, and it is borne into the hall on the shoulders of two College servants, followed by members of the College and the choir. The carol, which is a modification of the above, is generally sung by a Fellow, assisted by the choir, and the boar's head is solemnly deposited before the Provost, who, after helping those sitting at the high table, sends it round to all the other tables.

Dr. King, in his _Art of Cookery_, gives the following recipe for dishing up a boar's head:--

Then if you would send up the Brawner's head, Sweet rosemary and bays around it spread; His foaming tusks let some large pippin grace, Or midst these thundering spears an orange place. Sauce, like himself, offensive to its foes, The roguish mustard, dangerous to the nose. Sack, and the well-spic'd Hippocras the wine, Wassail the bowl with ancient ribbons fine, Porridge with plums, and turkies with the chine.

Of the boar's head was made _brawn_, which, when well made, is good indeed; and this was another Christmas dish. Sandys says: "The French do not seem to have been so well acquainted with brawn; for on the capture of Calais by them they found a large quantity, which they guessed to be some dainty, and tried every means of preparing it; in vain did they roast it, bake it, boil it; it was impracticable and impenetrable to their culinary arts. Its merits, however, being at length discovered, 'Ha!' said the monks, 'what delightful fish!' and immediately added it to their stock of fast day viands. The Jews, again, could not believe it was procured from that impure beast, the hog, and included in their list of clean animals."

Then there was a dish, "the Christmas pie," which must have been very peculiar, if we can trust Henri Misson, who was in England in the latter end of the seventeenth century. Says he: "Every Family against _Christmass_ makes a famous Pye, which they call _Christmass_ Pye: It is a great Nostrum the composition of this Pasty; it is a most learned Mixture of Neats-tongues, Chicken, Eggs, Sugar, Raisins, Lemon and Orange Peel, various kinds of Spicery, etc." Can this be the pie of which Herrick sang?--

Come, guard this night the Christmas pie, That the thiefe, though ne'r so slie, With his flesh hooks don't come nie To catch it; From him, who all alone sits there, Having his eyes still in his eare, And a deale of nightly feare, To watch it.

Fletcher, in his poem _Christmas Day_,[78] thus describes the pie:--

Christmas? give me my beads; the word implies A plot, by its ingredients, beef and pyes. The cloyster'd steaks, with salt and pepper, lye Like Nunnes with patches in a monastrie. Prophaneness in a conclave? Nay, much more Idolatrie in crust! Babylon's whore Rak'd from the grave, and bak'd by hanches, then Serv'd up in _coffins_ to unholy men: Defil'd with superstition like the Gentiles Of old, that worship'd onions, roots, and lentils.

[Footnote 78: _Ex Otio Negotium_, etc., ed. 1656, p. 114.]

The _Grub Street Journal_ of 27th December 1733 has an essay on Christmas Pye; but it is only a political satire, and not worth quoting here. There was once a famous Christmas pie which obtained the following notice in the _Newcastle Chronicle_, 6th January 1770: "Monday last, was brought from Howick to Berwick, to be shipp'd for London, for sir Hen. Grey, bart., a pie, the contents whereof are as follows: viz. 2 bushels of flour, 20 lbs. of butter, 4 geese, 2 turkies, 2 rabbits, 4 wild ducks, 2 woodcocks, 6 snipes, and 4 partridges, 2 neats' tongues, 2 curlews, 7 blackbirds, and 6 pigeons; it is supposed a very great curiosity, was made by Mrs. Dorothy Patterson, house keeper at Howick. It was near nine feet in circumference at bottom, weighs about twelve stones, will take two men to present it to table; it is neatly fitted with a case, and four small wheels to facilitate its use to every guest that inclines to partake of its contents at table."

Brand says that in the north of England a goose is always the chief ingredient in the composition of a Christmas pie. Ramsay, in his _Elegy on Lucky Wood_, tells us that, among other baits by which the good ale-wife drew customers to her house, she never failed to tempt them at Christmas with a _Goose pie_--

Than ay at _Yule_ whene'er we came, _A bra' Goose Pye_; And was na that a good Belly baum? Nane dare deny.

A writer in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ (May 1811, p. 423), speaking of Christmas in the North Riding of Yorkshire, says: "On the feast of St. Stephen large goose pies are made, all which they distribute among their needy neighbours, except one, which is carefully laid up, and not tasted till the purification of the Virgin, called Candlemas Day."

Plum pudding is a comparatively modern dish--not two centuries old; but, nowadays, wherever an Englishman travels--even when engaged in war--be he in any of our colonies, a plum pudding must be had. If an explorer, some loving hand has presented him with one. Were not our soldiers, in the latter part of the Crimean War, bountifully supplied with plum puddings? Was there ever a Christmas on board a man-of-war without one? It is now a national institution, and yet none can tell of its genesis. It has been evolved from that dish of which Misson gives us a description: "They also make a Sort of Soup with Plums, which is not at all inferior to the Pye, which is in their language call'd Plum porridge." We can find no reference to plum pudding in the diaries either of Evelyn or Pepys, and perhaps as early an instance as any of a _Christmas_ plum pudding is in _Round about our Coal Fire_ (1730?): "In Christmas holidays the tables were all spread from the first to the last; the sirloins of beef, the minced pies, the plum porridge, the capons, geese, turkeys, and plum puddings, were all brought upon the board."

Plum porridge is very frequently mentioned, and Brand gives an instance (vol. i. p. 296, note) of it being eaten in this century. "Memorandum. I dined at the Chaplain's Table at St. James's on Christmas Day 1801, and partook of the first thing served up and eaten on that festival at table, _i.e._ a tureen full of rich luscious plum porridge. I do not know that the custom is anywhere else retained." "Plum porridge was made of a very strong broth of shin of beef, to which was added crumb of bread, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, mace, currants, raisins, and dates. It was boiled gently, and then further strengthened with a quart of canary and one of red port; and when served up, a little grape verjuice or juice of orange was popped in as a zest."--_Daily Telegraph_, 21st January 1890.

Plum pudding is a peculiarly _English_ dish, and foreigners, as a rule, do not know how to make it properly, and many are the stories told thereanent. In a leading article in the _Daily Telegraph_, 21st January 1890, a recipe is given, copied from the _Kreuz Zeitung_, for making a plum pudding: "The cook is to take dough, beer in the course of fermentation, milk, brandy, whiskey, and gin in equal parts; bread, citronate, large and small raisins in profusion. This must be stirred by the whole family for at least three days, and it is then to be hung up in a linen bag for six weeks '_in order thoroughly to ferment_.'"

There is a somewhat amusing story told in vol. i. of _Anecdotes and Biographical Sketches_ by Lady Hawkins, widow of Sir John Hawkins, the friend of Johnson. Dr. Schomberg, of Reading, in the early part of his life spent a Christmas at Paris with some English friends. They were desirous to celebrate the season, in the manner of their own country, by having, as one dish on their table, an English plum pudding; but no cook was found equal to the task of making it. A clergyman of the party had, indeed, a receipt-book, but this did not sufficiently explain the process. Dr. Schomberg, however, supplied all that was wanting by throwing the recipe into the form of a prescription, and sending it to an apothecary to be made up. To prevent any chance of error, he directed that it should be boiled in a cloth, and sent home in the same cloth. At the specified hour it arrived, borne by the apothecary's assistant, and preceded by the apothecary himself, dressed according to the professional formality of the time, with a sword. Seeing, on his entry into the apartment, instead of signs of sickness, a table well filled, and surrounded by very merry faces, he perceived that he was made a party to a joke that turned on himself, and indignantly laid his hand on his sword; but an invitation to taste his own cookery appeased him, and all was well.

There is a good plum pudding story told of Lord Macartney when he was on his embassy to China, and wished to give gratification to a distinguished mandarin. He gave instructions to his Chinese _chef_, and, no doubt, they were carried out most conscientiously, but it came to table in a soup tureen, for my Lord _had forgotten all about the cloth_.

I cannot verify the following, nor do I know when it occurred. At Paignton Fair, near Exeter, a plum pudding of vast dimensions was drawn through the town amid great rejoicings. No wonder that a brewer's copper was needed for the boiling, seeing that the pudding contained 400 lbs. of flour, 170 lbs. of beef suet, 140 lbs. of raisins, and 240 eggs. This eight hundred pounder or so required continuous boiling from Saturday morning till the following Tuesday evening. It was finally placed on a car decorated with ribbons and evergreens, drawn through the streets by eight oxen, cut up, and distributed to the poor.

Every housewife has her own pet recipe for her Christmas pudding, of undoubted antiquity, none being later than that left as a precious legacy by grandmamma. Some housewives put a thimble, a ring, a piece of money, and a button, which will influence the future destinies of the recipients. It is good that every person in the family should take some part in its manufacture, even if only to stir it; and it should be brought to table hoarily sprinkled with powdered sugar, with a fine piece of berried holly stuck in it, and surrounded on all sides by blazing spirits.

Mince pie, as we have seen in Ben Jonson's masque, is one of the daughters of Father Christmas, but the mince pie of his day was not the same as ours; they were made of meat, and were called _minched_ pies, or _shrid_ pies. The meat might be either beef or mutton, but it was chopped fine, and mixed with plums and sugar. It is doubtful whether it was much known before the time of Elizabeth, although Shakespeare knew it well; but with poetic licence he makes it as known at the siege of Troy (_Troilus and Cressida_, Act i. sc. 2).

"_Pandarus_--Is not birth, beauty, good shape, discourse, manhood, learning, gentleness, virtue, youth, liberality, and such like, the spice and salt that season a man?

"_Cressida_--Ay, a minced man; and then to be baked with no date[79] in the pie,--for then the man's date's out."

[Footnote 79: Dates were an ingredient in most kinds of pastry. See _All's Well that Ends Well_, Act i. sc. 1--"Your date is better in your pie and your porridge than in your cheek."]

Gradually the meat was left out, and more sweets introduced, until the product resulted in the modern mince pie, in which, however, some housewives still introduce a little chopped meat. There is no luck for the wight who does not eat a mince pie at Christmas. If he eat one, he is sure of one happy month; but if he wants a happy twelve months, he should eat one on each of the twelve days of Christmas.

There was another form of eating the minced or shrid meat, in the form of a great sausage, called "the hackin," so called from to _hack_, or chop; and this, by custom, must be boiled before daybreak, or else the cook must pay the penalty of being taken by the arms by two young men, and by them run round the market-place till she is ashamed of her laziness.

A writer in _Notes and Queries_ (5 ser. x. 514) gives a very peculiar superstition prevalent in Derbyshire: "A neighbour had killed his Christmas pig, and his wife, to show her respect, brought me a goodly plate of what is known as 'pig's fry.' The dish was delivered covered with a snowy cloth, with the strict injunction, 'Don't wash the plate, please!' Having asked why the plate was to be returned unwashed, the reply was made, 'If _you_ wash the plate upon which the fry was brought to you, the pig won't take the salt.'"

A very pretty custom obtained, as we learn by the records of Evelyn's father's shrievalty. In those days of hospitality, when the hall of the great house was open to the neighbours during Christ-tide, they used to contribute some trifle towards the provisions; a list has been kept of this kindly help on this occasion. Two sides of venison, two half brawns, three pigs, ninety capons, five geese, six turkeys, four rabbits, eight partridges, two pullets, five sugar loaves, half pound nutmegs, one basket of apples and eggs, three baskets of apples, two baskets of pears.

At one time the bakers used to make and present to their customers two little images of dough, called Yule doughs, or doos, and it seems probable that these were meant to represent our Lord and His mother. At Alnwick, in Northumberland, a custom existed of giving sweetmeats to children at Christ-tide, called Yule Babies, in commemoration of our Saviour's nativity. There are various other cakes peculiar to this season. At Llantwit Major, Co. Glamorgan, they make "finger cakes"--or cakes in the form of a hand, on the back of which is a little bird; but what its symbolism is I know not. In some parts of Cornwall it is customary for each household to make a batch of currant cakes on Christmas eve. These cakes are made in the ordinary manner, and coloured with a decoction of saffron, as is the custom in those parts. On this occasion the peculiarity of the cakes is, that a small portion of the dough in the centre of the top of each is pulled up, and made into a form which resembles a very small cake on the top of a large one, and this centre-piece is specially called "The Christmas." Each person in the house has his or her special cake, and every one ought to taste a small piece of every other person's cake. Similar cakes are also bestowed on the hangers-on of the establishment, such as laundresses, sempstresses, charwomen, etc.

Another correspondent (Wiltshire) of _Notes and Queries_ (6 ser. xii. 496) says: "Can any one tell me the origin of a cake called a cop-a-loaf or cop loaf? It was a piece of paste made in the shape of a box or casket, ornamented at the top with the head of a cock or dragon, with currants for eyes. It was always placed, in my young days, at the bedside on Christmas morning, and, it is scarcely necessary to say, eaten before breakfast. Inside was an apple." Brand says: "In Yorkshire (Cleveland) the children eat, at the present season, a kind of gingerbread, baked in large and thick cakes, or flat loaves, called _Pepper Cakes_. They are also usual at the birth of a child. One of these cakes is provided, and a cheese; the latter is on a large platter or dish, and the pepper cake upon it. The cutting of the Christmas cheese is done by the master of the house on Christmas Eve, and is a ceremony not to be lightly omitted. All comers to the house are invited to partake of the pepper cake and Christmas cheese."

Any notice of Christmas cheer would be incomplete without mention being made of _Snap-dragon_. It is an old sport, and is alluded to by Shakespeare in _Henry IV._, part ii. Act ii. sc. 4, where Falstaff says--

And drinks off candles' ends for flap-dragons.

And in _Loves Labours Lost_, Act v. sc. 1--

Thou art easier swallowed than a flap-dragon.

It is a kind of game, in which brandy is poured over a large dish full of raisins, and then set alight. The object is to snatch the raisins out of the flame and devour them without burning oneself. This can be managed by sharply seizing them, and shutting the mouth at once. It is suggested that the name is derived from the German _schnapps_, spirit, and _drache_, dragon.